César Award for Best Documentary Film
{{Short description|Cinematography award}}
{{Infobox award
| name = César Award for Best Documentary Film
| awarded_for =
| presenter = Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma
| country = France
| year = 1995
| holder = The Bertrand's Farm (2025)
| website = {{URL|academie-cinema.org}}
}}
The César Award for Best Documentary Film ({{langx|fr|César du meilleur film documentaire}}) is an award presented by the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma since 1995.
History
In 1995, director Marcel Ophüls protested that his film, the documentary Vigils of Arms: A History of Wartime Journalism on the Bosnian War, was eligible only in the usual categories as a work of fiction. The César Academy exceptionally created the César for documentaries and documentary films, which did not satisfy Ophüls,{{Cite news |date=1995-01-13 |title=CÉSARS : une récompense spécifique pour les " films-documents " a été créée, mercredi 11 janvier, par l'Académie des arts et techniques du cinéma. |language=fr |work=Le Monde.fr |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1995/01/13/cesars-une-recompense-specifique-pour-les-films-documents-a-ete-creee-mercredi-11-janvier-par-l-academie-des-arts-et-techniques-du-cinema_3842561_1819218.html |access-date=2022-08-15}} on the temporary nature of the award, he resigned from the Academy.{{Cite news |date=1995-01-21 |title=CINÉMA : Marcel Ophuls démissionne de l'Académie des Césars |language=fr |work=Le Monde.fr |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1995/01/21/cinema-marcel-ophuls-demissionne-de-l-academie-des-cesars_3836660_1819218.html |access-date=2022-08-15}}
The César for best documentary has been permanent since 2007.
Following a modification of the César rules on November 8, 2016, it is no longer possible for a film to combine the César for best documentary film with that for best film.{{Citation |last=Mariscal |first=Olga |title=À la bibliothèque, lire-chanter avec les auxiliaires parentales |date=2015-09-17 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.3917/eres.rayn.2015.01.0121 |work=Lire en chantant des albums de comptines |pages=121–132 |publisher=Érès |access-date=2022-08-15 |last2=Lucchini |first2=Sandra |last3=Pellat-Finet |first3=Noémie}}
Winners and nominees
=1990s=
| class="wikitable" | ||
| width="100"|Year
!width="300"|English title !width="300"|Original title !width="300"|Director(s) | ||
|---|---|---|
| rowspan="7" style="text-align:center;" |1995 (20th) | style="background:#eedd82;" |Caught in the Acts || style="background:#eedd82;" |Délits flagrants || style="background:#eedd82;" |Raymond Depardon | ||
| colspan="2"|Bosna! | Alain Ferrari and Bernard-Henri Levy | |
| colspan="2"|Montand | Jean Labib | |
| colspan="2"|Tsahal | Claude Lanzmann | |
| The Righteous | Tzedek | Marek Halter |
| colspan="2"|Veillées d'armes | Marcel Ophuls | |
| colspan="2"|La Véritable Histoire d'Artaud le Mômo | Gérard Mordillat and Jérôme Prieur |
=2000s=
| class="wikitable" | ||
| width="100"|Year
!width="300"|English title !width="300"|Original title !width="300"|Director(s) | ||
|---|---|---|
| rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" |2007 (32nd) | style="background:#eedd82;" |Being Jacques Chirac || style="background:#eedd82;" | Dans la peau de Jacques Chirac|| style="background:#eedd82;" |Michel Royer and Karl Zero | ||
| colspan="2"|La Fille du juge | William Karel | |
| colspan="2"|Ici Najac, à vous la terre | Jean-Henri Meunier | |
| Down There | Là-bas | Chantal Akerman |
| Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait | Zidane, un portrait du XXIème siècle | Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno |
| rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" |2008 (33rd) | style="background:#eedd82;" |Terror's Advocate|| style="background:#eedd82;" |L'Avocat de la terreur || style="background:#eedd82;" |Barbet Schroeder | ||
| Animals in Love | Les Animaux amoureux | Laurent Charbonnier |
| colspan="2"|Les Lip, l'imagination au pouvoir | Christian Rouaud | |
| colspan="2"|Le Premier Cri | Gilles de Maistre | |
| Back to Normandy | Retour en Normandie | Nicolas Philibert |
| rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" |2009 (34th) | style="background:#eedd82;" |The Beaches of Agnès|| style="background:#eedd82;" |Les Plages d'Agnès || style="background:#eedd82;" |Agnès Varda | ||
| Her Name Is Sabine | Elle s'appelle Sabine | Sandrine Bonnaire |
| Hollywood, I'm Sleeping Over Tonight | J'irai dormir à Hollywood | Antoine de Maximy |
| colspan="2"|Tabarly | Pierre Marcel | |
| Modern Life | La Vie moderne | Raymond Depardon |
=2010s=
| class="wikitable" | ||
| width="100"|Year
!width="300"|English title !width="300"|Original title !width="300"|Director(s) | ||
|---|---|---|
| rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" |2010 (35th) | style="background:#eedd82;" |Inferno|| style="background:#eedd82;" |L'Enfer d'Henri-Georges Clouzot || style="background:#eedd82;" |Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea | ||
| La Danse | La Danse, le ballet de l'Opéra de Paris | Frederick Wiseman |
| colspan="2"|Himalaya, le chemin du ciel | Marianne Chaud | |
| colspan="2"|Home | Yann Arthus-Bertrand | |
| colspan="2"|Ne me libérez pas je m'en charge | Fabienne Godet | |
| rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" |2011 (36th) | style="background:#eedd82;" |Oceans|| style="background:#eedd82;" |Océans || style="background:#eedd82;" |Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud | ||
| colspan="2"|Benda Bilili! | Florent de la Tullaye and Renaud Barret | |
| Cleveland vs. Wall Street | Cleveland contre Wall Street | Jean-Stéphane Bron |
| Into Our Own Hands | Entre nos mains | Mariana Otero |
| L'Amour fou | Yves Saint Laurent - Pierre Bergé, l'amour fou | Pierre Thoretton |
| rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" |2012 (37th) | colspan="2" style="background:#eedd82;" |Tous au Larzac|| style="background:#eedd82;" |Christian Rouaud | ||
| colspan="2"|Le Bal des menteurs | Daniel Leconte | |
| colspan="2"|Crazy Horse | Frederick Wiseman | |
| Here We Drown Algerians | Ici on noie les Algériens | Yasmina Adi |
| colspan="2"|Michel Petrucciani | Michael Radford | |
| rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" |2013 (38th) | style="background:#eedd82;" |The Invisibles || style="background:#eedd82;" | Les Invisibles || style="background:#eedd82;" |Sébastien Lifshitz | ||
| colspan="2"|Bovines ou la vraie vie des vaches | Emmanuel Gras | |
| Duch, Master of the Forges of Hell | Duch, le maître des forges de l'Enfer | Rithy Panh |
| colspan="2"|Journal de France | Claudine Nougaret and Raymond Depardon | |
| The New Watchdogs | Les Nouveaux Chiens de garde | Gilles Balbastre and Yannick Kergoat |
| rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" |2014 (39th) | colspan="2" style="background:#eedd82;" |Sur le chemin de l'école|| style="background:#eedd82;" |Pascal Plisson | ||
| colspan="2"|Comment j'ai détesté les maths | Olivier Peyon | |
| The Last of the Unjust | Le Dernier des injustes | Claude Lanzmann |
| colspan="2"|Il était une forêt | Luc Jacquet | |
| colspan="2"|La Maison de la radio | Nicolas Philibert | |
| rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" |2015 (40th) | colspan="2" style="background:#eedd82;" |The Salt of the Earth || style="background:#eedd82;" |Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado | ||
| Cartoonists - Foot Soldiers of Democracy | Caricaturistes - Fantassins de la démocratie | Stéphanie Valloatto |
| Les Chèvres de ma mère | Sophie Audier | |
| School of Babel | La Cour de Babel | Julie Bertuccelli |
| colspan="2"|National Gallery | Frederick Wiseman | |
| style="background:#eedd82;"
! rowspan="5" |2016 | Demain | Cyril Dion and Mélanie Laurent |
| The Pearl Button | El botón de nácar | Patricio Guzmán |
| colspan="2"|Cavanna, jusqu'à l'ultime seconde, j'écrirai | Denis Robert and Nina Robert | |
| The Missing Picture | L'Image manquante | Rithy Panh |
| colspan="2"|Une jeunesse allemande | Jean-Gabriel Périot | |
| style="background:#eedd82;"
! rowspan="5" |2017 | colspan="2" |Merci patron! | François Ruffin | |
| Latest News From the Cosmos | Dernières nouvelles du Cosmos | Julie Bertucelli |
| Fire at Sea | Fuocoammare | Gianfranco Rosi |
| colspan="2"|Swagger | Olivier Babinet | |
| Journey Through French Cinema | Voyage à travers le cinéma français | Bertrand Tavernier |
| style="background:#eedd82;"
! rowspan="5" |2018 | colspan="2" |I Am Not Your Negro | Raoul Peck | |
| colspan="2" |A viva voz. La fuerza de la palabra | Stéphane de Freitas | |
| Plot 35 | Carré 35 | Éric Caravaca |
| colspan="2" |{{ill|12 jours|fr}} | Raymond Depardon | |
| Faces Places | Visages villages | Agnès Varda, JR |
| style="background:#eedd82;"
! rowspan="5" |2019 |So Help Me God | Ni juge, ni soumise | Jean Libon, Yves Hinant |
| colspan="2" |De chaque instant | Nicolas Philibert | |
| colspan="2" |The State Against Mandela and the Others | Nicolas Champeaux, Gilles Porte | |
| colspan="2" |America | Claus Drexel | |
| The Grand Ball | Le grand bal | Laetitia Carton |
=2020s=
| class="wikitable" | ||
| width="100"|Year
!width="300"|English title !width="300"|Original title !width="300"|Director(s) | ||
|---|---|---|
| rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" |2020 (45th) | colspan="2" style="background:#eedd82;" |M|| style="background:#eedd82;" |Yolande Zauberman | ||
| colspan="2"|68, Mon Père | Samuel Bigiaoui | |
| colspan="2"|La Cordillère des Songes | Patricio Guzmán | |
| colspan="2"|Lourdes | Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai | |
| colspan="2"|Wonder boy Olivier Rousteing, né sous X | Anissa Bonnefont | |
| rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" |2021 (46th) {{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cesar-awards-2021-french-film|title='Bye Bye Morons' Wins Best Film at France's Cesar Awards|date=12 March 2021|publisher=Hollywood Reporter }} | style="background:#eedd82;" | Adolescents || style="background:#eedd82;" | Adolescentes || style="background:#eedd82;" |Sébastien Lifshitz | ||
| colspan="2"|La Cravate | Etienne Chaillou and Mathias Théry | |
| colspan="2"|Cyrille Agriculteur, 30 Ans, 20 Vaches, Du Lait, Du Beurre, Des Dettes | Rodolphe Marconi | |
| colspan="2"|Histoire D’Un Regard | Mariana Otero | |
| colspan="2"|Un Pays Qui Se Tient Sage | David Du Fresne | |
| style="background:#eedd82;"
! rowspan="5" |2022 | La panthère des neiges | {{ill|Marie Amiguet|fr}} and Vincent Munier |
| colspan="2"|Animal | Cyril Dion | |
| colspan="2"|Bigger Than Us | Flore Vasseur | |
| Gallant Indies | Indes galantes | Philippe Béziat |
| Those Who Care | Debout les femmes! | Gilles Perre and François Ruffin |
| rowspan="5" |2023 (48th) | style="background:#eedd82;" |Returning to Reims (Fragments) | style="background:#eedd82;" |Retour à Reims (Fragments) | style="background:#eedd82;" |Jean-Gabriel Périot | ||
| Heart of Oak
|Le Chêne |Laurent Charbonnier, Michel Seydoux | ||
| Jane by Charlotte
|Jane par Charlotte | ||
| Rookies
|Allons Enfants |Thierry Demaizière, Alban Teurlai | ||
| The Super 8 Years
|Les Années Super 8 |David Ernaux-Briot | ||
| rowspan="5" |2024 (49th) | style="background:#eedd82;" |Four Daughters | style="background:#eedd82;" |بنات ألفة | style="background:#eedd82;" |Kaouther Ben Hania | ||
| colspan="2" |Atlantic Bar
|Fanny Molins | ||
| colspan="2" |Little Girl Blue | ||
| Our Body
|Notre Corps | ||
| On the Adamant
|Sur l'Adamant | ||
| rowspan="6" |2025 (50th) | style="background:#eedd82;" |The Bertrand's Farm | style="background:#eedd82;" |La Ferme des Bertrand | style="background:#eedd82;" |Gilles Perret | ||
| The Belle from Gaza
|La Belle de Gaza | ||
| Bye Bye Tiberias
|باي باي طبريا | ||
| colspan="2" |Dahomey | ||
| colspan="2" |Ernest Cole: Lost and Found | ||
| colspan="2" |Madame Hofmann
|Sébastien Lifshitz |
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.academie-cinema.org/ Official website]
- [http://www.allocine.fr/festivals/festival-128/palmares/prix-18353311 César Award for Best Documentary Film] at AlloCiné
{{César Award for Best Documentary Film}}
{{Césars}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cesar Award For Best Documentary Film}}