Of course, it won’t be the regular Oscars; none of the movies nominated had a real career in theaters, and you probably haven’t heard of most of them. It won’t be at the Dolby Theater on Hollywood Boulevard but at Union Station, the train station in downtown L.A. And it will mostly be outside to reduce the risks of contagion. Yeah, not an ordinary year…

But that doesn’t mean it will be a French-free year. It has become a tradition of sorts, there has always been a certain level of French representation among the nominees at the Oscars for the last 2 decades. Sometimes it’s obvious (The Artist, anyone?). Sometimes it’s easy to find, like last year’s nomination of Les Misérables for best international movie. Sometimes, like this year, we have to look a little deeper to find French representation at the Oscars. But don’t you worry, we’ve done the job for you.

First, we have the whole team behind what is kind of a French movie, but in English and with a British cast. The Father, Florian Zeller’s beautiful first film, is nominated 6 times including in the best movie category, and all the nominations are well deserved. This so-emotional film about an elderly victim of dementia is just brilliant. Florian Zeller wrote the play in French, it was a huge success in Paris and wherever it was adapted, including London and Broadway. He also directs the adaptation with Anthony Hopkins, who has rarely been this good. Zeller is nominated for best screenplay, and his two French producers are also nominated for best picture.

There’s another French producer nominated. Sacha Ben Harroche moved to L.A. from Paris about ten years ago. Since then, he has fought like crazy to produce small-budget, independent, American movies like Sound of Metal. This film is nominated 6 times at the Oscars, including a nomination for Best Movie for Ben Harroche, and for best sound for the French sound engineer Nicolas Becker.

Frederic Thoraval, a French editor gets his first nomination for Promising Young Woman.

And we also have a beautiful French animated short movie Genius Loci, a smart and elegant philosophical wandering in a dreamt Paris. Really beautiful…

Who said that there won’t be a French accent at the Oscar this year?

To learn more French filmmakers and award winners in America, tune in to Rendez-vous d’Amérique on TV5MONDE USA. Click here for more information.

Exploring cultural diversity through film, art, and so much more, Rendez-vous d'Amérique invites you on a journey to discover Francophone culture in America. Your host on this cultural experience is Didier Allouch - reporter, cinephile, and a familiar face on the red carpet. Click here to learn how you can subscribe to TV5MONDE USA and never miss an episode!