The Cesar Awards - French film industry awards - 2010 have been revealed.
With 13 nominations,A Prophet by Jacques Audiard is the frontrunner of this year's awards. It is closely followed by Xavier Giannoli's In the Beginning, with 11 nominations, and Philippe Lioret's Welcome, with 10. What's more, all three have been nominated for Best Director and Best Film (in the latter category they're alongside Skirt Day by Jean-Paul Lilienfeld, The Concert by Radu Mihaileanu, Wild Grass by Alain Resnais, and Rapt by Lucas Belvaux).
In the acting realm, François Cluzet has been nominated twice for Best Actor for his work in In the Beginning and One for the Road. He rubs shoulders with Yvan Attal (Rapt), Vincent Lindon (Welcome), and Tahar Rahim (A Prophet), who has also been nominated for Most Promising Actor, alongside his partner in the film Adel Bencherif, and Vincent Lacoste (The French Kissers), Firat Ayverdi (Welcome), and Vincent Rottiers (I'm Glad that My Mother Is Alive). Nominees vying for Best Actor in a Supporting Role are Jean-Hugues Anglade (Persecution), Niels Arestrup (A Prophet), Joey Starr (The Actress' Ball), Benoît Poelvoorde (Coco Before Chanel), and Michel Vuillermoz (One for the Road).
In the Best Actress category, the nominees are Isabelle Adjani (Skirt Day), Dominique Blanc (L'autre), Sandrine Kiberlain (Mademoiselle Chambon), Kristin Scott Thomas (Leaving), and Audrey Tautou (Coco Before Chanel). Aure Atika (Mademoiselle Chambon), Anne Consigny (Rapt), Audrey Dana (Welcome), Emmanuelle Devos (In the Beginning), and Noémie Lvovsky (The French Kissers) are in the running for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. The Most Promising Actress award nominees are: Pauline Étienne (Qu'un seul tienne et les autres suivront), Florence Loiret-Caille (Je l'aimais), Soko (In the Beginning), Christa Théret (LOL (laughing out loud)), and Mélanie Thierry (One for the Road).
Marion Cotillard will preside over the ceremony, which will take place Saturday February 27. The awards will include the presentation of a Cesar of Honor to the American actor Harrison Ford and a major tribute to master French director Éric Rohmer, who passed away January 11, 2010 at the age of 89.
