Michaël Roskam’s highly praised debut Bullhead won the Best Feature Award at the Victoria Film Festival in Canada (3-12 February). This victory will surely give cast, crew and supporters alike a boost of self-confidence in view of the upcoming Academy Awards prize ceremony this Sunday. Bullhead is nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
Bullhead is an explosive story about the consequences of a brutish cattle farmer's involvement with Flemish mobsters who peddle illegal growth hormones. Starring an impressive Matthias Schoenaerts in the leading role, the film starts out as a crime thriller but ultimately reveals itself as a gutting drama about a tragic man shaped by a traumatic experience from the past.
After 10 days of more than 150 films from all over the world, the film claimed the award for Best Feature at the Victoria Film Festival earlier this month. The award is one more decoration in what is now becoming a true victory march around movie fests all over the world, following among others the Jury and Critics Prize at Beaune and the Propeller Award for Best Film at the Motovun Festival. The film was also rated an exceptional 3.5 out of 4 points in the highly influential AP movie review.
The Victoria Film Festival is organized annually since 1995 in order to expose youth and adults to a broad range of cultural, artistic and philosophical ideas and lifestyles through the presentation of film, video, and new media. The Academy Awards are presented on Sunday 26 February. The other nominees for the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film are Monsieur Lazhar by Philippe Falardeau (Canada), A separation by Asghar Farhadi (Iran), Footnote by Joseph Cedar (Israël) en In darkness (Poland).