The 45th César Awards ceremony, presented by the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma, took place on 28 February 2020, at the Salle Pleyel in Paris to honour the best French films of 2019. Sandrine Kiberlain presided, and Florence Foresti as the host.
Controversy and protests dogged the Academy in the months running up to the ceremony. The entire board of directors of the César Academy resigned on 13 February 2020, in response to complaints over the opaqueness of the process and the powerlessness of normal Academy members, who do not vote for nor otherwise exercise any control over the leadership of the Academy. The other issue of protest was the 12 nominations received by Roman Polanski's J'Accuse (An Officer and a Spy in English), the most nominations of any eligible film. French feminists protested heaping honors on Polanski, who was convicted of raping a minor in California in 1978 but never served his sentence, and has additionally been accused of other incidents of rape.
Winners and nominees The nominees for the 45th César Awards were announced on 29 January 2020.
Les Misérables − Produced by Toufik Ayadi and Christophe Barral; Directed by Ladj Ly 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 Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache An Officer and a Spy − Produced by Alain Goldman; Directed by Roman Polanski 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 | valign="top" width="50%"|Roman Polanski − An Officer and a Spy Nicolas Bedos − La Belle Époque François Ozon − By the Grace of God Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache − The Specials Ladj Ly − Les Misérables Céline Sciamma − Portrait of a Lady on Fire Arnaud Desplechin − Oh Mercy!Roschdy Zem − Oh Mercy! as Yacoub Daoud 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 GuérinAnaïs Demoustier − Alice and the Mayor as Alice Heimann Eva Green − Proxima as Sarah Loreau Adèle Haenel − Portrait of a Lady on Fire as Héloïse Chiara Mastroianni − On a Magical Night as Maria Mortemart Noémie Merlant − Portrait of a Lady on Fire as Marianne Doria Tillier − La Belle Époque as Margot Karin Viard − Chanson douce as LouiseSwann Arlaud − By the Grace of God as Emmanuel Thomassin Grégory Gadebois − An Officer and a Spy as Hubert Henry Louis Garrel − An Officer and a Spy as Alfred Dreyfus Benjamin Lavernhe − Mon inconnue as Félix / Gumpar Denis Ménochet − By the Grace of God as François DebordFanny Ardant − La Belle Époque as Marianne Drumond Josiane Balasko − By the Grace of God as Irène Laure Calamy − Only the Animals as Alice Farange Sara Forestier − Oh Mercy! as Marie Carpentier Hélène Vincent − The Specials as HélèneAlexis Manenti − Les Misérables as Chris Anthony Bajon − Au nom de la terre as Thomas Jarjeau Benjamin Lesieur − The Specials as Joseph Liam Pierron − La Vie scolaire as Yanis Bensaadi Djebril Zonga − Les Misérables as GwadaLyna Khoudri − Papicha as Nedjma 'Papicha' Luàna Bajrami − Portrait of a Lady on Fire as Sophie Céleste Brunnquell − Les Éblouis as Camille Lourmel Nina Meurisse − Camille as Camille Lepage Mame Bineta Sané − Atlantics as AdaLa Belle Époque − Nicolas Bedos By the Grace of God − François Ozon The Specials − Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache Les Misérables − Ladj Ly, Giordano Gederlini and Alexis Manenti Portrait of a Lady on Fire − Céline SciammaAn Officer and a Spy − Roman Polanski and Robert Harris based on the novel by Robert Harris Adults in the Room − Costa-Gavras based on the book Adults in the Room. My Battle with Europe's Deep Establishment by Yanis Varoufakis I Lost My Body − Jérémy Clapin et Guillaume Laurant based on the novel Happy Hand by Guillaume Laurant Oh Mercy! − Arnaud Desplechin and Léa Mysius based on the documentary Roubaix, commissariat central by Mosco Boucault Only the Animals − Dominik Moll and Gilles Marchand based on the novel Seules les bêtes by Colin NielPapicha − Mounia Meddour Atlantics − Mati Diop Au nom de la terre − Édouard Bergeon The Wolf's Call − Antonin Baudry Les Misérables − Ladj LyPortrait of a Lady on Fire − Claire Mathon La Belle Époque − Nicolas Bolduc An Officer and a Spy − Paweł Edelman Les Misérables − Julien Poupard Oh Mercy! − Irina LubtchanskyLes Misérables − Flora Volpelière By the Grace of God − Laure Gardette An Officer and a Spy − Hervé de Luze La Belle Époque − Anny Danché and Florent Vassault The Specials − Dorian Rigal-AnsouThe Wolf's Call − Nicolas Cantin, Thomas Desjonquères, Raphaëll Mouterde, Olivier Goinard and Randy Thom La Belle Époque − Rémi Daru, Séverin Favriau and Jean-Paul Hurier An Officer and a Spy − Lucien Balibar, Aymeric Devoldère, Cyril Holtz and Niels Barletta Les Misérables − Arnaud Lavaleix, Jérôme Gonthier and Marco Casanova Portrait of a Lady on Fire − Julien Sicart, Valérie de Loof and Daniel SobrinoI Lost My Body − Dan Levy Atlantics − Fatima Al Qadiri An Officer and a Spy − Alexandre Desplat Les Misérables − Marco Casanova and Kim Chapiron Oh Mercy! − Grégoire HetzelAn Officer and a Spy − Pascaline Chavanne La Belle Époque − Emmanuelle Youchnovski Edmond − Thierry Delettre Joan of Arc − Alexandra Charles Portrait of a Lady on Fire − Dorothée GuiraudLa Belle Époque − Stéphane Rozenbaum The Wolf's Call − Benoît Barouh Edmond − Franck Schwarz An Officer and a Spy − Jean Rabasse Portrait of a Lady on Fire − Thomas GrézaudM − Yolande Zauberman 68, mon Père − Samuel Bigiaoui La Cordillère des songes − Patricio Guzmán Lourdes − Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai Wonder boy Olivier Rousteing, né sous X − Anissa BonnefontI Lost My Body − Jérémy Clapin The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily − Lorenzo Mattotti The Swallows of Kabul − Zabou Breitman and Éléa Gobbé-MévellecLa nuit des sacs plastiques − Gabriel Harel This Magnificent Cake! (Ce magnifique gâteau !) − Marc James Roels and Emma de Swaef Je sors acheter des cigarettes − Osman Cerfon Make It Soul − Jean-Charles Mbotti MaloloPile Poil − Lauriane Escaffre and Yvonnick Muller Beautiful Loser − Maxime Roy Le Chant d'Ahmed − Foued Mansour Le Chien bleu − Fanny Liatard Nefta Football Club − Yves PiatParasite (South Korea) – Directed by Bong Joon-ho Pain and Glory (Spain) – Directed by Pedro Almodóvar Young Ahmed (Belgium) – Directed by Luc Dardenne and Jean-Pierre Dardenne Joker (United States) – Directed by Todd Phillips Lola (Belgium/France) – Directed by Laurent Micheli Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (United States) – Directed by Quentin Tarantino The Traitor (Italy/France/Germany/Brazil) – Directed by Marco BellocchioLes Misérables – Ladj Ly Qu'est-ce qu'on a encore fait au Bon Dieu ? – Philippe de Chauveron Nous finirons ensemble – Guillaume Canet The Specials – Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache Au nom de la terre – Édouard Bergeon
Controversies Roman Polanski's Best Director win for An Officer and a Spy was poorly received by the audience. Few clapped, and several audience members walked out in disgust, including Best Director nominee Céline Sciamma and Best Actress nominees Adèle Haenel and Noémie Merlant.
Polanski as well as other crew members of An Officer and a Spy did not attend the ceremony. No one was there to accept the award on Polanski's behalf.
See also 25th Lumière Awards 10th Magritte Awards 32nd European Film Awards 92nd Academy Awards 73rd British Academy Film Awards
References
External links Official website