MTFB Oscar Take: After Short Lists: Cinematography, Editing, Score and Song / Oscar Shortlist and TFF / London Film Critics and TFF

MTFB OSCAR TAKE AFTER SHORT LISTS:  CINEMATOGRAPHY, EDITING, SCORE AND SONG

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Sinners (3)

2) One Battle after Another (2)

3) Hamnet (1)

4) Frankenstein (4)

5) Train Dreams (5)

Others: F1, Marty Supreme and Nouvelle Vague.

BEST EDITING

1) One Battle After Another (1)

2) Sinners (2)

3) F1 (4)

4) Marty Supreme (5)

5) Hamnet (3)

Others: Frankenstein, It Was Just an Accident and Sentimental Value.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1) Sinners (1)

2) One Battle After Another (2)

3) Hamnet (3)

4) Frankenstein (4)

5) Train Dreams (NR)

Others: F1, Marty Supreme and Bugonia.

ORIGINAL SONG

1) Golden/K Pop Demon Hunters (1)

2) I Lied to You/Sinners (2)

3) Dear Me/Diane Warren: Relentless (3)

4) The Girl in the Bubble/Wicked: For Good (4)

5) Train Dreams/Train Dreams (NR)

Others: Last Time (I Seen the Sun)/Sinners, No Place Like Home/Wicked: For Good and Drive/F1. 

OSCAR SHORTLISTS AND TFF

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its Shortlists for 12 different categories as Academy members get ready to cast their votes to nominate films and individuals for the 2026 Oscars. At this point a film can only be nominated in any of the 12 categories if they have been shortlisted.

Among the films from TFF #52 Frankenstein lead the way with six mentions.  Overall TFF #52 were mentioned 27 times across a broad array of the ten categories.  Here' where TFF films landed:

Frankenstein (6): Best Casting, Cinematography, Makeup/Hair, Score, Sound and Visual Effects.

Hamnet (3): Casting, Cinematography and Score.

Sentimental Value (3): Casting, Cinematography and International Feature.

The Secret Agent (2): Best International Feature and Casting.

Bugonia (2): Best Cinematography and Score.

TFF #52* feature films with Single mentions:

The Ballad of a Small Player: Cinematography.

Nouvelle Vague: Cinematography.

Cover-Up: Documentary.

Apocalypse in the Tropics: Documentary (*TFF #51)

It was Just an Accident: International Feature.

Jay Kelly: Score.

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere" Sound.

TFF #52 Short Films:

All the Empty Rooms: Doc Short.

All the Walls Come Down: Doc Short.

Last Days on Lake Trinity: Doc Short.

Extremist: Live Action Short.

The complete list of all Oscar Short Lists can be found here.

LONDON FILM CRITICS AND TFF

The London Film Critics Circle has named their nominees for film excellence.  Here's how TFF #52 faired:

Hamnet (8): Film of the Year, British/Irish Film of the Year, Director of the Year, Screenwriter of the Year, Actress of the Year, British/Irish Performer of the Year, Young British/Irish Performer of the Year (X 2).

The Mastermind (4): Film of the Year, Actor of the Year, British/Irish Performer of the Year, Technical Achievement: Music.

Sentimental Value (4): Film of the Year, Foreign Film of the Year, Actress of the Year, Supporting Actress of the Year.

Pillion (3): British/Irish Film of the Year, Supporting Actor of the Year, Breakthrough Filmmaker.

The Secret Agent (2): Foreign Film of the Year, Actor of the Year.

Urchin (2): Breakthrough Performer of the Year, Breakthrough Filmmaker.

Single nominations for:

It was Just an Accident: Foreign Film of the Year.

Cover-Up: Documentary of the Year.

One to One: John and Yoko: Documentary of the Year (*TFF 51)

Riefenstahl: Documentary of the Year (*TFF 51)

Bugonia: British/Irish Film of the Year

Blue Moon: Actor of the Year.

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You: Actress of the Year.

Frankenstein: Supporting actor of the Year.

The complete list of all London Critics nominees is linked here.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Score, Cinematography, Editing and Production Design / What the Experts Are Saying: Part Two / The London Film Critics Circle and TFF / Interviews and Profiles

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: WINNERS FOR SCORE, CINEMATOGRAPHY, EDITING AND PRODUCTION DESIGN

In this post I'm continuing my first "educated" set of predictions for who/what will win on Oscar night, March 10th.  The focus for this post is initial projections for which films will win for Score, Cinematography, Editing and Production Design..  As always TFF films are in Bold.

ORIGINAL SCORE

1) Oppenheimer

2) Killers of the Flower Moon

3) Poor Things

4) American Fiction

5) Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Oppenheimer

2) Killers of the Flower Moon

3) Poor Things

4) Maestro

5) El Conde

EDITING

1) Oppenheimer

2) Killers of the Flower Moon

3) Anatomy of a Fall

4) Poor Things

5) The Holdovers

PRODUCTION DESIGN

1) Barbie

2) Poor Things

3) Oppenheimer

4) Killers of the Flower Moon

5) Napoleon

Comment: I'm currently predicting that Oppenheimer wins three of the four categories from today's list with Barbie picking up the fourth category.  TFF films' best chances are with Poor Things in Production Design.

Next Monday...winner predictions for Visual effects, Sound, Costumes and Makeup/Hair.

WHAT THE EXPERTS ARE SAYING: PART TWO

I've decided for each post between now and the Oscars to share where some of the top Oscarologists are in terms of predicting the 23 category winners. Today I'm sharing the publicly posted current predictions from Erik Anderson of Awards Watch and Joey Magidson of Awards Radar.  as with my predictions above, TFF films are in Bold.

From Erik Anderson/Awards Watch:

Oppenheimer (7): Best Picture, Direction, Supporting Actor, Cinematography, Editing, Score and Sound.

Barbie (4): Best Adapted Screenplay, Costume, Production Design and Song (What Was I Made For?).

The Holdovers (2): Best Actor and Supporting Actress.

Films with single Oscar wins:

Killers of the Flower Moon: Best Actress.

Anatomy of a Fall: Best Original Screenplay.

The Zone of Interest: Best International Feature.

Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse: Best Animated Feature

20 Days in Mariupol; Best Documentary Feature.

Maestro: Best Makeup/Hair

The Creator: Best Visual Effects.

War Is Over: Best Animated Short

Nai Nai and Wai Po: Best Documentary Short.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar: Best Live Action Short.

Three TFF films will win a total of four Oscars should Anderson be 100% accurate.

And from Joey Magidson of Awards Radar:

Oppenheimer (7): Best Picture, Direction, Supporting Actor, Cinematography, Editing, Score and Sound.

Barbie (3): Best Adapted Screenplay, Costumes and Song (What Was I Made For?).

The Holdovers (2): Best Actor and Supporting Actress

Poor Things (2): Production Design and Makeup/Hair.

Films with single Oscar wins:

Killers of the Flower Moon: Best Actress.

Anatomy of a Fall: Best Original Screenplay.

The Zone of Interest: Best International Feature.

Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse: Best Animated Feature.

20 Days in Mariupol: Best Documentary Feature.

The Creator: Best Visual Effects.

War Is Over: Best Animated Short.

The Last Repair Shop: Best Documentary Short.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar: Best Live Action Short.

If Magidson is spot on then five TFF films win a total of seven Oscars.

THE LONDON FILM CRITICS CIRCLE AND TFF

The London Film Critics Circle announced their winners for cinema achievement last weekend.  In total, five TFF films/performers earned nine LFCC honors lead by The Zone of Interest with three.  Here's the rundown:

The Zone of Interest (3): Film of the Year, Director of the Year and the LFCC Technical Achievement Award.

All of Us Strangers (3): Actor of the Year (Scott), British/Irish Film of the Year and British/Irish Performer of the Year (Mescal).

Anatomy of a Fall (1): Screenwriters of the Year.

Poor Things (1): Actress of the Year.

The Holdovers (1): Supporting Actress of the Year.

In addition, the LFCC recognized Rustin's Colman Domingo with the Derek Malcolm Award for Innovation.

The complete set of winners was reported by Next Best Picture. That is linked here.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Behind the Scenes of  the Production Design for Poor Things from Indiewire.

Director Tran Anh Hung for The Taste of Things from the Film at Lincoln Center Podcast.

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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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