Belarus’s Crystal Swan, the first Foreign Language Film submission for the 2019 Oscars This is the official submission list for countries entering the Foreign Language Film Oscar race for the 91st Academy Awards. The list will be updated with news, trivia, and statistics as new announcements are made. Female-directed submissions: ALGERIA, AUSTRIA, BELARUS, CANADA, COLOMBIA, ESTONIA, GREECE, INDIA, INDONESIA, KENYA, KOSOVO, …
Read More »Official Poster for Kevin Macdonald’s Houston doc ‘WHITNEY’
You saw the teaser poster, now Roadside Attractions and Miramax have revealed the official poster for Kevin Macdonald’s doc WHITNEY, which world premiered at the Cannes Film Festival two weeks ago. The poster features a never-before-seen photo of Houston shot by acclaimed photographer Randee St Nicholas. Over the years, Randee collaborated with Whitney Houston many times and opened up her archives to the …
Read More »Cannes Podcast #2: Post-fest impressions, best and worst plus dream juries with guest Aaron Locke
It’s one week after the close of the 71st Cannes Film Festival and guest Aaron Locke, who guested on the first Cannes podcast, returns to chat with me about it. We talk about Aaron’s impressions as a first-time visitor of the fest, those early pieces about the lack of prestige and importance of Cannes and then move into our favorites …
Read More »2019 Oscar Predictions: BEST DIRECTOR (May) – Spike Lee Moves Up
As with Best Picture, the top of the list remains in tact with Steve McQueen (Widows), Adam McKay (Backseat), Damien Chazelle (First Man) keeping their 1-2-3 spots. I’ve switched Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman) and Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk) on the strength of Lee’s Grand Prix win at Cannes this last weekend. It’s 6-10 that sees changes (again, as …
Read More »Wrapping Up: Cannes Isn’t Back, It Never Left
The 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival has ended and with it came the fight with Netflix, causing them to pull out any movies for consideration (they wouldn’t budge on the festival’s rule requiring a film to play in France in a timely fashion – not the three-year hold Netflix currently has), an underwhelming opening night film in Everybody …
Read More »2018 Cannes Awards: Kore-eda’s ‘Shoplifters’ Wins Palme d’Or; Spike Lee Takes Grand Prix for ‘BlacKkKlansman’
Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda has won the highest honor from the Cannes Film Festival, the Palme d’Or for Shoplifters. He previously won the Jury Prize for 2013’s Like Father, Like Son. Shoplifters (review here) is the story of a family, both blood and cobbled together, who scrape by with multiple jobs and supplement their survival with minor thievery that threaten to …
Read More »Cannes: Gaspar Noé’s ‘Climax’ Wins Top Director’s Fortnight Prize
No one was more surprised than director Gaspar Noé himself when his new film, Climax, was met was near universal raves when it debuted in the Director’s Fortnight section of the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. So ready to be hated and vilified, the poster for the film even says “You Despised I Stand Alone. You Hated Irreversible. You Loathed Enter …
Read More »Cannes Review: ‘Whitney’ – a Heartbreaking Chronicle of the Rise and Fall of a Legend
If you were alive in the 1980s it was impossible to miss out on the once in a lifetime talent that was Whitney Houston. While she came from solid singer stalk in the form of backup songstress Cissy Houston, no one was really prepared for how big her breakthrough as an artist was going to be. To this day she …
Read More »Cannes Review: Kore-eda’s unforgettable ‘Shoplifters’ is his best film to date
SHOPLIFTERS is Hirokazu Kore-eda’s best film to date, and one of the most pleasant surprises of the Cannes Film Festival. A deceptively simple but utterly profound film, it starts and ends on two completely different notes, making it a film that constantly surprises you with its unpredictable yet compelling narrative. A family of shoplifters is trying to get by, with …
Read More »The trailer for Spike Lee’s new film ‘BlacKkKlansman’ is here
BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee’s newest film, which was co-produced by the powerhouse duo behind the Oscar-winning Get Out (Jordan Peele and Jason Blum), premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last night (here’s my review) and dropped its first trailer at the same time. Chronicling the true story of Ron Stallworth (John David Washington), the first black officer in the Colorado Springs …
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