France's equivalent of the Oscars has fuelled feminist fury against Roman Polanski after the controversial director's film An Officer and a Spy topped this year's nominations.
The critically acclaimed 86-year-old has been a fugitive from American justice since admitting to the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1977.
Last November, French photographer Valentine Monnier claimed that he raped her in 1975 when she was 18 after beating her "into submission" at his Swiss chalet. He "absolutely denied" assaulting her, telling Paris Match magazine: "Obviously I have no memory of it because it is false."
On Wednesday, his period drama about the Dreyfus affair, an anti-Semitism case that rocked France at the turn of the 20th century, was nominated for 12 Césars, the "French Oscars".
Pre-empting trouble, the head of the French film academy Alain Terzian said it "should not take moral stances" on giving awards.
A Femen activist is led away by security staff member inside the film institute La Cinematheque Francaise in Paris. Photo / AP
But feminists and some film critics denounced the nominations.
"If rape was an art, give all the Césars to Polanski," tweeted the French women's group, Osez le feminisme (Dare to Be Feminist). "By celebrating a fugitive rapist and child sex criminal, we silence the victims," added the group, which said it would demonstrate outside the awards ceremony on February 28.
It comes in the wake of allegations of abuse made by Adele Haenel, who has been nominated for best actress for her performance in Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
She rocked the film establishment last year by claiming she was sexually harassed from the age of 12 on her first film.
French director Christophe Ruggia was charged with sexual assault on a minor earlier this month. He denies any wrongdoing.
French feminist groups protest outside the film institute La Cinematheque Francaise in Paris, France. Photo / AP
An Officer and a Spy topped the French box office despite a wave of protests. Some screenings had to be cancelled after feminists staged protests at cinemas while the publicity campaign for the film was halted over the Monnier allegations.
It won both best director and the critics' prize at last August's Venice film festival, where Mr Polanski sparked uproar by likening his "hounding" to the anti-Semitic persecution meted against Dreyfus.
He blamed his woes on Harvey Weinstein, saying the disgraced Hollywood mogul had tried to brand him a "child rapist" to stop him winning an Oscar in 2003 for The Pianist.
Three years after dropping Mr Polanski as Césars jury president due to outcry over the statutory rape, the French academy defended its stance with its boss, Mr Terzian saying: "Unless I am wrong, 1.5 million French people have gone to see his film. Go ask them."
Oscar-winner Jean Dujardin, the star of the Polanski film, is tipped to win best actor.
Les Miserables, a drama by Ladj Li, set in the deprived suburbs of Paris picked up 11 César nominations and is also in the running for a best foreign language Oscar.
Also nominated for best film and best director is By the Grace of God, Francois Ozon's true-life tale of child sex abuse in the church.
