"Blancanieves" and "The Impossible" Top Goya Awards in Madrid

Actress Maribel Verdú with Goya

According to "Fox News Latino," Javier Bardem was smiling happily Sunday night in Madrid at the Goya Awards, Spain's national film awards, considered to be the Spanish equivalent of the Oscars.

Bardem not only took home a statuette for a documentary he narrated, “Sons of the Clouds: The Lost Colony,” which looks at how colonization of the Western Sahara has left nearly nearly 200,000 people living in refugee camps, He spoke out about human rights in the Sahara. His wife Penélope Cruz, who accompanied him and was nominated for best actress, is expecting their second child.

His mother Pilar also attended. She is an award winning actress in her own right. Two days later, Bardem and many other actors, etc., were accused by a government spokesman of not paying taxes.

"Blancanieves" received the Goya for best motion picture and nine other awards. Writer-director Pablo Berger’s black-and-white fairy tale is a silent retelling of the "Snow White" story, but it is set in Seville in the 1920s, and the protagonist is an Andalusian female bullfighter.

Actress Maribel Verdú (“Blancanieves”) bested Naomi Watts ("The Impossible"), Verdú taking home a best actress Goya for her portrayal of the cruel stepmother. Paco Delgado, who is nominated for an Academy Award in the costume category for “Les Miserables,” received a Goya award for his costumes for “Blancanieves,” especially for Verdú’s character.

“Blancanieves” also captured a Goya for best original score and best original song, but there was no Goya for writer-director Pablo Berger. "Blancanieves" is not nominated for the Best Foreign Language film Oscar, either.

"The Impossible" is an official Spain production directed by Juan Antonio Bayona who captured the Goya for best director instead of Berger. Bayona also twisted his leg during the ceremony, and it required medical attention. "The Impossible" won five Goya statuettes mostly for technical endeavors. Bayona directed "The Orphanage" in 2007.

Also, we would be remiss if we did not send congratulations to  "Beautiful" José Sacristán on his first Goya win! 

The Big Winner

List of most winners:

Best Motion Picture -"Blancanieves";
Director - Juan Antonio Bayona for "The Impossible";

Actor - Jose Sacristán for "The Dead Man and Being Happy"; 

Actress - Maribel Verdú for "Blancanieves";

Original Screenplay - Pablo Berger for "Blancanieves";

Adapted Screenplay - Javier Barreira, Gorka Magallon, Ignacio del Moral, Jordi Gasull and Neil Landau for "Tad, The Lost Explorer";

Supporting Actor - Julian Villagran for "Grupo 7";

Supporting Actress - Candela Pena for "Una Pistola en Cada Mano" (A Pistol in Each Hand);
Animated Feature Film - "The Adventures of Tadeo Jones";

Documentary Film - "Sons of the Clouds, The Last Colony" ("Hijos de las Nubes, La Ultima Colonia");

Honorary Goya - Concha Velasco;

Production Design - Sandra Hermida Muniz for "The Impossible";

Artistic Director - Alain Bainee For "Blancanieves";

Photography - Kiko de la Rica for "Blancanieves";

Special Effects - Pau Costa and Felix Berges for "The Impossible";

Costumes - Paco Delgado for "Blancanieves";

Editing - Bernat Vilaplano and Elena Ruiz for "The Impossible";

Sound - Peter Glossop, Marc Orts, Oriol Tarrago for "The Impossible";

Original Score - Alfonso Villalonga for "Blancanieves";

Original Song - "No Te Puedo Encontrar" from "Blancanieves";

European Film - "Untouchable" (France);

Makeup and Hair - Sylvie Imbert and Fermin Galan for "Blancanieves";

New Actor - Joaquin Nunez for "Grupo 7";
New Actress - Macarena Garcia for "Blancanieves";
New Director - Enrique Gato for "Tad, The Lost Explorer".

Thank you to El País English and Fox News Latino.

Readers say Academy Awards need some changes.

Best of 2008

Actor - Daniel day-Lewis, Supporting Actress - Tila Swinton, Actress - Marilon Cottilard, and Supporting Actor - Javier Bardem.

If you are having a problem placing a comment on this blog, please go to my profile and send an e-mail. Blogger has instituted a new spam checking program. I cannot find out why people are having trouble commenting on my blog posts. Your help will be appreciated. Contact me through the e-mail address in my profile. Thank you.

I received some comments by e-mail concerning the previous two posts about the recent Academy Awards television broadcast. Perhaps, I didn't make myself as clear as I had wished, or the readers didn't find the points clear enough for them. So I shall try to explain a little better for those of you who wrote.

First of all, my point was really that the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences seeks to honor its own, and that is exactly what it did for almost three decades. Then, television came along and things began to change. Now, television, a.k.a., the ABC Network at the moment, has a huge say about the Academy Awards. They want ratings because they do it for money. Rightfully so, as they are a business, and they just extended their contract with the Academy for seven years. So, they are happy.

Around the world movie fans, and those who work in the industry in foreign countries want to see the Oscars. Once the Academy starts live streaming on the Internet, the entire world will be happy, except maybe ABC.

The Academy wants everyone to be happy. The Academy today is a super big business. It is no longer that dinner at a Hollywood hotel, and awards being given out among a few invited guests. They started to allow the radio broadcast fairly early on, and the importance of the Oscars started to grow.

Next, along came television, and the Academy awards began changing radically. Now, there is the Internet and the Academy foot soldiers are fiercely trying to catch up, yet they want to hang on to televisions' coattails at the same time.

Today, the money the broadcast, and the satellite businesses that generate money for that broadcast, propel the Academy Awards. The Guilds mostly influence the actual nominations and cast the most votes within the Academy. The Guilds honor their own. The Academy is only the conduit, which has turned the Academy Award broadcast into a big, brash, glittery financially rewarding circus.

As a former part-time member of the USC faculty of Cinema, and a sometime writer and producer, I know very well what craft people do and their importance to the industry. I was not slighting them, only suggesting some logistical changes.

And, yes, I know that star power is fading, but actors are still very relevant to movies and are paid well for what they do. I still think most people see a movie, either at a theater, on DVD, Internet streaming, etc., based on three things: who is in it, who directed it, and what is it about?

Also, I constantly promote independent films here. I picked 'Hurt Locker' as an Academy Award winner and Kathryn Bigelow to win best director as soon as the movie was released. I know first hand the discrimination women have experienced in both the movie and television industries for so many years, and Bigelow's win made history.

I promoted 'Slumdog Millionair' and 'The Kite Runner,' when few had heard of them, and the same for this year's 'Winter's Bone'. I also championed 'Hustle and Flow' and the song from that movie for best song, "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp," and the song won. Of course, I am a little partial as I have long-standing ties with Memphis. Over the years, there have been many others I have picked to showcase here.

The big films do not need any help. They soar or crash on their own merit, but the small films suffer for lack of financial support, good publicity and distribution.

When I wanted to study the technical aspects of television in undergraduate school, a professor said, "Oh, don't bother. They will never let a woman touch the equipment in a TV studio."

A few years later, I got the FCC license required at the time, and became a broadcast engineer. In that position, I worked at the transmitter site for a small station in Corpus Christi, TX, until it went remote. Then, I ran the entire studio single handily on Sunday mornings. So, I learned, and I touched the equipment. That laid the ground work for my association with the movie industry and as a teacher of cinema.

So, what I was basically trying to say in the previous posts is, if the Academy is going to do a TV show, then do a TV show. If they want to honor their own and have a major television show, they need to stop, re-evaluate their mission statements and adopt some newer approaches.

I really think the biggest problem is that The Academy-Award industry, and it is a huge industry, has grown so large it is impossible to successfully reach their mission statement for both offering an evening of spectacular entertainment (show), and generating revue (business), while honoring their own in a dignified way all at the same time.

It is not pleasing or dignified for everything during the show to be executed in a rush, rush, manner, clip, clip, hurry, hurry. It stresses the people involved, and it stresses the viewers to watch their favorites being forced off mike by music with ever increasing in volume. It is not dignified. They may as well get a stick with a hook on the end.

This year's broadcast was full of hurry, hurry, and awkward moments. The pace of the broadcast should be varied and the show progresses, ebbing and flowing, not jerking, racing at one moment and dragging the next.

There may be a way to increase ratings, revenue, and offer the viewers a more relaxed, pleasant and entertaining broadcast. Well, not only one broadcast. Perhaps, the Academy should consider three or four. Why not? The Emmy Awards have already done that, and successfully. I can't see why ABC would not like that approach. Again, think logistics, which is the hot current business buzzword.

Also, I agree that to watch the broadcast on Sunday is really an imposition on those working during the week. I once attended when I was working, and I feel your pain. What is wrong with a Saturday night?

Thank you all for your comments and I welcome more.

Surprise Best Picture Winner at Cannes

SERIES: Major Film Festivals

A film from Thailand received the top Best Picture Palm d'or (golden palm) at the 63rd Cannes International Film Festival's gala awards ceremony today in France. UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES (Lung Boonmee Raluek Chat) took the top honor for director Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Remember that, if you can. Needless to say, the win took many by surprise. The director won the third-place jury prize at Cannes with TROPICAL MALADY (2004).

UNCLE BOONMEE deals with the final days of a man, a father, dying of kidney failure as the ghost of his dead wife returns to tend him, and his long-lost son comes home in the form of a furry jungle spirit.

Academy Award winners, French actress Juliette Binoche and Spanish actor Javier Bardem, received best-actor honors. However, Bardem shared his award with Italian actor Elio Germano who received the honor for his role in Italian filmmaker Daniele Luchetti's OUR LIFE, a drama about a father, a widower, with three sons.

Binoche, who is featured on this year's Festival Official Poster [above], won her best-actress Oscar for THE ENGLISH PATIENT, and won the Festival award for her role in CERTIFIED COPY, directed by past Palme d'or winner Abbas Kiarostami.

The second-place grand prize (Grand Prix) in the best film category went to French director Xavier Beauvois' solemn drama OF GODS AND MEN, based on the true story of seven French monks beheaded during Algeria's civil war in 1996, received the second-place grand prize. They were monks, so they probably weren't fathers.

Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's film A SCREAMING MAN received the third-place Jury Prize. Again, it's a tragic father. This father loses his cherished job as a swimming pool attendant to his son amid his country's civil war, which brings on tragic consequences.

French filmmaker and actor Mathieu Amalric won the directing award for ON TOUR, in which he plays the manager of a troupe of American burlesque strippers performing around France. His five stripper stars joined him onstage, at his request, as he accepted his award.

South Korean director Lee Chang-dong, won the best screenplay award for POETRY. A grandmother (Yun Junghee) struggles to write a poem as she copes with the onset of Alzheimer's and her troublesome grandson.

The Festival's Camera d'or award for a first-time filmmaker went to Michael Rowe's LEAP YEAR (Año bisiesto), a raunchy romance set in Mexico City. Rowe is an Australian-born transplant to Mexico. The jury that awarded the Camera d'or was headed by Gael García Bernal who happened to have been born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Just saying.

As reported in the previous post, South Korean filmmaker Hong Songsoo's HA, HA, HA, a drama of alternating memories shared by two friends over drinks, won the Un Certain Regard Section.

The Festival closed with the premiere of French Director Julie Bertuccelli's THE TREE, starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, a mother-daughter drama.

To see the list of all winners in all section, with links to each film, click title of this post.

American Director Tim Burton was President of the Jury, and the 19 movies in the feature competition were:

ANOTHER YEAR directed by Mike LEIGH
BIUTIFUL (BEAUTIFUL) directed by Alejandro GONZÁLEZ IÑÁRRITU
COPIE CONFORME (CERTIFIED COPY) directed by Abbas KIAROSTAMI
DES HOMMES ET DES DIEUX (OF GODS AND MEN) directed by Xavier BEAUVOIS
FAIR GAME directed by Doug LIMAN
HORS LA LOI (OUTSIDE OF THE LAW) directed by Rachid BOUCHAREB
LA NOSTRA VITA (OUR LIFE) directed by Daniele LUCHETTI
LA PRINCESSE DE MONTPENSIER (THE PRINCESS OF MONTPENSIER) directed by Bertrand TAVERNIER
LUNG BOONMEE RALUEK CHAT (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) directed by Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL
OUTRAGE directed by Takeshi KITANO
POETRY directed by LEE Chang-dong
RIZHAO CHONGQING (CHONGQING BLUES) directed by WANG Xiaoshuai
ROUTE IRISH directed by Ken LOACH
SCHASTYE MOE (MY JOY) directed by Sergei LOZNITSA
SZELÍD TEREMTÉS - A FRANKENSTEIN TERV (TENDER SON - The Frankenstein Project) directed by Kornél MUNDRUCZÓ
THE HOUSEMAID directed by IM Sangsoo
TOURNÉE (ON TOUR) directed by Mathieu AMALRIC
UN HOMME QUI CRIE (A screaming man) directed by Mahamat-Saleh HAROUN
UTOMLYONNYE SOLNTSEM 2: PREDSTOYANIE (THE EXODUS - Burnt by the sun 2) directed by Nikita MIKHALKOV

To access the Web Site Page with links to each film in competition, CLICK.

GOLDEN GLOBES NOMINATE FOREIGN FILMS

These five films were nominated by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) to vie for a Golden Globe as best foreign language film (BFLF):

THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX (DER BAADER MEINHOF KOMPLEX, Germany)*;

EVERLASTING MOMENTS (MARIA LARSSONS EVIGA ÖGONBLICK, Sweden/Denmark)*;

GOMORRAH (GOMORRA, Italy)*;
I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG (IL Y A LONGTEMPS QUE JE T’AIME, France). Releasing: Sony Pictures Classics;
WALTZ WITH BASHIR (Israel)*. Releasing: Sony Pictures Classics.
__
* Submitted to the Academy for consideration for BFLF Oscar. EVERLASTING MOMENTS submitted by Sweden, and France submitted THE CLASS instead.
__

In addition, the "little movie that might," SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, received a best picture (drama) nomination, and the director Danny Boyle received a best director nomination. SLUMDOG also received a best original score nomination for composer A. R. Rahman. This movie has been picked up by Fox Searchlight. Pay attention to it.

All the directors in the best motion picture (drama) competition were nominated, to wit: THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (David Fincher) , FROST / NIXON (Ron Howard), THE READER (Stephen Daldry), and REVOLUTIONARY ROAD (Sam Mendes). Oh, if the Oscars could only be that clean this year.

Four of the nominated pictures picked up nominations for their leading actors: Leonardo DiCaprio (Revolutionary Road), Frank Langella (Frost / Nixon), Sean Penn (Milk), and Brad Pitt (The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button). However, the one to watch in this category is Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler).

Only one actress from the nominated best motion picture (drama) list was nominated, Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road). The other actresses are: Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married), Angelina Jolie (Changeling), Meryl Streep (Doubt), and Kristin Scott Thomas (I've Loved You So Long). Meryl Streep is also nominated for best actress (musical or comedy) for MAMMA MIA!

The five nominees in the best motion picture (musical or comedy) category are: BURN AFTER READING, HAPPY-G0-LUCKY, IN BRUGES, MAMMA MIA! and VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA. The actresses nominated in this category, other than Streep, are: Rebecca Hall (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky), Frances McDormand (Burn After Reading) and Emma Thompson (Last Chance Harvey).

My favorite actor leads the actors nominated in the best actor (musical or comedy) category, Javier Bardem (Vicky Cristina Barcelona). The others are: Colin Farrell (In Bruges), James Franco (Pineapple Express), Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) and Dustin Hoffman (Last Chance Harvey).

You can see the full list of nominees by clicking here, or the title of this post and hopefully, there will be a Golden Globes ceremony. You must remember that the gala was canceled last year because of the Writers Guild strike. Well, the actors (Screen Actors Guild) have been threatening to walk. Let us hope not, especially with the economy in such bad shape.

Madonna Warmly Received at Traverse City FF - WRAP

AWARDS PRESENTED!
Find them all on my Film Festivals Page (direct link to full list).

Sorry, haven't found out which ball cap Michael is wearing today. Too much partying, I guess!

Actress Christine Lahti, New Board Member

Madonna, and her documentary, I AM BECAUSE WE ARE, were warmly received this evening at a screening at the Traverse City (MI) Film Festival, accoring to the AP. The movie concerns orphans in Malawi, the African country where she and her husband Guy Ritchie adopted a son. Proceeds from the screening will go to a foundation that helps Malawian orphans.

Madonna was accompanied by the movie's director Nathan Rissman and her daughter Lourdes, 11. Michael Moore shared the stage with Madonna before the screening, and it was a mutual admiration society between the two Michigan natives. Read a full AP article by clicking the title of this post.

Last week, Michael sent an e-mail proclaiming this year's festival's opening night the best one ever, even though there were thunder storms. He reported the on-stage introduction of two new board members for the TCFF - - Oscar-winning actress and Michigan native Christine Lahti, and acclaimed Italian director and TCFF-fave Sabina Guzzanti.

Rumors are flying again that Spanish actors Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz (see previous post) will soon announce an engagement. They co-star in Woody Allen's latest movie, and Festival opener, VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA (official site). The couple first met on the set of Bigas Luna's 1992 movie JAMON JAMON (Ham, Ham), but only began dating after reuniting onscreen for Allen's movie, which opens in the U.S. 15 August. Trivia: Did you know the working title was "Midnight in Barcelona?"

According to Michael, VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA, "was a huge hit - - smart, funny, sexy, and intended for an adult audience that is rarely served these days with smart, funny, and sexy films. What a joy! Ok, who wants to go to Barcelona?!"

Answer - - I do, Michael. I haven't been there since 1998, and I am really home sick for that wonderful city, which really gets going about midnight, and my friends who live there and one, the aforementioned Bigas Luna, who has since moved. Most of them are in the Spanish movie business - - producers, writers, directors, actors, etc. I always try to include a visit to Madrid to see my other cinephile friends. How about it, Michael, are you game? Click.

Back to the Festival, there is a bidding war going on to determine which ball cap Michael will wear this year - - Michigan State University or the University of Michigan? He reports that at the end of the opening night festivities, MSU offered the most for the night. Which one will ultimately prevail? I will update this post with the festival wrap. So, y'all come back now, and y'all will know.

For previous posts about Traverse City FF, click the Traverse City label at bottom of this post.

Javier Bardem Wins Spain's National Film Award

Javier Bardèm with SAG Award

César Antonio Molina, Minister of Culture of Spain, announced today in Madrid that Spanish Actor Javier Bardèm is the winner of Spain's 2008 National Film Award, an honor given annually by the Cultural Ministry. Bardem, 39, was selected for the $46,500 prize for "goals achieved throughout a long career," for his "defense of the acting profession and a constant commitment to Spanish cinema."

Bardem won a best-supporting actor Oscar and a SAG award for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN in February. His screen credits also include THE SEA INSIDE (Mar Adentro) and BEFORE NIGHT FALLS.

Woody Allen's Salute to Barcelona at Cannes

In the city of Barcelona, actresses Rebecca Hall, Patricia Clarkson and Scarlett Johansson experience the creations of its famous architect, Antoni Gaudi, as they stand on the roof of his Casa Milá. His famous church, the Familia Segrada (Sacred Family), is far right.


Woody Allen's latest movie, VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA, filmed in the Catalonian city of Barcelona, Spain, is considered by some to be Allen's homage to that city, as MANHATTAN (1979) was to New York City.

It is also a homage to Spanish actress Penélope Cruz, nominated for an Oscar® in the best actress category for her role in Pedro Almodóvar's VOLVER (Return, 2006). Allen says the moment he saw her in that movie, he decided he had to make a movie with her. Yep. The guy still has it!

BARCELONA stars Javier Bardém with Scarlett Johansson, Penélope Cruz, Rebecca Hall, and Patricia Clarkson. This could be one of Allen's best sex fantasies yet. I get excited just thinking about seeing the movie, as well as scenes from my beloved city, Barcelona, which I am not now able to visit as much as I would like.

The movie premieres at the Cannes International Film Festival next month, screening out of competition. The scheduled U.S. opening is 29 August. For more about Cannes, see link on right sidebar to my Film Festivals Page. For much more about Bardém, click the link for my Foreign Movies Page.

Firsts at 80th Academy Award Awards®

Day-Lewis, Swinton, Cotillard, and Bardém

All four acting categories at the Academy Awards® Sunday night were won by actors who have residences outside the U.S. I haven't had time to check this out thoroughly, but I have followed the Oscars® for longer than I am willing to admit on this blog, and I'm almost certain that has never happened before in the history of the Awards. So, that would be the first, first.

UPDATE 9 MARCH to original post of 26 February: It is not a first. All four acting awards going to foreigners at this year's Oscars was NOT a first. That happened first in 1965. Russia's Lila Kedrova received the statuette for ZORBA THE GREEK for best supporting actress, while Julie Andrews took best actress for MARY POPPINS. Best actor and supporting actor went to Rex Harrison, MY FAIR LADY and Peter Ustinov for TOPKAPI, respectively. The last three were Brits. Now, we know. (Source: Entertainment Weekly Magazine, 7 March 2008, Issue #981, p. 42.)

Briton Daniel Day-Lewis won best actor for his role in THERE WILL BE BLOOD; Scotland's Tilda Swinton was named best supporting actress for her role in MICHAEL CLAYTON; and French star Marion Cotillard won best actress for her portrayal of the late real-life French chanteuse, Edith Piaf, in LA VIE EN ROSE. Cotillard was the first French woman to win the award since Simone Signoret in 1960, thus, the second, first. Signoret won for her role in ROOM AT THE TOP.

Spanish actor Javier Bardém, whose Bardém family in Spain is often compared to the U.S. theatrical family dynasty, the Barrymore family, garnered his first personal Oscar® for his role as the maniacal Chigurh in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, which won Best Picture. Bardém also won the Golden Globe and the SAG award, plus many other awards, for this performance. He now holds the forever distinction of being the first Spanish actor to win an Oscar. So, that's the third, first.

There was some pre-Oscar buzz about whether, or not, Bardém would escort Penélope Cruz to the Awards. He took his mother, Pilar Bardém, sister of the late great Spanish director Juan Antonio Bardém. Pilar is an award-winning Spanish actress,. She gave her son a big kiss when he was announced as winner. Read more about Bardém, his family and foreign movies on my Foreign Movie Page, and there is also a permanent link on the right sidebar. However, taking one's mother to the Oscars is not a first. I do not know to whom that honor goes.

The fourth, first: The winner of the Best Foreign Language Film, THE COUNTERFEITERS (Die Fälscher, Austria), directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky, is the first-ever win in this category for Austria.

It wasn't only actors residing in other countries who "cleaned up" at the Oscars. The music categories did too. The best original score was awarded to Italian Dario Marianelli for ATONEMENT. Also, Irishman Glen Hansard and Czechoslovakian Marketa Irglova performed their award-winning song, "Falling Slowly" from the very low-budget movie ONCE (Ireland).

The fifth-first happened after Miss Irglova was "played" off the stage before she got a chance to say a word after receiving the Oscar. When the commercial break was over, host Jon Stewart apologized, and she returned to the stage to make an elegant and respectively short, "Thank you" speech. No one cut-off by the show's director has ever been invited back before. It was a wonderful spontaneous moment, one that may join Oscar-clip history.

The sixth first, of which I am aware, is that this was the lowest rated Academy Awards show in history. According to AP, Nielsen Media Research says preliminary ratings for the 80th annual Academy Awards telecast are 14 percent lower than the least-watched ceremony ever, which was in 2003 when CHICAGO won, and there were 33 million viewers. This year's show had a 21.9 rating and 32 million viewers.

This year's ratings are 21 percent lower than last year when THE DEPARTED was named best picture, and Scorsese finally won for best director. That show attracted 41 million. The movie critics, professors and pundits will have a field day postulating as to why almost 10 million U.S. viewers were lost, if these were the correct figures.

And, now, the final first considered here, number seven. The Oscars have made a cautious venture onto the Internet. You can see their first efforts right now on YouTube. Next year, the Oscars may be streaming live on YouTube, or from the Academy's own Web site. That's roughly 362 days and counting. How can one wait that long?

And the Oscar® goes to . . . . .

80th Academy Awards®24 February 2008Winners

Full list of all 80th Academy Award winners and nominees. There is a link on the right sidebar, too - - 80th Winners & Nominees.

In the previous post, I gave my picks for the major awards. My hypothesis was that the data collected through my Awards and Film Festival Pages, showing the most wins in a particular nominated category, would correlate to support an Oscar win in that category. I went with the data I had collected, and these were my conclusions, not including some of the tech stuff and short films (three I missed marked in red):

NOTE: I really didn't have enough data for the score and song, so to be fair, these first two were really my choices.
Best original score: Dario Marianelli, ATONEMENT, because I REALLY like the last name!
Best song: "Falling Slowly," ONCE, written by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova .

Best cinematography: THERE WILL BE BLOOD.
Best supporting actress: Amy Ryan for GONE BABY GONE. MISSED
Best supporting actor: Javier Bardem for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
Best actress: Julie Christie for AWAY FROM HER. MISSED
Best actor: Daniel Day-Lewis for THERE WILL BE BLOOD.
Best animated feature: RATAEOUILLE, paws down.
Best documentary: SICKO, Michael Moore. MISSED
Best foreign-language feature: THE COUNTERFEITERS, Austria.
Best original screenplay: JUNO, by Diablo Cody.
Best adapted screenplay: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, by Ethan & Joel Coen.
Best director(s): Ethan and Joel Coen, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
Best motion picture feature (best picture) - NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.

I gave a rationale for the picks in the previous post. Now I shall give the rationale for the three I missed. They were and they went to:

Best Actress: Marion Cotillard for LA VIE EN ROSE.
Best Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton for MICHAEL CLAYTON.
Best Documentary: TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE.

In the best supporting actress category, Ruby Dee was nominated for AMERICAN GANGSTER, Tilda Swinton for MICHAEL CLAYTON, and Amy Ryan for GONE BABY GONE. SAG nominated all of them in this category along with Cate Blanchett, I'M NOT THERE, and Catherine Keener, INTO THE WILD. Neither of these last two ladies had shown any legs in other awards.

SAG gave the award to Dee. Because all the data was stronger for Amy Ryan, I went with Ryan, figuring the SAG award for Dee was a sentimental one. I never gave Swinton a thought because her award tally was almost nothing. Apparently, the actual vote was really split in this category. Anyway, my data showed Ryan, so I went with her, and she did not win.

Both Julie Christi and Marion Cotillard were nominated by SAG in the best actress category. SAG gave the award to Christi, and the other data for Cotillard was weak as it was for Swinton, so I went with Christi. Again, with the rules.

Members of the Academy have told me that when they face that final ballot, they often vote their "gut," and the odd thing was that my "gut" was telling me to go ahead and vote for Marion Cotillard, but I stayed true to my experiment.

The documentary category is like the music categories, there isn't that much data out there to make a strong case for any particular film. SICKO had the most votes according to the data available to me.

However, the experiment basically worked. It worked perfectly in the other categories. This year, at least.

Santa Barbara IFF Wraps

Wow! What a festival! Couldn't make it to Santa Barbara, CA, for the annual film festival? Get a capsule read on my Film Festival Page 2008, plus great links to explore more.

Find out why these stars attended: Javier Bardem, Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, and John Travolta, plus learn about some winning films: AMAL, AQUARIUM, BEAUTIFUL BITH, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, and SAVING LUNA. Click permanent link on the right sidebar of this blog. What are you waiting for?

ORPHANAGE (El orfanato) Leads Goya Wins

The Academy of Cinematic Arts and Sciences of Spain handed out its Goya Awards (considered equivalent to the U.S. Academy Awards®) last night in Madrid, and there were a few surprises. THE OPHANAGE, Spain's submission for an Oscar nomination in the BFLF category but didn't make the cut, received the most Goya Awards (Premios Goya), named for the famous Spanish painter. However, the biggest surprise of the evening was that SOLITARY (La soledad) won all three categories for which it was nominated, including the two big ones: Best Motion Picture and Best Director (Jaime Rosales). The other was for Most Promising New Actor, José Luis Torrijo. SOLITARY came in under the radar, so to speak.

For the most nominees and winners, the scores break down this way: THE ORPHANAGE = 14 / 7; 13 ROSES = 15 / 4; SEVEN FRENCH POOL TABLES = 10 / 2; AND SOLITARY = 3 / 3. Carlos Saura's feature documentary FADOS = 2 / 1. Juan Antonio Bayona (THE ORPHANAGE), not nominated for Best Director, won for Best Director of a Movie Based on a Novel.

Other than Bayona's award, and the Best Original Screenplay for Sergio García Sánchez, THE ORPHANAGE'S other awards were for craft (makeup and hair, art direction, and production direction) and technical awards (sound, and special effects). Surprisingly, the best and supporting actress awards did not go to THE ORPHANAGE'S Belén Rueda and Geraldine Chaplin, but to Maribel Verdú and Amparo Baró, both for their performances in SEVEN FRENCH POOL TABLES (Siete mesas de billar francés), directed by Gracia Querejeta, the daughter of prominent producer Elías Querejeta.

The movie that received the most Goya nominations, 13 ROSES, won only 4: Best Supporting Actor, José Manuel Cervino; Best Original Score, Roque Baños; Best Cinematography, José Luis Alcaine; and Best Costume, Lena Mossum. Even more disappointing was that Iciar Bollaín's MATAHARIS - - no English title but translates to Female Private Detectives - - nominated for 6 Goyas, received none, nada.

Two other movies won two each, UNDER THE STARS (Bajo las estrellas) and REC. STARS garnered Best Actor for Alberto San Juan, and Best Original Screenplay for Félix Viscarret. REC's wins were for Most Promising New Actress (Manuela Velasco) and Best Sound (David Gallart). Carlos Saura's FADOS, nominated for two won only one, Best Original Song, "Fado da saudade".

The HONORARY GOYA was presented to actor Alfredo Landa. Javier Bardém produced the Best Feature Documentary, INVISIBLES. Yes, that's the same Bardém nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar® for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.

See all the nominees and winners, plus links and much more info, on my Awards Page, permanent link on right sidebar, but go directly to my translated Goya Awards' list here.

In Praise of the SAG Awards

Spanish actor Javier Bardém accepts SAG award for best supporting actor for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. The award supposedly weighs 20 pounds.

Today's article in the television section of The New York Times, "Less Preening, More Fun and a Touch of Dignity at Awards Show," by Alessandra Stanley, contains nothing but praise for the Screen Actors Guild Awards' show last night, broadcast on TBS.

Recipients, one exception being Alec Baldwin, actually attended and accepted their awards. Since SAG is the guild of actors, and that guild is supporting the Writers Guild strike, the WGA granted a waiver and did not picket.

The evening also marked the 75th anniversary of SAG's founding, only five years after the founding of AMPAS®. SAG has the largest voting block in AMPAS, and SAG members will not attend the Oscars®, unless the WGA strike is settled before Oscar® night, 24 February. The writer of this blog also supports the strike, although not yet a member of the WGA.

According to the article, the SAG evening was "fast," without, "a preening master of ceremonies or any long production numbers," and "for the most part brisk and entertaining." There was, of course, less writing, and what writing done was probably done by those SAG members who are not also members of the WGA.

Note to Mr. Gil Cates, Producer, 80th Academy Awards®: Please read this article. The Oscar broadcast needs pruning and fine tuning, with less preening and long-winded buffoonery. Now!

But I digress. The winners were . . . . You will find them, plus more about the glitz and glam on my Awards Page, along with links and other info. This link will take you immediately to the exact spot on my page, and there is also a permanent link on the right sidebar of this blog.

65th Golden Globes® Announced

13 January 2008 - Here are some of the major motion picture winners:

THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY (France, USA) won Best Foreign Film, and a best director nod for Julian Schnabel.
ATONEMENT (UK, France) won best picture - drama. The movie received the most nominations, but won only two, The other was for the original score by Dario Marianelli (Italian).
SWEENEY TODD (USA, UK) won best picture - musical or comedy.
Marion Cotillard (French) won best actress in a leading role - musical or comedy - for her role in LA VIE EN ROSE (La Môme, Germany, USA).
Johnny Depp (USA) won best actor in a leading role - musical or comedy - for his role of the barber in SWEENEY TODD.
Julie Christie (UK, born in India) for best actress in a leading role - drama - for AWAY FROM HER (Canada).
Daniel Day-Lewis (UK) won best actor in a leading role - drama - for THERE WILL BE BLOOD (USA).
Cate Blanchett (Australian) won best actress in a supporting role - drama - for I'M NOT THERE (USA, Germany).
Javier Bardém (Spanish) won best actor in a supporting role - drama - for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (USA). Ethan and Joel Coen won for the screenplay.
RATATOUILLE voted best animated movie.

MIMI COMMENTS: I watched some of the Peoples Choice Awards last week, Queen Latifah hosting. They had a snappy cinematic presentation with a lively host who moved, sang and cracked a few jokes.

Last night, Bush and O'Dell stood like statues behind a podium. The announcements were crammed into an hour. IMDb clocked it, and the actual award time was 35 minutes. Commercials received almost as much time as the announcement of winners. How uncool is that?

What? NBC couldn't give the HFPA even 90 minutes of air time? Also, who was that couple sitting there bantering? If they had cut them out, maybe Bush and O'Dell could have slowed their speech and we might have been able to understand them.

My list of nominees is five pages long, and I flipped them back and forth, trying to mark everything. Of course, I taped it so that I could go back and check. I hope the first thing the HFPA does is pull the awards from NBC for next year!

Links relevant:

Globes Official Site's List of All Nominees and Winners.

IMDb Site for More, especially pictures!

See my previous posts, "Golden Globes 'Press Conference' Tonight" and "Globes Gala No Go."

Filmmakers Question BFLF Oscar® Rules

It seems as though there is more unrest about the rules concerning the Academy Awards® than I thought. In the previous post, "Animators Decry Animation Rules," I reported and commented on some problems concerning this year's Best Animated Feature category, which many contribute to the rules for the category.

Last month I mentioned some issues, and suggested some possible considerations for changes regarding the Best Foreign Language Film (BFLF) category in my post, "Proposed Rule Change for Foreign Movies," Friday, 12 October 2007. This month, some producers and directors have suggested that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences'® rules in the BFLF category are causing dismay for those in the industry, especially those working abroad, where mutinational productions are becoming more common each year, and many foreign directors want to work in English as well as their native tongue.

Director Ang Lee in Beverly Hills, 2007

First up is Ang Lee's LUST, CAUTION (Se, jie, 2007) the official entry from Taiwan. Because none of the principal cast and principal department heads (cinematographer, production designer, and sound mixer) were from Taiwan, the Academy ruled the movie was in violation of Rule 14 and disqualified it. Apparently, the Taiwanese government was given only a few hours notice to substitute another movie.

Devastated by the loss of their award-winning director (CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, Wo hu cang long, Tiawan, 2000; and EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN, Yin shi nan nu, Tiawan, 1994), the officials in Taiwan substituted ISLAND ETUDE (Lian xi qu, 2006) directed by Huai-en Chen, or Chen Huai-En. Chen has mainly worked as a cinematographer. ISLAND ETUDE is his first directorial effort.

Lee, born in Taiwan and educated in the U.S., won a Best Picture Oscar®, and numerous other awards for BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (USA, 2005), plus many awards for SENSE AND SENIBILITY, 1995, and THE ICE STORM, 1997, English being the principal language spoken in all.

Another strong picture,THE BAND'S VISIT (Bikur Ha-Tizmoret, Eran Kolirin, director, 2007) officially submitted by Israel, was turned down because there is too much English in the picture. Again see my post of 12 October about the problem of "language" in foreign movies.

Israel substituted BEAUFORT, Joseph Cedar, 2007, the latter's story line being much less interesting than a brass band comprised of members of the Egyptian police force head to Israel to play at the inaugural ceremony of an Arab arts center only to find themselves lost in a foreign city.

THE DIVING BELL and the BUTTERFLY (Le Scaphandre et le papillon, France / USA , 2007), Julian Schnabel's French movie, which won him the directing prize at Cannes and critical acclaim at other festivals, was not submitted by France. They chose to submit the animated PERSEPOLIS, also in French with French crew and actors, Catherine Deneuve among them. Under the Academy's rules a country may submit only one entry, and the country has the right to make that choice. That is, provided the movie follows the rules of submission established by the Academy.

PERSEPOLIS is based on Iranian author Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel. Satrapi also co-wrote the screenplay and co-directed the movie with Frenchman Vincent Paronnaud. It is a poignant coming-of-age story of a precocious and outspoken young Iranian girl that begins during the Islamic Revolution. Deneuve plays the mother, and that alone certifies it as genuinely French. Plus, doesn't every Iranian girl have a French mother as beautiful and Deneuve?

Julian Schnabel, director of DIVING BELL, was an art-world star in the early 1980s. A native of Brooklyn, he still draws and paints, but his other medium now is film. He made his first movie, BASQUIAT (Build a Fort, Set it on Fire, USA) in 1996, about the art world with which he is very familiar.

His second movie, BEFORE NIGHT FALLS in 2000, about the homosexual Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas, established him as a director, and gained an Oscar nomination for the star, Javier Bardem. All of Schnabel's five children appear in the movie. His current wife is Spanish actress Olatz Lopez Garmendia. She has appeared in all of his movies, and executive produced BEFORE NIGHT FALLS.

DIVING BELL is based on the best-selling memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric), the former editor in chief of Elle magazine in France. In 1995, Mr. Bauby suffered a stroke that left him with a condition called locked-in syndrome, conscious but paralyzed, with only his left eye remaining functional. He painstakingly composed the memoir by blinking that eye to select letters on a chart.

The movie sounds very much like the award-winning MAR ADENTO (The Sea Inside, Spain, 2004), directed by Alejandro Amenába (right in picture above). It is based on the true story of a Spanish sailor, Ramon Sampedro, who fought a 30-year campaign for his right to die with dignity after a diving accident left him paralyzed. MAR ADENTO garnered a Golden Globe as Best Foreign Film and a Globe nomination for its star Javier Bardem (left in picture above) as best actor. It swept Spain's Goya Awards, and won a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in the U.S. For all awards click HERE. I'm sure this year's members of the Academy BFLF committees would recognize the similarities in the MAR ADENTO and DIVING BELL.

In an article for Reuters, "Filmmakers question Oscar's foreign movie rules," 9 October 2007, Stephen Galloway writes that the Afghan tale THE KITE RUNNER, " . . . would never had stood a chance [in the BFLF category because it] features English and Dari dialogue, [and] was made by a Swiss -American Director, Marc Forster with an international crew."

He notes Afghanistan has no submission this year, implying the reason is THE KITE RUNNER did not meet the rules for a BFLF submission, but THE KITE RUNNER is based on a book written by American-educated Afghani writer Khaled Hosseini, who also cowrote the screenplay. Although the main actors and some of the crew are from Afghanistan, it was filmed in China and California, by U.S. production companies (principally MacDonald / Parkes Productions) and is distributed by U.S. distributors (DreamWorks SKG and Paramount Vintage). There is more English spoken than the other foreign languages, and it is officially a U.S. production, not Afghani, and was not eligible for a BFLF submission from Afghanistan from the beginning.

Mr. Galloway also wrote, "In excluding movies like these, the Academy continues to court controversy with foreign-language rules that many deem in need of revision." Amen!

One reason revisions are needed could be that the designation "foreign-language film" is outmoded in our new world-wide economy in which the European Union has dissolved borders within the Union, and the English language is the official diplomatic language, transcending borders around the world. Again, I urge the members of the Board of Governors of the Academy to take a serious look at their rules, especially in the BFLF category, but I would prefer calling the category "Best Foreign Motion Picture".