Ex-film director Jean-Baptiste Andrea wins France's top literary prize
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Transcript
00:00 France's top literary award the Goncourt Prize has just been announced.
00:04 A very own Clovis Casale is standing by at the Paris restaurant where the prize is traditionally
00:11 announced and we can go across to him now. Clovis good afternoon tell us about the winner.
00:15 Well the winner's just here Jean-Baptiste Andréa at the window of the Drouan restaurant. That's the
00:24 place where this most prestigious literary prize in France has just been awarded. Let me tell you
00:30 a bit more about Jean-Baptiste Andréa. He's not your typical novelist. He used to be a screenwriter
00:36 and director. He directed in 2006 the film Big Nothing with David Schwimmer and Martin Pegg.
00:44 He's been awarded the Goncourt Prize for his new novel called or we could translate it as
00:52 Watching Over Her. Veillez sur elle. It's the story of a platonic love story between a young
01:00 sculptor born dwarf and a rich woman from Genoa the same age as him. They grow up together. They
01:08 become friends extremely strong good friends. This sculptor is an absolute genius and over his life
01:17 he designs a piece that's so beautiful that the Vatican decides that it can't be shown in public
01:24 and it's hidden in a monastery because of the devastating impact that it has on those who see
01:31 it. Jean-Baptiste Andréa's story is also set in Italy and as the story unfolds the reader also
01:39 witnesses the rise of fascism in Italy with Mussolini. Clearly this novel won over the
01:48 members of the Goncourt Academy but it was a hard decision because there were 14 rounds of votes
01:55 and ultimately because there was a tie the president's vote counts double and the president
02:01 decided his vote meant that Jean-Baptiste Andréa won the Goncourt Prize. Jean-Baptiste Andréa arrived
02:11 a few minutes ago and he told a huge crowd of journalists that this was most probably the
02:15 best time moment in his life the most magnificent moment in his life. He was ecstatic over the moon
02:23 as you can imagine. He also thanked his publisher an independent publishing company that's been
02:30 working with him. He said this is the end of seven years of hard work and he thanked his publisher
02:36 saying they shared the same vision a vision where ideas can change the world. And very briefly
02:42 Clovis why is this such a prestigious prize in France? Well the first Goncourt Prize was awarded
02:51 120 years ago. It's the most prestigious literary prize here in France. It brings you
02:58 recognition from your peers because the members of the Goncourt Academy are all highly established
03:04 writers and at the same time it brings you financial gain. Not the actual prize it's only
03:12 10 euros that you get when you win the Goncourt but then it brings you a lot of very strong
03:17 reputation. It helps you sell a lot of copies. Usually the winner of a Goncourt Prize sells
03:24 400,000 copies sometimes, for some of them even a million copies.