The MOV’IN Cannes jury

Jacques Ballard

Director of Photography (AFC)

For several years now, he has been exploring filming in aquatic environments, where the body and movement take on a unique dimension.
As the son of a painter, he developed a sensitivity to images, colour and light at a very early age.

This sensitivity to the visual arts, a fascination with physics and movement, and a desire to tell stories guide his cinematic work, and it is in water that he expresses this most fully. This space where gravity disappears, where the body regains a suspended grace, where the light is so unique.

He collaborates regularly with director Julie Gautier, with whom he shot AMA, a free-diving choreography filmed in the world’s deepest swimming pool, which has surpassed 75 million views and won an award at the Berlin Music Video Awards.

He also directed the visuals for the music video Runnin’ for Naughty Boy and Beyoncé, selected for the prestigious Camerimage festival.
He is shooting the film The Deep House (2021) almost entirely underwater, for which he and his team are developing specific and innovative technical setups.
He has worked on over 200 commercials and documentaries filmed in more than 30 countries.

Elise Gaiardo

Director, screenwriter

After a career in advertising at Publicis, she turned her attention to the world of cinema and cut her teeth in Paris as an actress. There, she discovered acting and directing.

In Los Angeles, she set up her production company, The Wild and The Free, and wrote the series CONFUSED, for which she directed the pilot (45 mins). CONFUSED was nominated at the NEW YORK TELEVISION FESTIVAL and won the CALCUTTA INTERNATIONAL CULT FILM FESTIVAL.

In Los Angeles, Elise also produced music videos and adverts and developed her one-woman show. She also wrote concepts for mini-series for CANAL+ and Accor Hotels.

Since returning to France, Elise has been developing a new comedy series, JULIETTE (8×26 – with Asacha Media), two feature films including BIG, co-written with Thibaud Segouin (César Award for Best Screenplay), an adaptation of a novel, and has directed two short films: BIGGER (Grand Prix at the MOV’IN Cannes International Dance Film Competition, Best Film Award at the Urban Film Festival and the Pierre Cardin Festival) and the absurdly funny MIAOU.

Elise loves to create powerful and intimate worlds, often explored through the body and dance, where a polished aesthetic reveals the full uniqueness of the human condition, with a hint of magic and a touch of humour.

Pontus Lidberg

Choreographer, filmmaker, dancer

Born in Stockholm, Pontus Lidberg has established himself as a leading figure on the contemporary dance scene, developing a distinctive body of work at the intersection of dance and film. A recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in 2019, he has built an international career marked by creations for both the stage and the screen.

His choreographies have been performed by leading companies, including the Paris Opera Ballet, the New York City Ballet, the Martha Graham Dance Company, the Ballets de Monte-Carlo, the Vienna State Opera Ballet, the Royal Swedish Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, the Semperoper Ballett Dresden, the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Beijing Dance Theater. His work is regularly commissioned by major institutions and festivals such as the Venice Biennale, Montpellier Danse, the Théâtre National de Chaillot, The Joyce Theater in New York, the New York City Center and the Havana International Ballet Festival.

Among his notable works are Siren, which won the UNEAC Villanueva Award in Cuba, and Centaur, which explores artificial intelligence in dance and received the Lumen Prize Nordic Award in 2021.

As a filmmaker, he has made a name for himself with *The Rain*, which was praised by *The New York Times*, and *Labyrinth Within*, winner of the Dance on Camera Festival in 2012. His first feature film, *Written on Water*, starring Aurélie Dupont, was screened at the FIFA in Montreal in 2021.

He was director of the Danish Dance Theatre from 2018 to 2023 and, since December 2024, has been artistic director of the Ballet de l’Opéra de Nice Côte d’Azur.