Emmy Review: Contemporary Costumes

by Cláudio Alves

The Creative Arts Emmys are upon us but, before their double ceremony, there's still time to look at the last Costume category for narrative programs. This particular awards race is focused on contemporary-set narratives, a sort of design challenge seldomly celebrated by other organizations like the Oscars. Due to some new rules, this lineup of seven contenders is also the biggest one in any costume category throughout Emmy history. Let's see who wins out of this supersized selection…

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Costume Design in 1938. A Discussion with Nathaniel and Cláudio

by Nathaniel R and Cláudio Alves

Holiday, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Great Waltz

For the first time ever as a Smackdown supplement -- the 1938 event arrives tomorrow night -- we're giving you two entire additional categories: we discussed Best Picture and now we bring you Best Costume Design. 'But wait,' the Oscar experts amongst you instantly protest. 'Best Costume Design didn't exist yet in 1938. The category wasn't created until 1948!.' This is true so Cláudio and I, who are both obsessed with this particular craft, thought we'd just create it early. Which films should have been nominated for this prize back in 1938 since the category should have existed from the very first ceremony. (You can't make movies without costumes. At least not ones that hope to find MPAA favor or, in '38, approval from the Hayes Code.)

At the end of this discussion we'll each present our two ballots for "should haves" and "would haves" to reflect our own preferences and how we think The Academy might have voted...

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Doc Corner TIFF Special Edition: Werner Herzog's 'Fireball'

By Glenn Dunks

We're not covering TIFF more broadly this year, but I was lucky to snag a screener or two so we'll be writing about them in a couple of additional Doc Corner columns.

One of my favourite bits of movie trivia is that Werner Herzog is the only filmmaker to have ever directed feature-length films on every single continent. He completed that unique party trick with his 2007 Oscar-nominated documentary Encounters at the End of the World. I’m sure that if he could, he would make a movie in space. For now, however, his latest feature doc about the elements of space will have to suffice.

Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds begins in the terrestrial outback of Australia and ends in the shimmering blue plateaus of Antarctica with just about every other continent in between (he just can’t help himself). Herzog traces the history of meteorites with regular collaborator and first-time co-director Clive Oppenheimer...

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Norma Shearer, the First Lady of MGM

by Cláudio Alves

It's odd that so few people talk about Norma Shearer nowadays. This Academy Award-winning actress was once one of the greatest stars of moviedom, First Lady of MGM, Queen of the Lot. Her arch elegance typified the glamour of Old Hollywood, while her evolving acting style often reflected and predicted the trends of the industry. She was a phenomenon, a sensation, a diva, but her modern recognition pales in comparison to many of her contemporaries like Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, and others.

Since we're celebrating 1938 and that was the year when she got the last of her five or six Oscar nominations (depending on how you count her double from 1930), it's a good time to look back at the life and films of Norma Shearer…

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"Night of the Kings" is our third International Oscar submission

by Nathaniel R

Director Philippe Lacôte and a still from "Night of the Kings" his second feature

We have our third reported Oscar submission for Best International Feature at the 2020 Oscars and this one is a rarity. Ivory Coast, a West African country, has only ever submitted two previous films to the race. Though Ivory Coast, a former French colony, became independent in 1960, their first submission Black and White in Color (1976), which won the Oscar, was the debut of French filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud who was quickly snapped up by Hollywood. Ivory Coast didn't submit again until they had their own debut director, Philippe Lacôte. His first film, a crime drama called Run, was submitted to represent the country in 2015 and his sophomore feature will represent the country again. Screen Daily recently spoke with the filmmaker about why there are so few African films at A-list festivals and how this new film came into being.

Night of the Kings which premiered this past week in Venice, is a Scheherazade-like story about a thief (Bakary Koné, pictured above) who becomes a storyteller in order to survive in the infamous MACA jail in the city of Abidjab (Lacôte's home town). The story the thief is telling is a true one about a crime lord called Zama King but  Lacôte wasn't interested in making a traditional biopic (bless him!). French actors Steve Tientcheu (from last year's Oscar nominated Les Miserables) and the always incredible Denis Lavant (Holy Motors) co-star.

Previously
Poland selects Never Gonna Snow Again
Switzerland selects My Little Sister