Article written in the spirit of Franco-American friendship
____________________________

Moore wins film award
Sunday 23 February 2003, 14:30PM


Michael Moore's documentary, Bowling for Colombine, won the best foreign film category at France's prestigious Cesars movie awards, held at a ceremony in Paris.

In his acceptance speech Moore thanked France for "having the courage to stand up and say no" to US plans to attack Iraq.

"One of the best definitions of an ally, of a friend, is that your friend is the one who can tell you when you're wrong," he said.

"So thank you for showing us the way, for standing up and for something very important... I want to let you know that there are tens of millions of Americans who feel the same way."

Meryl Streep was awarded France's highest artistic honour and thanked the French for "loving women of a certain age - in movies and in life".

France's culture minister, Jean-Jacques Aillagon, named Streep a commander of the order of arts and letters, praising her "courage, delicacy, sensitivity and determination" and saying she's been a star in France since 1985's Out of Africa.

Streep, 53, thanked her fans in both French and English.

"Usually, America doesn't reward people of my age, either in day-to-day life or for their performances," she said.

"I hope they'll understand," she joked.

Later, along with another American - the director Spike Lee - Streep won an honourary Cesar, France's equivalent of an Oscar. She got a standing ovation.

"I always wanted to play women who are rather difficult, difficult to love, difficult to understand ... difficult to look at sometimes, or difficult to define," she said in French. "I'm grateful that the French public welcomed these complex and contradictory women."

©2003 AFP