(Pt 2) Everything you wanted to know about the International Feature race: Stars & Auteurs

by Nathaniel R

Michael Fassbender co-stars in Ireland's KNEECAP

In part one of our breakdown of the Best International Feature Film Oscar race, we looked at recurring themes, LGBTQ appeal, and running time. But there is still a lot to discuss in the collection of 85 films competing first for 15 "finalist" spots (December 17th) and then for the coveted nomination (January 17th, 2025). Let's look at the famous actors and directors who are back again hoping for some gold dust on their films...

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(Pt 1) Everything you wanted to know about the International Feature Film race... but were afraid to ask

by Nathaniel R

BEAUTIFUL EVENING, BEAUTIFUL DAY - Croatia's gay entry

Though 89 films were originally announced as submitting to the Best International Feature Film Academy Award competition this year, only 85 became official contenders. We’ve done a deep dive of the list, updated the charts, and crunched some stats and sought out any patterns to bring you this report. We'll start with the LGBTQ+ competitors, genre classifications, chronology of stories, running time stats, and unintentional 'twins' if you will. Hope you enjoy...

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When will AMPAS embrace Horror makeup?

by Cláudio Alves

Between its box office numbers and pop culture footprint, The Substance has been one of the year's most unexpected success stories. MUBI's biggest release is also its most profitable, growing steadily through word of mouth and an aggressive campaign unafraid to highlight the picture's extreme body horror, its sheer grossness. Indeed, the Cannes Best Screenplay prizewinner is among the year's most-watched original films, having found its audience without the aid of IP recognition or all those shiny notions that excite Hollywood execs. In a world where genre bias wasn't a thing and snobbery didn't run rampant in film circles, one might expect Coralie Fargeat's provocation to factor heavily into the awards season. We don't live in that world. 

While one might suppose The Substance's rhapsodies of aged and mutated flesh, exaggerated voluptuousness, and grandiose gore would score an easy Best Makeup & Hairstyling nomination, that's not a safe bet. As the genre most dependent on makeup effects and where technical innovations often manifest, horror should have a place of honor in the category. Sadly, it doesn't. It hardly ever did…

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Mother-Daughter Duos at the Oscars

by Cláudio Alves

Fernanda Montenegro in Walter Salles' I'M STILL HERE.

This past week, Fernanda Montenegro celebrated her 95th birthday. A living legend of Brazilian culture in various mediums, she is our oldest living Best Actress nominee. Montenegro is back on the awards trail with Walter Salles' I'm Still Here. While her late-film cameo won't excite many voters, Brazil's Best International Film submission is raking in Audience Awards at festivals worldwide and sterling reviews to match. Perhaps Sony Pictures Classics can even look away from Saoirse Ronan and Almodóvar's leading ladies for a moment, and mount a Best Actress campaign for Fernanda Torres. Her performance as Eunice Paiva is nothing short of magnificent. 

Though a longshot, Torres' nomination would be amply deserved, making her and Montenegro one of the few mother-daughter duos to score acting Oscar nominations. It's a very exclusive club that includes…

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Jocelyne LaGarde @100: "Hawaii"

by Cláudio Alves

This year, there was much talk about Lily Gladstone as one of the few Native Americans ever nominated at the Oscars. This focus on indigenous representation makes one's mind wander further into Academy history. After all, who was the first? Jocelyne LaGarde was her name, and today marks a century since her birth. The film that earned such honor was one of those 1960s overblown epics, the historical farrago of Hawaii by George Roy Hill, whose future work would stray away from such stodginess. Yet, to dismiss the piece as colonial apologia like some of its harsher critics do is unjust. The picture's much stranger than that, cruel and miserable, willing to see missionary work as the destroyer of paradise, a tragedy marred by the kind of spiritual bleakness no luscious island vista can conceal…

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