Paris (AFP)

The 45th Cesar ceremony is held Friday night under high tension, against a background of expected reforms and strong protests against the 12 nominations of "J'accuse" by Roman Polanski, who announced that he would not go there.

The annual high mass of French cinema will start around 9:00 p.m., chaired this year by actress Sandrine Kiberlain, with humorist Florence Foresti as mistress of ceremony. She looks agitated.

Illustration of this explosive climate, it will be preceded from 6:00 p.m. by a rally at the call of feminist associations, including #NousToutes et Dare feminisme, to protest against the numerous nominations of the film "J'accuse" by Roman Polanski.

Historical thriller on the Dreyfus Affair, "J'accuse" is one of the main works named for these annual awards of French 7th Art.

Alongside him are notably Ladj Ly's film on the suburbs "Les Misérables" (also 12 nominations and big favorite for the César for best film) and "Portrait of the young girl on fire" by Céline Sciamma, who has ten.

A special place given to Roman Polanski, which feminists and a part of the public opinion consider unacceptable in the middle of the postMeToo era, when he has been targeted since November by a new accusation of rape.

The 86-year-old Franco-Polish director is also still being sued by the American justice system for illegal sexual relations with a minor in 1977.

- Two worlds -

A group of feminist activists, dubbed the "Counter-Academy of the Caesars", already broadcast Thursday on social networks a "counter-ceremony" to give "to the Tocards of French cinema, awards such as the Cesar of pedocriminality, impunity, or misogyny, "they explained.

In this climate of tension, Roman Polanski announced Thursday that he would not attend the ceremony.

"For several days, I have been asked this question: will I come or will I not come to the César ceremony. The question I ask is rather the following: how could I?", Said the filmmaker in a text sent Thursday to AFP, saying that "activists are already threatening him with a public lynching".

The team of "Portrait of the girl on fire", largely feminine, for its part should be massively at the rendezvous, during this evening which should see symbolically confront two worlds.

The revival will be embodied in particular by Adèle Haenel, nominated for the César for best actress, who has become the icon of a new momentum of #MeToo in France since she accused director Christophe Ruggia in November of "repeated touching" when she was a teenager.

Showing the color, the one who had created an earthquake in French cinema in the fall with his testimony, said Monday in an interview with the New York Times that "to distinguish Polanski is to spit in the face of all the victims".

- A single sacred director -

At his side, the director Céline Sciamma, very involved in the collective 50/50 for equality in cinema, could create a moment of History also by winning the César for the best achievement.

It was won only once by a woman, Tonie Marshall for "Venus Beauty (Institute)", just twenty years ago.

This evening should also be that of the beginning of a renaissance for the institution of the Cesars, shaken in recent weeks by a serious operational crisis.

A wind of revolt, emanating from film personalities, had blown since mid-January to criticize the opacity, the lack of democracy, diversity and parity of the leadership of the Academy of Caesar.

This sling had led, in mid-February, to the resignation en bloc of its board of directors, chaired since 2003 by Alain Terzian.

Two days before the ceremony, an acting president of the Cesars, Margaret Menegoz, was appointed, and the National Cinema Center (CNC) announced that an extraordinary general meeting would be held on April 20 to adopt new statutes.

Meanwhile, a sign of the unease of this 45th edition, no Honorary Cesar, generally awarded to Hollywood stars, has been announced this year.

According to Le Parisien, the American actor Brad Pitt would have given his agreement at first, before retracting.

© 2020 AFP