Latest in Oscars

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures just got a boost from Oregon animation studio Laika that put it over the top in fulfilling its pre-opening fundraising goal of $388 million and also has assured AMPAS members that it is on track to meet its planned April 30 opening date. Museum director and president Bill Kramer…

Norway has selected Maria Sodhal's Hope as its submission to the International Feature Film Oscar race. The drama world premiered in the Discovery section of the 2019 Toronto Film Festival and was screened in Panorama at Berlin this year. There, it took the Europa Cinemas Label Award and earlier this week garnered two…

In a little-noticed court filing last week, producer Michael Shamberg amended his existing complaint against the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, arguing that Academy governors improperly deprived members of rights in June by restricting their ability to propose bylaws changes. Shamberg earlier had sued the…

Jayro Bustamente's politically charged horror film La Llorona, which won the Venice Days sidebar at last year’s Venice Film Festival, is Guatemala’s selection to the 2021 International Oscar race. It’s the second film by Bustamente to get his country’s Oscar submission, after his debut feature Ixcanul in 2015. His…

Greece on Wednesday selected Christos Nikou's Apples as the country’s official entry into the 2021 Oscar International Feature race. Nikou’s debut feature, which premiered as the opening-night film in the Horizons section of this year’s Venice Film Festival, has since been acquired by Cohen Media Group for…

Spain has submitted period epic The Endless Trench as its contender for the 2021 International Oscar prize. The film premiered at San Sebastian last year and Netflix swooped on its global rights shortly after; the streamer will debut the film in the U.S. on November 6. Directed by the trio of Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño…

Canada is sending Deepa Mehta's Funny Boy to this year's International Oscar race. The film is directed by Deepa Mehta, whose 2005 pic Water was Canada's submission that year and was Oscar nominated. Funny Boy, which is in Tamil, English and Sinhalese, depicts a young boy's sexual awakening in Sri Lanka during the…

It’s Terrific! That was the simple advertising line that adorned most posters and newspaper ads for the landmark film Citizen Kane when it was released in 1941. Let me say the same line applies to David Fincher’s masterpiece Mank, a film centering on the creation of the script for Kane and the man who shares official…

Germany has become the latest country to make its submission for the 2021 International Oscar race, choosing Julia von Heinz’s political drama And Tomorrow the Entire World. The film premiered at Venice Film Festival in Competition. It stars Mala Emde, Noah Saavedra, Tonio Schneider, Luisa-Céline Gaffron, Andreas…

What a great time not to be a movie marketer. Theaters half-closed, with COVID-19 again rising. Pipeline dried up. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences asking, in a survey that was due last week, how the pandemic is affecting your craft. Or what's left of it. But movie promoters on the whole are an optimistic…

South Korea, which saw its 2020 International Oscar submission Parasite not only win that prize but also take an unexpected Best Picture triumph, has selected its entry for next year’s race. The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) has put forward The Man Standing Next, Woo Min-ho's historical political thriller which has been…

UPDATED with medalists: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed the gold, silver and bronze medalists for the 47th Student Academy Awards. The winning films were feted in a virtual ceremony that included presenters Shunsaku Hayashi, Glen Keane, Spike Lee, Dawn Porter and Lulu Wang and hosted by…