Awards Season 2015

[captveg]

Do they only include people who died during the last calendar year?

They usually include people who passed up until two weeks or so before the show. They can't include everyone.

[Roger Ryan]

Also relating to long-term legitimacy: looking back at past BP winners.

I recognize this list is subjective, but the numerous "No Contender" notations really undermines the author's argument that "we" collectively remember films other than the best picture winners. Apparently, no one has time to recall 2001 because we're too busy reveling in the memory of Oliver!.

I believe the author is only using other "Best PIcture Nominees" as a comparison. 2001 wasn't included in that category, but rather Kubrick was nominated for "Best Director".

Ah, got it. Still, I'm struggling to find the rationale behind some of those choices. Certainly The Exorcist remains a more popularly remembered film than American Graffiti, right? And I would argue that almost all of the other nominated films for 1999 have stayed in the public consciousness more than American Beauty.

[Ribs]

If you think the The Insider has credit outside of film buff circles I think you're mistaken.

Whilst Sixth Sense is of course the most memorable one of that bunch (it made the most money!), American Beauty ain't no slouch - I'd say it's one of the recent movies, along with Titanic, LOTR, and the Jackson King Kong, that most quickly made an entrance into "greatest film of all time" montages. Green Mile is more remembered (mistakenly) for being Shawshank's lesser cousin.

[Film is Life]

Ah, got it. Still, I'm struggling to find the rationale behind some of those choices. Certainly The Exorcist remains a more popularly remembered film than American Graffiti, right? And I would argue that almost all of the other nominated films for 1999 have stayed in the public consciousness more than American Beauty.

With The Green Mile or The Sixth Sense sure. The Cider House Rules has been left in the historical dustbin of forgettable Miramax oscar-bait, while The Insider only get mentioned by Michael Mann fans. I also think his personal taste got away in cases such as 1965 as well 1976 and 1994. Say all you want about Forrest Gump or Rocky, they still holds greater recognizable with most people in contrast with more darker fare of Taxi Driver and Pulp Fiction, with the author not even shouting out other esteems nominees such as Network or The Shawshank Redemption.

[Feego]

Do they only include people who died during the last calendar year?

They usually include people who passed up until two weeks or so before the show. They can't include everyone.

There are cases where they may leave someone out who made the "cut-off date," if you will, and then include them the next year. That happened with Lizabeth Scott. She passed away before Louis Jourdan in 2015, but he made it in to last year's Memoriam while she was included this year.

I read somewhere once that the folks included in each year's tribute are chosen by a committee, and that this committee changes each year as well. The members involved remain anonymous so as not to be bombarded by families or friends of those who passed away with requests for inclusion. And apparently their job is not to assemble a complete list but rather a kind of sampling of industry professionals. I'm sure they try to include the big Hollywood names, but when it comes to certain groups or less than A-list stars, they may choose one over the other (so, Chantal Akerman over Jacques Rivette for innovative French directors? Alex Rocco over Abe Vigoda for Godfather co-stars? Jack Klugman over Andy Griffith for film actors better known for TV shows a few years ago?). I've noticed over the last few years that they tend to include at least one "fringe" person (my term) -- people who were far outside the mainstream or perhaps only known to a cult following and never received prior Oscar consideration. That person this year would be Holly Woodlawn (though I wouldn't be surprised if her inclusion was also another attempt to diversify the show, as she was transgender). Past "fringe" inclusions were Vampira and George Kuchar.

Edit: I know Akerman was Belgian, but you get the idea.

[GaryC]

Do they only include people who died during the last calendar year?

They usually include people who passed up until two weeks or so before the show. They can't include everyone.

They included Douglas Slocombe, who died six days before the ceremony.

[domino harvey]

The Oscars forbade Sacha Baron Cohen from doing Ali G and Isla Fisher snuck the outfit and makeup in

[willoneill]

Room was the big winner at the Canadian Screen Awards last night. I didn't watch the show, but I saw on Twitter that host Norm MacDonald was trying to get folks to start calling the relatively new trophy "The Candy', after John Candy.

[Lemmy Caution]

I didn't find an Awards 2016 thread.
The Shanghai Int'l Film Festival (SIFF) kicked off yesterday.
The website appears to be more cumbersome and poorly organized than usual.
Here's the home page andthis is the list of screenings in chronological order of showings.

I can't find any simple list of all films being shown, or any way to sort them, or even the standard info on where the theaters are located. If anyone can puzzle out more info from the site that'd be great.
I did find lists of some of the mini-programs such as recent Woody Allen films and a Korean spotlight, though I'm not much into modern Asian cinema. Overall, it seems to be the usual mish-mash of new, somewhat recent, and older films without much attempt at coherence or theme.

I was trying to find films worth going to see this week.
But the website has me rather stumped.
If anyone can make any recs, that would be appreciated.
One thought so far is to go see Ivan the Terrible Part I. It's an amazing film with wondrous set design, and not sure when I'd have another opportunity to see it on a big screen.
If Cats Disappeared from the World sounds like one of those mildly offbeat, potentially charming Japanese films.

Here's the list of films in competition.

The SIFF website contains the requisite goofy nearly meaningless Chinglish, for example:

Based on the features of the Internet and characteristics of film industry, I-SIFF, as an innovative project of Shanghai International Film Festival, has set up a weather vane of the industrial revolution and taken on a unique look with vitality and vigor, by gathering the hot people and projects in the industry.