Dominik Moll’s investigative drama The Night Of The 12th (La Nuit Du 12) was named best film and also won the best screenplay prize at the 28th edition of France’s Lumiere Awards at a ceremony at Paris’ Forum des Images on Monday evening.
The film shared the spotlight with Albert Serra’s tropical thriller Pacifiction which earned Serra the best director award and a best actor prize for the film’s star Benoit Magimel.
It was a record win for Magimel who becomes the third actor in Lumière Awards history to win the best actor prize three times, joining Michel Serrault and Mathieu Amalric in the Lumière hat trick club.
Magimel is also the first to be named best actor two years in a row after taking home the coveted honour at last year’s 2022 ceremony for his role in Emmanuel Bercot’s Peaceful. In Pacifiction, Magimel stars as a French government official in Tahiti rubbing shoulders with the high-end establishment and mingling with locals as he embarks on an investigation.
The Night Of The 12th is a gritty police procedural set in Grenoble starring Bastien Bouillon and Bouli Lanners which follows a police unit as it tries to get to the bottom of a haunting murder case and also opens deeper societal wounds related to gender, violence and policing politics in France.
Moll shared the best screenplay prize with co-writer Gilles Marchand. Memento International has sold the film to several territories including Film Movement in the US and Picturehouse Entertainment for the UK and Ireland. Released in July in France via Haut et Court, The Night Of The 12th sold a solid 500,000 tickets in the territory during its local run.
Pacifiction was released on November 9 in France via Les Films du Losange and has sold 52,324 tickets to date. Films Boutique is handling sales and has already sold the title to Grasshopper Films in the US and New Wave Films for the UK and Ireland. Pacifiction’s Artur Tort also took home the prize for Best Cinematography.
Virginie Efira was named Best Actress for her role in Rebecca Zlotowski’s Other People’s Children which premiered in Venice and screened at TIFF. Efira stars as a 40-year-old woman without children of her own who falls in love with Roschdy Zem’s character Ali and bonds with his young daughter. Released in France via Ad Vitam in September, the film had an impressive run at the local box office with 400,000 in ticket sales. It is sold internationally by Wild Bunch.
Efira also received Unifrance’s special French Cinema Award last week from French Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak who joined Unifrance’s president Serge Toubiana and executive director Daniela Elstner for a glamourous ceremony at Paris’ Cultural Ministry. The prize celebrates “a personality from the international film industry who carries the banner of French cinema across the globe.”
French breakout star du moment Nadia Tereszkiewicz was named most promising actress for her role in Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi’s Forever Young. Tereszkiewicz is also one of Unifrance’s 10 to Watch talents of 2023 and is one of the César Academy’s 2023 “Revelations.” Dimitri Doré earned the most promising actor award for Vincent Le Port’s Bruno Reidal.
Alice Diop’s Saint Omer was nominated in four categories including best film, but didn’t win in any category. Diop didn’t go home emptyhanded, however. Her documentary feature We (Nous) was named best documentary.
Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s psychological thriller The Beasts (As Bestas) was named best international co-production. The Spanish-French co-production between Spain’s Arcadia Motion Pictures and Caballo Films with France’s Le Pacte debuted in Cannes’ Première section last May and is sold by Latido Films. The Spanish set film stars Denis Ménochet and Marina Foïs as a French couple who move to a village to be closer to nature, but are met with hostility by locals.
Amandine Fredon and Benjamin Massoubre’s Little Nicholas : Happy As Can Be was named best animated feature and Leopold Legrand took home the best first film prize for The Sixth Child. Popular French musician Benjamin Biolay won the award for best score for his work on André Bonzel’s Flickering Ghosts of Loves Gone By (Et J’aime à la Fureur).
The Lumière Awards are France’s version of The Golden Globes and voted on by international correspondents from 36 countries. The swanky prize ceremony also marked the final evening of Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous in Paris which wraps tomorrow in the French capital.
Lumières 2022 nominations and winners (winners in bold)
Best Film
- Other People’s Children dir. Rebecca Zlotowski
- The Night Of The 12th dir. Dominik Moll
- Pacifiction dir. Albert Serra
- Paris Memories dir. Alice Winocour
- Saint Omer dir. Alice Diop
Best Director
- Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi for Forever Young
- Dominik Moll for The Night Of The 12th
- Gaspar Noé for Vortex
- Albert Serra for Pacifiction
- Rebecca Zlotowski for Other People’s Children
Best Screenplay
- Alice Diop, Marie NDiaye, Amrita David for Saint Omer
- Louis Garrel, Tanguy Viel for The Innocent
- Christophe Honoré for Winter Boy (Le Lycéen)
- Dominik Moll, Gilles Marchand for The Night Of The 12th
- Rebecca Zlotowski for Other People’s Children
Best Documentary
- The Super 8 Years dir. Annie Ernaux and David Ernaux-Briot
- La Combattante dir. Camille Ponsin
- H6 dir. Ye Ye
- We (Nous) Alice Diop
- Fragments (Retour à Reims) dir. Jean-Gabriel Périot
Best Animated Film
- Ernest And Celestine dir. Julien Chheng & Jean-Christophe Roger
- Little Nicholas: Happy As Can Be dir. Amandine Fredon et Benjamin Massoubre
- The Black Pharaoh, The Savage And The Princess dir. Michel Ocelot
- My Father’s Secrets dir. Véra Belmont
- Les Voisins De Mes Voisins Sont Mes Voisins dir. Anne-Laure Daffis & Léo Marchand
Best Actress
- Juliette Binoche for Between Two Worlds (Ouistreham) dir. Emmanuel Carrère
- Laure Calamy for Full Time dir. Eric Gravel
- Virginie Efira for Other People’s Children dir. Rebecca Zlotowski
- Françoise Lebrun for Vortex dir. Gaspard Noé
- Noémie Merlant for The Innocent dir. Louis Garrel
Best Actor
- Bastien Bouillon for The Night Of The 12th dir. Dominik Moll
- Louis Garrel for The Innocent dir. Louis Garrel
- Vincent Macaigne for Diary Of A Fleeting Affair dir. Emmanuel Mouret
- Benoît Magimel for Pacifiction dir. Albert Serra
- Denis Menochet for As Bestas dir. Rodrigo Sorogoyen
Most Promising Actress
- Marion Barbeau for En Corps dir. Cédric Klapisch
- Hélène Lambert for Ouistreham dir. Emmanuel Carrère
- Guslagie Malanda for Saint Omer dir. Alice Diop
- Rebecca Marder for Une Jeune Fille Qui Va Bien dir. Sandrine Kiberlain
- Nadia Tereszkiewicz for Les Amandiers dir. Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi
Most Promising Actor
- Adam Bessa for Harka dir. Lotfy Nathan
- Stefan Crepon for Peter Von Kant dir. François Ozon
- Dimitri Doré for Bruno Reidal dir. Vincent Le Port
- Paul Kircher for Winter Boy dir. Christophe Honoré
- Aliocha Reinert for Petite Nature dir. Samuel Theis
Best First Film
- Bruno Reidal dir Vincent Le Port
- Harka dir. Lotfy Nathan
- The Worst Ones dir. Lise Akoka & Romane Gueret
- The Sixth Child dir. Léopold Legrand
- Everyone Loves Jeanne dir. Céline Devaux
Best International Co-production
- The Beasts dir. Rodrigo Sorogoyen
- The Cairo Conspiracy dir. Tarik Saleh
- Flee dir. Jonas Poher Rasmussen
- R.M.N dir. Cristian Mungiu
- Rien À Foutre dir. Emmanuel Marre & Julie Lecoustre
Best Cinematography
- Sébastien Buchmann for Les Passagers de la Nuit dir. Mikhaël Hers
- Benoît Debie for Vortex dir. Gaspar Noé
- Patrick Ghiringhelli for The Night Of The 12th dir. Dominik Moll
- Claire Mathon for Saint Omer dir. Alice Diop
- Artur Tort for Pacifiction dir. Albert Serra
Best Musical Score
- Benjamin Biolay for Flickering Ghosts of Love Gone By dir. André Bonzel
- Irène Dresel for Full Time dir. Éric Gravel
- Grégoire Hetzel for The Innocent dir. Louis Garrel
- Marc Verdaguer for Pacifiction dir. Albert Serra
- Olivier Marguerit for The Night of the 12th dir. Dominik Moll
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