Archive for the 'Awards' Category

2008 Cinema Eye Honors Winners

Here is the complete list of winners at the first annual Cinema Eye Honors, which were presented tonight in New York:

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Filmmaking

Manda Bala (Director: Jason Kohn) (review)

Outstanding Achievement in an International Feature

The Monastery: Mr. Vig and the Nun (Director: Pernille Rose Grønkjær) (review)

Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature

Billy the Kid (Director: Jennifer Venditti) (review)

Outstanding Achievement in Direction

Taxi to the Dark Side (Director: Alex Gibney)

Outstanding Achievement in Production

Ghosts of Cité Soleil (Producers: George Hickenlooper, Wyclef Jean, Seth Kanegis, Jerry “Wonder” Duplessis)

Outstanding Achievement in Editing

Manda Bala (Editors: Doug Abel, Jenny Golden, Andy Grieve) (review)

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography

Manda Bala (Cinematographer: Heloísa Passos) (review)

Outstanding Achievement in Graphics and Animation

Chicago 10 (Director of Animation: Joao Amorim)

Audience Choice Award

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (Director: Seth Gordon) (review)

Congratulations to all the winners and to the nominees as well. I know you’re all enjoying a well-deserved celebration of your achievements tonight!

First Annual Cinema Eye Honors

Tomorrow night at the IFC Center in New York City, a brand-new award ceremony for documentary films will take place. The Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking were created by filmmaker/blogger AJ Schnack (Kurt Cobain: About a Son) and some colleagues after their dissatisfaction with the current Academy Awards system for recognizing excellence in documentary filmmaking. AJ and TIFF doc programmer Thom Powers will be co-hosting the event, and they’ve assembled an impressive list of presenters.

I’m disappointed not to be able to attend in person, especially since I was honoured to be asked to contribute a short blog excerpt to the printed programme that will be given out to attendees. I’m not sure if this is being broadcast anywhere (online would be ideal) or recorded, but I’ll post the winners on Wednesday.

UPDATE: According to Pamela Cohn, there will be an edited version of the ceremony webcast on AOL True Stories “soon.” More information as I get it.

Full list of nominees

Official site of the Cinema Eye Honors

Predicting the 2007 Oscar Winners

Although it would appear that many winners of the 2007 Academy Awards are obvious in key categories, Sunday night may provide some surprises,one can only hope. The truth is, a surprise win can be the single most exciting development on the entire show! In the meantime, as we await and watch the show in anticipatory nausea, I think these are the potential winners in each category. Enjoy the show and relish the many
fruitful, subsequent discussions!

Best Picture

No Country for Old Men

Actor

Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

Actress

Julie Christie, Away From Her

Supporting Actor

Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

Supporting Actress

Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone

Director

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men

Foreign Film

The Counterfeiters, Austria

Adapted Screenplay

Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men

Original Screenplay

Diablo Cody, Juno

Animated Feature Film

Ratatouille

Art Direction

There Will Be Blood

Cinematography

There Will Be Blood

Sound Mixing

Transformers

Sound Editing

Transformers

Original Score

Atonement, Dario Marianelli

Original Song

“Falling Slowly” from Once, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova

Costume Design

Atonement

Documentary Feature

No End in Sight

Documentary (short subject)

Sari’s Mother

Film Editing

The Bourne Ultimatum

Makeup

La Vie en rose

Animated Short Film

Madame Tutli-Putli

Live Action Short Film

Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)

Visual Effects

Transformers

Editor’s Note: Moen is very brave putting up his predictions. It’s something I never do, usually just picking for the Oscar pool an hour or so before the show. How about you? Feel free to post some of your boldest predictions in the comments.

Madame Tutli-Putli’s Brilliant Oscar Campaign

Madame Tutli-Putli

Some brilliant folks over at the National Film Board of Canada have come up with a unique and fun campaign for Oscar-nominated animated short Madame Tutli-Putli. Each visitor to the site can “unlock” a frame of the film each day. If all 23,287 frames are unlocked, then the entire film will be available for streaming on the site.

Not only is this a clever social media outreach, but it provides a way for people outside Canada to actually see the film, alleviating a common problem that many short films face. In my opinion, the film is a lock for the Oscar, and I’d heartily encourage you to participate in this innovative marketing campaign. They’re even giving away 200 copies of the DVD to random frame unlockers.

By the way, this is the NFB’s 70th Oscar nomination (they’ve won 12 times), and the fourth in the past four years.

Well-done, NFB!

Golden Globe Nominations Announced

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has announced the Golden Globe nominations for 2007. Of course, due to the ongoing writers’ strike, there is a very real possibility that there will be no awards show this year.

Nevertheless, this is the start of the awards season for real. I’m eager to see Atonement, Charlie Wilson’s War and There Will Be Blood, and I think I shouldn’t have missed Michael Clayton. I hope to see all of them before the Oscars, though.

What do you think of this list? Any surprises? Any omissions?