Denys Arcand and Denise Robert are racking up the frequent flyer miles, trotting off from one awards gala to the next.

The Feb. 21 weekend was a particularly hectic one for the filmmaker and his producer-wife, who attended Les Cesar, the French film awards, in Paris on Saturday night before jetting back to Montreal for the Prix Jutra the following evening. The jaunt to France was worth it, however, as The Barbarian Invasions won the Cesar for best French-language film, as well as nabbing Arcand prizes for direction and screenplay.

One of the four movies Invasions beat for best film was Sylvain Chomet’s animated The Triplets of Belleville, a Canada/France/Belgium copro. That film did win for best music score for Montreal composer Benoit Charest.

In a whirlwind day in Paris, Arcand had earlier been decorated as a commander of l’Ordre des arts et des lettres, France’s highest cultural honor.

Next it’s off to Tinseltown for Arcand and Robert, who will attend the Academy Awards Feb. 29, where Invasions is up for Oscars for best foreign-language film and original screenplay.

At press time, Oscar pundits at www.GoldDerby.com had Invasions’ odds of winning for screenplay at 20 to 1; Triplets was listed at 5 to 1 for best animated film and 20 to 1 for best song for Belleville Rendezvous, written by Charest and Chomet.

-www.lescesarducinema.com

-www.oscars.org