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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Oscar Volleys: Best International Film aka “Emilia Pérez” vs. the World

The Oscar Volleys are back for some post-nomination talks. Today, Eric Blume and Nathaniel Rogers discuss Best International Film...

EMILIA PÉREZ | © Netflix

ERIC:  Nathaniel, what fun to have you all to myself to discuss the nominees for Best International Film (which I sometimes still call Best Foreign Film, because that's been in my brain too long).  I think we have five pretty terrific nominees this year.  Before we get into their Oscar-ability, what is your personal take across the five films?  I wouldn't be mad at a ranking!

NATHANIEL:  I share the same nomenclature waffling but we both were Oscar watching since the 1980s so who can blame us?...

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The Count vs the Cartel Boss: The César nominations are here.

by Nathaniel R

Pierre Niney as "The Count of Monte Cristo" © Pathe

Since we've always loved French cinema, we follow along with the César Awards each year. Historical adventure The Count of Monte Cristo leads the pack with an astounding 14 nominations. Curiously the second most nominated film, Beating Hearts (13 nods) a romantic drama spanning 20 years, is NOT up for Best Film. It premiered at Cannes to some negative reviews before an October theatrical release. Among the nomination leaders the Oscar-bound trans cartel musical Emilia Pérez (12 nominations) came in third.

Let's look at the fields and discuss and jot down which films we'll have to watch out for in 2025 as they make their way across the ocean...

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French & Italian Finalists for Oscar Submissions

by Nathaniel R

The selection of France and Italy's contenders in Oscar's Best International Feature Film race are always a big deal; the two countries thoroughly dominated the category in the 20th century and they're still the all-time stat leaders 24 years into the new century. France announced an official finalist list of four films. We also know which films Italy is choosing between though there are no "finalists" per se since they skip that step and go straight to voting. Let's look at the possibilities after the jump...

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Cannes Diary: Best of the Fest from this 'Jury of One'

by Elisa Giudici

ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT © Cannes Film Festival

Cannes is coming to an end. In fact the closing awards ceremony begins less than four hours after this article's pubication. While we wait to finish reviewing all the films in competition and find out who will win the much-coveted Palme d'Or, it's time for A Jury of One...

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