MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting and More / Oscar Shortlists and TFF / Satellite Award Nominees and TFF / WGA Ineligibility / Interviews and Profiles

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING AND MORE

I'm updating the Lead Acting categories today as well as  Cinematography, Editing and Production Design.  These categories were last updated on Dec. 5th.  An actor's/film's  previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold. 

BEST ACTRESS

1) Mikey Madison/Anora (1)

2) Cynthia Erivo/Wicked (-)

3) Karla Sofia Gascon/Emilia Perez (3)

4) Angelina Jolie/Maria (2)

5) Demi Moore/The Substance (-)

Others: Marianne Jean-Baptiste/Hard Truths, Nicole Kidman/Babygirl and Fernanda Torres/I'm Still Here.

BEST ACTOR

1) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave (1)

2) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist (2)

3) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown (3)

4) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing (4)

5) Daniel Craig/Queer (5)

Other: Sebastian Stan/The Apprentice, Jesse Eisenberg/A Real Pain and Sebastian Stan/A Different Man.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Dune Part Two (1)

2) The Brutalist (2)

3) Maria (3)

4) Nickel Boys (-)

5) Nosferatu (4)

Others: Conclave, Emilia Perez and Gladiator II.

BEST EDITING

1) Conclave (5)

2) The Brutalist (1)

3) Dune Part Two (4)

4) Emila Perez (3)

5) Anora (2)

Others: Gladiator II, September 5 and Wicked.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1) Wicked (2)

2) Dune Part Two (1)

3) The Brutalist (4)

4) Gladiator II (3)

5) Nosferatu (-)

Others: Conclave, Blitz and A Complete Unknown.

Coming up on Monday will be updates for Supporting Acting as well as Original Score, Song and Sound.

OSCAR SHORTLISTS AND TFF

The Academy released the short listed films for 10 Oscar categories last Tuesday.  Here are the TFF films that made the cut by category:

Documentary Feature: Hollywoodgate (From TFF #50), No Other Land and Will & Harper.

Documentary Short: A Swim Lesson.

International Feature: Emilia Perez, The Seed of the Sacred Fig and Santosh.

Makeup/Hair: The Apprentice, Emilia Perez.

Original Score: Conclave, Emilia Perez.

Original Song: Better Man ((Forbidden Road), Emilia Perez (Mi Camino), Emilia Perez (El Mal), Piece by Piece (Piece by Piece) and Will & Harper (Harper and Will Go West).

Animated Short: Beautiful Men

Sound: Emilia Perez.

Visual Effects: Better Man.

No TFF films made the Live Action Short List.

SATELLITE AWARD NOMINEES AND TFF

The International Press Academy announced their film and television nominees on Monday.  Here are the results as related to TFF films:

Conclave (8): Best Picture (Drama), Direction, Actor-Drama (Fiennes), Supporting Actress (Rossellini), Adapted Screenplay, editng, Production Design and Score.

Emilia Perez (8): Best Actress-Comedy or Musical (Gascon), Supporting Actress (Saldana), Adapted Screenplay, Song (El Mal), Song (Mi Camino), Score and Sound.

Anora (6): Best Picture (Comedy or Musical), Direction, Actress-Comedy or Musical (Madison), Supporting Actor (Borisov), Original Screenplay and Editing.

A Real Pain (4): Best Picture (Comedy or Musical), Actor-Comedy or Musical (Eisenberg), Supporting Actor (Culkin) and Original Screenplay.

Nickel Boys (4): Best Picture (Drama), Direction, Adapted Screenplay and Cinematography.

Maria (3): Best Actress (Drama) Jolie, Cinematography and Costumes.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2): Best International Picture, and Original Screenplay.

The Outrun (1): Best Actress-Drama (Ronan).

The Piano Lesson (1): Best Supporting Actress (Deadwyler).

Memoir of a Snail (1): Best Animated Picture.

Best Documentary: No Other Land.

The complete list of Satellite nominees is linked here.

WRITERS GUILD DEEMS SCREENPLAYS INELIGIBLE

The Writers Guild of America have ruled a number of Screenplays ineligible for its guild's awards including a number of TFF films.  Among those films on the ineligible list are:

Conclave

Emilia Perez

The Outrun

All We Imagine as Light

The Seed of the sacred Fig

September 5

Here's the story from Gold Derby.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Jesse Eisenberg for A Real Pain from IndieWire.

RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys from Mubi.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Best Picture and More / Critics Choice Awards Nominations / Precursor Roundup / New Nickel Boys Trailer / Interviews and Profiles: Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Danielle Deadwyler and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE AND MORE

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Best Picture Direction, International, Animated and Documentary Features.  These categories were last predicted on Dec. 2nd.  A film's previous rank appears to the right of their names in parentheses.  TFF #51 actors/films are in Bold. 

BEST PICTURE

1) Anora (1)

2) Conclave (2)

3) Wicked (6)

4) The Brutalist (3)

5) Emilia Perez (4)

6) Dune Part Two (5)

7) A Real Pain (7)

8) A Complete Unknown (-)

9) Sing Sing (10)

10) Nickel Boys (-)

Others: The Substance, September 5 and Gladiator II.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Brady Corbet/The Brutalist (2)

2) Sean Baker/Anora (1)

3) Edward Berger/Conclave (4)

4) Jacques Audiard/Emikia Perez (3)

5) RaMell Ross/Nickel Boys (-)

Others: Jon M. Chu/Wicked, Coralie Fargeat/The Substance and Denis Villenueve/Dune Part Two.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1) The Wild Robot (1)

2) Inside Out 2 (2)

3) Flow (5)

4) Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (4)

5) Memoir of a Snail (3)

Others: Moana 2, Piece by Piece and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) Emilia Perez (1)

2) The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2)

3) I'm Still Here (3)

4) The Girl with the Needle (4)

5) Kneecap (-)

Others: Vermiglio, Dahomey and Flow.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1) No Other Land (1)

2) Daughters (2)

3) Sugarcane (3)

4) Will & Harper (-)

5) Black Box Diaries (4)

Others: Dahomey, Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat and Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story/

CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS NOMINATIONS

The Critics Choice Association announced its nominees for film excellence last Thursday.  TFF #51 Conclave tied with Wicked for most nominations at 11.  Emilia Perez was right behind at 10.  All togther, 14  TFF #51 films accounted for 48 nominations plus an additional nomination for TFF #50 film Janet Planet (Best Young Adult Performance).

Here are the CCA nominations for TFF #51 films:

Conclave (11): Best Picture, Direction, Actor (Fiennes), Supporting Actress (Rossellini), Ensemble, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Costumes and Score.

Emilia Perez (10): Best Picture, Foreign Language Film, Direction, Actress (Gascon), Supporting Actress (Saldana), Ensemble, Adapted Screenplay, Song (El Mal), Song (Mi Camino) and Score.

Anora (7): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Madison), Supporting Actor (Borisov), Ensemble, Original Screenplay and Editing.

Nickel Boys (5): Best Picture, Direction, Supporting Actress (Ellis-Taylor), Adapted Screenplay and Cinematography.

A Real Pain (3): Supporting Actor (Culkin), Original Screenplay and Best Comedy.

Maria (2); Best Actress (Jolie) and Costumes.

Saturday Night (2): Best Comedy and Ensemble.

September 5 (2): Original screenplay and Editing.

The Piano Lesson (1): Best Supporting Actress (Deadwyler).

Better Man (1): Best Visual Effects.

Memoir of a Snail (1): Best Animated Film.

All We Imagine as Light (1): Best Foreign Language Film.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (1): Best Foreign Language Film.

Will & Harper (1): Best Song (Harper and Will Go West).

Complete nominations can be found here.

PRECURSOR ROUND UP

I took a look at six prominent Oscar pre-cursor nominations/awards to get a feel for what films seem to be hot as we close in on one month before Oscar nominations are announced on Jan. 17th.

Pre-cursors included were:

 

National Board of Review (NBR)

American Film Institute (AFI)

Golden Globes (GG) 

Critics Choice (CC)

Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LA)

New York Film Critics Circle (NY)

Two films hit five of these:

Anora: NBR, AFI, GG, CC, LA (winner)

The Brutalist: AFI, GG, CC, NY (winner), LA (Runner-up)

Three films made four to the lists:

Wicked: NBR (winner), AFI, GG, CC

A Complete Unknown: NBR, AFI, GG, CC

Conclave: NBR, AFI, GG, CC

And five films were named by three of the pre-cursor organizations:

A Real Pain: NBR, AFI, GG

Sing Sing: NBR, AFI, CC

Emilia Perez: AFI, GG, CC

Nickel Boys: AFI, GG, CC

Dune Part Two: AFI, GG, CC

What's next are the Guilds.  Producers, Directors, Screen Actors and Writers being the primary ones to look at.

Dates for each of these nominee announcements are:

Jan. 8: Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild

Jan. 9: Writers Guild

Jan. 10: Producers Guild

NEW NICKEL BOYS TRAILER

Amazon/MGM released a new trailer for RaMell Ross' Nickel Boys on Friday.  Here it is from YouTube:

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Q+A for Zurawski v. Texas with the directors and actual participants in the lawsuit.

RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys from The Contending.

RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys from Awards Watch.

RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys from APNews.

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor for Nickel Boys from Awards Watch.

Eric Herisse and Brandon Wilson for Nickel Boys from The Contending.

John Magaro for September 5 from IndieWire.

Danielle Deadwyler for The Piano Lesson from The Playlist.

Mohammad Rasoulof for The Seed of the Sacred Fig from InSessionFilm.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Screenplays and More / The MTFB Nomination Totals

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SCREENPLAYS AND MORE

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Screenplay categories for the 97th Academy Awards.  These categories were last predicted on Nov. 28th.  A film's previous rank appears to the right in parentheses. In addition I have added first predictions for Best Costume Design, Makeup/Hair and Visual Effects.  TFF #51 films are in Bold.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Conclave

2) Emilia Perez

3) Sing Sing

4) Nickel Boys

5) Dune Part Two

Others: A Complete Unknown, The Room Next Door and Inside Out 2.

BEST  ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Anora

2) A Real Pain

3) The Brutalist

4) September 5

5) The Substance

Others: Hard Truths, The Seed of the Sacred Fig and Saturday Night.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

1) Wicked

2) Dune Part Two

3) Gladiator II

4) Maria

5) Nosfaratu

Others: Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Blitz and A Complete Unknown.

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIR

1) Dune Part Two

2) The Substance

3) Wicked

4) Nosferatu

5) Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice

Others: A Different Man, Emilia Perez and A Complete Unknown.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

1) Dune Part Two

2) Gladiator II

3) Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

4) Wicked

5) Twisters

Others: Mufasa: The Lion King, Furiosa: a Mad Max Saga and Better Man.

THE MTFB NOMINATION TOTALS

And so for the first time in this 2024-25 Oscar race, MTFB has predictions for all 20 feature film categories.  Here's what MTFB is currently predicting for TFF #51 films in as far as Oscar nominations are concerned:

EMILIA PEREZ (11) Best Picture, International Feature,  Direction, Actress (Gascon), Supporting Actress (Saldana), Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Score, Song (Mi Camino), Song (El Mal) and Sound.  The film could also end up with nominations for Selena Gomez for Supporting Actress, Cinematography and Production Design.

CONCLAVE (7): Best Picture, Direction, Actor (Fiennes), Supporting Actress (Rossellini), Adapted Screenplay, Editing and Score. Conclave could also possibly be nominated for Supporting Actor (Tucci), Cinematography and Production Design.

ANORA (6): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Madison), Supporting Actor (Borisov), Original Screenplay and Editing.

A REAL PAIN (3): Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Culkin) and Original Screenplay.  A Real Pain could also score a Best Actor nomination for Jesse Eisenberg.

MARIA (3): Best Actress (Jolie), Cinematography and Costumes.

SEPTEMBER 5 (2); Best Picture and Original Screenplay.  The film could aso snag nominations for Supporting Actor (Magaro) and Editing.

Single Nominees:

NICKEL BOYS: Best Adapted Screenplay.  Three other possible nominations: Direction, Cinematography and Supporting Actress (Ellis-Taylor).

PIECE BY PIECE: Best Song (Piece by Piece).  Also a possible additional nomination for Animated Feature.

THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG: Best International Feature.  "Seed" also could get nominated for Original Screenplay.

THE OUTRUN: Best Actress (Ronan).

THE PIANO LESSON: Best Supporting Actress (Deadwyler).

MEMOIR OF A SNAIL: Best Animated Feature.

NO OTHER LAND: Best Documentary Feature.

Films that aren't currently predicted nominees but who could still get in:

WILL & HARPER: Best Documentary  Feature and Best Original Song (Harper and Will Go West).

SATURDAY NIGHT: Original Screenplay and Score.

THE APPRENTICE: Best Actor (Stan) and Best Supporting Actor (Strong).

BETTER MAN: Best Visual Effects.

In total, MTFB predicts 13 TFF #51 films earn 40 nominations including five for Best Picture.  In addition, 16 other possible nominations that could include an additional seven TFF #51 films. WOW!

I'll be updating Best Picture predictions on Monday.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Supporting Acting and More / Golden Globe Nominations and TFF / Critics and Awards Groups from This Past Weekend / The Playlist 100 Most Anticipated for 2025 / Interviews and Profiles

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SUPPORTING ACTING AND MORE

I'm updating the Supporting Acting categories today and adding three other categories going forward.  The categories I am adding today are: Original Score, Original Song And Sound. The acting categories were last updated on Nov. 25th.  An actor's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Zoe Saldana/Emilia Perez (1)

2) Isabella Rossellini/Conclave (2)

3) Danielle Deadwyler/The Piano Lesson (3)

4) Ariana Grande/Wicked (4)

5) Felicity Jones/The Brutalist (5)

Others: Selena Gomez/Emilia Perez, Saoirse Ronan/Blitz and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor/Nickel Boys.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain (1)

2) Denzel Washington/Gladiator II (2)

3) Guy Pearce/The Brutalist (3)

4) Clarence Maclin/Sing Sing (4)

5) Yura Borisov/Anora (-)

Others: Edward Norton/A Complete Unknown, Stanley Tucci/Conclave. Jeremy Strong/The Apprentice and John Magaro/September 5.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1) Conclave

2) The Brutalist

3) Emilia Perez

4) The Wild Robot

5) The Room Next Door

Others: Blitz, Challengers and Saturday Night.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

1) Mi Camino/Emilia Perez

2) El Mal/Emilia Perez

3) Kiss the Sky/The Wild Robot

4) Piece by Piece/Piece by Piece

5) The Journey/The Six Triple Eight

Others: Winter Coat/Blitz, Beyond/Moana 2 and Harper and Will Go West/Will & Harper.

BEST SOUND

1) Dune Part Two

2) Wicked

3) Gladiator II

4) A Complete Unknown

5) Emilia Perez

Others: Blitz, Maria and The Brutalist.

GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS AND TFF

Here are the TFF films That were nominated for Golden Globes this morning:

Twelve TFF Films earned 35 Golden Globe nominations early theis morning.  Emilia Perez led all films with 10 nominations.  Here are the results from the announcement:

Emilia Perez (10): Best Picture (Musical or Comedy), Film Not in the English Language, Direction, Actress (Musical or Comedy-Gascon), Supporting Actress (Saldana and Gomez), Screenplay, Song (El Mal and Mi Camino) and Score.

Conclave (6): Best Picture (Drama), Direction, Actor (Drama-Fiennes), Supporting Actress (Rossellini), Screenplay and Score.

Anora (5): Best Picture (Musical or Comedy), Direction, Actress (Musical or Comedy-Moore), Supporting Actor (Burisov), and Screenplay.

A Real Pain (4): Best Picture (Musical or Comedy), Actor (Musical or Comedy-Eisenberg), Supporting Actor (Culkin) and Screenplay.

All We Imagine as Light (2): Best Film Not in the English Language, Direction.

The Apprentice (2): Best Actor (Drama-Stan), Supporting Actor (Strong).

September 5 (1): Best Picture (Drama).

Nickel Boys (1): Best Picture (Drama).

Memoir of a Snail (1): Best Animated Film.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (1): Best Film Not in the English Language.

Saturday Night (1): Best Actor (Musical or Comedy-LaBelle).

Maria (1): Best actress (Drama-Jolie).

The Golden Globes winners will be announced on January 5th, 2025.

The complete list of all Golden Globes nominees is linked here from Variety.

CRITICS AND AWARDS GROUPS FROM THIS PAST WEEKEND

***THE LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS AND TFF

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association named their "Best Of" yesterday.  Here's how films that played at TFF fared:

Best Picture: Anora

Best Director: Mohammad Rasoulof/The Seed of the Sacred Fig.  Runner-up: Sean Baker/Anora

Lead Performance: Mikey Madison/Anora

Supporting Performance: Yura Borisov/Anora and Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain.

Screenplay: Jesse Eisenberg/A Real Pain.  Runner-up: Sean Baker/Anora

Cinematography: Nickel Boys.

Editing: Nickel Boys and September 5 (tied).

Best Film Not in the English Language: All We Imagine as Light.  Runner-up: The Seed of the Sacred Fig.

Best Documentary: No Other land.

A full list of the LAFCA results is linked here from their website.

***EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS AND TFF

Jacques Audiard's Emilia Perez dominated the European Film Awards which announced their recipients on Dec. 7th.

Emilai Perez won Best European Film, Direction for Audiard and Best Actress for Karla Sofia Gascon.  Audiard was also awarded Best Screenwriter.  Additionally the film won Best Editing.  The other TFF winner was No Other Land as Best European Documentary.

***BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM AWARDS AND TFF

The British Independent Film Association announced its winners on Sunday evening.  TFF films winning are as follows:

Best Screenplay: Santosh.

Best Supporting Performance: Frank Rogowski/Bird.

Breakthrough Producer: Santosh.

Best Independent Foreign Film: Anora.

The complete list of all winners is linked here from the BIFA website.

THE PLAYLIST 100 MOST ANTICIPATED FOR 2025

Each year about this time The Playlist publishes a list of 100 films that they're most interested in for the following year.  The 2025 list was posted last week.  Also each year I spend some time culling the list for what feel like possible titles for TFF.  Normally I come up with a list of around 20 titles and on average 5-6 of those actually make it into The SHOW.  Last year was actually a low point for me as only four of the films I highlighted actually made it to Telluride: The End, Anora, Bird and Maria.  Nevertheless, here's my best shot at what might be in TFF #52 from this list of 100 films:

#85) Echo Valley

#73 The Actor (again)

#65) The Roses

#56) The Way of gthe Wind (again)

#52) The History of Sound

#50) Pressure

#47) Splitsville

#43) Deliver Me from Nowhere

#42) The Ballad of a Small Player

#37) Hamnet

#28) Anemone

#14) The Phoenician Scheme

#13) Untitled Noah Baunbach (Jay Kelly?)

#8) Frankenstein

#5) Untitled Alejandro Inarritu (Judy?)

#4) Bugonia

#2) Die My Love

Personally, I'm most excited for Anemone (Daniel Day Lewis unretires), Hamnet (Chole Zhao and Shakespeare) and Del Toro's Frankenstein.

The complete list of 100 films, plus some honorable mentions, is linked here.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Errol Morris for Separated from Gold Derby.

Michael Shannon for The End from Vanity Fair.

Mohammad Rasoulof for The Seed of the Sacred Fig from AP News.

Behind the Scenes: the Makking of The Seed of the Sacred Fig from NEON.

Dylan O'Brien (Dan Akroyd) for Saturday Night from Gold Derby.

Matt Wood (John Belushi) for Saturday Night from Awards Radar.

Mark Eydelshteyn for Anora from The Contending.

Director Josh Greenbaum for Will and Harper from Gold Derby.

Ali Abassi for The Apprentice from The Playlist.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting and More / New York Film Critics and TFF / Independent Spirit Awards and TFF / National Board of Review and TFF / Gotham Awards and TFF /

 MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING AND MORE

I'm updating the Lead Acting categories today and adding three other categories going forward: Cinematography, Editing and Production Design.  The acting categories were last updated on Nov. 21st.  An actor's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold. 

BEST ACTRESS

1) Mikey Madison/Anora (1)

2) Angelina Jolie/Maria (2)

3) Karla Sofia Gascon/Emilia Perez (3)

4) Saoirse Ronan/The Outrun (5)

5) Marianne Jean-Baptiste/Hard Truths (-)

Others: Nicole Kidman/Babygirl, Demi Moore/The Substance and Cynthia Erivo/Wicked.

BEST ACTOR

1) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave (1)

2) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist (2)

3) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown (4)

4) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing (3)

5) Daniel Craig/Queer (5)

Others: Paul Mescal/Gladiator II, Sebastian Stan/The Apprentice and Jesse Eisenberg/ A Real Pain.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Dune Part Two

2) The Brutalist

3) Maria

4) Nosferatu

5) Gladiator II

Others: Conclave, Emilia Perez and Nickel Boys.

BEST EDITING

1) The Brutalist

2) Anora

3) Emilia Perez

4) Dune Part Two

5) Conclave

Others: Gladiator II, September 5 and Wicked.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1) Dune Part Two

2) Wicked

3) Gladiator II

4) The Brutalist

5) Blitz

Others: Conclave, Nosferatu and A Complete Unknown.

NEW YORK CRITICS AND TFF

TFF films had a good day Tuesday with a number awards from The New York Film Critics Circle.

Best Director: RaMell Ross/Nickel Boys

Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain

Best Screenplay: Sean Baker/Anora

Best International Feature: All We Imagine as Light

Best Cinematography: Nickel Boys

Best Non-Fiction Film: No Other Land

Best First Film: Janet Planet (TFF #50)

The Brutalist was named Best Film of 2024.

The complete list of winners is here from the NYFCC website.

INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS NOMINATIONS AND TFF

Fully nine TFF films received at least Independent Spirit Award nomination yesterday.  The nine films totaled 20 nominations collectively led by Anora's five.  Here's the breakdown by film:

Anora (5): Best Feature, Direction, Performance (Madison), Supporting Performance (Burisov) and another Supporting Performance (Karagulian).

The Apprentice (3): Best Direction, Editing.

Janet Planet (from TFF #50) (3): Best First Feature, First Screenplay and Cinematography.

Nickel Boys (2): Best Feature and Cinematography.

A Real Pain (2): Best Screenplay and Supporting Performance (Culkin).

The Piano Lesson (2): Best First Feature and Supporting Performance (Deadwyler).

September 5 (1): Best Editing.

No Other Land (1): Best Documentary.

All We Imagine as Light (1); Best International Feature.

Here's the complete list of all nominees from FilmIndependent.org

NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW AND TFF

The National Board of Review released its annual list of best films from the year yesterday. TFF films fared well. from their various categories:

Top Ten Films included Anora, Conclave and A Real Pain.

Top Five international Films included: All We Imagine as Light and Santosh.

Top Five Documentaries included: Will and Harper.

Top Ten Independent Films included: Bird.

Among acting awards Conclave was named Best Ensemble.  Kieran Culkin was named Best Supporting Actor for A Real Pain and Mikey Madison was named Breakthrough Performance for Anora.

Other Special Awards for TFF films included anming The Seed of the Sacred Fig as Best International Film and NBR' Freedom of Expression Award went to No Other Land.

Wicked was named Best Film and its director, Jon M. Chu was named Best Director.

The full list of NBR awards for 2024 can be accessed here from their website.

GOTHAM AWARDS AND TFF

The Gotham Awards were presented Monday and here's a look at what TFF films were winners:

Best Director: RaMell Ross/Nickel Boys

Best International Feature: All We Imagine as Light

Best Documentary Feature: No Other Land

Breakthrough Performer: Brandon Wilson/Nickel Boys

Among Gotham Tributes were:

Performer Tribute to Angelina Jolie for Maria.

Complete Results are here from Variety.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Best Picture and More / Trailer for September 5 / Interviews and Profiles: Gomez, Gascon and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE AND MORE

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Best Picture and Direction for the 97th Academy Awards as well as first time predictions for International, Animated and Documentary Features.  These categories were last predicted on Nov. 18th.  A film's or director's previous rank appears to the right of their names in parentheses.  TFF #51 actors/films are in Bold. 

BEST PICTURE

1) Anora (1)

2) Conclave (2)

3) The Brutalist (4)

4) Emilia Perez (3)

5) Dune Part Two (5)

6) Wicked (6)

7) A Real Pain (9)

8) September 5 (-)

9) Gladiator II (7)

10) Sing Sing (8)

Others: A Complete Unknown, Blitz and The Room Next Door.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Sean Baker/Anora (1)

2) Brady Corbet/The Brutalist (2)

3) Jacques Audiard/Emilia Perez (4)

4) Edward Berger/Conclave (3)

5) Ridley Scott/Gladiator II (-)

Others: Denis Villenueve/Dune Part Two, RaMell Ross/Nickel Boys and James Mangold/A Complete Unknown.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1) The Wild Robot

2) Inside Out 2

3) Memoir of a Snail

4) Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

5) Flow

Others: Piece by Piece, Moana 2 and Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim.

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) Emilia Perez

2) The Seed of the Sacred Fig

3) I'm Still Here

4) The Girl with a Needle

5) Armand

Others: Vermiglio, Dahomaey and Kneecap.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1) No Other Land

2) Daughters

3) Sugarcane

4) Black Box Diaries

5) Dahomey

Others: Will and Harper, Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat and Union.

TRAILER FOR SEPTEMBER 5

September 5 was one of my favorite films at TFF #51.  It opens in limited release on Dec. 13th followed by expanded release on Jan. 17th.  We now have a trailer for the film and here it is via YouTube:

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Edward Berger for Conclave from Collider.

Karla Sofia Gascon for Emilia Perez from Pop Culture Confidential.

Selena Gomez for Emilia Perez from The Hollywood Reporter.

Pharrell Williams for Piece by Piece from IndieWire.

Sean Baker for Anora from Pop Culture Confidential.e

ce

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MTFB Oscar Update: Screenplays / Looking Forward / Interviews and Profiles: Angelina Jolie, Pharrell Williams, John Lithgow and More

Happy Thanksgiving one and all! 

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SCREENPLAYS

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Screenplay categories for the 97th Academy Awards.  These categories were last predicted on Nov. 14th.  A film's previous rank appears to the right in parentheses.  TFF #51 films are in Bold.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Conclave (1)

2) Emilia Perez (2)

3) Sing Sing (3)

4) Dune Part Two 9-)

5) Nickel Boys (4)

Others: The Room Next Door, A Complete Unknown and The Piano Lesson.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Anora (1)

2) The Brutalist (2)

3) A Real Pain (3)

4) September 5 (4)

5) Saturday Night (5)

Others: Hard Truths, The Seed of the Sacred Fig and The Substance.

Beginning with next Monday's post I'll begin expanding the prediction coverage to the include the other 12 Oscar feature film categories.

LOOKING FORWARD

World of Reel's Jordan Ruimy has compiled a list of 90+ "Most Anticipated films of 2025.  That's fum because I can look at it and cherry pick films that might be Telluride selections (or at least wishful thinking on my part).  It gives a starting place for TFF #52 speculation.  Of course I have no notion at this point when or even if these films will be released in a manner that compliments a T-ride play.  Nevertheless, no guts, no glory.  Here are some films from Ruimy's list that maybe make Telluride (with the director listed as well).

Die My Love/Ramsay

Judy/Inarritu

The Phoenician Scheme/W. Anderson

Bugonia/Lanthimos

The Mastermind/Reichhardt

Frankenstein/Del Toro

The Way of the Wind/Malick

Jay Kelly/Baumbach

Jupiter/Zvyaginstev

Marty Supreme/J. Safdie

The Smashing Machine/B. Safdie

After the Hunt/Guadagnino

Hamnet/Zhao

The Ballad of a Small Player/Berger

Deliver Me from Nowhere/Cooper

In the Hands of Dante/Schnabel

Orphan/Nemes

Butterfly Jam/Balagov

Non Compos Mentis/Schrader

On Land and Sea/Palmason

The Magnificent Life of Sylvain Pagnol/Chomet

The Wave/Lelio

The complete list of Ruimy's Most Anticipated is linked here.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Edward Berger and Others for Conclave from Academy Conversations via YouTube.

John Lithgow for Conclave from Awards Radar.

Angelina Jolie and Pablo Larrain for Maria from IndieWire.

Mohammad Rasoulof for The Seed of the Sacred Fig from Slant Magazine.

Pharrell Williams for Piece by Piece from Variety.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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