FIPRESCI Concludes a Special Participation at 78th Cannes Film Festival

The 78^th Cannes Film Festival wrapped on May 24^th, after a special edition for FIPRESCI. During Cannes, film critics from all over the world celebrated the 100th anniversary of their federation, which was initiated as an idea by critics from Belgium and France in 1925, and gave the first FIPRESCI award in the first edition of Cannes in 1946.

On May 16^th, Hungarian director István Szabó received a FIPRESCI 100 lifetime achievement award before the world premiere of the restored copy of his film Sunshine. Szabó, who won the FIPRESCI Cannes prize in 1980 for his Mephisto, received the award from the festival general delegate Thierry Fremaux and FIPRESCI president Ahmed Shawky.

Members from more than 30 countries gathered with the jury and board members on May 19^th in a FIPRESCI cocktail organised in the Egyptian Pavilion, (winner of 2025 pavilion design award), at the international village. Partner festivals of Cairo and El Gouna hosted FIPRESCI members for this special event celebrating the federation’s centennial.

On the evening of May 20^th, the jury and board members were invited to join the festival’s annual international press dinner. During the event, the festival general delegate Thierry Fremaux spoke about FIPRESCI and invited the federation president to give a speech about the historical collaboration between Cannes and FIPRESCI.

The following evening witnessed the FIPRESCI jury, presided by Australian critic CJ Johnson, climbing the stairs of the world premiere of Bi Gan’s “Resurrection”, with their names being announced to all the attendees.

Finally, and as usual, Salle des Ambassadeurs in the festival palace hosted the annual FIPRESCI award ceremony. The jury was there to announce the three winners of 2025. Brazilian filmmaker, writer, producer, and critic Kleber Mendonça Filho won best film in international competition for his film The Secret Agent.

FIPRESCI’s 100-year anniversary celebrations will go on throughout 2025. The celebratory events started in December 2024 with a series of events, panels, tributes, and workshops taking place in the federation’s partner festivals.

All the events were documented in photos by our photographer colleague Muhammed Hamed.

©FIPRESCI 2025