Edition 2026
Jury 2026
FEATURE FILM JURY
Kleber Mendonça Filho, President of the Feature Film Jury for this 18th edition
Kleber Mendonça Filho was born in Recife, northeastern Brazil. He graduated in journalism and had an extensive career as a critic and programmer, writing for numerous renowned outlets. He is the artistic director of the Janela Internacional de Cinema do Recife and the chief curator of cinema at the Moreira Salles Institute.
In 2012, Neighboring Sounds, his first fiction feature, was named one of The New York Times' 10 Best Films of the Year. His second feature, Aquarius(2016), debuted in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 2018, he co-wrote and co-directed, alongside Juliano Dornelles, Bacurau, which won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. His documentary Pictures of Ghosts, seven years in the making, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023.
His last feature to date, The Secret Agent (2025) starred Wagner Moura and won the Best Director and Best Actor Awards at the Cannes Film Festival. It earned 4 nominations at the Academy Awards in 2026.
SHORT FILM JURY
Louise Courvoisier, President of the Short Film Jury for the 18th edition!
Born in Geneva in 1994 to a Swiss father and a Canadian-German mother, Louise Courvoisier grew up in the Jura region before studying filmmaking at CinéFabrique in Lyon. Her graduation film, Mano a Mano, won First Prize in the Cinéfondation selection at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
She went on to direct a second short film, La Jarretière, before making her feature debut with Holy Cow (Vingt Dieux) in 2024. A heartfelt tale of love and cheesemaking, rooted in a Jura farm and inspired by her own childhood, the film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes, where it immediately stood out and won the Youth Award. A critical and popular success, attracting more than 900,000 admissions in France, it went on to win the prestigious Jean Vigo Prize, followed in 2025 by the César Award for Best First Film and the César Award for Most Promising Actress for its lead performer, Maïwène Barthélémy.
