M onia Chokri’s romantic comedy Simple comme Sylvain (The Nature of Love) won the best foreign film prize at the 49th César Awards in France.

The annual awards, which are considered the highest honour in French cinema, took place in Paris last Friday (Feb. 23), with Chokri in attendance to accept the award.

Simple comme Sylvain is written and directed by Quebec City-born Chokri, and produced by Montreal’s Metafilms and France’s MK Productions. Producers include Nancy Grant, Sylvain Corbeil, Nathanaël Karmitz and Elisha Karmitz.

The film stars Magalie Lépine Blondeau and Pierre-Yves Cardinal as lovers from different economic classes who can’t deny their feelings for one another.

The rom-com was nominated alongside awards season juggernaut Oppenheimer (U.S.), directed by Christopher Nolan, as well as Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days (Japan), Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves (Finland), and Marco Bellocchio’s Kidnapped (Italy, France, Germany).

Simple comme Sylvain is distributed by Immina Films in Canada, and mk2 films in France. It was produced with the support of Telefilm Canada, the Quebecor Fund, and SODEC.

The film had its world premiere at last year’s Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard competition.

Photo by Julien M. Hekimian/Getty Images