On this episode of ACADEMY ANONYMOUS:
- "Flow" outpacing worthy challengers in a striking Animated Feature category spotlighting diverse techniques, unique voices and international reach.
- Will the financial success of "The Wild Robot" help Dreamworks cross the finish line for the win - something that's evaded them since Aardman's Wallace & Gromit in 2005
- Will we see the vote-split between international titles, "Flow" and "Memoir of a Snail"
- Will the two clay stop-motion features, "Wallace & Gromit" and "Memoir of a Snail" cancel each other out
- Can a robust nomination haul at the ANNIE awards mean that we're in for a surprise GKids nod for "Chicken for Linda"
- Can Disney's "Moana 2" use its boxoffice success to go further than "Frozen 2"
- Will Disney or Pixar be snubbed for their sequel work - as they've been in the past
- Will the lack of U.S. distribution be a factor against "No Other Land"
- National Geographic's "Sugarcane" and Netflix's "Daughters" eyeing nods and wins
- Will both or either colonialism related title, "Dahomey" and "Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat," secure a nod
- "Black Box" filmmaker may court favor with her first-hand account and powerful testimony
- Audience favorites "Will & Harper," "Porcelain War," and "The Remarkable Life of Ibelin" well positioned to surprise
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jules (00:15):
hey, welcome back to academy anonymous.
I'm jules and I'm joseph, andwe're going to recap our final
predictions for this year'soscar race 2024 2025.
The announcements coming upsoon, eagerly anticipated by
many, many oscar addicts usincluded, obviously yep, and we
have a lot to get into, so let'sstart getting into it.
(00:35):
We're going to start withanimated feature great.
Joseph (00:38):
That's one of my absolute favorite categories and
I'll lead us through thecategory.
And so 31 films made the longlist here, all excellent films.
I've seen a good number of themyes uh, some films did not make
the final 31.
I'm gonna give a special shoutout to orion in the dark from
netflix written by charliekaufman beautiful film did not
(01:00):
make this cut off for somereason.
Maybe they didn't meettheatrical distribution
requirements.
Either way, we still have astrong list of 31 films, but the
race has calcified into more orless five or six films yeah and
so and also I will say that Ithought it was a really strong
year for animated films, right,um.
Jules (01:19):
So that was something that was really nice to see and
in this particular category, Ithink there were some few
surprises last year.
I think we both got RobotDreams correct and that was
something that was slipping bythe radar by many people and
that was cool.
So I think this is a.
It was a rich year and in a way, it's kind of strange that it's
(01:40):
calcified into you know, fiveor six contenders, but that's
where we're at.
Joseph (01:43):
Yeah, exactly.
And so the first one we need totalk about is the film that
seems to be way out front.
That seems like a lot for anomination.
It's Flow, from Latvia, andit's a significant nomination
for a number of reasons.
Number one it's probably goingto be the first nomination that
Janus Distribution gets in thiscategory, which is a major
accomplishment for Janus, thesame distribution company that
(02:07):
got Drive my Car In a few yearsago.
Second, it's going to be amajor win and a major headline
for Latvia.
This is going to be the firstnomination for a Latvian film in
any Academy Award category.
It has already made history asthe first title, I believe,
shortlisted for foreign filmfrom latvia.
Yeah, so flow is both acontender in international film
(02:31):
and a contender in animated film.
It's looking very solid forthis nomination.
I think it's a lock.
It won the golden globesurprisingly, although you and I
had discussed how maybe it wasa strong contender to take that
away from something like thewild robot right, a 3d animated
film.
I think it's a lock here.
Uh, a huge accomplishment forlavia, for janice films.
(02:53):
After that, I think the nextfilm to talk about is the
american film, the wild robotright.
A lot of people are thinkingthat's possibly the favorite to
win here.
Um, the one who's going to giveflow a run for its money.
Uh, dreamworks animationgetting in again.
Their most recent nomination, Ibelieve, was for the sequel to
puss in boots, right in thissame category.
(03:14):
Uh, the filmmakers have beennominated before, so I think
this is an easy nomination forthe wild robot.
It should be another lock here.
It may very well get multiplenominations on oscar morning,
but this is going to be theeasiest one it's going to get
yeah, and I think it's still inquestion how many nominations
it's going to get.
Jules (03:33):
You and me are a bit skeptical as to what other
categories it can land in.
Um, but yeah, certainly I thinkpeople think the wild robot is
the favorite, but, as you weresaying, I think all the momentum
is for flow and that being thefavorite to win this category.
But either way, both are lockedI completely agree.
Joseph (03:50):
So that is the second film, another computer 3d
animated film.
The third film, I think, alsofalls or parallels the wild
robot in some way yeah is insideout.
2, which was a major film frompixar disney.
It was a huge blockbustersuccess over the summer globally
.
It's a sequel to a film thatwon this race previously, so
(04:13):
that looks like another lock fora nomination absolutely agree.
Jules (04:16):
100.
Joseph (04:17):
Those three are locked and loaded the next film that is
a lock in this category shouldtechnically be the entry from
netflix.
Netflix has been doing reallywell in this category yeah they
should at least expect one movieto get a nomination, and it
looks like the strongestcontender they have is the title
from the uk, the title fromaardman animation, and that's
the new installment of wallaceand gromit.
(04:39):
Uh, this one, entitledvengeance most foul.
As we both know, the previouswallace and Gromit film won this
category back in 2005.
And Wallace and Gromit have ahistory of being nominated at
the Academy Awards for shortfilms, so this should be another
easy nomination for them,especially since Aardman has
gotten in multiple times withtitles such as Shaun the Sheep
(04:59):
and its sequel.
Last year's Chicken Run sort ofstumbled out of the gate, but
that's not the case.
Critics have loved this film.
It's played great overseas, soI think that that is very much a
lock as well.
Usually, what happens inanimated feature is you're going
to see a bunch of differentfilms with different animation
(05:20):
styles and also differentcountries you want to see not
just American films dominate theentire category, and so so far
we have a very balanced list.
We have two American titles,one or both, really huge
financial successes.
Then we have a film from Latvia,right, and we have a film from
(05:40):
the UK, one of them being alegacy title in Wallace and
Gromit.
You have 3d animated films andyou also have now a stop motion
film, a film, uh, made withclaymation.
So we have a prettywell-rounded list right and so
far.
I'll also say that a great guideto whether those films should
get in or not is the fact thatall of them are bafta nominees,
(06:01):
all of them are producers guildnominees right in the animated
feature category, and all ofthem are producers guild
nominees right in the animatedfeature category, and all of
them are also golden globenominees, and that bodes very
well for them.
All of them were also nominatedat the Annie Awards which are
sort of the industry awards foranimation professionals, right.
All of them did really well, andso those four look pretty
locked in, right?
Jules (06:21):
so the question really is the fifth spot the fifth spot
and that's kind of the hardestspot for me personally because
it's probably my favorite filmon these, uh, predicted five.
The top five would be memoir ofa snail.
I love that movie, I know youloved it too, yeah, and I think
it's the one that possibly couldbe in most, is most vulnerable
(06:42):
to possibly being snubbed here,possibly, but I still think it
looks pretty good to get intothis category in that fifth spot
.
And I don't know, what do youthink?
Joseph (06:53):
well.
It got left out of bafta, right, which was surprising to me.
I was worried about that.
They only had four spots.
The oscars will have five spots.
Yeah, it did get a golden globenomination, which is great,
even though it got shut out atBAFTA, which I was surprised by
because it had won the AudienceAward at the, I believe, london
Film Festival.
I think so it had done wellthere.
(07:15):
I was surprised that it gotleft off.
But even if that's the case,the film is coming from Adam
Elliott, who is a previousAcademy Award winner in the
short film category the shortfilm animated category.
So he's no stranger to theanimation community in general
and certainly the animationcommunity within the Academy
Awards.
He's Australian based and Ithink we can see that.
(07:36):
We've talked about how theAustralian Academy and the
regular Academy have a lot ofcrossover appeal.
We've talked about theAustralian Academy Awards, the
members that vote for thoseawards.
A significant portion areAcademy Award members.
Think of someone, for example,like Cate Blanchett, who I
believe is a member of both.
So I think the fact that it'sfrom Australia bodes really well
(07:57):
for it.
It did get that Golden Globenomination and it was nominated
at the Annie's for Best Feature,even though it's on the
independent side.
Nonetheless, a lot of's the onthe independent side.
Nonetheless, a lot of filmsfrom there, or at least a couple
of titles from there, shouldmake it onto the oscar final
five.
I think the thing that's reallygoing against memorable the
snail right now is that there isanother really popular american
(08:18):
film that's sort of biting atthe heels of it, right, and so
the cons for memorable snail arethat in the us it was
distributed by ifc and it wouldbe the first time that ifc gets
into this category, which wouldbe great, but it hasn't happened
yet.
Ifc hasn't managed to crackthis category yet and it hasn't
managed to crack very manycategories, so that's.
Jules (08:38):
It also hasn't released that many animated films.
Joseph (08:40):
That's true, that's true but in any film in general.
In any film in general, in anycategory in general they have
difficulty getting in, but itwould be great to see them get
in for this.
That's certainly a hurdle thatthe campaign has to overcome.
At the same time, usually whatyou see on a list like this is
you see, as I said, a diverselineup.
You usually see twointernational titles and Latvia
(09:05):
is already there for Flow andthe UK will be there for
Vengeance Most Foul.
Is there enough room for athird international title?
That's what we're going to findout Right.
So to a certain extent you and Italked about how we both love
the film, but to critics groupslike the New York Film Critics
Circle or the Los Angeles FilmCritics Association, flow has
(09:27):
been the preferred title and hassort of stolen the momentum of
the critics.
Darling and Memoir of a Snailis the kind of film that really
needed that push from critics tosort of take the one or two
spot.
So you wonder if there's goingto be enough support for a film
like Memoir of a Snail whenthere's already a lot of support
going to Flow and possibly toVengeance Most Foul, which has a
(09:49):
lot of support within theindustry because Aardman is such
a notable name in the animationindustry.
The other thing going againstMemoir of a Snail is that it's a
sort of claymation stop motionfilm which sort of parallels
Vengeance Most Foul, and so youalready have that form of
animation represented among thefive.
Jules (10:09):
Right right.
Joseph (10:10):
So is there enough room for two of those films, right?
So those are all things thatare sort of hurting Memoir of a
Snail.
At the Annie Awards, where itwas nominated for Best Feature,
it only scored anothernomination in writing, which was
surprising to me.
I would have thought AdamElliott would have been
shortlisted for directing thefilm as well.
Jules (10:28):
Right.
Joseph (10:28):
But at least it got feature and writing.
That also brings me to oneother point that I would bring
up, if I can just speak about itto a moment, which is the fact
that the National Society ofFilm Critics does not have a
category recognizing animatedfeature.
That could have been a momentfor something like Memoir of a
Snail to stand out.
I think it's disappointing tosee that LA and New York Film
(10:51):
Critics Circle have thatcategory and the National
Society of Film Critics doesn't.
Hopefully we can talk about itmore next year.
But if you put on your hat ofAcademy activist, I would just
like to say that that'ssomething that should change
overall on the road to theOscars.
If an organization like theNational Society of Film Critics
doesn't take animationseriously enough to give it its
own category, I think it's verydifficult to complain about the
(11:13):
Academy not taking it seriouslyenough.
And that brings me to the pointthat remember that this category
is voted on by the votingmembership in general.
By the voting membership ingeneral, anyone can opt into
this category and there are notnecessarily any requirements,
prerequisites, to vote for them.
So as far as I know, they'renot juried in any sort of way.
You agree to watch the films.
(11:35):
I don't know if there's acertain agreement that you're
going to watch a certainpercentage of the films, but
it's very difficult for me toimagine that a member is going
to watch 31 of these titles,that they aren't just going to
watch the titles that they taketheir kids to or they take their
families to or that they knowsomeone is working in, and so,
unfortunately, some of the moreindependent, international,
(11:56):
experimental, challenging workis going to be overlooked for
family fare and films with morefinancial success and more
financial stakes in the Americanindustry.
Jules (12:06):
A hundred percent.
I think that you've seen thattransition.
From when they started allowingmore members to vote in that
category that weren't just themembers of the animation branch,
you saw that there was a shiftaway from nominating these
really interesting independentor really just interesting
animated works and it's becomemuch more streamlined, much more
(12:28):
mainstream, much more in thevein of what movies that these
voting members take their kidsto, and so that has been
something that's beenunfortunate to see, and I
certainly think that on thislist, the film that is most
susceptible to being you know,know, quote, unquote prey to
that sort of shift is a movielike Memoir of a Snail right.
Joseph (12:49):
So if the Australian members of the Academy don't
show up for it, I will say thatbecause everyone can vote for
this category and we don't handout votes to regular everyday
animation workers that there isa chance that a film like Moana
2, which has just picked up somuch money over the winter and
over the fall, yeah is able toeclipse memoir of a snail.
(13:11):
Moana 2 has a producer's guildnomination, which is pretty good
, and it got one of the finaltwo spots at the golden globes
alongside memoir of a snail.
It's picked up so much money.
Jules (13:22):
Who snubbed at the Globes ?
No one was snubbed at theGlobes, so they had six nominees
.
They had six nominees.
Joseph (13:26):
They moved to six nominees, and that's how we know
that the race has sort ofcalcified around these six.
BAFTA only has four nominees,and both of those titles got
left out.
I will say that Moana has justpicked up so much money that one
would wonder whether, if themainstream Academy members are
voting for this, they're goingto put it higher on the list
(13:48):
than Memoir of a Snail If theyeven got around to Memoir of a
Snail, because the CriticalDarling spotlight has not been
on it all season long.
Right, I will say one thinggoing against Moana 2 is that it
did really well at Annie's, atthe Annie Awards, but it did not
manage to get a nomination forbest animated feature right.
So the feelings about how welldone it was among the animation
(14:12):
professionals might not be, whatmight not be, the same as what
the Academy feels.
It was not sure listed amongthe five, and instead, I think
something like Ultraman Risinggot nominated instead, and so it
would be the first animatedfilm to score a nomination for
best animated feature withoutthe annie nomination for best
animated feature since, Ibelieve, ferdinand yeah, that
(14:33):
seems significant I think it'ssignificant and it should bode
well for memoir of a snail, butI don't think that it's a done
deal.
It's a done deal at all yeah.
The other thing I'll say formoana 2 is that it's a done deal
.
It's a done deal at all.
Yeah.
The other thing I'll say forMoana, too, is that it did
really well at the visualeffects society and there is a
lot of crossover betweenanimators or individuals who
work in the animation field andindividuals who work in the
(14:54):
visual effects field, and so tosee it get multiple visual
effects society awards, I thinkis also very promising, right.
So right now, let's say thatthose four movies are locked and
that fifth spot is potentiallya toss-up between memory of a
snail and moana 2 I will saythat the achilles heel of inside
(15:15):
out 2 is that pixar hasn'tgotten very many sequels in.
The only ones that have gottenin for animated feature are the
toy story films and theincredibles 2.
This does not have pete doctoron the I believe writing team or
on the directing team.
That's something to look outfor.
And certainly when it comes tomoana, who's fighting for the
fifth spot, the category has notbeen very kind to disney
(15:37):
sequels either.
If you think of something likefrozen 2, which was a massive
success, it did not get intothis category.
The last Disney sequel to getin, I believe, was Wreck-It
Ralph 2.
So that's the sort of soft spotin their campaign.
And I will mention one lasttitle, even though the race has
calcified in between those six.
(15:57):
If there were a film to sneakin here that is not among those
six, I would expect it to bepossibly the french film chicken
for linda, which got nominatedat the annie awards runnered up
at the los angeles film criticsassociation, and it actually had
(16:17):
more annie award nominationsthan memoir of a snail.
It got nominated for four tomemoiroir of a Snail's two.
It has not been shortlisted orspotlighted as much as Flow or
Memoir of a Snail all season,but the work is strong enough.
It has already won the Cesar.
It got nominated for a EuropeanFilm Award, so if there were a
(16:37):
title to sort of sneak in hereand have enough support from
possibly the internationalmembers voting, I would expect
it to be chicken for Linda.
Jules (16:47):
Yeah.
Joseph (16:47):
And so that's something to look out for.
Jules (16:49):
Yeah, I thought that was a beautiful film.
It would be amazing to see iton this list.
I don't I'm not sure I thinkit's really far behind, but I
certainly think that was abeautiful film that is more than
worthy to be included in thislineup.
Joseph (17:04):
Agreed, and this is something that we're going to be
talking about as we go throughall these races.
But with everything that's beenoccurring in the US, and in Los
Angeles in particular, there isa chance that we're going to
see less participation fromAcademy voters that are Los
Angeles-based orCalifornia-based.
Jules (17:23):
Which seems like would be a significant number.
Joseph (17:27):
Yeah, one would think so , but with everything going on
and voting sort of overlappingthis period of immense
uncertainty, turmoil, trauma,devastation, there is really a
chance that that has impactedvoting outcomes and certainly
the number of individuals whohad the opportunity to vote.
(17:47):
So you and I have been thinkingthat maybe there's a chance that
when we see the results we'lldiscuss it, but that we're going
to see a greater impact frominternational voters voters
located in France, germany,spain, canada and possibly New
York voters who weren't dealingwith this over the past few
weeks 100%, so that's somethingto look out for, and if
(18:08):
something like Chicken for Lindais able to take a spot away
from Moana 2, or if you seeMoana 2 snubbed alongside Inside
Out 2 because it didn't want tonominate a Pixar sequel, and
you see both Memoir of a Snailand Chicken for Linda.
That's certainly something thatI think came into play 100%.
Jules (18:25):
I think.
We're going to talk about itfurther as we go along the
categories, but there'scertainly a very big possibility
that the nominees this year aremore influenced by
international voters thanAmerican voters, especially
LA-based voters, which againprobably includes a big part of
the community, just because ofrecent events.
So it'll be very interesting tosee what happens.
(18:48):
I think that pretty quickly asyou start seeing the nominees,
you get an inclination if theforeign vote is having a bigger
impact than in other previousyears and it was already having
a bigger impact than previousyears, A more outsized impact.
Yeah absolutely so.
(19:09):
I think between all thosecontenders we're both in
agreement with the four Rightnow.
I'm saying as my finalprediction that Memoir of a
Snail will get in that fifthspot.
That's greatly aided by thestatistic that you pointed out
of Moana 2 not being nominatedfor Best Feature at the Annie
Awards.
But certainly I would not besurprised if there's a snub here
(19:29):
and that Memoir of a Snail isthe recipient.
But I'm going to go with thosefive, those calcified five.
How about you?
Joseph (19:36):
I completely agree with you.
It should be Pixar's Inside Out2, dreamworks' the Wild Robot
Memoir of a Snail from Australia, flow from Latvia and Janice's
first nomination in thiscategory and finally Aardman's
Wallace and Gromit VengeanceMost Foul.
Jules (19:51):
Yes, and again, we'll be posting these up online on our
Twitter, so you can always seethese on our Twitter page, and
that's what we have for animatedfeature.
Okay, let's move on todocumentary feature.
This, this category is a littlebit more complicated.
I do feel like it's reallyabout eight-ish contenders that
(20:16):
are the ones to look out for toland in this category yeah I
think that there are that can.
This is certainly a categorythat can have surprises.
On oscar nomination morning.
Let's see no other land is apivotal film for this year that
(20:37):
many people have has so muchacclaim.
It's so timely and I think that, based on how timely it is and
based on how the documentary istackling this
Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Ithink is going to go in its
favor to land that nomination.
(20:58):
I like that it got the BAFTAnomination.
I think that's really important.
But, as you and I havepreviously talked about, I think
its lack of a distributor iscertainly something to is
certainly something that couldhandicap this movie and cause it
to be a very big, shocking snub.
Joseph (21:15):
It's a potential red flag.
Jules (21:16):
It's a potential red flag , as you were saying.
It didn't make.
It didn't get nominated for theDGA for the documentary feature
category.
Like I said, I like that.
It got the BAFTA nomination,but what do you think?
Joseph (21:29):
Well, I like that it won the category of nonfiction film
at both the Cinema Eye Honorsand the International
Documentary Association.
I think those are two verynotable organizations among
documentarians and nonfictionfilmmakers.
So the fact that it won both ofthose and got that BAFTA nod, I
think bodes really well for it.
I agree, the distributor thingis a red flag.
(21:51):
I still don't know if they'vesolved that issue, if they're
working on that issue and thetopic in and of itself might be
controversial.
I don't know if that'ssomething the Academy is going
to want to avoid.
Jules (22:02):
And I think that you know , possibly the DGA snub had a
lot to do with the lack ofdistribution.
That in and of itself iscontroversial that it lacks a
distributor, as of yet, I don'tknow that there's ever been a
film nominated in this categorythat didn't have a distributor
attached to it.
Interesting, I'm not sure,interesting, I'm not sure, um,
(22:25):
but I think it's just so timelyand so acclaimed and such an
important film for this timethat we're living in that I
really can't see it beingsnubbed.
If it is, it's going to be ashocker, and one that's going to
cause a lot of anger, a lot offrustration, frustration with
the academy.
I'm not sure they want to dothat um, and I'm tempted to say
that it's.
I don't want to say safe.
(22:47):
Safe is a strong word, but I Iwould.
I have it as it going, I haveit as getting in.
I think that's good yeah I likethat.
Joseph (22:54):
I would.
I was actually.
I like the word safe.
Jules (22:57):
I don't like the word lock, but I like the word safe.
Joseph (23:00):
Okay, there's just possibly too much going for it
for it to be considered unsafeat this point.
Jules (23:05):
I think you're right.
I agree with that statement.
I have sugar cane getting in.
National Geographic does wellin this category.
I think it's also an importantstory.
It's very critically acclaimed.
Joseph (23:19):
It's also a unique perspective on this list, Right
exactly the Native Americancommunity.
Jules (23:23):
I think that's all going in its favor.
It's a, it's a also a uniqueperspective on this list.
Right, exactly the nativeamerican community.
I think that's all going in itsfavor.
It got snubbed from the bafta,which I think is interesting.
Um, but, like I said, nationalgeographic has a good track
record here.
Um, what do you think?
Joseph (23:37):
I agree, I think sugarcane is going to get in.
It's one of the most criticallyacclaimed films, or
documentaries, I should say, ofthe year.
I think that the Baptist Nubraised a little bit of an
eyebrow for me, but I think itshould get in here comfortably
and I really trust the Nat Geobeing able to get a film in here
, a film of this caliber 100%.
Jules (23:58):
Speaking of production companies, netflix does Wellness
, category 2, two, and they havedaughters, which is also very
critically acclaimed films,since its premiere, I think I
believe in sundance.
It's certainly a film that istackling the effects of
incarceration and familial bonds, and I think that those are
(24:18):
also timely topics.
And, uh, it's a moving film.
I think it has all theingredients to be considered.
You know, I would probablyconsider a lock in this category
personally I actually agreewith you.
Joseph (24:32):
I think this is the first title among the ones we're
speaking of that I wouldconsider an absolute lock here,
I think the fact that it gotnominated for bafta spells that
this movie is a potentialspoiler for the winner.
Right, I think you know we talkabout how.
Of the films that qualified Ibelieve 15 titles that qualify
for the Academy Awards onlythree were nominated at BAFTA,
(24:55):
and BAFTA tends to have thewinner among their nominees,
even when BAFTA goes for adifferent film to win the award.
I remember in 2019, they wentfor For Sama.
That movie was also a nomineeat the Academy Awards and among
the five at BAFTA that year theydid have American Factory from
Netflix which ended up winningthe Oscar.
(25:16):
So I think Daughters is a lockfor a nomination and it looks to
me like it might be the film tobeat.
Jules (25:22):
Right.
I think that another land wouldpossibly be if it lands that
nomination would would likely bethe favorite to win that
category, but certainly thenumber two would be daughters,
and if there is no other land inthe lineup, then I do think
you're right, daughters would bethe number one pick.
Yeah, um.
And then I think a film likesoundtrack to akuta is very
(25:44):
interesting because it's aincredibly acclaimed film this
year and it um boasts, you know,really, uh, attention calling,
editing, and it's a film that'sabout so many things colonialism
, um, it tackles themes of thecold war, um, jazz.
(26:04):
It's a very uh electrifyingpiece and I think it's a very
ambitious piece as well, and soI feel that all those things are
going for it.
I think that the other filmthat's sort of competing for a
similar space in this categoryis Dahomey, for Maddie Diop,
which also is tacklingcolonialism.
(26:26):
She has a very different style,obviously, I think, because of
her distinct aesthetic and herdistinct style.
I think that's one of thethings that's going against a
movie like Dahomey landing inhere in this top five, despite
winning the Berlin Film Festivaltop prize and being, again, one
(26:46):
of the most criticallyacclaimed films of the year.
I just think that her choicesare riskier, certainly very
creative, certainly very sort ofarturistic, which is not fully
welcomed into this category, Ithink.
And so I think that havingthose two films be such powerful
(27:08):
films and be such acclaimedfilms this year, one of them
should land in these five, and Igive the edge to soundtrack, to
a coup de top, mainly because Ithink, like I said, maddie D up
style, directorial style, mightbe a little bit outside of
their you know the kind of thingthey tend to nominate in this
(27:29):
category.
What do you think?
Joseph (27:31):
I think that's great, that we're talking about them
together.
I think I agree with everythingthat you say.
Soundtrack to akuta wasnominated for a director's guild
award, which is great.
It's coming from kino lorber,which has had success at the
academy, I believe, before.
Dahomey is interesting becauseit got listed right twice.
It's shortlisted for adocumentary and it's shortlisted
(27:52):
as a foreign film, and I thinkthat's a good sign that the
Academy is going to be receptiveto the film.
It won that huge prize atBerlin.
Both soundtrack to Agudetan andDahomey were listed at the
International DocumentaryAssociation and the Cinema Eye
Honors, I believe.
So those are good signs forboth those films.
I would be surprised if one ofthem did not land.
(28:15):
Yeah, I agree 100%, but I alsowant to mention that the
filmmaker, maddy Diop, whichwe're big fans of, not only did
she win Berlin this year, buther debut film, a narrative film
, atlantics, premiered at Cannesand was shortlisted for
international film, I believe in2019.
So this is not the first timethey're being exposed to Maddie
(28:38):
Diop.
So I'm not sure that Maddie Diopfits the traditional role of
being a documentarian, anonfiction filmmaker.
She's, I think, going to be afilmmaker that plays around with
narrative film and nonfictionfilm, and I don't know if that's
going to be a little bit of aturnoff for some of the voters
in this category.
The other thing I'll say is,when she did win that Berlin
(29:02):
Prize, she had some commentsthat did not rub everyone the
right way in terms of everythingthat was going on in Gaza.
I don't know if that's going tobe an element of support or
probably an element that votersare going to want to avoid again
.
I think the other factor thatwe need to mention here,
alongside coup d'etat, is theidea that Dahomey is being
(29:22):
distributed by MUBI, and as faras I'm concerned, I don't think
MUBI has broken into the Oscarsyet, either in documentary or
foreign language film,international film so even
though I think this stands to bea banner year for MUBI yeah,
this stands to be a banner yearfor MUBI.
You're 100% right.
It'd be interesting to see ifit breaks into this category as
(29:43):
well, but it's certainlysomething that the campaign is
going to have to overcome thefact that it's being distributed
by movie.
Jules (29:49):
Right, 100%.
But, like we said, I think oneof them has to land here.
Joseph (29:54):
I will say this, that between the two of them.
If Soundtrack to Akuta Taga gotlisted by the Director's Guild
Award, dahomey did really well,I believe, at the European Film
Awards this is the kind of filmthat is going to appeal to those
international non-fictionfilmmakers, international
documentarians and, in general,the international art house
scene you can see.
Go crazy for this movie yeah,100.
Jules (30:15):
Possibly could they both get nominated.
I mean, I'm not seeing it rightnow, them both being included
in a list, um, but it couldhappen.
I just I'm not predicting thatto happen.
I think it's one or the otherand then it gets a little
trickier.
I really liked the option ofBlack Box Diaries it got the
(30:39):
BAFTA nomination recently, whichI think is great.
Another film that's topical.
Those kinds of films that aretopical do really well in this
category, more so than possibly,uh, more personal kind of uh,
documentaries.
I won't get to that in a minutewith some of the other more uh
(30:59):
popular titles that got left offof the shortlist and that some
people are possibly thinkingmight land and I and I and I
disagree, but we'll get there um, this film tackling the
Japanese legal system andoutdated sex laws and just the
way that uh, the filmmaker wentabout creating this film.
(31:20):
I think all of that is veryinspiring and very, um, like I
said, topical and uh, somethingthat I think the documentary
branch would champion.
So I really do like itsinclusion in this list.
Uh, what do you think?
Joseph (31:34):
I think that you're right.
Black box diary stands anexcellent chance to get in.
Here's another film that gotnominated at the international
documentary association and thecinema honors.
It did not get into thedirector's guild award, but it
did get nominated for that bafta, which I think was very
promising.
Yeah, I believe the film isbeing directed by the subject of
the documentary and I thinkthat would be something that
(31:56):
voters are going to be verytempted to recognize.
Yeah, I think it's also againanother unique perspective here,
just the idea of it talkingabout, you know, sexual
harassment and sexual abuse.
It's a unique title here amongthat list right, yeah it doesn't
have another parallel, so itmight really stand out among the
rest of the titles I agree 100,so I really like that film.
(32:19):
Uh, I also.
I'll also say that it'sdistributor, which I believe is
mtv documentaries.
Right, they've been doing reallywell yeah, in the documentary
section, both in feature and inthe subsection of short yeah
they've been long listed for awhile and I think they've even
gotten a nomination or two ineither category or both
categories.
So I think that its distributorhas inroads with documentary
(32:42):
voters 100.
Jules (32:43):
I agree.
Um.
A film that we've been talkingabout recently, uh was porcelain
war, which made the PGA sectionof the documentary films.
I have not seen the film yet,but I know from what I've heard
that it's an audience favorite.
We don't have a film in thislineup that's tackling the
(33:07):
Ukraine war that's going on, andso I think that's a dark horse.
I think that's a dark horse tolook at.
Joseph (33:15):
Um not enough people are talking about, I think,
porcelain war.
I think everyone is under theassumption that the war in
ukraine was prominentlyspotlighted, I believe last year
right 20 days in maripol.
So I think some prognosticators, pundits, people who follow the
Oscar race, are sort ofpredicting that the Ukraine war
as a subject matter is not goingto be in the final five.
(33:38):
It could happen that couldhappen and that could happen.
But I will say that there havebeen some very promising signs
for the title lately, including,as you said, its nomination
among the Producers Guild Awards.
You know, usually the ProducersGuild Awards, they tend to
favor more populous titles.
I think a film like Supermanwas nominated there, I believe
(33:58):
that it was.
But they do tend to get onetitle in to the Academy Award
Top 5 for Best Documentary andthis year there's really only
one title to choose from, andthat would be Porcelain War.
And that always called myattention.
Later on it would be nominatedfor best documentary among the
Directors Guild of America andthat really called my attention.
(34:20):
And I'm starting to feel thatporcelain war is going to be a
spoiler here, and we talkedabout the subject matter not
just in terms of the Ukraine war, but how appealing it's going
to be for voters of any kind,even in something like
documentary and nonfiction film.
The perspective of art in thecontext of some kind of
political upheaval.
That's something that I thinkreally going to call their
(34:41):
attention.
Jules (34:42):
Yeah, 100 percent.
That's something that thiscategory really welcomes, and so
I think this is something.
This is a film that couldcertainly spoil this list.
Um, I don't know, could therepossibly be a scenario where a
film like black box diaries andporcelain war get in here and
soundtrack to akuta and thehomie, kind of eat a little bit
(35:04):
of each other's votes?
Joseph (35:05):
to some extent.
Possibly the homie and satireto akuta tom may be a little too
, dare I say, highbrowintellectual, yeah.
Art house maybe, yeah, andfilms like porcelain war and
black box diaries might be moreinstantaneous sort of emotional
pics, yeah, right, yeah, so Ithink you're right.
(35:26):
That could end up being afactor.
The other thing I'll say aboutporcelain war is you and I have
talked about those audienceawards that it picks up.
It got a grand jury prize, Ibelieve, at Sundance.
And so that was a good sign forthe film as well.
Jules (35:37):
Yeah, so that one is concerning to me.
I think that it's a big darkhorse Will and Harper.
I know early on it was a biggerfavor to get a nominee for
documentary feature.
However, this category tends toprefer again these more topical
(35:59):
subject matter rather thanpersonal experience that's being
documented.
That being said, I know there'ssomething.
I know there's topicality inwill and harper as well, but
it's not as in the forefront aspossibly these other films that
are just that, are just dealingwith this subject matter in a
(36:22):
broad sense right and less in apersonal sense right.
Joseph (36:25):
It's not, as you know, charged as some of these other
documentaries in tackling itssubject matter which I think is
possibly something that's goingto help the film stand out, but
also maybe something that'sgoing to unfortunately get it
eclipsed by these otherdocumentaries.
Right, right 100.
Jules (36:40):
So you know I don't think that william harper is going to
land here.
Um, I wonder if a film that isreally, when you read the I have
not seen it when you read thesynopsis of the film, that it
really you know, raises intrigueand I wonder if that's going to
happen for voters is a filmhollywood gate oh yeah, and it
(37:04):
sounds like a really uh,interesting, fascinating film,
uh, documentary film, and itlanded a spot in the director's
guild it did, which I think isnot something to overlook.
Nope, um, that is a film thatvery few people are predicting
to land in here, and I thinkit's a dark horse as well, also
(37:25):
a very unique perspective, right, all that access that the
filmmaker was able to get.
Joseph (37:32):
At the same time, I do wonder if this is going to be a
chapter in american history thatthe academy is not eager to
revisit right away right right.
I will say it did do well atthe international documentary
association, I believe, and thecinema eye honors and that
director's guild nomination, Ithink, is also pretty impactful.
I wish the distributor was alittle bit more notable.
(37:52):
I think right now it's fourthact films.
It looks wonderful.
I haven't seen it yeah but it'scertainly when you see the
preview for it, it certainlycalls your attention super yeah.
Jules (38:02):
I feel like that's a film that many in this branch would
check out.
I know the remarkable life ofeibolin was a big crowd pleaser.
I think it premiered atsundance excuse me, I was wrong.
Hollywood gate did not getnominated for either a cinema
eye honors or an internationaldocumentary association, not in
the category of best non-fictionfilm I think, it was noted in
(38:24):
other categories in both awardsright, right, um, another film
that is on the radar, but Ithink more in the periphery is
the remarkable life of eibolinwas a big crowd pleaser.
I believe it premiered atsundance.
Um, it's a touching film.
Uh, it's certainly a film thatI think voters would be moved by
(38:49):
if they turn it on.
I don't think this filmmakerhas had a lot of success into
this category.
I believe the Painter and theThief, his last film.
Was also shortlisted, I believe,Right but it didn't make the
final five.
Joseph (39:01):
No.
Jules (39:02):
And I really liked that film of his.
He has a very interesting wayof tackling his documentaries
which, again, I don't think areas accessible to this branch.
You know, there's a lot offootage in this film that's
(39:23):
animated computer graphics basedon what it's about.
Obviously, there's an elementto of disability in this film
which is quite touching, uh, buta big chunk of the film has
these other elements that arevery creative, very interesting,
very thought-provoking, butagain they sort of, uh, stand
(39:44):
away, you know, from the kind ofthings they tend to welcome
into this category, I think Iagree with you.
Joseph (39:49):
I think this filmmaker will be nominated eventually.
I quite enjoyed the film.
I think again, it really standsout.
It has a unique perspective ondisability and I think that it's
also a major crowd pleaser.
I can imagine people checkingAcademy Award nominations,
checking out this title andbeing very surprised by it and
like porcelain war.
(40:09):
I think the film uses the ideaof art and the idea of gaming
and virtual reality worlds andreally expands the idea of them
and how necessary.
They are and it's exploringthese you know topics that are
timely and I think that's goingto possibly get votes from some
(40:30):
of the individuals who are goingto vote here.
Jules (40:32):
Right, and I think that those are what I would consider
the biggest contenders for thisaward.
I'm dying, personally, to seeEno.
I have not seen it.
I'm a humongous fan of his.
I can't wait to see that film.
But just based on the verynature of how this film is
(40:55):
tackling brian edel's work um isyou know the the parameters of
that film?
Uh, I believe every time yousee it it's going to be
something new.
I can't imagine that'ssomething that they're going to
be too too thrilled about towelcome into this category.
I can't wait to see it.
Joseph (41:12):
In general.
This is another reallybeautiful category, I think, if
we can put on our Academyactivist hat again here if there
is every reason to nominate 10films for Best Picture.
Then there is equal reason tonominate 10 non-fiction films in
the category of documentary,just as there is every reason to
nominate 10 animated films inthe category of animated feature
(41:34):
.
All the work here is distinct.
All the work here is unique,has a interesting perspective on
timely topics.
So many of this work looksinteresting.
Queendom looked fascinating aswell yeah, I think that we
narrowed it down to the majorcontenders and the people who
could possibly surprisesomething.
Like you know, I don't thinkstands a very good chance, but
it sounds absolutely fascinatingyeah, yeah and it's just, I
(41:56):
think, further fuel to the firethat other categories beyond
best picture need to be expandedyeah, 100, the quality is just
there.
Yeah, I think that that's,that's really well said and I
would really champion that afilm like union, for example,
that we didn't discuss, I thinkwould be totally something that
is going to catch the eye ofvoters.
I think the red flag there isthat it doesn't have a
(42:18):
distributor yet, but all thework here has the potential to
break in.
I remember one year recentlythat we talked about a film
called a house made of splintersright you had thought that,
based on what the film was about, it stood a good chance of
stealing a spot, although it hadnot been spotlighted to such a
degree as some of the othertitles that were long listed.
(42:40):
And it did get that spot.
Yeah, because, again, all thefilms on these long lists tend
to be very good films for thesecategories yeah, um, sort of
these sort of ghettoizedcategories.
Jules (42:53):
Um, yeah, 100, I agree with that statement.
Um, I hope that that can becomea reality one day.
Um, but so for my final five,it's really tough with my last
spot, but I'm gonna saynortherland sugarcane daughters,
soundtrack to Coup d'etat.
And that last spot is a realfight between Black Box Diaries
(43:14):
and Porcelain War, but I'm goingto go with Black Box Diaries.
Joseph (43:17):
A very compelling list.
I can see that being the listthat's announced Oscar morning.
Mine diverges just a little bit, but again, our final
predictions will be up rightbefore nominations come up, and
you can see that on our Twitterpage.
What I'm thinking right now isno Other Land, sugarcane
Daughters, dahomey and PorcelainWar.
Jules (43:39):
Right, that sounds like a very, very, very plausible list
as well.
Okay, and so that was ourrundown into Best Documentary
Feature, a category that's stillvery much in flux.
All right, thanks for tuning in.
I'm Jules and I'm Joseph, andit's been a pleasure.
The music on this episode,entitled Cool Cats, was
(44:04):
graciously provided by KevinMacLeod and incompetechcom,
licensed under Creative Commonsby Attribution 3.0.
Http//creativecommonsorg.
Licenses by 3.0.
Joseph (44:30):
Disclaimer the Academy Anonymous podcast is in no way
affiliated or endorsed by theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences.
hey, welcome back to academy anonymous.
I'm jules and I'm joseph, andwe're going to recap our final
predictions for this year'soscar race 2024 2025.
The announcements coming upsoon, eagerly anticipated by
many, many oscar addicts usincluded, obviously yep, and we
have a lot to get into, so let'sstart getting into it.
(00:35):
We're going to start withanimated feature great.
Joseph (00:38):
That's one of my absolute favorite categories and
I'll lead us through thecategory.
And so 31 films made the longlist here, all excellent films.
I've seen a good number of themyes uh, some films did not make
the final 31.
I'm gonna give a special shoutout to orion in the dark from
netflix written by charliekaufman beautiful film did not
(01:00):
make this cut off for somereason.
Maybe they didn't meettheatrical distribution
requirements.
Either way, we still have astrong list of 31 films, but the
race has calcified into more orless five or six films yeah and
so and also I will say that Ithought it was a really strong
year for animated films, right,um.
Jules (01:19):
So that was something that was really nice to see and
in this particular category, Ithink there were some few
surprises last year.
I think we both got RobotDreams correct and that was
something that was slipping bythe radar by many people and
that was cool.
So I think this is a.
It was a rich year and in a way, it's kind of strange that it's
(01:40):
calcified into you know, fiveor six contenders, but that's
where we're at.
Joseph (01:43):
Yeah, exactly.
And so the first one we need totalk about is the film that
seems to be way out front.
That seems like a lot for anomination.
It's Flow, from Latvia, andit's a significant nomination
for a number of reasons.
Number one it's probably goingto be the first nomination that
Janus Distribution gets in thiscategory, which is a major
accomplishment for Janus, thesame distribution company that
(02:07):
got Drive my Car In a few yearsago.
Second, it's going to be amajor win and a major headline
for Latvia.
This is going to be the firstnomination for a Latvian film in
any Academy Award category.
It has already made history asthe first title, I believe,
shortlisted for foreign filmfrom latvia.
Yeah, so flow is both acontender in international film
(02:31):
and a contender in animated film.
It's looking very solid forthis nomination.
I think it's a lock.
It won the golden globesurprisingly, although you and I
had discussed how maybe it wasa strong contender to take that
away from something like thewild robot right, a 3d animated
film.
I think it's a lock here.
Uh, a huge accomplishment forlavia, for janice films.
(02:53):
After that, I think the nextfilm to talk about is the
american film, the wild robotright.
A lot of people are thinkingthat's possibly the favorite to
win here.
Um, the one who's going to giveflow a run for its money.
Uh, dreamworks animationgetting in again.
Their most recent nomination, Ibelieve, was for the sequel to
puss in boots, right in thissame category.
(03:14):
Uh, the filmmakers have beennominated before, so I think
this is an easy nomination forthe wild robot.
It should be another lock here.
It may very well get multiplenominations on oscar morning,
but this is going to be theeasiest one it's going to get
yeah, and I think it's still inquestion how many nominations
it's going to get.
Jules (03:33):
You and me are a bit skeptical as to what other
categories it can land in.
Um, but yeah, certainly I thinkpeople think the wild robot is
the favorite, but, as you weresaying, I think all the momentum
is for flow and that being thefavorite to win this category.
But either way, both are lockedI completely agree.
Joseph (03:50):
So that is the second film, another computer 3d
animated film.
The third film, I think, alsofalls or parallels the wild
robot in some way yeah is insideout.
2, which was a major film frompixar disney.
It was a huge blockbustersuccess over the summer globally
.
It's a sequel to a film thatwon this race previously, so
(04:13):
that looks like another lock fora nomination absolutely agree.
Jules (04:16):
100.
Joseph (04:17):
Those three are locked and loaded the next film that is
a lock in this category shouldtechnically be the entry from
netflix.
Netflix has been doing reallywell in this category yeah they
should at least expect one movieto get a nomination, and it
looks like the strongestcontender they have is the title
from the uk, the title fromaardman animation, and that's
the new installment of wallaceand gromit.
(04:39):
Uh, this one, entitledvengeance most foul.
As we both know, the previouswallace and Gromit film won this
category back in 2005.
And Wallace and Gromit have ahistory of being nominated at
the Academy Awards for shortfilms, so this should be another
easy nomination for them,especially since Aardman has
gotten in multiple times withtitles such as Shaun the Sheep
(04:59):
and its sequel.
Last year's Chicken Run sort ofstumbled out of the gate, but
that's not the case.
Critics have loved this film.
It's played great overseas, soI think that that is very much a
lock as well.
Usually, what happens inanimated feature is you're going
to see a bunch of differentfilms with different animation
(05:20):
styles and also differentcountries you want to see not
just American films dominate theentire category, and so so far
we have a very balanced list.
We have two American titles,one or both, really huge
financial successes.
Then we have a film from Latvia,right, and we have a film from
(05:40):
the UK, one of them being alegacy title in Wallace and
Gromit.
You have 3d animated films andyou also have now a stop motion
film, a film, uh, made withclaymation.
So we have a prettywell-rounded list right and so
far.
I'll also say that a great guideto whether those films should
get in or not is the fact thatall of them are bafta nominees,
(06:01):
all of them are producers guildnominees right in the animated
feature category, and all ofthem are producers guild
nominees right in the animatedfeature category, and all of
them are also golden globenominees, and that bodes very
well for them.
All of them were also nominatedat the Annie Awards which are
sort of the industry awards foranimation professionals, right.
All of them did really well, andso those four look pretty
locked in, right?
Jules (06:21):
so the question really is the fifth spot the fifth spot
and that's kind of the hardestspot for me personally because
it's probably my favorite filmon these, uh, predicted five.
The top five would be memoir ofa snail.
I love that movie, I know youloved it too, yeah, and I think
it's the one that possibly couldbe in most, is most vulnerable
(06:42):
to possibly being snubbed here,possibly, but I still think it
looks pretty good to get intothis category in that fifth spot
.
And I don't know, what do youthink?
Joseph (06:53):
well.
It got left out of bafta, right, which was surprising to me.
I was worried about that.
They only had four spots.
The oscars will have five spots.
Yeah, it did get a golden globenomination, which is great,
even though it got shut out atBAFTA, which I was surprised by
because it had won the AudienceAward at the, I believe, london
Film Festival.
I think so it had done wellthere.
(07:15):
I was surprised that it gotleft off.
But even if that's the case,the film is coming from Adam
Elliott, who is a previousAcademy Award winner in the
short film category the shortfilm animated category.
So he's no stranger to theanimation community in general
and certainly the animationcommunity within the Academy
Awards.
He's Australian based and Ithink we can see that.
(07:36):
We've talked about how theAustralian Academy and the
regular Academy have a lot ofcrossover appeal.
We've talked about theAustralian Academy Awards, the
members that vote for thoseawards.
A significant portion areAcademy Award members.
Think of someone, for example,like Cate Blanchett, who I
believe is a member of both.
So I think the fact that it'sfrom Australia bodes really well
(07:57):
for it.
It did get that Golden Globenomination and it was nominated
at the Annie's for Best Feature,even though it's on the
independent side.
Nonetheless, a lot of's the onthe independent side.
Nonetheless, a lot of filmsfrom there, or at least a couple
of titles from there, shouldmake it onto the oscar final
five.
I think the thing that's reallygoing against memorable the
snail right now is that there isanother really popular american
(08:18):
film that's sort of biting atthe heels of it, right, and so
the cons for memorable snail arethat in the us it was
distributed by ifc and it wouldbe the first time that ifc gets
into this category, which wouldbe great, but it hasn't happened
yet.
Ifc hasn't managed to crackthis category yet and it hasn't
managed to crack very manycategories, so that's.
Jules (08:38):
It also hasn't released that many animated films.
Joseph (08:40):
That's true, that's true but in any film in general.
In any film in general, in anycategory in general they have
difficulty getting in, but itwould be great to see them get
in for this.
That's certainly a hurdle thatthe campaign has to overcome.
At the same time, usually whatyou see on a list like this is
you see, as I said, a diverselineup.
You usually see twointernational titles and Latvia
(09:05):
is already there for Flow andthe UK will be there for
Vengeance Most Foul.
Is there enough room for athird international title?
That's what we're going to findout Right.
So to a certain extent you and Italked about how we both love
the film, but to critics groupslike the New York Film Critics
Circle or the Los Angeles FilmCritics Association, flow has
(09:27):
been the preferred title and hassort of stolen the momentum of
the critics.
Darling and Memoir of a Snailis the kind of film that really
needed that push from critics tosort of take the one or two
spot.
So you wonder if there's goingto be enough support for a film
like Memoir of a Snail whenthere's already a lot of support
going to Flow and possibly toVengeance Most Foul, which has a
(09:49):
lot of support within theindustry because Aardman is such
a notable name in the animationindustry.
The other thing going againstMemoir of a Snail is that it's a
sort of claymation stop motionfilm which sort of parallels
Vengeance Most Foul, and so youalready have that form of
animation represented among thefive.
Jules (10:09):
Right right.
Joseph (10:10):
So is there enough room for two of those films, right?
So those are all things thatare sort of hurting Memoir of a
Snail.
At the Annie Awards, where itwas nominated for Best Feature,
it only scored anothernomination in writing, which was
surprising to me.
I would have thought AdamElliott would have been
shortlisted for directing thefilm as well.
Jules (10:28):
Right.
Joseph (10:28):
But at least it got feature and writing.
That also brings me to oneother point that I would bring
up, if I can just speak about itto a moment, which is the fact
that the National Society ofFilm Critics does not have a
category recognizing animatedfeature.
That could have been a momentfor something like Memoir of a
Snail to stand out.
I think it's disappointing tosee that LA and New York Film
(10:51):
Critics Circle have thatcategory and the National
Society of Film Critics doesn't.
Hopefully we can talk about itmore next year.
But if you put on your hat ofAcademy activist, I would just
like to say that that'ssomething that should change
overall on the road to theOscars.
If an organization like theNational Society of Film Critics
doesn't take animationseriously enough to give it its
own category, I think it's verydifficult to complain about the
(11:13):
Academy not taking it seriouslyenough.
And that brings me to the pointthat remember that this category
is voted on by the votingmembership in general.
By the voting membership ingeneral, anyone can opt into
this category and there are notnecessarily any requirements,
prerequisites, to vote for them.
So as far as I know, they'renot juried in any sort of way.
You agree to watch the films.
(11:35):
I don't know if there's acertain agreement that you're
going to watch a certainpercentage of the films, but
it's very difficult for me toimagine that a member is going
to watch 31 of these titles,that they aren't just going to
watch the titles that they taketheir kids to or they take their
families to or that they knowsomeone is working in, and so,
unfortunately, some of the moreindependent, international,
(11:56):
experimental, challenging workis going to be overlooked for
family fare and films with morefinancial success and more
financial stakes in the Americanindustry.
Jules (12:06):
A hundred percent.
I think that you've seen thattransition.
From when they started allowingmore members to vote in that
category that weren't just themembers of the animation branch,
you saw that there was a shiftaway from nominating these
really interesting independentor really just interesting
animated works and it's becomemuch more streamlined, much more
(12:28):
mainstream, much more in thevein of what movies that these
voting members take their kidsto, and so that has been
something that's beenunfortunate to see, and I
certainly think that on thislist, the film that is most
susceptible to being you know,know, quote, unquote prey to
that sort of shift is a movielike Memoir of a Snail right.
Joseph (12:49):
So if the Australian members of the Academy don't
show up for it, I will say thatbecause everyone can vote for
this category and we don't handout votes to regular everyday
animation workers that there isa chance that a film like Moana
2, which has just picked up somuch money over the winter and
over the fall, yeah is able toeclipse memoir of a snail.
(13:11):
Moana 2 has a producer's guildnomination, which is pretty good
, and it got one of the finaltwo spots at the golden globes
alongside memoir of a snail.
It's picked up so much money.
Jules (13:22):
Who snubbed at the Globes ?
No one was snubbed at theGlobes, so they had six nominees
.
They had six nominees.
Joseph (13:26):
They moved to six nominees, and that's how we know
that the race has sort ofcalcified around these six.
BAFTA only has four nominees,and both of those titles got
left out.
I will say that Moana has justpicked up so much money that one
would wonder whether, if themainstream Academy members are
voting for this, they're goingto put it higher on the list
(13:48):
than Memoir of a Snail If theyeven got around to Memoir of a
Snail, because the CriticalDarling spotlight has not been
on it all season long.
Right, I will say one thinggoing against Moana 2 is that it
did really well at Annie's, atthe Annie Awards, but it did not
manage to get a nomination forbest animated feature right.
So the feelings about how welldone it was among the animation
(14:12):
professionals might not be, whatmight not be, the same as what
the Academy feels.
It was not sure listed amongthe five, and instead, I think
something like Ultraman Risinggot nominated instead, and so it
would be the first animatedfilm to score a nomination for
best animated feature withoutthe annie nomination for best
animated feature since, Ibelieve, ferdinand yeah, that
(14:33):
seems significant I think it'ssignificant and it should bode
well for memoir of a snail, butI don't think that it's a done
deal.
It's a done deal at all yeah.
The other thing I'll say formoana 2 is that it's a done deal
.
It's a done deal at all.
Yeah.
The other thing I'll say forMoana, too, is that it did
really well at the visualeffects society and there is a
lot of crossover betweenanimators or individuals who
work in the animation field andindividuals who work in the
(14:54):
visual effects field, and so tosee it get multiple visual
effects society awards, I thinkis also very promising, right.
So right now, let's say thatthose four movies are locked and
that fifth spot is potentiallya toss-up between memory of a
snail and moana 2 I will saythat the achilles heel of inside
(15:15):
out 2 is that pixar hasn'tgotten very many sequels in.
The only ones that have gottenin for animated feature are the
toy story films and theincredibles 2.
This does not have pete doctoron the I believe writing team or
on the directing team.
That's something to look outfor.
And certainly when it comes tomoana, who's fighting for the
fifth spot, the category has notbeen very kind to disney
(15:37):
sequels either.
If you think of something likefrozen 2, which was a massive
success, it did not get intothis category.
The last Disney sequel to getin, I believe, was Wreck-It
Ralph 2.
So that's the sort of soft spotin their campaign.
And I will mention one lasttitle, even though the race has
calcified in between those six.
(15:57):
If there were a film to sneakin here that is not among those
six, I would expect it to bepossibly the french film chicken
for linda, which got nominatedat the annie awards runnered up
at the los angeles film criticsassociation, and it actually had
(16:17):
more annie award nominationsthan memoir of a snail.
It got nominated for four tomemoiroir of a Snail's two.
It has not been shortlisted orspotlighted as much as Flow or
Memoir of a Snail all season,but the work is strong enough.
It has already won the Cesar.
It got nominated for a EuropeanFilm Award, so if there were a
(16:37):
title to sort of sneak in hereand have enough support from
possibly the internationalmembers voting, I would expect
it to be chicken for Linda.
Jules (16:47):
Yeah.
Joseph (16:47):
And so that's something to look out for.
Jules (16:49):
Yeah, I thought that was a beautiful film.
It would be amazing to see iton this list.
I don't I'm not sure I thinkit's really far behind, but I
certainly think that was abeautiful film that is more than
worthy to be included in thislineup.
Joseph (17:04):
Agreed, and this is something that we're going to be
talking about as we go throughall these races.
But with everything that's beenoccurring in the US, and in Los
Angeles in particular, there isa chance that we're going to
see less participation fromAcademy voters that are Los
Angeles-based orCalifornia-based.
Jules (17:23):
Which seems like would be a significant number.
Joseph (17:27):
Yeah, one would think so , but with everything going on
and voting sort of overlappingthis period of immense
uncertainty, turmoil, trauma,devastation, there is really a
chance that that has impactedvoting outcomes and certainly
the number of individuals whohad the opportunity to vote.
(17:47):
So you and I have been thinkingthat maybe there's a chance that
when we see the results we'lldiscuss it, but that we're going
to see a greater impact frominternational voters voters
located in France, germany,spain, canada and possibly New
York voters who weren't dealingwith this over the past few
weeks 100%, so that's somethingto look out for, and if
(18:08):
something like Chicken for Lindais able to take a spot away
from Moana 2, or if you seeMoana 2 snubbed alongside Inside
Out 2 because it didn't want tonominate a Pixar sequel, and
you see both Memoir of a Snailand Chicken for Linda.
That's certainly something thatI think came into play 100%.
Jules (18:25):
I think.
We're going to talk about itfurther as we go along the
categories, but there'scertainly a very big possibility
that the nominees this year aremore influenced by
international voters thanAmerican voters, especially
LA-based voters, which againprobably includes a big part of
the community, just because ofrecent events.
So it'll be very interesting tosee what happens.
(18:48):
I think that pretty quickly asyou start seeing the nominees,
you get an inclination if theforeign vote is having a bigger
impact than in other previousyears and it was already having
a bigger impact than previousyears, A more outsized impact.
Yeah absolutely so.
(19:09):
I think between all thosecontenders we're both in
agreement with the four Rightnow.
I'm saying as my finalprediction that Memoir of a
Snail will get in that fifthspot.
That's greatly aided by thestatistic that you pointed out
of Moana 2 not being nominatedfor Best Feature at the Annie
Awards.
But certainly I would not besurprised if there's a snub here
(19:29):
and that Memoir of a Snail isthe recipient.
But I'm going to go with thosefive, those calcified five.
How about you?
Joseph (19:36):
I completely agree with you.
It should be Pixar's Inside Out2, dreamworks' the Wild Robot
Memoir of a Snail from Australia, flow from Latvia and Janice's
first nomination in thiscategory and finally Aardman's
Wallace and Gromit VengeanceMost Foul.
Jules (19:51):
Yes, and again, we'll be posting these up online on our
Twitter, so you can always seethese on our Twitter page, and
that's what we have for animatedfeature.
Okay, let's move on todocumentary feature.
This, this category is a littlebit more complicated.
I do feel like it's reallyabout eight-ish contenders that
(20:16):
are the ones to look out for toland in this category yeah I
think that there are that can.
This is certainly a categorythat can have surprises.
On oscar nomination morning.
Let's see no other land is apivotal film for this year that
(20:37):
many people have has so muchacclaim.
It's so timely and I think that, based on how timely it is and
based on how the documentary istackling this
Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Ithink is going to go in its
favor to land that nomination.
(20:58):
I like that it got the BAFTAnomination.
I think that's really important.
But, as you and I havepreviously talked about, I think
its lack of a distributor iscertainly something to is
certainly something that couldhandicap this movie and cause it
to be a very big, shocking snub.
Joseph (21:15):
It's a potential red flag.
Jules (21:16):
It's a potential red flag , as you were saying.
It didn't make.
It didn't get nominated for theDGA for the documentary feature
category.
Like I said, I like that.
It got the BAFTA nomination,but what do you think?
Joseph (21:29):
Well, I like that it won the category of nonfiction film
at both the Cinema Eye Honorsand the International
Documentary Association.
I think those are two verynotable organizations among
documentarians and nonfictionfilmmakers.
So the fact that it won both ofthose and got that BAFTA nod, I
think bodes really well for it.
I agree, the distributor thingis a red flag.
(21:51):
I still don't know if they'vesolved that issue, if they're
working on that issue and thetopic in and of itself might be
controversial.
I don't know if that'ssomething the Academy is going
to want to avoid.
Jules (22:02):
And I think that you know , possibly the DGA snub had a
lot to do with the lack ofdistribution.
That in and of itself iscontroversial that it lacks a
distributor, as of yet, I don'tknow that there's ever been a
film nominated in this categorythat didn't have a distributor
attached to it.
Interesting, I'm not sure,interesting, I'm not sure, um,
(22:25):
but I think it's just so timelyand so acclaimed and such an
important film for this timethat we're living in that I
really can't see it beingsnubbed.
If it is, it's going to be ashocker, and one that's going to
cause a lot of anger, a lot offrustration, frustration with
the academy.
I'm not sure they want to dothat um, and I'm tempted to say
that it's.
I don't want to say safe.
(22:47):
Safe is a strong word, but I Iwould.
I have it as it going, I haveit as getting in.
I think that's good yeah I likethat.
Joseph (22:54):
I would.
I was actually.
I like the word safe.
Jules (22:57):
I don't like the word lock, but I like the word safe.
Joseph (23:00):
Okay, there's just possibly too much going for it
for it to be considered unsafeat this point.
Jules (23:05):
I think you're right.
I agree with that statement.
I have sugar cane getting in.
National Geographic does wellin this category.
I think it's also an importantstory.
It's very critically acclaimed.
Joseph (23:19):
It's also a unique perspective on this list, Right
exactly the Native Americancommunity.
Jules (23:23):
I think that's all going in its favor.
It's a, it's a also a uniqueperspective on this list.
Right, exactly the nativeamerican community.
I think that's all going in itsfavor.
It got snubbed from the bafta,which I think is interesting.
Um, but, like I said, nationalgeographic has a good track
record here.
Um, what do you think?
Joseph (23:37):
I agree, I think sugarcane is going to get in.
It's one of the most criticallyacclaimed films, or
documentaries, I should say, ofthe year.
I think that the Baptist Nubraised a little bit of an
eyebrow for me, but I think itshould get in here comfortably
and I really trust the Nat Geobeing able to get a film in here
, a film of this caliber 100%.
Jules (23:58):
Speaking of production companies, netflix does Wellness
, category 2, two, and they havedaughters, which is also very
critically acclaimed films,since its premiere, I think I
believe in sundance.
It's certainly a film that istackling the effects of
incarceration and familial bonds, and I think that those are
(24:18):
also timely topics.
And, uh, it's a moving film.
I think it has all theingredients to be considered.
You know, I would probablyconsider a lock in this category
personally I actually agreewith you.
Joseph (24:32):
I think this is the first title among the ones we're
speaking of that I wouldconsider an absolute lock here,
I think the fact that it gotnominated for bafta spells that
this movie is a potentialspoiler for the winner.
Right, I think you know we talkabout how.
Of the films that qualified Ibelieve 15 titles that qualify
for the Academy Awards onlythree were nominated at BAFTA,
(24:55):
and BAFTA tends to have thewinner among their nominees,
even when BAFTA goes for adifferent film to win the award.
I remember in 2019, they wentfor For Sama.
That movie was also a nomineeat the Academy Awards and among
the five at BAFTA that year theydid have American Factory from
Netflix which ended up winningthe Oscar.
(25:16):
So I think Daughters is a lockfor a nomination and it looks to
me like it might be the film tobeat.
Jules (25:22):
Right.
I think that another land wouldpossibly be if it lands that
nomination would would likely bethe favorite to win that
category, but certainly thenumber two would be daughters,
and if there is no other land inthe lineup, then I do think
you're right, daughters would bethe number one pick.
Yeah, um.
And then I think a film likesoundtrack to akuta is very
(25:44):
interesting because it's aincredibly acclaimed film this
year and it um boasts, you know,really, uh, attention calling,
editing, and it's a film that'sabout so many things colonialism
, um, it tackles themes of thecold war, um, jazz.
(26:04):
It's a very uh electrifyingpiece and I think it's a very
ambitious piece as well, and soI feel that all those things are
going for it.
I think that the other filmthat's sort of competing for a
similar space in this categoryis Dahomey, for Maddie Diop,
which also is tacklingcolonialism.
(26:26):
She has a very different style,obviously, I think, because of
her distinct aesthetic and herdistinct style.
I think that's one of thethings that's going against a
movie like Dahomey landing inhere in this top five, despite
winning the Berlin Film Festivaltop prize and being, again, one
(26:46):
of the most criticallyacclaimed films of the year.
I just think that her choicesare riskier, certainly very
creative, certainly very sort ofarturistic, which is not fully
welcomed into this category, Ithink.
And so I think that havingthose two films be such powerful
(27:08):
films and be such acclaimedfilms this year, one of them
should land in these five, and Igive the edge to soundtrack, to
a coup de top, mainly because Ithink, like I said, maddie D up
style, directorial style, mightbe a little bit outside of
their you know the kind of thingthey tend to nominate in this
(27:29):
category.
What do you think?
Joseph (27:31):
I think that's great, that we're talking about them
together.
I think I agree with everythingthat you say.
Soundtrack to akuta wasnominated for a director's guild
award, which is great.
It's coming from kino lorber,which has had success at the
academy, I believe, before.
Dahomey is interesting becauseit got listed right twice.
It's shortlisted for adocumentary and it's shortlisted
(27:52):
as a foreign film, and I thinkthat's a good sign that the
Academy is going to be receptiveto the film.
It won that huge prize atBerlin.
Both soundtrack to Agudetan andDahomey were listed at the
International DocumentaryAssociation and the Cinema Eye
Honors, I believe.
So those are good signs forboth those films.
I would be surprised if one ofthem did not land.
(28:15):
Yeah, I agree 100%, but I alsowant to mention that the
filmmaker, maddy Diop, whichwe're big fans of, not only did
she win Berlin this year, buther debut film, a narrative film
, atlantics, premiered at Cannesand was shortlisted for
international film, I believe in2019.
So this is not the first timethey're being exposed to Maddie
(28:38):
Diop.
So I'm not sure that Maddie Diopfits the traditional role of
being a documentarian, anonfiction filmmaker.
She's, I think, going to be afilmmaker that plays around with
narrative film and nonfictionfilm, and I don't know if that's
going to be a little bit of aturnoff for some of the voters
in this category.
The other thing I'll say is,when she did win that Berlin
(29:02):
Prize, she had some commentsthat did not rub everyone the
right way in terms of everythingthat was going on in Gaza.
I don't know if that's going tobe an element of support or
probably an element that votersare going to want to avoid again
.
I think the other factor thatwe need to mention here,
alongside coup d'etat, is theidea that Dahomey is being
(29:22):
distributed by MUBI, and as faras I'm concerned, I don't think
MUBI has broken into the Oscarsyet, either in documentary or
foreign language film,international film so even
though I think this stands to bea banner year for MUBI yeah,
this stands to be a banner yearfor MUBI.
You're 100% right.
It'd be interesting to see ifit breaks into this category as
(29:43):
well, but it's certainlysomething that the campaign is
going to have to overcome thefact that it's being distributed
by movie.
Jules (29:49):
Right, 100%.
But, like we said, I think oneof them has to land here.
Joseph (29:54):
I will say this, that between the two of them.
If Soundtrack to Akuta Taga gotlisted by the Director's Guild
Award, dahomey did really well,I believe, at the European Film
Awards this is the kind of filmthat is going to appeal to those
international non-fictionfilmmakers, international
documentarians and, in general,the international art house
scene you can see.
Go crazy for this movie yeah,100.
Jules (30:15):
Possibly could they both get nominated.
I mean, I'm not seeing it rightnow, them both being included
in a list, um, but it couldhappen.
I just I'm not predicting thatto happen.
I think it's one or the otherand then it gets a little
trickier.
I really liked the option ofBlack Box Diaries it got the
(30:39):
BAFTA nomination recently, whichI think is great.
Another film that's topical.
Those kinds of films that aretopical do really well in this
category, more so than possibly,uh, more personal kind of uh,
documentaries.
I won't get to that in a minutewith some of the other more uh
(30:59):
popular titles that got left offof the shortlist and that some
people are possibly thinkingmight land and I and I and I
disagree, but we'll get there um, this film tackling the
Japanese legal system andoutdated sex laws and just the
way that uh, the filmmaker wentabout creating this film.
(31:20):
I think all of that is veryinspiring and very, um, like I
said, topical and uh, somethingthat I think the documentary
branch would champion.
So I really do like itsinclusion in this list.
Uh, what do you think?
Joseph (31:34):
I think that you're right.
Black box diary stands anexcellent chance to get in.
Here's another film that gotnominated at the international
documentary association and thecinema honors.
It did not get into thedirector's guild award, but it
did get nominated for that bafta, which I think was very
promising.
Yeah, I believe the film isbeing directed by the subject of
the documentary and I thinkthat would be something that
(31:56):
voters are going to be verytempted to recognize.
Yeah, I think it's also againanother unique perspective here,
just the idea of it talkingabout, you know, sexual
harassment and sexual abuse.
It's a unique title here amongthat list right, yeah it doesn't
have another parallel, so itmight really stand out among the
rest of the titles I agree 100,so I really like that film.
(32:19):
Uh, I also.
I'll also say that it'sdistributor, which I believe is
mtv documentaries.
Right, they've been doing reallywell yeah, in the documentary
section, both in feature and inthe subsection of short yeah
they've been long listed for awhile and I think they've even
gotten a nomination or two ineither category or both
categories.
So I think that its distributorhas inroads with documentary
(32:42):
voters 100.
Jules (32:43):
I agree.
Um.
A film that we've been talkingabout recently, uh was porcelain
war, which made the PGA sectionof the documentary films.
I have not seen the film yet,but I know from what I've heard
that it's an audience favorite.
We don't have a film in thislineup that's tackling the
(33:07):
Ukraine war that's going on, andso I think that's a dark horse.
I think that's a dark horse tolook at.
Joseph (33:15):
Um not enough people are talking about, I think,
porcelain war.
I think everyone is under theassumption that the war in
ukraine was prominentlyspotlighted, I believe last year
right 20 days in maripol.
So I think some prognosticators, pundits, people who follow the
Oscar race, are sort ofpredicting that the Ukraine war
as a subject matter is not goingto be in the final five.
(33:38):
It could happen that couldhappen and that could happen.
But I will say that there havebeen some very promising signs
for the title lately, including,as you said, its nomination
among the Producers Guild Awards.
You know, usually the ProducersGuild Awards, they tend to
favor more populous titles.
I think a film like Supermanwas nominated there, I believe
(33:58):
that it was.
But they do tend to get onetitle in to the Academy Award
Top 5 for Best Documentary andthis year there's really only
one title to choose from, andthat would be Porcelain War.
And that always called myattention.
Later on it would be nominatedfor best documentary among the
Directors Guild of America andthat really called my attention.
(34:20):
And I'm starting to feel thatporcelain war is going to be a
spoiler here, and we talkedabout the subject matter not
just in terms of the Ukraine war, but how appealing it's going
to be for voters of any kind,even in something like
documentary and nonfiction film.
The perspective of art in thecontext of some kind of
political upheaval.
That's something that I thinkreally going to call their
(34:41):
attention.
Jules (34:42):
Yeah, 100 percent.
That's something that thiscategory really welcomes, and so
I think this is something.
This is a film that couldcertainly spoil this list.
Um, I don't know, could therepossibly be a scenario where a
film like black box diaries andporcelain war get in here and
soundtrack to akuta and thehomie, kind of eat a little bit
(35:04):
of each other's votes?
Joseph (35:05):
to some extent.
Possibly the homie and satireto akuta tom may be a little too
, dare I say, highbrowintellectual, yeah.
Art house maybe, yeah, andfilms like porcelain war and
black box diaries might be moreinstantaneous sort of emotional
pics, yeah, right, yeah, so Ithink you're right.
(35:26):
That could end up being afactor.
The other thing I'll say aboutporcelain war is you and I have
talked about those audienceawards that it picks up.
It got a grand jury prize, Ibelieve, at Sundance.
And so that was a good sign forthe film as well.
Jules (35:37):
Yeah, so that one is concerning to me.
I think that it's a big darkhorse Will and Harper.
I know early on it was a biggerfavor to get a nominee for
documentary feature.
However, this category tends toprefer again these more topical
(35:59):
subject matter rather thanpersonal experience that's being
documented.
That being said, I know there'ssomething.
I know there's topicality inwill and harper as well, but
it's not as in the forefront aspossibly these other films that
are just that, are just dealingwith this subject matter in a
(36:22):
broad sense right and less in apersonal sense right.
Joseph (36:25):
It's not, as you know, charged as some of these other
documentaries in tackling itssubject matter which I think is
possibly something that's goingto help the film stand out, but
also maybe something that'sgoing to unfortunately get it
eclipsed by these otherdocumentaries.
Right, right 100.
Jules (36:40):
So you know I don't think that william harper is going to
land here.
Um, I wonder if a film that isreally, when you read the I have
not seen it when you read thesynopsis of the film, that it
really you know, raises intrigueand I wonder if that's going to
happen for voters is a filmhollywood gate oh yeah, and it
(37:04):
sounds like a really uh,interesting, fascinating film,
uh, documentary film, and itlanded a spot in the director's
guild it did, which I think isnot something to overlook.
Nope, um, that is a film thatvery few people are predicting
to land in here, and I thinkit's a dark horse as well, also
(37:25):
a very unique perspective, right, all that access that the
filmmaker was able to get.
Joseph (37:32):
At the same time, I do wonder if this is going to be a
chapter in american history thatthe academy is not eager to
revisit right away right right.
I will say it did do well atthe international documentary
association, I believe, and thecinema eye honors and that
director's guild nomination, Ithink, is also pretty impactful.
I wish the distributor was alittle bit more notable.
(37:52):
I think right now it's fourthact films.
It looks wonderful.
I haven't seen it yeah but it'scertainly when you see the
preview for it, it certainlycalls your attention super yeah.
Jules (38:02):
I feel like that's a film that many in this branch would
check out.
I know the remarkable life ofeibolin was a big crowd pleaser.
I think it premiered atsundance excuse me, I was wrong.
Hollywood gate did not getnominated for either a cinema
eye honors or an internationaldocumentary association, not in
the category of best non-fictionfilm I think, it was noted in
(38:24):
other categories in both awardsright, right, um, another film
that is on the radar, but Ithink more in the periphery is
the remarkable life of eibolinwas a big crowd pleaser.
I believe it premiered atsundance.
Um, it's a touching film.
Uh, it's certainly a film thatI think voters would be moved by
(38:49):
if they turn it on.
I don't think this filmmakerhas had a lot of success into
this category.
I believe the Painter and theThief, his last film.
Was also shortlisted, I believe,Right but it didn't make the
final five.
Joseph (39:01):
No.
Jules (39:02):
And I really liked that film of his.
He has a very interesting wayof tackling his documentaries
which, again, I don't think areas accessible to this branch.
You know, there's a lot offootage in this film that's
(39:23):
animated computer graphics basedon what it's about.
Obviously, there's an elementto of disability in this film
which is quite touching, uh, buta big chunk of the film has
these other elements that arevery creative, very interesting,
very thought-provoking, butagain they sort of, uh, stand
(39:44):
away, you know, from the kind ofthings they tend to welcome
into this category, I think Iagree with you.
Joseph (39:49):
I think this filmmaker will be nominated eventually.
I quite enjoyed the film.
I think again, it really standsout.
It has a unique perspective ondisability and I think that it's
also a major crowd pleaser.
I can imagine people checkingAcademy Award nominations,
checking out this title andbeing very surprised by it and
like porcelain war.
(40:09):
I think the film uses the ideaof art and the idea of gaming
and virtual reality worlds andreally expands the idea of them
and how necessary.
They are and it's exploringthese you know topics that are
timely and I think that's goingto possibly get votes from some
(40:30):
of the individuals who are goingto vote here.
Jules (40:32):
Right, and I think that those are what I would consider
the biggest contenders for thisaward.
I'm dying, personally, to seeEno.
I have not seen it.
I'm a humongous fan of his.
I can't wait to see that film.
But just based on the verynature of how this film is
(40:55):
tackling brian edel's work um isyou know the the parameters of
that film?
Uh, I believe every time yousee it it's going to be
something new.
I can't imagine that'ssomething that they're going to
be too too thrilled about towelcome into this category.
I can't wait to see it.
Joseph (41:12):
In general.
This is another reallybeautiful category, I think, if
we can put on our Academyactivist hat again here if there
is every reason to nominate 10films for Best Picture.
Then there is equal reason tonominate 10 non-fiction films in
the category of documentary,just as there is every reason to
nominate 10 animated films inthe category of animated feature
(41:34):
.
All the work here is distinct.
All the work here is unique,has a interesting perspective on
timely topics.
So many of this work looksinteresting.
Queendom looked fascinating aswell yeah, I think that we
narrowed it down to the majorcontenders and the people who
could possibly surprisesomething.
Like you know, I don't thinkstands a very good chance, but
it sounds absolutely fascinatingyeah, yeah and it's just, I
(41:56):
think, further fuel to the firethat other categories beyond
best picture need to be expandedyeah, 100, the quality is just
there.
Yeah, I think that that's,that's really well said and I
would really champion that afilm like union, for example,
that we didn't discuss, I thinkwould be totally something that
is going to catch the eye ofvoters.
I think the red flag there isthat it doesn't have a
(42:18):
distributor yet, but all thework here has the potential to
break in.
I remember one year recentlythat we talked about a film
called a house made of splintersright you had thought that,
based on what the film was about, it stood a good chance of
stealing a spot, although it hadnot been spotlighted to such a
degree as some of the othertitles that were long listed.
(42:40):
And it did get that spot.
Yeah, because, again, all thefilms on these long lists tend
to be very good films for thesecategories yeah, um, sort of
these sort of ghettoizedcategories.
Jules (42:53):
Um, yeah, 100, I agree with that statement.
Um, I hope that that can becomea reality one day.
Um, but so for my final five,it's really tough with my last
spot, but I'm gonna saynortherland sugarcane daughters,
soundtrack to Coup d'etat.
And that last spot is a realfight between Black Box Diaries
(43:14):
and Porcelain War, but I'm goingto go with Black Box Diaries.
Joseph (43:17):
A very compelling list.
I can see that being the listthat's announced Oscar morning.
Mine diverges just a little bit, but again, our final
predictions will be up rightbefore nominations come up, and
you can see that on our Twitterpage.
What I'm thinking right now isno Other Land, sugarcane
Daughters, dahomey and PorcelainWar.
Jules (43:39):
Right, that sounds like a very, very, very plausible list
as well.
Okay, and so that was ourrundown into Best Documentary
Feature, a category that's stillvery much in flux.
All right, thanks for tuning in.
I'm Jules and I'm Joseph, andit's been a pleasure.
The music on this episode,entitled Cool Cats, was
(44:04):
graciously provided by KevinMacLeod and incompetechcom,
licensed under Creative Commonsby Attribution 3.0.
Http//creativecommonsorg.
Licenses by 3.0.
Joseph (44:30):
Disclaimer the Academy Anonymous podcast is in no way
affiliated or endorsed by theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences.
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