Prizes awarded by the jury of la Semaine de la Critique
Grand Prize
The Grand Prize is awarded by the jury of La Semaine de la Critique to one of the seven feature films in competition. Since 2011, the Grand Prize went to: Jeff Nichols for Take Shelter (2011), Antonio Méndez Esparza for Aquí y Allá (2012), Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza for Salvo (2013), Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy for The Tribe (2014), Santiago Mitre for Paulina (2015), Oliver Laxe for Mimosas (2016), Emmanuel Gras for Makala (2017), Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt for Diamantino (2018), Jérémy Clapin for I lost my body (2019), Omar El Zohairy for Feathers (2021), Andrés Ramírez Pulido for L'Eden (2022) and Amanda Nell Eu for Tiger Stripes (2023).
French Touch Prize of the Jury
La Semaine de la Critique jury present the French Touch Prize of the Jury to one of the seven feature films in competition. This award aims to shine a light on an act of cinema that features creativity and boldness. By partnering up with La Semaine de la Critique, La French Touch wishes to reveal the creative geniuses who are making the future of cinema. The winning filmmaker will receive an endowment of €8,000. Since 2022, it has been awarded to Aftersun by Charlotte Wells and to Il pleut dans la maison by Paloma Sermon-Daï
Leitz Cine Discovery Prize for Short Film
The Leitz Cine Discovery Prize will be awarded by the jury of La Semaine de la Critique to one of the ten short and medium-length films in competition. Since its creation in 2003, the Discovery Prize has revealed numerous innovating filmmakers such as Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra, the H5 collective, Guillaume Gouix, Gitanjali Rao, Damien Manivel, Jonas Carpignano, Fulvio Risuleo, Wregas Bhanuteja and more recently Laura Ferrés, Jacqueline Lentzou, Qiu Yang,Zou Jing, João Gonzalez and lastly Nans Laborde-Jourdàa. For the eighth year, Leitz is partner of La Semaine de la Critique and supports the new generation of promising directors with the Leitz Cine Discovery Prize. The winning filmmaker will receive an endowment of €4,000.
Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award
For the sixth year, La Semaine de la Critique Jury will give the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award to an actor or actress from one of the competition's seven feature films and ten short films. This prize rewards the performer's work in one of their first appearances on the silver screen or in a particularly remarkable performance in their career. In 2018, Félix Maritaud received the award for his role in the feature film Sauvage, in 2019, it was Ingvar E. Sigurðsson for the movie Hvítur, Hvítur Dagur (A White, White Day), in 2021 Sandra Melissa Torres for the movie Amparo, in 2022 Zelda Samson Love according to Dalva and in 2023, Jovan Ginić received the award for his performance in Lost Country. Always keen to support emerging talents, the Louis Roederer Foundation pursues its commitment alongside La Semaine de la Critique as the sponsor of this €5,000 prize awarded to the winner.
Awards given by our partners
GAN Foundation Award for Distribution
The Gan Foundation for Cinema will grant, within La Semaine de la Critique, an award to help distribute a first or second feature film in France in the hope of promoting new filmmakers. This Award for Distribution proves the unwavering support of the Gan Foundation for emerging talents and is given to the French distributor of one of the seven feature films in competition. The winning distributors will receive €20,000 all tax included and in return they will have to come up with one or several marketing strategies for the film release. For 37 years, the Gan Foundation for Cinema has accompanied the artists from the writing stage through the screening of their films in cinemas. It rewards ambitious and original feature films, both fiction and animation and until today it helped more then 220 filmmakers. Corporate Foundation of Gan Assurance, the Gan Foundation is one of the most important private sponsors for French cinema. In 2022, The Gan Foundation Award for Distribution was awarded to Pyramide Films, French distributor for Inshallah a boy by Amjad Al Rasheed.
SACD Award
The SACD (Authors Society) supports festivals that promote new authors like La Semaine de la Critique through the funds generated by the private copy. The SACD Award is given to one of the seven feature films in competition. The winning author will be awarded €4,000 Gross. The jury is made up of filmmakers that are members of the board of directors of the SACD. Since 2011, the SACD Prize went to: Jeff Nichols for Take Shelter, Meni Yaes for God's Neighbors, Sébastien Pilote for Le Démentèlement, Gaëlle Denis for Crocodile, César Augusto Acevedo for La Tierra y la sombra, Davy Chou and Claire Maugendre for Diamond Island, Léa Mysius for AVA, Benedikt Erlingsson & Ólafur Egill Egilsson for Woman At War, César Díaz for Nestras Masdres. And more recently to Elie Grappe and Raphaëlle Desplechin for Olga, Andrés Ramírez Pulido for La Jauría and in 2023 to Iris Kaltenbäck for Le Ravissement.
Canal + Award for short film
The Canal+ Award is given to one of the ten short and medium-length films in competition by the Short and Creative Programmes at Canal+. They buy the rights for the winning film to screen it on TV. Since its creation in 1992, the Canal+ Award has led to the screening of short films by Chris Landreth, Bill Plympton, Denis Villeneuve, Daniel Joseph Borgman, Gaëlle Denis or more recently Antoine de Bary, Aleksandra Terpińska, Elias Belkeddar, Andrias Høgenni, Manolis Mavris, Evi Kalogiropoulou or Nans Laborde-Jourdàa.
Other Award
The Caméra d'Or
Created in 1978, the Caméra d'or award goes to the best debut feature presented in either the Official Selection, the Directors' Fortnight or La Semaine de la Critique. The prize is awarded during the Festival’s Closing Ceremony by the president of the dedicated jury. In 2019, César Díaz joined the list of La Semaine de la Critique’s directors winners of the Caméra d’or with Nuestras Madres (Our Mothers).