Oscar's "Best International Feature Film" race begins

by Nathaniel R

The 94th Oscars are six months away but we now know seven of the contenders for the next Best International Feature Film race (so it's time to start updating/building the Oscar charts). In the past couple of years this category has been on absolute fire with the double whammy of extremely enthusiastic critical acclaim and crowd-pleasing entertainments via South Korea's Parasite (2019) and Denmark's Another Round (2020). For the first time that we can recall the window of eligibility this season follows the exact calendar year (usually international film contenders calendar runs October to September but last year f***ed with everyone's calendar) so as long as a movie opens in its home country sometime in 2021 it is theoretically eligible for submission. Each country can only send one film, though, as per always.

Here are the first seven contenders announced. If we've reviewed them there's a link...

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Nathaniel's Venice Wrap-Up: Jury of One Awards

by Nathaniel R

The Venice jury and I agree on a Screenplay prize for THE LOST DAUGHTER

Elisa's already shared the official winners of Venice (and her take on those choices since she saw the whole competition slate). I admire her completism at festivals but my habit is instead to sample a bit from each program. I saw twenty-one films which is a very low number to see over eight days at a major fest — blame Venice’s absurd ticketing system this year which encouraged people to be on their phones securing tickets WHILE watching movies -- i met several people who had set timers for themselves! -- since they sold out in seconds after becoming available every few hours. Since I refused to play on my phone during movies I missed two crucial movies (Spencer and Dune) but here are my favorite achievements from the films I did catch from all programs (Competition, Out of Competitions, Orizzonti, Biennale Collage Cinema, and Critics Week)

RULES: In true festival jury fashion (even though it’s just myself) I’m only allowing one prize per film. And rather than giving out a Best Actress and Best Actor prize (don't make me decide this early!) I’m listing my 15 favorite performances after the jump. What, too much? Acting is magic so I shan't apologize…. 

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TIFF: Alison Pill and Sarah Gadon in ‘All My Puny Sorrows’

By Abe Friedtanzer

 

Certain feelings and states of being are entirely subjective, and that leads people to judge others based on the limited amount they’re able to perceive. Competing for the most legitimate reason to be unhappy is never a productive exercise, and yet many think that someone else can’t possibly have it as bad as them or have as much of an excuse to feel the way they do. Sadness can only be truly experienced and quantified by the one experiencing it, a concept navigated in the moving drama All My Puny Sorrows, screening in the Special Presentations section at TIFF…

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Venice winners!

by Elisa Giudici

It's time to celebrate Venice Film Festival winners and comment on the choices of the Jury lead by Bong Joon-ho.

Golden Lion -Happening by Audrey Diwan

This year Venice and Cannes winners have lots in common. The most important prize of the both festivals went to young female French directors presenting their sophomore features. It's a good year for French cinema and a double victory of (deserving) female artists: let's hope we will never go back to decades of male-only director winners. One extra point to Venice: it is the second year in a row a woman has won: in 2020 Chloe Zhao - now a juror - won with Nomadland...

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TIFF Review: Céline Sciamma’s ‘Petite Maman’

Abe is covering a few selections from the Toronto International Film Festival remotely.  

By Abe Friedtanzer 

Expectations play a big part in the experience of watching any movie. One of the major factors I consider when selecting what I’m going to see at a film festival is whether I’ve seen (and liked) the director’s previous work. I was fully intrigued by the concept of revisiting the mind of Céline Sciamma, whose last feature was Portrait of a Lady on Fire, which I think may be one of the few films that everyone at Team Experience can agree that we loved. Well, let’s start by clarifying that her follow-up, Petite Maman, couldn’t be any more different…

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