Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez” swept France’s 30th Lumière Awards, the local equivalent of the Golden Globes, at a ceremony held Monday in Paris at the Forum des Images.
Emilia Pérez dominated the show, winning a whopping five awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actress for Carla Sofía Gascon, and Music for Camille and Clément Ducul. The awards were voted on by France-based journalists from 38 countries.
The Spanish-language and Mexican crime drama stars Gascón as notorious cartel leader Manitas del Monte, who fakes her death to live authentically as a trans woman. The supporting cast includes Selena Gomez, who plays Manitas’ tormented wife Jessie, and Zoe Saldaña, who plays Rita, the talented but stressed-out lawyer hired by Emilia to help her start a new life. Since winning the Jury Prize at Cannes and the Women’s Band Award, Emilia Perez has received a torrent of international honors and is now leading the awards race in the United States. At the Golden Globe Awards, where it took home the award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Emilia Perez led all films with four wins.
This year, Audiard broke the record in the history of the Lumiere Awards. This edition represents the third time that it has won the Best Picture award, after “The Beat That My Heart Skipped” in 2006 and “The Sisters Brother” in 2019. For the fourth time, he won the Best Director Award, after “The Prophet” in 2010, “Rust and Bone” in 2013, and “Brother Sisters” in 2019.
The other main Lumiere award went to “The Story of Solomon” by director Boris Luzhkin, which won the Best Actor award for Abu Sinjar. He stars in the film as a Guinean immigrant navigating the streets of Paris where he works as a bike courier before his asylum interview. The film premiered at the Un Certain Regard festival in Cannes, and also won the Best Actor award for Sancar.
Louise Courvoisier’s “Holy Cow,” a contemporary Western, won two awards, best feature film and best newcomer for Clément Faveau, who plays Toton, an 18-year-old man who lives with his father and younger sister on the family farm in the Jura region . After his father’s sudden death, his life is turned upside down, and he suddenly has to take care of his sister and the farm on his own.
Julian Colonna’s “The Kingdom,” a 1995 family crime drama set in Corsica, won best newcomer for Giovanna Benedetti, who stars in the film as Lecia, the 15-year-old daughter of a mafia boss on the run.
The award for best documentary went to “Dahomey,” a dreamlike and discourse film directed by Mati Diop that explores the issues surrounding the recovery of treasures stolen by colonial powers. The award for best animated feature went to “Flow,” a Latvian indie film directed by Gints Zilbaludis, which also won a Golden Globe, beating out American blockbusters like “Inside Out 2” and “Moana.”
The award for best international co-production was won by the Iranian political drama “The Sacred Fig Seed” by director Mohammad Rasoulof.
The Best Cinematography award was won by “The Count of Monte Cristo”, an epic adventure film based on Alexandre Dumas’s literary masterpiece, for Nicolas Bolduc.
The 30th Lumière Awards ceremony was held on the closing night of the Rendez-Vous With French Cinema, a showcase of expensive films hosted by promotion organization Unifrance.
The Lumiere Awards kick off the awards season in France every year. The Cesar Awards ceremony, the local equivalent of the Oscars, is scheduled to be held on February 28.