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AWARDS Belgium

Nominations announced for 2nd Magritte Awards

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This morning, the nominations for the 2nd edition of the Magritte Film Awards were unveiled. We may as well say it from the start: the suspense was far from unbearable when it came to finding out the nominees in the main categories. Armed with a rich and diverse Cannes selection, Belgian Francophone cinema could this year be proud of producing a fine trio of laureates, with Abel, Gordon and Romy’sThe Fairy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon
film profile
]
, the Dardenne brothersThe Kid With a Bike [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
film profile
]
, and Bouli Lanners’s The Giants [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Bouli Lanners
film profile
]
.

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Therefore, the question was more about who would join the trio in the race for the places of honour. In the top categories of Best Film and Best Director, the remaining nominations are split between Vanja D’Alcantara’s Beyond the Steppes for the former and Sam Gabarski’s A Distant Neighbourhood [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sam Garbarski
film profile
]
for the latter. Gabarski’s film has also garnered four other nominations.

The other question was about how another Belgian film that has made a splash this year would fit into the equation. This film is Belgian, but Flemish. Anxious to avoid any inter-community disputes as much as possible, the Magritte Awards had planned for this by creating a new category, that of Best Flemish Film in Co-production. Only five films fulfilled the criteria for competing (Hasta la Vista [+see also:
trailer
interview: Geoffrey Enthoven
film profile
]
, Pulsar [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, Madly In Love, 22nd of May [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and Bullhead [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bart Van Langendonck
interview: Michaël R. Roskam
film profile
]
), and we may wonder what could possibly stop the latter film from taking home the statuette.

More surprising perhaps is that Michael Roskam’s film reappears in no fewer than eight other categories (as a reminder, Belgian Francophone co-productions are eligible in most categories, except for Best Film and Best Director). The most striking nomination is perhaps that of Matthias Schoenaerts in the Best Actor category, who surely can’t fail to win the Magritte, despite the remarkable and much-remarked performances of his competitors.

Finally, The Giants clearly leads the nominations, vying for no fewer than 12 statuettes (out of a possible 15), followed by The Kid With a Bike and Bullhead, which are neck and neck with eight nominations, then The Fairy and A Distant Neighbourhood, with five nominations each. After the undisputed triumph of Jaco Van Dormael’s Mr. Nobody [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jaco Van Dormael
interview: Jaco Van Dormael
film profile
]
last year, things seem to be a bit more balanced this year. So the outcome is anyone’s guess!

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(Translated from French)

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