29/01/2019 - Abdellatif Kechiche’s work has taken home the Award for Best French Film of 2018, while Custody has been crowned Best French Debut Film

Last night, the French Union of Critics handed out its awards for 2018. At the ceremony, the Best French Film of the Year Award went to Mektoub My Love: Canto Uno [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Abdellatif Kechiche. The feature, produced by the director himself through Quat’sous films (with Pathé Films, France 2 Cinéma and Italy’s Good Films on board as co-producers) has thus walked away with a prestigious consolation prize after being almost totally snubbed in the nominations for the César and Lumières Awards (apart from in the Most Promising Actress/Best New Actress category). The film has endured a fairly disproportionate "bashing" since its premiere in competition at Venice, not because of its cinematic qualities, but rather on account of its supposedly lecherous view of women. Fans of the filmmaker are now eagerly awaiting Mektoub My Love: Canto Due, which is still in post-production.

The Best French Debut Film Award was bestowed upon another movie first unveiled (and awarded) on the Lido: Custody [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Legrand
film profile] by Xavier Legrand (KG Productions – 377,000 admissions in France, distributed by Haut et Court). As for the winner of the Best Foreign Debut Film, this turned out to be Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lukas Dhont
film profile] by Belgium’s Lukas Dhont (Caméra d’Or at Cannes and 370,000 admissions in France, distributed by Diaphana).

The list of trophies handed out on the film side is rounded off by the Award for Best Unusual French-language Film, which went to Guy [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Alex Lutz (revealed in the Cannes Critics’ Week – an Iliade Films production sold by StudioCanal); the Best Foreign Film Award, which went to Phantom Thread by the USA’s Paul Thomas Anderson; and the Best Short Film Award, which singled out Gabriel Harel’s animated title La Nuit des sacs plastiques (produced by Kazak).

Here is the complete list of winners:

Film awards

Best French Film
Mektoub My Love: Canto Uno [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Abdellatif Kechiche (France/Italy)

Best Foreign Film
Phantom Thread - Paul Thomas Anderson (USA)

Best French Debut Film
Custody [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Legrand
film profile] - Xavier Legrand

Best Foreign Debut Film
Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lukas Dhont
film profile] - Lukas Dhont (Belgium/Netherlands)

Best Unusual French-language Film
Guy [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - Alex Lutz

Best French Short Film
La Nuit des sacs plastiques – Gabriel Harel

Television awards

Best French Fiction
Un homme est mort – Olivier Cossu

Best French Documentary
Histoire d’une nation – written by Françoise Davisse and Carl Aderhold, directed by Yann Coquart

Best French Series
Hippocrate – Thomas Lilti (screenwriters: Anaïs Carpita, Claude Le Pape, Julien Lilti)

(Translated from French)