Win Lola, Win. Germany's Oscars.
The nominations for Germany's Oscars, or "The Lolas" have been announced. Barbara, which didn't excite Oscar voters this past season, won the Lola last year. Which film will it be this year for Germany? Cloud Atlas won the most nominations, nine, which is quite a haul for a non German picture. But ⅓ of Cloud Atlas's directing body is named Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) so it's German enough.
BEST PICTURE
- CLOUD ATLAS (Lana Wachowski & Andy Wachowski & Tom Tykver)
- HANNAH ARENDT (Margarethe von Trotta)
- LORE (Cate Shortland, Australia's Oscar Submission)
- OH BOY (Jan Ole-Gerster)
- QUELLEN DES LEBENS (Oskar Roehler)
- THE WALL (Julian Roman Polsler)
Oscar submission chatter after the jump...
Because the release date eligibility for the Lolas and Oscar are different you might see any of these pictures (apart from Lore and Cloud Atlas) submitted for Oscar consideration in 2013. According to THR, Oh Boy is the one to watch in terms of the Lolas. It's a black and white debut picture which was a major hit in Germany this winter and it's expected to take Best Actor (at least) for Tom Schilling who plays a university dropout who wanders Berlin.
Will Germany submit Oh Boy for 2013? If they're still just as fond of it six months from now they might but it should probably be noted that it's less typical Oscar Bait then its competition: Hannah Arendt is a biopic about a political theorist who wrote about Nazi war crimes; The Wall is based on a metaphorical survival bestseller about a woman in the mountains where her two companions disappear (or some such); Quellen Des Lebens or Sources of Life is a semi-autobiographical multi-generational family drama about postwar Germany.
And here are the acting nominees...
BEST ACTRESS
- Martina Gedeck in The Wall
- Birgit Minichmayr in Grace
- Barbara Sukowa in Hannah Arendt
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- Margarita Broich in Quellen Des Lebens (Sources of Life)
- Friederike Kempter in Oh Boy
- Christine Schorn in Life is Not For Cowards
BEST ACTOR
- Edin Hasanovic in Shifting the Blame
- Tom Schilling in Oh Boy
- Sabin Tambrea in Ludwig II
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
- Michael Gwisdek in Oh Boy
- Robert Gwisdek in The Weekend
- Ernst Stötzner in What Remains
If you've seen any of these pictures, do share your experience in the comments.
Reader Comments (10)
Yay! No hating on CA for once! #grateful
oh damnit, i knew i forgot to do something ;)
I love they have three nominees in the acting categories, that would shake things up here, wouldn't it?
CLOUD ATLAS was so good but my dad through the entire length of tthe movie was like "what the hell is this movie about its about fags
jersaout -- if only it had been all about fags! i could've used more Ben Whishaw & James Darcy and less just about everything else (Doona Bae excepted)
Birgit Minichmayr was so, so, so good in Maren Ade's Everyone Else. It's one of the most underrated films of recent years and as far as relationship dramas (and performances within them) go, it deserved at least as much attention as Blue Valentine that year.
Amir -- i keep hearing that about Everybody Else. really wish i'd sought it out that year. stupid me! Hopefully she does more movies that get international distribution (this is the first i'm hearing of "Grace")
I saw Oh Boy last night and it was utterly delightful. Great dialogue and acting and really really funny. Can't really see it doing well at the Oscars though, it seems too fun for the Foreign Language Film branch. ;)
The Wall seems interesting. From what I've read it's not really about her companions disappearing, but about her suddenly being trapped by an invisible wall (which keeps the companions from being able to return to her).
FYI: "hannah Arendt" was on Germany's Oscar shortlist for 2012, so it's ineligible for 2013.
And I am pretty sure that "The Wall" would be considered an Austrian film under Oscar guidelines. The majority of the production came from Austria as well as the director and the novel it is based on.
"Oh Boy" couldn't be further away from Oscar bait that I do not see this happening at all (even it is surprisingly beloved over here...). So of all the Lola films, "Die Quellen des Lebens" seems the only one that has a slight chance of being our entry in 2013. But there will be more suitable options come fall...
oh, and for Birgit Minichmayr (how always is AMAZING): "Grace" was in competition at the Berlin Film Festival 2012. The international title was "Mercy". Did you know that she was both in haneke's "White Ribbon" and Tykwer's "Perfume" (albeit in small parts)? And she is in "Cherry Blossoms", which is on Netflix...