Léo Soesanto

Léo Soesanto is a journalist specialized in films and a festival programmer. He writes for Libération, has contributed to Vogue, Grazia, Les Inrockuptibles and Première, and has worked as a columnist for Canal Plus and France Inter.

He has been programming the international and national competitions of the Riga International Film Festival since 2022. Previously, he was the programming director of the International Independent Film Festival (FIFIB) from 2012 to 2018 and programmer of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) from 2016 to 2020. From 2009 to 2021, he was successively a member of the feature film selection committee and coordinator of the short film selection at the Cannes Film Festival’s Semaine de la Critique.

He has also worked as a programming consultant and moderator of debates/masterclasses at festivals in Geneva (GIFF), Utrecht (Nederlands Film Festival), Valencia (Mostra de Valencia) and Cinemasia in Amsterdam. Léo Soesanto is a member of Fipresci (Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique) and the European Film Academy. He has been a member of numerous international festival juries (Locarno, London, Toronto, Kiev, Dubai, Morelia, Gijón, Sarajevo, Thessaloniki, Winterthur, Vila do Conde). He is the author of “L’Aéroport mis en scènes”, published by Editions Espaces et Signes.