Quebec director Xavier Dolan has earned a best foreign feature nomination for his film Heartbeats, about two friends who fall for the same young man. (TIFF) Quebec director Xavier Dolan has snagged a nomination for a César Award for his film Heartbeats (Les Amours Imaginaires).

Heartbeats, which earned a spot in the Un Certain Regard program at Cannes in May 2010, was one of seven in the foreign film category announced Friday in Paris by the French Academy of Technical Arts and Sciences.

The Césars, France's top film award, were dominated by Xavier Beauvois' Of Gods and Men and Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer.

Dolan, 21, has been a Quebec director to watch since his debut film I Killed My Mother in 2009.

He is competing against international films such as David Fincher's The Social Network, Jane Campion's Bright Star and Juan Jose Campanella's The Secret in Their Eyes.

Of Gods and Men, about Trappist monks living in Algeria threatened by fundamentalist terrorists, earned 11 nominations, including best film, best director for Beauvois and performance nods for Michael Lonsdale and Olivier Rabourdin.

Polanski's The Ghost Writer, starring Ewan MacGregor as a young writer hired to write an outgoing prime minister's memoirs, has been a big hit in France. The English-language film snagged eight nominations including best, best director for Polanski, best adapted screenplay and best music by Alexandre Desplat.

Biopic Gainsbourg, about French singer and womanizer Serge Gainsbourg, also is vying for eight awards. Eric Elmosnino has the nod for best actor in the lead role and Laetitia Casta, who plays Brigitte Bardot, has a supporting actress nominaton.

Three comedies— Heartbreaker, directed by Pascal Chaumeil, The Names of Love by Michel Leclerc and On Tour by Mathieu Almaric — earned a slot among the seven films nominated for best picture.

Bertrand Tavernier's The Princess of Montpensier, a period drama set in the 16th century, also made a strong showing with seven nominations including best newcomer for actors Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet and Raphael Personnaz.

Serge Gainsbourg, right, with Jane Birkin, in a scene from the biopic Gainsbourg: L'homme qui amait les femmes, which is a favourite at France's Cesar Awards. (Roger Voillet) Actress Kristin Scott Thomas, who moves easily between the French and English film industries, has a nomination for Sarah's Key, about a journalist investigating the round-up of Jews in Paris during the German occupation.

The French academy introduced a new category, best animated feature, which earned nods for Luc Besson's Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds, Sylvain Chomet's The Illusionist and animation collective H5's Logorama.

The César Awards ceremony will be held on Feb. 25 at Paris's Chatelet Theater, hosted by Antoine de Caunes. U.S. actress Jody Foster is president of the ceremony.