The 45th César Awards ceremony, presented by the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma, took place on 28 February 2020, at the Salle Pleyel in Paris to honour the best French films of 2019. Sandrine Kiberlain presided, and Florence Foresti as the host.
Controversy and protests dogged the Academy in the months running up to the ceremony. The entire board of directors of the César Academy resigned in response to complaints over the opaqueness of the process and the powerlessness of normal Academy members. The other issue of protest was the 12 nominations received by Roman Polanski's J'Accuse (An Officer and a Spy), the most nominations of any eligible film. French feminists protested heaping honors on Polanski, who was convicted of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor in California in 1978 but, according to Los Angeles courts, has not completed his sentence although this is disputed by Polanski's lawyers, and has additionally been accused of other incidents of rape.
