Academy Awards – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

TIFF 2023: Mid-Fest Awards Watch – Thelma Adams reports

September 12, 2023November 30, 2023 Thelma Adams Academy Awards, awards intelligencer, Awards watch, oscars, Oscars 2024, TIFF 2023

The stars didn’t turn out for TIFF, but that didn’t stop the flow of stellar films that provide major alternatives to Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon and Barbie for the upcoming awards season. Here are a few of my floating predictions mid-week in Toronto, where every day I’m adding new TIFF-programmed films to the list. This is still the glorious brainstorming period before the long red carpet gets streaked with footprints and marijuana butts.

SPOTLIGHT

SPOTLIGHT March 2022: Elaine May, Entertainment Icon and 2022 Oscars Honoree

February 26, 2022April 1, 2022 Karen Peterson a new leaf, Academy Awards, elaine may, ishtar, jeannie berlin, mike nichols, mikey and nicky, primary colors, the birdcage

This month, Elaine May is getting an Oscar! One of Hollywood’s funniest and most talented ladies will, at long last, receive an Honorary Academy Award for her long history of great work in the film industry. In announcing the honor, Academy president David Rubin said, “Elaine May’s bold, uncompromising approach to filmmaking, as a writer, director and actress, reverberates as loudly as ever with movie lovers.” Honoring Elaine May’s work and career accomplishments will introduce a new generation to her particular sensibilities, wit, unique perspective and voice.

Reviews

Academy Awards Animated Shorts – Review by Martha K Baker

February 21, 2022February 21, 2022 Martha K. Baker Academy Awards, Affairs of the Art, Animated Shorts, Bestia, Boxballet, oscars, Robin Robin, The Windshield Wiper

Five little films have been nominated in the category of Animated Shorts. These treasures are short in length alone. They

Reviews

Academy Award Live Action Shorts – Reviews by Diane Carson

February 14, 2022February 20, 2022 Diane Carson Academy Awards, Live Action Shorts, On My Mind, oscars, Please Hold, Take and Run, The Dress, The Long Goodbye

Each year, a selection committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences narrows a large group of nominees to a select five competing for the Oscar in the live-action short film competition. The 2022 group highlights films with serious personal or political content, implicitly or, at times, explicitly presented, reflecting current concerns and the contemporary zeitgeist.

News

WEEK IN WOMEN: Oscar Noms Lack Diversity, Snub Female Directors – Brandy McDonnell reports

January 19, 2020January 20, 2020 Brandy McDonnell 0 Comments #oscarssomale, #oscarssowhite, Academy Awards, Cynthia Erivo, diversity, greta gerwig, little women, Lupita Nyong'o, OSCARS 2020

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has faced widespread criticism for the dearth of diversity among the top nominees as well as the exclusion female filmmakers at its upcoming 92nd Annual Academy Awards to be held February 9.

SPOTLIGHT

SPOTLIGHT July 2019: Andrea Arnold, Feminist Film Director, BIG LITTLE LIES

June 29, 2019September 1, 2019 Jennifer Merin 0 Comments Academy Awards, american honey, andrea arnold, big little lies, female filmmakers, fish tank, hbo, red road, robbie ryan, ulkar alakbarova, wasp, wuthering heights

Andrea Arnold’s career shows what a woman filmmaker’s ‘can do spirit’ can do. The career path she’s created for herself has brought her from the difficult circumstances of a child raised in a single parent home in the environs of a working class ‘estate’ in suburban London to the coveted and exalted position of series director for a highly acclaimed and high ranking television series. Along the way, she’s won an Oscar and become an OBE, and accrued numerous other awards and honors for her femme-centric films. Arnold’s filmography is stunning in its inventiveness and variety, but it is her exceptional leadership as director of HBO’S Big Little Lies Season Two, which began airing in June that puts her in AWFJ’s July SPOTLIGHT.

Reviews

COMMUNION – Review by Cate Marquis

January 7, 2019January 14, 2019 Cate Marquis 0 Comments Academy Awards, Anna Zamecka, Communion, documentaries, Ola Kaczanowski, oscars, polish films

Filmmaker Anna Zamecka makes an impressive directorial debut with this story about 14-year-old Ola Kaczanowski and her family. The documentary uses an unobtrusive fly-on-the-wall approach without narration, as we watch as Ola handling all the household chores.

Interviews News