Cannes: Valérie Donzelli to head Critics' Week jury

French director and actress Valérie Donzelli is to preside over the jury of the 55th Critics’ Week, the oldest parallel section of the Cannes Film Festival.

Donzelli, whose autobiographical film Declaration of War opened the 50th Critics’ Week and returned to Cannes in Competition last year with Marguerite & Julien, will award the Nespresso Grand Prize and the France 4 Visionary Award to one of the seven feature films in competition, as well as the Leica Cine Discovery Prize to one of 10 short films.

This year’s jury comprises filmmakers who debuted their first or second feature in Critics’ Week in the past five years.

The jury also includes director Alice Winocour, whose Augustine screened at Critics’ Week 2011 and was selected for Un Certain Regard with Disorder last year before winning the César Award for best original screenplay for Mustang.

Also on the jury is Israeli director Nadav Lapid, whose feature The Kindergarten Teacher played Critics’ Week 2014; US writer-director David Robert Mitchell, whose cult horror It Follows was in competition at Critics’ Week 2014; and Argentina’s Santiago Mitre, winner of the Nespresso Grand Prize in 2015 with his film Paulina.