“The teacher’s room”: Lola winner should go to the Oscar race

“The teacher’s room”
Lola winner is said to be in the Oscar race

This year’s The Oscar ceremony became a triumph for German cinema: the Netflix anti-war film “Nothing New in the West” (2022) was able to claim four of the coveted Academy Awards, including the coveted trophy for “Best International Film”.

It is now clear which work for Germany should be in the running for the upcoming 96th Oscars: Ilker Çatak’s (39) drama “The Teacher’s Room” with Leonie Benesch (32) in the leading role. This was shared by German Films, the German film agency abroad, this Wednesday in Munich.

“A highly topical, universal cinema film”

An independent expert jury viewed a total of 13 applicant films. In the end, the choice fell on Çatak’s intensive work, in which a teacher uses unconventional means to solve a series of thefts at her school. “With ‘The Teacher’s Room’, the jury nominated a highly topical, universal feature film that you can’t resist,” the jury said in its statement. Director Çatak turns “the microcosm of schools into a stage for social erosion processes in the post-factual age.”

“The Teacher’s Room” is not yet an Oscar candidate

However, today’s nomination is only the first step on the way to a potential Oscar triumph. A shortlist of 15 titles from international candidate films will be announced in December. From this, in turn, five titles are selected that are actually put up for election as nominees within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The 96th Academy Awards are scheduled to take place on March 10, 2024, so the double strike by Hollywood writers and actors can end by then.

“The Teacher’s Room” received the Golden Lola for “Best Feature Film” at the German Film Awards ceremony in May of this year. Leonie Benesch was also honored as the best leading actress. In addition to Çatak’s work, “Roter Himmel” by Christian Petzold (62), “Wochendrebellen” by Marc Rothemund (54) and “Sisi & Ich” by Frauke Finsterwalder (47) had applied as a German entry for next year’s Oscars. A German production has only received the renowned Oscar for “Best International Film” four times.

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