It's here. The annual "reminder list" from the Oscars about what Academy members can vote for this year for Best Picture (and other categories). Of course this list does not apply to all categories as some movies have already been eliminated in the specialized categories that use bakeoffs or finalists systems or that have extra additional eligibility requirements like...
- Animated Feature (27 finalists)
- Documentary Feature (15 finalists)
- International Feature (15 finalists)
- Makeup and Hairstyling (10 finalists)
- Original Score (15 finalists)
- Original Song (15 finalists)
- Visual Effects (10 finalists)
- ...and all three Short Film categories (but feature films aren't eligible there anyway)
But if the movie is on this overall reminder list it's still eligible in any other category. A lot more notes after the jump...
Not every film that is released in a given year is submitted to the Oscars (I noticed at least three from my own 2020 screening list that were absent: an indie called Lost Girls and Love Hotels, Iceland's A White White Day, and China's Wild Goose Lake) but most films do submit.
AND THEN WE DANCED and BACURAU holdovers from 2019, released in 2020
Of particular interest each year is noticing which films that had a healthy festival life or were frequently discussed in a specialized category the previous year end up being eligible in the current race instead. This season that's the case for And Then We Danced, Bacurau and Martin Eden, which were heavily discussed in 2019. In the case of And Then We Danced, Oscar passed in International Feature but its US release in February 2020 means its eligible this time. Not that it will be nominated but it should be. And in the case of Bacurau and Martin Eden, Brazil and Italy opted to submit different films for the 92nd Oscars so here they are on the list a year later due to subsequent US releases. I'm hoping that happens to Serbia's excellent drama Father in 2021 but it doesn't currently have US distribution.
Another always interesting peculiarity is to track which International Feature contenders that were already axed from their own category still met other requirements and could theoretically get nominations anywhere else like Apples (Greece), Atlantis (Ukraine), and Dara of Jasenovac (Serbia).
It's ALSO worth noting (I mentioned this is confusing, didn't I?) that some films that were axed from the International Feature finals already but haven't been released yet could be eligible next year. I'm hoping that's the case for Poland's Never Gonna Snow Again (which I loved) and is probably coming out in March or April though it could apply to several other films from the 93 wide International contenders list if they get US distribution in 2021.
Despite many festivals and a qualifying release SPC has really been hiding I CARRY YOU WITH ME which shoulda been a contender
And of course the current Oscar race is exponentially more confusing than usually since they're allowing the first two months of 2021 releases to compete for 2020 as well even if they didn't do the typical one-week qualifying release during 2020 (as Minari, Nomadland, The Father, French Exit, I Carry You With Me and a few others did). For the record, films that didn't premiere anywhere until 2021 are not eligible for the Film Bitch Awards (our annual awards yearbook of sorts, which is usually more Oscar parallel) as we go by the calendar year. Those purely 2021 titles that could theoretically be named the best film of 2020 (sigh) on the Dolby Theater wall if they miraculous win Best Picture, include but probably aren't limited to:
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH one of many strictly 2021 titles that might get nominated for the 2020 awards
- Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar
- Cherry
- I Care a Lot
- Judas and the Black Messiah
- Malcolm and Marie
- Music
- Palmer
- Tom & Jerry
- The United States vs Billie Holliday
- The White Tiger
- The World to Come
It makes the head spin! Calendar year is so much cleaner.