Having won over Cannes audiences, cinemagoers and the media at home and abroad, Bouli Lanners’s Eldorado [trailer] continues its successful journey and sets out to conquer Hollywood, having been chosen as Belgian hopeful for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

The national selection committee – presided by director Marion Hänsel – announced its decision on Friday. Unsurprisingly, their choice fell on the Belgian hit of 2008.
Whether by coincidence or for reasons of diplomacy, the committee seem to have adopted a strategy of alternating between Francophone and Dutch-language films over the last few years. We’ll recall the selection of Erik Van Looy’s The Alzheimer Case [trailer] in 2004, the Dardenne brothers’ The Child [trailer, film focus] in 2006, and Ben Balthazar’s Ben X [trailer, film focus] in 2007.

To date, only six Belgian films have made it onto the final shortlist, the last being Lieven Debrauwer’s Pauline and Paulette [trailer] in 2002. No Belgian production has ever picked up the golden Oscar statuette, but two Belgian co-productions have won honours in Los Angeles: Marleen Gorris’ Antonia’s Line in 1995, and Danis Tanovic’s No Man’s Land [trailer] in 2002.

On January 22, 2009, we’ll find out if Lanners’s second feature is among the five Oscar contenders.

Meanwhile, Eldorado continues to enjoy success and is still showing in five Belgian theatres. Since its release, the film has attracted over 40,000 viewers, which is an impressive result for a Belgian Francophone film.

Eldorado has performed less well than the Dardenne brothers’ Cannes prize-winner (Lorna’s Silence [trailer, film focus] has almost exceeded the threshold of 30,000 admissions in just over two weeks on release), but better than The Son [trailer], to give an idea. In France, Eldorado has drawn over 100,000 viewers and is still showing on 67 screens.