8 César nominated films you don’t want to miss at the Festival

Our selection of films were nominated for 61 awards for the 2019 César ceremony!    Let us unveil 8 films of our line-up that received a nomination for the prestigious awards, and prepare to grab tickets when they go on sale on Thursday 31 January.       THE SISTERS BROTHERS LES FRÈRES SISTERS   César 2019 nominee: Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Adaptation, Best Costume Design, Best Editing Best Sound, Best Product Design       Directed by JACQUES AUDIARD Starring John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed   Jacques Audiard, arguably the most acclaimed French director of today, just received nine nominations at the 2019 César Awards (including for best film and best director) for his masterpiece starring John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix and Jake Gyllenhaal – a Western dark comedy about a pair of assassin brothers, Eli and Charlie Sisters, caught up in the California Gold Rush.     SINK OR SWIM LE GRAND BAIN   César 2019 nominee: Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best supporting actress (Leïla Bekhti, Virginie Efira), Best Supporting Actor (Jean-Hugues Anglade, Philippe Katerine), Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Sound       Directed by GILLES LELLOUCHE Starring Guillaume Canet, Mathieu Amalric, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Virginie Efira, Marina Foïs, Benoït Poelvoorde   Actor-turned-director Gilles Lellouche has pulled off a box office coup with his directorial debut, Sink or Swim, an even bigger hit than C’est la vie! in which he starred – and a standing ovation at the film’s premiere at Cannes, with this uplifting comedy about a group of disenchanted men who find fresh self-esteem in a synchronized swimming team.     IN SAFE HANDS PUPILLE   César 2019 nominee: Best Film, Best Actress (Elodie Bouchez, Sandrine Kiberlain), Best Actor (Gilles Lellouche), Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Music        Directed by JEANNE HERRY Starring Sandrine Kiberlain, Gilles Lellouche, Élodie Bouchez, Miou-Miou, Stéfi Celma Also nominated for the prestigious Prix Louis Delluc and Lumiere awards, In Safe Hands throws us deep into the milieu of the French social assistance services where the fate of one baby boy exposes the conflicting conundrums faced by many women – those giving up their babies and those desperate to have their own.     MEMOIR OF WAR LA DOULEUR   César 2019 nominee: Best Film, Best Actress (Mélanie Thierry), Best Director, Best Sound, Best Adaptation, Best Cinematography, Best Costumes, Best Production Design       Directed by EMMANUEL FINKIEL Starring Mélanie Thierry, Benoît Magimel, Benjamin Biolay, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Emmanuel Bourdieu Published in 1985 and translated into fifteen languages, Marguerite Duras’ La Douleur(pain) is considered one of the great literary works of the 20th century – a searing recollection of her experiences in Paris during the Second World War. Adapting such a work for the screen is an ambitious undertaking, and one that has garnered its fair share of controversy under the directorial gaze of Emmanuel Finkiel.     AN IMPOSSIBLE LOVE UN AMOUR IMPOSSIBLE   César 2019 nominee: Best Actress (Virginie Efira), Best Adaptation, Most Promising Actress (Jehnny Beth), Best Original Music       Directed by CATHERINE CORSINI  Starring Virginie Efira, Niels Schneider, Coralie Russier, Iliana Zabeth, Jehnny Beth Based on the novel by author Christine Angot (co-writer of Let the Sunshine In), a young woman recounts the epic arc of her parent’s ill-fated love affair in three phases: the beginning of romance, the fallout and its indelible effect on her relationship with her mother.     AMANDA AMANDA   César 2019 nominee: Best Actor (Vincent Lacoste), Best Original Music       Directed by MIKHAËL HERS Starring Vincent Lacoste, Isaure Multrier, Stacy Martin, Jonathan Cohen The young and talented Vincent Lacoste symbiotically embodies French youth and earnest hope across beautiful Parisian streets in Amanda, which unfurls as a family drama –although one that gets shaken to its core by a sudden act of violence.     GUY GUY   César 2019 nominee: Best Film, Best Actor (Alex Lutz), Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Music, Best Sound       Directed by ALEX LUTZ  Starring Alex Lutz, Tom Dingler, Pascale Arbillot, Nicole Calfan, Élodie Bouchez  Serge Gainsbourg collides with Spinal Tap in a heartfelt dramedy-mockumentary, showcasing Lutz’s extraordinary chameleonic talents, when wrangling the dual roles of both the young and old Jamet. Equally humorous and sentimental, this film is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, as exemplified through its selection as the closing film of Critics’ Week at Cannes 2018.     SORRY ANGEL PLAIRE, AIMER, COURIR VITE   César 2019 nominee: Best Supporting Actor (Denis Podalydès)       Directed by CHRISTOPHE HONORÉ  Starring Vincent Lacoste, Pierre Deladonchamps, Denis Podalydès, Adèle Wismes, Clément Métayer Christophe Honoré’s vivid, life-affirming celebration of love and friendship was a critical hit at Cannes, and is a major artistic highlight of this year’s Festival, graced with complex characters and inspired flights of imagination.