The countdown to Oscar night, to be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel this year, will begin with the unveiling of final nominations for the 95th Academy Awards on January 24. Four Indian films are among the shortlists announced by members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for 10 categories in December 2022.
Riz Ahmed and Allison WIlliams will announce the 2023 Oscar nominations, which will be aired on Tuesday at 5:30am PST/8:30am EST, according to an official statement. The presentation for Oscar nominations will be live streamed on Oscar.com, Oscars.org, or on the Academy’s social media channels, including YouTube.
S.S. Rajamouli’s period action epic RRR is in the Best Original Song shortlist for the foot-tapping number ‘Naatu Naatu, which recently bagged the Golden Globe Award in the same category.
The M. M. Keeravani composition will fight it out with the likes of ‘Nothing Is Lost’ (You Give Me Strength)’ from James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water, ‘Lift Me Up’ from Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, ‘Hold My Hand’ from Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick, ‘This Is A Life’ from Daniel Kwan-Daniel Scheinert’s Everything Everywhere All at Once to make it to the final list.
Director Pan Nalin’s Gujarati-language film Chhello Show (The Last Film Show) is in the running for the International Feature Film. It will compete against films like the German anti-war movie All Quiet on the Western Front, the South Korean thriller Decision to Leave, the Argentine historical drama Argentina, 1985, Mexico’s Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths and Joyland from Pakistan.
Shaunak Sen’s documentary film All That Breathes is on the Academy’s Best Documentary Feature Film shortlist. It revolves around the lives of two brothers — Nadeem and Saud — whose lives in Delhi are dedicated to caring for birds at a makeshift basement hospital. The movie, which won Oeil d’Or (Golden Eye Award) at the 75th Cannes Film Festival is pitted against other documentaries like Fire of Love, Children of the Mist, Hidden Letters, A House Made of Splinters and The Janes.
Kartiki Gonsalves’ short documentary The Elephant Whisperers is also in the running for an Oscar nomination in the Best Documentary Short Film. The Tamil-language short documentary chronicles the lives of a couple who take care of a baby elephant named Raghu. It will have to fend off challenges from strong contenders like American Justice on Trial: People v. Newton, Anastasia, Angola Do You Hear Us? Voices from a Plantation Prison and As Far as They Can Run.
This year’s Academy Awards ceremony will honour films released in 2022 and is scheduled to take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California on March 12.
