The Un Certain Regard Jury of the 78th Festival de
Cannes
The British director, screenwriter and cinematographer Molly Manning Walker will be the President of the Un Certain Regard Jury of the 78th Festival de Cannes. She will be joined by French-Swiss director and screenwriter Louise Courvoisier, Croatian director of the International Film Festival Rotterdam Vanja Kaludjercic, Italian director, producer and screenwriter Roberto Minervini and Argentinian actor Nahuel Pérez Biscayart. They will be in charge of awarding prizes for the Un Certain Regard section, which showcases art and discovery films by young auteurs.
This year, 20 films have been selected, including 9 first films. In 2024, Guan Hu's film Black Dog won the Prix Un Certain Regard awarded by the Jury presided by Xavier Dolan.
Promised Sky by Tunisian director Erige Sehiri will open the Un Certain Regard section on Wednesday May 14, 2025.
PHOTO: From left to right: Molly Manning Walker © DR / Roberto Minervini © Olga Prudka / Vanja Kaludjercic © Anne Reitsma / Louise Courvoisier © Laurent Le Crabe / Nahuel Pérez Biscayart © DR
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"It’s such an honour to return to Cannes as the President of the Un Certain Regard Jury.
This selection will forever hold a special place in my heart. Being a part of it really changed my world. I can’t wait to discover the films at the epicentre of new cinema.
Right now more than ever I feel that cinema is so key to bringing us together and allowing us to feel, to connect with each other. To escape, wonder and learn about each other. I’m excited to go on this journey with the other Jury members as I know it will be one hell of an adventure escaping into these filmmakers worlds.""
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MOLLY MANNING WALKER President
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Director, screenwriter, cinematographer
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Acclaimed for her first feature film, How to Have Sex, which won the Un Certain Regard Prize at the Festival de Cannes 2023 and was nominated in several BAFTA categories, Molly Manning Walker directed her first hard-hitting drama questioning the gray areas of consent. In the same year, she was the DP on Charlotte Regan's feature Scrapper, presented at the Sundance Film Festival, which also earned a BAFTA nomination. She has been recognised for her work as a cinematographer on numerous short films adverts and music videos and moved into directing with the short film Good Thanks, You? in 2020, which recounts the administrative nightmare of victims of sexual violence. It played at Semaine de la Critique. Molly Manning Walker is currently working on her own TV series with A24 and her next feature film with Plan B.
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Part of the Official Selection of the Festival de Cannes 2024 with her first feature film, Holy Cow (Vingt Dieux), which won the Youth Award in the Un Certain Regard section, Louise Courvoisier made a name for herself with this luminous film about love and cheese, acclaimed by audiences and praised by critics. After studying cinema, she directed her first short film, Mano a Mano, the story of a couple of circus acrobats, which won her the 1st Prize La Cinéfondation at Festival de Cannes 2019. Born into a freely cheerful family of artist-farmers, Louise Courvoisier draws her inspiration from what she knows, which means her land and her loved ones, to make a cinema imbued with modesty, accuracy and hope. Louise Courvoisier is currently writing her next film.
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Director of the International Film Festival Rotterdam
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Vanja Kaludjercic has served as Festival Director of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) since 2020. In this role, she steers the festival’s artistic vision, championing visionary cinema and supporting independent filmmaking talent. During her tenure, IFFR has further developed its programming strategy and expanded industry platforms and immersive formats, reflecting Rotterdam’s cultural diversity and strengthening the festival’s commitment to cinematic innovation. With over 20 years of international experience across the film industry and strong ties to the Dutch film landscape, Kaludjercic brings broad expertise. She has held acquisition roles at the global streaming service MUBI and the Coproduction Office, and contributed to key festivals including Sarajevo Film Festival, and the Netherlands Film Festival.
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Director, producer, screenwriter
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Selected in the Un Certain Regard section at the Festival de Cannes 2024 for The Damned, awarded Best Director (ex-aequo), Roberto Minervini deconstructs genre codes with his acclaimed film set during the American Civil War. As an Italian living in the United States for more than two decades, his work reflects a unique perspective on America, deeply influenced by his heritage. Minervini’s recent transition to fiction is a natural extension of his filmic approach, which has often blurred the lines between documentary and narrative storytelling. His notable career includes What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire? (2018), The Other Side (Un Certain Regard, Festival de Cannes 2015), and Stop the Pounding Heart (Special Screenings, Festival de Cannes 2013). Roberto Minervini is currently developing two fiction projects.
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Revealed to the public at the Festival de Cannes 2017, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart set the Competition alight with his intense performance as an Act Up-Paris activist in Robin Campillo's BPM (Beats per Minute) (Grand Prix 2017). That same year, he starred in Albert Dupontel's See You Up There, an adaptation of The Great Swindle by Pierre Lemaitre, winner of the 2013 Goncourt Prize. International artist, he has appeared in Persian Lessons by Vadim Perelman (2020), The Employer and the Employee by Manolo Nieto (2021), One Year, One Night by Isaki Lacuesta (2022), No Love Lost by Erwan Le Duc (2023) and My New Friends by André Téchiné (2024). In parallel, he is active in the theater, in New York, with the Wooster Group, Willem Dafoe's theater company, and in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, directed by Ivo van Hove (2020). He recently played in Luis Ortega's Kill the Jockey.
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