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.

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.