The Oscar race has long since begun

With the start of the new year, preparations for the major film awards in the USA are already in full swing. First the Golden Globes take place, then the Oscars on March 9. Speculation about the possible winners is already running rampant.

The trophy buzz, the whispering and the speculation about the favorites of the film award season have long since begun. "Maestro", "Killers of the Flower Moon", "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" are being highly touted. German names are also whirling through Hollywood. Critics give Sandra Hüller, Franz Rogowski and director Ilker Çatak good chances. Çatak's film "The Teachers' Lounge" is being entered into the race for the foreign Oscar by Germany.

First of all, the industry is eagerly awaiting the Golden Globe. The 81st awards ceremony is scheduled to take place on January 7. This is followed by the Academy Awards: the Oscar nominations are scheduled for January 23, the 96th trophy show for March 10. In between, there are countless industry awards, for example from the US Screenplay Association, producers and critics' groups.

After the film festivals in Cannes, Toronto and Venice, critics' favorites and winning films have emerged. One of the drama favorites is "Maestro" about the life of US composer Leonard Bernstein. It is the second directorial project by Bradley Cooper, who also plays the leading role. Carey Mulligan as Bernstein's wife Felicia Montealegre has also received praise - and the debate about Cooper's nose augmentation with the help of a prosthesis is creating further buzz.

All eyes on "Barbenheimer"

Martin Scorsese's historical thriller "Killers of the Flower Moon" about the indigenous Osage people who were victims of a crime in 1920s Oklahoma is also considered a frontrunner - with Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro. "Oppenheimer" director Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy, who plays physicist and inventor of the atomic bomb Robert Oppenheimer, can also hope to win awards.

At the same time as "Oppenheimer", the hit film "Barbie" by Greta Gerwig was released in July, which led to the neologism "Barbenheimer". The satire "Barbie" about the iconic doll (played by Margot Robbie) and Ken (Ryan Gosling) is considered a comedy favorite. The quirky arthouse fairytale "Poor Things" with Emma Stone, from director Giorgos Lanthimos, is also a hot contender - as is Alexander Payne's comedy-drama "The Holdovers" starring Paul Giamatti as a grumpy boarding school teacher.

Both dramas and comedies are awarded at the Golden Globes, while there is only one "Best Film" at the Oscars. Among actresses, Lily Gladstone ("Killers of the Flower Moon"), Carey Mulligan ("Maestro"), Margot Robbie ("Barbie"), Emma Stone ("Poor Things") and Natalie Portman ("May December") are highly regarded this awards season.

German hopefuls

German actress Sandra Hüller ("Toni Erdmann") could win twice over. The 45-year-old is in with a chance for her roles in "Anatomy of a Case" and "Zone of Interest". In the legal thriller "Anatomy of a Case", winner of the Cannes Festival, Hüller plays a woman suspected of murder. "The Zone of Interest" is about the life of concentration camp commandant Rudolf Höß (Christian Friedel) and his family. Hüller plays Höß' wife Hedwig. The drama by British director Jonathan Glazer was awarded the Grand Jury Prize in Cannes.

In the men's section, alongside stars such as Cillian Murphy, Bradley Cooper and Leonardo DiCaprio, German actor Franz Rogowski can also hope to win further prizes. It was only at the end of November that the 37-year-old was named best leading actor by the New York Critics Association NYFCC for his role in the relationship drama "Passages". Last year, Colin Farrell ("The Banshees of Inisherin") won this award and was later also nominated for a leading actor Oscar. Rogowski was also nominated for Best Actor at the Independent Spirit Awards, which will be presented in Los Angeles at the end of February. Jessica Chastain ("Memory") and Natalie Portman ("May December") are among those nominated in this gender-neutral category. The drama "Passages" by Ira Sachs tells the story of a toxic love triangle. Rogowski plays a filmmaker living in Paris who is married to a man but begins an affair with a woman.

Director Ilker Çatak has already won many awards with his drama "Das Lehrerzimmer". At the German Film Awards ceremony in May, there were five Lolas, including Best Feature Film, for Çatak's direction and screenplay. "Das Lehrerzimmer" tells the story of a conflict at a school that gets out of hand. It centers on a young teacher (Leonie Benesch) who wants to solve a series of thefts at her school.

If nominated, "Das Lehrerzimmer" would follow the great triumph of the German anti-war drama "Im Westen nichts Neues", which won three more Oscars last March in addition to the foreign Oscar. Çatak is relaxed about this. "I think it's great that we from Germany are sending such different films into the race. And I'm very excited to see how the film will be received by the Academy people," he said. He is looking forward to the Oscar competition "with a twinkle in his eye".