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Jimmy Kimmel led the evening confidently
Photo: Chris Pizzello / dpa
Perhaps the most important job of the Academy Awards host is to make the audience laugh.
Jimmy Kimmel did that again this year.
The German Sandra Hülser, nominated as “Best Actress”, was also the focus of a joke by the US presenter.
In his opening monologue, the late night host said: »For the first time ever, three foreign language films are nominated for best film, two of them with Sandra Hülser in the lead role.
Sandra plays a woman on trial for the murder of her husband in "Anatomy of a Case" and a Nazi housewife living near Auschwitz in "The Zone of Interest."
While these are very difficult topics for American filmgoers, in Sandra's home country of Germany they are called romantic comedies. The audience groaned, and Hülser smiled painfully.
For Kimmel, it was the fourth time he was allowed to lead the audience through Oscar night.
The 56-year-old hosted the Academy Awards in 2017, 2018 and last year.
"I always dreamed of hosting the Oscars exactly four times," said Kimmel, who has his own late-night show on US television, in advance.
The record holder as an Oscar presenter is comedian Bob Hope, who died in 2003, and hosted 19 times.
Billy Crystal hosted the gala nine times and Johnny Carson five times.
Behind them are Kimmel, Whoopi Goldberg and Jack Lemmon, each with four-time hosting roles.
During Kimmel's first stint as Oscar presenter in 2017, the wrong title was used when announcing the best picture.
In 2018, the show was dominated by the #MeToo revelations.
Huller received nothing for her role in “Anatomy of a Case”.
The German actress still had reason to be happy: the British production “The Zone of Interest” won the best international film.
“The Zone of Interest” prevailed against, among others, the German school drama “The Teacher’s Room” by director Ilker Catak and the Japanese production “Perfect Days,” which was shot by the veteran German director Wim Wenders.
svs/dpa