Oscar Podcast #75: Post-TIFF 19 discussion and the awards forecast with Mina Takla

It’s crazy but this is our first Oscar podcast of the 2019/2020 awards season!

With Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Telluride and Toronto behind us the Oscar season prospects are coming into view. Some things that looked strong in spring and now wilting in the fall, while others have emerged as frontrunners.

I am joined (for the first time) by AwardsWatch’s own Mina Takla. Mina hit Cannes and TIFF for AW this year, knocking out over two dozen fantastic reviews and providing a much-needed looking at the non-English language selections that 2019 has to offer.

TIFF 19 Wrap-Up: From jokers to popes and birds to hustlers, here are the Best Films and Performances of the Toronto International Film Festival

In this podcast, we begin discussing Mina’s experience at TIFF and the films and performances he liked the best. We end that section talking about the Grolsch People’s Choice winner Jojo Rabbit and its runners-up Marriage Story and Parasite, which propels us into the Oscar conversation.

We cover Best Picture, Best Actor (with a focus on Joaquin Phoenix and Adam Driver), Best Actress (with a focus on Renée Zellweger and Cynthia Erivo), Documentary Feature and dabble in the supporting categories, as well as the historical potential of the Best Director category having more than woman director and/or two Asian directors with Bong Joon-ho (Parasite) and Lulu Wang (The Farewell) both in contention, on our way to closing out with the huge success and awards potential of Hustlers and the potential for Jennifer Lopez.

My apologies in advance for some of the audio. Something’s a bit buggy with my side of the recording (and yes, that clickety-clack is me) lately and I’m still working it out. Thank you for your patience!

This podcast is 1h 17m with music.

Opening: “Over the Rainbow,” from Roadside Attractions’ Judy, sung by Renée Zellweger

Closing: “New York City By Day,” by Thomas Newman from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack of Desperately Seeking Susan

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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