César Nominations & Lumière Awards

by Nathaniel Rogers

NOUVELLE VAGUE

(I know I know we need to talk about the BAFTAs but I started this post first. Patience). We like to share the César nominations each year (i.e. the French Oscars) and as in most years there is at least a bit of Oscar crossover -- this year you see it in Best Screenplay, Best Live Action Short, Best Animated Feature, and of course Best International Feature which tends to be the category with the most crossover at any country's own awards. Richard Linklater's delightful black-and-white retelling of the making of Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless, Nouvelle Vague, led the nominations. Their Oscar submission/nominee this year Jafar Panahi's It Was Just An Accident received just two nominations but it's in the top category.

To make this even more interesting we thought we'd compare it to the Lumière Awards which were already held and which I've heard called France's Golden Globes though I don't know about the accuracy of that. Their taste runs quite different this year as they loved François Ozon's The Stranger most which barely shows up at the Césars. Okay ready? Read on for Isabelle Huppert's latest, Jodie Foster's snub, and more...

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Venice Diary #05 - Bad Journalists, bad-ass lapdancer and a french pearl

by Elisa Giudici

"Ridacece i soldi" (give us our money back) is a bizarre event that takes place every year at Venice Film Festival. It's a sort of award for the festivalgoers. In this picture, you can see the wooden prize awarded to the author of the funniest joke about a movie seen during the festival or a joke about a stereotypical situation that can be experienced only during Mostra. Everyone can write (or draw) an entry on a simple white piece of paper. There is a big wooden board in front of the official cafeteria. If you are early for the next screening, you can stop by and read some entries. The kind of humor most appreciated in this peculiar competition is the dry kind: you have to be biting wit to have a chance of winning.

Okay let's talk about three of the main Competition films: Lost Illusions, Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon, and L'Evenement...

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