Awards for 4 ESSEC Producers at Cannes Film Festival

Numerous ESSEC alumni work in the film industry. No less than 4 ESSEC producers featured in the list of nominees for the 75th Cannes Film Festival this year!  

The Best Actress award went to Holy Spider, produced by the company Wild Bunch, which was founded by Vincent Grimond (E78) 20 years ago. Prior to starting his own production company, Vincent Grimond had already gained solid experience in the audiovisual sector, as Managing Director of Group Canal+ subsidiaries, CEO of Studio Canal and Senior Executive Vice President of Universal Studios. A successful change in direction after an early career in financial management with Indosuez, Club Med and Cap Gemini! Wild Bunch has since become a major player in the European film production and distribution sector, with numerous award-winning hits, including March of the Penguins, Blue is the Warmest Colour or Polisse. Directed by Ali Abbasi, Holy Spider recounts a Teheran journalist’s descent into the most dangerous suburbs of the holy city of Mashhad, as she investigates a serious of murders involving prostitutes.

The award for Best Screenplay went to Walad Min Al Janna, produced by Memento Films, which was co-founded by Alexandre Mallet-Guy (E99). Alexandre Mallet-Guy has been working as an independent producer and distributor for 20 years, following management positions in both finance and distribution for the film company Pan-Européenne. His catalogue includes several film gems, such as The Swallows of Kabul, BPM (Beats per Minute), Frances Ha and Slack Bay. Directed by Tarik Saleh, Walad Min Al Janna tells the story of Adam, a modest fisherman’s son, who enrols in the prestigious Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the epicentre of Sunni Islam. He unwittingly finds himself at the centre of a merciless power struggle between the country’s religious and political elite.

Lastly, a happy coincidence for the Un Certain Regard award for Best Performance: the joint winners were films produced by ESSEC alumni! 

Harka was produced by Cinenovo, the company founded by Julie Viez (E11). She began her career at Warner Bros. before moving to the financial department of Pan Européenne. She worked at the same time as a script reader for Studio 37 and Canal+. She was then appointed Head of Economic Affairs and Communication with the Association des Producteurs de Cinéma (APC), before joining the production teams of The Film and CG Cinema and finally moving on to create her own company. Harka is one of Cinenovo’s first hits. Directed by Lotfy Nathan, the films tells the story of Ali, a young Tunisian who leads a solitary life selling contraband petrol on the black market, with dreams of a better future. When his father dies, he is forced to take care of his younger sisters, left to fend for themselves in a house they are soon to be evicted from. This sudden responsibility and injustice awakens his sense of anger and revolt. The anger and revolt of a generation which, almost ten years after the revolution, is still struggling to be heard.

The other winner, Corsage, was produced by the company Kazak Productions, founded by Jean-Christophe Reymond (E99). Also a graduate of Femis film school, the producer already has several successful productions to his name, including Titane, Palme d’Or in 2021, The Wakhan Front, nominated for a Best First French Film César in 2016 and Ce qu’il Restera de Nous, which won the César for Best Short Film in 2013. Directed by Marie Kreutzer, Corsage portrays Elisabeth of Austria (the famous Sissi) at the time of her 40th birthday in 1887. Wife of Emperor Franz-Joseph I, she does not have the right to express herself and is forced into a rigorous life of fasting, exercise and daily rituals to maintain the beauty her role demands. Suffocated by these conventions and thirsty for knowledge and life, she grows increasingly rebellious...

Last but not least, Davy Chou (E09) was in the running for the Un Certain Regard prize for his third film Retour à Séoul (Return to Seoul), which follows 25-year-old Freddie as she travels for the first time to Korea, on an impulse, to see the country where she was born. After Cambodia 2099, nominated for the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs in 2014, and Diamond Island, SACD 2016 winner at Cannes, the director is gradually carving out a place for himself at the Croisette!

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