Last night's Cesars were a pretty contentious and controversial affair, with a mass walk-out occurring during the Best Director category win.

Roman Polanski, who was convicted of statutory rape of a 13-year old in 1978 and has been a fugitive from US justice ever since, was nominated for Best Director for his movie, 'An Officer And A Spy'.

Polanski, however, was not at the ceremony and said in a statement that he did so out of avoiding "a public lynching." Outside the ceremony, numerous activist groups were protesting Polanski's nominations.

The movie, which is a retelling of the Dreyfus Affair in 19th century France, was nominated for 12 awards - including Best Director. The nominations for the movie sparked a huge controversy when first announced, with over 400 members of France's film academy signing an open letter citing Polanski's nominations and other issues with the leadership of the Cesars as "a vestige of an era that we would like to be over, that of an elitist and closed system."

On the night, Polanski's win prompted a mass walkout, led by Adéle Hanel, star of 'Portrait Of A Lady On Fire', followed by its director Céline Sciamma and others.

Here's the video of that happening, posted by the official Twitter account for 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire'.