This is the most recent award of the ceremony, the public Caesar evolves after only two years of existence. We explain how this award is awarded by the Academy.
Since 2018, the Académie des César has decided, in a desire to reward all genres of cinema, to award an audience prize based on the admissions generated in France. This is called the César du public which, during the two previous editions was automatically awarded to the French film having amassed the most admissions in France since its release just before the start of the César ceremony to give them a chance. films released late in the year. This is how Raid Dingue (4.5 million admissions) and Les Tuche 3 (5.6 million admissions) were crowned with a public César respectively in 2018 and 2019.
But for the César 2020, the Academy has decided to change the rules in a desire to allow professionals to vote on the feature films acclaimed by the public last year. For this reason, French box office scores are halted just before the announcement of the Caesar nominations. The Académie des César then offers a list of five films in which some 4,000 members vote to grant the public’s César award, which could therefore be renamed as follows: “César for the public but chosen by the professionals”. The French film which brought in the most admissions during the year is therefore not at all guaranteed to win the prize. Here is the list of films nominated for the César du public this year:
- What else has we done to the Good Lord (6.7 million admissions)
- We will end up together (2.7 million entries)
- Non-Standards (2 million entries)
- In the name of the earth (1.9 million admissions)
- Les Misérables (1.9 million admissions)
According to the previous rules, Philippe de Chauveron, director of What we still did to the Good Lord, would have been assured of obtaining the César of the public this year. But now that the rules have changed, the filmmaker has no certainty about its price. In an interview with the Parisian, the director believes that it is an “arm of honor to the public”. “Does that mean the audience isn’t smart enough? That they don’t taste good enough? […] It is unacceptable not to respect the spectators. “
