Lucile Emina Hadžihalilović (; born 7 May 1961) is a French film director and screenwriter of Bosnian descent. She wrote and directed the short film La Bouche de Jean-Pierre (1996), and the feature films Innocence (2004)—for which she became the first woman to win the Stockholm International Film Festival's Bronze Horse Award for Best Film—Evolution (2015), Earwig (2021), and The Ice Tower (2025), the latter won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival.
Early life and education Hadžihalilović was born in Lyon, France on 7 May 1961, to a Bosnian Yugoslav father and a French mother and grew up in Morocco until she was 17.
She studied art history and graduated from the prestigious French film school La Fémis (previously Institut des hautes études cinématographiques) in 1987 with the short film La Première Mort de Nono.
Career 1986–1998: Early work Hadžihalilović 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 (1986), after which she edited Alain Bourges' 1991 documentary Horizons artificiels (Trois rêves d'architecture), 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 (1991) and its sequel, the feature-length I Stand Alone (1998), and together they formed the production company 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 (1996), 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 (Sandra Sammartino), whose mother had attempted suicide. Mimi is then relocated to live with her aunt (Denise Aron-Schropfer) and a man named Jean-Pierre (Michel Trillot). The film features child abuse, and ends with Mimi taking sleeping pills in an effort to copy her mother.
In 1994, Hadžihalilović worked on the short La Baigneuse by Joel Leberre. In 1998, Hadžihalilović 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 (Cotillard and Fougerolles). She has commented on the film's similarity or references to Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977), and Victor Erice's The Spirit of the Beehive (1973).
Hadžihalilović 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.
Hadžihalilović also contributed to the screenplay of Noé's critically divisive Enter the Void (2009), and continued as a producer of Lux Æterna (2019) and Vortex (2021).
2021–present: Established director In 2021, Hadžihalilović 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.
In 2025, Hadžihalilović released her fourth feature film, The Ice Tower, starring Marion Cotillard, on their second collaboration after Innocence (2004). The Ice Tower had its world premiere at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival in official competition, where it won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution. It also won the awards for Best Film and Best Production Design at the 2025 Neuchâtel Fantastic Film Festival, and the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award at the 2025 San Sebastián Film Festival. The film was released theatrically in France by Metropolitan Filmexport on 17 September 2025. Yellow Veil Pictures acquired North American distribution rights to the film and released it theatrically in the United States on 3 October 2025.
Personal life Hadžihalilović has been in a relationship with Argentine filmmaker and frequent collaborator Gaspar Noé since 1985, after meeting on the set of Noé's first short film, Tintarella di Luna. Some sources say that Noé and Hadžihalilović are married, but Noé refers to Hadžihalilović as "my girlfriend" and "my life partner" in interviews. Noé considered Hadžihalilović's father as his second father.
Hadžihalilović is a member of the French gender equality group , which aims to promote equality between women and men and diversity in cinema and audiovisual.
Favourite films In 2022, Hadžihalilović 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 (1968) Stalker (1979) Saikaku Ichidai Onna (1952) The Ascent (1977) Grave of the Fireflies (1988) The Red Shoes (1948) Last Year at Marienbad (1961) Tabu A Story of the South Seas (1931) Mamma Roma (1962) The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
Awards
YearAwardCategoryFilmResult1996Amiens International Film FestivalOCIC AwardLa bouche de Jean-PierreAvignon Film FestivalPrix SACDCannes Film FestivalGolden Camera1997Angers European First Film FestivalBest ScreenplayClermont-Ferrand International Short Film FestivalNational Competition2004Stockholm International Film FestivalBronze HorseInnocenceSan Sebastián International Film FestivalBest New Director2005Istanbul Film FestivalPeople's Choice Award -International CompetitionFIPRESCI Prize - International CompetitionNeuchâtel International Fantastic Film FestivalNarcisse Award - Best Feature FilmNeuchâtel International Fantastic Film FestivalDenis-de-Rougemont Youth AwardAmsterdam Fantastic Film FestivalGrand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Silver - Honorable MentionJeonju Film FestivalWoosuk Award - Indie Vision2009Sundance Film FestivalNHK AwardLucile Hadzihalilovic2014Côté Court FestivalGrand Prix - FictionNectarFestival International du Film Indépendant de BordeauxGrand Prize of the Jury - Short Prize2015London Film FestivalBest Film - Official CompetitionÉvolutionAFI FestShort Award - New AuteursSan Sebastián International Film FestivalGolden Seashell - Best FilmSpecial Prize of the JuryStockholm International Film FestivalBronze Horse - Best FilmTheWIFTS Foundation International Visionary AwardsThe Adrienne Fancey Award - Best Film2016Istanbul Film FestivalAudentia AwardAthens International Film FestivalGolden Athena - Best PictureDublin Film Critics Circle AwardsDFCC - Best DirectorBloodGuts UK Horror AwardsBest International FilmTitanic International Film FestivalSpecial Mention of the Jury2018London Film FestivalBest Short FilmDe NaturaSan Sebastián International Film FestivalZabaltegi-Tabakalera PrizeStockholm International Film FestivalBest Short Film2021San Sebastián International Film FestivalGolden Seashell - Best FilmEarwigSpecial Prize of the JuryToronto International Film FestivalPlatform Prize2022Cleveland International Film FestivalBest Feature Film
Filmography As filmmaker Year Title Credited as NotesDirectorWriterEditor1987La Première Mort de Nono Short film1996La Bouche de Jean-Pierre Short film1998Good Boys Use Condoms Short film2004InnocenceFeature film2009Enter the VoidDirected by Gaspar Noé2014NectarShort film2015EvolutionFeature film2018De Natura Short film2021Earwig Feature film 2025The Ice Tower Feature film
Editor YearTitleDirectorNotes1986FestinSylvain LedeyShort film1991Horizons artificiels (Trois rêves d'architecture)Alain BourgesDocumentaryCarneGaspar NoéShort film1994La BaigneuseJoël LeberreShort filmL'Oeil du cyclone Gaspar NoéTV series; 1 episode1997Marquis de SlimeQuélou ParenteShort film1998I Stand Alone Gaspar NoéFeature film
Producer YearTitleDirectorNotes1991CarneGaspar Noé1998I Stand Alone 2019 Lux Æterna 2021 Vortex Co-producer
Acting roles YearTitleRoleDirectorNotes1989Les cinéphiles - Le retour de JeanLucileLouis Skorecki Feature filmLes cinéphiles 2 - Eric a disparu1991Carne L'infirmiere Gaspar Noé Short film
References
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