Lili Hinstin, the well-respected programmer who worked as artistic director of Locarno Film Festival and Biarritz’ Nouvelles Vagues Film Festival, has died of cancer. She was 48.
Hinstin rocked the international festival circuit in 2018 when she took the helm of Locarno and became the first female artistic director of a major fest, succeeding Carlo Chatrian.
Having previously curated the Cinéma du réel festival in Paris and EntreVues Belfort International Festival, Hinstin helped Locarno ramp up gender equality as female directors represented almost 40% of the selection in 2019. The following year, she spearheaded Locarno through the pandemic and created an entirely new programme called Locarno 2020 – For the Future of Films, and launched the Films After Tomorrow initiative. Most recently, she served as artistic director of the Biarritz’ Nouvelles Vagues Film Festival, which highlights films about youth, for its first three editions in Southwestern France and played a key role in putting the cultural event on the map.
Born in France, Hinstin studied foreign languages, literatures and civilizations in Paris and Padua, Italy. She started her career in production, setting up the outfit Les Films du Saut du Tigre in 2001. She produced films by directors such as Christophe Clavert and Franssou Prenant. She also made her directorial debut with “Le Zombie” — a documentary about her grandfather, Charles Hinstin, who lived in Cameroon — and was a member of the Organization and Selection Committees of Villa Medici Film Festival in Rome, Italy.
Tributes from friends and industry professionals have been pouring in since the news of her death broke on Tuesday.
Jérôme Pulis-Etchevers, co-founder and president of Nouvelles Vagues Festival, wrote on social media: “Lili was a rare voice. A free-spirited, demanding and deeply committed woman of cinema, whose perspective, curiosity and intelligence left a lasting mark on all those who had the chance to cross her path. She carried within her a singular vision of cinema, bold, generous, always evolving and a precious ability to bring out talent and support creative works.”
Locarno organizers also paid tribute to Hinstin as “a passionate cinephile, scholar and curator. “She guided the artistic direction of the Locarno Film Festival from 2018 to 2020 with an audacious and curious vision, attentive to filmmakers premiering their work across every section of the Festival,” said the fest, which cited her “extraordinary retrospective of Black cinema from around the world” and “pioneering ‘Films After Tomorrow’ initiative that provided material support to filmmakers during the pandemic.” The festival, however, parted ways with Hinstin while she was battling breast cancer.
Ava Cahen, the artistic director of Cannes’ Critics Week, said, “So many of us admired her — her choices, her convictions, her knowledge, her passion (the fire in her eyes). I realize how lucky I am to have crossed paths with her. Farewell, Lili; my thoughts are with her loved ones.”
French producer Juliette Schrameck (“Sentimental Value”), who was a close friend of Hinstin, celebrated her many achievements in a statement sent to Variety. “Lili was a master of programming—that under-appreciated art of selecting and curating films, which lies at the heart of film festivals and the public’s discovery of new works,” Schrameck said. “She trained an entire generation of young artistic programmers for whom modernity, the female gaze and diversity are not mere buzzwords but fundamental guiding principles.” The producer pointed that Hinstin was also the “only woman to head an A-list festival for many years.” “In Belfort, Locarno, Biarritz, and at the Villa Medici, her programs always hit the mark. Her integrity, open-mindedness, and unique charm made her a radiant and unforgettable figure,” she said.
Mathilde Henrot, a fellow programming who worked alongside Hinstin at Locarno, at the Villa Medicis, as well as most recently as co-programmer at the Biarritz Film Festival, said “Lili was a rare person, an exceptional programmer, deeply loved and admired for the courage of her decisions, her infectious and laughing enthusiasm, her rebellious spirit and kindness, her relentless curiosity and keen attention to each and every one.”
Hinstin is survived by her 16-year-old son and her friends and family, including her brother Leo Hinstin, a cinematographer.