"Quo Vadis, Aida?" and "Flee" win big at the European Film Awards

by Nathaniel R

The years bleed together in the world of movie awards. Quo Vadis Aida?, the Bosnian drama, premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2020 before receiving an Oscar nomination for Best International Feature Film that same season. It lost the Oscar to 2020's European Film Awards champ, Denmark's Another Round. Now, a full movie awards season later, it has succeeded its once-vanquisher to also take the top prize at the European Film Awards. What's more two British Oscar winners last year, Promising Young Woman and The Father also picked up key prizes. The only Oscar hopeful this season that arguably got a boost from the European Awards was the animated documentary Flee, which triumphed in both of its categories, Animated Feature & Documentary Feature, a double-whammy it surely hopes to achieve again at the Oscars. You can watch the ceremony here if you're so inclined.

This has no bearing on the Oscars of course, since none of those films are eligible but it is a mild eyebrower raiser that France's Titane, Finland's Compartment No 6, Italy's The Hand of God, and Norway's Worst Person in the World, all of which are award-winning presumed threats to Oscar nominations this season, could beat the year-old Bosnian film in any of their categories. Complete list of winners after the jump...

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What films are we underestimating for tech nominations?

By Ben Miller

With the film year winding down, the higher-profile films are packing the predictions of Oscar pundits everywhere.  As easy as it is to predict Dune and Nightmare Alley to have plenty of technical nominations, what films are we underestimating?

For the last 18 years, at least one film has received a single Oscar nomination in a below-the-line category.  While it is not unusual for a film to receive a single nomination in Best Original Song, Original Score or Cinematography but these are the categories awards pundits and the Oscars themselves don't tend to pay as much attention to...

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Links: Exciting Memoirs, Luscious Italians, and the Out100

• The Hollywood Reporter Paul Mescal and Josh O'Conner to star in early 20th century gay love story, The History of Sound (the curious part is that it's about America and both stars are British and the director is South African)
• The Guardian Eternals banned in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait over gay content
• People actor Kal Penn (Harold & Kumar) has come out publicly before his memoir "You Can't Be Serious" hits. He'll be marrying his partner of 11 years soon

More after the jump including a Paul Newman memoir, new roles for Joe Alwyn and Gael Garcia Bernal, Titane's Oscar dreams, luscious Italians and the annual OUT100 list...

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International Feature: "Titane" and other new Oscar submissions

by Nathaniel R

If you've missed Oscar submission announcements we've covered all of them from Croatia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Israel, Greece, Hungary, The Netherlands, Somalia, South Korea, Ecuador, Serbia, Switzerland, though Albania, Ireland, Kyrgzstan, Slovenia, Ukraine, Armenia, Canada, Peru, and on to Spain. We've reviewed nine other entries including films from Cambodia (White Building), Colombia (Memoria), Finland (Compartment No 6), Germany (I'm Your Man), Japan (Drive My Car), Morocco (Casablanca Beats), Poland (Leave No Traces), and Taiwan (The Falls). Now we have five more announcements to "consider" the highest profile new contender being France's Titane, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. But let's take the five new options alphabetically by country after the jump...

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Linkraiser

• Vanity Fair must read profile of Norwegian star Anders Danielsen Lie (Oslo August 31st, Bergman Island, Worst Person in the World) who has a day job that you won't believe
• The Guardian wonderful interview with Barbara Hershey who talks Beaches, Hannah and Her Sisters, Black Swan, and her new film The Manor
• /Film because everything is franchiseable, even within franchises, Kathryn Hahn may be getting her own Agatha Harkness show after the success of WandaVision.

More after the jump including Hellraiser remake, Sutton Foster's hobby, Adele's transatlantic comeback, Madonna's concert, and Kirsten Dunst at home... 

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