French film awards to honor Tarantino

PARIS, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. film director Quentin Tarantino will receive a special award at next month's Cesar Awards in Paris, organizers of the event announced.

Alain Terzain, president of the annual film awards, said Tarantino would be saluted as a "great international artist" at the Feb. 25 ceremony for his works, which include "Pulp Fiction" and "Inglorious Basterds."

Jodie Foster will host the event, which the BBC said was considered France's version of the Academy Awards.

The real star of the show will be "Of Gods and Men," an Algerian production nominated for 11 awards, including best film of the year. "Gainsbourg" and Roman Polanski's "The Ghost" both picked up eight nominations.

"The Social Network," which is expected to rack up plenty of awards in the United States this winter, is nominated in the Best Foreign Film category.