Lili Hinstin

Lili Hinstin
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Name	Lili Hinstin
Birth date	1989
Birth place	Paris, France
Occupation	Film programmer, curator, festival director, critic
Years active	2010s–present

Lili Hinstin is a French film curator, festival director, and critic known for directing several international film festivals and programming major retrospectives and sections. She has worked across European and North American film institutions, collaborating with filmmakers, critics, producers, distributors, and cultural organizations. Hinstin's trajectory links contemporary art, auteur cinema, and festival programming through roles at festivals, museums, and film schools.

Early life and education

Born in Paris, Hinstin studied film and visual arts in France and Switzerland, engaging with institutions such as the Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis, the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs, and programs connected to the Centre Pompidou and the Palais de Tokyo. She participated in workshops and seminars alongside figures from the Cinémathèque française, the Festival de Cannes, the Locarno Film Festival, and the Rotterdam International Film Festival, while cross-collaborating with scholars from the Sorbonne and curators from the Musée d'Orsay.

Career

Hinstin began as a programmer and critic, contributing to platforms associated with the Cahiers du Cinéma, the Semaine de la Critique, the New York Film Festival, and the Telluride Film Festival. She moved into programming roles at festivals linked to the Venice Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, and regional European events such as Festival del film Locarno and the Outfest framework. Her career encompasses work with production houses, distribution companies like MK2, and cultural funding bodies including the Centre National du Cinéma.

Curatorial and programming work

As a curator Hinstin has organized retrospectives and curated sections spotlighting auteurs and movements represented by names such as Chantal Akerman, Andrei Tarkovsky, Agnès Varda, Jean-Luc Godard, Pedro Costa, Lars von Trier, Claire Denis, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Wim Wenders, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Yasujiro Ozu, Michael Haneke, Pedro Almodóvar, Ken Loach, Alfred Hitchcock, Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, Satyajit Ray, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Robert Bresson, Sergio Leone, David Lynch, John Cassavetes, Spike Lee, Wong Kar-wai, Bong Joon-ho, Agnes Varda, Darren Aronofsky, Terence Davies, Claire Simon, Marina Abramović, Sofia Coppola, Kelly Reichardt, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Jim Jarmusch, Pedro Almodóvar, André Bazin, Laura Mulvey, and institutions like the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and the Tate Modern. She has curated programs emphasizing contemporary auteurism, transnational cinema, gender studies in film practice, and archival restorations from archives such as the British Film Institute and the Cinémathèque de Lausanne.

Film festival leadership

Hinstin served in leadership positions at festivals and cultural events including roles comparable to those at the Locarno Film Festival, the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival, the Festival del film Locarno, and later directed programming for festivals that engage with organizations like the European Film Academy, the International Federation of Film Producers Associations, and regional councils such as the Région Île-de-France. Her tenure has involved jury duties at the Cannes Film Festival, the Berlin International Film Festival, the Venice Biennale, and the San Sebastián International Film Festival, and collaborations with film markets such as the Marché du Film and the European Film Market.

Film criticism and writing

Hinstin has contributed criticism and essays to journals and periodicals affiliated with the Cahiers du Cinéma, the Sight & Sound editorial tradition, and festival catalogues for Rotterdam, Cannes, Venice, and Berlin. Her writing engages with auteurs including Claire Denis, Pedro Costa, Hong Sang-soo, Kelly Reichardt, Agnès Varda, Lars von Trier, and scholars linked to André Bazin and Gilles Deleuze. She has edited program notes and critical dossiers for retrospectives at the British Film Institute, the Cinémathèque Française, and academic symposia at the Université de Genève and the University of Oxford.

Awards and recognition

Hinstin's programming and curatorial projects have been recognized by film bodies and cultural institutions including nominations and awards from the European Film Awards community, acknowledgements by the Festival de Cannes selection committees, distinctions from city cultural offices such as Paris City Hall, and honors tied to archival restorations by the Film Foundation and the World Cinema Project.

Personal life and influence on cinema culture

Hinstin is part of networks connecting filmmakers, critics, curators, and institutions across Europe, North America, and Asia, influencing contemporary exhibition practices, festival strategies, and critical discourse alongside peers from the Festival de Cannes, the Berlin International Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival, and the Venice Film Festival. Her influence extends into film education through collaborations with schools like the La Fémis and the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, and into archival initiatives with the Cinémathèque française and the British Film Institute.

Category:French film critics Category:Film festival directors