Juliette Binoche to replace Agnieszka Holland as new President of European Film Academy

French actress Juliette Binoche (Trois Couleurs: Bleu, The English Patient, The Taste of Things) will be the next president of the European Film Academy Board, succeeding Polish director Agnieszka Holland (Europa, Europa, Spoor, Green Border), who plans to fully dedicate her time to making films.

Binoche was unanimously proposed by the board members after Holland decided to step down.

Holland stated: “I am not a person to easily step aside, but I have come to the conclusion that I am a filmmaker first and foremost. And this is what I want to focus on in the years to come.”

Holland’s recent film, Green Border, won the Special Jury Prize at Venice last year and she is preparing to start filming her Kafka biopic, Franz.

We interviewed Holland at the most recent European Film Awards - Europe’s equivalent to the Oscars – to talk about Green Border (one of her greatest films to date) and the current state of the European cinema landscape, as the role of EFA President not only “embodies what the Academy wishes to stand for,” according to the organisation, but also represents the interests of the European film industry.

In her recent statement, Holland added: “I have always felt honoured to act as President of the European Film Academy, having taken over from Wim Wenders, who followed in the footsteps of Ingmar Bergman. But for me, it is time to step aside now. Knowing that Juliette Binoche is willing to pick up the baton strengthens my feeling that this is a decision taken at the right moment.”

Holland, who became President of the EFA in 2021, was the first female president of the board. She succeeded German director Wim Wenders, who we also recently interviewed for his latest film Perfect Days, and who was the second-ever president