German contribution “Nothing new in the west” nominated for an Oscar
The German anti-war drama “Nothing New in the West” has been nominated for a total of nine Oscars, including “Best Film” and “Best Adapted Screenplay”. Edward Berger’s film competes against the sequel to “Avatar”, among others.
Dhe German contribution “Nothing New in the West” by director Edward Berger has been nominated for an Oscar in the top category “Best Film”. This was announced by the Los Angeles Film Academy on Tuesday. Joining the anti-war drama are nine other films in the top category, including Avatar: The Way of Water, Everything Everywhere All at Once and The Fabelmans.
The German anti-war drama has also been nominated for eight more Oscars, including for Best International Film and Best Adapted Screenplay. Along with the anti-war drama, four other films are in the running for the so-called foreign Oscars, including “Argentina, 1985” (Argentina), “Close” (Belgium) and “EO” (Poland). The 95th Academy Awards are scheduled to take place in Hollywood on March 12th.
“Nothing New in the West” received further nominations in the categories of camera, make-up & hairstyling, production design, sound and visual effects. In addition, the German composer Volker Bertelmann was nominated for his film music. Bertelmann, also known by the stage name Hauschka, vividly underscored the horror of war in “Nothing New in the West”. In 2017 he was nominated for an Oscar together with his US colleague Dustin O’Halloran for the soundtrack to the film “Lion”. At the award ceremony, however, they went away empty-handed.
“Nothing New in the West” based on the book by Erich Maria Remarque from 1929 shows the horror of the First World War from the perspective of a young soldier. Austrian Felix Kammerer plays the leading role.
A year ago, Germany sent the tragic comedy “I am your human” into the race for the so-called foreign Ocar, but the film by director Maria Schrader did not make it into the final round. Germany’s last success in this Oscar category was more than 15 years ago: in 2007 Florian Henckel won the trophy from Donnersmarck’s Stasi drama “The Lives of Others”.
The science fiction adventure comedy “Everything Everywhere All At Once” by the director duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert received eleven and thus the most nominations. In addition to “Nothing New in the West”, there were nine nominations for the Irish tragic comedy “The Banshees of Inisherin”. Director Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis has been nominated eight times, and Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans has been nominated seven times. The 95th Oscars will be presented in Hollywood on March 12th.