Do Film Festivals Matter Where Oscars Are Concerned?

When it comes to film festivals, the question on the street this year is, "Do film festivals really matter where the Oscars are concerned?" My answer is that some do, some don't, and some count more than others.

However, keep in mind that these are no longer "film" festivals. Oh, yes, film festivals is a great alliteration that trips off the tongue, but the title "film festivals" denoting a showcase for new motion pictures must go. Why? Because film is the material and process once used to make motion pictures and, except for a few third world countries, film is no longer used to make motion pictures, moving pictures, movies, cinema, cine, etc. Digital is the new medium of choice, and 3D is rising in popularity as digital techniques for it improve.

For instance, I attended and taught in the Film School at the University of Southern California (History and Criticism), but that school no longer exists. Don't panic, it is now known as the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and my field is now known as Cinematic Critical Studies. The School of Cinematic Arts at USC, now has it's own building, the George Lucas Building, SCA 108, which also contains the The Ray Stark Family Theatre, all at 900 W. 34th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007.

So, the times have changed, and are constantly changing. Therefore, are film festivals still relevant in the Race for the Oscars in spite of the gigantic procreation of them in every town and hamlet, and their rapidly deteriorating event name?

That depends on the festival. Here are the top five that should be followed by everyone from the occasional movie goer to those studying, teaching, or writing about Cinematic Critical Studies:

1. Berlin International Film Festival, a.k.a., Berlinale, is the first festival out of the gate in Europe, held in February. In 2011, it had one big winner in its lineup, the foreign language film Oscar winner, A Separation (Iran), directed by Asghar Farhadi, won the festival's Golden Bear. At the 84th Academy Awards on February 26, three huge Oscars were awarded to Berlinale films and guests.

 A Separation's Oscar win, plus actress Meryl Streep's, Honorary Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement at the Berlinale 2012, and her Oscar win for best performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for The Iron Lady, directed by Phyllida Loyd, gave the Berlinale big bragging rights.

It was Streep’s 17th nomination and third Oscar. In addition, the Oscar for makeup went to her long-time make up artists, Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland for their work in The Iron Lady, which was presented in the Berlinale Special 2012.

In all, eight films that participated in the Berlinale 2011 and 2012 were nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in eleven different categories. More on the Berlinale below.

2. The Cannes Film Festival's 2011 lineup had six wins, 19 nominations. It screened the big Oscar winner, The Artist, as well as: The Tree of life, Midnight in Paris, Drive and the Israeli documentary, Footnote.

3. New York Film Festival: Five wins, 13 nominations. A year after nabbing the world premiere of the phenomenal, The Social Network, it chose to premiere a motion picture that was not yet completed at the time of the festival, so it featured a work-in-progress special screening at the festival for the second biggest winner of 2011, Hugo directed by indomitable Martin Scorsese, as well as the movie that probably had the most photographs published last year, My Week With Marilyn.

People wouldn't have guessed it then, but Hugo would end up getting five Oscars from 11 nominations. My Week With Marilyn received two nominations.

I give the New York festival extra points because it had the guts to open with Roman Polanski's Carnage, plus the gala screenings featured David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method, and Pedro Almodóvar's newest, The Skin I Live In. As for that last one, the Spanish Film Academy should have, but did not submit it for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Talk about a snub. That was bigger than any of the so-called 2011 "Oscar snubs."

4. Telluride Film Festival: One win, 10 nominations. Telluride had The King's Speech and 127 Hours the year before, but only one debut at Telluride that had any real Oscar traction in 2011. That was Alexander Payne's The Descendants. It received five nominations but only a single win at the 2012 Oscars, for best adapted screenplay.

5. Toronto International Film Festival: One win, nine nominations. The Toronto Peoples Choice Award had been spot-on picking the best picture at the Oscars with The King's Speech, Precious and Slumdog Millionaire, but the crystal ball went dark in 2011 when they chose Nadine Labaki's Lebansese movie, Where Do We Go Now? It went on to win nothing. However, Moneyball, Beginners, Anonymous, and Paradise Lost 3 went on to be nominated, along with Brad Pitt and Christopher Plummer for their acting chops. Plummer won best supporting actor but Pitt won nothing.

Runner Up: SXSW Film Festival: One win, three nominations. This festival is not known for scoring Oscar nominations or winners but this year it got lucky with two winners, Bridesmaids and the documentary feature winner, Undefeated. So, a salute to one of my favorite U.S. festivals.

BERLIN: 62nd Berlinale 2012,  February 9 - 19.

PRIZES OF THE INTERNATIONAL JURY:

GOLDEN BEAR FOR THE BEST FILM - Caesar Must Die (Cesare deve morire) by Paolo & Vittorio Taviani;

Will this one be big in 2012?

Caesar Must Die

 JURY GRAND PRIX-SILVER BEAR - Just The Wind (Csak a szél) by Bence Fliegauf;

SILVER BEAR FOR BEST DIRECTOR - Christian Petzold for Barbara;

SILVER BEAR FOR BEST ACTRESS - Rachel Mwanza in War Witch (Rebelle) by Kim Nguyen;

SILVER BEAR FOR BEST ACTOR - Mikkel Boe Følsgaard in A Royal Afair (En Kongelig Affære) by Nikolaj Arcel;

SILVER BEAR FOR AN OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION -

Lutz Reitemeier for the photography in White Deer Plain (Bai lu yuan)  by Wang Quan'an;

SILVER BEAR FOR THE BEST SCRIPT - Nikolaj Arcel, Rasmus Heisterberg for A Royal Affair (En Kongelig Affære) by Nikolaj Arcel;

ALFRED BAUER PRIZE, awarded in memory of the Festival founder, for a work of particular innovation - Tabu by Miguel Gomes;

SPECIAL AWARD-SILVER BEAR - Sister (L'enfant d'en haut) by Ursula Meier.

The members of the 2012 International Jury, Mike Leigh (President), Anton Corbijn, Asghar Farhadi, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jake Gyllenhaal, François Ozon, Boualem Sansal and Barbara Sukowa.

 All Berlinale winners, 2012 Awards (PDF)

March Film Festival Winners

SERIES: Major Film Festivals

First, a special award announcement.

The 24th American Cinematheque Award was presented to actor Matt Damon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, CA, Saturday, 27 March. He was not only honored for his acting and humanitarian efforts, he was roasted by some of his friends.

There were no awards at the Environmental Film Festival in Washington, D.C., as the festival is mainly for education. If you would like to know more, go here.

The most prominent film festival this month was 17th SXSW (South by Southwest), which included a music festival and an interactive conference, held in Austin, Texas. The festivities began 12 March and ran through the 21st.

There was the film conference and festival, the music conference and festival, and the interactive media conference. Here, we only follow the film festival.

As I write every year, the film awards have been presented at SWSW, not that you may hear about any of the winners this year. In case you really want to see, click the title of this post for the list.

MIAMI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, 5-14 March 2010, Miami, Florida

On awards night, Saturday, 13 March, at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, the festival was forced to turn away more than 250 film lovers clamoring for tickets to the sold-out, post-awards-ceremony screening of surprise Oscar® winner THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES (El secreto de sus ojos, Argentina). You can read about that night and view the complete list of winners on the "Daily Wrap" blog by clicking here.

Some of the major awards were:

WORLD COMPETITION

Grand Jury Prize:
LOLA, directed by Brillante Mendoza (France/Philippines, 2009)
(A $25,000 USD cash prize awarded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation)

Special Jury Mention 1:
MEDAL OF HONOR (Medalia de Onoare), directed by Calin Peter Netzer (Germany/Romania, 2009)

Special Jury Mention 2, and Audience Award:
NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT PERSIAN CATS (Kasi az gorbehaye irani khabar nadareh), directed by Bahman Ghobadi (Iran, 2009)

IBERO-AMERICAN COMPETITION

Grand Jury Prize:
TO THE SEA (Alamar), directed by Pedro González-Rubio (Mexico, 2009)
(A $25,000 USD cash prize awarded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation)

Audience Award:
UNDERTOW (Contracorriente) by Javier Fuentes-León (Peru/ Colombia/ France/ Germany, 2009)

THE CINEUROPA PRIZE FOR BEST EUROPEAN FILM

ORDINARY PEOPLE, directed by Vladimir Perisic (France/ Switzerland/ Serbia/ Netherlands, 2009)

Special Mention:
MEDAL OF HONOR (Medalia de Onoare), directed by Calin Peter Netzer (Germany/Romania, 2009)

25th Guadalajara International Film Festival, 12-19 March 2010, Guadalajara, Mexico

The festival folks had taken down the English portion of the Website even before I could get there. Therefore, you can access the Spanish-only site here and use Google Translate (comes ready-to-use with the Mozilla Firefox Browser).

All prizes were awarded during the closing ceremony held at the Auditorio Telmex (Telmex Auditorium). The Colombian film PORTRAITS OF A SEA OF LIES, directed by Carlos Gaviria, and the Mexican film PERPETUUM MOBILE, directed by Nicolas Pereda, received the award for Best Feature Latin American Fiction Film and Best Fiction Feature Film, respectively.

The Rigobeto Mora Award for Best Mexican Documentary Animation went to MOON (Luna), directed by Raul and Rafael Cardenas. This was the first year for the award.

Also, the Latinofusión Prize for Distribution was given for the first time this year. The prizewinners were, PORTRAITS OF A SEA OF LIES in the Latin American category, and in the Mexican category, GOOD HERBS, directed by Maria Novaro.

Four of the Major Film Festivals in April are: Florida FF, Orlando, FL; Tribeca FF, NYC; On Location Memphis IFF, TN, and the San Francisco Film Festival. There will be information on Cannes in this series and in stand-alone posts beginning soon. Cannes opens 12 May and runs through the 23rd.

Major Film Festivals in March

SERIES: Major Film Festivals

MIAMI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
(Presented by Miami Film Society and Miami Dade College)
5 - 14 March 2010.
Miami, Florida

This festival showcases foreign film, especially Latin American, and other Spanish-language films. It also tips its hat to local and independent filmmakers.

Opening Film, LOOKING FOR ERIC, directed by Ken Loach, Guzman Center, 7:00 p.m., followed by Opening Night Party at Miami Dade College's Freedom Tower.

I apologize for the scant information, but their Website is not fully operational, and I had to re-activate my e-mail contacts. Tickets are available now at the Regal Cinema, South Beach. More information will be posted on the blog as I receive it.

18th Annual Environmental Film Festival

Special Launch Party 10 March
Festival: March 16-28, 2010
Washington, D.C

This year, the D.C. festival has 56 venues, showing 155 films and expects 25,000+ filmgoers. The number of Environmental Film Festivals are growing as well as documentaries being made about the subject and feature films incorporating environmental issues into their storylines.

For general inquiries, please e-mail: info@envirofilmfest.org, or visit the Official Web Site by clicking the title of this festival.

SXSW

17th South by Southwest Film Festival
SXSW Week 2010: March 12-21
Interactive Media Conference: March 12-16
Film Conference and Festival: March 12-20
Music Conference and Festival: March 17-21
Austin Convention Center, Austin, Texas

Aaron Johnson in KICK-ASS

This festival started as a regional to showcase independent films, but has morphed into a well-attended festival that the world press also covers. Its reputation and attendance is almost in the same class as "the big boys" now.

Austin has chosen to pair the film festival with the annual music festival, and various other attractive venues, including interactive media. Founded in 1993 by alternative weekly Austin Chronicle editor Louis Black, publisher Nick Barbaro and music promoter Roland Swenson, who also created the gigantic annual March SXSW Music Conference in 1987, the SXSW Festival has developed its own identity by luring quality independent films and filmmakers.

Opening Night film is the World Premiere of KICK-ASS at the Paramount Theater, 7:00 p.m., followed by the opening night party at Buffalo Billiards at 10:00. The movie was directed by Matthew Vaughn, UK, and the cast includes Nicholas Cage.

Closing Night film is the North American premiere of directors Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas' AMERICAN: The Bill Hicks Story, screening 20 March at the Paramount Theater, North American premiere, 9:30 p.m. The true life story of the outlaw comic who tried to save the world. Three years in the making, using a stunning new animation technique, the movie brings the amazing tale of one of modern culture’s most iconic heroes to the big screen.

WINTER'S BONE the winner of both the Grand Jury Prize and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting awards at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival will be showcased. WINTER'S BONE, directed by Debra Granik, is based on the novel by Missouri-based author, Daniel Woodrell. The movie, set in Southwest Missouri, also will be in competition at the Florida Film Festival, Orlando, 9 - 18 April.

And these three films aren't 1/4th of the new movies that will be making the circuit this year, many of them will be major award winners. See the full film lineup by clicking title of this post.

SXSW's YouTube site showcases films and musical performers.

25th Guadalajara International Film Festival
12 - 19 March 2010, Guadalajara, Mexico

This year, the Festival's guest country is France. Agnès Varda, French filmmaker, photographer, editor, composer, occasional actress and producer will receive a homage and be awarded the Silver Mayahuel. She plans to attend the festival.

Varda studied at the Sorbonne and the Louvre School. The first motion picture she directed was the 1954, LA POINTE COURTE. Her late husband was the French filmmaker Jacques Demy.


Of course, the main emphasis of the Festival is to showcase Mexican and other Spanish-language films. It will showcase over 250 films as part of its program in sections in and out of competition. The official sections in competition include feature fiction films and documentaries as well as short films. All the competition is reserved for films produced in Mexico and other Hispanic countries.

If you are looking for the Puerto Vallarta Festival, usually held at this time, it has moved to mid December to attract more "snowbirds."

Three of the Film Festivals in April: Florida FF, Orlando, FL; Tribeca FF, NYC; On Location Memphis IFF, TN. Use your American Express and you can order advance passes and tickets for Tribeca beginning 8 March.

NPR Free SXSW Music Downloads

The National Public Radio music division is now offering free music downloads from the "NPR Music SXSW Sampler" DVD. SXSW stands for South By Southwest and refers to the annual music and film festivals in Austin, TX, which are currently in progress. There are more activities connected to the two festivals, and the various events are usually held in March. Winners at the SXSW Film Festival, were announced earlier this week. Each festival is considered top class in its medium.

Normally, I would have posted about them on my Film Festivals Page, but due to a broken shoulder and the Great Ice Storm of 2009, my plans were derailed. I have not started a 2009 Film Festivals Page. I hope to begin tracking the festivals next month as the biggest of them all, Cannes, will be in May.

Meanwhile, you can still get some ideas about these and other festivals on my last year's page. Go directly to last year's SXSW festivals. Please note that the page opens with Cannes, because it has not been reordered. So, to read from the first festival of the year (Palm Springs) and subsequent ones, you must start here and read upward.

To download the NPR music sampler information, click title of this post.

This year's SXSW Music Festival Web site.

This year's SXSW Film Festival Web site.