Oscar Contenders Sweep Through the 11th Asia Pacific Screen Awards

By Glenn Dunks

Rajkummar Rao wins BEST ACTOR for India's Oscar submission "Newton"

This past Thursday, the 11th Asia Pacific Screen Awards were held in Brisbane, Australia. The awards cover 70 countries and areas, which makes their scope even bigger than APSA's cousin the European Film Awards. Now, fair admission, working for APSA is my day job for four months of the year, but when I say what they do is so incredible and important you should know I'm not saying so out of obligation. How many award shows do you know that can honour an Australian 1920s-set western, a contemporary Georgian drama for actressexuals, and Syrian documentaries about life-saving humanitarians?

More than half of the 13 categories this year were won by films on various Oscar eligibility longlists and therefore in serious contention of nominations. While the big winner of the night for Best Feature Film was ultimately Warwick Thornton's Sweet Country of Australia, it won't be released locally until January next year so it could potentially be eligible for 2018 (his 2009 debut, which also won the Best Feature Film APSA made the foreign language shortlist). But the big country winners of the night were Georgia and Russia with three wins.

The winners are after the jump...

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London Film Festival: Roundup and Oscar Chances

Pivotally positioned in October, the BFI London Film Festival boasts the distinction of having some of the most feted films of the year, champions newcomers and not without its stalwart festival curiosities. On the ground this year was Film Experience contributor Seán McGovern who saw only a fraction of the films on offer, but nonetheless a taste of potential Oscar contenders.

Call Me By Your Name
Worried that I would be tranquillised by the hype, I nonetheless could not resist it. Yes, it's a film about gorgeous people of immense privilege, but who can dismiss how hard it is to successfully capture the furtive horniness and confused intensity of young love? Timothée Chalamet's Elio teeters between brazenness and vulnerability, and Armie Hammer captures a strange aloofness that is hard to do on screen. It actually made me want to have children - just so I could grow up and be Micheal Stuhlbarg.

Oscar chances: Director, Picture, Best Actor (Chalamet), Supporting Actor(s) (Hammer, Stuhlbarg), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Original Score. Whether Academy voters embrace two LGBT films in a row is another thing.

 Six more films after the jump...

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Cannes: "You Were Never Really Here" and Palme d'Or Predictions

Previously: Day 1, Days 2-4, Days 5-6, Days 7-8, and Days 9-10
Fashion: French Divas & Kidmanifestations 1, 2, 3

Joaquin Phoenix, an antihero saving girls from sex slavery, in Lynne Ramsay's thriller "You Were Never Really Here"

Cannes wraps up Sunday with the closing ceremony which means the Palme d'Or! The last competition film to premiere (tomorrow officially is Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here  and as is sometimes the case in the more dramatic Cannes festivals, many critics are proclaiming that the festival saved the best for last. Variety's Guy Lodge loved it calling it a "a stunning return," The Guardian compares it to Taxi Driver in its "nightmarish psychological drama" 

Does that mean it will win the Palme d'Or or that Joaquin Phoenix has Best Actor wrapped up? Not really. It's foolish with Cannes to ever assume you know what will win but let's make some tentative predictions for fun after the jump shall we? 

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Cannes Days 2-4: "Wonderstruck" and More

by Nathaniel R

One of our all time favorite movie couples reunited: Julianne Moore and Todd Haynes

After the fiasco of that opening press conference and the typical "underwhelmed" response to the opening night film, happier news. The first full day of screenings brought us news of Todd Haynes Wonderstruck which reunites one of the world's greatest auteurs with his earliest muse Julianne Moore, and other reportedly fine films. Read on for more!

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