Oscars 2023 shortlist: Irish film Flora and Son among the 15 contenders for original song

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the shortlists in 10 categories for the upcoming Oscars. Meet in the Middle and High Life, both co-written by Irish film-makers John Carney for his film Flora and Son, are among 15 on the list for best original song. Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things, an Irish production from Dublin’s Element Pictures, turned up in the lists for make-up and hairstyling, original score and visual effects. There was disappointment elsewhere for domestic contenders. The Deepest Breath by Laura McGann, from Kildare, was seen as a contender in best feature documentary, but the Netflix film on free-diving was not mentioned.

Starring Eve Hewson as a single mum getting by in contemporary Dublin, Flora and Son has been on awards-watchers’ radars since selling for somewhere close to $20 million at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. “People were on their feet, clapping to the song while the movie was still playing,” he told The Irish Times. “They showed no decorum.” It is 16 years since Falling Slowly, by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, from Carney’s Once won in this category. That remains one of the great moments in Ireland’s Oscar history. Three songs from Greta Gerwig’s Barbie compete against the two Flora and Son tunes for five nomination spots at the Oscars. Also mentioned are tunes from The Color Purple, Killers of the Flower Moon and Asteroid City.

The winner in today’s preliminary skirmish was, indeed, Barbie. As well as those three song shortlistings, Greta Gerwig’s shocking-pink smash also scored in sound and original score. Unexpectedly the film is, however, already out of the “make-up and hairstyling” race.

The competitors mentioned in today’s shortlists now go forward to the Academy members. The Oscar nominations will be announced on January 23rd. The ceremony takes place on March 10th. Of the 10 categories shortlisted, most attention, at this early stage, probably goes the way of best international feature. This time last year, Colm Bairéad’s An Cailín Ciúin was mentioned on its way to a famous nomination. Stephen Gerard Kelly and Garry Keane’s fine documentary In the Shadow of Beirut, the 2024 Irish submission, sadly did not make the shortlist. The hot contenders there – each of which jumped the current hurdle – look to be Jonathan Glazer’s, from the UK (but in German and Polish); Trần Anh Hùng’s The Taste of Things, from France; Matteo Garrone’s Io Capitano, from Italy; and Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days. Wenders’s Anselm was perhaps the most surprising exclusion from the best feature documentary shortlist.

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[ Flora and Son: Eve Hewson just about convinces as an inner-city mum ]

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There remains great potential for Irish success in races that do not feature a preliminary shortlist. Cillian Murphy seems certain to pick up a best actor nomination for Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Andrew Scott has a decent chance in the same race for Andrew Haigh’s spooky gay drama All of Us Strangers, and Paul Mescal, his costar, has an outside chance in best supporting actor. Barry Keoghan will struggle to get into best actor for Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, but he is not out of it yet. Poor Things, co-produced by Andrew Lowe and Ed Guiney, veterans of the Irish film industry, is sure to secure nominations across the board.

Shortlists for the 2024 Academy Awards

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM

American Symphony

Apolonia, Apolonia

Beyond Utopia

Bobi Wine: The People’s President

Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy

The Eternal Memory

Four Daughters

Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project

In the Rearview

Stamped from the Beginning

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

A Still Small Voice

32 Sounds

To Kill a Tiger

20 Days in Mariupol

DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM

The ABCs of Book Banning

The Barber of Little Rock

Bear

Between Earth & Sky

Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games

Camp Courage

Deciding Vote

How We Get Free

If Dreams Were Lightning: Rural Healthcare Crisis

Island in Between

The Last Repair Shop

Last Song from Kabul

Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó

Oasis

Wings of Dust

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

Armenia, Amerikatsi

Bhutan, The Monk and the Gun

Denmark, The Promised Land

Finland, Fallen Leaves

France, The Taste of Things

Germany, The Teachers’ Lounge

Iceland, Godland

Italy, Io Capitano

Japan, Perfect Days

Mexico, Totem

Morocco, The Mother of All Lies

Spain, Society of the Snow

Tunisia, Four Daughters

Ukraine, 20 Days in Mariupol

United Kingdom, The Zone of Interest

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Beau Is Afraid

Ferrari

Golda

Killers of the Flower Moon

The Last Voyage of the Demeter

Maestro

Napoleon

Oppenheimer

Poor Things

Society of the Snow

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

American Fiction

American Symphony

Barbie

The Boy and the Heron

The Color Purple

Elemental

The Holdovers

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Killers of the Flower Moon

Oppenheimer

Poor Things

Saltburn

Society of the Snow

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

The Zone of Interest

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

It Never Went Away from American Symphony

Dear Alien (Who Art In Heaven) from Asteroid City

Dance The Night from Barbie

I’m Just Ken from Barbie

What Was I Made For? from Barbie

Keep It Movin’ from The Color Purple

Superpower (I) from The Color Purple

The Fire Inside from Flamin’ Hot

High Life from Flora and Son

Meet In The Middle from Flora and Son

Can’t Catch Me Now from The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People) from Killers of the Flower Moon

Quiet Eyes from Past Lives

Road To Freedom from Rustin

Am I Dreaming from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Boom

Eeva

Humo (Smoke)

I’m Hip

A Kind of Testament

Koerkorter (Dog Apartment)

Letter to a Pig

Ninety-Five Senses

Once upon a Studio

Our Uniform

Pachyderme

Pete

27

War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko

Wild Summon

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

The After

The Anne Frank Gift Shop

An Avocado Pit

Bienvenidos a Los Angeles

Dead Cat

Good Boy

Invincible

Invisible Border

Knight of Fortune

The One Note Man

Red, White and Blue

The Shepherd

Strange Way of Life

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

Yellow

SOUND

Barbie

The Creator

Ferrari

The Killer

Killers of the Flower Moon

Maestro

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

Napoleon

Oppenheimer

The Zone of Interest

VISUAL EFFECTS

The Creator

Godzilla Minus One

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

Napoleon

Poor Things

Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire

Society of the Snow

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse