In the past, the Grand Prize of La Semaine de la Critique revealed great names of the present cinema such as Guillermo del Toro, Gaspar Noé, Alejandro González Iñarritu or Keren Yadaya. In more recent years, the Nespresso Grand Prize has been a major springboard which allowed their career to take off:
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In 2011, Jeff Nichols won the Nespresso Grand Prize for TAKE SHELTER, his mesmerizing second feature film. Since then, he has become one of the most fascinating American authors with three other films Mud (Cannes 2012), Midnight Special (Berlin 2016) and Loving (Cannes 2016). |
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In 2012, Antonio Méndez Esparza’s AQUÍ Y ALLÁ was awarded the Grand Prize. The film is a family chronicle remarquable for the accuracy of its tone. The Spanish filmmaker went on exploring reality with his second feature film, Life and Nothing More, presented at the latest San Sebastián Film Festival and in Toronto. |
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Directors Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza won the Nespresso Grand Prize in 2013 with SALVO, a minimalistic and quite abstract thriller inspired by the Italian mafia. In 2017, they opened La Semaine de la Critique with SICILIAN GHOST STORY, an ambitious and poetic cross genre tale. |
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During the 53rd Semaine de la Critique, Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy surprized the Croisette with PLEMYA (THE TRIBE), a very radical film on a boarding school for deaf mutes. He is presently shooting Luxembourg, his much expected second film. |
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In 2015, it was Santiago Mitre’s turn to receive the award for his second feature, PAULINA (LA PATOTA), the wonderful portrait of a woman perfectly embodied by Dolores Fonzi. He came back in Cannes in 2017 with La Cordillera, selected at Un Certain Regard. Driven by a magnificent casting starting with Ricardo Darin, the film gathered more than 630,000 spectators in Argentina. |