Nominations
Sandra, Wim and Ilker – German trio on course for an Oscar
Sandra Hülser is nominated for an Oscar as best actress. photo
© Oliver Dietze/dpa
Sandra Hülser, Wim Wenders, Ilker Catak – three German filmmakers can win Oscars this year. “Oppenheimer” is the front runner with 13 nominations.
Actress Sandra Hülser (45) is nominated as best actress for the legal drama “Anatomy of a Case”, while the German contribution “The Teacher’s Room” by Ilker Catak (40) can win the award for best international film – the Berlin director is in this category “Perfect Days” by the Düsseldorf-born director Wim Wenders (78), who is running for Japan.
“A bit of the highest of feelings”
For Hülser, who comes from Thuringia and lives in Leipzig, it is a historic step in terms of Oscar history. She is the first German actress to be nominated for Best Actress since the 1930s. At that time, Luise Rainer, who was born in Düsseldorf and lives in Hollywood, won two Oscars in a row for her roles in “The Great Ziegfeld” (1937) and “The Good Earth” (1938). Previously, only Marlene Dietrich, a German, had been nominated in this category for the film “Morocco” (1931).
“For me, what has happened now is a bit the highest of emotions,” the 45-year-old told dpa on Tuesday after her nomination was announced.
In “Anatomy of a Case” by the French director Justine Triet, Hülser shines as a successful writer who comes under suspicion of murder after the death of her husband and has to defend herself in court. Hülser will meet four fellow contestants at the Oscars on March 10th: Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Carey Mulligan (“Maestro”), Annette Bening (“Nyad”) and Emma Stone (“Poor Things”) ). Gladstone, also nominated for the first time, is considered the biggest competitor. She would be the first indigenous leading actress to win an Oscar.
The Oscar for Wenders is long overdue
Wim Wenders could receive his first, long overdue Oscar at the age of 78. He had already been nominated for a documentary Oscar three times, but always came away empty-handed.
In the poetic film “Perfect Days” he tells the story of a man named Hirayama (Koji Yakusho), who works as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo, seems content with his simple life and lives very much in the moment. “It’s such a great honor for me to represent Japan at the Oscars, the country of my great cinematic master Yasujiro Ozu! ‘Perfect Days’ was driven by his spirit, so I couldn’t be happier about this nomination,” said the delighted director on Tuesday in a statement.
Joy for “Teacher’s Room” director Ilker Catak
In the social drama “The Teacher’s Room”, director Catak, who grew up in Berlin and Turkey, examines a conflict at a school that gets out of hand. The focus is on a young teacher (Leonie Benesch) who wants to solve a series of thefts at her school. “Teaching is a profession in which you take responsibility for a future generation. The question is: Will the adults of tomorrow have experienced personal development and fairness or only pressure to grade and obedience? We salute the people who take up this profession and hope that this nomination contributes to greater visibility of their work!” wrote Catak and producer Ingo Fliess in a statement after the nominations were announced.
In addition to Germany and Japan, three other countries are represented in the “International Feature Film” division: Italy (“Io Capitano”), Spain (“The Snow Company”) and Great Britain (“The Zone of Interest”).
“The Zone of Interest” by British director Jonathan Glazer is about the life of concentration camp commander Rudolf Höß (Christian Friedel) and his family, who live in a large house right next to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Sandra Hülser plays Höß’ wife Hedwig.
Both Hülser films – “The Zone of Interest” and “Anatomy of a Case” – each received five nominations, including in the top category “Best Film”. The French Justine Triet also has a chance of winning a directing Oscar for “Anatomy of a Case”. She is only the ninth woman ever to be nominated in this category. There she meets the Hollywood veteran Martin Scorsese (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Christopher Nolan (“Oppenheimer”), the Greek Giorgos Lanthimos (“Poor Things”) and the British Glazer (“The Zone of Interest”) .
“Oppenheimer” is the big favorite
Overall, the atomic bomb drama “Oppenheimer” leads the race for the world’s most important film award with 13 nominations. The three-hour biography about the physicist Robert Oppenheimer, known as the “father of the atomic bomb”, was nominated for, among other things, best film, best director (Nolan) and best actor (Cillian Murphy).
The feminist “Frankenstein” adaptation “Poor Things” received the second most nominations (11) – with an excellent Emma Stone. Martin Scorsese’s drama “Killers of the Flower Moon” received ten nominations, the box office hit “Barbie” received eight, including two for the songs “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish and “I’m Just Ken”, sung by actor Ryan Gosling. “Dance The Night” by Dua Lipa came away empty-handed.