Amanda Nominations: The Ugly Stepsister, Armand, and more...

by Nathaniel R

The Ugly Stepsister -- now streaming on AMC+ and Shudder

Norway's annual Amanda Awards take place in August each year in beautiful Haugesund on the west coast. I lived there briefly a million years ago. Their eligibility is not by calendar year but for Norwegian release dates between July 1 through June 30. This often means that you'll see last year's Oscar submission in the mix along with newer titles. You'll recognize some of the titles this year and a few of them are even available to see in the US by streaming or at the theater.

Nominations and thoughts after the jump...

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Ten reasons to celebrate Pride Month with "Latin Blood"

by Cláudio Alves

LATIN BLOOD: THE BALLAD OF NEY MATOGROSSO | © Netflix

Last Thursday, Americans celebrated Juneteenth, but south of the Equator, Latin America's largest nation was in a cinephile mood. It was Brazilian Cinema Day, marking 127 years since Affonso Segreto shot what is considered the earliest cinematic depiction of Brazil in film history. A century and change after cameras first glimpsed the Guanabara Bay, the country's having a moment on the world stage. In the space of a few months, we saw such titles as I'm Still Here, The Blue Trail, and The Secret Agent win big at the Oscars, Berlinale, and Cannes. However, within Brazilian borders, other success stories have flourished, largely overlooked by international onlookers. Consider Vitória with Fernanda Montenegro delivering a staggering star turn at 95, and today's subject, the word-of-mouth box office phenomenon that is Homem com H.

Known as Latin Blood: The Ballad of Ney Matogrosso in English-language markets, the music biopic arrived on Netflix June 17th. And, since that streaming giant is doing nothing to promote it, let me enumerate ten reasons why you need to add Esmir Filho's latest to your Pride Month watchlist…

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It's a Pride Party! with "D.E.B.S."

by Nick Taylor

If you’re looking for a fun, unbelievably cute watch this Pride, you couldn’t do better than Angela Robinson’s D.E.B.S., a 2004 comedy with a clear mission statement: What if Charlie’s Angels was lesbians, with the ass-kicking superspy and her archnemesis falling head over heels for each other? An expansion of her own short film, (which you can and should watch for free on Vimeo right here!) Robinson delivers a parody built on real affection for the material it’s inverting. The knowingly cheesy visual effects carbon date this hard in the early ‘00s, yet the premise is a timeless staple of slash fiction the world over...

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New Oscar Charts: Can Norway finally win "Best International Feature Film"?

by Nathaniel R

possible submissions from Japan & Norway

Counterintuitively, we begin this year's April Foolish Predictions (two months late --- woot!) with a category for which we currently have no proof of eligibility for. No country that competes in Oscar's annual Best International Feature Film category has (yet) announced their submission. But we do know, from past experiences, that many of the submissions each year will have premiered at film festivals ranging from last fall in 2024 through the fall of 2025. So we looked at recent editions of Sundance, Berlinale, and Cannes for clues. This is great fun to do as anything is possible this early; you don't even need a US distributor to compete (though of course it doesn't hurt)...

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Tony Awards in Review

Editors Note: Oscar predictions for the 98th Academy Awards begin tomorrow -- we're only two months late for "April Foolish" predictions! But first, a bit of theater to wrap up that season which just ended.

Cynthia Erivo -- all she needs is a song! -- at the Tony Awards

The 78th Annual Tony Awards were held on Sunday night, June 8th, with Cynthia Erivo hosting. It was a big night for fans of minimal sets apart from screen projections, non binary performers, frequent mic problems, and 2024 Olivier Award winners (5 repeats!) from the West End. It was even a big night for Grindr -- was Cole Escola's hilarious shout out to "T-Bo from Grindr" the first ever awards mention for the hook-up app?  The winners and a few comments after the jump... 

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