Actresses walk out of ceremony after Roman Polanski wins best director
Actresses walk out of ceremony after Roman Polanski wins best director for An Officer and a Spy amid anger that he received the award despite facing rape accusations
- Roman Polanski won a best director award for his film ‘An Officer and a Spy’
- Several women at France’s Cesar Awards walked out in protest at the decision
- Polanski is still wanted in the US after he was charged with raping a girl in 1977
- Last year a woman came forward to accuse Polanski of raping her in 1975
- Roman Polanski denied it, and the allegations are too old for an investigation
Roman Polanski won France’s Cesar Award for best directing for his film ‘An Officer and a Spy’, prompting a walkout by several women in the audience in protest at honouring a man facing rape accusations.
The ceremony took place in Paris on Friday amid protests by women’s rights activists as director Roman Polanski was awarded, in his absence, the best director award for his latest film.
Polanski decided to skip the Cesar awards ceremony because of protests by women’s groups denouncing the 12 nominations ‘An Officer and a Spy’ received after a French woman brought a new rape accusation against him.
At the announcement of Polanski’s award as best director, some boos emerged from the public, composed of film teams and cinema professionals.
Actress Adele Haenel, who recently denounced alleged sexual assault by another French director in the early 2000s when she was 15, got up and walked out of the room, followed by a few others.
Actress Adele Haenel, who recently denounced alleged sexual assault by another French director in the early 2000s when she was 15, got up and walked out of the room, followed by a few others
Feminist activists gather next to the Cesar Film Awards Ceremony to protest against the nominations of Roman Polanski’s film ‘An officer and a spy’
Polanski said the ceremony was turning into a ‘public lynching’ and that he decided not to attend the ceremony to protect his colleagues and his wife and children
‘Distinguishing Polanski is spitting in the face of all victims. It means raping women isn’t that bad,’ Haenel told the New York Times earlier this week.
The film’s cast and production team, including best actor nominee Jean Dujardin, also declined to attend the ceremony. Dujardin posted a message on Instagram that said, ‘By making this film, I believed and I still believe I made more good than harm.’
Polanski’s film won two other awards for best costume design and best adaptation. No one came on stage to accept the trophies awarded to ‘An Officer and a Spy.’
The show’s host, comedian Florence Foresti, left Polanski’s film out of her opening remarks when she mentioned the ones with multiple nominations.
Instead, Foresti referred to the 86-year-old director as ‘Atchoum,’ French for the Sneezy character in ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.’
‘I decided that Atchoum would not be big enough to overshadow the French cinema,’ she said.
The Cesar for best film has been awarded to ‘Les Miserables,’ Ladj Ly’s Oscar candidate, about tensions between police and minorities in a poor Paris suburb. The film won the Jury Price in Cannes Film Festival last year.
The entire male-dominated leadership of the Cesar stepped down recently amid disagreement over its decision-making structure and how to deal with the Polanski problem.
A few hundred protesters brandishing signs with phrases such as ‘Victims, we believe you’ and ‘No to impunity’ assembled outside the Salle Pleyel hall before the ceremony started.
The group chanted, ‘We are here, we are here, even if Polanski doesn’t want to, we are here.’
‘By supporting the aggressors, by celebrating the aggressors, one does not allow the victims to speak out. Their word is denied,’ Celine Piques of women’s activist group Osez le Feminisme said
In a statement this week, the Paris-based Polanski said the ceremony was turning into a ‘public lynching’ and that he decided not to attend the ceremony to protect his colleagues and his wife and children.
Polanski is still wanted in the United States decades after he was charged with raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977. He pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor but fled the country on the eve of sentencing.
Last year, a woman came forward to accuse Polanski of raping her in 1975 in his Swiss chalet when she was 18. Polanski denied it, and the allegations are too old for an investigation.
But the accusation put the director under fresh scrutiny in France, where he has long been revered as one of the country’s premier filmmakers despite the outstanding rape charge in the U.S. Other accusations have also emerged.
‘Is it normal for a man to rape and then 30 years later to be a star in popular cultures? No, it’s not normal, and a rapist should be in prison,’ another Osez le Feminisme activist, Fabienne El Khouri, said.
‘An Officer and a Spy’ is about the anti-Semitic persecution of French army Capt. Alfred Dreyfus and his wrongful treason conviction in the 1890s. It is among the best film nominees. Polanski has nominations for best adaptation and best director.
45th César Awards winners
BEST FILM
La Belle Époque − Directed by Nicolas Bedos
By the Grace of God − Directed by François Ozon
The Specials − Directed by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache
An Officer and a Spy − Directed by Roman Polanski
Les Misérables − Directed by Ladj Ly
Portrait of a Lady on Fire − Directed by Céline Sciamma
Oh Mercy! − Directed by Arnaud Desplechin
BEST ACTOR
Daniel Auteuil − La Belle Époque
Damien Bonnard − Les Misérables
Vincent Cassel − The Specials
Jean Dujardin − An Officer and a Spy
Reda Kateb − The Specials
Melvil Poupaud − By the Grace of God
Roschdy Zem − Oh Mercy!
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Swann Arlaud − By the Grace of God
Grégory Gadebois − An Officer and a Spy
Louis Garrel − An Officer and a Spy
Benjamin Lavernhe − Mon inconnue
Denis Ménochet − By the Grace of God
MOST PROMISING ACTOR
Alexis Maneti – Les Misérables
Anthony Bajon − Au nom de la terre
Benjamin Lesieur − The Specials
Liam Pierron − La Vie scolaire
Djebril Zonga − Les Misérables
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
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
BEST FIRST FEATURE FILM
Atlantics − Mati Diop
Au nom de la terre − Édouard Bergeon
The Wolf’s Call − Antonin Baudry
Les Misérables − Ladj Ly
Papicha − Mounia Meddour
BEST EDITING
By the Grace of God − Laure Gardette
An Officer and a Spy − Hervé de Luze
Les Misérables − Flora Volpelière
La Belle Époque − Anny Danché and Florent Vassault
The Specials − Dorian Rigal-Ansou
BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC
Atlantics − Fatima Al Qadiri
An Officer and a Spy − Alexandre Desplat
Les Misérables − Marco Casanova and Kim Chapiron
I Lost My Body − Dan Levy
Oh Mercy! − Grégoire Hetzel
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
La Belle Époque – Stephane 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
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily − Lorenzo Mattotti
I Lost My Body − Jérémy Clapin
The Swallows of Kabul − Zabou Breitman and Éléa Gobbé-Mévellec
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Ce magnifique gâteau ! − Marc James Roels and Emma de Swaef
Je sors acheter des cigarettes − Osman Cerfon
La nuit des sacs plastiques − Gabriel Harel
Make It Soul − Jean-Charles Mbotti Malolo
BEST SHORT FILM
Beautiful Loser − Maxime Roy
Pile Poil − Lauriane Escaffre and Yvonnick Muller
Le Chant d’Ahmed − Foued Mansour
Le Chien bleu − Fanny Liatard
Nefta Football Club − Yves Piat
AUDIENCE AWARD
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
Les Misérables – Ladj Ly
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
Eva Green − Proxima
Adele Haenel − Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Noémie Merlant − Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Doria Tillier − La Belle Époque
Karin Viard − Chanson douce
Chiara Mastroianni − On a Magical Night
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Fanny Ardant − La Belle Époque
Josiane Balasko − By the Grace of God
Laure Calamy − Only the Animals
Sara Forestier − Oh Mercy!
Hélène Vincent − The Specials
MOST PROMISING ACTRESS
Lyna Khoudri – Papicha
Luàna Bajrami − Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Céleste Brunnquell − Les Éblouis
Nina Meurisse − Camille
Mame Bineta Sané − Atlantics
BEST ADAPTATION
Adults in the Room − Costa-Gavras
An Officer and a Spy − Roman Polanski and Robert Harris
I Lost My Body − Jérémy Clapin et Guillaume Laurant
Oh Mercy! − Arnaud Desplechin and Léa Mysius
Only the Animals − Dominik Moll and Gilles Marchand
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
La Belle Époque − Nicolas Bolduc
An Officer and a Spy − Pawel Edelman
Les Misérables − Julien Poupard
Portrait of a Lady on Fire − Claire Mathon
Oh Mercy! − Irina Lubtchansky
BEST SOUND
La Belle Époque − Rémi Daru, Séverin Favriau and Jean-Paul Hurier
The Wolf’s Call − Nicolas Cantin, Thomas Desjonquères, Raphaëll Mouterde, Olivier Goinard and Randy Thom
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
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
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
BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM
68, mon Père − Samuel Bigiaoui
La Cordillère des songes − Patricio Guzmán
Lourdes − Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai
M − Yolande Zauberman
Wonder boy Olivier Rousteing, né sous X − Anissa Bonnefont
BEST FOREIGN FILM
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
Parasite (South Korea) – Directed by Bong Joon-ho
The Traitor (Italy/France/Germany/Brazil) – Directed by Marco Bellocchio
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