Get Ready for a New Oscar Category: Best Casting

by Cláudio Alves

Until today, Animated Feature was the youngest category. SHREK was its first winner .

Though some people say the Oscars already have too many categories, the Academy disagrees. Today, AMPAS announced a new awards category meant to honor casting directors. It won't be an Honorary or Special Achievement Oscar like it happened in the early days of such races as International Film and Visual Effects, but a regular competitive category. We'll see the first nominees for this new prize in two years' time, during the season of the 98th Academy Awards, honoring 2025 releases. One assumes the Board of Governors will use that time to establish specific rules and eligibility requirements…

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An appeal to the Academy (and the wonder of Lady Gaga)

by Cláudio Alves

The 94th Academy Awards were marked by a scene that will surely live in infamy, one of those immortal Oscar moments destined to overshadow everything else about the ceremony, its winners, and the overall season. Whatever one might think about it, AMPAS wasn't to blame for it. However, there's no way to deny their responsibility for the night's other failings. Indeed, The Slap wasn't the reason I'd call the 94th Academy Awards the worst ceremony of my lifetime. That would be its overall contempt for the art of the movies. This came through in the ceremony in ways that Nathaniel and Eric have already written about.

And yet, hope is everlasting.  The 94th Academy Awards ended on a positive note that might point us towards a better future, a return to form...

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93rd Academy Awards: Best Film Editing

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Best Film Editing is noteworthy as an Oscar categoryfor its strong connection with the Best Picture race. With the exception of 2014’s Birdman (which prided itself for being a one-take film even if it actually isn’t), we have to go back to 1980 to find a Best Picture winner without a corresponding Film Editing nomination. However, the expanded ballot changed the Editing race. Since 2009, only four non-Best Picture nominees have gone on to be nominated in this category, with only one winning. This lends a preordained quality to the contenders.

This year is no exception, with all five nominees coming from Best Picture contenders. However, the predictability of the crop does not equate to the predictability of the race; this is one of those categories where one can see any of the five nominees realistically taking the award based on presumed strength in the awards season...

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