Critics' Week

Critics' Week (French: Semaine de la critique), until 2008 called International Critics' Week (Semaine internationale de la critique), is a parallel section to the Cannes Film Festival organized by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics. It was created in 1962, after the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics's successful campaign for Shirley Clarke's The Connection to be screened at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival.^[1] It is the oldest non-official Cannes sidebar.^[2][3]

Critics' Week

Location	Cannes, France
Founded	1962
Awards	Grand Prize
Website	www.semainedelacritique.com

Critics' Week's objective is to discover and support new talents, showcasing first and second feature films by directors worldwide. Bernardo Bertolucci,^[4] Philip Kaufman, Ken Loach, Tony Scott, Agnieszka Holland,^[5] Leos Carax, Wong Kar-wai,^[6] Guillermo del Toro,^[7] Jacques Audiard, Arnaud Desplechin, Gaspar Noé,^[6] François Ozon,^[8] Andrea Arnold,^[9] Alejandro González Iñárritu, Julia Ducournau,^[6] Justine Triet,^[10] all began at Critics' Week.

Critics' Week presents a selective program of seven feature films and ten short films in competition.^[11] There are also special screenings which are kept few in number in order to provide them greater visibility.^[12] Feature films compete for Grand Prize, the SACD Prize, which is awarded for best screenplay, and the Gan Foundation Award, which helps films get distribution.^[13] Short films can receive the Canal+ Award and the Discovery Award.^[14] Debut feature films are eligible for the Caméra d'Or, which is open to all first films in Official Selection and the parallel sections at Cannes.^[15]

Since its creation in 1990 and until 2010, there was no jury at Critics' Week. Journalists of all nationalities were invited to vote at the end of each screening of the films in competition, after which the Grand Prize was awarded. In 2011, on the occasion of its 50th edition, Critics' Week formed an international jury made up of four critics and chaired by Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong. Thereafter, the jury has been presided over by a director and consists of four members with writing, filmmaking, acting or programming backgrounds.^[16] Notable jury presidents have included Bertrand Bonello, Miguel Gomes, Andrea Arnold, Ronit Elkabetz, Valérie Donzelli, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Joachim Trier, Ciro Guerra and Cristian Mungiu.^[17]

Main awards

• Feature films^[14]
  • Grand Prize (Grand Prix)
  • French Touch Prize of the Jury (Prix French Touch du jury)
  • Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award (Prix Fondation Louis Roederer de la Révélation)
  • Gan Foundation Award for Distribution (Prix Fondation Gan à la Diffusion)
  • SACD (Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques) (Prix SACD)^[18]
• Short films^[14]
  • Discovery Award (Prix Découverte Leitz Cine)
  • Canal+ Award (Prix Canal+)
• Discontinued awards
  • France 4 Visionary Award (Prix Révélation France 4) (2012–2017)^[19][20][21]

Grand Prize winners

The Grand Prize (Grand Prix) is the top prize of Critics' Week. In 2001, the prize was sponsored by the French energy company Primagaz.^[22] Between 2011 and 2021, the Grand Prize was known as the Nespresso Grand Prize, named for its sponsor Nespresso.^[23][24][25]

Year	English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production country	Ref.
2001	Under the Moonlight	زیر نور ماه	Reza Mirkarimi	Iran	[26]
2002	Respiro		Emanuele Crialese	Italy, France	[27]
2003	Since Otar Left	Depuis qu'Otar est parti...	Julie Bertuccelli	France, Belgium	[28]
2004	A Common Thread	Brodeuses	Éléonore Faucher	France	[29]
	Or (My Treasure)	אור	Keren Yedaya	France, Israel	[30]
2005	Me and You and Everyone We Know		Miranda July	United States	[31]
2006	Poison Friends	Les Amitiés maléfiques	Emmanuel Bourdieu	France	[32]
2007	XXY		Lucía Puenzo	Argentina, Spain, France	[33]
2008	Snow	Snijeg	Aida Begić	Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, France, Iran	[34]
2009	Adieu Gary		Nassim Amaouche	France	[35]
2010	Armadillo		Janus Metz Pedersen	Denmark	[36]
2011	Take Shelter		Jeff Nichols	United States	[37]
2012	Here and There	Aquí y allá	Antonio Méndez Esparza	Spain, United States, Mexico	[38]
2013	Salvo		Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza	Italy, France	[39]
2014	The Tribe	Плем'я	Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy	Ukraine	[40]
2015	Paulina	La patota	Santiago Mitre	Argentina, Brazil, France	[41]
2016	Mimosas		Oliver Laxe	Spain, Morocco, Franace, Qatar	[42]
2017	Makala		Emmanuel Gras	France	[43]
2018	Diamantino		Gabriel Abrantes, Daniel Schmidt	Portugal, France, Brazil	[44]
2019	I Lost My Body	J'ai perdu mon corps	Jérémy Clapin	France	[45]
2020	Festival cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021	Feathers	ريش	Omar El Zohairy	France, Egypt, Netherlands, Greece	[46]
2022	The Pack	La jauría	Andrés Ramirez Pulido	Colombia, France	[47]
2023	Tiger Stripes		Amanda Nell Eu	Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, France, Germany, Netherlands, Indonesia, Qatar	[48]
2024	Simon of the Mountain	Simon de la montaña	Federico Luis	Argentina, Chile, Uruguay	[49]

References

1. "La Semaine de la Critique". Retrieved 30 July 2017.
2. Roxborough, Scott (12 April 2023). "'Happening' Director Audrey Diwan Heads Up Cannes Critics' Week Jury". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
3. Erbland, Kate (16 April 2018). "Cannes 2018: Critics' Week Competition Lineup Dominated By Female-Directed Features for First Time in Decade". IndieWire. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
4. Dobson, Patricia (28 February 2000). "Bertolucci named Critics' Week patron". Screen International. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
5. Lattanzio, Ryan (12 June 2021). "21 Directors Who Launched Their Filmmaking Careers at Cannes". IndieWire. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
6. "Dix cinéastes révélés par la Semaine de la Critique | CNC". www.cnc.fr (in French). Retrieved 12 January 2024.
7. Gorson, Arthur (6 August 2019). "'Cronos' Producer Looks Back on Guillermo del Toro's Early Days". Variety. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
8. Indiewire (28 August 1998). "Francois Ozon Teases and Pleases with "See the Sea" and "A Summer's Dress"". IndieWire. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
9. Tartaglione, Nancy (27 March 2014). "Cannes: Andrea Arnold To Lead Critics' Week Jury". Deadline. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
10. Mintzer, Jordan (12 May 2016). "'In Bed With Victoria' ('Victoria'): Cannes Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
11. "Audrey Diwan, présidente du jury de la Semaine de la critique à Cannes : "J'ai envie d'être attentive à l'inédit"". www.telerama.fr (in French). 12 April 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
12. "La Semaine de la Critique". Semaine de la Critique du Festival de Cannes (in French). Retrieved 11 January 2024.
13. Richford, Rhonda (16 May 2018). "Cannes: 'Diamantino' Tops Critics' Week Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
14. "Prix de la Semaine de la Critique". Semaine de la Critique du Festival de Cannes (in French). Retrieved 11 January 2024.
15. Goodfellow, Melanie (17 April 2023). "Cannes Critics' Week Unveils 2023 Line-up – Full List". Deadline. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
16. "FAQ". archives.semainedelacritique.com. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
17. Lemercier, Fabien (2 June 2021). "Cristian Mungiu will be president of the Critics' Week jury". Cineuropa. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
18. "Accueil". SACD (in French). Retrieved 7 May 2024.
19. "Winners 2012 | La Semaine de la Critique of Festival de Cannes". Semaine de la Critique du Festival de Cannes. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
20. "Winners 2017 | La Semaine de la Critique of Festival de Cannes". Semaine de la Critique du Festival de Cannes. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
21. Ford, Rebecca (22 May 2014). "Cannes: 'The Tribe' Tops Critics' Week Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 12 January 2024. France 4 Visionary Award, which is awarded to a film that "reflects the passion and enthusiasm of promising young film critics for the new filmmakers of their generation."
22. "Festival de Cannes 2001 / Palmarès". www.cannes-fest.com/2001/palmares.htm (in French). Retrieved 27 May 2023.
23. Partenaire, Contenu (29 April 2019). "Nespresso au Festival de Cannes 2019 : à la rencontre des étoiles de la table et du grand écran". Les Inrockuptibles. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
24. "Prize List 2021". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
25. "Prize List 2022". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
26. "Ziré Nouré Mâh Under the Moonlight". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
27. "Respiro". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
28. "Depuis qu'Otar est parti". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
29. "Brodeuses". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
30. "Or / Mon trésor". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
31. "Me and You and Everyone We Know / Moi, toi et tous les autres". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
32. "Les Amitiés maléfiques". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
33. "XXY". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
34. "Snijeg Snow / Premières neiges". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
35. "Adieu Gary". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
36. "Armadillo". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
37. "Take Shelter". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
38. "Aquí y Allá Ici et là-bas". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
39. "Salvo". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
40. "Plemya The Tribe". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
41. "Paulina / La patota". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
42. "Mimosas / Mimosas, la voie de l'Atlas". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
43. "Makala". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
44. "Diamantino". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
45. "J'ai perdu mon corps I Lost My Body". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
46. "Feathers / Plumes". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
47. "L'Eden (La Jauría)". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
48. "Tiger Stripes". La Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
49. "Awarded films of the 63rd edition | La Semaine de la Critique of Festival de Cannes". Semaine de la Critique du Festival de Cannes. Retrieved 23 May 2024.

External links

• Critics' Week Official Website