Year in Review: Nathaniel's 'Multiversal' Top Ten List & Personal Prizes

by Nathaniel R

Multiverses were the hot trend in mainstream cinema this year with the MCU banking its whole future on the appeal of mirror dimensions and alternate timelines. If you take the trend less franchise-literal, it was even more omnipresent. Multiple films asked us to consider alternate realities, ahistorical timelines, and the multiplicity of identity through the power of both storytelling and our own imagination. It's through this broad prism that I present my take on the year's best films.

I hope you enjoy though it always bears repeating that "Best" is necessarily subjective; We each occupy our own universes when it comes to these matters. Before the top ten, a bakers dozen of honorable mentions...

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ICYMI - Eligibility for the 95th Oscars (and two noticeable absences)

We usually share the official "reminder" list for Academy voters but it's been so busy we forgot. Apologies. If you'd like to look it up it's here. 301 films are eligible for Best Picture this year. This list is a handy guide each year to clear up any doubts that remain about what actually got released in theaters, and in which calendar year (given that many films don't "qualify" until the year after their festival bows, this year that's the case for Benediction, The Cursed, and Pleasure, among others, which all first premiered in 2021). All of this becomes harder and harder to track each year with theatrical releases barely advertised and in theaters for increasingly short durations.

The biggest area of curiousity for us, is seeing which of the annual submissions for Best International Feature Film are eligible outside of that race and which were released but didn't submit for general eligibility...

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Interview: The stars of "Girl Picture" on their international breakout

by Nathaniel R

Linnea, Ammu, and Eleonora the stars of "GIRL PICTURE"

The Academy will release the names of 15 finalists for Best International Feature Film on December 21st. One film we hope to see on that list if Finland's absolutely wonderful Girl Picture. But even if the Academy passes it by (they've often been a little indifferent to films about teenagers) we're certain it will stand the test of the time as one of the best youth films of the 2020s. We urge you all to see it if you haven't yet as it's readily available for rental on various platforms. We've been singing its praises to everyone who would listen since Sundance nearly a year ago when it won the World Cinema Audience Award.

Ben interviewed the director Alli this summer when the movie was released Recently as a kind of sequel, I sat down with the three leading actresses who bring this great movie and their characters so much emotion, humor, and authenticity...

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Finland submits "Girl Picture" (ihana!) and other Oscar news

by Nathaniel R

You all know that we here at TFE are huge fans of Girl Picture and today comes news that Finland has chosen it as their Oscar submission. While we wish its US release had been noisier (it was still playing in NYC last week) we've talked it up to everyone we know and all of you of course. It's one of the seven most recent official submissions to be announced. More after the jump... 

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The European Film Awards Longlist

by Nathaniel R

This year's European Film Awards ceremony (which moves locales each season) will take place in Rekyjavik, Iceland on December 10th. Though nominations won't be announced until November 8th, we now know 30 of the titles that are being considered for those nominations (another dozen are usually added to the list before voting though). On the following list you'll see a couple of 2021 Oscar titles but that's because the EFA's calendar runs summer to summer and is less concerned with release dates than with world premieres (which is smart given that so many different countries are involved); films which had their first official screenings between June 1st, 2021 and May 31st, 2022 qualify. The EFA Awards are always interesting because they are fairly unpredictable and have no concerns with being an Oscar bellwether though some of the titles vying for prizes each year end up as Oscar submissions from their respective countries.

The list is after the jump (links go to reviews or coverage if we've done any)...

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