Was it "shame" that dictated this choice? Six months after a 2020 ceremony heckled for its record, and controversies over its mode of operation, the Academy of Caesar is reformed and adopts "full parity" in its governing bodies, according to an official statement.
From now on, all of the 4,313 members of the Academy who vote to award the Césars will be able to be candidates and choose their representatives, during elections which must take place before the beginning of September, according to the new statutes, adopted behind closed doors by the resigning directors. The general assembly, the board of directors and the office of the association will be joint, with "a tandem man / woman for the presidency".
A controversy, a reform
When these new bodies are set up, the new leaders will have to tackle a second task: to reinforce "the parity, the diversity and the representativeness" of the Academy of Caesar itself, quickly enough to be able to organize the edition 2021.
In February, a few days before a 2020 ceremony that rewarded Roman Polanski, and after a tribune demanding a "thorough reform" of the Academy of Caesar, the management had announced its "collective resignation". Several months were necessary to give new statutes to the Academy. "This renewed governance must make it possible to represent French cinema in all its aesthetics and its diversity in order to allow the Academy to continue to embody its influence," said the Minister of Culture at the time, Franck Riester.
The end of a system
Margaret Menegoz, Acting President, is responsible for implementing the reform of the Academy. The announcement of this “full parity” of the governing bodies sounds like a symbol. Alain Terzian, president of the resigning Academy, had notably focused criticism on the lack of women among its members (only 35%).
But this measure should not be the only one. The “opaque” governance of the Academy had also been pointed out. And more broadly, the signatories of the platform that precipitated the fall of Alain Terzian, wanted to abolish "an elitist and closed system", claiming for example to be able to vote directly to be able to elect their representatives, as is the case for the Oscar and the Bafta (United Kingdom).
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