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Sandrine Bonnaire will oversee the Luxembourg City Film Festival's international jury during its 2021 edition (Photo: Gianmarco Chieregato) 

After the 2020 edition of the festival was cut short because of the pandemic, this year’s edition is taking place in a hybrid format from 4 to 14 March but without visits from international guests.

Nonetheless, an international jury will choose the best films of this year’s selection, with Bonnaire announced on 18 February as the jury’s president. Other members include:

  • Lolita Chammah, actor – France
  • Marie-Ange Luciani, producer – France
  • Gilles Marchand, writer & director – France
  • Mounia Meddour, director – France, Algeria
  • Finnegan Oldfield, actor – France, UK
  • Christina Schaffer, art director – Luxembourg, Germany

The members of the jury all live in Paris and festival organisers hope they will be able to meet for their deliberations.

Bonnaire delivered her breakthrough performance aged 15 in Maurice Pialat’s “À nos amours”, which earned her the César Award for most promising actress.

She has since worked with cinema greats such Jacques Rivette, André Téchiné, Raymond Depardon, Régis Wargnier, Brian de Palma and Agnès Varda.

Bonnaire received the Volpi Cup for best actress at the Venice Film Festival in 1995 for her performance in Claude Chabrol’s “La Cérémonie”. In 2012, she directed her first fiction feature film, “J’enrage de son absence”.

The festival’s prize in the documentary category will be awarded by the Europa Film Festivals federation, which brings together 12 international festivals, including:

  • Galway Film Fleadh, Republic of Ireland
  • Luxembourg City Film Festival, Luxembourg (excluded from voting)
  • Belfast Film Festival, Northern Ireland
  • Reykjavik International Film Festival, Iceland
  • Gijón International Film Festival, Spain
  • Noordelijk Film Festival, the Netherlands
  • Filmfest Hamburg, Germany
  • Athens International Film Festival, Greece
  • Geneva International Film Festival, Switzerland
  • Festival de films Cinemania, Montreal, Canada
  • Midnight Sun Film Festival, Finland
  • Festival international du film indépendant de Bordeaux, France

This article was first published in French on paperjam.lu and has been translated and edited for Delano.