36th César Awards Winners

Winners are in *BLUE. To check winners in all categories go here.

1/21/11
Today the President of the Academy, Alain Terzian, announced the nominations and here they are for some categories.

Best Film
L’Arnacoeur (Heartbreaker), Pascal Chaumeil
*Des hommes et des dieux (Of Gods and Men), Xavier Beauvois
Gainsbourg (vie héroïque), Joann Sfar
Mammuth, Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern
Le Nom des Gens (The Names of Love), Michel Leclerc
The Ghost Writer, Roman Polanski
Tournée (On Tour), Mathieu Amalric

Best First Film
L’Arnacoeur (Heartbreaker), Pascal Chaumel
*Gainsbourg (vie héroïque), Joann Sfar
Simon Werner A Disparu (Lights Out), Fabrice Gobert
Tête de turc, Pascal Elbé
Tout ce qui brille, Géraldine Nakache and Hervé Mimran

Best Animation Film
Arthur 3 La Guerre des Deux Mondes (Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds), Luc Besson
L'homme à la Gordini (The Man in the Blue Gordini), Jean-Christophe Lie
*L’Illusionniste (The Illusionist), Sylvain Chomet
Logorama, François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy, and Ludovic Houplain
Une vie de chat, Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol

Best Director
Mathieu Amalric for Tournée (On Tour),
Olivier Assayas for Carlos, le film
Xavier Bauvois for Des hommes et des dieux (Of Gods and Men)
Bertrand Blier for Le bruit des glaçons (The Clink of Ice)
*Roman Polanski for The Ghost Writer

Best Actress
Isabelle Carré in Les émotifs anonyms, Jean-Pierre Améris
Catherine Deneuve in Potiche, François Ozon
*Sara Forestier in Le nom des gens (The Names of Love), Michel Leclerc
Charlote Gainsbourg in L’Arbre (The Tree), Julie Bertucelli
Kristin Scott Thomas in Elle s’appelait Sarah (Her name was Sarah), Gilles Paquet Brenner

Best Supporting Actress
*Anne Alvaro in Le bruit des glaçons (The Clink of Ice)
Valérie Bonneton in Les petits mouchoirs (Little White Lies), Guillaume Canet
Laetitia Casta in Gainsbourg (vie héroïque), Joann Sfar
Julie Ferrier in L’Arnacoeur (Heartbreaker), Pascal Chaumeil
Karin Viard in Potiche, François Ozon

Best Female Newcomer
*Leïla Bekhti in Tout ce qui brille, Géraldine Nakache and Hervé Mimran
Anaïs Demoustier in D'amour et d'eau fraîche, Isabelle Czajka
Audrey Lamy in Tout ce qui brille, Géraldine Nakache and Hervé Mimran
Léa Seydoux in Belle Épine (Dear Prudence), Rebecca Zlotowski
Yahima Torres in Vénus noire, Abdellatif Keniche

Best Actor
Gérard Depardieu in Mammuth, Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern
Romain Duris in L’Arnacoeur (Heartbreaker), Pascal Chaumeil
*Eric Elmosnino in Gainsbourg (vie héroïque), Joann Sfar
Jacques Gamblin in Le nom des gens (The Names of Love), Michel Leclerc
Lambert Wilson in Des hommes et des dieux (Of Gods and Men), Xavier Beauvois

Best Supporting Actor
Niels arestrup in L’homme qui voulait vivre sa vie (The Big Picture), Eric Lartigau
Francois Damiens in L’Arnacoeur (Heartbreaker), Pascal Chaumeil
Gilles Lellouche in Les petits mouchoirs (Little White Lies), Guillaume Canet
*Michael Lonsdale in Des hommes et des dieux (Of Gods and Men), Xavier Beauvois
Olivier Rabourdin in Des hommes et des dieux (Of Gods and Men), Xavier Beauvois

Best Male Newcomer
Arthur Dupont in Bus Palladium, Christopher Thompson
Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet in La princesse de Montpensier (The Princess of Montpenseier), Bertrand Tavernier
Pio Marmaï in D’Amour et d’eau fraiche, Isabelle Czajka
Rafael Personnaz in La Princesse de Montpensier (The Princess of Montpenseier), Bertrand Tavernier
*Edgar Ramírez in Carlos, le film, Olivier Assayas

Best Foreign Film
Les Amours Imaginaries (Heartbeats), Xavier Dolan
Bright Star, Jane Campion
El Secreto de sus Ojos (The Secret in Their Eyes), Juan José Campanella
Illégal (Illegal), Olivier Masset-Depasse
Inception, Christopher Nolan
Invictus, Clint Eastwood
*The Social Network, David Fincher

Best Documentary
Benda Bilili!, Florent de la Tullaye and Renaud Barret
Cleveland Contre Wall Street, Jean-Stéphane Bron
Entre Nos Mains (Into Our Own Hands), Mariana Otero
*Océans (Oceans), Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzaud
Yves Saint Laurent – Pierre Bergé, L’Amour Fou, Pierre Thoretton

Best Short Film
*Logorama, François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy, and Ludovic Houplain
Monsieur l'abbé, Blandine Lenoir
Petit Tailleur, Louis Garrel
Un Transport en Commun (Saint Louis Blues), Dyana Gaye
Une Pute et un Poussin (A Whore and a Chick), Clément Michel

César d’Honneur: Quentin Tarantino

To check nominees in other categories go here to download a pdf file with the complete list. Awards ceremony will be on Friday, February 25 at 9:00pm (Paris time) and will be broadcast by Canal +; most interesting is that the ceremony will be presided by none other than Jodie Foster who will be in Paris filming Le Dieu du carnage (God of Carnage) a comedy by Roman Polanski. Ceremony host is Antoine de Caunes.

To my surprise I have seen some of the honored films, but still have many that haven’t seen with three that I’m ‘dying’ to watch: Potiche, Elle s’appelait Sarah and Les petits mouchoirs. Nominations are interesting and quite different to the Lumières, most remarkable is the absence of Juliette Binoche with her marvelous role in Copie Conforme in the Best Actress category which I absolutely regret.

Have to admit that I didn’t enjoy some of the nominated films and didn’t wrote something in this blog; my love for French cinema is not blind and sometimes I really dislike films than later on become the object of major honors. Well, c’est la vie!

Is unbelievable that the ONLY short film I haven’t been able to watch (doesn’t load) in the French Festival is nominated in the Best Animation Film category; I really hope that fest organizers fix their technical problems ASAP as now has become must be seen for me. I’m talking about Jean-Christophe Lie’s The Man in the Blue Gordini. Two other films, Bus Palladium and A Whore and a Chick (have seen them) are in the VOD festival and if you haven't seen them I suggest you watch them as both are worth-watching.

One trend that these awards show is to have Clint Eastwood nominated in the Best Foreign Film as last year was nominated for Gran Torino and this year for Invictus. I really liked both films so I’m glad that the French Academy honors him with well-deserved nominations while the American Academy tends to ignore his great films.

Eventually –after watching those films I’m dying to watch- will play the guessing game and will post my predictions to this award that are not that easy to predict, at least less easier than the American predictable awards.

Cheers!