It was created by the Institut Lumière in collaboration with the Association des Amis de Jacques Deray.
Jacques Deray was a French filmmaker who was known for directing many crime and thriller films, including La Piscine (1969) and Borsalino (1970).
[3] As of 2016, the jury consisted of Institut Lumière president Bertrand Tavernier, chairman (délégué général) Thierry Frémaux, and members of the association.
[2][4] The winner is presented with a bronze statuette which depicts a young girl with a butterfly on her shoulder, a reference to Deray's film Butterfly on the Shoulder (1978), as well as a direct reference to the director himself who kept a similar porcelain statuette on his desk.
In 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the announcement was not made until the beginning of March and the award ceremony was postponed to June.