15th Lumiere Awards: Welcome and A Prophet Grab Most Noms

Similar to the Golden Globes because it is a foreign group of film journalists who conduct the voting (though I’m sure they have no mandate to prefer films loaded in stars), this year’s the 15th Lumière Awards has a pair of films in the top tier that recently that duked it out for the Louis Delluc award. Philippe Lioret’s Welcome (which just got picked up by Film Movement this week) and Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet (a SPC release next February) received five and four noms respectively.

The most apparent omissions are Bruno Dumont’s Hadewijch receiving only a Best Female Newcomer nom and Alain Resnais’ Les Herbes Folles not considered in any category. Worth highlighting is Valéria Bruni Tedeschi receiving a nom for Best Actress for her take as an expecting mother and widow in Regrets and Mia Hansen-Love receiving a nom for Best Screenplay for The Father of My Children. Winners are announced on the 15th of January, and the hands down favorite by Jacques Audiard should win in all four categories it’s nominated in. 

Best Film
In the Beginning – Xavier Giannoli
Coco Before Chanel – Anne Fontaine
In the Electric Mist – Bertrand Tavernier
A Prophet – Jacques Audiard
Welcome – Philippe Lioret

Best Director
Jacques Audiard – A Prophet
Anne Fontaine – Coco Before Chanel
Xavier Giannoli – In the Beginning
Philippe Lioret – Welcome
Bertrand Tavernier – In the Electric Mist

Best Screenplay
Jacques Audiard, Abdel Raouf Dafri, Thomas Bidegain, Nicolas Peufaillit – A Prophet
Philippe Lioret, Emmanuel Courcol, Olivier Adam – Welcome
Radu Mihaileanu, Alain-Michel Blanc, Matthew Robbins, Hector Cabello Reyes, Thierry Degrandi – The Concert
Mathias Gokalp, Nadine Lamari – The Ordinary People
Mia Hansen-Love – The Father of My Children

Best Actress
Isabelle Adjani – Skirt Day
Dominique Blanc – The Other One
Valéria Bruni Tedeschi – Regrets
Sandrine Kiberlain – Mademoiselle Chambon
Audrey Tautou – Coco Before Chanel

Best Actor
Yvan Attal – Rapt
François Cluzet – In the Beginning
Romain Duris – Persecution
Vincent Lindon – Welcome
Tahar Rahim – A Prophet

Best Female Newcomer
Mati Diop – 35 Shots of Rum
Pauline Etienne – Silent Voices
Garance Le Guillermic – The Hedgehog
Julie Sokolowski – Hadewijch
Christa Theret – LOL

Best Male Newcomer
Firat Ayverdi – Welcome
Maxime Godart – Little Nicolas
Vincent Lacoste – The French Kissers
Anthony Sonigo – The French Kissers
Samy Seghir – Neuilly, Yo Mama!

Best French-Language Film (from outside France)
That Day – Jacob Berger (Switzerland/ France)
Birds of Heaven – Eliane de Latour (France/UK/Ivory Coast)
Private Lessons – Joachim Lafosse (Belgium/France)
I Killed My Mother – Xavier Dolan (Quebec)
Hand of the Headless Man – Stéphane and Guillaume Malandrin (Belgium/Holland/France)
The Bloodiest – Jean-Pierre Bekolo (Cameroon/France)