Women Hold The Majority In The 2020 Cannes Film Festival Selection Committee

Despite other European film festivals (most notably Venice) having a bit of a mixed message when it comes to female representation at events, the Cannes Film Festival has been making strides over the last few years in terms of making sure women filmmakers are included more. And to help show the festival’s commitment to inclusivity, Cannes boss Thierry Fremaux, as well as event executives Christian Jeune and Stéphanie Lamome, announced the folks that will comprise this year’s Selection Committee.

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In previous years, the Cannes Film Festival had kept the identity of its Selection Committee a secret. However, beginning last year, after the aforementioned controversy, Cannes revealed the names of the people that will be selecting the films that will compete, revealing that four women took part in the process. This year, five women have the majority in the nine-person selection committee, with three of last year’s women coming back again for 2020.

In terms of how the Committee worked out last year, Cannes saw four of the 21 films in competition directed by females. And not only that, women who were selected ended up scoring major wins, including Celine Sciamma earning Best Screenplay and Mati Diop earning the Grand Prix.

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We are still weeks away from learning which films will take part in this year’s Cannes Film Festival, but it’s obvious that Fremaux and the rest of the folks behind the scenes really want to make sure that fans know the event takes representation seriously. The 2020 Cannes Film Festival kicks off on May 12.

Below are the names and bios of the people picked to take part in this year’s Selection Committee (via Cannes):

Virginie Apiou
After studying Modern Literature at la Sorbonne, Virginie Apiou became a journalist for the written press. She also directs TV documentaries about Cinema (CANAL+, Warner, TCM for: Hitchcock — La Mort aux trousses or Hitchcock — Le crime était presque parfait, Les Acteurs-Réalisateurs, etc.) as well as reports for ARTE (Max Ophüls, Gabin-Renoir, Abel Gance, David Cronenberg, Abbas Kiarostami, and Lars von Trier).

Paul Grandsard
Paul Grandsard, of French-American descent, worked as a translator before directing six short films between 1987 and 2006. In 1996, he became a programmer for the Premiers Plans festival in Angers before joining the Festival de Cannes in 1999. Since 2010, he has been a professional photographer, specializing in portrait and architectural photography.

Laurent Jacob
After studying medicine briefly, Laurent Jacob became a trainee director and then second assistant to Claude Lelouch, Claude Sautet, Nadine Trintignant, Laurent Heynemann, and Jean-Jacques Annaud. He then made montage films about history of Cinema for Cannes (“Le Cinéma dans les yeux,” Liberté,” two series of “Préludes”). He was in charge of the Cinéfondation selection from 1998 to 2009.

Stéphanie Lamome
After completing a literature foundation course (also known as Khâgne), Stéphanie Lamome, from 1997 to 2015, worked as a journalist, reporter, critic, head of department and then deputy editor-in-chief of Première magazine. She was an on-air programmer for Radio Festival, the official radio of the Festival de Cannes, between 2017 and 2019. In 2019, she was appointed Artistic Advisor of the Film Department, working alongside Thierry Frémaux and Christian Jeune.

Éric Libiot
From 1986 to 2000, Éric Libiot was a radio host (Radio Beur), TV journalist (“Ensemble aujourd’hui”), freelance print journalist (7 à Paris, Marianne, Paris Match, Max, L’autre journal), reporter and deputy editor-in-chief of Première. In 2000, he became deputy editor-in-chief of Arts and Entertainment at L’Express magazine and Culture editor-in-chief in 2016. That same year, he also became a columnist at France Inter. In September 2019, he left L’Express. Today, Éric Libiot works for Lire and Astérios Spectacles while still a contributor at France Inter. He is currently writing a book on Clint Eastwood.

Lucien Logette
Holding a PHD in comparative literature, Lucien Logette was the winner of the 2018 Prix Bernard-Chardère. Co-editor of the Larousse mondial du cinéma (2011) and the Dictionnaire mondial des mouvements artistiques et littéraires 1870-2010 (2012), film columnist for La Quinzaine littéraire (1993-2015) and staff writer at 1895, Revue d’histoire du Cinéma, Lucien Logette has been editor-in-chief of the monthly Jeune Cinéma since 1990.

Johanna Nahon
Script doctor and producer, Johanna Nahon began working in production under Charles Gillibert in 2015. She then joined the film production and international sales company Celluloid Dreams, where she headed up the purchasing department from 2016 to 2018. In 2019, she created a development fund and a production company and worked on several projects as a consultant.

Guillemette Odicino
Journalist, critic and head of the Cinema department at Télérama, Guillemette Odicino produces the summer show “On s’fait des films” at France Inter, where she is also a Culture and Cinema columnist. She regularly contributes to the programme “Le Cercle”, broadcast on CANAL+ and CANAL+ Cinéma. Co-author of Toscan, papa et moi published by Editions de la Martinière and editor-in-chief of several special editions on Marilyn Monroe, Louis de Funès and animated films.

Caroline Veunac
Caroline Veunac researched her thesis on The Symbol of the Double in American Cinema at Sciences-Po Bordeaux. A graduate of the Centre de Formation des Journalistes, she wrote her first film reviews for the magazine Cinéastes, before working on a number of magazine titles. From 2016 to 2017, she was editor-in-chief of the TV show Plus de Séries, on CANAL+ Séries and is now a regular contributor to the film and TV website Somewhere Else.