France Appoints First Awards Season Liaison for Oscar Strategy
Sébastien Cauchon has been named France's first dedicated awards season liaison at the National Cinema Centre to guide films through the 2026-27 campaign, focusing on contenders like Minotaur.
Sébastien Cauchon has been appointed as France’s first dedicated awards season liaison at the National Cinema Centre. His role is to provide guidance and expertise to French film teams participating in the 2026-27 awards season, including campaigns for the 99th Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and European Film Awards.
Focus on Oscar contenders and past successes
The new liaison will support French entries including Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Minotaur, which is France's submission for the Best International Feature Film category this year. Cauchon previously supported the awards campaigns of The Father and The Substance, as well as the short film Two People Exchanging Saliva, which won the Best Live Action Short Oscar this year.
Building on recent French awards momentum
Recent successes have informed the new strategy. France reached the nomination stage for the 2026 Oscars with Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident and for the 2025 Oscars with Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez. In animation, Arco and Little Amélie or the Character of Rain reached the nomination stage for Best Animated Feature Film at the 2026 Oscars.
Golden Globe wins have also bolstered France's profile. The awards for recent French-linked productions are detailed below.
| Film | Award Category | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Emilia Pérez | Best Musical or Comedy Film | 2025 |
| Emilia Pérez | Best Female Supporting Actor (Zoe Saldaña) | 2025 |
| Emilia Pérez | Best Non-English Film | 2025 |
| Emilia Pérez | Best Original Song | 2025 |
| Anatomy of a Fall | Best Non-English Film | 2024 |
| Anatomy of a Fall | Best Original Screenplay (Justine Triet & Arthur Harari) | 2024 |
Liaison role tied to broader export and modernization strategy
Cauchon's appointment was announced during a conference on the export of French film and audiovisual works at the CNC headquarters in Paris, held in partnership with Unifrance. This conference was the first in a series of meetings focused on France's export strategy, aimed at devising a detailed roadmap to be published in early 2027.
The collaborative roadmap seeks to strengthen the international dimension of French works from screenwriting to distribution. It aims to modernize direct export support mechanisms and enhance international backing across all industry levels, incorporating anticipated changes within the CNC and the wider industry.
Cauchon brings relevant experience to the post. He was Director of Communications at Unifrance from 2013 to 2020. Since 2020, he has worked as an independent awards and international strategy advisor under his Cinema Collectors banner and is currently attached to the Bunker campaign.
Historical context shows the stakes
The strategic push carries significant weight. France last won the Best International Feature Film Oscar in 1993 with Régis Wargnier’s Indochine, making the 2026-27 campaign a key opportunity to end a three-decade gap. Initiatives to raise awareness about the Academy’s processes and campaign strategies will be organized in the coming weeks to support French films in contention.
