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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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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NBR, AFI, Spirit Noms and More / Oscar Updates: Animated Feature, Production Design, Score and Song / The Gurus are Back

 NBR, AFI, SPIRIT NOMS AND MORE

If you are a fan of Oscar precursors, you have to have been giddy with delight this week as a cascade of  high profile organizations revealed their choices for the best films of this pandemic marred year.  Herewith a breakdown of the major awards news of the week with emphasis, of course on films that were selected to play at the Telluride Film Festival.

NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW

The NBR list named Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods as film of the year.  TFF #47's Nomadland was touted as having the Best Cinematography for the year.  Nomadland also was named as one of the top ten films of the year in addition to TFF #46's First Cow.  Other TFF #47 films making the NBR grade:

Apples on the list of five Best Foreign Language Films

All In: The Fight for Democracy and The Truffle Hunters on the list of five Best Documentaries 

The Climb (from TFF #46) as one of the 10 Best Independent Films

Missing from the NBR lists: The Father, Ammonite, The Assistant, Notturno, The Way I See It, MLK/FBI, Charlatan and Never Going to Snow Again.

Here's Deadline's coverage of the NBR lists.

AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE

The AFI list of the ten best films for 2020 included Chloe Zhao's Nomadland.  It was the only TFF film from either #47 or #46 to make the list.  

Nomadland joined Da 5 Bloods, Judas and the Black Messiah, Minari, Soul and Sound of Metal as films honored by both NBR and AFI.

The complete AFI list is here from Next Best Picture.

SPIRIT NOMINATIONS

Then there were the nominations this week for the Independent Spirit awards. Never rarely Sometimes Always lead all films with seven total nominations.  TFF #47's Nomadland was well represented with five including Best Feature, Best Director (Zhao), Best Female Lead (McDormand) Best Cinematography and Best Editing.

TFF #46 films First Cow and The Assistant also landed Spirit nominations.

First Cow is nominated for Best Feature, Director (Reichardt) and Supporting Male (Lee)

The Assistant is nominated for Female Lead (Green), Best First Screenplay and Best Cinematography.

Indieiwire can be accessed here for the complete list of all Spirit nominees.

USC SCRIPTER

The USC Scripter nominees were also announced this week.  The award goes to the best adaptation of existing material into a screenplay.  The five nominees included: Nomadland (TFF #47) and First Cow (TFF #46).  Other nominees were One Night in Miami, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Bad Education.

NEW YORK FILM CRITICS ONLINE

Telluride films that were lauded by the NYFCO on their top ten list included The Assistant, First Cow and Nomadland.  Also singled out for specific praise by the group were Nomadland's Chloe Zhao for Best Director.  Nomaldand was also heralded for Best Cinematography.

The Way I See It was named Best Documentary Feature.

The organization named Minari as Best Film of the Year.

The complete listing of all of the NYFCO awards is here from Variety.

OSCAR UPDATES: MORE FRESH PREDIX

Last Monday I began adding Oscar categories to my ongoing listing of Oscar nomination predictions.  Beyond the eight major categories that I have been tracking for months I added Documentary and International Features as well as Best Cinematography and Film Editing.

Today I'm going to add first time nomination predictions for Animated Feature, Production Design, Original Score and Original Song.   Here goes nothin'!

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1)Soul

2) Wolfwalkers

3) Over the Moon

4) Onward

5) A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

6) The Willoughbys

7) Trolls: World Tour

8) Earwig and the Witch

9) The Croods: A New Age

10) Demon Slayer

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1) Mank

2) Mulan

3) News of the World

4) Emma

5) The Personal History of David Copperfield

6) Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

7) Tenet

8) The Trial of the Chicago 7

9) Midnight Sky

10) One Night in Miami

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1) Soul

2) News of the World

3) Mank

4) Midnight Sky

5) Minari

6) Tenet

7) The Trial of the Chicago 7

8) Da 5 Bloods

9) The Little Things

10) One Night in Miami

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

1) Speak Now/One Night in Miami

2) Seen/The Life Ahead

3) Rocket to the Moon/Over the Moon

4) Wear Your Crown/The Prom

5) Hear My Voice/The Trial of the Chicago 7

6) Husavik/Eurovision Song Contest

7) Wuhan Flu/Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

8) Just Sing/Trolls World Tour

9) If Only You Could Save Me/Mank

10) Fight for You/Judas and the Black Messiah

THE GURUS ARE BACK

For the third straight year I've been invited to be a Guru of Gold for Movie City News.  The first posting of that cumulative Oscar prognostication group went up yesterday morning.  In addition to yours truly, the site includes such Oscar predicting luminaries as: 

Awards Daily's Sasha Stone

TCM's Dave Karger

The Playlist's Gregory Ellwood

Collider's Jeff Sneider

The Wrap's Steve Pond

The Film Experience's Nathaniel R

The Toronto Star's Pete Howell

Awards Daily's Good as Gold's Mark Johnson 

Black Film and TV's Wilson Morales

MCN's David Poland 

and Oscar experts Thelma Adams and Robyn Bahr

Looking at the first pass from the Gurus...I land in agreement with collective at the #1 spot in all five categories that are included: Best Picture, Director, Actress, Actor and Animated Feature.

Here's the link to the brand new Gurus.

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NBR and Telluride / AFI and Telluride / Gotham Award Winners: Marriage Story Wins Big / NY Critics and Telluride / And It's Never Too Early... / Updated Oscar Predictions: International, Documentary, Animated Features

NBR AND TELLURIDE

The National Board of Review released its choices for the best films in 2019 on Tuesday.  Martin Scorsese's The Irishman was named best film of the year.  NBR also includes superlatives in a number of lists and categories.  TFF #46 standout Parasite was named Best Foreign Language Film.

Among their Ten Best films of the year were these TFF #46 entrants:

Ford v Ferrari
Marriage Story
Uncut Gems
Waves

From the NBR list of the five Best Foreign Language Films:

Pain and Glory
Portrait of a Lady on Fire

And from their list of the Ten Best Independent Films:

A Hidden Life
Judy

Other individual awards from NBR for TFF #46 films/performances included:

Adam Sandler-Best Actor-Uncut Gems
Renee Zellweger-Best Actress-Judy
Uncut Gems-Best Original Screenplay


The complete rundown of the NBR's awards is linked here from Indiewire.


AFI AND TELLURIDE

In addition to the NBR announcement on Tuesday we also saw revealed the "Best of 2019" list from the American Film Institute.

In as far as far as TFF films are concerned, only Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story made the AFI Top Ten list.  AFI did name Bong Joon-ho's Parasite as a special award winner.


Here's the complete lowdown of AFI's lists from The Wrap.


GOTHAM AWARD WINNERS: MARRIAGE STORY WINS BIG

The Gotham Awards were passed out earlier this week and Noah Baumbach's TFF #46 film Marriage Story did very, very well.  It was named Best Feature, Best Screenplay and Adam Driver was named Best Actor.  The film was also named winner of the Gotham's Audience Award.

The other TFF #46 awarded film came for Taylor Russell as Breakthrough Performer for Waves.

The complete Gothams award list is linked here from Indiewire.


NEW YORK CRITICS AND TELLURIDE

The New York Film Critics Circle also announced their " Best of" for 2019 yesterday and the list of winners included these TFF #46 entrants:

Best Director: The Safdie Brothers/Uncut Gems
Best Actor: Antonio Banderas/Pain and Glory
Best Supporting Actress: Laura Dern/Marriage Story and Little Women
Best Cinematography: Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Best Foreign Language Film: Parasite
and Randy Newman was awarded a "Special Award" One has to think that, in part, he was being recognized for his work on the score for Marriage Story


The NYFCC named Martin Scorsese's The Irishman as the Best Film of the year.

You can see the entire list of NYFCC award winners from Indiewire by clicking here.


AND IT'S NEVER TOO EARLY...

The first big list of most anticipated films for 2020 is out from The Playlist.  That outlet posted its 100 Most Anticipated Films for 2020 on Tuesday and I have culled it for the dozen films that seem the most TFF #47 friendly...at least on the surface.

Largely these 12 films make my cut based on TFF history.  Here they are (in reverse order of their position on The Playlist list):

83) The White Tiger (d. Ramin Bahrani)
66) Mainstream (d. Gia Coppola)
64) Good Night Midnight (d. George Clooney)
59) Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (d. George C. Wolfe)
55) The Trial of the Chicago 7 (d. Aaron Sorkin)
48) Stillwater (d. Tom McCarthy)
27) Nomadland (d. Chloe Zhao)
17) I'm Thinking of Ending Things (d. Charlie Kaufman)
16) Bergman Island (d. Mia Hansen-Love)
13) Nightmare Alley (d. Guillermo Del Toro)
9) Mank (d. David Fincher)
4) Dune (d. Denis Villnueve)

The Playlist's top anticipated film is Christopher Nolan's Tenet.

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


UPDATED OSCAR PREDICTIONS: INTERNATIONAL, DOCS, ANIMATED FEATURE

I'm updating my predictions today for three categories: International, Documentary and Animated Features.  Their last predicted position is indicated in parentheses;  TFF #46 films are Bold.

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) Parasite (1)
2) Pain and Glory (2)
3) Les Miserables (3)
4) Atlantics (4)
5) This Invisible Life (-)
6) Corpus Christi (-)

Other possibles: And Then They Danced, Monos, Beanpole

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1) American Factory (1)
2) Apollo 11 (2)
3) One Child Nation (3)
4) For Sama (-)
5) Honeyland (-)
6) The Biggest Little Farm (-) (TFF #45)

Other possibles: Sea of Shadows, Edge of Democracy, The Cave, The Kingmaker

ANIMATED FEATURE

1) Toy Story 4 (1)
2) Frozen II (2)
3) I Lost My Body (4)
4) The Missing Link (3)
5) How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (5)
6) Klaus (-)

Other possibles: Abominable, Funan


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NBR Happens Tomorrow / Oscar Predictions Update: Acting Categories / Film Makers Featured

NBR HAPPENS TOMORROW

The national Board of Review drops its list of best films of 2019 tomorrow.  Last year its choice for Best Film, Green Book, went on to Oscar glory winning the Best Picture Oscar.

Expect the organization to announce winners of a number of individual awards in addition to Best Film such as Best Direction, Leading and Supporting performances, adapted and original screenplays and others.  In addition expect a 10 Best list, a Ten Best Independent Films list, a Five Best Documentaries list and a Five Best Foreign Film list.

TFF #46 films that could make their way onto the NBR's various lists include:

The Aeronauts
Beanpole
The Climb
Diego Maradona
Ford v Ferrari
A Hidden Life
Judy
The Kingmaker
Marriage Story
Pain and Glory
Parasite
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
The Report
The Two Popes
Uncut Gems
Varda by Agnes
Waves

I'll have all the NBR/TFF breakdown on Thursday edition of MTFB.


OSCAR PREDICTIONS UPDATE: ACTING

Here's my latest batch of Oscar updates for the acting category nominations.  I last posted acting predictions on Nov. 21.  TFF #46 performances are Bold.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Renee Zellweger/Judy (1)
2) Charlize Theron/Bombshell (2)
3) Scarlett Johansson/Marriage Story (3)
4) Saoirse Ronan/Little Women (4)
5) Cynthia Erivo/Harriet (5)
6) Awkwafina/The Farewell (-)

Other possibles: Lupita Nyong'o/Us, Alfre Woodard/Clemency

BEST ACTOR

1) Joaquin Phoenix/Joker (2)
2) Adam Driver/Marriage Story (1)
3) Jonathan Pryce/The Two Popes (3)
4) Leonardo DiCaprio/Once Upon a Time...(4)
5) Robert DeNiro/The Irishman (-)
6) Antonio Banderas/Pain and Glory (5)

Other possibles: George MacKay/1917, Christian Bale/Ford v Ferrari, Eddie Murphy/Dolemite Is My Name, Taron Egerton/Rocketman, Paul Walter Hauser/Richard Jewell

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Laura Dern/Marriage Story (1)
2) Jennifer Lopez/Hustlers (2)
3) Margot Robbie/Bombshell (3)
4) Zhao Shuzhen/The Farewell (6)
5) Kathy Bates/Richard Jewell (-)
6) Scarlett Johansson/Jojo Rabbit (5)

Other possibles: Florence Pugh/Little Women, DaVine Joy Randolph/Dolemite Is My Name, Annette Bening/The Report, Maggie Smith/Downton Abbey

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Brad Pitt/Once Upon a Time... (1)
2) Al Pacino/The Irishman (2)
3) Joe Pesci/The Irishman (5)
4) Tom Hanks/A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (3)
5) Anthony Hopkins/The Two Popes (4)
6) Sam Rockwell/Richard Jewell (-)

Other possibles: Willem Dafoe/The Lighthouse, Wesley Snipes/Dolemite Is My Name, Alan Alda/Marriage Story, Shia LaBeouf/Honey Boy, Jamie Foxx/Just Mercy

Notes: The buzz surrounding Clint Eastwood's Richard Jewell (releasing Dec. 13) is lifting Kathy Bates, Sam Rockwell and Paul Walter Hauser into the acting conversations.   It will be interesting to see if that sustains over the next couple of weeks.

The same is true for young and virtually unknown George MacKay for his work in 1917.  The Sam Mendes film has huge buzz after some early screenings and has skyrocketed up a number of the charts from the Oscar experts for Best Picture.  Currently Awards Circuit has it at #1.   Awards Daily has it at #1 and Awards Watch has it at #4.


FILM MAKERS FEATURED

Annie Howard talks to The Two Popes Screen writer Anthony McCarten for The Hollywood Reporter here.

Anne Thompson of Indiewire talks to Adam Sandler and The Safdie Brothers about Uncut Gems here.

Joey Moser of Awards Daily talks with composer David Wingo about the music of Motherless Brooklyn.



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National Board of Review / Gotham Awards Winners / A Cascade of Interviews

Hello to all on this final Thursday of November 2018...Lots of awards news over the past few days...the season got serious this week.


NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW REVEALS ITS WINNERS

It was a good day for films from Telluride...from 2017/TFF #44 as the National Board of Review named its best films for the year on Tuesday.

Paul Schrader's First Reformed was well honored as it was named  twice.  Schrader was awarded for Best Original Screenplay and the film was named to the NBR 10 Best Films of the Years list.

Also named to the 10 Best list from TFF #45 were Can You Ever Forgive Me? and Roma.

Cold War was named Best Foreign Language Film.  Shoplifters was named one of five additional Best Foreign Language Films of the year.

Kris Tapley tweeted that Roma's inclusion on the 10 Best list precluded it from being named Best Foreign Language Film.

On the 10 Best independent films list were David Lowery's The Old Man and the Gun.  Also listed from TFF #44 were Lean on Pete and The Rider.

Free Solo was named on the list of the five Best Documentaries.

Peter Farrelly's Green Book won the top award as Best Film of the Year.

Among non-Telluride films Green Book, A Star Is Born and If Beale Street Could Talk did very well with the NBR.

Both The Other Side of the Wind and its companion documentary They'll Love Me When I'm Dead were named as winners of the William K. Everson Film History Award.

The complete winners list and more is here from Indiewire.



GOTHAM AWARDS WINNERS

 

The Indie film-centric Gotham Awards were announced on Monday evening and it was a good night for Telluride...in 2017.  TFF #44 films did incredibly well highlighted by wins for Paul Schrader's First Reformed and the win for Chloe Zhao's The Rider as Best Feature.

First Reformed's Ethan Hawke won Best Actor and Schrader won for Best Screenplay.

The only accolade of the evening for a TFF #45 film was a Special Jury Award for the ensemble of women from The Favourite which had been previously announced.

Other TFF #45 that had nominations but were shut out were: The Favourite (Best Feature, Best Screenplay), Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Best Supporting Actor) and Roma (Breakthrough Actor).

Complete coverage is here from Indiewire and Gold Derby.

The next big shoe to drop in the awards parade is The New York Film Critics Circle which happens today.


 A CASCADE OF INTERVIEWS

Alfonso Cuaron

Multiple interviews linked here with folks that played with TFF #45:


Damien Chazelle/First Man, Alfonso Cuaron/Roma, Jason Reitman/The FrontRunner and Marielle Heller/Can You Ever Forgive Me? from The Hollywood Reporter

Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira/Roma from Awards Watch

Alfonso Cuaron/Roma from Indiewire

Josh Singer/First Man from Awards Daily

Pawel Pawlikowski/Cold War (from my Tomris Laffly) Film Journal

Yorgos Lanthimos/The Favourite from Indiewire

Hirokazu Kore-eda/Shoplifters from Vulture

Tom Cross (editor)/First Man from Deadline


That's today's MTFB.  I'll have more on Monday.


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This Week's Oscar Precursors: NBR, Satellites and Gothams / Lady Bird Sets a Record / Focus on The Shape of Water

Hello to all on this Thursday...

THIS WEEK'S OSCAR PRECURSORS: NBR SATELLITES AND GOTHAMS

TFF #44 films fared moderately well with this week's release of film accolades from The National Board of Review but were largely ignored by the Gotham Awards.

The NBR named Steven Spielberg's The Post the best film of the year and also recognized Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep as Best Actor and Actress for that film.

The NBR, as it annually does also named a list of their ten best films of the year and that list included two Telluride films: Lady Bird and Downsizing.  Conspicuously absent were The Shape of Water, Battle of the Sexes and Darkest Hour.

Lady Bird also was named for Greta Gerwig's direction and for Laurie Metcalf's performance as Best Supporting Actress.

Foxtrot was named Best Foreign Language Film.

Angelina Jolie's First They Killed My Father was named co-winner of NBR's Freedom of Expression award.

Other TFF #44 films that were highlighted by the NBR  included Faces Places as one of the year's best documentaries and Loving Vincent was named to the list of ten best independent films.  A Fantastic Woman and Loveless were named to the list of five best foreign language films.

Two TFF #43 films also were lauded.  Frantz was listed in the foreign language film  category and Norman: The Rise and and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer made the independent film list.

The complete list of all winners is here from Indiewire.

The International Press Association announced the nominees for their Golden Satellite Awards yesterday and TFF #44 films were also well represented among the film nominees.  Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk led all films with 11 nominations and TFF #44 favorite The Shape of Water followed closely with 10.  

It was good news for The Shape of Water which (as you can see above) was left off of the NBR list.  Guillermo Del Toro's film was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress for Sally Hawkins, Best Supporting Actor for Michael Shannon, Direction, Original Screenplay, Original Score, Cinematography, Visual Effects, Film Editing and Art Direction/Production Design.

Lady Bird and Darkest Hour were two other TFF #44 films landing multiple nominations.  Lady Bird had six with nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress for Saoirse Ronan, Best Supporting Actress for Laurie Metcalf, Direction, Original Screenplay and Cinematography.  Writer/director Greta Gerwig will also receive a special Auteur Award.

Darkest Hour was nominated in four categories: Best Actor for Gary Oldman, Cinematography, Film Editing and Sound Mixing and Editing.

Other TFF #44 films nominated by the IPA included:

Emma Stone for Best Actress in Battle of the Sexes

First They Killed My Father, Loveless and Foxtrot for Best International Film

Loving Vincent for Best Animated Film

Human Flow was nominated for Best Documentary.

A complete listing of all nominees for the Satellites is here from The Wrap.

Meanwhile, The Gotham Awards were handed out in New York earlier this week and TFF #44, which had a meager presence among the nominees to begin with, only scored one win and that was for Saoirse Ronan as Best actress in Lady Bird.  

The night was big for Call Me By Your Name which was named Best Feature and Get out which won the most awards.

The Gotham Awards list is here, also from Indiewire.

The New York Critics are set to weigh in with their list of superlative films and performances later today.

LADY BIRD SETS A RECORD

Awards Daily and others reported this week that Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird surpassed Toy Story 4 as the film that had received the most 100% ratings from Rotten Tomatoes making it "the best reviewed film of all time of that rating service.

Toy Story 4 had held the top spot with with 163 100% ratings of critic's reviews until this week when Lady Bird hit 164.

The story from Sasha Stone at Awards Daily is here.


FOCUS ON THE SHAPE OF WATER

As Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape of Water moves closer to release a number of outlets are highlighting various participants in the film.  Included in that this week were interviews or profiles with:

Actor Michael Stuhlbarg at GQ.com

Actor Michael Shannon at RogerEbert.com

and composer Alexander Desplat with Awards Daily.com

The Shape of Water opens on Dec. 8th.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page

COMMENT to the BLOG

That's all for today.  More on Monday.

National Board of Review Names Best Films of 2014

NBR'S BEST FILMS OF 2014

Telluride Films are Bold

Best Picture: A Most Violent Year

Top Ten Films:
Boyhood
Birdman
Gone Girl
The Imitation Game
American Sniper
Unbroken
Fury
The Lego Movie
Inherent Vice
Nightcrawler

Director: Clint Eastwood/American Sniper

Actor: Oscar Isaac/Most Violent Year and Michael Keaton/Birdman (Tie)

Actress: Julianne Moore/Still Alice

Supporting Actor: Edward Norton/Birdman

Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain/Most Violent Year

Original Screenplay: The Lego Movie

Adapted Screenplay: Inherent Vice

Ensemble: Fury

Breakthrough: Jack O'Connell (Starred Up/Unbroken)

Top Ten Indie Films:

Blue Ruin, Locke, A Most Wanted Man, Obvious Child, The Skeleton Twins, Snowpiercer, Stand Clear of Closing Doors, Starred Up, Still Alice

Foreign Film: Wild Tales

Top Five Foreign Films: Force Majuere, Gett: The Trial of Vivian Amsalem, Leviathan, Two Days One  Night" We Are the Best

Documentary: Life Itself

Top Five Documentaries: Art and Craft, Jodorowsky's Dune, Keep On Keepin' On, The Kill Team, Last Days of Vietnam

Animated Feature: How to Train Your Dragon 2

NBR Freedom of Expression Awards: Rosewater, Selma


Comment:  No Foxcatcher anywhere or Theory of Everything either...

Thrilled about Keaton and Norton and the evident love for Birdman.

Independent Spirit Nominations/Predictions for NBR, AFI and NYFCC/Gurus of Gold

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone and welcome to this truncated version of MTFB/FAC.  The FAC is taking the day off and will return with an updated assessment of the Oscar race next Thursday.  Have a lovely holiday everyone!

2015 FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD NOMINATIONS

BEST FEATURE
(Award given to the producer. Executive producers are not awarded.)
“Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Producers: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher, Arnon Milchan, James W. Skotchdopole
“Boyhood”
Producers: Richard Linklater, Jonathan Sehring, John Sloss, Cathleen Sutherland
“Love Is Strange”
Producers: Lucas Joaquin, Lars Knudsen, Ira Sachs, Jayne Baron Sherman, Jay Van Hoy
“Selma”
Producers: Christian Colson, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Oprah Winfrey
“Whiplash”
Producers: Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook, David Lancaster, Michael Litvak

DIRECTOR
Damien Chazelle
“Whiplash”
Ava DuVernay
“Selma”
Alejandro G. Iñárritu
“Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Richard Linklater
“Boyhood”
David Zellner
“Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter”

SCREENPLAY
Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski
“Big Eyes”
J.C. Chandor
“A Most Violent Year”
Dan Gilroy
“Nightcrawler”
Jim Jarmusch
“Only Lovers Left Alive”
Ira Sachs & Mauricio Zacharias
“Love Is Strange”

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
“A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night”
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
Producers: Justin Begnaud, Sina Sayyah
“Dear White People”
Director-producer: Justin Simien
Producers: Effie T. Brown, Ann Le, Julia Lebedev, Angel Lopez, Lena Waithe
“Nightcrawler”
Director: Dan Gilroy
Producers: Jennifer Fox, Tony Gilroy, Jake Gyllenhaal, David Lancaster, Michel Litvak
“Obvious Child”
Director: Gillian Robespierre
Producer: Elisabeth Holm
“She’s Lost Control”
Director-producer: Anja Marquardt
Producers: Mollye Asher, Kiara C. Jones

FIRST SCREENPLAY
Desiree Akhavan
“Appropriate Behavior”
Sara Colangelo
“Little Accidents”
Justin Lader
“The One I Love”
Anja Marquardt
“She’s Lost Control”
Justin Simien
“Dear White People”

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD – Given to the best feature made for under $500,000. Award given to the writer, director and producer. Executive producers are not awarded.
“Blue Ruin”
Writer-director: Jeremy Saulnier
Producers: Richard Peete, Vincent Savino, Anish Savjani
“It Felt Like Love”
Writer-director-producer: Eliza Hittman
Producers: Shrihari Sathe, Laura Wagner
“Land Ho!”
Writers-directors: Aaron Katz & Martha Stephens
Producers: Christina Jennings, Mynette Louie, Sara Murphy
“Man From Reno”
Writer-director: Dave Boyle
Writers: Joel Clark, Michael Lerman
Producer: Ko Mori
“Test”
Writer-director-producer: Chris Mason Johnson
Producer: Chris Martin

FEMALE LEAD
Marion Cotillard
“The Immigrant”
Rinko Kikuchi
“Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter”
Julianne Moore
“Still Alice”
Jenny Slate
“Obvious Child”
Tilda Swinton
“Only Lovers Left Alive”

MALE LEAD
André Benjamin
“Jimi: All Is by My Side”
Jake Gyllenhaal
“Nightcrawler”
Michael Keaton
“Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
John Lithgow
“Love Is Strange”
David Oyelowo
“Selma”

SUPPORTING FEMALE
Patricia Arquette
“Boyhood”
CIO, CTO & Developer Resources
Jessica Chastain
“A Most Violent Year”
Carmen Ejogo
“Selma”
Andrea Suarez Paz
“Stand Clear of the Closing Doors”
Emma Stone
“Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”

SUPPORTING MALE
Riz Ahmed
“Nightcrawler”
Ethan Hawke
Boyhood
Alfred Molina
“Love Is Strange”
Edward Norton
“Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
J.K. Simmons
Whiplash

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Darius Khondji
“The Immigrant”
Emmanuel Lubezki
“Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Sean Porter
“It Felt Like Love”
Lyle Vincent
“A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night”
Bradford Young
“Selma”

EDITING
Sandra Adair
“Boyhood”
Tom Cross
“Whiplash”
John Gilroy
“Nightcrawler”
Ron Patane
“A Most Violent Year”
Adam Wingard
“The Guest”

DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)
“20,000 Days on Earth”
Directors: Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard
Producers: Dan Bowen, James Wilson
“CitizenFour”
Director-producer: Laura Poitras
Producers: Mathilde Bonnefoy, Dirk Wilutzky
“Stray Dog”
Director: Debra Granik
Producer: Anne Rosellini
“The Salt of the Earth”
Directors: Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and Wim Wenders
Producer: David Rosier
“Virunga”
Director-producer: Orlando von Einsiedel
Producer: Joanna Natasegara

INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)
“Force Majeure”
(Sweden)
Director: Ruben Östlund
“Ida”
(Poland)
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
“Leviathan
(Russia)
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Mommy
(Canada)
Director: Xavier Dolan
Norte, the End of History
(Philippines)
Director: Lav Diaz
Under the Skin
(United Kingdom)
Director: Jonathan Glazer

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD – (Given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast)
Inherent Vice
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Casting Director: Cassandra Kulukundis
Ensemble Cast: Josh Brolin, Martin Donovan, Jena Malone, Joanna Newsom, Joaquin Phoenix, Eric Roberts, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short Serena Scott Thomas, Benicio Del Toro, Katherine Waterston, Michael Kenneth Williams, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon

SPECIAL DISTINCTION AWARD
Foxcatcher
Director/Producer: Bennett Miller
Producers: Anthony Bregman, Megan Ellison, Jon Kilik
Writers: E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman
Actors: Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, Channing Tatum

18th ANNUAL PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD – The 18th annual Producers Award, sponsored by Piaget, honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Piaget.
Chad Burris
Elisabeth Holm
Chris Ohlson

21st ANNUAL KIEHL’S SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD – The 21st annual Someone to Watch Award, sponsored by Kiehl’s Since 1851, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Kiehl’s Since 1851.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
H.
Directors: Rania Attieh & Daniel Garcia
The Retrieval
Director: Chris Eska

20th ANNUAL LENSCRAFTERS TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD – The 20th annual Truer Than Fiction Award, sponsored by LensCrafters is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by LensCrafters.
Approaching the Elephant
Director: Amanda Rose Wilder
Evolution of a Criminal
Director: Darius Clark Monroe
The Kill Team
Director: Dan Krauss
The Last Season
Director: Sara Dosa

A big day for TFF #41 film "Birdman" which led all films with six nominations.  The Hollywood Reporter breaks down the nominations here:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/independent-spirit-awards-good-news-752291

PREDICTIONS FOR NBR, AFI AND NYFCC

Awards Daily's Sasha Stone takes a look at the first wave of year-end superlatives list of films from The National Board of Review, American Film Institute and the New York Film Critics that will be announced in the next few days and makes some predictions about what we might see when those are announced:

http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/2014/11/predicting-afi-producers-guild

http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/2014/11/predicting-new-york-film-critics-national-board-of-review-and-los-angeles-film-critics/

GURUS OF GOLD

Here's the latest update from The Movie City News Gurus of Gold  predictions for Best Picture:

http://moviecitynews.com/2014/11/gurus-o-gold-thanksgiving-week/

Have a great weekend everyone...more on Monday!