The Monte-Carlo Television Festival kicks off its 65th edition this evening, with the Grimaldi Forum set to play host to one of the most anticipated gatherings in the international television calendar. Running until Tuesday, June 16, this year’s event marks a milestone anniversary for a festival founded at the initiative of Prince Rainier III in 1961 and now established as one of the most prestigious events in the audiovisual world.
The opening ceremony gets under way at 18:30 on Friday, June 12, with AMC’s The Walking Dead: Dead City taking centre stage through a monumental installation at the Grimaldi Forum ahead of the global launch of the show’s third season. Stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan, who play Negan and Maggie respectively in the cult franchise, are expected on the blue carpet alongside Dame Kristin Scott Thomas and French television legend Michel Drucker.
This year’s honorary distinctions will be awarded to Dame Kristin Scott Thomas and Hollywood icon Kurt Russell, whose career spans more than fifty years of film and television. Michel Drucker will receive the Nymphe d’Honneur for his life’s work in French broadcasting. The rising talent awards go to Spanish actress Ester Expósito, widely known for her role in Elite, and actor Matthew Broome. The four Nymph trophies, handcrafted individually by Murano glassmaker Giancarlo Signoretto — a tradition since 2016 — have already arrived at the Grimaldi Forum ahead of the ceremony.
British actress Lesley Manville, nominated for Oscars, Emmy Awards and BAFTAs and known internationally for The Crown, will preside over the Fiction Jury. Also expected at the festival is David Boreanaz, familiar to audiences from Buffy, Angel, Bones and SEAL Team, who is attending to present his new series The Rockford Files. Actor Aldis Hodge, known for Cross, City on a Hill and Black Adam, will also be present, as will Vikings creator Michael Hirst, who is participating in the Business Forum.
Tomorrow’s programme includes competitive screenings of Olivia (international premiere), The Uniform (French premiere) and Jones (world premiere), as well as a signing session with the cast of Un Si Grand Soleil and an out-of-competition screening of Les Derniers Jours de Charles Baudelaire. Sunday will feature a screening of the documentary Monte-Carlo, un Festival et 65 ans de télévision, tracing the event’s history through six decades of archives, from 10:30 to 12:00.
The Business Forum will this year address the growing role of artificial intelligence in audiovisual production, examining how the technology is reshaping the tools available to writers, directors and documentary makers.
Executive Director Cécile Ménoni said the team had been determined to deliver an edition worthy of the anniversary milestone, describing it as 365 days of work for five days of event, with every projection, encounter and shared moment the result of year-round commitment from her teams.
