MUMBAI: French actress Sabine Azéma will preside over the Caméra d’or Jury this year, to select the best first film presented in Cannes.

Following in the footsteps of Bong Joon-Ho, Gael García Bernal, Carlos Diegues and Nicole Garcia, Azéma is getting ready to dedicate her enthusiasm and love of cinema to the directors of their first film.

She will be accompanied by the director Delphine Gleize, the actor Melvil Poupaud, Claude Garnier representing the AFC (French Association for Cinematographers), Didier Huck, representing the FICAM (Federation of Cinema, Audiovisual and Multimedia Industries), Yann Gonzalez, representing the SRF (Society of Film Directors) and Bernard Payen, representing the SFCC (French Union of Cinema Critique).

The Caméra d’or, created in 1978, is awarded to the best first film presented in the Official Selection (In Competition, Out of Competition and Un Certain Regard), during La Semaine de la Critique or the Directors’ Fortnight, which represents a total of 26 films in 2015.

The Caméra d’or boosts a filmmaker’s career by offering him exemplary visibility and international opportunities. Jim Jarmusch, Mira Nair, Naomi Kawase, Bahman Ghobadi and Steve McQueen were awarded this in the past. In 2014, the award went to the French film Party Girl, presented in the Official Selection, Un Certain Regard.

The Jury president will award the Caméra d’or 2015 during the Awards Ceremony on 24 May.