The French version of the Oscars, the Cesar Film Awards, will be presented next month, but not everyone who was expecting to attend is welcome. According to consistent media reports, the Cesar Academy decreed that persons who are being investigated for violent crimes punishable by imprisonment, especially of a sexual nature, are to be expelled. The rule also applies to convictions. One acts out of respect for possible victims, it was said to justify it. This year the main focus is on a young French star, Sofiane Bennacer. He is accused of rape and other violent crimes – the 25-year-old denies.
The Film Awards Academy also recently withdrew Bennacer’s “Discovery” nomination. He had played in Valeria Bruni Tedeschi’s “Les Amandiers”. Now Bennacer should be completely excluded from the award.
There had also been fears that there could be protests at the awards ceremony because of Bennacer. It was the same in 2020, when Roman Polanski was awarded the Cesar for best director. Polanski’s work “Intrigue” was nominated twelve times, the director himself accepted the statuette despite the protests. But then the Cesar presidency resigned, and Polanski was also expelled from the academy.
The new rules initially apply to the upcoming awards ceremony on February 25. Whether they remain permanent is still being discussed.
