Julia Ducournau

Julia Ducournau is a French film director and screenwriter noted for her uncompromising body horror aesthetics. She was born in Paris on 18 November 1983 to a gynaecologist mother and dermatologist father, an upbringing that fostered a lifelong fascination with flesh and mortality. After graduating from the prestigious La Fémis school where she studied screenwriting, Ducournau began her career with the short film Junior, which earned the Petit Rail d’Or at Cannes in 2011 and introduced her signature blend of visceral imagery and psychological depth. The following year she directed the TV‑film Mange, a stark portrait of a recovering bulimic seeking revenge, further cementing her reputation for confronting uncomfortable subjects. Her feature‑film debut, Raw (2016), premiered in Critics’ Week at Cannes and won the Sutherland Award for Best First Feature at the London Film Festival; the film’s graphic cannibalistic metamorphosis sparked both critical acclaim and intense audience reactions, including faintings at Toronto. In 2021 she achieved historic success with Titane, purchased by Neon and awarded the Palme d’Or at Cannes, making her the second woman—and the first to win alone—to receive the prize; the film also earned a Best Director nomination at the 75th BAFTAs. Critics describe her work as “Gothic Horror Heroinism,” noting her relentless close‑ups, unflinching camera work, and thematic preoccupation with monstrosity as a metaphor for adolescence. Influences range from David Lynch and David Cronenberg to Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe, while she consistently emphasizes that her gender should not define her artistry, insisting she is first and foremost a person making cinema. Beyond film, Ducournau contributed as a script consultant on The Wakhan Front (2015) and A Taste of Ink (2016), and in 2022 she was slated to direct episodes of the television series The New Look.