'Television Event' about the making of classic 'The Day After' (1983)

By Glenn Dunks

I didn't expect to be throwing in an extra review from DOC NYC but I wanted to bring to your attention a film that is relevant to the interests of many Film Experience readers. The film is Television Event, a wonderful documentary about the making of The Day After (1983).

In a 24-hour news cycle full of of doom and terror, even young audiences are not blind to the world’s ills due to social media and a rapidly politically engaged society. That wasn’t the case in 1983 when Nicholas Meyer’s The Day After aired on ABC to an audience of an estimated 100-million people. The made-for-television movie brought the Cold War into American living rooms in a way that had never quite been done before.

There had not been any prime-time newscast announcing the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, of course. But for many viewers of The Day After, even though it was fictional, the power of its message and its images made them feel as if they had just borne witness to something of that magnitude...

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Linkpack

• TFE reminder -- LAST DAY TO VOTE ON THE 1987 SMACKDOWN!
• Vanity Fair Dolly Parton might save us all again. She donated to a promising COVID vaccine
• People 80s star Andrew McCarthy is releasing a memoir called Brat. We are so reading this. That 80s run surely has so many stories: Class with Jacqueline Bisset, St Elmo's Fire with uh.... everyone, Pretty in Pink, Less Than Zero, Mannequin. 
• Vulture Stacey Abrams has a theory on Buffy the Vampire Slayer's perfect boyfriend (no, really!)
• Hollywood Life Leo DiCaprio and Emile Hirsch (hadn't heard their names in a bit) hang out at the beach
• Out will reveal their annual Out100 List on Thursday but among the early honorees are Janelle Monae, Joe Mantello, Theo Germaine (The Politician), and the gay couple behind the divisive Antebelllum movie
• Variety the longlists for  a few categories in this year's British Independent Film Awards (nominations will come in December)
• Deadline Quentin Tarantino has a book deal the first part of which is Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood related
• Vox on the National Book Award finalists

25 Italian Finalists for Oscar Submission

by Nathaniel R

Italy doesn't really make it easy for their selection committee! Most countries pick a handful of finalists (if they have a finalist list at all) before making their Oscar selection. Even France, which makes lots of movies each year, narrows it down to just three or four before the choice is made. But Italy has a list of 25 (gulp) titles to decide between for their Oscar submission which they'll announce on November 24th. Italy is a powerhouse with Oscar as the #2 most often nominated country (behind only France) and the #1 most winning country (ahead of France). The 25 titles they're looking at are after the jump if you're interested...

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Almost There: Norma Aleandro in "The Official Story"

by Cláudio Alves

One of the nominees from this Thursday's Supporting Actress Smackdown likely got her nomination due to thee Oscar buzz she had earned from a previous performance. While it was Gaby: A True Story that made Norma Aleandro an Academy Award nominee in 1987, it was her performance in 1985's The Official Story that put her name on Hollywood's lips. That Best Foreign Language Film winnere remains the crown jewel in the Argentinian actress' hallowed career...

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International Contenders: Sudan's First Submission, North Macedonia's Follow Up

We now have a total of 53 submissions for Oscar's Best International Feature competition with 7 additional countries like Bangladesh, Belarus, Colombia, Denmark, France, Italy, and Uruguay scheduled to announce their submissions within the next week. This year we might see a record number of African films submitted. For instance, we're getting our first submission from Sudan, You Will Die at 20, about a 19 year old who a village holy man had predicted at birth would die at 20. North Macedonia, which was nominated last year for Honeyland, has submitted a drama about three women struggling to control their own fates around pregnancy and motherhood called Willow.

Here are the new submissions since our last overview roundup!

• Israel - Asia (Israel's Oscar stats)
• Lithuania - Nova Lithuania
• Mexico - I'm No Longer Here (other finalists / Ariel Award Winner)
• Montenegro - Breasts
• North Macedonia - Willow 
• Norway - Hope (Norway's Oscar stats)
• Portugal - Listen (other finalists)
• Russia - Dear Comrades! (Russia's Oscar stats)
• South Africa - Toorbos 
• Sudan - You Will Die at 20 

WHERE TO SEE THE MOVIES?
If you want to get a jump on some of the submissions 8 of the 52 titles are currently streaming.  Netflix has five of them: Austria's What We Wanted, Mexico's I'm No Longer Here, Spain's The Endless Trench, Taiwan's A Sun, and Turkey's Miracle in Cell No 7. You can also stream Guatemala's La Llorona on Amazon,  Indonesia's Impetigore is on Shudder or Roku, and South Korea's Man Standing Next on Amazon, YouTube, or iTunes. You can follow the list as it grows at our Oscar charts or on our Letterboxd list.