Wahouu! Nova Scotia-raised filmmaker @bgproudfoot scores an Oscar nomination for A Concerto Is a Conversation in the category of documentary short subject. Congratulations! ✨🤩 https://t.co/daXxeTzjem #Oscars #OscarNoms #CdnTalent pic.twitter.com/zEzGKX2W87
— Telefilm Canada (@Telefilm_Canada) March 15, 2021
The footprint of Canada in the 93rd Academy Awards is rather light. Canadian filmmaker Ben Proudfoot has an Academy Awards nomination for Best Documentary Short Subject for A Concerto Is a Conversation. The film is up against Colette; Do Not Split; Hunger Ward; and A Love Song for Latasha.
Vanessa Kirby was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Pieces of a Woman. The film is a Canada co-production. Molly Parker, one of our favourite Canadian actors, is in the film.
Eli Goree, who portrayed Cassius Clay in One Night in Miami, did not receive an Oscars nomination. Goree's co-star Leslie Odom Jr. (Sam Cooke) was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Best Original Song for Speak Now.
Telefilm Canada's strategy to place Funny Boy as the Best International Feature Film nominee seemed to be a push for the film in other categories. The Best Adapted Screenplay category was the best option, despite the number of issues within the script. Funny Boy received no Oscar nominations.
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The Best International Feature Film category has narrowed from a record 15 nominations on the shortlist to the final 5 films.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Quo Vadis, Aida?
Denmark, Another Round
Hong Kong, Better Days
Romania, Collective
Tunisia, The Man Who Sold His Skin
Those making the shortlist but not the final 5 were: Chile The Mole Agent; Czech Republic Charlatan; France Two of Us; Guatemala La Llorona; Iran Sun Children; Ivory Coast Night of the Kings; Mexico I’m No Longer Here; Norway Hope; Russia Dear Comrades! and Taiwan A Sun.
Collective (Romania) was also nominated for Best Documentary Feature. Honeyland (Macedonia) was the first documentary to receive a nomination in both categories in 2020.
Famed Danish director Thomas Vinterberg was nominated for Best Director for Another Round. You might know Vinterberg's work from The Celebration and The Commune. The Best Director category has its 6th and 7th ever female nominees: Chloé Zhao for Nomadland and Emerald Fennell for Promising Young Woman.
As we've noted, Night of the Kings | La Nuit des rois by Philippe Lacote is technically a Canada co-production (Cote d’Ivoire/France/Canada/Senegal). The film played at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.
Canada's entry 14 Jours, 12 Nuits was not under serious consideration even for the shortlist. These Oscars were a great opening for countries in the Best International Feature Film category but Canada didn't even come close.
I've seen Another Round. This film is brilliant. Even if you think you know what will happen, you'll be a bit surprised. I tried watching I'm No Longer Here (Mexico) but the film could not hold my interest.
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Christopher Plummer (finally) wins his first Oscar
The loss of Christopher Plummer at the age of 91 on February 5 was a shock felt in movie theatres, TV studios, and theater stages. Plummer won his Academy Award, for Beginners at the age of 82. Earlier, he won 2 Emmys, 2 Tonys, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a British Academy Film Award.
Anna Paquin is now the only Canadian-born actor to win a major Academy Award who is still alive. Yes, we know Paquin identifies more as being from New Zealand; she was born in Winnipeg and her family moved when she was 4.
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
Minari (USA) won the Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language category at the 2021 Golden Globes. Minari beat out Another Round (Denmark), on the Oscars top 5 list, as well as La Llorona (Guatemala); Two of Us (France); and non-Oscar contender The Life Ahead (Italy).
The Independent Spirit Awards have their nominees for Best International Film: Bacurau (Brazil); The Disciple (India); Night of the Kings (Ivory Coast); Preparations to Be Together For an Unknown Period of Time (Hungary); and Quo Vadis, Aida? (Bosnia and Herzegovina). The Brazil and India films are not the Oscars submission for those countries. Quo Vadis, Aida? is the only nominee up for an Oscar. Melissa Villaseñor will host the Independent Spirit Awards on April 22.
I have seen Preparations to Be Together For an Unknown Period of Time, a rather good film.
The 93rd Academy Awards are set for April 25 on ABC and CTV.
Twitter capture: @Telefilm_Canada
photo credit: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
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