The Academy Shortlists Have Arrived
Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 6:11PM
NATHANIEL R in Best Documentary Feature, Best International Film, Best Makeup, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Visual Effects, Makeup and Hair, Oscars (20), Visual FX, short films

As most of you reading probably know, there are nine Oscar categories that go through rounds of voting rather than just one ballot for the nominations. So each year the Academy narrows the field in these nine categories a few weeks to a month before the final nominations. Anything not listed below is no longer possible as a nominee in that specific category, since the ballots will only include these choices. (Curiously they don't do this winnowing process with one of the specialized categories, Best Animated Feature, so all 27 eligible films in that category are still possible as nominees.) The Academy will vote on the actual nominations between March 5th and March 10th and the Oscar nominatitons will be announced on March 15th, 2021. Then we'll have an unusually long wait for Oscar night on April 25th, 2021.

Here are the shortlists... 

Best International Feature Film - OSCAR CHART UPDATED
93 were eligible but now the list is just 15 long *cries in love for international cinema*

Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Quo Vadis, Aida?” Reviewed
Chile, “The Mole Agent” Reviewed
Czech Republic, “Charlatan” Reviewed
Denmark, “Another Round”
France, “Two of Us” Reviewed
Guatemala, “La Llorona” Reviewed
Hong Kong, “Better Days” Reviewed
Iran, “Sun Children” Reviewed
Ivory Coast, “Night of the Kings” Reviewed
Mexico, “I’m No Longer Here” Reviewed
Norway, “Hope”
Romania, “Collective” Reviewed
Russia, “Dear Comrades!” Reviewed
Taiwan, “A Sun” Reviewed
Tunisia, “The Man Who Sold His Skin”

We did pretty well on our predictions getting 11 of the 15 finalists correct. The ones we had too much confidence in were Poland's "Never Gonna Show Again" (maybe because I love it), Lesotho's "This is Not a Burial..." (which we hadn't seen but which those who had were just wild about),  Spain's "The Endless Trench" and Israel's "Asia". (The ones we didn't predict above were Norway's "Hope," Taiwan's "A Sun," Frances "Two of Us," and Hong Kong's "Better Days")

Best Makeup and Hairstyling - OSCAR CHARTS UPDATED

“Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn”
“Emma”
“The Glorias”
“Hillbilly Elegy”
“Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey”
“The Little Things”
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
“Mank”
“One Night in Miami…”
“Pinocchio”

Ridiculous that Mulan didn't advance (sigh) and frustrating that Promising Young Woman didn't (though we didn't expect it to). Other notable exclusions: Personal History of David Copperfield and United States vs Holliday's period fun or recreations. And what on earth is The Little Things doing here? For Jared Leto's greasy hair? We can't think of any other makeup and hair work in the film since the Academy's makeup branch has never cared about corpses or dead body makeup before.

Best Visual Effects  - OSCAR CHARTS UPDATED

“Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn”
“Bloodshot”
“Love and Monsters”
“Mank”
“The Midnight Sky”
“Mulan”
“The One and Only Ivan”
“Soul”
“Tenet”
“Welcome to Chechnya”

No Invisible Man, huh? We'd been predicting it all year. Whoops. Sonic the Hedgehog, Jingle Jangle, and Wonder Woman 1984 are also absent. Unusual to see a documentary, Welcome to Chechnya, place so that's exciting. It also made the doc finals.

Best Original Score - OSCAR CHART UPDATED

“Ammonite”
“Blizzard of Souls”
“Da 5 Bloods”
“The Invisible Man”
“Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey”
“The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)”
“The Little Things”
“Mank”
“The Midnight Sky”
“Minari”
“Mulan”
“News of the World”
“Soul”
“Tenet”
“The Trial of the Chicago 7”

Some mildly surprising omissions: Thomas Newman and Hans Zimmer (both of whom they usually love) for Let Them All Talk and Hillbilly Elegy respectively. Nice to see Ammonite and Invisible Man here and a relief to see Minari. Blizzard of Souls, an Oscar submission in international feature that didn't advance in its own category, is a big surprise!

Best Original Song OSCAR CHART UPDATED
100 plus songs were eligible but it's now down to these 15 titles. 

“Turntables” from "All In: The Fight for Democracy”
“See What You’ve Done” from “Belly of the Beast”
“Wuhan Flu” from “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”
“Husavik” from “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”
“Never Break” from “Giving Voice”
“Make It Work” from “Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey”
“Fight For You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah”
“lo Sì (Seen)” from “The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)”
“Rain Song” from “Minari”
“Show Me Your Soul” from “Mr. Soul!”
“Loyal Brave True” from “Mulan”
“Free” from “The One and Only Ivan”
“Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami…”
“Green” from “Sound of Metal”
“Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of the Chicago 7”

Tough break for Over the Moon, an original musical. They only submitted one song "Rocket to the Moon" but it didn't make the list. The big

 

Best Animated Short  - OSCAR CHART UPDATED
96 were eligible - the most ever - with the following 10 advancing

“Burrow”
“Genius Loci”
“If Anything Happens I Love You”
“Kapaemahu”
“Opera”
“Out”
“The Snail and the Whale”
“To Gerard”
“Traces”
“Yes-People”

Some notable misses here include Coin and World of Tomorrow 3 (both from previous nominees), the BAFTA winner Grandad was a Romantic, and the Student Academy Award winning Ciervo. In something of a surprise there are two queer films on the list: Out and Kapaemahu which is about Waikiki and transgender spirits.

Best Live-Action Short OSCAR CHART UPDATED
174 films qualified for this prize but now it's down to these ten.

“Bittu”
“Da Yie”
“Feeling Through”
“The Human Voice”
“The Kicksled Choir”
“The Letter Room”
“The Present”
“Two Distant Strangers”
“The Van”
“White Eye”

Thrilled to see Pedro Almodóvar's short The Human Voice in the lineup as it's one of the best films of the year. Eager to discover the other shorts as always (but a bit sad that 1,2,3 All Eyes on Me didn't make it). 

Best Documentary Feature OSCAR CHART UPDATED
238 titles were eligible but it's now down to these 15 options

“All In: The Fight for Democracy”
“Boys State”
“Collective”
“Crip Camp”
“Dick Johnson Is Dead”
“Gunda”
“MLK/FBI”
“The Mole Agent”
“My Octopus Teacher”
“Notturno”
“The Painter and the Thief”
“76 Days”
“Time”
“The Truffle Hunters”
“Welcome to Chechnya”

Both Glenn and I predicted only 9 of these correctly but we both had very different lists, haha. It was a good year for docs with a lot of beloved titles. Some buzzy titlese that missed advancing on were probably City Hall, A Thousand Cuts, The Earth is as Blue as an Orange, and The Mayor.

Best Documentary Short OSCAR CHART UPDATED
114 films were eligible in Doc Short but it's been narrowed to 10.

“Abortion Helpline, This Is Lisa”
“Call Center Blues”
“Colette”
“A Concerto Is a Conversation”
“Do Not Split”
“Hunger Ward”
“Hysterical Girl”
“A Love Song for Latasha”
“The Speed Cubers”
“What Would Sophia Loren Do?”

 

CONGRATS TO ALL THE SHORTLISTERS

 

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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