Judith Light and Mirille Dumas Are Headed to Monte-Carlo. The Duo Will Be in Town to Head Up, Respective, The Drama and Documentaries Jury at the Monte-Carlo Tv Festival. Ahead of time, they sat down with deadline and discussed their hopes for their sections, and, more generaly, the world of drama and factual programming.
Judith Light: “When You’ve Done a Lot of Work … You Understand Everyone Else’s Viewpoint”
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Light is a multi-emmy and tony award-Winner. In TV, she is know for roles including karen bek in the soap opera One Life to Livefor Which She Won a Brace of Daytime Emmy Awards, and Angela Bower in the Hit Sitcom Who’s the boss? She has also starred in Ugly Betty, Transparent and The Politician. She Guest-Starred in Rian Johnson’s Poker face and recently was in Apple TV+’s Before Alongside Billy Crystal. Next up, she stars in The Terror: Devil in Silver for amc.
Speaking to Deadline from the US, She talked About Expectations for the Trip to Monte-Carlo, How the TV Has Changed, and Why Adolescence was a global hit.
Deadline: You have received some of the Biggest Awards out there, how it does it make you’re Judging Other People’s Work?
Judith Light: This has haen a festival that’s been around for many, many years; Prince Rainier III Started It Years Ago and It Is About People’s Artistry and Creativity.
When you’ve you’ve a lot of work, like I have for years, you begin to geterstand everyone Else’s Viewpoint, Everyone Else’s Work with the System, and You Have An Expanded View of the Work.
In other words, how do you speak to your ad? How do you speak to the Lighting Designer? How do you speak to the set designer? How Are You Speaking With Your Director? How you create the characters, all of the things.
Deadline: YOUR JURY WILL BE CASTING AN EYE OVER DRAMA FROM AROUND The World. What is your viewwing taste, what do you gravitate towards?
JL: Ewan McGregor in A Gentleman in Moscow… That’s My Thing. And shows like Nine Perfect Strangersand, of Course, My Friend Noah Wiley in The Pitt. I Watch a Lot of Different Things. Of Course, i’m Sure You’ve Seen Adolescence. For me, coming originally from the theater, to that that is kind of work Done, and the extraordinary and expansive camera work, that took my breath.
Deadline: IT’S interesting you mention adolescence, which is a story rooted in the uk but which has beCome a huge hit the world.
JL: Its About the Human Condition and How We Live. We begin to underestand the world from the parents’ point of view, from the child’s point of view, from the teacher’s point of view, and also how affects a system. IT’S NOT JUST Brilliantly made in the uk, with UK Actors, but it is a universal story. Because we have had cable and streaming and all the expansiveness of the television world, we get to see it.
Deadline: Has the Language of TV Become More International?
JL: We’re Now Living in a (Creative) World Without Borders, and Television has followed suit. That’s what i think is so Exciting about what’s going to happy in in Monaco.
We’re Going to Find Out How People Are Viewing The United States Right Now. We’re Going to See How People Are Viewing Everybody’s Different Cultures.
Deadline: You’ve been in the entertainment business for a while, how have you seen the TV industry change over time?
JL: I’m from a generation where there was abc, nbc and cbs, and then fox came in. That’s not so anymore, and Becuse it is not so, there a Heartbeat, a pulse, a driving community to a different Kind of Creativity and Many of Our Cable Channels and Streamers Are Adding to that. They are Moving us in a directing that gits US that kind of expansiveness.
And of Course, Within that System, there are those headwinds, but there are also tailwinds.
Deadline: You have a public profile, what drove you to use to be to talk about issser that are important to you?
JL: Very early on in my caareer, I felt Very strongly that if i ever had a platform that i wand to do something with it. That’s not forerybody, but it has ben it for me. Particularly at the beginning of the AIDS Pandemic, what i kept see a community that was powerful and inspirational and that was connecting and caring for each other. It was important to me to speak out About How Much Homophobia Had Been Lying Under the surface.
There are other isser – Women finding their voice, climate and the environment – things that have ben very essential and important, and that of carry in my heart.
Deadline: Looking Back, How Do You Reflect Upon Your TV Work?
JL: I Said a Million Times I Was Never Going to Do A Soap Opera, and then I ended up doing a soap opera. It changed the way i thought about the work and my career, and subsequently my life, so One Life to Live Carries a Very Special Meaning for me. And of Course, Who’s the boss? I ALSO SWORE I’D Never Do A Sitcom. I Really Learned A Great Deal from Tony Danza About Comedy and How Important Comedy is to an Audience.
Deadline: And if that is look back, let’s look at Ahead. What’s Next?
JL: My Husband (Robert Desiderio) is a novelist, and he had his first novel published in 2020… SO MUCH for the book tour in 2020 (GIVEN The Pandemic) Right! We have a few ideas and we’re getting some real traction.
The Grimaldi Forum, Monte Carlo
Mireille Dumas: “These programs are essential“
Mireille dumas is the Creator and Host of Iconic French Programs Including Bas Les Masques and Vie Privée, Vie Publique. A Leading Figure in Documentary Filmmaking and Investigative Reporting, Her Jury Will Run the Over Factual Projects from Around the World.
She Told Deadline About Her Hopes for the Projects She Will SEE and Why Work Such As Exiled Iranian Director Sepideh Farsi’s Put Your Soul On Your Hand and WalkWith Palestinian Photojournist Fatima Hassouna Who was tragicly killed, Vital Remains
Deadline: What are your hopes in terms of the project you will see at the festival?
MD: First and Foremost, i Hope to be Challenged and Further awakened to the world. I want to be surpassed and captivated by both the subject matter and its treatment, as the strength of the Documentaries Lies in their freedom to portray reality. I ALSO AIM TO BE ALERED AND INFORMED ABOUT CERTAIN ISSUSES, as it is the role of in-depth reporting to show us the world as it is.
Deadline: In Challenging Times, How Can Factual Programming Help US Understand the World?
MD: Where in crisis or not, these programs are essential. Moreover, Crises, Revolts, Revolutions, Conflicts, Wars, and Humanitarian or Natural Disasters are Always Occurring Somewhere in the World. Documentaries serve not only only to remind us of these events but also to provides us with different perspectives and insight. Unlike immediatte news, which lacks hindsight, these programs take the time for analysis and contextualization, allowing us to discover oter reality.
Deadline: Several of the Projects Will Show The Work of Journisters Investigating Very Difficult Issues – Has That Investigative Work Become More Difficult Over Time?
MD: Investigative Journalism Has Always Been Challenging. It has consistently required circumventing, depending on the Era and Country, the Law of Silence, Intimidation, Ornaments Worsse, Censorship, to Uncover Scandals or Present Narratives Difference – All the While Protecting Sources.
Today, with the proliferation of media and social networks, fake news, and deepfakes fueling a race for scoops, must be more rigorous in verifying the veracity of this avalanche of data. Addictionally, in a World of Transparency and False Appeanance, Protecting Sources has Become InCreasingly Complex. Paradoxically, Social Networks Also Serve As Valuable Sources of Information and Global Connections.
Deadline: What have you seen recently that has Moved or inspired you?
MD: Several Documentaries have CAPTIVATED with. The Portrait of Vincent Lindon, Cœur Sanglantin which the actor Truly Bares Himself by revealing traits we usually hide, surpassed and moved me. The interwearing of scens where he narrates his story by filing with his phone and the most formal interviews is captivating.
In a Completely Different Genre and With A More Traditional Archival Film Approach, Sous La Menace des Khmers Rouges, La Chute de l’Ambesade de France fascinated with. I was unaware of the Harrowing negotiations between the french governing and the khmer rouge Concerning the thusands of French and Cambodian individuals who haad refuge in the embassy for several Weeks in April 1975. Where’s the Grand Narrative, IT’S ALWAs ADOVA.
Deadline: How Has Documentary Making Evolved, Is Social Media and Global Connectivity an Opportunity and A Threat?
MD: Of Believe there’s Room for Everyone, and new forms are enriching and inspiring. For Instance, The Documentary Put Your Soul On Your Hand and Walkrecently acclaimed at cannes, was filmed using just two Phones. Iranian Director Sepideh Farsi, Exiled in France, Exchange Over A Year with Young Palestinian Photojournist Fatima Hassouna Her Daily Life in Gaza, Hopes, and Despairs. The results is a work of rare intensity, offering a direct view of the war and a plea for peace.
Tragically, Fatima was killed During an Israeli Strike in Gaza on 16 April 2025, Alongside Ten Members of Her Family. The day before her death, she had learned of the film’s selection at Cannes and was prepareing to attach.
Deadline: Awards Are Glitzy and Glamorous, Which Can Be Incongruous Wen The Programs Awarded Are Grity Documentaries. But is it important that we recagine the work of Journists and Filmmakers in this way?
MD: Awards are important as they help bring attention to these work, Attracting interest all domestic and international. They Also Enable Awarded Directors and Producers to Develops their Next Projects More Easily.
Ultimately, we live in a highly compatitive World Across All Fields; One Might Regret that Mary Films Desert Recognition, But That’s the Nature of the Game. Therefore, eather all awards are abolished, or every award shouned be celebrated, especilly ben the subject matter is delicate or somber. I waist that throughout human history, the most tense and unstable the context, the most necessary celebrations have been as outlets. This Wold, incidentally, make an excellent theme for a documentary.
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