Oscar Hopeful

An expert jury from German Films, which represents the German film industry abroad, announced its decision in Munich Tuesday.

The selection was based not solely on artistic merit, the jury revealed, explaining that the movie was selected because it seemed most likely to suit the notoriously narrow tastes of the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences.

But many might be puzzled by the logic, arguing that Fatih Akin's "The Edge of Heaven" is a brave choice when moviegoers show such an obvious preference for movies from Germany that stick to the old familiar themes.

Goodbye to communists and Nazis

The nomination propels Hamburg-based Akin into the illustrious ranks of Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Caroline Link, Tom Tykwer and Oliver Hirschbiegel -- a few of the German directors who have headed to Hollywood to try their luck at the annual glitz fest, and some of whom have returned home triumphant.

Among the successful nominees was von Donnersmarck, who last year wowed the critics with "The Lives of Others," an intense, atmospheric thriller set in the former East Germany.

But like other German Oscar entries, from "Goodbye Lenin" to "Downfall," "Sophie Scholl: The Final Days" and "Nowhere in Africa," its success reflected audiences' abiding interest in German communists and Nazis.

With this year's nominees including Dani Levy's "Mein Führer: The Truly Truest Truth About Adolf Hitler" and Volker Schlöndorff's "Strajk" about the 1980s Solidarity movement, the jury's choice marked an obvious decision to switch focus.

"The Edge of Heaven" could help shift the spotlight to an altogether different, more contemporary Germany -- but will the US find cross-cultural tensions in modern-day Germany more interesting than the Third Reich?

In the last 20 years, seven of Germany's entries have had Nazi themes, five of which reached the award's final round, and "Nowhere in Africa" -- about a Jewish family fleeing the Nazi regime for a farm in Kenya -- even winning.

Auspicious beginnings

A look at Turkish-Germans struggling with intercultural, intergenerational, and political conflicts might seems like a radical departure from a successful formula, but 34-year-old Akin has long been hailed as the most significant voice in contemporary German cinema.

He is already no stranger to the red carpet. "The Edge of Heaven" enjoyed an auspicious launch in spring, scooping a best screenplay prize in Cannes earlier and proving it has international resonance.

Set to go on general release in late September, the movie consists of three separate episodes spanning Istanbul, Bremen and Hamburg, weaving together six different fates, including the story of a Turkish man who travels to Istanbul to find the daughter of his father's former girlfriend.

After the award-winning "Head On," "The Edge of Heaven" is the second part of the director's planned trilogy called "Love, Death and the Devil."

"An unusual love story between a German and a Turk and a family saga set against the backdrop of the political and cultural circumstances of a globalized world, the movie has an effective dramatic and visual structure, and a compassionate style," said the jury.

The Academy will decide on Jan. 22 which five foreign films make the award short list. The 80th Oscars will take place on Feb. 24.