39th César Awards Winners

Even if I promise to NOT get upset, I am very upset. So will not comment today. Most of you know how much I dislike French comedies, so no surprise if I say that top winner is okay but not much else.

Winners are in *BLUE. If you wish to read winners at official site go here.

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1/31/14
A few minutes ago at Fouqet's restaurant on Champs Elysees (ahh!), the French Academy announced the nominations for this year edition and fear no more, Abdellatif Kechiche master opus has many (8) nominations along with some excellent movies that were released in France during 2013 and yes, 2013 was another extraordinary year for French Cinema.

When we consider all nominations there are 47 that come from Cannes films and most were honored at the festival with award(s). That's another reason why these nominations show incredible high cinema-quality. Nevertheless La Vie d'Adèle is not the film with more nominations (8) but is the film where most nods come from "main" categories; Cannes honored and box office success, Me, Myself and Mum leads the tight pack with 10 nods, and L'inconnu du Lac also got 8 nods as La Vie d'Adèle. These three films are the top contenders. Still remember that more nominations doesn't necessarily mean more awards, at least in this award as just have to check last year where the most nominated film got no awards at all.

Perhaps the major snubs for me are the few nominations for Jeune & Jolie and Grand Central plus some surprises like Jimmy P nominated for Best Film, but most complex -at least for me because who are nominated- are categories like actress in a lead role, female newcomer, and actor in a lead role as there are some excellent performances being honored. Still have my favorites and -of course- hope Léa Seydoux gets the honor, as well as Adèle Exarchopoulos and Mads Mikkelsen.

Can't help but to share that most social media (and now general news!) is talking about one peculiar issue that obviously is NOT related to cinema, Julie Gayet nomination! Well, is great to have a good laugh so early in my morning.

Awards ceremony will be on February 28 at Châtelet, with François Cluzet acting as President and my favorite Cécile de France as Maîtresse de Cérémonie. Ceremony is stream live by Canal + and as every year will be and odyssey to find a stream available worldwide, sigh.

These are the nominations for the twenty-two (22) categories.

Best Film
9 mois ferme (9 Month Strech) by Albert Duponel
*Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! (Me, Myself and Mum) by Guillaume Gallienne
L'inconnu du Lac (Stranger by the Lake) by Alain Guiraudie
Jimmy P. (Psychothérapie d'un Indien des Plaines) (Jimmy P.) by Arnaud Desplechin
Le Passé (The Past) by Asghar Farhadi
La Vénus à la Foururre (Venus in Fur) by Roman Polanski
La Vie d'Adèle - Chapitres 1 et 2 (Blue is the Warmest Color) by Abdellatif Kechiche

Best First Film
La Bataille de Solférino (Age of Panic) by Justine Triet
La Cage dorée (The Gilded Cage) by Ruben Alves
En solitaire (Turning Tide) by Christophe Offenstein
La fille du 14 juillet (The Rendez-Vous of Déjà-Vu) by Antonin Peretjatko
*Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! (Me, Myself and Mum) by Guillaume Gallienne

Best Animated Film
Aya de Yopougon (Aya of Yop City) by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie
*Loulou l'Incroyable Secret by Eric Omond
Ma maman est en Amérique, elle a rencontré Buffalo Bill (My Mummy is in America and She Met Buffalo Bill) by Marc Boreal and Thibaut Chatel

Best Foreign Film
*The Broken Circle Breakdown by Felix Van Groeningen
Blancanieves by Pablo Berger
Blue Jasmine by Woody Allen
Dead Man Talking by Patrick Ridremont
Django Unchained by Quentin Tarantino
La Grande Bellezza by Paolo Sorrentino
Gravity by Alfonso Cuarón

Best Director
Albert Dupontel for 9 mois ferme (9 Month Strech)
Guillaume Gallienne for Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! (Me, Myself and Mum)
Alain Guiraudie for L'inconnu du Lac (Stranger by the Lake)
Arnaud Desplechin for Jimmy P. (Psychothérapie d'un Indien des Plaines) (Jimmy P.)
Asghar Farhadi for Le Passé (The Past)
*Roman Polanski for La Vénus à la Foururre (Venus in Fur)
Abdellatif Kechiche for La Vie d'Adèle - Chapitres 1 et 2 (Blue is the Warmest Color)

Best Actress
Fanny Ardant in Les Beaux Jours (Bright Days Ahead)
Bérénice Béjo in Le Passé (The Past)
Catherine Deneuve in Elle s'En Va (On My Way)
Sara Forestier in Suzanne
*Sandrine Kiberlain in 9 mois ferme (9 Month Strech)
Emmanuelle Seigner in La Vénus à la Foururre (Venus in Fur)
Léa Seydoux in La Vie d'Adèle - Chapitres 1 et 2 (Blue is the Warmest Color)

Best Supporting Actress
Marisa Borini in Un Château en Italie
Françoise Fabian in Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! (Me, Myself and Mum)
Julie Gayet in Quai d'Orsay
*Adèle Haenel in Suzanne
Géraldine Pailhas in Jeune & Jolie

Best Female Newcomer
Lou de Laâge in Jappeloup
Pauline Etienne in La Religieuse (The Nun)
*Adèle Exarchopoulos in La Vie d'Adèle - Chapitres 1 et 2 (Blue is the Warmest Color)
Golshifteh Farahani in Syngué sabour - Pierre de patience (The Patience Stone)
Marine Vacth in Jeune & Jolie

Best Actor
Mathieu Amalric in La Vénus à la Foururre (Venus in Fur)
Michel Bouquet in Renoir
Albert Dupontel in 9 mois ferme (9 Month Strech)
Grégory Gadebois in Mon âme par toi guérie (One of a Kind)
*Guillaume Gallienne in Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! (Me, Myself and Mum)
Fabrice Luchini in Alceste à bicyclette (Cycling with Moliere)
Mads Mikkelsen in Michael Kohlhaas (Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas)

Best Supporting Actor
*Niels Arestrup in Quai d'Orsay
Patrick Chesnais in Les Beaux Jours (Bright Days Ahead)
Patrick d'Assumçao in L'inconnu du Lac (Stranger by the Lake)
François Damiens in Suzanne
Olivier Gourmet in Grand Central

Best Male Newcomer
Paul Bartel in Les Petits Princes
*Pierre Deladonchamps in L'inconnu du Lac (Stranger by the Lake)
Paul Hamy in Suzanne
Vincent Macaigne in La fille du 14 juillet (The Rendez-Vous of Déjà-Vu)
Nemo Schiffman in Elle s'en va (On My Way)

Best Original Screenplay
Mariette Désert and Katell Quillévéré for Suzanne
*Albert Dupontel for 9 mois ferme (9 Month Strech)
Asghar Farhadi for Le Passé (The Past)
Philippe Le Guay for Alceste à bicyclette (Cycling with Moliere)
Alain Guiraudie for L'inconnu du Lac (Stranger by the Lake)

Best Adapted Screenplay
Antonin Baudry, Christophe Blain and Bertrand Tavernier for Quai d'Orsay
Arnaud Desplechin, Julie Peyr and Kent Jones for Jimmy P. (Psychothérapie d'un Indien des Plaines) (Jimmy P.)
*Guillaume Gallienne for Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! (Me, Myself and Mum)
David Ives and Roman Polanski for La Vénus à la Fourrure (Venus in Fur)
Abdellatif Kechiche and Ghalya Lacroix for La Vie d'Adèle - Chapitres 1 et 2 (Blue is the Warmest Color)

Best Cinematography
*Thomas Harmeier for L'extravagant voyage du jeune et prodigieux T.S. Spivet (The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet)
Claire Mathon for L'inconnu du Lac (Stranger by the Lake)
Jeanne Lapoirie for Michael Kohlhaas (Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas)
Mark Ping Bing Lee for Renoir
Sofian El Fani for La Vie d'Adèle - Chapitres 1 et 2 (Blue is the Warmest Color)

Best Editing
*Valèrie Deseine for Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! (Me, Myself and Mum)
Jean-Christophe Hym for L'Inconnu du lac (Stranger by the Lake)
Christophe Pinel for 9 mois ferme (9 Month Strech)
Camille Toubkis, Albertine Lastera and Jean-Marie Lengellè for La Vie d'Adèle - Chapitres 1 et 2 (Blue is the Warmest Color)
Juliette Welfling for Le Passé (The Past)

Best Original Soundtrack
Jorge Arriagada for Alceste à bicyclette (Cycling with Moliere)
Loïk Dury and Christophe "Disco" Minck for Casse-tête chinois (Chinese Puzzle)
Etienne Charry for L'Ecume des Jours (Mood Indigo)
*Martin Wheeler for Michael Kohlhaas (Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas)
Alexandre Desplat for La Vénus à la Fourrure (Venus in Fur)

Best Sound
Marc-Antoine Beldent, Loïc Prian, Olivier Dô Hùu for Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! (Me, Myself and Mum)
Philippe Grivel and Nathalie Vidal for L'inconnu du lac (Stranger by the Lake)
*Jean-Pierre Duret, Jean Mallet and Mélissa Petitjean for Michael Kohlhaas (Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas)
Lucien Balibar, Nadine Muse and Cyril Holtz for La Vénus à la fourrure (Venus in Fur)
Jérôme Chenevoy, Fabien Pochet and Jean-Paul Hurier for La Vie d'Adèle - Chapitres 1 et 2 (Blue is the Warmest Color)

Best Costumes
Olivier Bériot for Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! (Me, Myself and Mum)
*Pascaline Chavanne for Renoir
Anina Diener for Michael Kohlhaas (Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas)
Florence Fointaine for L'Ecume des Jours (Mood Indigo)
Florence Fontaine for L'extravagant voyage du jeune et prodigieux T.S. Spivet (The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet)

Best Set Design
Yan Arlaud for Michael Kohlhaas (Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas)
Benoit Barough for Renoir
Aline Bonetto for L'extravagant voyage du jeune et prodigieux T.S. Spivet (The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet)
Sylvie Olivé for Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! (Me, Myself and Mum)
*Stéphane Rozenbaum for L'Ecume des Jours (Mood Indigo)

Best Documentary
Comment j'ai détesté les maths by Olivier Peyon
Le dernier des injustes (The Last of the Unjust) by Claude Lanzmann
Il était une forêt by Luc Jacquet
La maison de la radio by Nicolas Philibert
*Sur le chemin de l'école by Pascal Plisson

Best Short Film
*Avant que de tout perdre (Just Before Losing Everything) by Xavier Legrand, 29'
Bambi by Sebastien Lifshitz, 58' (this is not a short film! - is a documentary)
La fugue by Jean-Bernard Marlin, 23'
Les Lézards by Vincent Mariette, 14'
Marseille la nuit by Marien Monge, 40'

Best Animated Short Film
Lettres des Femmes by Augusto Zanovello
*Mademoiselle Kiki et les Montparnos (Kiki of Montparnasse) by Amélie Harrault

If you wish to check nominations at official site go here but have to downlowad a pdf file.

Most surprising nomination is for Bambi by Sebastien Lifshitz not because is not good, as a matter of fact is an excellent must be seen documentary (!), but because is nominated as a short film (!) with 58 minutes! Go figure, hope they fix this.

There are a few films that I have not seen, some because decided not to see and now maybe will, others because escaped my radar and one/two that I'm dying to see and haven't seen them yet. Still the "important" (lol) ones have seen them and yes, they're fantastic films! Most interesting, from those that escaped my radar, is the second film by Katell Quillévéré (remember Un Poison Violent?) Suzanne that not only has a very interesting story but also Adèle Haenel performs.

I suppose that this will be the only -non LGBT- major award where a lesbian interest movie will be competing with a gay interest movie for the top award! Doubt we will soon see this milestone again and -obviously- believe that the lesbian interest movie is highly superior to the gay interest film and to the others in the race for best film.

39th César Awards Red Carpet

Another - Better

i>TELE - i>TELE

Live Tapis rouge et coulisses des Cesar 2014 - Live Tapis rouge et coulisses des Cesar 2014

15th Les Étoiles d'Or du Cinéma Award Winners

As every year and just before the awards César ceremony (next Friday) the more than 400 specialized press journalists that belong to l’Académie des Étoiles d’Or du Cinéma Français announced their award winners and as everyone has been expecting Kechiche's master opus won the top awards.

Perhaps what is more interesting is that last year top award was given to Audiard's film instead of Haneke's which did not happen at the César, so does this means that Kechiche will not win next Friday? Well, I do not think so as his movie, La Vie d' Adèle, will surely collect honors at the upcoming César awards.

These are the winners that you can also check at the official site.

Best Film: La vie d’Adèle chapitres 1 & 2

Best Director: Abdellatif Kechiche for La vie d’Adèle chapitres 1 & 2
Best Debut Film: Les garçons et Guillaume, à table !, Guillaume Gallienne

Best Actress: Adèle Exarchopoulos in La vie d’Adèle chapitres 1 & 2
Best Actor: Guillaume Gallienne in Les garçons et Guillaume, à table !
Best Female Newcomer: Adèle Exarchopoulos in La vie d’Adèle chapitres 1 & 2
Best Male Newcomer: Vincent Macaigne in La Bataille de Solférino

Best Screenplay: Albert Dupontel and Laurent Turner for 9 mois ferme
Original Score Compositor: Alexandre Desplat

Best Documentary: La Maison de la Radio, Nicolas Philibert

Industry Awards
Production: Wild Bunch
Distributor: Wild Bunch Distribution

Indeed last year Audiard's film won top award and Michael Haneke won best director, but this year we can clearly see that Kechiche master opus won four awards which undoubtedly suggests that the Cannes Palm d'Or winner has really good chances to be highly honored next Friday. Let's hope so and also let's hope that we can see the live streaming, sigh.

50th Cinema Audio Society Award Winners

Last night the group had their award ceremony that honored expected winners, Gravity and Frozen.

Winners are in *BLUE. To check winners in television categories go here.

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1/14/14
Today CAS announced the nominees for the current edition of these awards that recognize best sound mixing of 201.

Awards ceremony will be on February 22nd in the Crystal Ballroom of the historic Millennium Biltmore Hotel where Re-recording Mixer Andy Nelson will receive the CAS Career Achievement Award. On the evening of the awards CAS website will be updated in real time as the winners are announced.

These are the nominations for Motion Picture

Live Action
Captain Phillips
*Gravity
Inside Llewyn Davis
Iron Man 3
Lone Survivor

Animated
The Croods
Despicable Me 2
*Frozen
Monsters University
Walking With Dinosaurs

To check the names of the nominees in each movie and the television categories go here.

16th Annual Costume Designers Guild Award Winners

Last night the group had their awards ceremony and winners are in *BLUE.

To check winners in all categories go official site later as winners are no yet at their site or read news here.

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1/8/14
Today the Costume Designers Guild announced the nominations that will honor 2013 films and the winners of the seven competitive categories will be revealed at a ceremony on Saturday, February 22 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Also director, writer and producer Judd Apatow and Costume Designer April Ferry will be recognized with honorary awards.

The Nominees for feature films three categories.

Excellence in Contemporary Film
*Suzy Benzinger for Blue Jasmine
Casey Storm for Her
Wendy Chuck for Philomena
Sarah Edwards for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Excellence in Period Film
*Patricia Norris for 12 Years a Slave
Michael Wilkinson for American Hustle
Kurt & Bart for Dallas Buyers Club
Catherine Martin for The Great Gatsby
Daniel Orlandi for Saving Mr. Banks

Excellence in Fantasy Film
Ann Maskrey, Richard Taylor and Bob Buck for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
*Trish Summerville for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Gary Jones and Michael Kutsche for Oz: The Great and Powerful

To learn nominees for Television and Commercial categories go here.

2014 Oscar Not So-Late Predictions

Been distracted with the Winter Olympics but what I like the most is over so it is time to turn my attention back to the Oscars and do some predictions in a year that it is NOT easy to guess what Academy members will do as suspect will be very different from what I like.

Was reading the Mojo Box Office figures and can tell that the movie that benefited more from the nomination is none other than American Hustle (!) which is kind of surprising for me as movie has a very appealing cast, for teenagers, young adults and the not so-young. So go figure what the "nomination effect" really does as the movies that really need a push do not get a significant one.

One important thing pops in my mind, this year we have a different kind of Awards Season that could influence the Oscar race. All started with major film critics' groups that had "ties" for the first time since many years. Yes, this year I believe that Oscar could "surprise" us with ties and more than believing, I am hoping will happen as there are some categories were a tie will please many and will be completely understandable.

Have to spend a paragraph to remind you that Academy voters are mainly old, men, white, and living in Los Angeles. So if you are not like them, it is probable that the nominations and awards will not be the ones you will choose, so if you decide to watch the Oscars will NOT be because who wins what but to enjoy a "good" entertaining TV show. That is why producers go beyond their way trying to produce a show to people who do not care much for movies and/or winners but care to be entertained with "celebrities", jokes and some music. Still, there is an "endangered species", people like me (lol) that enjoy great cinema and "still" enjoys the Oscar show for entertainment but most of all, to find who wins what.

Since I'm sort of sarcastic better to go directly to my predictions.

Best Picture

From the nine movies in competition the ones that I favor with a positive review are 12 Years a Slave, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Philomena and the biggest positive surprise of the season: Nebraska. Did not enjoyed much American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Her and The Wolf of Wall Street. So it's no surprise if I still believe that the best from the bunch is 12 Years a Slave and IF any of the first three wins will be alright for me. IF any of the last four wins I will be extremely disappointed and yes, will be upset for a while (lol).

Will Win: 12 Years a Slave
Could Win: Gravity
Should Win: 12 Yeas a Slave, Dallas Buyers Club or Gravity.

Best Animated Feature Film

We all know that Frozen is going to win which is a great shame as truly do not understand what the movie has that is so good to be honored with an Oscar. I believe this award should go to a movie that has Great/Outstanding animation to tell a great story that appeals to the young and older. If that would be true then you have to discard The Croods, Despicable Me 2 and Frozen; plus The Wind Rises that's more for adults. Then you will only have one contender Ernest & Celestine.

Will Win: Frozen
Should Win: Ernest & Celestine

Foreign Language

Why Oscar does not have a tie? Especially for this category, a tie will be the most democratic solution as who could choose between fantastic The Hunt and outstanding The Great Beauty? Two very different movies, one appealing to our melancholy and the other to our moral emotions and precisely because what each movie appeals is why The Hunt is doom and The Great Beauty will win. Sigh. Melancholy touches older people, especially those who are familiar with Fellini -as most Academy members surely are- and Paolo Sorrentino's Fellini homage will prevail from a morally charged pedophile suggested story in The Hunt.

Will Win: The Great Beauty
Could Win: The Broken Circle Breakdown (if votes are split and a third rises)
Should Win: tie between The Great Beauty and The Hunt

Directing

Me and my own problems with directing. Sigh. Yes as many of you watch a movie because actors, I watch movies because directors and nowadays is becoming very difficult in American/English-speaking cinema as is not easy to understand what directors are doing in full visual effects movies. Last year Life of Pi helped me to understand some more but Gravity is still confusing for me as what I find really outstanding, unique, in the trend to fast evolution are the many inventions and creations (most tech specs) to make possible the tension in film plus the actors performance.

All of the above to say that we all know that Alfonso Cuarón will win the category and I will still be confused trying to find the reason why he won. Sigh. Yes, you know it by now, my choice is excellent Steve McQueen that since his first movie has shown incredible directing skills.

Will Win: Alfonso Cuarón
Should Win: Steve McQueen

Actress in a Leading Role

Nobody doubts that this is Cate Blanchett year and IF she doesn't get the Oscar I will be VERY disappointed with the oblique Academy members that mix professional and personal lives. Yes there are strong rumors, high buzz about Woody Allen personal life influencing Cate Blanchet professional life, which I find atrocious but very possible as most Academy members live in Los Angeles and are much exposed to Celebrity gossip, at least more than you and me. Sigh. Blanchett performance is outstanding and out of the ordinary in many levels.

Then you have pundits calling for Amy Adams winning. Absolutely unacceptable as not only Adams "stole" the nomination spot from much deserving Emma Thompson but I did NOT enjoy her performance AT ALL in American Hustle and please recall that I have appreciated her great performances in movies NOT related to David O. Russell. As a matter of fact I believe that Amy Adams and Christian Bale were strong casting mistakes, perhaps with a different type of actors movie would have been different and more appealing.

Will Win: Cate Blanchett (It is an emotional decision)
Could Win: Amy Adams (NO WAY!!!)
Should Win: Cate Blanchett

Actress in a Supporting Role

Allow me to share that I did enjoy all five performances, some more than the others BUT the one performance that jumps out of the ordinary ABSOLUTELY is what Jennifer Lawrence did in American Hustle. She is the only reason I continued watching American Hustle and believe it or not, did not complained about film. She pops-out of the screen with her fantastic performance.

But later in the Oscar race another actress has been getting much more attention as she is being heavily promoted as Red Carpet darling. Yes I'm talking about Lupita Nyong'o. She did an acceptable performance in 12 Years a Slave BUT this film is nothing about females as ALL female roles disappear in the jungle of great performances by male actors. 12 Years a Slave is a Male/Men/Testosterone movie and most actors give outstanding performances no matter how small their role is.

Will Win: Jennifer Lawrence (HAS TO - okay is an emotional decision)
Could Win: Lupita Nyong'o (Academy members like to honor newcomers with this award)
Should Win: Jennifer Lawrence (This young actress does a highly superior performance when compared to other nominees and should NOT be "punished" for doing blockbuster movies.)

Actor in a Leading Role

Do not understand what Christian Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio are doing in this category as their characters were not pleasant BUT their performance made them unwatchable; Bruce Dern was a pleasant positive surprise (now understand why he won the Cannes Palme d'Or) and yes, I do not mind at all if Chiwetel Ejiofor or Matthew McConaughey win as both delighted us with great performances. This another category were a tie will please many, including me.

Will Win: Matthew McConaughey
Could Win: Leonardo DiCaprio (Awful performance)
Should Win: Chiwetel Ejiofor

Actor in Supporting Role

We all know that this year the award HAS to go to one -and only one- impressive performance by Jared Leto. Probabilities tell us that he will and the big surprise will be IF Academy members decide to vote otherwise because the "racy" movie theme and the character Leto performs. There is another great performance, Michael Fassbender but believe this is not his year and know he will get an Oscar sooner than later.

Will Win: Jared Leto
Could Win: Barkhad Abdi (Gosh he barely acted! and recall that I enjoy performances by non-actors)
Should Win: Jared Leto

That's all. Next week will do my "very late" predictions that will include ALL the categories. Hope you had fun reading at least as much fun as I had writing.

2014 Swiss Film Award Nominations

The contenders for the 2014 Swiss Film Award have been revealed. The official announcement was made during “Nominations Night” in Solothurn concert hall. Some 600 invited guests from the Swiss film industry attended the gala evening.

Around 240 members of the Swiss Film Academy viewed and rated the 118 film entries that were deemed eligible for the competition. The results of the anonymous vote serve as a recommendation for the Swiss Film Award jury whose task it is to select the final award nominees. This year, the awards are divided into 11 categories and come with prize money totalling CHF 435,000. The key role of editors in the filmmaking process will be officially recognized, with the introduction of the new “Best Film Editing” Award. In addition, the 2014 Swiss Film Award will be the first time that the “Best Animated Film” Award will be bestowed annually instead of every two years.

The 17th Swiss Film Award ceremony will take place on 21 March 2014 at the Schiffbau, Zurich. This gala event, which officially recognizes the work of the Swiss film industry, is co-produced by the Federal Office of Culture and its official partners, SRG SSR and the Association "Quartz" Genève Zürich, and is organized in collaboration with SWISS FILMS, the Swiss Film Academy and the Solothurn Film Festival.

Best Fiction Film
Der Goalie bin ig, Sabine Boss
Left Foot Right Foot, Germinal Roaux
Les grandes ondes (à l'ouest) (Longwave), Lionel Baier
Mary Queen Of Scots, Thomas Imbach
Traumland, Petra Volpe

Best Animated Film
Hasta Santiago, Mauro Carraro
The Kiosk, Anete Melece
Vigia, Marcel Barelli

Best Documentary Film
Der Imker, Mano Khalil
L'escale, Kaveh Bakhtiari
L'expérience Blocher, Jean-Stéphane Bron
Neuland, Anna Thommen
Vaters Garten - die Liebe meiner Eltern, Peter Liechti

Best Actress
Ursina Lardi in Traumland
Sonja Riese in, Der Goalie bin ig
Bettina Stucky in Traumland

Best Actor
Stefan Kurt in Akte Grüninger
Patrick Lap in Les grandes ondes (à l’ouest)
Marcus Signe in Der Goalie bin ig

Best Performance in a Supporting Role
Leonardo Nigro in Die Schwarzen Brüder
Pascal Ulli in Der Goalie bin ig
Dimitri Stapfer in Left Foot Right Foot

To check nominees in all 11 categories please go here.  Seems I'll have to catch-up my Swiss film viewing as all films are "new" for me and there is a couple that seem to be worth-watching.

8th Asian Film Awards Nominations

On February 11 the Asian Film Awards Academy announced its establishment as the official organizer of the annual Asian Film Awards. To remind you readers, during the past seven years the awards were organized by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society.

The newly established Academy will be based in Hong Kong and is chaired by Dr. Wilfred Wong Ying-wai, who is also the chairman of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society. Committee members include Mr. Lee Yong-kwan, Director of the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea, and Mr. Yasushi Shiina, Director General of the Tokyo International Film Festival and TIFFCOM market from Japan.

The AFA Academy also announced that the 8th Asian Film Awards will be presented by an innovative collaboration with Asia’s leading integrated entertainment resort City of Dreams Macau. The award ceremony will be held on March 27, 2014 at the state-of-the-art Dancing Water Theater, home to the world’s largest water-based extravaganza “The House of Dancing Water”.

Wong Kar-wai's The Grandmaster leads the nominations with 11 nominations and to check nominees in all categories please go here or here.

Best Film
無人區 Wu ren qu (No Man's Land), Hao Ning, China
一代宗師 Yi dai zong shi (The Grandmaster),Wong Kar-Wai, China and Hong Kong
舟を編む Fune wo amu (The Great Passage), Yûya Ishii ,Japan
Dabba (The Lunchbox), Ritesh Batra, India, France, Germany and USA
Snowpiercer, Joon-ho Bong, France, Korea and USA
郊遊 Jiao you (Stray Dogs), Ming-liang Tsai, France and Taiwan

Best Director
Bong Joon-ho for Snowpiercer, France, Korea and USA
Anthony Chen for Ilo Ilo, Singapore
Koreeda Hirokazu for Soshite chichi ni naru (Like Father, Like Son), Japan
Tsai Ming-liang for Jiao you (Stray Dogs), France and Taiwan
Wong Kar-wai for Yi dai zong shi (The Grandmaster), China and Hong Kong

Best Actress
Eugene Domingo in Barber's Tales, Philippines
Han Hyo-joo in Cold Eyes, South Korea
Paw Hee Ching in Rigor Mortis, Hong Kong
Maki Yoko in The Ravine Of Goodbye, Japan
Zhang Zi Yi in The Grandmaster, Hong Kong and China

Best Actor
Fukuyama Masaharu in Like Father, Like Son, Japan
Irrfan Khan in The Lunchbox, India
Lee Kang Sheng in Stray Dogs, France and Taiwan
Tony Leung Chiu Wai in The Grandmaster, Hong Kong and China
Song Kang-ho in The Attorney, South Korea

Jury List
Jury President: Peter Ho-Sun Chan, Hong Kong
Celebrity Jury: Donnie Yen, Hong Kong
Ronald Arguelles, Philippines
John Baldalu, Indonesia
Patricia Cheng, Hong Kong
Kenji Ichizaka, Japan
Christian Jeune, France
Eric Khoo, Singapore
Lee Yong-Kwan, South Korea
Kong Rithdee, Thailand
tien-hisang Wen, Taiwan
Jacob Wong, Hong Kong

Have seen some movies but in general believe there are some great movies that will be honored this year.

61st MPSE Golden Reel Award Winners

Last night organizers had their award ceremony but unfortunately the official twitter account did not tweet winners, the official site has no winners update and most movies news related sites did not posted winners. It was not until this moment that found a news source that you can find here to check winners in all categories besides film. Eventually winners will be at the official site.

There was no surprises as category most related to what Oscar honors went to the expected Gravity.

Winners are in *BLUE.

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1/17/14
Recently the Motion Picture Sound Editors announced the nominations for the current edition that recognize outstanding achievement in sound editing in 22 categories encompassing feature films, television, animation, computer entertainment and student work. The 61st MPSE Golden Reel Awards will be held February 17, 2013 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites in Los Angeles.

These are the nominees for Feature Film categories

Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects and Foley in an English-Language Feature
12 Years a Slave
All Is Lost
Captain Phillips
Fast & Furious 6
*Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Iron Man 3
Lone Survivor

Best Sound Editing: Dialogue and ADR in an English-Language Feature
12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
August: Osage County
*Captain Phillips
Gravity
Her
Inside Llewyn Davis
Lone Survivor

Best Sound Editing in an Animated Feature (English or Foreign-Language) (Includes ADR, Dialogue, Sound Effects and Foley)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
The Croods
Despicable Me 2
*Epic
Ernest & Celestine
Frozen
Monsters University
Planes

Best Sound Editing in a Foreign-Language Feature (Includes ADR, Dialogue, Sound Effects and Foley)
Blue is the Warmest Color
*The Grandmaster
The Past
Wadjda

Best Sound Editing - Music in a Musical Feature (English or Foreign-Language)
*Frozen
Inside Llewyn Davis
Justin Bieber's Believe
Metallica Through the Never

Best Sound Editing - Music in a Feature (English or Foreign-Language)
12 Years a Slave
47 Ronin
American Hustle
*The Great Gatsby
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
World War Z

Best Sound Editing in a Documentary Feature - Foreign Languague
1
20 Feet from Staradom
CinemAbility
*Dirty Wars
Good Ol' Freda
Muscle Shoals
Rising from Ashes
Sound City

To check nominees at official site go here and later today nominees in other categories will be announced, so if you wish to check them go here.

2014 BAFTA Award Winners

Awards ceremony will start in a few minutes. BAFTA will NOT be broadcast live -so NO live stream- but BAFTA twitter account will announce winners live.

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Right now BBC One is broadcasting the awards ceremony so if you wish to enjoy the fantastic British peculiar great humor, suggest you watch it. In a bit the video will be available and will post it here for you to enjoy.

I'm extremely pleased with the top awards winners BUT as always there is an exception as was hoping Steve McQueen to win Best Director as he was superior to all the other nominees but already confessed that I have a hard time with directors of films crowded with special visual effects, sigh.

Think that there are some winners in non-top categories that will duplicate their win in Oscar but as we all know, this year will not be easy to guess what American Academy members will vote for and Bafta did NOT do much to help us guessing!!! Now what follows is an exercise to extrapolate what I like from what Academy members could do, maybe then I can guess right.

Nevertheless in the other categories my biggest disappointment was that the "Public" did not recognized the fantastic work of Léa Seydoux beyond her Cannes Palm award win, but then this was England and perhaps Brits still do not like that much the French (LOL!).

Then we go to the Foreign Language film category and the most difficult decision as most, including BAFTA, prefer The Great Beauty above Kechiche's oeuvre; I understand as Paolo Sorrentino with this movie had to do an homage to one of my most adored directors, Federico Fellini. Yes, La Grande Bellezza is decadent, as decadent as Fellini and that's why I simply loved this film. But Kechiche film is a fantastic incredible simple, told (narration+visuals) very straight-forward, very realistic romance that hits viewers HARD. Anyway my point is that in Oscar THERE SHOULD BE A TIE. (LOL).

Peter Greenway gets an award for Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema. Dame Helen Mirren wins the Academy Fellowship.

Winners are in *BLUE. If you wish to read the winners at the official site go here.

See you next year!!!

1/8/14
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Today the British Academy announced the nominations for the current edition with no real surprises, except finding that nods look quite similar to what Oscar nominations could be but somehow was expected as most movies with Oscar buzz have something British. Gravity leads the pack with 11 nominations closely followed by 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle with 10 each. Captain Phillips follows with 9 nominations. So indeed by the numbers is a close race.

The EE British Academy Film Awards take place on Sunday 16 February at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London. The ceremony will be hosted by Stephen Fry and will be broadcast exclusively on BBC One and BBC One HD, preceded by a red carpet show on BBC Three. The ceremony is also broadcast in all major territories around the world.

Best Film
*12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Gravity
Philomena

Outstanding British Film
*Gravity
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Philomena
Rush
Saving Mr. Banks
The Selfish Giant

Film Not In The English Language
The Act of Killing
Blue is the Warmest Color
*The Great Beauty
Metro Manila
Wadja

Documentary
*The Act of Killing
The Armstrong Lie
Blackfish
Tim's Vermeer
We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks

Animated Film
Despicable Me 2
*Frozen
Monster University

Director
Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave
David O. Russell for American Hustle
Paul Greengrass for Captain Phillips
*Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity
Martin Scorsese for The Wolf of Wall Street

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer
Colin Carberry (Writer) and Glenn Patterson (Writer) for Good Vibrations
Kelly Marcel (Writer) for Saving Mr. Banks
*Kieran Evans (Director/Writer) for Kelly + Victor
Paul Wright (Director/Writer) and Polly Stokes (Producer) for Those in Peril
Scott Graham (Director/Writer) for Shell

Leading Actress
Amy Adams in American Hustle
*Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine
Emma Thompson in Saving Mr. Banks
Judi Dench in Philomena
Sandra Bullock in Gravity

Supporting Actress
*Jennifer Lawrence in American Hustle
Julia Roberts in August: Osage County
Lupita Nyong'o in 12 Years a Slave
Oprah Winfrey in The Butler
Sally Hawkings in Blue Jasmine

Leading Actor
Bruce Dern in Nebraska
*Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave
Christian Bale in American Hustle
Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street
Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips

Supporting Actor
*Barkhad Abdi in Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper in American Hustle
Daniel Bruhl in Rush
Matt Damon in Behind the Candelabra
Michael Fassbender in 12 Years a Slave

Original Screenplay
*Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell for American Hustle
Woody Allen for Blue Jasmine
Alfonso Cuarón and Jonas Cuarón for Gravity
Joel and Ethan Coen for Inside Llewyn Davis
Bob Nelson for Nebraska

Adapted Screenplay
John Ridley for 12 Years a Slave
Richard LaGravenese for Behind The Candelabra
Billy Ray for Captain Phillips
*Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope for Philomena
Terence Winter for The Wolf of Wall Street

Original Music
Hans Zimmer for 12 Years a Slave
John Williams for The Book Thief
Henry Jackman for Captain Phillips
*Steven Price for Gravity
Thomas Newman for Saving Mr. Banks

Cinematography
Sean Bobbitt for 12 Years a Slave
Barry Ackroyd for Captain Phillips
*Emmanuel Lubezki for Gravity
Bruno Delbonnel for Inside Llewyn Davis
Phedon Papamichael for Nebraska

Editing
Joe Walker for 12 Years a Slave
Christopher Rouse for Captain Phillips
Mark Sanger and Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity
*Dan Hanley and Mike Hill for Rush
Thelma Schoonmaker for The Wolf of Wall Street

Production Design
Adam Stockhausen and Alice Baker for 12 Years a Slave
Judy Becker and Heather Loeffler for American Hustle
Howard Cummings for Behind The Candelabra
Andy Nicholson, Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woodlard for Gravity
*Catherine Martin and Beverly Dunn for The Great Gatsby

Costume Design
Michael Wilkinson for American Hustle
Ellen Mirojnick for Behind the Candelabra
*Catherine Martin for The Great Gatsby
Michael O'Connor for The Invisible Woman
Daniel Orlandi for Saving Mr. Banks

Make Up & Hair
*Evelyne Noraz and Lori McCoy-Bell for American Hustle
Kate Biscoe and Marie Larkin for Behind the Candelabra
Mauricio Silvi and Kerry Warn for The Great Gatsby
Debra Deson, Beverly Jo Pryor and Candance Neal for The Butler
Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor and Rick Findlater for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Sound
Richard Hymns, Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor, Micah Bloomberg, Gillian Arthur for All Is Lost
Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, Chris Munro, Oliver Tarney for Captain Phillips
*Glenn Freemantle, Skip Lievsay, Christopher Benstead, Niv Adiri, Chris Munro for Gravity
Danny Hambrook, Martin Steyer, Stefan Korte, Markus Stemler, Frank Kruse for Rush
Peter F. Kurland, Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff for Inside Llewyn Davis

Special Visual Effects
Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, Eric Reynolds for The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug
*Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk, Neil Corbould, Nikki Penny for Gravity
Bryan Grill, Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Dan Sudick for Iron Man 3
Hal Hickel, John Knoll, Lindy De Quattro, Nigel Sumner for Pacific Rim
Ben Grossmann, Burt Dalton, Patrick Tubach, Roger Guyett for Star Trek Into Darkness

British Short Film
Island Queen
Keeping Up with the Joneses
Orbit Even After
*Room 8
Sea View

British Short Animation
Everything I Can See From Here
I Am Tom Moody
*Sleeping With The Fishes

Rising Star in 2014
Dane Dehaan
Lupita Nyong’o
George Mackay
*Will Poulter
Léa Seydoux

To see nominees in BAFTA's site go here. Perhaps where these nominations differ from the Oscars is with the inclusion of Philomena in the Best Picture category and more beyond Judi Dench Best Actress nomination plus I'm still not sure if Leonardo DiCaprio will make it to the five Oscar nominees but he did make it to BAFTA as Matthew McConaughey is not in as well as anyone from Dallas Buyers Club, but I'm almost sure Christian Bale will not make it to Oscar.

Notorious is the absence of Meryl Streep which allowed Amy Adams to be included in the five nominees, with this snub now believe that Best Actress Oscar category is locked and winner is highly predictable. In the supporting categories Oprah Winfrey now has good chances of getting an Oscar nod as well as Daniel Bruhl.

Most notable is that BAFTA's five nominees in the Director category are exactly the same as the nominees announced yesterday by the Directors Guild, but still have the feeling that in Oscar one director will be different.

Interesting trivia, Judi Dench becomes BAFTA film awards' most-nominated actress in history and Woody Allen becomes the most-nominated director in BAFTA history.

The Nominations Announcement video

64th Berlin International Film Festival Award Winners

With a normal awards ceremony 2014 Berlinale closes their sixty-four edition with "unexpected" top awards (which is fantastic) and some emotions expressed mainly by filmmakers and actors from Asian countries, which is highly unusual.

There are some films that won no awards and are must be seen for me because the excellent directors and yes, I'm very curious about the winners from Japan and China. So let's hope they become available near me before the Berlinale next edition. Sigh.

Prize list from festival organizers is at bottom of post. Enjoy!

Sehen im nächsten Jahr!!!

Competition

Golden Bear for Best Film: 白日焰火 Bai Ri Yan Huo (Black Coal, Thin Ice), Yinan Diao, China

Silver Bear Jury Grand Prix: The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson, UK and Germany

Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize: Aimer, boire et chanter (Life of Riley), Alain Resnais, France

Silver Bear for Best Director: Richard Linklater for Boyhood, USA

Silver Bear for Best Actress: Haru Kuroki in  小さいおうち Chiisai Ouchi (The Little House), Yôji Yamada, Japan
Silver Bear for Best Actor: Fan Liao in 白日焰火 Bai Ri Yan Huo (Black Coal, Thin Ice), Yinan Diao, China

Silver Bear for Best Script: Dietrich Brüggemann and Anna Brüggemann for Kreuzweg (Stations of the Cross), Dietrich Brüggemann, Germany
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution in the categories Camera, Editing, Score, Costume Design or Set Design: Zeng Jian for 推拿 Tui Na (Blind Massage), Ye Lou, China and France

Best First Feature Award: Güeros, Alonso Ruizpalacios, Mexico

Generation

Generation Kplus

Children's Jury
Crystal Bear for Best Film: Killa, Avinash Arun, India
Special Mention: Hitono Nozomino Yorokobiyo (Joy of Man's Desiring), Masakazu Sugita, Japan
Crystal Bear for Best Short Film: Sprout, Ga-eun Yoon, South Korea
Special Mention: Sepatu Baru (On Stopping the Rain), Aditya Ahmad, Indonesia

International Jury
Grand Prix for Best Film: Ciencias Naturales (Natural Sciences), Matías Lucchesi, Argentina and France
Special Mention: Killa, Avinash Arun, India
Special Prize for Best Short Film: Moy lichniy los' (My Own Personal Moose), Leonid Shmelkov, Russia
Special Mention: el (Away), Roland Ferge, Hungary

Generation 14Plus

Youth Jury
Crystal Bear for Best Film: 52 Tuesdays, Sophie Hyde, Australia
Special Mention: ärtico (artic), Gabri Velàzquez, Spain

Crystal Bear for Best Short Film: Mike, Petros Silvestros, UK
Special Mention: Emo (the musical), Neil Triffett, Australia

International Jury
Grand Prix: Violet, Bas Devos, Belgium and Netherlands
Special Mention: Einstein and Einstein, CAO Baoping, China

Special Prize for the Best Short Film: Vetrarmorgun (Winter Morning), Sarakis Stórá, Faeroes
Special Mention: Søn (Son), Kristoffer Kiørboe, Denmark

Short Films

Golden Bear: Tant qu'il nous reste des fusils à pompe (As long as shotguns remain), Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel, France
Silver Bear Jury Prize: Laborat, Guillaume Cailleau, Germany
DAAD Short Film: Person to Person, Dustin Guy Defa, USA
Berlin Short Film Nominee for the European Film Awards: Taprobana, Gabriel Abrantes, Portugal, Sri Lanka and Denmark, 24'

Collateral Awards - Prizes Independent Juries

FIPRESCI
Competition: Aimer, boire et chanter (Life of Riley), Alain Resnais, France
Panorama: Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho (The Way He Looks), Daniel Ribeiro, Brazil
Forum: Forma, Ayumi Sakamoto, Japan

Ecumenical Jury Awards
Competition: Kreuzweg (Stations of the Cross), Dietrich Brüggemann, Germany and France
Special Mention: '71, Yann Demage, UK
Panorama: Calvary, John Michael McDonagh, Ireland and UK
Special Mention: Triptyque (Triptych), Robert Lepage and Pedro Pires, Canada
Forum: Sto Spiti (At Home), Athanasios Karanikolas, Greece and Germany

Label Europa Cinemas: Blind, Eskil Vogt, Norway and Netherlands (Panorama)

NETPAC Prize (tie)
Cheol-ae-kum (A Dream of Iron), Kelvin Kyung Kun Park, USA and South Korea
Non-fiction Diary, Jung Yoon-suk, South Korea

Prize of the Guild of German Art House Cinemas: Boyhood, Richard Linklater, USA

Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d’Art et d’Essai (C.I.C.A.E.)
Panorama: Kuzu (The Lamb), Kutlug Ataman, Turkey and Germany
Forum: She's Lost Control, Anja Marquardt, USA

FGYO-Dialogue en Perspective: Anderswo (Anywhere Else), Ester Amrami, Germany
Special Mention: nebel (fog), Nicole Vögele, Germany

Caligari Film Prize: Das große Museum (The Great Museum), Johannes Holzhausen, Austria

Teddy Awards
Best Film: Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho (The Way He Looks), Daniel Ribeiro, Brazil
Special Jury Prize: Pierrot Lunaire, Bruce LaBruce, Germany and Canada
Best Documentary: Der Kreis (The Circle), Stefan Haupt, Switzerland
Best Short Film: Mondial 2010, Roy Dib, Lebanon, 19'

Peace Film Prize: We Come as Friends, Hubert Sauper, France and Austria
Amnesty International Film Prize: Al Midan (The Square), Jehane Noujaim, Egypt and USA
Cinema Fairbindet Prize: Concerning Violence, Göran Hugo Olsson, Sweden, USA and Denmark

Made In Germany - Perspektive Fellowship (tie)
Sandra Kaudelka for Intershop
Sebastian Mez for 274

Heiner Carow Prize: Meine Mutter, ein Krieg und ich (My Mother, a War and Me), Tamara Trampe and Johann Feindt, Germany

Think:Film Award: Provenance, Amie Siegel, USA

Arte International Prize: Emir Baigazin for The Wounded Angel, Kazakhstan
VFF Talent Highlight Pitch Award: Bavo Defurne for Souvenir, Belgium
Dolby Atmos Policy Trailer: Yulia Glukhova, Russia

Honorary Golden Bear: Ken Loach
Berlinale Camera: Karl "Baumi" Baumgartner, producer and distributor

Readers' Juries and Audience Awards

Panorama Audience Awards
Feature Film
First Place: Difret, Zeresenay Berhane Mehari, Ethiopia
Second Place: Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho (The Way He Looks), Daniel Ribeiro, Brazil
Third Place: Patardzlebi (Brides), Tinatin Kajrishvili, Georgia and France
Documentary
First Place: Der Kreis (The Circle), Stephan Haupt, Switzerland
Second Place: Finding Vivian Maier, John Maloof and Charlie Siskel, USA
Third Place: Meine Mutter, ein Krieg und ich (My Mother, a War and Me), Tamara Trampe and Johann Feindt, Germany

The Berliner Morgenpost Readers' Jury Award: Boyhood, Richard Linklater, USA
The Tagesspiegel Readers' Jury Award: Zamatoví teroristi (Velvet Terrorists), von Pavol Pekarčík, Ivan Ostrochovský and Peter Kerekes, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Croatia
ELSE -The Siegessäule Readers' Jury Award: 52 Tuesdays, Sophie Hyde, Australia

The following is the official Prize List from festival organizers.

28th Teddy Awards Winners

As of this moment the awards are being announced and I'm updating post with winners as soon as organizers tweet the winner.

A Special Teddy Award for lifetime achievement goes to Elfie Mikesch, photographer and director of photography of films by Werner Schoeter, Rosa v. Praunheim and others.

No one is suprised when a gay interest film wins the top award this year as almost all films in competition were NOT lesbian interest, sigh.  Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho by Daniel Ribeiro is the big winner of this edition.

Winners are in *BLUE.  Winners will be at official site probably by tomorrow.

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1/28/14
To my surprise today organizers announced the films that will compete to the most famous LGBT award and as every year there are more gay than lesbian interest films; but this year is truly pathetic as all except two films are with gay interest. Sigh.

Still there is one film that absolutely called my attention, Ye by Zhou Hao, as film description includes the following: "In his visually impressive, sensual debut film in which he also plays the leading role this 21-year-old director demonstrates all the poetic intensity of a Jean Genet in describing these three misfits’ mute search for intimacy." Awesome description that hope is accurate when finally I'm able to see film. Of course I'm looking forward to see Jalil Lepsert's Yves Saint Laurent that already was released in France with moderate box office success.

As we know, the Teddy Award is a "societal engaged political award, which is given to films and people, that communicate queer themes and content on a large scale and contribute with this to more tolerance, acceptance, solidarity and equality in society". The slogan of this year’s is Celebrate Queer Icons! an acclamation of the lives and works of gay men, lesbians, bisexual men and women, transgender, closet queens and raging queers. One Teddy goes to a feature film, another to a documentary and another one to a short film.

Award ceremony will be on February 14 at Komische Oper Berlin and on Saturday, February 15 at 11:25 pm Arte Television will broadcast the award ceremony in German; the French version will be on Sunday, February 16, at 00:05.

To check information about each film in English you have to search for each movie name in here or read the magazine below.

Feature Films
Competition
Praia do Futuro, Karim Aïnouz, Brazil and Germany (G)

Panorama
Fieber (Fever), Elfi Mikesch, Luxembourg and Austria (L)
*Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho, Daniel Ribeiro, Brazil (G) Best Film Winner
Love is Strange, Ira Sachs, USA (G)
Papilio Buddha, Jayan Cherian, India
Quick Change, Eduardo Roy Jr., Philippines (T)
Test, Chris Mason Johnson, USA (G)
Unfriend, Joselito Altarejos, Phillipines, (G)
Viharsarok (Land of Storms), Ádám Császi, Hungary and Germany (G)
Ya Gan Bi Haeng (Night Flight), LeeSong Hee-il, South Korea (G)
Ye (The Night), Zhou Hao (G) - Must Be Seen!!
Yves Saint Laurent, Jalil Lepsert, France (G)

Generation
52 Tuesdays, Sophie Hyde, Australia (T)
Feriado (Holiday), Diego Araujo, Ecuador and Argentina (G)

Forum
Castanha, David Pretto, Brazil (T)
*Pierrot Lunaire, Bruce LaBruce, Germany and Canada (G) Special Jury Prize Winner

Perspektive Deutches Kino
Der Samurai, Till Kleinert, Germany (G)

Berlinale Classics
Caravagio, Derek Jarman, UK, 1986 (G)
Sebastiane, Derek Jarman, UK, 1976 (G)

Documentaries
Panorama
The Dog, Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren, USA (T)
Felice chi è diverso (Happy to Be Different), Gianni Amelio, Italy (G)
Finding Vivian Maier, John Maloof and Charlie Siskel, USA (?) (Of Course is Must Be Seen)
Fucking Different XXY, several directors, Germany, (T)
*Der Kreis (The Circle), Stefan Haupt, Switzerland (G) Best Documentary Winner
Though a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and The Emergence Of A People, Thomas Allen Harris, USA (?)
Vulva 3.0, Claudia Richarz and Ulrike Zimmermann, Germany (?)

Short Films

Short Film Competition
As Rosas Brancas (The White Roses), Diogo Costa Amarante, 20' (?)

Generation
Ibhokhwe (The Goat), John Trengove, South Africa, 12' (G)
Tits, Alex Winckler, UK, 16' (G)
Vetrarmorgun (Winter Morning), Sakaris Stórá, Faroe Islands, 19' (L)

Panorama
Mario Wirz, Rosa von Praunheim, Germany, 15' (G)

Forum
Bim, Bam, Boom, Las Luchas Morenas, Marie Losier, USA, Denmark and Mexico, 12' (L?)
*Mondial 2010, Roy Dib, Lebanon, 19' (G) Best Short Film Winner

Perspektive Deutsches Kino
El Carro Azul (The Blue Car), Valerie Heine, Germany, 20' (G?)

Check some trailers @MOC.

Teddy Award Jury
Martaen Rabarts, New Zealand
Ana David, Portugal
Andrew Murphy, Canada
Dave Kim, South Korea
Ellen Becht, Germany
Julian David Correa, Colombia
Lucia Kajankova, Czech Republic
Masha Godovannaya, Russia
Oscar Erikkson, Sweden

To read the complete press release go here but the below magazine is much better, available in German and English.

12th Annual VES Awards Winners

Last night the group had their awards ceremony and there were no surprises as not only Alfonso Cuarón received from Sandra Bullock the Visionary Award but won the award that many -including me- believe will mean an Oscar for Gravity.

As a matter of fact Gravity won six awards including Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture.

Winners are in *BLUE. To check winners in other categories go here.

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1/14/14
Today the Visual Effects Society announced the nominations for the current edition that will recognize outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in different industry categories.

The awards ceremony will be held on Wednesday, February 12 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel where Alfonso Cuarón will receive the Visionary Award in recognition of his extraordinary career

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture
*Gravity
Iron Man 3
Pacific Rim
Star Trek: Into Darkness
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture
Rush
The Great Gatsby
*The Lone Ranger
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
The Wolf of Wall Street
White House Down

Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
Despicable Me 2
*Frozen
Monsters University
The Croods

To learn the nominees from each movie as well as nominations in other categories go here.

28th Goya Awards Winners

The award ceremony is over and Living is Easy with the Eyes Closed was the big winner of the night. Nothing outstanding happened during the ceremony which was unusual as always something unexpected happens, so this year was on the tedious side, sigh.

Winners are in *BLUE. To learn winners in all categories go here.

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1/7/14
Today the Spanish Academy announced the nominations for the current awards edition and to my surprise a film that I truly believe is horrendous got 10 nominations which only means that my credibility for these awards is in a new low that can't go any lower. Sigh.

Nevertheless La Gran Familia Española leads the pack with 11 nods, followed by Las Brujas de Zugarramurdi with 10 and Caníbal with 8; still awful Brujas did not got a nod in the two main categories, so must come from other categories.

Best Film
15 años y un día (15 Years and One Day), Gracia Querejeta
Caníbal (Cannibal), Manuel Martín Cuenca
La Gran Familia Española (Family United), Daniel Sánchez Arévalo
La Herida (Wounded), Fernando Franco
*Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados (Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed), David Trueba

Best Ibero-American Film
*Azul y no tan rosa, Miguel Ferrari, Venezuela
Gloria, Sebastián Lelio, Chile
El médico alemán. Wakolda, Lucía Puenzo, Argentina
La Jaula de Oro, Diego Quemada-Diez, Guatemala and Mexico

Best European Film
*Amour (Love), Michael Haneke
Jagten (The Hunt), Thomas Vinterberg
La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty), Paolo Sorrentino
La Vie d'Adèle (Blue Is the Warmest Color), Abdellatif Kechiche

Best Director
Manuel Martín Cuenca for Caníbal (Cannibal)
Gracia Querejeta for 15 años y un día (15 Years and One Day)
Daniel Sánchez Arévalo for La Gran Familia Española (Family United)
*David Trueba for Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados (Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed)

Best New Director
Neus Ballús for La Plaga (The Plague)
Jorge Dorado for Mindscape
*Fernando Franco for La Herida (Wounded)
Rodrigo Sorogoyen for Stockholm

Best Actress
*Marian Álvarez in La Herida (Wounded)
Inma Cuesta in 3 bodas de más (Three Many Weddings)
Aura Garrido in Stockholm
Nora Navas in Tots volem el millor per a ella (Puzzlement)

Best Actor
*Javier Cámara in Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados (Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed)
Eduard Fernández in Todas Las Mujeres
Antonio de la Torre in Caníbal (Cannibal)
Tito Valverde in 15 años y un día (15 Years and One Day)

To learn nominees in all categories please go here. Without a doubt the most absurd category is Best European Film as how can you decide between those four films? Impossible to decide between Haneke, Sorrentino, Vintenberg and Kechiche?! Impossible.

Know that many are talking about Almodovar being snubbed but to me is no surprise as first the local Academy does not really acknowledges how great the director is and his last movie absolutely is NOT award material, just plain old-fashion crazy fun.

Awards ceremony will be on February 9, 2014 at Hotel Auditorium Madrid hosted by Manel Fuentes.

Video with the nominations and more -in Spanish.