TIFF 50: To be or not to be, with "Hamlet" and "Scarlet"

by Cláudio Alves

You thought you were free of TIFF coverage? Well, think again, because there are still a lot of movies to discuss, even if already intertwined with NYFF reviews. In any case, let's consider Shakespeate and a certain prince of Denmark.

There lived and died a Hamnet before Hamlet came to be on the page, on the stage, and in the imagination of countless folks stretching from the Elizabethan age into eternity. At TIFF 50, however, Aneil Karia's Hamlet screened before Zhao's Hamnet, a bit overshadowed by the film that had already rocked Telluride by that point and still promises to be a talking point for months to come. The same could be said for Scarlet, Mamoru Hosoda's latest animated fantasy, which takes its cues from the Bard's tragedy for one wild ride into purgatory and beyond…

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"Joyland" banned in Pakistan. Can it still compete at the Oscars?

by Nathaniel R

Saim Sadiq (via Instagram, left) and a memorable shot from his feature debut "Joyland" (right)

Censorship has been part of the history of art forever. The ways in which we think of censorship in Hollywood cinema usually involve ratings boards or production codes... self-censorship from the industry to prevent outside censorship from the government. It's less a case of banning art than an attempt to keep storytellers in line with accepted norms, however conservative those norms might be in their time. When the story of censorship visibly collides with the Oscar race, though, it's usually across the border and in the Best International Feature Film category. Now we have another of those stories via Pakistan's Oscar submission Joyland. 

The movie, a brilliant feature debut from 31 year old filmmaker Saim Sadiq, is a drama about a young husband in Lahore who falls for a trans performer after being hired by a local dance theater. It first came to international attention when it premiered at Cannes (the first Pakistani movie to do so) and won both Un Certain Regard and the Queer Palm. Just a week before its premiere in Pakistan its release was denied, endangering its Oscar run.  Questions naturally crop out like "Why would a country submit a film and then ban it?" and "Can it still compete?" so let's answer those...

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A closer look at the Oscar finalists for Best Live Action Short

By Abe Friedtanzer

This year, the Best Live Action Short category has fifteen films on its shortlist, up from ten. I was able to screen all of them and interview each film’s director, which helps to give some context and depth to what may end up being a very brief and otherwise fleeting experience. I’m happy to report that, even though the themes are mostly not uplifting, this is a very solid and strong category. Some brief descriptions and thoughts on the films below, where to watch the ones that are available online, and my predictions for which five will be nominated.

ALA KACHUU – TAKE AND RUN  (38 minutes, Kyrgyzstan)
A woman who is planning to continue her studies becomes the victim of bride kidnapping, a real phenomenon where shame is put upon any woman who tries to escape that fate...

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Thankful for... Ben Miller!

This year for our "thankful for" column we're doing things differently. I'm interviewing the team so you can get to know them better. First up, BEN MILLER.

Ben joined Team Experience in the summer of 2017. He lives in Texas with his wife and kids. Like most of us here at TFE he's into Oscars and the related niche trivia fascinations that come with that. In the few years he's been at TFE he's revealed impeccable taste in actresses, caught up with classics he'd missed like Cabaret and reviewed a lot of TV including the final season of Game of Thrones. And though he called his own piece on connecting with his son through WALL•E "corny,"  I personally love his family man perspective. Sometimes sentiment is earned! 

OUR THANKSGIVING QUESTIONNAIRE FOLLOWS...

Okay, Ben, when did you first fall in love with the movies?

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BIFA Nominations: Is "Belfast" a David or a Goliath?

by Nathaniel R

In extremely good news for presumed Oscar frontrunner Belfast, they're still running as a "David" rather than a "Goliath" in the Oscar race. That's by way of a leading the British Independent Film Award nominations without truly hogging the spotlight since Kenneth Branagh's charming memoir film missed in the big categories like Film and Director. It still leads the nominations by way of across the board love in the craft categories. It's funny because we initially thought it might have the opposite problem at the Oscar. Yes, it's a period drama but it's not particularly flashy about its craft elements (beyond the black & white cinematography and the Van Morrison songscape). Tying it for most nominations, 9, is a continuous shot movie called Boiling Point by Philip Barantini.

Five other films also scored six or more nominations suggesting the juries had a small pool to choose from or only loved seven films. The Souvenir Part II, Censor, Ali & Ava, The Nest, and After Love were all obviously well regarded, too. A complete list of nominations and more after the jump...

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