An Awards Night in New York

by Murtada Elfadl

Award events where the winners have already been announced have a particular way about them. The speeches are mostly prepared before, and the winners  - or their publicists and the people behind their movies - have a say in who gets to present them with the award. Last night the New York Film Critics Circle presented their 2019 awards and here are some of the presenter / winner pairings and why perhaps they’ve been chosen.

Yahya Abdul Mateen / Lupita Nyong’o…. He played her dad in flashbacks in Us

Claire Denis / Mati Diop …. Diop was in Denis’ 35 Shots of Rum...

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DGA (semi) surprises with a Taika Waititi nomination

by Nathaniel R

Taika is a previous Oscar nominee for Live Action Short. He could become an Oscar nominee in additional categories this year (Best Director and Best Screenplay)

Making a clean sweep of the major guild nominations, Jojo Rabbit is also in with the Directors Guild of America. This was not totally expected but neither is it much of a surprise since his "anti-hate satire"has performed well all season with awards bodies, despite very vocal detractors and a modest box office performance. Yes, it grossed just a little less than Parasite but since it has Hollywood stars and is in English it wasn't half the breakout word-of-mouth smash that the former was. Where the DGA is always more interesting is in their less Oscar-buzzed "first time feature" category. The nominees are after the jump...

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FYC: Claire Mathon for Best Cinematography

by Cláudio Alves

Two years ago, Rachel Morrison made history when she became the first woman to be nominated for Best Cinematography at the Oscars. By no means does that imply Mudbound's wondrous DP is a pioneer. There are many awards-worthy female DPs working in cinema, past and present, and the Academy's sketchy record should be understood as nothing more than the industry's  internalized sexism and biases. Where were the nominations for Maryse Alberti, Agnès Godard, and Ellen Kuras, among others?

This year, critics have been united in their praise of a particular DP whose double dose of photographic genius could make History, just as Morrison did in 2018. However, Claire Mathon is fighting against even more of the Academy's treacherous biases, including their disinterest in African cinema, LGBTQ stories, and non-English speaking narratives…

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Once Again All Male Director Nominees at the Golden Globes

by Murtada Elfadl

It looks like it’s time to call on Natalie Portman to present the best director award at the Golden Globes again. Somebody needs to shade the Hollywood Foreign Press Association again. Here’s who got nominated this morning:

• Bong Joon Ho, Parasite
• Sam Mendes, 1917
• Todd Philips, Joker
• Martin Scorsese, The Irishman
• Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time....in Hollywood

None of the 10 nominated films in the Drama and Musical/Comedy were directed by a woman. Only in the foreign film category did female directors make an impact...

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Podcast: A Beautiful Day, Knives Out, Waves, Atlantics

with Murtada Elfadl & Nathaniel R 

Index (61 minutes)

• 00:01 Happy belated Thanksgiving
• 02:01 Marielle Heller and Tom Hanks offer catharsis with A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
• 14:30 Knives Out and that yummy cast: Chris Evans, Toni Collette, etc...
• 21:30 Film Bitch Awards / Jennifer Lopez in Hustlers tangent
• 23:00 Exciting new voice: Senegal's Mati Diop and Atlantics
• 29:20 Waves divides people, including Nathaniel and Murtada, and we also discuss the rush to judgment on first screenings among pundits
• 38:00 Spirit Nominations - What did we make of them?
• 48:20 Best Cinematography - Roger Deakins for 1917... but who else? 
• 59:00 Can you believe it's December already? 

Related Reading
Murtada's interview with Mati Diop
Monica Castillo's Knives Out essay

 You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

A Beautiful Day for Podcasting