85TH OSCAR RATINGS AND WINNERS

BEST PICTURE 2013

The 2013 Oscar broadcast hosted by Seth MacFarlane scored 40.3 million viewers, up from 2012's 39.3 million, hosted by Billy Chrystal. Before this year the broadcast has not exceeded 40 million viewers since Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin hosted in 2010.

Seth MacFarlane

FULL WINNER LIST
  1. Best Picture: "Argo."
  2. Actor in Leading Role: Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln."
  3. Actress in Leading Role: Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook."
  4. Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained."
  5. Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, "Les Miserables."
  6. Directing: Ang Lee, "Life of Pi."
  7. Foreign Language Film: "Amour." Austria.
  8. Adapted Screenplay: Chris Terrio, "Argo."
  9. Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, "Django Unchained."
10. Animated Feature Film: "Brave."
11. Production Design: "Lincoln."
12. Cinematography: "Life of Pi."
13. Sound Mixing: "Les Miserables."
14. Sound Editing (tie): "Skyfall," ''Zero Dark Thirty."
15. Original Score: "Life of Pi," Mychael Danna.
16. Original Song: "Skyfall" from "Skyfall," Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth.
17. Costume: "Anna Karenina."
18. Documentary Feature: "Searching for Sugar Man."
19. Documentary Short Subject): "Inocente."
20. Film Editing: "Argo."
21. Makeup and Hairstyling: "Les Miserables."
22. Animated Short: "Paperman."
23. Live Action Short: "Curfew."
24. Visual Effects: "Life of Pi."

The Oscars for outstanding film achievements of 2012 were presented on Oscar® Sunday, February 24, at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and were hosted by Seth MacFarlane. The Oscar presentation was televised live on the ABC Television Network and in more than 225 countries worldwide.

More detailed information: http://tinyurl.com/alxjy26

British Academy Film Awards Go For ARGO

Anne Hathaway, "Les Miserables"

BAFTA Award Winners, Sunday, February 10, 2013

Best Feature Film—"Argo"

Best British Film — "Skyfall"
Director — Ben Affleck, "Argo"
Actor — Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln."
Actress — Emmanuelle Riva, "Amour"
Supporting Actor — Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained"
Supporting Actress — Anne Hathaway, "Les Miserables"
Rising Star — Juno Temple
British Debut — Bart Layton and Dimitri Doganis, "The Imposter"
Original Screenplay — Quentin Tarantino — Django Unchained
Adapted Screenplay — David O. Russell, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Film Not in the English Language — "Amour" (France)
Music — Thomas Newman, "Skyfall"
Cinematography — "Life of Pi"
Editing — "Argo"
Production Design — Eve Stewart, Anna Lynch-Robinson, "Les Miserables"
Costume Design — "Anna Karenina"
Sound — "Les Miserables"
Makeup and Hair — "Les Miserables"
Animated Feature — "Brave"Short Film — "Swimmer"
Short Animation — "The Making of Longbird"
Documentary — "Searching for Sugar Man"
Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema — Tessa Ross
Academy Fellowship — Alan Parker

BAFTA Official Site

 Courtesy Yahoo Entertainment

SHORT LIST FOR BEST FOREIGN FILM OSCAR®

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.

Nine films will advance to the next round of voting in the Best Foreign Language Film category for the 85th Academy Awards®. Seventy-one films originally qualified.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

     Austria, "Amour," Michael Haneke, director;
     Canada, "War Witch," Kim Nguyen, director;
     Chile, "No," Pablo Larraín, director*;
     Denmark, "A Royal Affair," Nikolaj Arcel, director;
     France, "The Intouchables," Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, directors;
     Iceland, "The Deep," Baltasar Kormákur, director;
     Norway, "Kon-Tiki," Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, directors;
     Romania, "Beyond the Hills," Cristian Mungiu **, director;
     Switzerland, "Sister," Ursula Meier, director.

Mimi's Notes:
* "No" stars Gael Garcia Bernal.
** Mungiu's 2007 film, "4 Months,3 Weeks and 2 Days" (4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile)won at Cannes and received many, many additional awards but did not receive a nomination in this category from members of AMPAS®. Speculation abounded that it was because the movie dealt with abortion.  goo.gl/V79XM
 
Foreign Language Film nominations for 2012 are again being determined in two phases.

The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based members, screened the 71 eligible films between mid-October and December 17. The group's top six choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy's Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee, constitute the shortlist.

Phase II, the shortlist will be winnowed down to the five nominees by specially invited committees in New York and Los Angeles. They will spend Friday, January 4, through Sunday, January 6, viewing three films each day and then casting their ballots.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievement of 2012 will be presented on 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.

CANNES - A WRAP

Austrian director Michael Haneke's AMOUR (Love), in French, was awarded the top prize, the Golden Palm (Palme d'Or), for Best Motion Picture Feature at the 65th Cannes International Film Festival, Sunday. He received a Palme d'Or in 2009 for THE WHITE RIBBON in German and Italian. He is only the seventh director to take the top prize twice.

Riva in AMOUR

AMOUR was filmed entirely in Paris, and stars beloved French actors Jean-Louis Trintignant, 81, and Emmanuelle Riva, 85, as an elderly couple still very much in love, and Isabelle Huppert. It is 180 degrees from most of Haneke's movies, as he stated, ". . . a film’s style should match its subject matter, not its director, and 'this film is about love.'"

Saturday, we posted on our "Mimi at the Movies" Facebook page: "We choose Michael Haneke's AMOUR (Love), to capture the Palme d'Or at Cannes tomorrow."  So far, we are two for two this year, the Best Motion Picture Oscar (The Artist) and the Cannes winner!

CHILDREN OF SARAJEVO

THE CANNES UN CERTAIN REGARD 2012 section presented 20 films directed by 26 directors hailing from 17 different countries. Four of the works were first films.

Presided over by Tim ROTH (actor, director), the Jury was comprised of Leïla BEKHTI (actress), Sylvie PRAS (head of cinema - Centre Pompidou Paris, artistic director - La Rochelle Festival), Tonie MARSHALL (director, producer) and Luciano MONTEAGUDO (critic - Pagina/12 - Buenos Aires). According to Roth, “This was an extraordinarily strong group of films and our deliberations were passionate. The film makers never once failed us! Incredible!”

TOP PRIZE OF UN CERTAIN REGARD
AFTER LUCIA (original title, DESPUÉS DE LUCIA0) by Michel FRANCO, a Mexican/French co-production in Spanish. It is about teenage bullying in Mexico.

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
LE GRAND SOIR (The Great Evening) by Benoît DELÉPINE and Gustave KERVERN. A French production in French.

SPECIAL DISTINCTION OF THE JURY
CHILDREN OF SARAJEVO (original title, DJECA) written and directed by  Bosnian--Herzegovinian filmmaker Aida BEGIC, telling the story of two orphaned siblings struggling to survive during the Bosnian War. Congratulations to Aida, Kevin Spacey and all the gang at the upcoming Sarajevo Film Festival! I will be following.

Writer/Director/Producer Aida Begic

 

AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS (Shared)
Suzanne CLÉMENT for her performance in LAURENCE ANYWAYS directed by Xavier DOLAN, and Emilie DEQUENNE for her performance in À PERDRE LA RAISON (Reason to Lose) directed by Joachim LAFOSSE.

AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR
Mads MIKKELSEN in JAGTEN (The Hunt) directed by Thomas VINTERBERG.

GRAND PRIX
REALITY directed by Matteo GARRONE.

BEST DIRECTOR
Carlos REYGADAS for POST TENEBRAS LUX (title means “light after the darkness”).

BEST SCREENPLAY
Cristian MUNGIU for DUPÃ DEALURI (Beyond The Hills).

JURY PRIZE: THE ANGELS' SHARE directed by Ken LOACH.

Caméra d'Or for Best First Film -  BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD directed by Benh ZEITLIN.

SHORT FILMS
Palme d'Or - SESSIZ-BE DENG (Silent) directed by L. Rezan YESILBAS.

OTHER AWARDS:  NO, starring Gael García Bernal, a Chilean production in Spanish, took Top Prize at the Directors' Fortnight; FIPRESCI Prizes (Critics Awards) went to BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (USA) filmed in New Orleans, and IN THE FOG, a Latvian production in Russian.

It must be noted that, despite a stronger showing of American movies at Cannes this year, U.S. films were shut out when it came to the awards, except for BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, which won two awards.

SOME FEATURE MOTION PICTURES THAT RECEIVED FAVORABLE ATTENTION AT THE FESTIVAL:

1. Leos Carax's HOLY MOTORS, labeled bizarre by some. Carax is French. From IMDb Trivia: His professional name, Leos Carax, is an anagram of his first and middle names, "Alex Oscar."

2. A big standing ovation and favorable buzz at Cannes following David Cronberg's COSMOPOLIS premiere with Robert Pattinson and Cronenberg in attendance. At this festival, Pattenson was praised for his acting. The movie features French actress Juliette Binoche, who rose to movie stardom after appearing in Philip Kaufman's  critically acclaimed, THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS  OF BEING.

3. Kaufman's latest, HEMINGWAY AND GELLHORN, received some words of warmth at the festival as well. It is an HBO movie, starring Nicole Kidman and Clive Owen. The drama is centered on the romance between Ernest Hemingway and WWII correspondent Martha Gellhorn, Hemingway's inspiration for, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and the only woman who ever asked for a divorce from the writer. This one is definitely on my "must see" list.

Kidman and Owen as Gellhorn and Hemingway

LINKS:

  Cannes Festival Home in English

  Movie reviews plus video