Possible Feature Film Oscar® Nominees

 

5,755 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences® have received nomination ballots for the upcoming 83rd Academy Awards®. Completed ballots must be returned to PricewaterhouseCoopers by 5 p.m. PT, Friday, January 14, 2011. Ballots received after the deadline will not be counted. See previous post for the complete list of eligible films.

Those of us who follow the movie business, but are not members of the Academy, always like to make our own lists and rate how close we come to picking the nominees and winners. I have managed to complete one nomination list. Here are 12 movies I think stand a very good chance to receive an Oscar® nomination for Best Feature Motion Picture:

• Alice in Wonderland
• Black Swan
• Frankie and Alice
• Inception
• The Fighter
• The Kids Are All Right
• The King's Speech
• The Social Network
• The Town
• True Grit
• Winter's Bone
• 127 Hours

Also, there is buzz for a possible nomination for Toy Story 3, not only for Best Animated Feature Film, but also for Best Feature Motion Picture. It is unusual for animated movies to be nominated in both categories. However, UP (2009) was nominated in both categories last year (2010). It won for Best Animated Feature Film.

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 presented on Sunday, February 27, 2011, 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.

UP Wins Annie Award

Actor William Shatner hosted the 37th Annual Annie Awards on Saturday, 6 February 2010, at UCLA's Royce Hall in Los Angeles, CA. The awards are sponsored by the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA - Hollywood, and this year they honored the best in animation in 2009. With only two exceptions, the Annie winner for Best Animated Feature has also won the Best Animated Motion Picture Oscar® for the same year.

Last year and 2007 were exceptions. Last year, the Society went with a sweep for KUNG FU PANDA, but WALL-E was the member-favorite of AMPAS® and it took home the Oscar. In 2007, the Annie went to CARS, but AMPAS members preferred HAPPY FEET.

 Last night, UP won the top two awards, Best Animated Feature and Best Director for Pete Docter, another feather in the cap of Pixar Animation Studios and, perhaps, a portend of an Oscar win in both categories. Laika's CORALINE and Disney's THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG each won three awards. Disney also won three for its television series, PREP AND LANDING. The Annie Awards ceremony will also be Webcast on www.annieawards.org beginning Tuesday, 9 February.

The list of awards not only includes movies, but television and some specialized technical awards. I'm taking a shortcut here sticking with motion pictures. If you do not see the category that interests you, click the title of this post to go to their Official Website to see the entire list.

Here are the nominees for selected categories with winners in red:

Best Animated Feature Film
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - Sony Pictures Animation
Coraline - Laika
Fantastic Mr. Fox - 20th Century Fox
The Princess and the Frog - Walt Disney Animation Studios
The Secret of Kells - Cartoon Saloon
Up - Pixar Animation Studios

Directing in a Feature Production
Wes Anderson "Fantastic Mr. Fox" - 20th Century Fox
Pete Docter "Up" - Pixar Animation Studios
Christopher Miller, Phil Lord "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" - Sony Pictures Animation
Hayao Miyazaki "Ponyo" - Studio Ghibli
Henry Selick "Coraline" - Laika

Character Design in a Feature Production
Daniel Lopez Munoz "Up" - Pixar Animation Studios
Shane Prigmore "Coraline" - Laika
Shannon Tindle "Coraline" - Laika

Character Animation in a Feature Production
Andreas Deja "The Princess and the Frog" - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Eric Goldberg "The Princess and the Frog" - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Travis Knight "Coraline" - Laika
Daniel Nguyen "Up" - Pixar Animation Studios
Bruce Smith "The Princess and the Frog" - Walt Disney Animation Studios

Music in a Feature Production
Bruno Coulais "Coraline" - Laika
Michael Giacchino "Up" - Pixar Animation Studios
Joe Hisaishi "Ponyo" - Studio Ghibli
John Powell "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" - Blue Sky Studios

Production Design in a Feature Production
Christopher Appelhans "Coraline" - Laika
Ian Gooding "The Princess and the Frog" - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Tadahiro Uesugi "Coraline" - Laika
Christophe Vacher "9" - 9 L.L.C.

Voice Acting in a Feature Production
Jen Cody - Voice of Charlotte - "The Princess and the Frog" - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Dawn French - Voice of Miss Forcible - "Coraline" - Laika
Hugh Laurie - Voice of Dr. Cockroach Ph.D. - "Monsters vs. Aliens" - DreamWorks Animation
John Leguizamo - Voice of Sid - "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" - Blue Sky Studios
Jenifer Lewis - Voice of Mama Odie - "The Princess and the Frog" - Walt Disney Animation Studios

Writing in a Feature Production
Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach - "Fantastic Mr. Fox" - 20th Century Fox
Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy - "Up" - Pixar Animation Studios
Timothy Hyde Harris and David Bowers - "Astro Boy" - Imagi Studios
Christopher Miller and Phil Lord - "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" - Sony Pictures Animation

Animated Effects
Scott Cegielski "Monsters vs. Aliens" - DreamWorks Animation
Alexander Feigin "9" - 9 L.L.C.
Eric Froemling "Up" - Pixar Animation Studios
Tom Kluyskens "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" - Sony Pictures Animation
James Mansfield "The Princess and the Frog" - Walt Disney Animation Studios

ASIFA is a non-profit organization, founded by a group of animators in 1957, and chartered by UNESCO in 1960. ASIFA encourages the art of animation and furthers international understanding and goodwill through the medium. Today, there are about thirty chapters of ASIFA all over the globe. ASIFA is a French acronym,  "Association Internationale du Film D'Animation".

82nd Academy Awards® Nominations

AVATAR and THE HURT LOCKER lead the nominations with the most, nine each. UP received five, including Best Animated Film and Best Motion Picture.

Will it be Sandra Bullock vs. Meryl Streep for Best Actress and James Cameron vs. Kathryn Bigelow (former wife) for Best Director? Or, will INGLORIOUS BASTERDS rewrite this speculation history by being the big winner?

Nominations for the 82 Academy Awards® were announced a little after 5 a.m. this morning from the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak, accompanied by Oscar-nominated actress and Academy member Anne Hathaway, read the nominees for 10 out of the 24 categories.

The gold statuettes will be presented to the winners at a gala on Sunday, 7 March, in 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 also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

The Official Website for the Academy Awards is now up and, this year, it has gone high tech and interactive. Visitors will be able to cast their votes for many things connected to the awards. Click the title of this post to link to it.

Here are all the 82nd Academy Award Nominations ~~

BEST PICTURE (with director):
AVATAR, James Cameron
THE BLIND SIDE, John Lee Hancock
DISTRICT 9, Peter Jackson
AN EDUCATION, Lone Scherfig
THE HURT LOCKER, Kathryn Bigelow
INGLOURIOS BASTERDS, Quinten Tarantino
PRECIOUS: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire, Lee Daniels
A SERIOUS MAN, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
UP, Peter Docter
UP in the AIR, Jason Reitman

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:
Jeff Bridges, CRAZY HEART
George Clooney, UP in the AIR
Colin Firth, A SINGLE MAN
Morgan Freeman, INVICTUS
Jeremy Renner, THE HURT LOCKER

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Matt Damon, INVICTUS
Woody Harrelson, THE MESSENGER
Christopher Plummer, THE LAST STATION
Stanley Tucci, THE LOVELY BONES
Christoph Waltz, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:
Sandra Bullock, THE BLIND SIDE
Helen Mirren, THE LAST STATION
Carey Mulligan, AN EDUCATION
Gabourey Sidibe, PRECIOUS: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Meryl Streep, JULIE & JULIA

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Penélope Cruz, NINE
Vera Farmiga, UP in the AIR
Maggie Gyllenhaal, CRAZY HEART
Anna Kendrick, UP in the AIR
Mo'Nique, PRECIOUS: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
CORALINE, Henry Selick
FANTASTIC MR. FOX, Wes Anderson
THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG, John Musker and Ron Clements
THE SECRET OF KELLS, Tom Moore
UP, Pete Docter

ART DIRECTION:
AVATAR
THE IMAGINARIUM of DOCTOR PARNASSUS
NINE
SHERLOCK HOLMES
THE YOUNG VICTORIA
 
CINEMATOGRAPHY:
AVATAR
HARRY POTTER and the HALF-BLOOD PRINCE
THE HURT LOCKER
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
THE WHITE RIBBON

DIRECTING:
AVATAR, James Cameron
THE HURT LOCKER, Kathryn Bigelow
INGLOURIUOUS BASTERDS, Quentin Tarantino
PRECIOUS: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire, Lee Daniels
UP in the AIR, Jason Reitman

DOCUMENTARY (Feature):
BURMA VJ
THE COVE
FOOD, INC.
THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
WHICH WAY HOME

DOCUMENTARY (Short Subject):
CHINA'S UNNATURAL DISASTER: The Tears of Sichuan Province
THE LAST CAMPAIGN OF GOVERNOR BOOTH GARDNER
THE LAST TRUCK: Closing of a GM Plant
MUSIC BY PRUDENCE
RABBIT à la BERLIN

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM (with country and director/s):
AJAMI, Israel, Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani
EL SECRETO de SUS OJOS, Argentina (The Secret in Their Eyes), Juan José Campanella
THE MILK OF SOROW, Peru (La teta asustada), Claudia Llosa
UN PROPHÈTE, France (A PROPHET), Jacques Audiard
THE WHITE RIBBON, Germany (Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte), Michael Haneke

MUSIC (Original Score):
AVATAR, James Horner
FANTASTIC MR. FOX, Alexandre Desplat
THE HURT LOCKER, Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
SHERLOCK HOLMES, Hans Zimmer
UP, Michael Giacchino

MUSIC (Original Song):
"Almost There" from 'The Princess and the Frog' - Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"Down in New Orleans" from 'The Princess and the Frog' - Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"Loin de Paname" from 'Paris 36' - Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
"Take It All" from 'Nine' - Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
"The Weary Kind" from 'Crazy Heart' - Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

SHORT FILM (Animated):
FRENCH ROAST
GRANNY O'GRIMM'S SLEEPING BEAUTY
THE LADY AND REAPER (La Dama y la Muerte)
LOGORAMA
A MATTER of LOAF and DEATH

SHORT FILM (Live Action):
THE DOOR
INSTEAD OF ABRACADABRA
KAVI
MIRACLE FISH
THE NEW TENANTS

COSTUME DESIGN:
BRIGHT STAR
COCO BEFORE CHANEL
THE IMAGINARIUM of DOCTOR PARNASSUS
NINE
THE YOUNG VICTORIA

MAKEUP:
IL DIVO
STAR TREK
THE YOUNG VICTORIA

FILM EDITING:
AVATAR
DISTRICT 9
THE HURT LOCKER
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
PRECIOUS: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

SOUND EDITING:
AVATAR
THE HURT LOCKER
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
STAR TREK
UP

SOUND MIXING:
AVATAR
THE HURT LOCKER
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
STAR TREK
TRANSFORMERS: Revenge of the Fallen

VISUAL EFFECTS:
AVATAR
DISTRICT 9
STAR TREK

WRITING (Adapted Screenplay with writer/s):
DISTRICT 9, Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
AN EDUCATION, Nick Hornby
IN the LOOP, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
PRECIOUS: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
UP in the AIR, Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

WRITING (Original Screenplay with writer/s):
THE HURT LOCKER, Mark Boal
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, Quentin Tarantino
THE MESSENGER, Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
A SERIOUS MAN, Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
UP, Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Tom McCarthy

For the list of all with all the credits, CLICK HERE.

HURT, UP, COVE & PRECIOUS Receive Top PGA Awards

SERIES: Hollywood Guild Awards and Oscars®

THE HURT LOCKER, about a risk-taking bomb disposal technician, produced and directed by Kathryn Bigelow, was named best picture by the Producers Guild of American (PGA) at the 21st Annual PGA Awards ceremony held Sunday, 24 January 2010, at the Hollywood Palladium.

The PGA, a national non-profit trade group committed to protecting the rights and credits of producers in film, television and new media, honored the movie PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL ‘PUSH’ BY SAPPHIRE with the 2010 Stanley Kramer Award.

Also, John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer, Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, and Principal Creative Advisor, Walt Disney Imagineering received the 2010 David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Motion Pictures. Lasseter is the first producer of animated films to be awarded the Selznick Award by the PGA and was the co-recipient of the PGA’s first-ever Vanguard Award in 2002.

Here are the winners with producers and directors in the best feature motion picture categories:

Feature Motion Picture: THE HURT LOCKER - producer & director Kathryn Bigelow.

Animated Theatrical Motion Picture: UP - Jonas Rivera, directed by Peter Doctor.

Documentary Theatrical Motion Picture: THE COVE - Paula DuPre Pesman, Fisher Stevens, and directed by Louie Psihoyos.

Also, must mention one TV show here. 30 Rock lost the Best TV Comedy title to Glee at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Saturday, but it managed to take home Producers Guild Awards on Sunday. The award of Danny Thomas Producer of the Year went to the comedy's producers Lorne Michaels, Tina Fey and co., after they beat producers of Californication, Entourage, Weeds and The Office. Lorne Michaels also produces Saturday Night Live.

To see all the nominees and winners, click the title of this post.

Winners of the Motion Picture Golden Globes® for 2009

67th Golden Globe Awards, Sunday, 17 January 2010, Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, California.

There were surprises and, perhaps, some questions about the winners at this year's Golden Globe Awards. One thing is certain, the winners are all over the map. There is no discernable pattern, no way to say that the Globes are an indicator of how the Academy Awards will go this year.

However, if you read this blog even occasionally, you have already learned that the sponsors of the Globes, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, is composed of journalists, as opposed to the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which is composed of those who belong to the industry's guilds. The members of the HFPA nominate for the Golden Globes the people they want to see, and meet. The members of AMPAS honestly nominate their peers they not only work with and usually like, but the ones they feel actually deserve an Oscar, and "like" is the operative word.

Tonight was a fun night. James Cameron won for Best Director of AVATAR, and the technology expanding movie won Best Motion Picture, Drama. He even tipped his hat to one of his ex wives, Kathryn Bigelow, saying he thought she would take the director's award for THE HURT LOCKER. That might happen at the Oscars®.

And glory be, my favorite animated movie, UP, topped its category, thanks to the voice acting skills of one my favorite people on this Earth, Edward Asner, who voiced to role of the old curmudgeon. It also won best score for Michael Giacchino.

I must confess, I really like that score, but I was cheering for James Horner for AVATAR. I not only love his music, there is a familial connection. The same was true for Best Song. Down deep, I have felt the vibes for the nominated song from CRAZY HEART by T-Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham, "The Weary Kind," but there was the beautiful song in AVATAR, "I Will See You," by, yep, James Horner, Simon Franglen and Kuk Harrell.

THE WHITE RIBBON, directed by Michael Haneke, won the Best Film at Cannes last May and it won the Best Foreign Language Film tonight. I has been submitted for Oscar consideration in that category.

THE HANGOVER took home the statuette for Best Motion Picture, Musical Comedy or Drama. The Best Screenplay went to Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner for UP IN THE AIR.

I was delighted to see Jeff Bridges win Best Actor, Drama, for CRAZY HEART, and not really surprised when Sandra Bullock won in the Best Actress, Drama, for THE BLIND SIDE. With the exception of Helen Mirren and Bullock, the other nominees were panty weights in that category, and I expected Bullock would win. Mirren's chances suffered because THE LAST STATION's lack of promotion and from poor distribution.

I knew Meryl Streep, who was nominated for two roles in the Best Actress, Musical or Comedy category, almost had to win one. I hoped it would be for her role as Julia Chile in JULIE & JULIA. It was, although she is a hoot opposite Alec Baldwin in IT'S COMPLICATED.

I'm blowing big kisses to Robert Downey, Jr., for a magnificent comedic performance in SHERLOCK HOLMES and for winning a Best Actor, Musical or Comedy Globe for it. Cheers for Jeff Bridges for winning in the same category for Drama.

No surprise concerning the winners of Best Supporting Actor and Actress, for sure. I have never seen a year when these categories have produced such strong contenders. Christoph Waltz for INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, and Mo'Nique for PRECIOUS: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. Both "heavy" roles.

The absolutely best list on the Planet of all the Golden Globe winners can be found on the IMDb, but here's the short list of the winners in the Motion Picture categories:

• Best Motion Picture - Drama: AVATAR.
• Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: THE HANGOVER.
• Best Animated Motion Picture - UP.
• Best Foreign Language Film - THE WHITE RIBBON (Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte, Germay), directed by Michael Haneke.
• Best Director - Motion Picture: James Cameron for AVATAR.
• Best Screenplay - Motion Picture: UP IN THE AIR by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner.
• Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama: Jeff Bridges for CRAZY HEART.
• Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama: Sandra Bullock for THE BLIND SIDE.
• Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: Robert Downey Jr., for SHERLOCK HOLMES.
• Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: Meryl Streep for JULIE & JULIA.
• Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Drama: Christoph Waltz for INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS.
• Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Drama: Mo'Nique for PECIOIUS: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.
• Best Original Song - Motion Picture: "The Weary Kind," by T-Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham, CRAZY HEART.
• Best Original Score - Motion Picture: Michael Giacchino for UP.

ASIFA Announces Annie Nominations

The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, announced the 37th Annual Annie Award nominees last week. Animation award recipients will claim their trophies at the 37th Annual Annie Awards scheduled for Saturday, 6 February 2010 at UCLA's Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California. The 2009 recipients of the Winsor McCay Award were also announced. They are: Tim Burton, Bruce Timm and Jeffrey Katzenberg. They, too, will claim their awards 6 February.

In the interest of full disclosure, before I comment, I must disclose that the producer of CORALINE, Bill Mechanic, and actor Ed Asner (UP) are long-time acquaintances of mine.

Annie Award winners do exceptionally well in the Oscar® race for Best Animated Feature, with the Annie winner usually winning the Oscar, but not always. Here are highlights of the Annie nominations:

Best Animated Feature:
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - Sony
Coraline - Laika
Fantastic Mr. Fox - 20th Century Fox
The Princess and the Frog - Walt Disney
The Secret of Kells - Cartoon Saloon
Up - Pixar

Directing in a Feature Production:
Wes Anderson for Fantastic Mr. Fox - 20th Century Fox
Pete Docter for Up - Pixar
Christopher Miller, Phil Lord for Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - Sony
Hayao Miyazaki, for Ponyo - Studio Ghibli
Henry Selick for Coraline - Laika

Writing in a Feature Production:
Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach for Fantastic Mr. Fox - 20th Century Fox
Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy for Up - Pixar
Timothy Hyde Harris and David Bowers for Astro Boy - Imagi
Christopher Miller and Phil Lord for Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - Sony

Voice Acting in a Feature Production
Jen Cody - Voice of Charlotte in The Princess and the Frog - Walt Disney
Dawn French - Voice of Miss Forcible in Coraline - Laika
Hugh Laurie - Voice of Dr. Cockroach Ph.D. in Monsters vs. Aliens - DreamWorks Animation
John Leguizamo - Voice of Sid in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaur — Blue Sky
Jenifer Lewis - Voice of Mama Odie in The Princess and the Frog - Walt Disney

Best Animated Short Subject:
Pups of Liberty - Picnic Pictures
Robot Chicken: Star Wars 2.5 - ShadowMachine
Santa, The Fascist Years - Plymptoons
The Rooster, The Crocodile and The Night Sky - Barley Films
The Story of Walls - Badmash Animation

Best Animated Television Production for Children:
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - Disney
SpongeBob SquarePants - Nickelodeon
The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack - Cartoon Network
The Mighty B! - Nickelodeon/Polka Dot Pictures/Paper Kite Productions
The Penguins of Madagascar - Nickelodeon and DreamWorks Animation

There is a monkey wrench of sorts in the Annie nominations for Best Animated Feature. THE SECRET OF KELLS, an English-language, Irish movie, will not be released in the U.S. until March, and it is not nominated for an Annie in any other category. Somehow, it seems rather unjust that PONYO (Ponyo on a Cliff, Gake no ue no Ponyo) from awarding-winning Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli, Japan, is not nominated in this category. He has won more than one Annie Award for his writing and directing, and his SPIRITED AWAY (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi) won an Annie and the Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature in 2001. PONYO was released months ago in the U.S., and Hayao Miyazaki is nominated in the directing category.

Miyazaki is not nominated in the writing category. ASTRO BOY is nominated in the writing and storyboarding categories. This type of split-nominating always muddies the waters when it comes to choosing the winners.

I cannot comment on the actual animation quality of THE SECRET OF KELLS as I have seen nothing of, or about, the movie. I have seen the others, or seen trailers and/or a number of clips, and I definitely concur to every nomination for the other five, as well as the nominations they received in other categories. I am, however, disappointed that no voice actor from UP received a nomination, and that PONYO was not nominated in the top category.

The winners of the Annie Awards will not be announced until 6 February. The 82nd Academy Awards nominations will be announced prior to that on 2 February. The final Oscar voting polls close 2 March. Thus, the Annie winner will not influence the Oscar nominations for animation, but could influence the Oscar winner in the Best Animated Feature category because the Annie winner will be announced well in advance of 2 March. Interesting to ponder.

For the full list of Annie nominees, click the title of this post. For bios of Burton, Timm and Katzenberg click here.

Hollywood Film Festival Honors Announced

Bigelow directs HURT LOCKER

At the 13th annual Hollywood Film Festival (HFF), which will run 21 - 26 October 2009 in Hollywood, director Lee Daniels will receive the "Hollywood Breakthrough Director Award" at the gala Hollywood Awards 26 October. He is the director of what may turn out to be the year's "hottest" movie, PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE. Most recently, Daniels produced MONSTERS BALL and directed SHADOWBOXER. For more about PRECIOUS, see previous posts.

HFF founder and executive director Carlos de Abreu announced that two ladies of cinema, Kathryn Bigelow and Nora Ephron, will receive the Hollywood Director Award and the Hollywood Screenwriter Award, respectively. Bigelow's current directorial endeavor, THE HURT LOCKER, a war film with Iraq as the subject, is receiving critical acclaim. She has been tapped to receive an award at the 19th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards 30 November in New York City. Her previous credits include POINT BREAK, STRANGE DAYS and BLUE STEEL.

Ephron most recently wrote JULIE & JULIA, and her previous works include HEARTBURN, YOU'VE GOT MAIL and BEWITCHED. She received Oscar® nominations for SILKWOOD, WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, and SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE.

Pete Docter, the director of the Disney/Pixar release UP, which has earned more than $500m worldwide, will receive The Hollywood Animation Award. Visual Effects Supervisor Scott Farrar will take home the Hollywood Visual Effects Award for TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN.

Docter's directorial debut was MONSTERS, INC., earning him an Academy Award® nomination right out of the gate. Then, he received another nomination as screenwriter of WALL-E. He also developed the story and characters for TOY STORY, and wrote the original story treatment for TOY STORY 2. Buena Vista is releasing both films in 3D for a two-week run to qualify them for the Academy Awards. For more about UP and Docter, see previous posts.

Farrar joined Industrial Light & Magic in 1981 as a camera operator on STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN. and was visual effects supervisor on WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. He won the Oscar in 1985 for his effects work on COCOON and since then has received nominations for THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, BACKDRAFT, A.I. ans TRANSFORMERS.

Here Comes Cannes

The world-renown Cannes Film Festival will open in Cannes, France, 13 May, and run through 24 May 2009, 16 days away at the time of this post. This year is the 62nd edition. Gilles Jacob is president.

Significant Festival history will be made beginning on opening day with the computer-generated animated movie UP (Disney-Pixar, directed by Peter Docter), opening the Festival with its international premiere. This is the first time an animated movie has opened the Cannes Festival, and UP is not just any animated movie, it is in digital 3-D. The top prize is the Golden Palm (Palm d'Or). It could make more Festival history if UP won it, but UP is screening out of competition. The movie is scheduled to release in the U.S. 29 May.

French actress Isabelle Huppert is the jury president at this year's Festival. Only three other women have helmed the panel in the six decades of the Festival. The other women so honored: Liv Ullmann, Jeanne Moreau and Françoise Sagan.

The director lineup in the main competition of 20 strong films will include directors Quentin Tarantino (INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS), Ang Lee (TALKING WOODSTOCK), Pedro Almodovar (BROKEN EMBRACES), Jane Campion (BRIGHT STAR) [won as director of THE PIANO, the first woman to win the Golden Palm for directing], Ken Loach (LOOKING FOR ERIC), and Lars von Trier (ANTICHRIST).

Asian films are strong this year. Chinese movies joining Ang Lee's, are Hong Kong director Johnny To's VENGENCE, Park Chan-wook's (THIRST), and Ye Lou's and SPRING FEVER.

One of the Festivals' special screenings will be for HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR by French director Alain Resnais, one of the outstanding French New Wave directors. This year, the Festival commemorates the 50-year anniversary of the film's first screening at Cannes, and Resnais (86) brings his latest film, WILD GRASSES, to Cannes. Two of his fellow countrymen will join him to represent France, Jacques Audiard (A PROPHET) and Xavier Giannoli (IN THE BEGINNING).

Another showcase will be the last film performance of Heath Ledger in the Terry Gilliam fantasy THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS. Ledger died mid-shoot last year and his part was completed by Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell. Ledger was awarded a posthumous Oscar® this year for his supporting-actor performance as The Joker in THE DARK KNIGHT.

One of the biggest galas associated with the festival, is actually a benefit gala held outside the main Festival, but in conjunction with it - - the annual European fundraiser sponsored by the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR). American actress Sharon Stone will host it again on 21 May. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and the likes of Harvey Weinstein, Carine Roitfeld, Michelle Yeoh and Donatella Versace will be among 800 personalities attending.

This year for the first time, the benefit gala will be held at a Riviera palace, the Eden Roc, at Cap d'Antibes. Singer Annie Lennox will give a special performance. Last year's event raised $10 million.

The closing night film is Dutch-born, now French director, Jan Kounen's COCO CHANEL & IGOR STRAVINSKY, screening out of competition. I shall be following the Festival from now until it closes 24 May.