Thankful for... Juan Carlos Ojano

This year for our "thankful for" column I'm interviewing the team (well, the non-shy ones) so you can get to know them better and so I can express my sincere gratitude that they're showcased here on the site. Today, JUAN CARLOS OJANO.

Juan Carlos lives in the Philippines and began writing for The Film Experience in mid 2020. We were all trapped inside due to the COVID-19 pandemic at the time. Human connection was scarce so thank the cinematic gods for zoom sessions with Team Experience! Juan Carlos shares our collective TFE passion for actresses + Best International Feature Film. He put the latter into action creating the podcast "One Inch Barrier" where he reviews each year of that competition. He got personal with a Call Me By Your Name piece, revisited Spotlight, wrote numerous odes to The Handmaid's Tale,and just launched a biweekly series on female directors called "Through Her Lens" that I really hope you will obsess over. I'm already wondering which female directors he'll be looking at from the 00s and earlier when they were less frequently honored and discussed.

HERE'S OUR SHORT INTERVIEW...

When did you first fall in love with the movies?

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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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Days Until...

Today is October 22nd which means it's... 

0 days until Dune, The French Dispatch, Ron's Gone Wrong, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, and The Harder They Fall open in movies theaters (and in some cases at home). That's right -- they're out now!

60 days until the Oscar finalists list are announced in categories like Best International Film, Best Score, Best Documentary, and so on...

96 days until the Governors Awards when the Academy honors legends like Liv Ullman and Samuel L Jackson with their Honorary Oscars

109 days until the nominations are announced for the 94th Academy Awards

156 days until Hollywood's High Holy Night aka the Oscars.

How will you use the time alloted you? 

UPDATED OSCAR PREDICTIONS ARE HERE

September. It's a Wrap

We've done it. Somehow we're halfway through the NYFF and we've hit the final quarter of 2021 or as we like to call it "precursor season". From now until the tail end of the year everything that's happening in Hollywood is about trying to get Oscar traction for this or that. We won't know what has truly accomplished that until Tuesday February 8th, 2022 when the Oscar nominations are announced. But that's getting ahead of ourselves. For now a quick look back at September highlights in case you missed any of them.

12 highlights
• How do you arrange your DVD collection? Christopher asks. You answered
• Best of Venice Elisa and Nathaniel on the Lido for 10 days of CINEMA
• Weekend Cláudio revisits this new gay classic for its 10th birthday
• I'm Your Man Matt looks at Germany's Oscar submission
• Over and Overs: WALL•E Ben formed a bond with his son over this Pixar classic
• The White Lotus Eric has a few thoughts on this instant classic miniseries
• How Had I Never Seen... Lust Caution Nick finally sees Ang Lee's most risque film
• Shang-Chi Nathaniel writes the only review of the Marvel blockbuster which manages to name-check The Piano
• Emmys AND Tonys Weird to have these two awards shows back-to-back this year
• The Eyes of Tammy Faye Jesus takes Jessica higher!
• Billy Wilder Christopher samples the Criterion Channel's collection
• Best of NYFF Benedetta, Tragedy of Macbeth, Titane and more...

COMING IN OCTOBER
Let's not over promise (we know we tend to do that. sorry) as it's going to be B-U-S-Y but at the very least we have the Supporting Actress Smackdown of 1937 (in just a couple of days), the release of Dune, a few more NYFF reviews, and the Middleburg Film Festival where Nathaniel (c'est moi) will be doing an Oscar panel again with friends and colleagues Clayton Davis and Jazz Tangcay. Stay tuned!

That's a wrap on Venice!

by Nathaniel R

Elisa and Nathaniel on one of several drink between movies breaks

That's a wrap on Venezia 78, otherwise known at the 2021 edition of the Venice Film Festival. The Golden Lion went to the excellent French abortion drama L'Evenement / Happening with Parallel Mothers, Spencer, and a trio of Netflix movies Hand of God, The Lost Daughter, and Power of the Dog  also emerging as hot future awards-prospects from the competition. I cannot begin to describe how beautiful the city is (my first time visiting), or what it's like to take a boat ride to the movies each day. Or especially to hang with Elisa in person who was such a great translator for me both linguistically and culturally (and so much fun, too!). There was definitely a learning curve as a first-timer (I missed way too many of the hot ticket titles) but overall it was a good experience.  We hope you enjoyed our coverage. Consider subscribing for the price of a cup of coffee a month if you did as festival coverage isn't cheap for us behind the scenes...

• Elisa's Diary #1 Parallel Mothers and Power of the Dog
• Elisa's Diary #2 The Card Counter, Hand of God, The Lost Daughter
• Elisa's Diary #3 Spencer, A Plein Temps, Il Buco
• Eiisa's Diary #4 Sundown, Official Competition, etc...
• Elisa Extra Dune - full review
• Elisa's Diary #5 L'Evenement, Lost Illusions, Mona Lisa...
• Elisa's Diary #6 Reflection, Captain Volkonoff Escaped, Old Henry, etc...
• Elisa's Diary #7 Halloween Kills, Freaks Out, The Last Duel, etc...
• Elisa Extra Golden Lion and other prizes

• Nathaniel in Venice #1 Parallel Mothers
• Nathaniel in Venice #2 Power of the Dog, Madeleine Collins
• Nathaniel in Venice #3 Atlantide, Les Promesses, The Lost Daughter
• Nathaniel in Venice #4 107 Mothers, Official Competition, Miracle, etc...
• Nathaniel Extra Jessica Chastain & Oscar Isaac 🖤
• Nathaniel in Venice #5 Last Night in Soho, Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon
• Nathaniel in Venice #6 Catholic School, A Hole in the Fence, The Box
• Nathaniel Extra Cambodia's Oscar submission
• Nathaniel in Venice #7 Mother Lode, L'Evenement, The Falls, etc...
• Nathaniel Extra Jury of One - best of what he saw

cup o' joe : $2.50USD - monthly popcorn : $5.00USD - monthly movie ticket : $10.00USD - monthly

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