‘Happening’ Director Audrey Diwan Heads Up Cannes Critics’ Week Jury

Happening director Audrey Diwan will head up this year’s jury for the Cannes Critics’ Week sidebar, organizers unveiled on Wednesday.

The French filmmaker won the Golden Lion in Venice for Happening, an abortion drama set in early 1960s France, which was her second feature. She will take over duties as jury president for the Critics’ Week, a parallel Cannes festival sidebar that focuses on first and second features from emerging talents.

Joining Diwan on this year’s Critics’ Week jury are German actor Franz Rogowski (A Hidden Life, Disco Boy), Portuguese cinematographer Rui Poças (Frankie, Tabu), Sundance festival programming director Kim Yutani, and Indian journalist and Berlinale festival programmer Meenakshi Shedde.

Originally set up by an association of French film critics in 1962, Critics’ Week is the oldest non-official Cannes sidebar. The section is credited with discovering some of the biggest names in independent and arthouse cinema, many of whom have gone on to success at the official festival. Two-time Palme d’Or winner Ken Loach brought his feature debut Kes to Critics’ Week in 1970. Julia Ducournau’s first film, Raw, was a 2016 Critics’ Week selection. Her follow-up, Titane, won the Palme d’Or in 2021. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s debut Amores Perros screened there in 2000. His 2006 feature Babel, and 2010’s Bitiful were in official competition, the former winning best director. Andrea Arnold’s first short films — Milk (1998) and Dog (2001) — were also Critics’ Week premieres. The British director has since had three features — Red Road (2006), Fish Tank (2009), and American Honey (2016) — in competition, the latter two winning best director. Arnold’s last film, the documentary Cow, screened in the official selection out of competition.

The Critics’ Week jury awards prizes for best film, the French Touch Prize of the Jury, the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for best actor or actress, and the Leitz Ciné Discovery Prize for best short film in the selection.

The 2023 Critics’ Week runs May 17-25.