Cláudio's 2022 Top Ten

by Cláudio Alves

While the Academy mulls over its nominees and decides on winners, the awards season reaches its last phase. Campaigns are at their apex, precursors shake the race, and speeches are aplenty. So, here at The Film Experience, it's time to share personal favorites, getting closure on the cinematic year as we do so. Indeed, Nathaniel's Film Bitch Awards are on its way, with some categories already announced – go check them out. In the meantime, I'm here to share my own top ten, which runs the gamut from apocalyptic gore to the year's best performance, from Jesus-y donkeys to Catholic guilt with a side of gay longing...

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Doc Corner: A to Z of the Longlist (Part 5)

By Glenn Dunks

History can unfold in a lot of different ways. So too, how filmmakers choose to uncover, reveal and tell it in films for audiences. This week’s selection of films through the alphabet of 2022 titles that were eligible for the 95^th Academy Awards (parts one to four available in the archives) show this off to great effect (even if the movies themselves don’t always succeed).

One uses comedy to explain how a man hoodwinked his way through one of the more baffling true crimes (if you can call it that) in modern history. Another takes a brief snippet of archival war footage to unravel a hidden queer love story at a time where such things weren't to be spoken about. Another is more traditional, detailing an incredible story from the annals of cinema history that could very easily have been ignored.

And at least in the first one—we get to see Alan Cumming lip syncing for his life.

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Doc Corner: Surprise Nominee, 'A House Made of Splinters'

By Glenn Dunks

I wasn’t expecting to have to review this movie so early. Until little more than a week before the 85^th Academy Awards, Simon Lereng Wilmont’s film about Ukrainian children didn’t even have an American distribution deal. PBS and POV swooped in just in time, acquiring the rights to a film that nobody had on their predictions and yet ultimately landed a surprise nomination for Best Documentary Feature alongside more recognised titles All That Breathes, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Fire of Love and Navalny (all titles we have looked at over the last year).

The movie had of course been on my radar for a while. Wilmont’s previous film, The Distant Barking of Dogs, was one of the great documentaries of the 2010s. A House Made of Splinters doesn’t quite reach the five-star heights of that one, because it has less of a laser focus. But it’s a beautiful, aching story and it is definitely not just making up the numbers on the Academy’s five.

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Sundance: Here are your 2023 winners!

by Cláudio Alves

Another year, another Sundance Film Festival reaches its end, concluding a grand celebration of independent cinema in the snowy Utah landscape. This edition, the reviews were especially glowing across the international press, with many a title earning acclaim - sadly, that's not always guaranteed. One of those productions was the eventual winner of the U.S. Dramatic Competition – A.V. Rockwell's A Thousand and One. The jurors (Jeremy O. Harris, Eliza Hittman, and Marlee Matlin) praised the film's tenderness and how it felt real, so and full of pain. In its citation, the jury further mentioned the project's fearless commitment to emotional truth born of oppressive circumstances. American audiences won't have to wait long to see this award-winning feat in theaters, as the film's scheduled for a March 31st release. 

After the jump, find the full list of winners and some stray observations…

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Doc Corner: A to Z of the Longlist (Part 4)

By Glenn Dunks

As we carry forth alphabetically along our merry way through the Academy's 144-title long-list (yes, we'll still be going both after the shortlist as well as after the nominations next week—click here for A through J) we have coincidentally found two consecutive titles about the city of New Orleans. Bost missed the shortlist, which isn't surprising although they each have their virtues. Following these, however, is one film that did make the Oscar shortlist and that doesn't make quite such convenient bedfellows, but rules are rules and we're dealing with what the alphabet gives us.

The strongest of the pair from Louisiana is Katrina Babies, Edward Buckles’ partly autobiographical account of life in the city post Hurricane Katrina. Buckles uses a mixture of interviews, archival news footage and colourful animation to tell the story of how this natural event destroyed the way of life of so many, but in particular a group of children who knew no other life and were quickly forced to grow up.

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