Blockbusters including Top Gun: Maverick, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Avatar: The Way of Water, and pop stars Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Rihanna are one step closer to getting Oscar nominations.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced shortlists in 10 categories for the 95th Oscars, including documentary feature, international film, makeup and hairstyling, score, original song, sound, visual effects and shorts.
Alejandro González Iñárritu's Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths, was of the 15 films shortlisted in the international film category, one of the most competitive.
The category also includes already decorated films like Holy Spider (Denmark), All Quiet on the Western Front (Germany), Saint-Omer (France), Corsage (Austria), EO (Poland), Return to Seoul (Cambodia), Decision to Leave (South Korea), Close (Belgium) and Argentina, 1985 (Argentina).
The inclusion of Joyland marks the first time Pakistan has ever made the shortlist. Most of the directors are first-timers on the shortlist, too, with the exception being Iñárritu.
Documentaries advancing to the next stage of voting include Laura Poitras's Venice-winning All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, about photographer Nan Goldin's work and activism, Brett Morgen's David Bowie film Moonage Daydream, Daniel Roher's Navalny, about the Russian opposition leader, The Janes, about pre-Roe v Wade activists, All that Breathes, Descendant, Fire of Love and Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song.
With many below-the-line categories at hand, big-budget sequels like Avatar, Top Gun, and Black Panther were well represented in the effects, and sound categories, as well as original song which included Gaga's Hold My Hand, The Weeknd's Nothing is Lost from Avatar: The Way of Water and Rihanna's Lift Me Up from Black Panther.
Also on the original song shortlist are Swift's Carolina from Where the Crawdads Sing, Drake's Time from Amsterdam, LCD Soundsystem's New Body Rhumba from White Noise, Selena Gomez's My Mind and Me from the documentary of the same name and Rita Wilson's Til You're Home from A Man Called Otto.
All Quiet on the Western Front got quite a few spots on the shortlist, including original score, makeup and hair, sound and visual effects.
Among the visual effects, selections were Jurassic World Dominion, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, while makeup and hairstyling include films David Cronenberg's body horror Crimes of the Future.
Other films advancing in makeup and hairstyling include The Whale, in which Brendan Fraser transforms into a 600-pound man, Elvis, Emancipation, The Batman and the Marilyn Monroe film Blonde.
The 15 original scores selected were winnowed from 147 eligible and include Women Talking by Hildur Guðnadóttir, The Fabelmans by John Williams, The Banshees of Inisherin by Carter Burwell, Babylon by Justin Hurwitz, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio from Alexandre Desplat and The Woman King from Terence Blanchard.
Also in the mix are Ludwig Göransson (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Nicholas Britell (She Said) and Son Lux (Everything Everywhere All At Once).
Nominations for all categories will be announced on January 24. The 95th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 12.
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