Oscar Best Picture Nominees Major Rules Change

Oscar Best Picture Nominees Major Rules Change: Jean Arthur and James Stewart in Frank Capra’s You Can’t Take It with You, the Best Picture winner of 1938. There were 10 nominees that year, among them The Adventures of Robin Hood, Angels with Dirty Faces, Boys Town, The Citadel, Four Daughters, Jezebel, Pygmalion.

In terms of rules and regulations, this is likely the biggest Oscar news since the mid-1940s:

The 2010 Academy Awards, which will be presented on March 7, will have no less than 10 feature films vying in the Best Picture category. The last time more than five films competed for the Oscars was in 1943, the year Casablanca won for best picture. (Among the losers were The Song of Bernadette, The Human Comedy, The More the Merrier, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Watch on the Rhine.)

During the Academy’s early years, for more than a decade the Best Picture category included more than five films; for nine years there were 10 nominees. (In 1931/32 there were eight nominees, while in 1934 and 1935 there were 12.)

The 10 Best Picture nominees of 1939, the year some call Hollywood’s greatest, are currently being screened in Los Angeles and New York City as part of the film series “Hollywood’s Greatest Year: The Best Picture Nominees of 1939.” (New York schedule.)

I’m not sure exactly why the Academy decided to make this major structural change, though considering the show’s lower television ratings and the fact that in recent years voters have tended to go for smaller movies (see this year’s omission of well-regarded blockbusters such as The Dark Knight and WALL-E), the Academy is trying to add to the suspense while ensuring that acclaimed movies with widespread appeal will be included in their Best Picture shortlist. That, in turn, should increase the Oscar ceremony’s TV viewership.

Now, if the Academy’s powers-that-be can make such a major change to their topmost category, why can’t they do the same with the lesser publicized – but no less important in terms of filmmaking – Best Foreign Language Film category? Some (admittedly, major) tweaking in the selection, eligibility, and voting processes would make the best foreign language film nominations both more fair (get rid of the nonsensical one film per country rule) and more representative of the Academy membership (foreign-language films screened in Los Angeles County during the course of the year would be eligible for the award).

And finally, allow nominated foreign-language films to compete in the regular categories the year they open in LA. That’s how it used to be; so, that would be one more opportunity for the Academy to go back to its roots…

The 2010 Academy Award nominations will be announced on Tuesday, February 2.

Honorary Oscars relocated

Unfortunately, the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has decided to come up with a new annual event to present its special awards – the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Honorary Award.

I say “unfortunately” because in my view the presence of veterans like, say, Deborah Kerr or Ennio Morricone, are the highlights of the Oscar ceremony. But then again, perhaps they’ll now find some extra time to add more Hugh Jackman musical numbers for those who are into that sort of stuff.

From now on, special honorees will be selected and announced in September (instead of December); their awards will be presented at a black-tie dinner event in November. At the Academy Awards ceremony, they’ll get only some sort of acknowledgement.

As per the Academy’s press release, “the Academy’s Board will hold a special meeting in September for the sole purpose of selecting the year’s honorees. There will not be more than one Hersholt nor more than one Thalberg Award voted in any given year. No more than four testimonial awards will be given in a single year.”

The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Honorary Award are Oscar statuettes; the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award is a bust of the legendary MGM producer.

Best Song Oscar gets new rules

This past June 23, the governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences approved new rules for the 2010 Academy Awards. In addition to the previously announced change in the Best Picture category which will now include 10 nominees another important change was made in the Original Song category.

As per the Academys press release, “the governors approved the Music Branch Executive Committee recommendation that if no song achieves a minimum average score of 8.25 in the nominations voting, there be no original song nominees and thus no Oscar presented for the category. If only one song achieves the required minimum, it and the song with the next highest score will be deemed the nominees. If two or more songs achieve the minimum score, they will be the nominees though no more than five nominees can be selected. Previously, the rules dictated that there be no more than five but no fewer than three nominees in the category.”

Rules are reviewed annually by individual branch and category committees. The Awards Rules Committee then reviews all proposed changes before presenting its recommendations to the Academy’s Board of Governors for approval.

Academy Award nominations in all categories will be announced on Feb. 2. The 2010 Academy Awards presentation will be telecast live by ABC on Sunday, March 7.
Michelle Williams, Lucy in Wendy and Lucy.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited 134 artists and executives to join its roster in 2009.

As per the Academy’s press release, all the various branches could pick a maximum of 166 new members, but as in the previous years “the several branch committees endorsed fewer candidates than were proposed to them.”

Most of the invitees are actors, among them several previous Oscar nominees, e.g., Casey Affleck, Melissa Leo, Anne Hathaway, Michelle Williams, and lots of young talent, e.g., James Franco, Michael Cera, James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Seth Rogen, Emile Hirsch. (But where are Robert Pattinson and Zac Efron??)

Among those listed in the other branches are Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (above, top photo); Slumdog Millionaire alumni Danny Boyle (above, lower photo), Anthony Dod Mantle, Chris Dickens, and A. R. Rahman; veteran French filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb; singer-composer Peter Gabriel; Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker James Marsh; Tom Cruise’s former producing partner Paula Wagner; and Frozen River writer-director Courtney Hunt (in the writer’s branch).

New members will be welcomed into the Academy at an invitation-only reception at the Academy’s Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study in Beverly Hills in September.

The Academy’s voting membership has held steady at just under 6,000 members since 2003.

The 2009 invitees are:

Actors
Casey Affleck
Emily Blunt
Michael Cera
Viola Davis
James Franco
Brendan Gleeson
Anne Hathaway
Taraji P. Henson
Emile Hirsch
Hugh Jackman
Melissa Leo
Jane Lynch
Eddie Marsan
James McAvoy
Seth Rogen
Paul Rudd
Amy Ryan
Michael Shannon
Michelle Williams
Jeffrey Wright

Animators
J.J. Blumenkranz
Konstantin Bronzit
Kendal Cronkhite
Rodolphe Guenoden
Byron Howard
Kunio Kato
Doug Sweetland
Chris Williams

Art Directors
Andrew Ackland-Snow

At-Large
Matthew D. Loeb
Redmond Morris

Casting Directors
John Papsidera
Bernie Telsey

Cinematographers
Russ T. Alsobrook
Anthony Dod Mantle
Henner Hofmann
Claudio Miranda
Rodney Taylor
Mandy Walker

Costume Designers
Deborah Hopper
Louise Mingenbach
Michael O’Connor
Michael Wilkinson

Directors
Rachid Bouchareb
Danny Boyle
David Frankel
Rod Lurie
Thomas McCarthy
Tyler Perry
Henry Selick

Documentary
William Gazecki
Rachel Grady
Rory Kennedy
Scott Hamilton Kennedy
James Marsh
Megan Mylan
Doug Pray

Executives
Daniel D.A. Battsek
Steve Beeks
Graham W. Burke
Joe Drake
Erik Feig
Paul Hanneman
Donald P. Harris
Claudia Lewis

Film Editors
Roger Barton
Hank Corwin
Chris Dickens
Elliot Graham
Kathryn Himoff
Leo Trombetta
Brent White
Pam Wise

Live Action Short Films
Reto Caffi
Jochen Alexander Freydank
F. Carter Pilcher

Make-Up and Hairstylists
Howard Berger
Mike Elizalde
Louis Lazzara
Gerald Quist

Music
Jeff Danna
Andrew Dorfman
Peter Gabriel
Clint Mansell
A.R. Rahman

Producers
Mark Ciardi
Christian Colson
Gordon Gray
Broderick Johnson
Cathy Konrad
Andrew Kosove
James Lassiter
Russell Smith
Paula Wagner

Production Designers
Donald Graham Burt
Michael Carlin
Jane Ann Stewart
Kevin Thompson

Public Relations
Michael D. Camp
Marc Cohen
Megan Colligan
James C. Gallagher
David Kaminow
Sal Ladestro
Maria Pekurovskaya
Elizabeth Petit

Set Decorators
Rebecca Alleway
Peter Lando
Barbara Munch-Cameron

Scenic Artists
Robert Topol

Sound
Michael Barry
Derek Casari
Aaron Glascock
Ren Klyce
Peter F. Kurland
Karen Baker Landers
Hamilton Sterling
Deborah Wallach
Kim Waugh

Visual Effects
Christopher Bond
Matthew Butler
Chris Corbould
Rob Engle
Scott Gordon
Hal Hickel
Van Ling
Shane Mahan
Steve Preeg
Tim Webber
Edson Williams

Writers
John August
Dustin Lance Black
Courtney Hunt
Howard A. Rodman

2009 Nastri d’Argento

National Union of Italian Film Journalists 2009 Nastri d’Argento (Silver Ribbons) nominations: May 29.

2009 Nastri d’Argento winners: Taormina Film Festival, Sicily, on June 27, 2009

Toni Servillo as Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti in Paolo Sorrentino’s scathing political comedy-drama Il Divo. At the Nastri d’Argento awards ceremony, Sorrentino remarked that if he were to make Il Divo today, and revolving around a woman, it’d certainly be about Veronica Lario. Former actress Lario is right-wing prime-minister Silvio Berlusconi’s soon-to-be former wife, who recently filed for divorce while accusing her family-values proponent husband of being much too interested in some very young women.

Best Director
Francesca Archibugi (Questione di cuore)
Pupi Avati (Il papà di Giovanna / Giovannas Father)
Marco Bellocchio (Vincere)
Marco Risi (Fortapàsc)
*Paolo Sorrentino (Il Divo)

Best European Film
The Class
* Slumdog Millionaire
The Reader
Three Monkeys
Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Non-European Film
* Gran Torino
Milk
Waltz with Bashir
WALL-E
The Wrestler

Best New Director
Marco Amenta (La siciliana ribelle)
Federico Bondi (Mar Nero)
* Gianni Di Gregorio (Pranzo di ferragosto)
Marco Pontecorvo (PA-RA-DA)
Stefano Tummolini (Un altro pianeta)

Special Nastro for Comedy
Diverso da chi? by Umberto Carteni
* Ex by Fausto Brizzi
Generazione mille euro by Massimo Venier
Italians by Giovanni Veronesi
Si può fare by Giulio Manfredonia

Best Documentary
* Improvvisamente l’inverno scorso / Suddenly, Last Winter by Gustav Hofer, Luca Ragazzi
La fabbrica dei tedeschi by Mimmo Calopresti
La Rabbia di Pasolini by Giuseppe Bertolucci
Il sol dell’avvenire by Giovanni Fasanella and Gianfranco Pannone
Terra madre by Ermanno Olmi

Best Actor
Antonio Albanese, Kim Rossi Stuart Questione di cuore
Libero De Rienzo Fortapàsc
Silvio Orlando Giovannas Father
* Toni Servillo Il Divo
Filippo Timi Vincere and Come Dio comanda

Best Actress
Donatella Finocchiaro Galantuomini
Isabella Ferrari Un giorno perfetto
Valeria Golino Giulia non esce la sera
* Giovanna Mezzogiorno Vincere
Alba Rohrwacher Giovannas Father

Best Supporting Actor
Claudio Bisio, Silvio Orlando Ex
Beppe Fiorello Galantuomini
* Ezio Greggio Giovannas Father
Ernesto Mahieux Fortapàsc
Michele Riondino Il passato è una terra straniera

Best Supporting Actress
Anna Bonaiuto Il Divo
Margherita Buy, Carolina Crescentini, Paola Cortellesi, Isabella Ferrari, Valeria Milillo, Marina Massironi, Claudia Pandolfi, Alba Rohrwacher Due Partite
Valentina Lodovini Il passato è una terra straniera and Generazione mille euro
* Francesca Neri Giovannas Father
Carla Signoris Ex

Best Original Story
* Fabio Bonifacci Diverso da chi?, Si può fare (with Giulio Manfredonia)
Davide Ferrario Tutta colpa di Giuda
Marco Bechis La terra degli uomini rossi
Giuseppe Piccioni, Federica Pontremoli Giulia non esce la sera
Maurizio Scaparro, Diego De Silva L’ultimo Pulcinella

Best Screenplay
Francesca Archibugi Questione di cuore
Fausto Brizzi, Marco Martani, Massimiliano Bruno Ex
Marco Risi, Jim Carrington, Andrea Purgatori Fortapàsc
Maurizio Braucci, Ugo Chiti, Gianni Di Gregorio, Matteo Garrone Gomorra / Gomorrah
* Paolo Sorrentino Il Divo

Best Producer
Pupi and Antonio Avati (Duea Film) for Giovannas Father, Gli amici del Bar Margherita
Angelo Barbagallo (Bìbì Cinema), Gianluca Curti (Minerva Pictures Group) and Rai Cinema Fortapàsc
Marco Chimenz, Giovanni Stabilini, Riccardo Tozzi (Cattleya) for Diverso da chi?, Questione di cuore, Solo un padre, Due partite
* Francesca Cima and Nicola Giuliano (Indigo Film), Andrea Occhipinti (Lucky Red) and Maurizio Coppolecchia (Parco Film), in co-production with Fabio Conversi (Babe Films) and Sky Il Divo
Angelo Rizzoli Si può fare

Best Cinematography
Luca Bigazzi, Il Divo
* Daniele Ciprì, Vincere
Gherardo Gossi, Lezione 21, Il passato è una terra straniera
Marco Onorato Gomorrah, Fortapàsc
Italo Petriccione, Come Dio comanda

Best Film Editing
* Francesca Calvelli, Vincere
Claudio Cormio, Tutta colpa di Giuda
Luciana Pandolfelli, Ex
Marco Spoletini, Gomorrah and Pranzo di ferragosto
Cristiano Travaglioli, Il Divo

Best Score
Fabio Barovero, Marlene Kuntz, Cecco Signa, Tutta colpa di Giuda
* Paolo Buonvino, Italians
Mokadelic, Come Dio comanda
Pivio and Aldo De Scalzi, Si può fare and Complici del silenzio
Teho Teardo, Il passato è una terra straniera

Best Song
“Don’t leave me cold” by Megahertz, sung by Laura Chiatti and Claudio Santamaria, Il caso dellinfedele Klara
“Il cielo ha una porta sola” by Biagio Antonacci, Ex
“Per fare a meno di te” by Fabrizio Campanelli and Giorgia, Solo un padre
* “Piangi Roma” by Baustelle, sung by Valeria Golino, Giulia non esce la sera
“Senza farsi male” by Fabio Abate, sung with Carmen Consoli, L’uomo che ama

Best Production Design
Giancarlo Basili, Sanguepazzo
Paola Comencini, Due partite
* Marco Dentici, Vincere
Lino Fiorito, Il Divo
Alessandro Vannucci, Questione di cuore

Best Costume Design
* Maria Rita Barbera, Sanguepazzo
Maria Grazia Colombini, Il seme della discordia
Maurizio Millenotti, Si può fare
Carlo Poggioli, Lezione 21
Marina Roberti, Due partite

Best Sound Recording
Emanuele Cecere, Il Divo
Marco Fiumara, Beket
Mauro Lazzaro, Come Dio comanda
* Maricetta Lombardo, Gomorrah
Vito Martinelli, Tutta colpa di Giuda

Nastro of the Year
Gomorrah
Matteo Garrone, Domenico Procacci, Rai Cinema, Roberto Saviano

Honorary Nastro
Ettore Scola

Career Nastro
Isabelle Huppert

Special Nastro for “Supporting Player of the Year”
Piera Degli Esposti (Il Divo, L’uomo che ama, Giulia non esce la sera)

Special Nastro for actor, producer, and humanitarian
Raoul Bova (15 Seconds, contro la pena di morte and Sbirri)

Nino Manfredi Award
Beppe Fiorello

Nastro dArgento for Dubbing
Adriano Giannini, the Italian voice of Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight

L’Oréal Professionnel Nastri d’Argento
Micaela Ramazzotti

Special European Nastro
Andrzej Wajda

Special Mention
Focaccia blues by Nico Cirasola

Karlovy Vary Film Festival Awards

2009 Karlovy Vary Film Festival: July 3-11. Photos: © Karlovy Vary Film Festival

Set in a small town in southern Morocco, Frédéric Dumont’s Angel at Sea is a coming-of-age tale about a 12-year-old whose life undergoes a radical change after his father tells him an old secret. In addition to winning the Karlovy Vary Film Festival’s Crystal Globe for best film, Angel at Sea also earned its (adult) star, Olivier Gourmet, the best actor award (tied with Paul Giamatti for the soul-stealing comedy Cold Souls). Also in the Angel at Sea cast: Anne Consigny and Martin Nissen.

OFFICIAL SELECTION – COMPETITION

Grand Prix – Crystal Globe
Angel at Sea / Un ange à la mer
Director: Frédéric Dumont
Belgium, Canada

Special Jury Prize
Twenty / Bist
Director: Abdolreza Kahani
Iran

Best Director Award
Andreas Dresen for Whisky with Vodka / Whisky mit Wodka
Director: Andreas Dresen
Germany

Best Actor Award (ex-aequo)
Olivier Gourmet for Angel at Sea / Un ange à la mer
Director: Frédéric Dumont
Belgium, Canada

Paul Giamatti for Cold Souls / Cold Souls
Director: Sophie Barthes
USA

Best Actress Award
Paprika Steen for Applause
Director: Martin Pieter Zandvliet
Denmark

Special Jury Mention
Filip Garbacz for Piggies
Director: Robert Glinski
Poland, Germany

DOCUMENTARY FILMS IN COMPETITION

Best Documentary Film under 30 minutes
Wagah / Wagah
Director: Supriyo Sen
Germany, India, Pakistan

Special Jury Mention
Till It Hurts / Do bolu
Director: Marcin Koszalka
Poland 2008

Best Documentary Film over 30 minutes
Osadné / Osadné
Director: Marko Škop
Slovak Republic, Czech Republic

Special Jury Mention
We Live in Public
Director: Ondi Timoner
USA

EAST OF THE WEST
Room and a Half
Director: Andrey Khrzhanovsky
Russia

Special Mention
Scratch / Rysa
Director: Michal Rosa
Poland

AUDIENCE AWARD
A Matter of Size / Sipur Gadol
Director: Erez Tadmor, Sharon Maymon
Israel, Germany, France

SPECIAL CRYSTAL GLOBE FOR OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD CINEMA
Isabelle Huppert, France
John Malkovich, USA
Jan Švankmajer, Czech Republic

FESTIVAL PRESIDENT´S AWARD
Antonio Banderas, USA

AWARD OF INTERNATIONAL FILM CRITICS (FIPRESCI)
Will Not Stop There / Nije kraj
Director: Vinko Brešan
Croatia, Serbia

EUROPA CINEMAS LABEL AWARD
Applause
Director: Martin Pieter Zandvliet
Denmark

PRIZE OF THE ECUMENICAL JURY
Twenty / Bist
Director: Abdolreza Kahani
Iran

INDEPENDENT CAMERA
Eamon
Director: Margaret Corkery
Ireland

Special Mention
La Tigra, Chaco
Director: Federico Godfrid, Juan Sasiaín
Argentina

PRIZE OF DON QUIJOTE (International Federation of Film Societies FICC)
Angel At Sea / Un ange a la mer
Director: Frédéric Dumont
Belgium, Canada

Special Mentions
Wolfy
Director: Vassilij Sigarev
Russia

Cold Souls / Cold Souls
Director: Sophie Barthes
USA

NETPAC Prize
Breathless / Ddongpari
Director: Yang Ik-june
South Korea

‘Moon’ thriller tops Edinburgh Film Festival Awards

2009 Edinburgh Film Festival: June 17–28.

After spending three years at a moon base extracting a gas needed to reverse Earths energy crisis, an astronaut (Sam Rockwell) is about to return to his home planet when he starts seeing and hearing things. His company has apparently come up with an eerie retirement plan of their own.

Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film: Moon directed by Duncan Jones

Best Performance in a British Feature Film: Katie Jarvis in Fish Tank

Best New International Feature: Easier with Practice by Kyle Patrick Alvarez

Best Documentary: Boris Ryzhy by Aliona van der Horst

Best British Short Film: After Tomorrow by Emma Sullivan

Best International Short Film: Princess Margaret BLVD directed by Kazik Radwanksi

Scottish Short Documentary Award: Peter in Radioland by Johanna Wagner

McLaren Award for New British Animation: Photograph of Jesus by Laurie Hill

New Directors Award: Cary Joji Fukunaga for Sin Nombre

Audience Award: The Secret of Kells directed by Tomm Moore

Rotten Tomatoes Critical Consensus Award: Humpday directed by Lynn Shelton

Jury: Director Joe Wright (president); film critic Claudia Puig; actress Sacha Horler; journalist and author Janet Street-Porter; and actor Frank Langella

‘The 10 Conditions of Love’ Controversy: Melbourne Film Festival

Protesting the planned appearance of Uighur-independence activist Rebiya Kadeer, whom the Chinese government blames for the ethnic violence this month between Uighurs and Han Chinese, a hacker has posted a Chinese flag on the Web site of the Melbourne International Film Festival, the New York Times has reported, citing the Associated Press. The ethnic riots in the East Turkistan region left nearly 200 people dead.

The hacker, reportedly a Chinese man offended by Kadeer’s scheduled appearance at the screening of Melbourne-based filmmaker Jeff Daniels’ documentary The 10 Conditions of Love, also left messages in English demanding an apology from festival organizers. The 10 Conditions of Love, which chronicles Kadeer and her family’s struggles against the Chinese government’s oppression, premiered at the festival last night without any disturbances at the screening.

According to a festival spokesperson, there have been hundreds of other attempts to hack the Melbourne festival’s site. Additionally, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson has lambasted the The 10 Conditions of Love screening, a Chinese diplomat at the consulate in Melbourne has demanded that the film be withdrawn, and four Chinese films have been pulled out of the festival, which has been inundated with e-mails that festival director Richard Moore says are best described as “vile.”

The Melbourne festival’s synopsis of The 10 Conditions of Love explains that two-time Nobel Prize nominee Rebiya Kadeer, at one point one of China’s wealthiest citizens, spent six years in a Chinese prison before being exiled to Washington, D.C. Compounding matters, two of her sons have received lengthy prison sentences.

Kadeer is scheduled to attend the festival at a sold-out screening of The 10 Conditions of Love on Aug. 8. She denies having had any role in the recent ethnic violence.

The Melbourne Film Festival runs until Aug. 9.

The Will Smith superhero movie Hancock ultimately became one of 2008’s biggest blockbusters, both domestically and internationally.

Saturn Awards

The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films’ 2009 Saturn Award winners: June 25. Partial list in the Feature Films and DVD categories.

FEATURE FILMS

Best Science Fiction Film: Iron Man

Best Fantasy Film
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Horror Film
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Best Action, Adventure, or Thriller Film
The Dark Knight

Best International Film
Let the Right One In

Best Animated Film: Wall-E

Best Director: Jon Favreau – Iron Man

Best Actor: Robert Downey Jr. – Iron Man

Best Actress: Angelina Jolie – Changeling

Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight

Best Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Writing: The Dark Knight – Jonathan Nolan & Christopher Nolan

Best Music: The Dark Knight – James Newton Howard & Hans Zimmer

DVD

Best DVD Classic Film Release
Psycho (Universal Legacy Series)

Best DVD Collection
The Godfather (The Coppola Restoration)

The Life Career Award: Lance Henriksen

The Lifetime Achievement Award: Leonard Nimoy

The Visionary Award: Jeffrey Katzenberg

oscar-2010-new-rules-best-song-category