The film “The Teacher’s Room” by Ilker Çatak is supposed to be in the running for the Oscars for Germany. This was announced by German Films, the German film agency abroad, in Munich. An independent expert jury viewed all applicant films and decided on “The Teacher’s Room”. “With ‘The Teacher’s Room’, the jury nominated a highly topical, universal cinema film that you can’t resist,” the jury’s statement said. “Ilker Çatak takes the microcosm of school as a stage for social erosion processes in the post-factual age.”
After the success of “Nothing New in the West” several films had applied as a German entry for the next Oscars – including Wim Wenders’ film “Anselm – The Noise of Time”, “Sisi & Me” by Frauke Finsterwalder, “Wochendrebellen” by Marc Rothemund and “Red Sky” by Christian Petzold. “The Teacher’s Room” is now following in big footsteps: In spring, the German literary adaptation “Nothing New in the West” by director Edward Berger not only won the Oscar for best international film, but also three more for camera, set design and film music.
The choice of the German contribution is only a preliminary stage in the race for the foreign Oscar. The shortlist of international applicants will be announced later. The five nominated films are then selected from this shortlist. The Oscars ceremony will then take place on March 10, 2024. Only four German productions won the award for the best international (non-English language) film.
Prior to “Nothing New in the West”, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck was the last to do so in 2007 with the Stasi drama “The Lives of Others”. In 1980 the film adaptation of the novel “The Tin Drum” by Volker Schlöndorff received this award, in 2003 “Nowhere in Africa” by Caroline Link. “We are deeply grateful for this opportunity and are very happy. At the same time, we are very aware of the responsibility to represent German film on the international stage,” said director Çatak and producer Ingo Fliess after the decision.