Xavier Beauvois's film Of Gods and Men and Roman Polanski were honored at the 2011 Lumiere Awards in Paris.
The 16th Lumiere Awards ceremony was held Friday evening, with prizes voted by international media correspondents based in Paris. Of Gods and Men by Xavier Beauvois was named Best Film of 2010 and Roman Polanski picked up the Lumieres Prize for Best Screenplay for his film The Ghost Writer.
Roman Polanski, whom the Académie des Lumières also honored in a special tribute celebrating his 50-year film career, was presented with an Honorary Panther Award by Irène Jacob.
The actor François Berléand, president of this year's Lumiere Awards ceremony, presented the Best Film Award to Xavier Beauvois for Of Gods and Men, which also received Best Actor honors for Michael Lonsdale and the CST Prize for Best Cinematographer for Caroline Champetier.
Kristin Scott Thomas won the Lumiere Award for Best Actress for her role in Sarah's Key by Gilles Paquet-Brenner.
Held under the auspices of the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, this prestigious ceremony hosted by the TVMonde journalist Estelle Martin took place in the Paris City Hall's ballroom, with guests including film and television industry personalities, international media representatives, and dozens of European journalists invited to the 13th Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in Paris organized by Unifrance.
In his opening speech, the journalist Christian Rioux, president of the Académie des Lumières, paid tribute to two celebrated French filmmakers who passed away in 2010, Claude Chabrol and Alain Corneau.
2010 LUMIERE AWARDS
Lumiere Award for Best Film: Of Gods and Men by Xavier Beauvois.
Lumiere Award for Best Director: Roman Polanski for The Ghost Writer.
Lumiere Award for Best Screenplay: Robert Harris and Roman Polanski for The Ghost Writer.
Lumiere Award for Best Actress: Kristin Scott Thomas for Sarah's Key by Gilles Paquet-Brenner
Lumiere Award for Best Actor: Michael Lonsdale for Of Gods and Men by Xavier Beauvois.
Lumiere Award for Most Promising Actor: Antonin Chalon for No and Me by Zabou Breitman
Lumiere Award for Most Promising Actress: Yahima Torres for Black Venus by Abdellatif Kechiche
Lumiere Award for Best French-Language Film (outside France): A Screaming Man by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
TV5Monde Award presented by directors of French-language film festivals: Illégal by Olivier Masset-Depasse
CST Award for Best Cinematographer of 2010: Caroline Champetier Of Gods and Men by Xavier Beauvois.
This 16th Lumiere Awards ceremony benefited from support from the Paris City Hall, the Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC), Unifrance, TV5MONDE (TV5), the Syndicat Français de la Critique de Cinéma (SFCC), the CST, and the Société de Développement des Entreprises Culturelles du Québec (SODEC).
The ceremony can be viewed on the Académie des Lumières website: www.academielumieres.com
