Catherine Deneuve to Preside Over 50th Edition of Cesar Awards

Catherine Deneuve will preside over the 50th edition of the Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars.

As part of her honorary role as president of this milestone edition, Deneuve will be delivering the opening speech at the ceremony. The gala event will take place on Feb. 28 at the Olympia concert hall and will be broadcast on French pay TV group Canal+, a media partner of the Cesar Awards.

“Who better than an extraordinary actress to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Césars? Thanks to exceptional talent, a unique career and timeless grace, Catherine Deneuve embodies the very essence of the seventh art,” said the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma.

The French star, whose career spans nearly seven decades, has starred in a raft of iconic films directed by some of the world’s most revered filmmakers, from Luis Buñuel (“Belle de jour”) to François Truffaut (“Le Dernier Metro”) to Jacques Demy (“Les Demoiselles de Rochefort,” “Peau d’Âne”) and Lars Von Trier (“Dancer in the Dark”).

Deneuve previously won two best actress Cesar awards for her roles in “Le Dernier Metro” and in Régis Wargnier’s “Indochine” which also earned her an Oscar nomination and ultimately won an Oscar for best foreign-language film in 1994. France hasn’t won another Oscar in the international feature film category even since.

Deneuve is still to this day leading a vibrant acting career, accessing meaty roles and working with a wide range of directors such as André Téchiné (“Ma saison préférée”), Nicole Garcia (“Place Vendôme”), Francois Ozon (“Huit Femmes”), Arnaud Desplechin (“Un Conte de Noël”), Emmanuelle Bercot (“Elle s’en va”), Cédric Kahn (“Fete de famille”), Kore-eda (“The Truth”), Christophe Honoré (“Les Bien-Aimés”) and Léa Domenach (“Bernadette”).