César Awards 2007: Michèle Morgan Homage

César 2007 Winners: Part I
In spite of its nine nods, Days of Glory was another sentimental favorite that failed to receive much love from French Academy members. The war drama won only one César — for best original screenplay (Rachid Bouchareb and Olivier Lorelle). Days of Glory, about North African soldiers who fought for France during World War II, is up for a best foreign-language film Oscar. In addition, the war drama won an ensemble best actor award at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Karl Zéro and Michel Royer’s Dans la peau de Jacques Chirac / Inside the Skin of Jacques Chirac, a mockumentary about the opportunistic French president and his four-decade political life, became the first documentary feature to win [...]

César 2007 Nominations

Lambert Wilson, Laura Morante in Private Fears in Public Places (top); Marina Hands in Lady Chatterley (middle); Samy Naceri in Days of Glory (bottom)

The best thing about the 2007 César nominations is the fact that Alain Resnais‘ beautiful, haunting, magical Coeurs / Private Fears in Public Places received a total of 8 nominations, including a best director nod for Resnais himself, and a best screenplay nod for Jean-Michel Ribes‘ adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn’s play.
The worst thing about the 2007 César nominations is the fact that Alain Resnais‘ beautiful, haunting, magical Coeurs / Private Fears in Public Places failed to receive a nomination in the best film category. Adding insult to injury, none of the film’s [...]

Oscar 2007: Best Foreign Language Semi-Finalists

Cécile De France in Avenue Montaigne (top); Mads Mikkelsen in After the Wedding (middle); Carice van Houten in The Black Book (bottom)

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has narrowed down to nine titles the list of potential 2007 best foreign-language film nominees.
They are (listed in alphabetical order by country):

Algeria, Days of Glory, Rachid Bouchareb, director
Canada, Water, Deepa Mehta, director
Denmark, After the Wedding , Susanne Bier, director
France, Avenue Montaigne, Danièle Thompson, director
Germany, The Lives of Others, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, director
Mexico, Pan’s Labyrinth, Guillermo del Toro, director
The Netherlands, Black Book, Paul Verhoeven, director
Spain, Volver, Pedro Almodóvar, director
Switzerland, Vitus, Fredi M. Murer, director

Though it may seem that the above films hail from all (or most) corners of the globe, [...]