Eyeworks proud of Oscar nomination for Bullhead
25 January 2012
BRUSSELS/LOS ANGELES. Bullhead, the debut film of Michael R. Roskam, is nominated this year as one of the five titles for the Foreign-language Academy Award, the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film. The news was announced yesterday by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in Los Angeles. Bullhead is the sixth Belgium Oscar nomination in this category. The winners of the 84th Academy Awards will be announced on February 26 in Hollywood.
Since the world premiere of the film on February 2, 2010, Bullhead has made an unbelievable journey in Belgium and abroad. In Belgium, it is the most popular local film of 2011, with almost 450,000 visitors. In September the film won six Flemish film awards in the Film Festival of Ostend (including Best Film and Best Director, Best Actor.). Meanwhile it was also announced that the French-speaking Bullhead has recieved nine nominations for Prix Magritte, which will be awarded on February 4. Internationally, Bullhead, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival last year. The film then went on tour through various international festivals where it regularly won prizes including the AFI awards at festivals in Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Austin, Montreal, Motovun (Croatia), Moscow, Manresa (Spain), Beaune, Les Arcs and Saint-Jean de Luz (France). Earlier this year the American entertainment magazine "Variety" selected Roskam as one of the "10 Directors To Watch". On ˜IndieWire" Eric Kohn wrote recently: 'Watching Bullhead, it's easy to imagine that Roskam could inherit the heated world of double-crossers and violent avengers that put Martin Scorsese on the map.'
Bullhead is also the real international breakthrough for Matthias Schoenaerts who underwent for the film a personal metamorphosis to make the role of Jacky Vanmarsenille, the young Limburg cattle farmer, his own. The role earned him several national and international awards, and made him visible on the radar of the French director Jacques Audiard, who asked him to be the lead role in his new film, Un goût the rouille et d'os.
Peter Bouckaert (Eyeworks): "The nomination of" Bullhead "is a highly deserved award for director Michael Roskam. Eyeworks is very proud that we were involved in developing this film. This is the first result of close collaboration between Eyeworks and Savage Film and we promise more for the future. Congratulations to the whole Bullhead team.
Bart van Langendonck (Savage Film): "We are incredibly surprised and delighted with this nomination. We thank the Belgium selection commission who have given "Bullhead" this chance and are glad with the trust that the commission has given us.
Roskams feature debut is produced by Bart Langendonck of Savage Film, co-produced by Eyeworks Film & TV Drama, Artemis and Waterland Film Production. The International sales agent of the film is Celluloid Dreams in Paris. The film was made with the support of the Flemish Audiovisual Fund (VAF), which is also delighted with the nomination. "Bullhead is now in the final of the World Cup Movie. We congratulate Michael and Bart, and everyone who has contributed to this fantastic success before and behind the camera. Along with almost everyone in Belgium we support starting the final sprint, knowing that achieving one of the five nominations is already a victory. Everything more is the icing on the cake.