The nominations for the 17th annual Lumière awards – essentially the French equivalent of the Golden Globes, as foreign press based in France select the best in French cinema – were announced this morning, and amongst the names and titles on the list of honorees include our man, Omar Sy, and the film he stars in, Intouchables, as well as Aki Kaurismäki's French immigration dramedy Le Havre, another film we've highlighted here on S&A.

Interestingly Omar Sy was nominated in the Best Actor category, for his lauded (in France anyway) role in Intouchables, but his co-star, and most certainly the bigger name of the two (in French cinema) François Cluzet, wasn't nominated in any category. 

The film was also nominated in the Best Picture category. 

Omar, who, as I noted in a post last week, is currently shooting his next film (a buddy-cop-action flick titles On The Other Side Of The Tracks), is currently enjoying the kind of success that I don't know if French cinema has ever seen as far as black actors are concerned; and something tells me it's only a matter of time before he heads West for what may be the more lucrative waters of Hollywood – especially if his growth in France eventually hits the proverbial glass ceiling. 

Le Havre was nominated in the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor categories.

The awards winners will be presented at a ceremony on January 13th, 2012.

The French equivalent of the Oscars, the César Awards, haven't announced their nominations yet, but should within the next month, as the presentation ceremony usually happens in February.

Let's see if Sy, Intouchables and Le Havre make that lineup.

The full list of Lumière Nominations, courtesy of Cineuropa follow :

List of nominees:

Best Film
House of Tolerance – Bertrand Bonello
The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius
The Minister – Pierre Schoeller
Le Havre – Aki Kaurismäki
Untouchable – Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache

Best Director
Bertrand Bonello – House of Tolerance
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Maïwenn – Poliss
Aki Kaurismäki – Le Havre
Pierre Schoeller – The Minister

Best Screenplay
Bertrand Bonello – House of Tolerance
Robert Guédiguian and Jean-Louis Milesi
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Maïwenn and Emmanuelle Bercot – Poliss
Pierre Schoeller – The Minister

Best Actress
Bérénice Béjo – The Artist
Catherine Deneuve and Chiara Mastroianni – The Beloved by Christophe Honoré
Valérie Donzelli – Declaration of War by Valérie Donzelli
Marina Fois and Karin Viard – Poliss
Clotilde Hesme – Angèle and Tony by Alix Delaporte

Best Actor
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
Olivier Gourmet – The Minister
Joey Starr – Poliss
Omar Sy – Untouchable
André Wilms – Le Havre

Best Female Newcomer
Alice Barnole – House of Tolerance
Adèle Haenel – House of Tolerance
Zoé Héran – Tomboy by Céline Sciamma
Céline Sallette – House of Tolerance
Anamaria Valtoromei – by Eva Ionesco

Best Male Newcomer
Grégory Gadebois – Angèle and Tony
Guillaume Gouix – by Teddy Lussi-Modeste
Raphaël Ferret –  by Vincent Garenq
Denis Ménochet –  by Mélanie Laurent
Mahmoud Shalaby – by Ismaël Ferroukhi

Best French-Language Film (from outside France)
Curling – Denis Côté (Canada)
Where Do We Go Now? – Nadine Labaki (France/Lebanon/Italy)
Scorched – Denis Villeneuve (Canada)
The Kid With a Bike [trailer, film focus] – Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Belgium/France/Italy)
The Giants [trailer, film focus] – Bouli Lanners (Belgium/Luxembourg/France)

A very special mention for the dog-actor in The Artist