The 2021 Césars Awards Winners © Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images
An unmissable highlight in the French film industry calendar, the 46th César Awards ceremony took place on Friday 12 March to celebrate and award accolades to the films that defined 2020. Among them were seven films that made their début at the Festival de Cannes, garnering a total of fourty nominations and four awards between them, and further showcasing the Official Selection 2020.
Show-stealing actresses:
The Cannes 2020 films' actresses shone particularly bright at the Academy this year.
Laure Calamy's hilarious performance in Caroline Vignal's comedy ANTOINETTE DANS LES CÉVENNES (MY DONKEY, MY LOVER & I) scooped up the César for Best Actress to thundering applause.
Emilie Dequenne, meanwhile, was awarded the César for Best Supporting Actress for LES CHOSES QU'ON DIT, LES CHOSES QU'ON FAIT (LOVE AFFAIR(S)) directed by Emmanuel Mouret, a glorious victory for the actress who already has two Festival de Cannes Best Actress Awards to her name, for her performance in the Dardenne brothers' ROSETTA (1999) and in À PERDRE LA RAISON (OUR CHILDREN) by Joachim Lafosse (2012).
Animation in the spotlight:
One interesting point of note is that the Cannes 2020 Official Selection's animated films have been particularly well-served with respect to international acclaim. Last Friday's ceremony confirmed the trend, with JOSEP, press cartoonist Aurel's first film, winning the César Award for Best Animated Feature Film.
Another animated film that met with applause was Agnès Patron's L'HEURE DE L'OURS (And Then the Bear), a short that was in Competition at the Festival in 2019, and this year won the César Award for Best Animated Short Film.
ANOTHER ROUND (of awards):
Finally, the César for Best Foreign Film was awarded to Thomas Vinterberg's DRUK (ANOTHER ROUND), bringing the film's total award count up to 27, and making it the Cannes 2020 feature film to have been awarded the most.
A big well done and congratulations to everyone behind the 2021 César Awards' nominated and award-winning films:
- LES CHOSES QU'ON DIT, LES CHOSES QU'ON FAIT (LOVE AFFAIR(S)) by Emmanuel Mouret, 13 nominations, 1 award
- ÉTE 85 (SUMMER OF 85) by François Ozon, 12 nominations
- ANTOINETTE DANS LES CÉVENNES (MY DONKEY, MY LOVER & I) by Caroline Vignal, 8 nominations, 1 award
- ADN (DNA) by Maïwenn, 4 nominations
- DRUK (ANOTHER ROUND) by Thomas Vinterberg, 1 nomination, 1 award
- JOSEP by Aurel, 1 nomination, 1 award
- GARÇON CHIFFON (MY BEST PART) by Nicolas Maury, 1 nomination
- L'HEURE DE L'OURS (And Then the Bear) by Agnès Patron (Cannes 2019), 1 nomination, 1 award
