Venice Film Festival

[Big Magilla]

Big Magilla wrote
Frances McDormand has a chance to become the first actress since Katharine Hepburn to win three Best Actress Oscars for Nomadland, but she faces strong competition from Michelle Pfeiffer, among others, in her strongest role in decades in The French Dispatch.

You mean French Exit. I would say that a movie by Azazel Jacobs is probably going to be too weird for the Academy's taste.

Somehow I managed to conflate the Wes Anderson film with the Pfeiffer film which is the one closing the New York Film Festival.

[Sabin]

Big Magilla wrote
Frances McDormand has a chance to become the first actress since Katharine Hepburn to win three Best Actress Oscars for Nomadland, but she faces strong competition from Michelle Pfeiffer, among others, in her strongest role in decades in The French Dispatch.

You mean French Exit. I would say that a movie by Azazel Jacobs is probably going to be too weird for the Academy's taste.

[Big Magilla]

There will be an awards season, but so far only the New York Film Critics are sticking to the calendar year which cuts off The French Dispatch which will close the New York Film Festival but won't open until the early February 2021 Oscar cutoff date.

I sent Wesley my first Oscar predictions (for publication on Cinemasight on 9/21) last night. Nomadland and its director, Chloé Zhao, are on the list and if I had to make winner predictions I'd say they are the frontrunners for this modern Grapes of Wrath with Mank about the making of Citizen Kane its closest competition.

Frances McDormand has a chance to become the first actress since Katharine Hepburn to win three Best Actress Oscars for Nomadland, but she faces strong competition from Michelle Pfeiffer, among others, in her strongest role in decades in The French Dispatch.

[Mister Tee]

I think it's safe to say with its excellent reception at TIFF as well and the desire to honor women filmmakers and filmmakers of color that Nomadland just became the front-runner.

Front-runner for what? Are we truly still expecting Oscars, in a year when only about half a dozen movies will likely be released between now and December?

Not to diminish Nomadland, which seems to be getting a strong response. But its status here in Venice is in a context where virtually no other Oscar-hopeful movies were on the roster.

I know that, theoretically, an awards season exists, but with no sign of a vaccine or improvement enough to allow moviegoing for the immediate future -- and with Tenet's soft performance making it unlikely other studios will follow its bold lead -- what kind of one can we have? Extending the deadline ten weeks won't make a difference. A totally new gestalt is necessary, and I don't see that happening for a while.

[Sabin]

I think it's safe to say with its excellent reception at TIFF as well and the desire to honor women filmmakers and filmmakers of color that Nomadland just became the front-runner.


Golden Lion
Nomadland

Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize
Nuevo Orden; dir: Michel Franco

Silver Lion, Best Director
Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Wife Of A Spy

Volpi Cup, Best Actress
Vanessa Kirby, Pieces Of A Woman

Volpe Cup Best Actor
Pierfrancesco Favino, Padrenostro

Best Screenplay
Chaitanya Tamhane, The Disciple

Special Jury Prize
Dear Comrades, dir: Andrei Konchalovsky

Marcello Mastroianni Award for for Best New Young Actor or Actress
Roohollah Zamani, Sun Children

HORIZONS

Best Film
The Wasteland; dir: Ahmad Bahrami

Best Director
Lav Diazn Genus Pan

Special Jury Prize
Listen, dir: Ana Rocha de Sousa

Best Actress
Khansa Batma, Zanka Contact

Best Actor
Yahya Mahayni, The Man Who Sold His Skin

Best Screenplay
Pietro Castellitto, I Predatori

Best Short Film
Entre Tú Y Milagros, dir: Mariana Saffon

Lion of the Future – Luigi De Laurentiis Award For A Debut Film
Listen, dir: Ana Rocha de Sousa