Final Oscar® Ballots Due Tuesday

Completed ballots to determine the 2009 winners of the Academy Awards®, mailed 10 February, must be returned to PricewaterhouseCoopers by 5 p.m. Tuesday, 2 March. 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®. Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented on 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 will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

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; and acts as a neutral advocate in the advancement of motion picture technology. 

The Margaret Herrick Library and Academy Film Archive, collect, preserve, restore and provide access to movies and items related to movie history. Through these and other activities the Academy serves students, historians, the entertainment industry and people everywhere who love movies.

2008 Oscar® Nomination Ballots Mailed

Ballots for Oscar nominations for the 81st Academy Awards® are being mailed today to the 5,810 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The deadline for ballots, which must be returned to the office of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), is 5 p.m. Monday, 12 January. Ballots received after the deadline will not be counted. The 81st Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, 22 January, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Nomination and final award ballots are tabulated by PricewaterhouseCoopers to ensure that all aspects of the balloting process are conducted with fairness and accuracy. Prior to mailing, the PricewaterhouseCoopers 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.

The 81st Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, 22 February 2009, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Mimi's Oscar® Picks for 80th Awards

Host Jon Stewart opening television gala in 2006, and he returns tonight.

Trying to choose the winners of the Academy Award® Oscar® is no picnic. Never has been, but every year I try, and every year I miss some.

All year long, I track the winners of film festivals and the various awards. Not all. That's impossible. I try to track the ones I think might influence voters of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS®).

The cold facts are these: AMPAS is composed of voting members that come from the guilds, i.e. unions, who work in the movie industry. The largest voting block is the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), followed in a random order by the Writers Guild (WGA), Directors Guild (DGA), and Producers Guild (PGA), etc.

Then there are the so-called "technical guilds," e.g., cinematographers, film editors, sound mixers, lighting designers, etc., and all of these have a cadre of technicians. Next come the "artistic guilds," and they are the folks who design, decorate, and execute sets, costumes, hair, makeup, etc. Plus, there is a plethora animators, running the gamut of everything necessary from enhancing major motion pictures to bringing those cute little critters who populate animated movies to life.

Of course, these members are subject to influence by their guilds and others such as film critics and film festival juries, but it basically comes down to how the AMPAS members vote when faced with that annual final ballot. However, I am going with the data I have collected, and these are my conclusions (not including some of the tech stuff and short films):

Best original score: Dario Marianelli, ATONEMENT, because I REALLY like the last name!
Best song: "Falling Slowly," ONCE, written by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova .
Best cinematography: THERE WILL BE BLOOD.
Best supporting actress: Amy Ryan for GONE BABY GONE. *
Best supporting actor: Javier Bardem for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
Best actress: Julie Christie for AWAY FROM HER.
Best actor: Daniel Day-Lewis for THERE WILL BE BLOOD.
Best animated feature: RATAEOUILLE, paws down.
Best documentary: SICKO, Michael Moore. * *
Best foreign-language feature: THE COUNTERFEITERS, Austria. * * *
Best original screenplay: JUNO, by Diablo Cody.
Best adapted screenplay: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, by Ethan & Joel Coen.
Best director(s): Ethan & Joel Coen, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
Best motion picture feature (best picture) - NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.

My rationale? NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN has won more major guild and critical awards than any other nominee, including the DGA, PGA, SAG, and WGA. I think it is finally the year the Coen brothers reap their rewards. However, one interesting note, JUNO has garnered more box office than any of the other "best picture" nominees, and has been dubbed, "The little movie that could".
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* - - NOTE - Ruby Dee (MICHAEL CLAYTON) has won only one major award in the best supporting actress category, but it is the SAG award, and she is a sentimental favorite of AMPAS (as was her late husband Ossie Davis). However, the actress who has won most awards in this category, including influential critics awards such as the National Board of Review, plus the BFCA, L.A., N.Y., S.F., and Boston critics' awards is Ryan. Therefore, I'm going with Ryan with a possible Dee.

* * - - NOTE - The best documentary feature category is a tough one, but I'm going with Michael Moore's SICKO, because it has won more awards in this category, with NO END IN SIGHT running strong. Then, there is TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE that got out of the gate late. Who knows? Only the envelope does.

* * * - - NOTE - This year, the BFLF category is a disaster. Many respected critics agree. Unfortunately, AMPAS made it so. AMPAS either fixes the mechanism by which foreign movies are selected before the awards next year, or the category will become a mockery. See my previous blog post for much more on this year's BFLF nominees.

Download and print an Oscar ballot from IMDb's "Road to the Oscars".

LINKS RELEVANT: Mimi's Movie Awards Page / Mimi's Film Festival Page07 / Mimi's Foreign Movie Page (also on right sidebar).

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.

Oscar® Nomination Ballots

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

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

Final Oscar® Ballots Due by 5 p.m. Tuesday

Voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are reminded the Post Office will be closed this Monday, 19 February, for Presidents Day. Since they must return their completed final Oscar ballots to PricewaterhouseCoopers before 5 p.m. Tuesday, 20 February, California voters should post them today or tomorrow. New York voters better get overnight delivery now, if they have not yet done it. Ballots received after the 5 p.m. deadline will not be counted.

I remember receiving a call, at what was then Price Waterhouse, from actor Richard Crenna the day after the ballot deadline. He said his secretary had failed to mail his ballot, he had just discovered it, and asked if he could send it by courier immediately. I told him, as politely as possible, that the deadline had passed, and there were no exceptions to the rule. He understood, just thought he would give it the old college try.

Once PricewaterhouseCoopers has tabulated the votes, the winners’ names will be placed in sealed, foil-lined envelopes. Only two people at PWC will know the results before the envelopes are opened onstage Oscar Night®, Sunday, 25 February, lead partners Brad Oltmanns and Rick Rosas. 5,830 final ballots were mailed to voting members of the Academy on Wednesday, 31 January.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2006 will be presented that night at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®. The Oscars® will be televised live by the ABC Television Network at 5 p.m. PST (8 p.m. EST).

The evening begins with a half-hour arrivals segment, “The Road to the Oscars®,” before the start of the presentation ceremony at 5 p.m., PST. Film historian, television host, and Hollywood Reporter columnist Robert Osborne will once again serve as the Academy's red carpet celebrity greeter. Vogue editor-at-large André Leon Talley will be the voice of fashion, and Allyson Waterman will interview the various celebrities.

Final Oscar® Ballots Mailed Today & Tidbits

Final ballots for the 79th Academy Awards® were mailed today to the 5,830 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Completed ballots must be returned to Pricewaterhouse-Coopers by 5 p.m. Tuesday, February 20. Ballots received after the deadline will not be counted.

Listed on the ballots are nominees in 19 Oscar® categories. Separate ballots for five Awards categories (Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, Foreign Language Film, and Animated and Live Action Short Films) 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®, Sunday, February 25.

TIDBITS:

1 - Laura Ziskin, 79th Academy Awards® telecast producer, announced yesterday that Vogue editor-at-large André Leon Talley will be the voice of fashion for “Road to the Oscars®,” the Oscar red carpet arrivals segment. Talley would be one of four commentators tapped to co-host the pre-show. Talley’s comments will focus on red carpet fashions.

2 - Representing Algeria, Canada, Denmark, Germany and Mexico, five of the world’s leading filmmakers will participate in the Academy’s standing-room-only Foreign Language Film Award (FLFA) Nominees Symposium on Saturday, February 24, at 10 a.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. In addition to presenting clips from the nominated films, the two-hour event will also provide the opportunity for questions from the audience. Doors open at 9 a.m. All seating is unreserved.

Free advance tickets to the Foreign Language Film Award Nominees Symposium are necessary to secure admission. There is a two ticket per person limit. Tickets will be available beginning tomorrow, February 1st, at the Academy’s ticket office. For ticket order information, call (310) 247-3600 or visit http://www.oscars.org/events.

3 - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced 15 winners of Scientific and Technical Academy Awards on 11 January, which will be presented at the Beverly Wilshire hotel on Saturday, February 10.

Awards Administration Director Rich Miller said that unlike other Academy Awards, achievements receiving Scientific and Technical Awards do not have to have been developed and introduced during 2006. “The achievement can be a device or a discovery, a formula or a method, but it must demonstrate a proven record of contributing significant value to the process of making motion pictures,” Miller said.

4 - For the 18th consecutive year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has chosen special events producer Cheryl Cecchetto to produce its annual Governors Ball, the post-telecast celebration for the 79th Academy Awards® on Sunday, February 25, 2007. Cecchetto, along with her Sequoia Productions team, will work with Governors Ball Chair Cheryl Boone Isaacs (not Pat's daughter) to manage every detail pertaining to the event, including décor, entertainment, food and personnel.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2006 will be presented on Sunday, February 25, 2007, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network at 5 p.m. PST (8 p.m. EST), beginning with a half-hour arrivals segment, “The Road to the Oscars.”