The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel R. All material herein is written by our team. (This site is not for profit but for an expression of love for cinema & adjacent artforms.)
Thank you for all the votes for this weeks Supporting Actress Smackdown for the 91st Oscars - so many ballots for us to sift through with opinions so varied which is just how it should be and how we like it (if you forgot, we'll accept them today as well but they're due by midnight!) Due to behind the scenes technical stuff we'll be posting the Smackdown Monday night, but it's time to meet the panel. We cheekily asked them for their pics in the three chopping-block craft categories but then the Academy reversed course. We're sharing their votes anyway, because shouldn't you always know who people are rooting for in cinematography, editing, and makeup? We think so!
Picture: BlacKkKlansman Cinematography: A Star is Born Editing: BlacKkKlansman Makeup and Hair: Vice
Ginny O’Keefe was born and raised in Westchester, New York. She credits her love of film and television to her parents, since they let her watch pretty much whatever she wanted growing up. They also helped fuel her love of acting by frequently taking her and her two sisters into Manhattan to see Broadway shows. She graduated from Elon University in 2016, with a BFA in Acting and a minor in Communications. She now lives in Los Angeles working as an actress and hopes to write and produce her own films one day. Follow her on Instagram.
Picture: The Favourite Cinematography: Cold War Editing: The Favourite Makeup and Hair: Mary Queen of Scots
Robin Write is the Editor-in-Chief of Filmotomy, a movie site that promotes the likes of female filmmakers, independent film, world cinema, documentaries etc. He's been writing, thinking, breathing, watching movies for as long as he can remembe and still feeds the addiction that is the Oscar race for near-30 years - a truly hard habit to break.
Picture: The Favourite Cinematography: Cold War Editing: BlacKkKlansman Makeup and Hair: Border
Nathaniel R has been running The Film Experience since the first seacreature grew legs and walked ashore in prehistoric times. He was there when Wings won best picture of 1928. Kidding... but he does love Wings and he's been loving the Oscars for far too long!
Picture: The Favourite / Black Panther Cinematography: A Star is Born Editing: The Favourite / BlacKkKlansman Makeup: Border
Chris Feil writes regularly at The Film Experience (including his column on movie music called Soundtracking) and lives in Columbus, OH. He cohosts the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast and has also been published at Vice, Paste, and Decider. You can easily beetlejuice him into your conversations by talking about soundtracks, RuPaul's Drag Race, and WALL•E. He is remembering to notice the collateral beauty around him.
Picture: BlacKkKlansman Cinematography: A Star is Born Editing: The Favourite Makeup and Hair: Border
You know Murtada from his writing on TFE and as the co-host of our podcast. However one thing you might not know is that recently he recorded his first video interview; with rising playwright Jordan E Cooper whose play AIN'T NO “MO starts at The Public Theater on March 12th.
This past week we asked the team to pick some favourite screen kisses for Valentine's and we must thank them for reminding us of the sexy canoodling in Notorious, Last of the Mohicans, Love Simon, Spider-Man, and The Notebook. This weekend we're bringing it back to the now or at least the very recent with the 2018 Film Bitch Nominations for our three lustiest categories: Best Kiss, Best Love/Sex Scene and Sexpot of the Year.
BEST KISS "Esti, do you think I should go back early?" "No... No... No, I don't you should leave at all."
We were offline last night (a break for computer strained eyeballs) so we're hours late delivering the news but good news is still good the next morning. Deadline scooped that the Academy has decided to reverse the decision to not present all categories live. This is a very happy turn of events but it's also left us feeling bruised and battered. Deadline's scoop reminds us that a large part of the problem -- a problem that's not going away any time soon -- is the way the media frames these issues. The media is essentially complicit in ABC's tactics at undermining the Oscars. For those who are looking closely at the situation it's become blindingly obvious that ABC is a toxic and abusive partner to The Academy, more concerned with pushing their own stars (like Jimmy Kimmel) and movies (more awards for Disney blockbusters plz -- hey how about a "popular Oscar"?) than perpetuating the brand of the Oscars themselves. And that brand, the Oscars, is the reason people tune in each year, not for any particular host or any particular movie.
ABC has strategically kept the Academy in panic mode with 'the sky is falling' style messaging about their lack of popularity (which is bollocks but facts are hard to see when you're in an abusive relationship). But the problem becomes larger because the media continually helps them do it! Consider the way Mike Fleming Jr frames the piece (and he's hardly the first) in his article...
Sunday, February 17, 2019 at 5:12PM 
