Today (January 25), the 83rd Academy Awards announced Oscar nominations, and Canadian director Denis Villeneuve (Polytechnique) will indeed be attending the ceremony in February. Villeneuve’s film Incendies, based on the award-winning play by Wajdi Mouawad, was nominated for best foreign language film.
Foreign language competitors includes Mexico’s Biutiful by Alejandro Gonzalez, Denmark’s In a Better World by Susanne Bier (winning the Golden Globe in this category earlier this year), Algeria’s Hors la loi by Rachid Bouchareb, and Greece’s Dogtooth by Yorgos Lanthimos.
The last time a Canadian film was nominated was in 2007 for Deepa Mehta’s Water. Before that, in 2003, The Barbarian Invasions by Denys Arcand was not only nominated, but went on to win the golden statuette.
Once all the nominations are tallied, The King’s Speech is leading the pack with 12 nominations, including best film, where it will compete against Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids are All Right, 127 Hours, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit, and Winter’s Bone.
Best actor nominations include Javier Bardem (Biutiful), Jeff Bridges (True Grit), Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network), Colin Firth (The King’s Speech), and James Franco (127 Hours).
Nominated for best actress: Annette Bening (The Kids are All Right) Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone), Natalie Portman (Black Swan), and Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine).
Male nominees for supporting role include Christian Bale (The Fighter), John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone), Jeremy Renner (The Town), Mark Ruffalo (The Kids are All Right) and Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech).
Supporting role female nominees include both Amy Adams and Melissa Leo for The Fighter, Helena Bonham Carter (The King’s Speech), newcomer Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) and Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom).
The competition will be very tough for directors: Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), David O. Russell (The Fighter), Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech), David Fincher (The Social Network), and brothers Joel and Ethan Coen (True Grit) will all compete for the award.
The Academy Awards gala on Sunday, February 27th will be hosted by Anne Hathaway and James Franco, and televised live to more than 200 countries around the world.
For a complete list of nominations, visit the official Oscar website.