Every year, a Cannes Festival jury chooses a director's debut feature for its Golden Camera award. The winner of the prize will be announced on Sunday, May 27th. For the first time this year,
Camera d'Or jury president Pavel Lounguine, and jury members Julie Bertucelli, Clotilde Courau, and Renato Berta will be choosing the winner from a longer list of contenders. In addition to the
films officially selected for the Competition and Un Certain Regard, features screening in Directors' Fortnight and Critics' Week will also be eligible. As Artistic Delegate Thierry
Frémaux explained, "to see no less than thirty films competing for the Camera d'Or the year of the Festival's 60th anniversary is a sign of the vitality of cinema today. The Official
Selection, Critics' Week, and Directors' Fortnight all share the same values. By selecting a film, they boost the director's confidence, and put him on the world's artistic map."
In the Official Selection, the following films are in the running for a Camera d’Or: Persepolis, by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi (Competition); Water
Lilies, by Céline Sciamma (Un Certain Regard); Magnus, by Kadri Kõusaar (Un Certain Regard); Bikur Hatizmoret by Eran Kolirin (Un Certain
Regard); El Baño Del Papa, by Enrique Fernandez and César Charlone (Un Certain Regard); Calla Santa Fe, by Carmen Castillo (Un Certain Regard);
Et toi t’es sur qui ?, by Lola Doillon (Un Certain Regard); Munyurangabo, by Lee Isaac Chung (Un Certain Regard); California
Dreamin’ (Nesfarsit), by Cristian Nemescu (Un Certain Regard); Boxes, by Jane Birkin (Out of Competition); and The 11th Hour, by Leila Conners
Petersen and Nadia Conners (Out of Competition).
The competitors from Directors' Fortnight are: Control, by Anton Corbijn; Dai Nipponjin, by Hitosi Matumoto; Gegenüber, by Jan Bonny; La
Influencia, by Pedro Aguilera; Tout Est Pardonné, by Mia Hansen-Love; Caramel, by Nadine Labaki; Elle s’appelle Sabine, by
Sandrine Bonnaire; PVC-1, by Spiros Stathoulopoulos; and Mutum, by Sandra Kogut.
Films from International Critics' Week eligible for the award: Meduzot, by Shira Geffen and Etgar Keret; XXY, by Lucía Puenzo; Párpados
Azules, by Ernesto Contreras; Voleurs de Chevaux, by Micha Wald; Nos Retrouvailles, by David Oelhoffen; Funukedomo, Kanashimi
No Ai Wo Misero, by Yoshida Daihachi; Héros, by Bruno Merle; El Asaltante, by Pablo Fendrik; Expired, by Cecilia Miniucchi;
A l’Intérieur, by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo; El Orfanato, by Juan Antonio Bayona; Malos Hábitos, by Simón
Bross; and Déficit, by Gael García Bernal. The latter is a Festival habitué as an actor, having played leading roles in many of the films presented in
Competition, like Motorcycle Diaries (2004), Bad Education (2004), and Babel (2006).
Photo Copyright Julia Brechler
