France’s Cesar Awards to Host In-Person Ceremony on March 12

The Cesar Awards, France’s highest film honors, have confirmed that an in-person ceremony will be held on March 12. The 46th edition of the awards will also be broadcast live on Canal Plus.

The event normally takes place in late February, so a mid-March date isn’t a big stretch. France has been coping with the second wave of the pandemic and theaters are due to reopen on Dec. 15 after a 90-day shutdown.

“In the face of the pandemic we’ve struggled with for months and which marked 2020, the Cesar ceremony will offer a moment of celebration and support for films, and more generally, culture,” said the French Academy of Arts and Sciences.

“[The ceremony] will pay homage to all those who have released their films in 2020 in spite of the uncertainties and obstacles; to cinemas that did everything they could to welcome loyal moviegoers; and in particular to all the artists and crew members who have suffered from this situation,” said the Academy.

French actor Marina Foïs will succeed Florence Foresti as emcee of the ceremony, which will follow strict health protocols.

The operating model and corporate leadership of the Cesar Academy was overhauled earlier this year following a massive backlash over its allegedly opaque practices.

The institution is now overseen by Veronique Cayla, the former boss of the Franco-German public culture channel Arte France. Vice chair is Eric Toledano, the popular co-director of smash-hit “The Intouchables” and a key member of the film guild ARP.

The board’s new administration board includes Fois and Antoine Reinartz, directors Pascale Ferran and Cédric Klapisch, screenwriters Olivier Gorce and Julier Peyr, producers Alain Attal and Marie-Ange Luciani, publicist and agent Sébastien Cauchon and Elisabeth Tanner, UniFrance’s managing director Danièla Elstner and distributor Alexandre Mallet-Guy, and Christine Beauchemin-Flot and Richard Patry, who are repping exhibitors.