50th César Awards: ‘Emilia Pérez’ Leads French Film Academy Winners

Jacques Audiard’s trans crime musical Emilia Pérez was the big winner at the 50th César Awards, France’s version of the Oscars, with six awards including Best Film and Best Director. Audiard’s three wins marked 13 total for him overall. The film is nominated for 13 Academy Awards, including International Feature Film representing France.

Zoe Saldaña and Karla Sofía Gascón, making her first public appearance since recent offensive tweets were found and embroiled the Netflix film in controversy, were both nominated for Best Actress, they lost to French actress and screenwriter Hafsia Herzi, for her performance as a prison supervisor in Stéphane Demoustier’s Borgo. Gascón skipped the red carpet and while she sat in the same row as Audiard and Saldaña in the L’Olympia theater in Paris, she was not seated with them.

Souleymane’s Story was next with a haul of four awards, including Best Supporting Actress for Nina Meurisse and Best Male Relevation for Abou Sangare, who won the European Film Award and Lumiere Award for his performance as a Paris food delivery cyclist and asylum seeker has two days to prepare his story for a make-or-break interview to secure legal residency.

Best Actor went to Karim Leklou for Jim’s Story and Supporting Actor to Alain Chabat for Beating Hearts, each of their film’s only wins. The Count of Monte Cristo was a double winner for Costume Design and Production Design.

Double Oscar nominee Flow was the winner for Animated Feature, and two short films that are also Oscar-nominated – Yuck! and The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent – were short film winners here. Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar-winning The Zone of Interest was named Best Foreign Film, beating out Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance.

Ceremony president Catherine Deneuve was on hand to pay tribute to Ukraine.

Julia Roberts and Costa-Gavras were Honorary César recipients.

The complete list of winners:

Best Film: Emilia Pérez

Best Director: Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez

Best Actor: Karim Leklou, Jim’s Story
Best Actress: Hafsia Herzi, Borgo
Best Supporting Actor: Alain Chabat, Beating Hearts
Best Supporting Actress: Nina Meurisse, Souleymane’s Story

Best Male Revelation: Abou Sangare, Souleymane’s Story
Best Female Revelation: Maïwène Barthelemy, Holy Cow

Best Original Screenplay: Boris Lojkine and Delphine Agut, Souleymane’s Story
Best Adapted Screenplay: Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez

Best Animated Feature: Flow
Best Documentary: The Bertrand’s Farm
Best Foreign Film: The Zone of Interest

Best First Film: Louise Courvoisier, Holy Cow

Best Cinematography: Paul Guilhaume, Emilia Pérez
Best Editing: Xavier Sirven, Souleymane’s Story
Best Production Design: Stéphane Taillasson, The Count of Monte Cristo
Best Costume Design: Thierry Delettre, The Count of Monte Cristo
Best Original Music: Clément Ducol and Camille, Emilia Pérez
Best Sound: Emilia Pérez (Erwan Kerzanet, Aymeric Devoldère, Cyril Holtz, and Niels Barletta)
Best Visual Effects: Cédric Fayolle, Emilia Pérez

Best Fiction Short Film: The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (by Nebojša Slijepčević)
Best Animated Short Film: Yuck! (by Loïc Espuche)
Best Documentary Short Film: Southern Brides (by Elena López Riera)

Honorary César: Julia Roberts and Costa-Gavras