The winners of this year’s Oscars, the Academy Awards that recognise technical and artistic merit in the film industry, are being announced on 2 March. With 13 Oscar nominations, a record for a movie in the category ‘Best International Feature Film’, Belgian coproduction 'Emilia Pérez' is one of the favourites. But several other nominated films have Belgian input.
Belgian co-production ‘Emilia Pérez’ has picked up over a dozen Oscar nominations
Colin Clapson
Published:
‘Emilia Pérez’ is the big favourite for the Oscars with 13 nominations, which is a record for a non-English-language film. The Spanish-language musical by French director Jacques Audiard tells the story of a Mexican drug lord, who undergoes surgery to become a woman. It is a Belgian co-production: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's production company Les Films du Fleuve and Brussels-based choreographer Damien Jalet also collaborated on it.
The film, which was also awarded 4 Golden Globes at the beginning of last month, has been nominated in all major categories. Lead actress Karla Sofía Gascón, who is herself a transwoman, is nominated in the best actress category.
Oscars with a Belgian touch
‘Emilia Pérez’ is not the only Belgian co-production that has picked up nominations. Other contenders at the Oscars too have more that a Belgian touch. Nicolas Keppens’s Belgian short animation film ‘Beautiful Men’ has been nominated for an Oscar in the short animation category. Earlier the film picked up a best short animation award at the Cinanima Festival. The film tells the tale of three brothers, who travel to Istanbul in Turkey for a hair transplant. It is a poignant story of three me looking for their missing masculinity and hair.
Flemish co-production ‘Wander to Wonder’, a stop-motion documentary film by Dutch filmmaker Nina Gantz, is also nominated in this category.
Another nominated short film, ‘I’m not a Robot’ (‘Ik ben geen robot’) by Dutch filmmaker Victoria Warmerdam, vying in the category Live Action Short Film was co-created by a Brussels production company.
In addition, the Belgian-French documentary ‘Soundtrack to a coup d'état’ has also been nominated for an Oscar. It focuses in on the turbulent years just before and after Congo's independence, the assassination of ousted prime minister Patrice Lumumba and the international context at the time. Johan Grimonprez creates a stunning narrative with archive footage and music, ranging from Louis Armstrong to Nina Simone and including the famous ‘Indépendance cha cha’. By the way, the documentary is currently available on VRT’s content on demand website VRT MAX.
Finally, the Latvian-Belgian animation film ‘Flow’ by Gints Zilbalodis even has 2 chances of winning an Oscar. At the Golden Globes, the film about a cute kitten left behind in a world inundated by water was still an unexpected winner in the best animated film category. Now the film, which was partly finished in the Brussels studio Take Five, has been nominated in the categories of Best Animated Feature Film and also Best International Feature Film.
Nominations' announcement postponed due to wild fires
The Oscar nominations were normally supposed to be announced as early as Friday 17 January. With wildfires in the Los Angeles region still not under control the announcement was twice moved to a later date.
The Oscars will be presented on 2 March. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences did not want to cancel the awards show itself because of its importance for the Los Angeles economy and as it stands as a symbol of the resilience of the film industry. Talk show host Conan O'Brien will present the ceremony for the first time.