Special Section ( French : Section spéciale ) is a 1975 French film directed by Costa-Gavras and based on the novel L'affaire de la Section Spéciale by Hervé Villeré. It stars Louis Seigner , Roland Bertin , Michael Lonsdale , Ivo Garrani , François Maistre , Jacques Spiesser , Henri Serre , Heinz Bennent and Claude Piéplu . It is named after the Special Sections of Vichy France .
6-579: The film shared the Best Director prize at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival , and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film by the U.S. National Board of Review . It was also nominated for a Golden Globe award for best foreign film. In France during the German occupation , a young German naval officer is killed in Paris by a group of leftist activists. The compliant Vichy government seeks to appease
12-466: A story of Vichy France , which made some critics feel that it was a one-sided piece about collaboration. Costa-Gavras stated that he was aiming for the truth and felt that he achieved it with the film. Despite the debate, it opened to positive reviews in France and the U.S. This article related to a French film of the 1970s is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about
18-543: A war drama film is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Best Director Award (Cannes Film Festival) The Best Director Award ( French : Prix de la mise en scène ) is an award presented annually at the Cannes Film Festival since 1946. It is given for the best achievement in directing and is chosen by the International Jury from the films in the Competition slate at
24-520: The Germans by locating the perpetrators and agreeing to the execution of six people, and a special section is set up for this purpose. The section consists of judges who are too ambitious, cowardly or inhuman to refuse such work. The flames of totalitarianism must be stoked, even with innocent blood, and it is especially convenient to the government if the accused are thoroughly expendable in their eyes. Costa-Gavras' film stirred some controversy as it told
30-544: The festival. At the 1st Cannes Film Festival held in 1946, René Clément was the first winner of this award for his work on The Battle of the Rails , and Miguel Gomes is the most recent winner in this category for his work on Grand Tour at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in 2024. The award was first presented in 1946. The prize was not awarded on 12 occasions (1947, 1953–54, 1960, 1962–64, 1971, 1973–74, 1977, and 1980). The festival
36-511: Was not held at all in 1948, 1950, and 2020. In 1968, no awards were given as the festival was called off mid-way due to the May 1968 events in France . Also, the jury vote was tied, and the prize was shared by two directors on seven occasions (1955, 1969, 1975, 1983, 2001–02, and 2016). Joel Coen of the Coen brothers has received the most awards in this category, with three. One directing team has shared
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