"Sugarcane" leads the Critics Choice Documentary Awards nominations

by Cláudio Alves

National Geographic's SUGARCANE is the nomination leader, with citations in eight categories.

Since 2016, the Critics Choice Awards has expanded its repertoire to include various documentary categories. These CCDAs are now separate from the precursor we know so well and stand apart as their own thing. Still, most look at these honors as Oscar predictors. Which is understandable if not wholly supported by a complete correlation between AMPAS and the CCDA. Not even when the latter have double the nominees for their main prize. On their ninth edition, they have opted for a curiously tame selection, at odds with the current political climate. There's a big emphasis on glossy biographical works and celebrity profiles, formalistic conventionality, studio fare, and all that jazz. That being said, Sugarcane leads with eight nods.

Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat's film goes into a case of abuse and missing children at a Sugarcane Reserve's Christian school. Focusing on the Native American community, Sugarcane is certainly not without an urgent message and a perspective on its subject. The same can't be said about all its competitors…

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Interview: Director Maura Delpero on Italy's new Oscar Submission "Vermiglio"

by Elisa Giudici

Photo Credit: Biennale di Venezia

Today, the Italian selection committee announced that Vermiglio by Maura Delpero would represent Italy at the 97th Oscars, competing in the Best International Feature category "for its ability to portray rural Italy of the past, with sentiments and themes that are universal and current."

The film, presented at the Venice Film Festival, won the Grand Jury Prize and received enthusiastic praise from critics. Just minutes after the announcement, Maura Delpero participated in a press conference to share her reaction to the news, discuss the first audience screenings in Italy just days before the national release, her upcoming festival commitments, and her long journey to this achievement...

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France submits "Emilia Perez". Spain chooses "Saturn Return". Mexico names finalists

by Nathaniel R

Selena Gomez in "Emilia Perez"

We've already posted two reviews of Emilia Perez here at TFE, from Elisa (pro) and Cláudio (con), and it's been a potential Oscar player since it's premiere at Cannes in May.  Today France announced that the buzzy drug cartel trans musical curiousity would represent them at the Oscars, beating out fellow finalists Misericordia, All We Imagine as Light, and The Count of Monte Cristo. This is the second time France has submitted the often thrilling auteur Jacques Audiard. His previous submission, Un Prophete, was nominated for the prize back in 2009 but surely split the 'critical consensus' vote with Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon, allowing Argentina to slip between them for the win for the sleeper success The Secret in Their Eyes.  France hasn't won the Oscar in this category since 1992's Indochine. Could Emilia Perez finally spell gold again for the birthplace of cinema?

But there's lots more International Feature Oscar news after the jump...

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TIFF: Ralph Fiennes carries the engaging and tense "Conclave

by Matt St Clair

Ralph Fiennes in "Conclave" © Focus Features

After taking audiences through the treacherous WWI battlefields in the Oscar-winning epic All Quiet on the Western Front, director Edward Berger crafts a different exercise in tension in the form of a Pope election with Conclave, a high-stakes thriller based on the 2016 novel by Robert Harris that is full of high-stakes political intrigue and stellar performances...

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Norwegian Finalists & Updated International Oscar Charts

by Nathaniel R

Norway has narrowed down its Oscar submission choice to three finalists. As expected one of them is the Cannes Camera D'Or winner Armand a contemporary drama that stars Reinata Rensve who is understandably a hot international casting commodity after her breakthrough with The Worst Person in the World. The film is the directorial debut of the grandson of Scandinavian screen legend Liv Ullmann. The Norwegian selection committee is also looking at the World War II era drama Quisling The Final Days (reviewed here at TIFF) by Erik Poppe. Poppe has been submitted twice before with Hawaii Oslo in 2004 and The King's Choice in 2016, the latter of which made the finals. The final submission option is the contemporary drama Sex by Dag Johan Haugerud about two ostensibly straight men who become confused about their desires. Interestingly it's part of a trilogy of films and the final film, Kjaerlighet (Love) just debut at Venice to rave reviews. Norway will announce their choice on September 19th. While Oscar loves World War II dramas, they aren't the sure thing they once were in this category so maybe the heat on Armand at Cannes will still burn bright enough? 

In the past week the official Best International Feature Film competition has more than doubled in size. 19 additional countries have announced their representative title. In other words, with 41 titles announced we're almost halfway to knowing the full list. The three submission charts and finalist prediction chart have all been updated -- yes the general Osar charts will soon follow. The complete list (thus far) and a note about where/when you can see the films if you live in the US, follows after the jump. For brevity's sake we've highlighted one new title from each chart to focus on here on the main page...

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