Selection Committees

Film journalist and critic for Les Inrockuptibles and for the magazine TroisCouleurs.

A journalist and film critic for Première magazines and TroisCouleurs, Damien Leblanc was also the programmer of the Couleurs de la Toile film club. Damien takes part of several festival juries and hosts debates and films presentations. Before joining the feature film selection committee, he has been member of the shorts films selection committee in 2022. In addition, he published an analytical book on the Mad Men TV serie published by Playlist Society.

Film critic and writer for Transfuge, Positif and FrenchMania magazines. He also contributes to Le Cercle on Canal+. Frédéric teaches film history and film criticism, has worked on many special features for the DVDs of newly restored films and has his own film club in the outskirts of Paris. In 2016, he published his first book, Les écrivains du 7ème art, published by Séguier then he collaborated on writing Joanna Hogg's monograph and worked on a collective book on Raoul Walsh.

Olivier Pelisson is a journalist and film critic, he writes for Bande à Part, Bref and for Canal+ Grand Écran channel. He used to work for Zurban, DvdLive, Monsieur Cinéma, Le Cinéma dans les yeux, French Mania and Top of the Shorts show on Canal+ Cinema. Over the years, Pélisson has been programmer (Paris Film Festival), script reader (France 2 Cinéma, CNC), he has hosted some film critic workshops (Paris, Cannes, Hambourg, Bakouriani, Erevan), festivals debates and meetings (La Ciotat, Moulins). He takes part of international juries and is a member of the board of directors of the French Union of Film Critics. Olivier Pelisson is one of the contributor of Dictionnaire Eustache published by Léo Sheer editions. Since 2015, he is in La Semaine de la Critique selection committee.

Perrine Quennesson is an independant journalist who writes for several magazines such as CinémaTeaser, Film Français and Trois couleurs. She created and hosts the 7e Science podcast where Science meets cinema (produced by Sorbonne University and Binge Audio). Perrine Quennesson participates in Tchi Tcha and Le Cercle Séries shows, collaborates with many festivals (Lumière, Séries Mania, Champs Elysées Film Festival...) and with VOD plateform (FilmoTV). Beside that, she is a professor at l’Ecole Supérieure d’Etudes Cinématographiques (ESEC) in Paris.

Ava Cahen has been the artistic director of La Semaine de la Critique since the 61st edition (2022). In 2017, she co-founded the website frenchmania.fr, dedicated to French and Francophone cinema, and is still its co-chief editor. She has been a commentator on Canal +'s Le Cercle since 2014, and between 2021 and 2023, she took part in a number of Le Masque et La Plume programs on France Inter. She has published several books on cinema and series (Woody Allen, profession cynique, Cheforama, la gastronomie au cinéma, FrenchMania la revue, Game of Thrones, décodé). She regularly takes part in juries and workshops at international festivals such as Morelia IFF, Busan IFF, Reykjavik IFF, Xining IFF (First), Jerusalem IFF Workshop, Marrakech IFF Atlas Workshops and Sarajevo IFF.

Picture © Aurélie Lamachère

Coordinator

Marie-Pauline Mollaret is a film critic for the magazines Bref, L'Avant-Scène Cinema and Ecran Noir. She works as programmer and is a member of the selection sommittees of Annecy International Animated Film Festival (End Studies Film) and the PIAFF - the Paris International Animation Film Festival (Young audience and experimental competition). In addition, she co-hosts Bulles de rêves program of Radio Libertaire dedicated to animation cinema and takes part of Les Couleurs de la toile movie club's organization at the parisian theater Les 3 Luxembourg. For the past 6 years, Marie-Pauline was on the short film selection committee of La Semaine de la Critique and became its coordinator in 2022.

Chloé Cavillier got a Literature and arts master degree and works with Critikat and Bref reviews. She has been a member of Pantin Côté Court festival’s selection committee for 3 years and she is now the deputee programmer of Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé and a university lecturer at Paris Nanterre. In 2020, she received the Young Critic Award from the French Union of Film Critics and became a member of the short film committee selection of La Semaine de la Critique in 2022.

A journalist for Les Fiches du cinéma, the co-host of the radio programme Longtemps je me suis couché de bonne heure, Thomas Fouet co-founded and was the chief editor of online magazine Cinématraque, the co-chief editor of Capsules, the co-writer of Les Sortilèges du blockbuster and is a member of the short film selection committee of La Semaine de la Critique (2017-2019 and 2022-2023).

Léo Ortuno is a journalist and film critic who writes for Court-Circuit (Arte), Viva Cinéma (Ciné+), Bande à Part, and So Film. He also works as a programmer and a member of the selection committees for the Poitiers Film Festival and the Contis European Film Festival, and hosts discussions and Q&A with filmmakers. For the past two years, Léo Ortuno has been part of the short film selection committee for La Semaine de la Critique, and in 2024, he became its coordinator.

A journalist and a film critic, Marie-Pauline Mollaret is the editor-in-chief of the web magazine EcranNoir.fr and a columnist for several specialised magazines, such as the monthly magazine L'Avant-scène Cinéma, and Bref, dedicated to short films. Marie-Pauline also works as a programmer and is a member of the selection committees of various festivals, including the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, and the PIAFF - the Paris International Animation Film Festival.