Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) and Filipinos at the Oscars
Tuesday, December 22, 2020 at 2:00PM
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Coen Brothers’ western epic True Grit, an adaptation of the 1968 novel of the same name. The film stars Oscar nominees Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Josh Brolin. However, at the center of the film is then-13 year old Hailee Steinfeld. She plays Mattie Ross, the strong-willed daughter of a man murdered by a notorious outlaw (Brolin). She then hires Rooster Cogburn (Bridges) to hunt down the outlaw. Steinfeld’s performance received critical acclaim at the time and she became the ninth youngest nominee ever for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars. She was 14 years and 45 days of age at the time of nominations.
Another remarkable record is that she became the first actor of known Filipino descent to be nominated for an acting category at the Oscars (her maternal grandfather Ricardo Domasin was half-Filipino), a fact that was given media attention in the Philippines at the time. She is part of a small group of nine Oscar nominees who are of Filipino descent. Here are the rest...
Paul Denham Austerberry
Best Production Design - The Shape of Water (2017) *WIN*
This Canadian production designer of English-Filipino descent won his first Oscar nomination in Guillermo del Toro’s Best Picture-winning romantic fantasy The Shape of Water, together with Shane Vieau and Jeff Melvin. His other works include The Three Musketeers (2011), The Liberator (2013, Venezuela’s official submission to the 87th Oscars), and It Chapter Two (2019).
Pia Clemente
Best Live Action Short Film - Our Time is Up (2005)
A graduate of Barnard College and AFI Conservatory, Clemente is a producer who has worked on the short Christmas in New York (winner of Gold - Dramatic at the 1997 Student Academy Awards), The Debut (the first Filipino American film to be shown in American cinemas), and Our Time is Up where she received an Oscar nomination.
Ronnie del Carmen
Best Original Screenplay - Inside Out (2015)
Aside from Steinfeld, the only other nominee for a 'big eight' category. This animation artist comes from Cavite, Philippines (same province as myself). After spending most of his career in Pixar projects, he finally served as co-director and is credited for Inside Out's original story. While not recognized in the film’s Animated Feature win, he was nominated here due to his writing credit. He was also credited as part of the Senior Creative Team of Coco (2017), Incredibles 2 (2018), and Toy Story 4 (2019).
Trevor Jimenez
Best Animated Short Film - Weekends (2018)
The first of two nominees of Filipino descent in this category in the same year, Jimenez is a Canadian-born animator who was nominated for his 15-minute dialogue free, hand painted short film. He also worked as a story artist on Finding Dory, Rio, The Lorax, and Coco. Jimenez’s maternal grandfather is Privado Jimenez, the first ambassador of the Philippines to Canada.
Matthew Libatique
Best Cinematography - Black Swan (2010)
Best Cinematography - A Star is Born (2018)
This American-born cinematographer of French-Filipino is only the third Asian cinematographer to be nominated for an Oscar. He is known for his collaborations with fellow AFI alumnus Darren Aronofsky, leading to 2010’s Black Swan where his work received widespread acclaim and was nominated at BFCA, BAFTA, and ASC. He won the Independent Spirit Award and LAFCA for that film. His second nomination is for Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut A Star is Born where he also netted nominations at BFCA and ASC. This year he shot Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey and Ryan Murphy’s The Prom.
Robert Lopez
Best Original Song - Frozen (for “Let It Go”) (2013) *WIN*
Best Original Song - Coco (for “Remember Me”) (2017) *WIN*
Best Original Song - Frozen II (for “Into the Unknown”) (2019)
This acclaimed songwriter is a multiple record-holder: he is the youngest person to win the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) and the fastest to do so well. He's also the first Asian to EGOT and, as of the time of writing, the only person to double EGOT. He won both of his Oscars in collaboration with his wife, fellow songwriter Kristen Anderson-Lopez, for massive Disney hits. His paternal grandfather is Filipino while his paternal grandmother was half-Filipino.
Bobby Pontillas
Best Animated Short Film - One Small Step (2018)
The second nominee in this category in 2018, Pontillas is a American-born animator nominated for his seven-minute short, his debut as a writer and director. He has worked as an animator, credited and otherwise, on films like Rio, Wreck-It-Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero 6, Zootopia, and Moana. His mother hails from the province of Camarines Sur, Philippines.
Ariel Velasco-Shaw
Best Visual Effects - The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
We end this list with the trailblazer. Velasco-Shaw was the first person of Filipino descent to be nominated in any category. He was honored for his work on Tim Burton’s celebrated animated film (animated films are rare in this category). He has also worked on other films like Contact (1997), Final Destination (2000), 300 (2006), and The Conjuring 2 (2016).
Here are some Filipino/Filipino-American actors. Who do you think will follow in Hailee Steinfeld's Oscar-nominated footsteps?
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Lou Diamond Phillips (Oscar-nominated Stand and Deliver, La Bamba)
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Darren Criss (Globe, Emmy, and SAG winner, TV’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace)
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Vanessa Hudgens (Spring Breakers, High School Musical series)
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Dave Bautista (Avengers series, Blade Runner 2049, Dune)
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Bruno Mars (Rio 2 - Original Song Oscar in the future, maybe?)
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Nico Santos (Crazy Rich Asians, TV’s Superstore)
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Manny Jacinto (Bad Times at the El Royale, TV’s The Good Place)
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Jon Jon Briones (TV’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace, Ratched)
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Conrad Ricamora (Over the Moon, TV’s How to Get Away with Murder)
Random Oscar notes:
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The Philippines has been submitting for International Feature Film since the category’s inception in 1956, but the country has yet to be nominated. It's the only country out of the eight countries in the award's inaugural year (Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Philippines, Spain, Sweden) that has never won the Oscar.
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2013 saw three submissions to the then-Foreign Language Film category focusing on Filipino characters: Singapore’s Ilo Ilo, United Kingdom’s Metro Manila, and the Philippines’ Transit. Interestingly, the British submission was shot in the Philippines while the Philippine submission was shot in Israel.
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Filipina singer Lea Salonga, the first woman of Asian descent to win a Tony, was the singing voice of Jasmine in Aladdin (1992). Her track “A Whole New World”, together with Brad Kane, won the Oscar for Best Original Song that year. She was also the songing voice of the titular role in Mulan. She recently appeared in Yellow Rose, a musical drama about a Filipino teenager in Texas.
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Political tensions between the United States and Vietnam forced filmmakers to shoot their films about the war in the Philippines. Some of those films received Oscar recognition include Apocalypse Now (8 nominations, 2 wins), Platoon (8 noms, 4 wins including Picture), and Born on the Fourth of July (8 noms, 2 wins).
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The current political climate and human rights violations in the country led to a slew of documentaries that have received Oscar buzz: Lauren Greenfield’s The Kingmaker (about a former dictator’s wife), On the President’s Orders (about the current drug war), and the shortlisted documentary short The Nightcrawlers (about photojournalists who cover said drug war).
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Ramona S. Díaz, one of the few Filipino-American voting members of the Academy, released a documentary this year titled A Thousand Cuts, about Maria Ressa, a journalist who defied pressures of the current administration who was found guilty of cyberlibel last June. The film is one of the top contenders for this year’s Documentary Feature race.
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If eligible for this year, another Filipino-American might be nominated for Best Animated Short Film: animator Bobby Alcid Rubio directed Float, a Pixar short about Filipino characters!
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Filipino animators working at Pixar are often called “Pixnoys” (portmanteau for Pixar Pinoys). They include Oscar nominees del Carmen, Jimenez, as well as Rubio, Paul Abadilla (set designer for Oscar-nominated Incredibles 2), and Nelson Bohol (who added the “bahay kubo”/nipa hut, a Filipino cultural icon, in the Oscar-winning Finding Nemo).
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Rita Moreno shot her scenes for 1963’s Cry of Battle in the Philippines around the time she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for West Side Story. Filipino fashion designer Pitoy Moreno designer her famous dress when she accepted her Oscar that year. She revived the same dress when she presented Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards in 2018.
Reader Comments (32)
I don't know much about this country's cinema except for Brillante Mendoza. I love his movies, and I love Isabelle Huppert for standing by that directing prize for Kinatay, which was one of the most terrifying experiences I've ever had in a movie theater.
I'm Filipino and I didn't know SO MANY of these. Thanks for sharing and spotlighting Filipino filmmakers and talents. I wonder what it would take for a Philippine Foreign Language Film submission to finally make it to the Oscars shortlist.
Robert Lopez... This acclaimed songwriter is a multiple record-holder: he is the youngest person to win the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) and the fastest to do so [as] well.
This is right or wrong, depending on how you parse that statement.
In a room of EGOT winners, Robert Lopez is not the youngest. John Legend is three years younger. Lopez was a year younger (39) than Legend (40) when he won the 4th distinct award, which makes him the youngest at the moment of winning, but then the "fastest" distinction becomes redundant.
Rooting for Manny Jacinto
I work in Health Care in Los Angeles, so surrounded by a LOT of Filipinos. (Lumpias Forever!!!) Sharing this!!
Just looking at Moreno in that dress makes me happy.
As a Filipino I would love to finally see the Philippines nominated for an Oscar. It's a country that loves movies, but I'll be honest and say that the Philippine movie industry makes mostly bad films. The ones that do get some acclaim like Brillante Mendoza or Lav Diaz make movies that are an ordeal to sit through. It's either schlocky comedies, sappy love stories, dumb action films or cloying melodramas.
Brevity: I think it means fastest to win all the awards (ie shortest time between award one and award four), not fastest in their lives.
Paranoid & Brevity -- yes, that's what it means.
Bruno Mars... Oscar nominee... yeah, right.
Good one. ;-)
I've been waiting for a movie version of Here Lies Love or some filmed version of the life of Imelda Marcos. Lea Salonga would be perfect in the part!
PS. Shannyn Sossamon is also of Filipino descent and works regularly (but not usually on the Oscar track).
i actually think Dave Bautista is a really good actor. i wonder if he can ever transition to drama from franchise films and comedies? also love Manny Jacinto but who doesn't?
i actually think Dave Bautista is a really good actor. i wonder if he can ever transition to drama from franchise films and comedies? also love Manny Jacinto but who doesn't?
Maria Ressa is a grade-A hero and I really, really, really, really hope that A Thousand Cuts gets some recognition in this year's Oscar race. I wouldn't mind seeing Maria get a Nobel Peace Prize while we're at it. ;-)
The only Filipino Oscar submission I've ever seen is one that I still think about regularly-- The Woman in the Septic Tank, about some film students who try to create the most tragic film they can imagine in hopes of gaining Oscar's attention. The film is a little rough around the edges but it's absolutely hysterical. I still smile thinking of Eugene Domingo's "acting" lessons.
My favourite of the Philippines submissions i've seen is BWAKAW. really loved it that year.
"I don't know much about this country's cinema except for Brillante Mendoza. I love his movies, and I love Isabelle Huppert for standing by that directing prize for Kinatay, which was one of the most terrifying experiences I've ever had in a movie theater."
I'm sorry to tell you this but in my Filipino cinephile circle, Brillante Mendoza is cancelled. He is an ardent supporter of Duterte and has volunteered numerous times to be his Leni Riefenstahl figure, directing his State of the Union address, making a pro-drug war TV show and producing pro-drug war films. This is both surprising and disappointing to me because his films like "Kinatay" and his previous submission "Ma Rosa" are films which cry out for justice and empathize with the poor who happen to be the largest casualties of Duterte's war on drugs.
That is why I'm rooting AGAINST the Philippine submission this year, "Mindanao" since a.) It's not that good of a film; b.) It has a very pro-military subtext and c.) Brillante Mendoza, I believe, no longer deserves that honor of directing the first Filipino Oscar nominated film.
The decision of submit "Mindanao" is tainted somewhat by politics since the head of commission for selecting our Oscar submission is also pro-Duterte. We have better options. "Kalel, 15", a remarkable drama about a teenage boy who hustles himself online for money and then discovers he is HIV-positive. I believe it's on Netflix right now and I highly recommend it.
Among all the recent Filipino Oscar submissions I've seen, three of them deserved a nomination: "The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros", "Norte, The End of History" and "Transit" .
I just looked over the list of films we submitted for Oscars, I'm shocked...SHOCKED to find out we done screwed up not submitting our best ones: Including Lino Brocka's films "Manila in the Claws of Night" and "Insiang" (both in the Criterion Collection), "Kisapmata" (the best one), "Three Godless Years" and "Himala". No wonder we still haven't gotten a nomination.
Agree about Dave Bautista. He is a good actor and with the right material and director, he could be nominated.
this post made my day :)
@Irvin: Yes to all of that.
The Oscars' record of recognizing Asian talent is just abysmal. I know it won't affect Filipino representation specifically, but I'd love to see that change this year with Minari.
It can't be long until Bruno Mars writes some upbeat, inescapable pop song for an animated film and gets nominated. He seems destined for it!
And I'd also like to shout out Sharon Leal (Dreamgirls), who is of Filipino and African-American descent. She deserves way better roles, somebody needs to put her in another musical!
@thevoid99:
Kendrick Lamar
SZA
Justin Timberlake
The Weeknd
John Legend
Pharrell Williams
Three 6 Mafia
Eminem
All Oscar nominees. You were saying?
Wonderful to see this post, thanks JCO! I know Filipino cinema produces a lot of films annually but still underrated in terms of international recognition save Lav Diaz, Brillante Mendoza and indie projects that were given citations in various film festivals. In film schools, Kidlat Tahimik is well known for his films chief of which was Perfumed Nightmare and his still on-going Balikbayan No. 1: Memories of Overdevelopment Redux I-IV. Years ago I had a chance to interview him and he has a genuine naïvete in him that scholar Fredric Jameson once called art-naïf.
Another filmmaker who is of Filipino descent and was recently invited in TFE as panelist is Q. Allan Brocka. He has programmed a lot of films centered on ordinary queer lives. A professor once told our class to check out Q.A. Brocka's Boy Culture. He said it is an example of a film that upsets the tropes of a Ganymede kind of relationship where the older character solicited the services of a younger man but spent the entire time philosophising ordinary encounters. I will watch it someday for sure but anyone here who saw it, can you tell more?
We saw The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros in a huge cinema house with fewer than 15 people in attendance. Aside from being uproarious in parts, it has a political subtext that bespeaks of little tiny violence that underprivileged people suffer, endure, and ultimately survive from. I remembered watching Apparition at MoMA and was blown away by its quiet force. Raquel Villavicencio in particular stood out for me. I can see that this type of cinematic storytelling is endemic among Hispanised/Christianised countries -- it is like a less magical realism version of Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives in its eschewal of mysticism in favor of Filipino realism.
Part of a pan-Asian film festival at the Lincoln Center, I saw Pridyider - a wacky, droll, dark film that recalls the mood and surrealism of Tahimik, Abel Ferrara and Alejandro Jodorowsky.
I wonder if the current crop of Filipino filmmakers (mainland-based and diasporic) can co-produce a film that indicts the present government using some of its stunning modes of storytelling: shadow play, kitchen sink-meets-magical realism, and playful irreverence. Hoping Tahimik can be coaxed to direct a complete full-length feature film about the slave of Pigafetta who told Philippines history from his point of view.
@thefilmjunkie: Thanks for the info abour Sharon Leal!
@Owl: Thanks for your kind words. I could say (as a filmmaker myself) that a lot of exciting films that comment on the current political climate are to be found in documentaries and short films. Fearless filmmakers that dare give a societal critique where dissent is steadily quelled.
@NATHANIEL R: I caught a glimpse of BWAKAW when my mom watched it on Netflix and it really holds up beautifully! A truly endearing film. Takes on a new meaning though given that Garcia passed away just last year. One of his last films, HEAVEN'S WAITING, is also on Netflix PH (not sure if also in the US) and it's literally about him being dead and being in some sort of in between between the Earth and the afterlife. Really moving stuff too.
I remembered watching Apparition at MoMA and was blown away by its quiet force.
Darren Criss will probably get a (undeserved) nomination this decade.
Robert Lopez and his wife didn't win for "massive Pixar hitSSS". Just one Pixar hit. Frozen's not Pixar.
Do they have a Filipino "Oscars" and if so, how have those played out?
“Do they have a Filipino "Oscars" and if so, how have those played out?” There are two organizations who think of themselves as the Philippine equivalent of the Oscars. The Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences or FAMAS is the first Filipino film awards established in the early 1950’s, considered for a long time to be the most prestigious of the awards. They’re voted on by organization of critics and film columnists. Then there’s the Film Academy of the Philippines which is the “official” equivalent of the Oscars in that it is voted on by industry people and it heads the committee which selects our Oscar entries.
I have good Filipino friends and it never fails to amuse me whenever they say "he's filipino!". So sweet.
Isn't the guy from My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend also Filipino? I forget his name.
I'm hoping against hope for some recognition of LINGUA FRANCA this year. Isabel Sandoval, a Filipina immigrant and trans writer-director, is a real talent, and her film is excellent.