Very Early 2015 Oscar Predictions

Yesterday was the first voting day for Academy members and well, also since yesterday articles putting down possible Oscar contenders started to appear and/or get more media attention; we can effectively say that the Oscar race has begun with the good and the ugly sides of this infamous race in full bloom.

We will learn what Academy members voted as nomination worthy next January 15 and at least two films, Selma and The Imitation Game, are walking the route -that once had to walk Zero Dark Thirty- where some claim factual inaccuracies. Zero Dark Thirty claimed inaccuracies -which now we know that were not thanks to latest CIA leaks- cost the movie to fade from Oscar accolades after being highly favored by film critics, not surprisingly another film by a female director, Ava Duvernay's Selma, is also under attack -and yes, even Angelina Jolie's Unbroken has had some "inaccuracy" buzz. There must be something going on with Media and female directors stories, as male directors hardly get any inaccuracy buzz even when is evident. Sigh.

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2014 Lux Prize Winner

On December 17 the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, in the European Parliament's plenary session in Strasbourg announced the winner of the LUX Prize and as expected by many, outstanding Ida by Pawel Pawlikowski got the European cinema honor.

Since the very moment I saw this film, I was highly impressed by the breathtaking cinematography that in conjunction with a striking story blew my mind; still recall my friend telling me (not asking) that he was sure I loved the movie as according to him, this was my kind of movie. He was right. For me, the icing on the cake is that film has been winning the big awards in this year awards season and know that its award winning streak has not ended yet.

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87th Academy Awards Foreign Language Films Shortlist

While traveling almost faint when the Academy announced the shortlist of nine films that advanced to get a nomination as there were some great selections but what shocked me is one film that was no better than a regular-average Venezuelan Telenovela advancing and occupying a spot that should belong one of the many out-of-the-ordinary films that were submitted to Oscar.

It is obvious that no one can control this category no matter how you modify the procedure as leaving out films like Cannes Palme d'Or winner Winter Sleep, Cannes Jury Prize winner Mommy, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne social drama Two Days, One Night or socially significant Gett: The Trial of Vivian Amsalem or even edgy White God only shows that there is something NOT WORKING with their selection procedure.

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2014 Prix Louis-Delluc Winners

I'm delighted to share with you all the most wonderful surprise when I learn that the most prestigious French Cinema award this years went to a movie that I highly enjoyed: Sils Maria (Clouds of Sils Maria) by Olivier Assayas and starring two of my favorite actress, Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart. Big congrats to Assayas and his outstanding movie with the most successful tête-à-tête between two women and one character.

Also the Best First Film goes to a movie with an actress that I have been following her career since she was in the first Céline Sciamma film, Naissance des Pieuvres, Adèle Haenel in Les Combattants by Thomas Cailley that won almost all the prizes in the Directors' Fortnight section of 2014 Cannes.

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27th European Film Awards Winners

 In less than 30 minutes the live stream of the awards will began and in about an hour the awards ceremony will start. I'll be updating this post as soon as winners are announced, so if you wish to learn them fast refresh post often.

Unfortunately there is no way to embed stream but if you wish to watch ceremony go here.

Was thinking that this award needs more credibility as most of the "big stars" that were nominated are NOT there. Wonder if they learn who wins before the show so they HAVE TO attend (at least!) or not attend (which if done is really bad for show). I have seen my share of European TV, from musical magazine to awards and yes, the format is quite different from the ones used in America. I use to enjoy the EFA's ceremony because it was very elegant, very European and didn't try to be funny or an American award show. 2014 brings a TV show that is not that much entertaining as yes I do miss Anke and this is so boring that I'm writing instead of watching show. Sigh. Wish they could go back to the more elegant style of show.

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8th Asia Pacific Screen Awards Winners

As happened to me last year, this year was not able to see the awards ceremony live -which upsets me as this ceremony is very ceremonial, so different to what we see in in the west. Nevertheless can't deny that I'm very pleased that the movie of one of my favorite directors won the top award -which wasn't difficult as there were two of my favorite directors competing head to head-. Yes Andrey Zvyagintsev acclaimed Leviathan won the top award and to not upset Palme d'Or winner Nuri Bilge Ceylan (and me), the jury gave him the Best Director award for Winter Sleep.

As we know these awards recognize and promote cinematic excellence and cultural diversity of the world’s fastest-growing film region: comprising 70 countries and areas, 4.5 billion people, and responsible for half of the world’s film output. 2014 was a very good year for the are as produced many of the year greatest world films that were honored in Cannes and continued to collect multiple awards around the world.

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27th European Film Awards News

Next Saturday December 13 at 19:00 CET you will be able to watch the 26th European Film Awards either LIVE on the official website or on any of the European broadcasters listed here.

The venue for this year’s edition of the awards ceremony, traditionally opened by the President of the European Film Academy Wim Wenders and EFA Chairwoman Agnieszka Holland, is the Latvian National Opera, a stately neo-classical style building originally constructed as the Riga German Theatre in 1863.

Announcing and presenting the winners of the European Film Awards in 21 categories will be actresses Ada Condeescu (Romania), Sylvia Hoeks (the Netherlands), Carla Juri (Switzerland), Rēzija Kalniņa (Latvia), Ariane Labed (France) and Tanja Ribič (Slovenia), their male colleagues Barry Atsma (the Netherlands), Andrzej Chyra (Poland), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Denmark), Branko Đurić (Bosnia & Herzegovina), Tobias Moretti (Austria) and Luca Zingaretti (Italy), RIGA2014 ambassadors Gustavs Terzens and Marta Selecka, and the legendary actress/director Liv Ullmann (Norway).
The ceremony will also include ‘patrons’ for the nominated films, among them actor Johannes Kuhnke (Sweden), actress Melisa Sözen (Turkey) and cinematographers Mikhail Krichman (Russia) and Łukasz Żal (Poland) as well as members of the special awards jury Halfdan E (composer, Denmark), Luís Galvão Teles (director/producer, Portugal), Michael O’Connor (costume designer, UK), Allan Starski (production designer, Poland), Asaf Sudry (cinematographer, Israel) and Peter Warnier (sound designer, the Netherlands).

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40th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards Winners

The so-called "most powerful" group of American critics voted yesterday and Boyhood becomes their most honored movie this year as got top award, best director, best actress and best editor. Most notable is that Patricia Arquette was honored as lead actress and not in a supporting role which in my opinion complicates the possible results at AMPAS unless Academy voters are clear in one of the two possibilities.

Also noticeable among winners is the absence of the film that many have called the other "strong" contender, Birdman; an absence that allowed The Grand Budapest Hotel to occupy the space with two wins and two top-awards runner-up.

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87th Academy Awards Visual Effects Shortlist

AMPAS announced today that ten (10) films remain in the running in the Visual Effects category.

The full list is below.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Godzilla
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Maleficent
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb
Transformers: Age of Extinction
X-Men: Days of Future Past

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87th Academy Awards Documentary Features Shortlist

The past two days have been full of news about the awards season but also about January 2015 film festivals but I hope today is going to be more silent as we need a well-deserved break. So decided to leave for today the news about the fifteen (15) -out of the one hundred thirty-four (134) originally submitted- documentary features that advance in the voting process for the 2015 Oscars.

The Academy’s Documentary Branch determined the shortlist in a preliminary round of voting. Documentary Branch members will now select the five nominees from among the 15 titles.

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2014 National Board of Review Award Winners

Today the NBR announced their current award winners and A Most Violent Year was named 2014 Best Film of the Year.

“A Most Violent Year is an exhilarating crime drama with a compelling story, outstanding performances, and an elegant cinematic style,” said Annie Schulhof, NBR President. “J.C. Chandor has given us a new and provocative perspective on the American Dream.”

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2015 Golden Globes Foreign Language Films Long List

Recently the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) announced that there are 53 motion pictures that have been approved for Golden Globe consideration in the Foreign Language category. In order to qualify for foreign language consideration, a film must have at least 51% of its dialogue in a language other than English, it must be released in its country or countries (in case of co-production) of origin between Nov. 1, 2013, and Dec. 31, 2014, and it must have an official screening for HFPA voting members.

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5th My French Film Festival

UniFrance films president Jean-Paul Salomé and Director General Isabelle Giordano today announced the lineup for the 5th edition of MyFrenchFilmFestival.com, at a press conference in the presence of French Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin and Michel Gondry, president of the jury. This year selection seems a lot more interesting as has films from Cannes that I have been patiently waiting for an opportunity to watch.

Indeed can't deny that I'm very curious about Respire by Mélanie Laurent and will not mind watching Eastern Boys by Robin Campillo and Hippocrate by Thomas Lilti; which find refreshing as in previous years I have highly enjoyed the short films but the feature films selection has not been that exciting.

From 16 January to 16 February 2015, film lovers from around the world will have access to the complete selection from this, the world’s first online festival of French cinema, created by UniFrance films.

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2014 New York Film Critics Circle Award Winners

The current awards season gains momentum when the first critics' group announces their awards winners and the so-called "harbingers of the Oscar nominations" have some interesting news for us especially in those categories where favorites did not win, like Best Actress.

Perhaps pundits are right and this year the awards race is open as if we check the few independent cinema groups plus this critics group we notice that the wealth has been spread among many films and perhaps the much expected race between Boyhood and Birdman will happen, but until this moment it seems that Boyhood has more possibilities than the second.

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19th Annual Satellite Awards Nominations

Today the International Press Academy (IPA) announced its nominations for the 2014 edition of its annual Satellite Awards and here are the nominations for some of the 19 categories in motion pictures. As happens every year this award has too many nominees per category as some categories list six and above honorees. But this year feel that should list all nominees to start to get a better feel of the films that could be consider in other awards as some Oscar pundits have been saying, and I agree, this year sees could be an open race as there are a large group of films, performances and directors that could make this award season quite interesting to follow.

Best Ensemble is not a category that this group honors but this year the category is active with only one participant: Into the Woods. Birdman leads the nominations with ten (10) nods followed by The Imitation Game with eight (8), Gone Girl and Boyhood with seven (7) each and The Theory of Everything and Whiplash with five (5) each.

As happen with independent cinema nominations, the biggest surprise is the inclusion of Love is Strange in the Best Picture category and if this trend continues then the biggest surprise will be that there is no surprise when gets an Oscar nomination. According to trade magazines the absence of Angelina Jolie's Unbroken (a favorite for this awards seasons) is due to the late screening of the film (and no screeners were sent), so is not that film was snubbed.

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