A New Look

It was a long hot summer, but now it is fall. I have been waiting on Blogger to add new templates, styles and gadgets and they have! My blog is back with a brand new look. It will take some time to add everything I want to add, so stay with me, please.

1. Following those movies that are really worth following.
2. Tracking possible Oscar nominees for best feature movie, best documentary and, of course, best foreign film, etc.
3. Reporting on major film festivals and spotlighting festival winners.

In addition, I hope to be adding video of trailers, and other visual enhancements. So, expect more changes, and I welcome suggestions.

Tribeca Festival Wraps

Heineken Audience Award, CITY ISLAND
The Heineken Audience Award was presented yesterday (3 May 2009) at the Tribeca Film Festival, NYC (TFFNYC). As the winner, CITY ISLAND received a $25,000 cash award. Ten diverse films were competing. The top three are screening at the Festival site in NYC as this post is being written.

The winner, CITY ISLAND, is a feature-length comedy written and directed by Raymond De Felitta (The Thing About My Folks, 05). Primary cast: Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies, Emily Mortimer, Alan Arkin, Steven Strait, and Ezra Miller.

The Rizzo family lives on a little-known island in the Bronx that is as quaint and sleepy as any New England town. But the Rizzos are not as picturesque as the island they inhabit, and like most dysfunctional families, they all stop at nothing to avoid the truth.

The Runner up is a documentary, RACING DREAMS, directed by Michael Curry, who won the 2005 Festival audience award for his documentary, STREET FIGHT. RACING DREAMS also won best documentary feature at this year's Festival. See post, 1 May, immediately below this one.

In third place we find MIDGETS Vs. MASCOTS, directed by Ron Carlson, which is described by festival commentators as a hilarious mocumentary. They go on to write, and I paraphrase, "It is one of the most-talked-about films at the Festival. . . The title alone [should] get you in the door, where little people (including, Gary Coleman and Jordan Prentice (IN BRUGES) battle Mascots, including 'Gator' and 'Taco' in events like milk-drinking, bull-riding, door-to-door-sales, and a whole ton more for a prize of one million dollars."

I must say, the title grabs me. However, I can wait for the DVD.

One more film deserves noting here, the one in fourth place. Japanese director Yojiro Takita's movie DEPARTURES (Okuribito), won the Oscar® as Best Foreign Language Film of 2008 at the Academy Awards® this year. It also won the Grand Prize at Montreal in 2008.

The Tokyo Orchestra disbands. A young cellist returns to his home in a rural town and to the family business. "The movie achieves a pleasingly droll blend of screwball-like humor with a moving story about reconciliation, acceptance, and finding one's place in the world, enhanced by a richly orchestrated score."

See a previous post, 28 February, for much more about DEPARTURES. Click the title of this post to see more about the 2009 top 10 audience picks, screening times, and previous winners.

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.

SLUMDOG Tops Golden Globes 2009

SLUMDOG is Top Dog at Globes


SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, the Hollywood Bollywood-inspired fantasy movie filmed in Mumbai, India, received four Golden Globes at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's (HFPA) Golden Globes Gala Sunday night. Not only did SLUMDOG win the Best Motion Picture Award, drama, the director (Danny Boyle), screenwriter (Simon Boufoy), and musical score composer (A.R. Rahman), all took home a Globe.

This is what I wrote about SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE in my post on this blog 12/12/2008, exactly one month before the Golden Globes Gala, in regards to the nominations: "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."

SLUMDOG could be the mighty little independent movie in the Oscar race this year. Think LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, JUNO, etc. SLUMDOG bested the heavyweight nominees THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJIMIN BUTTON (Brad Pitt), FROST/NIXON (directed by Ron Howard), REVOLUTIONARY ROAD (Winslet and DeCaprio), and THE READER (Winslet, again).

BENJAMIN BUTTON, FROST/NIXON and DOUBT all tied with five nominations, but went home sans statuette. So did actress Meryl Streep, having been nominated for best actress in DOUBT (drama) and MAMA MIA! (musical/comedy). However, there were delights with some of the other winners such as actress Kate Winslet. Nominated five times before in the acting category she had won nothing, and this year she hit a double. She received Globes in the drama category for best supporting actress as a Nazi concentration camp guard in THE READER, and the best actress for REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, the latter directed by her husband Sam Mendes.

Two other big winners for the evening were actors Collin Farrell and Mickey Rourke. Farrell won best actor, musical/comedy, for his portrayal of a hit man in the weakly distributed, IN BRUGES. It is available now on DVD. I saw it and highly recommend it.

Rourke, who makes a spectacular comeback in the comeback drama THE WRESTLER, won best actor, drama. I was not surprised that Rourke knocked out the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio (Revolutionary Road), Frank Langella (Frost / Nixon), Sean Penn (Milk), and Brad Pitt (The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button). In the before-mentioned post I wrote, "However, the one to watch in this category is Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)."

Director Woody Allen, in my humble opinion, richly deserves VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA'S win as best musical/comedy motion picture, while the big surprise of the evening was British actress Sally Hawkins' win as best actress, musical/comedy, for her Pollyanna-like role in HAPPY-GO-LUCKY, directed by Mike Leigh.

The win by the animated movie from Israel, WALTZ WITH BASHIR, is an odd choice for Best Foreign Language Film, but the HFPA may not be out in left field about this award-winning animated movie.

The late actor Heath Ledger was honored posthumously for the Joker in THE DARK KNIGHT. There is speculation about an Oscar repeat for Ledger. Only one actor has won a posthumous best-actor Oscar, and that is Peter Finch for NETWORK, 1976.

Of, course, I can't forget Bruce "The Boss" Springsteen who won the best song in a motion picture for THE WRESTLER'S "The Wrestler".

Congratulations to director / producer Stephen Spielberg, this year's recipient of the prestigious Cecil B. DeMille Award! Now, the big question is, "Are the winners of the Gold Globe Awards precursors of the upcoming Oscars?"

Motion Picture Winners (Sunday, 11 January 2009)

Best Motion Picture - Drama: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy: VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
Best Animated Feature: WALL-E
Best Foreign Language Film: WALTZ WITH BASHIR, Israel, Animated

Best Performance by an Actress - Drama: KATE WINSLET (Revolutionary Road)
Best Performance by an Actor - Drama: MICKEY ROURKE
Best Performance by an Actress - Musical/Comedy: SALLY HAWKINS (Happy-Go-Lucky)
Best Performance by an Anctor - Musical/Comedy: COLIN FARRELL (IN BRUGES)
Best Performance by an Actress in a supporting role: KATE WINSLET (The Reader)
Best Performance by an Actor in a supporting role: HEATH LEDGER (The Dark Knight)

Best Director - Motion Picture: DANNY BOYLE (Slumdog Millionaire).
Best Screenplay - Motion Picture: SIMON BEAUFOY (Slumdog Millionaire).
Best Original Musical Score - Motion Picture: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, Composed by A. R. Rahman.
Best Original Song - Motion Picture: THE WRESTLER, Music & Lyrics by: Bruce Springsteen.

To see all the winners and nominees for motion pictures and television CLICK.

Golden Globes® Gala Tonight

The second annual biggest party in the electronic Universe, the Golden Globes Gala, sponsored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), is back tonight after a horrible makeshift televised awards program last year. More than 50 Hollywood stars are confirmed as presenters.

Steven Spielberg will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award for his "outstanding contribution to the entertainment field." He was scheduled to receive it last year, but the HFPA postponed it due to the scaled down event.

The HFPA Golden Globes honor their choices for both the film and television professionals at the same gala. So, welcome back HFPA. I, among many others, missed the glitz and glam last year.

There is no doubt that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association suffered financial loss and the honorees lost valuable "buzz" because the gala was canceled due to the Writers Guild strike. The HFPA promises that the 66th annual gala tonight, broadcast on NBC (8-11 EST), will be bigger and better. The Globe nominations are a roster of the hot and new films, actors, technical achievements, etc.

Because the members represent the foreign press there is a much greater emphasis on who and what is hot at the very moment they fill out their nomination, or final, ballots. Their choices are often based on the feedback the members get from residents of their native countries. After all, they want as many of their fellow country persons to watch as possible.

One advantage of the Globe broadcast is that it is leaner, cleaner, tighter, and not as long, as the top awards show, the Academy Awards®, a.k.a., The Oscars. In the past, one disadvantage was the members seemed to nominate and vote for their favorite "eye candy," not necessarily upon the film or nominee's professional achievements and skills.

The Golden Globes broadcast has been increasing the number of countries and cities where it is broadcast, undoubtedly helped by Internet broadcast. In other words, what fifteen years ago was a little step child of the Oscars is no longer.

It's a big self-sufficient grownup player. One thing evident is that the members of the foreign press are becoming more knowledgeable about cinematic arts and less into voting for that "eye candy".

However, I'm sure there will be lots of hot new eye candy, and they venerate those older actors, actresses, directors, cinematographers and writers, honoring them whenever they can. They don't wait until the film professionals are 80 years old, or almost on their deathbed to do it.

Check the Links Relevant at the bottom of this post to quickly find some information that will increase your viewing pleasure.

For quick access to posts on this blog you can sign up for an Atom instant notice when Mimi makes a post. Look at the top of the right sidebar under "Profile" for Atom.

LINKS RELEVANT:

Yahoo article about Globes Gala tonight.

Mimi's Quick Links to helpful info about tonight at the Golden Globes' Gala.

Link to Mimi's previous post about the 66th Golden Globes on "Mimi at the Movies" blog.

Private Golden Globes Web Site with archive of previous winners.

HFPA Site.

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.

Oscar® Entries Deadline for Foreign Language, and Shot Films

The Best Foreign Language Film submission deadline for possible Oscar® nomination is Wednesday, 1 October 2008. It is also the deadline for Live Action Short Film and Animated Short Film.

Entry forms for consideration for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination for the 81st Academy Awards®, along with documentaion and one English-subtitled film print, and all other required materials, must be at the Academy in Beverly Hills by 5:00 p.m., 1 October. Only one entry per country.

The Academy mailed entry forms to 95 countries in June. Last year, the Academy invited 93 countries to submit. Of those who submitted, films from 61 countries were qualified for nomination.

In the short film categories, filmmakers must submit an entry form, one film print, or copy in an approved digital format, and all other required materials by the same deadline.

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

For more information contact:

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences®
8949 Wilshire Boulevard Beverly Hills, CA 90211-1972
Or, click the title of this post.

Olympics Over. Now, We Have Political Conventions.

I enjoyed the Olympics so much that I haven't had time to see, or write about, a movie. Imagine that? However, I do not apologize for having other interests in the year of a national election.

Almost as soon and the Olympics finished, the Democratic National Convention opened in Denver, CO. The Republican National Convention will begin almost immediately after the Democratic one closes. However, I do not apologize for having other interests in the year of a national election.

Therefore, I am now posting on my "Boggling the Mind" blog, and I shall not be posting here until the RNC Convention is over. Sorry, but there are not enough hours in the day.

Meanwhile, you might enjoy reading Woody Allen's "Excerpts of the Spanish Diary" in the New York Times 24 August about his lastest, VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA. It's a hoot!

You might also enjoy my salute to this year's outstanding Spanish athletes on my Foreign Movies Page. There is a heck-of-a-lot there about this year's foreign films, too.

Until I return to the movies, please enjoy my informative "Boggling the Mind" blog. Link on the right sidebar.

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.

AMPAS® Announces Student Academy Awards®

Students from eight colleges and universities have been named winners of the Academy of Motions Pictures Arts and Sciences' 35th Annual Student Academy Awards®. Eleven students attending college in the U.S., and one film student from the Academy of Media Arts, Cologne, Germany, who has been selected to receive the honorary foreign film award, will receive their awards in a ceremony 7 June at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Tickets are now available and are free.

The U.S. students first competed in one of three regional competitions. Each of those regions was permitted to send as many as three finalist films in each of four award categories. Academy members then screened the finalists’ films and voted to select the winners.

Winner's placement – Gold, Silver or Bronze – will not be revealed until the ceremony 7 June. In addition to a trophy, Gold Medal winners receive $5,000, Silver Medal winners receive $3,000, Bronze Medal winners receive $2,000, and the Honorary Foreign Film winner receives $1,000.

Winners are (listed alphabetically within each category by University):

Alternative:
San Francisco State University - Phoebe Tooke, CIRCLES OF CONFUSION.
University of Southern California (USC, Los Angeles) - Shih-Ting Hung, VIOLA: THE TRAVELING ROOMS OF A LITTLE GIANT.

Animation:
California Institute of the Arts (CalArts, Valencia, CA)- Nicole Mitchell, ZOOLOGIC.
The Ringling College of Arts and Design (Sarasota, FL) - Evan Mayfield, THE VISIONARY.
The School of Visual Arts (NYC) - Tatchapon Lertwirojkul, SIMULACRA.

Documentary:
American University (Washington, D.C.) - Laura Waters Hinson, AS WE FORGIVE.
Columbia University (NYC) - J.J. Adler, UNATTACHED.
USC - Brian David, IF A BODY MEET A BODY.

Narrative:
Florida State University - Z. Eric Yang, THE STATE OF SUNSHINE.
USC - Melanie McGraw, PITSTOP.
USC - Rajeev Dassani, A DAY'S WORK.

Honorary Foreign Film:
Academy of Media Arts, Cologne, Germany - Reto Caffi, ON THE LINE (Auf der Strecke). Caffi was selected from a pool of 43 entries.

Information about tickets, etc.:
The Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Doors open at 5 p.m. All seating is unreserved. The Gold Medal-winning films and the Honorary Foreign Film will be screened in their entirety. A maximum of four free tickets may be requested online (click title of this post), in person at the Academy box office, by calling the Student Academy Awards department at (310) 247-3000, ext. 130, or by mail: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; 8949 Wilshire Boulevard; Beverly Hills CA 90211-1972.

The Academy established the Student Academy Awards in 1972 to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level. Past Student Academy Award winners have gone on to receive 35 Oscar® nominations and have won, or shared, six Academy Awards. Two former Student Academy Award winners were nominated in the Documentary Short Subject category at the 80th Academy Awards held earlier this year. James Longley was nominated for SARI'S MOTHER, and Amanda Micheli for LA CORONA (The Crown). The winner was Josh Raskin's I MET THE WALRUS.

Mimi's Oscar® Picks for 80th Awards

Host Jon Stewart opening television gala in 2006, and he returns tonight.

Trying to choose the winners of the Academy Award® Oscar® is no picnic. Never has been, but every year I try, and every year I miss some.

All year long, I track the winners of film festivals and the various awards. Not all. That's impossible. I try to track the ones I think might influence voters of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS®).

The cold facts are these: AMPAS is composed of voting members that come from the guilds, i.e. unions, who work in the movie industry. The largest voting block is the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), followed in a random order by the Writers Guild (WGA), Directors Guild (DGA), and Producers Guild (PGA), etc.

Then there are the so-called "technical guilds," e.g., cinematographers, film editors, sound mixers, lighting designers, etc., and all of these have a cadre of technicians. Next come the "artistic guilds," and they are the folks who design, decorate, and execute sets, costumes, hair, makeup, etc. Plus, there is a plethora animators, running the gamut of everything necessary from enhancing major motion pictures to bringing those cute little critters who populate animated movies to life.

Of course, these members are subject to influence by their guilds and others such as film critics and film festival juries, but it basically comes down to how the AMPAS members vote when faced with that annual final ballot. However, I am going with the data I have collected, and these are my conclusions (not including some of the tech stuff and short films):

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. *
Best supporting actor: Javier Bardem for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
Best actress: Julie Christie for AWAY FROM HER.
Best actor: Daniel Day-Lewis for THERE WILL BE BLOOD.
Best animated feature: RATAEOUILLE, paws down.
Best documentary: SICKO, Michael Moore. * *
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 & Joel Coen, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
Best motion picture feature (best picture) - NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.

My rationale? NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN has won more major guild and critical awards than any other nominee, including the DGA, PGA, SAG, and WGA. I think it is finally the year the Coen brothers reap their rewards. However, one interesting note, JUNO has garnered more box office than any of the other "best picture" nominees, and has been dubbed, "The little movie that could".
__________________
* - - NOTE - Ruby Dee (MICHAEL CLAYTON) has won only one major award in the best supporting actress category, but it is the SAG award, and she is a sentimental favorite of AMPAS (as was her late husband Ossie Davis). However, the actress who has won most awards in this category, including influential critics awards such as the National Board of Review, plus the BFCA, L.A., N.Y., S.F., and Boston critics' awards is Ryan. Therefore, I'm going with Ryan with a possible Dee.

* * - - NOTE - The best documentary feature category is a tough one, but I'm going with Michael Moore's SICKO, because it has won more awards in this category, with NO END IN SIGHT running strong. Then, there is TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE that got out of the gate late. Who knows? Only the envelope does.

* * * - - NOTE - This year, the BFLF category is a disaster. Many respected critics agree. Unfortunately, AMPAS made it so. AMPAS either fixes the mechanism by which foreign movies are selected before the awards next year, or the category will become a mockery. See my previous blog post for much more on this year's BFLF nominees.

Download and print an Oscar ballot from IMDb's "Road to the Oscars".

LINKS RELEVANT: Mimi's Movie Awards Page / Mimi's Film Festival Page07 / Mimi's Foreign Movie Page (also on right sidebar).

Disappointing Foreign Film Oscar®

This is the first year since the best foreign-language film category (BFLF) was established for the 29th Academy Awards® in 1956, that this category thoroughly disappoints me. It is disappointing because the foreign movies that have been judged best by film festivals and other legitimate awarding organizations were shut out of the competition by self-appointed committees, and stifling rules.

It is also disappointing because the Academy seems to have forgotten why the category was begun in the first place, loading the qualification rules with insufferable specifications, and providing ways to cut some submitted films off by their knees. When it first began, the films were to be in the native language of the submitting country, and be of exceptional acting and cinematic quality for a an outside-of-Hollywood movie. The goal being to find such films and filmmakers, and help provide their distribution so that they might obtain a wider audience through an Oscar nomination and /or win.

One of the most awarded foreign movies of 2007 is the Romanian movie, 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS (4 runi, 3 saptamini SI si 2 zile), directed by Cristian Mungiu. It won the Golden Palm as Best Film at Cannes, the Best European Feature in the European Awards, plus many other awards. Naturally, Romania submitted it for the BFLF Oscar®, only to see it fail to meet the first cut by the first selection committee. The L. A. Weekly, and others, called it, ". . . the best foreign film of the year."

So, were the committees appointed to screen the 63 submitted movies and cut the list from which the nominees would be chosen down to only nine, totally unaware of the awards the Romanian movie had won, or was it because the movie is about abortion?

Then, there was the denial of Taiwanese director Ang Lee's LUST, CAUTION. The Academy ruled that not enough of the actors and production staff were actually from Taiwan. Or, was it because some were afraid adults might learn about the Karma Sutra?

Another controversial absence involved the disqualification of Israel's THE BAND'S VISIT, because more than 50 percent of the dialogue between an Egyptian band and Israeli villagers is in English, albeit mostly broken English. Again, it comes down to an archaic insistence on language as the ground rule in the 21st Century where filmmakers are making multi-lingual movies through multi-country co-productions.

Language caused the French Academy to misstep by submitting the animated feature PERSEPOLIS in the BFLF category, which did not even make the short-list but did get a nod in animation. The movie is entirely in French, but is based on a graphic novel by an Iranian, Marjane Satrapi, the co-writer and co-director is the same Iranian, and the subject is a coming-of-age of a young Iranian girl in Iran during the Iranian Islamic revolution. "Persepolis" is a Greek word meaning, The City of Persians for the city, Persian name Parsa, in ancient Iran. The ruins of Parsa are still in Iran. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

By submitting PERSEPOLIS for the BFLF Oscar, the French shut out one of two wonderful French movies, either THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY, or La Môme (U.S. title = LA VIE EN ROSE), either of which could have won in the original system, but no one knows what would have happened under the current one.

Actress Marion Cotillard, who portrays the late, great French singer Edith Piaf in the latter, is nominated for best actress. Artist, and DIVING BELL director, Julian Schnabel received a best director nod.

The committee did provide a movie that contains two favored themes for the BFLF voters, World War Two and the Holocaust. THE COUNTERFEITERS is from Austria. Perfect.

From Israel comes BEAUFORT, a story of defeat. In 2001, the last Israeli soldiers must retreat from a famous fort captured by Israel in 1982. While abandoning the fort, the soldiers confront the futility of the mission to capture it in the first place. This in place of the delightful, THE BAND'S VISIT? An abomination.

From Poland comes the best known director in the competition, Andrzej Wajda, whose KATYN tells the true story of 15,000 Poles massacred by Soviet secret police in 1940, one of which was his own father. Wajda holds an honorary Oscar (2000) and many other awards. If this one had no made the list, I would have regurgitated.

Kazakhstan received its first Oscar nomination for MONGOL, in which Russian director Sergei Bodrov chronicles the early life and love of the warrior Genghis Kahn on the Mongolian steppe. Where is Kazakhstan? Does anyone really care? It must be right behind Siberia in my list of never-go-there places.

Another Russian director, Nikita Mikhalkov, whose 1994 picture BURNT BY THE SUN won the best foreign film Oscar for Russia, has made what is described as a "loose remake" of Sidney Lumet's classic court drama 12 ANGRY MEN (1957), which Mikhalkov calls, 12. Will this remake of the Hollywood classic put it in good standing for the Oscar? Is it a "remake" or plagiarism?

Variety film critic Robert Koehler is quoted as saying, "There is a consensus that this is an embarrassing selection and it exposed the category as by far the most problematic one the Academy has."

Bien dit! ¡Bien dicho! Bene disse! Gut sagte! Well said! Is that too much English?

Oh, in case you are wondering, that first BFLF Oscar went to LA STRADA (Italy, 1956), directed by Federico Fellini, produced by Dino De Laurentiis and Carlo Ponti, starring Fellini's wife, Giulietta Masina, and Anthony Quinn. Now, if any committee member does not know who these people were, they should never be on another BFLF committee! I would be happy to prepare a test to make sure the prospective committee members are thoroughly qualified in foreign film.

Reference my Foreign Movies Page.

Oscar® Foreign Film Short List

The two-phase nomination process for the Best Foreign-Language Film (BFLF) has whittled the list of 63 foreign motion pictures submitted for Oscar® nomination consideration, down to nine. More specifics on these movies later. For now, here's the list alphabetized by country, with directors:

Austria, THE COUNTERFEITERS, Stefan Ruzowitzky;
Brazil, THE YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION, Cao Hamburger;
Canada, DAYS OF DARKNESS, Denys Arcand;
Israel, BEAUFORT, Joseph Cedar;
Italy, THE UNKNOWN, Giuseppe Tornatore;
Kazakhstan, MONGOL, Sergei Bodrov;
Poland, KATYN, Andrzej Wajda;
Russia, 12, Nikita Mikhalkov;
Serbia, THE TRAP, Srdan Golubovic.

The Phase I committees formed to screen the initially-submitted motion pictures have done their job. Next, a Phase II committee will view the shortlisted films and select the five nominees for the category.

Phase II screenings will take place from Friday, 18 January, through Sunday, 20 January, in both Hollywood and New York City. That committee is composed of ten randomly selected members from the Phase I group, joined by specially invited ten-member contingents in New York and Los Angeles.

Nominations for the 80th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, 22 January 2008, at 5:30 a.m. PT, in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2007 will be presented on Sunday, 24 February 2008, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PT. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Mimi's addendum to that last paragraph: We hope!

Awards Heat Up and New Festival Season Opens

The 2007 - 2008 movie awards season is now officially in high gear. It will culminate with the Academy Awards® in February. The 2008 film festival season opens tomorrow.

Nominations for movie and television awards have been stepping on each other's toes since November as they compete for media attention. In the meantime, the film festival season has been moving to earlier dates each year like the political nominations. The 2007 festival season closed in December. In California, the Palm Springs International Film Festival kicks off the 2008 season tomorrow, 3 January 2008, followed by the Santa Barbara festival on 24 January.

In between Palm Springs and Cannes in May, there are major festivals, including Sundance, Berlin, Tribeca, and San Francisco. Also, some specialty festivals such as Miami, Hot Docs, South by Southwest (SXSW) and the San Diego Latino festival. I cover them all, and others, on my Film Festivals Page.

The awards galas begin in earnest this month. The oldest active film critics association (begun in 1936), the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) Awards will be presented at the Gala 6 January, in New York City, followed the next day by the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) - (Critics Choice Awards) at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA (Broadcast live on VH1).

The awards are galloping toward their first international gala, the Golden Globes® scheduled for Sunday, 13 January, Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, broadcast live on NBC, 8:00 p.m., EST. Globes are sponsored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). Some say the Globes predict the Oscars®. Not so. They hint. The HFPA members tend to vote for the Hollywood star that is "hot" in looks and / or the gossip columns. The term used by some critics for the HFPA is "star wh _ _ _ s".

Notice that I wrote the Globes, "are scheduled". If you haven't heard, there's a big writer's strike hanging over the awards season this year, but the Oscar® nominations will be announced Tuesday, 22 January, at 5:30 a.m. PT, in the Academy of Motion Picture of Arts and Sciences' Samuel Goldwyn Theater. It remains to be seen if the AMPAS® presentation gala goes forth as planned on Sunday, 24 February. The latest word is that it will go, even if the show is missing some of the frills of recent years. That could be a good thing.

I'm doing my best to follow all this on my Awards Page 2008 and my Film Festivals Page 2008 (links on the right sidebar as well). You will find links for the 2007 pages on my 2008 pages in case you wish to refer back.

Please note that the Awards are listed in the alphabetical order of the organizations giving the awards. Film Festivals are listed in chronological order by date held. Again, I suggest you use your Browser's "Edit" button, scroll down to "Find in this document," click and type a key word such as GOYA or GLOBES, for awards; SUNDANCE or PALM SPRINGS for festivals, etc.

There are new posts as the momentum builds, so I suggest you visit often. You do want to be ready for that Globe and / or Oscar® contest, or your office pools don't you? Good luck!

Since you read this far, here's the skinny on the most-likely best motion picture of the year, which leads where various award nominations and winners have been announced so far: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.

Oscar nominations are 22 January. If NO COUNTRY is not on the Academy Awards best picture nominations list, I'll eat this blog.

Fernando Fernán-Gómez Dead at 86

IN MEMORIAM
Fernando Fernán-Gómez (2005)

28 August 1921 (Lima, Peru) - - 21 November 2007 (Madrid, Spain)

"For Fernando"
Stars above Iberia, twinkling in the skies;
One bright star fell in the night, tears flow from our eyes.

~ ~ Mimi, 21/11/07

Fernando Fernán-Gómez made over 200 appearances in Spanish television series and films, directed 25 films and wrote about 10 plays in a career spanning nearly six decades. He also wrote poetry and music.

Among the films he appeared in are Fernando Trueba's BELLE EPOQUE, which was ony the second movie from Spain to win the Oscar® for best foreign film (1993), and in which he portrayed Manolo, farmer father of four voluptuous daughters (Penélope Cruz, Miriam Díaz Aroca, Mary Carmen Ramírez, Maribel Verdú). In the third Spanish movie to win the same award (2000), he was the father of voluptuous Penélope Cruz in Pedro Almodóvar's ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER (Todo sobre mi madre).

Among his other memorable roles are the bee-obsessed father Fernando in Víctor Erice's 1973 beloved SPIRIT OF THE BEHIVE (El Espíritu de la colmena); the bird-song obsessed Fernando in THE LOVE OF CAPTAIN BRANDO (El Amor del capitán Brando, Jaime de Armiñán, 1974); the overly religious mystic wolf Fernando in Carlos Saura's ANA AND THE WOLVES (Ana y los lobos); and the older disillusioned wolf Fernando, who has substituted trying to fly an airplane for mysticism in Saura's 1979 black comedy MAMA TURNS 100 (Mamá cumple cien años).

His honors include six Goyas from the Spanish Film Academy, Spain's top film award, and the 1995 Price of Asturias Prize for the Arts. MORE . . .

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".

Foreign Language Movies Submitted for Oscar®

A record 63 countries*, including new entrants Azerbaijan and Ireland, submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 80th Academy Awards®, Academy President Sid Ganis announced 17 October 2007. In June, the Academy sent submission information inviting 93 countries to submit motion pictures.

The 2007 submissions, with directors, are:

Argentina, XXY, Lucia Puenzo;
Australia, THE HOUSE SONG STORIES, Tony Ayres;
Austria, THE COUNTERFIETERS, Stefan Ruzowitzky;
Azerbaijan, CAUCASIA, Farid Gumbatov;
Bangladesh, ON THE WINGS OF DREAMS Golam Rabbany Biplob;
Belgium, BEN X, Nic Balthazar;
Bosnia and Herzegovina, IT'S HARD TO BE NICE Srdan Vuletic;
Brazil, THE YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION, Cao Hamburger;
Bulgaria, WARDEN OF THE DEAD, Ilian Simeonov;
Canada, DAYS OF DARKNESS, Denys Arcand;
Chile, PADRE NUESTRO, Rodrigo Sepulveda;
China, THE KNOT, Yin Li;
Colombia, SANTANAS, Andi Baizr;
Croatia, ARMIN, Ognjen Svilicic;
Cuba, THE SILLY AGE, Pavel Giroud;
Czech Republic, I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND, Jiri Menzel;
Denmark, THE ART OF CRYING, Peter Schonau Fog;
Egypt, IN THE HELIOPOLIS FLAT, Mohamed Khan;
Estonia, THE CLASS, Ilmar Raag;
Finland, A MAN'S JOB, Aleksi Salmenpera;
France, PERSEPOLIS, Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud;
Georgia, THE RUSSIAN TRIANGLE, Aleko Tsabadze;
Germany, THE EDGE OF HEAVEN, Fatih Akin;
Greece, EDUART, Angeliki Antoniou;
Hong Kong, EXILED, Johnnie To;
Hungary, TAXIDERMIA, Gyorgy Palfi;
Iceland, JAR CITY, Baltasar Kormakur;
India, EKLAVYA -- THE ROYAL GUARD, Vidhu Vinod Chopra;
Indonesia, DENIAS, SINGING ON THE CLOUD, John De Rantau;
Iran, M FOR MOTHER, Rasoul Mollagholipour;
Iraq, JANI GAL, Jamil Rostami;
Ireland, KINGS, Tom Collins;
Israel, BEAUFORT, Joseph Cedar;
Italy, THE UNKNOWN, Giuseppe Tornatore;
Japan, I JUST DIDN'T DO IT, Masayuki Suo;
Kazakhstan, MONGOL, Sergei Bodrov;
Korea, SECRET SUNSHINE, Chang-dong Lee;
Lebanon, CARAMEL, Nadine Labaki;
Luxembourg, LITTLE SECRETS, Pol Cruchten;
Macedonia, SHADOWS, Milcho Manchevski;
Mexico, SILENT LIGHT, Carlos Reygadas;
The Netherlands, DUSKA, Jos Stelling;
Norway, GONE WITH THE WOMAN, Petter Naess;
Peru, CROSSING THE SHADOW, Augusto Tamayo;
Philippines, DONSOL, Adolfo Alix, Jr.;
Poland, KATYN, Andrzej Wajda;
Portugal, BELLE TOUJOURS, Manoel de Oliveira;
Puerto Rico, LOVE SICKNESS, Carlitos Ruiz, Mariem Perez;
Romania, 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, AND 2 DAYS, Cristian Mungiu;
Russia, 12, Nikita Mikhalkov;
Serbia, THE TRAP, Srdan Golubovic;
Singapore, 881, Royston Tan;
Slovakia, RETURN OF THE STORKS, Martin Repka;
Slovenia, SHORT CIRCUITS, Janez Lapajne;
Spain, THE ORPHANAGE, J.A. (Juan Antonio) Bayona;
Sweden, YOU, THE LIVING, Roy Andersson;
Switzerland, Late bloomers, Bettina Oberli;
Taiwan, ISLAND ETUDE, Chen Huai-En;
Thailand, KING OF FIRE, Chatrichalerm Yukol;
Turkey, A MAN'S FEAR OF GOD, Ozer Kiziltan;
Uruguay, THE POPE'S TOLET, Enrique Fernandez, & Cesar Charlone;
Venezuela, POSTCARDS FROM LENINGRAD, Mariana Rondon;
Vietnam, THE WHITE SILK DRESS, Luu Huynh.

*Last year, 2006, 62 countries submitted motion pictures. Findland's was withdrawn after the list was announced.

For your convenience, you will find a link on the right sidebar of this blog to this list, "Foreign Films Submitted for 80th AAs," and it will remain there, with updates, for the next year. You will find addtional information by clicking "Mimi's Film Festival Page," link. After opening, use your Browser's "edit, find" feature on the top menu bar to quickly find the movie, or country in which you are interested.

Nominations for the 80th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, 22 January 2008, at 5:30 a.m. PT (8:30 a.m. ET) in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater, Beverly Hills.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2007 will be presented on Sunday, 24 February 2008, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. Jon Stewart will host.

Spain Sends THE ORPHANAGE to Fetch BFLF Oscar®

It's official. THE ORPHANAGE (EL Orfanato, Spain, 2007) directed by J. A. (Juan Antonio) Bayona and produced by Guillermo del Toro (PAN'S LABYRINTH), will represent Spain in the contest for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar®. That's a movie in languages other than English, and countries may submit only one film in the BFLF category.

ORPHANAGE bypassed the top film festival in Spain, San Sebastián, for the Film Festival of Catalonia at Sitges, a festival for fantasy and the fantastic. It will have its Spain premiere in Sitges at the opening gala 4 October.

Meanwhile, the Picturehouse release is making its U.S. premiere at the New York Film Festival as I write this, and is in competition. The movie stars Belén Rueda (Laura), Fernando Cayo (Carlos) and Geraldine Chaplin (Aurora), and it is the last name on the list that is very interesting, I think.

You see, one of the reasons the movie may have bypassed San Sebastián could be because that festival was pulling out all the stops to honor Carlos Saura for 50 years of filmmaking. They honored him with a Golden Shell. Before Saura, only Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel, "the master," received one in 1981. Buñuel died in 1983.

If you don't know, Saura and Chaplin had a close relationship for many years in which she collaborated on the writing of the scripts, helped finance some of his projects, starred in a number of his movies and gave him his third son, Sean Saura Chaplin. Carlos was married with two sons. She was not. They never married, but were together shortly after she starred in DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965) until the filming of her last movie with Saura, MAMA TURNS 100 (1979). There's much more, but you must wait for my book.

FADOS ("a musical documentary," from Portugal/Spain) is Saura's latest. The movie's Spanish premiere was at San Sebastián 21 September. It was a gala event where Saura received the Golden Shell from former Festival director and movie critic Diego Galán. Not only that, there was a live production of fado singers with flamenco dancers.

FADOS will have its U.S. premiere at the New York Film Festival in NYC, screening as a special event on 13 October. No word as yet if the fado singers will perform. The world premiere was at Toronto, the Spain one at San Sebastián, and the Canadian one at Vancouver. ORPHANAGE didn't appear at any of those.

Here, the plot thickens. FADOS is a Portuguese/Spanish production and Portuguese is spoken. So, I can hardly wait to find out if Portugal is submitting FADOS to AMPAS® as their official submission.

Geraldine Chaplin on the set of EL ORFANATO, 2007
The story of ORPHANAGE is that Laura (Rueda) returns with her family to the orphanage in which she grew up with the intention of opening a residence for children with disabilities. The new environment wakes up her son's imagination, and he begins to take on more and more intense games of fantasy.

As the games intensify, Laura becomes increasingly disturbed until she reaches the point where she thinks there is something in the house that is threatening her and her family. The escalation of events lead her to take her son for psychological help.


Scandinavian actor Per Oscarsson and Géraldine Chaplin in LA MADRIGUERS (The Burrow, 1969)
Have you seen Saura's movie LA MADRIGUERS, 1969? Take your pick of English titles: Honeycomb, The Burrow, The Den. If you have seen this movie, the above synopsis should prick your ears, because there is definitely a psychological similarity between the synopses of the two movies. At any rate, from what I am hearing, Geraldine may receive an Oscar nomination for her performance in this movie, and the movie stands a good chance, too.

Will someone please go see these movies in New York and send me a report? I Will appreciate it. If you have a fast Internet connection, you can catch the trailer here.

First BFLF Oscar® Deadline Monday

Deadline for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences® to receive entries in Foreign Language Film, Live Action Short Film, and Animated Short Film for Oscar® consideration in the race for the 80th Academy Awards® is 5:00 p.m., Monday, 1 October.

In the short film categories, filmmakers must submit an entry form, one film print or copy in an approved digital format, and all other required materials by the deadline. In the Foreign Language Film category, filmmakers must submit entry forms, one English-subtitled film print and all other required materials by the deadline. Only one motion picture will be accepted from each country.

This past June, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences mailed Foreign Language Film award entry forms to 95 countries, facilitating their submissions for the 80th Academy Awards. Read the complete, and newly revised rules.

The 2006 Best Foreign Language Film was THE LIVES OF OTHERS (Das Leben der Anderen), Germany, written and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. The German spy drama, based on records from the now defunct East German (GDR/DDR) secret police, Stasi, is currently in preproduction as an English-language movie by former Miramax Films chiefs Bob and Harvey Weinstein, and filmmakers Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella. It is tentatively set to be released in 2010.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2007 will be presented on Sunday, 24 February 2008, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. Click the schedule for the 80th Academy Awards on the right sidebar.

Three Movie Trilogies For Summer's Dog Days

The Dog Days of Summer have been with us for a couple of weeks, and the forecast does not predict any relief in sight for the rest of August, with temps well above 95 degrees F, mostly above 100, and heat indices of 105 or higher. So, if you are living through the dog days where you are, now is the time to consider renting some movies you may not have previously considered.

Nothing like turning off the telephone, sending everything to your mailbox, kicking back with a tall cool drink, a snack, and watching a movie all by yourself, or with a significant other, without the distractions in the average movie theater. The experience of watching a movie which does not follow the formula of the usual Hollywood concocted pablum - - most now written with pre-programmed computer programs and filled with computer-generated images (CGI) - - provides new stimulation for one's mind and emotions.

The movies I recommend here are definitely not computer generated pablum. Warning: Attention, brain power and reading (subtitles) are required, unless you understand French, Polish, Spanish, Hindi! The movies all have simple one-word titles, but there is nothing simple about any of them, cinematically or thematically.

FIRST TRILOGY

There was a Polish filmmaker, most call him a cinematic genius, who made a a movie trilogy in French and Polish, which he titled THREE COLORS (Trois Coleurs). He had made other films before discovering that he had congenital heart failure, and died shortly after he finished the third film in the trilogy. I am referring to the late Krysztof Kieslowski, and the award-winning movies in the three colors trilogy are, in the order they were made and in the order they should be viewed: BLUE (Bleu, 1993), WHITE (Blanc, 1994), and RED (Rouge, 1994).

The colors represent the tricolors in the French flag, left to right as it flies: Blue, White and Red. And, everyone should know that the French chose those colors after their revolution to express their ties and appreciation to America. They simply reversed the Red, White and Blue. The national motto of France is: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (Liberté , Egalité, Fraternité). The last, fraternity, refers to brotherhood, not a keg party.

BLUE (1993)
Trois Couleurs: Bleu

In the first installment of Kieslowski's three colors trilogy BLUE represents liberty in the French national motto and is the first color of the French flag. A young Frenchwoman Julie Vignon (Juliette Binoche), tries to uncover her famous composer husband's secret life when she finds a couple of not-so-subtle clues after he and their young daughter die in an automobile accident. Blue in this movie also represents fidelity, a trait lacking in Julie's late husband. He not only betrayed her sexually, he took her musical talents and claimed them as his own. Each step takes her both closer and farther from the truth as she journeys on a path ultimately leading to self-discovery, a man who will not betray her, and a liberating life.

WHITE (1994)
Trois Couleurs: Blanc

Julie Delpy stars in WHITE (Blanc, 1994), a dark comedy that is the middle segment of the trilogy, representing the middle section of the French flag and equality in the French motto. It is about the price of passion. Polish immigrant Karol (Zbigniew Zamachowski) is humiliated in a public courtroom by his wife Dominique (Delpy) during their divorce proceedings in a French court. She is divorcing him because he cannot perform in bed. Shamed and brokenhearted, he finds an ally in a fellow countryman. The two concoct a way back to post-Communist Poland, where Karol sets about rebuilding his life, but not without some missteps until he and his countryman come to view each other as equals.

RED (1994)
Trois Couleurs: Rouge

RED (Rouge, 1994), is the final film in Kieslowski's three-colors trilogy, and in the French flag. The plot is an excellent fit with the last word in the French motto, fraternity. In this meditation on the need for passion and human connection, Valentine (Irene Jacob) accidentally hits a dog with her car, and the accident brings together two very different people -- Valentine, a model, and Joseph (Jean-Louis Trinignant), a retired judge who owns the dog. Random fate chooses to pair them and, although deeply improbable, their eventual relationship becomes a true romance.

The movie is poignant when we know what was happening behind the scenes. Before and during the production, Kieslowski was aware that he had heart failue and that he was dying, but RED ends on a positive note.

SECOND TRILOGY

Deepa Metha

The second trilogy, featuring three films directed by Indian-born and current Canadian resident Deepa Mehta, a female, is a trilogy about Indian Women in the early to mid Twentieth Century. All the movies are set in times past. How far in the past? We know only that the events in the movies, as well as references to Mahatma Gandhi as being alive, free in India and advocating nonviolent resistance, place the timeframe of all the movies in, or around, the 1940s.

FIRE (1996)

Deepa Mehta's FIRE, the first Indian film about lesbians, follows two Hindu women struggling with loveless arranged marriages. When Sita discovers that her husband Jatin has a mistress, she shares her unhappiness with her sister-in-law Radha, who cannot give birth. As the lukewarm coals of their long-term relationships fade, they ignite passion in their lives by finding comfort in each other. The fire that has smoldered within each of them is finally free to blaze.

The movie almost didn't get made because of the lesbian content, and fires were set in Movie theaters in India when the film was shown. Be sure and watch all the features on the DVD.

EARTH (1998)

This middle film in the trilogy is a stirring tale about the real-life religious and civil wars that broke out in India and Pakistan in 1947. The battle to gain independence from the British brought about horrendous violence between Muslims and Hindus, finally causing the splitting of India (mainly Hindu) by carving from it he nation of Pakistan (mainly Muslim). EARTH, the second movie in a trilogy from Mehta, is based on the autobiographical novel Cracking India by Bapsi Sidhwa and is told through the eyes of a little girl Lenny, who has one leg in a brace. Again, the DVD special features are almost as interesting as the movie itself. Don't miss them.

WATER (2005)

After losing her much older husband to illness, 8-year-old Chuyia is forced to live out the rest of her days in a temple for Hindu widows, communing with 14 other women with a cruel headmistress who agrees to take her into the Ashram. It is through the trials of another widow that Chuyia learns the many restrictions of widowhood.

Chuyia's friend is a beautiful young woman Kalyani (Lisa Ray), who is forced into prostitution by the greedy headmistress. Meanwhile, Kalyani is being courted by Narayan (John Abraham), a wealthy educated man from a higher caste. Marriage between the star crossed lovers Kalyani and Narayan is forbidden by law for two reasons. First, because widows are forbidden to remarry (unless they marry a relative of their deceased husband) and second, because the young people belong to different castes.

Chuyia and Kalyani both eventually escape their bondage but only after being cruelly used by Narayan's father. Chuyia escapes through the kindness of a fellow widow and Narayan, but Kalyani does not understand the concepts of forgiveness and redemption through the use of holy water and makes a tragic mistake.

WATER was nominated for an Oscar as the Best Foreign Language Film of 2006 (Canada/India), but lost to THE LIVES OF OTHERS (Germany). The art direction and visuals are absolutely stunning, as are Ray and Abraham. A visual feast almost as mesmerizing as a Bernardo Bertolucci movie.

All these movies are available to rent from NETFLIX (see link on right sidebar), and WATER may be downloaded for instant viewing at NETFLIX.

ADDED NOTE: I just saw Mehta's BOLLYWOOD/HOLLYWOOD (2000) "Different tree. Same wood". It is the first film of Metha's in which Lisa Ray stars. It is a hoot!

THIRD TRILOGY

There is another trilogy of movies that I whis to recommend. I highly recommend the first dance trilogy of Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura: BODAS DE SANGRE (BLOOD WEDDING, 1981), CARMEN (1983), and EL AMOR BRUJO (aka, Love Bewitched, 1986). All three star the famous late male flamenco dancer Antonio Gades. The marvelous dancer Cristina Hoyos dances with Gades in all the movies, starring in the first. Laura del Sol danced the featured role with Gades in CARMEN and AMOR BRUJO, but Hoyos is fabulous in the supporting roles. So, too, are the soundtracks. I have the soundtrack for BRUJO, but don't know about availability of the others.

FYI, Saura may have completed his second dance trilogy that began with FLAMENCO (1995), followed by TANGO (1998) only recently. Some critics are writing that FADOS (2007) is the last movie in the trilogy, but I'm not sure they are correct. From what I have read, it may relate more to Sevillanas (1992), or ¡Ay, Carmela! (1990). FADOS will receive a special screening at the San Sebastián Film Festival next month (see link to my Film Festival Page on the right sidebar). I'll keep you advised about the trilogy.

FLAMENCO and TANGO are available to rent at NETFLIX. UPDATE 10/07: BLOOD WEDDING, CARMEN and EL BRUJO are now available to rent on DVD. NETFLIX has them as a set (see link for NETFLIX on right sidebar). All the movies are also available on video tape (VHS and PAL).

Happy Dog Days!