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.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Supporting Acting / TFF #51 Films Awarded / Behind the Scenes: Maria / TFF Films Qualify / Interviews and Profiles: Ronan, Lithgow, Rossellini and More

 MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SUPPORTING ACTING

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Supporting Acting categories for the 97th Academy Awards.  These categories were last predicted on Nov. 11th.  An actor's previous rank appears to the right of their names in parentheses.  TFF #51 actors/films are in Bold.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Zoe Saldana/Emilia Perez (1)

2) Isabella Rossellini/Conclave (4)

3) Danielle Deadwyler/The Piano Lesson (2)

4) Ariana Grande/Wicked (-)

5) Felicity Jones/The Brutalist (5)

Others: Saoirse Ronan/Blitz, Selena Gomez/Emilia Perez 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) Stanley Tucci/Conclave (5)

Others: Yura Borisov/Anora, Jeremy Strong/The Apprentice and John Magaro/September 5.

TFF #51 FILMS AWARDED

The Palm Springs International Film Fest names Kieran Culkin winner of its Breakthrough Performance Award.

BEHIND THE SCENES: MARIA

From Netflix via YouTube here's a behind the scenes video for the film Maria starring Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas.

TFF FILMS QUALIFY

Official lists of films that have qualified for Academy Award consideration for Best Animated Feature, Best International Feature and Best Documentary Feature were released by The Academy this week.  Here are the qualifiers that screened at TFF by category:

Animated Feature:

Memoir of a Snail

Piece by Piece

International Feature:

Emilia Perez/France

Santosh/United Kingdom

The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Germany

Documentary Feature:

Blink

Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid

Casa Bonita, Mi Amor

Food Inc. 2*

Hollywoodgate*

Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger

Martha

No Other Land

Piece by Piece

Separated

Will and Harper

Zurawski v. Texas

The complete lists can be accessed here via Awards Watch.

*Screened in TFF #50.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Saoirse Ronan for The Outrun from Awards Watch.

Saoirse Ronan for The Outrun from Awards Radar.

Isabella Rossellini for Conclave from IndieWire.

John Lithgow for Conclave from Awards Watch.

Leonie Benesch for September 5 from Gold Derby.

Director Tim Fehlbaum for September 5 from The Hollywood Reporter.

Mark Eydershteayn for Anora from Gold Derby.

Yura Borisov for Anora from Next Best Picture.

Jesse Eisenberg for A Real Pain from IndieWire.

Gabriel LaBelle for Saturday Night from Awards Watch.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting / New Trailer for The Piano Lesson / Zurawski v. Texas Has International Sales Rep / TFF #51 Films Winning Awards / Interviews and Profiles for Saturday Night, Conclave and Piece by Piece

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING

I'm updating the Lead Acting categories today.  These categories were last updated on Nov. 6th.  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) Nicole Kidman/Babygirl (4)

5) Saoirse Ronan/The Outrun (5)

Others: Marianne Jean-Baptiste/Hard Truths, Demi Moore/The Substance and Tilda Swinton/The Room Next Door.

BEST ACTOR

1) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave (2)

2) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist (1)

3) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing (3)

4) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown (4)

5) Daniel Craig/Queer (5)

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

NEW TRAILER FOR THE PIANO LESSON

Netflix released a new trailer for Malcom Washington's The Piano Lesson on Tuesday.  Here it is via YouTube: 

The Piano Lesson is already in limited release.

ZURAWSKI V. TEXAS HAS INETRNATIONAL SALES REP (BUT WHY NO DOMESTIC DISTRIBUTION???)

Scree Daily reported this week that Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault's powerful documentary Zurawski v. Texas has had its international sales rights acquired by Together Films.  That comes as the multi-award winning film still lacks domestic distribution.  And I want to know why.

The film has won awards from the following film fests: Hamptons, Heartland (Indianapolis), Mill Valley, Montclair, Philadelphia, Sant Fe and others and has had a number of special screening both live and virtually.

Here is an interview from Together Films for the Academy Conversations series via YouTube:

Here's the story on the acquisition from Screen Daily.

TFF #51 FILMS WINNING AWARDS

Angelina Jolie will be presented the Desert Palm achievement  Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.  Here's the story of that award from Next Best Picture.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Gabrielle LaBelle for Saturday Night from Next Best Picture.

Isabella Rossellini for Conclave from Awards Watch.

Edward Berger for Conclave from The Contending.

Morgan Neveille for Piece by Piece from Next Best Picture.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Best Picture and Direction / Poster and Trailer for Better Man / Making of and Behind the Scenes: Anora, Emilia Perez and Conclave / Interviews and Profiles: Rasoulof, Kapadia and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTION

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Best Picture and Direction for the 97th Academy Awards.  These categories were last predicted on Nov. 4th.  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) Emilia Perez (3)

4) The Brutalist (4)

5) Dune Part Two (5)

6) Wicked (10)

7) Gladiator II (6)

8) Sing Sing (9)

9) A Real Pain (7)

10) Blitz (-)

Others: A Complete Unknown, September 5 and The Room Next Door.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Sean Baker/Anora (2)

2) Brady Corbet/The Brutalist (1)

3) Edward Berger/Conclave (4)

4) Jacques Audiard/Emilia Perez (3)

5) Denis Villenueve/Dune Part Two (-)

Others: Ridley Scott/Gladiator II, RaMell Ross/Nickel Boys and James Mangold/A Complete Unknown

BETTER MAN POSTER AND TRAILER

Here they are from director Michael Gracey, the film about musician Robbie Williams:

MAKING OF AND BEHIND THE SCENES

For Anora from The Hollywood Reporter.

For Anora from IndieWire.

For Emilia Perez from The Hollywood Reporter.

For Conclave from Next Best Picture.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Mohammad Rasoulof for The Seed of the Sacred Fig from Film at Lincoln Center.

Paypal Kapadia for All We Imagine as Light from Slant.

Cory Michael Smith (Chevy Chase) from Saturday Night from The Contending.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Screenplays / Will and Harper Tops Critics' Choice / Interviews and Profiles: Deadwyler, Keogahn and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SCREENPLAYS

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Screenplay categories for the 97th Academy Awards.  These categories were last predicted on Oct. 31st.  An film's previous rank appears to the right of their names in parentheses.  TFF #51 actors/films are in Bold.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Conclave (1)

2) Emilia Perez (2)

3) Sing Sing (3)

4) Nickel Boys (4)

5) The Room Next Door (-)

Others: Dune Part Two, A Complete Unknown and Inside Out 2.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Anora (1)

2) The Brutalist (2)

3) A Real Pain (3)

4) September 5 (4)

5) Saturday Night (5)

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

Best Picture nomination predictions will be updated on Monday.

HARPER AND WILL TOP CRITIC'S CHOICE

The Critics' Choice Awards for documentaries were announce this week and TFF #51 film Will and Harper tied with Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story as Best Documentary feature for the year.  Will and Harper finished in the #2 spot in this year's MTFB People's poll just behind Zurawski v. Texas.

The complete list of all of the awards from The Critics' Choice is here from Deadline.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Danielle Deadwyler for The Piano Lesson from The Contending.

Danielle Deadwyler for The Piano Lesson from Variety.

Chelsea Clinton and Amanda Zurawski for Zurawsi v. Texas from Marie Claire.

Sebastian Stan for The Apprentice from The Hollywood Reporter.

Barry Keoghan and Others for Bird from Next Best Picture.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Supporting Acting / TFF Films and the Best of the 2020's / Awards for TFF Films / Interviews and Profiles: Washington and Arnold

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SUPPORTING ACTING

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Supporting Acting categories for the 97th Academy Awards.  These categories were last predicted on Oct. 28th.  An actor's previous rank appears to the right of their names in parentheses.  TFF #51 actors/films are in Bold.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Zoe Saldana/Emilia Perez (1)

2) Danielle Deadwyler/The Piano Lesson (2)

3) Saoirse Ronan/Blitz (4)

4) Isabella Rossellini/Conclave (3)

5) Felicity Jones/The Brutalist (5)

Others: Selena Gomez/Emilia Perez, Ariana Grande/Wicked and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor/Nickel Boys.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Keiran Culkin/A Real Pain (1)

2) Denzel Washington/Gladiator II (2)

3) Guy Pearce/The Brutalist (3)

4) Clarence Maclin/Sing Sing (4)

5) Stanley Tucci/Conclave (5)

Others: John Magaro/September 5, Jeremy Strong/The Apprentice and Yura Borisov/Anora.

TFF FILMS AND THE BEST OF THE HALF DECADE

Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel invited me and more than one hundred other "critics" to name a  list of the Best films of the first half of the 2020's.  The results were posted Saturday.  Among the top twenty were eight that played at one of the decade's TFFs.  They were: TAR, The Zone of Interest, Anatomy of a Fall, The Power of the Dog, Poor Things, Anora, Aftersun and All of Us Strangers. 

Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer topped the list.  My List for the poll was: Nomadland, Oppenheimer, Poor Things, The Power of the Dog and The Zone of Interest.

The complete list from World of Reel is linked here.

AWARDS FOR TFF FILMS

Mikey Madison to recieve Breakthrough Performance Award from Palm Springs Fest.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Director Malcolm Washington and writer Virgil Williams on The Piano Lesson from TIFF.net.

Andrea Arnold for Bird from Mubi.com.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting / European Film Awards Nominations / British Independent Film Awards Nominations / Trailer for The End /Interviews and Profiles : Saldana, Eisenberg and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING

I'm updating the Lead Acting categories today.  These categories were last updated on Oct. 24th.  An actor's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold. 

BEST ACTRESS

1) Mikey Madison/Anora

2) Angelina Jolie/Maria

3) Karla Sofia Gascon/Emilia Perez

4) Saoirse Ronan/The Outrun

5) Nicole Kidman/Babygirl

Others: Demi Moore/The Substance, Marianne Jean-Baptiste/Hard Truths and Tilda Swinton/The Room Next Door.

BEST ACTOR

1) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist

2) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave

3) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing

4) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown

5) Daniel Craig/Queer

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

TFF NOMINATIONS FOR EFA AND BIFA

TFF films were well represented in films nominated for the European Film Awards announced earlier this week.

Emilia Perez (4): Best European Film, Direction, Actress (Gascon), Screenwriter.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (3): Best European Film, Direction, Screenwriter.

No Other Land (2): Best European Film, Documentary.

They Shot the Piano Player (TFF #50) (2): Best European Feature, Animated Feature.

Bird (2) Best Direction, Actor (Rogowski).

Santosh (1) Best Discovery

Conclave (1): Best Actor (Fiennes).

TFF films also were recognized with nominations for the British Independent Film Awards:

The Outrun (9): Best British Independent Film, Direction, Lead Performance (Ronan), Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Makeup/Hair, Original Music and Sound. 

Bird (7): Best Direction, Supporting Performance (Rogowski and Keoghan), Breakthrough Performance (Adams), Casting, Editing and Original Music.

Santosh (4): Best British Independent Film, Screenplay, Breakthrough Producer and Debut Screenwriter.

All We Imagine as Light (1): Best Independent International Film.

Anora (1): Best Independent International Film.

La Chimera (from TFF #50) (1): Best Independent International Film.

No Other Land (1): Best Independent International Film.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (1): Best Independent International Film.

TRAILER FOR THE END

From NEON via YouTube:

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Chelsea Clinton for Zurawski v. Texas from Marie Claire

Jesse Eisenberg for A Real Pain from Vanity Fair.

Zoe Saldana for Emilia Perez from The Hollywood Reporter.

Co-director Abbie Perrault for Zurawski v. Texas from Next Best Picture.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Best Picture and Direction / Trailers and Clips: Conclave and Emilia Perez / TFF Films Awarded / Interviews and Profiles

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTION

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Best Picture and Direction for the 97th Academy Awards.  These categories were last predicted on Oct. 21st.  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) Emilia Perez (4)

4) The Brutalist (3)

5) Dune Part Two (5)

6) Gladiator II (6)

7) A Real Pain (10)

8) A Complete Unknown (-)

9) Sing Sing (7)

10) Wicked (-)

Others: Blitz, September 5 and Nickel Boys.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Brady Corbet/The Brutalist (1)

2) Sean Baker/Anora (2)

3) Jacques Audiard/Emilia Perez (3)

4) Edward Berger/Conclave (4)

5) Ridley Scott/Gladiator II (-)

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

***BEHIND THE SCENES OF CONCLAVE

***SELENA GOMEZ SINGS MI CAMINO FROM EMILIA PEREZ

TFF FILMS AWARDED

Zurawski v. Texas wins Hampton Doc Fest Human Rights Award.

Santa Barbara Film Fest names Ralph Fiennes Performer of the Year.

Angelina Jolie to recieve Permance Tribute from the Gotham Awards.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Isabella Rossellini for Conclave from Variety.

Edward Berger for Conclave from Awards Watch.

Ralph Fiennes (and others) for Conclave from The Hollywood Reporter.

Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain from Indiewire.

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