French Oscar Committee: ‘Coda’ Producer Philippe Rousselet, Hengameh Panahi, Grégoire Melin, Didar Domehri, Jacques Audiard, Michel Gondry Named As New Members

Melanie Goodfellow
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

International sales agents Hengameh Panahi, Grégoire Melin, producers Philippe Rousselet, Didar Domehri and directors Jacques Audiard and Michel Gondry have been named as the members of France’s new-look Oscar committee.

More from Deadline

They will be joined by veteran Gaumont executive Ariane Toscan du Plantier.

The announcement by the National Cinema Centre (CNC) follows news this week that the Ministry of Culture had set in a motion an overhaul of the commission.

Under the changes, the heads of the Cannes Film Festival, export agency Unifrance and the César Academy, who have traditionally been at the heart of the process, are no longer automatically part of the commission.

This means that long-time Cannes delegate general Thierry Frémaux will not be involved in the selection process for the first time in more than a decade.

The new members were selected by French Culture Minister Rima Abdul-Malak. CNC president Dominique Boutonnat and Unifrance president Serge Toubiana will sit in on the selection process as observers.

International sales agents and producers were first invited to join the Oscar selection committee in 2019, to add an extra layer of understanding of the American market to the process.

Both Panahi, who has handled multiple awards season contenders under her Celluloid Dreams banner, and Melin, whose company Kinology sold Leos Carax’s 2021/22 awards season hopeful Annette, bring this to the mix in spades.

Vendôme Group co-CEO Rousselet arrives on the committee fresh from the awards season triumph of Sian Heder’s Oscar best picture winner Coda.

The CNC, which oversees the selection process, has also announced the calendar for the selection process.

The committee will meet on September 15 to pre-select three to five films. The producers and sales agents for the pre-selected film will then be auditioned by the committee on September 22, ahead of a final decision.

The deadline for French films to be submitted for consideration is September 1.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.