Chastain or Comer -- Who will inch closer to the Triple Crown?

by Matt St Clair

When looking at the recently announced Tony nominations, you might have noticed that the Best Actress in a Play lineup has only four nominees. That's because there were fewer than nine leading actresses from the 23 eligible plays during the 2022-23 Broadway season. Due to Tony rules and regulations, only four women were able to nab a spot. As a refresher, those four women are Jessica Chastain for A Doll’s House, Jodie Comer for Prima Facie, Jessica Hecht for Summer, 1976, and Audra McDonald for Ohio State Murders. Given that Hecht and McDonald are the only nominees for their respective plays, the potential winner is surely a contest between Jessica Chastain and Jodie Comer...

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The complete Cannes jury is finally here

by Cláudio Alves

The 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival is scheduled for this month, from the 16th to the 27th, featuring new films from many of the world's foremost auteurs. Following recent tradition, here at The Film Experience, Elisa Giudicci will be covering the festival at the Croisette, while I'll offer parallel programming through the Cannes at Home miniseries. It's always interesting to explore works from the competing directors, be they this year's offerings or past efforts. Another point of curiosity is the end of that competition when the festival's main jury will reward one of the 21 selected directors with the Palme d'Or. We might even see a past victor repeat their triumph.

That happened at the last edition when Ruben Östlund won his second Cannes with Triangle of Sadness. So, it's only logical that he was invited to preside over this edition's jury, something we've known for weeks. The rest of the jury, however, was only revealed today…

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Drama Desk Nominees + Dorian Awards expand to honor theater

by Nathaniel R

"Shucked" is a hit and leads the Drama Desk Nominations

Are there too many awards groups? We've often bemoaned the ever expanding roster. But, in a stunning feat of hypocrisy I'm personally excited to announce that I'm part of a new group. Or, rather, an already established group expanding to cover something else! So, two things to report. First the Drama Desk Awards (which honor Broadway and Off Broadway productions) and then a new theatrical wing of GALECA: The Society for LGTBQ Entertainment Critics. Several members of Team Experience are part of GALECA but the Dorian Theater Awards are a small subsection of that large group of national critics. In the inaugural year I am excited to be among its 31 charter members. We have covered Broadway (and random theatrical events) on and off over the years here at TFE but we've always wanted to make that a weekly happening so now hopefully we can make that happen.

But first the Drama Desk Nominations...

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HotDocs Corner: The Films of Christine Choy

By Glenn Charlie Dunks

We are looking at some of the movies playing Canada's beloved HotDocs festival. This week we're taking a trip through the films of Christine Choy who is the recipient of the 2023 HotDocs Outstanding Achievement Award and is screening a series of her films.

Despite all of the increased attention that has been paid to documentaries over the last decade (and believe it has been a marked improvement!), it can still be frustratingly hard to see recognition for works made before that shift took place. Particularly so when you consider pre-digital and even pre-video era, where widespread praise tends to fall around a certain canon of titles.

As ever, who gets that build the canon does so by means of access and identification. For example, it’s hardly surprising that the films of HotDocs’ Outstanding Achievement Award winner for 2023, Christine Chow, aren’t as widely known or critically recognised when they have remained so hard to find. Even her Academy Award nominee, Who Killed Vincent Chin? from 1988, has been difficult to see for decades—and it’s not the only such title by Choy or otherwise. It’s hard to imagine these works, marked with the telltale signs of a medium that still didn’t quite have the budgets or the avenues to do so, making headway into the popular zeitgeist. Unless, as was often the case with docs that became big hits, names attached were the likes of Madonna, Michael Moore or Martin Scorsese or from pioneers of the form like Wiseman or Maysles.

But now that they are making their way back through the festival scene and on digital platforms like Vimeo and Criterion Channel (no Netflix yet!), it’s about time to address them.

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Tony Award Nominations! "Some Like It Hot" leads

by Nathaniel R

Christian Borle and J Harrison Ghee are 2 of "Some Like It Hot"'s 13 nominations

Lea Michele, still treading the boards in Funny Girl, and Myles Frost who won Best Actor in a Musical last season for the Michael Jackson musical "MJ" announced the Tony Award nominations this morning honoring the current season on Broadway. The nomination leader, far out front, was the musical adaptation of movie classic Some Like It Hot (review coming soon!) with 13 nominations. Jessica Chastain scored her first Tony nominations (with her second Broadway show) though other screen stars weren't as lucky this year. Though the Tony Awards are gendered for acting, two non-binary performers became the first to score nods for acting with their work in popular musicals: Alex Newell (Shucked) and J Harrison Ghee (Some Like It Hot). 

Nominations are after the jump...

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