Five months after an unprecedented crisis in French cinema and the collective resignation of its leaders, the Académie des César announced Thursday the adoption of a broad reform of its statutes, providing in particular for "full parity" between men and women in its decision-making bodies. 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.
"A tandem man / woman for the presidency"
The general assembly, the board of directors and the office of the association will be joint, with "a tandem man / woman for the presidency", announced in a press release the Academy, which was accused of opacity and d 'in-between by many personalities of the 7th art. When these new bodies are set up, the new leaders will have to tackle a second task: to strengthen "the parity, the diversity and the representativeness" of the Academy of Caesar itself, quickly enough to be able to organize the edition 2021.
This reform is the result of work carried out under the aegis of the National Cinema Center (CNC), which does not finance the Cesars but had been mandated, in the face of the crisis, by the government and the Academy. With this reform, the Academy takes a first step to try to save this institution, which organizes the award ceremony of the most prestigious awards of French cinema.
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The management of the Academy had resigned en bloc in mid-February, after several weeks of open crisis. Two weeks later, the 45th Cesar ceremony could still have taken place but in a context of great tension, marked by feminist demonstrations and the shattering departure of actress Adèle Haenel when Roman Polanski, targeted by accusations of rapes, was awarded the prize for best achievement in his absence.