César Awards: Corona protest at the film award

Icon: enlarge

"Give us back the art, Jean" demanded the actress Corinne Masiero at the César Awards

Photo: 

Pool / Getty Images

The tragic comedy "Adieu les cons" (German: Goodbye, you idiots) by director Albert Dupontel has been awarded the French César Film Prize in the category "Best Film".

The film received awards in a total of seven categories, including best film, best director and best original screenplay.

The award ceremony for the highest film award in France took place on Friday evening without an audience in Paris.

All of the nominees were present, however, with one notable exception: Albert Dupontel.

The 57-year-old director and actor has not yet participated in any César awards.

He gave the reason in 2017 on a television program: For him, the Césars are like a visit to the Louvre, where it is said that this painter is better than the other.

Such an intellectual judgment makes him perplexed.

"Adieu les cons" tells the story of a seriously ill woman who, at the age of 43, went in search of her daughter, whom she had to give up for adoption at the age of 15 under the pressure of her parents.

The tragic comedy hit French cinemas shortly before the corona-related closure of the cultural institutions at the end of October and attracted more than 700,000 viewers in just ten days.

Danish film director Thomas Vinterberg's »Rausch« won the César in the category of best foreign film.

The drama tells the story of four teacher friends who start a drinking experiment together and made it into the Oscar preselection for the best international film.

Isabelle Huppert: Time to open the cinemas

Many actors, including Isabelle Huppert, took the event on Friday evening as an opportunity to call for the cinemas to be opened.

She was happy to be here and to stand in front of around 150 people, said the actress.

That is a considerable audience nowadays.

But now it is time to open the cinemas as soon as possible.

In France, cinemas, theaters and museums have been closed since the end of October due to the Corona crisis.

The pressure from cultural workers on the French government is growing.

For days, theaters have been occupied in protest in Paris, Strasbourg and other cities in the country.

The actress Corinne Masiero undressed on stage during the award ceremony.

She had written "No culture, no future" on her chest and stomach.

On her back was the message "Give us back the art, Jean" - addressed to Prime Minister Jean Castex.

France is badly affected by the pandemic.

On Friday, the country with around 67 million inhabitants officially passed the threshold of 90,000 corona deaths.

An evening curfew applies nationwide from 6:00 p.m.

This year's award ceremony took place under the renewed leadership of the Académie des César.

Last year, the dispute over the award of the best director's prize to Roman Polanski for the film Intrige plunged the institution into a crisis.

The César is France's national film award, named after the sculptor César Baldaccini.

The "French Oscar" has been awarded since 1976.

Icon: The mirror

wbr / dpa / AFP