Un Certain Regard Prize goes to ‘How to Have Sex’: Molly Manning Walker’s British Debut Selected as Winner by the Jury chaired by Jason C Reilley

Mia McKenna-Bruce in How to Have Sex that won Un Certain Regard Prize 2023

Besides Palme d’Or, Un Certain Regard has been a revered affair at Cannes to honor the best of cinema across the globe. It focuses on artistically daring films that challenge cinematic or/and narrative conventions. This year, the award went for Molly Manning Walker’s buzzy, widely energetic British Debut, ‘How to Have Sex’.

What is ‘How to Have Sex’ about?

Molly Manning Walker’s directorial debut follows the lives of ‘three British teenage girls who go on a rites-of-passage holiday – drinking, clubbing and hooking up, in what should be the best summer of their lives.’

The prize-winning British film was met with widely positive reviews. Guy Lodge from Variety praised it while saying, ‘Manning Walker’s film lays out the minefield of sexual education and consent for a post-#MeToo generation, with a precision to its ambiguities that will draw gasps from its characters’ contemporaries and elders alike’.

While The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw called it ‘an interestingly unsentimental film, without the coming-of-age cliches’, Hannah Strong from Little White Lies said that ‘It’s a familiar story, but one told with a keen eye for details.’

‘How to Have Sex’ was acquired by MUBI for major territories, even before its massive critical acclaim at the festival.

The 76th Cannes Film Festival - Photocall for the film "How to Have Sex" in competition for the category Un Certain Regard - Cannes, France, May 19, 2023. Director Molly Manning Walker and cast members Mia McKenna-Bruce, Lara Peake, Laura Ambler, Enva Lewis, Shaun Thomas and Samuel Bottomley pose. REUTERS/Yara Nardi — FILE PHOTO: The 76th Cannes Film Festival – Photocall for the film “How to Have Sex” in competition for the category Un Certain Regard – Cannes, France, May 19, 2023. Director Molly Manning Walker and cast members Mia McKenna-Bruce, Lara Peake, Laura Ambler, Enva Lewis, Shaun Thomas and Samuel Bottomley pose. REUTERS/Yara Nardi

What is Molly Manning Walker known for?

Molly Manning Walker has a decade-long career in cinematography. She has shot a wide range of shorts and music videos, including the one for Radiohead’s Follow Me Around. She recently worked on Charlotte Regan’s ‘Scrapper’, which won the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema-Dramatic category.

Who was the Jury for Un Certain Regard?

The Jury, chaired by American actor John C. Reilly, included French director and screenwriter Alice Winocour, German actress Paula Beer, French-Cambodian director and producer Davy Chou, and Belgian actress Émilie Dequenne.

What other films won from the Un Certain Regard?

The 2023 Un Certain Regard selection has included 20 feature films – 8 of which are first features also competing for the Caméra d’Or. While the opening film was Thomas Cailley’s Le Règne Animal (The Animal Kingdom), the last screening was Alex Lutz’s film Une Nuit (Strangers by Night).

Here is a complete list of winners in the category: