Happening, a French drama directed by Audrey Diwan has been adjudged as the best film at the 27th Lumières Ceremony.
It followed in the footsteps of Agnès Jaoui in 2001 and Deniz Gamze Ergüven in 2016, making it the third time a woman-directed film has taken the academy’s top honor. The drama also fetched Anamaria Vartolomei the best actress gong.
The 27th Lumières Ceremony, an award dedicated to celebrating the best French films of 2021 as determined by the foreign press working in France, took place with a studio audience and winners in attendance despite the COVID 19 crisis.
The free-to-air telecast was an exclusive program carried by Canal+ and MyCanal, on Monday, January 17.
There were also big wins for Annette, a musical that told the story of a comedian and an opera singer who are raising a puppet child.
The musical won: Best Director for Leos Carax, Best Cinematography for Caroline Champetier and Best Musical Score for brothers Ron Mael and Russell Mael of Sparks.
Xavier Giannoli was awarded the Lumière for best screenplay for Lost Illusions.
Gagarine by Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh won the Lumière for best first film. Lead performers Alséni Bathily and Lyna Khoudri accepted the trophy as their directors are currently abroad.
Patrick Imbert won the Lumière for the best animated film for The Summit Of The Gods and Thimotée Robart won most promising male newcomer for Magnetic Beats by Vincent Maël Cardona.
The Lumière for best actor went to Benoit Magimel for Peaceful by Emmanuelle Bercot. Agathe Rousselle won most promising female newcomer for her performance in Titane by Julia Ducournau. Best documentary went to Marie Amiguet and Vincent Munier for The Velvet Queen.
Finally, The Worst Person In The World by Joachim Trier, won the Lumière for best international co-production.
