The 26th Lumière du Cinéma Awards ceremony was held on January 19, 2021. Since 1996, this event has honored the best in French cinema, with prizes awarded by members of the Académie des Lumières, which is composed of international journalists based in France. This year, there were 123 voting members from 36 countries led by Academy president, the American journalist Lisa Nesselson.
The awards ceremony was broadcast live on Canal+, with a selection of videos of the event available for viewing here.
This year, in the preamble to the presentation of the awards, a montage on the international export of French films over the past 26 years was screened, providing many important statistics.
For reference, recent winners of the Lumière Award for Best Film include Timbuktu (2015), Mustang (2016), Elle (2017), BPM (Beats Per Minute) (2018), The Sisters Brothers (2019), and Les Misérables (2020).
2021 Lumières du Cinéma Award winners
- BEST FILM: Love Affair(s) by Emmanuel Mouret
- BEST DIRECTOR: Maïwenn for DNA
- BEST SCREENPLAY: Stéphane Demoustier for The Girl with a Bracelet
- BEST DOCUMENTARY: The Monopoly of Violence by David Dufresne
- BEST ANIMATED FILM: Josep by Aurel
- BEST ACTRESS: Martine Chevallier and Barbara Sukowa in Two of Us
- BEST ACTOR: Sami Bouajila in A Son
- MOST PROMISING ACTRESS: Noée Abita in Slalom
- MOST PROMISING ACTOR: Félix Lefebvre and Benjamin Voisin in Summer of 85
- BEST FIRST FILM: Two of Us by Filippo Meneghetti
- BEST INTERNATIONAL COPRODUCTION: The man who sold his skin by Kaouther Ben Hania
- BEST DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Hichame Alaouié for Summer of 85
- BEST MUSIC: Silvia Pérez Cruz for Josep
