Lucile Hadžihalilović


Lucile Emina Hadzihalilovic is a French film director and screenwriter of Bosnian descent. She wrote and directed the short film La Bouche de Jean-Pierre, and the feature films Innocence —for which she became the first woman to win the Stockholm International Film Festival's Bronze Horse Award for Best Film—Evolution and Earwig. Her fourth feature film, The Ice Tower, was released in 2025.

Early life and education

Hadzihalilovic was born in Lyon, France on 7 May 1961, to Bosnian Yugoslav parents and grew up in Morocco until she was 17.
She studied art history and graduated from the prestigious French film school La Fémis in 1987 with the short film La Première Mort de Nono.

Career

1986–1998: Early work

Hadzihalilovic worked as an editor for a number of films before beginning her own projects. The first film she worked on was Sylvain Ledey's short Festin, after which she edited Alain Bourges' 1991 documentary Horizons artificiels , which has been described as "three confrontations between the discourse on architecture and the architecture of speech."
In the early 1990s, she began to collaborate with the Argentine filmmaker Gaspar Noé. She produced and edited Noé's short film Carne and its sequel, the feature-length I Stand Alone, and together they formed the production company Les Cinémas de la Zone in 1991. Noé explained their coming together as business partners: "we discovered that we shared a desire to make films atypical and we decided together to create our own society, Les Cinémas de la Zone, in order to finance our projects." Hadzihalilovic's first film after her graduation, La Bouche de Jean-Pierre, was a result of this collaborative effort. Hadzihalilovic wrote, edited, produced, and directed the film while Noé worked as the cinematographer. La Bouche de Jean-Pierre was shown during the Un Certain Regard panel at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as being selected for various other notable festivals throughout the world. It is told through the eyes of a young girl, Mimi, whose mother had attempted suicide. Mimi is then relocated to live with her aunt and a man named Jean-Pierre. The film features child abuse, and ends with Mimi taking sleeping pills in an effort to copy her mother.
In 1994, Hadzihalilovic worked on the short La Baigneuse by Joel Leberre. In 1998, Hadzihalilovic made Good Boys Use Condoms, one of a series of erotic short films promoting condom use. Another in the series, Sodomites, was made by Noé.

2004–2015: ''Innocence'' and acclaim

In 2004, she released the critically acclaimed film Innocence, starring Marion Cotillard and Hélène de Fougerolles. The film was inspired by the 1903 novella Mine-Haha, or On the Bodily Education of Young Girls by German playwright Frank Wedekind. The film follows three young girls who attend a secluded mysterious boarding school and their interactions with their teachers. She has commented on the film's similarity or references to Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock, Dario Argento's Suspiria, and Victor Erice's The Spirit of the Beehive.
Hadzihalilovic released a short entitled Nectar in 2014, and the feature film Evolution in 2015. Evolution revolves around young boys who are subjected to mysterious treatments and live on an island inhabited solely by women and themselves.
Hadzihalilovic also contributed to the screenplay of Noé's critically divisive Enter the Void, and continued as a producer of Lux Æterna and Vortex.

2021–present: Established director

In 2021, Hadzihalilovic released her first English-language feature, Earwig, about a girl whose teeth are made of ice, which won Special Jury Prize at San Sebastian Film Festival.
Hadzihalilovic's next film The Ice Tower was released in 2025, starring Marion Cotillard, on their second collaboration after Innocence.''The Ice Tower'' had its world premiere at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival in official competition on 16 February 2025. On 18 February 2025, Yellow Veil Pictures acquired North American distribution rights to the film and released it theatrically in the United States on 3 October 2025. The film was released theatrically in France by Metropolitan Filmexport on 17 September 2025.
Hadzihalilovic is a member of the French gender equality group Collectif 50/50, which aims to promote equality between women and men and diversity in cinema and audiovisual.

Favourite films

In 2022, Hadzihalilovic participated in the Sight & Sound film polls of that year. It is held every ten years to select the greatest films of all time, by asking contemporary directors to select ten films of their choice.
Hadzihalilovic selections were:2001: A Space Odyssey Stalker Saikaku Ichidai Onna The Ascent Grave of the Fireflies The Red Shoes Last Year at Marienbad Tabu A Story of the South Seas Mamma Roma

Awards

YearAwardCategoryFilmResult
1996Amiens International Film FestivalOCIC AwardLa bouche de Jean-PierreWon
1996Avignon Film FestivalPrix SACDLa bouche de Jean-PierreWon
1996Cannes Film FestivalGolden CameraLa bouche de Jean-PierreNomitated
1997Angers European First Film FestivalBest ScreenplayLa bouche de Jean-PierreWon
1997Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film FestivalNational CompetitionLa bouche de Jean-PierreWon
2004Stockholm International Film FestivalBronze HorseInnocenceWon
2004San Sebastián International Film FestivalBest New DirectorInnocenceWon
2005Istanbul Film FestivalPeople's Choice Award -International CompetitionInnocenceWon
2005Istanbul Film FestivalFIPRESCI Prize - International CompetitionInnocenceWon
2005Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film FestivalNarcisse Award - Best Feature FilmInnocenceWon
2005Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film FestivalDenis-de-Rougemont Youth AwardInnocenceWon
2005Amsterdam Fantastic Film FestivalGrand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Silver -
Honorable Mention		InnocenceWon
2005Jeonju Film FestivalWoosuk Award - Indie VisionInnocenceNomitated
2009Sundance Film FestivalNHK AwardLucile HadzihalilovicWon
2014Côté Court FestivalGrand Prix - FictionNectarNomitated
2014Festival International du Film Indépendant de BordeauxGrand Prize of the Jury - Short PrizeNectarNomitated
2015London Film FestivalBest Film - Official CompetitionÉvolutionNomitated
2015AFI FestShort Award - New AuteursÉvolutionNomitated
2015San Sebastián International Film FestivalGolden Seashell - Best FilmÉvolutionNomitated
2015San Sebastián International Film FestivalSpecial Prize of the JuryÉvolutionWon
2015Stockholm International Film FestivalBronze Horse - Best FilmÉvolutionNomitated
2015TheWIFTS Foundation International Visionary AwardsThe Adrienne Fancey Award - Best FilmÉvolutionWon
2016Istanbul Film FestivalAudentia AwardÉvolutionNomitated
2016Athens International Film FestivalGolden Athena - Best PictureÉvolutionNomitated
2016Dublin Film Critics Circle AwardsDFCC - Best DirectorÉvolutionNomitated
2016BloodGuts UK Horror AwardsBest International FilmÉvolutionNomitated
2016Titanic International Film FestivalSpecial Mention of the JuryÉvolutionWon
2018London Film FestivalBest Short FilmDe NaturaNomitated
2018San Sebastián International Film FestivalZabaltegi-Tabakalera PrizeDe NaturaNomitated
2018Stockholm International Film FestivalBest Short FilmDe NaturaNomitated
2021San Sebastián International Film FestivalGolden Seashell - Best FilmEarwigNomitated
2021San Sebastián International Film FestivalSpecial Prize of the JuryEarwigWon
2021Toronto International Film FestivalPlatform PrizeEarwigNomitated
2022Cleveland International Film FestivalBest Feature FilmEarwigNomitated

Filmography

As filmmaker

;Editor
YearTitleDirectorNotes
1986FestinSylvain LedeyShort film
1991Horizons artificiels Alain BourgesDocumentary
1991CarneGaspar NoéShort film
1994La BaigneuseJoël LeberreShort film
1994L'Oeil du cycloneGaspar NoéTV series; 1 episode
1997Marquis de SlimeQuélou ParenteShort film
1998I Stand AloneGaspar NoéFeature film

;Producer
YearTitleDirectorNotes
1991CarneGaspar Noé
1998I Stand AloneGaspar Noé
2019Lux ÆternaGaspar Noé
2021VortexGaspar NoéCo-producer