Nostalgia de la Luz (Nostalgia for the Light)

Had to close 2011 with my take on a film. Most particular is that I’m closing the year with comments about a documentary and not a fiction film. 2011 had some outstanding films but my top films are definitively documentaries and yes, it’s a first! Really loved Pina it is truly outstanding but my top film for 2011 absolutely is a documentary about a Chilean desert and everything that once happened there, is currently happening there and will continue to happen there. Is about the Atacama Desert.

In life there are many things that make us deeply wonder, like the infamous question “where do we come from”, we being the human race or better, life in planet Earth. The Atacama Desert is “the” driest place in planet Earth, there is no humidity –so, there are no clouds making it the best place to have the largest telescopes on Earth. From there astronomers are learning about the beginnings or the big bang -if you wish-; but actually are learning about the past, a very-very-very far away past that could explain us, life, and the very ephemeral present. Documentary starts telling us about all this with the most mind blowing images of the universe, which are so good that honestly made me feel tiny, very tiny and humble.

I already felt small and deeply humbled by what I saw, but nothing prepared me to what followed.

The first fateful September 11th came with brutal repression that killed many and yes, I have seen several movies about that date and what followed after; BUT, never like what I saw here. The Atacama Desert during Pinochet had several concentration camps and one is quite close to where the marvelous and huge telescopes are. Was an old mine from the times when mining was like slavery, so easily became a prison for political prisoners. Prisoners from those camps and elsewhere were killed and dumped into massive graves that were “moved” to erase their existence. In the “moving” process bodies, cadavers were split with broken feet and heads parts flying out and bodies placed on trucks to be thrown elsewhere (mostly in the sea). Many, many Chileans mothers walk the Atacama Desert searching for their sons and daughters, brothers and sisters; and some found something that allow them to finally realize that they are dead. These mothers, as the close-by astronomers, are searching the past for clues.

I know I’m telling a lot about what this film is about, but I’m doing it so when you watch this film you’ll be prepared, you will have an idea of what you will see and after watching you will be able to “digest” everything a lot faster. See, the situation with this film is that is not horror, NO, on the contrary is so beautiful, then so real, then so crude-real (and beautiful), so painful to watch (everything hurts), so beautiful, so beautiful, so horrific, so beautiful and finally an ending that strongly blends both stories into one. Ah!!

Patricio Guzman’s oeuvre is so well-done that will impress you beyond your imagination as flawlessly and most delicately will tell you his story (he narrates), a slice of the story of his country, the story where most likely Scientists will find more and new answers about our past, and where Chilean people found, are finding and will find knowledge about their recent past. Chapeau Master Guzman.

Strongly recommend this marvelous film that was screened in 2010 Cannes, won the 2010 European Film Award for documentary plus many more well-deserved honors in the festival circuit. Film has impressed general audiences but most interesting for me was to find that also impressed scientists, still after watching you’ll understand why so many have succumbed to Patricio Guzman incredible narrative and narrative style.

BIG ENJOY!!!

Watch trailer @MOC

84th Academy Awards Poster


The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has unveiled the poster for the 84th Academy Awards®. The art features the iconic Oscar statuette alongside memorable images from eight films spanning eight decades: "Gone with the Wind" (1939), "Casablanca" (1943), "Giant" (1956), "The Sound of Music" (1965), "The Godfather" (1972), "Driving Miss Daisy" (1989), "Forrest Gump" (1994) and "Gladiator" (2000). All the films featured on the poster won the Academy Award® for Best Picture, except "Giant," for which George Stevens won the Oscar for Directing.

Supported by the tagline "Celebrate the movies in all of us," the design is meant to evoke the emotional connections we all have with the movies. "Whether it's a first date or a holiday gathering with friends or family, movies are a big part of our memory," said Academy President Tom Sherak. "The Academy Awards not only honor the excellence of these movies, but also celebrate what they mean to us as a culture and to each of us individually."

The artwork was created by award-winning graphic designer Anthony Goldschmidt, and Mark and Karen Crawford of the design firm Blood&Chocolate.

The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at 5:30 a.m. PST in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live at 7 p.m. EST/4 p.m. PST by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

To read the official announcement go here.

16th Annual Satellite Awards Winners

Last night they had the award ceremony and winners are in *BOLD. To check winners in all categories including TV go here.

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12/2

Last night the International Press Academy announced the nominations and here they are from the official site that’s here. Have to mention that have read in other sites a different list, so I’ll be checking to confirm if they made a mistake in the official site or to identify what’s going on.

Best Picture
The Artist
*The Descendants
Drive
Hugo
Moneyball
Shame
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
War Horse

Best Animated or Mixed Media Film
Kung Fu Panda 2
The Muppets
Puss In Boots
Rio
*The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

Best Foreign Film
Miss Bala, Mexico
A Separation, Iran
The Kid With The Bike, Belgium
The Turin Horse, Hungary
Las Acadias, Argentina
13 Assassins, Japan
Mozart's Sister, France
*Mysteries of Lisbon, Portugal
Le Havre, Finland
Faust, Russia

Best Director
Tate Taylor for The Help
Alexander Payne for The Descendants
*Nicolas Winding Refn for Drive
Steven Spielberg for War Horse
Martin Scorsese for Hugo
John Michael McDonagh for The Guard
Tomas Alfredson for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris
Steve McQueen for Shame

Best Actress
Vera Farmiga in Higher Ground
Michelle Williams in My Week With Marilyn
Emily Watson in Oranges and Sunshine
Charlize Theron in Young Adult
Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs
*Viola Davis in The Help
Olivia Colman in Tyrannosaur
Michelle Yeoh in The Lady
Elizabeth Olsen in Martha Marcy May Marlene
Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady

Best Supporting Actress
Janet McTeer in Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer in The Help
*Jessica Chastain in The Tree of Life
Vanessa Redgrave in Coriolanus
Rachel McAdams in Midnight in Paris
Lisa Feret in Mozart's Sister
Judy Greer in The Descendants
Kate Winslet in Carnage
Elle Fanning in Super 8

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio in J. Edgar
*Ryan Gosling in Drive
Michael Fassbender in Shame
George Clooney in The Descendants
Brendan Gleeson in The Guard
Michael Shannon in Take Shelter
Tom Hardy in Warrior
Woody Harrelson in Rampart
Gary Oldman in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Brad Pitt in Moneyball

Best Supporting Actor
*Albert Brooks in Drive
Viggo Mortensen in A Dangerous Method
Hugo Weaving in Oranges and Sunshine
Kenneth Branagh in My Week With Marilyn
Colin Farrell in Horrible Bosses
Andy Serkis in Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Nick Nolte in Warrior
Jonah Hill in Moneyball
Christopher Plummer in Beginners
Christoph Waltz in Carnage

To check nominees in all film categories as well as check TV categories go here.  Awards ceremony will be on December 18.

The International Press Academy changed the categories this year as before categories were more similar to Golden Globes than to Oscar, as had separate categories for Comedy or Musical, including nominations for Actors. Still having so many nominees in each category is a bit confusing yet there are not really any surprises at least in the main categories listed here.

2011 Prix Louis-Delluc Award Winners

Today the most prestigious award in French cinema was announced by Gilles Jacob, jury president and pleases me to share with all that the winner is Le Havre by Aki Kaurismäki and Donoma by Djinn Carrenard, both films are extremely worth-watching. Winners are in *BLUE.

To check the news in French go here and in English go here.

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11/22

Yesterday the nominees were announced for this most prestigious French award and these are the nominated films.

Best Film
L'Apollonide (Souvenirs de maison close) (House of Tolerance) by Bertrand Bonello
L'Exercice de l'Etat (The Minister) by Pierre Schoeller
La Guerre est déclarée (Declaration of War) by Valérie Donzelli
*Le Havre by Aki Kaurismäki
Hors Satan (Outside Satan) by Bruno Dumont
Les Neiges by Kilimandjaro by Robert Guédiguian
Pater by Alain Cavalier
The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius
Tomboy by Céline Sciamma

Best First Film
17 filles (17 Girls) by Muriel Coulin and Delphine Coulin
*Donoma by Djinn Carrenard (WOW! Movie budget: Euros 150 … have to see this! Very curious about film check this)
Jimmy Rivière by Teddy Lussi-Modeste
Mafrouza (5 films) by Emmanuelle Demoris
Nous, Princesse de Clèves by Régis Sauder

I’m so happy as have seen many, not all but many of the films; still there are some, like Aki’s film that I’m really “dying” to see and hopefully will be the great winner this year but I know that Pater, Les Neiges du Kilimandjaro and The Artist are also great contenders. As we realize in the best film category all –except one- films come from Cannes; the exception is Céline Sciamma’s Tomboy that is a very interesting film but in my opinion not as good as her extraordinary Naissance des pieuvres that won the Prix Louis Delluc for first film in 2007.

Awards ceremony will be in Paris on December 16. To check the news at allocine go here; for English go here.

Best Actress Tally for Current Award Season

As there are good surprises let me share the tally that up-to-today has Michelle Williams leading in wins and nominations, unexpected but quite pleased as she’s a very good actress that in my opinion needs/deserves more recognition from peers, industry, journalists, and yes, audiences too.

Michelle Williams in My Week With Marilyn
Wins: 4 (Boston, Toronto, Las Vegas, DC)
Nominations: 10 (Globes, BFCA, SAG, Phoenix, Houston, Detroit, Spirits, St. Louis, San Diego, Satellites)

Close by is Tilda Swinton that’s another actress that in my opinion needs more honors as every single role that she does is award worthy.

Tilda Swinton in We Need To Talk About Kevin
Wins: 4 (SF, NBR, EFA, Houston)
Nominations: 7 (Globes, BFCA, SAG, Indiana, DC, BIFA, San Diego)

Next surely the most honored actress in the planet and all well-deserved, Meryl Streep; followed closely by Viola Davis and not so far away newcomer Elizabeth Olsen.

Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady
Wins: 2 (NYFCC and NYFCO)
Nominations: 10 (Globes, SAG, Phoenix, BFCA, Houston, Detroit, Boston, DC, St. Louis, Satellites)

Viola Davis in The Help
Wins: 1 (African-American critics)
Nominations: 10 (Globes, SAG, Phoenix, BFCA, Houston St. Louis, Detroit, DC, Satellites, San Diego)

Elizabeth Olsen in Martha Marcy May Marlene
Wins: 1 (Indiana)
Nominations: 8 (BFCA, Phoenix, Houston, DC, Spirits, San Diego, St. Louis, Satellites)

These are the ladies that lead the race to Oscar and surely nominations probably will be among them and maybe, just maybe Charlize Theron will make it even do up to day her tally reads with only 4 nominations (Globes, BFCA, Detroit, Satellites). Also hoping for a spot is Glenn Close that has 3 nominations but from “big/relevant” groups as Globes, SAG, and Satellites.

Is still too early to find a clear trend, but I will not be surprised if Oscar nods look like the tally. I know that this category could be less predictable than last year which of course makes it more interesting to follow.

Cheers!

84th Academy Awards Live Shorts Shortlist

A few minutes ago the Academy announced that 10 live action short films –out of 107 that qualified-will advance in the voting process; these are the films.

Je Pourrais Être Votre Grand-Mère (I Could Be Your Grandmother) by Bernard Tanguy, France
Love at First Sight by Michael Davies, UK
Pentecost by Peter McDonald, Ireland
Raju by Max Zähle, Germany and India
The Road Home by Rahul Gandotra, UK and India
Das Rauschen des Meeres (The Roar of the Sea) by Ana Rocha Fernandes and Torsten Truscheit, Germany
Sailcloth by Elfar Adalsteins, UK
The Shore by Terry George,
Time Freak by Andrew Bowler, USA
Tuba Atlantic by Hallvar Witzø, Norway

I’m impress the shorts shortlist is very European! Quite unusual. To read the official announcements go here.

2011 AFI Awards


Today the American Film Institute announced their annual honors and here are the ten AFI Movies of the Year.

Bridesmaids
The Descendants
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
The Help
Hugo
J. Edgar
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse


To read the official announcement that includes the AFI’s Ten TV Programs of the Year go here.

The following is AFI's video with their top 10.

14th British Independent Film Awards Winners

I was not pleased with the results, so much that I forgot to publish the winners, LOL! But here they are in *BLUE. Obviously there are exceptions and definitively I was really glad that Lynne Ramsay was honored with the award.

10/31

Today were announced the nominations for current year BIFA’s and statistics tell us that three films have the most nominations, Shame, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Tyrannosaur with seven each. Here are the nominations for some categories and to check the full list go here.

Best British Independent Film
Senna, Asif Kapadia
Shame, Steve McQueen
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Tomas Alfredson
*Tyrannosaur, Paddy Considine
We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lynne Ramsay

Best Director
Ben Wheatley for Kill List
Steve McQueen for Shame
Tomas Alfredson for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Paddy Considine for Tyrannosaur
*Lynne Ramsay for We Need to Talk About Kevin

Best Debut Director
Joe Cornish for Attack the Block
Ralph Fiennes for Coriolanus
John Michael McDonagh for The Guard
Richard Ayoade for Submarine
*Paddy Considine for Tyrannosaur

Best Actress
Rebeca Hall in The Awakening, Nick Murphy
Mia Wasikowska in Jane Eyre, Cary Fukunaga
MyAnna Buring in Kill List, Ben Wheatley
*Olivia Colman in Tyrannosaur, Paddy Considine
Tilda Swinton in We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lynne Ramsay

Best Supporting Actress
Felicity Jones in Albatross, Niall MacCormick
*Vanessa Redgrave in Coriolanus, Ralph Fiennes
Carey Mulligan in Shame, Steve McQueen
Sally Hawkins in Submarine, Richard Ayoade
Kathy Burke in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Tomas Alfredson

Best Actor
Brendan Gleeson in The Guard, John Michael McDonagh
Neil Maskell in Kill List, Ben Wheatley
*Michael Fassbender in Shame, Steve McQueen
Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Tomas Alfredson
Peter Mullan in Tyrannosaur, Paddy Considine

Best Supporting Actor
*Michael Smiley in Kill List, Ben Wheatley
Tom Hardy in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Tomas Alfredson
Benedict Cumberbatch in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Tomas Alfredson
Eddie Marsan in Tyrannosaur, Paddy Considine
Ezra Miller in We Need to Talk about Kevin, Lynne Ramsay

Most Promising Newcomer
Jessica Brown Findlay in Albatross, Niall MacCormick
John Boyega in Attack The Block, Joe Cornish
Craig Roberts in Submarine, Richard Ayoade
Yasmin Paige in Submarine, Richard Ayoade
*Tom Cullen in Weekend, Andrew Haigh (gay interest)

Best Foreign Film
Animal Kingdom, David Michôd, Australia
Drive, Nicolas Winding Refn, USA
Pina, Wim Wenders, Germany
*Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (A Separation), Asghar Farhadi, Iran
La Piel Que Habito (The Skin I live), Pedro Almodóvar, Spain

The awards ceremony will take place on Sunday December 4th, 2011. There are many that haven’t seen but from buzz Shame will get some top awards (for sure Fassbender as Best Actor) plus yes, I vote for Mia Wasikowska for Best Actress –but I know that is Tilda time and she has to get accolades for her role in Ramsay’s film.

37th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards

A few hours ago the perhaps most powerful group of critics voted and here are some of the winners.

Best Picture: The Descendants
Runner-Up: The Tree of Life

Best Director: Terrence Malick for The Tree of Life
Runner-Up: Martin Scorsese for Hugo

Best Actress: Yun Jung-hee in Poetry
Runner-Up: Kirsten Dunst in Melancholia

Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain in Coriolanus, The Debt, The Help, Take Shelter, Texas Killing Fields, and The Tree of Life
Runner-Up: Janet McTeer in Albert Nobbs

Best Actor: Michael Fassbender in A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, Shame, and X-Men: First Class
Runner-Up: Michael Shannon in Take Shelter


Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer in Beginners
Runner-Up: Patto Oswalt in Young Adult

Best Screenplay: Asghar Farhadi for A Separation
Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki for The Tree of Life
Best Production Design: Dante Farretti for Hugo

Best Foreign-Language Film: Nanjin! Nanjin! (City of Life and Death), Chuan Lu
Best Documentary/Non –Fiction Film: Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Werner Herzog
Best Animation: Rango

To check winners and runner-ups in all categories go here.  Some selection really puzzle me as find them rather odd, for example last year Best Actress went to a Korean actress and this year again; Best foreign-language film to magnificent –yet very hard-to-watch- Najing! Nanjing! a 2009 production and not to A Separation; but seems that with the few announcements up-to-date one category seems will have a lock: Best Supporting Actress. Most glad that Fassbinder is collecting honors and hope he will get an Oscar nod.

Seems this year critics will not agree as they did last year when The Social Network became the predictable Oscar nominee; this year could be a little bit more interesting. Let’s hope.

24th European Film Awards Winners

Today awards ceremony live streaming was not flawless like last year as honestly, was truly awful probably due to a bad server that wasn't enough for the demand; still had to watch live and so I did. Winners are in *BLUE. To check the award winners at official site go here.

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05/11

Today at the Seville European Film Festival the European Film Academy announced the nominations and in my opinion is one very good films selection that surely will make the more than 2,500 EFA members work not easy as how can you chose one movie from the six nominated for best film? Here are the nominations.

Best European Film
The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius, France
Le Gamin au Velo (The Kid with a Bike), Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, Belgium, France and Italy
Haeven (In a Better World), Susanne Bier, Denmark
The King’s Speech, Tom Hooper, UK
Le Havre, Aki Kaurismäki, Finland, France and Germany
*Melancholia, Denmark, Sweden, France and Germany

European Director
*Susanne Bier for Haeven (In a Better World), Denmark
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for Le Gamin au Velo (the Kid with a Bike), Belgium, France and Italy
Aki Kaurismäki for Le Havre, Finland, France and Germany
Béla Tarr for A Torino Lo (The Turin Horse),
Lars von Trier for Melancholia, Denmark, Sweden, France and Germany

European Actress
Kirsten Dunst in Melancholia
Cécile de France in Le Gamin au Velo (The Kid with a Bike)
Charlotte Gainsbourg in Melancholia
Nadezhda Markina in Elena
*Tilda Swinton in We Need to Talk About Kevin

European Actor
Jean Dujardin in The Artist
*Colin Firth in The King’s Speech
Mikael Persbrandt in Haeven (In a Better World)
Michel Piccoli in Habemus Papam
André Wilms in Le Havre

European Cinematographer
*Manuel Alberto Claro for Melancholia
Fred Kelemen for A Torino Lo (The Turin Horse)
Guillaume Schiffman for The Artist
Adam Sikora for Essential Killing

European Screenwriter
*Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for Le Gamin au Velo(the Kid with a Bike)
Anders Thomas Jensen for Haeven (In a Better World)
Aki Kaurismäki for Le Havre
Lars von Trier for Melancholia

European Composer
*Ludovic Bource for The Artist
Alexandre Desplat for The King’s Speech
Alberto Iglesias for La Piel Que Habito (The Skin I Live In)
Mihály Vig for A Torino Lo (The Turin Horse)

European Editor
*Tariq Anwar for The King’s Speech
Mathilde Bonnefoy for Drei (Three)
Molly Malene Stensgaard for Melancholia

European Production Designer
Paola Bizzarri for Habemus Papam
Antxón Gómez for La Piel Que Habito (The Skin I Live In)
*Jette Lehmann for Melancholia

European Documentary
*Pina, Wim Wenders, Germany
Stand van de Sterren (Position Among the Stars), Leonard Retel Helmrich, Netherlands
¡Vivan las Antipodas!, Victor Kossakovsky, Germany, Netherlands, Argentina and Chile

European Animated Feature Film
Le Chat du Rabbin (The Rabbi’s Cat), Antoine Delesvaux and Joann Sfar, France
*Chico and Rita, Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal and Fernando Trueba, Spain and Isle of Man
Une Vie de Chat (A Cat in Paris), Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol, France and Belgium

European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI
*Adem (Oxygen), Hans Van Nuffel, Belgium and Netherlands
Atmen (Breathing), Karl Markovics, Austria
Michael, Markus Schleinzer, Austria
Smukke Menesker (Nothing’s All Bad), Mikkel Munch-Fals, Denmark
Tilva Ros, Nikola Ležaić, Serbia

To check the nominated shorts go here  or here. Awards ceremony will be on December 3 in Berlin. As in previous years ceremony will be streamed live in the awards site that you can find here.

I do like the selection a lot more than last year but still believe that Academy members like “American-style” films more than what I imagined as Melancholia is the most mainstream (American) movie that Lars von Trier has ever done –according to what he said and me, I absolutely agree with him. Is not a bad movie but definitively Melancholia is far-away from The Antichrist for example. Since I’m talking about this movie have to say that I don’t agree with Cannes as I believe Charlotte Gainsbourg performance –and movie segment/story- is superior to Kirsten Dunst, so hopefully the record could be straighten by the European Academy. But won’t be an easy task as the Best Actress category has very good performance by Cécile de France and even if haven’t seen it yet I know that Tilda Swinton has a very good performance in We Need to Talk About Kevin, so good that has strong Oscar buzz; of course I’m “dying” to watch Elena but sometimes is so hard to be able to finally watch Russian films.

But going back to the best film category, the selection is fabulous (sans Melancholia) as you have the film that won the Best Film Oscar last year as well as the film that won the Oscar in the Foreign Language category, then the film that won the Cannes Jury Prize, the film that everyone is talking about because is black and white plus silent, and the film that I’m “dying” to see by one of my favorite directors that always mesmerize me with outstanding and out-of-the-ordinary films, yep Aki. My award goes to Aki even when haven’t seen his film, that’s how loyal and enthusiast fan I am.

But when we review the director category I’m not that sure about Aki as I know that Béla Tarr is a more than amazing director and no, haven’t seen his latest oeuvre but I’m sure will be mesmerizing; the Dardenne Brothers particular realism style has always puzzled/marveled me. Hope the award stays within these three directors.

Best Actor first impulse is –of course- Colin Firth! But have to admit that I was absolutely taken by Michel Piccoli in Habemus Papam, fantastic performance that should get more accolades than the ones I’ve been hearing.

Almodovar’s film didn’t made it to the top awards but got two nominations for music and production designer, hmm he won’t be pleased! (Lol!) I have been delaying watching Essential Killing as imagine that will be the kind of film that I don’t enjoy but always wondered about the beautiful images I saw in clips plus trailer, so now that got the cinematography nomination maybe I’ll watch.

I have no doubt which film will win this year in documentary HAS TO BE the outstanding, mesmerizing and visually impressive Pina by Wim Wenders, I could give this film the BEST FILM award as to my eyes this film is a lot more than a document about dancing and Pina’s life/oeuvre … is SO well done that becomes a very complete cinematic experience that stimulate ALL your senses.

Last but not least, I’m going to watch some (if not all) of the animated films as I know that French animation is really evolving too fast –still is the best in the world- and have to see the state of their development but who could not enjoy two films about cats? Lol!

As you can see have seen many movies and there are only a few that haven’t seen but are absolutely must be seen for me and for a trio I’m really counting the days until I finally will watch them. Sigh. So we will see what happens on December when we watch the awards live as always.

Cheers!

2011 National Board of Review Awards

Yesterday the NBR announced their awards recipients for this year and here they are.

Best Film: Hugo
Best Animated Feature: Rango
Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation

Best Director: Martin Scorsese for Hugo
Debut Director: J. C, Chandor for Margin Call

Best Ensemble: The Help
Best Actress: Tilda Swinton in We Need to Talk About Kevin
Best Supporting Actress: Shailene Woodley in The Descendants
Best Actor: George Clooney in The Descendants
Best Supporting Actor: Chirstopher Plummer in Beginners
Breakthrough Performance: Felicity Jones in Like Crazy and Rooney Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Documentary: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

NBR Freedom of Expression: Crime After Crime and Pariah
Spotlight Award: Michael Fassbender in A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, Shame, and X-Men: First Class


Top 10 Independent Films
50/50
Another Earth
Beginners
A Better Life
Cedar Rapids
Margin Call
Shame
Take Shelter
We Need To Talk About Kevin
Win Win

Top 5 Foreign Language Films
13 Assasins
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
Footnote
Le Havre
Point Blank

Top Films
The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
The Ides of March
J. Edgar
The Tree of Life
War Horse

To check winners in all categories go here. I’m really glad that Tilda is starting to collect honors for a role that I imagine has to be spectacular, like almost everything she does. So major groups from the east coast have announced their honors, let’s see what happens with the east coast organizations, which somehow imagine could be different as seems this year there will be no clear front runner.

84th Academy Awards Animated Shorts Shortlist

Yesterday the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 10 animated short films –from the forty-four (44) that qualified- will advance in the voting process and here they are.

Dimanche (Sunday), Patrick Doyon, Canada
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg, USA
I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat, Matthew O'Callaghan, USA
La Luna, Enrico Casarosa, USA
Luminaris, Juan Pablo Zaramella, Argentina
Magic Piano, Martin Clapp, China, Norway and Poland
A Morning Stroll,Grant Orchard, UK
Paths of Hate, Damian Nenow, Poland
Cul de Bouteille (Specky Four-Eyes), Jean-Claude Rozec, France
Wild Life, Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, Canada

The Short Films and Feature Animation Branch members will now select three to five nominees from above list. We know but let’s remember everyone, nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012 and awards ceremony will be on February 26. To check official press release go here.

 
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