"Young Mothers" by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne to represent Belgium at the 2026 Oscars!
The Belgian Oscar Committee has selected Young Mothers by directors Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne to be Belgium's entry in the International Feature Film category for the upcoming Academy Awards.
On Tuesday, August 26, the national selection committee met and selected Young Mothers to represent Belgium in the race for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards, which will take place on March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
Among the four finalist films, Young Mothers was selected after deliberations by the committee, composed of three members from the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles and three from the Flemish Community. This year, the jury included Gregory Zalcman (producer, Take Five), Eva Kuperman (producer, Stenola Productions), Juliette Duret (Head of Cinema, Bozar), Lenny Van Wesemael (filmmaker), and Sahim Omar Kalifa (filmmaker). The jury was chaired by Hilde Delaere (producer, FBO).
Following Rosetta, The Child and The Kid with a Bike, the Dardenne brothers continue their exploration of social realities through the eyes of five teenage girls who have become mothers too soon. Jessica (Babette Verbeek), Perla (Lucie Laruelle), Ariane (Janaina Halloy), Julie (Elsa Houben), and Naïma (Samia Hilmi) are welcomed into a mother-and-child home, a place of respite where they are supported by educators and social workers in their quest for independence. Torn between family wounds, the fear of repeating the past, and the hope for a better future, each of them seeks to carve her own path.
With the precision and sobriety that characterize their cinema, the Dardennes deliver a sensitive and deeply human film, portraying precariousness without artifice. By questioning the possibility of breaking free from social reproduction, Young Mothers offers a luminous glimpse of humanity at the heart of a harsh daily reality.
Jessica, Perla, Julie, Ariane, and Naïma are housed in a mother-and-child shelter that supports them as they navigate life as young mothers. Five teenagers holding onto the hope of building a better life for themselves and their children.
Premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last May, the film won the Best Screenplay Award, adding to the eight previous Cannes awards already received by the Dardenne brothers.
The film is produced by Les Films du Fleuve, with the support of the Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, and co-produced by Archipel 35 (France) and The Reunion (Belgium). Distributed in Belgium by Cinéart, it was released in theaters on June 6, 2025. International sales are handled by Goodfellas.
We will know in January whether Young Mothers will be among the five nominees in the Best International Feature Film category.
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