2023 Oscars: “Hold My Hand,” “Ciao Papa” among 82 Original Songs to qualify for 95th Academy Awards
A total 82 songs will eligible for the Original Song Oscar shortlist of 15, to be announced on December 21, including top contenders like “Naatu Naatu” from RRR, “Carolina” from Where the Crawdads Sing and “Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick. Earlier this week, those three plus “Life Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and “Ciao Papa” from Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio earned Golden Globe nominations for original song.
Some films opted for more than one submission like Avatar: The Way of Water with two (“Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength),” “The Songcord”) and the documentary Killing Me Softly With His Songs with three (“At the Movies,” “On N’aime Qu’une Fois Comme Ça,” “Sing a Brand New Song”).
Here is the complete list:
Amsterdam: “Time”
The Automat: “(There Was Nothing Like the Coffee) at the Automat”
Avatar: The Way of Water: “Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength),” “The Songcord”
The Bad Guys: “We’re Gonna Be Good Tonight”
Beast: “N’na Duniyaa”
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: “Lift Me Up”
The Bob’s Burgers Movie: “Sunny Side Up Summer”
Bodies Bodies Bodies: “Hot Girl”
Bones and All: “(You Made It Feel Like) Home”
Bootyology: “We Are All But Men”
Bros: “Love Is Not Love”
Bullet Train: “La Despedida”
DC League of Super-Pets: “Count on Me”
Devotion: “Not Alone”
Don’t Worry Darling: “With You All the Time”
18 1/2: “Brasilia Bella,” “Deadly Butterfly,” “Wonder Bread”
Everything Everywhere All at Once: “This Is a Life”
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore: “Heaven”
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio: “Ciao Papa”
The Inspection: “The Hands”
Iravin Nizhal: “Kaayam”
Jacir: “Unicorn N*****”
A Jazzman’s Blues: “Paper Airplanes”
Kantara: A Legend: “Karma,” “Varaha Roopam”
Killing Me Softly With His Songs: “At the Movies,” “On N’aime Qu’une Fois Comme Ça,” “Sing a Brand New Song”
Let Me Be Me: “Feels Like Me”
Luckiest Girl Alive: “I Know Where I’ve Been”
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile: “Carried Away,” “Take a Look at Us Now”
A Man Calld Otto: “Til You’re Home”
Marry Me: “On My Way”
Me Vasantrao: “Kaivalya Gaan,” “Le Chali Taqdeer,” “Ram Ram Lori”
Minions: The Rise of Gru: “Turn Up the Sunshine”
My Father’s Dragon: “Lift Your Wings”
On the Come Up: “On the Come Up”
Persuasion: “Quietly Yours”
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish: “Fearless Hero,” “La Vida Es Una”
RRR: “Naatu Naatu”
Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story: “Faith to Carry Me,” “La Di Da”
The Return of Tanya Tucker, Featuring Brandi Carlile: “Ready As I’ll Never Be”
Return to Seoul: “Anybody”
Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical: “Still Holding My Hand”
Rocketry: The Nambi Effect: “It Hurts”
Saving Ana: “Missing Children”
The School for Good and Evil: “Who Do You Think You Are”
The Sea Beast: “Captain Crow”
Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me: “My Mind & Me”
1660 Vine: “Already Gone,” “Lucky,” “Rodanthe”
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: “Stars in the Sky”
The Sound of Violet: “You Could Be Anywhere”
Spirited: “Do a Little Good,” “Good Afternoon”
Tell It Like a Woman: “Applause”
13: The Musical: “It Would Be Funny”
Three Thousand Years of Longing: “Cautionary Tale”
Till: “Stand Up”
Tomorrow’s Today: “Tomorrow’s Today”
Top Gun: Maverick: “Hold My Hand”
A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting: “A Tree of Life”
Turning Red: “Nobody Like U”
Tujhya Sathi Kahi Hi: “Bharat Mata Ki Jai,” “Grishmat Kasa Vasant Ful La,” “Khota Dev Mazha”
Tyson’s Run: “If You Believe”
The Voice of Dust and Ash: “Dust and Ash”
We Are Art Through the Eyes of Annalaura: “We Are Art”
Wendell & Wild: “Raising the Dead”
Where the Crawdads Sing: “Carolina”
White Noise: “New Body Rhumba”
Wildcat: “A Sky Like I’ve Never Seen”
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
- 2026 Tribeca Festival Celebrates 25th Anniversary with World Premieres of ‘Hadestown: The Musical,’ ‘Earth, Wind & Fire’ Doc - April 16, 2026
- ‘Beef’ Season 2 Review: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Cailee Spaeny and Charles Melton Sink Their Teeth Into Lee Sung Jin’s Meaty Morality Tale [A-] - April 16, 2026
- George Clooney to be Honored at 51st Chaplin Award Gala by Stephen Colbert, Sam Rockwell and More - April 15, 2026
2026 Tonys: Laurie Metcalf (‘Little Bear Ridge Road,’ ‘Death of a Salesman’) May Join Elite Group of Double-Nominated Performers 
2026 Tribeca Festival Celebrates 25th Anniversary with World Premieres of ‘Hadestown: The Musical,’ ‘Earth, Wind & Fire’ Doc 
Director Watch Podcast Ep. 149 – ‘Killer of Sheep’ (Charles Burnett, 1978) 
‘Lee Cronin’s The Mummy’ Review: Careful the Spell You Cast, Children Will Listen (and Sometimes Kill) [C]