French Oscar submission Saint Omer by Alice Diop has earned a double nomination for France’s prestigious Louis Delluc prize in both the best feature and best first film categories.
The film will vie against an eclectic blend of titles spanning political thriller, comedy and drama, many from female directors and mostly titles that have bowed at major festivals.
In the best French feature category, Saint Omer will compete against fellow Venice title Rebecca Zlotowski’s Other People’s Children, Cannes premieres Albert Serra’s Pacifiction, Louis Garrel’s The Innocent, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi’s Forever Young, Philippe Faucon’s Harkis and Mia Hansen-Love’s One Fine Morning plus Christophe Honoré’s TIFF title Winter Boy.
Nicknamed the “Goncourt of cinema” and presided over by the Cannes Film Festival’s Gilles Jacob, the Louis Delluc Prize awards the best French film of the year in addition to the best first feature.
The prize owes its name to journalist and writer Louis Delluc and has become the unofficial kick-off to the awards season in France since its first edition in 1936, which awarded Jean Renoir’s The Lower Depths. The prize is typically an early forecast of accolades to come as the French awards season gets underway.
In the best first feature category, Saint Omer joins Sophie Levy’s Méduse, Lise Akoka ad Romane Gueret’s The Worst Ones, Charlotte Le Bon’s Falcon Lake, Heloise Pelloquet’s La Passagère and The Super 8 Years from Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux and her son David Ernaux-Briot.
This year’s Louis Delluc awards will be presented on November 30.
The Cesar Academy will announce its nominees on January 25, 2023 before a ceremony on February 24.
Last year’s Louis Delluc prize was award to Un Certain Regard title Arthur Harari’s Onoda – 10 000 Nuits Dans La Jungle which went on to be nominated for four Cesar awards including best film and won the best original screenplay prize.
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