Pacificction, by Albert Serra, has achieved nine nominations for the César, the French film awards, as announced by the French Film Academy this morning. The film by the Catalan filmmaker, who participated in the official section of the Cannes festival and last Sunday won the Gaudí for best film in a non-Catalan language, opts, among other nominations, for best film, director, and lead actor (Benoit magimel).
Serra will compete for the award for best director with Cédric Klapisch (En Corps); Louis Garrel (L'Innocent); Cédric Jimenez (Novembre) and Dominik Mol (La Nuit du 12). L'innocent and La Nuit du 12 lead the French film awards with eleven and ten nominations, whose ceremony will take place on Friday, February 24.
Serra, whose career is closely linked to France, is much loved in France. A situation that contrasts with his relationship with the Spanish Film Academy, which has left him out of any option in the next edition of the Goya. In Pacificction, the director has traveled to Polynesia to shoot a story that addresses the difficulties of a High Commissioner of the French State, played by Magimel. The protagonist travels to that distant place to take the pulse of a population that reproaches having been abandoned and always tries to appease the discomfort with good manners.
For its part, As bestas, by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, will aspire to the César for best foreign film together with the Belgian Close (Lukas Dhont), the Swedish Chico del Cielo (Tarik Saleh), the Polish EO (Jerzy Skolimowski) and the also Swedish El triangle of sadness (Ruben Östlund).
As previously announced, the American director and producer David Fincher will receive the César de Honor for 2023.
On the other hand, the gala will be punctuated this year by the decision of the French Film Academy to remove anyone accused of "acts of violence", especially those "of a sexual or sexist nature". The decision has been made after the controversy caused by the case of the actor Sofiane Bennacer, who last November was accused of sexually assaulting several of his former colleagues.
The complaint was registered just a few days after the French institution included the interpreter of Les Amandiers in its lists of new prominent faces in French cinema. The César Academy has been the object of criticism and controversy on previous occasions for events of this type. In 2020, it hosted a gala eventful for the twelve nominations for The Officer and the Spy, by Roman Polanski, on whom a new accusation of rape weighed.
