MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting and More / THR's Most Anticipated for 2025 / 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. 19th.  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) Angelina Jolie/Maria (4)

3) Karla Sofia Gascon/Emilia Perez (3)

4) Cynthia Erivo/Wicked (2)

5) Demi Moore/The Substance (5)

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

BEST ACTOR

1) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist (2)

2) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave (1)

3) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown (3)

4) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing (4)

5) Daniel Craig/Queer (5)

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

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) The Brutalist (2)

2) Maria (3)

3) Dune Part Two (1)

4) Nickel Boys (4)

5) Nosferatu (5)

Others: Conclave, Wicked Part 1 and The Girl with a Needle.

BEST EDITING

1) Conclave (1)

2) Emilia Perez (4)

3) The Brutalist (2)

4) Dune Part Two (3)

5) Anora (5)

Others: September 5, Gladiator II and Wicked Part 1.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1) Wicked Part 1 (1)

2) Dune Part Two (2)

3) The Brutalist (3)

4) Gladiator II (4)

5) Nosferatu (5)

Others: Conclave, Blitz and Emilia Perez.

Comment: The Golden Globes are on Sunday.  It'll be interesting to see how they shake out.  Maybe they give us some sense about the how the Oscar wind is blowing.  Oscar nomination voting begins next week on Wednesday, Jan. 8th.  I'll have some TFF Golden Globes coverage here on Monday.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER'S MOST ANTICIPATED FOR 2025

The Hollywood Reporter put up their list of most anticipated films for 2025 this week.  from that list there are six films that could be TFF #52 players:

After the Hunt/Guadagnino

The Bride/Gyllenhaal

Bugonia/Lanthimos

Frankenstein/Del Toro

Marty Supreme/J. Safdie

Untitled Baumbach/Baumbach

Here's the complete list from THR.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Jesse Eisenberg for A Real Pain from The Playlist.

Behind the Scenes of Better Man from Gold Derby.

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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: 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: 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: 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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MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting / Middleburg Film Festival Awards Are All TFF films / Interviews and Profiles: Tucci, Baker and Berger

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING

I'm updating the Lead Acting categories today.  These categories were last updated on Oct. 10th.  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: Mariann Jean-Baptiste/Hard Truths, Demi Moore/The Substance, Fernanda Torres/I'm Still Here.

BEST ACTOR

1) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist (3)

2) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave (1)

3) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing (2)

4) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown (4)

5) Daniel Craig/Queer (5)

Others: Paul Mescal/Gladiator II, Sebastian Stan/The Apprentice, John David Washington/The Piano Lesson

I'll be updating the Supporting Acting categories on Monday.

MIDDLEBURG FEST AWARDS ARE ALL TFF #51 FILMS

The Middleburg Film festival is one of America's standout regional festivals.  They traditionally schedule an incredible lineup of films each year.  This year, as usual, a number of films that screened at TFF made their way to Middleburg.  Four of those films earned Audience Awards as the fest concluded last Sunday.  

Conclave and September 5 tied for the Audience Award for Narrative Features.  The Seed of the Sacred Fig was named Best International Feature and Martha won the award for Documentary.

Other TFF films in the MFF included: All We Imagine as Light, Anora, Better Man, Carville: Winning Is Everything...Stupid,  Emilia Perez, The End, Maria, Memoir of a Snail, Nickel Boys, No Other Land, The Piano Lesson,  A Peal Pain, Santosh, Saturday Night and Separated.  

Other high profile  and non-TFF films included: Blitz, The Brutalist, Flow, Hard Truths, I'm Still Here, The Last Showgirl, Nightbitch. The Room Next Door, Sing Sing and The Wild Robot.

Complete coverage of the awards is linked here from Variety.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Sean Baker for Anora from The New Yorker

Edward Berger for Conclave from The Playlist.

Stanley Tucci for Conclave from Vanity Fair.

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MTFB Oscar Update-Lead Acting / New Trailers: Anora, Scared Fig, Better Man and More / Interviews and Profiles: Ronan, Madison, Williams and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE-LEAD ACTING

I'm updating the Lead Acting categories today and they look a whole lot like the initial predictions from Sept. 30th.   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: Amy Adams/Nightbitch, Tilda Swinton/The Room Next Door, Fernanda Torres/I'm Still Here.

BEST ACTOR

1) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave (1)

2) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing (2)

3) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist (3)

4) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown (4)

5) Daniel Craig/Queer (5)

Others: Sebastian Stan/The Apprentice, Paul Mescal/Gladiator II, John David Washington/The Piano Lesson.

NEW TRAILERS!!!

ANORA

THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG

BETTER MAN

SEPARATED

CARVILLE: WINNING IS EVERYTHING, STUPID

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Saoirse Ronan for The Outrun from IndieWire.

Mikey Madison for Anora from Awards Watch.

Director Ali Abassi for The Apprentice from IndieWire.

Ali Abassi for The Apprentice from The Hollywood Reporter.

Pharrell Williams for Piece by Piece from Vanity Fair.

Pharrell Williams for Piece by Piece from The Los Angeles Times.

Director Morgan Neville for Piece by Piece from Focus Features.

Actor Dylan O'Brien for Saturday Night from Men's Health.

Director Josh Greenbaum for Will and Harper from IndieWire.

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Oscar Experts Predict-Awards Radar / New Trailer for Emilia Perez / Maria Q+A from New York / Interviews and Profiles

 OSCAR EXPERTS PREDICT-AWARDS RADAR

I'm getting back to checking in on the current Oscar predictions for TFF #51 films from some Oscar experts.  Today I turn to Awards Radar's Joey Magidson.  Magidson's website currently has 11 TFF #51 films predicted to get 47 total nominations lead by Conclave and Saturday Night.  Awards Radar currently has no predictions for Original Song, International feature, Documentary feature or any of the Shorts categories.

Here's the breakdown:

Conclave (10): Best Picture, Direction, Actor (Fiennes), Supporting Actress  (Rossellini), Supporting Actor (Tucci), Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, Cinematography, Film Editing and Score.

Saturday Night (10): Best Picture, Direction, Original Screenplay, Production Design, Cinematography, Film Editing, Costumes, Makeup/Hair, Sound and Score.

Emilia Perez (9): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Gascon), Supporting Actress (Saldana), Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Makeup/Hair and Score.  (Note here that I fully expect Emilia to pick up at least one nomination for Song)

Anora (5): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Madison), Original Screenplay, Film Editing.

Maria (5): Best Actress (Jolie), Cinematography, Costumes, Makeup/Hair and Sound.

September 5 (2): Best Picture, Original Screenplay.

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

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

A Real Pain (1): Best Supporting Actor (Culkin).

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

Piece by Piece (1); Best Animated Feature.

Here's the link to all of Magidson's predictions at Awards Radar.

NEW TRAILER FOR EMILIA PEREZ

From YouTube:

MARIA Q+A FROM NEW YORK

Via Next Best Picture and YouTube, here is the post-screening Q+A for Maria from the New York Film Festival featuring Angelina Jolie, Ed Lachman and director Pablo Larrain:

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Director/Writer RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys from The Hollywood Reporter.

Director/Writer RaMell Ross on Nickel Boys from Film Comment.

Producers Dede Gardner and Joslyn Barnes on Nickel Boys from Indiewire.

Producers Hillary Clinton, Jennifer Lawrence and Chelsea Clinton for Zurawski v. Texas from Vanity Fair.

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Maria Revealed / Elk's Park Films and Clues / Nickel Boys Screened / International Buzz / And Then There's This... / The People's Telluride-12th Edition

 MARIA REVEALED

Are you prepared for a return of Angelina Jolie to Telluride?  Looks like that's going to happen after Pablo Larrain's film Maria (starring Jolie) will screen in Venice on Aug. 29th and then head to the San Juans.

Vanity Fair had a couple of "first look" stills up at the end of last week.

The Vanity Fair article is linked here.

ELK'S PARK FILMS AND CLUES

Long time TFFers know that in the past that the films that the fest chooses to screen in Elk's Park the two nights prior to the fest taking off on Friday often (but not always) provide clues as to who (or in the case of Apocalypse Now-what) will be getting Tributes.  The last really good year for predicting tributes based on Elk's Park films was 2019 when the free flicks were Bridget Jones's Diary, The Right Stuff and Star Wars: The Last Jedi which pointed to Renee Zellweger, Philip Kaufman and Adam Driver as tributees.  

Soooo...here's the flyer for the free films in Elk's Park:

After Hours: My bet is that if it signals anything that it's a tribute for Thelma Schoonmaker.  I'd be surprised but very excited if it were for Martin Scorsese...that's not impossible.  Or maybe it's the two of them together.  At any rate, should either or both be tributed I'd also count on a screening of David Hinton's Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger.  Scorsese is a producer of the doc (which did screen at Tribeca but TFF has presented docs from Tribeca in the past).  Schoonmaker is in the film as herself, the wife of Michael Powell, and she also is a producer.

Lady Bird: Does this validate my Saoirse Ronan theory that I first wrote about back on June 3rd?  It was my original thought that Ronan would get a tribute and that Steve McQueen's Blitz might screen at TFF as well as The Outrun.  The announcement that Blitz would world premiere in London made me alter that theory but...

I still think a Ronan tribute likely occurs and occurs with some clips from Blitz.

Hottest possibilities for a tribute beyond these two: Ralph Fiennes, Angelina Jolie, Jason Reitman, Jacques Audiard and Samuel L. Jackson.

NICKEL BOYS SCREENED

According to World of Reel's Jordan Ruimy  RaMell Ross's Nickel Boys has screened privately in London and the response appears to have been very good.  Ruimy writes:

"“Nickel Boys” just had a preview screening at London’s Curzon Soho. A few folks who attended the screening have chimed in on Letterboxd, and you can read their reactions near the tail end of this article. They’re all very positive."

Ruimy continues:

"This adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel has been loaded with buzz for months. The film stars Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. "

Nickel Boys is currently #2 on my "to see" list for later this week.

INTERNATIONAL BUZZ

Pablo Larrain, director of Maria talks to Indiewire.

Screen Daily reports that Germany will submit Mohammad Rasoulof's The Seed of the Sacred Fig as its selection for the International Film Oscar.

Variety reveals that Cannes sensation All We Imagine as Light has set a U.S. release date of Nov. 15th.  It's very likely India's entry for the International Film Oscar.

AND THEN THERE'S THIS...

From the "Local News Network/Telluride, Colorado for Aug. 21st, a report that the fest has asked the Telluride Parks and Recreation Dept. for permission to offer tethered hot air balloon rides during the fest (in Town Park) and that the request is somehow related to a "program related event".  You can see the report yourself at about the 1:48 mark:

https://www.telluridelocal.news/newsstories/tln-august-21-2024

What "program" would hot air balloons be connected to?  I'm stumped.  One follower suggested over the weekend a connection to Julian Schnabel's Before Night Falls with this balloon sequence (from YouTube):

The speculation then focused on the possibility of a Schnabel tribute and, I would assume, a screening of Hand of Dante.

A REMINDER: I WILL POST "FINAL BETS" FOR TFF #51 ON WEDNESDAY MORNING and then, of course, the actual lineup when it pops on Thursday morning.  MTFB will post daily from TFF #51.  Mostly during the fest I like to make sure to get the TBAs posted each night for the following day.  I sometimes will include what I think my itinerary will look like for each day and also an occasional comment or two about some of the film I've seen.

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-12TH EDITION

For the 12th year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.

I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

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