AFI Fest: Switzerland's Oscar Submission "My Little Sister"

by Christopher James

The first image depicts a frail woman in a hospital hooked up to an IV. The camera moves in and seems to fixate on the needle in her arm. For the uninitiated, this introduction feels almost parody-esque of an Oscar foreign language film. Are we in for a two hour depression porn where beautiful Europeans slowly die from cancer?

Luckily, My Little Sister, Switzerland’s Oscar submission, is more than meets the eye in that opening moment. Yes, it’s a cancer drama. However, it’s a more unorthodox exploration of a complicated sibling dynamic...

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Sally Kirkland's legendary Oscar campaign

by Cláudio Alves

The next Supporting Actress Smackdown will focus on the contenders of 1987. Before that celebration of great acting at the margins, we'll be exploring the cinematic year, its glorious pictures, and memorable Oscar races. Speaking of which, one can't discuss 1987 in the context of awards, without mentioning and paying respect to one of the ballsiest campaigns ever made by an actress. Through her sheer will, impressive determination, and tireless ambition, Sally Kirkland managed to conquer a Best Actress Oscar nomination for Anna, a little-seen American indie about an aging performer.

First things first, before we delve into Kirkland's pursuit of little golden men, we should appreciate the work for which she was recognized. The movie is discussed nowadays to snicker at the thirsty campaign, but it's a masterclass of acting...

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Yes No Maybe So: "The Prom"

Where's the zazz baby?

The zazz is right there in The Prom trailer, Nicole. Why do you ask?

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More International Oscar News: Several "Finalist" Lists Announced

by Nathaniel R

The Man Standing Next ...has the difficult task of following in Parasite's footsteps!

The submission charts for Oscar's Best International Feature Film race have been updated to reflect more new entries like Croatia's Extracurricular, Palestine's Gaza Mon Amour, Panama's war drama Causa Justa , Romania's documentary Collective, and South Korea's The Man Standing Next.

But the big news at the moment is six finalist lists so keep your eye out for any of these pictures to rise up...

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Women of a Certain Age and the Best Actress Race

This list/trivia article is revamped from a 2014 article...

 

With Sophia Loren (86), Meryl Streep (71 if she campaigns in lead), Frances McDormand (63), Michelle Pfeiffer (62), Viola Davis (55), Amy Adams (46), and Kate Winslet (45) all looking like viable discussion points for the upcoming Best Actress race, it's time to look at one of our favourite research areas: Age and Oscar Trivia. If any combo of five from those seven women make it (unlikely of course) we'll have our oldest Best Actress lineup of all time by a big margin. If only three or four of them make it we're still likely to have the oldest line up of all time though younger contenders like Andra Day, Vanessa Kirby, Elisabeth Moss, Jennifer Hudson, and Carey Mulligan (all in their 30s) are surely hoping to spoil this 'most mature' trivia party. 

Good news: The Academy is getting less ageist. We know because we've researched this for years. In fact as you can see in the "top ten most mature Best Actress lineups" after the jump, a good deal of the top ten is from recent years. When this first started happening we chalked it up to an anomaly due to Meryl Streep, but she's hardly the only senior citizen actress that they've nominated in the last 20 years. Ready for the list? 

The Top Ten Most Mature Best Actress Shortlists

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