The French actress Hafsia Herzi began her acting career on the big screen with a bang: she was cast in her first major role in the award-winning film, THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN, directed by Abdellatif Kechiche. For her performance in this film, Hafsia won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for "Best Young Actress" at the Venice International Film Festival 2007, the César and the Lumière Award 2008 as "Most Promising Young Actress", and the Étoiles d'Or 2008 as "Best Female Newcomer".
In the past two years, she has been very busy at work on several films including: DAWN OF THE WORLD (Abbas Fahdel, 2007), FRANÇAISE (Souad El Bouhati, 2007), for which she won the award as "Best Actress" at the Dubai International Film Festival 2008, and UN HOMME ET SON CHIEN (Francis Huster, 2008). She has also completed LE ROI DE L'ÉVASION by Alain Guiraudie and ANONYMES by Raja Amari.
2010 sees her in JOSEPH AND THE GIRL (Xaxier de Choudens), currently in French cinemas.
Jury's comment: "Her astonishing performance in LA GRAINE ET LE MULET is rich in detail and human understanding, marking her out as a future star of European cinema."
Photo © Basile Dell