Award: Oscar

Avatar: The Way of Water

Ten years have passed since Jake Sully joined the Na’vi clan on the planet Pandora. Nowadays, he is married to Neytiri, and together they have explored the underwater realms of Pandora with their children Neteyam, Lo’ak, and their adopted daughter Kirina. The elder Na’vi, Tonowari, closely oversees tranquility amidst everything.

Although time has passed since the war, humans have not forgotten their bitterness and still seek to exploit Pandora’s natural resources. General Ardmore, who has risen to command the humans, ruthlessly cloned the consciousness of Miles Quaritch and merged it with his own Avatar body. Together, they plan a massive strike against Pandora to completely destroy the Na’vi people.

Now, Jake must join forces with Neytiri and the Na’vi army to protect their home planet.

The film was awarded an Oscar for its outstanding visual effects. The movie utilized motion-capture technology, followed by computer-generated animation.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

After the death of King T’Challa, Queen Ramonda, Shuri, M’Baku, Okoye and the Dora Milaje set out to fight the world powers that threaten their nation. As Wakandans seek to begin a new phase in their lives, the warriors must join forces with the help of Nakia and Everett Ross and build a new future for the Kingdom of Wakanda.

Jaws

Jaws is an iconic thriller film from 1975 directed by Steven Spielberg. The story takes place on Amity Island, a popular summer vacation spot, where brutal shark attacks begin to occur. Police Chief Martin Brody tries to protect the residents, but the city management wants to cover up the threat due to tourism. Together with marine biologist Matt Hooper and local shark resident Quint, they go on a shark hunting expedition to stop a great white shark.

The film combines suspense, horror and drama. Killer sharks feature memorable scenes such as shark attacks and scary moments in the water. The film achieved immense popularity and had a significant impact on the film industry and popular culture. It elevated the shark to a fearsome figure and created an iconic atmosphere that continues to inspire and terrify viewers today.

Killer Shark won three Oscars. Steven Spielberg won the Oscar for Best Director, Robert L. Hoyt and Roger Heman Jr. won the Oscar for Best Sound Recording, and John Williams won the Oscar for Best Original Score.

Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) is a good-hearted man who observes the world in his peculiar way. At the beginning of the film, he tells the vent guest his life story, because he wants to and doesn’t see anything strange about it.

Through chance, Forrest becomes involved in significant events in world history, such as the Vietnam War, Elvis, John Lennon, and President Nixon. Forrest’s differency is by no means an insurmountable obstacle. He owns a successful seafood company, is a war hero, and has visited the White House several times. Forrest is an affectionate individual; you could say that he just wants to bring as much good as possible into the world. But can he get the love of his life?

The film won a whopping six Oscars: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Special Effects.

Little Miss Sunshine

The dramatic comedy is about the Hoover family, where everyone has their challenges, and this is a boundary-breaking film about a happy family idyll.

The father is a motivational trainer who unsuccessfully tries to market the “nine steps to success” program. On the other hand, the conservative mother balances her own family and her brother – the brother has just gotten out of the hospital to recover from his traumas, which are caused by the loss of his boyfriend. The brother is still suicidal and depressed. Grandpa Edwin is a loud-mouthed hedonist who wants to enjoy pleasure by all means.

The children of the Hoover family include Olive and Dwayne. Dwayne is a boy who reads passionately the philosopher Nietzsche. In the film, he sulks strongly. When Olive accidentally receives an invitation to participate in a nationally known “Little Miss Sunshine” race in California, the whole family goes on a trip to cheer her on to success by cramming them into a small, yellow, rusty Volkswagen van. During the trip, the family encounters a breakthrough that changes their lives forever.

The film tells the story of how even those who make a poor living in society, can succeed.

The film won two Oscars: Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay.

Juno

Juno tells the story of an outspoken and hot-tempered 16-year-old girl who unexpectedly becomes pregnant for her best friend Bleeker. However, after the natural initial shock, Juno gets the support of her family and she decides to give the child up for adoption to the perfect couple, because she is not ready to have an abortion either. This makes Juno explore herself, love, adulthood, and the world in general in ways she might never have otherwise.

The film won the Oscar for best screenplay.

Koulukino’s educational material deals with the film’s three-act model, the main sentence of the film, infertility, adoption, abortion, pregnancy, and the main character of the film. There is also material to process before watching the film. The material is aimed at secondary school studies.

The Shape of Water

The events take place in 1962 and in North America, where Elisa and Zelda are cleaners and friends in a research laboratory. Speechless Elisa discovers a top-secret object in the laboratory, which is a human-like, aquatic creature worshiped by the citizens of the Amazon rainforest. Agent Strickland of the laboratory performs torturous experiments on the creature, as a result of which the creature almost perishes. An unexpected love story develops between Elisa and the utopian water creature and Elisa decides to release the creature.

The film was significantly awarded four Oscars: best direction, cinematography, music, and set design. Movie was also awarded at the Bafta Gala.

Slumdog Millionaire

The film’s main character is an 18-year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, named Jamal Malik, who gets to participate in the “Do you want to be a millionaire” quiz. To everyone’s surprise, Jamal does amazingly well on the quiz. The description of the episode of the format ends at the point where the last question is yet to be asked and due to suspicion, the authorities arrest Jamal. No one can understand how he can know the answers to all the questions. Is it fate?

The film won a whopping eight Oscars (e.g. best film, direction, screenplay, and soundtrack) and was awarded also at Bafta Gala.

Moulin Rouge!

The film is based on the well-known Parisian nightclub Moulin Rouge and the events take place at the beginning of the 20th century. Satine (Nicole Kidman) is a well-known courtesan of a nightclub, who aims to succeed in her career and become an actress. Christian (Evan McGregor) is a young American poet who arrives with his friends at a nightclub to plan a new show. A romance develops between these two main characters, and the focus of the film is the development of their love story.

Moulin Rouge has used many well-known pop songs, such as Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” and “Material Girl”, The Beatles’ “All you need is love”, Elton John’s “Your Song”, the theme song from The Sound of Music and Nirvana’s ” Smells Like Teen Spirit”. It took almost two years to get the rights to the songs.

The film was successful at the Oscars and received two awards: best art direction-set Decoration and best costume design, and was awarded also at Bafta Gala.

Koulukino’s learning materials deal with postmodern cinema, the position of women in the Moulin Rouge community, and the musical as a type of film genre, and offer a preliminary task before watching the film. The materials are aimed at middle schools and high schools.

Life of Pi

The film is a survival drama about a young Indian man and a tiger, based on Yann Martel’s bestselling novel Life of Pi. It all starts with a Japanese cargo ship that gets into trouble at sea. Everyone else perishes except Pi, the zebra, the hyena, the orangutan, and the Bengal tiger named “Richard Parker”, so Pi’s survival doesn’t seem easy.

The film was awarded four Oscars: best direction, cinematography, soundtrack, and visual effects.

The educational material of Koulukino deals with excerpts from the book and scenes from the film, the illusion of the film, and the depiction of time through the means of film. The material is aimed at high, vocational, and middle schools.