Oscar Matters: Another Oscar 2014 Speculation/Berlin Calling

Good Monday...

OSCAR MATTERS: ANOTHER OSCAR SPECULATION LIST FOR 2014

Brad Brevet of Rope of Silicon has tagged 40 films as potential Oscar players for the coming year.  These are the 10 on his list (which is pretty informative, by the way) that I think have the likeliest Telluride profile:

"12 Years a Slave"
"August Osage County"
"The Butler"
"Dallas Buyers Club"
"The Fifth Estate"
"Foxcatcher"
"Labor Day"
"Lowlife" (The Nightingale)
"The Monuments Men"
"Nebraska"

You can find Brevet's complete set of films beginning here:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/2014-oscar-preview-best-picture-contenders-12-years-slave-elysium-counselor/


BERLIN (2013) CALLING

The Berlin International Film Festival is usually an interesting mix of films that have already released in the U.S. and foreign films that have yet to pop up in North America.  As the following list reveals, as of late, there are usually a couple of films that make their way from Berlin to Telluride.

2012: "Barbara" and "A Royal Affair"
2011: "A Separation", "The Turin Horse" and "Pina"
2010: None
2009: "Gigante" and "London River"
2008: "Happy Go Lucky" and "I've Loved You So Long"



So what might we see from this year's recently completed Berlin fest?

Here's the lineup from the just completed festival (Feb. 7-17, 2013):

In competition:

"Dolgaya schastlivaya zhizn" ("A Long and Happy Life"), director Boris Khlebnikov.

"Prince Avalanche," David Gordon Green.

"Uroki Garmonii" ("Harmony Lessons"), Emir Baigazin.

"Vic+Flo ont vu un ours" ("Vic+Flo Saw a Bear"), Denis Cote.

"W imie ..." ("In the Name of"), Malgoska Szumowska.

"Camille Claudel 1915," Bruno Dumont.

"Elle s'en va" ("On my Way"), Emmanuelle Bercot.

"Epizoda u zivotu beraca zeljeza" ("An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker"), Danis Tanovic.

"Gloria," Sebastian Lelio.

"Gold," Thomas Arslan.

"La Religieuse" ("The Nun"), Guillaume Nicloux.

"Layla Fourie," Pia Marais.

"The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman," Fredrik Bond.

"Nugu-ui Ttal-do Anin Haewon" ("Nobody's Daughter Haewon"), Hong Sangsoo.

"Paradies: Hoffnung" ("Paradise: Hope"), Ulrich Seidl.

"Parde" ("Closed Curtain"), Jafar Panahi and Kambozia Partovi.

"Pozitia Copilului" ("Child's Pose"), Calin Peter Netzer.

"Promised Land," Gus Van Sant.

"Side Effects," Steven Soderbergh.

Out of competition:

"Before Midnight," Richard Linklater.

"Dark Blood," George Sluizer.

"Night Train to Lisbon," Bille August.

"The Croods," Kirk De Micco and Chris Sanders.

"Yi dai zong shi" ("The Grandmaster"), Wong Kar Wai.

Trying to hit the bullseye of what films might come from Berlin's lineup isn't easy.  My best guesses: "Paradise: Hope"  (the third of a trilogy,  Paradise: Love" played at Telluride last year; the other is "Paradise: Faith"). "Gloria", "Closed Curtain" and "Camille Claudel 1915".

More on Thursday.