Vesoul Fest Jury President (right 2001) In Memoriam Max Tessier: 1944 - 2025

We have just learned of the death in Manila of Max Tessier, film critic, lecturer and former Cannes Film Festival selector.

We are deeply saddened by his death.  We had a thirty-year friendship with him.

He was one of the memories of world cinema. From 1965, he contributed to Jeune Cinéma, then in 1967 to Cinéma. In 1972, he was one of the founders of Ecran. He was a columnist for Revue du Cinéma, Avant-Scène Cinéma, Positif and Cinemaya. He is the author of numerous reference works on Japanese cinema, published by the Centre Georges Pompidou and Armand Colin, among others. Returning from Japan in 1983, he convinced Gilles Jacob to select, in extremis, Imamura Shôhei's ’The Ballad of Narayama’ , which the latter had just finalized, even though Oshima Nagisa's ’Merry Christmas, Mister Lawrence’ had already been selected. The Ballad of Narayama won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, confirming Max Tessier's sure taste in cinema.

He liked to say, “I'm not a guru who imposes his ideas, I simply draw attention to what I think is right, that's just my opinion”.

He has always been keen to encourage any initiative in the field of cinema and festival creation. He played an important role right from the creation of the Festival International des Cinémas de Vesoul in 1995. He has been a guest speaker and moderator (1996, 1999, 2006, 2007, 2008), President of the International Jury (2001), and member of the Netpac Jury (2004). Author of numerous in-depth articles on Japanese and Filipino cinema for the Festival catalog, he has been one of our consultants for 31 years.

He introduced us to a great many personalities from the world of cinema.

Thank you, Max, for being the man you were. You will live forever in our hearts and minds.

Pax Aeterna.

Martine and Jean-Marc Thérouanne