The Caesars, a ceremony and business

Text by: Elisabeth Lequeret Follow

This Friday, February 28 in the evening in Paris, Salle Pleyel, will be held the 45th Cesar ceremony. This year, the festival of French cinema promises to be under tension after the resignation of the management of the academy, its president Alain Terzian, and while the twelve nominations of J'accuse by Roman Polanski arouse anger and indignation.

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High risk evening for the Caesars. The great celebration of French cinema is likely to be somewhat rowdy this year. First by the feminists: outraged by the twelve nominations of the film J'accuse by Roman Polanski, a Franco-Polish director targeted by a new accusation of rape, several associations called to demonstrate outside the Salle Pleyel.

But the Caesars are also weakened by an unprecedented crisis which led in mid-February to the collective resignation of the management of the academy, accused of opacity and of themselves. 600 film personalities, including Omar Sy, Jacques Audiard and Céline Sciamma, have signed a platform calling for " in-depth reform " for more democracy. Their action precipitated the resignation of the Cesar board of directors and its president, producer Alain Terzian.

It is thus a new era which opens for the academy of César with the nomination of an acting president, the producer Margaret Menegoz, and a reform of the statutes. In the meantime, this evening, the ceremony will probably be tense, possibly icy, to want to bring all these beautiful people together on the same red carpet.

Roman Polanski has already declared that he will not come. Adèle Haenel , in the running for the best actress prize, recently declared that distinguishing Polanski is " spitting on the faces of all the victims ". Only one thing is certain: this ceremony, usually considered long and compassed, will arouse enormous interest this evening.

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