18/02/2005

Two weeks before the French Cesar awards, the French cinema critics Union and the international press granted the traditional yearly awards : the Melies and the Lumières2004. The two films they distinguished belong to two very different movements in French contemporary cinema : on one side we find Christophe Barratier’s The Chorus , this year’s big hit in the French box-office (8,56 million admissions), on the other we find a young art cinema director, Arnaud Desplechin with Rois et Reine.

The French critics made their choice last Monday and granted Rois et Reine the Melies 2004 for the Best film. The members of the Union, who organise the event in Cannes entitled La Semaine cannoise, also distinguished Brodeuses by Eléonore Faucher as Best first feature film, and Sous mon lit by Johane Chouaib as Best short film. A special prize went to Emmanuel Carrère for his documentary Retour à Kotelnitch, and the Melies for the Best foreign film went to Lost in translation by Sofia Coppola.

As for the international press in Paris, they revealed yesterday their choices for 2004. The Chorus by Christophe Barratier won the Lumière award for the Best Film. Rois et Reine was not overlooked however, since two of its actors were distinguished : Emmanuelle Devos as Best Actress and Mathieu Almaric as Best Actor. Jean-Pierre Jeunet got a Lumière as Best Director for A very Long Engagement . The award for the Best foreign film in French went to Demain, on déménage by Chantal Akerman. A few young actors received a distinction : Marilou Berry (Look at Me [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Lola Naymak (Brodeuses), and Damien Jouillerot (Spelling Mistakes ).

(Translated from French)