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Friday, December 26, 2014

THE INTERVIEW From A Woman's Perspective




Last night I watched the infamous movie, "The Interview". You know, the one that allegedly sparked North Korea to hack Sony Pictures. Frankly, this movie is juvenile to the max. To any educated adults over 21,it will probably be totally disgusting. The character's vocabulary mainly consists of any word that starts with F. If a word doesn't, they put it there anyway. The movie was directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, their second directorial work, and their inexperience shows. All the characters are stereotypes and campy, especially Rogan and Franco's journalism characters. Rogan's is so charged with misguided testosterone, he is on the verge of suffering a penis explosion, Franco's is in love with a puppy. Randall Park portrays Kim Jong-un as an idiot psychopath. Ho hum, we've seen that before many times from movie dictators.. Of course, it is shamelessly targeting the 17 - 24 male audience, and will probably gross a gillion dollars. Hopefully, the real Kim Jong-un may be narcissistic enough to relish the fact that he has been portrayed in a Hollywood movie. All this said, there are a few funny moments, but nothing side-splitting. My recommendation? Spend your Christmas at the movies, but watch one of the 10, or so, quality ones.

Saturday, December 20, 2014

NINE FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILMS ADVANCE IN OSCAR® RACE - - SHORT LIST


 Nine features will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 87th Academy Awards®.  Eighty-three films had originally been considered in the category.

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

Argentina, "Wild Tales," Damián Szifrón, director;

Estonia, "Tangerines," Zaza Urushadze, director;

Georgia, "Corn Island," George Ovashvili, director;

Mauritania, "Timbuktu," Abderrahmane Sissako, director;

Netherlands, "Accused," Paula van der Oest, director;

Poland, "Ida," Paweł Pawlikowski, director;

Russia, "Leviathan," Andrey Zvyagintsev, director;

Sweden, "Force Majeure," Ruben Östlund, director;

Venezuela, "The Liberator," Alberto Arvelo, director
.



Foreign Language Film nominations for 2014 are being determined in two phases.

The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based Academy members, screened the original submissions in the category between mid-October and December 15.  The group’s top six choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee, constitute the shortlist.

The shortlist will be winnowed down to the category’s five nominees by specially invited committees in New York, Los Angeles and, for the first time, London.  They will spend Friday, January 9, through Sunday, January 11, viewing three films each day and then casting their ballots.

The 87th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 5:30 a.m. PT, in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

The Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.  The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
Send comments to: mimi_lafinca@aol.com

Saturday, December 13, 2014

323 FEATURE FILMS IN CONTENTION FOR 2014 BEST PICTURE OSCAR®


323 FEATURE FILMS IN CONTENTION FOR 2014 BEST PICTURE OSCAR®


LOS ANGELES, CA – Three hundred twenty-three feature films are eligible for the 2014 Academy Awards®, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced earlier this week.

To be eligible for 87th Academy Awards consideration, feature films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County by midnight, December 31, and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days.

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

Feature 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. The “Reminder List of Productions Eligible for the 87th Academy Awards” is available at http://www.oscars.org/oscars/rules-eligibility.

The 87th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

The Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.  The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

To comment about this blog: miini_lafinca@aol.com



Thursday, December 11, 2014

10 CONTENDERS REMAIN IN VFX (Visual Effects) OSCAR® RACE - Short List



The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 10 films remain in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 87th Oscars®.

The films are listed below in alphabetical order:

    “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”


The Academy’s Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee determined the short list.  All members of the Visual Effects Branch will now be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the short-listed films on Saturday, January 10, 2015.  Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar consideration.

The 87th Academy Awards® nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

The Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.  The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.


/////For comments about this blog, please send to: mimi_lafinca@aol.com 


DOCUMENTARY FEATURES ADVANCE IN 2014 OSCAR® RACE - The Short List


15 films in the Documentary Feature category advance in the voting process.


The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 15 films in the Documentary Feature category will advance in the voting process for the 87th Oscars®.  One hundred thirty-four films were originally submitted in the category.

The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:

"Art and Craft," Purple Parrot Films
"The Case against 8," Day in Court
"Citizen Koch," Elsewhere Films
"CitizenFour," Praxis Films
"Finding Vivian Maier," Ravine Pictures
"The Internet’s Own Boy," Luminant Media
"Jodorowsky’s Dune," City Film
"Keep On Keepin’ On," Absolute Clay Productions
"The Kill Team," f/8 filmworks
"Last Days in Vietnam," Moxie Firecracker Films
"Life Itself," Kartemquin Films and Film Rites
"The Overnighters," Mile End Films West
"The Salt of the Earth," Decia Films
"Tales of the Grim Sleeper," Lafayette Film
"Virunga," Grain Media


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.

     The 87th Academy Awards® nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 5:30 a.m. PT, in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.


      The Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.  The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
Please send comments regarding this blog to: mimi_lafinca@aol.com

Sunday, November 23, 2014

TEN LIVE ACTION SHORTS ADVANCE IN TWENTY-FOURTEEN OSCAR® RACE



The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences® has announced that 10 live action short films will advance in the voting process for the 87th Academy Awards®.  One hundred forty-one pictures originally qualified in the category.

The 10 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies (in parentheses) and writers or directors where applicable:

“Aya,” Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis, directors (Chasis Films)

“Baghdad Messi,” Sahim Omar Kalifa, director, and Kobe Van Steenberghe, producer (a team productions)

“Boogaloo and Graham,” Michael Lennox, director, and Ronan Blaney, writer (Out of Orbit)

“Butter Lamp (La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak),” Hu Wei, director, and Julien Féret, producer
(AMA Productions)

"Carry On,” Yatao Li, director (Rochester Institute of Technology)

“My Father’s Truck,” Maurício Osaki, director (Lupi Filmes)

“Parvaneh,” Talkhon Hamzavi, director, and Stefan Eichenberger, producer (Zurich University of Arts)

“The Phone Call,” Mat Kirkby, director, and James Lucas, writer (RSA Films)

“SLR,” Stephen Fingleton, director, and Matthew James Wilkinson, producer (Stigma Films)

“Summer Vacation [Chofesh Gadol],” Tal Granit and Sharon Maymon, directors (GREENproductions)  




The Academy’s Short Films and Feature Animation Branch Reviewing Committee viewed all the eligible entries for the preliminary round of voting at screenings held in Los Angeles.

Short Films and Feature Animation Branch members will now select three to five nominees from among the 10 titles on the shortlist.  Branch screenings will be held in Los Angeles, London, New York and San Francisco in December.

The nominations for the 87th Academy Awards® will be announced live on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 5:30 a.m. PT, in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills.


The Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.  The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
ABOUT THE ACADEMY
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is the world’s preeminent movie-related organization, with a membership of more than 6,000 of the most accomplished men and women working in cinema. In addition to the annual Academy Awards—in which the members vote to select the nominees and winners — the Academy presents a diverse year-round slate of public programs, exhibitions and events; acts as a neutral advocate in the advancement of motion picture technology; and, through its Margaret Herrick Library and Academy Film Archive, collects, preserves, restores and provides access to movies and items related to their history. Through these and other activities the Academy serves students, historians, the entertainment industry and people everywhere who love movies.


Please send your comments for this blog to: mimi_lafinca@aol.com

Sunday, November 09, 2014

TEN ANIMATED SHORTS ADVANCE IN 2014 OSCAR® RACE

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that 10 animated short films will advance in the voting process for the 87th Academy Awards®.  Fifty-eight pictures had originally qualified in the category.

The 10 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:

“The Bigger Picture,” Daisy Jacobs, director, and Christopher Hees, producer (National Film and Television School)
“Coda,” Alan Holly, director (And Maps And Plans)
“The Dam Keeper,” Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi, directors (Tonko House)
“Duet,” Glen Keane, director (Glen Keane Productions & ATAP)
“Feast,” Patrick Osborne, director, and Kristina Reed, producer (Walt Disney Animation Studios)
“Footprints,” Bill Plympton, director (Bill Plympton Studio)
“Me and My Moulton,” Torill Kove, director (Mikrofilm in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada)
“The Numberlys,” William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg, directors (Moonbot Studios)
“A Single Life,” Joris Oprins, director (Job, Joris & Marieke)
“Symphony No. 42,” Réka Bucsi, director (Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest)


The Academy’s Short Films and Feature Animation Branch Reviewing Committee viewed all the eligible entries for the preliminary round of voting at screenings held in New York and Los Angeles.

Short Films and Feature Animation Branch members will now select three to five nominees from among the 10 titles on the shortlist.  Branch screenings will be held in Los Angeles, London, New York and San Francisco in December.

The 87th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

The Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.  The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.


To comment on this post e-mail:
mimi_lafinca@aol.com

Tuesday, November 04, 2014

TWENTY ANIMATED FEATURES SUBMITTED FOR 2014 OSCAR® RACE



Here, listed in alphabetical order, are the 20 Animated Feature Films submitted for possible nomination in the Animated Feature Film category for the 87th Academy Awards® _ _ _

“Big Hero 6”
“The Book of Life”
“The Boxtrolls”
“Cheatin’”
“Giovanni’s Island”
“Henry & Me”
“The Hero of Color City”
“How to Train Your Dragon 2”
“Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart”
“Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return”
“The Lego Movie”
“Minuscule – Valley of the Lost Ants”
“Mr. Peabody & Sherman”
“Penguins of Madagascar”
“The Pirate Fairy”
“Planes: Fire & Rescue”
“Rio 2”
“Rocks in My Pockets”
“Song of the Sea”
“The Tale of the Princess Kaguya”


Several of the films have not yet had their required Los Angeles qualifying run. Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and comply with all of the category’s other qualifying rules before they can advance in the voting process.  At least eight eligible animated features must be theatrically released in Los Angeles County within the calendar year for this category to be activated.
Films submitted in the Animated Feature Film category also may qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture, provided they meet the requirements for those categories.

The 87th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
The Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.  The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

Please send your comments to:
mimi_lafinca@aol.com

Friday, October 31, 2014

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES SUBMITTED FOR 2014 OSCAR®



134 Documentary Features Submitted For 2014 Oscar Race

The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:

“Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq”
“Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case”
“Algorithms”
“Alive Inside”
“All You Need Is Love”
“Altina”
“America: Imagine the World without Her”
“American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs”
“Anita”
“Antarctica: A Year on Ice”
“Art and Craft”
“Awake: The Life of Yogananda”
“The Barefoot Artist”
“The Battered Bastards of Baseball”
“Before You Know It”
“Bitter Honey”
“Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity”
“Botso The Teacher from Tbilisi”
“Captivated The Trials of Pamela Smart”
“The Case against 8”
“Cesar’s Last Fast”
“Citizen Koch”
“CitizenFour”
“Code Black”
“Concerning Violence”
“The Culture High”
“Cyber-Seniors”
“DamNation”
“Dancing in Jaffa”
“Death Metal Angola”
“The Decent One”
“Dinosaur 13”
“Do You Know What My Name Is?”
“Documented”
“The Dog”
“E-Team”
“Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me”
“Elena”
“Evolution of a Criminal”
“Fed Up”
“Finding Fela”
“Finding Vivian Maier”
“Food Chains”
“The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden”
“Getting to the Nutcracker”
“Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me”
“Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia”
“The Great Flood”
“The Great Invisible”
“The Green Prince”
“The Hacker Wars”
“The Hadza: Last of the First”
“Hanna Ranch”
“Happy Valley”
“The Hornet’s Nest”
“I Am Ali”
“If You Build It”
“The Immortalists”
“The Internet’s Own Boy”
“Ivory Tower”
“James Cameron’s Deepsea Challenge”
“Jodorowsky’s Dune”
“Journey of a Female Comic”
“Keep On Keepin’ On”
“Kids for Cash”
“The Kill Team”
“Korengal”
“La Bare”
“Last Days in Vietnam”
“Last Hijack”
“The Last Patrol”
“Levitated Mass”
“Life Itself”
“Little White Lie”
“Llyn Foulkes One Man Band”
“Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles”
“Manakamana”
“Merchants of Doubt”
“Mission Blue”
“Mistaken for Strangers”
“Mitt”
“Monk with a Camera”
“Nas: Time Is Illmatic”
“National Gallery”
“Next Goal Wins”
“Next Year Jerusalem”
“Night Will Fall”
“No Cameras Allowed”
“Now: In the Wings on a World Stage”
“Occupy the Farm”
“The Only Real Game”
“The Overnighters”
“Particle Fever”
“Pay 2 Play: Democracy’s High Stakes”
“Pelican Dreams”
“The Pleasures of Being Out of Step”
“Plot for Peace”
“Point and Shoot”
“Poverty Inc.”
“Print the Legend”
“Private Violence”
“Pump”
“Rabindranath Tagore – The Poet of Eternity”
“Red Army”
“Remote Area Medical”
“Rich Hill”
“The Rule”
“The Salt of the Earth”
“Shadows from My Past”
“She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry”
“A Small Section of the World”
“Smiling through the Apocalypse – Esquire in the 60s”
“Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon”
“The Supreme Price”
“Tales of the Grim Sleeper”
“Tanzania: A Journey Within”
“This Is Not a Ball”
“Thomas Keating: A Rising Tide of Silence”
“Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People”
“True Son”
“20,000 Days on Earth”
“Unclaimed”
“Under the Electric Sky”
“Underwater Dreams”
“Virunga”
“Waiting for August”
“Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago”
“Warsaw Uprising”
“Watchers of the Sky”
“Watermark”
“We Are the Giant”
“We Could Be King”
“Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger”
“A World Not Ours”
Several of the films have not yet had their required Los Angeles and New York qualifying releases. Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and comply with all of the category’s other qualifying rules in order to advance in the voting process.  A shortlist of 15 films will be announced in December.

Films submitted in the Documentary Feature category also may qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture, provided they meet the requirements for those categories.


The 87th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.


The Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.  The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

Please send comments to: mimi.lafinca@aol.com

Saturday, October 11, 2014

SUBMISSIONS FOR BEST FOREIGN FILM OF 2014



A RECORD 83 FOREIGN COUNTRIES HAVE OSCAR® ON THEIR MINDS

First, a word to my readers and followers. I was very busy the last six months of 2013, and the first eight months of this year, 2014. So, I slacked in my duties for "Mimi at the Movies," both on this blog and the "Mimi at the Movies" on Facebook. Twitter fared better, because it is so easy and quick to pass the news there. But today, I received an email from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announcing the submission of the feature motion pictures 83 countries have submitted to enter the race for Best Foreign Language motion picture Oscar, and I realized I better get busy.


Yes, another record. Last year was a record for that time with 76 submissions. This year's first-time entries are Kosovo, Malta, Mauritania and Panama. Welcome, all, to Mimi at the Movies, and may you have a happy and exciting experience with the Academy!

This year's submissions, with the director(s), are:
 
Afghanistan, "A Few Cubic Meters of Love," Jamshid Mahmoudi;
Argentina, "Wild Tales," Damián Szifrón;
Australia, "Charlie's Country," Rolf de Heer;
Austria, "The Dark Valley," Andreas Prochaska;
Azerbaijan, "Nabat," Elchin Musaoglu;
Bangladesh, "Glow of the Firefly," Khalid Mahmood Mithu;
Belgium, "Two Days, One Night," Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne;
Bolivia, "Forgotten," Carlos Bolado;
Bosnia and Herzegovina, "With Mom," Faruk Lončarevič;
Brazil, "The Way He Looks," Daniel Ribeiro;
Bulgaria, "Bulgarian Rhapsody," Ivan Nitchev;
Canada, "Mommy," Xavier Dolan;
Chile, "To Kill a Man," Alejandro Fernández Almendras;
China, "The Nightingale," Philippe Muyl;
Colombia, "Mateo," María Gamboa;
Costa Rica, "Red Princesses," Laura Astorga Carrera;
Croatia, "Cowboys," Tomislav Mršić;
Cuba, "Conducta," Ernesto Daranas Serrano;
Czech Republic, "Fair Play," Andrea Sedláčková;
Denmark, "Sorrow and Joy," Nils Malmros;
Dominican Republic, "Cristo Rey," Leticia Tonos;
Ecuador, "Silence in Dreamland," Tito Molina;
Egypt, "Factory Girl," Mohamed Khan;
Estonia, "Tangerines," Zaza Urushadze;
Ethiopia, "Difret," Zeresenay Berhane Mehari;
Finland, "Concrete Night," Pirjo Honkasalo;
France, "Saint Laurent," Bertrand Bonello;
Georgia, "Corn Island," George Ovashvili;
Germany, "Beloved Sisters," Dominik Graf;
Greece, "Little England," Pantelis Voulgaris;
Hong Kong, "The Golden Era," Ann Hui;
Hungary, "White God," Kornél Mundruczó;
Iceland, "Life in a Fishbowl," Baldvin Zophoníasson;
India, "Liar's Dice," Geetu Mohandas;
Indonesia, "Soekarno," Hanung Bramantyo;
Iran, "Today," Reza Mirkarimi;
Iraq, "Mardan," Batin Ghobadi;
Ireland, "The Gift," Tom Collins;
Israel, "Gett, the Trial of Viviane Amsalem," Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz;
Italy, "Human Capital," Paolo Virzì;
Japan, "The Light Shines Only There," Mipo O;
Kosovo, "Three Windows and a Hanging," Isa Qosja;
Kyrgyzstan, "Kurmanjan Datka Queen of the Mountains," Sadyk Sher-Niyaz;
Latvia, "Rocks in My Pockets," Signe Baumane;
Lebanon, "Ghadi," Amin Dora, director;
Lithuania, "The Gambler," Ignas Jonynas;
Luxembourg, "Never Die Young," Pol Cruchten;
Macedonia, "To the Hilt," Stole Popov;
Malta, "Simshar," Rebecca Cremona;
Mauritania, "Timbuktu," Abderrahmane Sissako;
Mexico, "Cantinflas," Sebastián del Amo;
Moldova, "The Unsaved," Igor Cobileanski;
Montenegro, "The Kids from the Marx and Engels Street," Nikola Vukčević;
Morocco, "The Red Moon," Hassan Benjelloun, director;
Nepal, "Jhola," Yadav Kumar Bhattarai;
Netherlands, "Accused," Paula van der Oest;
New Zealand, "The Dead Lands," Toa Fraser;
Norway, "1001 Grams," Bent Hamer, director;
Pakistan, "Dukhtar," Afia Nathaniel, director;
Palestine, "Eyes of a Thief," Najwa Najjar;
Panama, "Invasion," Abner Benaim;
Peru, "The Gospel of the Flesh," Eduardo Mendoza;
Philippines, "Norte, the End of History," Lav Diaz;
Poland, "Ida," Paweł Pawlikowski;
Portugal, "What Now? Remind Me," Joaquim Pinto;
Romania, "The Japanese Dog," Tudor Cristian Jurgiu;
Russia, "Leviathan," Andrey Zvyagintsev;
Serbia, "See You in Montevideo," Dragan Bjelogrlić;
Singapore, "Sayang Disayang," Sanif Olek;
Slovakia, "A Step into the Dark," Miloslav Luther;
Slovenia, "Seduce Me," Marko Šantić, director;
South Africa, "Elelwani," Ntshavheni Wa Luruli;
South Korea, "Haemoo," Shim Sung-bo;
Spain, "Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed," David Trueba;
Sweden, "Force Majeure," Ruben Östlund;
Switzerland, "The Circle," Stefan Haupt;
Taiwan, "Ice Poison," Midi Z;
Thailand, "The Teacher’s Diary," Nithiwat Tharathorn;
Turkey, "Winter Sleep," Nuri Bilge Ceylan;
Ukraine, "The Guide," Oles Sanin;
United Kingdom, "Little Happiness," Nihat Seven;
Uruguay, "Mr. Kaplan," Álvaro Brechner;
Venezuela, "The Liberator," Alberto Arvelo.


The 87th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
The Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.  The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
ABOUT THE ACADEMY 
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is the world’s preeminent movie-related organization, with a membership of more than 6,000 of the most accomplished men and women working in cinema. In addition to the annual Academy Awards—in which the members vote to select the nominees and winners — the Academy presents a diverse year-round slate of public programs, exhibitions and events; acts as a neutral advocate in the advancement of motion picture technology; and, through its Margaret Herrick Library and Academy Film Archive, collects, preserves, restores and provides access to movies and items related to their history. Through these and other activities the Academy serves students, historians, the entertainment industry and people everywhere who love movies.


Friday, July 04, 2014

Some News About International Animation

FROZEN from Walt Disney Studios
The movie-going public in the USA fell in love with this
animated feature like hardly any other, "Frozen" (2013). It not only won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, but almost anyone who is a child or has a child in the family knows the featured song by memory, almost if not totally. It received the Oscar for Best Song, same as the title. It was written by the husband-and-wife songwriting team of Robert and Kristen Lopez, who wrote all the songs for the movie.

There is no doubt in the minds of the American movie-going public that the U.S. leads the animation parade in quality, but there is high quality animation in other countries as well. Unfortunately, the language barrier is keeping those quality works from being distributed in English-speaking countries. There is no law against it. Americans, in general, do not like to read subtitles and any motion picture requiring them for the movie-going public immediatly raises a red flag for U.S. distributors. It is more profitable to saturate America with animation from Disney or Pixar and rake in the quick dough. Both are a sure bet.

Here's the trailer for "The Tale of Princess Kaguya" ('Kaguya-hime no Monogatari', 2013), the latest from Isao Takahata, also director of "Grave of the Fireflies" ('Hotaru no Haka', 1988). Language is not a problem with most of the products coming from Studio Ghibli. One can enjoy them by simply viewing them as a silent movie while enjoying a music soundtrack.


Interestingly, the films from the two founders of the legendary animation Studio Ghibli premiered in 2013 and 14. This one by Takahata and the other from the "master," Hayao Miyazaki , "The Wind Rises" ('Kaze Tachinu', 2013). Miyazaki announced it was his farewell as a director of animation. Takahata's last film before "The Tale of Princess Kaguya," was "My Neighbors the Yamadas, 1999) but he seems not to have any intention of retiring officially.
The script, for "The Tale of Princess Kaguya," which Takahata did not write, is  based on an anonymous ninth-century folk tale with the title "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter." It is the story of an elderly farming couple, who find a tiny newborn baby girl inside a bamboo plant, and decide to adopt her as their daughter. She grows more quickly than normal and many men desire her, even the emperor.

Hayao Miyazaki

 A Few Words About Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, the other founder of Studio Ghibli.This is what I wrote before I had a chance to see "The Wind Rises". I did see it and loved it as I have all of his other works: 
 http://mimiatthemovies.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-few-words-about-japanese-animator.html 

 The Wind Rises
THE WIND RISES
"The Wind Rises," Official Trailer. A look at the life of Jiro Horikoshi, the man who designed Japanese fighter planes, called Zeros, during World War II. Popular song in USA was, "Johnny Got A Zero". This movie written and Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, and he wrote it is his last motion picture.



THE LATINO CONNECTION

Ale Abreu’s "The Boy and the World" (O menino e o mundo),  premièred at the Rio Film Festival, Brazil 2014, in the New Trends category. In June, "The Boy and the World" took the top prizes at the most recent prestigious international 38th Annecy International Animated Film Festival. The Brazilian feature, for which Ale Abreu drew all the frames, earned the top honors from both the jury and the audience. The film won both the festival’s Cristal Award as well as the audience award for favorite film during the 38th festival. This is the second year in a row that a Brazilian feature has won the top prize. In 2013 the Cristal Award went to Luiz Bolognesie’s "A Story of Love and Fury" ("Uma história de amor e fúria"). Sorry, no trailer available for "The Boy and the World" or "A Story of Love and Fury."

Sunday, May 25, 2014

67th Cannes Film Festival Winners, 2014


Official Poster of the 67th Cannes Film Festival, 2014

Director Jane Campion (The Piano) headed the Jury of the 2014, 67th Cannes Film Festival last night in France (May 25th). She revealed the prize winners during the Awards Ceremony. For more about the Jury, etc., see previous post.

Lambert Wilson hosted Uma Thurman and Quentin Tarantino onto the stage of the Grand Théâtre Lumière to award the Palme d’or to Nuri Bilge Ceylan for his film Winter Sleep


The full list of the Campion nine-member Jury winners:

Palme d’Or (Golden Palm): Winter Sleep, directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan of Turkey;

Grand Prize: Le Meraviglie (The Wonders), Alice Rohrwacher;

Best Director: Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher;

Jury Prize: Mommy, by Canadian director Xavier Dolan, sharing the honor with French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard's Goodbye to Language;

The Camera d'or Best Acting Ensemble Prize: Party Girl by Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger and Samuel Theis;

Best Actress: Julianne Moore for her role in David Chronenberg's,  Maps To The Stars, but she was not present;

Best Actor: Timothy Spall, Mr. Turner;

Prize of Un Certain Regard: Fehér Isten (White God) by Kornél Mundruczó;

Jury Prize: Tourist by Ruben Östlund;

Un Certain Regard Special Prize: The Salt of the Earth by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado;

Best Actor: David Gulpill in Charlie's Country by Rolf de Heer;

The special Jury Honor went to The Salt of the Earth by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, a documentary about the latter's photographer father. Wenders was not present to accept the award. 

The late Sergio Leone’s Per un pugno di dollari (A Fistful of Dollars) was presented by Quentin Tarantino, and screened at the end of the ceremony.

WATCH THE VIDEO OF THE CEREMONY - IN ENGLISH:

 http://www.festival-cannes.com/en.html 

Also, the Official English Website. 

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

67th CANNES FESTIVAL de CINÉMA


PRESENTING, the 2014th, OFFICIAL JURY of The 67th CANNES FESTIVAL de Cinéma
MAY 14 - 25, 2014



The New Zealand director, producer and screenwriter Jane Campion, winner of the Palme d’or for The Piano, will be the President of the Jury of the 67th Festival de Cannes, wich has always sought to adopt a universal and inter-national approach. In tune
with this tradition, Campion will be surrounded by eight luminaries of  world cinema from China, Korea,  Denmark, Iran, the United States, France and Mexico.

As in 2009, the Jury will include five women and four men. Their task will be to decide between the 18 films in Competition in order to select the winners – to be announced on stage at the ceremony Saturday 24th May. The winner of the Palme d’or will be screened during the Festival’s closing evening on Sunday 25th of May, in the presence of the Jury and the entire team of the winning motion picture.

THE JURY
Jane CAMPION – President
(Director, Screenwriter, Producer – New Zealand)
Carole BOUQUET (Actress – France)
Sofia COPPOLA (Director, Screenwriter, Producer – United States)
Leila HATAMI (Actress – Iran)
JEON Do-yeon (Actress – South Korea)
Willem DAFOE (Actor – United States)
Gael GARCIA BERNAL (Actor, Director, Producer – Mexico)
JIA Zhangke (Director, Screenwriter, Producer – China)
Nicolas Winding REFN (Director, Screenwriter, Producer – Denmark)

Position in picture and Copyrights:


1. Jane Campion © Lisa Tomasetti
2. Jia Zhangke © RR
3. Willem Dafoe © RR
4. Leila Hatami © Saba Siahpoush
5. Carole Bouquet © Paul Schmidt
6. Gael Garcia Bernal © Floria Gonzalez
7.
Jia Do-yeon © RR
8. Nicolas Winding Refn © Jonas Bie
9. Sofia Coppola © Andrew Durham

 
Carole Bouquet, Actress (France) After her film debut in 1977 with Luis Buñuel in That Obscure Object of Desire, Bouquet alternated between arthouse and blockbuster productions. A Bond Girl in 1981 in For Your Eyes Only, she worked with Bertrand Blier on Buffet Froid (1979) and Too Beautiful For You (1989) for which she won the César for Best Actress. She appeared in Le jour des idiots by Werner Schroeter, Michel Blanc’s Dead Tired and Embrassez qui vous voudrez, Lucie Aubrac by Claude Berri, L’Enfer by Danis Tanovic, Nordeste by Juan Diego Solanas (Festival de Cannes 2005) and Unforgivable by André Téchiné.

Sofia Coppola, Director and screenwriter (United States)
Coppola’s first feature film, The Virgin Suicides (1999) was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, where it met with international critical acclaim. Four years later, after several Oscar nominations for Lost in Translation, including Best Director, she walked off with the Best Screenplay award. Her third film, Marie-Antoinette was selected in Competition at Cannes in 2006. After picking up a Golden Lion in Venice for Somewhere (2010), Sofia Coppola opened Un Certain Regard with her last film The Bling Ring at the Festival de Cannes in 2013.

Leila Hatami, Actress (Iran) Born in Tehran into a family of filmmakers, she started out acting in films directed by her father, Ali Hatami, before starring in Dariush Mehrjui’s Leila (1998) which brought her to national attention. It was Asghar Farhadi who established her on the world stage with A Separation (Golden Bear at the 2011 Berlin Festival). She picked up the Best Actress award in Karlovy Vary for her role in Ali Mosaffa’s Last Step in 2012.

Jeon Do-yeon, Actress (South Korea) The first Korean actress to receive the Best Actress award at the Festival de Cannes for her role in Secret Sunshine by Lee Chang-dong (2007), Jeon Do-yeon started out as a television actress before turning exclusively to cinema. Her major films include I Wish I Had a Wife by Ryoo Seung, My Mother, The Mermaid by Park Jin-pyo and The Housemaid by Im Sang-soo, presented at Cannes in 2010. A massive celebrity in her country, she has just finished shooting Memories of the Sword by Park Heung-sik.

Willem Dafoe, Actor (United States) Twice nominated for an Oscar, for Oliver Stone’s Platoon and Shadow of the Vampire, Dafoe has appeared in 80 films including Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson, Light Sleeper by Paul Schrader, The Last Temptation of Christ by Martin Scorsese, Antichrist by Lars von Trier and The English Patient by Anthony Minghella. He will soon be appearing in A Most Wanted Man by Anton Corbijn and Pasolini by Abel Ferrara. A co-founder of the Wooster Group – an experimental theatre collective – he is currently on tour with Bob Wilson’s play The Old Woman.

Gael García Bernal, Actor, director and producer (Mexico)
Bernal first came to public attention in Iñárritu’s Amorres Perros, soon followed by Y Tu Mamá También by Alfonso Cuarón. He then featured in films directed by some of the greats of international cinema, such as The Motorcycle Diaries by Walter Salles, Pedro Almodóvar’s Bad Education, The Science of Sleep by Michel Gondry, Babel by Gonzalez Iñárritu, and The Limits of Control by Jim Jarmusch. In 2005, he founded his Canana production company with Diego Luna and in 2010, after a few short films, directed his first feature film, Deficit, selected at La Semaine de la Critique at Cannes.

Nicolas Winding Refn
, Director, screenwriter and producer (Denmark)
His first film, Pusher (1996), written and directed at the age of 24, immediately became a cult movie and he shot to fame throughout the world. He then directed Bleeder (1999), Fear X (2003), Pusher II & III (2004 & 2005), Bronson (2008) and Valhalla Rising (2009), all characteristic of the style that came to be dubbed "Refn-esque". In 2011, Drive was presented at the Festival de Cannes and won the Best Direction prize, awarded by the Jury presided by Robert De Niro. His last film, Only God Forgives, featured in Competition at Cannes in 2013.

Jia Zhangke, Director, screenwriter and producer (China)
After first studying art Jia Zhangke, born in 1970, attended the Beijing Film Academy in the 1990s. After the success of his first film, Xao Wu (1998), he directed Platform (Zhantai, 2000) and Unknown Pleasures (Ren xiao yao, 2002) selected for Venice and Cannes respectively. Still Life picked up the Golden Lion in Venice in 2006. He also presented 24 City at the Festival de Cannes, in Competition in 2008 and I Wish I Knew for Un Certain Regard in 2010. Last year, A Touch of Sin garnered the Best Screenplay prize awarded by the Jury, Steven Spielberg, presiding
.