by Nathaniel R
The next "Supporting Actress Smackdown" arrives on Sunday July 29th so you have one last week to watch the movies / get your votes in! But before we get to that big event, it's time to meet this month's panel. We'll skip my introduction because you know me already but if you don't, here I am.
So without further ado, let's get to know the five panelists. All but one of them are new to the Smackdown. I asked them to title their autobiography after a 1943 movie for giggles.
PLEASE WELCOME...
YASEEN ALI
Yaseen Ali is a Babadook enthusiast and will find any way to insert a line from The Hours into a conversation. He tweets about film from time to time and his blog hasn't been updated in [redacted] years. Still, he can be seen in TIFF lineups each September and correctly predicted the People's Choice award from 2013 - 2016. His love affair with the Best Supporting Actress category began in 1996 when Juliette Binoche and Kristin Scott Thomas tied at NBR and can't we just do that every year?
Name your autobiography after a 1943 movie:
The Phantom of the Opera, not for any other reason than that I watched the Andrew Lloyd Webber stage musical thirteen times in my teens and surely I’ll have to explain that across a chapter… or four. As Tatianna would say…
What does 1943 mean to you, Yaseen?
What kind of Canadian would I be if I didn’t acknowledge the earthly arrival of David Cronenberg, at least in the human flesh? It’s very likely he’s taken previous forms, but my preference is definitely as visionary auteur… and co-director of all my nightmares as of Naked Lunch.
ALEX HEENEY
Alex Heeney is a Toronto-based film and theatre critic. She is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Seventh Row, an online publication dedicated long-form criticism and delving deep on films that make us think. She also hosts 21st Folio, a podcast about modern Shakespeare productions of stage and screen. In her spare time, she's finishing her Ph.D. in Management Science & Engineering at Stanford. You can find her on Twitter @bwestcineaste.
Name your autobiography after a 1943 movie:
Above Suspicion
What does 1943 mean to you, Alex?
Wish I had something happier to say, but it's still the holocaust.
KRISTEN LOPEZ
Kristen Lopez is a freelance pop culture essayist whose work has appeared in The Hollywood Reporter, Roger Ebert.com, and The Daily Beast. She's an RT-affiliated critic for Culturess and The Young Folks. In her free time she runs the podcasts Citizen Dame and Ticklish Business. She tweets at @Journeys_Film
Name your autobiography after a 1943 movie:
Best Foot Forward
What does 1943 mean to you, Kristen?
1943 means movies steeped in the war - often running far over two hours. The war would drag on for almost another two years, and by this point people were used to it. The films of this time were a mix of movies meant to keep up morale at home, giving people the idea that hope was around the corner. It's hard to feel depressed when you look at some of the joyous, beautifully hopeful films that came out, all of it meant to make the world a tad brighter.
REBECCA PAHLE
Rebecca Pahle is the Associate Editor at Film Journal International, with additional bylines at SYFY WIRE, Vulture, Racked, Pajiba MentalFloss.com, and more. She is obsessed with capes, which is not at all a weird thing to be obsessed with. You can follow her on Twitter at @RebeccaPahle or @acapeaday.
Name your autobiography after a 1943 movie title:
I Walked with a Zombie. Also, I'm really sad I'm not doing 1940 so I can just choose Rebecca.
What does 1943 mean to you, Rebecca?
It means that we are no longer in the '30s, which means that we no longer get quite so many movies with glamorous women swanning around in evening gowns and capes. Hey, I know what I like.
KIERAN SCARLETT
Kieran is a filmmaker and culture writer whose love affair with movies began with Judy Garland and Julie Andrews. He thanks his older brother for his film fanaticism and apologizes profusely for dragging him to see Cold Mountain on opening weekend because "people in it might get nominated for stuff." He received his MFA in writing from the American Film institute. He spends a lot of time thinking about the 1974 Best Actress. Kieran can be found in Los Angeles, writing, working on movies and searching for the perfect arthouse theater with good parking. Links to his writing can be found at Rewire and his tweets at @danblackroyd.
Name your autobiography after a 1943 movie:
I'd like to say it's The Constant Nymph, but perhaps that's just wishful thinking. We Dive at Dawn is a good option because I've always been a morning person.
What does 1943 mean to you, Kieran?
Cinematically, Shadow of a Doubt. I love this movie and am horrified when I gaze upon its paltry nomination haul (a lone nomination for Best Original Motion Picture Story).
The panel will get together on July 29th for the "Supporting Actress Smackdown of 1943" and its companion podcast. Dear readers, get to watching those movies, and send your own ballots in by Friday July 27th. Your vote counts toward the end result.