Most “important” awards?

         Oscars are important, but are they the most important awards in the cinema industry? I used to think so. But ever since I started being more “present” in the business (of awards), I started seeing politics, economics and unfairness. So, there is only one conclusion: fans’ appreciation is the MOST important award.

THE ECONOMICS

         On February 8^th, the Academy announced nominations for Oscars. I was very excited, because 2020 was harsh for cinema and movie-makers. The pandemic and uncertainty that followed… Is it even worth it to release a movie to the theaters? Streaming platforms are taking the lead, working on movies and series that are more and more taken under consideration for the most important awards.

Just look at The Power of the Dog with outstanding 12 nominations. This hit Netflix movie is ready to sweep the floor and grab all the awards. I have not seen it yet, but worry not – “Best Picture” run-down is coming, along with some predictions!

But the very fact that streaming platforms are getting bolder and stronger as a “competition” for the most important award… Sign of the times! And one part of me is really excited to find out more about this streaming power. The other part is still helplessly in love with movie theaters.

THE POLITICS

         As usual, it couldn’t be different – the Oscars are not what they seem anymore, because politics are everywhere. It’s really sad that performance is secondary to politics. And keep in mind that we are still talking about the most important awards!

Art is supposed to be sacred – Albert and I talked about it in The Dune Podcast – art was, is and will be something that keeps us grounded, safe and calm. I will never understand the will to politicize everything and everyone.

Perhaps that’s another sign of the times? But that would mean we are letting it happen; we are letting it slide. The only type of politics in cinema that could be accepted is the history, written in the script. Though to be honest? Only if Adam McKay is doing it.

THE UNFAIRNESS

         The most important golden statues are handed out by the Academy in a very complicated process. I tried to wrap my head around it but I got a headache. That might be due to late night writing, but hey?

The process is really complex – the ballots, the nominations, the board… Branches? Filling the ballots with movies or people who deserve the award and ranking them in terms of preferences? And then the most #1 films or actors/actresses/directors etc. are counted against the “magic number” – meaning if enough people decide that I wrote the best original script, and all the votes will sum up to be more than this said “magic number”, I will become a nominee.

So, in the spirit of that ungodly archaic process, how on the bloody moons did Denis NOT get nominated for the Best Director? With all my love for Steven Spielberg… I don’t think he deserved nomination for West Side Story.

THE FANS’ APPRECIATION

         And now we make a full circle to the TRUE MOST IMPORTANT award there is – fans’ love. Oscars, Emmys, Golden Globes, SAGs, Palms and everything else is nice. Let’s be real, it feels amazing when your “boss” appreciates you.

But nothing – and trust me! – NOTHING compares to this wonderful feeling of love that comes from the center. Because fans, movie-goers and film-lovers are the real center, the True North for every creator and artist out there.

This is why I look at my teenage self with a sweet dose of sentiment. One only begins to understand the importance of fan-love, when they start doing something for that small group of people. I sure as heck appreciate every soul coming through and passing by.

         The gala is something I will never give up – I love to see these awards because so many dreams can come true that night. But I am of the mind that if your favorite director or composer feels your love – this will forever be the most important award.

OSCARS 2022 NOMINEES

         Below is the list of all films and people nominated for an Academy Award. Oh, and if you want to listen to the “live” commentary of the event, click here (LINK). It’s Twin Peaks style, it’s not what it seems!

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

JAVIER BARDEM (Being the Ricardos)
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH (The Power of the Dog)
ANDREW GARFIELD (tick, tick…BOOM!)
WILL SMITH (King Richard)
DENZEL WASHINGTON (The Tragedy of Macbeth)

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

CIARÁN HINDS (Belfast)
TROY KOTSUR (CODA)
JESSE PLEMONS (The Power of the Dog)
J.K. SIMMONS (Being the Ricardos)
KODI SMIT-MCPHEE (The Power of the Dog)

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

JESSICA CHASTAIN (The Eyes of Tammy Faye)
OLIVIA COLMAN (The Lost Daughter)
PENÉLOPE CRUZ (Parallel Mothers)
NICOLE KIDMAN (Being the Ricardos)
KRISTEN STEWART (Spencer)

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

JESSIE BUCKLEY (The Lost Daughter)
ARIANA DEBOSE (West Side Story)
JUDI DENCH (Belfast)
KIRSTEN DUNST (The Power of the Dog)
AUNJANUE ELLIS (King Richard)

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

ENCANTO (Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer)
FLEE (Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie)
LUCA (Enrico Casarosa and Andrea Warren)
THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES (Mike Rianda, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Kurt Albrecht)
RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON (Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Osnat Shurer and Peter Del Vecho)

CINEMATOGRAPHY

DUNE (Greig Fraser)
NIGHTMARE ALLEY (Dan Laustsen)
THE POWER OF THE DOG (Ari Wegner)
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH (Bruno Delbonnel)
WEST SIDE STORY (Janusz Kaminski)

COSTUME DESIGN

CRUELLA (Jenny Beavan)
CYRANO (Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran)
DUNE (Jacqueline West and Robert Morgan)
NIGHTMARE ALLEY (Luis Sequeira)
WEST SIDE STORY (Paul Tazewell)

DIRECTING

BELFAST (Kenneth Branagh)
DRIVE MY CAR (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
LICORICE PIZZA (Paul Thomas Anderson)
THE POWER OF THE DOG (Jane Campion)
WEST SIDE STORY (Steven Spielberg)

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)

ASCENSION (Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell)
ATTICA (Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Curry)
FLEE (Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie)
SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED) (Ahmir „Questlove” Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein)
WRITING WITH FIRE (Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh)

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)

AUDIBLE (Matt Ogens and Geoff McLean)
LEAD ME HOME (Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk)
THE QUEEN OF BASKETBALL (Ben Proudfoot)
THREE SONGS FOR BENAZIR (Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei)
WHEN WE WERE BULLIES (Jay Rosenblatt)

FILM EDITING

DON’T LOOK UP (Hank Corwin)
DUNE (Joe Walker)
KING RICHARD (Pamela Martin)
THE POWER OF THE DOG (Peter Sciberras)
TICK, TICK…BOOM! (Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum)

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

DRIVE MY CA (Japan)
FLEE (Denmark)
THE HAND OF GOD (Italy)
LUNANA: A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM (Bhutan)
THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (Norway)

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

COMING 2 AMERICA (Mike Marino, Stacey Morris and Carla Farmer)
CRUELLA (Nadia Stacey, Naomi Donne and Julia Vernon)
DUNE (Donald Mowat, Love Larson and Eva von Bahr)
THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE (Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh)
HOUSE OF GUCCI (Göran Lundström, Anna Carin Lock and Frederic Aspiras)

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

DON’T LOOK UP (Nicholas Britell)
DUNE (Hans Zimmer)
ENCANTO (Germaine Franco)
PARALLEL MOTHERS (Alberto Iglesias)
THE POWER OF THE DOG (Jonny Greenwood)

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

BE ALIVE from King Richard; Music and Lyric by DIXSON and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter
DOS ORUGUITAS from Encanto; Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda
DOWN TO JOY from Belfast; Music and Lyric by Van Morrison
NO TIME TO DIE from No Time to Die; Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell
SOMEHOW YOU DO from Four Good Days; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

BEST PICTURE

BELFAST (Laura Berwick, Kenneth Branagh, Becca Kovacik and Tamar Thomas, Producers)
CODA (Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi and Patrick Wachsberger, Producers)
DON’T LOOK UP (Adam McKay and Kevin Messick, Producers)
DRIVE MY CAR (Teruhisa Yamamoto, Producer)
DUNE (Mary Parent, Denis Villeneuve and Cale Boyter, Producers)
KING RICHARD (Tim White, Trevor White and Will Smith, Producers)
LICORICE PIZZA (Sara Murphy, Adam Somner and Paul Thomas Anderson, Producers)
NIGHTMARE ALLEY (Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale and Bradley Cooper, Producers)
THE POWER OF THE DOG (Jane Campion, Tanya Seghatchian, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Roger Frappier, Producers)
WEST SIDE STORY (Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers)

PRODUCTION DESIGN

DUNE (Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Zsuzsanna Sipos)
NIGHTMARE ALLEY (Production Design: Tamara Deverell; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau)
THE POWER OF THE DOG (Production Design: Grant Major; Set Decoration: Amber Richards)
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH (Production Design: Stefan Dechant; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh)
WEST SIDE STORY (Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Rena DeAngelo)

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

AFFAIRS OF THE ART (Joanna Quinn and Les Mills)
BESTIA (Hugo Covarrubias and Tevo Díaz)
BOXBALLET (Anton Dyakov)
ROBIN ROBIN (Dan Ojari and Mikey Please)
THE WINDSHIELD WIPER (Alberto Mielgo and Leo Sanchez)

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

ALA KACHUU – TAKE AND RUN (Maria Brendle and Nadine Lüchinger)
THE DRESS (Tadeusz Łysiak and Maciej Ślesicki)
THE LONG GOODBYE (Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed)
ON MY MIND (Martin Strange-Hansen and Kim Magnusson)
PLEASE HOLD (K.D. Dávila and Levin Menekse)

SOUND

BELFAST (Denise Yarde, Simon Chase, James Mather and Niv Adiri)
DUNE (Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett)
NO TIME TO DIE (Simon Hayes, Oliver Tarney, James Harrison, Paul Massey and Mark Taylor)
THE POWER OF THE DOG(Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie and Tara Webb)
WEST SIDE STORY (Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson and Shawn Murphy)

VISUAL EFFECTS

DUNE (Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer)
FREE GUY (Swen Gillberg, Bryan Grill, Nikos Kalaitzidis and Dan Sudick)
NO TIME TO DIE (Charlie Noble, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkner and Chris Corbould)
SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS (Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Noel Walker and Dan Oliver)
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME (Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein and Dan Sudick)

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

CODA (Screenplay by Siân Heder)
DRIVE MY CAR (Screenplay by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe)
DUNE (Screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth)
THE LOST DAUGHTER (Written by Maggie Gyllenhaal)
THE POWER OF THE DOG (Written by Jane Campion)

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

BELFAST (Written by Kenneth Branagh)
DON’T LOOK UP (Screenplay by Adam McKay; Story by Adam McKay & David Sirota)
KING RICHARD (Written by Zach Baylin)
LICORICE PIZZA (Written by Paul Thomas Anderson)
THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (Written by Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier)