The cinema was marked by very beautiful films made by women filmmakers this year. They are however the great forgotten of the César 2023.
The César ceremony will be broadcast live on Canal + this Friday, February 24. Several personalities are expected to present the 3-hour ceremony and award the prestigious awards. This year, again, the Caesars are under fire from critics. And for good reason, when the nominations were announced, an injustice immediately jumped out at you and marked people’s minds. Women are invisible of certain categories and in particular one of the most prestigious.
In the Best Director category, whose name had been changed for greater equality, no women are mentioned. While last year three women were named in this category, this year no female filmmaker is named. And in the Best Film category, we only findonly one feature film directed by a woman. These are the almond trees, directed by Valéria Bruni Tedeschi. Let us also recall thatonly one woman won the César for Best Director. This is Tonie Marshall, awarded in 2000 for Vénus Beauté (Institut). And 4 women, only, received that of the Best film.
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César 2023: forgotten tall women
No female filmmaker in the best direction category therefore, while this cinematic year was marked by many films directed by women. Saint-Omerdirected by Alice Diop and awarded prestigious international prizes, The worst by Romane Gueret See Paris again by Alice Winocour Other people’s children by Rebecca Zlotowski Annie Anger by Blandine Lenoir or even A nice morning by Mia Hansen-Love, to name but a few.
This glaring and unjust absence was criticized by the 50/50 collective, mobilized to defend parity in cinema and in the audiovisual sector. “This is a step back“, judged the collective, which recalls that women represented 14% of nominations in the directing category in 2021, 43% in 2022… and 0% in 2023.
To respond to this injustice, the magazine chat launched the Cleopatras, in order to highlight the work of women. Alice Diop won the audience award and Rebecca Zlotowski the editorial award.