82nd Academy Awards Poster

82nd Academy Awards® co-hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin have landed on the shoulders of the Oscar in the official poster for this year's telecast. The poster is now available for purchase. It celebrates the best films of 2009.

The 27x40-inch color poster is printed on premium quality, Forest Stewardship Certified paper. LA-based creative-shop Omelet is responsible for the concept and execution of the design, which features tuxedo-clad Martin and Baldwin on the shoulders of a giant Oscar statuette. “You’ve Never Seen Oscar Like This” is the year’s slogan.

The poster is $25, plus shipping and handling. This is the only 82nd Academy Awards commemorative item available for sale to the public. Thousands of posters also will be distributed to a variety of venues worldwide.







The Academy is offering a poster special this year. The "80 Years of Best Picture Winners" poster, a special-issue poster celebrating 80 years of Best Picture Oscar winners from 1928, was issued in conjunction with the 2007's 80th Academy Awards presentation, and is available as part of a set, provided you order this year's 82nd Annual Academy Awards poster.

This special 80th poster is the same fine quality as this year's poster. The set is available for $40, plus shipping and handling. These posters are available for purchase on the Academy’s Web site by clicking the title of this post, or by calling 1-877-335-8936.

The Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented on Sunday, 7 March, at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET, and broadcast live on the ABC Television Network.

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?

Snubs at 80th Academy Awards®

There was one glaring omission during the 80th Academy Awards® presentation show Sunday night. Whoopi Goldberg was not included in the montage of former hosts of the Academy Awards.

The Oscar®-winning actress (GHOST, 1990) hosted the Awards in 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2002. Plus, she has two nominations, including one for THE COLOR PURPLE.

She was consoled yesterday by her The View television co-hosts, Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and Sherri Shepherd. Will AMPAS® offer an explanation?

The Academy did not give an explanation for the omission of actor Brad Renfro (THE CLIENT) in the Academy Awards tribute to 43 Hollywood figures who died this past year. Renfro died in January of a morphine overdose, but they did include Heath Ledger, who died from an overdose of prescription drugs one week later.

Speculation is rife that Renfro was omitted because his drug of choice was morphine, or because he was not considered as big a star as Ledger. Leslie Unger, Academy spokeswoman, offered only that they could not include everyone.

Oscar-nominated Roy Scheider (JAWS) was not included, but it was explained that Scheider's death, on 10 February, fell outside the time frame of the tribute video, which covered 1 February 2007 to 31 January 2008. No mention was made as to whether or not Scheider would be included next year.

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.

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® Red Carpet Ready to Roll

Academy members have cast their votes. The polls closed yesterday at 5 p.m. PT. By tomorrow, they will all be counted and some trusted secretary (administrative assistant) will begin typing away on the envelopes and the cards that will be inserted within them. Lucky person now, because most of the work is already done by computer and it is mainly "type winning name in the proper place on the data page that will be merged with the template."

The Oscar® red carpet will be in place Saturday, 23 February, when 50 students from Inner-City Filmmakers (ICF), a training and film industry job development program, will carry the Oscar statuettes for the 80th Academy Awards® down the red carpet and into the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center® this Saturday at 10 a.m.

The statuettes, which have been on display at the “Meet the Oscars” exhibition since 1 February, will be transported to the red carpet, along Hollywood Boulevard, where they will be placed in the hands of the ICF students, and they will then carry them down the red carpet into the Kodak Theatre. Once inside, the Oscar statuettes will be kept backstage, under close watch, until they are presented to the winners during the 80th Academy Awards ceremony the next day.

Academy Award nominees, presenters and performers will be greeted on Oscar’s red carpet on Sunday by film historian, television host, and Hollywood Reporter columnist Robert Osborne. This will mark his third time as official greeter. Red carpet guest arrivals are expected to begin at approximately 3 p.m. PT. Therefore, on the East coast the red carpet show will begin at 6 p.m. ET, followed by "The Barbara Walters Special" at 7. The Oscar® telecast will begin at 5 p.m. PT, 8 p.m. ET. Barbara Walters will be seen after the Oscar broadcast, Central and Pacific Times.

The guy who thinks of himself as "the king," Regis Philbin, will host the official 30-minute red carpet arrivals show preceding the 80th Academy Awards® presentation gala. This will be Philbin’s first time hosting the show that airs on ABC, immediately prior to the Academy Awards presentation.

This hosting assignment marks a return to the Oscar® red carpet for Regis, who was a pioneer interviewer of arriving stars beginning in the 1970s. Regis will be joined by first-time co-hosts Samantha Harris and Shaun Robinson. Who?

Samantha Harris is best known for her daily reporting for E! Entertainment Television’s “E! News” and co-hosting duties on “Dancing with the Stars.” A two-time Emmy nominee, she also serves as a special correspondent for “Good Morning America” and as an occasional guest co-host on “The View.” Prior to joining E!, Harris served as the weekend co-host for the nationally syndicated entertainment news magazine “Extra.”

Shaun Robinson is the weekend co-host and correspondent for the syndicated entertainment news show “Access Hollywood.” She is an Emmy® Award-winning journalist who has served as a guest co-host on “The View” and contributed reports for “The Today Show,” MSNBC, CNN and “NBC Nightly News.” Prior to joining the world of entertainment, Robinson was an anchor and reporter for WSVN-TV in Miami, Florida.

Now you know. Enjoy the red carpet show, or ship it. As for me, I shall save my "couch time" for the presentation show, and perhaps the "The Barbara Walters Special," as mentioned above, also on ABC, before or after the presentation show, depending upon where you live. Check your local station for all the times.

Oscar® Show Participants Announced

The 80th Academy Awards® telecast is definitely a "go" for Sunday, 24 February, with the customary glitz and glam. Everyone at the Academy continued to prepare, knowing that everything had to be ready today, Valentine's Day, if the curtain was to go up as scheduled. Hats-off to them all, because today they were ready to officially "greenlight" the Oscar® Gala.

Producer Gil Cates and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis announced the presenters and performers who will participate in the Oscar telecast at a press conference held at the Academy’s headquarters.

Cates and Ganis announced the presenters scheduled to date, including all four of last year’s winners in the acting categories, Alan Arkin, Jennifer Hudson, Helen Mirren and Forest Whitaker, as well as: Amy Adams, Jessica Alba, Cate Blanchett, Josh Brolin, Steve Carell, George Clooney, Penelope Cruz, Miley Cyrus, Patrick Dempsey, Cameron Diaz, Colin Farrell, Harrison Ford, Jennifer Garner, Tom Hanks, Anne Hathaway, Katherine Heigl, Jonah Hill, Dwayne Johnson, Nicole Kidman, James McAvoy, Queen Latifah, Seth Rogen, Martin Scorsese, Hilary Swank, John Travolta, Denzel Washington and Renee Zellweger.

They also announced the performers of the nominated songs, three of them from ENCHANTED, and all of them with music by Alan Menken and lyric by Stephen Schwartz. The three songs are: "Happy Working Song," sung by Amy Adams; “That’s How You Know,” sung by Kristin Chenoweth and Marlon Saunders; and “So Close,” to be performed by Jon McLaughlin.

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova will perform their nominated song, “Falling Slowly,” from the motion picture ONCE. From AUGUST RUSH, Jamia Simone Nash will sing "Raise it Up" with the IMPACT Repertory Theatre of Harlem, headed by Jamal Joseph, who shares the song’s music and lyric credit with Charles Mack and Tevin Thomas.

Second-time Oscar show host Jon Stewart is bringing several writers to work on the telecast. Also, scheduled to return to the Oscar telecast team will be writers Hal Kanter, Buz Kohan, Jon Macks and Bruce Vilanch.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2007 will be presented 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.

Writers' Strike May End Monday

The New York Times is reporting this morning that the governing boards of the two writers’ guilds (WGA, West and WGA, East) are expected to meet as early as tomorrow, and the long and bitter strike could be over by Monday morning. They released a written agreement between the WGA and AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) negotiating committees upon which the WGA membership at large will vote. Read the proposed agreement here (pdf.)

After a self-imposed news blackout, the Guild let it be known yesterday (Friday) that the east and west divisions were in talks with AMPTP and, if they agreed, Guild members might be able to vote as early as Sunday (tomorrow), or Monday, to end the strike.

Earlier his month, the Directors Guild of American (DGA) reached a hand-shake agreement with AMPTP. Their members are scheduled to vote on ratifying that agreement 20 February. The question is: Will DGA ratify that agreement, or will they now consider the terms of the WGA - AMPTP agreement and vote to reject? If they do the latter, negotiations must start over.

Next up to negotiate with AMPTP? The Screen Actors Guild (SAG). Their agreement with AMPTP expires in June. SAG has steadfastly supported the WGA, most notably declining to participate in the 80th Academy Awards® broadcast.

That brings us to the next question. If the WGA ends the strike on Monday or so, how will that affect the Oscars®? The way I understand the communications I receive from the Academy, the cut-off date to proceed with the full Oscar telecast as usual, which will include the presence of the host (Jon Stewart), presenters, recipients, etc., or the glam and bling, is this Thursday, Valentine's Day. That's the date the service people (caterers, florists, waiters, etc.), and the craft guilds (carpenters, painters, lighting technicians, camera operators, stage hands, costumers, etc.) have set as the absolute date they must be authorized to deliver what the Academy will require on the 24th. In other words, AMPAS fully commits on the 14th to pay for the ordered services, and the support services will have the needed time to deliver same.

So, the final answer is, "The 80th Academy Awards can only be 'fully greenlighted,' if the strike is officially over by this Thursday (14th)." Otherwise, there will be that "other show," on the 24th, which Gil Cates does not want to produce, and most will not want to watch.

Final 2007 Oscar® Ballots Mailed

Final ballots for the 80th Academy Awards® were mailed today (January 30) to the 5,829 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Listed on the ballots are nominees in 19 of the Award categories.

Separate ballots for five categories will be distributed after verification of mandatory member-attendance at screenings. Those categories are: Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, Foreign Language Film, Animated Short Film and Live Action Short Film.

Nominations were announced 22 January. You can see the list of all nominees on my post of that date here.

Completed ballots must be returned to PricewaterhouseCoopers by 5 p.m. Tuesday, 19 February. Ballots received after the deadline will not be counted. Following the tabulation of the votes, the winners’ names will be placed in sealed envelopes to be opened on Oscar Night®, Sunday, 24 February.

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

ADDENDUM: All the above will come true if the Writers Guild Strike is resolved, or if the Guild grants waivers the Academy has requested. As this is posted, the Academy asserts that, come what may, there will be an awards show. Academy President Sid Ganis told Associated Press (AP) today that Academy personnel are planning two shows, "The show we would love to do and . . . a show that we would prefer not to do." There is no consideration of a postponement, either. The curtain will go up as scheduled. But, on what?

The good Lord willing, and the Creek don't rise, I shall post all the winners Oscar night as soon as the show is over.

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.

AMPAS® Unveils Best Picture Poster

New Poster"80 Years of Best Motion Picture Oscar® Winners"

In celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Academy Awards®, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences® unveiled the latest edition of its Best Picture poster this week. Currently only the 79 known Best Picture winners are shown in the poster. The 80th Best Picture winner will be added on Oscar Sunday, February 24, immediately following the Academy Awards presentation.

The 27 x 40-inch poster is printed on premium quality, Forest Stewardship Certified paper. The poster is available for purchase on the Academy’s Web site, publications, or by calling 1-800-993-4567. Posters will be shipped in March 2008. The official poster for the 80th Academy Awards is shipping now and may be ordered on the same page as the 80 Best Picture poster. See my post Thursday, 17 January about the posters.

Designed by Alex Swart, the poster features a spiraling gold ribbon containing the one-sheets for all the Best Picture winners, forming the shape of the Oscar statuette. Swart, head of SwartAd, a marketing design agency, designed the official posters of the 73rd and 75th Academy Awards as well as previous editions of the Best Picture poster.

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.

80th Oscar® Nominations Announced

The President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences®, Sid Ganis, assisted by the Oscar-winning actress Kathy Bates (MISERY, 1990), announced the nominations for the 80th Academy Awards® early this morning, 22 January. They made the announcement at a press conference in the auditorium of the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre at the Academy's headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, at 5:30 a.m., PT, broadcast live on ABC-TV (list below).

There are, essentially, no surprises to those of us who have watched the 2007 film festivals and the 2008 awards season unfold. There are, however, disappointments, but more about that in future posts.

Academy members selected the nominees in their respective branches, with the exception of the Animated Feature Film and Foreign Language Film categories, in which nominations were selected by vote of multi-branch screening committees. All voting members are eligible to select the Best Picture nominees. Ballots were mailed to the 5,829 voting members in late December and were returned directly to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the international accounting firm, for tabulation.

Official screenings of all pictures with one or more nominations will begin this weekend for members at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Screenings also will be held at the Academy's Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood and in London, New York and the Bay Area.

The Academy's entire active membership is now eligible to select the winners in all categories, although in five of them — Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, and Foreign Language Film — members can vote only after attesting they have seen all of the nominated films in those categories.

. . . . AND THE NOMINEES ARE:

Best motion picture of 2007, feature:
ATONEMENT (Focus Features)
JUNO (Fox Searchlight)
MICHAEL CLAYTON (Warner Bros.)
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
THERE WILL BE BLOOD (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)

Best live action film of 2007, short:
AT NIGHT (Om natten, Denmark, 37 min) Christian E. Christiansen and Louise Vesth
THE SUBSTITUTE (Il Supplente, Italy), Andrea Jublin
THE MOZART OF PICKPOCKETS (Le Mozart des Pickpockets, France 31 min), Philippe Pollet - Villard
TANGOS ARGENTINIAN (Tanghi argentini, Belgium, 14 min),Guido Thys and Anja Daelemans
THE TONTO WOMAN (USA, based on the short story by Elmore Leonard), Daniel Barber and Matthew Brown

Achievement in directing in 2007:
Julian Schnabel, THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
Jason Reitman, JUNO
Tony Gilroy, MICHAEL CLAYTON
Joel and Ethan Coen, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Paul Thomas Anderson,THERE WILL BE BLOOD

Adapted screenplay 2007, based on material previously produced or published:
Christopher Hampton, ATONEMENT
Sarah Polley, AWAY FROM HER (Lionsgate)
Ronald Harwood, THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
Joel and Ethan Coen, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Paul Thomas Anderson, THERE WILL BE BLOOD

Original screenplay 2007:
Diablo Cody, JUNO
Nancy Oliver, LARS AND THE REAL GIRL (MGM)
Tony Gilroy, MICHAEL CLAYTON
Brad Bird, RATAOUILLE (Walt Disney)
Tamara Jenkins, THE SAVAGES (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a leading role in 2007:
George Clooney, MICHAEL CLAYTON
Daniel Day-Lewis,THERE WILL BE BLOOD
Johnny Depp, SWEENEY TODD: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (DreamWorks and Warner Bros. Distributed by DreamWorks / Paramount))
Tommy Lee Jones, IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH (Warner Independent)
Viggo Mortensen, EASTERN PROMISES (Focus Features)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role in 2007:
Casey Affleck, THE ASSASSINAION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORT (Warner Bros.)
Javier Bardem, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Philip Seymour Hoffman, CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR (Universal)
Hal Holbrook INTO THE WILD (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment)
Tom Wilkinson, MICHAEL CLAYTON

Performance by an actress in a leading role in 2007:
Cate Blanchett, ELIZABETH: The Golden Age (Universal)
Julie Christie, AWAY FROM HER
Marion Cotillard, LA VIE EN ROSE (Picturehouse)
Laura Linney, THE SAVAGES
Ellen Page, JUNO

Performance by an actress in a supporting role in 2007:
Cate Blanchett, I'M NOT THERE (The Weinstein Company)
Ruby Dee, AMERICAN GANGSTER (Universal)
Saoirse Ronan, ATONEMENT
Amy Ryan, GONE BABY GONE (Miramax)
Tilda Swinton, MICHAEL CLAYTON

Best animated film of 2007, feature:
PERSEPOLIS (France, USA), directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud (Sony Pictures Classics)
RATATOUILLE, directed by Brad Bird(Walt Disney)
SURF'S UP, directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck (Sony Pictures Releasing)

Best animated film of 2007, short:
I MET THE WALRUS, Josh Raskin
MADAME TUTLI-PUTLI, Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski
EVEN PIGEONS GO TO HEAVEN, (Même Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis), Samuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse
MY LOVE (Moya Lyubov, Russia), Alexander Petrov
PETER & THE WOLFE, Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman

Best foreign language film of 2007, feature:
BEAUFORT, Israel, directed by Joseph Cedar
THE COUNTERFEITERS (Die Fälscher), Austria, directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky
KATYN, Poland, directed by Andrzej Wajda
MONGOL, Kazakhstan, directed by Sergei Bodrov
12, Russia, directed by Nikita Mikhalkov

Best documentary film of 2007, feature:
NO END IN SIGHT, Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs (Magnolia Pictures) (Magnolia Pictures)
OPERATION HOMECOMING: Writing the Wartime Experience, Richard E. Robbins (The Documentary Group)
SICKO, Michael Moore and Meghan O’Hara (Lionsgate / The Weinstein Company)
TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE, Alex Gibney and Eva Orner (THINKFilm)
WAR / DANCE, Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine (THINKFilm)

Best documentary short subject of 2007:
FREEHELD, Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth
LA CORONA (The Crown), Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega
SALIM BABA, Tim Sternberg and Francisco Bello
SARI'S MOTHER, James Longley

Achievement in film editing 2007:
Christopher Rouse, THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
Juliette Welfling, THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
Jay Cassidy, INTO THE WILD
Roderick Jaynes, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Dylan Tichenor, THERE WILL BE BLOOD

Achievement in cinematography 2007:
Roger Deakins, THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
Seamus McGarvey, ATONEMENT
Janusz Kaminski, THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
Roger Deakins, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Robert Elswit, THERE WILL BE BLOOD

Achievement in costume design, 2007:
Albert Wolsky, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
Jacqueline Durran, ATONEMENTA
Alexandra Byrne, ELIZABETH: The Golden Age
Marit Allen, LA VIE EN ROSE
Colleen Atwood, SWEENEY TODD

Achievement in makeup, 2007:
Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald, LA VIE EN ROSE
Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji, NORBIT
Ve Neill and Martin Samuel, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: At World’s End

Achievement in art direction, 2007:
AMRICAN GANGSTER, Art Direction: Arthur Max, Set Decoration: Beth A. Rubino;
ATONEMENT, Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood, Set Decoration: Katie Spencer;
THE GOLDEN COMPASS, Art Direction: Dennis Gassner, Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock;
SWEENEY TODD, Art Direction: Dante Ferretti, Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo;
THERE WILL BE BLOOD, Art Direction: Jack Fisk, Set Decoration: Jim Erickson.

Achievement in sound editing, 2007:
THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM, Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, Skip Lievsay
RATATOUILLE, Randy Thom and Michael Silvers
THERE WILL BE BLOOD, Matthew Wood
TRANSFORMERS, Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins

Achievement in sound mixing, 2007:
THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM, Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter Kurland
RATATOUILLE, Randy Thom, Michael Semanick and Doc Kane
3:10 TO YUMA, Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Jim Stuebe
TRANSFORMERS, Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell and Peter J. Devlin

Achievement in visual effects, 2007:
THE GOLDEN COMPAS, Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: At World’s End, John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and John Frazier
TRANSFORMERS, Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl and John Frazier

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score) 2007:
ATONEMENT, Dario Marianelli
THE KITE RUNNER, Alberto Iglesias
MICHAEL CLAYTON, James Newton Howard
RATATOUILLE, Michael Giacchino
3:10 TO YUMA, Marco Beltrami

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song) 2007:
ONCE, "Falling Slowly,” Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
ENCHANTED, “Happy Working Song,” Music by Alan Menken
Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
AUGUST RUSH, “Raise It Up,” Nominees to be determined
ENCHANTED, “So Close,” Music by Alan Menken and Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
ENCHANTED, “That’s How You Know,” Music by Alan Menken and Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
_______

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.

That's the hope at this point, but all eyes are on the possible settlement of the writer's strike!

LINKS RELEVANT:

There is a permanent link to this list on right sidebar of this blog. Links and other information will be added as made available, or find it here. There is a permanent link to AMPAS on right sidebar, or click title of this post.
Companion site for Oscars 2008
IMDb's ROAD TO THE OSCARS

Official Posters for 80th Academy Awards

The Official Poster of the 80th Annual Academy Awards®

Yesterday, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences® (AMPAS®) unveiled the 80th Academy Awards poster for the Oscars®, 24 February.

This year's official Academy Awards' poster was originally conceived by Drew Struzan. For more than 30 years Struzan created some of cinema’s most memorable advertising posters, including the one-sheets for all six of George Lucas’ “Star Wars” films and, most recently, the key art for Steven Spielberg’s upcoming feature, INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL.

The Academy's 80th Anniversary poster was executed by Struzan's son Christian, who with his creative team at XL Laboratories, Inc., designed and produced the poster for the Academy. The company has created poster art for such films as SWEET HOME ALABAMA, HELLBOY, and SIDEWAYS.

AMPAS President Sid Ganis with the original of the Struzans' poster.

Starting today, more than 50,000 posters will be distributed worldwide. The 27 x 40-inch poster is printed on premium quality, Forest Stewardship Certified paper. It is available for purchase on the Academy’s Web site (link on right sidebar), this link, or by calling 1-800-554-1814.

There will be another official poster for this historic 80th anniversary, "80 Years of Best Picture Winners," shipped in March 2008. The cost is also $25.00, and Pre-publication orders are accepted now on the same page.

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

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2007 will be presented on Sunday, 24 February 2008, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, Hollywood, CA, 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.

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!

Golden Globes® "Press Conference" Tonight

Instead of the 65th star-studded award celebration hosted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA)® that would generate about 60 million dollars for the Los Angeles area economy, including about 8 million for charitable organizations helped annually by HFPS, there will be a one-hour "press conference," hosted by the puffed-up Billy Bush and Nancy O'Dell of the NBC entertainment show Access Hollywood.

That's a slap-in-the face to not only the HFPA but millions of television viewers around the world. Of course, NBC couldn't get any bona fide actor, news anchor, film critic, or studio executive who would bend their mores to host the show.

It will be live on the NBC network, beginning at 6:00 p.m., PT, but there will be no red carpet, no glitz, no glamour, no glitter, no lavish banquet for invited guests following, and hundreds of smaller, slightly lavish private parties around the world, enjoying communal viewing and great booze into the wee hours of the morning.

This has never happened since the first movie-awards dinner was held in Hollywood 80 years ago. A group of movie producers, stars, and studio heads held a small, private dinner. They gave out a statue called "Oscar®" to some of their fellow actors, and others working in the movie industry in order to add status to their profession and, hopefully, some extra dollars. It was not even broadcast on radio, just a cozy little dinner party.

They incorporated as the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)® and I think, with the possible exception of France, it may be the first such Academy. It has been a resounding success benefiting the U.S. movie industry, those who work in it, and hundreds of satellite industries in Southern California.

The gala broadcast generates millions of dollars in three digits for charities, scholarships, artistic education, film restoration and preservation, the Academy's operating expenses, and participating service industries that rely upon it to meet their annual payroll.

The cancellation of the Golden Globes is sad for everyone involved, and will impact the economy of Southern California so much so that it may take years to undo the monetary damage. But, folks, if the Academy Awards do not happen, you "ain't seen nothin' yet!"

Links relevant:

Globes News Release - 11 January 2008 // Article - Los Angeles Times, "Globes TV special now an '"Access" PR stunt'?" // Mimi's Awards Page 2008, link on right sidebar, and awards listed alphabetically by hosting organizations.

Oscar® Nomination Ballots

The 80th Academy Awards® nomination ballots are scheduled to be mailed today, and must be returned by 12 January. The nominations for the 80th Academy Awards will be announced Tuesday, 22 January 2008, at 5:30 a.m. PT, in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills.

Final ballots go out 30 January and are due back by 5:00 p.m., 19 February, less than a week before the Academy Awards ceremony. The 80th Academy Awards gala is 24 February 2008, and will be telecast on ABC TV.

Animated Features Submitted for Oscars®

Only 12 animated features were submitted for possible nomination for the upcoming Oscars. I had hopes that we might get five animated features nominated for the 80th Academy Awards® in February, but the rules state, "A maximum of three films can be nominated in a year in which the field of eligible entries numbers at least 8 but fewer than 16." Oh, well. Maybe next year.

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

The 12 submitted features are:

ALVIN and the CHIPMUNKS **
AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE COLON MOVIE FILM FOR THEATERS #
BEE MOVIE
BEOWULF **
MEET THE ROBINSONS #
PERSEPOLIS **
RATATOUILLER #
SHREK the THIRD +
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE + +
SURF'S UP#
TEKKON KINKREET (a Japanese fable from U.S.-born director Michael Arias) #
TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) #

** Have not yet had their required Los Angeles qualifying run. The submitted features must fulfill the general release requirements and meet all of the category’s other qualifying rules before they can advance in the voting process.
# Available on DVD.
+ DVD releasing 13 November.
+ + DVD releasing December.

The 80th Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Tuesday, 22 January 2008, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding motion picture 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.

Animated Feature Deadline 1 November

The deadline to submit entry forms and supporting materials to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences®, Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, is Thursday, 1 November, in order to qualify in the 2007 Animated Feature Movie category for the 80th Academy Awards®, 24 February 2008. The deadline to submit accompanying film prints is Friday, 16 November. Complete 80th Academy Award rules.

Watch my Awards Page for the Annie Awards given by the International Animated Film Society (ASIFA - Hollywood) this coming February. They almost always honor the winning animated movie just prior to the Academy Awards. However, they missed last year. They picked CARS, as did I, but the dancing penguins took the Oscar®.

Here are two current animated standout features:

France has submitted its official entry, Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud’s PERSEPOLIS (France, 2007), featuring the voice talents of Catherine Deneuve, Chiara Mastroianni, among others. It won a Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, plus some other festival awards. It is a coming-of-age story of a precocious and outspoken young Iranian girl that begins during the Islamic Revolution. Languages spoken are: French, English, Persian, German.

The favorite could be Dreamworks' animated BEE MOVIE (2007, USA) the brainchild of Jerry Seinfeld, one of the producers and writers, and featuring the voice talents of Hollywood hometown favorites: Jerry Seinfeld, Renée Zellweger, Matthew Broderick, John Goodman, Chris Rock, Kathy Bates, Larry King, Ray Liotta, Sting, Oprah Winfrey, Megan Mullally, etc., etc., etc. BEE MOVIE opens 2 November.

Then, there are some more heavyweights such as: BEOWULF, ENCHANTED, RATATOUILLE, and two long shots MEET THE ROBINSONS, and SURF'S UP. It will be interesting to see which of these possibilities make the short list for nomination.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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.