Oscar-nominated Mustang takes home four Cesars

Oscar-nominated Mustang takes home four Cesars

By Catherine Hardy



Two films defined by issues of difference have swept the board at the Cesar awards in France.

The ceremony comes two days before the Oscars which this year have been plagued by accusations of a lack of diversity.

The french awards were much more evenly distributed than last year’s Timbuktu sweep, with Mustang taking four overall, immigrant drama Fatima and the opera dramedy Marguerite three each, and Standing Tall two.

The audience included fashion designers Jean Paul Gaultier and Christian Louboutin, newly-appointed French culture minister Audrey Azoulay and the head of the Cannes Festival, Thierry Fremaux.

And the winners are..

Mustang

4 Césars, including best first film for director Deniz Gamze Erguven and best original screenplay for Erguven and co-writer Alice Winocour

Fatima

Best Film.

Arnaud Desplechin

Best Director for “My Golden Days” (“Trois mémoires de ma jeunesse”)

Vincent Lindon

Best Actor for “The Measure of a Man” (“La loi du marché”)

Lindon also won Best Actor in Cannes for the role, as well as the Lumiere award in January.

Catherine Frot

Best Actor for “Marguerite”.

Frot also won a Lumiere award in January.

Michael Douglas

Honorary César (for the second time in his career)

Birdman

Best Foreign Film. Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s “The Revenant” is competing in Sunday’s Oscars.

The Little Prince

Best animated feature

What they are saying

“I think it was very impressive tonight to see the number of women that won Cesars, film editing, directing. As you know, we are having some problems in our Academy in the States, and one of the dominant issues is the lack of women that get recognition.” – Michael Douglas commends the French academy for its gender balance compared to the Oscars, which have been plagued by accusations of lack of diversity.

“I thank the author, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, for creating this work of art that inspired everyone who worked on the film.” “The Little Prince” director, Mark Osborne.

-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-02-28