State of the Race: Guilds! Guilds!! Guilds!!!

by Cláudio Alves

With so many guild mentions, BUGONIA may be strutting toward some surprise Oscar nods.

The Oscar nominations are ever closer, and it’s time to start making final predictions. So far, these awards round-ups have focused on critics groups, but the guilds have spoken, and pundits must listen. After all, AMPAS voters are industry people. Not that these honors matter only as data points for accurate predictions. They represent celebration among artistic peers and, sometimes, there are even surprises that have nothing to do with the Oscar race and are all the sweeter because of it. So, without further ado, let’s run the gamut from the American Society of Cinematographers to the Visual Effects Society, going through such major plaudits as the DGA and PGA awards…

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Weekend Awards Wrap-Up: From the Vatican to Vegas

by Cláudio Alves

Mikey Madison crashes into the Best Actress race thanks to BAFTA.

Last weekend marked the rapid ascendance of Anora as the Oscar Best Picture frontrunner. This past week's guilds honors haven't dispelled that notion, though BAFTAs might have, with Conclave taking the top prize from the British Academy. Will the race come down between a doomed Vegas wedding and a Vatican election, or will another contender rise with SAG next Sunday? From social media controversies to precursor disharmony, his season has been uncommonly chaotic and I, for one, am loving this sense of unpredictability. As much as we like to presume otherwise, this isn't a numbers game and stats exist to be broken. So let's break them…

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ADG, AMPS, and the BSC close the 'Guilds Week'

by Cláudio Alves

The guilds are coming together in support for CONCLAVE.

To talk about awards in the face of such a catastrophe as the LA fires feels fundamentally wrong. And yet, we need to acknowledge them to explain why this past week has been so odd for those following the Oscar race. Amid the ongoing calamity, various Hollywood guilds have delayed their announcements and extended voting periods. This includes the Academy, but for this post's purpose, the PGA, WGA, and ASC are the organizations we're specifically referring to. Not all guilds followed suit, of course. The Art Directors Guild and the Association of Motion Picture Sound have shared their slate of honorees for the season. Also, since they're not based in California, the British Society of Cinematographers was unaffected. Let's consider their nominees…

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Weekend Awards Wrap-Up: From the PGA to Cinema Eye

by Cláudio Alves

THE ZONE OF INTEREST proved an unexpected hit with the Producers Guild of America.

Oscar voting is ongoing, so this past week's honors feel especially important. They can be the spotlight that shines on a movie at just the right time, reminding Academy members of its merit as a contender. But of course, in terms of guild honors, they're also a way for awards obsessives to get a sense of what movies the industry values most. For example, the latest onslaught of guild nods makes the picture clear for those doubting that Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest could succeed beyond critics' prizes. If an organization as mainstream-inclined as the PGA can embrace Jonathan Glazer's latest nightmare, what's stopping AMPAS from doing the same?

So, from producers to regional critics, Annie nominees to Cinema Eye winners, this is what happened last week…

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ADG Nominees

by Nathaniel R

The Art Directors Guild have named their film nominees in four categories (Period, Fantasy, Contemporay, and Animated). While the nominations are of note themselves, of course, they are also key tells in the tale of the year's Oscar race as the Best Production Design ogenerally come from a combo of three of those four categories; Sadly Oscar's branch members have never honored an animated film in the category, even a stop motion film which of course built actual sets with set decoration, just like live-action movies do...

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