Belgium has chosen “The Broken Circle Breakdown” as its entry in the Oscar foreign-language film race.
Directed by Felix van Groeningen, “Breakdown” is a romantic drama about a love affair between a tattoo artist (Veerle Baetens, “The White Queen”) and a bluegrass musician (Johan Heldenbergh).
Written by van Groeningen and Carl Joos, the Flemish-language film has been a box office success in Europe.
The film has picked up the Panorama Audience Award at Berlin, the screenplay award at Tribeca, and nine Ensor Awards (including film, director, actress and music) in Belgium. The production is also nominated for the People’s Choice Prize at December’s European Film Awards, and Variety selected van Groeningen as one of its 10 Euro Directors to Watch this year.
Tribeca Film will release “Breakdown” beginning Nov. 1 in the U.S.
The deadline for submitting to the foreign-language category is Oct. 1. Nominations will be announced Jan. 16 and the ceremony will be held March 2 at the Dolby Theater and broadcast on ABC.
