Aquarius by Kleber Mendonca Filho (Portugal), The Unknown Girl by The Dardenne Brothers (Belgium), Manchester by the Sea by Kenneth Lonergan (United States) and I, Daniel Blake by Ken Loach (United Kingdom) were also nominated for best foreign film.
Graduation / Bacalaureat was produced by Cristian Mungiu through Mobra Films in coproduction with France’s Why Not Productions, Belgium’s Les Films du Fleuve and France 3 Cinéma. The film won the best director award at 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
Toni Erdmann was produced by Komplizen Film in coproduction with coop 99, knm, Missing Link Films, SWR, WDR, ARTE, HiFilm Productions. It was shot mainly in Romania with HiFilm Productions servicing. The film was also nominated for the 89th Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category and also for the BAFTA Awards in Film not in the English Language category, together with another CEE film, the Hungarian Son of Saul by László Nemes.
Roman Polanski was invited to preside over the César Film Awards, but declined due to the protests of French feminist groups.
