The Belgian national selection committee has chosen Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s Two Days, One Night to represent Belgium for forthcoming Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

The jury, composed of six Flemish and French-speaking Belgian film professionals and presided by Joëlle Levie, unanimously praised the latest Dardenne film’s cinematographic quality and its powerful topical and universal subject matter.

The jury also underlined the strong transatlantic potential of the film thanks to the presence of lead actress and Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard and critical acclaim following its world premiere in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Two Days, One Night, distributed in the US by IFC Films, has already started its US campaign with selections for festivals which play a key role in the Oscar race, including Telluride and Toronto, and forthcoming New York Film Festival and Los Angeles AFI Festival.

The film will be released in US theatres on December 24.

The Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled February 22, 2015 at the Los Angeles Dolby Theatre. The nominations will be announced on January 15, 2015.

Two Days, One Night was sold to some 60 territories from Sweden to New-Zealand, including Japan, and is one of the 50 films in the running for the European Film Awards, including the Audience Award.

The film is a Belgian Les films du Fleuve production, in co-production with Eyeworks, with the support of the Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel of the Federation Wallonia-Brussels and the Flemish Audiovisual Fund.