Tag: Oscars

Robert Downey, Jr., Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Emma Stone And Cillian Murphy Take Home Gold At 96th Oscars

Robert Downey, Jr., Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Emma Stone, and Cillian Murphy pose backstage with the Oscar® for Actor/Actress in a Supporting Role and the Oscar® for Actor/Actress in a Leading Role during the live ABC telecast of the 96th Oscars® at Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 10, 2024.

The Oscars and awards season has officially ended for another year.

Christopher Nolan’s OPPENHEIMER was, as expected, the night’s big winner at the 96th Oscars ceremony. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin, the film was produced by Emma Thomas p.g.a. (Dunkirk, Inception), for Atlas Entertainment by Charles Roven p.g.a. (The Dark Knight trilogy, American Hustle), and Christopher Nolan p.g.a.

OPPENHEIMER was the year’s most-nominated film, with 13 total nominations, taking home 7 wins for Picture, Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography – Hoyte van Hoytema, Best Score – composer Ludwig Göransson and Best Film Editing – Jennifer Lame.

POOR THINGS won 4 Oscars.

The ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and aired live on ABC.

Robert Downey, Jr. poses backstage with the Oscar® for Actor in a Supporting Role during the live ABC telecast of the 96th Oscars® at Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 10, 2024.

The classiest part of the evening was the return of the “Fab Five” format which features five former winners presenting each of the acting categories.

Last year’s winners – Michelle Yeoh, Brendan Fraser, Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan – were joined by the likes of Nicolas Cage, Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Lawrence, Charlize Theron, Rita Moreno, Lupita Nyong’o, Mahershala Ali, and Christoph Waltz. Three of this year’s four acting winners were first-time Oscar winners: Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr. and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, while Emma Stone became a two-time Oscar winner.

There wasn’t a dry eye at the Dolby Theatre when Paul Giamatti escorted his co-star to the stage.

When asked how important is it to constantly pay it forward, Randolph told reporters backstage:

“It’s imperative because the people who’ve done it before me allowed me to be in this position now. And so the type of work I do, my strive for authenticity, for quality allows there to be a new standard set where we can tell universal stories in black and brown bodies, and it can be accepted and enjoyed amongst the masses. It’s not just black TV or black movies or black people, but instead a universal performance that can be enjoyed by all.”

Da’Vine Joy Randolph poses backstage with the Oscar® for Actress in a Supporting Role during the live ABC telecast of the 96th Oscars® at Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 10, 2024.

Listen to the rest of the backstage interviews from Stone and Murphy. RDJ did not go to the pressroom after his win.

This was Stone’s second nomination and win in this category and her fifth overall, including her
nomination for Best Picture. She won an Oscar for her leading role in La La Land (2016) and was nominated for her supporting roles in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) and The Favourite (2018).

To embody the father of the atomic bomb, Christopher Nolan cast an actor who has appeared in five of his films (The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception, Dunkirk), but until now, never in a lead role: Cillian Murphy. This was his first nomination and Oscar win.

WHAT WAS I MADE FOR? from Barbie; Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell was awarded Best Original Song. Eilish became the youngest person to win more than one Academy Award.

But the happiest highlight of the night was “I’m Just Ken” performed by Ryan Gosling, Mark Ronson, Slash & The Kens from the movie BARBIE.

As expected, Christopher Nolan was awarded Best Director for bringing to the screen his most ambitious work to date, OPPENHEIMER.

Nolan’s films, including Tenet, Dunkirk, Interstellar, Inception and The Dark Knight trilogy, have earned more than $5 billion at the global box office and have been awarded 11 Oscars and 36 nominations, including two Best Picture nominations.

As usual the final Oscar of the night was Best Picture. Announced by Oscar winner Al Pacino, the gold went to the remarkable OPPENHEIMER.

Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, and Charles Roven pose backstage with the Oscar® for Best Picture and Robert De Niro during the live ABC telecast of the 96th Oscars® at Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 10, 2024.

As to the most memorable moment in making the film, the producers told the press backstage:

Christopher Nolan: You first.

Emma Thomas: I’m going first? All right.
A.​(Emma Thomas) Gosh, there were so many. One of the things I love about my job is that, you know, and our jobs is that we get to live with a film from the very, very beginning to the very end, and there were so many memorable moments along the way, whether it be, you know, those sort of moments in prep where Cillian agrees to play Oppenheimer, or where you start shooting, and you get to see Los Alamos as built and imagined by our incredible production designer, Ruth De Jong. I think probably for me, I will never forget the moment where I first saw the film, the first cut of the film, and I think it was the moment where I truly understood that this really worked, and I felt very good about, you know, the fact that it told a story that I felt was going to move audiences. You never quite know until you get to that point, and I think for me that was the moment where — that I’ll always remember the sort of the feeling at the end of that screening of sort of relief and excitement.

A.​(Charles Roven) There’s a couple of moments in particular for me. The first time I drove over to Chris and Emma’s house to read the first draft that Chris wrote, and what he had done when he — with the character of Oppenheimer wrote him in the first person, which I had never read a screenplay before that had the character talking in the first person. But it was actually the thing that, I think, makes the movie so special is how you relate to Oppenheimer through all of his journey from, you know, trying to figure out how to deal with the bomb to all of his character journey as well. So that was a very, very important and meaningful and memorable experience. The second was, you know, seeing the first cut of the movie. It was really profound.

A.​(Christopher Nolan) I think for me it was really the — actually, the first hair and makeup tests. There was something about seeing Cillian put that hat on and Robert Downey Jr. with his head shaved back and Emily Blunt in old-age makeup. We did all that on the first test. We shot it on the very first black-and-white IMAX film that had ever been made, and we projected it on an IMAX screen over at the Citywalk at Universal, and that was a very special moment, special to realize what the actors were going to do, and that the thing was going to work, and to see that technical side of things that Hoyte was bringing to the table with photography. It was remarkable and that will always stay with me.

Masaki Takahashi, Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya and Tatsuji Nojima pose backstage with the Oscar® for Visual Effects during the live ABC telecast of the 96th Oscars® at Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 10, 2024.

Along with director Wes Anderson winning his first Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” one of the greatest victories of the night was the GODZILLA MINUS ONE Oscar win for Best Visual Effects.

Listen as WAMG contributor Gary Salem asked the winners a question about a streaming date, how the filmmakers wouldn’t be able to capitalize on the success and the award, and does it involve Legendary and Warner Bros:

“I understand there is a strategy or a plan for home video release in Japan right now. So
hopefully the rest of the world is not too long after to follow. With regards to Legendary and Warner Bros. as I understand it, that’s a Toho. But despite that, they did their best to extend our theatrical run as long as physically possible. So we’re very grateful for that. Having said that, of course, if Godzilla Minus One was still in theaters right now that would be amazing for all the viewers out there. But I don’t want to hope for too much. I’m already holding an Oscar right now.”

“If I could have been there, I (along with Steven Rales) would have said “Thank you” to: the family of Roald Dahl, the team at Netflix, Benedict and Ralph and Ben Kingsley and Dev and Richard and Bob and Adam and Jeremy and John and Jim and Rich and Jim and Polly and more.

And also I would have said: if i had not met Owen Wilson in a corridor at the University of Texas between classes when I was 18 years old, I would certainly not be receiving this award tonight — but unfortunately Steven and I are in Germany and we start shooting our new movie early tomorrow morning, so I did not actually receive the award or get a chance to say any of that.”

— Wes Anderson on winning his first Oscar for The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

Here is the complete list of winners:

Best Picture

American Fiction
Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Cord Jefferson and Jermaine Johnson, Producers

Anatomy of a Fall
Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion, Producers

Barbie
David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner, Producers

The Holdovers
Mark Johnson, Producer

Killers of the Flower Moon
Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas, Martin Scorsese and Daniel Lupi, Producers

Maestro
Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Fred Berner, Amy Durning and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers

WINNER: Oppenheimer
Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan, Producers

Past Lives
David Hinojosa, Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, Producers

Poor Things
Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone, Producers

The Zone of Interest
James Wilson, Producer

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Bradley Cooper in Maestro

Colman Domingo in Rustin

Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers

WINNER: Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer

Jeffrey Wright in American Fiction

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Annette Bening in Nyad

Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon

Sandra Hüller in Anatomy of a Fall

Carey Mulligan in Maestro

WINNER: Emma Stone in Poor Things

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Sterling K. Brown in American Fiction

Robert De Niro in Killers of the Flower Moon

WINNER: Robert Downey Jr. in Oppenheimer

Ryan Gosling in Barbie

Mark Ruffalo in Poor Things

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Emily Blunt in Oppenheimer

Danielle Brooks in The Color Purple

America Ferrera in Barbie

Jodie Foster in Nyad

WINNER: Da’Vine Joy Randolph in The Holdovers

Best Animated Feature Film

WINNER: The Boy and the Heron
Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki

Elemental
Peter Sohn and Denise Ream

Nimona
Nick Bruno, Troy Quane, Karen Ryan and Julie Zackary

Robot Dreams
Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Amy Pascal

Best Cinematography

El Conde
Edward Lachman

Killers of the Flower Moon
Rodrigo Prieto

Maestro
Matthew Libatique

WINNER: Oppenheimer
Hoyte van Hoytema

Poor Things
Robbie Ryan

Best Costume Design

Barbie
Jacqueline Durran

Killers of the Flower Moon
Jacqueline West

Napoleon
Janty Yates and Dave Crossman

Oppenheimer
Ellen Mirojnick

WINNER: Poor Things
Holly Waddington

Best Directing

Anatomy of a Fall
Justine Triet

Killers of the Flower Moon
Martin Scorsese

WINNER: Oppenheimer
Christopher Nolan

Poor Things
Yorgos Lanthimos

The Zone of Interest
Jonathan Glazer

Best Documentary Feature Film

Bobi Wine: The People’s President
Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp and John Battsek

The Eternal Memory
Maite Alberdi

Four Daughters
Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha

To Kill a Tiger
Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim

WINNER: 20 Days in Mariupol
Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath

Best Documentary Short Film

The ABCs of Book Banning
Sheila Nevins and Trish Adlesic

The Barber of Little Rock
John Hoffman and Christine Turner

Island in Between
S. Leo Chiang and Jean Tsien

WINNER: The Last Repair Shop
Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers

Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó
Sean Wang and Sam Davis

Best Film Editing

Anatomy of a Fall
Laurent Sénéchal

The Holdovers
Kevin Tent

Killers of the Flower Moon
Thelma Schoonmaker

WINNER: Oppenheimer
Jennifer Lame

Poor Things
Yorgos Mavropsaridis

Best International Feature Film

Io Capitano
Italy

Perfect Days
Japan

Society of the Snow
Spain

The Teachers’ Lounge
Germany

WINNER: The Zone of Interest
United Kingdom

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Golda
Karen Hartley Thomas, Suzi Battersby and Ashra Kelly-Blue

Maestro
Kazu Hiro, Kay Georgiou and Lori McCoy-Bell

Oppenheimer
Luisa Abel

WINNER: Poor Things
Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston

Society of the Snow
Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé

Best Music (Original Score)

American Fiction
Laura Karpman

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
John Williams

Killers of the Flower Moon
Robbie Robertson

WINNER: Oppenheimer
Ludwig Göransson

Poor Things
Jerskin Fendrix

Best Music (Original Song)

“The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

“I’m Just Ken” from Barbie
Music and Lyric by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt

“It Never Went Away” from American Symphony
Music and Lyric by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson

“Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon
Music and Lyric by Scott George

WINNER: “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie
Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell

Best Production Design

Barbie
Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer

Killers of the Flower Moon
Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Adam Willis

Napoleon
Production Design: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Elli Griff

Oppenheimer
Production Design: Ruth De Jong; Set Decoration: Claire Kaufman

WINNER: Poor Things
Production Design: James Price and Shona Heath; Set Decoration: Zsuzsa Mihalek

Best Animated Short Film

Letter to a Pig
Tal Kantor and Amit R. Gicelter

Ninety-Five Senses
Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess

Our Uniform
Yegane Moghaddam

Pachyderme
Stéphanie Clément and Marc Rius

WINNER: War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko
Dave Mullins and Brad Booker

Best Live Action Short Film

The After
Misan Harriman and Nicky Bentham

Invincible
Vincent René-Lortie and Samuel Caron

Knight of Fortune
Lasse Lyskjær Noer and Christian Norlyk

Red, White and Blue
Nazrin Choudhury and Sara McFarlane

WINNER: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
Wes Anderson and Steven Rales

Best Sound

The Creator
Ian Voigt, Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic

Maestro
Steven A. Morrow, Richard King, Jason Ruder, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Chris Munro, James H. Mather, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor

Oppenheimer
Willie Burton, Richard King, Gary A. Rizzo and Kevin O’Connell

WINNER: The Zone of Interest
Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn

Best Visual Effects

The Creator
Jay Cooper, Ian Comley, Andrew Roberts and Neil Corbould

WINNER: Godzilla Minus One
Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams and Theo Bialek

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Alex Wuttke, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland and Neil Corbould

Napoleon
Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet, Simone Coco and Neil Corbould

Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

WINNER: American Fiction
Written for the screen by Cord Jefferson

Barbie
Written by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach

Oppenheimer
Written for the screen by Christopher Nolan

Poor Things
Screenplay by Tony McNamara

The Zone of Interest
Written by Jonathan Glazer

Best Writing (Original Screenplay)

WINNER: Anatomy of a Fall
Screenplay by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari

The Holdovers
Written by David Hemingson

Maestro
Written by Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer

May December
Screenplay by Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch & Alex Mechanik

Past Lives
Written by Celine Song

Contributed by Gary Salem and Michelle McCue

Hollywood’s Biggest Night Is Almost Here! The 96th Oscars Is Just Around The Corner

Oscar Sunday is almost here! American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Oppenheimer, Past Lives, Poor Things and The Zone of Interest – these are the Best Picture nominees for the 96th Oscars.

Will Oppenheimer take home the most gold statuettes? Does Barbie win for Best Costume Design? Can Paul Giamatti pull an upset over Cillian Murphy and win the Best Actor Oscar.

Check out Deadline’s and The Hollywood Reporter’s predictions HERE and HERE.

See the full list of nominations here: https://aframe.oscars.org/news/post/2024-oscars-nominations-full-list

Emily Blunt, Cynthia Erivo, America Ferrera, Sally Field, Ryan Gosling, Ariana Grande, Ben Kingsley, Melissa McCarthy, Issa Rae, Tim Robbins, Steven Spielberg, Mary Steenburgen, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlize Theron, Christoph Waltz and Forest Whitaker will present at the 96th Oscars®, executive producer and showrunner Raj Kapoor and executive producers Molly McNearney and Katy Mullan announced this week.

Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the 96th Oscars will air live on ABC and broadcast outlets worldwide on Sunday, March 10, 2024, at the new time of 7 p.m. EDT/4 p.m. PDT.

Previously announced Oscars presenters include Mahershala Ali, Bad Bunny, Nicolas Cage, Jamie Lee Curtis, Brendan Fraser, Chris Hemsworth, Dwayne Johnson, Michael Keaton, Regina King, Jessica Lange, Jennifer Lawrence, Matthew McConaughey, Kate McKinnon, Rita Moreno, John Mulaney, Lupita Nyong’o, Catherine O’Hara, Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ke Huy Quan, Sam Rockwell, Octavia Spencer, Michelle Yeoh, Ramy Youssef and Zendaya.

The 96th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 10, 2024, at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide.

The show will also be broadcast via livestream with Deaf Interpreters for the 96th Oscars broadcast over on YouTube.

Fun fact: Since the initial awards banquet on May 16, 1929, in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel’s Blossom Room, more than 3,000 statuettes have been presented.

Achievements in up to 23 regular categories will be honored on March 10, 2024, at the 96th Oscars® presentation. However, the Academy won’t know how many statuettes it will hand out until the envelopes are opened on Oscar Night®. Although the number of categories will be known prior to the ceremony, the possibility of ties and of multiple recipients sharing the prize in some categories makes the exact number of Oscar statuettes to be presented unpredictable. As in previous years, any surplus awards will be housed in the Academy’s vault until next year’s event.

As the sun sets on Oscar night and all of Hollywood is dancing the night away, the winners will be celebrating in the Ray Dolby Ballroom at the Governors Ball, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ official post-Oscars® celebration.

Wolfgang Puck Catering celebrates its 30th year at the Governors Ball with a menu created by Wolfgang Puck and Eric Klein, and pastry design by Kamel Guechida and Garry Larduinat.

At Oscars Night at the Museum in Los Angeles, guests will experience a one-of-a-kind evening celebration of the 96th Oscars with special photo opportunities, access to the museum galleries, food by Wolfgang Puck and Shake Shack and wines from Clarendelle & Domaine Clarence Dillon, with access to Fanny’s and the David Geffen Theater to watch the Oscars broadcast live on ABC. The celebration takes place from 3pm – 8pm PDT and is open to the public with some tickets still available here. 

The Governors Ball Press Preview for the 96th Oscars® at Ovation Hollywood on Tuesday, March 5, 2024.

WAMG has been checking out the set up on the red carpet this past week.

Check out the photos from behind the scenes as Hollywood gets ready for the Academy Awards!

Wednesday, March 6, 2024.

The Red Carpet rollout for the 96th Oscars on Wednsday, March 6, 2024.

The Red Carpet rollout for the 96th Oscars on Wednsday, March 6, 2024.

Contributed by Michelle McCue and Gary Salem

Hattie McDaniel, First Black Person to Be Nominated For And Win An Academy Award, Replacement Oscar Ceremony At Howard University October 1

(Original Caption) 3/2/1940- Los Angeles, CA: Actress Hattie Mc Daniel is shown with the statuette she received for her portrayal in “Gone With The Wind.” The award was for Best Supporting Role by an Actress, and was made at the 12th annual Academy Awards ceremony.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announced today the Academy will gift to the Howard University Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts a replacement of actor Hattie McDaniel’s Best Supporting Actress Academy Award® . Howard University will host a ceremony titled “Hattie’s Come Home” at its Ira Aldridge Theater in Washington, D.C., on October 1, 2023.

The ceremony will celebrate the life and legacy of McDaniel, her historic Academy Award win, and reunite her Academy Award with Howard University as she originally intended. The event will include opening remarks by Phylicia Rashad, Dean of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University, the performance of a medley of songs from current students and faculty of the College, and an excerpt of “Boulevard of Bold Dreams,” a play by LaDarrion Williams.  Representatives of the Academy and the Academy Museum will be at the ceremony, including Jacqueline Stewart, Ph.D., Director and President of the Academy Museum, and Executive Vice President of Oscars Strategy Teni Melidonian, who will present the plaque to the university. Stewart will host a moderated conversation about McDaniel’s career with Greg Carr, Ph.D., Howard University Associate Professor of Africana Studies and Chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies; Rhea Combs, Ph.D., Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery; Kevin John Goff, filmmaker, actor and Hattie McDaniel’s great-grandnephew; Khalid Long, Ph.D., Howard University Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, author, director and dramaturg; and Rashad. The plaque’s new home will be in the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts.

Reproduction of the Award Presented to Hattie McDaniel in Recognition of her Performance in Gone With The Wind of Merit for Outstanding Achievement, Presented to Howard University by The Academy, Photographed on Tuesday September 19, 2023 at The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Los Angeles, California

“Hattie McDaniel was a groundbreaking artist who changed the course of cinema and impacted generations of performers who followed her. We are thrilled to present a replacement of Hattie McDaniel’s Academy Award to Howard University,” said Stewart and Academy CEO Bill Kramer. “This momentous occasion will celebrate Hattie McDaniel’s remarkable craft and historic win.”

“When I was a student in the College of Fine Arts at Howard University, in what was then called the Department of Drama, I would often sit and gaze in wonder at the Academy Award that had been presented to Ms. Hattie McDaniel, which she had gifted to the College of Fine Arts,” said Rashad. “I am overjoyed that this Academy Award is returning to what is now the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University. This immense piece of history will be back in the College of Fine Arts for our students to draw inspiration from. Ms. Hattie is coming home!”

The Academy Museum has honored and contextualized McDaniel’s legacy in both the Academy Awards History Gallery and its temporary exhibition Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971. A performer on stage, radio and screen, McDaniel appeared in some 300 films throughout her career. In 1940, McDaniel made history as the first Black person to be nominated for and to win a competitive Academy Award for her supporting performance as “Mammy” in Gone with the Wind (1939). At the 12th Academy Awards c eremony at the segregated Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel, McDaniel and her guest were seated separately from the film’s other nominees.

McDaniel received not a statuette but a plaque, as was customary for supporting performance winners from 1936 to 1942. Though its whereabouts today are unknown, McDaniel’s award stands out in Academy history; it would be 51 years before another Black woman would win an acting Oscar®. McDaniel bequeathed her Academy Award to Howard University upon her death in 1952. The award was displayed at the university’s drama department until the late 1960s.

Reproduction of the Award Presented to Hattie McDaniel in Recognition of her Performance in Gone With The Wind of Merit for Outstanding Achievement, Presented to Howard University by The Academy, Photographed on Tuesday September 19, 2023 at The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Los Angeles, California



McDaniel’s acceptance speech can currently be viewed in full in the museum’s Academy Awards History Gallery, and, notably, her win is recognized in the Oscars Gallery of statuettes, but through a vitrine that stands empty. Her acceptance speech, as recorded for newsreel cameras at the time, is noted below:

“Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science[s], fellow members of the motion picture industry and honored guests. This is one of the happiest moments of my life, and I want to thank each one of you who had a part in selecting me for one of the awards for your kindness. It has made me feel very, very humble and I shall always hold it as a beacon for anything I may be able to do in the future. I sincerely hope I shall always be a credit to my race and to the motion picture industry. My heart is too full to tell you just how I feel. And may I say thank you and God bless you.”

Image Credits: Actor Hattie McDaniel c. 1940 with her original Academy Award plaque for Actress in a Supporting Role for Gone with the Wind (1939). Photo by Bettmann/Getty Images; Reproduction of the original plaque of Hattie McDaniel’s Academy Award for Actress in a Supporting Role for Gone with the Wind (1939). Gift from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to Howard University. Photo by Owen Kolasinski/© Academy Museum Foundation.

Reproduction of the Award Presented to Hattie McDaniel in Recognition of her Performance in Gone With The Wind of Merit for Outstanding Achievement, Presented to Howard University by The Academy, Photographed on Tuesday September 19, 2023 at The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Los Angeles, California

95th Oscars News – Host Jimmy Kimmel Rolls Out The Champagne Carpet, Oscar Week Panel At The Academy Museum And Play Along At Home With Our Academy Awards Ballot

Contributed by Gary Salem and Michelle Hannett

It’s all glitz and glamour as the granddaddy of all awards shows, The Oscars, gets ready to hit the worldwide stage this Sunday and WAMG is glad you’re back!

In 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 93rd Awards eligibility period was extended into early 2021 and the awards presentation was moved from its original date of February 28, 2021 to April 25, making it the latest date on record for a televised broadcast of the Academy Awards.

Host Jimmy Kimmel was on hand for the carpet rollout for the 95th Oscars on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. The 95th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 12, 2023, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC at 8 p.m. EDT/5 p.m. PDT.

https://aframe.oscars.org/news/post/everything-to-know-about-the-95th-oscars

Instead of the traditional red, AMPAS went with an elegant champagne tone – the first time since 1961 that the carpet at the Oscars isn’t red. Kimmel said, “I think we can go with a champagne carpet instead of a red carpet because of how confident we are that no blood will be shed.” ABC has telecast the show since 1976 and is under contract through 2028.

The decision to change the color came from creative consultants Lisa Love, a longtime Vogue contributor, and Raúl Àvila, the creative director for the glamourous Met Gala in New York.

This year the carpet will be covered, in part to protect the stars and cameras from the weather, but also to help turn the arrivals into an evening event. For Love, there has always been a disconnect between the elegant black tie dress code and the fact that it’s mid-afternoon when people arrive to be photographed in the daylight. With a covered carpet, they could change that.

“We turned a day event into night,” Love told The Associated Press. “It’s evening, even though it’s still 3:00.”

The Oscars red carpet dates back to 1961, the 33rd Academy Awards held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, when Billy Wilder’s “The Apartment” won best picture, Burt Lancaster and Elizabeth Taylor won the lead acting prizes, and there was still a “juvenile award,” which went to Hayley Mills for “Pollyanna.” It was the first televised ceremony, broadcast on ABC and hosted by Bob Hope. The general public wouldn’t see the red carpet in all its glory on television until 1966, when the Oscars were first broadcast in color.

WAMG went behind the scenes as The Academy got ready for Hollywood’s biggest night. We’ll be in the pressroom once again to bring you coverage of the winners as they arrive backstage with their statuettes.

Halle Berry, Paul Dano, Cara Delevingne, Harrison Ford, Kate Hudson, Mindy Kaling, Eva Longoria, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Andie MacDowell, Elizabeth Olsen, Pedro Pascal and John Travolta round out the slate of presenters at the 95th Oscars®, executive producers and showrunners Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner and executive producer Molly McNearney announced.

Previously announced Oscars presenters include Riz Ahmed, Halle Bailey, Antonio Banderas, Elizabeth Banks, Emily Blunt, Jessica Chastain, John Cho, Glenn Close, Jennifer Connelly, Ariana DeBose, Andrew Garfield, Hugh Grant, Danai Gurira, Salma Hayek Pinault, Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne Johnson, Michael B. Jordan, Nicole Kidman, Troy Kotsur, Jonathan Majors, Melissa McCarthy, Janelle Monáe, Deepika Padukone, Florence Pugh, Questlove, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver and Donnie Yen.

Preparations continue for the 95th Oscars on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. The 95th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 12, 2023, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC at 8 p.m. EDT/5 p.m. PDT

You can catch up on all the Oscar week panels with Academy Award–nominated filmmakers in the lead-up to the 95th Oscars over on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ8RjvesnvDPgz64Gm0hv5XQbmKuPv9Jx

Join the Academy Museum on Sunday, March 12, from 3pm to 10pm, for a one-of-a-kind evening celebrating the 95th Academy Awards. Come dressed in your best Hollywood glam looks! The event includes access to the David Geffen Theater to watch the Oscars live stream on ABC, gallery admission, food by Wolfgang Puck Catering, hosted bar, a commemorative gift, red carpet photography, access to fun photo booths, a 15% discount at the Academy Museum Store. Get your tickets here: https://www.academymuseum.org/en/programs/detail/oscars-night-2023

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s indie sci-fi hit “Everything Everywhere All at Once” leads the field as the favorite to win Best Picture and has 11 nominations. Second is director Martin McDonagh’s Irish comedy “The Banshees of Inisherin,” with nine nods, a total matched by Netflix’s WWI film “All Quiet on the Western Front.”

The Oscar-nominated song “Naatu Naatu” from “RRR” will be performed at the 95th Oscars. Singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava will make their Oscars debut performing the song. Oscar®-winning multi-hyphenate David Byrne, Oscar-nominated actor Stephanie Hsu and music trio Son Lux will perform the Oscar-nominated song “This Is A Life” from “Everything Everywhere All at Once”. Actress and singer Sofia Carson, accompanied by songwriter Diane Warren, will perform the Oscar®-nominated song “Applause” from “Tell It like a Woman”. “Applause,” with music and lyric by Warren, is nominated for Original Song. It is Warren’s 14th Oscar nomination. She received an Honorary Award at the Academy’s Governors Awards in November 2022. Music superstar Rihanna will perform the Oscar®-nominated song “Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”. “Lift Me Up,” with music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson and lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler, is nominated for Original Song.  It is Rihanna’s first Oscar nomination.

Oscars executive producer and showrunner Glenn Weiss slashed Lady Gaga fans’ hopes when he confirmed Wednesday that the Oscar- and Grammy-winning entertainer, who is nominated this year for her “Top Gun: Maverick” power ballad “Hold My Hand,” will not take the stage to sing the song. The LA Times says, “In a Zoom call with entertainment journalists Wednesday, Weiss explained that the artists who perform this year’s Oscar-nominated original songs were invited to perform, but Lady Gaga couldn’t make it work.”

Grammy®-winning musician Lenny Kravitz will deliver the “In Memoriam” performance at the 95th Oscars®.

A writer, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Kravitz has transcended genre throughout a three-decade-plus musical career. He has recorded eleven studio albums that have sold 40 million copies worldwide and won four consecutive Grammy Awards. Kravitz appeared in such films as “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” “The Hunger Games” and “Precious.”

Following the broadcast tribute, more than 200 filmmakers, artists and executives will be memorialized in an extended photo gallery on A.frame, the Academy’s digital magazine.

The broadcast can be streamed with a subscription to Hulu Live TV, YouTubeTV, AT&T TV and Fubo TV. Some of these services offer brief free trials. You can also stream the show on ABC.com and on the ABC app by authenticating your provider. https://www.oscars.org/how-to-watch/

Print out WAMG’s ballot for your Oscar Party!

2023-Oscar-Ballot-1Download

Check out the nominees luncheon.

The Academy Announces Shortlists In 10 Categories For 95th Oscars

94th Oscars®

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced shortlists in 10 categories for the 95th Academy Awards®: Documentary Feature Film, Documentary Short Film, International Feature Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, Music (Original Score), Music (Original Song), Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, Sound and Visual Effects.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM

Fifteen films will advance in the Documentary Feature Film category for the 95th Academy Awards.  One hundred forty-four films were eligible in the category.  Members of the Documentary Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“All That Breathes”

“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”

“Bad Axe”

“Children of the Mist”

“Descendant”

“Fire of Love”

“Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song”

“Hidden Letters”

“A House Made of Splinters”

“The Janes”

“Last Flight Home”

“Moonage Daydream”

“Navalny”

“Retrograde”

“The Territory”

DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM

Fifteen films will advance in the Documentary Short Film category for the 95th Academy Awards.  Ninety-eight films qualified in the category.  Members of the Documentary Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“American Justice on Trial: People v. Newton”

“Anastasia”

“Angola Do You Hear Us? Voices from a Plantation Prison”

“As Far as They Can Run”

“The Elephant Whisperers”

“The Flagmakers”

“Happiness Is £4 Million”

“Haulout”

“Holding Moses”

“How Do You Measure a Year?”

“The Martha Mitchell Effect”

“Nuisance Bear”

“Shut Up and Paint”

“Stranger at the Gate”

“38 at the Garden”

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

Fifteen films will advance to the next round of voting in the International Feature Film category for the 95th Academy Awards.  Films from 92 countries and regions were eligible in the category.

Academy members from all branches were invited to participate in the preliminary round of voting and must have met a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category.

In the nominations round, Academy members from all branches are invited to opt in to participate and must view all 15 shortlisted films to vote.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

Argentina, “Argentina, 1985”

Austria, “Corsage”

Belgium, “Close”

Cambodia, “Return to Seoul”

Denmark, “Holy Spider”

France, “Saint Omer”

Germany, “All Quiet on the Western Front”

India, “Last Film Show”

Ireland, “The Quiet Girl”

Mexico, “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths”

Morocco, “The Blue Caftan”

Pakistan, “Joyland”

Poland, “EO”

South Korea, “Decision to Leave”

Sweden, “Cairo Conspiracy”

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Ten films will advance in the Makeup and Hairstyling category for the 95th Academy Awards.  All members of the Academy’s Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch will be invited to view excerpts and interviews with the artists from each of the shortlisted films on Sunday, January 15, 2023.  Branch members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar® consideration.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Amsterdam”

“Babylon”

“The Batman”

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

“Blonde”

“Crimes of the Future”

“Elvis”

“Emancipation”

“The Whale”

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

Fifteen scores will advance in the Original Score category for the 95th Academy Awards.  One hundred forty-seven scores were eligible in the category.  Members of the Music Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The scores, listed in alphabetical order by film title, are:

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Avatar: The Way of Water”

“Babylon”

“The Banshees of Inisherin”

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

“Devotion”

“Don’t Worry Darling”

“Everything Everywhere All at Once”

“The Fabelmans”

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”

“Nope”

“She Said”

“The Woman King”

“Women Talking”

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

Fifteen songs will advance in the Original Song category for the 95th Academy Awards.  Eighty-one songs were eligible in the category.  Members of the Music Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The original songs, along with the motion picture in which each song is featured, are listed below in alphabetical order by film title:

“Time” from “Amsterdam”

“Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength)” from “Avatar: The Way of Water”

“Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

“This Is A Life” from “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

“Ciao Papa” from “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”

“Til You’re Home” from “A Man Called Otto”

“Naatu Naatu” from “RRR”

“My Mind & Me” from “Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me”

“Good Afternoon” from “Spirited”

“Applause” from “Tell It like a Woman”

“Stand Up” from “Till”

“Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick”

“Dust & Ash” from “The Voice of Dust and Ash”

“Carolina” from “Where the Crawdads Sing”

“New Body Rhumba” from “White Noise”

ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Fifteen films will advance in the Animated Short Film category for the 95th Academy Awards.  Eighty-one films qualified in the category.  Members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“Black Slide”

“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse”

“The Debutante”

“The Flying Sailor”

“The Garbage Man”

“Ice Merchants”

“It’s Nice in Here”

“More than I Want to Remember”

“My Year of Dicks”

“New Moon”

“An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It”

“Passenger”

“Save Ralph”

“Sierra”

“Steakhouse”

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

Fifteen films will advance in the Live Action Short Film category for the 95th Academy Awards.  Two hundred films qualified in the category.  Members of the Short Films and Feature Animation, Directors, Producers and Writers Branches vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“All in Favor”

“Almost Home”

“An Irish Goodbye”

“Ivalu”

“Le Pupille”

“The Lone Wolf”

“Nakam”

“Night Ride”

“Plastic Killer”

“The Red Suitcase”

“The Right Words”

“Sideral”

“The Treatment”

“Tula”

“Warsha”

SOUND

Ten films will advance in the Sound category for the 95th Academy Awards.  All eligible members of the Sound Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.  Academy members will be invited to view excerpts from each of the shortlisted films beginning Thursday, January 12, 2023, in the San Francisco Bay area, followed by New York, London and Los Angeles.  Branch members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar consideration.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Avatar: The Way of Water”

“Babylon”

“The Batman”

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

“Elvis”

“Everything Everywhere All at Once”

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”

“Moonage Daydream”

“Top Gun: Maverick”

VISUAL EFFECTS

Ten films remain in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 95th Academy Awards.  The Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee determined the shortlist.  All members of the Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view excerpts and interviews with the artists from each of the shortlisted films on Saturday, January 14, 2023.  Branch members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar consideration.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Avatar: The Way of Water”

“The Batman”

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”

“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore”

“Jurassic World Dominion”

“Nope”

“Thirteen Lives”

“Top Gun: Maverick”

Nominations voting begins on Thursday, January 12, 2023, and concludes on Tuesday, January 17, 2023.

Nominations for the 95th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 24, 2023.

The 95th Oscars® will be held on Sunday, March 12, 2023, at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide. Jimmy Kimmel will return to host.

Oscar Week Is Back As Academy Celebrates Nominees March 22 Through March 26

In the week leading up to the 94th Oscars®, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present a series of public programs celebrating this year’s nominees in the Animated Feature Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, International Feature Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, and Animated and Live Action Short Film categories.  All events will be held at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

Check out our previous coverage HERE.

The Oscar® Week schedule is as follows:

OSCAR WEEK: SHORTS
Tuesday, March 22, 7:00 p.m.
Samuel Goldwyn Theater

Hosted by Academy Short Films and Feature Animation Branch Governor Jon Bloom.

The Academy celebrates the nominated films and filmmakers in the Animated Short Film and Live Action Short Film categories.  The evening will include a screening of all 10 nominated shorts in their entirety, as well as introductions by all the nominated filmmakers (schedules permitting). 

OSCAR WEEK: DOCUMENTARIES
Wednesday, March 23, 7:30 p.m.
Samuel Goldwyn Theater

Hosted by Academy Documentary Branch Governors Kate Amend, Jean Tsien and Roger Ross Williams.

The Academy showcases the nominated films and filmmakers in the Documentary Short Subject and Documentary Feature categories.  The evening will include a presentation of clips from this year’s nominated films with introductions by the nominees (schedules permitting).

A livestream will be available here. 

OSCAR WEEK: INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
Thursday, March 24, 7:30 p.m.
Samuel Goldwyn Theater

Hosted by International Feature Film Award Executive Committee co-chairs Susanne Bier and Rajendra Roy.

The Academy celebrates this year’s nominees for Best International Feature Film.  The evening will feature clips from each nominated film, as well as a panel discussion with the directors (schedules permitting).

A livestream will be available here.

OSCAR WEEK: ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Saturday, March 26, 10 a.m.
Samuel Goldwyn Theater

Hosted by Academy Short Films and Feature Animation Branch Governors Bonnie Arnold and Jennifer Yuh Nelson.

The Academy celebrates the films and filmmakers nominated for Best Animated Feature Film.  The morning event will feature clips from each film, with an onstage discussion with each group of nominated filmmakers (schedules permitting).

A livestream will be available here.

OSCAR WEEK: MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING SYMPOSIUM
Saturday, March 26, 2 p.m.
Samuel Goldwyn Theater

Hosted by Academy Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch Governors Howard Berger, Bill Corso and Linda Flowers.

The Academy spotlights the artists nominated for the Makeup and Hairstyling award.  The afternoon event will include a screening of the “bake-off” reels that Academy branch members viewed before voting on the nominated films.  Each will be followed by a discussion panel with the nominees (schedules permitting).

94o_eventweek-overview-01.jpg

Tickets are on sale at Oscars.org.  Tickets are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members, Academy Museum members and students with a valid ID.  Doors open one hour prior to each event.  All ticketed seating is unreserved.  For more information, visit Oscars.org or call (310) 247-3600. 

Note: Attendees will be required to provide proof of full vaccination or negative COVID-19 PCR test.  Masks will be required.  Full COVID protocols can be found here.

Samuel Goldwyn Theater
8949 Wilshire Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90211

Public programming for 2022 Oscar Week is made possible in part by the Ruderman Family Foundation, which promotes authentic representation in the entertainment industry and full inclusion of people with disabilities throughout all sectors of society.

The 94th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby® Theatre at Hollywood & Highland® in Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT and in more than 200 territories worldwide.

2019 Oscar Nominated Film Shorts Programs

Once again the general public will have to opportunity to view something that was a regular part of the movie experience for many decades, the short subject. Throughout the “Golden Age” of Hollywood, the studios produced these smaller films (generally under an hour) that were usually shown in between two films (the great double feature). There were the cartoons made by the studio animation departments (Bugs Bunny from Warners, Tom and Jerry at MGM, and so forth), and the live-action shorts, often comedy (Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges) mixed with some closer to documentaries like the newsreel (pre-TV filmed events) and the travelogue (a film tour of world locales). With the advent of TV, most theatres stopped showing them and the major studios closed their divisions. The shorts then became the primary domain for independent filmmakers and continued to vie for Oscar nominations. Now, with the increasing streaming platforms and cable outlets, shorts are becoming more accessible now than in many years. Still, big screen programs, aside from film festivals, is a real rarity. With the Oscar ceremony just weeks away, film fans can indulge in a “cinema smorgasbord” and indulge in a buffet from three categories.

The most popular may be the films selected as Best Animated Short, though, like their live-action narrative brethren, most of these films share a theme, call it “parents and children”. Well, there one exception, of course, that would be the witty entry from the National Film Board of Canada (producer of many wonderful award-winning animated films for nearly 70 years) called “Animal Behavior”. Rendered in a magazine (New Yorker mainly) style, it looks at a group therapy session (chairs in a circle) for animals (a pig, a leech, a praying mantis, etc.) with a dog in charge trying to deal with a new member, an annoyed gorilla. The rest fit squarely in the “theme”, the best known being “Bao” which did run in theatres last Summer paired off with INCREDIBLES 2 (Pixar nearly always runs a short before each new feature). It’s a fable (the only one in the group told in rounded 3D CGI style) in which a lonely woman is stunned when a dumpling she has prepared for Dinner, suddenly springs to life. Naturally, she raises it as her child (a son), and we see them dealing with the whole maturing cycle from infant to teen. A very different look at parenting is shown in “Weekends” in which a grade-school aged boy lives with his harried single mom during the week and is picked up on Friday by his fun-loving pop and whisked away to his high-rise apartment/funhouse. There’s almost no dialogue and the art has a “scratchy” rendering looking like ballpoint pen scribblings in a school notebook. The program’s two highlights are “Once Small Step” which begins with a young Asian-American girl watching that famous newcast, fueling her dreams of exploring space. The dream is encouraged by her single dad who works below their home as a shoe repairman (hmmm, another fairy tale nod). Again no dialogue, but with slick multicolored outlined characters that seem right out of a polished children’s’ book. The parent/child roles are flipped in the final entry “Late Afternoon” which centers on an elderly woman enjoying her visit from a caregiver (but is she more than that). While the lady sips from her tea, each image around her triggers distant memories (running along the beach, writing in the sand,etc.) until her fog is lifted in the heartwrenching final moments. The art is a lively mix of simple line drawings, bright vibrant colors, and gorgeous watercolor-like backdrops. Each film has something to entertain and recommend (I’d have a tough time choosing if I were in the Academy).

For the Best Live Action Shorts, the previous theme is a twisted variation, you could say (with a nod to the classic Who rock anthem) “The Kids are Not All Right”. Indeed they are in dire, deadly danger in all but one entry. that one is the sweetly nostalgic “Marguerite”, Like “Late Afternoon”, it’s a French-Canadian tale of an elderly woman and her visiting caregiver/nurse. Their conversations sparks her mind to recall a forbidden, unrequited love from long. long ago, reminding us that the “good ole’ days” were not so “good” for so many. Now, on to the “rough stuff”. From the same land comes “Fauve” about a lazy day in the country (climbing an old train car. running around a construction site) turns into a race against doom for two pre-teen boys. Speaking of a “race to doom”, that sums up most of the Spanish entry “Madre”. As the title infers, the main subjects are mothers (yes, the plural). The main setting is an apartment where a woman and her mother pop in to bicker and change for Lunch. Things take a turn when the home owner’s six-year-old son makes a frantic phone call to her, which puts both mother and grandmother nearly into hysterics. Like the recent films LOCKE and THE GUILTY, the story is told via one part of the phone conversation (leaving us to imagine the caller’s dire straights just as the main characters). But where’s the USA, why represented by “Skin”, which centers on a young boy of eight or nine, the only son of a young couple who are, as said in LADY BIRD, from “the other side of the tracks”. Though they dote on the lad, we soon find out that the couple (the dad particularly) are violent racists. After a horrific attack ( a true hate crime), a “Tales From the Crypt”-like revenge plot is put into motion, resulting in an “O Henry” twist at first funny then whiplashing into true tragedy. The real standout of this batch comes from Ireland. “Detainment” is the controversial docudrama whose dialogue is directly taken from Police interview tapes of the two ten-year-old suspects in the infamous 1993 “Baby James” crime in Bootle, England. Though difficult to watch (I can’t imagine a full-length feature). the film hits with the impact of cinematic sledgehammer aided in great part by the two young lead actors: Ely Sloan as the emotional, terrified Jon and Leon Hughes as the cold calculating Robert. Never exploitive of the crime, the film is a testament to the police officers quest to learn the truth while having to deal with the parents , who were required to be on hand for the questioning (it’s quite the tightrope walk as they must navigate carefully). All of these films are compelling, even as the viewer is put through the “emotional ringer”.

Finally, the Best Documentary Shorts also share a theme (well four of the five) as they profile people battling against overwhelming forces, in short, “struggle”. Most unusual may be the entry from India, with a title ripe with many meanings, “Period. End of Sentence”. It begins with an overview of a subject not really discussed in that society: menstruation. Interviews bring home the lack of knowledge (it’s a mystery to most men on camera) and the problems facing young women. The film shifts gears as we meet a man determined to bring hygiene to the villages via sanitary pad vending machines by hiring local women to produce the pads and be traveling suppliers. It’s an engaging look at a culture that’s finally changing. The majority of this program comes from the USA. “Lifeboat” follows a German barge that helps rescue fleeing refugees at sea (many don’t survive on the makeshift rafts, barrels, and tubs). There’s a message of hope despite the near unending stream of desperate, nomadic peoples. Those rescue crews are heroes, as much as the staff of the Zen Hospice Project we meet in “End Game” as they ease terminal patients into their last days. We meet four or five of these residents, but the film’s heart may be with one that decides to stay in the hospital, in hope of new treatments. The intimate scenes of Mitra with her family (her husband and mother often clash) and doctors are quite moving. A brief (seven minutes) history lesson shines a light on a now unthinkable incident from 1939. “A Night at the Garden” documents (using black and white home-movie-like footage and audio recordings) a pro-Nazi rally attended by 20,000 in New York City (the title “Garden” is Madison Square). Though touted as a night celebrating “American patriotism”, there are lots of swastikas on stage (on both sides of Old Glory) to frame the speakers spewing anti-semitic rhetoric. Hatred is a big topic in the most compelling of the program, UK’s “Black Sheep”. In stark close-up, Cornelius Walker tells the story of his Nigerian family who moved from their London high rise apartment (after the high-profile murder there of a schoolboy from their homeland) to one of the”safer” remote villages. Walker relates his shock at the casual bigotry he faced, which led to a brutal beating by a local teen gang. With great emotion, Walker then tells us of his shocking response. Rather than retaliating, he believed that in order to survive he needed to join them, even bleaching his skin, spiking his hair, and wearing bright blue contact lenses. The tale is both compelling and heartbreaking, with Walker’s monologue illustrated with dream-like recreations. All five are engrossing while sharing a similar spirit among different times, locales, and subjects.

Any or all of these programs are well worth any film fan’s time.

The 2019 Oscar Nominated Short Films Programs are screening in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Tivoli Theatre

The Academy Announces It Will Not Present New Oscar Category

The Academy has announced that it will not present the new Oscars category at the upcoming 91st awards and recognized that implementing any new award nine months into the year creates challenges for films that have already been released.

The Board of Governors continues to be actively engaged in discussions, and will examine and seek additional input regarding this category.

“There has been a wide range of reactions to the introduction of a new award, and we recognize the need for further discussion with our members,” said Academy CEO Dawn Hudson. “We have made changes to the Oscars over the years—including this year—and we will continue to evolve while also respecting the incredible legacy of the last 90 years.”

Changes to the 91st Oscars (2019) include restructuring and shortening the length of the telecast to three hours. To honor all 24 award categories, six to eight categories will be presented live, in the Dolby Theatre®, during commercial breaks. The winning moments will then be edited and aired later in the broadcast. Selected categories will be rotated each year. The Academy will collaborate with the show producer(s) to select these categories.

The Board of Governors also voted to move up the date of the 92nd Oscars telecast to Sunday, February 9, 2020, from the previously announced February 23. The date change in the timeline will not affect awards eligibility dates or the voting process.

The key dates for the 2019 awards season are as follows:

Saturday, November 16, 2019     Governors Awards
Thursday, January 2, 2020           Nominations voting opens
Tuesday, January 7, 2020            Nominations voting closes
Monday, January 13, 2020           Oscar Nominations Announcement
Monday, January 27, 2020           Oscar Nominees Luncheon
Thursday, January 30, 2020         Finals voting opens
Tuesday, February 4, 2020           Finals voting closes
Sunday, February 9, 2020            92nd Oscars

Starting in 2020, the Scientific and Technical Awards will move to June, as the technologies honored do not represent achievements within a specific awards year.

The 91st Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 24, 2019, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

Oscar Concert Back As Part Of Oscar Week As Key Dates For 90th Academy Awards Announced

86th Academy Awards, The Oscar Concert

The Academy and the ABC Television Network today announced key dates for the 90th Oscars.

Back on the list is the Oscar Concert which had its inaugural premiere at the 86th Academy Awards during Oscar Week in 2014. Read our report here.

The Academy Awards presentation will air live on ABC on Oscar Sunday, March 4, 2018. Dates for the 91st, 92nd and 93rd Oscars presentations are set for February 24, 2019, February 23, 2020, and February 28, 2021, respectively.

Academy key dates for the 2017 Awards season are:

Saturday, November 11, 2017 Governors Awards
Friday, January 5, 2018 Nominations voting opens
Friday, January 12, 2018 Nominations voting closes
Tuesday, January 23, 2018 Oscar Nominations Announcement
Monday, February 5, 2018 Oscar Nominees Luncheon
Saturday, February 10, 2018 Scientific and Technical Awards
Tuesday, February 20, 2018 Finals voting opens
Tuesday, February 27, 2018 Finals voting closes
Wednesday, February 28, 2018 The Oscar Concert
Sunday, March 4, 2018 90th Oscars

The date for the 90th Oscars was previously announced.

The 90th Oscars will be held at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

LAND OF MINE – Review

landofmine

In the realm of “docudramas”, the one war that seems to be a bottomless well of stories is that second World War (and usually the sequel comes up short). Film makers bring us tales often unknown by the general public. Last (and endured) week, we were given a new spin on II’s predecessor WW I in THE OTTOMAN LIEUTENANT (mind you a fiction story with a real historical backdrop). This week sees another little known story of the war in Europe. Less than a year ago, an assassination plot against a high-ranking Nazi stationed in Czechoslovakia was dramatized in ANTHROPOID (still sounds like a monster movie to me). And at last year’s Academy Awards the story of the Sonderkommandos, SON OF SAUL, took home the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. This week’s new release travels a bit north for a view of the war. Actually, it’s not the war, but rather post-war, with the ink still drying on the peace treaties. But things are still far from peaceful. Oh, and this film scored an Oscar nom, though THE SALESMAN took home the statuette last month. With the recent hit animated film, many may think of Denmark as the land of Lego, but for this new film it’s the LAND OF MINE.

It’s May of 1945, Germany has finally surrendered, but Danish Sgt. Carl Rasmussen (Roland Moller) is still in full combat mode. After venting his rage on a group of defeated enemy soldiers, he is given his post-war assignment. He will oversee a group of German prisoners-of-war as they find and disarm several hundred landmines buried in the beach on the West Coast of Denmark (the Axis believed that this would be the locale for the Allied invasion). Incredibly dangerous work, but the sergeant believes they should “clean up the mess they made”. Then when he meets his charges, the grizzled military man is stunned. The fourteen POWs look to be barely over 14, more boys than men. Nonetheless, he escorts them to their ocean front locale, a rundown shack that’s deserted save for a small cottage and farmhouse nearby occupied by a young single mother and her six year-old daughter. Carl and his trusty dog oversee the boys as the carefully poke the sand and clear the beach (luckily they have a crude map of the landmine placement). These boys must carry on this deadly mission while dealing with a lack of food (prisoners are low priority while the locals are hungry). As the days pass, the sergeant gets to know his crew, especially the twins Ernst and Werner (Emil and Oskar Belton), their high-ranking office, the twitchy Helmut (Joel Basman), and their real leader, the compassionate Sebastian (Louis Hofmann). Surprising himself, Carl begins to respect the lads, perhaps they have released his paternal instincts. He soon realizes that the military’s promise to send the boys home once the beach is cleared may not be kept. What can he do? And what will he do?

This largely unknown historical tidbit from over 70 years ago makes for an interesting story, but the talented ensemble are what makes it so compelling. Luckily the story’s main focus is expertly portrayed by the riveting Moller as a very tough but complex soldier. In the powerful opening scene he is truly a Sergeant fury, a “clenched fist” of a man nearly as explosive as any hidden landmine. Rasmussen insists that the age of his charges doesn’t matter, he only sees the uniform of the enemy. We’re not told of his background or family, but we wonder if he’s lost everything and everyone aside from his loyal pooch, the only recipient of his smile. Slowly we see his icy demeanor begin to melt, but not without enormous resistance. Finally he begins to question himself and his superiors, as the fallen foes become human beings in his eyes. One superior, Liuetenant Ebbe played by Mikkel Boe Folsgaard, never has such an epiphany, his humanity almost replaced by his cold dead-eyed stare. The POWs are composed of a group of superb actors, with Hofmann outstanding as the kind, older brother surrogate Sebastian to the group. Eventually he breaks through to the sergeant, even engaging in a sweet, almost father-son discussion of faith. Basman’s character is a bit more complex, as his Helmut is equal parts venal and pathetic, trying to appear tough, while taunting his brothers in arms. Speaking of brothers, The Belton twins as the Lessner sibs have perhaps the most heartbreaking subplot. When tragedy strikes, one of them becomes one of the walking dead, a haunted soul now completely lost. He reminds everyone of their possible gruesome fate.

Writer/director Martin Zanvilet has crafted a remarkable war drama devoid of gun-blazing battles, but just as spellbinding and suspenseful. While we squirm in our seats during the tense defusion sequences , he also gives us a moral quandary to consider. Yes, these soldiers were part of Hitler’s army, but with the war finished, how long must they pay the price for their homeland’s evil? Most look far too young to be part of the Axis forces. Perhaps in those last days any boy who could hold a rifle was scooped up, torn from their families, destined to be “cannon fodder”. As the sergeant says, “As they are dying, they cry for their mammas”. Certainly the Danes suffered, but many became “sore winners”, hoping that the “mine scrubbers” would be erased by their country’s own weapons. This gives an extra heft to the scenes in which the lads outline their unlikely future plans (“I will work in a factory” “I just want to EAT!”). It’s challenging fare for audiences used to just rooting for the “good guys” to triumph over the “bad guys”. LAND OF MINE is a bold statement on the rules of combat and morality that explodes our ideas about “peace time”.

4 out of 5

LAND OF MINE opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas

landofmineposter