03/03/2025 - Jacques Audiard’s feature film dominated the awards with seven trophies, while Souleymane’s Story also triumphed, and Hafsia Herzi and Karim Leklou were crowned best actors

Jacques Audiard clutching two of his Césars for Emilia Pérez (© Marguerite Pic ENS Louis Lumière/Académie des César 2025)

The odds-on favourite came out on top at the 50th Césars ceremony, with Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] walking away with seven trophies, including the grand title of Best Film (scooped by the filmmaker for the third time in his career, after The Beat that My Heart Skipped [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in 2006 and A Prophet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jacques Audiard
interview: Jacques Audiard and Tahar R…
film profile] in 2010). The movie was also victorious in the categories of film direction (Audiard’s 4th accolade to this effect), adapted screenplay, music, cinematography, sound and visual effects.

There were a few surprises over the course of the evening, however, such as the four Césars won by Boris Lojkine’s Souleymane’s Story [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Boris Lojkine
film profile] (Best Screenplay for the director and Delphine Agut, Best Male Newcomer for Abou Sangare, Best Supporting Actress for Nina Meurisse and Best Editing) and the Best Actress and Best Actor awards which were claimed for the very first time by Hafsia Herzi (for her performance in Stéphane Demoustier’s Borgo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) and Karim Leklou (for Jim’s Story [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu
film profile] by Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu), respectively.

A rural breath of fresh air blew through the event, thanks to the two Césars won by Louise Courvoisier’s Holy Cow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Louise Courvoisier
film profile] (named Best First Film and earning Maïwène Barthélemy Best Female Newcomer) and the Best Documentary César awarded to Gilles Perret’s La ferme des Bertrand.

Nominated 14 times, The Count of Monte-Cristo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière had to content itself with two technical Césars (for set design and costumes), much like Beating Hearts [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Gilles Lellouche, which received 13 nominations but only claimed Best Supporting Actor for Alain Chabat.

And worth a final mention is Flow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gints Zilbalodis
interview: Red Carpet @ European Film …
film profile] by Latvia’s Gints Zilbalodis, which walked away with the title for Best Animated Film, while the Best Foreign Film category crowned English director Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] its winner. As for the winning short films, the winners in their respective categories were The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent by Croatia's Nebojša Slijepcevic, winner of Cannes' Palme d'Or and nominated at the Oscars, Yuck! by France's Loïc Espuche, also nominated at the Oscars, and Southern Brides by Spain's Elena López Riera, selected in Cannes' Critics' Week.

The full list of awards is as follows:

Best Film
Emilia Pérez [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Jacques Audiard (France)

Best Director
Jacques Audiard - Emilia Pérez

Best Actress
Hafsia Herzi – Borgo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (France)

Best Actor
Karim Leklou – Jim’s Story [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu
film profile] (France)

Best Documentary Feature
La ferme des Bertrand – Gilles Perret (France)

Best Animated Film
Flow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gints Zilbalodis
interview: Red Carpet @ European Film …
film profile] - Gints Zilbalodis (France/Latvia/Belgium)

Best First Film
Holy Cow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Louise Courvoisier
film profile] - Louise Courvoisier (France)

Best Original Screenplay
Boris Lojkine and Delphine Agut – Souleymane’s Story [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Boris Lojkine
film profile] (France)

Best Adapted Screenplay
Jacques Audiard - Emilia Pérez

Best Supporting Actress
Nina Meurisse – Souleymane’s Story

Best Supporting Actor
Alain Chabat - Beating Hearts [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (France/Belgium)

Best Female Newcomer
Maïwène Barthélemy – Holy Cow

Best Male Newcomer
Abou Sangare – Souleymane’s Story

Best Original Music
Camille and Clément Ducol - Emilia Pérez

Best Cinematography
Paul Guilhaume - Emilia Pérez

Best Sound
Erwan Kerzanet, Aymeric Devoldère, Cyril Holtz, Niels Barletta - Emilia Pérez

Best Editing
Xavier Sirven – Souleymane’s Story

Best Costumes
Thierry Delettre – The Count of Monte-Cristo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (France/Belgium)

Best Set Design
Stéphane Taillasson – The Count of Monte-Cristo

Best Visual Effects
Cédric Fayolle – Emilia Pérez

Best Short Fiction Film
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent - Nebojša Slijepcevic (Croatia/France/Bulgaria/Slovenia)

Best Animated Short
Yuck! – Loïc Espuche (France)

Best Short Documentary Film
Southern Brides – Elena López Riera (Spain/France/Switzerland)

Best Foreign Film
The Zone of Interest [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Jonathan Glazer (UK/Poland/USA)

(Translated from French)