The juries

After studying political science and working in documentary production, Thomas Cailley joined the screenwriting department at La Fémis. In 2010, he directed Paris-Shanghai, a short film that won awards at several international festivals and for which he received the Audience Award at Premiers Plans. His first feature film, Les Combattants, was presented at the Directors’ Fortnight in 2014 and won the Louis Deluc Prize for Best First Film. It received nine César nominations and won three: Best First Film, Best Actress for Adèle Haenel and Most Promising Actor for Kévin Azaïs. In 2018, Thomas Cailley directed his first series, Ad Vitam, broadcast on Arte, which was selected at the Toronto Film Festival and awarded the prize for Best French Series at Séries Mania. In 2023, he directed the environmental fable Le Règne animal, co-written with Pauline Munier, which opened the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival. Starring Romain Duris, Paul Kircher, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Tom Mercier and Billie Blain, the film was a huge success with audiences and critics alike, winning the Louis Deluc Prize for Best French Film, as well as eleven nominations and five awards at the Césars. Thomas Cailley also won the Lumière Award for Best Director.

Born to a French-American father and an English mother, India Hair landed her first role in Raphaël Jacoulot’s Avant l'aube. In 2012, she won the Prix Lumière for Most Promising Actress and was nominated for a César for Most Promising Actress for Noémie Lvovsky’s Camille redouble. She went on to appear in Alain Guiraudie’s Rester vertical, Hubert Charuel’s Petit paysan, Quentin Dupieux’s Mandibules and Maïwenn’s Jeanne du Barry. In 2021, she was again nominated for the César for Most Promising Actress for her role in Olivier Babinet’s Poissonsexe. She subsequently appeared in the series Polar Park and Les Enfants sont rois, followed by Aude Léa Rapin’s Planète B, Julie Delpy’s Les Barbares and Emmanuel Mouret’s Trois amies, which was presented in competition at the Venice Film Festival. In 2025, she starred in Valentine Cadic’s Le Rendez-vous de l'été, presented at the Berlinale, and Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s Jeunes mères, selected at Cannes. She will soon be appearing in Danielle Arbid and Lucie Borleteau’s series Singapura, and in the films Les Matins merveilleux by Avril Besson and Histoires parallèles by Asghar Farhadi.

Laura Wandel is a Brussels-based filmmaker who studied directing at the Institut des Arts de Diffusion (IAD). She made her debut in 2007 with her graduation short film Murs, which was selected for several festivals, as were her subsequent works, O Négatif and Les Corps étrangers, the latter being presented in competition at Cannes in 2014. At the same time she worked on numerous film shoots as a stage manager, costume designer and set designer. In 2019, she moved into features with Un monde, starring Maya Vanderbeque, Gunter Duret and Karim Leklou. The film premiered at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize. It was then shortlisted for the Oscars for Best International Feature Film and received numerous awards around the world, including Best First Film at the BFI London Film Festival, as well as seven Magrittes, including Best Director and Best First Film. Her second feature film, L'Intérêt d'Adam, starring Léa Drucker and Anamaria Vartolomei, opened Critics’ Week in 2025. Enthusiastically received by the international press, the film was released in theatres last September.

A graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris, Antoine Reinartz has trodden the boards of several European theatres. In 2017, he took on the role of the committed and controversial president of Act-Up in Robin Campillo’s 120 Beats per Minute, which was in competition at Cannes. This film won him the César for Best Supporting Actor. Two years later, he returned to the Croisette with Arnaud Desplechin’s Roubaix,  une lumière. That same year, he also appeared in La Vie scolaire by Grand Corps Malade and Mehdi Idir, Alice et le Maire by Nicolas Pariser and Chanson douce by Lucie Borleteau. He then appeared in Arthur Rambo by Laurent Cantet, Petite nature by Samuel Theïs and Anatomie d'une chute by Justine Triet, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and for which he was nominated for a César for Best Supporting Actor. For television, he has appeared in Ad Vitam by Thomas Cailley, Nona et ses filles by Valérie Donzelli, La Maison by Fabrice Gobert and, most recently, Des vivants by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade. Last December, he starred alongside Vicky Krieps in Love Me Tender by Anna Cazenave-Cambet.

Iris Kaltenbäck grew up in France with a French mother, an Austrian father and an American half-brother. After studying law and philosophy, she joined the screenwriting department at La Fémis and assisted director Declan Donnellan at the Théâtre Les Gémeaux (Scène nationale). In 2015, she directed her first short film, Le Vol des cigognes, which won the International Next Generation Audience Award at the Brussels Short Film Festival. Her first feature film, Le Ravissement, starring Hafsia Herzi, Alexis Manenti and Nina Meurisse, was selected for Critics’ Week in 2023, where it received the SACD Award. Screened at numerous international festivals (Zurich, Ghent, Morelia, São Paulo, Hamburg, etc.), it went on to win several awards, including the Special Jury Prize in Turin. In 2024, it won the Lumière Award for Best First Film. In France, where it was very well received by audiences and critics alike, Le Ravissement won the Louis Delluc Prize for Best First Film and was nominated for the César for Best First Film. Iris Kaltenbäck is currently working on her second feature film.

Born in Paris, Annabelle Lengronne grew up in Martinique. She discovered theatre at secondary school and decided to make it her career, enrolling at the Claude Mathieu school of drama in Paris after her baccalaureat in 2005. After appearing in several plays, she made her television debut in 2011 in Séverine Bosschem’s acclaimed series Xanadu. In 2016, she starred in La Fine Équipe, a comedy for which she was pre-nominated for the César for Most Promising Actress, then a second time in 2021 for her performance as Conso, the central character in the film Filles de joie, selected to represent Belgium at the Oscars in the Best International Film category. In 2022, she played Rose, an Ivorian woman who immigrated to France, in Un petit frère by Léonor Serraille, which was in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival that same year. For this role, she won the Best Actress Award at the Stockholm Film Festival and was named a Unifrance Talent. In 2024, she starred in Laura Piani’s debut film, Jane Austen a gâché ma vie, and will be on screens later this month in Martin Jauvat’s Baise en ville.

Quentin Dolmaire began acting on stage at the age of 10. In 2015, he played the lead role in Arnaud Desplechin’s Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse, for which he was nominated for a César and a Lumières for Most Promising Actor. He then appeared in Michel Hazanavicius’s Le Redoutable, Martin Provost’s Sage femme, Clément Schneider’s Un violent désir de bonheur, Nadav Lapid’s Synonymes, Sébastien Betbeder’s Ulysse & Mona, and Ilan Klipper’s Le Processus de paix. In 2022, he starred alongside Céleste Brunquell in Fifi by Jeanne Aslan and Paul Saintillan. He won the Best Actor Award at Premiers Plans for this film. On the small screen, he stood out in both seasons of Anthony Cordier’s OVNI(S). He then appeared in the films Niki by Céline Sallette, Chroniques d'un indic by Laurent Herbiet and Une pointe d’amour by Maël Piriou. Quentin Dolmaire is currently starring in Jean-Paul Salomé’s film L’Affaire Bojarski and will soon be appearing in Alain Raoust’s Un champ de fraises pour l'éternité.