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Germany’s anti-war epic “All Quiet on the Western Front” based on Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 classic World War I novel made a lot of noise at the 95th annual Oscar nominations January 24th. The Netflix production earned nine nominations just two behind the “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and tying with “The Banshees of Inisherin.”

The Oscar nominations for “All Quiet” come a week after the war drama dominated the BAFTA nominations earning 14. Only two other foreign language films have earned more Oscar nominations: both Ang Lee’s exhilarating “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” from 2000 and 2018’s “Roma” received 10 nominations with “Tiger” winning four Academy Awards while “Roma” picked up three including Best Director for Alfonso Cuaron.

As predicted, “All Quiet” was nominated for Best International Feature, and it has made history by becoming the first German-language movie to be nominated for Best Picture. Its nine nominations topped the six...

Sylvester Groth shines in this East German movie about a luckless private in a Polish prison, thrown in with a group of defeated Nazi war criminals. For a country that usually paints the ideological divide in black and white red, Frank Beyer’s film of Hermann Kant’s semi-autobiographical story is surprisingly even-handed. An excellent addition to films from behind the old Iron Curtain.

Held for Questioning

DVD

The Defa Film Library

1982 / Color / 1:37 flat full frame / 98 min. / Der Aufenthalt, The Turning Point, Staying Alive / Availability noted August, 2017 / available through the Defa Film Library Store / 29.95

Starring: Sylvester Groth, Fred Düren, Matthias Günther, Klaus Piontek, Hans-Uwe Bauer, Alexander Van Heteren, Horst Hiemer, Günter Junghans, Krzysztof Chamiec, Gustaw Lutkiewicz, Roman Wilhelmi, Andrzej Krasicki, Zygmunt Maciejewski, Andrzej Pieczynski.

Cinematography: Eberhard Geick

Film Editor: Rita Hiller

Original Music: Günther Fischer

Written by Wolfgang Kohlhaase, Dieter Wolf from a novel by Hermann Kant

Produced by...

Some actors manage to catch lightning in a bottle twice. It’s impressive enough to find your niche in Hollywood’s A-list even once. Occasionally, an actor will reinvent him/herself and begin a new phase of their careers that will be even more successful than it was before. Here are nine actors who had a cinematic rebirth.

Liam Neeson- Neeson has had a long career, and the early part of it was in dramatic roles. An intense dramatic actor, he apeared in films like The Dead Pool, Dark Man, Schindler’s List, Rob Roy and Les Miserables. His career rebirth came after playing Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars-Episode one: The Phantom Menace. After that, he got more offers for actions parts and recreated himself as an action hero in films like Gangs of NY, Batman Begins, Taken, Clash of the Titans, the A-Team, Unknown, the Grey, Taken 2,...

‘The Salesman’ (Courtesy: Amazon Studios and Cohen Media Group)

By: Carson Blackwelder

Managing Editor

The one chance for the entire world to get involved with the Academy Awards has always been the best foreign language film category. Since any country can submit a film each year, though, that means the competition is intense. Let’s take a look at the countries that have snagged nominations this year and see how they’ve performed in the past in the hopes of shedding some light on what might happen come February 26.

This year the five nominees for best foreign language film are Land of Mine from Denmark, A Man Called Ove from Sweden, The Salesman from Iran, Tanna from Australia, and Toni Erdmann from Germany. The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg lists The Salesman as the frontrunner in this category — obviously due to the film’s merits and also potentially due to its director,...

Robin Williams and director Peter Kassovitz at the 25th Deauville Film Festival in 1999 to present Jacob The Liar

The Deauville American Film Festival will pay special homage to Robin Williams, who was a visitor to the event over the years.

Williams' visits to the Normandy festival n 1988 for the premiere of Good Morning Vietnam and in 1999 for Jacob The Liar were "unforgettable," said the organisers.

Bruno Barde, the event's director, said he had "lost an old friend" with the actor's suicide.

The precise nature of the tribute to Williams will be detailed on 20 August when the Festival's final line-up is unveiled. The organisers had in fact invited him for the coming edition but had not received a response.

The Festival already has announced career tributes to Will Ferrell and Jessica Chastain.

The 40th anniversary edition of the Deauville festival runs from 5 to 14 September....