Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoyen (Stockholm, The Realm, Madre, The Beasts), who was nominated for the best international film honor at Italy’s David Di Donatello Awards, has been named jury president of this year’s Cannes Critics’ Week, the festival sidebar run by the French film critics’ union that focuses on first and second features from up-and-coming directors.
In a social media clip shared on Friday, Sorogoyen called the jury duty “a great responsibility.”
Originally set up by an association of French film critics in 1962, Critics’ Week is the oldest non-official Cannes sidebar. The section is credited with discovering some of the biggest names in independent and arthouse cinema, from Ken Loach and Alejandro González Iñárritu to Andrea Arnold and Justine Triet.
The top prize at Critics’ Week in 2023 went to Tiger Stripes from first-time Malaysian director Amanda Nell Eu, with Belgium-set drama It’s Raining in the House from director Paloma Sermon-Daï taking the jury prize
The Critics’ Week jury awards prizes for best film, the French Touch Prize of the Jury, the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for best actor or actress, and the Leitz Ciné Discovery Prize for best short film in the selection.
The 63rd edition of Critics’ Week (La Semaine de la Critique) runs May 15-23.
