Director Cédric Klapisch received this year’s French Film Award at a warm, family-like ceremony held at the French Ministry of Culture on January 15, surrounded by his close circle of collaborators.
Long-time screenwriter Santiago Amigorena and his iconic actor Zinedine Sualem (a key creative partner for more than 30 years) join the cast of his latest film, Colors of Time, and Klapisch has been praised for a consistently transnational career.
The French Film Awards, created by UniFrance in 2016, recognizes those who have helped popularize Gallic cinema around the world. Previous winners include Isabelle Huppert, Juliette Binoche, Virginie Efira, and filmmakers Olivier Assayas, Rebecca Zlotowski, Olivier Nakache, and Eric Toledano. But Klapisch doesn’t just promote his films abroad. His work is defined by movement and global interaction, crystallized in the critically and commercially beloved “Spanish Apartment” series. The series includes three novels and an Amazon series that follows a family spread across three continents.
Accepting the award, Klapisch pointed to travel as a central artistic catalyst, noting that the 2002 promotional tour for the series’ first installment, “Pot Luck,” had a direct influence on its sequel, “Russian Dolls.”
“Sometimes a new movie is born depending on the journey,” he says. “Travel is a fundamental part of my films. It’s why I made ‘Pot Luck’ and why I’m standing here today.”
Klapisch, who grew up in Paris, began his career with a master’s degree from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, an experience he says left a lasting mark.
“I started living in the United States as an adult, and now I honestly wonder if young people in France still feel the same attraction to go to the United States,” he added. “Now it’s less obvious. On the other hand, something new is happening. Major American actors and directors are coming to France. It just didn’t exist before. A reversal has occurred. The movement no longer flows in the same direction.”
Looking back on what he called a “strange and pivotal moment” for the film industry, Klapisch turned his focus closer to home. “There’s always talk about box office revenue, attendance numbers, international circulation numbers, and even more so overseas,” he says. “But France is really unique in its system, especially the CNC. I will always defend the CNC. The CNC must continue to exist. The CNC supports the creation of films. I often say that the CNC is a protected space in which creation takes place, and I believe deeply in that model.”
Fittingly, CNC President Gaetan Bruel was also present to hear the praises, paying tribute to Klapisch at this year’s UniFrance Rendez-Vous in Paris, along with French Culture Minister Rashida Dati, UniFrance President Gilles Pellisson and Secretary General Daniela Elstner.
Daniela Elstner, Cedric Klapisch, Rashida Dati, Jill Perison
Chloe Leclerc / UniFrance
