The German film Sound of Falling has been shortlisted for an Oscar

Los Angeles (dpa) – Over the course of its long history, the Oscar award for the Best International Feature Film went to Germany four times. A fifth German Oscar could be added to the list at the 98th Academy Awards. Director Mascha Schilinski from Berlin has cleared the first hurdle: her drama Sound of Falling has made it onto the Oscar shortlist of 15 films that might win the coveted award. The film is about four young women who live on the same farm in different epochs. The themes addressed in the film include domestic violence, repressed desire and inherited trauma. Much praised by critics, the film has already won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Thanks to the camera work by Fabian Gamper from Switzerland, Sound of Falling has also made it onto the shortlist of the Best Cinematography category of the Academy Awards.  

With his music for the Formula One racing film F1, the German film composer Hans Zimmer has also been shortlisted. He is among the 20 composers on the Best Original Score shortlist, along with the British composer Max Richter who was born in Germany, and was selected for his music for the drama Hamnet by director Chloé Zhao. The composer Volker Bertelmann from Düsseldorf was also selected for the same category. He wrote the music for the thriller A House of Dynamite that was directed by Kathryn Bigelow.