MTFB's Initial Set of Oscar Predictions: Supporting Acting / Gotham Awards to Honor TFF #53 Films / Visitations: Sandra Huller and Sophia Coppola

MTFB'S INITIAL SET OF OSCAR PREDICTIONS: SUPPORTING ACTING

MTFB starts out its Oscar nomnation predicitions for the 2027 awards with our initial predix for Best Supporting Actress and Actor. TFF #53 artists are in Bold.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Anne Hathaway/The Odyssey

2) Penelope Cruz/The Invite

3) Samntha Morton/The Odyssey

4) Sandra Huller/Project Hail Mary

5) Penelope Cruz/La Bola Negra

Others:  TBA/You Can See Everything, Kate O'Flynn/Tender Loving Care, Olivia Colman/Elsinore.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Andrew Garfield/Artificial

2) Paul Giammati/The Debut

3) Sam Rockwell/Wild Horse Nine

4) John Leguizamo/The Odyssey

5) Guitarricadelafuente/La Bola Negra

Others: Edward Norton/The Invite, Robert Pattinson.The Odyssey, Colman Domingo/Michael

GOTHAM AWARDS TO HONOR TFF #53 FILMS

Late ast week the Gotham Film and Media Institute announced that a number of TFF 353 films would be honored this year.  The list:

Elsinore: Gotham Legacy Tribute in honor of Ian Charleson.

La Bola Negra: Gotham Vanguard Tribute

Danny Boyle will receive the Gotham Directors tribute for Ink.

The full rundown of Gotham tributes is linked here from Next Best Picture.

https://nextbestpicture.com/the-gotham-awards-to-present-elsinore-with-the-legacy-tribute-in-honor-of-ian-charleson/

NEW CLIP FRPM FATHERLAND

From YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik6W8-d-A14

VISITATIONS

Sandra Huller on Fatherland, Rose and More from Indiewire.

https://www.indiewire.com/features/interviews/sandra-huller-interview-fatherland-rose-project-hail-mary-1235215300/

Sophia Coppola on making Marie Antoinette.

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MTFB's Initial Oscar Nomination Predictions: Lead Acting / TFF #53 Dominates Awards at Middleburg Fest

 MTFB'S INITIAL OSCAR NOMINATION PREDICITIONS: LEAD ACTING

MTFB starts out its Oscar nomnation predicitions for the 2027 awards with our initial predix for Best Actress and Actor. TFF #53 artists are in Bold.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Julianne Moore/The Debut

2) Sandra Huller/Rose

3) Inde Naverrette/Obsession

4) Olivia Wilde/The Invite

5) Renee Reinsve/Fjord

Others: Virginia Efira/All of a Sudden, Carrie Coon/The Liberation, Marion Bailey/Tender Loving Care.

BEST ACTOR

1) Andrew Scott/Elsinore

2) John Malkovich/Wild Horse Nine

3) Matt Damon/The Odyssey

4) John Turturro/The Only Living Pickpocket in New York

5) Ryan Gosling/Project Hail MarBest y

Others:Tom Cruise/Digger, Pedro Pascal/Behemoth!, Anthony Ippolito/I Play Rocky.

TFF #53 DOMINATES AWARDS AT MIDDLEBURG FEST

The Middleburg Film Fest ran Oct. 15-18th.  at its comclusion the fest announced winners of its annual Audience Awards.  

For Best Narrative, TFF #53 films took the top three spots;  

2nd Runnerup: Wild Horse Nine

1st Runnerup: Elsinore

Winner: The Debut

Best International Film; La Bola Negra

Best Documentary: 14th

The awards were reported by The Contending's Joey Moser and and his entire article can be found here.

https://thecontending.com/middleburg-awards/

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Counting Down / The People's Telluride #14 / Indiewire Points to Possible Double Oscar Nominees / This and That

COUNTING DOWN

As I post this on Monday morning ( August 24th) the reality of TFF #53 is now down to 10 days.  As with most years, the anticipation is what dominates now.  Most of the detective work is complete.  Oh, sure, they'll be some continued scuttlebutt to pass a long but in the last two weeks before the fest, additional information is hard to come by.  So now, it's about the wait.

The Patterson's will be pulling on Wednesday morning next week.  Some years ago we began to give ourselves a two day window to drive.  Breaking the journey into a two day affair gives us a bit of time to acclimate before the fest cranks up on Friday.  

It's a special year in 2026 as my grandson will be joining us.  He says he's very excited.  

So...the wait... 

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-14TH EDITION

For the 14th 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.

INDIEWIRE TALKS POSSIBLE DOUBLE OSCAR NOMINEES FOR THIS YEAR

Anne Thompson at Indiewire had a piece up on which actors might have a shot at getting more than one acting Oscar nomination for this year.  The article includes some folks who might be in Telluride next week.  

Here's the rundown from her list of possibilities who probably have films at TFF #53 (listed in the order that Thompson addresses them in the post):

Sandra Huller:  MTFB thinks Huller will have two films at Telluride: Fatherland and Rose.  She also has her roles in Project Hail Mary and Digger that could merit some Oscar conversation.

Penelope Cruz: We think Cruz's La Bola Negra will be at TFF #53.  Cruz also has roles in The Invite and Bunker.

Willem Dafoe: His Tenzing is probable for Telluride.  He also is in Werewolf and Late Fame. 

Other outside shots mentioned by Thompson include Anne Hathaway who could still potentially be at Telluride with Verity and Robert Pattinson if Primetime makes a late run from Venice to T-ride.

The complete rundown is linked here.

https://www.indiewire.com/awards/predictions/oscars-2027-double-nominees-sandra-huller-robert-pattinson-brad-pitt-1235211354/

THIS AND THAT...

***Netflix has made it official that Saturn Returns will not be a 2026 release.  That all but closes the door on any Telluride appearance.

***Tenzing will have a limited theatrical release on Oct. 9th.

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Hope for Hope? / Announced Release Dates for TFF Possible Films / Yellow Letters and Berlin

HOPE FOR HOPE?

Alex Billington at First Showing.net posted that Cannes competition choice Hope will be released in the U.S. on Sept. 9th which means it's a film that could play TFF #53...but it's cutting it very tight.  TFF will conclude on  Monday, Sept. 7th.  The film made a minor splash at Cannes and ended that fest with a 6.15 rating on the Cannes-ratins.org website.

IMDb describes it:

"A mysterious discovery is made on the outskirts of the remote harbor town. The residents find themselves in a desperate fight for survival against something they have never encountered before."

The film is being distributed domestically by NEON which doesn't diminish any chance that it could play TFF.

For the moment I'm going to put it in the "possible but not probable" column.

Here's Billington's rundown of release dates throughout 2026.

https://www.firstshowing.net/schedule2026/#aug

As a matter of fact...

ANNOUNCED RELASE DATES FOR TFF POSSIBLE FILMS

Digger 10/2 (Has been announced as not planning any festival exposure)

The Social Reckoning 10/9

Wild Horse Nine 11/6

I Play Rocky 11/13

YELLOW LETTERS AND BERLIN

Mubi posted an overview of Ilker Catak's Berlin Golden Bear winner Yellow Letters on Monday which reminded me that I haven't really mentioned that I think it has a very good shot at making the TFF lineup.  Catak was at Telluride in 2023 with The Teacher's lounge which ended up with an Oscar nomination for Best International Feature.

The description for Yellow Letters goes like this:

"The marriage of Derya and Aziz is under pressure after losing their jobs because of state arbitrariness and moving to Istanbul to live with Aziz's parents. They and their 13-year-old daughter Ezgi have to redefine their way of life."

Additionally, I think the other Berlin film that might show at The SHOW is Markus Schleinzer's Rose starring the actress of the moment Sandra Huller.  Huller won the Berlin award for Best Actress.  Rose is also being distributed by MUBI.

The description for Rose:

"A woman in the early 17th century, who is disguised as a man and wants to be a good citizen at any cost."

I'm not saying these are locks for TFF #53 by any means but, I wouldn't be surprised if one or both where in the lineup on announcement morning.

The MUBI overview for Yellow Letters is linked here.

https://mubi.com/en/notebook/posts/being-powerless-but-ethical-in-erdogan-s-new-turkey-ilker-catak-s-yellow-letters

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MTFB Oscar Update: The Big Eight Penultimate Predix / Carol Doda Has a Trailer / Interviews and Profiles

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: THE BIG EIGHT

We're down to less than three weeks before they open the envelopes on March 10th.  Here's is my latest update on the predicted winners in the "Big Eight" of the 23 Oscar categories. Today's listing also includes a film/performers previous MTFB rank to the right in parentheses.  TFF films are indicated in Bold.

BEST PICTURE

1) Oppenheimer (1)

2) Poor Things (2)

3) The Holdovers (3)

4) Anatomy of a Fall (6)

5) American Fiction (7)

6) Killers of the Flower Moon (4)

7) Barbie (5)

8) The Zone of Interest (8)

9) Maestro (9)

10) Past Lives (10)

BEST DIRECTION

1) Christopher Nolan/Oppenheimer (1)

2) Yorgos Lanthimos/Poor Things (2)

3) Martin Scorsese/Killers of the Flower Moon (3)

4) Jonathan Glazer/The Zone of Interest (4)

5) Justine Triet/Anatomy of a Fall (5)

BEST ACTRESS

1) Lily Gladstone/Killers of the Flower Moon (1)

2) Emma Stone/Poor Things (2)

3) Sandra Huller/Anatomy of a Fall (3)

4) Annette Bening/Nyad (4)

5) Carey Mulligan/Maestro (5)

BEST ACTOR

1) Cillian Murphy/Oppenheimer (2)

2) Paul Giamatti/The Holdovers (1)

3) Bradley Cooper/Maestro (3)

4) Jeffrey Wright/American Fiction (4)

5) Colman Domingo/Rustin (5)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Da'Vine Joy Randolph/The Holdovers (1)

2) Emily Blunt/Oppenheimer (2)

3) America Ferrera/Barbie (4)

4) Danielle Brooks/The Color Purple (3)

5) Jodie Foster/Nyad (3)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Robert Downey, Jr./Oppenheimer (1)

2) Ryan Gosling/Barbie (2)

3) Mark Ruffalo/Poor Things (3)

4) Robert DeNiro/Killers of the Flower Moon (4)

5) Sterling K. Brown/American Fiction (5)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) American Fiction (3)

2) Barbie (2)

3) Oppenheimer (1)

4) Poor Things (4)

5) The Zone of Interest (5)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Anatomy of a Fall (1)

2) The Holdovers (2)

3) Past Lives (3)

4) Maestro (4)

5) May December (5)

Comment: Seem to be locked: Oppy for Best Picture, Nolan/Direction, Randolph/Supporting Actress, Downey for Supporting Actor and new to the "locked" category, Anatomy of a Fall for Original Screenplay.  The Holdovers seems to have lost steam in the past couple of weeks in its bid for Original Screenplay.

Too close to call: Lead Acting races between Lily Gladstone and Emma Stone as well as Cillian Murphy and Paul Giamatti.  At the moment I am currently giving the edge to Gladstone and Murphy due to SAG Awards wins.  Also to close to call is Adapted Screenplay.  It has been a three horse race but American Fiction and Barbie seem to have created a little separation from Oppenheimer.

Currently I have TFF films winning in two of these eight categories: Da'Vine Joy Randolph/The Holdovers and Anatomy of a Fall for Original Screenplay.

Final predictions for these categories will be posted on Oscar morning, March 10th in a special MTFB post.

 

CAROL DODA HAS A TRAILER

Picturehouse has dropped a Red Band trailer for the TFF #50 Documentary Carol Doda: Topless at the Condor.  That became available on Tuesday.  Here it is from YouTube:

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Da'Vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers from NPR.

Producer Ed Guiney for Poor Things from The Hollywood Reporter.

Producer James Wilson for The Zone of Interest from The Hollywood Reporter.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Picture, Direction and Lead Acting / Clip from Totem / Interviews and Profiles

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: FIRST WINNER PREDICTIONS: PICTURE, DIRECTION, LEAD ACTING

Here's my first "educated" set of predictions for who/what will win on Oscar night, March 10th.  TFF films are in Bold.

BEST PICTURE

1) Oppenheimer

2) The Holdovers

3) Poor Things

4) American Fiction

5) Barbie

6) Killers of the Flower Moon

7) Anatomy of a Fall

8) The Zone of Interest

9) Maestro

10) Past Lives

Comment: It looks like, as has seemed true for months, that Best Picture is Oppenheimer's to lose.  I had thought that if The Holdovers could have gotten nominations for Payne, Sessa and Editing that we might have a real race.  With that scenario not coming to fruition it doesn't feel like any film is going to catch Oppy.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Christopher  Nolan/Oppenheimer

2) Yorgos Lanthimos/Poor Things

3) Martin Scorsese/Killers of the flower Moon

4) Justine Triet/Anatomy of a Fall

5) Jonathan Glazer/The Zone of Interest

Comment: If anything, Nolan has a tighter grip on this Oscar than Oppy has on Best Picture.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Lily Gladstone/Killers of the Flower Moon

2) Emma Stone/Poor Things

3) Sandra Huller/Anatomy of a Fall

4) Annette Bening/Nyad

5) Carey Mulligan/Maestro

Comment: Where Best and Direction seem foregone conclusions, this race is, at the moment, a barn-burner.  It really could go either way.  For the moment I gave Gladstone winning by the slimmest of margins.

BEST ACTOR

1) Paul Giamatti/The Holdovers

2) Cillian Murphy/Oppenheimer

3) Bradley Cooper/Maestro

4) Jeffrey Wright/American Fiction

5) Colman Domingo/Rustin

Comment: Giamatti is looking strong but Murphy is certainly still in play.

TFF films with 12 nominations in theses six categories and a projected win for Best Actor.

Next post: Supporting Acting and Screenplays. 

CLIP FROM TOTEM

Janus Films has released a clip from Mexico's entry for Oscar's International Feature award.  Totem, however, did not make the list of five nominees announced last week.  Here's the clip from YouTube:

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Writer/Director Lila Aviles for Totem from Inocinema.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Picture, Direction and Acting / The Oscar Shortlists and TFF / Surprise: Bening Tribute to Happen After All / Interviews and Profiles: Elordi, Kravitz, Randolph and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: PICTURE, DIRECTION AND ACTING

Here's MTFB's  Oscar Update.  As we move to within a month of nomination announcements I am consolidating categories for each post. Today I'm updating the Best Picture, Direction and Acting  categories.  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 (2)

3) Killers of the Flower Moon (4)

4) Poor Things (5)

5) The Holdovers (6)

6) American Fiction (3)

7) Maestro (7)

8) Past Lives (8)

9) Anatomy of a Fall (-)

10) The Zone of Interest (10)

Alternates:  The Color Purple, Air and May December.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Christopher Nolan/Oppenheimer (1)

2) Martin Scorsese/Killer of the Flower Moon (2)

3) Yorgos Lanthimos/Poor Things (4)

4) Greta Gerwig/Barbie (3)

5) Jonathan Glazer/The Zone of Interest (-)

Alternates: Bradley Cooper/Maestro, Alexander Payne/The Holdovers and Celine Song/Past Lives.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Lily Gladstone/Killers of the Flower Moon (1)

2) Emma Stone/Poor Things (2)

3) Carey Mulligan/Maestro (3)

4) Sandra Huller/Anatomy of a Fall (4)

5) Margot Robbie/Barbie (-)

Alternates: Greta Lee/Past Lives, Annette Bening/Nyad and Fantasia Barrino/The Color Purple.

BEST ACTOR

1) Bradley Cooper/Maestro (1)

2) Paul Giamatti/The Holdovers (3)

3) Cillian Murphy/Oppenheimer (2)

4) Jeffrey Wright/American Fiction (5)

5) Leonardo DiCaprio/ Killers of the Flower Moon (-)

Alternates: Colman Domingo/Rustin, Andrew Scott/All of Us Strangers and Barry Keoghan/Saltburn.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Da'Vine Joy Randolph/The Holdovers (1)

2) Danielle Brooks/The Color Purple (2)

3) Emily Blunt/Oppenheimer (3)

4) Jodie Foster/Nyad (5)

5) Julianne Moore/May December (4)

Alternates: America Ferrera/Barbie, Rosamund Pike/Saltburn and Sandra Huller/The Zone of Interest.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Ryan Gosling/Barbie (2)

2) Robert Downey, Jr./Oppenheimer (1)

3) Mark Ruffalo/Poor Things (3)

4) Robert DeNiro/Killers of the Flower Moon (4)

5) Charles Melton/May December (5)

Alternates: Willem Dafoe/Poor Things, Dominic Sessa/The Holdovers, Sterling K. Brown/American Fiction.

From these six categories, here's how TFF films are predicted:

Poor Things with four nominations and one other possibility: Picture, Direction, Actress (Stone) and Supporting actor (Ruffalo), Willem Dafoe is the added possibility for Supporting Actor.

The Holdovers with three nominations and two other possibilities: Picture, Actor (Giamatti), Supporting Actress (Randolph).  The other two possibilities are Direction and Supporting Actor (Sessa).

The Zone of Interest with two nominations and an added possibility: Picture, Direction and a possible shot at Supporting Actress (Huller).

Anatomy of a Fall with two nominations: Picture and actress (Huller).

Nyad with one nomination and one other possibility.  The nomination for Supporting Actress (Foster) and the possibility for Lead Actress (Bening).

Saltburn with no nominations but possible in two categories: Actor (Keoghan) and Supporting Actress (Pike).

All of Us Strangers possible for Actor (Scott).

Rustin possible for Actor(Colman).

Thursday's categories to be updated will be Screenplays, International Film, Documentary Feature, Cinematography and Editing.

THE OSCAR SHORT LISTS AND TFF

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the Oscar Shortlists for 10 categories on Thursday.  Those 10 categories: Documentary Feature, Documentary Short, International Feature, Makeup and Hair Styling, Original Score, Original Song, Animated Short, Live Action Short, Sound and Visual Effects.  

Making the short list in these ten categories means that a film is eligible for nomination in them.

Here's where TFF films landed on the various lists:

Poor Things, The Zone of Interest and American Symphony each made it to three of the lists.

Poor Things: Score, Makeup/Hair and Visual Effects.

The Zone of Interest: International Feature, Score and Sound.

American Symphony: Documentary Feature, Score and Song.  

No other TFF films made multiple lists but 18 other TFF films were shortlisted in various categories.  Most impressive was in the International Feature category which had nine TFF films listed.  In addition to the above mentioned The Zone of Interest these films also made that shortlist:

The Monk and the Gun

The Promised Land

Fallen Leaves

The Taste of Things

The Teachers' Lounge

Godland (from TFF #49)

Perfect Days

Totem.

In addition to American Symphony three other TFF docs made that shortlist:

Beyond Utopia

Bobi Wine: Ghetto President (TFF #49)

Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy (TFF #49)

In addition to Poor Things and American Symphony, two TFF films are also on the shortlist for Best Score:

The Holdovers

Saltburn

Three TFF films made the Documentary Shortlist:

If Dreams Were Lightning

The Last Repair Shop

Last Song from Kabul

And finally 27 made it to the Animated Short List and Strange Way of Life made it onto the Live Action Short list.

In all 27 TFF films are still alive in these 10 categories.  Nominations are announced on Jan. 23rd.

Here's the link to the complete announcement from The Academy.

SURPRISE: BENING TRIBUTE TO HAPPEN AFTER ALL

In a surprise move, Telluride's Silver Medallion that was to have been presented last Labor Day weekend to actress Annette Bening will, instead be presented at a special event in Los Angeles on January 6th.

Bening, like most actors, was unable to attend TFF #50 due to the SAG/Aftra Strike that was ongoing at the time of the fest.

The Hollywood Reporter, among other outlets, reports that the event will include a career retrospective complete with clips from Bening's films as well as moderation from her Nyad co-star Jodie Foster.  Meg Ryan will present the Silver Medallion.

The complete THR story is linked here.

 

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Da'Vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers from desertsun.com

Jacob Elordi for Saltburn from Entertainment Weekly

Jamie Bell for All of Us Strangers from The Playlist

Lenny Kravitz for Rustin from Vanity Fair

Christian Friedel for The Zone of Interest from The Film Stage

Andrew Haigh for All of Us Strangers from Time

Tran Ahn Hung for The Taste of Things from Ioncinema

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MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting / THR's 30 Films for Best Picture /Interviews and Profiles

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING

Here's your Oscar Update for today's post.  This is a check on predicted nominees for the Lead Acting categories.  They were last posted here on Nov. 23rd.  Previous positions on the MTFB Oscar Update is listed to the right in parentheses.  As always TFF films are Bold.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Emma Stone/Poor Things (1)

2) Lily Gladstone/Killers of the Flower Moon (2)

3) Carey Mulligan/Maestro (3)

4) Annette Bening/Nyad (5)

5) Sandra Huller/Anatomy of a Fall (-)

Alternates: Margot Robbie/Barbie, Fantasia Barrino/The Color Purple, Natalie Portman/May December.

BEST ACTOR

1) Bradley Cooper/Maestro (1)

2) Cillian Murphy/Oppenheimer (2)

3) Paul Giamatti/The Holdovers (3)

4) Colman Domingo/Rustin (4)

5) Jeffrey Wright/American Fiction

Alternates: Leonardo DiCaprio/Killers of the Flower Moon, Andrew Scott/All of Us Strangers and Zac Efron/The Iron Claw.

THR'S 30 FILMS FOR BEST PICTURE

I stumbled across this article from The Hollywood Reporter over the weekend.  It was posted/published a couple of weeks back.  I'm not really sure how I missed it, but I did.  Anyway, THR's Tyler Coates has put together a list of 30 films because, as the article says:

"These films are at the front of the race to the Dolby Theatre — a list that includes box office smashes, festival darlings and critical favorites."

From the list, here are the TFF films that Coates suggests are "in play":

All of Us Strangers

Anatomy of a Fall

The Bikeriders (though this looks likely to be released in 2024 now)

The Holdovers

Nyad

Poor Things

Rustin

Saltburn

The Taste of Things

The Zone of Interest

The complete article is linked here.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Emerald Fennell for Saltburn from Time.com

Cinematographer Robbie Ryan for Poor Things from Awards Watch.

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Oscar Update: Lead Acting / Trailers: Poor Things, Nyad, Saltburn, Rustin / Interviews: Butler

OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING

Here's MTFB's first Oscar Update for the Lead Acting category since the original set of predictions On Sept. 25th..  Today I'm updating the Lead Acting categories.  As usual TFF #50 films are in Bold.  A film's previous position on the MTFB Oscar chart is listed in parentheses.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Emma Stone/Poor Things (2)

2) Lily Gladstone/Killers of the Flower Moon (1)

3) Carrie Mulligan/Maestro (3)

4) Margot Robbie/Barbie (-)

5) Annette Bening/Nyad (4)

Alternates: Sandra Huller/Anatomy of a Fall, Natalie Portman/May December and Fantasia Barrino/The Color Purple

BEST ACTOR

1) Cillian Murphy/Oppenheimer (1)

2) Bradley Cooper/Maestro (4)

3) Colman Domingo/Rustin (2)

4) Paul Giamatti/The Holdovers (5)

5) Leonardo DiCaprio/Killers of the Flower Moon (3)

Alternates: Jeffrey Wright/American Fiction, Andrew Scott/All of Us Strangers and Barry Keoghan/Saltburn.

Comment: Among the Best Actress category is still seems a death match between any of the top six women.  In the Best Actor category-a nice uptick for Cooper and Giamatti.

Oscar nominations will be announced on Jan. 23rd, 2024

TRAILERS: POOR THINGS, NYAD, SALTBURN, RUSTIN

Within a few hours of last Thursday's post distributors/producers for four TFF #50 films released teaser/trailers for their films.  I honestly thought about updating Thursday's post with them but that post was already lengthy.  So, ultimately I decided to post the trailers in today's regularly scheduled MTFB offering.  Here they are from YouTube:

POOR THINGS:

NYAD:

 

SALTBURN:

RUSTIN:

INTERVIEWS: BUTLER

Austin Butler on The Bikeriders from Entertainment Weekly (and Interview Magazine).

Austin Butler from Indiewire.

Austin Butler from The Hollywood Reporter.

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American Symphony Leads Critics' Choice Doc Nominations / The Bikeriders Moves On /Trailer for The Zone of Interest / Featurette for Nyad / Trailer for The Last Repair Shop / Interviews: Payne, Huller, Morris, Triet and Baker / Last Note: KOTFM

AMERICAN SYMPHONY LEADS THE CRITICS CHOICE DOC NOMINATIONS

The awards season has well and truly gotten out of the starting gate with the announcement earlier this week with The Critics Choice awards nominations being announced.  American Symphony which debuted at Telluride a few weeks back led the parade with six nominations including Best Doc Feature, Best Music Doc,  Best Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Score according Erik Anderson of Awards Watch.

Other films that screened at TFF #50 also earned mention among the nominees including:

Beyond Utopia: Best Doc Feature, Best Political Doc, Best Direction, Best Editing

The Mission: Best Doc Feature, Best Editing, Best Score

Occupied City: Best Historical Doc, Best Direction, Best Cinematography

Orlando: My Political Biography: Best First Doc Feature

Bobi Wine: The People's President (from TFF #49): Best First Doc Feature, Best Political Doc

The Last Repair Shop: Best Short Doc, Best Score

Anselm: Best Cinematography

The Pigeon Tunnel: Best Score

The Last Song from Kabul: Best Short Doc

The Critics Choice Documentary winners win be announced on Nov. 12th.

THE BIKERIDERS MOVES ON

The word came yesterday that Jeff Nichols' The Bikeriders has moved off of its previously announced release date.  Originally the film was supposed to have debuted on Dec. 1st.  Screen Daily, among others, reported the date change.  At this point no replacement date has been announced although I did see some mention in other reports that suggest that Disney still plans to release the film in time for awards season.

TRAILER FOR GLAZER'S ZONE OF INTEREST

A24 has released a first teaser/trailer for Jonathan Glazer's brilliant The Zone of Interest.  The film is set for a limited release on Dec. 15th.  Of all of the films I saw at TFF #50, Zone is the one that has stuck with me most strongly.  Here's the teaser from YouTube:

FEATURETTE FOR NYAD

Netflix has released a "behind the scenes" featurette (3:32) for Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi's Nyad.  The film is set for a limited release on Nov. 3rd.  Here's the featurette from YouTube:

TRAILER FOR THE LAST REPAIR SHOP

INTERVIEWS: PAYNE, HULLER, MORRIS, TRIET AND BAKER

Alexander Payne from Indiewire.

Alexander Payne from Gold Derby.

Annie Baker from InterviewMagazine.com

Sandra Huller from The A.Frame

Errol Morris from Pop Culture Confidential

Justine Triet from the Canadian Broadcast Company

LAST NOTE: KOTFM

If you go see Killers of the Flower Moon this weekend, like I'll be doing, look for me.  If I made it into the film as a background player it's likely in one of two scenes.  The arrests of DeNiro and DiCaprio's characters.  Those were shot separately.  The best chance you'll have to actually see me is in the DiCaprio scene as I am in a crowd clamoring as DiCaprio is put in a car and driven away.

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Awards Daily's Oscar Squad and Telluride / Maria Callas, Angelina and Pablo / Interviews: Huller, Vasarhelyi, McBaine and Moss

AWARDS DAILY'S OSCAR SQUADE AND TELLURIDE

Today I'm continuing my occasional look at some of the Oscar experts and their predictions as concerns films that played at TFF.  Today I have a rundown from the newly released first attempt from Awards Daily's Oscar Squad.  The "Squad" consists of AD Head Sasha Stone and 10 of the folks affiliated with the site.

The Squad predicts for13 categories including: Picture, Director, Actress, Actor, Supporting Acting, Screenplays, Editing, Cinematography, Production Design, Costumes and Animated Feature.

Here's the breakdown of their predictions for TFF #50 films:

Poor Things (9): Best Picture, Direction, Actress, Supporting Actor (Ruffalo), Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Cinematography, Costumes and Production Design.

The Holdovers (5):Best Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay.

Anatomy of a Fall (4): Best Picture, Actress, Original Screenplay, Editing.

The Zone of Interest (3): Best Picture, Direction, Adapted Screenplay.

Rustin (1): Best Actor,

Nyad (1): Best Supporting Actress.

Saltburn (1): Best Cinematography.

A total of 24 nominations in these categories.

VASARHELYI TALKS NYAD

Gold Derby's Bill McCuddy has the interview with Nyad co-director Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi from the opening night of The Hamptons International Film Festival.

MARIA CALLAS, ANGELINA AND PABLO

We have a first look at a couple of photos of Angelina Jolie as opera superstar Maria Callas,  Per Indiewire the film has a SAG/Aftra interim agreement and is set to begin production this week.  An eight week shoot is planned.

I would not be surprised to see this pop up at Venice next fall and then make an appearance at TFF #51.

INTERVIEWS:

From Indiewire: Sandra Huller on both anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest.