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00:00 In this country, it's awards season for cinema.
00:03 After the BAFTAs and before the Oscars, France, home to Europe's largest movie industry, hands
00:08 out César awards in a few hours.
00:11 This year's ceremony won't just be a celebration.
00:14 After fresh accusations of rape and abuse against big-name directors, Judith Godrej
00:20 expected to speak.
00:21 Godrej, who recently spoke of her torment back when she was 14, an aspiring actress
00:27 and became the star and lover of Benoit Jacot, 25 years her elder.
00:32 Well, for more, let's cross now to writer and movie critic Rebecca Leffler.
00:39 A lot of people waiting for that speech by Judith Godrej.
00:44 Yes, it's going to be an eventful evening.
00:47 And I'm not just talking about the awards.
00:51 There's a women's group, the Collectif 50/50.
00:54 I'm sure you've spoken about them before.
00:56 But they are calling with the CJT Spectacle, an actors, entertainers, artists union.
01:04 They're calling for people to storm the Olympia Theater where the César ceremony is taking
01:09 place and to advocate like Judith Godrej, who has really been leading the charge in
01:15 this, you know, French Me Too movement.
01:18 So it's going to be quite a night.
01:22 And it's going to be for artistic reasons also a night for women.
01:30 I mean, there's a lot of expectations surrounding Justine Triez movie, The Anatomy of a Fall,
01:37 which is nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress.
01:44 Just took home a BAFTA award.
01:46 It's nominated for five Oscars, 11 César, I believe.
01:50 So it has it's interesting because obviously there's a lot of progress to be made.
01:54 A French female director hasn't won the Best Director award since Tony Marshall, which
01:59 was many, many years ago, I think the year 2000.
02:03 So Justine Triez could possibly make more history tonight.
02:09 But it has been a really strong year for women.
02:11 You know, last year there was a lot of uproar because there weren't any French female directors
02:15 nominated in what was also a strong year for films from women.
02:20 And this year, Jean Herie is nominated, Catherine Brea.
02:26 There are several films across the board.
02:28 Iris Keltenbach in the best first film category.
02:33 Documentaries are very strong in terms of women.
02:35 So the the numbers are there.
02:39 And so but there's obviously a lot more change that needs to be happening on many, many levels
02:45 in the industry.
02:46 So I think tonight that's what all eyes are on.
02:50 All of the French film industry, everyone who matters in the industry will be in the
02:55 room.
02:56 And so I think that's where the fact that the Césars are even giving Judith Kodrash
03:01 a platform to speak about this, I think is really significant.
03:06 It's kind of opened up a what depend on a Pandora's box of just accusations.
03:13 Because the question that had been put forward was that when it comes to #MeToo moments,
03:20 France was late to the game.
03:22 Is the French cinema industry different from that in the US or Britain?
03:28 Yeah, well, you might be feeling a little bit of deja vu because there was a fiery César
03:34 ceremony in 2020 when a bunch of, led by Adèle Hanel, a bunch of actors and actresses stormed
03:40 out of the of the theater to protest Roman Polanski winning a bunch of awards.
03:46 And that was the time when everyone said, oh, well, this is France's #MeToo and everything's
03:52 going to change.
03:53 And obviously we've seen that it wasn't overnight.
03:55 So yeah, France has been kind of like everything here, a little bit late to the game.
04:00 But there have been changes that are starting to occur.
04:03 The CNC in December passed a new rule that any funding, anyone that gets any funding
04:09 from the CNC, which is basically every movie made in France, they have to have obligatory
04:14 training for everyone involved in a production, the directors, the actors, everyone, film
04:19 crew on a film set to prevent violence on set and sexual harassment moving forward.
04:25 But the French film industry, yeah, I think that's what the accusations have been, that
04:30 it's been really interesting.
04:31 That's what Judith Cotrech was saying, that what's crazy is, you know, she's saying, look,
04:35 she was in this relationship when she was 14 and Benoit Jacot was in his 40s.
04:41 And she said it wasn't a secret.
04:43 Everybody knew about it.
04:45 It's similar to what's been happening with the movie Consent that was based on something
04:48 real, that all of these things were happening and people turned a blind eye.
04:52 So I think now that it's out there, Judith, you see her with her, that's her daughter,
04:57 and she stars in her icon of French cinema, which is the series that started it all.
05:02 And she's doing this, not, she's saying not just to, you know, make amends for herself
05:08 and to look back at her past, but to, so that her daughter in the future and other young
05:13 actresses aren't afraid to come forward.
05:16 And we've seen that after she's spoken out, other actresses, Anna Mouglalis, Vahina Jokante,
05:24 Islid Lebesco just a couple of days ago came out and they've spoken out against, in particular,
05:30 Jacques Doyon and Benoit Jacot.
05:33 But there's just a lot of dialogue around this.
05:37 Two directors now in their late seventies.
05:40 I want to thank you so much, Rebecca Leffler, for being with us ahead of those César Awards.
05:45 We're about to go onto the red carpet.
05:47 All right, onto the red carpet for you.
05:50 Lucky you.