63rd Annual MPSE Golden Reel Awards Winners

Yesterday night the last industry group had their awards ceremony and to the surprise of many, there was a tie (!?) in the best feature sound editing FX and Foley, which is unusual.

Yes, Mad Max: Fury Road and The Revenat got entangled in a tie for the main sound category. Other winners are Bridge of Spies, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Love & Mercy, Inside Out, Kurt Corbain: Montage of Heck  and Saul Fia.  In a way wealth was spread among several movies which I believe is also unusual.

To check winners at official site go here but they haven't post them yet, but group official facebook page here has all the winners.

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1/28/16
A couple of days back the Motion Picture Sounds Editors announced their nominations for the current edition of the Golden Reel Awards. Nominees represent the work of the world’s most talented sound artists and their contributions to the past year’s most outstanding feature film, television, animation and computer entertainment productions.

“This year’s Golden Reel nominees have produced an outstanding body of work encompassing motion pictures, television, documentaries, gaming and other mediums,” said MPSE president Frank Morrone. “Our members continue to impress with their ability to develop new techniques and find creative ways to employ sound as a means of enriching storytelling. We congratulate all of this year’s nominees for their achievements.”

The MPSE Golden Reel Awards recognize outstanding achievement in sound editing in 24 categories encompassing feature films, television, animation, computer entertainment and student work. The 63rd MPSE Golden Reel Awards will be held February 27, 2016 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites in Los Angeles.

The MPSE Filmmaker Award this year goes to Sam Raimi and the MPSE Career Achievement Award to Richard King.

Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects & Foley in a Feature Film (tie)
Shannon Mills and Daniel Laurie for Ant-Man
Al Nelson and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle for Jurrasic World
*Mark Mangini and Scott Hecker for Mad Max - Fury Road
Alan Murray for Sicario
Mandell Winter for Southpaw
Matthew Wood for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Oliver Tarney for The Martian
*Lon Bender, Randy Thom, and Martin Hernandez for The Revenant

Best Sound Editing: Feature English Language - Dialogue and ADR

*Bridge of Spies
Mad Max: Fury Road
Room
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Straight Outta Compton
The Martian
The Revenant

Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue & ADR in an Animation Feature Film
Aaron Glacock and Christopher S. Aud for Anomalisa
Geoffrey Rubay for Hotel Transylvania 2
*Shannon Mills and Ren Klyce for Inside Out
Dennis Leonard for Minions
Anthony Bayman and Adrian Rhodes for Shaun The Sheep Movie
Shannon Mills for The Good Dinosaur
Gwendolyn Yates Whittleand Randy Thom for The Peanuts Movie

Best Sound Editing: Music Score in a Feature Film
Ronald Webb for Creed
Paul Apelgren for Jupiter Ascending
Paul Apelgren for Jurassic Wold
Bob Badami for Mad Max: Fury Road
John Finklea for Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
*Paul Apelgren for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Tony Lewis for The Martian
Martin Hernandez for The Revenant

Best Sound Editing: Music in a Musical Feature Film
*Nicholas Renbeck for Love & Mercy
Amanda Goodpaster for Pitch Perfect 2
Jason Ruder for Straight Outta Compton

Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue & ADR in a Foreign Feature Film
Frederick Le Louet and Enrique Greiner for Días de Gracia
Markus Glunz and Peter Staubli for Northmen - A Viking Saga
*Tamas Zanyi for Saul Fia (Son of Saul)
Resul Pookutty, MPSE and Amrit Pritam Dutta for Unfreedom

Best Sound Editing: Documentary Feature Film
Mark Stoeckinger and Luke Gibleon for A Faster Horse
Andy Shelley and Stephen Griffiths for Amy
Pete Horner for Best of Enemies
*Cameron Frankley for Kurt Cobain: Montage Of Heck
Tim Nielsen and Christopher Barnett for Racing Extinction
Bob Bronow for The Wrecking Crew
Tony Volante for What Happened to Miss Simone
Oleg Kulchytskyi for Winter On Fire: Ukraine's Fight For Freedom

To check nominees in TV categories go official site here or official facebook post here.

31st Film Independent Spirit Awards Winners

Yesterday early afternoon the last independent cinema group had their awards ceremony and I almost miss it as imagined was going to be at the usual 8pm ET but no, was at 2pm PT or 5pm ET!!! Bet you was because many of those attending had to go to parties that night. Yes, there have been lots of parties since last Thursday and the biggest ones will be tonight.

Spirit Awards ceremony was funny and informal thus very entertaining even when movies I didn't care for started to win the awards (lol!) so yes, saw it until the end and gee, was glad as camera decided to go to Carol table and we were able to watch a spirited (not really but the adjective fits the awards) conversation between Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. But not only that moment was Carol related as enjoyed when Ed Lachman won for cinematography -the only award for Carol- and the most spectacular moment undoubtedly was when Cate an Rooney presented Carol and well, yes Cate went for Rooney boob! (lol!) Too cliché but what the heck, it work nicely as both actresses have a nice in front of cameras rapport. Take a look.



Then you have the parodies, there are two one for Room and one for Carol, bot are funny with lots of American style humor, that I do not enjoy much, but for an unknown reason both clips made me laugh -perhaps I like the comedy of Kate McKinnon. At the end of the post you will find both clips.

Besides Lachman winning there were other awards that make me believe that American awards groups still grant honors to deserving films. The two awards for Beasts of No Nation make this raw outstanding film relevant again and if you haven't watch it, suggest you do it fast.  Glad Saul Fia won as well as The Look of Silence, both deserve the honors and most likely the first will win an Oscar while the second probably not as Amy not only has a great story but an outstanding storyteller.

No doubt that Film Independent members like Spotlight as was the film that won most awards, in this sense independent cinema people behaved very similar to film critics/journalist this year.

If you wish to read the press release go official site here. Winners are in *BLUE.

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11/24/15
A few moments ago Film Independent had the press conference where Elizabeth Olsen and John Boyega announced the nominations for the 2015 Spirit Awards and can't deny that I'm very pleased with Carol by Todd Haynes leading the pack with six (6) nominations closely followed by Tom McCarthy's Spotlight and Cary Joji Fukunaga's Beasts of no Nation with five (5) each.

There are many omissions but for me most notorious is the absence of a movie I was hoping could make it to the American Indie awards, Clouds of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas.  Know that I'm not alone as many seem to have huge deception with the film snub.

The best news come from the Best Female Lead as BOTH Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara have a nomination, which means that some (hope ALL) award organizers recognize both actresses as lead in Carol.

Best Feature
Anomalisa, Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson
Beasts of No Nation, Cary Joji Fukunaga
Carol, Todd Haynes
*Spotlight, Tom McCarthy
Tangerine, Sean Baker

Best First Feature
*The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Marielle Heller
James White, Josh Mond
Manos Sucias, Josef Kubota Wladyka
Mediterranea, Jonas Carpignano
Songs My Brothers Taught Me, Chloé Zhao

Best Director
Sean Baker for Tangerine
Cary Joji Fukunaga for Beasts of No Nation
Todd Haynes for Carol
Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson for Anomalisa
*Tom McCarthy for Spotlight
David Robert Mitchell for It Follows

Best Screenplay
Charlie Kaufman for Anomalisa
Donald Margulies for The End of the Tour
Phyllis Nagy for Carol
*Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer for Spotlight
S. Craig Zahler for Bone Tomahawk

Best First Screenplay
Jesse Andrews for Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Jonas Carpignano for Mediterranea
*Emma Donoghue for Room
Marielle Heller for The Diary of a Teenage Girl
John Magary, Russell Harbaugh and Myna Joseph for The Mend

Best Female Lead
Cate Blanchett in Carol
*Brie Larson in Room
Rooney Mara in Carol
Bel Powley in The Diary of A Teenage Girl
Kitana Kiki Rodriquez in Tangerine

Best Supporting Female
Robin Bartlett in H.
Marin Ireland in Glass Chin
Jennifer Jason Leigh in Anomalisa
Cynthia Nixon in James White
*Mya Taylor in Tangerine

Best Male Lead
Christopher Abbott for James White
*Abraham Attah for Beasts of No Nation
Ben Mendelsohn for Mississippi Grind
Jason Segel for The End of the Tour
Koudous Seihon for Mediterranea

Best Supporting Male
Kevin Corrigan in Results
Paul Dano in Love & Mercy
*Idris Elba in Beasts of No Nation
Richard Jenkins in Bone Tomahawk
Michael Shannon in 99 Homes

Best Documentary
(T)error, Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe
Heart of Dog, Laurie Anderson
*The Look of Silence, Joshua Oppenheimer
Meru, Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
The Russian Woodpecker, Chad Gracia

Best International Film
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, Roy Andersson
Embrace the Serpent, Ciro Guerra
Girlhood, Céline Sciamma
Mustang, Deniz Gamze Ergüven
*Son of Saul, László Nemes

Best Cinematography
Cary Joji Fukunaga for Beasts of No Nation
*Ed Lachman for Carol
Michael Gioulakis for It Follows
Reed Morano for Meadlowland
Joshua James Richards for Songs My Brothers Taught Me

Best Editing
Ronald Bronstein and Benny Safdie for Heaven Knows What
Julio C. Perez IV for It Follows
Kristian Sprague for Manos Sucias
Nathan Nuget for Room
*Tom McArdle for Spotlight

John Cassavetes Award (Best Feature Under $500,000)
Advantageous, Jennifer Phang
Christmas, Again, Charles Poekel
Heaven Knows What, Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie
*Krisha, Trey Edward Shults
Out of My Hand, Takeshi Fukunaga

Robert Altman Award Honors this year the Director Tom McCarthy, Casting Director Kerry Barden and Paul Schnee, and Ensemble Cast of Spotlight
Ensemble Cast: Billy Crudup, Brian d'Arcy James, Paul Guilfoyle, Neal Huff, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Sheridan, John Slattery, and Stanley Tucci.

Filmmaker Grants

Kiehl’s Someone to Watch Award
Chloe Zhoa for Songs My Brothers Taught Me
*Felix Thompson for King Jack
Robert Machoian & Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck for God Bless the Child

Piaget Producers Award
Darren Dean
*Mel Eslyn
Rebecca Green and Laura D. Smith

Truer than Fiction Award
Alex Sichel and Elizabeth Giamatti for A Woman Like Me
*Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi for Incorruptible
Hemal Trivedi and Mohammed Ali Naqvi for Among the Believers

Awards ceremony will be on February 27, 2016; will be broadcast exclusively on IFC live at 2:00pm PT/5:00pm ET. Jessica Chastain is the Honorary Chair for this year's Spirit Awards.  If you wish to check info about each of the above films at the official site go here.

Extremely Late #Oscars2016 Predictions and Comments

So got convinced to write something about the Oscars. The catch was that IF the Cesar Awards make me happy THEN I was going to write about the Oscars. So here I am writing about what I consider perhaps the most unpleasant thing I could do today. Sigh.

Looking for inspiration was reading again THR's "Brutally Honest Oscar Voters" and gee somehow I agree more with one of the 2 ballots published this year (against 9 from last year-seems not many are willing to talk to Feinberg this year LOL). Yes the one where voter says "I rule out Leonardo immediately because it's a ridiculous performance" LOL!!! So true! But talking about The Revenant also recall what I read somewhere, the article about how great is the film campaign to win voters by promoting "How hard was to make the movie", which obviously is a terribly wrong reason to honor a film with Industry's top awards. There are so many articles that destroy this movie but will only mention one more, the one that says " ... The Revenant, which will very likely win three of the four major awards at the Oscars this Sunday, is a dumb, gruesome, boring, macho slog that’s actively unpleasant to watch." Alright, perhaps the only award that could be well-deserved is cinematography BUT gee film is so unpleasant that is hard to "enjoy" the magnificent use of photography, sigh. So that's it now you know I really disliked The Revenant. LOL.

Next, let's go to Spotlight and The Big Short. Both films tell important stories but regret to say that stories were told in such a not-interesting way. Spotlight was extremely far away from the newspaper reporters investigation genre benchmark, All the President's Men that won 4 Oscars in 1977; the later is a very intense/tense drama while Spotlight very-important message was presented so diluted (why?) that made film not enough dramatic or tense. Alright all those words to say: boring. The Big Short has been praised for telling a very difficult to understand story in a way that anybody will clearly understand, has even been called "user friendly" (lol). Well, perhaps is true but gee also was boring and in a way fragmented; but perhaps I'm one of those that understand the real "difficult" story and don't need the dummies version. Still, someone decided that film is a comedy and we have many film pundits remind us that "comedies do not win top award", so well maybe this trend will continue unspoiled this year.

In brief, NO, didn't enjoyed much The Revenant, Spotlight and The Big Short. If any of these top-three contenders wins top award I could care less (or IGS). Sigh. So let's close this segment by sharing what could happen tomorrow.

Best Picture
Will Win: The Revenant, The Big Short or Spotlight
Could Win: ditto
Should Win: the only one that truly deserves the nomination- Mad Max: Fury Road

Yes, believe latest Mad Max has the quality to earn an Academy nomination, the rest not necessarily. 2015 was considered by many the "year of women in cinema" thanks to the many films about women and with women in the lead roles. Suddenly the awards season began and later, the Oscars nominations arrived and everything changed. 2015 was no longer a women's year as most honored films did not include the ones with female stories and/or women in lead roles. Only 2 movies made it to the top Oscar nominations: Room and Brooklyn. To me the first is more the story of the most intriguing performance in 2015, the one that deserved a Best Actor nomination, the story of a little boy played by Jacob Tremblay; consequently, Brie Larson performance is more supporting to Tremblay than leading Tremblay. Yep, Larson really deserved a Supporting Actress performance nomination.

Then Brooklyn is left as the ONLY film with a woman story and a woman in the lead. I know that this year again many are complaining about how white are the Oscars nominees, but as I mentioned before everywhere I could, there are so many issues with the Academy members that race is only ONE of the main issues. I have to add age, sexism or gender, and homophobia. Mention this because some call Brooklyn a "silly" sentimental story and yes, there is other movie that also gets the "sentimental" label, Carol. Both movies have female leads and are stories about women, but those comments come from men and from those that can be synthesized as "white, male, 63-years-old average, non-LGBT" voting Academy members (yes, that's the average description of the Academy members). So now we have a better idea about the reason-why Carol got NO nomination for Best Film and Best Director ...

Best Director
Will Win: AGI or McCarthy or McCay
Could Win: ditto
Should Win: As Todd Haynes was not nominated, then has to be George Miller or Lenny Abrahamson that gave us two outstanding films

Yes Todd Haynes gave us a beautiful to watch movie about an unconventional romance, about falling in love, about doing something forbidden in a very conservative society, and yes, about infidelity in a broken marriage; the BIG problem was that story is about 2 women. You have no idea of how many films I can recall that have similar stories but all are about a man and a woman, some even went to get an Oscar nomination. But none is more relevant to me than awful The Kids Are All right that also is about 2 women, both have a "happy" ending, but have a big difference: Kids has a man portrayed in a positive way, while Carol man role is not portrayed positively. So why Carol was snubbed from top awards and Kids was highly honored with an Oscar nomination? You can search inside you for your answer, mine is absolutely related to homophobia. So sad, as Carol is a great movie with remarkable performances by the two lead actresses, great script, music, cinematography, editing and more, all masterly orchestrated by an openly-gay director, Todd Haynes.

Best Actress
Will Win: Brie Larson
Should Win: Alicia Vikander in The Danish Girl or Cannes Best Actress winner Rooney Mara in Carol ... Oops! not nominated!!! LOL!

We have arrived to the "strategic" moves that have not-much to do with what happens in the film. To not diminish Cate Blanchett possibilities Rooney Mara lead performance was submitted and accepted as Supporting; me I wonder why they didn't do the opposite and send Blanchett to supporting and Mara to lead. Well, it's easy, Blanchett has more appeal than Mara, sigh. Then they also submit and was accepted, Alicia Vikander lead performance in The Danish Girl as supporting. Why? There was no chance she could win in lead against, who? Cate Blanchett? Jennifer Lawrence? Well, against well-known actresses; so Vikander has to pay her dues. There are big chances she will win as Americans seem to not like Steve Jobs, so Kate Winslet maybe has less possibilities than in UK's BAFTA's.

Best Supporting Actress
Will Win: Alicia Vikander
Could Win: Kate Winslet
Should Win: Will be VERY HAPPY if Alicia Vikander or Rooney Mara win. The good news is that's one of the first awards given, so I will be awake to learn live who wins.

On the opposite side of the scale we find Me (!) as I enjoyed Steve Jobs as a very interesting stage play in 3 acts with many outstanding dialogue moments that absolutely blew my mind. So no surprise when I find Michael Fassbender performance as the best of all with nods for Best Actor.

Best Actor
Will Win: Insufferable Leonardo DiCaprio role in The Revenant
Could Win: no one else, is locked
Should Win: Michael Fassbender or maybe Brian Cranston in Trumbo

We have to wonder why many pundits and fans consider this is the time and year of Leonado DiCaprio, so probably will honor more his career than this particular role, just the same than what the Academy did with Julianne Moore last year. As they like to honor careers and not specific roles then we have to wonder if that's what they are doing with the surprising nomination for Sylvester Stallone (!!!). Contrary to what many think, the Supporting Actor is easy to identify the best performance as Mark Rylance deadpan performance is truly very Scandinavian-style and deserves many honors.

Best Supporting Actor
Will Win: who knows or cares - ok, pundits say Christian Bale
Could Win: Sylvester Stallone (lol)
Should Win: Mark Rylance and if he wins, Academy members redeem themselves (lol)

Have to stop as have many things to do today, but believe you get the idea about why the Oscars show will be BORING this year as many DO NOT CARE who wins in the top categories and when you do not care about winners, then you, the viewer, will not get the adrenaline rush that will keep you awake for 3 hours of acceptance speeches and mediocre sketches from award presenters.  By-the-way and for your information, yes that's Boring by Bansky.

There is so much controversy with this year's Oscars but perhaps the most surprising to me came when producers announced that not all nominated songs will be performed during the broadcast. Not only the announcement told about who will not win the category Oscar but also gave credit (and award) to a performer that some say has very little (if nothing) to do with the song. Nope, not a fan of Lady Gaga nor Sam Smith, so not looking forward to their performances.

One More.

Best Foreign-Language Film
Will Win: Saul Fia
Could Win: Mustang (and surprise: Theeb!)
Should Win: Beautiful Mustang but wouldn't mind if Saul Fia wins or if any of the nominees wins as ALL are outstanding world cinema high quality movies.

2015 was an excellent year for World Cinema, much-much better than American commercial or not-so-much commercial cinema; there are so many outstanding French, German, other European countries, Australian, Latin American, Asian, and African movies that have seen and still have to see; but check the list of films submitted to this Oscar category and you will find many that are the best of the best from many cinema traditional and non-traditional countries

No, will not update LIVE the post but never do, so next time I write about the 2016 Oscars will be after the show and the American awards season will be over, finally. The unpleasantness of the American Awards season will be washed away, erased with some World Awards still pending and the upcoming Cannes Film Festival that to my big surprise, today learned about the first film for the 2016 edition!!!

Sigh. Sigh. Sigh.

41th César Awards Winners

So last night many of us were able to see LIVE the awards ceremony thanks to one of the below posts and yes, it was a very exciting entertainment experience with many laugh-hard moments thanks to very funny lady, Florence Foresti and to many of my favorite movies winning awards.

Why do I like when awards honor films I like? Because tells me that I still have the cinema bug, the métier, inside me. That still have the "eye" to see what is great in cinema and still can "recommend" what to see, even do I do no more reviews here (lol!). This is exactly what's bothering me from 2016 Oscars and what made last night almost 4 hours absolutely ecstatic!

Alright, admit that the last hour was too much and yes, I was a bit tired; there were some sketches that were too long and/or not much funny, which made harder to endure waiting until the next award. But what will NOT happen next Sunday is the moment when the winner was announced the excitement took over my being tired and got a big adrenaline shot that made me withstand anything until the next winner announcement. Sigh.

Before last night knew top acting awards were locked into two actors that gave good performances; but even me noticed that somehow is almost not-credible that Best Actress winner performance was above outstanding performances by Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Huppert, or remarkable versatile Emmanuelle Bercot or the acting-debut of non-actor Sonia Zeroual and yes, the controversial role of Loubna Abidar and well, I highly enjoyed Cécile de France peformance, but maybe I'm totally biased. My point -and I do have one- is to say that Frot had a great role, one that is both dramatic as comedy and she performed both styles very well; her role had much visibility, greater than those of the other nominees in the category, that's why she won. Then we have Vincent Lindon that has been winning "everything" since Cannes 2016, a win that has made many very happy, including Marion Cotillard that took to Instagram to praise her colleague.

But what made me smile BIG was Benoît Magimel winning his first César since 1997 when he won the most promising actor award for Les voleurs. I really enjoy Magimel performances and for many years my favorite French cinema couple was Magimel and Binoche (were real life couple) but while Binoche went to cinema stratosphere Magimel remained in obscure -but entertaining- movies, sigh. Of course had a e-moment when camera went to Juliette Binoche who looked very emotional with Magimel win.

I really liked Mustang and even do was hoping for an historic double-win (Best Film and First Feature), I'm really pleased with the four honors given to this marvelous little/big film. Have to say that know Deniz Gamze Ergüven is probably right now flying to Los Angeles as she has to attend tomorrow's Oscars where I know most likely will lose to Saul Fia story. Along with Marguerite these are the two most-honored films last night where each collected four awards, but none was the top award that went to Fatima. So we can say that César was very magnanimous and distributed its cinema wealth among several great movies.

César award ceremony has changed thru the years and still recall the first time I saw it. which was absolute chaos and nothing related to entertainment; now has evolve into more entertainment event relying on comedic moments to ease the lenght of speeches and award after award. Tempted to make comparisons with Oscars ceremony but no, will do a post to vent before whatever happens Sunday, so let's close with a very positive feeling about a great awards ceremony from the cinema I love the most, French cinema.

If you wish to check winners at official site go here. Winners are in *BLUE.

Best Film
Dheepan, Jacques Audiard
Fatima, Philippe Faucon
La loi du marché (The Measure of a Man), Stéphane Brizé
Marguerite, Xavier Giannoli
Mon roi, Maïwenn
Mustang, Deniz Gamze Ergüven
La tête haute (Standing Tall), Emmanuelle Bercot
Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days), Arnaud Desplechin

Best Debut Film
L'affaire SK1 (SK1), Frédéric Tellier
Les Cowboys (Cowboys), Thomas Bidegain
*Mustang, Deniz Gamze Ergüven
Ni le ciel ni la terre (The Wakhan Front), Clément Cogitore
Nous trois ou rien (All Three of Us), Kheiron

Best Documentary Film
El botón de nácar (The Pearl Button), Patricio Guzmán
Cavanna, jusqu'à l'ultime seconde j'écrirai, Denis Robert and Nina Robert
*Demain (Tomorrow), Cyril Dion and Mélanie Laurent
L’image manquante (The Missing Picture), Rithy Panh
Une jeunesse allemande (A German Youth), Jean-Gabriel Périot

Best Animated Feature
Adama, Simon Rouby
Avril et le monde truqué (April and the Extraordinary World),Christian Desmares and Franck Ekinci
*Le Petit Prince(The Little Prince), Mark Osborne

Best Foreign Film
*Birdman, Alejandro González Iñárritu
Saul Fia (Son of Saul), Laszlo Nemes
Je suis mort mais j'ai des amis, Guillaume and Stéphane Malandrin
Mia Madre (My Mother), Nanni Moretti
Taxi, Jafar Panahi
Le Tout Nouveau Testament (The Brand New Testament), Jaco van Dormael
Youth, Paolo Sorrentino

Best Director
Jacques Audiard for Dheepan
Stéphane Brizé for La loi du marché (The Measure of a Man)
Xavier Giannoli for Marguerite
Maïwenn for Mon roi
Deniz Gamze Ergüven for Mustang
Emmanuelle Bercot for La tête haute (Standing Tall)
*Arnaud Desplechin for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)

Best Actress
Loubna Abidar in Zin li fik (Much Loved)
Emmanuelle Bercot in Mon roi
Cécile de France in La Belle Saison (Summertime)
Catherine Deneuve in La tête haute (Standing Tall)
*Catherine Frot in Marguerite
Isabelle Huppert in Valley of Love
Soria Zeroual in Fatima

Best Supporting Actress
Sara Forestier in La tête haute (Standing Tall)
Agnès Jaoui in Comme un avion (The Sweet Escape)
*Sidse Babett Knudsen in L'Hermine (Courted)
Noémie Lvovsky in La Belle Saison (Summertime)
Karin Viard in 21 nuits avec Pattie (21 Nights with Pattie)

Most Promising Actress
Camille Cottin in Connasse, princesse des cœurs (The Parisian Bitch)
Sara Giraudeau in Les bêtises
*Zita Hanrot in Fatima
Diane Rouxel in La tête haute (Standing Tall)
Lou Roy-Lecollinet in Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)

Best Actor
Jean-Pierre Bacri in La vie très privée de monsieur Sim (The Very Private Life of Mister Sim)
Vincent Cassel in Mon roi
François Damiens in Les Cowboys (Cowboys)
Gérard Depardieu in Valley of Love
Anthonythasan Jesuthasan in Dheepan
*Vincent Lindon in La loi du marché (The Measure of a Man)
Fabrice Luchini in L'Hermine (Courted)

Best Supporting Actor
Michel Fau in Marguerite
Louis Garrel in Mon roi
*Benoît Magimel in La tête haute (Standing Tall)
André Marcon in Marguerite
Vincent Rottiers in Dheepan

Most Promising Actor
Swann Arlaud in Les Anarchistes
Quentin Dolmaire in Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)
Félix Moati in À trois on y va (All About Them)
Finnegan Oldfield in Les Cowboys (Cowboys)
*Rod Paradot in La tête haute (Standing Tall)

Best Original Screenplay
Noé Debré, Thomas Bidegain and Jacques Audiard for Dheepan
Xavier Giannoli for Marguerite
*Deniz Gamze Ergüven and Alice Winocour for Mustang
Emmanuelle Bercot and Marcia Romano for La tête haute (Standing Tall)
Arnaud Desplechin and Julie Peyr for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)

Best Adaptation
David Oelhoffen and Frétéric Tellier for L'affaire SK1 (SK1)
Samuel Benchetrit for Asphalte (Macadam Stories)
Vincent Garenq and Stéphane Cabel for L'enquête (The Clearstream Affair
*Philippe Faucon for Fatima
Hélène Zimmer and Benoît Jacquot for Journal d'une femme de chambre (Diary of a Chambermaid)

Best Cinematography
Eponine Momenceau for Dheepan
Glynn Speeckaert for Marguerite
David Chizallet for Mustang
Irina Lubtchansky for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)
*Christophe Offenstein for Valley of Love

Best Editing
Juliette Welfling for Dheepan
Cyril Nakache for Marguerite
Simon Jacquet for Mon roi
*Mathilde Van de Moortel for Mustang
Laurence Briaud for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)

Best Original Score
Raphaël for Les Cowboys (Cowboys)
Ennio Morricone for En mai, fais ce qu'il te plaît
Stephen Warbek for Mon roi
*Warren Ellis for Mustang
Grégoire Hetzel for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)

Best Sound
Daniel Sorbino, Valérie Deloof and Cyril Holtz for Dheepan
*François Musy and Gabriel Hafner for Marguerite
Nicolas Provost, Agnès Ravez and Emmanuel Croset for Mon roi
Ibrahim Gök, Damien Guillaume and Olivier Goinard for Mustang
Nicolas Cantin, Sylvie Malbrant and Stéphane Thiébaut for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)

Best Costumes
Anaïs Romand for Journal d'une femme de chambre (Diary of a Chambermaid)
*Pierre-Jean Laroque for Marguerite
Selin Sözen for Mustang
Catherine Leterrier for L'odeur de la mandarine (The Scent of Mandarine)
Nathalie Raoul for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)

Best Production Design
Michel Barthélémy for Dheepan
Katia Wyszkop for Journal d'une femme de chambre (Diary of a Chambermaid)
*Martin Kurel for Marguerite
Jean Rabasse for L'odeur de la mandarine (The Scent of Mandarine
Toma Baqueni for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)

Best Animated Short
La nuit américaine d'Angélique, Pierre-Emmanuel Lyet and Joris Clerté
*Le repas dominical (Sunday Lunch), Céline Devaux
Sous tes doigts, Marie-Christine Courtès
Tigres à la queue leu leu, Benoît Chieux

Best Short Film
*La contre-allée (Back Alley), Cécile Ducrocq
Le dernier des Céfrancs (The Last of the Frenchmen), Pierre-Emmanuel Urcun
Essaie de mourir jeune, Morgan Simon
Guy Moquet, Demis Herenger
Mon héros, Sylvain Desclous

Best Moments Video



The Complete Awards Ceremony Video



To check the official announcement go here available only in French and as a pdf file or go here for a friendlier list with links to info about each movie.  All films with at least one nomination will be screened from February 10 to 16 at Le Balzac cinema and from Febraury 17 to 23 at Les 3 Luxembourg cinema. The second round of votes will give the winners that will be announced at the awards ceremony on Friday, February 26 .



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2/26/16
Will update LIVE as soon as winners are announced. Will comment tomorrow.  A bit tired after a long ceremony...
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1/27/16
This morning in Fouquet's restaurant on Champs Elysees the Academy President Alain Terzian held a press conference to announce the nominations for the current edition of the awards that honor French cinema. Along with Florence Foresti, who will be hosting the ceremony, announced the 118 nominees in the #César2016.

This year the Honorary César goes to Michael Douglas and the award will be presented on Friday, February 26 at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris with Florence Foresti hosting the ceremony for the very first time.

There are 50 films plus 113 artists and technicians with a nomination from the 4,509 Academy members that could vote and that selected them from a total of 642 films and 3,625 people submitted for consideration for this edition.

Marguerite leads the pack with 11 nominations followed closely by Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse with 10, Dheepan and Mustang with 9 each, then Mon roi and La Tête haute with 8 nominations each. Out of these six films only one was not in 2015 Cannes as Marguerite premiered in Venice 2015.

This year there are some interesting stats but believe none are more relevant in the world cinema industry than the unusual presence of nominated female directors, as out of the seven (7) Best Director nominees three (3) are female: Emmanuelle Bercot, Deniz Gamze Ergüven and Maïwenn; also noteworthy is that out of the eight (8) Best Film nominees, three (3) are by the same female directors.



Most remarkable are the 14th nomination for Catherine Deneuve (13 Actress, 1 Supporting Actress) plus Isabelle Huppert with her 15th time (13 Actress, 2 Supporting Actress); both have already won before, Deneuve in 1981 and 1992, Huppert in 1996. Consequently there are five actresses haven't collected a César in the Best Actress category, but Cécile de France has 2 Césars (Supporting Actress, Female Newcomer) and is her 6th nomination (4 Actress, 1 Supporting Actress, 1 Newcomer) worth-noting that in 2007 she got 2 nominations for Best Actress for 2 different movies; Catherine Frot already has 1 César for Supporting Role and is her 10th nomination (7 Best Actress, 3 Supporting Actress); Emmanuele Bercot had 1 nomination (Original Screenplay) before the 4 (Actress, Original Screenplay, Director and Best Film) she collected today. So there are only 2 nominated actresses that collected their first nomination ever: Loubna Abidar and Soria Zeroual.

Gérard Depardieu collects his 17th nomination (all  Actor), he already won twice in 1981 and 1991; also with a win in 2009 Vincent Cassel collects his 5th nomination (4  Actor, 1 Male Newcomer).

2016 César Awards - Les Révélations Winners

Last night was the biggest French cinema night of the year with the César Awards ceremony honoring great movies. Among the many honors, two went to the most promising actors or a more literal translation, the revelations; as predicted by most cinema pundits -and expected by me- Rod Paradot won the male revelation for his outstanding work in La Tête haute; then in contrast, his female counterpart was not that easy to predict.

The Most Promising Actress award went to Zita Hanrot in Fatima and as we already know film got three awards but most important, got the top award.

Have to comment that from all of last night acceptance speeches, none was as emotional as Rod Paradot speech that moved me and many more that poured to comment the most positive emotions for his future in twitter. Check Paradot's acceptance speech in the following video.



Winners are in (*)GREEN.

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1/27/16
Earlier this morning the Academy announced the nominations for the #César2016 and below are the ten actors that are honored with a nomination.

There are not many surprises but believe that Sophie Verbeeck deserved at least a nomination but perhaps she lost because the unfortunate singing scene (lol). Nevertheless she gave a great performance in A trois on y va as she has very little to say and lots of silences that say all. Sigh.

Nominees are in *BLUE.

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11/16/15
After the horrifying news that come from Paris since last Friday, a brief warm air came today with the announcement of the thirty-two (32) actors that were selected by the Academy as the Newcomers Selection.

Now the 4276 French Academy members will vote to select the nominees in the 2016 César Awards Best Female Newcomer and Best Male Newcomer categories.

Les Révélations 2016

Actresses
Mathilde Bisson in Au plus près du soleil
*Camille Cottin in Connasse, Princesse des coeurs
Lucie Debay in Melody
*Sara Giraudeau in Les Bêtises
(*)Zita Hanrot in Fatima
Stacy Martin in Taj Mahal
Freya Mavor in La Dame dans l’auto avec des lunettes et un fusil
Baya Medhaffar in À peine j’ouvre les yeux
Lena Paugam in L’Ombre des femmes
*Diane Rouxel in La Tête haute
*Lou Roy-Lecollinet in Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse
Georgia Scalliet in L’Odeur de la mandarine
Noémie Schmidt in L’Étudiante et Monsieur Henri
Pauline Serieys in Une famille à louer
Sarah Suco in Discount
Lily Taieb in Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse
Sophie Verbeeck in À trois on y va

Actors
*Swann Arlaud in Les Anarchistes
Jules Benchetrit in Asphalte
Mehdi Djaadi in Je suis à vous tout de suite
*Quentin Dolmaire in Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse
Khereddine Ennasri in Nous trois ou rien
Aurélien Gabrielli in Quand je ne dors pas
Kheiron in Nous trois ou rien
Karim Leklou in Coup de chaud
Alban Lenoir in Un Français
Martin Loizillon in Fever
Sâm Mirhosseini in Ni le ciel ni la terre
*Félix Moati in À trois on y va
*Finnegan Oldfield in Les Cowboys
Harmandeep Palminder in Bébé Tigre
(*)Rod Paradot in La Tête haute
Syrus Shahidi in Une histoire de fou

To read the official press release go here.  Nominations will be announced in a press conference on January 27th and on February 26 the 41st César Awards ceremony will take place at Théâtre du Châtele.

Soirée César & Révélations 2016



Clip Les Révélations 2016, by Sonia Sieff



Les Révélations 2016 Catalog

41th César Livestream

Let's hope to find one that works..

CANAL+ - CANAL+

18th Costume Designers Guild Awards Winners

Yesterday the guild had their awards ceremony and to my surprise I find winners well-deserved even when are not necessary the ones I was hoping for.

There is only one more guild to go and all the guilds would have announced their winners, but this late in the awards season race to Oscars -which is next Sunday- no surprises shall come and top-contenders trends will continue to be not interesting for me. Sigh. Gosh, maybe next year Oscars will be as used to be, interesting to follow and interesting to watch.

No doubt that what was really interesting is Cate Blanchett being honored with the Spotlight Award. In this photo we see Cate and Sandy Powell; Powell is responsible for Carol's costumes.  Yes the very disappointing trend continues, Carol was snubbed once again, sigh.



If you wish to check winners in TV and other categories go official site here. Winners are in *BLUE.

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1/7/16
Nominees for the 18th Costume Designers Guild Awards (CDGA), which celebrates excellence in film, television, and short form costume design, were announced today.

The CDGA ceremony, one of the most prestigious and well-respected entertainment industry awards season events, celebrates the spirit of creative and engaging storytelling through costume design on both the big and small screen. The winners of the seven competitive awards will be revealed at the black-tie gala on Tuesday, February 23rd at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Really like the Lacoste brand, so will reproduce the complete press release with lots of Lacoste promotion (lol); goes like this ...

Continuing its long-time support of the Guild, LACOSTE is returning as Presenting Sponsor of the CDGA. In the past year, LACOSTE has been featured in films such as Spotlight, Pitch Perfect 2, and Ricki and the Flash, as well as in numerous television shows including Scream Queens, Bloodline, Jane the Virgin, and Saturday Night Live.

This year’s LACOSTE Spotlight Award will be presented to two-time Academy Award® winning actress, Cate Blanchett. Acclaimed film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor Quentin Tarantino will receive the Distinguished Collaborator Award in recognition of his support of Costume Design and creative partnerships with Costume Designers. An Honorary Career Achievement Award will be presented to Costume Designer Ellen Mirojnick for her outstanding work in film and television. Revered Master Dyer Edwina Pellikka will be honored with the Distinguished Service Award.

“I would like to congratulate all of the nominees of the 18th Costume Designers Guild Awards. We look forward to celebrating the work of our members as well as this year’s honorees at our awards gala on February 23rd,” said Salvador Perez, President of the Costume Designers Guild Local #892.

Excellence in Contemporary Film
*Jenny Eagan for Beasts of No Nation
Michael Wilkinson for Joy
Arianne Phillips for Kingsman: The Secret Service
Janty Yates for The Martian
Carlo Poggioli for Youth

Excellence in Period Film
Odile Dicks-Mireaux for Brooklyn
Sandy Powell for Carol
Kate Hawley for Crimson Peak
*Paco Delgado for The Danish Girl
Daniel Orlandi for Trumbo

Excellence in Fantasy Film
Sandy Powell for Cinderella
Sammy Sheldon Differ for Ex Machina
Kurt and Bart for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2
*Jenny Beavan for Mad Max: Fury Road
Michael Kaplan for Star Wars: The Force Awarkens

To check nominees in TV and other categories go news via event company here and later to official site here, as haven't updated yet.

Not easy for me to select my winner/best in the Contemporary category as costumes tend to be of the too much "normal" side and do not see clearly how costumes designs contribute to storytelling.  But obviously Period and Fantasy categories are a lot easier, so in Period I'm torn between The Danish Girl, Trumbo, Carol and Brooklyn (lol) and in Fantasy my vote definitively goes to Cinderella as I love the visuals in Ex Machina but the costumes? I do not know.  My crystal ball tells me that for Oscars the nominees will come more from Period films than from other categories.

20th Annual Satellite Awards Winners

Yesterday the International Press Academy had their awards ceremony and by now there are no big surprises with this group winners that gave top awards to Spotlight.

While reading the press release noticed perhaps the most interesting awards of the night with Best First Feature award going to Jayro Bustamente for Ixcanul and Breakthrough Performance to Jacob Tremblay in Room; also Amy Schumer won a special award for Breakthrough Comedian of the Year for Trainwreck.

Not that expected but well-deserved is the Best Actress award that went to Saoirse Ronan in Brooklyn and glad that Alicia Vikander got the Best Supporting Actress award for her LEADING role in The Danish Girl. Ah! the group didn't broke the awards season trend where outstanding Carol is snubbed; well, let's be kind as comment that got one award for Carter Burwell as his original score in Carol. Sigh.

To read winners in all cinema categories plus TV categories go official site here. Winners are in *BLUE.

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12/2/15
Yesterday the International Press Academy (IPA) announced its nominations for the 2015 edition of its annual Satellite Awards and here are some nominations for some of the 19 categories in motion pictures. As happens every year the award has too-many nominees per category, which serious industry pundits do not appreciate as seems like an effort to please everyone, unfortunately I tend to agree and this year will not be the exception, especially when in the TV categories Lady Gaga was nominated and social media went full force with the news. Sigh.

Nevertheless the group that includes American and foreign entertainment journalists in print, TV, radio, broadcast,and online outlets including critters, interviewers, bloggers and photographers chooses every year mostly popular, mainstream films and believe this year is no exception.

Special honors were announced for Spotlight, which will receive an Ensemble: Motion Picture Award; American Crime, Ensemble: TV; Trainwreck's Amy Schumer, an honorary Satellite for Breakthrough Comedian of the Year; and Jacob Tremblay for Room, Breakthrough Performance. In addition, the group will give its annual Tesla Award to Hive Lighting and its co-founders Robert Rutherford and Jon Edward Miller; its Auteur Award to director Robert M. Young; and its Humanitarian Award to filmmaker Spike Lee.

Seven (7) actors and six (6) actresses got nominations as well as ten (10) motion picture which I find too-many to reflect any possible trend in the current American awards season. Nevertheless list includes many of this awards season favorites. Leading the pack is The Martian with 9 nominations followed by Spotlight with 8, with 7 each Spectre and The Danish Girl, and with 5 each Bridge of Spies, Carol, Sicario and The Revenant.

Motion Pictures Categories

Motion Picture
The Big Short
Black Mass
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Carol
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Sicario
*Spotlight

Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media
The Prophet
The Peanuts Movie
The Good Dinosaur
Shaun The Sheep Movie
*Inside Out
Anomalisa

Motion Picture, Documentary
Where to Invade Next
*The Look of Silence
The Hunting Ground
He Named Me Malala
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon
Cartel Land
Best of Enemies
Becoming Bulletproof
Amy

Motion Picture, International Film
The Throne, South Korea
The Second Mother, Brazil
The High Sun, Croatia
The Brand New Testament, Belgium
The Assassin, Taiwan
*Son of Saul, Hungary
Labyrinth of Lies, Germany
Goodnight Mommy, Austria
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, Sweden

Director
Lenny Abrahamson for Room
Alejandro González Iñárritu for The Revenant
Tom Hooper for The Danish Girl
*Thomas McCarthy for Spotlight
Ridley Scott for The Martian
Steven Spielberg for Bridge of Spies

Actress
Cate Blanchett in Carol
Blythe Danner in I'll See You in My Dreams
Brie Larson in Room
Carey Mulligan in Suffragette
Charlotte Rampling in 45 Years
*Saorise Ronan in Brooklyn

Actress in a Supporting Role
Elizabeth Banks in Love & Mercy
Jane Fonda in Youth
Rooney Mara in Carol
Rachel McAdams in Spotlight
*Alicia Vikander in The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet in Steve Jobs

Actor
Matt Damon in The Martian
Johnny Depp in Black Mass
*Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant
Michael Fassbender in Steve Jobs
Tom Hardy in Legend
Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl
Will Smith in Concussion

Actor in a Supporting Role
*Christian Bale in The Big Short
Paul Dano in Love & Mercy
Benicio Del Toro in Sicario
Michael Keaton in Spotlight
Mark Ruffalo in Spotlight
Sylvester Stallone in Creed

To check nominees in other Motion Pictures categories as well as in TV categories go to official site here.  The Awards ceremony will be on February 21st, 2016 in Century City, California.

2016 Annual MUAHS Guild Awards Winners

For me the most surprising thing in last night's guild awards ceremony was discovering Johnny Depp in all photos including one with Yolanda Toussieng who won the guild's Lifetime Achievement Award.  Toussieng is responsible for hair in films like Edward Scissorhands and  Ed Wood (she won an Oscar), so no doubt that she deserves the honor and Depp had a great reason to be there. He also presented the Lifetime Achievement award to makeup artist Ve Neill who also worked in films like Ed Wood and all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Now is no surprise to learn why Depp attended last night ceremony as many of his most iconic characters were in the hands of these two artists.  Besides Depp looked quite different to how we have seen him lately, more alike to what he used to be.  Check the photos.




Another guild that gave NO surprises as Mad Max: Fury Road won two awards and Carol was snubbed once again, in a tech category that could have won, sigh.

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

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1/13/16
Today the Make-Up Artist and Hair Stylists Guild announced their nominations for the 2016 edition of their awards with Mad Max: Fury Road leading with three nominations.

As previously announced Make-Up Artist Ve Neill and Hair Stylist Yolanda Toussieng, both Oscar and Emmy winners, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Awards. “The bodies of work of Ve Neill and Yolanda Toussieng are legendary, and we are proud to rank them among the best in the history of our profession. They are extraordinary artists and accomplished leaders in the industry, and it is our pleasure to name them as this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipients,” said President Susan Cabral-Ebert.

Award ceremony will be on Saturday, February 20th at Paramount Studios Theatre in Hollywood.

Feature Length Motion Picture

Best Contemporary Make-Up
Julie Hewett and Pamela Westmore for The Big Short
*James MacKinnon, Autumn Butler and Roxy D'Alonzo for Furious 7
Melanie Hughes-Weaver and Judy Yonemoto for Pitch Perfect 2
Donald Mowat for Sicario
Maurizio Silvi and Matteo Silvi for Youth

Best Period and/or Character Make-Up
Morna Ferguson, Niamh O'Loan and Marlène Rouleau for Brooklyn
Patricia Regan for Carol
Naomi Donne and Norma Webb for Cinderella
Jan Sewell and Renata Gilbert for The Danish Girl
*Lesley Vanderwalt, Nadine Prigge and Ailie Smith for Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Special Make-Up Effects
Joel Harlow, Kenny Niederbaumer and Khanh Trance for Black Mass
Sian Grigg, Charlotte Rogers and Tristan Versluis for Ex Machina
Ve Neill and Glenn Hetrick for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2
*Damian Martin, Elka Wardega and Jaco Snyman for Mad Max: Fury Road
Neal Scanlan for Star Wars: The Force Awaakens

Best Contemporary Hair Styling
Sian Grigg and Charlotte Rogers for Ex Machina
Linda Flowers, Jennifer Santiago and Lesa Williams for Furious 7
*Cheryl Marks, Meagan Herrera and Daina Daigle for Pitch Perfect 2
Zoe Tahir for Spectre
Sarah Love and Linda Flowers for Spy

Best Period and/or Charcter Hair Styling
Lorraine Glynn, Lorraine Brennan and Michelle Côté for Brooklyn
Jerry DeCarlo, Jack Curtain and Kay Georgiou for Carol
*Carol Hemming, Orla Carroll and Wakana Yoshihara for Cinderella
Jan Sewell and Renata Gilbert for The Danish Girl
Anita Morgan, Kerstin Weller and Kylie Clark for Mad Max: Fury Road

To check nominations in TV and other categories go official site here (not there yet, but will be there) or news here.

My favorite tweet about these nominations says: "I'll be over here wondering why FURIOUS 7 received two Makeup Artists and Hair Stylists Guild Awards nominations. (Vin Diesel's spray tan?)" LOL!!! But seriously I wonder how or why Furious 7 and Pitch Perfect 2 got two nominations each... also, found make-up in The Big Short more on the really-bad side of the scale, especially Christian Bale make-up. So, go figure why or what guild is honoring.

28th Annual Scripter Award Winner

As predicted USC scholars gave the award to The Big Short authors ans screenwriters, so there was no surprises either with this prestigious award that for the first time this year also honored the best television adaptation and the TV award went to Show Me a Hero.

On more interesting news, we have to note that Scripter began in 1988, co-founded by USC Libraries supporters Glenn Sonnenberg and Marjorie Lord. Sonnenberg presented an honorary Scripter to Lord’s daughter Anne Archer, in honor of her family’s support of Scripter and the USC Libraries.

Accepting the award, Archer said that her mother “knew that supporting the USC Library through this unique event would be a reminder to the next generation that great writing elevates a culture.”



To check the announcement at official site go here. Winner is in *BLUE.

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1/7/16
The USC Libraries have named the finalists for the 28th annual USC Libraries Scripter Award. Since 1988, Scripter has honored the authors of printed works alongside the screenwriters who adapt their stories.

This year, for the first time, Scripter will honor excellence in adaptation of the printed word into a television episode in addition to feature film. The television and film finalists compete in separate categories for their own Scripter award.

The finalist writers for film are, in alphabetical order by film title:

*Screenwriters Adam McKay and Charles Randolph for The Big Short, adapted from Michael Lewis’s nonfiction work The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
Novelist Colm Tóibín and screenwriter Nick Hornby for Brooklyn
Screenwriter Donald Margulies for The End of the Tour, adapted from David Lipsky’s memoir Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace
Novelist Andy Weir and screenwriter Drew Goddard for The Martian
Emma Donoghue for the novel and screenplay of Room

Chaired by USC professor and president of the Writers Guild of America, West, Howard Rodman, the 2016 Scripter selection committee selected the finalists from a field of 73 film and 18 television adaptations. Serving on the selection committee, among many others, are film critics Leonard Maltin, Anne Thompson and Kenneth Turan; authors Michael Chabon, Michael Ondaatje and Mona Simpson; screenwriters Graham Moore, John Ridley and Erin Cressida Wilson; producers Gale Anne Hurd and Suzanne Todd; and USC deans Elizabeth Daley of the School of Cinematic Arts and Catherine Quinlan of the USC Libraries.

Now you know some of the people who omitted honoring the adaptation of the Price of Salt (later published as Carol) by Patricia Highsmith and the screenwriter Phyllis Nagy. I loved the novel that was very fast intense reading for me; easily noticed most of the changes in the movie but believe that for creative, continuity and visual storytelling the changes were superb. Carol deserved recognition from this academic group, sigh.

The USC Libraries will announce the winning authors and screenwriters at a black-tie ceremony on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016 in the historic Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library on the University Park campus of the University of Southern California. Academy Award winners Helen Mirren and Taylor Hackford will serve as honorary dinner chairs.To check TV nominees go here or later to the official site here, as they haven't update yet.

52nd Annual CAS Awards Winners

Last night the guild had their awards ceremony and by this late in the award season is no surprise that top film award went to The Revenant or top film animation award went to Inside Out. After many pundits predicted an interesting and "unexpected" awards season, it has become a very predictable (and boring) season. Sigh.

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

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1/12/16
A few moments ago the Cinema Audio Society (CAS) announced the nominees for the current edition of the awards that honor Outstanding Achievements in Sound Mixing in film and television as well as Technical Achievement in production and post-production.

“This was a year of terrific sound in both film and television,” said Mark Ulano CAS President. “These nominations represent the outstanding sound mixing being done in each category and I congratulate each of our nominees.”

Awards ceremony will be on February 20th in the Crystal Ballroom of the Millennium Biltmore Hotel. During the awards the highest honor of the CAS – the CAS Career Achievement Award will be presented to ADR Mixer Doc Kane and the CAS Filmmaker Award will be given to Jay Roach.



The following are the nominations for the Motion Picture categories

Live Action
Bridge of Spies
The Hateful Eight
Mad Max: Fury Road
*The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Animated
The Good Dinosaur
Hotel Transylvania 2
*Inside Out
Minions
The Peanuts Movie

To check nominees for television and technical achievement awards go official site here. Final balloting for both the Outstanding Sound Mixing and the CAS Technical Achievement Awards will open online Wednesday January 27th and end Friday, February 12th.

On the evening of the Awards the Cinema Audio Society website will be updated in real time as the winners are announced.

66th Berlin International Film Festival Award Winners

Post is being updated LIVE as winners are announced.

Will be updating LIVE the winners. Red Carpet starts in about 30 minutes, one and half hours later awards ceremony (7:00pm local time).

Will leave here some figures that make me wonder if they're accurate or not: 434 Films, 9 Juries, 124 Prizes..The figures at the #Berlinale2016 Figures come from a tweet at Berlinale official twitter account. Have to check if there will be 124 awards here!!!

The awards ceremony is over and have to say that as expected Gianfranco Rosi won the Golden Bear for his film Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea).  Now he has a Golden Bear and a Golden Lion, could he get the Golden Palm? Should research how many directors have the three top golden awards as to me achievement sounds similar to the American EGOT.

There are three awards that made me very happy as absolutely approve everything by Thomas Vinterberg and directing outstanding Trine Dyrholm must have been extraordinary; don't need to say but will say, Kollektivet is must-be-seen for me. Have seen almost everything by Mia Hansen-Løve as she is one of my favorite contemporary directors in the world (not only in French cinema); very glad she was honored for her work in L'Avenir. Last, but not least, I'm always puzzled and mesmerized by the work of Lav Diaz and know that will have to prepare to watch his 8 hours masterpiece, perhaps do as Dieter Kosslick said, watch early morning after, take a nap. But I'm really happy he was honored for his masterpiece Hele Sa Hiwagang Hapis.

 Auf Wiedersehen! Hope to see you all in 2017.

Competition

Golden Bear for Best Film: Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea), Gianfranco Rosi, Italy and France
Silver Bear Jury Grand Prize: Smrt u Sarajevu (Death in Sarajevo), Danis Tanović, France and Bosnia Herzegovina
Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize: Hele Sa Hiwagang Hapis (A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery), Lav Diaz, Philippines and Singapore

Silver Bear for Best Director: Mia Hansen-Løve for L'Avenir (Things to Come), France and Germany

Silver Bear for Best Actress: Trine Dyrholm in in Kollektivet (The Commune), Thomas Vinterberg, Denmark, Sweden and Netherlands
Silver Bear for Best Actor: Majd Mastoura in نحبك هادي Inhebbek Hedi (Hedi), Mohamed Ben Attia, Tunisia, Belgium and France

Silver Bear for Best Script: Tomasz Wasilewski for Zjednoczone Stany Miłości (United States of Love), Tomasz Wasilewski, Poland and Sweden
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution in the categories Camera , Editing, Score, Costume Design or Set Design: Mark Lee Ping-Bing for 长江图 Chang Jian Tu (Crosscurrent), Yang Chao, China

Best First Feature Award: نحبك هادي Inhebbek Hedi (Hedi), Mohamed Ben Attia, Tunisia, Belgium and France

Generation

Generation Kplus

Children's Jury
Crystal Bear for Best Film: Ottaal (The Trap), Jayaraj Rajashekaran Nair, India
Special Mention:  Jamais contente, Emilie Deleuze, France
Crystal Bear for Best Short Film: El inicio de Fabrizio (Fabrizio’s Initiation), Mariano Biasin, Argentina, 17'
Special Mention:  Ninnoc, Niki Padidar, Netherlands, 19'

International Jury
Grand Prix for Best Film: Rara, Pepa San Martín, Chile and Argentina
Special Mention: Genç Pehlivanlar (Young Wrestlers), Mete Gümürhan, Turkey and Netherlands
Special Prize for Best Short Film: Semele, Myrsini Aristidou, USA and Cyprus, 13'
Special Mention:  Aurelia y Pedro (Aurelia and Pedro), Omar Robles and José Permar, Mexico, 16'

Generation 14Plus

Youth Jury
Crystal Bear for Best Film: Es esmu šeit (Mellow Mud), Renārs Vimba, Latvia
Special Mention: Las Plantas (Plants), Roberto Doveris, Chile
Crystal Bear for Best Short Film: Balcony, Toby Fell-Holden, UK
Special Mention: Kroppen är en ensam plats (The Body Is a Lonely Place), Ida Lindgren, Sweden

International Jury
Grand Prix: Las Plantas (Plants), Roberto Doveris, Chile
Special Mention: Zhaleika, Eliza Petkova, Germany
Special Prize for Best Short Film: O noapte in Tokoriki (A Night in Tokoriki), Roxana Stroe, Romania
Special Mention: Kroppen är en ensam plats (The Body Is a Lonely Place), Ida Lindgren, Sweden

Short Films
Golden Bear: Balada de um Batráquio (Batrachian's Ballad), Leonor Teles, Portugal, 11’
Silver Bear Jury Prize: A Man Returned, Mahdi Fleifel, UK, Netherlands and Denmark, 30’
Audi Award: Jin zhi xia mao (Anchorage Prohibited), Chiang Wei Liang, Taiwan, 16’
Berlin Short Film Nominee for the European Film Awards: A Man Returned, Mahdi Fleifel, UK, Netherlands and Denmark, 30’

Collateral Awards - Prizes from Independent Juries

FIPRESCI Awards
Competition: Smrt u Sarajevu (Death in Sarajevo), Danis Tanović, France and Bosnia Herzegovina
Panorama: Aloys, Tobias Nölle, Switzerland and France
Forum: The Revolution Won’t Be Televised, Rama Thiaw, Senegal

Ecumenical Jury Awards
Competition: Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea), Gianfranco Rosi, Italy and France
Panorama: Les premiers, les derniers (The First, the Last), Bouli Lanners, France and Belgium
Forum: (tie)
بركة يقابل بركة Barakah yoqabil Barakah (Barakah Meets Barakah), Mahmoud Sabbagh, Saudi Arabia
Les Sauteurs (Those Who Jump), Moritz Siebert and Estephan Wagner, Denmark

Label Europa Cinemas: Les premiers, les derniers (The First, the Last), Bouli Lanners, France and Belgium
Prize of the Guild of German Art House Cinemas: 24 Wochen (24 Weeks), Anne Zohra Berrached, Germany

Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d’Art et d’Essai (C.I.C.A.E.)
Panorama: Grüße aus Fukushima (Fukushima, mon Amour), Doris Dörrie, Germany
Forum: Ilegitim (Illegitimate), Adrian Sitaru, Romania, Poland and France

Caligari Film Prize: Akher ayam el madina (In the Last Days of the City), Tamer El Said, Egypt, Germany, UK and UAE
Special Mentions
Tempestad, Tatiana Huezo, Mexico
The Revolution Won’t Be Televised, Rama Thiaw, Senegal

Teddy Awards
Best Film: Kater (Tomcat), Händl Klaus, Austria
Jury Award: Nunca vas a estar solo (You'll Never Be Alone), Alex Anwandter, Chile
Best Documentary/Essay Film: Kiki, Sara Jordenö, Sweden and USA
Best Short Film: Moms On Fire, Joanna Rytel, Sweden, 12’
Special Teddy Award: Christine Vachon

Audience Award: Théo et Hugo dans le même bateau (Paris 05:59), Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau, France (G)
Männer Magazine Readers Jury Award: Mãe só há uma (Don’t Call me Son), Anna Muylaert, Brazil

Peace Film Prize: مخدومين Makhdoumin (A Maid for Each), Maher Abi Samra, Lebanon, France and Norway

Amnesty International Film Prize: (tie)
Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea), Gianfranco Rosi, Italy and France
رویای دم صبح Royahaye Dame Sobh (Starless Dreams), Mehrdad Oskouei, Iran

Made In Germany - Perspektive Fellowship: Janna Ji Wonders for Walchensee Forever

Heiner Carow Prize: Grüße aus Fukushima (Fukushima, mon Amour), Doris Dörrie, Germany

Honorary Golden Bear: Michael Balhaus
Berlinale Camera: Ben Barenholtz, Tim Robbins and Marlies Kirchner

Readers' Juries and Audience Awards
Panorama Audience Awards
Feature Film
First Place: Junction 48, Udi Aloni, Israel, Germany and USA
Second Place: Grüße aus Fukushima (Fukushima, mon Amour), Doris Dörrie, Germany
Third Place: Shepherds and Butchers, Oliver Schmitz, South Africa, USA and Germany
Documentary
First Place: Mi Yohav Oti Achshav? (Who's Gonna Love Me Now?), Tomer Heymann and Barak Heymann, Israel and UK
Second Place: Strike a Pose, Ester Gould and Reijer Zwaan, Netherlands
Third Place: Weekends, Lee Dong-ha, Korea

The Berliner Morgenpost Readers' Jury Award: Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea), Gianfranco Rosi, Italy and France
The Tagesspiegel Readers' Jury Award: Nikdy nejsme sami (We Are Never Alone), Petr Václav, Czech Republic and France
ELSE -The Siegessäule Readers' Jury Award:

Prizes Berlinale Co-Production Market & Berlinale Talents

Arte International Prize: Alvaro Brechner for Memories from the Cell, Spain

Euroimages Co-Production Development Award: Pierre Földes for Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, France and Hungary
Special Mentions:
Memories from the Cell, Alvaro Brechner, Spain
The Little Comrade, Moonika Slimets, Estonia

VFF Talent HIghlight Pitch Award: Max Serdiuk for Tank, Ukraine

The Robert Bosch Stiftung for Intenational Cooperationg Germany/Arab World
Short Fiction Film:  Thsweesh, Feyrouz Serhal, Lebanon, 15'
Documentary Film:  Miguel's War, Eliane Raheb, Lebanon
Animation Short Film:  Four Acts for Syria, Waref Abu Quba and Kevork Mourad, Syria, 10'

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2/19/16
Today we started the very long post with all the 2016 Berlinale awards. Post will be In Progress until after the awards ceremony.

According to what happened in previous years most indicator have been mostly wrong (lol!) as obviously what film pundits predict has very little to do with jurors who usually are not film critics. Well this year main jury has a film critic so perhaps predictions and reality could be closer that ever before. Nevertheless, let's take a look to what could happen tomorrow.

Neil Young's predictions give the Golden Bear to Mia Hansen-Løve's Things to Come, the Grand Prix to Téchiné's Being 17 and Alfred Bauer Prize to Lav Diaz's A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery; Director to Gianfranco Rosi for Fire at Sea, Screenplay to Danis Tanović and Bernard-Henri Lévy for Death in Sarajevo and Technical Prize to Mark Lee Ping-bin for Crosscurrent. Acting awards to Majd Mastoura in Hedi and the female ensemble cast in United States of Love. His predictions are very French so easily you can imagine that I approve them, but wonder if an USA lead jury could give several awards to French produced or co produced cinema.

UK Screen International continues to have Gianfranco Rosi's Fire at Sea in the first place with 3.3 score followed by Things to Come, Midnight Special and Hedi with 2.9 each. Then more Continental Europe scores from FIPRESCI critics also give Fire at Sea the highest score (4.33) followed by The Commune by Thomas Vinterberg (3.75) and Things to Come by Mia Hansen-Løve (3.47). By the way, last year's FIPRESCI critics predicted Taxi as the Golden Bear winner and surprise, yes film won; so maybe this year Gianfranco Rosi will add a Golden Bear to his Golden Lion.

Will publish post as there are some already announced winners but section winners, like for example Generation, will have their awards tonight; consequently post will be constantly updated today.