Academy Award nominee Germany sends “Toni Erdmann” the Oscar race – N24

“Toni Erdmann” is just “film of the year” has become now the tragicomedy should finally get a Foreign Language Film Oscar to Germany again. A landmark decision.

This time everything is different. With “Toni Erdmann” by Maren Ade Germany sends the critically acclaimed par in the running for the Best Foreign Language Oscar -. A 162 minutes long arthouse film to a universal subject, the relationship between father and daughter

This is accomplished a move away from a force as almost axiomatic principle: that namely historical or contemporary historical materials from Germany arrive particularly well in the US

for years, sent the diplomatic mission of German Cinema, German films, in beautiful predictability always films by. Los Angeles, which corresponded to this criterion – the Hitler film “downfall” (Academy Awards 2005), “Sophie Scholl – the final days” (2006) or “the Baader Meinhof complex” (2009), to name just a few examples to name.

last year, the outstanding drama went to “In the labyrinth of silence” about the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials and not the decorated with six Lolas Berlin film “Victoria”. It namely too much English is spoken for a full-length non-English language film (49 percent instead of the permitted 40). The year before, it was the Friedrich Schiller film “Beloved Sisters” and before that with “Two lives” once again a DDR-Drama. The stabbed then the masterpiece “Oh Boy”, a wonderful journey through the modern Berlin from.

Before eyes had been well when choosing the Oscar success of the DDR-drama “The Lives of Others” by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck in 2007. The successor, however, no longer stood. The last German nomination for Foreign Language Film Oscar, there was in 2010 for “The White Ribbon” by Michael Haneke.

“Toni Erdmann”, the acclaimed film by Maren Ade, now falls completely out of line. It tells the story of Winfried (Peter Simonischek), a music teacher, and his daughter Ines (Sandra Hüller), a career woman. He was “touching, startlingly, social question mark implementierend and unwavering design clarity,” it said of the jury. “So has modern, its international cinema!”

“Finally no Nazi drama that goes into the race for the Best Foreign Language Oscar! And then a comedy, what’s going on ???” the moderator asks Kevin Klose at Twitter.

“It was not an easy decision,” said jury spokeswoman Felicitas Darschin by the federation director. “We were looking for something special and to something that we can position ourselves as a country and a bit different compared to America.” Or

And so come this year to not “The Diary of Anne Frank” “The State to Fritz Bauer, “which is devoted to the same theme as last year unsuccessful” labyrinth of silence “- and not the Hitler satire” “.

” It’s back Germany is positioning itself the . often by the accuracy of the work-up of German History this is of course a great achievement, of which one does not always want to get away now – that would be the wrong idea, but you could sometimes just take a prominent film dedicated to universal themes “. says Darschin.

Just recently was “Toni Erdmann” of the international association of film critics and film journalists (FIPRESCI) declared a “film of the year”. Whether he arrives at the Academy, however, is another matter. On January 17, 2017, the shortlist of submitted applications from abroad is published, the five nominated films will be announced on 24 January. The Oscar ceremony takes place on February 26, 2017 held in Hollywood.

“We hope that in principle a modern thinking in Hollywood arrives that there a certain rejuvenation take place,” says Darschin. “So that you can also hope that the arty alignment like this is another.” However, this should not mean that historical films have no chance in the future. “Because we can do that.”