# 44th César Awards

The 44th César Awards ceremony, presented by the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma, took place on 22 February 2019, at the Salle Pleyel in Paris to honour the best French films of 2018. Kristin Scott Thomas presided, and Kad Merad was the host. The ceremony was dedicated to Charles Aznavour, who died the previous October.
For the first time the "César des Lycéens" will be awarded, in a separate ceremony on 13 March 2019, at the Sorbonne in Paris. This award is to be conferred on one of the seven nominees for Best Film and is selected by the students of three high schools.

## Winners and nominees

The nominees for the 44th César Awards were announced on January 23, 2019.
| Best Film Custody − Produced by Alexandre Gavras; Directed by Xavier Legrand Sink or Swim − Produced by Alain Atall and Hugo Sélignac; Directed by Gilles Lellouche The Sisters Brothers − Produced by Pascal Caucheteaux, Grégoire Sorlat and Michel Merkt; Directed by Jacques Audiard In Safe Hands − Produced by Alain Atall, Hugo Sélignac and Vincent Mazel; Directed by Jeanne Herry Guy − Produced by Oury Milshtein; Directed by Alex Lutz The Trouble with You − Produced by Philippe Martin and David Thion; Directed by Pierre Salvadori Memoir of War − Produced by Laetitia Gonzalez, Yael Fögiel, David Gauquié, Julien Deris and Etienne Mallet; Directed by Emmanuel Finkiel | Best Director Jacques Audiard − The Sisters Brothers Alex Lutz − Guy Gilles Lellouche − Sink or Swim Pierre Salvadori − The Trouble with You Jeanne Herry − In Safe Hands Xavier Legrand − Custody Emmanuel Finkiel − Memoir of War |
| Best Actor Alex Lutz − Guy Romain Duris − Our Struggles Denis Ménochet − Custody Pio Marmaï − The Trouble with You Gilles Lellouche − In Safe Hands Édouard Baer − Mademoiselle de Joncquières Vincent Lacoste − Amanda | Best Actress Léa Drucker − Custody Adèle Haenel − The Trouble with You Sandrine Kiberlain − In Safe Hands Élodie Bouchez − In Safe Hands Virginie Efira − An Impossible Love Mélanie Thierry − Memoir of War Cécile de France − Mademoiselle de Joncquières |
| Best Supporting Actor Philippe Katerine − Sink or Swim Denis Podalydès − Sorry Angel Damien Bonnard − The Trouble with You Clovis Cornillac − Little Tickles Jean-Hugues Anglade − Sink or Swim | Best Supporting Actress Karin Viard − Little Tickles Audrey Tautou − The Trouble with You Leïla Bekhti − Sink or Swim Isabelle Adjani − The World is Yours Virginie Efira − Sink or Swim |
| Most Promising Actor Dylan Robert − Shéhérazade Thomas Gioria − Custody William Lebghil − The Freshman [fr] Anthony Bajon − The Prayer Karim Leklou − The World is Yours | Most Promising Actress Kenza Fortas − Shéhérazade Galatea Bellugi − The Apparition Lily-Rose Depp − A Faithful Man Ophélie Bau − Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno Camille Berthomier − An Impossible Love |
| Best Original Screenplay Custody − Xavier Legrand The Trouble with You − Pierre Salvadori, Benoît Graffin, Benjamin Charbit Sink or Swim − Gilles Lellouche, Ahmed Hamidi, Julien Lambroschini Guy − Alex Lutz, Anaïs Deban, Thibault Ségouin In Safe Hands − Jeanne Herry | Best Adaptation Little Tickles − Andréa Bescond, Éric Métayer The Sisters Brothers − Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain Mademoiselle de Joncquières − Emmanuel Mouret An Impossible Love − Catherine Corsini, Laurette Polmanss Memoir of War − Emmanuel Finkiel |
| Best First Feature Film Shéhérazade − Jean-Bernard Marlin Little Tickles − Andréa Bescond, Éric Métayer Custody − Xavier Legrand L'amour flou − Romane Bohringer, Philippe Rebbot Sauvage − Camille Vidal-Naquet | Best Cinematography The Sisters Brothers − Benoît Debie Mademoiselle de Joncquières − Laurent Desmet Sink or Swim − Laurent Tangy Memoir of War − Alexis Kavyrchine Custody − Nathalie Durand |
| Best Editing Custody − Yorgos Lamprinos The Trouble with You − Isabelle Devinck The Sisters Brothers − Juliette Welfling Little Tickles − Valérie Deseine Sink or Swim − Simon Jacquet | Best Sound The Sisters Brothers − Cyril Holtz Custody − Julien Roig, Julien Sicart, Vincent Verdoux Sink or Swim − Gwennolé Le Borgne Guy − Antoine Baudouin, Yves-Marie Omnes Memoir of War − Antoine Mercier, David Vranken, Aline Gavroy |
| Best Original Music Guy − Romain Greffe, Vincent Blanchard The Sisters Brothers − Alexandre Desplat In Safe Hands − Pascal Sangla An Impossible Love − Grégoire Hetzel Amanda − Anton Sanko The Trouble with You − Camille Bazbaz | Best Costume Design Pierre-Jean Larroque − Mademoiselle de Joncquières Pierre-Yves Gayraud − The Emperor of Paris Milena Canonero − The Sisters Brothers Sergio Ballo and Anaïs Romand − Memoir of War Anaïs Romand − One Nation, One King |
| Best Production Design The Sisters Brothers − Michel Barthélémy Memoir of War − Pascal Le Guellec Mademoiselle de Joncquières − David Faivre One Nation, One King − Thierry François The Emperor of Paris − Emile Ghigo | Best Documentary Film So Help Me God − Jean Libon i Yves Hinant Le grand bal − Laetitia Carton The State Against Mandela and the Others − Gilles Porte i Nicolas Champeaux Each and Every Moment − Nicolas Philibert America − Claus Drexel |
| Best Animated Feature Film Dilili à Paris − Michel Ocelot Vilaine fille − Ayce Kartal Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion − d'Alexandre Astier and Louis Clichy Pachamama − Juan Antin | Best Animated Short Film Vilaine fille − Ayce Kartal Au coeur des ombres − Alice Eça Guimarães La mort, père et fils − Denis Walgenwtiz Raymonde ou l'évasion verticale − Sarah Van Den Boom |
| Best Short Film Les Petites Mains − Rémi Allier Les Indes Galantes − Clément Cogitore Laissez-Moi Danser − Valérie Leroy Kapitalistis − Pablo Muñoz Gómez Braguino − Clément Cogitore | Best Foreign Film Shoplifters (Japan) – Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda Girl (Belgium) – Directed by Lukas Dhont Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (United States/Great Britain) – Directed by Martin McDonagh Cold War (Poland) – Directed by Paweł Pawlikowski Our Struggles (Belgium/France) – Directed by Guillaume Senez Capernaum (Lebanon) – Directed by Nadine Labaki Hannah (Italy) – Directed by Andrea Pallaoro |
| Audience Award Les Tuche 3 d'Olivier Baroux | Honorary César Robert Redford |