Lea Seydoux, Roman Polanski among Cesar Awards Nominees

PanARMENIAN.Net - The final countdown to the Cesars, France’s biggest film awards, kicked off Friday morning with a breakfast press conference at the famously glitzy Fouqet’s restaurant on the Champs Elysees here as the French Academy of Cinema Technical Arts and Sciences unveiled the nominees for the 39th annual honors, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Among the high-profile nominees were Lea Seydoux, for her role in Cannes Film Festival winner Blue Is the Warmest Color, Berenice Bejo, for the role that earned her the best actress at Cannes, Roman Polanski and Mads Mikkelsen.

The best film nominees include Kechiche Abdellatif's Blue Is the Warmest Color, Polanski's Venus in Fur and Asghar Farhadi's The Past. The three filmmakers are also nominated in the best director category.

Best foreign film nominees include Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine, Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity and Paolo Sorrentino's The Greaut Beauty.

Coming off its historic Cannes win, lesbian love story/drama Blue was overlooked by the Oscars, but scored eight nominations here, as did Alain Guiraudie's drama Stranger by the Lake.

But Guillaume Gallienne's comedy Les Garcons et Guillaume a Table (Me, Myself and Mum) bested all with a big 10. The family comedy from first time filmmaker Gallienne gave a much-needed homegrown injection to the French box office after a 2013 mostly dominated by American blockbusters.

The awards will be handed out Feb. 28 in Paris, just two days before the Oscars at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. Cesar-winning actor Francois Cluzet (The Intouchables) will host the ceremony at the Chatelet Theater, with fellow Cesar-winner Cecile de France (Hereafter) serving as mistress of ceremonies.

An honorary Cesar is traditionally handed out to a foreign actor for their body of work. Kevin Costner received last year’s prize, with past honorees including Kate Winslet, Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep. This year’s honoree will be announced next week.