Japanese Film Wins Oscars

Starring: Masahiro Motoki, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ryoko Hirosue, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Kimiko Yo. Director: Yojiro Takita. Writer: Kundo Koyama.

The Japanese movie OKURIBITO (Departures), which won the Grand Prize of the Americas at last September's Montreal World Film Festival, reaffirmed its merit by winning the Oscar® for Best Foreign Language Film (BFLF) of 2008 at the 81st Academy Awards®, 22 February 2009.

OKURIBITO, directed by Yojiro Takita, 53, is the first Japanese film to receive an Oscar in the category. SAMURAI I: MUSASHI MIYAMOTO was given a special award in 1955, a year before the BFLF category was officially established in 1956. Takita and lead actor Masahiro Motoki accepted the award at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre at Hollywood and Vine®.

With a humorous touch, OKURIBITO portrays how a mortician observes people's lives and deaths. For the film, which was in the pipeline for more than 10 years, Motoki, who plays the mortician, studied relevant techniques under a real mortician. During his training he wiped the faces of bodies and dressed them.

The four other finalists in the BFLF category were: THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX, Germany; THE CLASS, France; REVANCHE (Revenge), Austria; and WALTZ WITH BASHIR, Israel.

Actually, two Japanese films picked up Oscars® at the 81st annual Academy Awards. TSUMIKI NO IE (The House of Small Cubes) was named Best Animated Short Film. The French title is, La Maison en Petits Cubes. The animation was painstakingly drawn by hand, taking about seven months to complete the 12-minute film.

The animated short, directed by Kunio Kato, 31, was Japan's first Oscar in that category - the nation's only other animation success was in 2003 with Hayao Miyazaki's SPIRITED AWAY in the Best Animated Feature category.

The 2008 Montreal World Film Festival's International Jury was headed by Oscar-winning American director MARK RYDELL, along with French actress EVELYNE BOUIX, JOHANNE DUGAS, representing the general public (Canada), Chinese director XIE FEI, Czech director VOJTECH JASNY, and Montreal writer and director DANY LAFERRIÈRE.

The next Montreal World Film Festival will take place 2 August to 7 September 2009, and the next Oscars will be in March 2010.

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE Tops 81st Oscars® with Eight

Patel and Pinto in SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

The movie that I tagged as the possible "little movie that could," in September, did. The cast and crew will be taking eight golden statuettes back to the U.K., or India. It won best picture, and the best director went to Danny Boyle. There were honors for best cinematography, sound mixing, film editing, and adapted screenplay. Musically, A.R. Rahman received the best original score and best song ("Jai Ho") Oscars.

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON took home three expected ones: art direction, makeup and visual effects. THE DARK KNIGHT and MILK each garnered two.

Heath Ledger was posthumously awarded best supporting actor as the Joker in DARK KNIGHT, and the movie received one technical award for sound editing.

MILK's Sean Penn was named best actor for his role as Harvey Milk, and Dustin Lance Black's original screenplay received an Oscar.

Winning actresses Winslet and Cruz

Kate Winslet and Penelope Cruz each finally won acting Oscars. Winslet was named best actress in a leading role as a former Nazi with many secrets in THE READER, and Penelope Cruz was named best supporting actress as the ex-wife in VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA. DOUBT and FROST/NIXON were shutout.



Oscars also went to:
Best Animated Feature - WALL-E
Best Costumes - THE DUCHESS - Michael O'Connor
Best Documentary Feature - MAN ON WIRE
Best Documentary Short - SMILE PINKI
Best Live Action Short - SPIELZEUGLAND (Toyland)
Best Foreign Language Film - DEPARTURES, (Okuribito, Japan), dir. Yojiro Takita.

For the list of nominees and winners see the link on the right sidebar, "81st Oscar Nominations & Winners." The link will remain until the next awards.

I have watched the Academy Awards for more years than I will admit to, and the 81st presentation last night is the best one I have ever seen. For a decade the annual event's viewer percentage has been gradually declining. Therefore, this was a year of change for the Oscar Gala, too.

Before a couple of unfortunate personal incidents, I had planned to post about the changes for the Gala. Almost everyone in the administrative and talent heads at the Academy are no longer there. Last night it was announced that President Sid Ganis had served his last year and would be leaving.

So, good show Academy! Host Hugh Jackman was able to showcase his varied talents and do so with class. The Humanitarian Award was accepted by Jerry Lewis with a short and sincere acceptance speech. The set was spectacular. The proscenium box was gone, inviting the audience in, especially by moving the orchestra out of the pit onto the expanded stage.

Mimi Picks Some Oscar® Favorites

(Order Poster)
First of all, I am sorry that my coverage of the Oscar race is a bust this year. The great ice storm of 2009 hit the last week of January and I was without electricity for three weeks, not to mention I had only minimum heat. Therefore, the best I can do now is to make this post, a rather long one at that. Again, sorry!

Harvey Weinstein (The Weinstein Company), has bet his farm and then some on THE READER. He has, by all accounts, pulled out all the stops for his entry this year. How effective was his campaign? According to what I have been reading and have heard, Harvey's kingmaker days in Hollywood may be over because of two young lovers from an Indian slum. Then, on the other hand . . . . .

Performance by an actor in a leading role:

Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor” (Overture Films);
Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” (Universal);
Sean Penn in “Milk” (Focus Features);
Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.);
Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight).

MIMI PICKS: I think this is Sean Penn's best chance to win in the best actor category, but will the Academy members be more inclined to vote for the comeback of a loser (Mickey Rourke)?

~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+~

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Josh Brolin in “Milk” (Focus Features);
Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder” (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount);
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt” (Miramax);
Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.);
Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage).

MIMI PICKS: Josh Brolin deserved the Oscar in this category last year for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, and the Academy has, on rare occasions, honored an actor or actress for a performance the previous year. It might work for Brolin, except this time he plays a guy who murdered a city supervisor who was gay and took out the mayor who supported gay initiatives. However, a real dead guy, Heath Ledger, who was first nominated for playing a gay guy (BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN), seems to have a lock on the category. The question is why? Will winning give Ledger a "bump" for his career?

~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+~

Performance by an actress in a leading role

Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married” (Sony Pictures Classics);
Angelina Jolie in “Changeling” (Universal);
Melissa Leo in “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics);
Meryl Streep in “Doubt” (Miramax);
Kate Winslet in “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company).

MIMI PICKS: Hathaway is a first-time nominee and "Academy darling." This nomination is mainly to recognize her transition to adult actress, now she must prove it for another nomination. Streep is the Grand Dame in this category while Jolie is beautiful, but her movie basically tanked. So, that leaves Leo, a first time nominee, and Winslet a five-time nominee loser. Who would benefit most from the "bump"? My money is on Melissa Leo. In other words, and like it or not, I see the best actress and best supporting actor Oscars going to a dark horse and a dark knight in that order.

~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+~

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

Amy Adams in “Doubt” (Miramax);
Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (The Weinstein Company)
Viola Davis in “Doubt” (Miramax);
Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.);Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight).

MIMI PICKS: I love Penélope Cruz, but I fear she will once again be shut out, especially since the Weinstein Company, which has both VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA and THE READER in their distribution stable is putting all their energy toward THE READER and Kate Winslet. Tomei was not as good as she could have been, and Adams gave a superb performance, but it was a low-key one. That leaves Viola Davis for DOUBT and Taraji P. Henson for BENJAMIN BUTTON. I mostly miss in this category, so I will simply say that it will either be Davis or Henson.

~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+~

Best animated feature film of the year

BOLT (Walt Disney);
KUNG FU PANDA (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount);
WALL-E (Walt Disney).

MIMI PICKS: WALL-E! Enough said.

~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+~

Best documentary feature

THE BETRAYAL (Nerakhoon) (Cinema Guild);
ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD (THINKFilm and Image Entertainment);
THE GARDEN (A Black Valley Films Production);
MAN ON WIRE (Magnolia Pictures).

MIMI PICKS: MAN ON WIRE. I was riveted, and it has won more awards than any film in this category.

~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+~

Best foreign language film of the year

THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX (A Constantin Film Production), Germany;
THE CLASS (Sony Pictures Classics), France;
DEPARTURES (Regent Releasing),Japan;
REVANCHE (Revenge, Janus Films), Austria
WALTZ WITH BASHIR (Sony Pictures Classics), A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production, Israel.

MIMI PICKS: THE CLASS. Why? It won at Cannes, and it is a sentimental thing with me. This movie reminds me of the work of the late French director, François Truffaut, who was my friend. I miss him and his movies.

~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+~

Adapted screenplay

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJHAMIN BUTTON (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord;
DOUBT (Miramax), Written by John Patrick Shanley;
FROST/NIXON (Universal), Screenplay by Peter Morgan;
THE READER (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Hare;
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy.

MIMI PICKS: All of these adaptations presented challenges, and all movies are nominated for best picture. Oh, dear. Oh, dear. I'm going with Simon Beufoy (THE FULL MONTY) for SLUMDOG.

~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+~

Original screenplay

FROZEN RIVER (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Courtney Hunt;
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY (Miramax), Written by Mike Leigh;
IN BRUGES (Focus Features), Written by Martin McDonagh;
MILK (Focus Features), Written by Dustin Lance Black;
WALL-E (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter.

MIMI PICKS: MILK gets the nod here for being the sensitive subject and I think it would be a splendid pick in this category, but WALL-E blew me away with its intricacies and beautiful heart, and I'm going to say, WALL-E.

~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+~

MIMI PICKS: Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score) - SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (Fox Searchlight), A.R. Rahman.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song) - “Down to Earth” from WALL-E (Walt Disney), Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel.

~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+~

Achievement in directing

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Fincher;
FROST/NIXON (Universal), Ron Howard;
MILK (Focus Features), Gus Van Sant;
THE READER (The Weinstein Company), Stephen Daldry;
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (Fox Searchlight), Danny Boyle.

MIMI PICKS: First, I am delighted that the Academy members did not pick any director out of left field for this category as they did last year. This year they nominated directors of movies nominated for best picture. Well done! Who will win? I pick, Danny Boyle (TRAINSPOTTING, 1996 and SUNSHINE, 2007) for SLUMDOG.

~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+ ~o_+~

Best motion picture of the year

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (Paramount and Warner Bros.);
FROST/NIXON (Universal);
MILK (Focus Features);
THE READER (The Weinstein Company);
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (Fox Searchlight).

MIMI PICKS: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. I first learned of this film at the Toronto Film Festival where it won the 2008 Cadillac People's Choice Award this past September. After that, this U.K. production shot in Mumbai, and Maharashtra, India, has won award after award, after award, after . . . well, you get the picture.

Good luck, everyone and party hardy!

Oscar® Nominations Tomorrow - - Official Site and Media

Nominations for the 81st Academy Awards® will be announced tomorrow, Thursday, 22 January, 5:30 a.m. PT. As usual, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis will make the announcement assisted by a member of the Academy. Oscar-winning actor and Academy member Forest Whitaker (THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND) will accompany him this year.

Ganis and Whitaker will unveil the nominations in 10 of the 24 award categories in a news conference at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Of course, hundreds of media representatives from around the world will be gathered.

The Academy's official Oscar Web site is now up and will be activated when the nominations are announced. Information for all categories will be distributed simultaneously to news media in attendance and via the Internet on the official Oscar Web site, www.oscar.com.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, 22 February 2009, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center^® and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Nine Foreign Language Films Advance in Oscar® Race

Nine films on this shortlist will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 81st Academy Awards®. Sixty-five films originally qualified in the category.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:
Austria, REVANCHE (Revenge), Gotz Spielmann, director;
Canada, THE NECESSITIES OF LIFE, Benoit Pilon, director;
France, THE CLASS, Laurent Cantet, director;
Germany, THE BAADER MEINHJOF COMPLEX, Uli Edel, director;
Israel, WAlTZ WITH BASHIR, Ari Folman, director;
Japan, DEPARTURES, Yojiro Takita, director;
Mexico, TEAR THIS HEART OUT, Roberto Sneider, director;
Sweden, EVERLASTING MOMENTS, Jan Troell, director;
Turkey, 3 MONKEYS, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, director.

Foreign Language Film nominations for 2008 are determined in two phases. The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based members, screened the 65 eligible films between mid-October and January 10. That group’s top six choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee, constitute this shortlist.

The provision for the Executive Committee to augment the first short list was added last year because certain films that were eligible, and had received a number of awards, were completely overlooked by the first committee. Main case in point was the Romania movie, 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, AND 2 DAYS, directed by Cristian Mungiu. Among its many awards was best film at Cannes, 2007. I am happy to see that at least four in the above list are, indeed on this short list, especially THE CLASS from France, which won best film at Cannes last May.

The other three are THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX, WALTZ WITH BASHIR (won Golden Globe this past week for BFLF), and 3 MONKEYS. In THE CLASS (Entre les murs), French teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself teaching a year with a racially mixed class in a tough Parisian neighborhood.

MEINHOF COMPLEX concerns Germany's terrorist group, The Red Army Faction (RAF), which organized bombings, robberies, kidnappings and assassinations in the late 1960s and '70s. Based on Stefan Aust's best-selling nonfiction book. In BASHIR, a young man tells the film's director about being chased by 26 vicious dogs. A family with problems refuses to hear, see, or talk about them, so they are like the 3 MONKEYS (Üç maymun) in the well-known bric-a-brac.

In Phase Two of the nomination procedure for this category, specially selected committees in New York and Los Angeles will winnow this list to five eligible for nomination for the Best Foreign Language Film (BFLF). The number of originally qualified films allows for a maximum of five nominees in the BFLF category. The committee members will spend this Friday, Saturday and Sunday viewing three of the films each day

The 81st Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, 22 January 2009, at 5:30 a.m. PT, in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.The Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, 22 February 2009, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Short List for Visual Effects Oscar®

Seven movies made the short list for possible nomination for an Oscar in the Visual Effects category for the 81st Academy Awards®, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today. The films are listed below in alphabetical order: AUSTRALIA, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, THE DARK KNIGHT, HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY, IRON MAN, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, and THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR.

On Thursday, 15 January, all members of the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 15-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films. Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate three films for final Oscar consideration.

The 81st Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, 22 January 2009, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

281 Feature Films Vie for 2008 Oscar® Nominations

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has certified 281 feature films eligible for the Academy Award® for Best Picture of 2008, and only five will be nominated to compete. Participants in these films are eligible for other Oscar nominations such as Best Director, Best Actress, Best Costumes, etc.

To be eligible for 81st Academy Awards® consideration, feature films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County by midnight, 31 December and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days. 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.

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. See the full list (in .pdf) of 281 films, and read more about the rules, by clicking the title of this post.

The 81st Oscar nominations will be announced 5:30 a.m. PT, Thursday, 22 January 2009, at in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, 22 February 2009, in the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

2008 Oscar® Nomination Ballots Mailed

Ballots for Oscar nominations for the 81st Academy Awards® are being mailed today to the 5,810 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The deadline for ballots, which must be returned to the office of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), is 5 p.m. Monday, 12 January. Ballots received after the deadline will not be counted. The 81st Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, 22 January, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Nomination and final award ballots are tabulated by PricewaterhouseCoopers to ensure that all aspects of the balloting process are conducted with fairness and accuracy. Prior to mailing, the PricewaterhouseCoopers staff administers a thorough verification process to ensure that there are no duplicate ballots and that none are missing. In addition to being counted and sorted, the ballots are numbered to guarantee that each one is addressed to the appropriate Academy voter.

The 81st Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, 22 February 2009, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

15 Docs Continue in 2008 Oscar® Race

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 81st Academy Awards®. A record 94 pictures originally qualified in the category. The Documentary Branch Screening Committee viewed all the eligible documentaries for the preliminary round of voting. Documentary Branch members will now select the five nominees from among the 15 titles on this shortlist.

The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order:

AT THE DEATH HOUSE DOOR

THE BETRAYAL (Nerakhoon)

BLESSED IS THE MATCH: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF HANNAH SENESH

ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD

FUEL

THE GARDEN

GLASS: A PORTRAIT OF PHILIP IN TWELVE PARTS

I.O.U.S.A.

IN A DREAM

MADE IN AMERICA

MAN ON WIRE

PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE (S.O.P.)

THEY KILLED SISTER DOROTHY

TROUBLE THE WATER

The 81st Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, 22 January 2009, at 5:30 a.m., PT, in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, 22 February 2009, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Here are the five I would like to see nominated: GLASS: A PORTRAIT OF PHILIP IN TWELVE PARTS, MADE IN AMERICA, MAN ON WIRE, PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL, and STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE. What are your picks?

Fourteen Features May Qualify For 81st Oscars®

Fourteen feature films have been submitted for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 81st Academy Awards®. However, seven are not yet fully qualified to proceed in the Oscar-nomination process because they have not had their required Los Angeles qualifying theatrical releases.

The complete conditional list is:
BOLT
DELGO
DR. SEUSS' HORTON HEARS A WHO!
DRAGON HUNTERS
FLY ME TP THE MOON
IGOR
KUNG FU PANDA
MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA
$9.99
THE SKY CRAWLERS
SWORD OF THE STRANGER
THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX
WALL-E
WALZ WITH BASHIR

BOLT, DELGO, DRAGON HUNTERS, $9.99, THE SKY CRAWLERS, THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX, and WALZ WITH BASHIR have not yet had their required Los Angeles qualifying runs. Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and meet all of the category’s other qualifying rules before they can advance in the voting process.

Under the rules for this category, a maximum of three (3) films can be nominated in a year in which the field of eligible entries numbers at least eight (8) but fewer than 16. Right now, there are eight (8) films qualified to move forward, and only seven (7) left to qualify. Thus, there will definitely be fewer than 16 eligible films, and the maximum nominations can only be three (3). 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 81st Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, 22 January 2009, at 5:30 a.m., PT, in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, 22 February 2009, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

COUNTRIES SUBMIT FILMS FOR BFLF OSCAR®

A record 67 countries (63 last year), including first-time entrant Jordan, have submitted feature films for Oscar® consideration in the Best Foreign Language Film (BFLF) category for the 81st Academy Awards® for Best Foreign Language Film of 2008.

In June, the Academy invited 95 countries to submit a film in the category. The deadline to receive the application and all supporting material was 1 October. Selected committees will now select a short list from which five films will be nominated by those in the full Academy membership who can certify they have seen all five films nominated. [This post is also in the link on the right sidebar from now until next year.]

The 2008 submissions, along with director(s) are:

Afghanistan, OPIUM WAR, Siddiq Barmak;

Albania, THE SORROW OF MRS. SCHNEIDER, Piro Milkani and Eno Milkani;

Algeria, MASQUERADES, Lyes Salem;

Argentina, LION'S DEN, Pablo Trapero;

Austria, REVANCHE, Gotz Spielmann;

Azerbaijan, FORTRESS, Shamil Nacafzada;

Bangladesh, AHA!, Enamul Karim Nirjhar;

Belgium, ELDORADO, Bouli Lanners;

Bosnia and Herzegovina, SNOW, Aida Begic;

Brazil, LAST STOP 174, Bruno Barreto;

Bulgaria, ZIFT, Javor Gardev;

Canada, THE NECESSITIES OF LIFE, Benoit Pilon;

Chile, TONY MANERO, Pablo Larrain;

China, DREAM WEAVERS, Jun Gu, director;

Colombia, DOG EAT DOG, Carlos Moreno;

Croatia, NO ONE'S SON, Arsen Anton Ostojic;

Czech Republic, THE KARAMAZOVS, Petr Zelenka;

Denmark, WORLDS APART, Niels Arden Oplev;

Egypt, THE ISLAND, Sherif Arafa;

Estonia, I WAS HERE, Rene Vilbre;

Finland, THE HOME OF DARK BUTTERFLIES, Dome Karukoski;

France, THE CLASS, Laurent Cantet;

Georgia, MEDIATOR, Dito Tsintsadze;

Germany, THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX, Uli Edel;

Greece, CORRECTION, Thanos Anastopoulos;

Hong Kong, PAINTED SKIN, Gordon Chan;

Hungary, ISKA'S JOURNEY, Csaba Bollok;

Iceland, WHITE NIGHT WEDDING, Baltasar Kormakur;

India, TAARE ZAMEEN PAR, Aamir Khan;

Iran, THE SONG OF THE SPARROWS, Majid Majidi;

Israel, WALTZ WITH BASHIR, Ari Folman;

Italy, GOMORRA, Matteo Garrone;

Japan, DEPARTURES, Yojiro Takita;

Jordan, CAPTAIN ABU RAED, Amin Matalqa;

Kazakhstan, TULPAN, Sergey Dvortsevoy;

Korea, CROSSING, Tae-kyun Kim;

Kyrgyzstan, HEAVENS BLUE, Marie Jaoul de Poncheville;

Latvia, DEFENDERS OF RIGA, Aigars Grauba;

Lebanon, UNDER THE BOMBS, Philippe Aractingi;

Lithuania, LOSS, Maris Martinsons;

Luxembourg, NUITS D'ARABIE, Paul Kieffer;

Macedonia, I’M FROM TITOV VELES, Teona Strugar Mitevska;

Mexico, TEAR THIS HEART OUT, Roberto Sneider;

Morocco, GOODBYE MOTHERS, Mohamed Ismail;

The Netherlands, DUNYA & DESIE, Dana Nechushtan;

Norway, O’HORTEN, Bent Hamer;

Palestine, SALT OF THIS SEA, Annemarie Jacir;

Philippines, PLONING, Dante Nico Garcia;

Poland, TRICKS, Andrzej Jakimowski;

Portugal, OUR BELOVED MONTH OF AUGUST, Miguel Gomes;

Romania, THE REST IS SILENCE, Nae Caranfil;

Russia, MERMAID, Anna Melikyan;

Serbia, THE TOUR, Goran Markovic;

Singapore, MY MAGIC, Eric Khoo;

Slovakia, BLIND LOVES, Juraj Lehotsky;

Slovenia, ROOSTER'S BREAKFAST, Marko Nabersnik;

South Africa, JERUSALEMA, Ralph Ziman;

Spain, THE BLIND SUNFLOWERS, Jose Luis Cuerda;

Sweden, EVERLASTING MOMENTS, Jan Troell;

Switzerland, THE FRIEND, Micha Lewinsky;

Taiwan, CAPE NO. 7, Te-Sheng Wei;

Thailand, LOVE OF SIAM, Chookiat Sakveerakul;

Turkey, 3 MONKEYS, Nuri Bilge Ceylan;

Ukraine, ILLUSION OF FEAR, Aleksandr Kiriyenko;

United Kingdom, HOPE ETERNAL, Karl Francis;

Uruguay, KILL THEM ALL, Esteban Schroeder;

Venezuela, THE COLOR OF FAME, Alejandro Bellame Palacios.

Nominations for the 81st Academy Awards will be announced on Thursday, 22 January 2009, at 5:30 a.m., PT, in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, 22 February 2009, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

First Shortlist for Oscar® Nominations Announced

The Academy of Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences® announced today the first shortlist for the 81st Academy Awards®. It is a list of eight films for the Documentary Short Subject category. From this list three to five films will be nominated in January. Other such shortlists will be announced in the coming days.

The deadline for submission to the Academy of short and feature documentary films was Tuesday, 2 September. Voters from the Academy’s Documentary Branch viewed this year’s 31 eligible short-film contenders in Documentary and submitted their ballots to PricewaterhouseCoopers for tabulation from which eight films were selected. For full schedule, click here, or the link on the right sidebar for 81st Academy Awards Schedule.

The eight short films, in alphabetical order, are:

The Conscience of Nhem En
David McCullough: Painting with Words

Downstream

The Final Inch

Smile Pinki

Tongzhi in Love

Viva La Causa

The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306

The 81st Academy Awards nominations for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be announced on Thursday, 22 January 2009, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

The presentation of the 81st Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be televised live by ABC Television, Sunday, 22 February 2009, from the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, Hollywood.

In February of this year, winners of the 80th Academy Awards in the Documentary Short Subject and Documentary Feature categories, respectively, were Freeheld and Taxi to the Dark Side.

Win a Seat Along Red Carpet at Academy Awards®

There will be only 300 seats available along the 500-foot-long walkway that leads into the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center® 22 February 2009, when Academy Awards® are awarded. Beginning this Monday, 22nd, fans are invited to submit an online application for the chance to win one of those seats. In previous years, as many as 20,000 fans have applied but luck might be on your side this year.

The lucky winners will watch and cheer Oscar® nominees, presenters and other ceremony guests as they arrive at the 81st Academy Awards on Sunday, 22 February 2009. Following the red carpet arrivals, the winners will be invited to watch the Academy Awards telecast at a nearby location.

Excited about it? In that case, pay attention to the procedure:

Beginning on Monday, 22 September, at 9 a.m. PT / noon ET, and continuing for only one week, fans may apply on the Academy's Official Web Site to win seats along the Academy Awards® red carpet. The application form will be available at www.oscars.org/bleachers. The online-only application process will close on Sunday, 28 September, at 9 p.m. PT / midnight ET.

To be eligible for the random drawing, an individual must complete the application form in its entirety. Applications may only be submitted online. Forms may not be returned via U.S. mail, fax or private delivery service such as UPS or FedEx.

Applicants may register up to four persons. However, only one form will be accepted per person or group.

Those whose names are selected in the random drawing will be notified in early October. They will then be required to submit additional information for security purposes prior to final approval. Eligible attendees will receive a confirmation letter in early December with information pertinent to the event. The Academy will not be responsible for securing travel and/or hotel accommodations for winners.

Only those individuals who have been pre-approved by the Academy will have access to the bleachers. Those who wait overnight to attempt admittance will not be granted entry.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, 22 February 2009, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Toronto Festival Wraps - Let the Film-Awards Season Begin

Dev Patel and Freida Pinto in SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

The film festival in the city that has been dubbed "Hollywood North," Toronto, Canada, wrapped Sunday. The Toronto International Film Festival is also considered the opening of the film-awards season, which culminates with the Academy Awards® in February.

However, the first major awards after Toronto's IFF are usually the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Primetime Emmy Awards®. This year is no exception.

The 60th Primetime Emmy gala (Diamond Jubilee) will be broadcasting live on ABC from the NOKIA Theatre, Staples Center, Los Angeles (8:00-11:00 PM, ET / PT, 7:00 PM CT) next Sunday the 21st. The New York party will be held at the Frederick P. Rose Hall, Time Warner Building, NYC.

The next night, Monday 22, the 29th News and Documentary Emmy Awards is at the Fredrick P. Rose Hall, Time Warner Building, NYC, and will not be broadcast. You can get a bird's eye view of both the Primetime and the News and Documentary awards on my Awards Page. Here's the link to the Official Primetime Emmy Site for more details.

As for Toronto, it is interesting to me that the Cadillac Audience Award went to British Director Danny Boyle's movie SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE filmed in India, the story of a orphaned young man trying to win big on a television show that is the Indian version of a U.S. show, and the Best Canadian First Feature Film was awarded to Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Madeline Piujuq Ivalu's BEFORE TOMORROW. The movie is based on the novel by Danish author Jørn Riel, which is about a strong Inuit woman and her beloved grandson, who become trapped on a remote Island.

Toronto IFF proves every year how truly international filmmaking is becoming. Go to my Film Festivals Page and see what I am talking about. There's plenty of highlights on my page, including pictures and the recent awards. For more details go to the TIFF Official Site.

Also, I have highlighted some of the movies at the festival that most likely will make the nomination list, in some aspect, for the upcoming 81st Academy Awards® on Sunday, 22 February 2009. Go. Get a heads-up!

AMPAS® Invites and Issues New Rules

Foreign Language Film Entry Forms Go to 95 Countries - -

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS®) mailed Foreign Language Film (BFLF) award entry forms to 96 countries yesterday, inviting submissions in the BFLF category for the 81st Academy Awards®, 22 February 2009, rewarding the best of 2008. Last year, the Academy invited 93 countries to submit. Of those who submitted, films from 61 countries were qualified for nomination.

To qualify for the 2008 Awards, a film must be released in the submitting country between 1 October 2007, and 30 September 2008, and be publicly screened in 35mm or 70mm film, or in a qualifying digital cinema format, for at least seven consecutive days in a commercial motion picture theater.

The dialogue track must be predominantly (not quantified) in a language or languages other than English. Accurate English subtitles are required. The director, producers and the production crew must be predominantly (not quantified) from the country submitting the film.

Entry forms and film prints must be received at the Academy by Wednesday, October 1, 2008. Only one picture will be accepted from each country.

Countries that have not received entry packets but are interested in submitting a film for consideration should contact Awards Coordinator Torene Svitil at (310) 247-3000, ext. 116, or via e-mail at tsvitil@oscars.org.

In 2007, the Austrian film THE COUNTERFEITERS won the Oscar® over a field of nominated films from Israel, Kazakhstan, Poland and Russia. See last year's list of qualifying films listed by country.

Minor Rule Change for BFLF Category - -

The governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences approved the rules for the 81st Academy Awards at their 17 June meeting. Most modifications of the rules include normal date changes and minor “housekeeping” changes. The only significant changes were in the Best Foreign Language Film and the Best Original Song categories.

The change for the BFLF category is mainly procedural. The two-phase process by which the nominees are selected will remain intact. However, the Phase I committee – which is open to any voting member who views a minimum number [not quantified] of the eligible films – will now vote to determine only six of the nine films that will ultimately go to the Phase II committee.

The other three titles will be determined by those members of the 20-member Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee who have qualified to vote in the category. The executive committee’s selections will be made after the Phase I voting has been tallied. Think of the FLF Executive Committee as "super delegates."

This change was evidently made because last year's selection of the final list, from whence the actual nominees came, was a disaster. There was a huge outcry because the highly acclaimed Romanian movie, 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, AND 2 DAYS, director Cristian Mungiu, which won best film at Cannes in 2007, did not make the final nomination cut. Some felt it was a political rather than an artistic call because the subject of the movie is forced abortions. Hopefully, things will go better this year. 4 MONTHS is now available on DVD. Click NETFLIX graphic on right sidebar.

Changes in Music Award for Best Original Song - -

There are three changes in the Best Original Song category. First, while there continues to be no limit on the number of songs from a given film that can be submitted for consideration, no more than two songs from any one film may be nominated for an Academy Award. Many felt it was highly unfair that three out of the five song nominations last year went to ENCHANTED.

Second as refers to voting, in addition to the annual screening event at which members of the Music Branch view clips featuring the eligible songs as they appear in the films and vote, DVDs of those same clips will be made available to branch members who are unable to attend the screening; ballots will accompany the DVDs and must be returned by mail.

Thirdly, Music Branch members who have one or more songs in contention for nominations do not vote in the above phase for nomination. Again, to keep the playing field fair. However, they remain eligible to vote on the final ballot to select the winner. See all Academy rules for 81st Oscars.

AMPAS Invites 105 to Become New Members in 2008 - -

The membership policies that the Academy adopted in 2004 in order to slow the growth of the organization would have allowed a maximum of 137 new members in 2008, but as in the previous years, the various branch committees sometimes endorsed fewer candidates than were proposed to them. Voting membership in the organization has now held steady at just under 6,000 members since 2003.

New members will be welcomed into the Academy at an invitation-only reception at the Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study in Beverly Hills in September. See list of the 2008 invitees.

The Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, 22 February 2009, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. Also, the Oscar presentation will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Ready for the 81st Academy Awards®?

Ready or not, here come the 81st Annual Academy Awards®. Well, the information about the annual ritual for 2009, anyway. Academy President Sid Ganis announced today that the awards will be presented Sunday, 22 February 2009. The ceremony will again take place at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.

Key dates currently scheduled are:

Monday, December 1, 2008 - Official Screen Credits forms due;
Friday, December 26, 2008 - Nominations ballots mailed;
Monday, January 12, 2009 - Nominations polls close 5 p.m. PT;
Thursday, January 22, 2009 - Nominations announced 5:30 a.m. PT, Samuel Goldwyn Theater;
Wednesday, January 28, 2009 - Final ballots mailed;
Monday, February 2, 2009 - Nominees Luncheon;
Saturday, February 7, 2009 - Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards presentation;
Tuesday, February 17, 2009 - Final polls close 5 p.m. PT;
Sunday, February 22, 2009 - 81st Annual Academy Awards presentation.

NOTE the change of the day for the nominations announcement, which had to be changed from Tuesday to Thursday because 20 February is the Presidential Inauguration in 2009.

There will soon be a link on the right sidebar for the 81st Academy Awards Schedule.