JULIE LOPES-CURVAL started writing and directing plays while taking acting classes at the cours Florent. Following a first script for Adolescents, a commissioned film, she wrote and directed her first short film, Mademoiselle Butterfly, in 2001. Her first feature as writer-director, Seaside was screened at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2002 and won the Caméra d’or. Her following film Toi et Moi (2005), a romantic comedy starring Marion Cotillard and Julie Depardieu, was recently released on DVD in the U.S. Her writing credits also include A Great Little Business and The Role of Her Life, which won the Best Screenplay award at the 2004 Montréal World Film Festival. —colcoa.org