Kering and the Festival de Cannes are pleased to present the 2023 Women In Motion Emerging Talent Award to Carmen Jaquier

As part of the ninth edition of Women In Motion, Kering and the Festival de Cannes will award the Emerging Talent Prize to a promising director who has directed her first feature film. This prize includes a grant of 50,000 euros to support the creation of her next film project. As in every year since 2019, the preceding Prize winner chooses her successor. This year, Sweden’s Ninja Thyberg selected Swiss director Carmen Jaquier.

The presentation will take place during the official Women In Motion dinner in Cannes, where actress Michelle Yeoh will receive the Women In Motion Award. Both awards will be presented by François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO of Kering; Iris Knobloch, President of the Festival de Cannes, and Thierry Frémaux, Director of the Festival de Cannes.

"I am very grateful to receive this award, especially from a visionary and inspiring director like Ninja Thyberg. Thanks to Women In Motion, I have a feeling of sorority, which touches me and gives me hope in this desire I have for reflection, rebellion, and transmission. I have special feelings for all the people – technicians, producers, screenwriters, actresses and actors – who fiercely committed themselves to my side for my first feature film, Thunder." Carmen Jaquier

In explaining her choice, Ninja Thyberg said about this film: “Thunder is an incredibly beautiful, life-affirming and innovative film that challenges conventional ideas of sexuality, God, pain and redemption. Carmen Jaquier is one hundred percent loyal to her female protagonist and this film has a truly female gaze. It is a great honor to pass on this award to her.”

Carmen Jaquier has been examining the constraints that imprison women since her first short film, Bouffe-moi, produced with three friends. In 2011, Le tombeau des filles, her graduation short film project at the “École cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL)”, won a Silver Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival. This theme is the basis of her other short films.

Launched in May 2015 by Kering as part of its partnership with the Festival de Cannes, Women In Motion has since become an integral part of its official program and has extended its reach around the world through a series of events. Every year in Cannes, the initiative recognizes inspiring figures and talented young women with its awards. The Emerging Talent Award, which comes with €50,000 to support the work of young female directors in the film industry, has already highlighted and supported the work of eight promising women: Leyla Bouzid (Tunisia), Gaya Jiji (Syria), Ida Panahandeh (Iran), Maysaloun Hamoud (Palestine), Carla Simón (Spain), Eva Trobisch (Germany), Maura Delpero (Italy), Shannon Murphy (Australia) and Ninja Thyberg (Sweden).

In parallel, the Women In Motion Award recognizes the careers and commitments of emblematic figures from the film world: Jane Fonda (2015), Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis (2016), Isabelle Huppert (2017), Patty Jenkins (2018), Gong Li (2019), Salma Hayek (2021), Viola Davis (2022) and, this year, Michelle Yeoh.

For the ninth year of its partnership with the Festival de Cannes, Kering pays tribute to Ninja Thyberg Winner of the 2022 Emerging Talent Award with the design of the official Women In Motion poster.

Gender equality is at the heart of Kering's commitments, and the ambition of Women In Motion is to highlight women’s contribution to the film industry, both in front of and behind the camera – and, more broadly, their contribution to culture and the arts.

About Carmen Jaquier

Born in Geneva in 1985, Carmen Jaquier studied graphic design and photography before directing her first short film, Bouffe-moi. She then entered the Ecole Cantonale d'Art de Lausanne (ECAL) and received the Pardino d'argento at the Locarno International Film Festival in 2011 for her graduation film Le tombeau des filles. Afterwards, she explores image and editing within the collective Aamen, bringing together women artists across several disciplines such as experimental video, music, and performance. She has directed several short films, including Le bal des sirènes and La rivière sous la langue, which concludes a trilogy on the underground links between the construction and transmission of desires. She participated in the collective feature film Heimatland, selected in 2015 at the Locarno International Film Festival. In 2018, she signed the image of the film A bright light - Karen and the process, by the artist Emmanuelle Antille, which was presented at the Festival Visions du réel in Nyon. Her first feature film, Foudre, had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in the Platform section. The film received more than a dozen awards in various international festivals, including the award for direction at the Marrakech International Film Festival. Her next film, Les paradis de Diane, will be a co-direction with the Zurich director Jan Gassmann.

About Women In Motion

Kering's commitment to women is at the heart of the Group's priorities and extends, through Women In Motion, to the field of arts and culture, where gender inequalities are still glaring, even though creation is one of the most powerful vectors for change.

In 2015, Kering launched Women In Motion at the Festival de Cannes with the ambition of highlighting women in cinema, both in front of and behind the camera. The program has since expanded in a major way to photography, but also to art, design, choreography, and music. Through its Awards, the program recognizes inspirational figures and emerging female talent, while its Talks and Podcasts provide an opportunity for leading personalities to share their views on the representation of women in their profession.

For the past nine years, Women In Motion has been a platform of choice that contributes to changing mind sets and thinking on the place of women - and the recognition they receive - in the arts and culture.

About Kering

A global Luxury group, Kering manages the development of a series of renowned Houses in Fashion, Leather Goods, Jewelry: Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Brioni, Boucheron, Pomellato, DoDo, Qeelin, as well as Kering Eyewear. By placing creativity at the heart of its strategy, Kering enables its Houses to set new limits in terms of their creative expression while crafting tomorrow’s Luxury in a sustainable and responsible way. We capture these beliefs in our signature: “Empowering Imagination”.

Press Contacts

Kering

Emilie Gargatte | +33 (0)1 45 64 61 20 | emilie.gargatte@kering.com

Eva Dalla Venezia | +33 (0)1 45 64 65 06 | eva.dallavenezia@kering.com

Credits Gareth Cattermole Contour by Getty Images