Edward Berger’s All Quiet On The Western Front has been selected from a pool of nine films to fly the flag for Germany in the 2023 Oscars best international feature film category.
The decision, announced on Wednesday evening (August 24), was made by an independent jury appointed by various associations working within the German film industry.
The first German-language adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s classic anti-war novel published in 1928, All Quiet On The Western Front is based on the author’s experiences in the First World War trenches and centres on young German soldiers whose initial euphoria over the war turns into desperation.
Jury chairwoman Maria Furtwängler of the German Film Academy, which did not carry a vote, said the panel had recognised “a radical work” and noted how the adaptation was “startlingly topical and makes a powerful statement against war”.
Furtwängler continued, “The Iron Generation of the 1910s presents itself as the Lost Generation whose individual destinies mercilessly perish in teeming battle scenes. Edward Berger exposes with clarity how those vainglorious decision-makers detached from the real world display an arrogant vanity in sending the young soldiers into battle and sacrificing them without any feelings of conscience.”
Berger said, “Almost one hundred years ago Erich Maria Remarque wrote a book that sadly is more relevant today than we would have ever anticipated. That the jury has now chosen our film to send into the race for the Oscars is an incredible honour. It’s going to be a long road ahead.”
Producer Malte Grunert of Amusement Park Film added, “That we are given the opportunity to compete for an Oscar with our film is a sign of recognition for the amazing work everybody working on the production has done.”
Amusement Park Film produced All Quiet On The Western Front for Netflix. The world premiere is set for TIFF next month and the European premiere will take place at Zurich Film Festival in late September.
Netflix holds worldwide rights and will work with 24 Bilder on the nationwide German release on September 29. The film will open in US cinemas in October and debuts on the platform on October 28.
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