The César Award
The César is an award ceremony in the French film industry organized by the Académie des Arts et Techniques, also called l’Académie des César. The Académie is composed of 4700 members, who then vote for the most remarkable movies, actors, directors, etc. of the year. The ceremony takes place each year in Paris.
The award, called César, is a little statue made of compressed metal, created by the sculptor César. It is given to the winners of the prizes. It was specifically asked by the friend of the sculptor, Georges Cravenne, initiator of the creation of the Académie des César.
The idea was partly inspired by the American ceremony of the Oscars created in 1927. Georges Cravenne dreamed of creating the same ceremony here in Europe. The idea of the César was then created (we also note the resemblance between the two names, César and Oscar, and the fact that they possess the same number of letters!).
This year, the MC of the César is Florence Foresti while the President is Sandrine Kiberlain. Here are the different nominations of the principal categories:
Best Film
La Belle Époque − Produced by François Kraus and Denis Pineau-Valencienne; Directed by Nicolas Bedos
By the Grace of God − Produced by Nicolas Altmayer and Éric Altmayer; Directed by François Ozon
The Specials − Produced by Nicolas Duval Adassovsky; Directed by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache
An Officer and a Spy − Produced by Alain Goldman; Directed by Roman Polanski
Les Misérables − Produced by Toufik Ayadi and Christophe Barral; Directed by Ladj Ly
Portrait of a Lady on Fire − Produced by Bénédicte Couvreur; Directed by Céline Sciamma
Oh Mercy! − Produced by Pascal Caucheteux and Grégoire Sorlat; Directed by Arnaud Desplechin
Best Director
La Belle Époque − Nicolas Bedos
By the Grace of God − François Ozon
The Specials − Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache
An Officer and a Spy − Roman Polanski
Les Misérables − Ladj Ly
Portrait of a Lady on Fire − Céline Sciamma
Oh Mercy! − Arnaud Desplechin
Best Actress
Anaïs Demoustier − Alice and the Mayor as Alice Heimann
Eva Green − Proxima as Sarah Loreau
Adele Haenel − Portrait of a Lady on Fire as Héloïse
Noémie Merlant − Portrait of a Lady on Fire as Marianne
Doria Tillier − La Belle Époque as Margot
Karin Viard − Chanson douce as Louise
Chiara Mastroianni − On a Magical Night as Maria Mortemart
Best Actor
Daniel Auteuil − La Belle Époque as Victor Drumond
Damien Bonnard − Les Misérables as Stéphane Ruiz
Vincent Cassel − The Specials as Bruno Haroche
Jean Dujardin − An Officer and a Spy as Marie-Georges Picquart
Reda Kateb − The Specials as Malik
Melvil Poupaud − By the Grace of God as Alexandre Guérin
Roschdy Zem − Oh Mercy! as Yacoub Daoud
Let’s discover on the 28th of february the names of the laureates !
You can discover more about French Awards Ceremonies by reading this article on the Festival de Cannes.