Oscar Podcast: Any Questions?
 

Holden, Mark, and I are probably going to be recording the annual Oscar podcast on February 5th. We'll have plenty to talk about, for sure, but if any of you guys had any questions you wanted any/all of us to answer, let us know! I know Holden, in particular, would probably relish the opportunity to answer anything related to historical precedents and the like.

Re: Oscar Podcast: Any Questions?
 

I'll probably have a few in the next couple of days.

Re: Oscar Podcast: Any Questions?
 

Bump! Recording on Sunday. You can post them here or just PM them.

How do you make Parfait?

Re: Oscar Podcast: Any Questions?
 

https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/p/8/...2f/157e3e2.jpg

http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/93/93c1b...39fdfaa307.jpg

Re: Oscar Podcast: Any Questions?
 

PMed my question

Re: Oscar Podcast: Any Questions?
 

Sorry couldn't resist.


I could, I just didn't.

Re: Oscar Podcast: Any Questions?
 

A mention of the 2016 movie "I, Daniel Blake"?

Re: Oscar Podcast: Any Questions?
 

As in, did any of us see it, what'd we think, was it snubbed?

Re: Oscar Podcast: Any Questions?
 

Actually, I'd like to know why Stephen Chow's The Mermaid wasn't in Foreign Language cat.


It's a brilliant movie.


From Wiki:
It broke numerous box office records such as the biggest opening day and the biggest single day gross through its seventh day of release and having the biggest opening week of all time in China. On 19 February, it became the highest-grossing Chinese film of all time.

Re: Oscar Podcast: Any Questions?
 

I'm curious myself as to how Elle didn't even make the shortlist, yet won the Golden Globe.

Re: Oscar Podcast: Any Questions?
 

Good questions. :up: If we get a ton we may not get to all of them, but keep 'em coming! We'll sure try.

Re: Oscar Podcast: Any Questions?
 

How do you all feel about the predictive power of the sub-academy awards (e.g. SAG, DG, American Cinema Editors, etc.)?

Do you feel that it comes from those groups really knowing what they're talking about? Do the general members look at those awards as "advice"? Is it just that those members are part of the general, so the winners start with a lead (so to speak)? Or something else?

No pure "it's all of the above answers"! Guess at which is the most important!

Re: Oscar Podcast: Any Questions?
 

Also, are there any awards that currently don't exist that should exist?

Re: Oscar Podcast: Any Questions?
 

Great stuff. I know Holden, in particular, does a lot of analysis on how predictive those other awards are. :up: Will throw all of these into the mix, too.

Re: Oscar Podcast: Any Questions?
 

I know you guys will probably cover the diversity stuff but I'm wondering if you think they over compensated? Hidden Figures and Lion in particular don't seem to be talked about in critic circles as the cream of the crop. Do you guys think enough was made about this issue that we will see this kind of diversity going forward, or next year will it be white washed again?

Re: Oscar Podcast: Any Questions?
 

We've got plenty already, so we might have to pick and choose, but we're recording in a few days, so this is your last chance to get your questions in! :)

Re: Oscar Podcast: Any Questions?
 

Are we supposed to start answering these here, or wait for the recording? Just in case this doesn't make the cut, there are a couple questions about the Best Foreign Language Film category. It is one of the categories that has specific rules and nominations are decided by a relatively small committee, not by the regular balloting process.

Every country in the world may submit one film from that calendar year (not sure when the cutoff is, as this process starts earlier than other Oscar events) for consideration. But ONLY one. For countries with small film industries this isn't that big a deal, but for countries with vibrant and varied film cultures there is often controversy. It varies from county to country, of course, but some official body - their national film academy or ministry of culture, etc. gets together and THEY choose which single film will represent them, that year. How each of those hundreds of bodies does this, I have no idea? I'm sure a hundred different ways, and like anything else it is colored by favoritism, politics, and Lord knows what else. In the United States only a pretty limited number of foreign language films receive distribution. This is changing a bit with the advent of streaming platforms and the need for more and more content, but generally Americans are only exposed to a small sliver of what the word has to offer, each year. Certainly performing well in overseas markets, being nominated for or winning prestigious international awards, and the recognizability of filmmakers and actors all factor into which one film is chosen. Some years it seems as though countries have deliberately chosen NOT to submit a film that already has acclaim and recognition, seeming to assess that those kinds of films maybe don't need the boost of a possible Oscar nomination, that they would rather give another film a chance? But nobody really knows, unless you're inside those individual voting bodies.

The Golden Globes and all of the the various awards have their own criteria, but for the Oscars they allow one submission per country (and sometimes when a movie is financed by two or more countries even determining an official place of origin can be tricky), and then a committee of Academy members start sifting through them. Eventually they get it down to a shortlist of ten films or so. Then there are groups of viewers who agree to participate and spend a few days in screenings, watching the shortlisted choices. Their votes determine which five are on the final ballot. The shortlist this year was nine films, one of which was My Life as a Zucchini which did not make the cut for Best Foreign Language Film but did make it as Best Animated Feature (which is determined in a different committee).


I'll do a little research before Sunday, see if I can find out what specifically happened with The Mermaid and Elle in regards to Foreign Language Feature.

Re: Oscar Podcast: Any Questions?
 

I was thinking we'd answer them on the recording, but we've got plenty, so anything you just want to answer here is cool. We can always summarize the response on the podcast itself, anyway, for people who don't see the thread.

Re: Oscar Podcast: Any Questions?
 

Recording tomorrow afternoon. Last chance and all that.