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Thursday, December 28, 2006

307 Feature Films Compete for Oscar®

Three-hundred-seven feature films are eligible for the Academy Award® for Best Picture of 2006. See link on right sidebar for list of films, with credits, eligible for 79th Academy Awards®.

To be eligible, feature films have until midnight, December 31, to open in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days. Films that receive their first public exhibition or distribution in any manner other than as a theatrical motion picture release are not eligible for Academy Awards in any category.

Also, Academy rules stipulate that a feature-length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes. It must have been exhibited theatrically on 35mm or 70mm film, or in a qualifying digital format.


Nominations for the 79th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2007, at 5:30 a.m. PST in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Oscar® Nomination Ballots in the Mail

Nomination ballots for the 79th Academy Awards® were mailed yesterday (Tuesday, December 26) to the 5,830 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS®). The Reminder List of Eligible Releases – the list of 2006 motion pictures eligible for Oscar consideration – was mailed along with the nomination ballots.

Completed ballots must be returned to PWC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) by 5 p.m. on Saturday, January 13, 2007, which means Academy members must make their choices before the Golden Globe winners are known. The Golden Globes will be give out January 15.

As always, ballots received at PWC after the deadline will not be counted. Nomination and final award ballots are tabulated by PWC to ensure that all aspects of the balloting process are conducted with fairness and accuracy. Prior to mailing, the PWC staff administers a thorough verification process to ensure there are no duplicate ballots and that none are missing. In addition to being counted and sorted, each ballot is numbered to guarantee that it is addressed to the appropriate Academy voter.

Nominations for the 79th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2007, at 5:30 a.m. PST in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2006 will be presented on Sunday, February 25, 2007, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network at 5 p.m. PST, beginning with a half-hour arrivals segment, “The Road to the Oscars®.”

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

56 SONGS VIE FOR OSCAR® NOMS

UPDATED ** Nominated for a Golden Globe

Fifty-six songs from eligible feature-length motion pictures are being considered in the Original Song category for the 79th Academy Awards®. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences® (AMPAS®) will screen clips featuring each song, in random order, for voting members of the Music Branch in both Beverly Hills and New York City, Tuesday, January 16. Following the screenings, members will vote to determine which three, four, or five songs become nominees in the category.

To be eligible, a song must consist of words and music, both of which are original and written specifically for the film. A clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition of both lyric and melody must be used in the body of the film, or as the first music cue in the end credits.
Here is a list in alphabetical order of 26 motion pictures, among those submitting songs, that I think have a chance of being nominated:

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, "I Need to Wake Up"
BARNYARD, “Hillbilly Holla”
BLOOD DIAMOND, “Shine on ‘Em”
BOBBY, ** “Never Gonna Break My Faith” - Music and Lyric by Bryan Adams, Eliot Kennedy, Andrea Remanda.
BORAT . . ., “O Kazakhstan”
CHARLOTTE'S WEB, “Ordinary Miracle”
CARS, "Our Town" and "Real Gone"
CASINO ROYALE, “You Know My Name”
CURIOUS GEORGE, “Upside Down”
DEJA VU, “Coming Back to You”
DREAMGIRLS, “Patience," ** "Listen" - Music and Lyric by Scott Cutler, Beyoncé Knowles, Henry Krieger, Anne Preven, and “Love You I Do”
FLICKA, “My Little Girl”
GLORY ROAD, “Sweet Music”
HAPPY FEET, ** “The Song of the Heart” - Music and Lyric by Prince.
HOLLYWOOD FAMILIA (Family), "Hollywood Familia" and “Sueños” (Dreams)
HOME OF THE BRAVE, ** “Try Not to Remember” - Music and Lyric by Sheryl Crow.
IDLEWILD, “PJ & Rooster”
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, “Til the End of Time”
ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING, “Kingdom of Love”
OVER THE HEDGE, “Family of Me," Heist," and "Still”
POSEIDON, “Won’t Let You Fall”

PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS, ** "A Father's Way" - Music by Chris Bruce, Seal. Lyric by Seal.
ROCKY BALBOA, “It’s a Fight”
SAVING SHILOH, “Open Your Heart”
STRANGER THAN FICTION, “The Book I Write”
THE NATIVITY STORY, “In Rosa Vernat Lilium”


Nominations for the 79th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2007, at 5:30 a.m. PST, in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater, the awards presented Sunday, February 25, 2007.

See link on the right sidebar for AMPAS®, if you wish to view all the songs submitted. Also see link for my Film Awards Page and Film Festivals Page, if you wish to see some movie songs that have won awards so far this season.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

GOLDEN GLOBES AND MORE

The nominations are in for the 64th Annual Golden Globes to be awarded 15 January. Many consider them predictors of the Academy Awards®. Here's the direct link to an organized, quick notation on my Film Awards Page, which has a link to the Globes official site: http://mimifink.virtualave.net/AwardsSched07.htm#GLOBES

The movie awards are in full season. In addition to the Golden Globes, you can quickly track almost all the major U.S. and international awards for 2006-07 on my 2006-2007 Awards Schedule, a.k.a., Mimi's Film Awards Page. The main link is on the right sidebar.

I don't think, personally, that awards from any one organization determine voting by the Academy membership, but a pattern of many organizations recognizing a particular film, actor, etc., may. My motive for maintaining my Film Awards Page is selfish. That's how I make my predictions come Oscar® time. I did predict best picture CRASH, best song, "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp," and most of the others last year. So, take a look at my page, and track your favorites. You may be pleased you did!

Monday, December 04, 2006

European Awards & Havana IFF

The European Film Academy honored Roman Polanski with a lifetime achievement award in the country of his childhood at the 19th annual European Film Awards in Warsaw, Poland, Saturday, 2 December. Also this weekend, the International Animated Film Society, announced the nominees for this year's Annie Awards to be awarded 11 February. For links to the official sites, and much more about the European Film Academy Film Awards and Annie Awards, click the link on the right sidebar for my Film Awards Page.

The 28th International Film Festival of New Latin American Cinema (also known as the Havana Film Festival) opens in Havana, Cuba, tomorrow. It will run through December 15th. Guillermo del Toro's PAN'S LABYRINTH (El laberinto del Fauno, Mexico), and Pedro Almodóvar's VOLVER ("To Return," Spain), are among the most anticipated movies.

Sorry, but ordinary American's can't go without special permission from the U. S. Federal Government. That permission is not going to be given. The official Web site is in Spanish, and a link is on my Film Festivals Page, as well as the festival's highlights in English, and much more. See links on the right sidebar.