Kristen Stewart Is the Rare American to Get Nominated for French Film's Highest Honor

Kristen Stewart in Clouds of Sils Maria

Kristen Stewart is the first American actress ever to receive a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the César Awards, the French equivalent of the Oscars. France’s Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences announced this morning that Stewart, 24, has been nominated for her role as a movie star’s personal assistant in Clouds of Sils Maria, a performance Vanity Fair called “the best of her life.” The movie opened last summer in France and will play a limited U.S. run in April. The psychological drama received six César nominations in total, including a Best Actress nod for Juliette Binoche, who plays the aforementioned movie star.

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The Césars are the national film award of France, and it’s exceedingly rare for Americans to be honored in competitive categories. In fact, the last time an American actress received a nomination was over thirty years ago. In 1984, opera singer Julia Migenes got a Best Actress nod for Francesco Rosi’s film adaptation of Carmen. The actor categories have a more recent American honoree in Adrien Brody, who took home the Best Actor trophy for The Pianist in 2003. Occasionally, Americans have been nominated in other César categories, including screenwriter David Ives (for 2013’s Venus in Fur) and cinematographer Tom Stern (for 2009’s Paris 36). (H/t to Indiewire.)

There is, however, one César Award that has gone to more than twenty Americans: the Honorary César, a non-competitive award traditionally given to a foreign actor or filmmaker for their body of work. Past recipients include Walt Disney (1979), Bette Davis (1986), Gregory Peck (1995), Spike Lee (2003), Dustin Hoffman (2009), and last year, Scarlett Johansson. This year’s Honorary César will go to Sean Penn, whom the French academy calls “a legend in his lifetime.” The César Awards will take place on Feb. 20 in Paris, two days before the Oscars.