One of the key awards at Cannes is the Camera d’Or, launched in 1978, which goes to the best film from a first-time filmmaker in the Official Selection, La Semaine de la Critique and Directors’ Fortnight. Past winners include Benh Zeitlin, whose 2012 “Beast of the Southern Wild” went on to nab Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay and Actress, as well as Jim Jarmusch (“Stranger than Paradise,” 1984), Mira Nair (“Salaam Bombay!”, 1988), John Turturro (“Mac,” 1992), Marc Levin (“Slam,” 1998), Miranda July (“Me, You and Everyone We Know,” 2005), and Steve McQueen (“Hunger,” 2008). It’s a career launch prize.
In 2014, fifteen films will be vying for the Camera d’Or award to be presented during the Awards Ceremony on Saturday May 24th. French director Nicole Garcia will preside. Here’s the jury:
Nicole GARCIA, President, actress and director
Richard ANCONINA, actor
Gilles GAILLARD, technician
Sophie GRASSIN, journalist and critic
Héléna KLOTZ, director
Lisa NESSELSON, journalist
Philippe VAN LEEUW, director, Chief cameraman
And new members of Cannes sidebar Un Certain Regard jury led by Argentinian director Pablo Trapero are America’s own Peter Becker, president of The Criterion Collection, and Scandinavian actress Maria Bonnevie. They join previously announced jurors: French actress Geraldine Pailhas and Senegalese director-writer-producer Moussa Toure. They will pick winners from among 20 films, starting with opening nighter “Party Girl,”directed by Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger and Samuel Theis, which screens on Thursday.
Last year, the jury headed by Danish director Thomas Vinterberg, awarded the Prize Un Certain Regard to Rithy Panh’s “The Missing Picture,” with the directing honor going to Alain Guiraudie for “The Stranger by the Lake.”
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