Saturday, December 31, 2011

Sundancing/Unusual Lists/Oscar Confusion/A Separation/The Artist

Good Morning and Happy 2012!  I hope your start to the new year was entertaining.  My hope is that the whole of 2012 is entertaining.

SUNDANCING



I am very excited to announce that for the first time, Michael's Telluride Film Blog/The Film Awards Clearinghouse will have a presence at the Sundance Film Festival.  Not me (though I wish it was) but former student and active cinephile, Gant Lee of Cinema Bebop will be attending the back half of Sundance and has kindly agreed to allow this blog to share his experiences, impressions, reports and reviews...I am uber-pumped and not a little jealous.  Sundance is set to run from Jan. 19-29.  I believe Gant will be on the ground in Park City and vicinity from Jan. 24 or so until they close the place down. I'm  looking forward to seeing Gant's dispatches.

Also, if there's a Sundance title you have an interest in hearing about, drop me an email (mpgort@gmail.com) or tweet (twitter.com/@Gort2) and let me know.  No guarantees, but we'll see what we can do.

The Sundance website is here:
http://www.sundance.org/festival/

UNUSUAL LISTS



I ran across a couple of interesting lists this week that I thought I would pass along.  First is Scott Feinberg's list of films that were, at one point, thought to be potential players for the 2012 awards season.  He has 13 films on this list and one of them DID play Telluride (the fairly pedestrian "Butter", read my less than stellar review for The Playlist here: http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/telluride_11_review_jennifer_garners_butter_churns_and_churns_but_doesnt_pr 
The other dozen are almost all films that at one point or another were on my Telluride 2012 radar.  Feinberg tells us what the status is for each of the films.  Here's the link to the article:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/2011-awards-contenders-friends-with-kids-268424



The other list comes from my Telluride buddy, Leonard Maltin and is comprised of 11 films that he suggests are really good, but have been fling under the radar.  Included on his list are Telluride players "Of Gods and Men"and "Incendies" from TFF #37.  the complete list is here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leonard-maltin/the-11-best-films-you-may_1_b_1170232.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

OSCAR CONFUSION



Another year, and another new Oscar Best Picture procedure.  After the two year "Ten Nominees" experiment, the Academy has instituted a new voting procedure designed to give us anywhere from 5 to 10 Best Picture nominees.  After such a drastic change just two years ago, this new wrinkle has apparently created some confusion among Academy voters.  This according to Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter as you can see here:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/oscar-ballots-academy-award-nominations-277034

I'd probably be confused too.

Incidentally, as we move into serious Oscar gear in the month of January, I am going to try to pick the brains of the few "insiders" I've come to know over the last few years and see what, if any, insight I might be able to glean from their wisdom.

A SEPARATION



A lot of heat continues for Asghar Farhadi's "A Separation" as reflected by continued and increasing media coverage.  Here is some of that:

From The Hollywood Reporter: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/a-separation-oscars-iran-asghar-farhadi-277083

Thompson on Hollywood: http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/farhadi-talks-iranian-oscar-entry-a-separation-divorce-drama-questions-irans-future

Metacritic: http://www.metacritic.com/movie/a-separation/critic-reviews

THE ARTIST:



The Guardian has a nearly five minute interview with the creators of the silent black and white Oscar favorite here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/video/2011/dec/30/jean-dujardin-berenice-bejo-the-artist-video?CMP=twt_fd

FILM DETAIL

This website has posted its Best Of list for 2011 and i includes no less than six TFF #38 films.  Take a look here:
http://www.filmdetail.com/2011/12/31/the-best-films-of-2011/

That's a wrap for the first post of 2012...Again, Happy New Year and catch a new post on Thursday!  (should have some guild news to talk about).

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

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