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89th Academy Awards Nominations

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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.

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

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.

42nd César Awards Nominations

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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 inLa Cérémonieby 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 pour Le fils de Jean (A Kid)
Vincent Cassel pour ;Juste la fin du monde (It's Only the End of the World)
Vincent Lacoste pour Victoria
Laurent Laffite pour Elle
Melvil Poupaud pourVictoria
James Thierrée pour 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
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.

64th Annual Golden Reel Award Nominations

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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.

31st Teddy Award Selection

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The 31st Teddy Award is presented within the framework of the Berlin International Film Festival.  For 31 years the award has been rewarding movies and filmmakers, who, by engaging with queer topics, contribute to more tolerance, equality, acceptance and diversity in the society.  Prizes are awarded in the following categories: Best Film, Best Documentary/Essay Film and Best Short Film.

This year Dieter Kosslick, Berlinale Director, did a remarkable introduction to Teddy Award Program Guide and here it is for your easy reference.

TEDDY #31: The Heat Is On
The year is starting off in a great way. It is true that such sayings as ‘I’d rather be a cold warrior than a warm brother’ (Franz Josef Strauß, 1970, a conservative German politician) are emerging again in their new, post-factual versions. However, 83 per cent of Germans are now saying ‘yes’ to marriage equality. The 31st TEDDY AWARD is bringing us joy for the New Year and a hope that victims of the dreadful Paragraph 175 will finally (!) be rehabilitated. TEDDY himself is a strong part of the movement fighting for the rights of the queer community and this year also carries out an important task of reminding us to never forget (again) or to never run away back to our comfort zones.

I am glad to see such a wide range of TEDDY nominees in the Berlinale Programme 2017! Queer films are represented in Competition, Panorama, both Forum and Forum Expanded as well as in Generation, Perspective and Shorts. For the first time the Queer Academy Industry Meeting - the exchange between artists and representatives of the industry always has a very special energy due to the TEDDY dynamics - will take place at the European Film Market in the Martin Groupius Bau.

Monika Treut, whom I met many years ago at the Hamburger Filmbüro, the Legend of ‘New Queer Cinema’, receives the Special TEDDY. The reach and strength of her creations were best summarized
by Claire Monk in an article about Treut’s classic – ‘Virgin Machine’: ‘… one of the most anarchist, most cynical, subversively wittiest attacks on the current sexual policy’.

I wish all the guests and artist the most enjoyable days in Berlin and a great Award ceremony and Party. The Heat is on! No place for cold warriors.

As Mr. Kosslick mentions the dreadful Paragraph 175 let me share what's this all about as it is this year's Teddy Award Focus and no doubt that even when is talking about Germany, the issue unfortunately has become relevant again in 2017 when uncertainty is around a specific country and around the world. Sigh.

Both on the national and international levels, on the silver screen and in real life, the queer community has claimed many victories during the past decades. Nevertheless, much needs to be accomplished! TEDDY has been the vitrine of many of these fights, setting the Berlinale’s spotlight on international queer cinema, broadening what it meant to fight for queer rights.

Just having turned 30 last year, TEDDY isn’t going to slow down! The fight continues and the 31st edition is paying respect to both the community past and present generations.

Already at the turn of the century, TEDDY recognized the importance of remembrance and praised Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s “Paragraph 175”, an outstanding documentary about the dreadful German law criminalizing homosexuality. Almost two decades later, historians have shown how homosexuals suffered under National Socialism and many have fought for the memory of the victims. Lesser known is the fate of countless homosexuals after the war, the appalling story of the continuities of such an injustice into the success story of the Federal Republic.

This year’s focus is on the struggle of the members of our community who made it through these dark times, but also on the injustice of such a crime, still lingering like an open wound in German history. TEDDY is seizing the momentum of the present discussions on rehabilitation and reparations for the survivors and victims of paragraph 175. Our focus is on the unjust and unrighteous treatment of homosexuality in Germany after the war until the complete repeal of the law in the 1990s.

This year focus on paragraph 175 will allow TEDDY to educate the new generations, to remember the dead and to celebrate the future. It is necessary to draw the lines between the stories told by the award winners of the last 3o years, the task ahead of us as we demand justice, and the possible parallels to the stories voiced by our brother and sisters across the world.

Beloved movie aficionados, we have the responsibility to never forget the past victories, but also to reflect on the dark times in our history! Please join us as we applaud our living vibrant queer community and concentrate on the fights to come. For its 31st anniversary, TEDDY is more alive than ever and ready to dive into the current discussion. Like every year, you can expect top-notch movies, captivating stories, engaging events and one of the best audiences of the Berlinale.

So, indeed there is much going on at 2017 Berlinale Teddy Award and most interesting for many that read the blog is this edition Special Teddy Award to Monika Treut, a filmmaker who contributed extraordinary merits for the characterization of queer film making over the years.  Monika Treut coined as an director, producer and writer not only the feminist and lesbian cinema since the 80´s, but also the German-speaking independent film scene and inspired as an pioneer the New Queer Cinema to the US American Indie film. The courageousness and the critical approach of her topics and aesthetics are closely related to the liberating energies of the Mao-Spontex movement of the 70´s.  Her filmography is must-be-seen for all those that enjoy lesbian interest cinema and yes, have seen and enjoyed almost all her films.  To read more about the tribute please go to page 11 (English version) of the program guide at end of the post.

The following is the list of films according to what was published in the program. Tried to identify the interest in each movie but some are not easy to fully id; so, wrote my best guess to what interest predominates. For those with question mark (?) will try to read more to better guess interest and will modify post accordingly.

There is one film that called my attention as believe has some lesbian interest: Jassad gharib(Foreign Body) by Raja Amari.  Film is screening in Forum section, starring none other than one of my favorite actresses Hiam Abbass, and sure, has a very unconventional story. Surely film is not for all audiences and probably doesn't qualify for the award because story, but wish to share info for your reference.  Check info and video @MOC.

Feature Films

Competition
Una mujer fantástica (A Fantastic Woman), Sebastián Lelio, Chile, Germany, USA and Spain (T)
Wilde Maus (Wild Mouse), Josef Hader, Austria (?)

Panorama
Bing Lang Xue (The Taste of Betel Nut), Hu Jia, Hong Kong and China (G)
Call Me by Your Name, Luca Guadagnino, Italy and France (G)
Como Nossos Pais (Just Like Our Parents), Laís Bodanzky, Brazil (L)
Die Jungfrauenmaschine (Virgin Machine), Monika Treut, Germany, 1988 (L)
Discreet, Travis Mathews, USA (G)
Fluidø, Shu Lea Cheang, Germany (Fluid-all genres)
God's Own Country, Francis Lee, UK (G)
彼らが本気で編むときは、 Karera ga Honki de amu toki wa (Close-Knit), Naoko Ogigami, Japan (T)
Inxeba (The Wound), John Trengove, South Africa, Germany, Netherlands and France (G)
Pieles (Skins), Eduardo Casanova, Spain (?)
The Misandrists, Bruce LaBruce, Germany (maybe L)

Forum
Casa Roshell, Camila José Donoso, Mexico and Chile (documentary) (T)
Casting, Nicolas Wackerbarth, Germany (GL)
Cuatreros (Rustlers), Albertina Carri, Argentina (documentary) (?)
Ulrike‘s Brain, Bruce LaBruce, Germany and Canada, 55’ (?)

Generation
Ceux qui font les révolutions à moitié n'ont fait que se creuser un tombeau (Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves), Mathieu Denis and Simon Lavoie, Canada (?)
Emo the Musical, Neil Triffett, Australia (?)
Freak Show, Trudie Styler, USA (G)
Richard the Stork, Toby Genkel and Reza Memari, Germany, Belgium, Luxemburg and Norway (?)
Weirdos, Bruce McDonald, Canada (?)

Perspektive Deutsches Kino
Ein Weg (Paths), Chris Miera (G)

Berlinale Classics
Maurice, James Ivory, UK, 1987 (G)

Documentaries
Panorama Dokumente
Bones of Contention, Andrea Weiss, USA (LGBT)
Chavela, Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi, USA (L)
Dream Boat, Tristan Ferland Milewski, Germany (G)
I Am Not Your Negro, Raoul Peck, France, USA, Belgium and Switzerland (G)
Mein wunderbares West-Berlin (My Wonderful West Berlin), Jochen Hick, Germany (G)
日常對話 Ri Chang Dui Hua (Small Talk), Hui-chen Huang, Taiwan (L?)
Strong Island, Yance Ford, USA and Denmark (T)
Forum Expanded
Isla Santa Maria 3D by Oliver Husain, Canada (?)

Short Films
Berlinale Short Films
Kometen (The Comet), Victor Lindgren, Sweden, 11’ (G)
Panorama
Vênus - Filó a fadinha lésbica (Venus - Filly the Lesbian Little Fairy), Sávio Leite, Brazil (L)
Generation 
La prima sueca (Swedish Cousin), Inés María Barrionuevo and Agustina San Martín, Argentina (L)
Min Homosyster (My Gay Sister),  Lia Hietala, Sweden and Norway (L)
Perspektive Deutsches Kino
Final Stage, Nicolaas Schmidt, 27' (G)

The Jury
Gizem Bayiksel, photographer and cinematographer, Turkey
​Sachiko Imai, LGBT film festival programmer, Japan
Hassan Kamoga, filmmaker and LGBT festival founder, Uganda
Saadat Munir, filmmaker, Pakistan and Denmark
Marjo Pipinen, LGBT film festival programmer, Findland
Carl Spence, SeattleIFF curator, USA
Martin Wolker, homocrom founder, Germany

To read about each film at official site go here.

This year the Männer Reader's Award got named Harvey, after one of the most important activists of the LGBT history -Harvey Milk- and will be presented by the following reader's jury: Stephanie Rohde,  Katayun Pirdawi,  Hannes Richter, and Ulf Spengler.



The awards ceremony will be on February 17 in the Haus der Berliner Festpiele and yes, there will be a HUGE party to follow with interesting performers as organizers always do.

The Trailer of 31st Teddy Award
Marion Habringer did the animation and cabine the artwork.




Teddy Program Catalogue



7th Les Magritte du Cinéma Award Winners

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Last night Belgian francophone cinema was honored with the annual awards in a ceremony hosted by Anne-Pascale Clairembourg and with none other than Virginie Efira acting as the President plus winning the top award (ex aequo).

The Magritte d'honneur this year went to a great actor with many outstanding performances in French films, great André Dussolier.

Current edition was market by the emergence of a new generation of Belgian cinematographers but then the big winner of the nigh was Les Premiers les Derniers by Bouli Lanners. not only because won top award but also because won the most awards, 5 out 8 possible.

These are the winners in main categories.

Best Film: Les Premiers les derniers (The First, the Last), Bouli Lanners
Best First Film: Keeper, Guillaume Senez
Best Flemish Film: Belgica, Felix van Groeningen
Best Foreign Film in Co-Production: La Tortue Rouge (The Red Turtle), Michael Dudok de Wit

Best Director: Bouli Lanners for Les Premiers les derniers (The First, the Last)

Best Actress: (tie)
Astrid Whettnall in La Route d'Istambul (Road To Istambul), Rachid Bouchareb
Virginie Efira in Victoria, Justine Triet
Best Supporting Actress: Catherine Salée in Keeper
Best Female Newcomer: Salomé Richard in Baden Baden, Rachel Lang

Best Actor: Jean-Jacques Rausin in Je me tue à le dire (Death by Death), Xavier Seron)
Best Supporting Actor: David Murgia in Les Premiers les derniers (The First, the Last)
Best Male Newcomer: Yoann Blanc in Un homme à la mer, Géraldine Doignon

Best Screenplay (Original or Adapted): Xavier Seron for Je me tue à le dire (Death by Death)
Best Cinematography: Olivier Boonjing for Parasol, Valéry Rosier

To check winners in all categories go official site here, available only in French.

31st Goya Award Winners

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According to award official site news, last night awards ceremony lasted for 3 hours (10 minutes less than last year) and was seen locally by 3.6 million viewers which is lower than last year. No, this year did not watch the ceremony as was not in the mood to stand a long ceremony where films that I didn't enjoy were going to be honored with awards and a high-deserved film was going to be ignored.  Unfortunately I was right, so I'm glad that I didn't wasted 3 hours of my life, sigh.

As expected Julieta by Pedro Almodovar was excluded from top awards confirming once again that local industry does not like their most famous master filmmaker.  Top honor goes to a first-feature director who happens to be an actor I do not enjoy, Tarde para la Ira (The Fury of a Patient Man) by Raúl Arévalo and Best Director goes to J. A. Bayona for his English-spoken non-Spaniard cast film A Monster Calls. Alright Best Actress went to Emma Suárez for her performance in Julieta, which is the only Goya award Julieta got.

As  a matter of fact Emma went to win the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress award which is a great accomplishment for the actress but also speaks about the lack of  remarkable performances by Spanish actresses in Spanish-spoken film in Spain-made films.

To sort of confirm what I mention in the above paragraph, the big winner of the night is none other than the English-spoken with non-Spaniard cast, A Monster Calls that collected ten (10) awards.

Worth mentioning, this edition gave the Goya de Honor (Honorary Goya) to Ana Belén.

Here are the winners in some categories.

Best Film: Tarde para la Ira (The Fury of a Patient Man)
Best Ibero-American Film: El Ciudadano Ilustre (The Distinguished Citizen), Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn , Argentina
Best European Film: Elle, Paul Verhoeven, France

Best Director: J. A. Bayona for A Monster Calls
Best New Director: Raúl Arévalo for Tarde para la Ira (The Fury of a Patient Man)

Best Actress: Emma Suárez in Julieta
Best Supporting Actress: Emma Suárez in La Propera Pell (The Next Skin), Isa Campo and Isaki Lacuesta
Best Female Newcomer: Anna Castillo in El Olivo (The Olive Tree), Icíar Bollaín

Best Actor: Roberto Alamo in Por Que Dios nos Perdone, Rodrigo Sorogoyen
Best Supporting Actor: Manolo Solo in Tarde para la Ira (The Fury of a Patient Man)
Best Newcomer: Carlos Santos in  El Hombre de las Mil Caras (The Man with Thousand Faces)

Best Original Screenplay: David Pulido and Raúl Arévalo for Tarde para la Ira (The Fury of a Patient Man)
Best Adapted Screenplay:Alberto Rodríguez and Rafael Cobos for El Hombre de las Mil Caras (The Man with Thousand Faces)
Best Cinematography: Oscar Faura for A Monster Calls

To check winners in all categories go official site here, available only in Spanish.

One photo from last night.

#Oscars Class of 2017

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Always talk about the American schools tradition of the annual class group photo for the school yearbook and me having my own collection from my high-school years; those are good memories from a time when you were no child anymore but were not an adult yet.  Alright that's not what happens at the Academy annual Nominees Luncheon but as the world goes more and more backwards, it gives me permission to go back to the good old innocent times.  Sigh.

So, going back to reality, yesterday the Academy had their annual luncheon and below is the infamous photo in the highest resolution I was able to find, so you can zoom photo without getting too-many pixels.

Unlike last year, photo seems to have a lot more people as there are quite a few foreigners even when next Sunday BAFTA has their award ceremony and many you see here, will show at BAFTA's red carpet on Sunday.  Nevertheless, this year, according to industry press, there were 163 nominees attending the lunch (seems they were expecting 165, so not bad, isn't) held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.



Here are some of the many photos available in the net.

First, we have what many are calling "The Help" reunion with Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone and Viola Davis.  I see one sure Oscar win and another, maybe.


Hollywood looks a lot better when Isabelle Huppert is all over the events (!!!)


Natalie Portman was sitting down, good for her as calling all nominees has a very long time standing and yes, she's still pregnant (!) making me wonder if she will make it to the Oscars... Matt Damon is also in photo as he's nominated as Manchester by the Sea producer.


Last here is a video from AP with a the moment the class photo was taken, enjoy!



Check Isabelle Huppert moment ... starts at 0:44


Day 1 #Berlinale2017

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Watch was going  on right now.  Later post will have my comments.




Live feed Red Carpet




Jury Photocall and Press Conference


#BAFTA2017 Red Carpet Live Stream

67th Berlin International Film Festival Award Winners - In Progress

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Please Note: Post will be In Progress until after the awards ceremony next Sunday.


Will start post with the first awards given to film projects

Collateral Awards - Prizes from Independent Juries

Prizes Berlinale Co-Production Market & Berlinale Talents

Arte International Prize: Lost Country, Vladimir Perišić, France and Serbia

Euroimages Co-Production Development Award: The Wife of the Pilot, Anne Zohra Berrached, Germany

VFF Talent Highlight Award: The Bus to Amerika, Derya Durmaz, Turkey
Special Mentions:
Shock Labor, Producer: Maria Carla del Rio Cuba
Tomorrow is a Long Time, Producer: Jeremy Chua, Singapore

2017 Cannes Possible Films - The Buzz

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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 staring 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!)
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)
Abdelatif 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 (The 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
Michelangelo Frammartino with Tarda Primavera (Late Spring)
Andrea Pallaoro with The Whale
Paolo and Vittorio Taviani with Una questione privata

Poland
Urszula Antoniak with Beyond Words
Malgorzata Szumowska with Face

Spain
Pablo Berger with Abracadabra
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
Andrew Haigh with Lean on Pete

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

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 Robert Mitchell with Under the Silver Lake (Andrew Garfield and Riley Keough)
David Michôd with War Machine (Tilda Swinton, Brad Pitt)
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

Latin America

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

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
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)
Paul Thomas Anderson with The Phantom Thread (Daniel Day-Lewis)
Alexandros Avranas with Love Me Not
Xavier Beauvois with Les Gardiennes
Alfonso Cuarón with Roma
Xavier Dolan with The Death and Life of John F. Donovan  (Jessica Chastain, introducing: Adele)
Deniz Gamze Ergüven with Kings (Halle Berry, Daniel Craig)
Alexey German Jr with Dovlatov
Valeska Grisebach with Western
Joon-ho Bong with Okja, (Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal) (Netflix production)
Sang-soo Hong with La caméra de Claire (Claire's Camera) (Isabelle Huppert and Min-hee Kim)
Kleber Mendonca Filho and Juliano Dornelles with Bacurau (Nighthawk)
Roman Polanski with True Story
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 film made it, and start the guessing game for Locarno, Karlovy Vary, Moscow, Sarajevo, and Venice.

2017 Writers Guild Awards Winners

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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.

2017 MUAHS Annual Awards Winners

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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 Engelmanand 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).

61st David di Donatello Awards Nominations

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Today the Accademia del Cinema Italiano announced at the Casa del Cinema, the nominations for the 2017 edition of the annual David di Donatello awards that honor Italian cinema.

Two films lead the pack, each with 17 nominations, Indivisibili by Edoardo De Angelis and La Pazza Gioia by Paolo Virzì followed very close by Veloce come il Vento by Matteo Rovere with 16.  Most remarkable is the two nominations for Valerio Mastandrea as Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.

There are some films from 2016 Cannes like Sweet Dreams and Like Crazy that opened at Directors Fortnight, Fiore that also opened at the Directors sidebar and was competing for the Queer Palm, or films from 2016 Biennale like Indivisible that won several collateral awards, just to mention films from the five nominees to Best Film.

Have to confess that also in 2016 -as happened in 2015- did not watched much Italian cinema but as always occurs when doing the annual awards, and this time is no exception, some films have become relevant for me to NOT skip and surely will add a few to my film viewing too-long queue. 

Best Film
Fai bei sogni (Sweet Dreams)
Fiore
Indivisibili (Indivisible)
La Pazza Gioa (Like Crazy)
Veloce come il vento (Italian Race)

Best European Film
Florence Foster Jenkins, Stephen Frears
I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach
Julieta, Pedro Almodóvar
Sing Street, John Carney
Truman, Cesc Gay

Best Foreign Film
Nocturnal Animals, Tom Ford
Captain Fantastic, Matt Ross
Lion, Garth Davis
Paterson, Jim Jarmusch
Sully, Clint Eastwood

Best Documentary
60 - Ieri, oggi, domani, Giorgio Treves
Acqua e zucchero: Carlo Di Palma, i colori della vita, Fariborz Kamkari
Crazy for football, Volfango de Biasi
Liberami, Federica di Giacomo
Magic Island, Marco Amenta

Best Director
Marco Bellocchio for Fai bei sogni (Sweet Dreams)
Claudio Giovannesi for Fiore
Eduardo De Angelis for Indivisibili (Indivisible)
Matteo Rovere for Veloce come il vento
Paolo Virzì for La pazza gioia (Like Crazy)

Best New Director
Michele Vannucci forIl più grande sogno
Marco Danieli for La ragazza del mondo(Worldly Girl)
Marco Segato for La pelle dell’orso
Fabio Guaglione and Fabio Resinaro for Mine
Lorenzo Corvino for WAX: We Are X

Best Actress
Daphne Scoccia in Fiore
Angela and Marianna Fontana in Indivisibili (Indivisible)
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi in La pazza gioia (Like Crazy)
Micaela Ramazzotti in La pazza gioia (Like Crazy)
Matilda De Angelis in Veloce come il vento (Italian Race)

Best Supporting Actress
Antonia Truppo in Indivisibili (Indivisible)
Valentina Carnelutti in La pazza gioia (Like Crazy)
Valeria Golino in La vita possibile
Michela Cescon in Piuma
Roberta Mattei in Veloce come il vento (Italian Race)

Best Actor
Valerio Mastandrea in Fai bei sogni (Sweet Dreams)
Michele Riondino in La ragazza del mondo (Worldly Girl)
Sergio Rubini in La stoffa dei sogni
Toni Servillo in  Le confessioni (The Confessions)
Stefano Accorsi in Veloce come il vento (Italian Race)

Best Supporting Actor
Valerio Mastrandrea in Fiore
Massimiliano Rossi in Indivisibili (Indivisible)
Ennio Fantastichini in La stoffa dei sogni
Pierfrancesco Favino in Le confessioni (The Confessions)
Roberto De Francesco in Le ultime cose

To check nominees in other categories go official site here, available only in Italian. For the second year the awards ceremony will be produced by Sky Cinema and broadcasted live in Sky Cinema Uno, Sky Cinema David di Donatello, Sky Uno, Sky Arte and TV8 on March 27 at 9:15pm local time; ceremony host is Alessandro Cattelan.

Video with excerpts from the five films nominated to 2017 Best Film


19th Costume Designers Guild Awards Winners

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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.

42ème Cérémonie des César 2017 Live Streaming

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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




89th Academy Awards Winners

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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.

#Cannes2017 13th L'Atelier de la Cinéfondation

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Today were announced the 15 projects from 16 directors which will participate in the 2017 edition of the Cinéfondation Atelier.  What follows are the news from the official site.

The Cinéfondation’s Atelier has been created in 2005 to stimulate creative filmmaking and encourage the emergence of a new generation of filmmakers. So far, out of 186 projects accompanied, 145 have been completed and 14 are currently in pre-production. For L’Atelier’s 13th edition, 15 projects from 14 countries have been selected, from the new director to the well-known filmmaker.

Please take note that the Livre des Projects will be available at the beginning of April and this post will be updated accordigly to include the book.



The Projects

Sew the Winter to my Skin, Jahmil X.T. Qubeka,South Africa
Day After Tomorrow, Kamar Ahmad Simon, Bangladesh
Ningdu, Lei Lei, China
Teenage Jesus, Marie Grahtø Sørensen, Denmark
Decompression, Yona Rozenkier,Israel
Go Youth, Carlos Armella, Mexico
Bedridden, Byamba Sakhya, Mongolia
Alam, Firas Khoury, Palestine
Candy Town, Yanillys Perez, Dominican Republic
Otto the Barbarian, Ruxandra Ghitescu, Romania
Summer E5, Emily Young, UK
City of Small Blessings, Chen-Hsi Wong, Singapor
The Translator, Rana Kazkaz and Anas Khalaf, Syria
Cu Li Nevers Cries, Phan Ngoc Lan, Vietnam
Taste, Le Bao, Vietnam



From May 19 to 25 L'Atelier will arrange meetings with the directors for film industry professionals interested in investing in their projects.

#Cannes2017 Wish List - Part 1 - France One

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On Know it's early but today I'm in the mood for Cannes, so will start my Wish List even do we still have no official news about the dates when the official selections will be announced to the press and the world. 

As a matter of fact submissions deadline is still open for feature films -will close on March 10- and short films deadline is closing today, March 1st; so those who wish to change their minds and submit their film (even if is in post-production) have 10 more days to do so.

Then we know that selections are usually announced by mid-April and it seems by now has become a "tradition" to make drop-by-drop announcements, so imagine after March 10 announcements will start to "drop".

Surely I'm biased as most of what I read is what I like and yes, I love serious French cinema!  So it's not unusual to make a buzz list with many French films (lol).  Unfortunately unofficial buzz says that French films are the last to be chosen for the Official Selection as otherwise festival will become a French film festival -against an International festival- and proof are the many French films that lately become available for consideration and the few that end up in competition or in any other festival section. This year is no exception as there are multiple French films to consider and to my utter delight one of my most admired master filmmaker has a film we, I, expect to premiere in Cannes.

Yes, Michael Haneke has a new film starring none other that Jean-Louis Trintignant and Isabelle Huppert! YAY!  But there are more master filmmakers with new films like -for example- Abdelatif Kechiche, Anne Fontaine, Laurent Cantet and André Téchiné that I hope will make the Official Selection or any other of the sections available in the festival.

So let's get into the list.  In a way my Wish List is about predictions but more important is about films that I'm looking forward to see eventually, no matter if they make to Cannes or not (sigh).  Obviously hope they do as Cannes participation assures higher film quality.

By-the-way I have been updating the Buzz List constantly so if you wish to check list often for sure you will find new movies.

The French Directors - One
No surprise when I start with a master filmmaker that has not the French nationality -he is Austrian- but his films tend to be very-French and yes, his current oeuvre is set in France, has French actors, French money (France, Austria and Germany co-production) and is in the French-language.

Michael Haneke with Happy End

Any blog regular reader knows how many times have I written about Haneke, so will be brief here and if you wish to read more, please search blog for Michael Haneke and the post list will appear.  Haneke already belongs to the select group of directors with two Palme d'Or and I don't doubt he could win a third, perhaps with this film or if not, with any of his future master opus.

There is not too-much reliable info yet about film but from what has been released we know has a story centered on a bourgeois, European family, with the refugee crisis serving as the backdrop; it is an ensemble film, with lots of characters in what -according to Isabelle Huppert- Haneke calls "freeze frame''.  Some are talking about the title being ironic and surely they are not familiar with Haneke as that's a given in his own peculiar style. Ah! yes, Huppert stars along Trintignant and Toby Jones, it's Haneke-Huppert fourth collaboration and still I'm not sure about the production nationalities as seems also includes UK.  More reliable sources claim film was produced by Paris-based Les Films du Losange and co-produced by France 3 Cinema, Germany's X Filme Creative Pool and Austria's Wega Film.

A more interesting film synopsis comes in French:  "centré sur la vie d'une famille bourgeoise du Nord de la France confrontée à un certain nombre de déboires et ne prêtant pas vraiment attention à la misère qui des camps de migrants, à quelques kilomètres de leur maison."   In English perhaps the following from Austrian Films clarifies better than film is NOT about the migrant crisis:  "All around us, the world, and we, in its midst blind. A snapshot from the life of a bourgeois European family."



Film rights for North and Latin America belong to Sony Pictures Classics and Canal+ already pre-purchased rights for more than 20 territories.  International sales are managed by Les Films du Losange.

No need to say film is must-be-seen for me and absolutely will be "dying" until I finally watch film.  Sigh.

Arnaud Desplechin with Les Fantomes d'Ismaël (Ismael's Ghosts)

To be honest I'm more attracted to the cast than to story or director but three of my most favorite actors together is too-much for me!  Marion Cotillard, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Louis Garrel, Alba Rohrwacher and well, Mathieu Amalric star in this film with a "crazy" story about returning from the dead.

Check synopsis: a widowed film director who is in the middle of making a film about an atypical diplomat inspired by his brother.  While he started a new life with Sylvia (Gainsbourg), he still mourns the dead of a former lover, Carlotta (Cotillard), who passed away 20 years earlier; then Carlotta returns from the dead...

Desplechin has competed in Cannes five times and his latest film, My Golden Days, opened in 2015 Cannes in the Directors' Fortnight.  So because his Cannes background there are high possibilities he makes it to the selection this year and not only because the magnificent five-star cast that will attract local and international coverage.  Film was produced by Le Pacte and Magnolia already acquired US rights.



Anne Fontaine with Marvin

Written by Anne Fontaine and Pierre Trividic the story revolves around Martin Clément, born Marvin Bijou, who ran away from his hometown and his family. He retells his story through a stage play that proves to be a smash hit. But at what price?

Interestingly, while the film borrows its central plot from the novel En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule by Edouard Louis (which outlines the childhood and teenage years of a young boy in a village, where he is shunned by the inhabitants and even by his own family when he comes out as a homosexual), it simultaneously takes the story a littler further, as the movie follows the character until the age of 23, whereas the storyline of the book comes to a halt when he starts secondary school.

Delving into the topics of stigmatization just because someone is different and the building of one’s identity, the plot also shows how the character eventually manages to dig himself out of a very distressing situation thanks to his various encounters.

Most interesting story will be played by none other than Isbelle Huppert, Charles Berling and Finnegan Oldfield as Marvin.  Film was produced by Ciné@ and P.A.S. Productions; co-produced by F Comme Film, Mars Films and France 2 Cinéma. Film is pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+. International sales will be handled by TF1 Studio.

Anne Fontaine films have opened "everywhere" including in Cannes twice but never in the main competition.  Release date is estimated to autumn 2017 which suggests that if doesn't make it to Cannes still has time for Venice where she has been in competition; she has also been in Locarno, San Sebastian and Sundance.

Abdellatif Kechiche with Mektoub is Mektoub

Know Kechiche became known internationally because of his triple Palm d'Or win (one for film two for actresses) with Blue is the Warmest Color; but I know his work long before his outstanding achievement, first with outstanding The Secret of the Grain that made me go back to his previous work, and after, forward into Black Venus. He truly mesmerizes me as a storyteller of the ordinary told in the most extraordinary style.

Film has a working title, so final name could be different; it is loosely based on Antoine Bégaudeau’s novel La blessure, la vraie and tells about a young scriptwriter who recently moved to Paris and heads down to his hometown in the Mediterranean for summer vacation.  One evening he meets Jasmine and with her he wants to experiment passion.  He is introduced to a big producers who offer to finance his first film, but the producer's wife hits on him and he finds himself confronted with several choices.

Not sure if Kechiche's latest opus will or will not be ready for Cannes but hope so; still know that he has also won the Golden Lion at 2000 Biennale and has been back in the main competition, so there are chances he goes back to Venice.  Film is produced by Kechiche's production house Quat'sous Films co-produced by France 2 Cinéma, Pathé, and Bianca Film, which makes film majority French and minority Italian.

Sergei Loznitsa with A Gentle Creature

Will close Part One with another non-French director as Loznitsa was born in Barnovichi, USSR; but his latest opus is a French production, with Ukrainian, Russian,  Romanian and Lithuanian actors and in the Russian-language. 

He is better-known for his outstanding documentaries but his fiction films have the most interesting visual and narrative storytelling style; so, I'm glad that this feature film, his third, gives us a chance to visit his particular style.  Film is inspired in Dostoyevsky's short story that Loznitsa translates into a voyage to the land of crime without punishment.

Check synopsis: A woman lives alone on the outskirts of a village in Russia. One day she receives a parcel she sent to her incarcerated husband, marked ‘return to sender’. Shocked and confused, the woman has no choice but to travel to the prison in a remote region of the country in search of an explanation. So begins the story of a battle against this impenetrable fortress, the prison where the forces of social evil are constantly at work. Braving violence and humiliation, in the face of all opposition, our protagonist embarks on a blind quest for justice.

According to Wild Bunch, production company is Paris-based company Slot Machine (majority French) in production with Russia's GP Cinema Company, Germany's LOOKSFilm, Netherland's Wild at Art and Graniet Film Lithuania's Studio Uljana Kim and Arte France Cinéma. Les Films du Losange will distribute in France.


France Part Two will follow soon.  Enjoy!!!

70th Bodil Awards Winners

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Last Saturday night Denmark's National Association of Film Critics had their award ceremony and the big winner of the night is I Blodet (In the Blood) as won the top award plus Victoria Carmen won Supporting Actress.  But Forældre (Parents) by actor-turned-director Christian Tafdrup leads with four awards.

Last year the award went to Under Sandet (Land of Mine) which was not their Oscar submission but strangely enough became Denmark's submission to 2017 Oscars and as we know, film got a nomination.  So, have to wonder what will happen next year, will I Blodet become country's submission to Oscar?

Best Film: I Blodet (In the Blood), Rasmus Heisterberg

Best Actress: Trine Dyrholm in Kollektivet (The Commune)
Best Supporting Actress: Victoria Carmen in I Blodet (In the Blood)

Best Actor: Søren Malling inForældre (Parents)
Best Supporting Actor: Lars Mikkelsen in Der kommer en dag (The Day Will Come)

Best Cinematographer: Maria von Hausswolff for Forældre (Parents)
Best Original Screenplay: Christian Tafdrup for Forældre (Parents)

Best Documentary: The War Show, Andreas Møl Dalsgaard and Obaidah Zytoon, Denmark, Finland and Syria
Best Non-US Feature: Toni Erdmann, Maren Ade, Germany and Austria
Best US Feature: The Revenant, Alejandro González Iñárritu

Special Bodil:  Christina Rosendahl, Director/Chairwoman of the Danish Film Directors Association
Honorary Bodil: Henning Jensen, Actor
Henning Bahs Award: Production designer Jette Lehmann for Forældre (Parents)

Streaming Prize: A Conspiracy of Faith, Hans Petter Moland, Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Norway

To check winners at official site go here, available only in Danish.

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