Oscar Best Song Longlist: Disney & Freedom of Speech + Immigrant Dramas Top Australian Awards

Enchanted with Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey (with James Marsden in the background). Three songs from Kevin Lima’s Disney-distributed romantic fantasy are in the running for the 2008 Best Original Song Academy Award: “So Close,” “That’s How You Know,” and “Happy Working Song,” composed by Alan Menken, with lyrics by Stephen Schwartz.

Best Original Song Oscar longlist: From Loch Ness monsters & fairy princesses to pornography & the first amendment

Fifty-nine songs from eligible feature films will be vying for a slot in the 2008 Academy Awards‘ Best Original Song category.

Besides the expected ditties from movies such as Enchanted, Ratatouille, and, why not, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, included on the longlist are several unusually titled songs from, in some cases, movies that don’t generally get Best Song Oscar nods (e.g., documentaries, Hungarian musicals).

Titles include “Atkozott Egy Elet” (from the Hungarian musical 56 Drops of Blood), “I Was Zapped by the Lucky Super Rainbow” (from Good Luck Chuck), “Back Where You Belong” (from the domestic disappointment The Water Horse), “The Tale of the Horny Frog” (from the domestic flop The Heartbreak Kid), “The Devil’s Lonely Fire” (from Badland), and “First Amendment Blues” (from Larry Flynt: The Right to Be Left Alone).

The final song found in the paragraph above refers to Joan Brooker-Marks’ documentary Larry Flynt: The Right to Be Left Alone, about the quintessential self-made American (man), free speech advocate, and pornography producer.

Curiously, the nonmusical Dan in Real Life, a box office disappointment starring Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche, has no less than three songs on the list.

Best Original Song Oscar rules

According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ press release, “on Tuesday, Jan. 15, the Academy will screen clips featuring each song, in random order, for voting members of the Music Branch in both Beverly Hills and New York City. Following the screenings, members will vote to determine which three, four or five songs become nominees in the category.

“To be eligible, a song must consist of words and music, both of which are original and written specifically for the film. A clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition of both lyric and melody must be used in the body of the film or as the first music cue in the end credits.”

The 59 eligible songs are listed below in alphabetical order by film title.

And further below you’ll find the 2007 Australian Film Institute Awards’ list of winners and nominees, and a partial list of the International Documentary Association’s winners and nominees.

Best Song Oscar longlist: From ‘Enchanted’ to ‘Larry Flynt: The Right to Be Left Alone’

“Do You Feel Me” from American Gangster.

“At the Edge of the World” from Arctic Tale.

“Someday” from August Rush.

“This Time” from August Rush.

“Raise It Up” from August Rush.

“Break” from August Rush.

“Nothing’s There” from Badland.

“The Devil’s Lonely Fire” from Badland.

“A Hero Comes Home” from Beowulf.

“The Stars of Orion” from Berkeley.

“Say” from The Bucket List.

“To Be Surprised” from Dan in Real Life.

“My Hands Are Shaking” from Dan in Real Life.

“I’ll Be OK” from Dan in Real Life.

“December Boys” from December Boys.

“So Close” from Enchanted.

“That’s How You Know” from Enchanted.

“Happy Working Song” from Enchanted.

“Atkozott Egy Elet” from 56 Drops of Blood.

“O, Atyam!” from 56 Drops of Blood.

“Eleg!” from 56 Drops of Blood.

“A Dream” from Freedom Writers.

“Lyra” from The Golden Compass.

“Good Luck Chuck” from Good Luck Chuck.

“Shut Me Out” from Good Luck Chuck.

“I Was Zapped by the Lucky Super Rainbow” from Good Luck Chuck.

“Grace Is Gone” from Grace Is Gone.

“Lullabye for Wyatt” from Grace Is Gone.

“Come So Far (Got So Far to Go)” from Hairspray.

“The Tale of the Horny Frog” from The Heartbreak Kid.

“China Doll” from Honeydripper.

“It Will Stay With Us” from The Hottest State.

“Never See You” from The Hottest State.

“Society” from Into the Wild.

“Guaranteed” from Into the Wild.

“Rise” from Into the Wild.

“First Amendment Blues” from Larry Flynt: The Right to Be Left Alone.

“Hello (I Love You)” from The Last Mimzy.

“Despedida” from Love in the Time of Cholera.

“Huck’s Tune” from Lucky You.

“Little Wonders” from Meet the Robinsons.

“Another Believer” from Meet the Robinsons.

“Way Back into Love” from Music and Lyrics.

“PoP! Goes My Heart” from Music and Lyrics.

“Ordinary People” from Music Within.

“Pretty Much Amazing” from Nancy Drew.

“Falling Slowly” from Once.

“If You Want Me” from Once.

“Le Festin” from Ratatouille.

“Land of Quiet Poems” from Resurrecting the Champ.

“Love Will Still Be There” from September Dawn.

“Royal Pain” from Shrek the Third.

“Rule the World” from Stardust.

“Before It’s Too Late (Sam and Mikaela’s Theme)” from Transformers.

“Baby Don’t You Cry” from Waitress.

“Beautiful Ride” from Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

“Walk Hard” from Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

“Let’s Duet” from Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

“Back Where You Belong” from The Water Horse.

The 2008 Academy Award nominations will be announced at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills at 5:30 a.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday, Jan. 22.

The 2008 Academy Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, Feb. 24, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center.

Check out: “‘Travelin’ Thru’ & Jesus Song: Eclectic Oscar Possibilities.”

The Home Song Stories with Joan Chen. Although Tony Ayres’ semiautobiographical immigrant family drama was the Australian Film Institute’s top winner in sheer number of trophies – eight in all, including Best Actress (Joan Chen), Best Director, and Best Screenplay – the AFI’s Best Film was another real-life-based immigrant family drama, Richard Roxburgh’s Romulus, My Father, starring Hulk and Munich actor Eric Bana in the title role.

‘Romulus, My Father’ is Australian Film Institute’s Best Film

Real-life-based tales of immigrants in Australia and their troubled family relationships are the key plot elements to be found in the top winners at the 2007 Australian Film Institute Awards. (See further below the full list of winners & nominees.)

Adapted from philosopher Raimond Gaita’s book of memoirs, Richard Roxburgh’s immigrant family drama Romulus, My Father, was voted Best Film. In addition, star Eric Bana and Marton Csokas were the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor winners, respectively.

Romulus, My Father chronicles the struggles facing a Romanian immigrant, Romulus Gaita (Eric Bana), and his wife, Christine (Franka Potente), while raising their son, Raimond (Kodi Smit-McPhee), in post-World War II Australia.

‘The Home Song Stories’ wins eight AFI Awards

The movie that won most Australian Film Institute Awards, however, was writer-director Tony Ayres’ semiautobiographical The Home Song Stories: a total of eight trophies, including Best Actress (Joan Chen), Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography (Nigel Bluck), and Best Film Editing (Denise Haratzis).

In this other “troubled immigrant” tale, Joan Chen plays Rose Hong, a former Hong Kong nightclub singer who has a tough time adjusting to her new life in Australia in the 1970s.

The fact that Tony Ayres was a double winner – Best Director and Best Screenplay – makes the AFI’s choice of Romulus, My Father as the year’s Best Film particularly puzzling.

Featuring dialogue in English, Chinese, and Cantonese, The Home Song Stories is Australia’s submission for the 2008 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

Australian Film Institute winners & nominations

Deborra-lee Furness, Sibylla Budd, Marny Kennedy, and James Hewison announced the 2007 Australian Film Institute nominations on Oct. 24. The winners were announced at two ceremonies: Dec. 5 (“industry” categories) and Dec. 6 (top categories).

Note: The AFI International Awards are given to Australians working abroad.

Feature Films

BEST FILM
The Home Song Stories – Liz Watts & Michael McMahon.
Lucky Miles – Jo Dyer & Lesley Dyer.
Noise – Trevor Blainey.
* Romulus, My Father – Robert Connolly & John Maynard.

BEST DIRECTOR
Clubland – Cherie Nowlan.
* The Home Song Stories – Tony Ayres.
Noise – Matthew Saville.
Romulus, My Father – Richard Roxburgh.

BEST ACTOR
Qi Yuwu – The Home Song Stories.
Brendan Cowell – Noise.
* Eric Bana – Romulus, My Father.
Kodi Smit-McPhee – Romulus, My Father.

BEST ACTRESS
Brenda Blethyn – Clubland.
* Joan Chen – The Home Song Stories.
Kerry Armstrong – Razzle Dazzle.
Franka Potente – Romulus, My Father.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Frankie J. Holden – Clubland.
Richard Wilson – Clubland.
* Marton Csokas – Romulus, My Father.
Russell Dykstra – Romulus, My Father.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Sibylla Budd – The Bet.
* Emma Booth – Clubland.
Irene Chen – The Home Song Stories.
Esme Melville – Romulus, My Father.

BEST SCREENPLAY (ORIGINAL OR ADAPTED)
Clubland – Keith Thompson.
* The Home Song Stories – Tony Ayres.
Lucky MilesNoise – Matthew Saville.
Romulus, My Father – Nick Drake.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Clubland – Mark Wareham ACS.
* The Home Song Stories – Nigel Bluck.
Noise – Laszlo Baranyai ACS.
Romulus, My Father – Geoffrey Simpson ACS.

BEST EDITING
Clubland – Scott Gray.
* The Home Song Stories – Denise Haratzis ASE.
Noise – Geoff Hitchins.
Romulus, My Father – Suresh Ayyar ASE.

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE
* The Home Song Stories – Antony Partos.
Noise – Byrony Marks.
Razzle Dazzle – Roger Mason & Green Dragon.
Romulus, My Father – Basil Hogios.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Clubland – Nell Hanson.
* The Home Song Stories – Melinda Doring.
Noise – Paddy Reardon.
Romulus, My Father – Robert Cousins.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Clubland – Emily Seresin.
* The Home Song Stories – Cappi Ireland.
Razzle Dazzle – Ariane Weiss.
Romulus, My Father – Jodie Fried.

BEST SOUND
Clubland – Andrew Neil, Ian McLoughlin CAS, Liam Egan & Stephen Jackson-Vaughan.
The Home Song Stories – Craig Carter, James Harvey, Andrew Neil & John Wilkinson.
* Noise – Emma Bortignon, Doron Kipen & Philippe Decrausaz.
Romulus, My Father – Sam Petty, Gary Wilkins CAS & Phil Heywood.

BYRON KENNEDY AWARD
Curtis Levy.

AFI RAYMOND LONGFORD AWARD
David Hannay.

AFI GLOBAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
George Miller – Happy Feet.

NEWS LIMITED READERS CHOICE AWARD
Eric Bana.

Film & Television

AFI INTERNATIONAL AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR
Eric Bana – Lucky You.
Julian McMahon – Nip/Tuck.
Hugh Jackman – The Prestige.
* Dominic Purcell – Prison Break.

AFI INTERNATIONAL AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS
Rachel Griffiths – Brothers & Sisters.
* Rose Byrne – Damages.
Jacinda Barrett – The Last Kiss.
Toni Collette – Little Miss Sunshine.

YOUNG ACTOR AWARD
Irene Chen – The Home Song Stories.
Joel Lok – The Home Song Stories.
Corey McKernan – Lockie Leonard.
* Kodi Smit-McPhee – Romulus, My Father.

VISUAL EFFECTS AWARD
Air Australia: Canvas & Sticks – David Rutherford, Reigy Skwarko, Paul Siciliano, Delon Govender.
Crocodile Dreaming – Kirsty Millar & Chad Malbon.
* Rogue – Andrew Hellen, Dave Morley, Jason Bath & John Cox.
Spider – Mike Seymour.

AFI INTERNATIONAL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN FILMMAKING
Jill Bilcock.

Documentary

BEST DOCUMENTARY
4 – Joanna Buggy, Tim Slade.
* FORBIDDEN LIE$ – Sally Regan & Anna Broinowski.
Global Haywire – Claude Gonzalez.
Words from the City – Philippa Campey.

BEST DIRECTOR
Crude – Richard Smith.
FORBIDDEN LIE$ – Anna Broinowski.
* Global Haywire – Bruce Petty.
Words from the City – Rhys Graham & Natasha Gadd.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
4 – Pieter de Vries ACS.
* Cuttlefish: The Brainy Bunch – Malcolm Ludgate ACS, Joel Peterson & Scott Carrithers.
Thunderheads – Klaus Toft, Cameron Davies & Mark Lamble ACS.
Words from the City – Rhys Graham & Natasha Gadd.

BEST EDITING
Cuttlefish: The Brainy Bunch – Carsten Orit.
* FORBIDDEN LIE$ – Vanessa Milton & Alison Croft.
Global Haywire – Sam Petty.
Words from the City – Paul Williams.

BEST SOUND
Cuttlefish – The Brainy Bunch – Sam Hayward.
FORBIDDEN LIE$ – Peter Smith & Craig Carter.
* Global Haywire – Sam Petty.
Words from the City – Peter Smith & Emma Bortignon.

Short Films

BEST SHORT ANIMATION
An Imaginary Life – Steve Baker.
The Bat and the Butterfly (“Dust Echoes 2”) – Michael Wagner & Dave Jones.
* The Girl Who Swallowed Bees – Justine kerrigan & Paul McDermott.
The Goat That Ate Time – Lucinda Schreiber.

BEST SHORT FICTION FILM
Boys Own Story – Michael Petroni & Jamie Hilton.
Dugong – Melanie Brunt & Erin White.
* Spike Up – Anthony Maras & Kent Smith.
Swing – Louise Pascale & Christopher Houghton.

BEST SCREENPLAY
Boys Own Story – Michael Petroni.
* Crossbow – David Michod.
Dugong – Erin White.
Katoomba – Leon Ford.

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN SHORT FILM SCREEN CRAFT
Mark Lapwood ACS (Cinematography) – Eclipse.

Television (partial)

BEST COMEDY SERIES
The Chasers War on Everything – Andy Nehl, Julian Morrow & Jo Wathen.
David Tench Tonight – Todd Abbott.
Supernova – David Maher & David Taylor.
* Wilfred – Jenny Livingston.

BEST DRAMA SERIES
All Saints – Bill Hughes & MaryAnne Carroll.
Dangerous – John Edwards & Imogen Banks.
* Love My Way – John Edwards & Claudia Karvan.

BEST TELEFEATURE OR MINI SERIES
Bastard Boys – Brett Popplewell & Ray Quint.
The Circuit – Ross Hutchens & Colin South.
* The King – Jason Stephens.

BEST DIRECTOR
Bastard Boys – Ray Quint.
The Circuit: “Home Is Where the Past Is” – Richard Frankland.
* The King – Mathew Saville.
Lockie Leonard: “Cyril” – Tony Tilse.
Wilfred: “Dogs of War” – Tony Rogers.

BEST SCREENPLAY
* Bastard Boys – Sue Smith.
The Circuit: “Home Is Where the Past Is” – Kelly Lefever.
Lockie Leonard: “The Ladder of Love” – Keith Thompson.
Love My Way: “Cars Without Brakes” – Tony McNamara.

BEST ACTOR IN TELEVISION DRAMA
Daniel Frederiksen – Bastard Boys.
Khan Chittenden – Dangerous.
* Stephen Curry – The King.
Ben Mendelsohn – Love My Way.

BEST ACTRESS IN TELEVISION DRAMA
Catherine McClements – Call Me Mum.
Tammy Clarkson – The Circuit.
* Claudia Karvan – Love My Way.
Noni Hazlehurst – Stepfather of the Bride.

BEST GUEST OR SUPPORTING ACTOR IN TELEVISION DRAMA
Mark Priestley – All Saints.
Justin Smith – Bastard Boys.
Jack Thompson – Bastard Boys.
* David Ngoombujarra – The Circuit.

BEST GUEST OR SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN TELEVISION DRAMA
Lynette Curran – Call Me Mum.
* Vicki Saylor – Call Me Mum.
Monica Maughan – The King.
Justine Clarke – Love My Way.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN TELEVISION COMEDY
Drew Forsythe – David Tench Tonight.
Peter Kowitz – Supernova.
Jason Gann – Wilfred.
* Adam Zwar – Wilfred.

AFI AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN TELEVISION SCREEN CRAFT
Paddy Reardon (Production Design) – Bastard Boys, Call Me Mum & The King.

International Documentary Association Awards

Partial list of the International Documentary Association’s winners and nominees.

Feature Documentaries
Crazy Love.
Dan Klores, Director/Producer.
Fisher Stevens, Producer.

Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience.
Richard E. Robbins, Director/Producer.

Sicko
Michael Moore, Director.
Michael Moore & Meghan O’Hara, Producers.

Taxi to the Dark Side.
Alex Gibney, Director/Producer.
Eva Orner & Susannah Shipman, Producers.

* A Walk to Beautiful.
Mary Olive Smith, Director.
Amy Bucher, Co-director.
Steve Engel & Mary Olive Smith, Producers.

Short Documentaries
Black and White
Zam Salim, Director.
John Archer, Producer.

Body & Soul: Diana & Kathy.
Alice Elliott, Director/Producer.
Simone Pero Audi, Producer.

The Fighting Cholitas.
Mariam Jobrani, Director/Producer.
Kenny Krauss, Producer.

Freeheld.
Cynthia Wade, Director.
Vanessa Roth & Matthew Syrett, Producers.

* A Son’s Sacrifice.
Yoni Brook, Director.
Musa Syeed, Producer.

Career Achievement Award: Michael Moore.

Australian Film Institute website.

James Marsden, Patrick Dempsey, and Amy Adams Enchanted image: Walt Disney Studios.

Joan Chen The Home Song Stories image: Dendy Films.

“Oscar Best Song Longlist Includes Freedom of Speech Ditty + Two Immigrant Family Dramas Top AFI Awards” last updated in April 2018.

There were several surprise nominees for the 2007 Spirit Awards, announced earlier today. Most notable among those were Rajnesh Domalpalli’s Telugu-language drama Vanaja (above), which garnered nominations for best first feature film and best cinematography (Milton Kam); Marisa Tomei’s best supporting actress nod for Sidney Lumet’s thriller Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead; and Marcus Carl Franklin’s presence in the best supporting actor category for his performance as “Woody” in I’m Not There.

Notable for their absence were, among others, Nicole Kidman for Margot at the Wedding, Christian Bale for Rescue Dawn, Ethan Hawke for Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Mathieu Amalric for his performance as stroke victim Jean-Dominique Bauby in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Ryan Gosling for Lars and the Real Girl, veteran director Sidney Lumet for Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, and Mira Nair’s The Namesake in the best feature category.

Also, Tamara Jenkins was nominated for both her direction of and her screenplay for The Savages, but the film itself failed to receive a nomination.

Sarah Polley’s Away from Her wasn’t submitted for the Spirit Awards – and wouldn’t have been eligible in most categories, as it’s a Canadian production. That explains why Julie Christie – superb as a woman suffering from Alzheimer’s – is not in the running for Best Actress.

The only nominee for the Spirit Award for best feature that also received a nod in the same category from the New York-based Gotham Awards was I’m Not There (right), Todd Haynes’ surreal Bob Dylan biopic, while none of the nominated Gotham documentaries can be found in the Spirit Awards list. (Though Craig Zobel’s Great World of Sound, a Gotham nominee for best feature, was shortlisted as one of the Spirit Awards’ five best first features.) Part of the reason for the discrepancy has to do with different eligibility rules. Sean Penn’s Gotham-nominated Into the Wild, for instance, cost more than US$20 million, which made it ineligible for the Spirit Awards.

Among the expected Spirit Award nominees are I’m Not There in the best film, best director (Haynes), and best supporting actress (Cate Blanchett, above photo) categories; Juno, about a young pregnant girl looking for prospective parents for her upcoming baby, in the best feature, best director (Jason Reitman), and best actress (Ellen Page) categories; and Cristian Mungiu’s Cannes Film Festival winner 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Eran Kolirin’s multiple Ophir winner The Band’s Visit, and Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis in the best foreign film category.

All of the above names and titles will surely be found in many U.S. critics’ awards lists. They are also likely Oscar contenders. (The Band’s Visit, however, is ineligible in the Best Foreign Language Film category as most of its dialogue is in English.)

Of the (very) few Spirit Award nominees I’ve seen, only three – Lust, Caution leads (and Golden Horse nominees) Tony Leung and Tang Wei (above), and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto – would be included in my list of best of the best of 2007.

As an aside: The best micro-budget film I saw this year, David Lewis’ Rock Haven, about a Christian teenager coming to terms with his homosexuality, could not be found in the list of nominees for the John Cassavetes Award – given to features made for under $500,000. Whether or not Rock Haven was eligible, its absence from the Cassavetes Award shortlist is an unfortunate omission.

The Spirit Award winners will be announced on Feb. 23.

Note: The Gotham Award winners will be announced tonight.

Film Independent’s 23rd Spirit Awards

Spirit Award nominations: Nov. 27. Spirit Award winners: Feb. 23.

BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, Jon Kilik
I’m Not There, Producers: Christine Vachon, John Sloss, John Goldwyn, James D. Stern
* Juno, Producers: Lianne Halfon, John Malkovich, Mason Novick, Russell Smith
A Mighty Heart, Producers: Dede Gardner, Andrew Eaton, Brad Pitt
Paranoid Park, Producers: Neil Kopp, David Cress

BEST FOREIGN FILM (Award given to the director)
4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Director: Cristian Mungiu (Romania)
The Band’s Visit, Director: Eran Kolirin (Israel)
Lady Chatterley, Director: Pascale Ferran (France)
* Once, Director: John Carney (Ireland)
Persepolis, Directors: Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi (France)

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
2 Days in Paris, Director: Julie Delpy, Producers: Julie Delpy, Christophe Mazodier, Thierry Potok
Great World of Sound, Director: Craig Zobel, Producers: Melissa Palmer, David Gordon Green, Richard Wright, Craig Zobel
* The Lookout, Director: Scott Frank, Producers: Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber, Laurence Mark, Walter Parkes
Rocket Science, Director: Jeffrey Blitz, Producers: Effie T. Brown, Sean Welch
Vanaja, Director: Rajnesh Domalpalli, Producer: Latha R. Domalapalli

BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director)
* Crazy Love, Director: Dan Klores
Lake of Fire, Director: Tony Kaye
Manufactured Landscapes, Director: Jennifer Baichwal
The Monastery, Director: Pernille Rose Grønkjær
The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair, Directors: Petra Epperlein & Michael Tucker

BEST DIRECTOR
Todd Haynes, I’m Not There
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages
Jason Reitman, Juno
* Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Gus Van Sant, Paranoid Park

BEST MALE LEAD
Pedro Castaneda, August Evening
Don Cheadle, Talk to Me
* Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Savages
Frank Langella, Starting Out in the Evening
Tony Leung, Lust, Caution

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart
Sienna Miller, Interview
* Ellen Page, Juno
Parker Posey, Broken English
Tang Wei, Lust, Caution

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
* Chiwetel Ejiofor, Talk to Me
Marcus Carl Franklin, I’m Not There
Kene Holliday, Great World of Sound
Irrfan Khan, The Namesake
Steve Zahn, Rescue Dawn

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
* Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There
Anna Kendrick, Rocket Science
Jennifer Jason Leigh, Margot at the Wedding
Tamara Podemski, Four Sheets to the Wind
Marisa Tomei, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

BEST SCREENPLAY
Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
* Tamara Jenkins, The Savages
Fred Parnes & Andrew Wagner, Starting Out in the Evening
Adrienne Shelly, Waitress
Mike White, Year of the Dog

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Jeffrey Blitz, Rocket Science
Zoe Cassavetes, Broken English
* Diablo Cody, Juno
Kelly Masterson, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
John Orloff, A Mighty Heart

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Mott Hupfel, The Savages
* Janusz Kaminski, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Milton Kam, Vanaja
Mihai Malaimare, Jr., Youth Without Youth
Rodrigo Prieto, Lust, Caution

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)
* August Evening, Writer/Director: Chris Eska, Producers: Connie Hill, Jason Wehling
Owl and the Sparrow, Writer/Director: Stephane Gauger, Producers: Nguyen Van Quan, Doan Nhat Nam, Stephane Gauger
The Pool, Director: Chris Smith, Producer: Kate Noble, Writers: Chris Smith & Randy Russell
Quiet City, Director: Aaron Katz, Producers: Brendan McFadden, Ben Stambler, Writers: Aaron Katz, Erin Fisher, Cris Lankenau
Shotgun Stories, Writer/Director: Jeff Nichols, Producers: David Gordon Green, Lisa Muskat, Jeff Nichols

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (Given to one film’s director, casting director and its ensemble cast)
* I’m Not There
Director: Todd Haynes
Casting Director: Laura Rosenthal
Ensemble Cast: Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Marcus Carl Franklin, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Bruce Greenwood

PRODUCERS AWARD
Anne Clements, producer of Ping Pong Playa and Quinceañera
Alexis Ferris, producer of Cthulhu and Police Beat
* Neil Kopp, producer of Paranoid Park and Old Joy

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
* Laura Dunn for The Unforeseen
Gary Hustwit for Helvetica
John Maringouin for Running Stumbled

SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
* Ramin Bahrani, director of Chop Shop
Ronnie Bronstein, director of Frownland
Lee Isaac Chung, director of Munyurangabo

Producers Award Nominating Committee: Scott Macaulay (Chair), Gina Kwon, Anne Walker-McBay, Lianne Halfon, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte

Truer Than Fiction Award Nominating Committee: John Vanco (Chair), Cara Mertes, A.J. Schnack, Dennis Lim, Laura Poitras

IFC/Acura Someone to Watch Award Nominating Committee: Scott Foundas (Chair), Effie T. Brown, Lisa Kennedy, Bryan Poyser, Maud Nadler

Rape of Nanking + Abused Haitian Workers: Oscar Documentary Semifinalists

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today the list of 15 films in the Documentary Feature category that will move forward to the next voting phase for the 80th Academy Awards. Seventy feature documentaries had originally qualified in that category. Those were watched by the Academy’s Documentary Branch screening committee for the preliminary round of voting.

This year’s potential Oscar nominees offer a wide range of subjects, from the portrayal of a disabled U.S. veteran fighting for an end to the Iraq War in Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro’s Body of War to the high cost of (inadequate) health care in the United States in Michael Moore’s Sicko.

Among the documentaries whose themes give seizures to right-wing ideologues everywhere are the study of the use of torture by American forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo in Taxi to the Dark Side by Alex Gibney; Daniel G. Karslake’s For the Bible Tells Me So (top photo), about the misuse of the Bible to condemn homosexuality; and Steven Okazaki’s White Light/Black Rain, about the aftermath of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.

Also, Charles Ferguson’s No End in Sight shows how the George W. Bush administration created – and has helped to perpetuate – the bloody Iraqi chaos; Bill Haney’s The Price of Sugar, narrated by Paul Newman, follows Father Christopher Hartley, whose fight for the rights of abused Haitian workers in the Dominican Republic has brought on the wrath of locals who believe that foreign workers exist so they can be ruthlessly exploited; and Peter Raymont’s A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman takes Ariel Dorfman, Chile’s Cultural Adviser to Salvador Allende, on a trip to the country from where he had to flee decades earlier following Augusto Pinochet’s U.S.-backed military coup. (Dorfman’s comments about tapped telephone wires remain quite relevant, and not only in Chile.)

And finally, Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman’s Nanking tells the story of a small group of foreigners who saved thousands of Chinese during the “Rape of Nanking” in the late 1930s, when members of the Japanese Imperial Army – doing their bit for their country – ransacked the city, murdering and raping tens of thousands of people. (Japanese right-wingers to this day insist that the massacre never took place.) Richard Berge, Bonni Cohen, and Nicole Newnham’s The Rape of Europa, for its part, shows how the Nazis pillaged Europe’s cultural heritage. (Surely there are German right-wingers who deny that ever happened.) The documentary is narrated by Joan Allen.

Still on a political plane, but with different approaches, are Sean Fine and Andrea Nix’s War/Dance, about how three children from a Uganda refugee camp struggle to compete in that country’s national music and dance festival; Richard Robbins’ Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, an attempt to convey the feelings of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan through their letters; and Tony Kaye’s Lake of Fire, which reportedly provides a balanced take on both sides of the abortion issue.

Tricia Regan’s Autism: The Musical, about a group of autistic kids putting on a show, and Weijun Chen’s Please Vote for Me, about third graders competing for the role of class reporter (as in one who reports on others who misbehave) at their school in China’s Wahun province, seem to be the only feel-good documentaries in competition.

The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order:

Autism: The Musical.

Body of War.

For the Bible Tells Me So.

Lake of Fire.

Nanking.

No End in Sight.

Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience.

Please Vote for Me.

The Price of Sugar.

A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman.

The Rape of Europa.

Sicko.

Taxi to the Dark Side.

War/Dance.

White Light/Black Rain.

Five of the above films will receive Oscar nominations.

The 80th Academy Award nominations will be announced on Tuesday, Jan. 22, at 5:30 a.m. Pacific Time, in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

The Oscar ceremony will take place on Sunday, Feb. 24, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center. In the US, it’ll be televised live by ABC.

Best Foreign Language Film Oscar submissions

A record 63 countries, including newcomers Azerbaijan and Ireland, have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 80th Academy Awards.

Nominations for the 2008 Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, Jan. 22 at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2007 will be presented on Sunday, Feb. 24, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, and televised live by the ABC Television Network.

Christian de Portzamparc to Design Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will be designed by the French architecture firm Atelier Christian de Portzamparc. (Image: Christian de Portzamparc.)

The Casablanca-born Christian de Portzamparc, a graduate of Paris’ École Nationale des Beaux Arts and winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1994, designed the Cité de la Musique, the headquarters for the press group Le Monde, the Musée Bourdelle, and the Café Beaubourg in the French capital, in addition to the French Embassy building in Berlin, the Crédit Lyonnais tower in Lille, the Philharmonie Luxembourg, and the Musée Hergé in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. In the United States, de Portzamparc designed the LVMH Tower (the Moët Hennessy-Louis Vuitton headquarters) in New York City.

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures to show how ‘film both reflects and shapes world culture’

In a press release, the Academy’s Architect Selection Subcommittee chair Jeannine Oppewall was quoted as saying that “in part, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will demonstrate how film both reflects and shapes world culture, not just American culture. So we researched and interviewed leading architects from all over the world to see who could best express the Academy’s vision of the museum. Ultimately, it was de Portzamparc who seemed the most in tune with that vision, and we know he and his team will have an exciting, creative approach to bringing it to fruition.”

The Academy wants the Museum of Motion Pictures to be located next to its Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study at Vine Street and Fountain Avenue in Hollywood. A planned museum campus will span nearly eight acres.

Work on the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is slated to begin in 2009.

Christian de Portzamparc photo: AFP / Jean-Pierre Muller.

Thessaloniki Film Festival Awards

The 48th Thessaloniki Film Festival was held between Nov. 16–25.

In Shangjun Cai’s The Red Awn, after a five-year absence a middle-aged man (Yao Anlian) returns to his hometown to reclaim his house but is told that he is, as per the local registry, officially dead. The living dead man must then regain his place both in society and within his family, as he must now become reacquainted with his young son (Lu Yulai).

Golden Alexander Award for Best Film: The Red Awn / Hongse Kangbaiyin (China) by Shangjun Cai

Shot in one continuous take, Spyros Stathopoulos‘ PVC-1 is a based-on-a-true-story drama about a kidnap victim (Merida Urquia) who is turned into a human time bomb after her family fails to pay for her ransom.

Silver Alexander Award: PVC-1 by Spyros Stathopoulos (Colombia)

Best Director: Veiko Ounpuu for Autumn Ball (Estonia)

Best Actor: Alberto Sornoza for PVC-1 (Colombia)

Best Actress: Anna Lalasidou for Elli Makra – 42277 Wuppertal (Greece)

Best Screenplay: Thanos Anastasopoulos and Vassilis Raisis for Correction(Greece)

Artistic Achievement Award: Jonas Cuaron for Año Uña / The Year of The Nail(Mexico)

FIPRESCI (International Film Critics) Award for a film in the International Competition Section: PVC-1 by Spiros Stathoulopoulos, Colombia / Greece / USA

For a film in the Greek Films section: i EPISTROFI (THE HOMECOMING) by Vassilis Douvlis, Greece

FISCHER PUBLIC CHOICE AWARDS

For a film in the International Competition section: PVC-1 by Spiros Stathoulopoulos, Colombia / Greece / USA

For a film in the Greek Films 2007 section: EL GRECO by Iannis Smaragdis, Greece

For a film in the Balkan Survey section: BEYNELMILEL (THE INTERNATIONAL) by Sirri Sureyya Onder and Muharrem Gulmez, Turkey

For a film in the Greek Films DigitalWave section: YAGONAN: THE DARK DAYS OF DOOM by Yagos Raftopoulos, Greece

HUMAN VALUES AWARD for a film in the Independence Days ID-07 section: SZTUCZKI (Tricks) by Andrzej Jakimowski, Poland

THE GREEK UNION OF FILM, TELEVISION AND AUDIOVISUAL TECHNICIANS (ETEKT) AWARD (Greek Films 2007section): EL GRECO by Iannis Smaragdis

THEGREEKFILMCRITICSASSOCIATION (PEKK) AWARD (Greek Films 2007section): METAMORFOSI (METAMORPHOSIS), by Costas Sfikas, Greece

EVERYDAY LIFE – TRANSCENDENCE OR RECONCILIATION AWARD: ELLI MAKRA – 42277 WUPPERTAL, by Athanasios Karanikolas, Germany

WOMAN & EQUALITY AWARD: BUDA AZ SHARM FORU RIKHT (BUDDHA COLLAPSED OUT OF SHAME), by Hana Makhmalbaf, Iran / France

CROSSROADS – Co-production Forum Award: THE POLICEMAN by Navad Lapid, Israel – Producers Edgar Tenembaum, Geraldine Michelot

BALKAN FUND – Script Development Awards:

RIO – Writers: Nicolas Panoutsopoulos & Argyris Germanidis – Director/Producer: Nicolas Panoutsopoulos, Greece
THE POOR LITTLE THINGS – Writer: Onder Cakar – Director: Ayhan Hacifazlioglu – Producer: Sevil Demirci Cakar, Turkey
FIRST OF ALL, FELICIA – Writers/Directors: Melissa De Raaf & Razvan Radulescu -Producer: Ada Solomon, Romania
MOTHER – Writer/Director: Juraj Lerotic – Producer: Dana Budisavljevic, Croatia

SPECIAL MENTIONS

METASTASES -Director: Branko Schmidt -Producer: Stanislav Babic, Croatia
SOME OTHER STORIES- Writers/ Directors: Ana Maria Rossi / Ines Tanovic /Maria Dzizeva / Hanna Slak / Ivona Juka – Producer: Nenad Dukoc, Serbia / Montenegro

International Competition Jury: Jirí Menzel, Director (CzechRepublic), President; Lucrecia Martel, Director (Argentina); Yasmin Ahmad, Director / Producer / Actress (Malaysia); Michael Fitzgerald, Producer (USA); Nae Caranfil, Director (Romania); Fred Roos, Producer (USA); Olga Brumas, Poet / Professor (Greece)

FIPRESCI Jury: Alin Tasciyan, President (Turkey); Pablo Utin (Israel); Shahla Nahid (France); Raghavendra Mirle (India); Dimitris Babas (Greece)