Interview: 'The Missing' director Carl Joseph Papa and actor Gio Gahol on making Oscar history for the Philippines

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Carlo Aquino and Dolly de Leon.

Carl Joseph Papa's Oscar submission The Missing (original title: Iti Mapukpukaw)  centers on a mouthless young man whose life is rocked when a familiar alien returns to his life. In telling this deeply personal story using animation, Papa examines the long-term effects of childhood trauma on people and how far kindness could go in helping them in reclaiming their voice. The Missing is the Philippines' official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards, becoming the country's first animated feature film to represent the country (out of 33 submissions). Out of the eight countries that submitted for the category's first competitive year in 1956, only the Philippines is yet to be nominated.

In this in-depth discussion, writer-director Carl Joseph Papa and actor Gio Gahol tackle the taboo topic of childhood sexual abuse in the country, pulling off the feat of shooting the film within four days, the artists that inspired them in their craft, and working with BAFTA nominee Dolly de Leon (Triangle of Sadness)...

Click to read more ...

Golden Horse Nominations for 2023

by Nathaniel R

Snow in Midsummer, Marry My Dead Body, and Stonewalling are all up for Best Feature.

Nominations have been announced for the 60th annual Golden Horse Awards. The annual juried event covers the best in Chinese-language cinema. The ceremony will be held on November 25th this year. Stonewalling, Taiwan's Oscar submission Marry My Dead Body, Time Still Turns The Pages, Eye of the Storm, and Snow in Midsummer are all up for the top prize and three of them are streaming. Read on for more about these films and the nominations list...

Click to read more ...

"Breaking Ice", "Promised Land", and "Goodbye Julia" among others join the Best International Feature Film Race

by Nathaniel R

As you read this yours truly is in Italy (visiting with Elisa probably!) but before I hopped on the plane I updated the Best International Feature Film Submission Charts and Prediction/ Overflowing Stats Chart. As of yesterday 74 films have been announced as intended submissions from their home countries. The list usually tops out at 93 films (about 19 to go!) and there's usually one unexpected switcheroo or omission from what was previously announced so we'll see. But here are a handful of highlights from recent announcements...

Click to read more ...

Will the "Loving Vincent" team return to the Oscars via "The Peasants"?

by Nathaniel R

THE PEASANTS

Do you remember that painted animation film Loving Vincent (2017)? It was billed as the world's first fully painted feature film and it went on to an Oscar nomination in the Best Animated Feature category (eventually losing to Pixar's Coco). The married filmmaking team behind that picture have done it again with The Peasants, which is an adaptation of a novel about a peasant girl who causes a scandal by marrying a rich older man. Only three animated films have ever been nominated for Best International Feature Film -- Waltz With Bashir, Flee, and The Missing Picture (sort of) -- and interestingly enough all three of them can be classified as documentaries in addition to being animated. The same isn't true of The Peasants but Poland is submitting this one for the Oscar race...

Click to read more ...

TIFF '23: At the Crossroads of Old and New

by Cláudio Alves

During my days at the festival, I've found TIFF can be a place of great discovery, full of small titles coexisting with big ones, often besting them from a disadvantageous position. Discovery can also exist in the dialogues established between programmed projects, threads of shared ideas and ideals linking works of distinct artists from all over the globe.

Because of its status as Bhutan's Oscar submission and Pawo Choyning Dorji's follow-up to his nominated Lunana, I would always see The Monk and the Gun. However, the conversations it shares with other, less high profile films, were a welcome surprise. Despite their disparate genres (comedy, character study, tragedy) themes of encroaching modernity within traditional communities of mountainous Asian nations echoed back from the Nepalese A Road to a Village and the Mongolian City of Wind...

Click to read more ...