The Palestinian film No Other Land has been nominated.
Lights, cameras, Oscars. The nominations for the 96th Academy Awards have been announced.
Emilia Pérez leads the way with 13 Oscar nominations, while The Brutalist and Wicked have 10 Oscar nominations each. The ceremony takes place on 2 March at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, and will be hosted by the comedian, Conan O’Brien.
Emilia Pérez is a musical set in Mexico that follows a cartel boss. The cast includes Karla Sofia Gascon, Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldana. The Brutalist is set after the Second World War, and follows an architect arriving in America. The cast includes Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce. Wicked is based on the award-winning musical, which tells the story of the Witches of Oz. The cast includes Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and Michelle Yeoh.
The Middle East has a presence at the Oscars. In the Best Documentary Feature Film category, No Other Land is nominated. The film was created by the Palestinian journalist Basel Adra, and looks at the West Bank village, Masafer Yatta. In the Best Animated Short Film category, In the Shadow of the Cypress is nominated. The piece was created by the Iranian filmmakers Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani.
Over the years, Arab cinema has been recognised at the Academy Awards. The first Arab actor to be nominated for an Oscar was the Egyptian actor, Omar Sharif. In 1963, he was shortlisted for Best Supporting Actor in his role in Lawrence of Arabia. It then took until 2019 for an Arab to win an Oscar: American Egyptian actor Rami Malek won the Best Actor award for Bohemian Rhapsody.
In 2014, Saudi Arabia made history when it submitted its first film to the Academy, and gained a nomination for Wadjda. Plus, in 2019, Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki was the first Arab female film director to be nominated for an Oscar.
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GO: Visit www.oscars.org for more information.
