César 2025: the winners of the 50th ceremony

The 50th César Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques, took place in Paris, at the Olympia, on February 28, 2025, chaired by French actress Catherine Deneuve.

The president of the 50th César Awards ceremony began her opening speech with a thought for her sister, Françoise Dorléac, it is thanks to her that Catherine Deneuve’s love affair with cinema began. In 1960, Françoise Dorléac, her sister, convinced her to take the auditions for the film « Les portes claquent ». Catherine Deneuve, who took her mother’s name, then returned to the screen with her sister in « Les Demoiselles de Rochefort ».

In her navy blue suit with a long slit skirt, the French queen of the 7th art, applauded at length, began by recalling her love for cinema, and its arrival in her life. « I have made a lot of films and I go to the cinema a lot. I started very young, at the suggestion of Françoise Dorléac, my sister », she paused, visibly moved. « It was to film with her in the cinema. I wanted to share that with you tonight », declared Catherine Deneuve.

« For me, it is an effort, I do not like being on stage, Catherine Deneuve confided. I did not jump for joy ». Before continuing: « I was not very fanatic at first but I accepted, I will be there to open this anniversary evening ». Her introductory sentence during her speech this Friday evening: « I wish you happy birthday. It is a tribute for me and a duty to be with you tonight ».

The complete list of winners of the 50th César Awards

The first ceremony took place on April 3, 1976, under the presidency of Jean Gabin, and it was « Le Vieux Fusil » by Robert Enrico that won the César for Best Film.

This year, 111 nominations in the 24 categories were announced on January 29, 2025. Between February 5 and February 28, the 4,951 voting members were able to choose the winners of the 2025 César Awards.

The César Awards for Best Film and Best Director were awarded to the film « Emilia Pérez » is the big winner of this ceremony. It also won the César Awards for Adaptation, Original Music, Sound and Photography, for a total of six statuettes.

Best Film

Winner: Emilia Pérez directed by Jacques Audiard

Other nominees:

– The Count of Monte Cristo directed by Matthieu
– Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière;
– En fanfare directed by Emmanuel Courcol;
– L’Histoire de Souleymane directed by Boris Lojkine;
– Miséricorde directed by Alain Guiraudie.

Best Director

Winner: Jacques Audiard for Emilia Pérez

Other nominees:

– Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière for The Count of Monte Cristo;
– Boris Lojkine for The Story of Souleymane;
– Alain Guiraudie for Miséricorde;
– Gilles Lellouche for L’Amour ouf.

Best Actress

Winner: Hafsia Herzi in Borgo

Nominees:

– Adèle Exarchopoulos in L’Amour ouf;
– Karla Sofía Gascón in Emilia Pérez;
– Zoe Saldaña in Emilia Pérez;
– Hélène Vincent in When Autumn Comes.

Best Actor

Winner: Karim Leklou in Le Roman de Jim

Other nominees:

– François Civil in L’Amour ouf;
– Benjamin Lavernhe in En fanfare;
– Pierre Niney in The Count of Monte Cristo;
– Tahar Rahim in Monsieur Aznavour.

Best Supporting Actress

Winner: Nina Meurisse in L’Histoire de Souleymane

Nominees:

– Élodie Bouchez in L’Amour ouf;
– Anaïs Demoustier in The Count of Monte Cristo;
– Catherine Frot in Miséricorde;
– Sarah Suco in En fanfare.

Best Supporting Actor

Winner: Alain Chabat in L’Amour ouf

Other nominees:

– David Ayala in Miséricorde;
– Bastien Bouillon in The Count of Monte Cristo;
– Jacques Develay in Miséricorde
– Laurent Lafitte in The Count of Monte Cristo.

Best Female Newcomer

Winner: Maïwène Barthelemy in Vingt Dieux

Other nominees:

– Malou Khebizi in Diamant brut;
– Megan Northam in Rabia;
– Mallory Wanecque in L’Amour ouf;
– Souheila Yacoub in Planet B.

Best Male Newcomer

Winner: Abou Sangare in L’Histoire de Souleymane

Nominees:

– Adam Bessa in Les Fantômes;
– Malik Frikah in L’Amour ouf;
– Félix Kysyl in Miséricorde;
– Pierre Lottin in En fanfare.

Best animated film

Winner: Flow, the cat who was no longer afraid of water directed by Gints Zilbalodis

Other nominees:

– La Plus Précieuse des marchandises directed by Michel Hazanavicius;
– Sauvages directed by Claude Barras.

Best documentary film

Winner: La Ferme des Bertrand directed by Gilles Perret

Other nominees:

La Belle de Gaza directed by Yolande Zauberman;
Bye bye Tibériade directed by Lina Soualem;
Dahomey directed by Mati Diop;
Ernest Cole directed by Raoul Peck;
Madame Hofmann directed by Sébastien Lifshitz.

Best First Film

Winner: Twenty Gods directed by Louise Courvoisier

Other nominees:

– Diamond in the Rough directed by Agathe Riedinger;
– Ghosts directed by Jonathan Millet;
– The Kingdom directed by Julien Colonna;
– Something Extra directed by Artus.

Best Foreign Film

Winner: The Zone of Interest directed by Jonathan Glazer

Other nominees:

– Anora directed by Sean Baker;
– Seeds of the Wild Fig Tree (Daneh Anjeer Moghadas) directed by Mohammad Rasoulof;
– The Apprentice directed by Ali Abbasi;
– The Substance directed by Coralie Fargeat.

Best Original Screenplay

Winner: Boris Lojkine and Delphine Agut for The Story of Souleymane

Nominees:

– Stéphane Demoustier for Borgo;
– Emmanuel Courcol and Irène Muscari for En fanfare ;
– Alain Guiraudie for Miséricorde ;
– Louise Courvoisier and Théo Abadie for Vingt Dieux.

Best Adaptation

Winner: Jacques Audiard for Emilia Pérez

Other nominees:

– Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière for The Count of Monte Cristo ;
– Michel Hazanavicius and Jean-Claude Grumberg for The Most Precious Merchandise.

Best Original Music

Winners: Clément Ducol and Camille for Emilia Pérez

Other nominees:

– Jon Brion for L’Amour ouf ;
– Jérôme Rebotier for The Count of Monte Cristo ;
– Alexandre Desplat for The Most Precious Merchandise ;
– Linda Courvoisier and Charlie Courvoisier for Vingt Dieux.

Best Sound

Winners: Erwan Kerzanet, Aymeric Devoldère, Cyril Holtz and Niels Barletta for Emilia Pérez

Other nominees:

– Cédric Deloche, Gwennolé Le Borgne, Jon Goc and Marc Doisne for L’Amour ouf;
– David Rit, Gwennolé Le Borgne, Olivier Touche, Laure-Anne Damas, Marion Papinot, Marc Doisne and Samuel Delorme for The Count of Monte Cristo;
– Pascal Armant, Sandy Notarianni and Niels Barletta for En fanfare;
– Marc-Olivier Brullé, Pierre Bariaud, Charlotte Butrak and Samuel Aïchoun for L’Histoire de Souleymane.

Best Photo

Winner: Paul Guilhaume for Emilia Pérez

Other nominees:

– Laurent Tangy for L’Amour ouf;
– Nicolas Bolduc for The Count of Monte Cristo;
– Tristan Galand for The Story of Souleymane;
– Claire Mathon for Miséricorde.

Best Editing

Winner: Xavier Sirven for The Story of Souleymane

Other nominees:

– Simon Jacquet for Love, Mad;
– Célia Lafitedupont for The Count of Monte Cristo;
– Juliette Welfling for Emilia Pérez;
– Guerric Catala for En fanfare.

Best Costumes

Winner: Thierry Delettre for The Count of Monte Cristo

Other nominees:

– Isabelle Pannetier for Love, Mad;
– Virginie Montel for Emilia Pérez;
– Isabelle Mathieu for Monsieur Aznavour;
– Anaïs Romand for Sarah Bernhardt, the Divine.

Best Sets

Winner: Stéphane Taillasson for The Count of Monte Cristo.

Other nominees:

– Jean-Philippe Moreaux for L’Amour ouf;
– Emmanuelle Duplay for Emilia Pérez;
– Stéphane Rozenbaum for Monsieur Aznavour;
– Olivier Radot for Sarah Bernhardt, la divine.

Best visual effects

Winner: Cédric Fayolle for Emilia Pérez

Other nominees:

– Cédric Fayolle, Hugues Namur and Émilien Lazaron for La Bête;
– Olivier Cauwet for The Count of Monte Cristo;
– Stéphane Dittoo for Monsieur Aznavour.

Best animated short film

Winner: Beurk! directed by Loïc Espuche

Other nominees:

– Gigi directed by Cynthia Calvi;
– Papillon directed by Florence Miailhe.

Best Documentary Short Film

Winner: Les Fiancées du Sud directed by Elena López Riera

Other nominees:

– Petit Spartacus directed by Sara Ganem;
– Un cœur perdu et autres rêves de Beirut directed by Maya Abdul-Malak.

Best Fiction Short Film

Winner: L’Homme qui ne se taisait pas directed by Nebojša Slijepčević

Other nominees:

– Boucan directed by Salomé Da Souza;
– Ce qui appartient à César directed by Violette Gitton;
– Queen Size directed by Avril Besson.

On the occasion of this 50th ceremony, two honorary Césars were awarded

→ The first to the American star actress Julia Roberts: « Julia Roberts is not only a movie star, she is also an iconic figure in popular culture and her influence extends far beyond her performances. »

→ The second to the French-Greek director Costa-Gavras: « Throughout all his films, Costa-Gavras has transformed cinema into a powerful tool for denouncing social and political injustices, creating works that span the ages with timeless force. His style is characterized by a breathtaking narrative, precise staging and complex characters caught up in the torments of History. »

Jeanne Herry’s feature film I will always see your faces in 2024, it is The Count of Monte Cristo, directed by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière and produced by Dimitri Rassam and Jérôme Seydoux, which won the César des lycéens 2025. The 7th award ceremony will take place on Wednesday, March 26, 2025.

The Daniel Toscan du Plantier Prize

This prize recognizes each year the producer who has had the greatest impact on the past cinematographic year. On February 17, 2025, the 18th Daniel Toscan du Plantier Prize was awarded to Muriel Meynard. A producer since 2006 within the Agat Films and Ex Nihilo collective, she has produced more than 40 documentaries for television and cinema, including The Other Side by Roberto Minervini and Adolescentes by Sébastien Lifshitz. Muriel Meynard is also involved in this 50th edition of the César Awards since she produced Twenty Gods by Louise Courvoisier, nominated for the César for Best First Film.

The César & Techniques Awards

The César & Techniques Trophy and Innovation Award are intended to reward each year « a company in the technical film industry in France, for its ability to promote an event or a development strategy that is particularly synergistic with the film industry, or a particular contribution to film creation during the past year. »

The César & Techniques awards ceremony took place on January 13, 2025. The 2025 César & Techniques Trophy was awarded to TSF Studios « Les rues de Paris », while the 2025 César & Techniques Innovation Award was awarded to MPC (Mikros).

See you next year at the 51st César Awards ceremony.

©2025 – IMPACT EUROPEAN

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