The countdown has begun: another 4 days until the Oscar finals for the Filmstiftung-backed production „Toni Erdmann“

The countdown for this year’s Oscars has begun: the world’s most sought-after film awards will be presented at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday evening, 26 February. Maren Ade’s Filmstiftung-backed production „Toni Erdmann“ is one of the hot favourites in the race to win the statuette for Best Foreign Language Feature Film. Moreover, the Düsseldorf-based composer Volker Bertelmann alias Hauschka has a chance of bagging an Oscar in the category for Best Film Score. He was nominated along with Dustin O’Halloran for his work on the film „Lion“ by Garth Davis.

„After five European Film Awards and numerous other distinctions, Golden Globe, César and BAFTA nominations, ,Toni Erdmann‘ may now be bringing the world’s most sought-after film award back to Germany. Good luck to Maren Ade, her film team and Komplizen Film!“, says Petra Müller, CEO of the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW: „An Oscar would be the crowning achievement of an incredible success story which began in Cannes. As a facilitator and main funder, the Filmstiftung NRW is now looking in the direction of Los Angeles with great anticipation!“

This year has already seen „Toni Erdmann“ being named Best Foreign Film at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards and by the National Society of Film Critics in the USA. In addition, it was nominated for the Golden Globes and the BAFTA Awards. The comedy also has the chance of a prize in the category of Best International Film at the International Spirit Awards on the eve of the Oscar ceremony. And „Toni Erdmann“ is nominated as Best Foreign Language Film for the French Césars ceremony on Friday.

Almost 840,000 cinema-goers in Germany alone have now seen the remarkable father-daughter tale with Peter Simonischek and Sandra Hüller in the cinemas (distributor: NFP). „Toni Erdmann“ is a production of Komplizen Film in co-production with coop99Filmproduktion and Missing Link Films. SWR, WDR and ARTE participated in the production as broadcasters. The Film- und Medienstiftung is the main funder (785,000 Euros), with additional backing coming from MBB, FFHSH, FFF, DFFF, FFA, BKM, ÖFI, Filmstandort Austria, MEDIA and Eurimages. Part of the film was shot in Aachen and surroundings, with Bucharest serving as another location.

Another four productions are in the running with „Toni Erdmann“ for the Best Foreign Language Feature Film Oscar: „Tanna“ (Australia), „Land Of Mine“ (Denmark), „The Salesman“ (Iran) and „A Man Called Ove“ (Sweden). Originally, 85 films had been selected by the Academy for this category, with nine films then making it to the shortlist in December 2016, and five films now in the final selection competing for the Oscar.