The
37th edition of the Cesar Film Awards, also known as
French Oscars, was held at Paris’ Chatelet Theater in Paris, on
February 24, 2012. This year’s President of the ceremony 2012 was the charming French actor and director Guillaume Canet.
This feast of Gallic cinema is the national film award of France and considered to be the
French equivalent of the American Academy Awards. The nominations are selected by the members of the French Academy of Technical Arts and Sciences (Académie des arts et techniques du cinema). The story behind the name of the award comes from the sculptor César Baldaccini (1921–1998) and the trophies are actual sculptures of the artist.
Famous French actor,
Yvan Attal spoke about the year in French cinema, and more especially about films like Poliss, Untouchable or
Declaration of War: “This was a year in France where we weren’t afraid to make movies with daring subjects and we weren’t afraid of not having enough money to make them either,” Indeed, these astonishing movies deal with issues like child molestation, handicap and infant illness.
If you would like to discover all the nominees in each category,
click here
We are also very delighted to highlight some of the nominations, as they feature in our fantastic Alliance Française French Film Festival!
Clotilde Hesme: Most promising actress Award
Our Festival Special Guest 2011:
Clotilde Hesme, one of the most celebrated young actresses in new French cinema, received the
Best Newcomer Award for her role in the award-winning film
"Angele and Tony" (Director Alix Delaporte) during the 37th Cesar Awards ceremony. A film screened at the Alliance Française French Film Festival 2011!
Want to feel the atmosphere of this amazing movie? Here is the trailer of
ANGELE ET TONY
The Rabbi’s Cat - Best Animation Award
Author and co-directors
Joann Sfar and
Antoine Delesvaux received the
Best Animated Film Award for their film
"The Rabbi's Cat". Joann Sfar had made a 3D adaptation of Le Chat du Rabbin, a comic first released in 2002, which grew to five books in at least eight languages.
Released in both 2D and 3D, the movie was based on three vol¬umes about the adven¬tures of the tit¬u¬lar cat. Set in Algeria in the 1920s, it recounts the life of Rabbi Sfar through the eyes and ears of his cat, who acquires the power of speech.
Last year,
Sfar also won a César for the
year’s best first film for bring¬ing to the screen the
“heroic” life of French singer Serge Gainsbourg.
House Of Tolerance – Best Costume Design Award
Shown at the
64th Cannes film festival (2011) in official competition under the name
“L’Apollonide,” is the fifth feature directed by Mr. Bonello, a French filmmaker whose work borders on the edge of pornography.
The soundtrack, punctuated with soul songs, uses “Nights in White Satin” by the Moody Blues and extracts from “La Bohème” for maximum contrast.
In this
20th century drama, Bonello examines in microscopic details the cloistered world of a Parisian brothel, the rules of the house and allows spectators to become familiar with all the rituals, perfumes and scents of this world, showing the women bathing, dressing and preparing for work. Except for a daytime excursion and a brief epilogue set in contemporary Paris, it unfolds entirely inside the mansion.
For Mr. Bonello, costume films are “full of dust”. “To give the feeling of something contemporary,” he said, “I wanted to show the little details, to show the weight of things.” “The main research was what do these women do during the day?” Mr. Bonello said. “What do they eat, and at what time, and how do they wash?”
(Extract from : http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/movies/bertrand-bonellos-house-of-pleasures-set-in-brothel.html)
To learn more about costumes and lighting for this movie selected for Best Costume Design, read this extract from the
press kit Cannes Festival
Discover an exclusive interview with Bertrand Bonello (Director), Celine Sallette (cast member) for the release of HOUSE OF TOLERANCE