Spielberg praises stellar year of cinema as Oscars nominees converge

LOS ANGELES - Steven Spielberg praised a stellar year for cinema as Oscars rivals gathered in a packed Beverly Hills ballroom for the Academy's annual nominee luncheon.

The event brought together A-list stars, directors, producers and behind-the-scenes artists, offering them a chance to meet the competition and charm a few voters over champagne and canapes ahead of next month's awards.

"Oppenheimer" is widely thought to be leading the race for best picture at the Academy Awards on March 10, but Spielberg -- a producer on rival movie "Maestro" -- said it had also been a banner year beyond Christopher Nolan's atomic age drama.

"This has been a great and eclectic year for films -- one of the best years in terms of high quality, in my opinion, of the past decade," he told AFP.

"Maestro," Bradley Cooper's biopic of legendary conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, "is Bradley's triumph," said Spielberg. 

The two movies are part of a widely acclaimed and wildly diverse best picture shortlist, spanning from the $1-billion-grossing "Barbie" to festival hits such as "American Fiction," "The Holdovers," "Past Lives" and "The Zone of Interest."

Praising "an amazing year for cinema," Academy president Janet Yang noted the highly "global" makeup of this year's nominees, who were selected by voting members from 93 different countries.