The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently announced that 10 animated short films will advance in the voting process for the 90th Academy Awards. Sixty-three (63) pictures had originally qualified in the category.

Members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch viewed all the eligible entries for the preliminary round of voting.

Short Films and Feature Animation Branch members will now select five nominees from among the 10 titles on the shortlist.

Branch screenings will be held in Los Angeles, London, New York and San Francisco in January.

Nominations for the 90th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2018.

There are some outstanding stories among these shortlisted films, most remarkable is Life Smartphone with story that everyone in the world should see as they surely will identify themselves in any of the situation pictured.  But know this category honors animation plus story, direction and other tech specs and perhaps Chenglin Xie doesn't have the most impact-full animation or design but I find is exactly the type of animation the story needs.  Outstanding short!!! Yes, this is my winner!!!

The 10 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title in English.

Cradle, Devon Manney, USA
Dear Basketball, Glen Keane, USA
Fox and the Whale, Robin Joseph, Canada
Garden Party, Victor Caire and Gabriel Grapperon, Florian Babikian, Vincent Bayoux, Theophile Dufresne and Lucas Navarro, France
In a Heartbeat, Esteban Bravo and Beth David, USA
Life Smartphone, Chenglin Xie, China
Lost Property Office, Daniel Agdag, Australia
Lou, Dave Mullins, USA
Negative Space, Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata, France
Revolting Rhymes, Jakob Schuh and Jan Lachauer, UK

Cradle by Devon Manney
Returning to the USA after losing both arms overseas, a young veteran battles phantom pains, prosthetics, and memories of his pre-war life while reaching for a sense of normalcy.



Dear Basketball by Glen Keane
On November 29, 2015 Kobe Bryant penned a letter in the Players' Tribune announcing his retirement from basketball at the end of that season. This film is the visualization of that letter, narrated by Kobe, scored by John Williams and animated by Glen Keane.



Fox and the Whale by Robin Joseph
The tale of a curious fox who goes in search of an elusive whale. A journey of pursuit and longing.



Garden Party by Victor Caire and Gabriel Grapperon, Florian Babikian, Vincent Bayoux, Theophile Dufresne and Lucas Navarro
In a deserted rich house, a couple of amphibians explore their surroundings and follow their primal instincts.



In a Heartbeat by Esteban Bravo and Beth David
A shy, middle school boy who struggles coming to terms with being gay, Sherwin, and the most popular boy in school, Jonathan. When their paths cross one day, Sherwin's heart pop's out of his chest to chase after the boy of his dreams. Now, Sherwin must chase after his own heart before it reveals his feelings towards Jonathan, and humiliating him in front of the entire school.



Life Smartphone by Chenglin Xie
The phenomenon of increasing smartphone addiction can be attributed to today's cutting-edge technology. Staring at glowing screens instead of exploring the vast expanse of life, people are gradually alienating themselves from the richness, depth, and loveliness of life.



Lost Property Office by Daniel Agdag
Sometimes people can get lost in their work.



Lou by Dave Mullins
A Pixar short about a lost-and-found box and the unseen monster within.



Negative Space by Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata
My dad taught me how to pack.



Revolting Rhymes (Part Two) by Jan Lachauer, Jakob Schuh and Bin-Han To
The second of two animations based on the much-loved rhymes written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake.
Jack grows up with his heart set on next-door neighbor Cindy. She has her eye turned by the eligible prince at the ball, and Jack gets distracted by a giant beanstalk at the bottom of his garden. Will they find true love?

First update with the new Documentary award, films in Forum and Generation.

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1/26/18
Today will start the always VERY LONG annual post with (almost) ALL movies in the current edition of the Berlin International Film Festival, better-known as Berlinale.

This is the third year festival organizers release info drop-by-drop, so there are several sections that have completed their selection and most interesting, they released a date when the full program will be "released", afternoon of Tuesday February 6th.  So that becomes the date when this post will have the before-last update.

As every year, post will be in-progress until fest uploads films to their official site, so if you wish check as will have constant updates with whatever new info becomes available.  It's only when films are in official site when this post becomes final.

Lately, there is not much talk about the almost coup-d'etat that happened a few months ago, when a group of 79 German directors called for an overhaul of the festival after Dieter Kosslicks departs as he will step down when his contract ends in May 2019.  There are many interesting things directors talk about, but what I absolutely do not agree is in saying that Berlinale is inferior to Cannes and Venice; perhaps is a tad below Cannes but is surely above Venice.  I'm Koslick's fan, love his personality and recognize his great work to make -and keep- Berlinale one of the three major film festivals in the world as we can't ignore what he has done to young filmmakers and many more achievements.  When -and if- he goes I'll miss him perhaps even more than what I could miss Thierry Fremaux and surely what I missed Marco Mueller.  Sigh.

Talking about departure, most surprising was Wieland Speck departure from Panorama section where he was the head; now will take new responsibilities as Consultant of the Official Program (???!!!).  The new Panorama team is headed by Paz Lazaro who will work together with Michael Stutz and Andreas Struck.  If you do not know who Speck is then you probably have to learn about how the Teddy Award became to be what is today, the most prestigious festival award for LGTB films.  Sigh.

Competition
Opening Film: Isle of Dogs, Wes Anderson, Germany and USA (animation)
3 Tage in Quiberon (3 Days in Quiberon), Emily Atef, Germany, Austria and France
Damsel, David Zellner and Nathan Zellner, USA
Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot, Gus Van Sant, USA
Dvlatov, Alexey German Jr., Russia, Poland Serbia
Eva, Benoit Jacquot, France and Belgium
Figlia mia (Daughter of Mine), Laura Bispuri, Italy, Germany and Switzerland
In den Gängen (In the Aisles), Thomas Stuber, Germany
Khook (Pig), Mani Haghighi, Iran
La prière (The Prayer), Cédric Kahn, France
(*) Las Herederas (The Heiresses), Marcelo Martinessi, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, Germany, Norway and France
Mein Bruder heißt Robert und ist ein Idiot, Philip Gröning, Germany, France and Switzerland
Museo (Museum), Alonso Ruizplalacios, Mexico
Toppen av ingenting (The Real Estate), Måns Månsson and Axel Petersén, Sweden and UK
(*) Touch Me Not, Adina Pintille, Romania, Germany, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and France
Transit, Christian Petzold, Germany and France
Twarz (mug), Malgorzata Szumowska, Poland

Out of Competition
7 Days in Entebbe, Jose Padilha, USA and UK
Ága, Milko Lazarov, Bulgaria, Germany and France
Ang Panahon ng Halimaw (Season of the Devil), Lav Diaz, Philippines
Black 47, Lance Daly, Ireland and Luxembourg
(**)Eldorado, Markus Imhoof, Switzerland and Germany (documentary)
Unsane, Steven Soderbergh, USA

International Jury
President: Tom Tykwer, director, screenwriter, film composer, and producer Germany

Berlinale Special

Berlinale Special Gala
AMERICA Land of FreeKS, Ulli Lommel, Germany (documentary)
Das schweigende Klassenzimmer (The Silent Revolution), Lars Kraume, Germany
Gurrumul, Paul Williams, Australia (documentary)
Monster Hunt 2, Raman Hui, China and Hong Kong
Ryuichi Sakamoto: async At The Park Avenue Armonry, Stephen Nomura Schible, USA and Japan
The Bookshop, Isabel Coixet, Spain, UK and Germany
(*) The Happy Prince, Ruppert Everett, Germany, Belgium and Italy
The Interpreter, Martin Sulik, Slovak Republic, Czech Republic and Austria
(**) Viaje a los Pueblos Fumigados, Fernando Solanas, Argentina (documentary)
Unga Astrid (Becoming Astrid), Pernille Fischer Christensen, Sweden, Germany and Denmark
Usedom - Der freie Blick aufs Meer, Heiz Brinkmann, Germany (documentary)

Berlinale Series
Opening Series:  Picnic at Hanging Rock, Larysa Kondracki, Australia; Broadcaster: Foxtel
Bad Banks, Christian Schwochow, Germany and Luxemburg; Broadcaster: ZDF and Arte
Heimebane (Home Ground), Arild Andresen, Norway; Broadcaster: NRK
Liberty, Mikael Marcimain, Denmark; Broadcaster: DR
The Looming Tower, Alex Gibney, USA; Broadcaster: Amazon and Hulu
Sleeping Bears, Keren Margalit, Israel; Broadcaster: Keshet
The Terror, Edward Berger, USA; Broadcaster: AMC, Amazon

Panorama
The first program curated by new section head Paz Lazaro, which seems has a "strong showing from Latin America" perhaps because this headline: Disobedience - "Body Politics", Resistance to Machismo.  Unfortunately after checking the final program it's clear that has a strong Brazilian presence and that's all.  The program for the 2018 edition has been finalized and features a total of 47 films from 40 countries with 37 world premieres and 16 directorial debuts.  20 films will be screened in the scope of Panorama Dokumente, while 27 fiction features are shown in Panorama Special as well as the main program.

Can't separate feature films into Main Program and Panorama Special, so until it's possible to id the section of each film, all feature films are in Main program and ALL documentaries in Panorama Dokumente.

Main Program

Garbage, Q, India
Genezis (Genesis), Arpad Bogdan, Hungary
Hojoom (Invasion), Shahram Mokri, Iran
Horizonti (Horizon), Tinatin Kajrishvill, Georgia and Sweden
Inkan, gongkan, sikan grigo inkan (Human, Space, Time and Human), Kim ki-duk, Korea
Jibril, Henrika Kull, Germany
Koly padayut dereva (When the Trees Fall), Marysia Mikitiuk, Ukraine, Poland and Macedonia
L'Animale, Katharina Muckstein, Austria
La Enfermedad del Domingo (Sunday's Illness), Ramon Salazar, Spain
La Omision (The Omission), Sebastian Schjaer, Argentina, Netherlands and Switzerland
La terra dell'abbastanza (Boys Cry), Damiano D'Innocenzo and Fabio D'Innocenzo, Italy
Lemonade, Ioana Uricaru, Romania, Canada, Germany and Sweden
Malambo, El Hombre Bueno (Malambo, The Good Man), Santiago Loza, Argentina
Marilyn, Martin Rodriguez Redondo, Argentina and Chile
Mes provinciales (A Paris Education), Jean Paul Civeyrac, France
Ondes de choc - Journal de ma tete (Shock Waves-Diary of My Mind), Ursula Meier, Switzerland
Ondes de choc - Prenom: Mathieu (Shock Waves-First Name: Mathieu), Lionel Baier, Switzerland
Profile, Timur Bekmambetov, USA, UK and Cyprus
River's Edge, Isao Yukisada, Japan
Rou qing shi (Girls Always Happy), Yang Mingming, China
Tinta Bruta (Hard Paint), Marcio Reolon and Filipe Matzembacher, Brazil
Trinta Lumes (Thirty Souls), Diana Toucedo, Spain
Xiao Mei, Maren Hwang, Taiwan
Yardle, Idris Elba, UK
Yocho (Foreboding), Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan

Panorama Special
Opening Film: Styx, Wolfang Fischer, Germany and Austria

Panorama Dokumente (documentaries)
Opening Film:  (**) Až přijde válka (When the War Comes), Jan Gebert, Czech Republic and Croatia
(**) Al Gami'ya (What Comes Around), Reem Saleh, Lebanon, Egypt, Greece, Qatar and Slovenia
Bixa Travesty (Tranny Fag), Claudia Priscilla and Kiko Goifman, Brazil
(**) Ex Paje (Ex Shaman), Luiz Bolognesi, Brazil
Famillenleben (Family Life), Rosa Hannah Ziegler, Germany
(**) Game Girls, Alina Skrzeszewska, France and Germany
Generation Wealth, Lauren Greenfield, USA
Hotel Jugoslavija, Nicolas Wagnieres, Swtizerland
Je vois rouge (I See Red People), Bojina Panyotova, France and Bulgaria
Kinshasa Makambo, Dieudo Hamadi, Congo, France, Switzerland, Germany, Qatar and Norway
Matangi/Maya/M.I.A., Steve Loveridge, USA, UK, and Sri Lanka
O processo (The Trial), Maria Ramos, Brazil, Germany and Netherlands
(**) Obscuro Barroco, Evangelia Kranioti, France and Greece
Partisan, Lutz Pehnert, Matthias Ehlert and Adama Ulrich, Germany
Shakedonw, Leilah Weinraub, USA
Shut Up and Play the Piano, Philipp Jedicke, Germany, France and UK
That Summer, Goran Hugo Olsson, Sweden, Denmark and USA
The Silence of Others, Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar, USA and Spain
The Silk and the Flame, Jordan Schiele, USA
(**) Zentralflughafen THF(Central Airport THF), Karim Ainouz, Germany, Brazil and France

Forum

48th Forum
This year, Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art is putting on the Forum as part of the Berlinale for the 48th time. The main programme consists of 44 films, 35 of which world premieres.

14 Apples by Midi Z, Taiwan and Myanmar
Afrique, la pensée en mouvement Part I by Jean-Pierre Bekolo, Senegal
Aggregat (Aggregate) by Marie Wilke, Germany
An Elephant Sitting Still by Hu Bo, China 
Amiko by Yoko Yamanaka, Japan
Apatride (Stateless) by Narjiss Nejjar, Morocco and France
Aufbruch (Departure) by Ludwig Wüst, Austria
Casanovagen (Casanova Gene) by Luise Donschen, Germany Classical Period by Ted Fendt, USA
Con el viento (Facing the Wind) by Meritxell Colell Aparicio, Spain, France and Argentina
(**) Den' Pobedy (Victory Day) by Sergei Loznitsa, Germany
Die Tomorrow by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, Thailand
Djamilia (Jamila) by Aminatou Echard, France
Drvo (The Tree) by André Gil Mata, Portugal – WP
Fotbal Infinit (Infinite Football) by Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania
Grass by Hong Sangsoo, Republic of Korea
Interchange by Brian M. Cassidy, Melanie Shatzky, Canada
Jahilya by Hicham Lasri, Morocco / France
Kaotični život Nade Kadić (The Chaotic Life of Nada Kadić) by Marta Hernaiz, Mexico / Bosnia and Herzegovina
La cama (The Bed) by Mónica Lairana, Argentina, Germany, Netherlands and Brazil
La casa lobo (The Wolf House) by Joaquín Cociña and Cristóbal León, Chile
Last Child by Shin Dong-seok, Republic of Korea
(**)L'empire de la perfection (In the Realm of Perfection) by Julien Faraut, France
Los débiles(The Weak Ones) by Raúl Rico, Eduardo Giralt Brun, Mexico
Madeline's Madeline by Josephine Decker, USA
Maki'la by Machérie Ekwa Bahango,  Congo and France
Mariphasa by Sandro Aguilar, Portugal
(**)Minatomachi (Inland Sea) by Kazuhiro Soda, Japan and USA
Notes On an Appearance by Ricky D'Ambrose, USA
Old Love by Park Kiyong, Korea
Our House by Yui Kiyohara, Japan
Our Madness by João Viana, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Qatar, Portugal and France
+ Accidence by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, Canada – WP
Premières armes (First Stripes) by Jean-François Caissy, Canada
(**)Premières solitudes (Young Solitude) by Claire Simon, France
SPK Komplex (SPK Complex) by Gerd Kroske, Germany
Syn (The Son) by Alexander Abaturov, France and Russia
Teatro de guerra (Theatre of War) by Lola Arias, Argentina and Spain
The Green Fog by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson, USA and Canada
Tuzdan Kaide (The Pillar of Salt) by Burak Çevik, Turkey
Unas preguntas (One or Two Questions) by Kristina Konrad, Germany and Uruguay
(**)Waldheims Walzer (The Waldheim Waltz) by Ruth Beckermann, Austria
Wieża. Jasny dzień. (Tower. A Bright Day.) by Jagoda Szelc, Poland
Wild Relatives by Jumana Manna, Germany, Lebanon and Norway
Yours in Sisterhood by Irene Lusztig, USA

Forum Special Screenings
11 x 14 by James Benning, USA, 1976
Der Film verlässt das Kino: Vom Kübelkind-Experiment und anderen Utopien (Film Beyond Cinema: The Dumpster Kid Experiment and Other Utopias) by Robert Fischer, Germany 
Geschichten vom Kübelkind (Stories of the Dumpster Kid) by Ula Stöckl, Edgar Reitz, Germany, 1970
Kad budem mrtav i beo (When I Am Dead and Pale) by Živojin Pavlović, Yugoslavia, 1967
Santo contra Cerebro del mal (Santo vs. Evil Brain) by Joselito Rodríguez, Mexico, 1961
Shaiu Umar by Adamu Halilu, Nigeria, 1976
Tahia ya Didou by Mohamed Zinet, Algeria, 1971
Yama–Attack to Attack by Mitsuo Sato, Kyoichi Yamaoka, Japan, 1985

A Pink Tribute to Keiko Sato
Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wastelands by Atsushi Yamatoya, Japan 1967
Gushing Prayer by Masao Adachi, Japan 1971
Abnormal Family by Masayuki Suo, Japan 1984

Concert: “Georges Méliès Solitudes Cine-concert” with Sharif Sehnaoui, Khyam Allami, Magda Mayas, Tony Elieh and Abed Kobeissy

13th Forum Expanded
34 film and video works of all lengths and genres together with 15 installations have been invited from a total of 27 countries.  This year’s programme once again includes a variety of works that use documentary techniques to examine and explore the potential for both cinema and music to question, illustrate, analyse and bring about change in such a way that they are capable of intervening in social and political events on the global stage. In so doing, they also expand the very concept of the documentary.  Check press release with all films in this section at official site here.

Generation
Selected from considerably more than 2,000 submissions, this year a total of 65 full-length and short films from 39 production and co-production countries have been invited to compete in the Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus competitions.   In its 41st edition, Generation reinforces the Berlin International Film Festival’s reputation for presenting ambitious new discoveries in the international contemporary film scene to young people told at eye level. “Generation shows films that stay close to the daily lives and fields of experience of children and young people, frequently in challenging situations. And we won’t ever tire of promoting a broader understanding of film for young viewers. At the same time, a visit to Generation has to be a joyful one, an adventure - and whet the appetite for more great cinema,” comments section head Maryanne Redpath.

Generation Kplus

Feature Films
Opening Film: Den utrolige historie om den kæmpestore pære (The Incredible Story of the Giant Pear), Philip Einstein Lipski, Amalie Næsby Fick, and Jørgen Lerdam, Denmark
Allons enfants (Cléo & Paul), Stéphane Demoustier, France
Blue Wind Blows, Tetsuya Tomina, Japan
(**) Ceres, Janet van den Brand, Belgium and Netherlands
Cirkeline, Coco og det vilde næsehorn (Circleen, Coco and the Wild Rhinoceros), Jannik Hastrup, Denmark
Dikkertje Dap (My Giraffe), Barbara Bredero, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany
El día que resistía, Alessia Chiesa, Argentina and France
Gordon och Paddy (Gordon and Paddy), Linda Hambäck, Sweden
Les rois mongols (Cross My Heart), Luc Picard, Canada
Los Bando, Christian Lo, Norway and Sweden
Mochila de Plomo (Packing Heavy), Dario Mascambroni, Argentina
Sekala Niskala (The Seen and Unseen), Kamila Andini, Indonesia, Netherlands, Australia and Qatar
Supa Modo, Likarion Wainaina, Germany and Kenya
Wang Zha de yuxue (Wangdrak's Rain Boots), Lhapal Gyal, China

Short Films
A Field Guide to Being a 12-Year-Old Girl, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Australia
Brottas (Tweener), Julia Thelin, Sweden
Cena d’aragoste (Lobster Dinner), Gregorio Franchetti, Italy and USA
De Natura, Lucile Hadžihalilović, Romania
Fisketur (Out Fishing), Uzi Geffenblad, Sweden
Fire in Cardboard City, Phil Brough, New Zealand
Hvalagapet, Liss-Anett Steinskog, Norway
Jaalgedi (A Curious Girl), Rajesh Prasad Khatri, Nepal
L’après-midi de Clémence (The Afternoon of Clémence), Lénaïg Le Moigne, France
Lost & Found, Bradley Slabe, Andrew Goldmith, Australia
Neko no Hi (Cat Days), Jon Frickey, Germany
Paper Crane, Takumi Kawakami, Australia
Pinguin (Penguin), Julia Ocker, Germany
Snijeg za Vodu (Snow for Water), Christopher Villiers, Bosnia Herzegovina and UK
Toda mi alegría (All My Joy), Micaela Gonzalo, Argentina
Tråder (Threads), Torill Kove, Norway and Canada
Trois rêves de ma jeunesse (Three Dreams of My Childhood), Valérie Mréjen, Bertrand Schefer, Romania
Vdol´ i poperyok (Between the Lines), Maria Koneva, Russia
Yover, Edison Sánchez, Colombia

Generation 14plus

Feature Films
Opening Film: 303, Hans Weingartner, Germany
Adam, Maria Solrun, Germany, Iceland, USA and Mexico
Cobain, Nanouk Leopold, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany
Danmark (Denmark), Kasper Rune Larsen, Denmark
Dressage, Pooya Badkoobeh, Iran
Fortuna, Germinal Roaux, Switzerland and Belgium
Güvercin (The Pigeon), Banu Sivaci, Turkey
Hendi & Hormoz, Abbas Amini, Iran and Czech Republic
High Fantasy, Jenna Bass, South Africa
Kissing Candice, Aoife McArdle, Ireland
Les faux tatouages (Fake Tattoos), Pascal Plante, Canada
Para Aduma (Red Cow), Tsivia Barkai Jacov, Israel
Retablo, Alvaro Delgado-Aparicio, Peru, Germany and Norway
Unicórnio (Unicorn), Eduardo Nunes, Brazil
Virus Tropical, Santiago Calcedo, Colombia
(**) What Walaa Wants, Christy Garland, Canada and Denmark

Short Films
Fry-Up, Charlotte Regan, UK
Follower, Jonathan B. Behr, Germany
Je fais où tu me dis (Dressed for Pleasure), Marie de Maricourt, Switzerland
Juck, Olivia Kastebring, Julia Gumpert, and Ulrika Bandeira, Sweden
Kiem Holijanda, Sarah Veltmeyer, Netherlands
Na zdrowie! (Bless You!), Paulina Ziólkowska, Poland
Neputovanja (Untravel), Ana Nedeljković, Nikola Majdak Jr., Serbia and Slovakia
Nuuca,  Michelle Latimer , USA and Canada
Playa (Beach), Francisco Borrajo, Mexico
Pop Rox, Nate Trinrud, USA
Premier amour (First Love), Jules Carrin, Switzerland
Sinfonía de un mar triste (Symphony of a Sad Sea), Carlos Morales, Mexico
Tangles and Knots, Renée Marie Petropoulos, Australia
Three Centimetres, Lara Zeidan, UK
Vermine (Vermin), Jeremie Becquer, Denmark
Voltage, Samira Ghahremani, Austria

Perspektive Deutsches Kino
14 films, including six full-length fiction and four documentary films, will compete for the Kompass-Perspektive-Preis. In addition, a neighborhood film project that focuses on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in Berlin will be a guest atPerspektive Deutsches Kino 2018.

Die defekte Katze (A Dysfunctional Cat), Susan Gordanshekan
(**) draußen (outside), Johanna Sunder-Plassmann and Tama tobias-Macht (documentary)
Feierabendbier (After-Work Beer), Ben Brummer
Impreza - Das Fest (Impreza - The Celebration), Alexandra Wesolowski (documentary)
Kein sicherer Ort (No Safe Place), Antje Beine (medium-lenght)
Kineski zid (Great Wall of China),  Aleksandra Odić (medium-length)
Luz, Tilman Singer
Rå, Sophia Bösch (medium-length)
Rückenwind von vorn (Away You Go), Philip Eichholtz
Storkow Kalifornia, Kolja Malik (medium-length)
(**) The Best Thing You Can Do With Your Life, Zita Erffa (documentary)
Verlorene (Lost Ones), Felix Hassenfratz
Whatever Happens Next, Julian Pörksen
Überall wo wir sind (Everywhere We Are), Veronica Kaserer (documentary)

Guest Projects
Film Waderungen (Film Walks), 27 participants (doc-series)
Ohne diese Welt (Without This World), Nora Fingscheidt (documentary)


(*) First Feature

(**) Competing for the Documentary Award. Also The Green Lie by Werner Boote screened at Culinary Cinema. There are 18 films competing for the award.
Documentary Award Jury
Gintia Gil, doc festival director, Portugal
Ulrike Ottinger, director, screenwriter, cinematographer, artist and phtographer, Germany
Eric Schlosser, journalist, playwright, screenwriter and filmmaker, USA



Berlinale Shorts
22 films from 18 countries will be competing for the Golden and Silver Bear, as well as the Audi Short Film Award and a nomination for the European Film Awards.  The short films in this year's international competition look reality in the eye and actively contribute to the current socio-political discourse. Different strategies of empowerment are brought to bear. Self-determinedly, the filmmakers capture small moments, local stories and topics, and connect them to events of great impact. Whether the films are animated, documentary or fiction – experimentation is the order of the day. The performative element is part of the strategy. Gender relations and power structures are still far from being equal or balanced, but they are the subject of these works.

Films screening in Berlinale Shorts 2018
After/Life, Puck Lo, USA, 15'
Alma Bandida, Marco Antônio Pereira, Brazil, 15’
And What Is the Summer Saying, Payal Kapadia, India, 23’
Babylon, Keith Deligero, Philippines, 20
Blau, David Jansen, Germany, 15’
Burkina Brandenburg Komplex, Ulu Braun, Germany, 19’
Circle, Jayisha Patel, UK, India and Canada, 14’
City of Tales, Arash Nassiri, France, 21’
Coyote, Lorenz Wunderle, Switzerland, 10’
Imfura, Samuel Ishimwe, Switzerland and Rwanda, 36’
Imperial Valley (Cultivated Run-Off), Lukas Marxt, Germany and Austria, 14’
Des jeunes filles disparaissent, Clément Pinteaux, France, 16
Madness, João Viana, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Qatar, Portugal and France, 13‘
The Men Behind the Wall, Ines Moldavsky, Israel, 28’
Onde o Verão Vai (episódios da juventude), David Pinheiro Vicente, Portugal, 20’
Russa, João Salaviza & Ricardo Alves Jr., Portugal and Brazil, 20’
Solar Walk, Réka Bucsi, Denmark, 21’
Terremoto Santo, Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca, Brazil, 20’
Le Tigre de Tasmanie, Vergine Keaton, France, 14’
T.R.A.P, Manque La Banca, Argentina, 16’
While I Yet Live, Maris Curran, USA, 15’
Wishing Well, Sylvia Schedelbauer, Germany, 13‘

Out of Competition
Besida, Chuko Esiri, Nigeria, 12’
The Shadow of Utopia, Antoinette Zwirchmayr, Austria, 23’

50 years since 1968: The Berlinale Shorts special program “1968 – Red Flags for Everyone” will present aesthetic strategies that are still relevant to this day. “Without raising the question of social unrest, it would be impossible to examine 1968 – the subjective gaze in its aesthetic diversity is the kaleidoscope that makes the conditions then accessible today. By radically reducing everything to the material itself, the artists free film from any sort of narrative and allow a new reality to become apparent,” states Berlinale Shorts curator Maike Mia Höhne.

Berlinale Shorts Special Program - 1968-Red Flags for Everyone
Alaska, Dore O., Federal Republic of Germany, 18‘, 1968
Antigone, Ula Stöckl, Federal Republic of Germany, 9‘, 1964
Farbtest Rote Fahne, Gerd Conradt, Federal Republic of Germany, 12‘, 1968
Fundevogel, Claudia von Alemann, Federal Republic of Germany, 22‘, 1967
I Ruhrområdet, Peter Nestler, Sweden, 34‘, 1967
Ja/Nein, Ernst Schmidt jr., Austria, 3‘, 1968
Kunst & Revolution, Ernst Schmidt jr., Austria, 2‘, 1968
My Name is Oona, Gunvor Nelson, USA, 10‘, 1969
Na und…?, Marquard Bohm and Helmut Herbst, Federal Republic of Germany, 33‘, 1966
Programmhinweise, Christiane Gehner, Federal Republic of Germany, 10‘, 1970
Rohfilm, Birgit and Wilhelm Hein, Federal Republic of Germany, 20‘, 1968
Tapp und Tastkino, VALIE EXPORT, Austria, 2‘, 1968

Berlinale Shorts Jury
Diogo Costa Amarante, filmmaker, Portugal
Jyoti Mistry,  filmmaker and academic, South Africa
Mark Toscano, filmmaker and curator, USA



NATIVe
This year, the Berlinale special presentation NATIVe − A Journey into Indigenous Cinema will pass review and at the same time turn its glance towards the future.

12th Culinary Cinema
The 12th Culinary Cinema will be held under the motto “Life Is Delicate” from February 18 to 23, 2018. Nine documentaries and a fictional film focusing on the relationship between food, culture, and politics are being presented this year.

Books At Berlinale
Twelve International Novels with screen potential.  Producers can once again discover twelve new, unusual literary works that could be turned into films. The selected books will be showcased at the popular presentation, which has been a part of the Berlinale Co-Production Market since 2006, in cooperation with the Frankfurt Book Fair.

16th Berlinale Talent Campus
250 filmmakers from 81 countries in Berlin, including 128 women and 122 men. 40 film projects.

European Film Market & Co-Production Market
36 new feature film projects that are looking for co-producers from 28 countries.

Honorary Golden Bear and Homage

The Berlinale Camera

Today Alain Terzian, President of the French Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques and Many Payet, awards ceremony host, announced during a breakfast press conference at Fouquet's restaurant on the Champs-Elysees in Paris the nominees for the 2018 edition of the awards that honor films released during 2017.

Terzain congratulated Agnes Varda for her honorary Oscar and also her nomination in the best documentary category with Faces Places.  He also praised 2017 as a great year for French cinema abroad and unveiled a new award this year, the Audience Award (César du Public) that will be given to the film with more tickets sold in cinemas during a 10-week period in 2017.

The awards ceremony will take place on March 2 at Salle Pleyel in Paris and will be broadcast live on Canal+.  Vanessa Paradis will open the ceremony dedicated to Jeanne Moreau where Penelpe Cruz will receive an Honorary César.



Cannes Grand Prix winner 120 BPM and See You Up There lead with 13 nominations each followed by C'est la Vie with 10.  Many find remarkable that a comedy was able to collect 10 nominations and another box office success Le Brio by Yvan Attal was honored with a best film nomination. 

Once again the acting categories assure the awards ceremony presence of many well-known actors like Juliette Binoche (get her tenth nomination), Charlotte Gainsbourg, Daniel Auteuil, Guillaume Canet and Louis Garrel which obviously attracts many, including me, to check what goes on as with a couple of exceptions most honored films are not really my cup-of-tea and do not belong to what I call great French cinema as they tend to be normal, leaning toward entertaining more than anything else.  Sigh.

The 4,680 academy members will now vote in the second round to select a winner.  According to press reports only 60% voted in the first round, so perhaps the second round could attract more voters.

The exercise gave me a couple of films that will check one in the foreign film category, Noces and another in the best actor as was not aware that Marion Cotillard was in a film by Guillaume Canet and with him in the lead, Rock 'n Roll.  Some comment that Cotillard should have been nominated in a supporting role and her quebecois accent (!?) ... I'm curious.

The Nominees

Best Film
120 battements par minute (120 BPM), Robin Campillo
Au revoir là-haut (See You Up There), Albert Dupontel
Barbara, Mathieu Amalric
Le brio, Yvan Attal
Le sens de la fête (C'est la Vie!), Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache
Patients, Grand Corps Malade and Mehdi Idir
Petit paysan (Bloody Milk), Hubert Charuel

Best Debut Film
Grave (Raw), Julia Ducornau
Jeune femme (Montparnasse Bienvenue), Leonor Serraille,
Monsieur & Madame Adelman (Mr. & Mrs. Adelman), Nicolas Bedos
Patients, Grand Corps Malade and Mehdi Idir
Petit paysan (Bloody Milk), Hubert Charuel

Best Documentary Film
12 jours (12 Days), Raymond Depardon
À voix haute, la force de la parole, Stéphane de Freitas and Ladj Ly
Carré 35, Eric Caravaca
I am not your negro, Raoul Peck
Visages, Villages (Faces Places), Agnès Varda and JR

Best Animated Feature
Le Grand Méchant Renard et autres contes... (The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales), Benjamin Renner and Patrick Imbert
Sahara, Pierre Pierre Coré
Zombillénium (Zombillenium), Arthur de Pins and Alexis Ducord

Best Foreign Film
Le Caire confidentiel (The Nile Hilton Incident), Tarik Saleh, Sweden, Germany and Netherlands
Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan, UK, Netherlands, France and USA
L'échange des princesses (The Royal Exchange), Marc Dugain, France and Belgium
Nelyubov (Loveless), Adnrey Zvyagintsev, Russia, France, Germany and Belgium
La La Land, Damien Chazelle, USA
Noces (A Wedding), Stephan Streker, Belgium, Pakistan, Luxembourg and France
The Square, Ruben Östlund, Sweden, Germany, France and Denmark

Best Director
Robin Campillo for 120 battements par minute (120 BPM)
Albert Dupontel for Au revoir là-haut (See You Up There)
Mathieu Amalric for Barbara
Julia Ducournau for Grave (Raw)
Hubert Charuel for Petit paysan (Bloody Milk)
Michel Hazanavicius for Le Redoutable (Redoubtable)
Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache for Le sens de la fête (C'est la Vie!)

Best Actress
Jeanne Balibar in Barbara
Juliette Binoche in Un beau soleil intérieur (Let the Sunshine In)
Emmanuelle Devos in Numéro Une (Number One)
Marina Foïs in L'Atelier
Charlotte Gainsbourg in La Promesse de l'Aube (Promise at Dawn)
Doria Tillier in Monsieur & Madame Adelman (Mr. & Mrs. Adelman)
Karine Viard in Jalouse

Best Supporting Actress
Laure Calamy in Ava
Anaïs Demoustier in La Villa
Sara Giraudeau in Petit Paysan (Bloody Milk)
Adèle Haenel in 120 Battements par minute (120 BPM)
Mélanie Thierry in Au revoir là-haut (See You Up There)

Most Promising Actress
Iris Bry in Les Gardiennes (The Guardians)
Laetitia Dosch in Jeune Femme (Montparnasse Bienvenue)
Eye Haïdara in Le Sens de la fête (C'est la Vie!)
Camélia Jordana in Le Brio
Garance Marillier in Grave (Raw) 

Best Actor
Swann Arlaud in Petit Paysan (Bloody Milk)
Daniel Auteuil in Le Brio
Jean-Pierre Bacri in Le Sens de la fête (C'est la Vie!)
Guillaume Canet in Rock n' Roll (Rock'n'Roll)
Albert Dupontel in Au revoir là-haut (See You Up There)
Louis Garrel in Le Redoutable (Redoubtable)
Reda Kateb in Django

Best Supporting Actor
Niels Arestrup in Au revoir là-haut (See You Up There)
Laurent Lafitte in Au revoir là-haut (See You Up There)
Gilles Lellouche in Le Sens de la fête (C'est la Vie!)
Vincent Macaigne in Le Sens de la fête (C'est la Vie!)
Antoine Reinartz in 120 Battements par minut (120 BPM)

Most Promising Actor
Benjamin Lavernhe in Le sens de la fête (C'est la Vie!)
Finnegan Oldfield in Marvin ou la Belle Education (Reinventing Marvin)
Pablo Pauly in Patients
Nahuel Perez Biscayart in 120 Battements par minute (120 BPM)
Arnaud Valois in 120 Battements par minute (120 BPM)

Best Original Screenplay
120 battements par minute
Barbara
Grave
Petit paysan
Le sens de la fête

Best Adaptation
Au revoir là-haut
Les gardiennes
Patients
La Promesse de l'aube
Le Redoutable

Best Cinematography
120 battements par minute (120 BPM)
Au revoir là-haut (See You Up There)
Barbara
Les gardiennes (The Guardians)
Le Redoutable (Redoubtdable)

Best Editing
120 battements par minute
Au revoir là-haut
Barbara
Petit Paysan
Le Sens de la fête

Best Original Score
120 battements par minute
Au revoir là-haut
Grave
Petit Paysan
Visages villages

Best Sound
120 battements par minute
Au revoir là-haut
Barbara
Grave
Le sens de la fête

Best Costume
120 battements par minute
Au revoir là-haut
Barbara
Les gardiennes
La Promesse de l'aube

Best Production Design
120 battements par minute
Au revoir là-haut
Barbara
La promesse de l'aube
Le redoutable

Best Short Film
Les bigorneaux, Alice Vial
Le bleu blanc rouge de mes cheveux, Josza Anjembe
Debout Kinshasa!, Sebastien Maitre
Marlon, Jessica Palud
Les misérables, Ladj Ly

Best Animated Short
Le futur sera chauve, Paul Gabon
I Want Pluto to be a Planet Again, Marie Amachoukeli and Vladimir Mavounia-Kouka
Le jardin de minuit, Benoit Chieux
Pépé le morse, Lucrece Andreae

To check nominees at official site go here and open a pdf file.

More than 175 Oscar nominees came together at noon on Monday, February 5, at the Beverly Hilton when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honors this year’s Oscar contenders at its annual Nominees Luncheon.

Among the Lead Actor and Actress nominees, Timothée Chalamet, Sally Hawkins, Daniel Kaluuya, Frances McDormand, Gary Oldman, Margot Robbie, Saoirse Ronan and Meryl Streep attended the pre-Oscars event. Supporting Actor and Actress nominees Mary J. Blige, Willem Dafoe, Allison Janney, Richard Jenkins, Laurie Metcalf, Sam Rockwell and Octavia Spencer also join the celebratory lunch.

All five nominees in the Directing category – Paul Thomas Anderson, Guillermo del Toro, Greta Gerwig, Jordan Peele and Christopher Nolan – attended as well. There are 200 nominees and five countries represented in this year’s class.

The 90th Oscars, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will be held on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

Please take note that the Academy calls the class "Class of 2017" but as happens every single year many of us prefer to call the year where the awards are given for whatever the person did in the previous year.  More clearly, in 2018 the Academy honors films that were released during 2017, so -for many of us cinema pundits- is the Class of 2018.

The official photo


The Luncheon

Last Saturday was the annual awards ceremony of the award that honors Belgian cinema released during 2017 and a milestone event happened, as is the first time a film has 6 nominations and wins 6 awards.  The second film by Philippe Van Leeuw, Insyriated, won the top award and five more, including Best Director for Van Leeuw.

Insyriated premiered at 2017 Berlinale in the Panorama section where won the Label Europa Cinemas award and the award that suggests audience acceptance, the first place in the Panorama Audience Awards.  Starring none other than one of my most favorite actresses, Hiam Abbass, tells the following story:

The reality of life as a civilian in modern-day Damascus is explored in gripping and visceral detail.  Trapped inside her own home as the city around her is reduced to rubble, mother of three Oum Yazan (Hiam Abbass) takes comfort in the familiarity of household routines. The streets below are a war zone, with a barricaded doorway providing the only protection from the threat of deadly bombs and sniper fire. One day, an ominous knock on the door signals that their time in hiding is almost up. And when the world outside finally bursts in, Oum Yazan is forced to make a terrible sacrifice in order to protect those she loves.

To check announcement go official site here, available only in French.  These are the winners.

Best Film: Insyriated, Philippe Van Leeuw, Belgium, France and Lebanon



Best Debut Film: Faut pas lui dire (Don't Tell Her), Solange Cicurel, Belgium and France
Best Flemish Film: Home, Fien Troch, Belgium
Best Co-produced Foreign Film: Grave (Raw), Julia Ducournau, France and Belgium
Best Documentary: Burning Out, Jérôme le Maire, Belgium, France and Switzerland

Best Director:  Philippe Van Leeuw for Insyriated, Philippe Van Leeuw, Belgium, France and Lebanon

Best Actress: Emilie Dequenne in Chez nous (This Is Our Land), Lucas Belvaux, France and Belgium
Best Supporting Actress: Aurora Marion in Noces (A Wedding), Stephan Streker, Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Pakistan
Best Female Newcomer: Maya Dory in Mon Ange (Angel), Harry Cleven, France and Belgium
Best Actor: Peter Van Den Begin in King of the Belgians, Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth, Belgium, Netherlands and Bulgaria
Best Supporting Actor: Jean-Benoît Ugeux in Le Fidèle (Racer and the Jailbird), Michaël R. Roskam, Belgium, France and Netherlands
Best Male Newcomer: Soufiaane Chilah in Dode hoek (Blind Spot), Nabil Ben Yadir, Belgium

Best Cinematography: Virginie Surdej for Insyriated, Philippe Van Leeuw, Belgium, France and Lebanon
Best Screenplay: Philippe Van Leeuw for Insyriated, Philippe Van Leeuw, Belgium, France and Lebanon
Best Sound: Alek Goose and Paul Heymans for Insyriated, Philippe Van Leeuw, Belgium, France and Lebanon
Best Production Design: Laurie Colson for Grave (Raw), Julia Ducournau, France and Belgium
Best Costumes: Sophie Van Den Keybus for Noces (A Wedding), Stephan Streker, Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Pakistan
Best Original Score: Jean-Luc Fafchamps for Insyriated, Philippe Van Leeuw, Belgium, France and Lebanon
Best Editing: Sandrine Deegen for Paris pied nus (Lost in Paris), Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon, France and Belgium

Best Short Fiction: Avec Thelma, Raphaël Balboni and Ann Sirot
Best Short Animation:  Le lion et le singe, Benoît Feroumont

Honorary Magritte: Sandrine Bonnaire

Last Saturday was the annual Goya awards gala and no, didn't watched live as was expecting what always happens, films I don't like win awards ... sigh.

Well, this year I was wrong as out-of-the-blue the big winner of the night became a film I haven't seen but definitively will love to watch as I see everything by Isabel Coixet, especially when the male lead belongs to an actor I highly enjoy his performances, Bill Nighy. By-the-way, The Bookshop will have its international premiere at the 2018 Berlinale as a Special Gala.

Yes, Isabel Coixet latest directorial master opus won top award and also two awards to Coixet for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay which undoubtedly was a surprise as no, film was not the big quantity winner as that title belongs to Handia (Giant) by Aitor Arregi and Jon Garaño that collected ten (10) awards (most were tech awards).

One of the gala highlights was the several languages of Spanish cinema as The Bookshop is in English, Handia is in Basque, the winner of the Best New Director is in Catalan and then, others are in Spanish, so many award winners spoke those languages.  Not sure if this speaks well (or not) about Spanish Cinema, especially because lately the best Spanish films tend to be filmed in the English-language.  But then, most great contemporary films by outstanding Spanish directors are in Catalan and yes, have seen a few in Basque that definitively can be considered as great films.  Last, lately the not-so-good films are in Spanish-language, sigh.  Obviously there is one HUGE (humongous) exception, Almodovar.

The Winners

Best Film: The Bookshop, Isabel Coixet, Spain, UK and Germany
Best European Film: The Square, Ruben Östlund, Sweden, Germany, France, Denmark and USA)
Best Latin American Film:  La Mujer Fantástica(A Fantastic Woman), Sebastián Lelio, Chile, Spain, Germany and USA)

Best Director: Isabel Coixet for The Bookstore, Spain, UK and Germany
Best New Director: Carla Simon for Estiu 1993 (Summer 1993), Spain

Best Actress: Natalie Poza in No sé decir adiós (Can't Say Goodbye), Lino Escalera, Spain
Best Supporting Actress: Adelfa Calvo in El Autor (The Motive), Manuel Martin Cuenca, Spain and Mexico
Best New Actress: Bruna Cusi in Estiu 1993 (Summer 1993), Carla Simon, Spain

Best Actor: Javier Gutierrez in El Autor (The Motive), Manuel Martin Cuenca, Spain and Mexico
Best Supporting Actor: David Verdaguer in Estiu 1993 (Summer 1993)
Best New Actor: Eneko Sagardoy in Handia (Giant), Jon Garaño and Aitor Arregi, Spain

Best Original Screenplay: Jon Garaño, José María Goenaga and Aitor Arregifor Handia (Giant), Jon Garaño and Aitor Arregi, Spain
Best Adapted Screenplay:  Isabel Coixet for The Bookshop, Isabel Coixet, Spain, UK and Germany

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

The 32nd Teddy Award is presented within the framework of the Berlin International Film Festival from February 15 to 25, 2018. For 32 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 Feature Film, Best Documentary Film, Best Short Film, Jury Award and the Manschaft Magazin Readers Award

Again this year Dieter Kosslick, Berlinale Director, did a remarkable introduction to Teddy Award Program guide and here is an excerpt.

Teddy #32: People. Dignity. Rights.
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights."  As often an unwillingly as this sentence - the first article of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed 70 years ago -may be forgotten: there is nothing that we must defend more than people, their dignity and their rights.  ...

I am looking forward to the first "appearance" of the Teddy Newcomer Award.  And it has remained a special feature of the Berlinale that queer cinema can be found in nearly all sections, that 30 films from more than 20 countries adopt queer perspectives and tell queer stories.  The new Panorama team will also continue to highlight this fact.

As it's said in the program, "2018 is a year of transition for the Panorama team, with Wieland Spec, founder of the Teddy Award, relinquishing his 25 year role as curator of the arthouse section of the Berlinale. In his place stand three individuals, Paz Lazaro, Michael Stutz and Andreas Struck".  Paz Lazaro becomes the head of the section and since 2006 has worked with Wieland.  We hope that under Lazaro Panorama section will keep on growing on interesting films as well as brings more and more films that could compete for the Teddy Award.  Sigh.

Program also speaks about the #MeToo movement which suggest you read to remind yourself about celebrity predators but also about statistics like for example "lesbians are almost 10% more likely to experience rape than straight women and gay men face double the risk of sexual violence than heterosexual men". Sigh.

Current edition poster was created by the designers collective cabine, who has been responsible for the posters from several past editions.

This year there are five Teddy Diversity Talks that will cover the following subjects:
1.- Before Pride: Queer Film Pioneers on their legacy and contemporary work
2.- Bodies of Evidence: The Sensual and Political Power of Transformation
3.- Black Queer Women in Focus: The Economy of Space and Desire
4.- Go Your Own Way: Adolescent Resistance in Queer Narratives
5.- Diversity und Gender Equality in Beruf und Gesellschaft Viel Luft nach oben in Sachen Gleichstellung?

To check program go here (pdf file).

The awards ceremony will take place on February 23, at 8:30pm at the Haus der Berliner Festpiele and will be streamed live.  After the ceremony the celebration continues with the Teddy backstage party.

Feature Films

Competition
Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot, Gus Van Sant, USA
Las Herederas (The Heiresses), Marcelo Martinessi, Paraguay, Uruguay, Germany, Brazil, Norway and France. (L)
Nu mă atinge-mă (Touch Me Not), Adina Pintille, Romania, Germany, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and France 

Berlinale Special
The Happy Prince, Rupert Everett, Germany, Belgium and Italy

Panorama
Garbage, Q (Qaushiq Mukherjee), India
Hojoom (Invasion), Shahram Mokri, Iran
L'Animale, Katharina Mückstein, Austria (L)
Malambo, El Hombre Bueno (Malambo, The Good Man),  Santiago Loza, Argentina
Marilyn, Martin Rodriguez Redondo, Argentina and Chile
Mes Provinciales (A Paris Education), Jean-Paul Civeyrac, Franc
リバーズ・エッジ  Ribâzu ejji (River's Edge), Isao Yukisada, Japan
Tinta Bruta (Hard Paint),  Marcio Reolon and Filipe Marzembacher, Brazil

Forum
Tuzdan Kaide (The Pillar of Salt) by Burak Çevik, Turkey

Generation
High Fantasy, Jenna Bass, South Africa
Para Aduma (Red Cow), Tsivia Barkai Jacov, Israel (L)
Retablo, Alvaro Delgado-Aparicio L., Peru, Germany and Norway

Documentaries
Panorama Dokumente
Bixa Travesty (Tranny Fag), Claudia Priscilla and Kiko Goifman, Brazil (T)
Game Girls, Alina Skrzeszewska, France and Germany (L)
Obscuro Barroco, Evangelia Kranioti, France and Greece 
Shakedown, Leilah Weinraub, USA (L)
The Silk and the Flame, Jordan Schiele, USA
Yours in Sisterhood by Irene Lusztig, USA

Forum
Escape from Rented Island: The Lost Paradise of Jack Smith, Jerry Tartaglia, USA

Short Films
Competition
Onde o Verão Vai (episódios da juventude)/Where the Summer Goes (chapeters on youth), David Pinheiro Vicente, Portugal, 20’
T.R.A.P, Manque La Banca, Argentina, 16’ 

Forum
Contra-Internet: Jubilee 2033, Zach Blas, USA and UK, 29'
Evidentiary Bodies, Barbara Hammer, USA, 10'

Generation
Je fais où tu me dis (Dressed for Pleasure), Marie de Maricourt, Switzerland, 17'
Juck, Olivia Kastebring, Julia Gumpert, and Ulrika Bandeira, Sweden, 18'
Pop Rox, Nate Trinrud, USA, 14'
Three Centimetres, Lara Zeidan, UK, 9' (L)

The Jury
Antomio Harfuch, producer film curator, Mexico
Bohdan Zhuk, film festival programmer, Ukraine
Franck Finance-Madureira, movie journalist and Queer Palm creator, France
Marthe Djilo Kamga, film festival founder, Belgium
Natascha Frankenberg, film festival programmer, Germany
Pecha Lo, film festival director, Taiwan
Roisin Geraghty, producer and film festival manager and programmer, Ireland

Teddy Readers' Award Jury
Martin Busse, music editor
Katayun Pirdawari, activist
Holger Beisitzer, moviegoer
Chritine Burkart, journalist
Adriell Kopp, filmmaker


Retrospektive
Der Himmel Auf Erden (Heaven on Earth), Reinhold Schunzel and Alfred Schirokauer,  Germany, 1927
Ludwig de Zweite, Konig von Bayern (Ludwig II of Bavaria), Willhelm Dieterle, Germany, 1930

Homage
Pasolini, Abel Ferrara, France, Italy and Belgium, 2-14

Check available info and trailer @MOC.
Check available posters of ALL Berlinale Films, including those competing for Teddy Award, go pinterest here.

This year there is no way to embed the program guide so if you wish to check it go here.  To read about each film at official site go here.

The Trailer

As there are some winners already announced decided to start today the post that will list ALL winners in 2018 Berlinale.

Post will be in-progress until Saturday, February 24th when the awards ceremony will take place in the evening.



Competition

Golden Bear for Best Film:
Silver Bear Jury Grand Prize
Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize:

Silver Bear for Best Director:

Silver Bear for Best Actress:
Silver Bear for Best Actor:

Silver Bear for Best Script:
Silver Bear for Outstanding Contribution in the categories Camera, Editing, Score, Costume Design or Set Design:

Best First Feature Award:
Glashutte Original Documentary Award:

Short Films

Golden Bear:
Silver Bear:
Audi Award:
Special Mention:
Best Short Film Nominee for the European Film Awards:

Generation

Generation Kplus

Children's Jury
Crystal Bear for Best Film:
Special Mention:
Crystal Bear for Best Short Film:

International Jury
Grand Prix for Best Film:
Special Mention:

Generation 14plus

Youth Jury
Crystal Bear for Best Film:
Special Mention:
Crystal Bear for Best Short Film:
Special Mention:

International Jury
Grand Prix:
Special Mention:
Special Prize for Best Short Film:
Special Mention:

Collateral Awards - Prizes from Independent Juries

FIPRESCI Awards
Competition:
Panorama:
Forum:

Ecumenical Jury Awards
Competition:
Special Mention:
Panorama:
Special Mention:
Forum:
Special Mention:

Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d’Art et d’Essai (C.I.C.A.E.)
Panorama:
Forum:

Teddy Awards:
Best Film:
Special Jury Award:
Best Documentary:
Best Short Film:
Männer Readers' Jury Award-Harvey:

Amnesty International Film Prize:
Caligari Film Prize:
Guild Film Prize:
Heiner Carow Prize:
Label Europa Cinemas:
Peace Film Prize:

Readers' Juries and Audience Awards

Panorama Audience Awards
Feature Films
1st Place:
2nd Place:
3rd Place:
Documentary Films
1st Place:
2nd Place:
3rd Place:

The Berliner Morgenpost Readers' Jury Award:
The Tagesspiegel Readers' Jury Award:

Prizes Berlinale Co-Production Market & Berlinale Talents (Development Awards)

Arte International Prize: The War Has Ended by Hagar Ben Asher, Israel, Poland and Germany
Baumi Script Development Award: Soudade Kaadan for Nezouh, Syria
Euroimages Co-Production Development Award: The War Has Ended by Hagar Ben Asher, Israel, Poland and Germany

VFF Talent Highlight Award: Jing Wang producer for Tropical Memories by Shipei Wen, China.
Special Mention:

Robert Bosch Stifung Prize for International Cooperation - Germany/Arab World
Documentary Film:
Animation Film:
Short Film Fiction:

Kompagnon-Fellowship Awards
Perspektive Deutches Kino:
Berlinale Talents:

Compass-Perspektive-Award:
Special Jury Prize:

Honorary Golden Bear: Willem Dafoe
Berlinale Camera: Beki Probst, Katriel Schor, and Jiří Menzel

A few days back the guild had their award ceremony and for the first time, the event red carpet was live-streamed from The Novo by Microsoft at L. A. and was hosted by Frankie Grande.  If you wish to check the red carpet event watch video at the end of post.

Frankie Grande also hosted the ceremony.  The night opened with a solo performance by him accompanied by pianist Jeremy Weinglass.

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

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1/5/18
The Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild (MUAHS, IATSE Local 706) have announced nominations for outstanding achievements in motion pictures, television, commercials and live theater during 2017. Winners will be honored at the black-tie annual MUAHS Guild Awards ceremony on Saturday, February 24, 2018 at The Novo by Microsoft at L.A. Live, hosted by Comedienne Loni Love.

The announcement was made by MUAHS President Sue Cabral-Ebert.  “Congratulations to all the nominees who should be very proud of their extraordinary creations! We had a record number of artisan entries this year, and we look forward to celebrating their unique achievements and exceptional bodies of work,” said Cabral-Ebert.

As previously announced, legendary Academy Award nominated actor Gary Oldman will be honored with the 2018 Distinguished Artisan Award. Oscar winning Make-Up Artist Greg Cannom  and Emmy Winning Hair Stylist Mary Guerrero will receive the Guild’s Lifetime Achievement Awards. Additional awards will honor nominees for outstanding achievements in motion pictures, television, commercials and live theater.

Besides special make-up effects, find categories are not easy to guess winner, possible Oscar nominees or Oscar winner; so, my best guess is there are three films with outstanding special make-up effects: Wonder, Darkest Hour and The Shape of Water.  For other categories have no idea, except that I, Tonya make-up and hair is so good (add costumes) that you (visually) hate characters and end-up disliking film -yes, happened to me.

These are the Nominees

Feature-Length Motion Picture 

Best Contemporary Make-Up
Fionagh Cush and Phyllis Temple for Baby Driver
Leon Won and Kirsten Sylvester for The Big Sick
Deborah La Mia Denaver and Jane O'Kane for Ghost in the Shell
*Melanie Huges-Weaver, Judy Yonemoto and Erica Kyker for Pitch Perfect 3
Naomi Bakstad, Jean Black and Megan Harkness for Wonder

Best Contemporary Hair
Tonia Ciccone and Toni Roman-Grimm for The Big Sick
*Camille Friend, Louisa Anthony and Jules Holdren for Guardians of the Galaxy - Vol 2
Cydney Cornell and Susan Buffington for Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
Cheryl Marks, Melissa Malkasian and Andrea Bowman for Pitch Perfect 3
Robert Pandini and Alisa Macmillian for Wonder

Best Period and/or Character Make-Up
Donald Mowat, Jo-Ann MacNeil and Csilla Horvath Blake for Blade Runner 2049
Alessandro Bertolazzi, Cristina Waltz and Judy Murdock for Bright
*Ivana Primorac and Flora Moody for Darkest Hour
Nicki Ledermann, Tania Ribalow and Sunday Englis for The Greatest Showman
Deboarah La Mia Denaver, Teresa Vest and Bill Myer for I, Tonya

Best Period and/or Character Hair
Enzo Angileri for Atomic Blonde
Jenny Shircore, Marc Pilcher and Charlotte Hayward for Beauty and the Beast
Kerry Warn, Lizzie Lawson Zeiss and Jaime Leigh Mcintosh for Blade Runner 2049
Ivana Primorac and Flora Moody for Darkest Hour
*Adruitha Lee and Mary Everett for I, Tonya

Best Special Make-Up Effects
John Blake and Brian Sipe for Guardians of the Galaxy - Vol 2
*Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski and Lucy Sibbick for Darkest Hour
Mike Hill and Shane Mahan for The Shape of Water
Neal Scanian and Peter Swords King for Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Arjen Tuiten and Michael Nickiforek for Wonder



To check nominees in all categories (TV, New Media, etc) go official site here.  Final ballot on-line voting at closes on February 16, 2018. Winners will be announced on Saturday, February 24, 2018 at the Awards gala and live on Twitter via @Local_706 (#MUAHSawards).

The Red Carpet

As happens every single year, Cannes buzz starts during Berlinale and gets louder when Berlinale ends.  Even do been following the buzz since then this year haven't post anything as some of you guessed right, my life has changed and now it's not easy to keep on writing for you, loyal readers.  But no matter how many changes have happened or will occur, Cannes is Cannes for me and have to (or at least will try to) write my regular posts about the buzz, my wish list and all the other stuff done in the previous years.

No, this is not my Wish List but the usual compilation of possible films that could make it to Cannes which usually do in February but well, I'm doing it a month later and by now most industry publications have done their own lists, so it's not a novelty but will be a lot easier to make it, lol.

Before going deep into the list let me remind you of some important news, the 71st edition of the Festival of Cannes will run from May 8 to 19, Cate Blanchett is the Official Competition Jury President, Bertrand Bonello is the President of the Cinéfondation and Short Films competition, we already know the dates when the Official plus the Parallel sections selections will be announced by their respective directors.

Official Selection on April 12 by Thierry Frémaux
Quinzaine des Réalisateurs April 17 by Édouard Waintrop (for the last time - New Artistic Director is Paolo Moretti, who will take office on November 2018)
Semaine de la Critique on April 16 by Charles Tesson

After an awards season worth forgetting, today I'm starting the Cinema Feast with the possibility that soon we will be able to enjoy magnificent oeuvres d'art... sigh.  

The List

France
Cédric Anger with L'amour est une fête (Paris Pigalle)
Olivier Assayas with Non Fiction (with Juliette Binoche)
Jacques Audiard with The Sisters Brothers (Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal) (USA, France, Romania and Spain)
Julie Bertuccelli with Le dernier vide-grenier de Claire Darling (Claire Darling)
Margaux Bonhomme with Head Above Water
Stéphane Brizé with Un Autre monde (At War)
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi with Les estivants (The Summer House)
Claire Burger with C'est ça l'amour
Catherine Corsini with Un Amour Impossible (An Impossible Love)
Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern with I Feel Good
Claire Denis with High Life (with Juliette Binoche) (UK, Germany and France production)
Quentin Dupieux with Au poste (Keep an Eye Out)
Bruno Dumont with Coincoin et les z'inhumains (Coincoin and the extra Humans)
Asghar Farhadi with Todos Lo Saben (with Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Ricardo Darin) (France, Spain and Italy)
Philippe Faucon with Amin
Romain Gavras with Le monde est à toi
Jean-Luc Godard with Le livre d'image (The Image Book)
Fabienne Godet with Nos vies formidables (Our Wonderful Lives)
Yann Gonzalez with Un couteau dans le coeur (Knife + Heart)
Mia Hansen-Løve with Maya
Christophe Honoré with Plaire, aimer et courir vite (Sorry Angel)
Eva Husson Les filles du soleil (Girls of the Sun)
Lou Jeunet with Curiosa
Nadav Lapid with Synonymes (Synonyms)
Sébastien Marnier with L'heure de la sortie (School's Out)
Marie Monge with Joeueurs (Treat Me Like Fire) (with Tahar Rahim)
Emmanuel Mouret with Mademoiselle De Joncquières
Guillaume Nicloux with Les Confins du monde (To The Ends Of The Earth)
David Oelhoffen with Territoires (Close Enemies)
Antoine Raimbault with Intime Conviction (Conviction)
Pierre Schoeller with Un people et son roi (One Nation, One King)

Austria
Markus Schleinzer with Angelo
Ulrich Seidl with Böse Spiele (Evil Games)

Belgium
François Damiens with Dany
Bas Devos with Hellhole
Lukas Dhont with Girl
Joachim Lafosse with Keep Going
Olivier Masset-Depasse with Mother's Instinct
Koen Mortier with Angel
Guillaume Senez with Nos Batailles

Germany
Terrence Malick with Radegund (USA and Germany co production)
Sebastian Schipper with Roads

Hungary
László Nemes with Sunset

Italy
Andrea Caccia with Tutto l’oro che c’è (Gold Is All There Is) (dialogue-free!)
Matteo Garrone with Dogman
Valeria Golino with Euphoria
Alice Rohrwacher with Lazzaro Felice
Paolo Sorrentino with Loro (Them)

Netherlands
Ena Sendijarević with Take Me Somewhere Nice
Ester Rots with Retrospekt

Poland
Pavel Pawlikowski with Zimna wojna (Cold War)
Agnieszka Smoczynska with Fuga (The Fugue)

Romania
Radu Muntean with Alice T.

Russia
Kirill Serebrennikov with Leto (The Summer)

Spain
Terry Gilliam with The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (Spain, UK, France and Portugal production)
Jaime Rosales with Petra
Carlos Vermut with Quién te cantará

UK
Lenny Abrahamson with The Little Stranger
Joanna Hogg with The Souvenir: Part 1
Yorgos Lanthimos with The Favourite (Ireland, USA and UK co production)
Mike Leigh with Peterloo
Steve McQueen with Windows (will love to see Viola Davis in Cannes)

Ukraine
Sergei Loznitsa with Donbass

Turkey
Emin Alper with Sisters
Nuri Bilge Ceylan with Ahlat Ağai (Wild Pear Tree) (French co production)

China
Gan Bi with 地球最后的夜晚 Di qiu zui hou de ye wan (Long Day's Journey into Night)
Lou Ye with 蘭心大劇院 The Lyceum Theatre (aka Saturday Fiction or Lanxin Theater (???) with Gong Li!!!)
Wang Xiaoshuai with 地久天长 Di jiu tian chang 
Zhang Yimou with 影 Shadow
Jia Zhang-ke with Jiang hu er nv (Ash is Purest White)

Japan
Kôji Fukada with 海を駆ける Umi wo kakeru (The Man from the Sea)
Naomi Kawase with Vision (with Juliette Binoche)
Hirokazu Kore-eda with Manbiki Kazoku (Shoplifters)

South Korea
Lee Chang Dong with Beoning (Burning) 

Canada
Xavier Dolan with The Death and Life of John F. Donovan

USA
Brian de Palma with Domino
Luca Guadagnino with Suspiria (yes, it's Dario Argento's remake-with Tilda Swinton)
Felix van Groeningen with Beautiful Boy
Harmony Korine with Beach Bum
David Robert Mitchell with Under the Silver Lake
Julian Schnabel with At Eternity's Gate

Argentina
Pablo Trapero with La Quietud (The Quietude) - French co production

Chile
Dominga Sotomayor with Late To Die Young

Colombia
Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego with Pájaros de Verano (Birds of Passage)
Alejandro Landes with Monos

Ecuador
Jamaica Noproblem and Pablo Aguero with Son of Man

Guatemala
Jayro Bustamente with Temblores (Tremors) (gay interest)

Mexico
Alfonso Cuaron with Roma
Carlos Reygadas with Donde Nace La Vida (Where Life is Born)

Will organizers allow Lars von Trier to come back?  His latest, The House Jack Built, has a great cast Riley Keough, Uma Thurman, Bruno Ganz ... it's Horror!!! Maybe for Midnight Screenings ...

One day before the much awaited press conference festival organizers release the short films lineup in the two sections where filmmakers of the future can be identified, the Short Films and the Cinéfondation competitions.

But before going into list let me share that many news have come to light before this moment and no, wasn't able to do posts as got sick; but if you follow my twitter you will easily find everything that has been going until this moment, like for example the Cinéfondation Atelier 2018 projects, poster for La Semaine, La Quinzaine and as of a few hours ago, the festival official poster (finally).

We can't forget that current edition will be longer than recent previous editions as has one more day, but will run for exactly the same length of time.  Will take place from Tuesday May 8th to Saturday, May 19th, with opening ceremony on the evening of May 8th and the awards ceremony on May 19th.  There is one inconsequential change, no more selfies on the red carpet (lol) and another more relevant, press screenings will happen at film premiere time or after, so all press reactions before the premiere via wonderful twitter are over, sigh.

Yes, tomorrow we will learn the feature films in the Official Selection and in the following days films in the parallel sections La Semaine, La Quinzaine and ACID.  We already know the projects in the 2018 edition of la Fabrique Cinéma de l'Institut Français where Cristian Mungiu is the Parrain this year.  So will be busy in the next days trying to figure out how Cannes 2018 looks like this year and which films will become must be seen for the coming calendar year.

Post will be in progress until after tomorrow's press conference when the Official Selection will be announced.

Short Films Competition
According to the official news this year the selection committee received 3.943 short films; which is a lot less than the 4, 843 that received last year. The 2018 selection comprises eight films, 7 works of fiction and 1 animation.

These are the short films running for the 2018 Short Film Palme d'Or.  Awards will be presented at the festival Official Ceremony on May 19th.

III (III animation movie), Marta Pajek, Poland, 12'
All These Creatures, Charles William, Australia, 13'
Caroline, Celine Held and Logan George, USA, 12'
Duality, Masahiko Sato, Genki Kawamura, Yutaro Seki, Masayuki Toyota, and Kentaro Hirase, Japan, 14'
Gabriel, Oren Gerner, France, 15'
Judgement, Raymund Ribay Gutierrez, Philippines, 15'
On The Border, Wei Shujun, China, 15'
تاریکی Tariki (Umbra), Saeed Jafarian, Iran, 14'

Check available short films info and trailer @MOC

Cinéfondation Selection
The Cinéfondation Selection has chosen 17 films this year, 14 live-action and 3 animated films from among the 2,426 submitted by film schools all over the world.  Submissions were slightly lower as last years there were 2,600 short films.

Fourteen countries on four continents are represented plus twelve of the twenty-two directors selected to program current edition are women.

The Jury will hand over the three prizes at a ceremony on Thursday May 17th in the Buñuel Theatre.

These are the short films in the 2018 Cinéfondation Selection

Albastru şi roşu, în proporţii egale(Equality Red and Blue), Georgiana Moldoveanu, UNATC I.L. CARAGIALE, Romania, 21'
Cinco Minutos Afuera (Five Minutes Outside), Constanza Gatti, Universidad del Cine (FUC), Argentina, 10'
Così in terra (As It Is On Earth), Pier Lorenzo Pisano, Centro Sperimentale di cinematografia, Italy, 13'
Dolfin Megumi (Rubber Doplhin), Ori Aharon, Steve Tisch School of Film and Television, Tel Aviv University, Israel, 28'
Dong Wu Xiong Meng (The Storms in Our Blood), Di Shen, Shanghai Theater Academy, Chin, 31'
Dots, Eryk Lenartowicz, AFTRS, Australia, 23'
El verano del león eléctrico, Diego Céspedes, Universidad de Chile - ICEI, Chile, 22'
End of Season, Zhannat Alshanova, The London Film School, UK, 23'
Fragment de Drame (A Piece of Tragedy), Laura Garcia, La Fémis, France, 24'
I Am My Own Mother, Andrew Zox, San Francisco State University, USA, 23'
Inanimate, Lucia Bulgheroni, NFTS, UK, 8'
Inny (The Other), Marta Magnuska, PWSFTviT, Poland, 5'
Kalendar (Calendar), Igor Poplauhin, Moscow School of New Cinema, Russia, 28'
Los tiempos de Héctor (Hector's nightfall), Ariel Gutiérrez, CCC, Mexico, 29'
Mesle Bache Adam (Like a Good Boy), Arian Vazirdaftari, Tehran University of Dramatic Arts, Iran, 20'
Palm Trees and Power Lines, Jamie Dack, NYU Tisch School of Arts, USA, 15'
Sailor's Delight, Louise Aubertin, Éloïse Girard, Marine Meneyro, Jonas Ritter, Loucas Rongeart, and Amandine Thomoux, ESMA, France, 6'

Check available Cinéfondation short films info and trailers @MOC

Short Films and  Cinéfondation Jury
President: Bertrand Bonello, director, screenwriter, music/soundtrack composer, actor, and producer, France

Check short films list at official site here.

Check Movie Posters at my Pinterest here.

Links to LIVE broadcast



In English



In French

A few days back organizers released the video with Charles Tesson, Semaine de la Critique Artistic Director and Charlotte Lipinska, journalist and film critic announcing the selection for the 2018 edition of the Critics' Week and there is no surprise when we find that -as always- selection is eclectic (and strange) but having high-profile actors in the selection, is quite unusual and yes, surprising.

Paul Dano's directing debut film has Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan as leads and is La Semaine opening film even when film premiered at 2018 Sundance; obviously section opening this year will generate lot's of buzz and press coverage due to the "celebrity" element.

Before going in depth into the selection let's review what has been happening in this Cannes parallel section.

The Poster

For this year's poster for La Semaine de la Critique, we are greeted by the rebellious stare of young French actress Noée Abita, who made her debut in Léa Mysius' Ava.

Her defiant innocence, captured by photographer Aurélie Lamachère, in collaboration with the agency les bons faiseurs, encapsulates the spirit of this new generation of filmmakers celebrated by this Cannes Festival section dedicated to the discovery of emerging talent.

Next Step 4th Session

Created in collaboration with the TorinoFilmLab and supported by the CNC and the Moulin d’Andé-CÉCI, Next Step is a program, consisting of a 5-day workshop held in France in December.

The aim of this project is to support the short film directors discovered by La Semaine de la Critique as they branch out into feature films. During the workshop, the filmmakers have the opportunity to discuss their projects with international experts and tutors, in order for them to receive advice on their scripts, to understand the reality of the industry and define an appropriate development strategy. Furthermore, a half-day workshop is dedicated to film music to encourage the participating directors to both better understand the work that goes into music composition for films and start thinking about the music for their feature film projects.

This year the directors of the Next Step 4th Session are Manon Coubia, Laura Ferrés, Moin Hussain, Sam Kuhn, Magali Magistry, Carlo Francisco Manatad, Sofía Quirós Ubeda, Matthew Rankin and Aleksandra Terpińska.

For the third year, Next Step will provide a session dedicated to film soundtracks organized in collaboration with the SACEM. The aim is to encourage participants to both better understand the work that goes into music composition for films and start thinking about the music for their feature film projects. six promising French composers have been selected through a national call to take part to this session.

These composers alongside the filmmakers taking part in Next Step will attend a masterclass given by composer Amine Bouhafa who composed the music of Timbuktu by Abderrahmane Sissako (Cannes Film Festival 2014) and recently Beauty and the Dogs by Kaouther Ben Hania (Un Certain Regard 2017).

The six composers will then introduce themselves and talk about their work as musicians and composers to the nine filmmakers who take-part in Next Step. 

The Selection

This year organizers received 1,500 short films and 1.100 feature films.  As always features selection are 7 plus 4 more in Special Screenings for a total of 11 films where 7 are first and 4 second films.  The seven (7) first feature films will compete for the Camera d'Or award.

The short film selection comprises 10 films that will be supported by offering them the opportunity to be part of the Next Step program, a training and support workshop towards their first feature film.

Feature films competition clearly shows an improvement in representing women filmmakers as out of the seven (7) films four (4) are by female filmmakers.  Great. Not surprising when considering the 11 feature films in the selection percentage goes down as all four special screenings are by male filmmakers, sigh.

Female filmmakers are in BLUE.

Feature Films Competition

(*)Chris The Swiss, Anja Kofmel, Switzerland, Croatia, Germany and Finland (documentary)
(*)Diamantino, Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt, Portugal, France and Brazil
(*)Egy Nap (One Day), Zsófia Szilágyi, Hungary
Fuga (Fugue), Agnieszka Smoczyńska, Poland Czech Republic and Sweden
Kona fer í stríð (Woman at War), Benedikt Erlingsson, Iceland, France and Ukraine
(*)Sauvage, Camille Vidal-Naquet, France
(*)Sir, Rohena Gera, India and France

Special Screenings
Opening Film: (*)Wildlife, Paul Dano, USA
Closing Filme:  Guy, Alex Lutz, France
Nos Batailles (Our Struggles), Guillaume Senez, France and Belgium
(*)Shéhérazade, Jean-Bernard Marlin, France

(*) Competing for the Camera d'Or

Short Films in Competition
Amor, Avenidas Novas, Duarte Coimbra, Portugal, 20'
Ektoras Malo: I teleftea mera tis chronias (Hector Malo - The Last Day of the Year), Jaqueline Lentzoou, Greece, 23'
Mo-bun-shi-min (Exemplary Citizen), Kim Cheol-Hwi, South Korea, 12'
Pauline Asservie (Pauline Enslaved), Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet, France, 24'
La Persistente, Camille Lugan, France, 22'
Rapaz (Raptor), Felipe Gálvez, Chile, 13'
Schächer, Flurin Giger, Switzerland, 29'
Tiikeri (The Tiger), Mikko Myllylahti, Finland, 10'
Un Jour de Mariage (A Wedding Day), Elias Belkeddar, Algeria and France, 15'
Ya normalniy (Normal), Michael Borodin, Russia, 20'

Special Screenings
La Chute (The Fall), Boris Labbé, France, 14'
The Third Kind, Yorgos Zois, Greece and Croatia, 32'
Ultra Pulpe, Bertrand Mandico, France, 37'

The Jury
President: Joachim Trier, director, writer and producer, Norway
Chloë Sevigny, actress, writer, producer and director, USA
Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, actor, Argentina
Eva Sangiorgi, director of the Viennale, Austria
Augustin Trapenard, journalist, France

Invitation - Morelia International Film Festival
Selection of 4 short films selected to the 15th edition of the Morelia International Film Festival
Aguas Tranquilas Aguas Profundas (In Deep Water), Miguel Labastida Gonzalez, Mexico 19'
Lo que no se dice bajo el sol (Under the Sun), Eduardo Esquivel, Mexico, 15'
Tierra de Brujas, Mar de Sirenas (Land of Witches, Sea of Mermaids), Delia Luna Couturier, Mexico, 10'
Vuelve a Mi (Back to Me), Daniela Najera Betancourt, Mexico, 20'

To check info about films at the official site go here.

The Video (in French)

The ACID program at the Cannes International Film Festival was created in 1993. Films are chosen by fifteen or so filmmakers, members of the association. It screens nine feature films, fiction and documentary, chosen among hundreds of works from all around the world.

ACID filmmakers follow their love for a film and wish to give visibility to directors whose work is scarcely distributed, in order to facilitate a theatrical release.

The screenings, open to professionals and also to the public are all followed by Q&As with the films' crews and ACID filmmakers who supported the films.

The films shown in Cannes are then accompanied by ACID and its filmmakers in the various stages of the theatrical release (search for distributors / promotion / programming / organization of the Q&A's / audience research).

ACID is a film directors association that has been promoting the distribution of independent cinema in movie theatres since 1992. The founding principle: the support brought by filmmakers to other filmmakers, French or foreign.

Every year, ACID presents 9 films in Cannes during the festival. Films are chosen by fifteen film directors, members of ACID. Most of these films do not have a french distributor. The aim is to give visibility and public release to new talents. This program is shown at Les Arcades, Studio 13 and Alexandre III, movie theaters in Cannes.

The 26th edition of l'ACID in Cannes will run from Wednesday, May 9 to Friday, May 18, 2018.

Selection
L'amour debout by Michaël Dacheux, France
Bad bad winter by Olga Korotko, Kazakhstan
Cassandro the exotico! by Marie Losie, France
Dans la terrible jungle (In The Mighty Jungle) by Caroline Capelle and Ombline Ley, France
Il se passe quelque chose by Anne Alix, France
Nous, les coyotes (We The Coyotes) by Hanna Ladoul and Marco La Via, France
Seule à mon mariage by Marta Bergma, Belgium
Thunder Road by Jim Cumming, USA
Un violent désir de bonheur by Clément Schneider, France

To read info about each of the 9 films in the selection go official site here and use link in each film name; info available in French and English.

Special Screening
Reprise by Hervé Le Roux, France, 1996

To read info about the special screening film go official site here, info available in French and English.

Acid Trip #2 Portugal
Colo by Teresa Villaverde, Portugal and France
Terra Franca by Leonor Teles, Portugal
Verão Danado by Pedro Cabeleira, Portugal

To check info about the above three films go official site here, info available in French and English.



ACID Cannes 2018 program rerun will take place on September 21th-23th at the Louxor in Paris, throughout September at the Comoedia in Lyon and in over fifteen venues in the Ile-de-France region in September-October.

As there are some awards already announced and one parallel section over, will start the winners post today.  Post will be in progress until the Official Awards Ceremony next Saturday.



Main Competition

Un Certain Regard

Quinzaine des Réalisateurs (Directors' Fortnight)

Semaine de la Critique (Critics' Week)
Feature Films
Grand Prix: Diamantino, Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt, Portugal, France and Brazil
Rising Star Award: Félix Maritaud in Sauvage, Camille Vidal-Naquet, France
SACD Award: writers Benedikt Erlingsson and Ólafur Egill Egilsson for Kona fer í stríð(Woman at War), Benedikt Erlingsson, Iceland, France and Ukraine
GAN Foundation Support for Distribution Award: Sir, Rohena Gera, India and France
Short Films
Canal+ Award: Un Jour de Mariage (A Wedding Day), Elias Belkeddar, Algeria and France, 15'
Cine Discovery Prize: Ektoras Malo: I teleftea mera tis chronias (Hector Malo - The Last Day of the Year), Jaqueline Lentzoou, Greece, 23'

Cinéfondation

Collateral Awards

16th Prix UniFrance Short Films
Grand Prix: Les Indes galantes, Clément Cogitore, France, 5'
Special Jury Prize: Grain de poussière, Léopold Kraus, France, 19'
Jury Prize Special Mention: Master of the Classe, Carine May and Hakim Zouhani, France, 26'
Prix Grand Action: Master of the Classe, Carine May and Hakim Zouhani, France, 26'
Prix des Diffuseurs: Artem Silendi, de Frank Ychou, France, 7'

Prix France Culture
Prix France Culture Cinéma Consécration: Claire Denis
Prix France Culture Cinéma des étudiants: Bertrand Mandico for Les garçons sauvages
Prix Internationa Students Award: Stéphane de Freitas and Ladj Ly for A voix haute (documentary)

Women in Motion Award: Patty Jenkins
Women in Motion Young Talents Award: Carla Simón

Chopard Trophy for up-and-coming talent
Elizabeth Debicki
Joe Alwyn

First time since this blog started that I'm late with foreign language films submissions to 2019 Oscars but as some of you already know, traveled to another city in another country and another continent! So there where many changes and none benefit me paying necessary attention to the blog.

On top, by the end of the month I'm going to a new city again, but best news is my hope to have more time to do what I like most, thinking/talking about great cinema.  Will not skip doing the post that speaks about some of the best of World Cinema, but maybe will be slow to do all the task intensive work to find news and announcements from countries. Sigh.

As we know since last year when they change their selection procedure, the first country to announce its submission is Switzerland as does it at Locarno fest, but seems this year there were two countries that took the lead, Belarus and Romania. So the race started earlier.

As in previous years there will be links to sources via Pinterest, but will be in the original language, my suggestion is to use Chrome for the easiest auto-translation.

Submission to AMPAS deadline is Monday, October 1st, 2018 @5:00pm PT. Female directors are in Blue.

Belarus: Хрусталь Khrustal (Crystal Swan), Darya Zhuk (2018 Karlovy Vary)

Romania: Îmi este indiferent dacă în istorie vom intra ca barbari (I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians), Radu Jude (Crystal Globe winner 2018 Karlovy Vary)

Switzerland: Eldorado, Markus Imhoof (2018 Berlinale) (documentary)

Check info and available trailers @MOC
Check film posters here

News

Canada: Submissions deadline was June 30, 2018. Selection announcement in September.
Colombia: Four films shortlist on August 25; selection on September 7th, 20118

Georgia: 6 films in consideration.  Selection late August.

Pakistan: Submission deadline is August 20, 2018.
Paraguay: Voting on September 10, 2018.

South Africa: Closing date for submissions is August 29, 2018

Ukraine: Selection will be announced on August 29
Uruguay: Selection September 13, 2018.

As was not easy to gather info about films countries submitted to Oscars 2019, decided to do the two missing posts about the 2018 Biennale as it's a lot easier to check info from only one source.  This is the lineup, the second will list the award winners.

Let's start by sharing that the festival poster was made by Lorenzo Mattotti. Mattotti says the following about his design, "I believe that a poster must have something intriguing about it, that attracts the eye, that attracts thought, but without revealing too much. It needs to have a sort of enigma, a sort of mystery to solve. After various attempts, I developed this idea of a girl of this female character – with a very graphic, unrealistic face – who looks with a rather serious expression through a lens. And instead of this lens, there’s Earth, planet Earth, symbolizing a gaze directed at us. Then there is a white square, and I believe that this combination is a successful match, because people wonder: what is that white square? I believe it is natural to think of it as a movie screen, the white screen. The gaze directed on the planet, directed on reality, must pass through this device, must be filtered through the screen".

The festival run was from August 29 to September 8, 2018.

Venezia75 Competition
Opening Film: First Man, Damien Chazelle, USA
22 July, Paul Greengrass, Norway and Iceland
Acusada (The Acused), Gonzalo Tobal, Argentina and Mexico
At Eternity's Gate, Julian Schnabel, USA and France
Capri-Revolution, Mario Martone, Italy and France
Doubles vies (Non-Fiction), Olivier Assayas, France
Frères ennemis (Close Enemies), David Oeljoffen, France and Belgium
Napszállta (Sunset), László Nemes, Hungary and France
Nuestro Tiempo (Our Time), Carlos Reygadas, Mexico, France, Germany, Denmark and Sweden
Peterloo, Mike Leigh, UK and USA
Roma, Alfonso Cuaron, Mexico
Suspiria, Luca Guadagnino, Italy
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Joel and Ethan Coen, USA
The Favorite, Yorgos Lanthimos, UK, Ireland, and USA
The Mountain, Rick Alverson, USA
The Nightingale, Jennifer Kent, Australia
The Sisters Brothers, Jacques Audiard, France, Belgium, Romania and Spain
Vox Lux, Brady Corbet, USA
Wek ohne Autor (Never Look Away), Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Germany
What You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire?, Roberto Minervini, Italy, USA, and France
斬 Zan (Killing), Shinya Tsukamoto, Japan

Venezia75 Jury
President: Guillermo del Toro, director, Mexico
Sylvia Chang, actress, writer, singer, producer and director, Taiwan
Trine Dyrholm, actress, singer and songwriter, Denmark
Nicole Garcia, actress, director and screenwriter, France
Paolo Genovese, director and screenwriter, Italy
Malgorzata Szumowska, director, screenwriter and producer, Poland
Christoph Waltz, actor, Austria
Taika Waititi, director, screenwriter and actor, New Zealand
Naomi Watts, actress, UK

Out of Competition
Fiction
Closing Film:  Driven, Nick Hamm, UK and USA
A Star is Born, Bradley Cooper, USA
A Tramway in Jerusalem, Amos Gitai, Israel and France
Dragged Across Concrete, S. Craig Zahler, Canada and USA
Les Estivants (The Estimates), Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, France and Italy
L'amica geniale, Saverio Costanzo, Italy and Belgium
La Quietud (The Stillness), Pablo Trapero, Argentina
Mi Obra Maestra (My Masterpiece), Gastón Duprat, Argentina and Spain
影 Ying (Shadow), Zhang Yimou, China
Un Peuple et son roi (A People and His King), Pierre Schoeller, France and Spain
Una Storia Senza Nome (A Story With No Name), Roberto Andò, Italy and France

Non Fiction
1938 Diversi (1938 Different), Giorgio Treves, Italy
A Letter to a Friend in Gaza, Amos Gitai, Israel
American Dharma, Errol Morris, USA
Aquarela, Victor Kossakovsky, UK and Germany
Carmine Street Guitars, Ron Mann, Canada
El Pepe, Una Vida Suprema (El Pepe: A Supreme Life), Emir Kusturica, Argentina, Uruguay and Serbia
Introduzione All'Oscuro (Introduction to the Dark), Gastón Solnicki, Argentina and Austria
Isis, Tomorrow. the Lost Souls of Mosul, Francesca Mannocchi and Alessio Romenzi, Italy and Germany
Monrovia, Indiana, Frederick Wiseman, USA
Ni de Lian (Your Face), Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan
Process, Sergei Loznitsa, Netherlands

Special Events
Il diario de angela - noi due cineasti, Yervant Gianikian, Italy
They'll Love Me When I'm Dead, Morgan Neville, USA
The Other Side of the Wind, Orson Welles, USA, Iran and France

Orizzonti (Horizons)
Feature Films
Amanda, Mikhaël Hers, France
Anons (The Announcement), Mahmut Fazil Coşkun, Turkey and Bulagaria
Charly Says, Mary Harron, USA
Deslembro, Flavia Castro, Brazil, France and Qatar
Erom (The Love Trilogy: Stripped), Yaron Shani, Israel and Germany
Hamchenan ke mimordam (As I Lay Dying), Mostafa Sayari, Iran
Jinpa, Pema Tseden, China
Kucumbu tubuh indahku (Memories of My Body), Garin Nugroho, Indonesia
Kraben Rahu (Manta Ray), Phuttiphong Aroonpheng, Thailand, France and China
La profezia dell'armadillo, Emanuele Scaringi, Italy
L'Enkas, Sarah Marx, France
Ozen (The River), Emir Baigazin, Kazakhstan, Poland and Norway
La noche de 12 años, Alvaro Brechner, Spain, Argentina, Uruguay and France
Soni, Ivan Ayr, India
Sulla mia pelle (On My Skin), Alessio Cremonini, Italy
Tchelovek kotorij udivil vseh (The Man Who Surprised Everyone), Natasha Mekulova and Aleksey Chupov, Russia, Estonia and France
Tel Aviv On Fire, Same Zoabi, Luxembourg, France, Israel and Belgium
Un giorno all'improvviso (If Life gives you Lemons), Ciro d'Emilio, Italy
Yom Adaatou Souli (The Day I Lost My Shadow), Soudade Kaadan, Syria, Lebanon, France and Qatar

Short Films
Competition
All Inclusive, Corina Schwingruber Ilić, Switzerland
Gli anni, Sara Fgaier, Italy and France
Kado (A Gift), Aditya Ahmad, Indonesia
L'été et tout le reste, Sven Bresser, Netherlands
Leoforos Patision (Patision Avenue), Thanasis Neofotistos, Greece
Los Bastardos, Tomas Posse, Argentina
Manila is Full of Men Named Boy, Andrew Stephen Lee, Philippines and USA
Na li (Down There), Yang Zhengfan, China and France
Ninfe, Isabella Torre, Italy
Sex, strakh i gamburgery (Sex, Fear and Hamburgers), Eldar Shibanov, Kazakhstan
Staircase, Mohsen Banihashemi, Iran
Strano telo (Foreign Body), Dušan Zorić, Serbia

Out of Competition
Blu, Massimo D'Anolfi and Martina Parenti, Italy

Orizzonti Jury
President: Athina Tsangari, director, screenwriter and producer, Greece
Michael Almereyda, director, screenwriter and producer, USA
Fatemeh Motamed-Aria, actress, Iran
Frédéric Bonnaud, film critic, France
Mohamed Hefzy, screenwriter and producer, Egypt
Alison McLean, director and screenwriter, Canada
Andrea Pallaoro, director and screenwriter, Italy

Luigi De Laurentiis Venice Award for Debut Film Jury
President: Ramin Bahrani, director and screenwriter, Iran and USA
Carolina Crescentini, actress, Italy
Kaouther Ben Hania, director and screenwriter, Tunisia
Hayashi Kanako, curator and artistic director, Japan
Gaston Solnicki, director, Argentina

Venezia Classici
Multiple restored films here

Documentary Films
24/25 Il fotogramma in più, Giancarlo Rolandi and Federico Pontiggia, Italy
Friedkin Uncut, Francesco Zippel
Humberto Mauro, Andre Di Mauro, Brazil
Living the Light - Robby Müller, Claire Pijman, Netherlands and Germany
Nice Girls Don't Stay For Breakfast, Bruce Weber, USA
The Great Buster: A Celebration, Peter Bogdanovich, USA
Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema, Mark Cousins, UK

Venezia Classici Jury
President: Salvatore Mereu, director and screewriter, Italy
26 cinema history students, Italy

Sconfini
A selection of works of different genres, lengths and targets. The section may include art-house and genre movies, experimental and artists’ films, TV series and crossover productions.
Check films here

Biennale College Cinema
An advanced training workshop for the development and production of three micro-budget audio-visual works, open to teams of directors and producers from around the world.
Check films here

Venice Virtual Reality
A maximum of 30 world-premieres or international premieres of VR Immersive Stories of any length and of any VR format.
Check films here

Venice Virtual Reality Jury
President: Susanne Bier, director and screenwriter, Denmark
Alessandro Baricco, writer, Italy
Clémence Poésy, actress, France

As promised and because it's easy to read in one single place all winners, here are the winners of the 2018 Biennale Cinema.

Watched awards live but ceremony was not much entertaining and with so many American movies in the festival I was not that much interested in learning winners (sigh) nor watching clips.

Nevertheless I'm glad that most awards went to interesting possibilities and well-know and much-admired-by-me directors like Jacques Audiard, Yorgos Lanthimos and Julian Schanbel.  Worth mentioning that Audiard's award relaxes me a bit as still anxious about his first film in a language that is not his mother tongue and there are so many disasters and so few successes when extraordinary directors work on English-language productions. Sigh.

Official Selection

Golden Lion for Best Film: Roma, Alfonso Cuarón, Mexico

Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize: The Favourite, Yorgos Lanthimos, UK, Ireland and USA

Special Jury Prize: The Nightingale, Jennifer Kent, Australia

Silver Lion for Best Director: Jacques Audiard for The Sisters Brothers, France, Belgium, Romania, and Spain

Copa Volpi for Best Actress: Olivia Colman in The Favourite, Yorgos Lanthimos, UK, Ireland and USA
Copa Volpi for Best Actor: Willem Dafoe in At Eternity's Gate, Julian Schanbel, USA and France
Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Young Actress or Actor: Baykali Ganambarr in The Nightingale, Jennifer Kent, Australia

Best Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Joel and Ethan Coen, USA
Lion of the Future - Luigi de Laurentiis Award for Best Debut Film: Yom adaatuo zouli (The Day I Lost My Shadow), Soudade Kaadan, Syria, Lebanon, France and Qatar

Orizzonti Awards
Best Film: Kraben Rahu (Manta Ray), Phuttiphong Aroonpheng, Thailand, France and China
Special Jury Prize: Anons (The Announcement), Mahmut Fazil Coskun, Turkey and Bulgaria
Best Director: Emir Baigazin for Ozen (The River), Kazakhstan, Poland and Norway
Best Actress: Natalya Kudryashova in Tchelovek kotorij udivil vseh (The Man Who Surprised Everyone), Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov, Russia, Estonia and France
Best Actor: Kais Nashif in Tel Aviv On Fire, Sameh Zoabi, Luxembourg, France, Israel and Belgium
Best Screenplay: Pema Tseden for Jinpa, Pema Tseden, China

Best Short Film: Kado, Aditya Ahmad, Indonesia
Short Film Nominee for the European Film Awards: Glianni, Sara Fgaier, Italy and France

Venezia Classici
Best Documentary: The Great Buster: A Celebration, Peter Bogdanovich, USA
Best Restored Film: La Notte di San Lorenzo, Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, Italy, 1982

Virtual Reality
Best VR Award (Immersive Story): Spheres, Eliza McNitt, USA and France
Best VR Experience Award (For Interactive Content): Buddy VR, Chuck Chae, South Korea
Best VR Story Award (For Linear Content): L'Île des Mort, Benjamin Nuel, France

To check winners at official site go here.

Autonomous Sections

15th Giornate degli Autori
Director's Award: C'est ça l'amour (Real Love), Claire Burger, France

Label Europa Cinemas: Joy, Sudabeh Mortezai, Austria

People's Choice Award: Ricordi?, Valerio Mieli, Italy and France

Hearst Film Award-Best Female Director: Sudabeh Mortezai for Joy, Austria

Nuovoimaie Talent Award: Linda Caridi in Ricordi?, Valerio Mieli, Italy and France


33rd Settimana Internazionalle della Critica (Venice International Film Critics' Week)
Award for Best Director: Domenico De Orsi for Gagarin, mi mancherai (Gagarin, I Will Miss You), Italy
Award for Best Technical Contribution: Quelle brutte cose (Those Bad Things), Loris Giuseppe Nese, Italy
Verona Film Club Award: Bêtes blondes (Blonde Animals), Maxime Matray and Alexia Walther, France
Mario Serandrei Award:  Lissa Ammetsajjel (Still Recording), Saeed Al Batal and Ghiath Ayoub (documentary)
Sun Film Group Audience Award: Lissa Ammetsajjel (Still Recording), Saeed Al Batal and Ghiath Ayoub (documentary)
Award for Best Short Film: Malo Tempo, Tommaso Perfetti, Italy

Collateral Awards

FIPRESCI Awards
Best Film of Venezia75: Napszállta (Sunset), László Nemes, Hungary and France
Best Film in Settimana: Lissa Ammetsajjel (Still Recording), Saeed Al Batal and Ghiath Ayoub (documentary)

SIGNIS Award: Roma, Alfonso Cuarón, Mexico
Special Mention: 22 July, Paul Greengrass, Norway and Iceland

Arca CinemaGiovani Award
Best Film Venezia75: Werk Ohne Autor (Never Look Away), Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Germany
Best Italian Film: Capri-Revolution, Mario Martone, Italy and France

Fair Play Cinema Award: What You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire, Roberto Minervini, Italy, USA and France
Special Mentions
Zen sul ghiaccio sottile (Zen in the Ice Rift), Margherita Ferri, Italy
Lissa Ammetsajjel (Still Recording), Saeed Al Batal and Ghiath Ayoub (documentary)

FEDIC Award: Sulla Mia Pelle, Alessio Cremonini, Italy
Special Mention: Ricordi?, Valerio Mieli, Italy and France
FEDIC MENTION - Il Giornale del Cibo: I Villani, Daniele De Michele, Italy

Fondazione Mimmo Rotella Award: Julian Schnabel and Willem Dafoe

Francesco Pasinetti Awards - SNGCI
Best Film: Capri-Revolution, Mario Martone, Italy and France
Special Pasinetti Award: Alessandro Borghi and Jasmine Trinca in Sulla Mia Pelle, Alessio Cremonini, Italy

Green Drop Award: Willem Dafoe in At Eternity's Gate, Julian Schabel,  USA and France

Human Rights Award: A Letter to a Friend in Gaza, Amos Gitai, Israel
Special Mentions
Peterloo, Mike Leigh, UK and USA
1938 Diversi (1930 Different), Giorgio Trevies, Italy

Sorriso Diverso Award: Un Giorno All'Improviso, Ciro d'Emilio, Italy

Soundtrack Stars Award: Capri-Revolution, Mario Martone, Italy, music by Sacha Ring and Philipp Thimm
Best Original Song: A Suspirium by Thom Yorke for Suspiria, Luca Guadagnino, Italy
Special Mention: Judy Hill for What You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire, Roberto Minervini, Italy, USA and France

Smithers Foundation-CICT-UNESCO Award: A Star is Born, Bradley Cooper, USA
Special Mention: The Mountain, Rick Alverson, USA

Brian Award: Sulla Mia Pelle, Alessio Cremonini, Italy
Cinema for UNICEF 2018: What you gonna do when the world's on fire?, Roberto Minervini, Italy, USA and France
Edipo Re Award: Lissa Ammetsajjel (Still Recording), Saeed Al Batal and Ghiath Ayoub (documentary) 
Enrico Fulghignoni-CICT-UNESCO Award: El Pepe, Una Vida Suprema (El Pepe, A Supreme Life), Emir Kusturica, Argentina, Uruguay and Serbia
Gillo Pontecorvo Award: The Road Not Taken, Tang Gaopeng, China
Interfilm Award: Tel Aviv On Fire, Sameh Zoabi, Luxembourg, France, Israel and Belgium
Laterna Magica Award: Amanda, Mikhael Hers, France
Leoncino d'Oro Agiscuola Award: Werk Ohne Autor (Never Look Away), Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Germany
Lizzani Award: Capri-Revolution, Mario Martone, Italy and France
Open Award:
Queer Lion Award: José, Li Cheng, Guatemala and USA
Sfera 1932 Award: Capri-Revolution, Mario Martone, Italy and France
UNIMED Award: A Tramway in Jerusalem, Amos Gitai, Israel and France

La Pellicola d'Oro Award
Franco Ragusa for Special Effects in Suspiria, Luca Guadagnino, Italy
Katia Schweiggl for Best Tailor for  Capri-Revolution, Mario Martone, Italy and France
Lifetime Achivement: Sartoria Atelier Nicolao di Stefano Nicolao

HFPA Award (Hollywood Foreign Press Association)
Presented to three filmmakers (director, producer) from the Orizzonti category awarded for Best Film, Best Director and Special Jury Prize
Casa Wabi – Mantarraya Award (Fundación Casa Wabi - Mantarraya Group)
To the director winner of the Award for a Debut Film of the 75th Venice Film Festival

Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement: Vanessa Redgrave and David Cronenberg
Jaeger-Le Coultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award: Zhang Yimou

The Favourite leads with 13 nominations for the 2018 British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) announced this morning by British actors Ellie Bamber and Arinzé Kene at the Everyman Cinema, King’s Cross. Yorgos Lanthimos’s black comedy about the 18th century court of Queen Anne is recognized for Best British Independent Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Olivia Colman is nominated for Best Actress, with her co-stars in the female-led ensemble, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz, competing in the Best Supporting Actress category, Weisz also receives a Best Actress nomination for Disobedience. The Favourite also sweeps the technical categories, newly introduced for the 2017 awards, with nominations for seven of the nine awards, including Best Production Design, Best Cinematography supported by Blackmagic Design, Best Make-up & Hair Design and Best Costume Design.

The Best British Independent Film nominees are American Animals (11 nominations), Beast (10 nominations), Disobedience (5 nominations), The Favourite (13 nominations) and You Were Never Really Here (8 nominations).

The nominations list demonstrates a record year for female representation, with over 40% of the individual nominations recognising women in the industry across directing, writing, producing, performance and craft. Female nominees make up over 50% of the talent nominated for Best British Independent Film and dominate both Most Promising Newcomer and Breakthrough Producer supported by Creativity Media, with four out of five nominations for each award. Over 140 British films were submitted for consideration and 37 different British feature films have been nominated across the BIFA categories.

The broad recognition for American Animals and You Were Never Really Here marks the return of previous award winners, writer-directors Lynne Ramsay and Bart Layton. Layton won Best Debut Director for his documentary The Imposter in 2012 and his true-crime heist drama American Animals secures him nominations for Best Director and for both Best Screenplay and Debut Screenwriter. The film sees Evan Peters and Barry Keoghan compete in the Best Supporting Actor category, marking their first BIFA nominations. Ramsay continues her long association with BIFA, with her third nomination for Best Screenplay and her second for Best Director, following past recognition for Ratcatcher, Morvern Callar and We Need To Talk About Kevin. Joaquin Phoenix secures his second BIFA Best Actor nomination for his role as a tortured hitman in the psychological noir thriller, with Jonny Greenwood and Tom Townend being recognised for Best Music and Best Cinematography respectively.

Following a breakout year for British directorial debuts at the 2017 awards, this year’s nominations list continues the trend with acclaim for Michael Pearce’s romantic thriller Beast and Daniel Kokotajlo’s Apostasy, a sensitive drama set within the Jehovah’s Witness community. In addition to its Best British Independent Film nomination, Beast receives nods for Pearce in all directing and screenwriting categories: Best Director, Best Screenplay, Debut Screenwriter and The Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director. Lead Jessie Buckley receives nominations for both Best Actress and Most Promising Newcomer, alongside Apostasy’s Molly Wright who also receives nods in both categories. Kokotajlo features alongside Pearce with nominations for Best Debut Director and Debut Screenwriter.

Joe Cole (A Prayer Before Dawn), Rupert Everett (The Happy Prince) and Charlie Plummer (Lean on Pete) all feature in the Best Actor category as first time BIFA nominees, alongside Steve Coogan (Stan & Ollie) and Joaquin Phoenix. Gemma Arterton (The Escape) and Maxine Peake (Funny Cow) round out the Best Actress category with Peake making her debut on the list.

The Richard Harris Award and The Variety Award are to be announced in November. The Richard Harris Award, introduced in 2002 in honor of Richard Harris, recognizes outstanding contribution to British Film by an actor. Previous winners have been Daniel Day Lewis, Julie Walters, John Hurt, Emma Thompson and Vanessa Redgrave in 2017. The Variety Award recognizes a director, actor, writer or producer who has made a global impact and helped focus the international spotlight on the UK.

Suggest to take special notice to the Best International Independent film category as could look similar to most likely Oscars nominations in the Best Foreign-Language category, as all -except one- are country submissions and have high possibilities to be in the shortlist of 9, to be the 5 nominees and even, win the Oscar.   Even when there is no relation between BIFA voters and Academy members I'm really curious to find out the film that will win this category in the UK awards circuit.

Will not deny that had huge expectations for Colette and the no nominations in the main categories produces concern; let's hope film delivers as believe is a great story that should be well-told.

These are the nominations.

Best British Independent Film
American Animals
Beast
Disobedience
The Favourite
You Were Never Really Here

Best Director
Bart Layton for American Animals
Michael Pearce for Beast
YorgosLanthimos for The Favourite
Andrew Haigh for Lean on Pete
Lynne Ramsay for You Were Never Really Here

The Douglas Hickox Award for Debut Director 
Daniel Kokotajlo for Apostasy
Michael Pearce for Beast
Matt Palmer for Calibre
Leanne Welham for Pili
Richard Billingham for Ray & Liz

Best Screenplay
Bert Layton for American Animals
Michael Pearce for Beast
Sebastian Lelio and Rebecca Lenkiewicz for Disobedience
Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara for The Favourite
Lynne Ramsay for You Were Never Really Here

Debut Screenwriter
Bart Layton for American Animals
Daniel Kokotajlo for Apostasy
Michael Pearce for Beast
Matt Palmer for Calibre
Karen Gillian for The Party's Just Beginning

Best Actress
Jessie Buckley in Beast
Rachel Weisz in Disobedience
Gemma Arterton in The Escape
Olivia Colman in The Favourite
Maxine Peake in Funny Cow

Best Supporting Actress
Molly Wright in Apostasy
Rachel McAdams in Disobedience
Emma Stone in The Favourite
Rachel Weisz in The Favourite
Nina Arianda in Stan & Olie

Best Actor
Rupert Everett in The Happy Prince
Charlie Plummer in Lean on Pete
Joe Cole in A Prayer Before Dawn
Steve Coogan in Stan & Olie
Joaquin Phoenix in You Were Never Really Here

Best Supporting Actor
Evan Peters in American Animals
Barry Keoghan in American Animals
Alessandro Nivola in Disobecience
Steve Buscemi in Lean on Pete

Most Promising Newcomer
Molly Wright in Apostasy
Jessie Buckley in Beast
Michaela Coel in Been So Long
Liv Hill in Jelly Fish
Marcus Rutherford in Obey

Best International Independent Film
Capernaum, Nadine Labaki
Cold War, Pawel Pawlikowski
The Rider, Chloe Zhao
Roma, Alfonso Cuaron
Shoplifters, Hirokazu Koreeda

Best Documentary
Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story, Steve Sullivan
Evelyn, Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara
Island, Steven Eastwood and Elhum Shakerifar
Nae Pasaran, Felipe Bustos Sierra
Under the Wire, Chris Martin and Tom Brisley

Best British Short
The Big Day, Dawn Shadforth
Bitter Sea, Fateme Ahmadi
The Field, Sandhya Suri
Pommel, Paris Zarcilla
To Know Him, Kellie Smith

The Discovery Award
Andy Tohill and Ryan Tohill for The Dig
Iain Cunningham, Rebecca Mark-Lawson, David Arthur, and Ellie Land for Irene's Ghost
Mikko Makela and James Watson for A Moment in the Reeds
Douglas King and Josie Long for Super November
May Miles Thomas for Voyageuse

Breakthrough Producer
Marcie Maclellan for Apostasy
Kristian Brodie, Lauren Dark and Ivana Mackinnon for Beast
Anna Griffin for Calibre
Jaqui Davies for Ray & Liz
Faye Ward for Stan & Ollie

Best Casting
Avy Kaufman for American Animals
Michelle Smith for Apostasy
Julie Harkin for Beast
Dixie Chassay for The Favourite
Andy Pryor for Stan & Ollie

Best Cinematograhy
Ole Bratt Birkeland for American Animals
Robbie Ryan for The Favourite
Magnus Nordenhof Jonck for Lean on Pete
David Ungaro for A Prayer Before Dawn
Tom Twonend for You Were Never Really Here

Best Costume Design
Andrea Flesch for Colette
Alyssa Tull for Andrea Flesch
Sandy Powell for The Favourite
Jaqueline Durran for Peterloo
Guy Speranza for Stan & Ollie

Best Editing
Nick Fenton, Julian Hart and Chris Gill for American Animals
Yorgos Mavropsaridis for The Favourite
Ben Wheatley for Happy New Year, Colin Burstead
Marc Boucrot for A Prayer Before Dawn
Joe Bini for You Were Never Really Here

Best Make-up & Hair Design
Ivana Primorac for Colette
Nadia Stacey for The Favourite
Christine Blundell for Peterloo
Stacey Louise Holman for A Prayer Before Dawn
Mark Coulier and Jeremy Woodhead for Stan & Ollie

Best Music
Anne Nikitin for American Animals
Jim Williams for Beast
Richard Hawley for Funny Cow
Aaron Cupples for Island of the Hungry Ghosts
Jonny Greenwood for You Were Never Really Here

Best Production Design
Michael Carlin for Colette
Fiona Crombie for The Favourite
Suzie Davies for Peterloo
Beck Rainford for Ray & Liz
John Paul Kelly for Stan & Ollie

Best Sound
Andrew Stirk for American Animals
Johnnie Burn for The Favourite
Severin Favriau for A Prayer Before Dawn
CJ Mirra for Time Trial
Paul Davies for You Were Never Really Here

Best Effects 
Matthew Strange and Mark Wellband for Dead in A Week (Or Your Money Back)
Howard Jones for Early Man
George Zwier and Paul Driver for Peterloo

Winners will be announced at the British Independent Film Award Ceremony on Sunday 2 December at Old Billingsgate.

The 2019 Film Independent Spirit Award nominees were announced last Friday's morning at the W Hotel in Hollywood, presented by Gemma Chan and Molly Shannon and featuring yet another diverse group of talented creators with a shared belief in the power and promise of independent storytelling.

Perhaps the most remarkable fact in nominees list is that honors are well-spread among many films as pack leader is We the Animals by Jeremiah Zagar with five nominations followed by three feature films Eight Grade, First Reformed and You Were Never Really Here with four each.  Then we have the distributor breakdown where A24 scored 12 nominations followed by Amazon Studios, Netflix and the Orchard with six each plus Annapurna Pictures with five.

Can't help but to highlight the International category that looks very similar to what Oscar's Best Foreign Language could look, with the exception of the UK film that is not in a foreign-language (lol). It took only 34 years to find three (3) female directors nominated for Best Director, a long due milestone that Indie films should have broken long before, but better late than never, sigh.

No doubt there are many surprises, some really positive as the last mentioned but there are huge snubs for films like At Eternity's Gate by Julian Schnabel, Destroyer by Karyn Kusama, Boy Erased by Joel Edgerton, Tully by Jason Reitman films with actors like Willem Dafoe, Nicole Kidman, Lucas Hedges, Charlize Theron that were ignored in acting categories.  Definitively the biggest snub in my book is the absence of A Quiet Place but hope film critics will give film a push. Speculation says these snubs diminishes its Oscars nominations possibilities and probably so, but you never really know with indie films and the Oscars.  Nevertheless, believe there is one nomination below that has high probabilities to get a Best Actress Oscar nom, Glen Close in The Wife; then definitively rooting for Carey Mulligan in acclaimed Wildlife but know Best Actress category is once again crowded with magnificent performances.

On the very positive side, very glad for the honors to three filmmakers that even do are in a developing process have already released outstanding films and now their latest get top honors here, talking about Lynne Ramsay, Debra Granik and Barry Jenkins.

Now let’s meet this year’s nominees…

Best Feature
Eight Grade, Bo Burnham
First Reformed, Paul Schrader
If Beale Street Could Talk, Barry Jenkins
Leave No Trace, Debra Granik
You Were Never Really Here, Lynne Ramsay

Best First Feature
Hereditary, Ari Aster
Sorry to Bother You, Boots Riley
The Tale, Jennifer Fox
We the Animals, Jeremiah Zagar
Wildlife, Paul Dano

Best International Film
Burning, Lee Chang-Dong, South Korea
Happy as Lazzaro, Alice Rohrwacher, Italy
Roma, Alfonso Cuaron, Mexico
Shoplifters, Kore-eda Hirokazu, Japan
The Favourite, Yorgos Lanthimos, UK

Best Director
Paul Schrader for First Reformed
Barry Jenkins for If Beale Street Could Talk
Debra Granik for Leave No Trace
Tamara Jenkins for Private Life
Lynne Ramsay for You Were Never Really Here

Best Screenplay
Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty for Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Richard Glatzer, Rebecca Lenkiewics and Wash Westmoreland for Colette
Paul Schrader for Fist Reformed
Tamara Jenkins for Private Life
Boots Riley for Sorry to Bother You

Best First Screenplay
Quinn Shephard and Laurie Shephard for Blame
Bo Burnham for Eight Grade
Christina Choe for Nancy
Jennifer Fox for The Tale
Cory Finley for Thoroughbreds

John Cassavetes Award (Given to feature film made under $500,000)
A Bread Factory, Patrick Wang
En el Séptimo Día (On The Seventh Day), Jim McKay
Never Goin' Back, Augustine Frizzell
Sócrates, Alex Moratto
Thunder Road, Jim Cummings

Best Female Lead
Elsie Fisher in Eight Grade
Toni Collette in Hereditary
Helena Howard in Madeline's Madeline
Regina Hall in Support the Girls
Glenn Close in The Wife
Carey Mulligan for Wildlife

Best Supporting Female
Tyne Daly in A Bread Factory
Regina King in If Beale Street Could Talk
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie in Leave No Trace
J. Smith-Cameron in Nancy
Kayli Carter in Private Life

Best Male Lead
Daveed Diggs in Blindspotting
Ethan Hawke in First Reformed
John Cho in Searching
Christian Malheiros in Sócrates
Joaquin Phoenix in You Were Never Really Here

Best Supporting Male
Adam Driver in BLACKkKlansman
Richard E. Grant in Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Josh Hamilton in Eight Grade
John David Washington in Monsters and Men
Raúl Castillo in We the Animals

Best Cinematography
Ashley Connor for Madeline's Madeline
Benjamin Loeb for Mandy
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom for Suspiria
Zak Mulligan for We the Animals
Diego Garcia for Wildlife

Best Editing
Luke Dunkley, Nick Fenton, Chris Gill and Julian Hart for American Animals
Nick Houdy for Mid90s
Anne Fabini, Alex Hall and Gary Levy for The Tale
Keiko Deguchi, Brian A. Kates and Jeremiah Zagar for We the Animals
Joe Bini for You Were Never Really Here

Best Documentary
Hale Country This Morning, This Evening, RaMell Ross
Minding The Gap, Bing Liu
Of Fathers and Sons, Talal Derki
On Her Shoulders, Alexandria Bombach
Shirkers, Sandi Tan
Won't You Be My Neighbor?, Morgan Neville

Robert Altman Award (Given to director, casting director and cast)
Suspiria, Luca Guadagnino
Casting Directors: Avy Kaufman, Stella Savino
Ensemble Cast: Malgosia Bela, Ingrid Caven, Lutz Ebersdorf, Elena Fokina, Mia Goth, Jessica Harper, Dakota Johnson, Gala Moody, Chloë Grace Moretz, Renée Soutendijk, Tilda Swinton, Sylvie Testud, Angela Winkler

Bonnie Award
Bonnie Tiburzi Caputo joined American Airlines in 1973 at age 24, becoming the first female pilot to fly for a major U.S. airline. In her honor, the second annual Bonnie Award will recognize a mid-career female director with a $50,000 unrestricted grant.
Karyn Kusama
Tamara Jenkins
Debra Granik

Producers Award
The Producers Award, now in its 22nd year, honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.
Jonathan Duffy and Kelly Williams
Gabrielle Nadig
Shrihari Sathe

Someone to Watch Award
Now in its 25th year, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted.
Ioana Uricaru for Lemonade
Alex Moratto for Sócrates
Jeremiah Zagar for We The Animals

Truer Than Fiction Award
Now in its 24th year, is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.
RaMell Ross for Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Bing Liu for Minding The Gap
Alexandria Bombach for On Her Shoulders

The 2019 Spirit Awards will be held February 23, 2019 at its usual spot on the beach in Santa Monica and broadcast live on IFC. To vote for the winners of this year’s awards, become a Film Independent Member by December 6 for full voter benefits—including screeners and access to our Member screening series in Los Angeles.

Watch the entire press conference below.



Press Conference Highlights