Oscar nominations with an all-time record 16 nominations for 'The Sinners'

The countdown to Oscar night has begun with the arrival of the nominations and a big favourite, Paul Thomas Anderson's wonderful 'A Battle After Another', the film that has already won numerous awards and international public and critical acclaim. The appointment for all cinephiles is for the night of 15 March, when we will discover all the winners.

In the main category - that for Best Picture - along with him there are nine other nominees: the three that could bother him the most are Ryan Coogler's "The Sinners" (which has the record for this edition with 16 nominations, as well as an all-time record), Josh Safdie's "Marty Supreme" and Chloé Zhao's "Hamnet", while "Bugonia" by Yorgos Lanthimos, "Frankenstein" by Guillermo del Toro, "F1" by Joseph Kosinski, "Train Dreams" by Clint Bentley, "Sentimental Value" by Joachim Trier and "The Secret Agent" by Kleber Mendonça Filho appear further back in the predictions.

The latter two will be the real contenders in the Best International Film category (the former representing Norway, the latter Brazil), but the entire five-piece is of a high standard: it is completed by Oliver Laxe's 'Sirât' for Spain, Jafar Panahi's 'A Simple Accident' for France and Kaouther Ben Hania's 'The Voice of Hind Rajab' for Tunisia.

The five best directors' list is also very international: the favourite remains American Paul Thomas Anderson but, in addition to fellow Americans Josh Safdie and Ryan Coogler, Chinese-born author Chloé Zhao and Norwegian Joachim Trier are also notable.

For best original screenplay 'The Sinners' seems to be in the front row, but also watch out for Richard Linklater's beautiful 'Blue Moon', while for best non-original screenplay 'One Battle After Another', 'Bugonia' and 'Hamnet' are mainly competing.