THE SISTERS BROTHERS © SHANNA BESSON (15)

Source: Shanna Besson

‘The SIsters Brothers’

A mixed bag of nominations for the 24th edition of France’s Lumière awards was unveiled in Paris on Monday (Dec 17). 

Jacques Audiard’s US-set, English-language The Sisters Brothers, period comedy-drama Mademoiselle de Jonquières, adoption drama Pupille and Venice-winning relationship drama Custody came out as the front-runners with four nominations each.

Following with three nominations each were Alex Lutz’s comedy-drama Guy, about a man who discovers he is the illegitimate son of a fading variety star and decides to follow him on tour; comedy The Trouble With You, sexual abuse drama Little Tickles, and Sheherarzade, a love story between a young delinquent and a prostitute in Marseille.

The awards are the Golden Globe of France in that the 80 members of the Académie des Lumières are drawn from the international media community based in France.

The mixed bag of nominations, in which no one or two films have come out on top, reflects the performance of French independent featuresat the local box office this year at which there have no break-out local titles aside from mainstream comedies and family franchises.

Unusually, three of the highest nominated films – Sheherazade, Custody and Little Tickles - are first time features.

Memoir Of War (aka Memoir of Pain), France’s entry to the foreign-language Oscar, garnered just one nomination for Melanie Thierry in the best actress category. She plays writer Marguerite Duras as she struggled to resume life with her husband following his return from a concentration camp after the Second World War.

Surprise shut-outs included Christophe Honoré’s Sorry Angel, Claire Denis’s High Life, Jean-Stéphane’s A Prayer Before Dawn and Coralie Fargeat’s Revenge.

Nominees in the category for non-French productions from Francophone territories comprised two titles from Lebanon, Nadine Labaki’s Capernaum and Ziad Doueiri’s The Insult, as well as Belgian director Lukas’s Dhont’s Girl and Anja Kofmel’s Chris The Swiss.

In total 37 titles have picked up nominations out of the 130 French films that were released theatrically in France during the selection period.

This year voters were also able to view films on a dedicated site run in partnership with Cannes Marché du Film’s Cinando platform, which received 1145 visits.  

The 24th Lumiere ceremony will take place at the Institute of the Arab World in Paris on Feb 4, 2019.

The full list of nominations

Best fiilm  

  • Amanda, dir. Mikhaël Hers
  • The Sisters Brothers, dir. Jacques Audiard
  • Guy, dir. Alex Lutz
  • Mademoiselle de Joncquières, dir. Emmanuel Mouret
  • Pupille, dir. Jeanne Herry

Best director

  • Jacques Audiard, The Sisters Brothers
  • Jeanne Herry, Pupille

  • Xavier Legrand, Custody
  • Gaspar Noé, Climax
  • Pierre Salvadori, The Trouble With You (En Liberté!)

Best actress

  • Elodie Bouchez, Pupille

  • Cécile de France, Mademoiselle de Joncquières
  • Léa Drucker, Custody
  • Virginie Efira, An Impossible Love
  • Mélanie Thierry, Memoir Of War

Best actor

  • Romain Duris, Our Struggles
  • Vincent Lacoste, Amanda
  • Vincent Lindon, At War
  • Alex Lutz, Guy
  • Denis Ménochet, Custody

Best screenplay

  • Andréa Bescond and Eric Métayer, Little Tickles (Les Chatouilles)

  • Jeanne Herry, Pupille

  • Thomas Lilti, The Freshman (Première année)

  • Emmanuel Mouret, Mademoiselle de Joncquières

  • Pierre Salvadori, Benoît Graffin and Benjamin Charbit, The Trouble With You

Best cinematography

  • Benoît Debie, Climax

  • Benoît Debie, The Sisters Brothers
  • Laurent Desmet, Mademoiselle de Joncquières
  • Julien Hirsch, One Nation, One King
  • David Ungaro, To The Ends Of The World 

Best male newcomer

  • Anthony Bajon, The Prayer
  • William Lebghil, The Freshman
  • Andranic Manet, A Paris Education
  • Félix Maritaud, Sauvage

  • Dylan Robert, Shéhérazade

Best female newcomer

  • Ophélie Bau, Mektoub My Love
  • Galatéa Bellugi, The Apparition
  • Andréa Bescond, Little Tickles
  • Jeanne Cohendy, Head Above Water
  • Kenza Fortas, Shéhérazade

Best first film 

  • Little Tickles, Andréa Bescond and Eric Métayer
  • The Wild Boys (Les Garçons sauvages),  Bertrand Mandico
  • Custory, Xavier Legrand

  • Sauvage, Camille Vidal-Naquet
  • Shéhérazade, Jean-Bernard Marlin

Best film from French-speaking territories

  • Capharnaüm, dir. Nadine Labaki
  • Chris the Swiss, dir. Anja Kofmel
  • Girl, dir. Lukas Dhont
  • The Insult, dir. Ziad Doueiri
  • Our Battles, dir. Guillaume Senez

Best feature animation

  • Asterix – The Secret of The Magic Potion, dir. Louis Clichy and Alexandre Astier Dilili à Paris, dir Michel Ocelot

  • Mutafukaz, dir. Shojiro Nishimi and Run

  • Pachamama, dir. Juan Antín 

Best documentary

  • Cassandro, the Exotico!, dir Marie Losier

  • Each And Every Moment (De chaque instant), dir. Nicolas Philibert

  • No Man Is An Island, dir. Dominique Marchais
  • Young Solitude, dir. Claire Simon

  • Samouni Road, dir. Stephano Savona

Best music

  • Camille Bazbaz, The Trouble With You
  • Vincent Blanchard and Romain Greffe, Guy
  • Alexandre Desplat, The Sisters Brothers
  • Pierre Desprats, The Wild Boys
  • Grégoire Hetzel – Un amour impossible

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