Edition 2023

Selection committee

The films screened at the Les Arcs Film Festival are selected by a committee of industry professionals. Committee members are chosen to reflect diverse voices within the industry: men, women, veterans and newcomers.

Our artistic director, Frédéric Boyer, has the ultimate authority to settle debates and make final decisions, after careful and respective consultation of the other members.

The various members are listed below, in descending alphabetical order — with the exception of the artistic director — to shake things up a bit.

Frédéric Boyer (feature film committee)

Frédéric is our artistic director. You could say he’s the Big Boss of the selection committee. Roadie, record dealer, video-club employee, prop master, boom operator… What job hasn't he done throughout his long career in music and film?

He also ran the Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival and is the current artistic director of the famous Tribeca Film Festival. The French Cinematheque is his second home (some might even say his first).

His tender heart's favourite genre is melodrama.

In the team, he always listens to his coworkers and sometimes changes his mind about films (Editor's note: this is an understatement) to trick the committee into believing that the selection process is democratic. At the end of the day, he's the one responsible for the final programme and answering our audience’s eternal question: "Why don’t you show more comedies?".

His guilty pleasure is I am Sam by Jessie Nelson but his cult favourite is Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino.

His favourite film sequence is the shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho — and 78/52, the documentary about it. Too predictable? Ok, let's dig a little deeper: he also loves all the celebrity impressions scenes in The Trip by Michael Winterbottom.

His favourite villain is Malcolm Mc Dowell in A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick and his favourite animal is the crow in The Hawks and the Sparrows by Pier Paolo Pasolini.

 

Finally, his favourite mountain scenes are those in Fred Zinnemann’s Five Days One Summer.


Solenn Touchard Durmord (feature film committee)

After earning a Bachelor's degree in the Promotion of Cultural Events at ICART, and a Master's in Audiovisual Communication at Paris 8, Solenn ran the festival's Communications team for three years and is now back for a fourth edition as the Head of the Film Department!

Her favourite genre is horror comedies like What We Do in the Shadows and Shaun of the Dead!

Her — barely — guilty pleasure is to overanalyze teen movies (this is a no-judgement zone), to uncover their unrivaled feminist subtext and ensure that films such as Jennifer's Body by Karyn Kusama or Clueless by Amy Heckerling get the respect and admiration they deserve..

The film she rewatches the most? That would be Arrival, the best alien film, the best film about transmission and language. In short, a masterpiece (according to her). But her favourite European film is A Blonde in Love by Miloš Forman.

Her favourite villain is the antagonist in High Tension. Those coveralls and that face gave her nightmares for a long time... (tell me about it!)

When it comes to animals on the silver screen, she loves all the Fantastic Mr Fox gang, but she has a soft spot for Ash, the atypical son because "he is so... different"!

The Hoovers' frenzied dance to “Superfreak” in Little Miss Sunshine is her favourite film scene (I can already see her on the dancefloor), and her favourite mountain scenes are those from Ex Machina — because peaks are just as stunning in the summer!


Chiara Rosaia

Chiara is a new addition to this year’s festival, which she joins as the Selection Committee Intern. For the past five years she’s been collaborating with various Italian film festivals to help hone her critical skills while earning a Master’s in Cinema Studies from Paris 8 and Turin universities.

Her favourite films are independent auteur movies and documentaries, but when it comes to genre films, she has a soft spot for dystopian sci-fi.

Her guilty pleasures are the shows Girls and Call My Agent! (French TV Shows are the best, aren't they?)

Her cult favourite is — obviously — Holy Motors by Leos Carax. (we wonder what she thinks about Annette)

Her favourite scene is the finale in Lars von Trier’s Mélancholia (not the most uplifting...!)

Her favourite villain is Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) in The Devil Wears Prada. (who else)

Her favourite on-screen animal is the dachshund in Wiener-Dog (Todd Solondz).

Her favourite movie soundtrack is from Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut.

Her favourite mountain scene is the avalanche in Force Majeure by Ruben Östlund.

And last but not least, her favourite European film is A Short Film About Love by Krzysztof Kieślowski.


Pascaline Meunier (feature and short film committees)

After studying film and multimedia at the New Sorbonne University, Pascaline is now Head of Audience Development at Les Arcs Film Festival.

Her favourite genre is the docu-drama, and her guilty pleasure is Mamma Mia, the ultimate feel-good musical (here we go again!).

Her cult films are Faces and Husbands — but honestly any film by John Cassavetes will do. On the European cinema side, she loves Martin Eden by Pietro Marcello.

Her favourite villain is Ben (Benoît Poelvoorde), the Belgian serial killer in Man bites dog! She has plenty of favourite movie animals, but if she had to adopt just one, it would be Belle, Belle and Sebastien's Pyrenean Mountain Dog!

If she could only save one film scene, it would be the one where the exceptional cast of Mommy sing the Celine Dion song "On ne change pas" in the Xavier Dolan film!

Finally, her favourite on-screen mountains are the splendid peaks in A Hidden Life by Terrence Malick, a beautiful film shot in the Austrian Alps.


Océane Levert

Océane joins the Les Arcs Film Festival this year as Assistant within our Film Department. While in business school (she got a little side-tracked!), she joined a film club and collaborated with fellow students to organise a European Short Film Festival.

Her favourite films are musicals blended with genre elements — the result can sometimes be chaotic, but she loves it! Films like The Happiness of the Katakuris by Takashi Miike or Phantom of the Paradise by Brian de Palma are real standouts.

Even if she’s a bit reluctant to admit it, her guilty pleasure is very, very corny K-Dramas.

She struggles to choose, but if pressed she’d say her cult favourites are Battle Royal by Kinji Fukasku and the Jacques Demy musical Les Demoiselles de Rochefort.

Her favourite scene is the incredible opening sequence in Mother by Bong Joon Ho (also one of her favourite soundtracks!).

Her favourite film baddies are Peter and Paul in Michael Haneke’s Funny Games. Unfortunate and terrifying “neighbours”.

Her favourite on-screen animal is more of an insect, and more than a bit creepy… It's the titular fly in David Cronenberg’s The Fly.

Her all-time favourite movie soundtrack is Susumu Hirasawa’s colourful composition for Paprika by Satoshi Kon.

Her favourite scene in the mountains is a real classic: the attack of the Huns in Mulan.

Her favourite European film is one that left her reeling when she first saw it in the cinema: The Celebration by Thomas Vinterberg.


Pierre-Emmanuel Fleurantin (feature film committee)

Pierre-Emmanuel is one of the co-founders and the CEO of the Festival. After finishing a dual Master's degree in Art, Cinema and Economics, and a DESS in Audiovisual Communications Law at La Sorbonne, he's been spending his long workdays producing films and TV series for over 15 years.

A child at heart, his favourite genre is and will always be the Western.

Within the committee, he is known as a master at pulling off complexe strategies (nope, having good taste and authority aren’t enough for our little gang...).

His guilty pleasures are Tropic Thunder by Ben Stiller and Francis the First with Fernandel. But when asked publicly, he’ll proudly answer that his all-time favourite is Dersu Uzala by Akira Kurozawa. A true knockout.

His favourite scene is the tuna fishing in Stromboli and the villain who still sends shivers down his spine is Madame Medusa from The Rescuers.

 

Finally, his favourite mountain scene is when the gang are introduced to "la Fougne" in French Fried Vacation 2. It probably reminds him of his own childhood in the Alps...


Guillaume Calop (feature and short film committees)

Guillaume is one of the co-founders of the Festival and its General Manager. He also runs a creative label (Chalet Pointu) that releases little-known and rare films, such as animated shorts, on DVD. He's a film lover with broad taste, which ranges from Judd Apatow comedies to “BBB” (Beautiful But Boring) films. He's one of the gang’s short film champions.

His guilty pleasure is The Sound of Music by Robert Wise. You can sometimes catch him singing "Do-Re-Mi" (only in private).

His cult favourite is Dimensions of Dialogue by Jan Svankmajer and his favourite film scene is in Victoria by Sebastian Schipper (it’s easy, the entire film is one shot!).

His favourite animal is Totoro (what do you mean it's not a real animal?).

 

His favourite mountain film scene: James Brown in Ski Party, arriving at a party on skis before launching into a rendition of “I Feel Good”.

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