One month ahead of this year’s ceremony, France’s Cesar Academy has promised not to “spotlight” anyone accused of sexual or physical violence while issuing regulatory changes to curtail the voting rights of any Academy member facing legal accusations of that nature.
If a member is ultimately convicted, they will be expelled from the Academy for the duration of their sentence.
“In the event of legal proceedings against a member for acts of violence, particularly of a sexist or sexual nature,” the Academy announced, “the board will suspend the member’s voting rights until the ongoing procedure is concluded, or exclude them entirely until the full completion of the sentence, in the case of a final conviction.”
The Cesar Academy adopted a new charter on Jan. 23, promising to “fight against all forms of violence” while instating these zero-tolerance regulations for all legal accusations of sexual assaut. This rule change follows a number of past controversies, most notably Roman Polanski’s 2020 Cesar win for best director – a move that caused “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” star (and by then two-time acting winner) Adèle Haenel to storm out of that year’s ceremony in protest before leaving the film industry writ large.
Popular on Variety
Two years later, the academy faced a similar maelstrom when up-and-coming actor Sofiane Bennacer (“Forever Young”) made the shortlist for the best male newcomer award with recently filed sexual assault charges against him. The Cesar Academy withdrew the young actor’s name from the shortlist shortly thereafter, before promising wider-ranging regulatory reforms to prevent future repeats.
French cinema’s own MeToo reckoning hit a landmark moment at last year’s Cesar ceremony, once actress and activist Judith Godrèche challenged industry omertà as she encouraged those in the room to be make a clean break from past practices.
“Let’s not play heroines on screen only to hide in the woods in real life,” Godrèche said from the Cesar podium. “Let’s not write revolutionary or humanist heroes only to wake up in the morning knowing a director has abused a young actress—and say nothing.”
This year marks the Cesars’ 50th edition, a milestone the French academy will celebrate by offering an honorary award to Julia Roberts and by inviting local legend Catherine Deneuve to preside over the ceremony. As with this year’s Academy Awards, Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez” is expected to score a raft of nominations – though here, the cartel musical will likely face stiff competition from last year’s blockbuster sensation “The Count of Monte-Cristo.”
Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner “Anatomy of a Fall” swept the most recent ceremony, winning awards for best picture, director, actress, supporting actor, editing and original screenplay – the latter an honor Triet and co-writer Arthur Harrari also shared at the Oscars.
Nominations for the 2025 awards will be announced on January 29th, with the ceremony held on February 28th at Paris’ Olympia Theater.