45th César Awards


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, the most nominations of any eligible film. French feminists protested heaping honors on Polanski, who was convicted of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor in California in 1978 but, according to Los Angeles courts, has not completed his sentence although this is disputed by Polanski's lawyers, 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
Roman Polanski − An Officer and a Spy
  • Nicolas Bedos − La Belle Époque
  • François Ozon − By the Grace of God
  • Eric 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
Anaïs Demoustier − Alice and the Mayor as Alice Heimann
Swann Arlaud − By the Grace of God as Emmanuel Thomassin
Fanny Ardant − La Belle Époque as Marianne Drumond
Alexis 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 Gwada
Lyna Khoudri − Papicha as Nedjma 'Papicha'
La Belle Époque − Nicolas Bedos
  • By the Grace of God − François Ozon
  • The Specials − Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache
  • Les Misérables − Ladj Ly
  • Portrait of a Lady on Fire − Céline Sciamma
An Officer and a Spy − Roman Polanski and Robert Harris based on the novel by Robert Harris
Papicha − Mounia Meddour
  • Atlantics − Mati Diop
  • Au nom de la terre − Édouard Bergeon
  • The Wolf's Call − Antonin Baudry
  • Les Misérables − Ladj Ly
Portrait of a Lady on Fire − Claire Mathon
  • La Belle Époque − Nicolas Bolduc
  • An Officer and a Spy − Pawel Edelman
  • Les Misérables − Julien Poupard
  • Oh Mercy! − Irina Lubtchansky
Les 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-Ansou
The 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 Sobrino
I Lost My Body − Dan Levy
An 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 Guiraud
La 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 Grézaud
M − 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 Bonnefont
I Lost My Body − Jérémy Clapin
La nuit des sacs plastiques − Gabriel Harel
  • Ce magnifique gâteau ! − Marc James Roels and Emma de Swaef
  • Je sors acheter des cigarettes − Osman Cerfon
  • Make It Soul − Jean-Charles Mbotti Malolo
Pile 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 Piat
Parasite – Directed by Bong Joon-ho
Les Misérables – Ladj Ly
  • Qu'est-ce qu'on a encore fait au Bon Dieu ? – Philippe de Chauveron
  • Nous finirons ensemble – Guillaume Canet
  • The Specials – Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache
  • Au nom de la terre – Édouard Bergeon

Controversies

'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 Actress nominee Adèle Haenel.
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.