Agat Films – Ex Nihilio’s Muriel Meynard was named producer of the year at France’s Academy of Film Arts & Sciences’ Daniel Toscan du Plantier Prize ceremony held on February 17 in Paris.
The prize is awarded to the French film producer who has made the greatest impact over the past year.
Meynard has been with the Agat Films – Ex Nihilio producing collective since 2006. Her recent credits include Louise Courvoisier’s Holy Cow, Cesar-nominated documentary Madame Hoffman and Roberto Minervini’s The Other Side.
Upcoming films include Michel Leclerc’s Not All Men But… and Stéphane Demoustier’s The Great Arch.
Agat Films – Ex Nihilo is coming off a banner year with six films selected at Cannes 2024 and 15 nominations for the upcoming Cesar awards including seven for The Marching Band which has been a local box-office hit with 2.5 million tickets sold.
Meynard was selected from 33 finalists, all producers of feature films eligible for the César for best film which have received at least one nomination. The award is voted on by a 176-member electoral college, plus all artists and crew members nominated for a César since 2008, the year the award was created.
Agat Films – Ex Nihilo’s Marc Bordure, Robert Guediguian and current Cesar Academy president Patrick Sobelman were also among the finalists. Meynard called them all to the stage when accepting her award saying the prize should be shared between them: “I’d be nothing without my associates.”
She continued: “The job of producer is a rollercoaster full of ups and downs… It’s been an incredible year for Agat Films – Ex Nihilio, what’s happening for us is wild and we know we’ll come down eventually, but we are stronger together.”
During a ceremony and dinner held at the InterContinental Paris – Le Grand hotel, the Academy also paid homage to producer Margaret Menegoz who died last year. Among the finalists in attendance were industry heavyweights Alain Attal of Trésor Films, filmmaker-producer Bertrand Bonello of My New Picture, Hugo Selignac and Antoine Lafon of Ch-Fou-Mi, and Dimitri Rassam of Chapter 2, who produced box office hit The Count Of Monte-Cristo.
The 50th-anniversary ceremony of the Cesar awards will be held on February 28 in Paris. The Count Of Monte-Cristo leads the charge with 14 nominations, followed by Gilles Lellouche’s Beating Hearts with 13 and Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez with 12.
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