Under the High Patronage of S.A.S. Prince Albert II of Monaco and the Italian Embassy in Monaco, Claude Lelouch, French director and twice Oscar winner, will be the President of the Jury of the 15th edition of the Monte-Carlo Film Festival of Comedy that will take place from February 26 to March 3, 2018 in the Principality of Monaco.
Founded and directed by Ezio Greggio, the Monte-Carlo Film Festival is the world’s first film festival featuring comedy. This year, it will take place in the prestigious Grimaldi Forum in Monte-Carlo together with its array of different conference rooms, where there will be alternate screenings and masterclasses with the most beloved actors and actresses of international cinema, Italian and French, and which will culminate in the traditional Gala evening with the awarding of Prizes, on Saturday March 3rd.
“It is an honour for us to have Claude Lelouch accept our invitation to preside over the Jury. It will be, for him, a very pleasing return to Monaco, to be presiding at this festival, rewarding him for his lengthy and illustrious career. Lelouch is a legend in the history of contemporary cinema,” says Ezio Greggio.
Director, screenwriter and producer, Claude Lelouch has a distinguished and rich history in film production that reached its pinnacle in 1966, with “Un Homme et Une Femme” (A Man and a Woman) ” with Anouk Aimée and Jean Louis Trintignant, winning many awards including the Palme d’Or in Cannes and two Oscars: one for the best foreign film and the one for the best original script. Among his best-known films, there is also “Salaud, on t’aime”, (2014), “Roman de Gare” (2007), and “Les Misérables” (1995) from the famous novel by Victor Hugo, for which film he obtained a Golden Globe.
The main purpose of the Monte-Carlo Film Festival is to promote and broadcast the various genres of comedy through film previews of the films that are competing for Prizes at the Festival and in showing other relevant films. Monte Carlo provides a unique showcase in the international arena for a genre much loved by the public, but often considered “minor” by critics. Thanks to the commitment of Ezio Greggio and the late Mario Monicelli (co-founder of the Festival), this prestigious event has allowed us all to re-evaluate comedy as well as establish the Monte Carlo Film Festival as a peer among international festivals such as Cannes, Rome and Venice.
