On December 17th the Académie des Lumières announced the films in competition for the 24th Lumières de la Presse Internationale. The award was created in 1995 by Daniel Toscan du Plantier and Edward Behr to make the international press more aware of French films. Every year Paris-based foreign journalists give the awards to the best French films. Of the 130 films shown in cinemas in 2018, 37 have been selected to be assessed by 80 foreign correspondents representing more than 30 countries.
Three films from the Mediterranean are in the Francophone Countries category. Among them, Anja Kofmel’s documentary Chris the Swiss, which shows Croatia during the Yugoslav conflict in 1992. There are also two Lebanese film-makers in this category: Nadine Labaki with Capharnaüm (Jury Prize at Cannes 2018) and Ziad Doueiri with L‘Insulte.
Five feature-length films compete in the documentary category, including Samouni Road by the Italian Stefano Savona, released in France on November 7th. Claire Simon has her latest documentary Premières solitudes, and Dominique Marchais has Nul homme n’est une île.
The award ceremony of the Lumières de la Presse Internationale will take place on February 4th 2019 at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. The award-winning films will each receive a trophy called a Flamme, designed by Joaquin Jiménez and made by the Monnaie de Paris.
Sources: https://www.lesinrocks.com/, http://ecrannoir.fr
