OSCARS® NOMINATIONS VOTING ENDS WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, and published blog comments

Nominations voting for the Oscars will close on Wednesday, January 8, at 5 p.m. PT. The votes are being tabulated and verified by the international accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

The 86th Oscars Nominations Announcement will be Thursday, January 16, 2014, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater, Wilshire Boulevard, 5:30 a.m. PT. 

Academy Awards® for outstanding film achievements of 2013 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® and televised live on the ABC Television Network.  The presentation, produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

Some comments about this blog that have been published, read: Comments





 

OSCARS AND GLOBES - - DIFFERENCES

First of all, allow me to apologize for the trash links Google now inserts in this blog. If you see links in a color other than blue, please know they are trash and do not click them. Thanks!


    Nominations for the 85th Academy Awards® were announced Thursday, January 10, 2013, the Golden Globe nominations on December 13, 2012.

The Golden Globe Awards were presented a month later January 13, 2013. The Oscar® statuettes will be presented Sunday, February 24, 2013. Many think the Globes is a predictor of the Oscars. This is an unproven assumption.

The Golden Globes are sponsored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), or members of foreign press from around the world who converge on Hollywood to vote for winners and participate in the gala television presentations. They tend to reward their personal favorites whom they want to see in person, and want to impress their readers within their home countries.  

However, they do have rules and auditors to make sure all procedures are fair and equal. The members of the HFPA are employed by media, media associations, or media services in countries other than the USA. The Globes honor those who work and perform in Television, and they have two sections to the "Best Of" awards, Comedy or Musical and Drama.

All 70th Golden Globe Nominations and Winners:
http://www.goldenglobes.org/2012/12/nominations-2013/

The Academy Awards, on the other hand, are presented by the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences, made up of members of the various motion picture guilds, e.g., Screen Actors Guild, Writers Guild, Producers Guild and so on. The categories have only to do with Movies, including awarding talents such as makeup, design, sound, etc. Members of the Academy are voting for their peers, and they have a mired of rules, checks and audits, to make sure all procedures are fair and equitable. They only honor motion pictures, and within one "Best of" award which includes comedy, music and drama.

The Academy was founded May 11, 1927, to promote the motion picture industry. However, The Academy depends upon HEPA to promote U.S. movies and the Oscar Ceremony world-wide. HEPA depends upon The Academy to provide their countries with the product about which they write and photograph - - movies.

View the Nominations for the 85th Academy Awards and where you, dear reader, see asterisks ***) you will find a comment relating to the Golden Globes at the bottom of this list of nominees between the decorative separation bars.

Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone announced the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominees for an Oscar at a live news conference attended by more than 400 international media representatives, many of whom who voted for the 70th Golden Globes, 5:38 a.m. PT, January 10.

Nominations for the 85th Academy Awards

 Performance by an actor in a leading role

    Bradley Cooper in "Silver Linings Playbook"
    Daniel Day-Lewis in "Lincoln"***
    Hugh Jackman in "Les Misérables"***>
    Joaquin Phoenix in "The Master"
    Denzel Washington in "Flight"

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

    Alan Arkin in "Argo"
    Robert De Niro in "Silver Linings Playbook"
    Philip Seymour Hoffman in "The Master"
    Tommy Lee Jones in "Lincoln"
    Christoph Waltz in "Django Unchained"***

 
Performance by an actress in a leading role

    Jessica Chastain in "Zero Dark Thirty"*** Drama
    Jennifer Lawrence in "Silver Linings Playbook"***
    Emmanuelle Riva in "Amour"
    Quvenzhané Wallis in "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
    Naomi Watts in "The Impossible"

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

    Amy Adams in "The Master"
    Sally Field in "Lincoln"
    Anne Hathaway in "Les Misérables"***
    Helen Hunt in "The Sessions"
    Jacki Weaver in "Silver Linings Playbook"

Best animated feature film of the year

    "Brave" Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman***
    "Frankenweenie" Tim Burton
    "ParaNorman" Sam Fell and Chris Butler
    "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" Peter Lord
    "Wreck-It Ralph" Rich Moore

Achievement in cinematography

    "Anna Karenina" Seamus McGarvey
    "Django Unchained" Robert Richardson
    "Life of Pi" Claudio Miranda
    "Lincoln" Janusz Kaminski
    "Skyfall" Roger Deakins

Achievement in costume design

    "Anna Karenina" Jacqueline Durran
    "Les Misérables" Paco Delgado
    "Lincoln" Joanna Johnston
    "Mirror Mirror" Eiko Ishioka
    "Snow White and the Huntsman" Colleen Atwood

Achievement in directing

    "Amour" Michael Haneke
    "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Benh Zeitlin
    "Life of Pi" Ang Lee
    "Lincoln" Steven Spielberg
    "Silver Linings Playbook" David O. Russell 
*** went to Ben Affleck for "Argo"

Best documentary feature

    "5 Broken Cameras" - Producers Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi.
    "The Gatekeepers" - Producers Margaret Menegoz, Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka and Michael Katz.
   "How to Survive a Plague" - Producers David France and Howard Gertler.
    "The Invisible War" - Producers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering.
   "Searching for Sugar Man" - Producers Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn.

 Best documentary short subject

    "Inocente"
    Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
    "Kings Point"
    Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
    "Mondays at Racine"
    Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
    "Open Heart"
    Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
    "Redemption"
    Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill

Achievement in film editing

    "Argo" William Goldenberg
    "Life of Pi" Tim Squyres
    "Lincoln" Michael Kahn
    "Silver Linings Playbook" Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
    "Zero Dark Thirty" Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

Best foreign language film of the year

    "Amour" - Austria*** 
    "Kon-Tiki" - Norway
    "No" - Chile
    "A Royal Affair" -  Denmark
    "War Witch" -  Canada

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling

    "Hitchcock"
    Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
    "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
    Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
    "Les Misérables"
    Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

    "Anna Karenina" Dario Marianelli
    "Argo" Alexandre Desplat
    "Life of Pi" Mychael Danna***
    "Lincoln" John Williams
    "Skyfall" Thomas Newman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

    "Before My Time" from "Chasing Ice"
    Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
    "Everybody Needs A Best Friend" from "Ted"
    Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
    "Pi's Lullaby" from "Life of Pi"
    Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri
    "Skyfall" from "Skyfall"***
    Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
    "Suddenly" from "Les Misérables"
    Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert       Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Best feature motion picture of the year

    "Amour" - Producers Margaret Menegoz, Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka and Michael Katz.
    "Argo"

*** - Producers Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney.
    "Beasts of the Southern Wild" - Producers Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and  Michael Gottwald.
    "Django Unchained" - Producers Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone.
    "Les Misérables" - Producers Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh.
   "Life of Pi" -Producers Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark.
    "Lincoln" - Producers Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy.
    "Silver Linings Playbook" - Producers Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon.
    "Zero Dark Thirty" - Producers Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison.

Achievement in production design

    "Anna Karenina"
    Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
    "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
    Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent   and Simon Bright
    "Les Misérables"
    Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-     Robinson
    "Life of Pi"
    Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
    "Lincoln"
    Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Best animated short film

    "Adam and Dog" Minkyu Lee
    "Fresh Guacamole" PES
    "Head over Heels" Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
    "Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare"" David Silverman
    "Paperman" John Kahrs

Best live action short film

    "Asad" Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
    "Buzkashi Boys" Sam French and Ariel Nasr
    "Curfew" Shawn Christensen
    "Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)" Tom Van         Avermaet and  Ellen De Waele
    "Henry" Yan England

Achievement in sound editing

    "Argo" Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
    "Django Unchained" Wylie Stateman
    "Life of Pi" Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
    "Skyfall" Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
    "Zero Dark Thirty" Paul N.J. Ottosson

Achievement in sound mixing

    "Argo"
    John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
    "Les Misérables"
    Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
    "Life of Pi"
    Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
    "Lincoln"
    Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
    "Skyfall"
    Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

Achievement in visual effects

   "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
    Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher   White
    "Life of Pi"
    Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and     Donald R. Elliott
    "Marvel's The Avengers"
    Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
    "Prometheus"
    Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
    "Snow White and the Huntsman"
    Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson.

Adapted screenplay

    "Argo" Screenplay by Chris Terrio
    "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Screenplay by Lucy Alibar and     Benh Zeitlin
    "Life of Pi" Screenplay by David Magee
    "Lincoln" Screenplay by Tony Kushner
    "Silver Linings Playbook" Screenplay by David O. Russell

Original screenplay

    "Amour" Written by Michael Haneke
    "Django Unchained" Written by Quentin Tarantino***
    "Flight" Written by John Gatins
    "Moonrise Kingdom" Written by Wes Anderson & Roman      Coppola
    "Zero Dark Thirty" Written by Mark Boal

***

WON A GOLDEN GLOBE
Not necessarily in same category as nominated for Oscar.

Academy members from each of the branches vote to determine the nominees in their respective categories – actors nominate actors, film editors nominate film editors, etc. In the Animated Feature Film and Foreign Language Film categories, nominees are selected by vote of multi-branch screening committees. All voting members are eligible to select the Best Picture nominees.

85th OSCAR NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED THURSDAY

Nominations for the 85th Academy Awards® will be announced by the show's host Seth MacFarlane, and actress Emma Stone, Thursday, January 10, 2013. MacFarlane and Stone will unveil the nominations at a 5:30 a.m. (PT) at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, where hundreds of media representatives from around the world will be gathered.

85th Academy Awards Oscar host Seth MacFarlane

 This will be the first time since 1972 an Oscar show host has participated in the nominations announcement. Before MacFarlane, the late Charlton Heston was the only host to actively engage in making the nominations announcement.

Since the first nominations announcement in 1964, the Academy president has been joined by one or more co-announcers at the event. This year the Academy will break with tradition when MacFarlane, who was named Oscar show host in October, joins Stone on Oscar nominations morning. 

Emma Stone starred in the 2011 Best Picture nominee "The Help" and the summer release "The Amazing Spider-Man." Her other film credits include "Superbad," "Zombieland," "Easy A" and "Crazy, Stupid, Love." Stone will be seen in "Gangster Squad" later this month and in "The Croods," due out in March.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood and Highland Center®, and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

ACADEMY EXTENDS OSCAR® NOMINATIONS VOTING

  HOURS AND DATES CHANGED

 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has extended the deadline for members to vote for Oscar nominations by one day to Friday, January 4, 2013, 5:00 p.m. PT.  Members may vote online or submit a paper ballot.  Any votes received after the deadline will not be counted.

 “By extending the voting deadline we are providing every opportunity available to make the transition to online balloting as smooth as possible,” said Ric Robertson, Academy COO.  “We’re grateful to our global membership for joining us in this process.”

  In order to accommodate the extension and maintain security, the online voting system will be closed for two hours only (5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. PT) on Thursday, January 3. The system will re-open at 7 p.m. PT, on January 3 and remain available to members until 5:00 p.m. PT January 4.

 This is the first year the Academy is providing its membership the opportunity to vote online. Several voting resources are available to members, including assisted voting stations in Los Angeles, New York and London, and a 24-hour support call center. 

 The nominations and final Awards ballots will be tabulated and verified by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to ensure that all aspects of the balloting process are accurate and secure. In the majority of the categories, PwC will tabulate the ballots using the preferential voting system.

 The 85th Academy Awards® nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 10, 2013, at 5:30 a.m. PT, in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

 Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood  & Highland Center®, and televised live on the ABC Television Network. Seth McFarlane will host. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide. 

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Fifteen Features Queue for a Visual Effects (VFX) Oscar

Yesterday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 15 films have been selected for consideration for Achievement in Visual Effects (VFX, and formerly known as special effects) for the 84th Academy Awards.

The films are listed below in alphabetical order:

    Captain America: The First Avenger
    Cowboys & Aliens
    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
    Hugo
    Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
    Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
    Real Steel
    Rise of the Planet of the Apes
    Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
    Sucker Punch
    Super 8
    Thor
    Transformers: Dark of the Moon
    The Tree of Life
    X-Men: First Class

In early January, the members of the Academy's Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee, who selected the 15 films, will narrow the list to 10.

All members of the Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the 10 shortlisted films on Thursday, January 19.  Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar consideration.

The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at 5:30 a.m., PT, in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater, and broadcast on ABC TV.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood and Highland Center, and televised live by the ABC Television Network.  The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

I note that the press releases used to say "more than 200 countries," now their are more than 225? Is that splitting hairs, or what?

Soaps AMC and OLTL Will Return but at a Different Address

Agnes Nixon and Susan Lucci

Daytime TV's All My Children closed its doors at ABC-TV yesterday, and One Life to Live will exit the network January 20, 2012. However,  AMC's exit was more like a end-of-season hiatus cliff hanger. Pictured above with Susan Lucci is the creator of AMC, Agnes Nixon.

I thought, how odd. Then, I reasoned there is something going on here more than saying a fond farewell. Could AMC be coming back at another media outlet? It is, indeed! Good news for fans like me!

ABC signed a contract with Prospect Park Productions in Century City, CA, giving them the right to take over the production of the canceled daytime dramas All My Children (AMC), and One Life to Live (OLTL). The episodes will be streaming live on your computer soon. That's correct. They are moving to the Internet.

Brian Kerwin (Charlie) and Erika Slezak (Victoria)

OLTL's executive producer Frank Valentini will continue to executive produce OLTL when it moves online. In addition, Valentini has been named VP Serial Dramas for Prospect Park’s new online network.

 
So, I did a little research. Prospect Park is a production company located in Century City, CA, helmed by partners Jeff Kwatinetz and Rich Frank. Valentini will work closely with them and their executive team on programming strategies, including the upcoming relaunch of AMC, which will be followed in 2012 by the relaunch of OLTL sometime after it leaves ABC in January.

 
Not only did Prospect Park snag Valentini but, so far they have signed OLTL's primo star Ericka Slezak (Victoria Banks), Kassie dePaiva (Blair Cramer) and Michael Easton (John McBain). Also, from AMC they have commitments from Cameron Mathison (Ryan Lavery) and Lindsay Hartley (Dr. Cara Castillo Martin).

 
By the way, Ericka Slezak's father was the late famous and talented actor, Austrian Walter Slezak (May 1902 - April 1983). His first movie role was in the 1922 Austrian film Sodom And Gomorrah, by his friend and the film's director, Michael Curtiz. Both he and Curtiz left Germany and headed to Hollywood before Hitler's Brown Shirts burned the German Parliament Building in 1933.

 
Slezak also appeared on Broadway, his father Leo was a famous opera tenor in Europe, and Walter won a Tony for his role in Broadway's Fanny in 1954. He was lauded for his role as the German Captain in Alfred Hitchocks' 1944 movie, Life Boat. His last appearance on the stage was in 1970s when he played the non-singing role of Frosch, the jailer, in the San Francisco Opera production of Johann Strauss' operetta Die Fledermaus, a fitting tribute to his late Father. Erika's mother was Dutch. Read about Walter Slezak.

Prospect Park Productions is in negotiations with Susan Lucci (Erica Kane) and others in the AMC and OLTL casts, but no word yet from La Lucci, AMC's premo star, or David Canary (Adam / Stuart).

Yes, in case you don't know, AMC's Dr. David Hayward (actor Vincent Irizarry) resurrected Dixie, Stuart, Zack and a few other dead characters making the good(?) doctor a hero in Pine Valley.

There is no word as to the exact relaunch dates, where the new Internet TV network can be found on the Web, and whether it will be for free or fee.

Meanwhile, if this has not yet happened to your favorite daytime drama airing on TV, one thing you can do to help prevent it is to NOT watch The Chew on ABC, airing in AMC's time slot starting today.

Oscar® Performers and TV Show Revamp

James Franco

Anne Hathaway

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the nominated songs will be performed again this year. Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer, the producers of the 83rd Academy Awards® have announced some of the things to expect during Sunday's broadcast.

For instance, did anyone notice they were not performed last year? I did, and I did not like the omission.

Randy Newman will perform his "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3. Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi, who sang the duet "I See the Light" on the Tangled soundtrack, will re-team with composer Alan Menken. Gwyneth Paltrow will sing "Coming Home," which she sang in Country Strong. The English singer known as Dido, who was nominated with Rollo Armstrong and A.R. Rahman for the song, "If I Rise" from 127 Hours, is not available. Florence Welch from Florence + the Machine will perform with Rahman.

Co-hosts Anne Hathaway, 28, and James Franco, 32,  will make double history at the broadcast. Not only are they two of the youngest hosts at the Oscars, there has never been a male/female duo carry the hosting duties together for the entire broadcast.

There will be no more presenter testimonials to the actors and actresses, and no more movie montages. Good riddance to both.

They are getting a bit cutie. For instance, some of the mothers and Franco's grandmother will tweet on their Twitter accounts during the show. Also, the producers have chosen an elementary school chorus, mostly 10-year-old students from P.S. 22 on Staten Island, N.Y., to sing "Over the Rainbow." Why? I have no earthly idea. We shall see.

The stage set will not be set. It will be projected, capable of constantly changing. This is very new. It should be interesting, but will it prove distracting?

Also, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ President Tom Sherak and Anne Sweeney, President of the Disney/ABC Television Group, announced yesterday that the ABC Television Network’s contract to carry the annual Academy Awards presentations has been extended for six more years, through 2020.

The 83rd Academy Awards, which will air live on Sunday, February 27, will be the 36th consecutive ceremony to air on ABC. Check local listings.

Final Oscar® Ballot Return Deadline Looms

Completed final ballots for the 83rd Academy Awards^® must be returned to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) by 5 p.m., Tuesday, February 22. Ballots received after the deadline will not be counted.

Listed on the ballots are nominees in 19 Awards categories. Separate ballots for five categories (Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, Foreign Language Film, Animated Short Film and Live Action Short Film) are also due.

Following the tabulation of the votes at PwC, the winners’ names will be placed in sealed envelopes to be opened at the awards gala, Sunday, February 28, 2011.

The Academy's new interactive Web site is now fully open, and those who subscribe to special Oscar access will be able to view the gala on their PC, and do more with their smart phones. This is not limited to Academy members only. It is available to everyone who subscribes. Click the title of this post to access the site and learn more.

The gala will be televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

65 Countries Vie for Best Foreign Film Oscar®

Sixty-five countries, including first-time entrants Ethiopia and Greenland, have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category (BFLF) for the 83rd Academy Awards® to be presented Sunday, February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®. These films will now begin a process of being selected for a nomination in the category.

The 2010 submissions are:

• Albania, “East, West, East,” Gjergj Xhuvani, director;
• Algeria, “Hors la Loi” (“Outside the Law”), Rachid Bouchareb, director;
• Argentina, “Carancho,” Pablo Trapero, director;
• Austria, “La Pivellina,” Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel, directors;
• Azerbaijan, “The Precinct,” Ilgar Safat, director;
• Bangladesh, “Third Person Singular Number,” Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, director;
• Belgium, “Illegal,” Olivier Masset-Depasse, director;
• Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Circus Columbia,” Danis Tanovic, director;
• Brazil, “Lula, the Son of Brazil,” Fabio Barreto, director;
• Bulgaria, “Eastern Plays,” Kamen Kalev, director;
• Canada, “Incendies,” Denis Villeneuve, director;
• Chile, “The Life of Fish,” Matias Bize, director;
• China, “Aftershock,” Feng Xiaogang, director;
• Colombia, “Crab Trap,” Oscar Ruiz Navia, director;
• Costa Rica, “Of Love and Other Demons,” Hilda Hidalgo, director;
• Croatia, “The Blacks,” Goran Devic and Zvonimir Juric, directors;
• Czech Republic, “Kawasaki’s Rose,” Jan Hrebejk, director;
• Denmark, “In a Better World,” Susanne Bier, director;
• Egypt, “Messages from the Sea,” Daoud Abdel Sayed, director;
• Estonia, “The Temptation of St. Tony,” Veiko Ounpuu, director;
• Ethiopia, “The Athlete,” Davey Frankel and Rasselas Lakew, directors;
• Finland, “Steam of Life,” Joonas Berghall and Mika Hotakainen, directors;
• France, “Of Gods and Men,” Xavier Beauvois, director;
• Georgia, “Street Days,” Levan Koguashvili, director;
• Germany, “When We Leave,” Feo Aladag, director;
• Greece, “Dogtooth,” Yorgos Lanthimos, director;
• Greenland, “Nuummioq,” Otto Rosing and Torben Bech, directors;
• Hong Kong, “Echoes of the Rainbow,” Alex Law, director;
• Hungary, “Bibliotheque Pascal,” Szabolcs Hajdu, director;
• Iceland, “Mamma Gogo,” Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, director;
• India, “Peepli [Live],” Anusha Rizvi, director;
• Indonesia, “How Funny (Our Country Is),” Deddy Mizwar, director;
• Iran, “Farewell Baghdad,” Mehdi Naderi, director;
• Iraq, “Son of Babylon,” Mohamed Al-Daradji, director;
• Israel, “The Human Resources Manager,” Eran Riklis, director;
• Italy, “La Prima Cosa Bella” (“The First Beautiful Thing”), Paolo Virzi, director;
• Japan, “Confessions,” Tetsuya Nakashima, director;
• Kazakhstan, “Strayed,” Akan Satayev, director;
• Korea, “A Barefoot Dream,” Tae-kyun Kim, director;
• Kyrgyzstan, “The Light Thief,” Aktan Arym Kubat, director;
• Latvia, “Hong Kong Confidential,” Maris Martinsons, director;
• Macedonia, “Mothers,” Milcho Manchevski, director;
• Mexico, “Biutiful,” Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, director;
• Netherlands, “Tirza,” Rudolf van den Berg, director;
• Nicaragua, “La Yuma,” Florence Jaugey, director;
• Norway, “The Angel,” Margreth Olin, director;
• Peru, “Undertow” (“Contracorriente”), Javier Fuentes-Leon, director;
• Philippines, “Noy,” Dondon S. Santos and Rodel Nacianceno, directors;
• Poland, “All That I Love,” Jacek Borcuch, director;
• Portugal, “To Die Like a Man,” Joao Pedro Rodrigues, director;
• Puerto Rico, “Miente” (“Lie”), Rafael Mercado, director;
• Romania, “If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle,” Florin Serban, director;
• Russia, “The Edge,” Alexey Uchitel, director;
• Serbia, “Besa,” Srdjan Karanovic, director;
• Slovakia, “Hranica” (“The Border”), Jaroslav Vojtek, director;
• Slovenia, “9:06,” Igor Sterk, director;
• South Africa, “Life, above All,” Oliver Schmitz, director;
• Spain, “Tambien la Lluvia” (“Even the Rain”), Iciar Bollain, director;
• Sweden, “Simple Simon,” Andreas Ohman, director;
• Switzerland, “La Petite Chambre,” Stephanie Chuat and Veronique Reymond, directors;
• Taiwan, “Monga,” Chen-zer Niu, director;
• Thailand, “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives,” Apichatpong Weerasethakul, director;
• Turkey, “Bal” (“Honey”), Semih Kaplanoglu, director;
• Uruguay, “La Vida Util,” Federico Veiroj, director;
• Venezuela, “Hermano,” Marcel Rasquin, director.

The 83rd Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 25, 2011, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2010 will be televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Dates for Next Academy Awards® Announced

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences® has already released key dates scheduled for the 83rd Academy Awards® to be presented Sunday, February 27, 2011. The ceremony will again take place at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, California, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.

Key dates currently scheduled are:

* Saturday, November 13, 2010: Governors Awards presentation.
* Wednesday, December 1, 2010: Official Screen Credits forms due.
* Monday, December 27, 2010: Nominations ballots mailed.
* Official Screen Credits forms due.
* Monday, December 27, 2010: Nominations ballots mailed.
* Friday, January 14, 2011: Nominations polls close 5 p.m. PT.
* Tuesday, January 25, 2011: Nominations announced 5:30 a.m. PT, Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
* Wednesday, February 2, 2011: Final ballots mailed.
* Monday, February 7, 2011: Nominees Luncheon.
* Saturday, February 12, 2011: Scientific and Technical Awards presentation.
* Tuesday, February 22, 2011: Final polls close 5 p.m. PT.
* Sunday, February 27, 2011: 83rd Annual Academy Awards presentation.

Some dates to be announced later:

Deadline for Documentary short subjects and Feature Documentaries submissions.
Deadline for entry forms with documentation and prints or digital copies, for Best Foreign Language Film, live action and animated feature shorts.
Deadline to qualify for the Best Animated Feature Category.
Deadline for prints in the Best Animated Feature category to arrive at the Academy.

The schedule for the 83rd Academy Awards is posted on the right sidebar. It will be added to as dates are announced, and will remain until after February 2011.

Final Oscar® Ballots Mailed to Academy Members

Final ballots for the 82nd Academy Awards® were mailed today, 10 February, to the 5,777 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Completed ballots must be returned to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) by 5 p.m. PT, Tuesday, 2 March. Ballots received after the deadline will not be counted.

Listed on the ballots are nominees in 19 Awards categories. Separate ballots for 5 categories (Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, Foreign Language Film, Animated Short Film and Live Action Short Film) will be distributed after verification of mandatory member attendance at screenings. Following the tabulation of the votes, the winners’ names will be placed in sealed envelopes to be opened on Oscar Night®.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented Sunday, 7 March 2010, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.



ABOUT THE ACADEMY

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is the world’s preeminent movie-related organization, with a membership of more than 6,000 of the most accomplished men and women working in cinema. In addition to the annual Academy Awards – in which the members vote to select the nominees and winners – the Academy presents a diverse year-round slate of public programs, exhibitions and events; provides financial support to a wide range of other movie-related organizations and endeavors; acts as a neutral advocate in the advancement of motion picture technology; and, through its Margaret Herrick Library and Academy Film Archive, collects, preserves, restores and provides access to movies and items related to their history. Through these and other activities the Academy serves students, historians, the entertainment industry and people everywhere who love movies.

Click the title of this post for link to "All Things Oscar" Website.

FOLLOW THE ACADEMY

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Oscar® Nomination Process

Back from a lovely break for the holidays. I hope you had a joyous one. I love Christmas and New Years. The first is more religiously and family oriented, and the second is party time! Both include great food. But, back to business.

By now, each of the 5,777 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have their nomination ballot for the 82nd Academy Awards®. Completed ballots must be returned to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) by 5 p.m. on Saturday, 23 January 2010. Ballots received after the deadline will not be counted. Believe me, that last statement is true.

The PWC accounting firm makes sure that all aspects of the balloting processes, nomination and final, are conducted with fairness and accuracy. Prior to mailing, the staff administers a thorough verification process to ensure that there are no duplicate ballots and that none are missing.

In addition to being counted and sorted, the ballots are numbered to guarantee that each one is addressed to the appropriate Academy voter. Once ballots are returned, they will be meticulously guarded and tabulated by the staff at PwC, all of whom being sworn to secrecy.

Nominations will be announced on Tuesday, 2 February 2010, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Shortly after, screenings of all the nominated films will be held for Academy members, both in Hollywood and New York City.

I am able to write those last two paragraphs with complete confidence as I was once a part of the process at PwC. I was not on the accounting staff, but I was the Administrative Assistant to the partner in the firm in charge of the process at the time, Mr. Frank Johnson. Believe me, if the U.S. Presidential Election of 2000 had been run by PwC, we would not have had that outlandish debacle.

The 82nd Academy Awards Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented on Sunday, 7 March 2010, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood and Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

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.

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.

Globes Gala a No Go

The Golden Globes® Gala has been canceled. At the moment, it is reported that NBC plans a news-type show sans celebrities on Sunday the 13th where winners will be announced but there will be no celebrity recipients present. It is still unknown whether the pickets will be at the Beverly Hilton, if the site remains the same, or if the Guild will pull them for this event.

NBC will produce the "news conference" through their news department. That way, they can use their archived video and sound clips and not pay license fees, plus circumvent other issues of the striking writers. The exact format has not been announced. The original producers, Dick Clark Productions will, according to the Los Angeles Times, covertly coordinate with NBC.

The Globes banquet will not happen, and private parties all over the Westside of Los Angeles are being canceled. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association issued a statement that they were disappointed, ". . . that millions of viewers worldwide will be deprived of seeing many of their favorite stars celebrating 2007's outstanding achievements in motion pictures and television."

Meanwhile, it is reported that the organizers of the 80th Academy Awards® are still optimistic that they can produce a show as good as any of the preceding Oscars®" for Sunday, 24 February. Both the Globe and the Oscar shows bring in millions for the organizations and the networks, NBC and ABC.