2025 Césars: Emilia Pérez Crowned Best Film, Souleymane’s Story Bikes Away with Four

Emilia Pérez won Best Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound, Best Original Music, Best Special Effects and Best Cinematography at the 50th edition of the Césars (aka the French Oscars) but in having two horses in the Best Actress race meant that the surprise win and award went to Hafsia Herzi for Borgo instead. The other big winner of the evening was Boris Lojkine’s Souleymane’s Story – he won for Best Original Screenplay (with Delphine Agut), Best Editing, Best Supporting Actress and of course Male Revelation – Abou Sangare had won at the European film awards for a role that won him Best Actor in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section. Here are all the winnners:

Best Film
The Count of Monte Cristo
Emilia Pérez
The Marching Band
Souleymane’s Story
Misericordia

Best Original Screenplay
Stéphane Demoustier for Borgo
Emmanuel Courcol and Irène Muscari for The Marching Band
Boris Lojkine et Delphine Agut for Souleymane’s Story
Alain Guiraudie for Misericordia
Louise Courvoisier and Théo Abadie for Holy Cow

Best Adapted Screenplay
Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière for The Count Of Monte-Cristo
Jacques Audiard for Emilia Pérez
Michel Hazanavicius and Jean-Claude Grumberg for The Most Precious Of Cargoes

Best Actress
Adèle Exarchopoulos for Beating Hearts
Karla Sofía Gascón for Emilia Pérez
Hafsia Herzi for Borgo
Zoe Saldaña for Emilia Pérez
Hélène Vincent for When Fall Is Coming

Best Actor
François Civil for Beating Hearts
Benjamin Lavernhe for The Marching Band
Karim Leklou for Jim’s Story
Pierre Niney for The Count of Monte-Cristo
Tahar Rahim for Monsieur Aznavour

Best Supporting Actress
Élodie Bouchez for Beating Hearts
Anaïs Demoustier for The Count of Monte Cristo
Catherine Frot for Misericordia
Nina Meurisse for Souleymane’s Story
Sarah Suco for The Marching Band

Best Supporting Actor
David Alaya for Misericordia
Bastien Bouillon for The Count of Monte Cristo
Alain Chabat for Beating Hearts
Jacques Develay for Misericordia
Laurent Lafitte for The Count of Monte Cristo

Female Revelation
Maïwène Barthelemy for Holy Cow
Malou Khebizi for Wild Diamond
Megan Northam for Rabia
Mallory Wanecque for Beating Hearts
Souheila Yacoub for Planet B

Best Animated Feature
Flow by Gint Zilbalodis
The Most Precious of Cargoes by Michel Hazanavicius
Savages by Claude Barras

Best Documentary
The Belle from Gaza by Yolande Zauberman.
Bye Bye Tiberias by Lina Soualem
Dahomey by Mati Diop
Ernest Cole: Lost and Found by Raoul Peck
The Bertrand’s Farm by Gilles Perret
Madame Hofmann by Sébastien Lifshitz

Best First Film
Wild Diamond by Agathe Riedinger
Ghost Trail by Jonathan Millet
The Kingdom by Julien Colonna
A Little Something Extra by Artus
Holy Cow by Louise Courvoisier

Best Foreign Film
Anora by Sean Baker
The Seed of The Sacred Fig Tree by Mohammad Rasoulof
The Apprentice by Ali Abbasi
The Substance by Coralie Fargeat
The Zone Of Interest by Jonathan Glazer

Best Sound
Cédric Deloche, Gwennolé Le Borgne, Jon Goc and Marc Doisne for Beating Hearts
David Rit, Gwennolé Le Borgne, Olivier Touche, Laure-Anne Darras, Marion Papinot, Marc Doisne and Samuel Delorme for The Count of Monte Cristo
Erwan Kerzanet, Aymeric Devoldère, Cyril Holtz and Niels Barletta for Emilia Pérez
Pascal Armant, Sandy Notarianni and Niels Barletta for The Marching Band
Marc-Olivier Brullé, Pierre Bariaud, Charlotte Butrak and Samuel Aïchoun for Souleymane’s Story

Cinematography
Laurent Tangy for Beating Hearts
Nicolas Bolduc for The Count of Monte Cristo
Paul Guilhaume for Emilia Pérez
Tristan Galand for Souleymane’s Story
Claire Mathon for Misericordia

Best Editing
Simon Jacquet for Beating Hearts
Célia Lafitedupont for The Count of Monte Cristo
Juliette Welfling for Emilia Pérez
Guerric Catala for The Marching Band
Xavier Sirven for Souleymane’s Story

Best Costumes
Isabelle Pannetier for Beating Hearts
Thierry Delettre for The Count of Monte Cristo
Virginie Montel for Emilia Pérez
Isabelle Mathieu for Monsieur Aznavour
Anaïs Romand for The Divine Sarah Bernhardt

Best Production Design
Jean-Philippe Moreau for Beating Hearts
Stéphane Taillasson for The Count of Monte Cristo
Emmanuelle Duplay for Emilia Pérez
Stéphane Rozenbaum for Monsieur Aznavour
Olivier Radot for The Divine Sarah Bernhardt

Best Special Effects
Cédric Fayolle, Hugues Namur and Émilien Lazaron for The Beast
Olivier Cauwet for The Count of Monte Cristo
Cédric Fayolle for Emilia Pérez
Stéphane Dittoo for Monsieur Aznavour

Best Short Fiction Film
“Noise” – Director: Salomé Da Souza, Producers: Jean-Etienne Brat, Lou Chicoteau
“What Belongs to Caesar” – Director: Violette Gitton, Producers: Jules Reinartz
“The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent” – Director: Nebojša Slijepčević, Producers: Noëlle Levenez
“Queen Size” – Director: Avril Besson, Producers: Bastien Daret, Arthur Goisset, Robin Robles, Christophe Audeguis

Best Animated Short
Yuck! – Director: Loïc Espuche, Producers: Juliette Marquet, Manon Messiant
Gigi – Director: Cynthia Calvi, Producer: Luc Camilli
Butterfly – Director: Florence Miailhe, Producers: Ron Dyens, Luc Camilli

Best Documentary Short
“Les Fiancées du Sud” – Director: Elena López Riera, Producers: Sylvie Pialat, Alejandro Arenas Azorín
“Petit Spartacus” – Director: Sara Ganem, Producer: Anne Luthaud
“Un cœur perdu et autres rêves de Beyrouth” – Director: Maya Abdul-Malak, Producer: Anne-Catherine Witt