La Semaine de la Critique: 60 years of films

In the days leading up to this 60th edition, it is impossible not to mention Nelly Kaplan. She was the one who came up with the name for this first parallel selection of the Cannes Film Festival. It is also impossible not to remember Bertrand Tavernier fondly; a passionate, demanding cinephile, and, until the very end, a staunch supporter of La Semaine de la Critique’s vital endeavours to encourage filmmaking, now and for the future. La Semaine is a first for so many people. It’s a place where authors and filmmakers, new trends, new genres, unchartered territories are revealed; where talents are discovered. In seven years, Next Step has helped 65 filmmakers (43% of whom are women) towards making their first feature film. La Semaine is a place of renewal. After the terrible times the film industry has been through, the prospect of discovering the new filmmakers of this post-pandemic world is both unbelievable and essential.

That’s why the SACD is prouder than it has ever been to be supporting La Semaine de la Critique and to be giving an award, on behalf of screenwriters, to the one who will, once again, prove that filmmaking is vital. 

Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar
Filmmaker and Chairman of the SACD Film Commission