08/03/2021 - Emmanuel Mouret’s feature film walks away with the title of Best French Film of 2020, while Aurel’s Josep is named Best First Film

Association of French Film Critics president Philippe Rouyer and director Emmanuel Mouret with his prize for Love Affair(s) (© Aurélie Lamachère/SFCC)

The Association of French Film Critics has announced its champions for 2020. The accolade of Best French Film of the Year went to Love Affair(s) [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emmanuel Mouret
film profile] by Emmanuel Mouret, which sees the movie continuing a winning streak which began with Cannes’ 2020 Official Selection label and has since been bolstered by the 2021 Lumières award for Best Film (read our news), as well as 13 nominations for this year’s César awards, the victors of which will be announced on 12 March. Notably starring Camélia Jordana, Nils Schneider, Vincent Macaigne, Jeanna Thiam, Guillaume Gouix, Émilie Dequenne and Julia Piaton, this Moby Dick Films production which was distributed in France in September of last year, courtesy of Pyramide, is sold worldwide by Elle Driver.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

The award for Best First French Film, meanwhile, was won by an animated film also bearing Cannes’ 2020 Official Selection stamp of approval: Josep [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Aurel
film profile] by Aurel. Produced by Les Films d’Ici Méditerranée in co-production with France 3 Cinéma, Spanish group Imagic Telecom and film studios Les Films du Poisson Rouge, Lunanime (Belgium), Promenons nous dans les bois, Tchak, Les Fées Spéciales and Effecto, this trophy for Josep joins an already impressive horde (European Film Award for Best Animated Film, two Lumières awards and the Louis-Delluc Prize for Best First Film). Released in France back in the autumn, courtesy of Sophie Dulac Distribution, the feature film is sold by The Party Films Sales.

Rounding off the list of film accolades, we find the Outstanding French-Language Film award which was scooped by Belgium director Fabrice du Welz’s Adoration [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fabrice du Welz
film profile] (discovered in Locarno, produced by Panique! together with The Jokers and Savage Film, and sold by Memento International), along with the title of Best Foreign Film, which went to Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s Drunk [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Best Foreign First Feature Film which was won by Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains by China’s Gu Xiaogang, and Best French Short bagged by Ismaël Joffroy Chandoutis’ Maalbeek.

Also worth a mention is the Best French Series trophy, which was snaffled by Thomas Vincent’s Possessions, and, on the topic of TV productions, the award for Best Work of Fiction which went to Olivier Jahan’s Claire Andrieux and that of Best Documentary, entrusted to Sébastien Lifshitz’s Little Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sébastien Lifshitz
film profile] (which is set to drop on Netflix on 15 March).

The full list of winners is as follows:

Cinema

Best French Film
Love Affairs(s) [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emmanuel Mouret
film profile]  - Emmanuel Mouret (France)

Best Foreign Film
Drunk [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Thomas Vinterberg (Denmark/Sweden/The Netherlands)

Best French First Film
Josep [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Aurel
film profile] – Aurel (France/Spain/Belgium)

Best Foreign First Film
Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains - Gu Xiaogang (China)

Outstanding French-Language Film
Adoration [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fabrice du Welz
film profile] – Fabrice du Welz (Belgium/France)

Best French Short
Maalbeek - Ismaël Joffroy Chandoutis (France)

TV Awards

Best French Work of Fiction
Claire Andrieux - Olivier Jahan

Best French Documentary
Little Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sébastien Lifshitz
film profile] - Sébastien Lifshitz (France/Denmark)

Best French Series
Possessions - Thomas Vincent

(Translated from French)