This morning in Fouquet's restaurant on Champs Elysees the Academy President Alain Terzian held a press conference to announce the nominations for the current edition of the awards that honor French cinema. Along with Florence Foresti, who will be hosting the ceremony, announced the 118 nominees in the #César2016.This year the Honorary César goes to Michael Douglas and the award will be presented on Friday, February 26 at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris with Florence Foresti hosting the ceremony for the very first time.
There are 50 films plus 113 artists and technicians with a nomination from the 4,509 Academy members that could vote and that selected them from a total of 642 films and 3,625 people submitted for consideration for this edition.
Marguerite leads the pack with 11 nominations followed closely by Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse with 10, Dheepan and Mustang with 9 each, then Mon roi and La Tête haute with 8 nominations each. Out of these six films only one was not in 2015 Cannes as Marguerite premiered in Venice 2015.
This year there are some interesting stats but believe none are more relevant in the world cinema industry than the unusual presence of nominated female directors, as out of the seven (7) Best Director nominees three (3) are female: Emmanuelle Bercot, Deniz Gamze Ergüven and Maïwenn; also noteworthy is that out of the eight (8) Best Film nominees, three (3) are by the same female directors,
Most remarkable are the 14th nomination for Catherine Deneuve plus Isabelle Huppert with her 15th time; both have already won before, Deneuve in 1981 and 1992, Huppert in 1996. Consequently there are five actresses haven't collected a César in the Best Actress category.
Gérard Depardieu collects his 17th nomination, he already won twice in 1981 and 1991; also with a win in 2009 Vincent Cassel collects his 4th nomination. As with the actresses, there are five actors that get a nomination for the first time.
Best Film
Dheepan, Jacques Audiard
Fatima, Philippe Faucon
La loi du marché (The Measure of a Man), Stéphane Brizé
Marguerite, Xavier Giannoli
Mon roi, Maïwenn
Mustang, Deniz Gamze Ergüven
La tête haute (Standing Tall), Emmanuelle Bercot
Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days), Arnaud Desplechin
Best Debut Film
L'affaire SK1 (SK1), Frédéric Tellier
Les Cowboys (Cowboys), Thomas Bidegain
Mustang, Deniz Gamze Ergüven
Ni le ciel ni la terre (The Wakhan Front), Clément Cogitore
Nous trois ou rien (All Three of Us), Kheiron
Best Documentary Film
El botón de nácar (The Pearl Button), Patricio Guzmán
Cavanna, jusqu'à l'ultime seconde j'écrirai, Denis Robert and Nina Robert
Demain (Tomorrow), Cyril Dion and Mélanie Laurent
L’image manquante (The Missing Picture), Rithy Panh
Une jeunesse allemande (A German Youth), Jean-Gabriel Périot
Best Animated Feature
Adama, Simon Rouby
Avril et le monde truqué (April and the Extraordinary World),Christian Desmares and Franck Ekinci
Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince), Mark Osborne
Best Foreign Film
Birdman, Alejandro González Iñárritu
Saul Fia (Son of Saul), Laszlo Nemes
Je suis mort mais j'ai des amis, Guillaume and Stéphane Malandrin
Mia Madre (My Mother), Nanni Moretti
Taxi, Jafar Panahi
Le Tout Nouveau Testament (The Brand New Testament), Jaco van Dormael
Youth, Paolo Sorrentino
Best Director
Jacques Audiard for Dheepan
Stéphane Brizé for La loi du marché (The Measure of a Man)
Xavier Giannoli for Marguerite
Maïwenn for Mon roi
Deniz Gamze Ergüven for Mustang
Emmanuelle Bercot for La tête haute (Standing Tall)
Arnaud Desplechin for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)
Best Actress
Loubna Abidar in Zin li fik (Much Loved)
Emmanuelle Bercot in Mon roi
Cécile de France in La Belle Saison (Summertime)
Catherine Deneuve in La tête haute (Standing Tall)
Catherine Frot in Marguerite
Isabelle Huppert in Valley of Love
Soria Zeroual in Fatima
Best Supporting Actress
Sara Forestier in La tête haute (Standing Tall)
Agnès Jaoui in Comme un avion (The Sweet Escape)
Sidse Babett Knudsen in L'Hermine (Courted)
Noémie Lvovsky in La Belle Saison (Summertime)
Karin Viard in 21 nuits avec Pattie (21 Nights with Pattie)
Most Promising Actress
Camille Cottin in Connasse, princesse des cœurs (The Parisian Bitch)
Sara Giraudeau in Les bêtises
Zita Hanrot in Fatima
Diane Rouxel in La tête haute (Standing Tall)
Lou Roy-Lecollinet in Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)
Best Actor
Jean-Pierre Bacri in La vie très privée de monsieur Sim (The Very Private Life of Mister Sim)
Vincent Cassel in Mon roi
François Damiens in Les Cowboys (Cowboys)
Gérard Depardieu in Valley of Love
Anthonythasan Jesuthasan in Dheepan
Vincent Lindon in La loi du marché (The Measure of a Man)
Fabrice Luchini in L'Hermine (Courted)
Best Supporting Actor
Michel Fau in Marguerite
Louis Garrel in Mon roi
Benoît Magimel in La tête haute (Standing Tall)
André Marcon in Marguerite
Vincent Rottiers in Dheepan
Most Promising Actor
Swann Arlaud in Les Anarchistes
Quentin Dolmaire in Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)
Félix Moati in À trois on y va (All About Them)
Finnegan Oldfield in Les Cowboys (Cowboys)
Rod Paradot in La tête haute (Standing Tall)
Best Original Screenplay
Noé Debré, Thomas Bidegain and Jacques Audiard for Dheepan
Xavier Giannoli for Marguerite
Deniz Gamze Ergüven and Alice Winocour for Mustang
Emmanuelle Bercot and Marcia Romano for La tête haute (Standing Tall)
Arnaud Desplechin and Julie Peyr for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)
Best Adaptation
David Oelhoffen and Frétéric Tellier for L'affaire SK1 (SK1)
Samuel Benchetrit for Asphalte (Macadam Stories)
Vincent Garenq and Stéphane Cabel for L'enquête (The Clearstream Affair
Philippe Faucon for Fatima
Hélène Zimmer and Benoît Jacquot for Journal d'une femme de chambre (Diary of a Chambermaid)
Best Cinematography
Eponine Momenceau for Dheepan
Glynn Speeckaert for Marguerite
David Chizallet for Mustang
Irina Lubtchansky for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)
Christophe Offenstein for Valley of Love
Best Editing
Juliette Welfling for Dheepan
Cyril Nakache for Marguerite
Simon Jacquet for Mon roi
Mathilde Van de Moortel for Mustang
Laurence Briaud for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)
Best Original Score
Raphaël for Les Cowboys (Cowboys)
Ennio Morricone for En mai, fais ce qu'il te plaît
Stephen Warbek for Mon roi
Warren Ellis for Mustang
Grégoire Hetzel for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)
Best Sound
Daniel Sorbino, Valérie Deloof and Cyril Holtz for Dheepan
François Musy and Gabriel Hafner for Marguerite
Nicolas Provost, Agnès Ravez and Emmanuel Croset for Mon roi
Ibrahim Gök, Damien Guillaume and Olivier Goinard for Mustang
Nicolas Cantin, Sylvie Malbrant and Stéphane Thiébaut for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)
Best Costumes
Anaïs Romand for Journal d'une femme de chambre (Diary of a Chambermaid)
Pierre-Jean Laroque for Marguerite
Selin Sözen for Mustang
Catherine Leterrier for L'odeur de la mandarine (The Scent of Mandarine)
Nathalie Raoul for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)
Best Production Design
Michel Barthélémy for Dheepan
Katia Wyszkop for Journal d'une femme de chambre (Diary of a Chambermaid)
Martin Kurel for Marguerite
Jean Rabasse for L'odeur de la mandarine (The Scent of Mandarine
Toma Baqueni for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)
Best Animated Short
La nuit américaine d'Angélique, Pierre-Emmanuel Lyet and Joris Clerté
Le repas dominical (Sunday Lunch), Céline Devaux
Sous tes doigts, Marie-Christine Courtès
Tigres à la queue leu leu, Benoît Chieux
Best Short Film
La contre-allée (Back Alley), Cécile Ducrocq
Le dernier des Céfrancs (The Last of the Frenchmen), Pierre-Emmanuel Urcun
Essaie de mourir jeune, Morgan Simon
Guy Moquet, Demis Herenger
Mon héros, Sylvain Desclous
To check the official announcement go here available only in French and as a pdf file. All films with at least one nomination will be screened from February 10 to 16 at Le Balzac cinema and from Febraury 17 to 23 at Les 3 Luxembourg cinema. The second round of votes will give the winners that will be announced at the awards ceremony on Friday, February 26 .