In the Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature category, the category that corresponds most closely to Best Visual Effects at the Oscars, the nominees were “Better Man,” “Dune: Part Two,” “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” “Mufasa: The Lion King” and “Twisters.”

All 10 of the films on the Oscars’ Best Visual Effects shortlist received VES nominations. In addition to the five nominees in the VES Outstanding Visual Effects category, “Civil War” and “Gladiator II” received two nominations and “Alien: Romulus,” “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Wicked” each received one.

The VES Awards have 25 categories that cover photoreal and animated features, episodic work, commercials, games, and real-time, CG and student projects. The record for VES nominations is 14, which was set by “Avatar: The Way of Water” two years ago.

In the animated-feature categories, “The Wild Robot” led with five nominations. In the episodic categories, “Shōgun” and “The Penguin” led with four each.

The nominations were selected by VES members at 49 in-person and virtual panels that took place around the world in a continuous 30-hour period.

The winners will be announced at the VES Awards ceremony on Feb. 11 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Also at that ceremony, “Shōgun” actor-producer Hiroyuki Sanada will receive the VES Award for Creative Excellence; director and visual effects supervisor Takashi Yamazaki will receive the VES Visionary Award; and virtual reality pioneer Dr. Jacquelyn Ford Morie will receive the VES  Georges Méliès Award.

Here is the full list of nominated films and projects. For a list of the nominated visual effects artists and craftsmen in each category, go to www.vesglobal.org.

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATUR
Better Man
Dune: Part Two
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Mufasa: The Lion King
Twisters

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Blitz
Civil War
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1
Nosferatu
Young Woman and the Sea

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Inside Out 2
Moana 2
The Wild Robot
Transformers One
Ultraman: Rising

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
Fallout; The Head
House of the Dragon; Season 2; The Red Dragon and the Gold
Shōgun; Anjin
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew; Episode 5
The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power; Season 2; Eldest

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
Expats: Home
Lady in the Lake; It Has to Do With the Search for the Marvelous
Masters of the Air; Part Three; The Regensburg-Schweinfurt Mission
The Penguin; Bliss
The Tattooist of Auschwitz; Pilot

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT
[REDACTED]
Destiny 2: The Final Shape
Star Wars Outlaws
What If…? – An Immersive Story
Until Dawn

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL
YouTube TV NFL Sunday Ticket: The Magic of Sunday
Disney; Holidays 2024
Virgin Media; Walrus Whizzer
Coca-Cola; The Heroes
Six Kings Slam; Call of the Kings

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT
D23; Real-Time Rocket
The Goldau Landslide Experience
MTV Video Music Awards; Slim Shady Live
Tokyo DisneySea; Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure
Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony; Run

OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Better Man; Robbie Williams
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes; Noa
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes; Raka
Mufasa: The Lion King; Taka

OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Inside Out 2; Anxiety
The Wild Robot; Roz
Thelma The Unicorn; Vic Diamond
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl; Gromit

OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
Secret Level; Armored Core: Asset Management; Mech Pilo
Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred; Neyrelle
Disney; Holidays 2024; Octopus
Ronja the Robber’s Daughter; Vildvittran the Queen Harpy

OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Civil War; Washington, D.C.
Dune: Part Two; The Arrakeen Basin
Gladiator II; Rome
Wicked; The Emerald City

OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Kung Fu Panda 4; Juniper City
The Wild Robot; The Forest
Transformers One; Iacon City
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl; Aqueduct

OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
Dune: Prophecy; Pilot; The Imperial Palace
Dune: Prophecy; Two Wolves; Zimia Spaceport
Shōgun; Osaka
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power; Season 2; Doomed to Die; Eregion

OUTSTANDING CG CINEMATOGRAPHY
Better Man
Dune: Part Two; Arrakis
House of the Dragon; Season 2; The Red Dragon and the Gold; Battle at Rook’s Rest
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes ; Egg Climb

OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT
Alien: Romulus; Renaissance Space Station
Deadpool & Wolverine; Ant-Man Arena
Dune: Part Two; The Harkonnen Harvester
Gladiator II; The Colosseum

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Dune: Part Two; Atomic Explosions and Wormriding
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes; Burning Village, Rapids and Floods
Twisters
Venom: The Last Dance; Water, Fire & Symbiote Effects

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Kung Fu Panda 4
Moana 2
The Wild Robot
Ultraman: Rising

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
Avatar: The Last Airbender; Legends; Koizilla
Shōgun; Broken to the Fist; Landslide
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew; Pilot; Spaceship Hillside Takeoff
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power; Season 2; Shadow and Flame; Balrog Fire and Collapsing Cliff
Three Body Problem; Judgement Day

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE
Better Man
Dune: Part Two; Wormriding, Geidi Prime, and the Final Battle
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
The Wild Robot

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE
Shōgun; Broken to the Fist; Landslide
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew; Episode 6; Jaws
The Boys; Season 4; Life Among the Septics
The Penguin; After Hour

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL
Virgin Media; Walrus Whizzer
Coca-Cola; The Heroes
Corcept; Marionette
Disney; Holidays 2024

OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT
Blitz
Constellation
The Penguin; Safe Guns

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD
Dune: Part Two; Nuke CopyCat
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga; Artist-driven Machine Learning Character
Here; Neural Performance Toolset
Mufasa: The Lion King; Real-Time Interactive Filmmaking, From Stage To Post
The Penguin; Phase Synced Flash-Gun System

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT
Dawn (entry from ESMA – École Supérieure Des Métiers Artistiques)
Student Accomplice (entry from Brigham Young University)
Pittura (entry from ARTFX – Schools of Digital Arts)
Courage (entry from Supinfocom – Rubika)

The post ‘Dune: Part Two’ Leads Visual Effects Society Nominations appeared first on TheWrap.

The March 2 date of the 97th Academy Awards ceremony will not change.

The news followed earlier changes made shortly after the wildfires hit last week.

In a statement, Academy CEO Bill Kramer and president Janet Yang said, “We are all devastated by the impact of the fires and the profound losses experienced by so many in our community. The Academy has always been a unifying force within the film industry, and we are committed to standing together in the face of hardship.”

“Due to the still-active fires in the Los Angeles area, we feel it is necessary to extend our voting period and move the date of our nominations announcement to allow additional time for our members,” they continued. “Additionally, as we want to be sensitive to the infrastructure and lodging needs of the region in these next few weeks, it is imperative that we make some changes to our schedule of events, which we believe will have the support of our industry.”

“Our members always share how important it is for us to come together as a community, and we are determined to use this opportunity to celebrate our resilient and compassionate industry. We also look forward to honoring our frontline workers who have aided with the fires, recognizing those impacted, and encouraging people to join the Academy in supporting the relief efforts,” the message concluded. “We will get through this together and bring a sense of healing to our global film community.”

The nominations voting period, which was originally scheduled to end on Sunday, Jan. 12, and was then extended to Tuesday, Jan. 14, has now been extended through Friday, Jan. 17, which was the original date that nominations were scheduled to be announced.

Nominations will now be announced on Thursday, Jan. 23, at 5:30 a.m. PST, with the in-person component of the announcement canceled. Nominees will be revealed in a virtual event with no in-person media coverage.

In addition, the Oscar Nominees Luncheon, originally scheduled for Monday, Feb. 10, has been canceled. The Scientific and Technical Awards, scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 18, will be rescheduled for a later date that has yet to be determined.

The changes will not alter the date of the Oscars show, March 2, or the timetable for final voting, which begins on Feb. 11 and ends on Feb. 18.

The new dates are subject to change, according to the Academy.

AMPAS has also made a $750,000 donation to the Motion Picture and Television Fund for victims of the fires.

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The telecast of the ceremony, which is scheduled to air live on Feb. 2, will now raise funds for those displaced by the fires and will honor first responders who have been risking their lives to contain the blazes.

“In close coordination with local authorities to ensure public safety and responsible use of area resources, the 67th Grammy Awards telecast on CBS on Feb. 2 will proceed as planned,” Recording Academy and MusiCares CEO Harvey Mason Jr. and board of trustees chair Tammy Hurt wrote in a letter to Recording Academy members obtained by TheWrap. “This year’s show, however, will carry a renewed sense of purpose: Raising additional funds to support wildfire relief efforts and honoring the bravery and dedication of first responders who risk their lives to protect ours.”

In response to the fires, Mason Jr. and Hurt also shared that the Recording Academy and MusiCares launched the Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort last week, initially contributing $1 million to support music creatives and professionals. Additional contributions helped the fund distribute over $2 million in “emergency aid to those most in need.”

The Grammys update comes nearly a week after the wildfires in Los Angeles began to rage, with the death toll for the natural disaster reaching at least 24 people while thousands were displaced. In the wake of the fires, several awards-centric events were postponed or canceled, including the Critics’ Choice Awards, which has been postponed to Sunday, Jan. 26; the BAFTA Tea Party, which was canceled altogether; and the AFI Awards luncheon, which was also postponed until a later date.

“In challenging times, music has the power to heal, comfort and unite like nothing else,” the letter concluded. “The Grammys will not only honor the artistry and achievements of our music community, but also serve as a platform to amplify the spirit of resilience that defines this great city of Los Angeles.”

Nominations for the 67th annual awards show saw Beyoncé bring in the biggest number of 2025 nods with 11 in total — including Best Country Album — for “Cowboy Carter.” Charli xcx, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar and Post Malone also scored seven nominations each, while Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and Taylor Swift earned six nods apiece.

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That family is the Paivas. In 1971, the regime that was in power from 1964 to 1985 arrested patriarch Rubens Pavia in his home on suspicion of political dissidence. His loved ones never saw him again. In the film, which is Brazil’s Oscar entry for international feature, Fernanda Torres plays Rubens’ wife, Eunice Pavia, a formidable woman who became a human rights lawyer and devoted her life to uncovering what happened to her husband (played by Selton Mello). She did not receive his death certificate until 1996; only in 2014 did a government report confirm that Rubens was one of hundreds of citizens who had been murdered by the regime. 

The screenplay, by Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega, is based on the 2015 memoir (“Ainda Estou Aqui”) written by Rubens and Eunice’s son, Marcelo Rubens Paiva. He was one of five children growing up in the Paiva house in Rio de Janeiro — a warm, welcoming bastion of culture and intellectual curiosity in Ipanema that Salles remembers vividly.

“I became very good friends with the middle sister of the five kids, and I was enamored by the family,” he said during a discussion following a showing of “I’m Still Here” that was part of TheWrap Screening Series at the Ojai Playhouse on Friday. “I was enamored by their passion for life, by the the fact that in this house, in the middle of a dictatorship, there was freedom of thought. You could discuss politics. You could discuss culture. Music was playing all the time. … It was the reverse angle of what a military dictatorship stands for, which is censorship, the lack of possibility to express yourself.”

Though Torres — who just a few days before had won a Golden Globe for her performance — did not know the Paivas personally, the movie resonated deeply with her. The daughter of renowned actress Fernanda Montenegro and actor-producer-director Fernando Torres, she too grew up in an artistic environment in Rio de Janeiro during the dictatorship. “My house was just like this,” she said, adding that censors always loomed over her parents’ plays, cutting content or shutting them down completely. “And I remember we were always afraid of the police. … Everybody was being taken. [“I’m Still Here” producer] Daniela Thomas, who works with us, her father is a very famous cartoonist. He was taken just like Rubens, for three months. Everybody was being taken. Everybody was terrified.”

The discussion took place in Ojai as wildfires continued to rage through Los Angeles. Torres said she and Salles had discussed whether it was appropriate to talk about their film when a tragedy was unfolding around them. “And he told me, ‘No, perhaps this movie, it’s a good message because this is a woman that reinvents herself and becomes herself after a tragedy,'” she said. “And her choices of not telling her children what happened to their [father] … I think by doing this, she kept the innocence of those children. Today, I saw some children on television grabbing some new toys, talking about the toys they lost. So I think this whole process of reconstructing… This woman has this power of facing a tragedy, reinventing herself, smiling. So it’s a hell of a good character for now, I think.”

Torres and Salles also spoke about how “I’m Still Here” relates to the Brazil of today. After the film’s release in Brazil in November, a police report revealed a plot by former president Jair Bolsonaro to kill the current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in a military coup.

“As we started to adapt the screenplay,” Salles said, “we realized that the zeitgeist was changing. The extreme right was rising in Brazil, as it did in so many different parts of the world. And we realized that the film was not only about our past, but was also about our present. And this somehow actually textured the film. Everybody became very conscious that the film was not only about who we had been, but who we were and who we eventually wanted to be. It was a film about an identity in motion, you know. And again, this, I think, gave us a focus and a sense of urgency to the film.”

Production on “I’m Still Here” took place in a house that Salles described as the “Xerox copy” of the Paivas’ home. There, he encouraged his cast — many of whom were just beginning their careers as actors — to inhabit their characters: They cooked together, decorated their bedrooms and improvised scenes of domesticity. “When I saw the film for the first time, I was getting shocked because we didn’t look like we were acting,” Torres said. “Walter is a documentarist. … And in this film, it’s all there. It’s filming, but with the the sense of a documentarist. It was wonderful.”

The casting of a character who appears in the movie’s final moments added yet another personal dimension to “I’m Still Here.” In a moving coda, Torres’s mother, Montenegro, plays Eunice as an elderly woman with Alzheimer’s, her memory largely gone but her family still rallying around her. Montenegro was nominated for an Oscar in 1999 for Salles’s “Central Station,” so her appearance here is rich with meaning.

“It was not CGI,” Torres quipped.

To which Salles replied, “How lucky I was to have the two Fernandas in one film!”

Watch the full discussion here.

The post Walter Salles and Fernanda Torres: ‘I’m Still Here’ Is Brazil’s Past and Future | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

The award given out by a jury from the international film critics association FIPRESCI was open to 35 of the 85 eligible films in the category, including all 15 of the Oscars shortlisted titles. “I’m Still Here” won in a field that also included Golden Globes winner “Emilia Pérez,” “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” “Flow,” “Vermiglio,” “Kneecap” and others.

Italy’s “Vermiglio” won the award for screenplay, while acting awards went to Zoe Saldaña for “Emilia Pérez” and the trio of Irish hip-hop musicians Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, and DJ Provái for “Kneecap.”

The documentary award was open to 10 nonfiction films that screened at the festival. The Palestinian/Israeli film “No Other Land,” was the only eligible film that also made the Oscars Best Documentary Feature shortlist. It has also won the top prize from the International Documentary Association’s IDA Documentary Awards, the Cinema Eye Honors and a number of critics’ groups.

Seven films qualified for the New Voices/New Visions Award, which was open to first or second features from filmmakers judged by the festival programming team to be the most distinctive new directors of the past year. Romanian director Bogdan Mureșanu won the award for “The New Year That Never Came,” with actress-turned-director Embeth Davidtz taking a special mention for “Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight.”

In other awards, the Ibero-American Award for the best of 10 festival films from Latin America, Spain or Portugal went to Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez’s “Sujo”; the Desert Views Award, given by a jury of local filmgoers to a film that promotes understanding and acceptance, went to the U.S./Ukraine coproduction “Checkpoint Zoo”; the Young Cineastes jury of high school film fans chose Zar Amir Ebrahimi and Guy Nattiv’s “Tatami” over Reema Kagt’s “Superboys of Malegaon,” Gabriele Fabbro’s “Trifole” and William Goldenberg’s “Unstoppable”; and the Bridging the Borders Award, which was sponsored by 360 Media and carried a cash award of $2,000, went to the French drama “Souleymane’s Story” from director Boris Lojkine.

The 2025 Palm Springs International Film Festival ran from Jan. 2-12 in the desert resort town east of Los Angeles.

Here are the winners and jury statements:

FIPRESCI Prize for Best International Feature Film: “I’m Still Here” (Brazil), Director Walter Salles

Jury Statement: “To ‘I’m Still Here,’ for conveying the horror of encroaching dictatorship from the intimate perspective of a mother defending not just her family of five, but her dignity. Evoking the severity of the violence without resorting to melodrama, director Walter Salles captures a critical moment of history in scrupulous and compelling detail.”

FIPRESCI Prize for Best International Screenplay: “Vermiglio” (Italy), Director Maura Delpero

Jury Statement:  “To writer-director Maura Delpero, for subverting the conventions of a wartime drama within the framework of an elegant period piece — and letting the story unfold through the eyes of complicated female characters.”

FIPRESCI Prize for the Best Actress in an International Feature Film: Zoe Saldaña – “Emilia Pérez”(France), Director Jacques Audiard

Jury Statement: “To Zoe Saldaña, for the ferocity and complexity of her performance in ‘Emilia Pérez,’ which shows a virtuosic range of expression, from song and dance to her potent interpretation of a morally shaded character. Although her character plays a supporting role, she drives the narrative with the power of a protagonist.”

FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actor in an International Feature Film: Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, and DJ Provái  – “Kneecap” (Ireland), Director Rich Peppiatt

Jury Statement: “To Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, and DJ Provái, for their seamless performance as an ensemble of musicians who make their acting debut in Kneecap. Proving equally authentic and explosive in both capacities, they bring a fresh and propulsive energy to the whole notion of cultural identity.”

FIPRESCI jury: Brian D. Johnson (Canadian Film Critic), Marcelo Janot (Brazilian Film Critic), and Paola Caseslla (Italian Film Critic).

*

Best Documentary Award: “No Other Land” (Palestine), Directors Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor

Best Documentary Award Special Mention: “Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story” (Ireland/ United Kingdom), Director Sinéad O’Shea

Jury Statement: “For its compelling immersion into the lives of Palestinian villagers in the West Bank who face the constant threat of expulsion from their homes by the Israel Defense Forces and attacks by Israeli settlers, we award the Best Documentary Award to “No Other Land.” This film foregrounds the bond between two filmmakers – one Palestinian, the other Israeli – without sentimentalizing the relationship, but emphasizing the different rules that apply to Israelis who live under civil law and Palestinians governed by Israeli military justice. We complement festival programmers on an extraordinary selection of documentaries in competition and award a Special Mention to “Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story,” which reveals the creative genius and exceptional life force of the great Irish writer.

Jury: Dale Cohen (UCLA Documentary Film Legal Clinic), Matthew Carey (Deadline), and Tishon Pugh (New Orleans Film Society)

*

New Voices New Visions Award: “The New Year That Never Came” (Romania), Director Bogdan Mureșanu

New Voices New Visions Special Mention: “Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight”(South Africa), Director Embeth Davidtz

Jury Statement: “The director of our winning film lives up to the promise he showed in 2019 when his short ‘The Christmas Gift’ won ShortFests’ Best of the Festival Award. We appreciated the way that he incorporates a myriad of storylines, bringing them to a triumphant conclusion set to Ravel’s ‘Bolero.’ We especially admired his use of dark comedy to explore the impact on individual citizens of the Ceausescu dictatorship and its fall. We’d also like to give a Special Mention to Lexi Ventor for her stunning portrayal of Bobo in ‘Don’t Let’s Go the Dogs Tonight.’ Her presence and emotional intelligence offer a child’s eye view of the experience Zimbabwe faced as it entered its period of decolonization.”

Jury: Beth Barett (Seattle International Film Festival), Gil Robertson (African American Film Critics Association), and Justine Barda (Telescope Film)

*

Ibero-American Award: “Sujo”(Mexico), Director Astrid Rondero, Fernanda Valadez

Ibero-American Special Mention: “Manas” (Brazil/Portugal), Director Marianna Brennand

Jury Statement: “We have unanimously selected ‘Sujo’ for its elegant, nuanced portrayal of a young boy struggling to escape overwhelming violence and poverty in a small Mexican town. The film is meticulously paced and darkly poetic, offering its protagonist an unusually optimistic and humane ending to his story. Featuring outstanding performances from its young cast and beautiful, ethereal cinematography, ‘Sujo’ cements filmmaker duo Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez’s rising-star status in the contemporary Mexican cinema scene.”

Jury: Anna Marie De La Fuente (Variety), Chloë Roddick (Morelia International Film Festival), and Danny Hastings (Official Latino Film Festival)

*

Desert Views Award Winner: “Checkpoint Zoo”(United States/Ukraine), Director Joshua Zeman

Desert Views Special Mention: “Desert Angel”(United States), Director Vincent DeLuca

Jury Statement: “The 2025 Desert Views Jury is proud to present the Desert Views Award to Checkpoint Zoo. This film embodies the spirit of community through a small group of local Ukrainians that captured the hearts of a global audience through social media posts in the early chaotic days of the Russian invasion. Against all odds and great personal sacrifice, an unlikely group of volunteers united their community and inspired hope globally in an effort to rescue animals.”

Jury: Jose Macias (Desert Hot Springs), Margaret Quirante (Morongo Valley), Matt Ramirez (Cathedral City), Tanisha L. Alston (Palm Desert), and Sohelia Crane (Palm Desert)

*

Young Cineastes Award Winner: “Tatami” (Georgia/Israel/Iran), Directors Zar Amir Ebrahimi and Guy Nattiv

Young Cineastes Special Mention: “Superboys of Malegaon”(India/United States), Director Reema Kagti

Jury Statement: “The 2025 Young Cineastes Jury is proud to present the Young Cineastes Award to ‘Tatami.’ We selected this film because it is a ‘non fiction’ fictional story packed with unique visuals, that brings foreign political awareness to its viewers. The film tells a story of resilience where every decision impacts individuals’ lives.”

Jury: Joseph Manjarrez (Palm Springs High School), Lyla Valentine (Palm Desert High School), and Stephanie Lopez (Palm Springs High School)

*

Bridging the Borders Award: “Souleymane’s Story”(France), Director Boris Lojkine

Bridging the Borders Special Mention: “Happy Holidays”(Palestine/Germany/France/ Italy/Qatar), Director Scandar Copti

Jury: Abbas Yari, Ali Murat Erkorkmaz, Bijan Tehrani, Granaz Moussavi, Keely Badger, Marcy Garriott, Michael Franck, Matt Ferro, Susan Morgan Cooper, and Vladek Juszkiewicz.

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“Queer” is an adaptation of William S. Burrough’s auto-fiction about alter ego Lee (Craig), a middle-aged drug addict wandering through Mexico City in the late 1940s. For Anderson, the famed creative director of Loewe and JW Anderson, this period-specific assignment expanded his imagination about what could be achieved within the guardrails of mid-century wardrobe.

The clothes worn by Lee and Allerton (Starkey), a figure of Lee’s obsession in the story, were designed to evoke the essence of the characters. Lee’s white suit, for example, turns browner as the plot proceeds – and Anderson even had an idea, though unrealized, to stain the fabric with actual heroin. With Allerton, his translucent short-sleeved shirts foreshadow a drug-fantasia sequence late in the film, which challenges the notion of human layers.

During a conversation from Anderson’s London office on Zoom, we began by talking about his consultation while searching for the actor to play Allerton.

Director Luca Guadanigno has referred to you, with a smile, using the mafia term for trusted advisor, “consigliere.” And he wanted your advice on the casting of Allerton, right?
Yeah. I was in L.A., and then Luca called and was like, “I am going to meet this actor that I sent you the tape of. I want you to come and interview him.” And I was like, “What do I know?” But I walked in to meet them. I was with Luca and we were having breakfast with poor Drew, who was probably saying to himself, “What’s going on?” But we chatted for just a minute and I then said to Luca, “That’s him.”

He clearly trusts your understanding of the silhouette in fashion history – creating an illusion of a person through the cut of their clothes. You both knew that Allerton had to have an unreadable, mysterious quality.
And a period era, 1950s face, which is very important but can be hard to get with contemporary actors. Luca had mentioned that they were searching so much to try to find the right guy. With Daniel Craig, who’s basically playing William S. Burroughs, there’s a lot to latch onto. But Allerton is unknowable and there is a certain ambiguity in Drew, which I noticed in his demeanor. That’s unusual to find this balance of a modern actor.

Is that common for Luca to seek advice from you?
Oh, that’s the most powerful thing about Luca. Not just for me. That he has complete belief in his crew and is able to pluck people who have never done things before and will entrust you implicitly. I’d never designed costumes for a movie before he asked me to do “Challengers.”

So when you go to Luca and you say, “What look do you want for this character?” he immediately says, “Show me what you want to do.” And I can’t speak for everybody, but I think that’s most people’s experience with him. I’ve actually stolen that from him and applied it to my day job.

Had you read “Queer” before this project?
I remember reading it when I was at university. At first, I was like, “What is this?” Burroughs is a mindf–k. But then I re-read it and saw everything differently. What is real and what is not real is a big part of it.

We all gild things up as we get older, especially in terms of remembering the past. I think we do this in relationships. Perhaps you met someone when you were younger and it was this magical moment, but we have an amazing ability for rose tinted glasses. The book speaks to that. And I think that’s why all of us who worked on “Queer” fell so deeply into the project.

Can you describe that?
Honestly, the experience really affected my life. In all different aspects. It really did something psychologically to me. I made big decisions in my life and none of it would have happened without this work. And I was on set in Cinecittà, in these built imaginary things, on a project which, as a gay person, I very much related to.

It was a very emotional process, because it was quite physical in terms of how much research into the time period was involved. But as the whole process was unfolding, I found it incredibly rewarding how I further understood myself and my job through a story about queer culture.

Whereas with “Challengers,” which I’m very proud of, I was a foreigner in this tennis world and I had to become completely obsessed in a very short period of time.

On your Instagram, you show a lot of the costumes and wardrobe tests from “Queer.” What was it like to meet Daniel Craig in Brooklyn for a fitting?
Before the fitting, I was absolutely petrified because it was my second job but this guy has done blockbusters for years. And there was me with this big rack of vintage clothing and I was trying to sell him on the idea that we were only going to have one garment for the whole movie. And he got it instantly. Long rack of suits and Daniel picked the right one. Yeah, he picked exactly the one that we wanted to use. He got the whole idea right away.

So that off white suit he wears, that’s the same suit for the whole movie?
Yeah, the idea was that everything had to fit in a suitcase. So we didn’t make duplicates. Everything was original, including the underwear and shoes and eyeglasses, from the period. We washed the clothes and sometimes didn’t wash the clothes, because the suit gets very dirty as the story goes on. I had this idea, which Luca thought was great, that Lee would start with a white shirt, like cocaine, and then as the shirt got darker and browner, it represents heroin.

“Challengers” and “Queer” are very different, but in both of them, the characters are living out of suitcases. And so the reappearance of the same clothes makes logical sense.
It’s very interesting. Actually, I didn’t think about the living-out-of-suitcases idea for “Challengers” but it is absolutely true. You know, on a daily basis, we do not change outfits six times a day, unless you’ve got a whole lotta time on your hands. I really wanted a reappearance of these clothing items because that is what we do. We find an outfit in life and we stick to it for certain time periods. Then perhaps we get bored and move on.

Allerton is wearing a dark blue sweater at one point, which he says he bought in Scotland. I like how specific it is.
Yeah, that’s straight from the novel. So Luca said that it had to be from Scotland. It had to be an authentic Shetland sweater, and I found one which had been made in 1950 in Scotland. It was the most subtle of things, but it’s so exciting during the creative process. Because I was like, wow, these things still do exist. They’re out there, someone’s got them.

And with Lee and that suit, the clothes really exemplify his character.
The undoneness, yeah. That’s a big part of it and that comes from researching Burroughs. And from researching Adelbert Lewis Marker, who was the inspiration for Allerton, and the contrast between the two men.

For me, it’s like Allerton fills garments. And then suddenly, as the camera gets closer, you realize that maybe it’s moth eaten. He looks perfect from a distance, but there’s a hole here and a stain there, but it’s doesn’t matter because there’s this inner glow so it all works.

But for Lee, it’s like there is a carcass that the clothing is just holding on to. There’s still a swagger within him, kind of like Patrick in “Challengers,” because there’s no care. He’s not pristine. When I watch “Queer” now, I feel like I can smell his suit. It reminds me of my grandfather. That smell of cigarettes and aftershave.

And if someone else senses that, then that’s what’s so rewarding. I’m just so proud and happy of these projects, “Challengers” and “Queer,” because I never even knew if I could costume design for films. But I’m grateful for Luca throwing me in the deep end.

The post ‘Queer’: Why Fashion Designer Jonathan Anderson Was Consulted About Casting Drew Starkey appeared first on TheWrap.

Obst and Weinstein, who both died in 2024, will receive the awards for “their shared commitment to paving the way for female producers and championing women’s voices in Hollywood.”

“Lynda Obst and Paula Weinstein have made a lasting impact on the industry with their trailblazing work and steadfast commitment to amplifying women’s voices,” Producers Guild of America presidents Stephanie Allain and Donald De Line said in a statement.

“Lynda and Paula embody the spirit of women who have broken barriers and paved the way for future generations of producers. Their visionary work includes iconic films that have defined eras, alongside their unwavering commitment to championing underrepresented stories,” they continued. “Honoring them highlights their dedication to empowerment, innovation, and mentorship, celebrating not just their individual legacies but also their shared commitment to advocating for women and fostering collaboration.”

Obst, who died last October at 74, was a veteran film and TV producer whose work included classic romantic comedies such as “Sleepless in Seattle” and “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” as well as sci-fi classics “Interstellar” and “Contact.” Her TV credits included “Hot in Cleveland,” “Good Girls Revolt” and “The Hot Zone.” She was also a celebrated author, editor and essayist.

At the time of her death, Obst’s son, Oly, praised her for being “a trailblazer and a fierce advocate for women.”

Weinstein was a two-time Emmy-winning producer behind “Truman,” “Recount” and “Grace & Frankie.” Her résumé included over 30 films, including “American Flyers,” “The Fabulous Baker Boys,” “Analyze This,” “Analyze That,” “The Perfect Storm,” “Monster-in-Law” and “Rumor Has It.” Weinstein also held executive posts at various studios and agencies, including United Artists, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. and Tribeca Enterprises.

She died last March at 78. Her daughter, Hannah Rosenberg, commended her mother for “shatter[ing] barriers in Hollywood” and “lift[ing] other women along with her.”

The post Lynda Obst and Paula Weinstein to Receive Posthumous Producers Guild Trailblazer Awards appeared first on TheWrap.

The film was made by two Israeli and two Palestinian filmmakers over the last five years during the conflict in Gaza. It also won the best-feature award at the IDA Documentary Awards, the other major award devoted to nonfiction films.

“Porcelain War” won the Audience Choice Award, the one Cinema Eye category voted on by the public.

The award for directing went to Mati Diop for “Dahomey,” while the production award went to “Union.” “No Other Land” won the award for the best first feature.

“Eno” won for visual design, “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” for editing and sound design, “Sugarcane” for cinematography, “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” for musical score.

The Cinema Eye Honors were founded in 2007 in New York City. In the ceremony’s first 17 years, its winner has matched the Oscar winner for Best Documentary Feature only four times, with “Man on Wire,” “The Cove,” “Citizenfour” and “American Factory.” But the Cinema Eye winner has been nominated for the top nonfiction Oscar in all but three of those years.

Most of the Cinema Eye winners, including “No Other Land,” “Dahomey,” “Porcelain War,” “Eno,” “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat,” “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin,” “Union” and “Sugarcane,” are on the Oscars 15-film shortlist in the documentary feature category.

Cinema Eye nominations are selected by three different nominating committees made up of documentary programmers, curators, film critics and writers and Cinema Eye alumni. Final voting is done by more than 1,000 members of the documentary and filmmaking community.

Here is the list of winners:

Nonfiction Feature

“No Other Land“
Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor, Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning, Julius Pollux Rothlaender and Bård Harazi Farbu

Direction
Mati Diop, “Dahomey”

Production
Mars Verrone and Samantha Curley, “Union”

Editing
Rik Chaubet, “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat”

Cinematography
Christopher LaMarca and Emily Kassie, “Sugarcane”

Original Score
Uno Helmersson, “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin”

Sound Design
Ranko Pauković and Alek Bunic Goosse, “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat”

Visual Design
Brendan Dawes, “Eno”

Debut Feature
“No Other Land,” Directed by Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor

Audience Choice Prize
“Porcelain War“
Directed by Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking
“Incident“
Directed by Bill Morrison | New Yorker

Unforgettables Honorees
Shiori Ito, “Black Box Diaries”
Brian Eno, “Eno”
Lhakpa Sherpa, “Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa”
Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham, “No Other Land”
Patrice Jetter, “Patrice: The Movie”
Jenna Marvin, “Queendom”
Chris Smalls, “Union”
Harper Steele, “Will and Harper”

Spotlight
“Black Snow”
Directed by Alina Simone

Heterodox
“Songs from the Hole”
Directed by Contessa Gayles

Broadcast Film
“Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play.”
Directed by Jeremy O. Harris

Nonfiction Series
“Telemarketers”
Directed by Adam Bhala Lough and Sam Lipman-Stern

Anthology Series
“How To with John Wilson Season 3”
John Wilson, Nathan Fielder, Michael Koman and Clark Reinking

Broadcast Editing
“Girls State”
Amy Foote, editor

Broadcast Cinematography
“Ren Faire”
Nate Hurtsellers, cinematographer

The post ‘No Other Land’ Named Best Documentary at Cinema Eye Honors appeared first on TheWrap.

“Oh, I love this seat,” she said. “I only have this one chair in this room, and when I invite friends over, we all want to be in this spot. My daughter reads in here, as well. It’s my happy place.”

The serenity of Suri’s calmly floating chair stands in contrast to “Santosh,” her phenomenal, noir-soaked feature directorial debut that follows a female police officer (Shahana Goswami) investigating the murder of a lower-caste girl in Northern India. The film uses its procedural format to mine deeper as a cultural character study.

“Santosh” is the Oscar submission from the United Kingdom, the country which won the Best International Film award with “The Zone of Interest” 11 months ago.

“I’m really happy that Britain’s standing behind this film,” Suri said. “We’re funded with British money primarily and I’m a British filmmaker. And I think the choice was really important on a deeper level.” She mentioned that the history of the U.K. and India, while not a subject of her story, cannot be ignored given the movie’s thick air of corruption, especially within law enforcement.

In the film, Santosh is a widowed woman in India who, thanks to a regional custom, is allowed to inherit her late husband’s job as a cop. She joins the force and soon gains a mentor in Geeta (Sunita Rajwar), a jaded, stone-faced elder officer with an ideology about police work that’s difficult to peg.

In conversation with TheWrap, Suri discussed her inspirations and her economical approach to filmmaking.

Mild spoilers to “Santosh” follow:

Your background is in documentaries, but the genesis of this film started with a photograph you looked at, is that right?
Yes, I was focusing on endemic violence against women in India, researching with NGOs, trying to hold the camera up to it. And then a few years later I saw an image of the protests that followed after the 2012 case of a horrible gang rape on a bus in Delhi.

In this amazing photograph, there was a lady police officer, a woman standing in front of all these angry female protesters, and she had a very enigmatic expression on her face. And I just knew she was the way into this story. Because she has the power, but she doesn’t have the power. She’s a perpetrator of violence, potentially, but also a victim. What was her story?

I just thought that was a much more interesting way in. Plus, I didn’t think I’d be granted the access that I needed to tell the story as a documentary. So I realized this was going to have to be a fiction film.

Can you talk about your two main actresses? Santosh is played by Shahana Goswami, who is a very glamorous figure in Indian cinema but also so believable in the role.
Shahana said that she felt very anxious about playing that role because this is not a role she plays, a lower middle class constable. But she has a sort of earthiness about her and a very natural beauty, which doesn’t require dropping down. She also she nailed the language and she has these amazing large expressive eyes, which add quite a lot to the storytelling.

And I really love the sensuality she has within the role. Which was important to me, because I wanted the audience to imagine a passionate life she may have had with her husband, actually. That’s why I gave her a love marriage, as opposed to another kind.

Her boss is played by Sunita Rajwar. It’s so great how we think she might be a minor character during the first 45 minutes of the movie, but then you keep building her into a figure of such complexity and duality.
Sunita is very bubbly and optimistic and jolly in her personality, and in India, many of her roles have been as the comic auntie. Everyone chases her for selfies on the street. And we have a tradition of this Indian matriarchal role, which is quite a strong archetype, so we knew we had to undercut that. So we talked through it and Sunita has such a real vulnerability about her, facially and physically, which expresses a life lived and maybe some hurt, and I feel that.

The most interesting thing about her character is that she is kind of unknowable – which I only fully realized while finishing the film. She has a scene at the end where she’s sort of justifying herself, and I was editing that up until the last minute to try and make it work.

And then I realized that I still don’t know if she believes her own rhetoric or not. What she says is deeply disturbing but also kind of understandable.

She has an incredible line of dialogue in the film, about two different types of untouchables: “The ones that no one wants to touch and the ones that can’t be touched.“
I don’t think I write dialogue that well, so I was super excited when I thought that up. The line does really sum up how everything works. It’s not only true of India, of course, but if you look at it on a more general scale, there are people who matter less everywhere. There are power structures and structures of neglect. The line sort of synthesizes everything.

As a first-time narrative filmmaker, there’s often a temptation to show off with your camera. But your compositions are so economical. How did you develop the visual style?
I always wanted to be a writer and I came to cinema because I was so excited about the economy of it. That’s the whole pleasure of it for me and even when I’m teaching, it’s always about how few shots can you tell it or with what precision can you tell it with. And still be fully immersive.

I wanted to take the audience and put them there next to my lead character, so that they can also experience the sort of little, shitty urban space she’s navigating through. And if the camera was ever going to point to itself and say, “Hey, aren’t sexy,” then I’ve pulled the audience out of it. So it was a bit of push-pull with the cinematographer [Lennert Hillege]. He had a lot of really great ideas and wanted to put a few more sexy shots in.

Well, this is where I need to ask you about the shot near the very end. Santosh is at a train station and as the train arrives, she glimpses a young couple through the gaps in the train. It just amazing how one simple shot can express so much. It’s like an old zoetrope or a flip book. Was it all done in camera?
Oh yes, of course. In the camera and with the timetables of train arrivals by our side, but this is in India and you never know how reliable the timetables are. So we had crew members down to do trainspotting for us.

I’d written in the script that the couple were going to be there, this runaway couple at the train station that Santosh observes and what they would represent to her. Sort of like a dream or a fantasy in some way. Then I was at the train station and I saw the station master behind a passing train and I thought, “Oh God, that’s how she’s going to experience this moment.”

We knew it had to be a cargo train, because they have bigger slots between cars. And we cast the girl the day before and the guy was from our catering team. Then we quickly got the costumes and the lighting set up. There’s also a slow zoom in the scene. And then we saw the train coming and we had one or two chances and we just got the shot.

I want to give a lot of credit to my brilliant boy and girl who acted in that shot. And my wonderful camera team. It was a very nerve-wracking night to grab that shot. If we didn’t get it right then, there was no money for reshoots. And they all pulled it off.

The post India-Set Murder Mystery ‘Santosh’ Is More Than Just a Crime Procedural appeared first on TheWrap.

In this version, our hero, Ken Sato (Christopher Sean), is reluctantly taking over the mantle of Ultraman from his aging father (Gedde Watanabe). And he’s got an even bigger conundrum when he is forced to raise the baby of a fallen kaiju that he had been fighting. “Ultraman: Rising” has some stunning action set pieces, breathlessly animated by Industrial Light & Magic in a style that evokes the original “Ultraman” series, along with classic anime, old tokusatsu movies and beloved manga. But the true magic of the movie lies in its underlying emotion and its themes of responsibility, family and animal rights.

Those two sides of “Ultraman: Rising” — the soft and the strong — come together beautifully in a climactic sea battle between Ultraman and Dr. Onda (Keone Young), a science officer who has turned villainous after a monster attack kills his wife and child. This sequence had been a part of the script since before it was even an Ultraman movie. (Tindle’s “Made in Japan” was originally developed for Sony Pictures Animation.) “The structure didn’t change, including not just big beats but even smaller beats,” Tindle said. “There was always a big battle in the end. There was always this unity between Ken and his dad and the baby.”

One of the great moments in the final fight is the reveal that Ken’s dad, the former Ultraman, has transformed into Ultraman once again (dubbed Ultradad) and is helping his injured son form the Spacium beam, a powerful stream of energy that is one of the hallmarks of the character.

“When you’re a kid, you forget about those big things that your parents did for you, or you’re unaware of their perspective or what they had to go through to be there for you,” Tindle said. “I thought it would be nice for Ken’s dad to be there when he’s most needed.”

Tindle said that they were constantly playing with what Ultraman is and what it means to be a parent, so the dad showing up was always going to happen in this big battle. Tindle said he came up with the idea of the two characters forming the unique arm gesture that produces the beam while working through the beats of the scene: Ultraman’s arm gets sliced, Ultradad’s leg is broken. “That was one of those spontaneous things, where I had the idea in the moment,” Tindle said.

He called over his co-director John Aoshima and they made the formation in the room. “Everybody in the room was like, ‘That’s it. That’s the ending,’” Tindle said. The actual reveal that it’s both of them making the beam was an idea by Kim Lee, head of animation for Industrial Light & Magic’s since shuttered Singapore studio. Tindle gives all credit where credit is due. “It’s one of my favorite shots in the movie, and it’s because one of our animation supervisors had an idea and decided to pitch it to us,” he said.

The practicality of the battle happening at sea was something Tindle was mindful of. “I didn’t have Pixar or DreamWorks money,” he said. “We had a substantial budget, but the movie is massive.” Tindle knew he had to “write smart” and lean on his collaborators. But the final battle, one of the biggest sequences in the film, had to have a very specific location. “This was always going to be a water battle because if the battle is taking place inside of a city, you have people and buildings — so you have to destroy buildings and you have crowds,” he said. “And those two things are substantially more expensive together, especially over an extended period of time, than water. Water is expensive, but not nearly as expensive as all those things.” It ended up having another plus, since Tindle was able to pay tribute to classic water battles you see in the old Godzilla movies.

This story first appeared in the Awards Preview issue of TheWrap magazine. Read more from the Awards Preview issue here.

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