PARIS (AFP) - "The Class", which scooped top prize at the Cannes festival last year and has been nominated for an Oscar, is among seven French films nominated for the country's top movie award, the Cesar, officials said Friday. Other contenders include "Paris" by Cedric Klapisch, who made the 2002 hit "L'Auberge Espagnole", and another French movie shown at the prestigious Cannes festival in 2008, "A Christmas Tale" by Arnaud Desplechin, starring Catherine Deneuve. The Cesar awards ceremony will be held February 27, five days after the Oscars, where Laurent Cantet's "The Class" will be among five films competing for the best foreign-language movie in the Academy Awards. Other nominees for the Cesar best film are "Seraphine" by Martin Provost, "Mesrine" by Jean-Frantois Richet, "I've loved you so long" (Il y a longtemps que je t'aime) by Philippe Claudel, and "The first day of the rest of your life" (Le premier jour du reste de ta vie) by Remi Bezanton.