L’Étranger (The Stranger), adapted from Albert Camus's novel picked up three of the 13 prizes at the Lumières cinema awards ceremony in Paris at the weekend, including Best Film and Best Actor for Benjamin Voisin.
Seen as the equivalent of Hollywood's Golden Globes for French cinema, the 31st edition organised by the Académie des Lumières, took place at the Institut du monde arabe in Paris on Sunday evening.
It was François Ozon's L’Étranger (The Stranger) which scooped up the most prizes, handed out by international press correspondents from 38 countries: Best Film, Best Actor and Best Photography by Manu Dacosse.
It was Ozon's first Lumière Award after being nominated in the Best Film category in 2020 and 2021.
Based on Albert Camus's 1942 novel, it centres on a man in French Algeria, who, weeks after his mother's funeral, kills an unnamed Arab man in Algiers.
Filmed in black and white, the drama attracted some 760,000 viewers according to its distributor Gaumont.
Last year's winner for Best Film was Jacques Audiard's audacious Mexican druglord musical Emilia Pérez.
Benjamin Voisin faced tough competition from four other leading actors for the top acting prize; Swann Arlaud (La Condition, The Condition), Denmark's Claes Bang (L’Inconnu de la Grande Arche, The Great Arch), Laurent Lafitte (La femme la plus riche du monde, The richest woman in the world) and Alexis Manenti (Le Mohican, The Mohican).
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Best Actress went Léa Drucker in Dossier 137 (Case 137) by Dominik Moll - a social drama set at the height of the Yellow Vest protests in France.
She had been up against Isabelle Huppert (La femme la plus riche du monde, The richest woman in the world), Vicky Krieps (Love Me Tender) Mélanie Thierry (La chambre de Mariana, Mariana's bedroom) and Jodie Foster (Vie Privée, Private Life) by Rebecca Zlotowski.
Winner of the Best Upcoming Actress went to Nadia Melliti, who dazzled the jury at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, for La Petite Dernière (The Youngest Daughter) by Hafsia Herzi.
American director Richard Linklater's Nouvelle Vague, which retraces the behind-the-scenes story of the filming of Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless, picked up both Best Director and Best Upcoming Actor for Guillaume Marbeck, who plays Godard.
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Other categories:
Best Screenplay: L’Inconnu de la Grande Arche (The Great Arch) by Stéphane Demoustier
Best international co-production: L’Agent secret, Secret Agent – Kleber Mendonça Filho
Best Documentary: Put Your Soul on your Hand and Walk by director Sepideh Farsi
Best Animation: Arco by Ugo Bienvenu
Best First Film: Nino by Pauline Loquès
Best musical score: Warren Ellis, Dom La Nena et Rosemary Standley for Le Chant des forêts (The Song of the Forests) a homage to the wilderness of Les Vosges mountains in eastern France directed by Vincent Munier.
The next stage in the French cinema awards circuit will be the César Awards, which will announce their nominations on 28 January.
