MTFB Oscar Update: Screenplays, International and Documentary Features, Cinematography and Editing / Interviews and Profiles: Dafoe, Mescal. Pike, Randolph and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SCREENPLAYS, INTERNATIONAL AND DOCUMENTARY FEATURES, CINEMATOGRAPHY AND EDITING.

Here's the latest MTFB Oscar Update.  As we move to less than a month before nomination announcements I am consolidating categories for each post. Today I'm updating the Screenplay, International Feature, Documentary Feature, Cinematography and Editing categories.  As usual TFF #50 films are in Bold.  A film's previous position on the MTFB Oscar chart is listed in parentheses.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) The Holdovers (1)

2) Barbie (2)

3) Past Lives (3)

4) Anatomy of a Fall (4)

5) May December (-)

Alternates: Maestro, Air, Saltburn.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Oppenheimer (1)

2) American Fiction (2)

3) Poor Things (3)

4) Killers of the Flower Moon (4)

5) All of Us Strangers (5)

Alternates: The Zone of Interest,  Spiderman  Across the Spider-Verse and Are You There God, It's Me Margaret. 

BEST DOCUMENTARY 

1) American Symphony (1)

2) 20 Days in Mariupol (2)

3) Beyond Utopia (4)

4) Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (3)

5) Four Daughters (5)

Alternates: The Eternal Memory, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project and Stamped from the Beginning.

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) The Zone of Interest (1)

2) The Taste of Things (2)

3) Society of the Snow (5)

4) The Teachers' Lounge (3)

5) Fallen Leaves (-)

Alternates: Perfect Days, 20 Days in Mariupol and Totem.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Oppenheimer (1)

2) Killers of the Flower Moon (2)

3) Poor Things (3)

4) Maestro (4)

5) The Zone of Interest (5)

Alternates: Saltburn, Barbie and The Color Purple.

FILM EDITING

1) Oppenheimer (1)

2) Killers of the Flower Moon (2)

3) Poor Things (3)

4) Barbie (4)

5) Maestro (5)

Alternates: The Holdovers, Anatomy of a Fall and Air.

In all from 13 TFF films are represented in these categories with a predicted overall total of 13 nominations with another seven possibilities.  Here's the inventory from these six categories of nominations or possible nominations involving TFF films:

Poor Things with three nominations: Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography and Editing.

The Zone of Interest with two nominations: International Feature and Cinematography with another possible nomination for Adapted Screenplay.

The Holdovers with one nomination for Original Screenplay and another possible in Editing.

Anatomy of a Fall with one nomination for Original Screenplay and another possible for Editing.

Single predicted nominations for:

All of Us Strangers: Adapted Screenplay

American Symphony: Documentary 

Beyond Utopia: Documentary

The Taste of Things: International Feature

The Teachers' Lounge: International Feature

Fallen Leaves: International Feature

Films just outside the predicted nominations but still possible:

Saltburn with two possibilities: Original Screenplay and Cinematography.

Perfect Days could sneak into International Feature.

Totem could also slide into International Feature.

MTFB's Oscar Update will look at Animated Feature, Score, Song, Production Design, Visual Effects and Sound in the next post on New Year's day.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES: DAFOE, MESCAL, PIKE, RANDOLPH AND MORE

FOR ALL OF US STRANGERS:

Andrew Scott from Awards Watch.

Paul Mescal from Awards Watch.

Claire Foy from Awards Watch.

Jamie Bell from Awards Watch.

Jamie Bell and Claire Foy from Awards Daily.

Andrew Haigh from Wmagazine.com.

Claire Foy from The Playlist.

FOR POOR THINGS

Willem Dafoe from The Playlist.

Willem Dafoe from Awards Watch.

FOR THE HOLDOVERS

Da'Vine Joy Randolph from The Film Stage.

FOR FALLEN LEAVES

Alma Poysti from Awards Watch.

Alma Poysti from The Film Stage.

FOR THE ZONE OF INTEREST

Jonathan Glazer from Rolling Stone.

Sandra Huller from Backstage.com (also includes some talk of Anatomy of a Fall)

FOR SALTBURN

Rosamund Pike from Awards Watch.

Rosamund Pike from The Hollywood Reporter.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Picture, Direction and Acting / The Oscar Shortlists and TFF / Surprise: Bening Tribute to Happen After All / Interviews and Profiles: Elordi, Kravitz, Randolph and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: PICTURE, DIRECTION AND ACTING

Here's MTFB's  Oscar Update.  As we move to within a month of nomination announcements I am consolidating categories for each post. Today I'm updating the Best Picture, Direction and Acting  categories.  As usual TFF #50 films are in Bold.  A film's previous position on the MTFB Oscar chart is listed in parentheses.

BEST PICTURE

1) Oppenheimer (1)

2) Barbie (2)

3) Killers of the Flower Moon (4)

4) Poor Things (5)

5) The Holdovers (6)

6) American Fiction (3)

7) Maestro (7)

8) Past Lives (8)

9) Anatomy of a Fall (-)

10) The Zone of Interest (10)

Alternates:  The Color Purple, Air and May December.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Christopher Nolan/Oppenheimer (1)

2) Martin Scorsese/Killer of the Flower Moon (2)

3) Yorgos Lanthimos/Poor Things (4)

4) Greta Gerwig/Barbie (3)

5) Jonathan Glazer/The Zone of Interest (-)

Alternates: Bradley Cooper/Maestro, Alexander Payne/The Holdovers and Celine Song/Past Lives.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Lily Gladstone/Killers of the Flower Moon (1)

2) Emma Stone/Poor Things (2)

3) Carey Mulligan/Maestro (3)

4) Sandra Huller/Anatomy of a Fall (4)

5) Margot Robbie/Barbie (-)

Alternates: Greta Lee/Past Lives, Annette Bening/Nyad and Fantasia Barrino/The Color Purple.

BEST ACTOR

1) Bradley Cooper/Maestro (1)

2) Paul Giamatti/The Holdovers (3)

3) Cillian Murphy/Oppenheimer (2)

4) Jeffrey Wright/American Fiction (5)

5) Leonardo DiCaprio/ Killers of the Flower Moon (-)

Alternates: Colman Domingo/Rustin, Andrew Scott/All of Us Strangers and Barry Keoghan/Saltburn.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Da'Vine Joy Randolph/The Holdovers (1)

2) Danielle Brooks/The Color Purple (2)

3) Emily Blunt/Oppenheimer (3)

4) Jodie Foster/Nyad (5)

5) Julianne Moore/May December (4)

Alternates: America Ferrera/Barbie, Rosamund Pike/Saltburn and Sandra Huller/The Zone of Interest.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Ryan Gosling/Barbie (2)

2) Robert Downey, Jr./Oppenheimer (1)

3) Mark Ruffalo/Poor Things (3)

4) Robert DeNiro/Killers of the Flower Moon (4)

5) Charles Melton/May December (5)

Alternates: Willem Dafoe/Poor Things, Dominic Sessa/The Holdovers, Sterling K. Brown/American Fiction.

From these six categories, here's how TFF films are predicted:

Poor Things with four nominations and one other possibility: Picture, Direction, Actress (Stone) and Supporting actor (Ruffalo), Willem Dafoe is the added possibility for Supporting Actor.

The Holdovers with three nominations and two other possibilities: Picture, Actor (Giamatti), Supporting Actress (Randolph).  The other two possibilities are Direction and Supporting Actor (Sessa).

The Zone of Interest with two nominations and an added possibility: Picture, Direction and a possible shot at Supporting Actress (Huller).

Anatomy of a Fall with two nominations: Picture and actress (Huller).

Nyad with one nomination and one other possibility.  The nomination for Supporting Actress (Foster) and the possibility for Lead Actress (Bening).

Saltburn with no nominations but possible in two categories: Actor (Keoghan) and Supporting Actress (Pike).

All of Us Strangers possible for Actor (Scott).

Rustin possible for Actor(Colman).

Thursday's categories to be updated will be Screenplays, International Film, Documentary Feature, Cinematography and Editing.

THE OSCAR SHORT LISTS AND TFF

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the Oscar Shortlists for 10 categories on Thursday.  Those 10 categories: Documentary Feature, Documentary Short, International Feature, Makeup and Hair Styling, Original Score, Original Song, Animated Short, Live Action Short, Sound and Visual Effects.  

Making the short list in these ten categories means that a film is eligible for nomination in them.

Here's where TFF films landed on the various lists:

Poor Things, The Zone of Interest and American Symphony each made it to three of the lists.

Poor Things: Score, Makeup/Hair and Visual Effects.

The Zone of Interest: International Feature, Score and Sound.

American Symphony: Documentary Feature, Score and Song.  

No other TFF films made multiple lists but 18 other TFF films were shortlisted in various categories.  Most impressive was in the International Feature category which had nine TFF films listed.  In addition to the above mentioned The Zone of Interest these films also made that shortlist:

The Monk and the Gun

The Promised Land

Fallen Leaves

The Taste of Things

The Teachers' Lounge

Godland (from TFF #49)

Perfect Days

Totem.

In addition to American Symphony three other TFF docs made that shortlist:

Beyond Utopia

Bobi Wine: Ghetto President (TFF #49)

Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy (TFF #49)

In addition to Poor Things and American Symphony, two TFF films are also on the shortlist for Best Score:

The Holdovers

Saltburn

Three TFF films made the Documentary Shortlist:

If Dreams Were Lightning

The Last Repair Shop

Last Song from Kabul

And finally 27 made it to the Animated Short List and Strange Way of Life made it onto the Live Action Short list.

In all 27 TFF films are still alive in these 10 categories.  Nominations are announced on Jan. 23rd.

Here's the link to the complete announcement from The Academy.

SURPRISE: BENING TRIBUTE TO HAPPEN AFTER ALL

In a surprise move, Telluride's Silver Medallion that was to have been presented last Labor Day weekend to actress Annette Bening will, instead be presented at a special event in Los Angeles on January 6th.

Bening, like most actors, was unable to attend TFF #50 due to the SAG/Aftra Strike that was ongoing at the time of the fest.

The Hollywood Reporter, among other outlets, reports that the event will include a career retrospective complete with clips from Bening's films as well as moderation from her Nyad co-star Jodie Foster.  Meg Ryan will present the Silver Medallion.

The complete THR story is linked here.

 

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Da'Vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers from desertsun.com

Jacob Elordi for Saltburn from Entertainment Weekly

Jamie Bell for All of Us Strangers from The Playlist

Lenny Kravitz for Rustin from Vanity Fair

Christian Friedel for The Zone of Interest from The Film Stage

Andrew Haigh for All of Us Strangers from Time

Tran Ahn Hung for The Taste of Things from Ioncinema

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MTFB Oscar Update: First Predix for Visual FX, Sound, Makeup/Hair and Costumes / Satellite Awards Nominations Announced / London Film Critics' Circle and TFF / Interviews and Profiles

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE; FIRST PREDICTIONS FOR VISUAL FX, SOUND, MAKEUP/HAIR AND COSTUMES

Today's edition of MTFB's Oscar Update features my first attempt at predicting the nominees in the last four feature categories.  As always TFF films are Bold.

VISUAL EFFECTS

1) The Creator

2) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

3) Poor Things

4) Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse

5) Godzilla Minus One

Alternates: Society of the Snow, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

SOUND

1) Oppenheimer

2) Maestro

3) Ferrari

4) The Color Purple

5) Killers of the Flower Moon

Alternates: The Zone of Interest, The Killer and Barbie.

COSTUMES

1) Barbie

2) Poor Things

3) The Color Purple

4) Killers of the Flower Moon

5) Maestro

Alternates: Oppenheimer, Wonka and Napoleon.

MAKEUP AND HAIR

1) Maestro

2) Poor Things

3) Barbie

4) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

5) The Color Purple

Alternates: Nyad, Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon. 

And with the addition of predictions for these four categories, here are total predicted nominations for the feature categories:

Poor Things leads with12 nominations: Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Stone), Supporting Actor (Ruffalo), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Score, Production Design, Visual Effects, Costumes, Makeup/Hair.  An additional nomination could come for Supporting Actor foe Willem Dafoe.

I have Oppenheimer with 11 nominations: Best Picture, Direction, Actor (Murphy), Supporting Actress (Blunt), Supporting Actor (Downey Jr.), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Score, Production Design, Sound.  Additional nominations are possible in Makeup/Hair and Costumes.

Killers of the Flower Moon also with 11 nominations: Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Gladstone), Supporting Actor (DeNiro), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Score, Production Design, Sound and Costumes.  Additional nominations are possible for Actor (DiCaprio) and Makeup/Hair.

Maestro with 11 nominations: Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Mulligan), Actor (Cooper), Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Sound, Costumes and Makeup/Hair.

Barbie with 10 nominations: Best Picture, Direction, Supporting Actor (Gosling), Original Screenplay, Production Design, Editing, Costumes, Makeup/Hair and two for Best Song.  Barbie also has possible shots for Best Actress (Robbie), Supporting Actress (Ferrera), Sound and a third Song.

That's five films with double digit nominations.  Has that ever happened before?

Other TFF films I am currently predicting get nominations:

The Holdovers with 4: Best Picture, Actor (Giamatti, Supporting Actress (Randolph) and Original Screenplay.  It could also slide into nominations for Direction, Supporting Actor (Sessa) and Editing.

The Zone  of Interest with 4: Best Picture, International Film, Cinematography and Score.  Zone could also score nominations for Direction, Adapted Screenplay and Sound. 

Anatomy of a Fall with 2 nominations: Best Actress (Huller) and Original Screenplay.  Anatomy could also sneak into a Best Picture nomination Perhaps displacing The Color Purple which I currently am predicting for five nominations including Best Picture.

Nyad with 2 nominations: Best Actress (Bening) and Supporting Actress (Foster).  Maybe a shot at Makeup/Hair.

Rustin with 2 nominations: Best Actor (Domingo) and Song.

All of Us Strangers with one nominations: Best Actor (Scott).  Also possible for Adapted Screenplay.

American Symphony with one nomination: Best Documentary and a possibility at Song.

Beyond Utopia with one nomination for Best Documentary.

I am currently predicting that four of the five nominees for Best International film will be films that screened at TFF: The previously mentioned The Zone of Interest would be accompanied by The Taste of Things, The Teachers' Lounge and Perfect Days.

Among TFF films that I am not currently predicted get nominations there are films that might still earn some including"

Saltburn:  Possible nominations for Supporting Actress (Pike), Original Screenplay and Cinematography.

El Conde could get a Cinematography nomination.

Anselm could get a nomination for Best Documentary.

Fallen Leaves could be nominated for Best International Feature.

Total TFF nominations predicted by MTFB as of today: 31 with another 16 possible.

SATELLITE AWARDS NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

The International Press Academy (IPA) announced its nominees for film excellence on Monday.  11 TFF films earned at least one nomination.  Here's the breakdown of those:

Poor Things (8): Best Picture (Comedy or Musical), Direction, Actress (Comedy or Musical), Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Score, Editing and Costumes.

The Holdovers (7): Best Picture (Comedy or Musical), Direction, Actress (Comedy or Musical), Supporting Actress,  Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Editing.

Anatomy of a Fall (3): Best International Film, Actress (Drama), Original Screenplay.

Saltburn (3): Best Actor (Comedy or Drama), Supporting Actress, Cinematography.

The Zone of Interest (3): Best International Film, Direction, Adapted Screenplay.

All of Us Strangers (2): Best Actor (Drama) and Adapted Screenplay.

American Symphony (2): Best Documentary and Song.

Fallen Leaves (2): Best International Film and Actress (Comedy or Musical).

Rustin (2): Best Actor (Drama) and Song.

The Taste of Things (1): Best Supporting Actress.

The Teachers' Lounge (1): Best International Film.

In all TFF films earned 34 nominations.  The IPA will announce the Satellite winners on Jan. 27th.

Here's the complete list from the IPA website.

LONDON FILM CRITICS' CIRCLE AND TFF

The London Film Critics' Circle announced their nominees for film excellence on Wednesday.  The winners will be announced on Feb. 4th.

Andrew Haigh's All of Us Strangers led all films with nine nominations.

Here's the rundown of TFF films with nominations:

All of us Strangers (9): Film of the Year, British/Irish Film of the Year, Actor of the Year, Supporting Actress of the Year, Supporting Actor of the Year, Screenwriter of the Year, British/Irish Performer of the Year (both Andrew Scott and Pail Mescal) and Casting.

Poor Things (6): Film of the Year, British/Irish Film of the Year, Director of the Year, Actress of the Year, Supporting Actor of the Year, Casting.

The Zone Interest (6): Film of the Year, Foreign language Film of the Year, British/Irish Film of the Year, Director of the Year, Supporting Actress of the Year and Music/Sound.

The Holdovers (4): Film of the Year, Actor of the Year, Supporting Actress of the Year, Breakthrough Performer of the Year.

Anatomy of a Fall (4): Film of the Year, Foreign Language Film of the Year, Actress of the Year and Screenwriter of the Year.

Saltburn (3): Supporting Actress of the Year, British/Irish Performer of the Year and Casting.

Fallen Leaves (1): Foreign Language Film of the Year.

Beyond Utopia (1): Documentary of the Year.

Eight TFF films were named for a total of 34 nominations.

Here's the complete list of all nominees from the LFCC website.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Jamie Bell for All of Us Strangers from Awards Watch.

Jon Batiste for American Symphony from Nest Best Picture Podcast.

Alma Poysti for Fallen Leaves from Awards Watch.

Cinematographer Linus Sandgren for Saltburn from Awards Radar.

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MTFB Update: Screenplays Plus Animated Feature and Production Design / New York Film Critics Online and TFF / Interviews and Profiles: Stone, Bening, Scott and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SCREENPLAYS PLUS ANIMATED FEATURE AND PRODUCTION DESIGN

Here's your Oscar Update for today's post.  This is a check on predicted nominees for the Screenplay categories.  They were last posted here on Dec. 4th.  Previous positions on the MTFB Oscar Update Chart are listed to the right in parentheses.  I have also included my first predictions for Best Animated Feature and Production Design.  As always TFF films are Bold.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) The Holdovers (1)

2) Barbie (2)

3) Past Lives (3)

4) Anatomy of a Fall (5)

5) Maestro (4)

Alternates: May December, Air, Saltburn.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Oppenheimer (1)

2) American Fiction (3)

3) Poor Things (2)

3) American Fiction (3)

4) Killers of the Flower Moon (4)

5) All of Us Strangers (5)

Alternates: The Zone of Interest, Are You There God, It's Me Margaret and The Color Purple. 

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

1) Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse

2) The Boy and the Heron

3) Elemental

4) Nimona

5) Wish

Alternates: Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and Super Mario Bros. Movie.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1) Poor Things

2) Barbie

3) Oppenheimer

4) Killers of the Flower Moon

5) Maestro

Alternates: Asteroid City, The Color Purple and Napoleon

NEW YORK FILM CRTICS ONLINE AND TFF

The NYFCO announced their choices for the best film work of 2023 on Friday.  TFF was fairly well represented with three films making their Top Ten of the Year list: Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers and Poor Things.  Those three films also earned some individual mention.

Anatomy of a Fall was named thrice for Best International Film, Best Actress for Sandra Huller and Best Screenplay.  The Holdover's Da'Vine Joy Randolph was named Best Supporting Actress while Poor Things' Mark Ruffalo earned honors as Best Supporting Actor.

Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer was named in four categories, the most of any film> Direction, Actor, Ensemble and Cinematography but not Best Picture which NYFCO awarded to Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon.

The complete rundown of the NYFCO awards can be found here.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos for Poor Things from Awards Radar.

Annette Bening on Nyad from Deadline.com.

Juliette Binoche for The Taste of Things from Next Best Picture.

Da'Vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers from The Playlist.

Andrew Scott for All of Us Strangers from Indiewire.

Christian Friedel for The Zone of Interest from Indiewire.

Lenny Kravitz for Rustin from Awards Daily.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Supporting Acting, Original Score and Song / Critics' Choice Nominees Announced / Indiewire's Poll of Critics Select the 50 Best Films of 2023 / The Playlist's Top 21 Films From 2023 and TFF /A Conversation with The Holdovers / Three TFF Docs PGA Nominated / Interviews and Profiles

 MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SUPPORTING ACTING, ORIGINAL SCORE AND SONG

Here's your Oscar Update for today's post.  This is a check on predicted nominees for the Supporting Acting categories.  They were last posted here on Nov. 30th.  Previous positions on the MTFB Oscar Update is listed to the right in parentheses.  Additionally, I have included my first predicitons in the categories of Best Original Song and Best Score.  As always TFF films are Bold.

 BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Da'Vine Joy Randoplh/The Holdovers (1)

2) Danielle Brooks/The Color Purple (3)

3) Emily Blunt/Oppenheimer (2)

4) Julianne Moore/May December (5)

5) Jodie Foster/Nyad (4)

Alternates:Taraji P. Henson/The Color Purple, Rosamund Pike/Saltburn and America Ferrera/Barbie

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Robert Downey, Jr./Oppenheimer (2)

2) Ryan Gosling/Barbie (1)

3) Mark Ruffalo/Poor Things (3)

4) Robert DeNiro/Killers of the Flower Moon (4)

5) Charles Melton/May December (5)

Alternates: Willem DaFoe/Poor Things, Dominic Sessa/The Holdovers, Sterling K. Brown/American Fiction.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

1) What Was I Made For/Barbie

2) I'm Just Ken/Barbie

3) This Wish/Wish

4) Road to Freedom/Rustin

5) The Fire Inside/Flamin' Hot

Alternates: It Never Went Away/American Symphony, Dance the Night Away/Barbie and For the First Time/The Little Mermaid.

BEST SCORE

1) Oppenheimer

2) Killers of the Flower Moon

3) Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse

4) The Zone of Interest

5) Poor Things

Alternates: Society of  the Snow, Elemental and Asteroid City.

CRITICS' CHOICE NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

The Critics' Choice Awards nominees for film were announced yesterday.  Poor Things was the leader among TFF films with 13 nominations tying Oppenheimer for the second most nominations.  Barbie was the leader overall with a staggering 18 nominations.  The Holdovers showed very strong with eight nominations.  In all TFF films earned 34 nominations for 10 films.

Here's The TFF breakdown:

Poor Things (13): Best Picture, Best Comedy Film, Direction, Actress (Stone), Supporting Actor (Ruffalo), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Costumes, Makeup/Hair, Score and Visual Effects.

The Holdovers (8): Best Picture, Best Comedy, Direction, Actor (Giamatti), Supporting Actress (Randolph), Young Actor (Sessa), Ensemble, Original Screenplay.

Anatomy of a Fall (3): Best Foreign Language Film, Actress (Huller), Young Actor (Graner).

Saltburn (3): Best Picture, Cinematography, Production Design.

Rustin (2): Best Actor (Domingo), Song.

Nyad (1): Best Supporting Actress (Foster).

All of Us Strangers (1): Best Adapted Screenplay.

Perfect Days (1): Best Foreign Language Film.

The Taste of Things (1): Best Foreign Language Film.

The Zone of Interest (1): Best Foreign Language Film.

Here's the complete rundown of nominees from Variety.

INDIEWIRE'S POLL OF CRITICS SELECT THE 50 BEST FILMS OF 2023

On Wednesday Indiewire posted their poll of 158 critics and their choices for the 50 Best Films of 2023.  11 TFF films landed on the list.  They were:

47) La Chimera

45) Saltburn

25) Godland

24) The Taste of Things

22) Perfect Days

13) All of Us Strangers

11) Fallen Leaves

9) The Holdovers

7) Anatomy of a Fall

6) The Zone of Interest

3) Poor Things

Oppenheimer was at #2 and the topper was Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon.

The complete list is here.

THE PLAYLIST'S TOP 21 FILMS FOR 2023 AND TFF

Meanwhile, The Playlist posted their top 21 films for the year on Tuesday.  Sven TFF films made that list:

17) The Taste of Things

13) The Holdovers

11) Perfect Days

9) All of Us Strangers

5) Anatomy of a fall

2) Poor Things

1) The Zone of Interest

Honorable Mentions included: El Conde and The Royal Hotel.

The complete list is here.

A CONVERSATION WITH THE HOLDOVERS

MTFB acquaintance Tomris Lafflly lead a post-screening conversation in New York on Monday night for The Holdovers.  In attendance for the Q+A were Alexander Payne, Paul Giamatti, Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa.  Here's that via YouTube and Next Best Picture:

THREE TFF DOCS PGA NOMINATED

Three documentaries from TFF #50 and TFF #49 made the list of non-fiction films nominated by the Producers Guild of America as the outstanding doc for 2023.

Matthew Heineman's American Symphony and Madeleine Gavin's Beyond Utopia from TFF #50 were among the six docs announced by the PGA on Tuesday.  Also nominated from TFF #49 was Anton Corbijn's Squaring the Circle: The Story of Hipgnosis.  

The PGA documentary winner will be announced on Feb. 25th.

The complete press release from the PGA is linked here.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Musician Lenny Kravitz on Rustin from The Hollywood Reporter.

Screenwriter Julian Breece on Rustin from The Hollywood Reporter.

Jon Batiste for American Symphony from Gold Derby.

Willem Dafoe on Poor Things from the Talk Easy Podcast.

Sandra Huller for The Zone of Interest and Anatomy of a Fall from The Los Angeles Times.

Sandra Huller and Christian Friedel for The Zone of Interest from Awards Radar.

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Golden Globe Nominations / MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting Plus Cinematography and Editing / HCA Astra Nominations / Sight and Sound's 50 Best Films of 2023 / Trailer for The Monk and the Gun / New Clip from Poor Things / Interview and Profiles: Stone, Bening, Binoche and More

GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS

Barbie leads the pack in total Golden Globe nominations this morning with nine.

Here's the TFF breakdown:

Poor Things (7): Best Picture-Musical/Comedy, Direction, Actress-Musical/Comedy/Stone, Supporting Actor/Dafoe, Supporting Actor/Ruffalo, Screenplay, Score.

Anatomy of a Fall (4): best Picture-Drama, Best Non-English Language Film, Actress-Drama/Huller, Screenplay.

The Holdovers (3): Best Picture-Musical/Comedy, Actor Musical/Comedy/Giamatti, Supporting Actress/Randolph.

The Zone of Interest (3): Best Picture-Drama, Best Non-English Language Film, Score.

Fallen Leaves (2): Best Non-English Language Film, Actress-Drama/Poysti.

Rustin (2): Best Actor-Drama/Domingo, Song.

Nyad (2): Best Actress-Drama/Bening, Supporting Actress/Foster.

Saltburn (2): Best Actor-Drama/Keoghan, Supporting Actress/Pike.

All of Us Strangers (1): Best Actor-Drama/Scott.

Nine TFF films earn a total of 26 nominations.

The complete list of all Golden Globe nominees can be found here.

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING PLUS CINEMATOGRAPHY AND EDITING

Here's your Oscar Update for today's post.  This is a check on predicted nominees for the Lead Acting categories.  They were last posted here on Nov. 27th.  Previous positions on the MTFB Oscar Update is listed to the right in parentheses.  Additionally, here are my first predictions for the categories of Cinematography and Film Editing.  As always TFF films are Bold.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Lily Gladstone/Killers of the Flower Moon (2)

2) Emma Stone/Poor Things (1)

3) Carey Mulligan/Maestro (3)

4) Sandra Huller/Anatomy of a Fall (5)

5) Annette Bening/Nyad (4)

Alternates: Margot Robbie/Barbie, Fantasia Barrino/The Color Purple, Natalie Portman/May December.

BEST ACTOR

1) Bradley Cooper/Maestro (1)

2) Cillian Murphy/Oppenheimer (2)

3) Paul Giamatti/The Holdovers (3)

4) Colman Domingo/Rustin (4)

5) Jeffrey Wright/American Fiction (5)

Alternates: Leonardo DiCaprio/Killers of the Flower Moon, Andrew Scott/All of Us Strangers and Zac Efron/The Iron Claw.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Oppenheimer

2) Killers of the Flower Moon

3) Poor Things

4) Maestro

5) The Zone of Interest

Alternates: Saltburn, The Color Purple, El Conde.

FILM EDITING

1) Oppenheimer

2) Killers of the Flower Moon

3) Poor Things

4) Barbie

5) Maestro

Alternates: American Fiction, The Holdovers, Ferrari

HCA ASTRA NOMINATIONS AND TFF

The newly re-named Hollywood Creative Alliance (it was the Hollywood Critics Association)  announced nominees for its Astra Awards last Thursday.  A whopping 16 TFF #50 films earned at least one nomination.   All told TFF films landed 50 nominations.

Alexander Payne's The Holdovers and Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things each grabbed nine nominations to serve as the TFF films with most nominations.  Here's the breakdown:

The Holdovers (9): Best Picture, Direction, Actor, supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Ensemble, Editing, Casting.

Poor Things (9): Best Actress, Direction, Adapted Screenplay, Score, Cinematography, Production Design, Hair/Makeup, Costumes and Visual Effects.

Saltburn (6): Best Actor, Direction, Original Screenplay, Score, Cinematography and Production Design.

Anatomy of a Fall (5): Best International Film, International Actress, International Filmmaker, Original Screenplay and Editing.

The Zone of Interest (3): Best International Film, International Actor, International Filmmaker.

The Taste of Things (3): Best International Film, International Actress, International Filmmaker.

Perfect Days (3): Best International Film, International Actor, International Filmmaker.

Fallen Leaves (2): Best International Film, International Actress.

The Teachers' Lounge (2): Best International Film, International Actress.

Cassandro (2): Best International Actor, International Actress.

Rustin (1): Best Actor

Promised Land (1): Best International Actor.

American Symphony (1): Best Documentary.

Beyond Utopia (1): Best Documentary

The Last Repair Shop (1): Best Short

Strange Way of Life (1): Best Short

The HCA Astra Nominations were lead  by Barbie with 15 nominations.  Here's the link to their official press release.

SIGHT AND SOUND'S 2023 LIST AND TFF

Sight and Sound published its listing of the 50 Best Films of 2023 on Friday.  TFF films were a big part of the list:

38) The Holdovers

34) The Taste of Things

20) La Chimera

17) Totem

15) Fallen Leaves

12) All of Us Strangers

8) Anatomy of a Fall

4) Poor Things

2) The Zone of Interest

Two TFF #49 titles also made the list at #34 One Fine Morning and at #13 TAR.

Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon topped the list.

The complete article is here.

TRAILER FOR THE MONK AND THE GUN

From RoadsideFlix, here is a brand new trailer for the documentary The Monk and The Gun via YouTube:

NEW CLIP FROM POOR THINGS

The dance sequence from the film was is now in limited release and will expand soon.  From YouTube:

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES:

POOR THINGS

Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe on Yorgos Lanthimos from The Hollywood Reporter.

Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe and Yorgos Lanthimos from Next Best Picture.

Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos from The Playlist.

Willem Dafoe from Awards Daily.

Willem Dafoe from Awards Watch.

Yorgos Lanthimos from Indiewire.

THE HOLDOVERS

Paul Giamatti from Awards Daily.

Da'Vine Joy Randolph from Awards Daily.

THE ZONE OF INTEREST

Jonathan Glazer from The Guardian.

ALL OF US STRANGERS

Andrew Scott from The Hollywood Reporter.

SALTBURN

Emerald Fennell from Awards Radar.

NYAD

Annette Bening and Jodie Foster from Next Best Picture.

THE TASTE OF THINGS

Juliette Binoche from Awards Daily.

Juliette Binoche from Indiewire.

CASSANDRO

Gael Garcia Bernal from Variety.

THE PIGEON TUNNEL

Errol Morris from Indiewire.

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National Board of Review Announces Film Superlatives / Independent Spirit Nominees Announced / MTFB Oscar Update: Best Picture and Direction (Plus First Predix for International and Documentary Features) / New Trailer and One Sheet for The Zone of Interest / International Trailer for All of Us Strangers / Interviews and Profiles: Giamatti, Bening, Keoghan and More

NBR ANNOUNCES FILM SUPERLATIVES

The National Board of Review announced its choices for film excellence for the year yesterday.  TFF films that made a mark in these categories:

The Holdovers: Paul Giamatti/Best Actor, Da'Vine Joy Randolph/Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay.

Poor Things: Mark Ruffalo/Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay.

Anatomy of a Fall: Best International Feature.

From the 10 Best Films list: The Holdovers and Poor Things.

From the 5 Best International Features list (all five played Telluride): La Chimaera, Fallen Leaves, The Teachers' Lounge, Totem and The Zone of Interest.

From the 10 Best Independent Films list: All of Us Strangers.

From the 5 Best Documentaries list: The Pigeon Tunnel.

Killers of the Flower Moon was named Best Film of the Year with Martin Scorsese named Best Director.

The complete NBR list is here.

INDEPENDENT SPIRIT NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

Seven Telluride Films garnered 11 Independent Spirit Award nominations.  Those nominees were announced last Tuesday morning.

The T-ride titles earning nominations were:

The Holdovers (4): Best Supporting Performance: Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Breakthrough Performance: Dominic Sessa, Screenplay and Cinematography.

All of Us Strangers (3): Best Feature, Direction and Lead Performance: Andrew Scott.

And four TFF films were nominated for Best International Feature: Anatomy of a Fall, The Zone of Interest, Godland and Totem.

May December, Past Lives and American Fiction tied for the highest total of five nominations.

The complete listing of nominees is linked here from Film Independent's website.

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTION PLUS FIRST PREDIX FOR INTERNATIONAL FEATURE AND DOC FEATURE

OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTION

Here's MTFB's  Oscar Update.  Today I'm updating the Best Picture and Direction categories.  The last prediction for these two categories were posted on Nov. 23rd.  In addition, I am including my first guesses at nominees for Best Documentary and Best International Feature.  As usual TFF #50 films are in Bold.  A film's previous position on the MTFB Oscar chart is listed in parentheses.

BEST PICTURE

1) Oppenheimer (1)

2) Barbie (3)

3) American Fiction (6)

4) Killers of the Flower Moon (2)

5) Poor Things (4)

6) The Holdovers (5)

7) Maestro (7)

8) Past Lives (9)

9) The Color Purple (8)

10) The Zone of Interest (10)

Alternates:  Anatomy of a Fall, May December and Air.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Christopher Nolan/Oppenheimer (1)

2) Martin Scorsese/Killer of the Flower Moon (2)

3) Greta Gerwig/Barbie (3)

4) Yorgos Lanthimos/Poor Things (4)

5) Bradley Cooper/Maestro (-)

Alternates: Cord Jefferson/American Fiction, Jonathan Glazer/The Zone of Interest and Alexander Payne/The Holdovers

BEST DOCUMENTARY 

1) American Symphony

2) 20 Days in Mariupol

3) Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

4) Beyond Utopia

5) Four Daughters

Alternates: Kokomo City, Silver Dollar Road and Anselm.

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) The Zone of Interest

2) The Taste of Things

3) The Teachers' Lounge

4) Perfect Days

5) Society of the Snow

Alternates: Fallen Leaves, Shayda, 20 Days in Mariupol

 NEW TRAILER AND ONE SHEET FOR THE ZONE OF INTEREST

A24 has released a new trailer and one sheet for Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest.  Here's the trailer via YouTube:

And the new one sheet:

INTERNATIONAL TRAILER FOR ALL OF US STRANGERS

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES: GIAMATTI, BENING, KEOGAHN AND MORE

Paul Giamatti for The Holdovers from AP News.

Annette Bening for Nyad from Gold Derby.

Barry Keoghan for Saltburn from Gold Derby.

Jacob Elordi for Saltburn from The Hollywood Reporter.

Writer/Director Emerald Fennell for Saltburn from The Hollywood Reporter.

Juliette Binoche for The taste of Things from The Hollywood Reporter.

Costumer Holly Waddington for Poor Things from The Playlist and Gold Derby.

Sandra Huller for Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest from The Film Stage.

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