89th Academy Awards Winners

It is true, I was not excited about this year Academy Awards as knew my favorites were not going to win plus on top, I really dislike Jimmy Kimmel, and expected to fall asleep because of a boring show. Gee, I was absolutely wrong (!!!) and I'm glad that no matter all my negative thoughts before the show, I watched as to my HUGE unexpected surprise, last night show was one of the few Academy Awards ceremony I can say I enjoyed beyond all my expectations!

Before getting into the movies, have to say that the show was great as producers made the show all about movies and winners, with multiple clips of actors winning their Oscars plus a few presenters talking about other actors they admire.  That was great for me and yes, kept me awake expecting for more of the same and I got it!  Then got the nominated songs being performed and the performances were distributed along the ceremony, which also kept me awake (lol!); but the best was the performances, especially the Moana song with those dancers with flags that made beautiful flowers (even when one flag hit the singer and she continued as nothing happened); also La La Land songs were great but it was Justin Timberlake who stole the show with his show opening number that definitively set the mood and suggested the night was going to be "different" and boy, it was.



Kimmel to my surprise was okay, I laughed with some of his dumb-dumb jokes and perhaps was my imagination but got the impression that he appeared a lot more than previous ceremony hosts.  Truth is that he kept the show flowing and was an okay conductor.  The parachute gimmick was alright but somehow made me think about those life-saving parachutes in the Hunger Games (LOL).  Contrary to many I did enjoyed the so-called "cinema tourists" that went live into the show; IF gimmick was not staged or was staged is irrelevant as the idea was funny for me and as many reacted via Twitter, I was a bit jealous, wishing that happened to me! (LOL)  Not ashamed to admit that I could go star-struck with seeing Meryl Streep in person!

Let's talk about the "incident". Was getting shattered with La La Land winning top awards, started to feel the too-long lenght of the show (3 hours and 49 minutes) and almost turn off the TV; but suddenly noticed all the fuzz in the stage and yes, the inconceivable happened: I was speechless!  The only thing I could tweet was "that was awkward...".  See, just a few hours before the show I was talking with friends and said was impossible for Moonlight to win top award because it was a gay movie.  No lesbian or gay interest movie has ever won the top award, some had gotten close like Brokeback Mountain or Kiss of the Spiderwoman, but most have been ignored (like Carol last year) or have been given other Academy awards.

Today, everyone is talking about the gaffe but not many are talking about the awesome fact: a LGTB movie has finally broken the 89-years of "tradition" and won the Best Motion Picture of the Year from the most prestigious movie award in the world!!! YAY! Obviously was a gay-interest movie, but will not elaborate as wish to continue the milestone celebration, but hope soon there will be a lesbian-interest movie being honored with the same award, sigh.

Also undeniable is the fact that Moonlight is a gay movie about black men and yes, it is also the first time that an African-American movie wins and is NOT about civil rights or race relations, which is the type of African-America picture the Academy recognizes,  like 12 Years A Slave, Lincoln, In the Heat of the Night or even Driving Miss Daisy.  Another milestone.

So, no matter what all are talking today, last night show was one that those that love cinema and didn't watched (ratings are a tad down from last year) will regret it as yes, was an historic night for LGBT and African-American cinema.  Great!

Now to the the great news, one expected and another not expected.  We all knew Viola Davis performance belonged to the Best Actress category and NOT to the Supporting Actress but well, you know what publicists, producers and other industry personnel do; the FACT is Viola Davis has her so-much-well-deserved Oscar finally and I was genuinely happy for her. Most important Viola Davis has become the first black actor (ie male or female) to win an Oscar, Emmy and Tony!  Maybe Viola could surprise us and win a Grammy to become a member of the very exclusive group of EGOT's.  Yes, me like many, was expecting Toni Erdmann to win as film won "everything", so imagine my surprise when one of my most-favorite contemporary directors won instead!  That was awesome!  Truth is that there was a "campaign" to promote film as winner just because of Asghar Farhadi nationality, but I'm still naive and wish to think The Salesman was honored because is a great movie!

Ah! don't get me wrong, I liked La La Land and believe had great production design and outstanding cinematography with special emphasis in the incredibly-good use of color in the most unusual ways plus yes, I do believe Damien Chazelle deserved an Oscar but I give it to him more for what he did in Whiplash than what he accomplished in La La Land. Also confirm that enjoyed Moonlight and to my huge surprise found Hacksaw Ridge very entertaining.  If you are wondering, from those nominated films my Oscar went to Lion, the Best Actress to Viola Davis and from those nominated to Natalie Portman, Best Supporting Actress to Nicole Kidman no more than 10 minutes absolutely awesome performance, Best Actor to Viggo Mortensen (it's about time as he should won for his performance in Eastern Promises), and Best Supporting Actor to none of the nominated (lol).

Will no more talk about Isabelle Huppert as yes had hope, but realistically Elle is not La Mome, so knew chances were on the very-low side.  Sigh.

But the great news is that we survived another American Awards season and there are still more annual awards pending from other great cinema countries.  Still the greatest news is that Cannes season is more than open as of today!!! Bravo.

To check winners at official site go here.  Winners are in *BLUE.

Best Motion Picture of the Year
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
La La Land
Lion
Manchester by the Sea
*Moonlight

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
Ma vie de Courgette (My Life as a Zucchini)
La Tortue Rouge (The Red Turtle)
*Zootopia

Best Documentary Feature
Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea)
I Am Not Your Negro
Life, Animated
*O.J.: Made in America
13th 

Best Foreign Language Film
En man som heter Ove (A Man Called Ove), Hannes Holm, Sweden
*فروشنده  Forushande (The Salesman), Asghar Farhadi, Iran
Tanna, Martin Butler and Bentley Dean, Australia
Toni Erdmann, Maren Ade, Germany
Under Sandet (Land of Mine), Martin Zandvliet, Denmark

Achievement in Directing
Denis Villeneuve for Arrival
Mel Gibson for Hacksaw Ridge
*Damien Chazelle for La La Land
Keneth Lonergan for Manchester by the Sea
Barry Jenkins for Moonlight

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Isabelle Huppert in Elle
Ruth Negga in Loving
Natalie Portman in Jackie
*Emma Stone in La La Land
Meryl Streep in Florence Foster Jenkins

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
*Viola Davis in Fences
Naomi Harris in Moonlight
Nicole Kidman in Lion
Octavia Spencer in Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams in Manchester by the Sea

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
*Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea
Andrew Garfield in Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling in La La Land
Viggo Mortensen in Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington in Fences

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
*Mahershala Ali in Moonlight
Jeff Bridges in Hell or High Water
Lucas Hedges in Manchester by the Sea
Dev Patel in Lion
Michael Shannon in Nocturnal Animals

Best Adapted Screenplay
Eric Heisserer for Arrival
August Wilson for Fences
Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi for Hidden Figures
Luke Davies for Lion
*Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney for Moonlight

Best Original Screenplay
Taylor Sheridan for Hell or High Water
Damien Chazelle for La La Land
Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou for The Lobster
*Kenneth Lonergan for Manchester by the Sea
Mike Mills for 20th Century Women

Achievement in Cinematography
Bradford Young for Arrival
*Linus Sandgren for La La Land
Greig Fraser for Lion
James Laxton for Moonlight
Rodrigo Prieto for Silence

Achievement in Film Editing
Joe Walker for Arrival
*John Gilbert for Hacksaw Ridge
Jake Roberts for Hell or High Water
Tom Cross for La La Land
Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon for Moonlight

Achievement in Production Design
Patrice Vermette and Paul Hotte for Arrival
Stuart Craig and Anna Pinnock for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Jess Gonchor and Nancy Haigh for Hail, Caesar!
*David Wasco and Sandy Reynolds-Wasco for La La Land
Guy Hendrix Dyas and Gene Serdena for Passengers

Achievement in Visual Effects
Craig Hammack, Jason Snell, Jason Billington and Burt Dalton for Deepwater Horizon
Stephane Ceretti, Richard Bluff, Vincent Cirelli and Paul Corbould for Doctor Strange
*Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Dan Lemmon for The Jungle Book
Steve Emerson, Oliver Jones, Brian McLean and Brad Schiff for Kubo and the Two Strings
John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel and Neil Corbould for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Achievement in Sound Editing
*Sylvain Bellemare for Arrival
Wylie Stateman and Renée Tondelli for Deepwater Horizon
Robert Mackenzie and Andy Wright for Hacksaw Ridge
Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Latrou Morgan for La La Land
Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman for Sully

Achievement in Sound Mixing
Bernard Gariépy Strobl and Claude La Haye for Arrival
*Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace for Hacksaw Ridge
Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee and Steve A. Morrow for La La Land
David Parker, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Mac Ruth for 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Achievement in Costume Design
Joanna Johnston for Allied
*Colleen Atwood for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Consolata Boyle for Florence Foster Jenkins
Madelline Fontaine for Jackie
Mary Zophres for La La Land

Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling
Eva von Bahr and Love Larson for En man som heter Ove (A Man Called Ove)
Joel Harlow and Richard Alonzo for Star Trek Beyond
*Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson for Suicide Squad

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)
Mica Levi for Jackie
*Justin Hurwitz for La La Land
Dustin O'Halloran and Hauschka for Lion
Nicholas Britell for Moonlight
Thomas Newman for Passengers

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)
Audition (The Fools Who Dream) from La La Land, music by Justin Hurwitz, lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
Can't Stop The Feeling from Trolls, music and lyrics by Justin Timberlake, Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster
*City of Stars from La La Land, music by Justin Hurwitz, lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
The Empty Chair from Jim: The James Foley Story, music and lyric by J. Ralph and Sting
How Far I'll Go from Moana, music and lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda

Short Films

Best Animated Short
Blind Vaysha
Borrowed Time
Pear Cider and Cigarettes
Pearl
*Piper

Best Documentary Short
Extremis
4.1 Miles
Joe's Violin
Watani: My Homeland
*The White Helmets

Best Live Action Short
Ennemis Intérieurs
La Femme et le TGV
Silent Nights
*Sing
Timecode

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1/24/17
Perhaps I'm not the majority but did enjoy more the digital nominations announcement than the previous format used by the Academy as a tape production is "safer" than a live production and yes, more easy to get what we are for watching: the nominees! Still the second part of the live stream was also broadcasted by major American networks so had to turn down my TV as everything was stereo with some time delay (don't know what for). Nevertheless, my spontaneous impression is that nominations show came and went TOO-fast, fun didn't lasted long, sigh.

Will start by sharing that Venezia73 has the most nominations! Yes, this morning nominations confirm that the Italian major film festival has become the Oscars harbinger.  To me that's not good news as these films occupy spaces that should belong to other more interesting films, those that need a festival push for major world distribution.  But well, the fact is La La Land (14), Arrival (8), Jackie (3), Hacksaw Ridge (6), and Nocturnal Animals (1) premiered at 2016 Biennale; also Tanna (1) but premiered at Venezia72. Still, the festival that has more movies honored by the Academy is, obviously, Cannes 2016 as Hell or High Water (4), Captain Fantastic (1) Elle (1), The Salesman (1), Loving (1), Toni Erdmann (1), My Life as a Zucchini (1), and La Tortue Rouge (1) premiered at this festival; also The Lobster (1) but premiered at Cannes 2015.  Berlinale 2016 only has two films with nominations but one belongs to the Golden Bear winner, Fire at Sea; the other to Hail Caesar!

La La Land leads with fourteen (14) nominations to tie the record held by 1950 All About Eve and 1997 Titanic and beats the record nominations held by another musical film, Mary Poppins (13).  Arrival and Moonlight follow with eight (8) nominations each and with six (6) nominations each, Hacksaw Ridge, Lion and Manchester by the Sea.  With four (4) Fences and Hell or High Water; with three (3) Hidden Figures and Jackie; with two (2) Deepwater Horizon, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Florence Foster Jenkins, Kubo and the Two Strings, A Man Called Ove, Moana, Passengers and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

In the acting categories the best news is Isabelle Huppert getting her first Oscar nomination!  Know many were hoping but most news were guessing if she could make it and just this morning, TV commentators say that race is between Emma Stone and Natalie Portman BUT after a major news host asked about Huppert as possible winner, answer came something like this: as she surprisingly made it, then maybe she can surprisingly win! (lol).  Nevertheless, I'm very happy as there is no other female actor that works harder, travels almost all genres, has an extensive filmography, and SO-MANY extraordinary performances as Isabelle Huppert, she deserves all honors even when those came from a performance that is not her best!

Meryl Streep extends her lead as the most nominated performer with her 20th nomination, to think that someone recently call her "overrated" actress, perceptions and reality, sigh.  Seven (7) individuals are first-time nominees: Andrew Garfield, Mahershala Ali, Lucas Hedges, Dev Patel, Isabelle Huppert, Ruth Negga and Naomie Harris; while six (6) are previous acting winners: Denzel Washington, Jeff Bridges, Natalie Portman, Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Octavia Spencer.  The most obvious acting snub goes to Amy Adams in Arrival, especial when film got so many honors today.

Actors get nominations for more roles than acting and this edition has Denzel Washington being nominated for Best Actor and producer of Fences; he's the seventh individual to receive those two nominations joining Warren Beatty, Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Bradley Cooper.  Then there is Matt Damon who becomes only the third individual to be nominated in the Acting, Writing and Best picture categories; he joins Warren Beatty and George Clooney.

Let's recall that Academy members from each of the 17 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 a vote of multi-branch screening committees.  All voting members are eligible to select the Best Picture nominees.

Active members of the Academy are eligible to vote for the winners in ALL 24 categories beginning Monday, February 13 through Tuesday, February 21.  The Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 26 at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood and Highland center in Hollywood and will be televised on ABC from 7:00pm ET.  The Oscars will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

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42nd César Awards Winners

Will update with winners as soon as they're announced.

Will comment tomorrow but the best speech -with great humor- belong to George Clooney, Jean-Paul Belmondo homage was emotional for me and sooo happy Xavier Dolan won two awards as well Céline Sciamma winning!!! YAY!  Also very glad Isabelle Huppert won and we will see next Sunday if she repeats Marion Cotillard achievement of winning a Cesar and an Oscar for the same film.

Finally didn't comment, so it be.  Still, during the weekend Isabelle Huppert won the Spirit Award but -unfortunately- not the Oscar. Sigh.  

Winners are in *BLUE.  Au revoir, à l'année prochaine!

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1/25/17
This morning in Fouquet's restaurant on Champs Elysees the Academy President, Alain Terzian, held a press conference to announce the nominations for the current edition of the awards that honor French cinema.  He also addressed the controversy around the appointment of the president of this years' awards, his resignation and said nothing about a replacement.

Elle by Paul Verhoeven and Frantz by François Ozon lead with eleven (11) nominations each followed by Ma Loute (Slack Bay) by Bruno Dumont with nine (9), Mal de Pierres by Nicole Garcia with eight (8) and Divines by Houda Benyamina with seven (7) nominations.

Terzain also congratulated Isabelle Huppert on her Oscar nomination and today's César nomination is the16th time she's honored; she has won once for her performance in La Cérémonie by Claude Chabrol .  There are seven actresses with a Best Actress nomination and still there are some very visible snubs like Juliette Binoche, Adèle Haenel, Isabelle Adjani, Kristen Stewart and more.  Have no doubt that 2016 was a great year for actresses performances even when believe that the year was so-so for French films, sigh. Nevertheless, I'm very pleased with Soko, Sidse Babett Knudsen and Marion Cotillard nominations.

Perhaps is unnecessary to say that the majority of films come from Cannes 2016 but this year is remarkable the amount of films that come from the festival.

Among the Best Film snubs, the most remarkable absent are Nocturama, L'Avenir, and Personal Shopper.  Still, it's fantastic that one of the best French films I saw in 2016 got a nomination, I'm referring to Anne Fontaine's Les Innocentes.

This year the Academy will honor Jean-Paul Belmondo with a tribute and George Clooney will receive an honorary César.

Best Film
Divines, Houda Benyamina
*Elle, Paul Verhoeven
Frantz, François Ozon
Les Innocentes (The Innocents), Anne Fointaine
Ma Loute (Slack Bay), Bruno Dumont
Mal de pierres (From the Land of the Moon), Nicole Garcia
Victoria, Justine Triet



Best Debut Film
Cigarettes et chocolat chaud, Sophie Reine
La Danseuse (The Dancer), Stéphanie Di Giusto
Diamant Noir (Dark Diamond), Athur Harari
*Divines, Houda Benyamina
Rosalie Blum,  Julien Rappeneau

Best Documentary Film
Dernières nouvelles du cosmos, Julie Bertucelli
Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea), Gianfranco Rosi
*Merci patron!, François Rufin
Swagger, Olivier Babinet
Voyage à travers le cinéma français (Journey Through French Cinema), Bertrand Tavernier

Best Animated Feature
La jeune fille sans mains (The Girl Without Hands), Sébastien Laudenbach
*Ma vie de Cougette (My Life as a Zuchinni), Claude Barras
La tortue rouge (The Red Turtle), Michael Dudok de Wit

Best Foreign Film
Aquarius, Kleber Mendonça Filho
Baccalaureat (Graduation), Cristian Mungiu
La fille inconnue (The Unknown Girl), Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardene
*I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach
Juste la fin du monde (It's Only the End of the World), Xavier Dolan
Manchester by the Sea, Kenneth Lonergan
Toni Erdmann, Maren Ade

Best Director
Houda Benyamina for Divines
Paul Verhoeven for Elle
François Ozon for Frantz
Anne Fontaine for Les Innocentes (The Innocents)
*Xavier Dolan for Juste la fin du monde (It's Only the End of the World)
Bruno Dumont for Ma Loute (Slack Bay)
Nicole Garcia for Mal de pierres (From the Land of the Moon)

Best Actress
Judith Chemla in Une Vie (A Woman's Life)
Marion Cotillard in Mal de pierres (From the Land of the Moon)
Virginie Efira in Victoria
Marina Foïs in Irréprochable
*Isabelle Huppert in Elle
Sidse Babett Knudsen in La fille de Brest
Soko in La Danseuse (The Dancer)

Best Supporting Actress
Nathalie Baye in Juste la fin du monde (It's Only the End of the World)
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi in Ma Loute (Slack Bay)
Anne Consigny in Elle
*Déborah Lukumuena in Divines
Mélanie Thierry in La Danseuse (The Dancer)

Most Promising Actress
*Oulaya Amamra in Divines
Paula Beer in Frantz
Lily-Rose Depp in La Danseuse (The Dancer)
Noemie Merlant in Le Ciel Attendra (Heaven Will Wait)
Raph in Ma Loute (Slack Bay)

Best Actor
François Cluzet in Médecin de campagne (Irreplaceable)
Pierre Deladonchamps in Le Fils de Jean (A Kid)
Nicolas Duvauchelle in Je ne suis pas un salaud (A Decent Man)
Fabrice Luchini in Ma Loute (Slack Bay)
Pierre Niney in Frantz
Omar Sy in Chocolat
*Gaspard Ulliel in Juste la fin du monde (It's Only the End of the World)

Best Supporting Actor
Gabriel Arcand in  Le fils de Jean (A Kid)
Vincent Cassel in Juste la fin du monde (It's Only the End of the World)
Vincent Lacoste in Victoria
Laurent Laffite in Elle
Melvil Poupaud in Victoria
*James Thierrée in Chocolat

Most Promising Actor
Jonas Bloquet in Elle 
Damien Bonnard in Rester vertical (Staying Vertical)
Corentin Fila in Quand on a 17 ans (Being 17)
Kacey Mottet Klein in Quand on a 17 ans (Being 17)
*Nils Schneider in Diamant Noir (Dark Diamond)

Best Original Screenplay
Romain Compingt, Houda Benyamina, and Malik Rumeau for Divines
*Solveig Anspach, Jean-Luc Gaget for L'effet aquatique (The Aquatic Effect)
Sabrina B. Karine, Alice Vial, Pascal Bonitzer, and Anne Fontaine for Les Innocentes (The Innocents)
Bruno Dumont for Ma Loute (Slack Bay)
Justine Triet for Victoria

Best Adaptation
David Birke for Elle
Séverine Bosschem, Emmanuelle Bercot for La fille de Brest
François Ozon for Frantz
*Céline Sciamma for Ma vie de Cougette (My Life as a Zuchinni)
Nicole Garcia and Jacques Fieschi for Mal de pierres (From the Land of the Moon)
Katell Quillévéré and Gilles Taurand for Réparer les vivants (Heal the Living)

Best Cinematography
Stéphane Fontaine for Elle
*Pascal Marti for Frantz
Caroline Champetier for Les Innocentes (The Innocents)
Guillaume Deffontaines for Ma Loute (Slack Bay)
Christophe Beaucarne for Mal de pierres (From the Land of the Moon)

Best Editing
Loic Lallemand and Vincent Tricon for Divines
Job ter Burg for Elle
Laure Gardette for Frantz
*Xavier Dolan for Juste la fin du monde (It's Only the End of the World)
Simon Jacquet for Mal de pierres (From the Land of the Moon)

Best Original Score
Gabriel Yared for Chocolat
*Ibrahim Malouf for Dans les forêts de Sibérie (In the Forests of Siberia)
Anne Dudley for Elle
Philippe Rombi for Frantz
Sophie Hunger for Ma vie de Cougette (My Life as a Zuchinni)

Best Sound
Brigitte Taillandier, Vincent Guillon, and Stéphane Thiébaut for Chocolat
Jean-Paul Mugel, Alexis Place, Cyril Holtz, and Damien Lazzerini for Elle
Martin Boisseau, Benoît Gargonne, and Jean-Paul Hurier for Frantz
Jean-Pierre Duret, Sylvain Malbrant, and Jean-Pierre Laforce for Mal de pierres (From the Land of the Moon)
*Marc Engels, Fred Demolder, Sylvain Réty, and Jean-Paul Hurier for L'Odyssée (The Odyssey)

Best Costumes
*Anaïs Romand for La danseuse (The Dancer)
Pascaline Chavanne for Frantz
Catherine Leterrier for Mal de pierres (From the Land of the Moon)
Alexandra Charles for Ma Loute (Slack Bay)
Madeline Fontaine for Une Vie (A Woman's Life)

Best Production Design
*Jérémie D. Lignol for Chocolat
Carlos Conti for La danseuse (The Dancer)
Michel Barthélémy for Frantz
Riton Dupire-Clément for Ma Loute (Slack Bay)
Katia Wyszkop pour Planetarium

Best Animated Short
Café froid, François Leroy and Stéphanie Lansaque
*Celui qui a deux âmes (He Who Has Two Souls), Fabrice Luang-Vija
Journal animé, Donato Sansone
Peripheria, David Coquard-Dassault

Best Short Film (tie)
Après Suzanne, Felix Moati
Au Bruit des clochettes, Chabname Zariab
Chasse royale , Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret
*Maman(s),  Maïmouna Doucouré
*Vers la Tendresse, Alice Diop

The awards ceremony will be on February 24 at Salle Pleyel, Jérôme Commandeur is the host and will be broadcast live by Canal +.  All nominated films will be screened at cinémas Le Balzac and the 3 Luxembourg in Paris.  Now the 4,287 active members will have to vote their selections.

The Poster with Marion Cotillard
Photo is from the film Blood Ties by Guillaume Canet.  

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42ème Cérémonie des César 2017 Live Streaming

Soon the red carpet will start and 2 hours after the ceremony.  Here you will find available LIVE streams to red carpet and after, the only one for the ceremony.


Red Carpet will start soon at CNews here.  Live video is ON right now.




Dailymotion

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19th Costume Designers Guild Awards Winners

Finally the last of the guilds announced their award winners last night and will not deny that I'm disappointed with the results as my favorite did not make it.  Sigh.

No doubt that the highlight of the night was when James Corden presented the Distinguished Collaborator Award to Meryl Streep.  Also with a guild award, Lilly Collins received the Spotlight Award from none other than Matt Bomer.





When we check what has happened during the last 10 years we find that one CDGA winner went to win 6 times the Oscar for costume design, four came from the period category and two from fantasy category.  So based on this data, we would expect next Oscar winner to be from period or fantasy categories but then when we check the Oscars nominees, surprise(!) CDGA winners in those categories, Hidden Figures and Doctor Strange, do not have nominations!  So, reality says that Oscar winner will not come from those two categories and perhaps CDGA Contemporary category winner could get it.

Then we have to consider first,  Oscar voting already closed yesterday -no winner influence-; second, this guild has not too-many Academy voters, and three, there is always a possibility with the vote of Academy members, my favorite could win (lol).   Seriously, I saw nothing spectacular in La La Land costumes,  Allied and Florence Foster Jenkins costumes were acceptable, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them costumes were not as great as for example, Doctor Strange; which leaves Jackie with great costumes that showcase very-well known dresses and costumes.

Anyway back to CDGA winners, to check all winners you can go to official site here where winners will be eventually or go to official twitter here that has all last night winners.

Winners are below in *BLUE.

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1/12/17
The Costume Designers Guild announced today the nominees for the 2017 edition of the awards that honor Excellence in costume design in film, television, and short-form programs.

As previously announce Jeffrey Kurland will be honored with the Career Achievement Award and none other than Meryl Streep will receive the Distinguished Collaborator Award.

The guild also announced that Mandy Moore will host the awards gala.   “I am honored to be hosting this year’s ceremony,” she said. “I’ve always been in awe of my Costume Designers and am especially thrilled to be working with the brilliant Hala Bahmet on our series ‘This Is Us.’ I’m excited to join in celebrating the art of costume design and help shine a spotlight on the artists who are so essential to character creation.”

Excellence in Contemporary Film
Rebecca Hale for Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
Courtney Hoffman for Captain Fantastic
*Mary Zophres for La La Land
Cappi Ireland in Lion
Arianne Phillips in Nocturnal Animals



Excellence in Period Film
Marion Boyce and Margot Wilson for The Dressmaker
Consolata Boyle for Florence Foster Jenkins
Mary Zophres for Hail, Caesar!
*Renee Ehrlich Kalfus for Hidden Figures
Madeline Fontaine for Jackie




Excellence in Fantasy Film
*Alexandra Byrne for Doctor Strange
Colleen Atwood for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Deborah Cook for Kubo and the Two Strings
Colleen Atwood for Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
David Crossman and Glyn Dillion for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story



To read nominees in other media categories go official site here or official twitter here.  Awards ceremony will be held on Tuesday, February 21 at the Beverly Hilton Hills in California.

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2017 MUAHS Annual Awards Winners

Last night was a busy night in Hollywood as there were three awards ceremony to attend; but, perhaps one of the most colorful has to be from the Make-up and Hair guild that gave awards to some unexpected winners while snubbing my favorites (lol).

Most interesting is the Make Up top award winner as went to a film with no Oscar nomination and great make-up in one of the "movies"; see, I believe there were 2 "movies" in Nocturnal Animals, one very unpleasant to watch and another very pleasant with absolutely great esthetics -the later has fantastic make-up.

On the other hand, Best Period and/or Character Make-up went to a film with an Oscar nomination, Suicide Squad, a film with obvious fantastic make-up but this win could mean an Oscar win?  Don't know as guild has not many members that vote in the Academy, at least when we compare it against the largest actor, director or writers guild.  Then perhaps another MUAHS award winner, Star Trek Beyond, could have better chances to win among all Academy voters.

To check winners in all categories go here.  Winners are below in *BLUE.

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1/11/17
Today Sue Cabral-Ebert, President of the Make-up Artists and Hair Stylistst Guild (MUAHS), announced the nominees in twenty-three (23) categories honoring make-up artists and hair stylists outstanding achievements in motion pictures, television, commercials and live theater.

Said Cabral-Ebert, “This year’s record entries for the Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild Awards from the talented global community of artisans is very exciting, and we look forward to celebrating their unique achievements and exceptional bodies of work. Congratulations to all the nominees who should be very proud of their extraordinary creations!”

Feature-Length Motion Pictures

Best Contemporary Make-Up
Captain Fantastic
La La Land
Manchester by the Sea
*Nocturnal Animals
Zoolander 2

Best Period and/or Character Make-Up
Doctor Strange
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Hail, Caesar!
Loving
*Suicide Squad

Best Special Make-Up Effects
Deadpool
Doctor Strange
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
*Star Trek Beyond
Suicide Squad

Best Contemporary Hair Styling
*La La Land
Nocturnal Animals
Sully
The Girl on the Train
Zoolander 2

Best Period and/or Character Hair Styling
Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them
Florence Foster Jenkins
*Hail, Caesar!
Jackie
Loving

To check nominations in all media categories go official site here.  As previously announced, Ryan Murphy, producer, director and screenwriter, will receive this year’s Distinguished Artisan Award. Make-up artist Leonard Engelman and hair stylist Barbara Lorenz, will receive the Guild’s Lifetime Achievement Awards.  Final ballot on-line voting closes on February 10, 2017. Winners will be announced on February 19 at the Awards gala and live on Twitter via @Local_706 (#MUAHSawards).

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2017 Writers Guild Awards Winners

The 69th annual Writers Guild Awards took place at simultaneous ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles on Sunday night, or so say the original intentions as in twitter we could read several West coast people (film critics mainly) complaining about how the East coast spoiled the winner for them (LOL) because they were ahead.

Gee, there was a time when you were attending a ceremony and all you did was chat, drink, eat and watch what happens; now seems everyone is not only tweeting about the event BUT also reading what others are writing, LOL!

There was a time when you could see the awards ceremony but last night had not time to look for live stream, so don't know if there was one or not.  Nevertheless from industry press read very long articles about the many presenters and recipients jokes and speeches, mostly about the current political situation; some where really funny but one was really serious and with a clear, relevant message.

If we consider the Scripter award winner and the WGA Original Screenplay winner then we little doubt that Oscars Original Screenplay front-runner, the one to beat, is Moonlight.  Right? Well, NO. See Moonlight has an Oscar nomination but it's NOT for Original Screenplay but for Adapted Screenplay were will be competing with Arrival, that is WGA's winner in Adapted Screenplay.  Confused?  LOL.

If Oscars give the writing award to Moonlight will be for what they consider as Adapted Screenplay and obviously leaves open the race to Writing Original Screenplay where there is no WGA winning script competing.  But there is always a chance that Arrival wins Oscars Adapted Screenplay (there are a lot of WGA members that also are Academy voters) and what many expect, Manchester by the Sea wins Original Screenplay.  Still confused? Then wait for next Sunday to clarify whatever doubts you have.  Sigh.  Me, I'm clear: my favorite script from my favorite movie will not win; so, why bother?  Unless is to play the office pool or the many online guessing games.

To check winners in all categories, including television, go to official site here.  Winners are below in *BLUE.

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1/15/17
Yesterday the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) and the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) announced the nominations for outstanding achievement in screenwriting during 2016; best news for me are the inclusion of films like Nocturnal Animals and Loving, two films that have been absent in most up-to-date film critics honors.

As announced previously the 2017 Screen Laurel Award goes to Oliver Stone and the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television to Aaron Sorkin. The East group will honor John Waters with the WGAE's Career Achievement Award and Steve O'Donnell with receive the Herb Sargent Award for Comedy Excellence.

Feature films eligible for a Writers Guild Award were exhibited theatrically for at least one week in Los Angeles during 2016 and were written under the WGA’s Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA) or under a bona fide collective bargaining agreement of the Writers Guild of Canada, Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, Writers Guild of Ireland, Writers’ Guild of South Africa, New Zealand Writers Guild, Film Writers’ Association (India), La Guilde Francaise des Scénaristes (France), Scriptwriters Guild of Israel, Société des Auteurs de Radio, Télévision et Cinéma (Québec), or Verband Deutscher Drehbuchautoren (VDD/Germany), collectively known as affiliate Guilds.

Theatrical screenplays produced under the jurisdiction of the WGA or an affiliate Guild must have been submitted for Writers Guild Awards consideration.

Documentaries eligible for a Writers Guild Award featured an onscreen writing credit and were exhibited theatrically in Los Angeles or New York for one week during 2016. Theatrical documentaries must have been produced under the jurisdiction of the WGA or an affiliate Guild to be eligible for awards consideration.

The Writers Guild Awards honor outstanding writing in film, television, new media, videogames, news, radio, promotional, and graphic animation categories. The following are the nominees in the Feature Films categories.

Original Screenplay
Hell or High Water, Written by Taylor Sheridan
La La Land, Written by Damien Chazelle
Loving, Written by Jeff Nichols
Manchester by the Sea, Written by Kenneth Lonergan
*Moonlight, Screenplay by Barry Jenkins, Story by Tarell McCraney

Adapted Screenplay
*Arrival, Screenplay by Eric Heisserer; Based on the Story “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang
Deadpool, Written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick; Based on the X-Men Comic Books
Fences, Screenplay by August Wilson; Based on his Play
Hidden Figures, Screenplay by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi; Based on the Book by Margot Lee Shetterly
Nocturnal Animals, Screenplay by Tom Ford; Based on the Novel Tony and Susan by Austin Wright

Documentary Screenplay
Author: The JT LeRoy Story, Written by Jeff Feuerzeig
*Command and Control, Telescript by Robert Kenner & Eric Schlosser, Story by Brian Pearle and Kim Roberts; Based on the book Command and Control by Eric Schlosser;
Zero Days, Written by Alex Gibney

To check nominees in all categories go here.  The awards will be presented at concurrent ceremonies on Sunday, February 19, 2017, in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton and in New York City at the Edison Ballroom, WGA West awards ceremony will be hosted by Patton Oswalt and WGA East awards ceremony will be hosted by Lewis Black.

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64th Annual Golden Reel Award Winners

Last night the guild had their awards ceremony and perhaps the most surprising event of the night was Quentin Tarantino making a surprise appearance to present the Career Achievement Award to Harry Cohen.  Also receiving an annual award was Guillermo del Toro but his was given by Scott Gershin, supervising sound editor and designer, nevertheless del Toro gave an interesting acceptance speech.

Hacksaw Ridge lead with two awards in the feature categories, dialogue/ADR and effects/Foley, which makes film the front-runner to Oscars Best Sound Editing category.  Have I share that to my biggest surprise -as  dislike war movies- I enjoyed this movie beyond my wildest imagination?  It's a very good entertaining movie with a solid structure -meaning: very well crafted- and great tech specs.  Film deserves all the recognition is getting.

Winners are not yet at their official site but eventually will be here.  If you can't wait for the official site check news from industry magazine here to find winners in all categories.

Winners for feature films are below in *BLUE.

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1/29/17
Finally the last of the guilds announced its nominations and yes, not often guilds nominations come after the Academy announces its nominees but this year it happened, diluting a bit the interest on the nominees but still expecting the winners to help better guess winners at the Oscars.

As every year the Motion Picture Sound Editors present The Golden Reel Awards in which acknowledge the past year best work in various areas of sound editing:  Dialogue, ADR, Effects, Foley and Music.

Arrival, Hacksaw Ridge and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story lead the pack with three (3) nominations each. Arrival and Hacksaw Ridge are also nominated for the Academy Award sound editing, so the field is narrowed for those betting in the Oscars category.

As previously announced, honorary awards will be presented to director Guillermo del Toro, MPSE Filmmaker Award and sound editor Harry Cohen, MPSE Career Achievement Award.

Best Sound Editing: Feature English Language - Sound Effects and Foley in a Feature Film
Sylvain Bellemare, Nicolas Becker, Gregory Vincent, Dave Whitehead, Olivier Calvert, Michelle Child, Pierre-Jules Audet, Alan Murray, Mathieu Beaudin, Mimi Allard, Daniel Capeille, Simon Girard, Patrick Rioux, Steven Ghouti, Olivier Guillaume, Niels Barletta, Luc Raymond, Nicholas Becker, and Gregory Vincent for Arrival
Wayne Lemmer, Jim Brookshire, Dan O'Connel, John T Cucci, Craig Henighan, Warren Hendriks, and Ai Ling Lee for Deadpool
Wylie Stateman, Renee Tondelli, Gary Hecker, Rick Owens, Harry Cohen, Sylvain Lasseur, Dror Mohar, and Kris Fenske for Deepwater Horizon
Shannon Mills, Daniel Laurie, Ryan Frias, Steve Orlando, Nia Hansen, David C. Hughes, Josh Gold, J.R. Grubbs, David Chrastka, John Roesch, and Shelley Roden for Doctor Strange
*Robert Mackenzie, Alex Francis, Mario Vaccaro, Liam Price, Tara Webb, and Steve Burgess for Hacksaw Ridge
Matthew Wood, Christopher Scarabosio, Luke Dunn Gielmuda, Ryan Frias, Frank Rinella, Ronni Pitman, Christopher Scarabosio, David Acord, Jonathan Borland, Josh Gold, and J.R. Grubbs for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Christopher Boyes, Frank Eulner, James Likowski, Dee Selby, Dennie Thorpe, Jana Vance, Ken Fischer, Andre Fenley, and David Chrastka for The Jungle Book
Shannon Mills, Daniel Laurie, Nia Hansen, David C. Hughes, Jacob Riehle, Dee Selby, John Roesch, Shelley Roden, Josh Gold, JR Grubbs, and Jeremy Bowker for Captain America: Civil War

Best Sound Editing: Feature English Language - Dialogue and ADR
Sylvain Bellemare, Stan Sakellaroupoulos, Claire Pochon and Valery Dufort-Boucher for Arrival
Jim Brookshire, Wayne Lemmer, Teri Dorman, Ben Beardwood, Laura Graham and R.J. Kizer for Deadpool
*Andy Wright, Justine Angus, Kimberly Harris, Jed Dodge and Michele Perrone for Hacksaw Ridge
Matthew Wood, Christopher Scarabosio, Richard Quinn, James Spencer and Trey Turner for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman, Katy Wood and Hugo Weng for Sully
Wayne Lemmer, Derek Vanderhorst, Susan Dawes, Helen Luttrell and R.J. Kizer for Hidden Figures
Frank Gaeta, Chris Battaglia, Harrison Meyle and Kathryn Madsen for Hell of High Water
Robert Mackenzie and Glenn Newnham for Lion

Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue and ADR in an Animation Feature Film
Steve Slanec, James Spencer, Christopher Flick, Jacob Riehle, Tim Nielsen, Ken Fischer, Jonathan Borland, Jack Whittaker, John Roesch, Shelley Roden, Bill Bernstein, and Michael Zainer for Finding Dory
Tim Chau, Travis Crotts, Catherine Harper, Gregg Barbanell, Clayton Weber, and Thomas O'Neil Younkman for Kubo and the Two Strings
*Tim Nielsen, Thom Brennan, Matthew Harrison, Earl Ghaffari, Dan Pinder, Jonathan Borland, Pascal Garneau, Lee Gilmore, John Roesch, and Shelley Roden for Moana
Christopher Barnett, Tim Nielsen, Brad Semenoff, Dug Winningham, Heikki Kossi, Bob Badami, Catherine Wilson, Jonathan Borland, and Ken Fischer for The Little Prince
Addison Teague, Dan Laurie, Christopher Flick, Willard Overstreet, Lee Gilmore, Jack Whittaker, Jeremy Bowker, John Roesch, Ronni Brown, Stephen M. Davis, Earl Ghaffari, and Daniel Waldman for Zootopia
Dennis Leonard, Steve Boeddeker, Cheryl Nardi, Richard Gould, Zach Martin, Larry Oatfield, Mac Smith, Dustin Cawood, Luke Dunn Gielmuda, John Roesch, Shelley Roden, Ronni Brown, Jana Vance, and Andre Zweers for Sing
Bruno Seznec, Sébastien Marquilly, Christine Seznec, Matthieu Michaux, Florian Fabre, and Fabien Devillers for La Tortue Rouge (The Red Turtle)

Best Sound Editing: Music Score in a Feature Film
Clint Bennett for Arrival
Matt Friedman for Hacksaw Ridge
John Finklea, Stephen Davis, and Warren Brown for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Alex Gibson, Lee Scott and Nate Underkuffler for 13 Hours
Steve Durkee, Stephen M. Davis, Nashia Wachsman, Warren Brown and Anele Onyekwere for Doctor Strange
Maarten Hofmeijer for Don't Breathe
Stephen Davis and Paul Rabjohns for Star Trek Beyond
*Michael Bauer and Peter Myles for Warcraft: The Beginning

Best Sound Editing: Music in a Musical Feature Film
Gerard McCann, Neil Stemp, and Stuart Morton for Florence Foster Jenkins
*Jason Ruder for La La Land
Earl Ghaffari and Daniel Pinder for Moana
Becky Bentham for Sing Street
Fernand Bos, Erich Stratmann, and Vicki Hiatt for Trolls

Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue and ADR in a Foreign Feature Film
Alexis Place, Katia Boutin,  Gwennolé Le Borgne, and Philippe van Leer for Elle
Toño Cubillo, Ivo Moraga, Sebastián Esquivel, Hervé Schneid, and Miguel Hormazábal for Neruda
Chul Woo Moon, Min Kyung Cho, Yoon Sung Hong, Eun Jung Kim, Suk Won Kim, and Jung Ho Lee for The Handmaiden
*Christian Schaanning, Ingela Jonsson, Espen Ronning, Lucas Nilsson, Fredrik Dalefjell, Erlend Hogstad, and Jens Johansson for The King's Choice
Fabian Schmidt, Erik Mischijew, Matz Muller, Adrian Baumeister, Jan Moser, Martin Langenbach, and Gunther Rohn for Toni Erdmann
Richard Kondal, Stelios Koupetoris, Gwilym Perry, Alex Joseph, and Alex Outhwaite for Under the Shadow

Best Sound Editing: Documentary Feature Film
Tim Boggs, Julie Pierce, Jeffrey Perkins and Alex Lee for 13th
Chris Stangroom, Stephen C. Davies, Diego Jimenez, Max Holland, Jesse Peterson, and Oscar Convers for Amanda Knox
Allan Zaleski, Dave Paterson, Larry Herman, Sylvia Menno, Grant Elder, and Ren Klyce for Before the Flood
Trip Brock, Steven Avila, Ben Whitver, Shasha Dong, Raymond Park, Peter Lago, Alexander Pugh, Matthew Salib, and Terry Boyd, Jr. for Passage To Mars
Cameron Frankley, Jon Michaels, Harrison Meyle, Melissa Muik, Dan Kenyon, and Will Digby for The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years
Lewis Goldstein, Pierre Takal, Tom Ryan, Wen Hsuan Tseng, Shaun Brennan, and Alex Soto for The Eagle Huntress
Michael Plöderl, Thomas Kathriner, Klaus Gartner, Bernhard Zorzi, and Bernd Dormayer for The Ivory Game
*Peter Horner, Al Nelson, and Andre Zweers for The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Ensemble

To check nominees in all categories go official site here.  The 64th MPSE Golden Reel Awards will be held on February 19, 2017 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel &Suites in Los Angeles.

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2017 Cannes Possible Films - The Buzz

Know we have three more months to Cannes but believe it or not many have already started to talk about the mother of all festivals perhaps was due to the perception that this years' Berlinale was on the soft side and the hope of Cannes to be strong. The good news is that there are good chances of a very strong lineup as there are master filmmakers that could have ready their films for Cannes and there is always the chance for Cannes second or more timers to go back with great movies.

No, this is not my Wish List but a compilation of possible films that could make it to Cannes. List is made from several Cannes articles plus some lists with most anticipated films of 2017, films I've been tracking and my daily readings.

As we all know, Cannes begins in Berlin, not in the red carpet but in the Industry Market, so it's no surprise that many articles appeared while the Berlinale was running and after the Berlinale Market was closed a few days back.

Before going deep into the list let me remind you of some important news, the 70th edition of the Festival de Cannes will run from May 17 to 28, Pedro Almodóvar is the Official Competition Jury President, the selection will be unveiled in mid-April by Thierry Frémaux, and Werner Herzog will receive the 2017 Carrosse d'Or.

Also this year there will be several celebrations of the milestone anniversary, with some already running like the one that started at midnight when December 31st, 2016 became January 1st, 2017. Most of these activities are sponsored by the city of Cannes (see logo in right photo), will last all year long and all are cinema related -for example on February 21st there is an event with cinematographer Pierre-William Glenn that includes the screening of 1977 Portrait de groupe avec dame d’Aleksandar Petrovic starring none other than Romy Schneider. We will talk more about the many celebratory events in a different post.

Worth mentioning is that in December 2016, the Board of Directors of the Association Française du Festival International du Film, which brings together public authorities and film industry professionals, re-elected Pierre Lescure as President of the Festival for another three-year term, from 2018 to 2020. So we will be seeing him in current edition and for three more years.

There is always chance that Thierry Frémaux (Official Selection), Edouard Waintrop (Quinzaine) and Charles Tesson (Semaine de la Critique) had to make their selections from a similar list to the following compilation. But no matter if films make it to Cannes or not, the most exciting news is that 2017 looks like another great year for outstanding cinema as there are films by some of my very favorite directors as well as with many films starring outstanding actors. So let's start the Cinema Feast with the possibility that soon we will be able to enjoy magnificent œuvres d'art.

The List

France
Mathieu Amalric with Barbara (Jeanne Balibar)
Sarunas Bartas with Frost (Vanessa Paradis)
Luc Besson with Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (Cara Delevingne, Rihanna)
Gilles Bourdos with Espèces menacées (Suzanne Clément)
Serge Bozon with Madame Hyde (Isabelle Huppert, Romain Duris and Gérard Depardieu)
Robert Campillo with 120 battements par minute (Adèle Haenel)
Laurent Cantet with L'atelier (The Workshop)
Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani with Laissez bronzer les cadavres (Let the Bodies Sunbathe!)
Edouard Deluc with Gauguin
Arnaud Desplechin with Les fantômes d’Ismael (Ismael's Ghosts) (Marion Cotillard, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Louis Garrel)
Jacques Doillon with Rodin
Ziad Doueiri with L'Insulte
Bruno Dumont with Jeannette (musical)
Albert Dupontel with Au revoir là-haut (Mélanie Thierry)
Anne Fontaine with Marvin (Isabelle Huppert)
Philippe Garrel with L'amant d'un jour (One Day Lover)
Jean-Luc Godard with Image et Parole
Michael Haneke with Happy End (Isabelle Huppert and Jean-Louis Trintignant)
Mahamat-Saleh Haroun with Une saison en France (A Season in France)
Michel Hazanavicius with Le Redoutable (Louis Garrel plays Jean-Luc Godard)
Abdellatif Kechiche with Mektoub is Mektoub
Abbas Kiarostami with 24 Frames
Sergei Loznitsa with A Gentle Creature
Noémie Lvovsky with Demain et tous les autres jours
Gaël Morel with Prendre Le Large (Leg It)
Florence Quentin with Bonne Pomme (Catherine Deneuve, Gerard Depardieu)
Jérémie Renier and Yannick Renier with Les Carnivores
Michaël R. Roskam with Le Fidèle (Racer and the Jailbird) (Matthias Schoenaerts and Adèle Exarchopoulos)
André Téchiné with Nos années folles (Our Roaring Twenties) (Céline Sallette)
Erick Zonca with Fleuve noir (Black River), (Vincent Cassel, Romain Duris)

Hungary
Kornél Mundruczó with Felesleges ember (Superfluous Man)
György Pálfi with His Master's Voice

Italy
Sergio Castellitto with Fortunata (Jasmine Trinca)
Michelangelo Frammartino with Tarda Primavera (Late Spring)
Andrea Pallaoro with The Whale
Paolo and Vittorio Taviani with Una questione privata
Paolo Virzì with The Leisure Seeker

Poland
Urszula Antoniak with Beyond Words
Malgorzata Szumowska with Face

Spain
Pablo Berger with Abracadabra
Isabel Coixet with The Bookshop
Agustín Díaz Yanes with Oro
Carlos Vermut with Quién te cantará

Sweden
Lisa Langseth with Euphoria (Alicia Vikander, Eva Green, Charlotte Rampling)
Måns Månsson and Axel Petersén with The Real Estate
Ruben Östlund with The Square (Elisabeth Moss and Dominic West)

UK
Clio Barnard with Dark River
Garth Davis with Mary Magdalene (Rooney Mara, Joaquin Phoenix)
Andrew Haigh with Lean on Pete

Germany: Wim Wenders with Submergence (Alicia Vikander)
Georgia: George Ovashvili with Khibula
Iceland: Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson with Undir trénu (Under the Tree)
Ireland: Rebecca Daly with Good Favour
Norway: Joachim Trier with Thelma
Slovakia: Juraj Lehotsky with Nina

Australia: Warwick Thornton with Sweet Country
Canada: Kim Nguyen with Eye on Juliet

USA (and USA productions in English with foreign directors)
Haifaa Al-Mansour with Mary Shelley (Elle Fanning, Joanne Froggatt) (aka A Storm in the Stars)
Darren Aronofsky with Mother! (Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem)
Sean Baker with The Florida Project
John Cameron Mitchell with How to Talk to Girls at Parties
Sofia Coppola with The Beguilded (Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell)
Alex Garland with Annihilation
Todd Haynes with Wonderstruck (Michelle Williams, Julianne Moore)
Yorgos Lanthimos with The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell)
David Lynch with TV revival of Twin Peaks
Terrence Malick with Ragund (Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Nyqvist, Bruno Ganz)
David Michôd with War Machine (Tilda Swinton, Brad Pitt - Neflix)
David Robert Mitchell with Under the Silver Lake (Andrew Garfield and Riley Keough)
Christopher Nolan with Dunkirk
Alexander Payne with Downsizing
Lynne Ramsay with You Were Never Really Here (Joaquin Phoenix)
Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Ben and Joshua Safdie with Good Time
Steven Sodergergh with Logan Lucky (Adam Driver, Riley Keough, Channing Tatum)
Dennis Villeneuve with Blade Runner 2049
Wim Wenders with  Submergence (Alicia Vikander)

Latin America

Mexico
Michel Franco with Las Hijas de Abril (April's Daughter)
Carlos Reygadas with Donde Nace La Vida (Where Life Begins)

Argentina
Diego Lerman with Una Especie de Familia (A Sort of Family)
Lucrecia Martel with Zama (can't be in competition as Pedro Almodovar is involved in production)
Santiago Mitre with La Cordillera (The Summit) (Elena Anaya, Paulina Garcia, Alfredo Castro, Ricado Darin -screenplay developed at Cannes L'Atelier)

Brazil:  Marco Dutra and Juliana Rojas with As Boas Maneiras (Good Manners)
Uruguay: Alejandro Landes and Alexis dos Santos with Monos

Middle East
Semih Kaplanoğlu with Grain, Turkey
Talya Lavie with The Current Love of My Life, Israel
Samuel Maoz with Foxtrot , Israel

Asia
Lav Diaz with When the Waves are Gone, Philippines
Ann Hui with 明月几时有 Our Time Will Come, Hong Kong, China
Naomi Kawase with Hikari (Radiance), Japan
Kiyoshi Kurosawa with 散歩する侵略者 Sanpo Suru Shinryakusha (Strolling Invader), Japan
Lou Ye with Feng Zhong You Duo Yu Zuo De Yun, China

First Feature Films (with possibilities)
Après la guerre (After the War), Annarita Zambrano, Italy and France
Ava, Léa Mysius, France
Bloody Milk, Hubert Charuel, France
Cornelius, le meunier hurlant (Cornelius, the Howling Miller), Yann Le Quellec, France (Anaïs Demoustier)
Hier, Balint Kenyeres, France, Sweden and Hungary
I Am Not a Witch, Rungano Nyoni, Zambia, UK, France
Jusqu'à la garde, Xavier Legrand, France
La fête est finie, Marie Garel Weiss, France
La part sauvage, Guérin Van Der Vorst, Belgium
Luna, Elsa Dirringer, France
On Chesil Beach, Dominic Cooke, UK
Si tu voyais son coeur (If You Saw His Heart), Joan Chemla, France (Gael Garcia Bernal)
The Gulf, Emre Yeksan, Turkey
The Charmer, Milad Alami, Iran

Seem could/will run out of time for Cannes
Woody Allen with Wonder Wheel (Kate Winslet)
Fatih Akin with aus dem Nichts (In the Fade)
Paul Thomas Anderson with The Phantom Thread (Daniel Day-Lewis)
Alexandros Avranas with Love Me Not
Xavier Beauvois with Les Gardiennes
Leos Carax with Annette
Alfonso Cuarón with Roma
Claire Denis with  Des lunettes noires (Dark Glasses) (Juliette Binoche)
Xavier Dolan with The Death and Life of John F. Donovan  (Jessica Chastain, introducing: Adele)
Stephen Frears with Victoria and Abdul
Deniz Gamze Ergüven with Kings (Halle Berry, Daniel Craig)
Alexey German Jr with Dovlatov
Valeska Grisebach with Western
Todd Haynes with Wonderstruck
Joon-ho Bong with Okja, (Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal) (Netflix production)
Kleber Mendonca Filho and Juliano Dornelles with Bacurau (Nighthawk)
François Ozon with Amant Double
Roman Polanski with Based on a True Story
Sang-soo Hong with La caméra de Claire (Claire's Camera) (Isabelle Huppert and Min-hee Kim)
Myroslav Slaboshpitskiy with Luxembourg
Lorenzo Vigas with La Caja (The Box)
Andrey Zvyagintsev with Loveless

In about two months the selections will be unveiled with us learning how many films made it, and after start the guessing game for Locarno, Karlovy Vary, Moscow, Sarajevo, and Venice.

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53rd Annual CAS Award Winners

Yesterday night the Society had their award ceremony and perhaps the biggest surprise is the film that won the Animated category!

No surprise which film got the top award as was the favorite to win this and yes, the Oscar; which most likely will happen when we consider that in six of the last ten years, the winner of CAS Live Action feature competition went to win the Oscar.

Jon Faveau was presented the Filmmaker Award, John Prichett received the Career Achievement Award and Wenrui Fan from Chapman University was presented with a Student Recognition Award.

To check winners in TV categories go official site here. Winners are in *BLUE.

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1/10/1
A few moments ago the Cinema Audio Society (CAS) announced the nominees for the current edition of the awards that honor Outstanding Achievements in Sound Mixing in film and television as well as Technical Achievement in production and post-production.

“We are blessed this year with a rich portfolio of Cinema Audio art applied. As the creative contributions of sound mixing to modern filmmaking becomes more obvious to the world at large, these productions truly represent the talents of our community,” said Mark Ulano, CAS President. “We are proud to congratulate all our well deserving nominees for their stellar work. We also have the good news of announcing for the first time nominations for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Motion Picture Documentary.”

Yes, for the first time group will honor Sound Mixing in Documentary.  Perhaps the most surprising is the nomination for Sully, a film that has escaped honors in the current award season.
 
The following are the nominations for the Motion Picture categories.

Live Action
Doctor Strange
Hacksaw Ridge
*La La Land
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Sully

Animated
*Finding Dory
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
The Secret Life of Pets
Zootopia

Documentary
13th
Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words
Gleason
O. J.: Made in America
*The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Ensemble

To check nominations for television and technical achievement awards go official site here.  Awards ceremony will be on February 18 in the Bunker Hill Ballroom of the OMNI Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza.  During the ceremony the highest honor of the CAS, the CAS Career Achievement Award will be presented to Production Mixer John Pritchett and Jon Favreau will receive the CAS Filmmaker Award.

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