France’s Le Collectif 50/50 Launches #CesarSoMale Campaign After Women Directors Shut Out of Awards Noms

Awards

France’s Le Collectif 50/50 Launches #CesarSoMale Campaign After Women Directors Shut Out of Awards Noms

The Academy Awards aren’t the only prestigious awards ceremony with an all-male best director race. The César awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars, announced nominees on Wednesday, and zero women are up for Best Director. As is the case with the Oscars, just one title helmed by a woman is in the running for Best Picture, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi’s “Forever Young,” a portrait of a young actress in the ’80s. (Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking” is up for Best Picture at the Oscars.)

Deadline reports that “action tank” Le Collectif 50/50, which is dedicated to promoting equality and diversity in the entertainment industry, has launched a campaign in response to the snubs, #CesarSoMale.

“Le Collectif 50/50 deplores the total absence of women in the Best Director category and their lack of representation in the Best Film category,” the body wrote in a statement. It emphasized, “We would have dreamed of distinguishing ourselves from the Oscars, an institution which also shows an incomprehensible forgetfulness when it comes to the directors who marked the past year with their works.”

Buzzy French titles helmed by women this year include “Alice Winocour’s ‘Paris Memories,’ Rebecca Zlotowski’s ‘Other People’s Children,’ Léa Mysius’ ‘The Five Devils,’ and 2023 French Oscar submission ‘Saint Omer’ by Alice Diop,” per the source.

The collective’s statement, which also uses the hashtag #CesarSoWhite, noted the lack of diversity amongst nominees. “We are concerned about the very low representation of the diversity and wealth of our current society in this same selection, and the lack of media commotion that this seems to cause,” it explained.

Le Collectif 50/50 described this year’s noms as a “step backwards.”

The César awards will take place February 24. The Oscars follow March 12.