Q & A: Surprising Stars and How to Stop Category Fraud

Thanks to Pedro for suggesting we revive the "Ask Nathaniel - Q & A s". So many questions came in when I feared getting none. Let's start with Pedro since this was his idea.

Q: Of all people involved in moviemaking that you have interviewed or known, who surprised you the most and why? - Pedro

A: I wouldn't say I "know" very many people in the industry. Usually interviews are short and even if you meet the person multiple times it can be years inbetween conversations. So I'm not sure how to answer this one. As for "surprises" I will say that Jessica Chastain shocked me with a steel trap memory. I've met her three times and the third she went into detail about something we discussed the second time which was two years earlier. Mentally I was like "HOW?!?" as she talks to hundreds of journalists all year long...

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Cannes Diary #1: Adam Driver singing, journalists spitting, and other minor inconveniences

TFE is thrilled to have a correspondent on the ground in Cannes this year. Please welcome back Elisa Giudici.

by Elisa Guidici

It's my first day of my first year as a press pass holder at Cannes Film Festival. Let me tell you that as an Italian, I am so proud of how Venice Mostra handled their Covid-19 edition last season. Cannes had an extra year to plan how to be efficient, safe and as Covid-free as possible. How did the organisation spent these months?.The ticketing system to avoid long queues before screenings? A hot mess. The website? Almost always down. Covid tests? Bizzarre, but at least free for pass holders...

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More prizes: LEJA, Detroit, Las Vegas, Hollywood, and more...

by Nathaniel R

The film prizes don't stop. We've recently updated the "Movies for Grownups AARP Awards" post (they surprisingly chose United States vs Billie Holiday as the year's best) and the Goya Awards post with the winners lists from those nominations, in case you haven't caught wind of those yet.

But other film critics associations have also continued to hand out prizes in this very extended awards season. So let's catch up shall we. Here are the prizes from various critics organizations like LEJA, WFCC, OAFFC, SEFCA, Detroit, Hollywood, Phoenix,  and Las Vegas... 

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More prizes: IFMCA, Nevada, Utah, Seattle, Dallas Ft Worth, and Washington DC

by Nathaniel R

The awards for 2020 cinema aren't done yet! First things first the British Independent Film Awards were held so we've updated that post to reflect their winners. Rocks was the big winner with five wins but The Father far behind it in nomination totals, won three.

Now here are five more new sets of critics groups from Nevada, Utah, Seattle, Dallas Ft Worth, DC. There are no new names or titles winning except for Nevada honoring Glenn Close for Hillbilly Elegy and The Father in Screenplay and Seattle's choice of Documentary (The History of the Seattle Mariners: Supercut Edition). Utah goes slightly off consensus preferring both Minari and One Night in Miami to Nomadland in the top Picture/Director categories. Utah also has two unusual choices in runners up positions like Lukasz Zal for cinematography and Cristin Milioti for Palm Springs for a genre performance category. We'd congratulate Utah on their good taste except that they also declare that Chicago 7 was better written and edited than Promising Young Woman and Sound of Metal/Tenet respectively so you win some you lose some.

But first let's start with the International Film Music Critics Association winners since by its nature, it's forced to be different from the other awards being passed out at the moment...

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Congratulations to the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Nominees

The nominations for the the Los Angeles Press Club's 13th annual National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards have been announced and some of the nominees are people you definitely read if you're into films and awards. There are many categories so several journalists are double, triple, or quadruple nominated, in that they're honored for their overall work and then for specific articles or podcasts  or whatnot.  Like any awards body the Press Club mostly only honors very high profile work so if you look at the nominees you'll notice that The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Hollywood Reporter (33 nominations), and Variety (99 nominations) are all over the place. 

Congratulations to all the nominees! We've shared six categories that we think might interest you most after the jump... 

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