The first full week of December 2024 got here with a lot of awards wins that cumulatively illuminate what route Oscar voters might go towards, particularly those that like to concentrate to what critics counsel they watch on the Academy portal.
Starting with the 2 main worldwide occasions, the European Film Awards (in Switzerland this yr,) and the British Independent Film Awards, what has been all however confirmed, after months of suspicion, is that Cannes winners “Anora” and “Emilia Pérez” are formidable contenders.
The latter Netflix movie swept all 4 main classes it was nominated for on the EFAs, plus a recognition for its enhancing by Juliette Welfling, resulting in historical past being made with star Karla Sofía Gascón turning into the primary ever trans lady to win the European Actress award.
While Jacques Audiard profitable European Director doesn’t come as a lot of a shock, because the French auteur has lengthy been tipped to be a favourite of the European sect of voters, his win for European Screenwriter over compatriot Coralie Fargeat, who gained Best Screenplay at Cannes for her movie “The Substance,” is a sign that “Emilia Pérez” is much more of a powerhouse with European Academy members than we notice. Musicals very not often win screenplay awards. Also price noting that final yr’s large winner on the European Film Awards was “Anatomy of a Fall,” which later acquired a Best Picture nomination, a shock Best Director nomination, and gained the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
The large winner on the BIFAs was “Kneecap,” receiving seven awards together with Best British Independent Film. Though the Sundance breakout has principally been written off as being too small for rivalry in a lot of the above the road Oscar classes, its success on the U.Okay. primarily based awards ceremony certifies the Sony Pictures Classics launch as a real darkish horse for the Best International Feature class after being chosen as Ireland’s submission.
More notable when it comes to what movies may extra possible win Oscars are “Anora” profitable the Best International Independent Film class and “Hard Truths” star Marianne Jean-Baptiste profitable Best Lead Performance on the BIFAs. Both wins mirror a consensus constructing throughout the movie criticism group as nicely, the place each events have been large winners with the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (Baptiste sharing her Lead Performance win with “Anora” star Mikey Madison.)
A seemingly foreboding truth is the final time the New York Film Critics Circle and the LAFCA had the identical Best Actress winner who didn’t go on to obtain an Oscar nomination was in 2008, when each teams awarded Sally Hawkins for her efficiency in “Happy-Go-Lucky,” one other Mike Leigh movie. However, in contrast to Hawkins on the time, Baptiste has already been nominated for an Oscar, and is coping with a really totally different Academy that has diversified and commenced to favor veteran performers like Frances McDormand and Michelle Yeoh lately.
With the muse of Baptiste not simply profitable over critics, however the trade professionals that vote on the BIFAs, and have a wee little bit of crossover with the Academy, a Best Actress nomination appears a tad safer, permitting the “Hard Truths” awards staff and distributor Bleecker Street to make use of that momentum to construct up extra recognition for Leigh’s script and route as nicely (for which he was snubbed for on the BIFAs.)
The final two movies price mentioning, who had wonderful weekends throughout the board, making all of them the nearer to locking in an Oscar nomination or two, are documentary “No Other Land,” and animated movie “Flow,” which doubles as Latvia’s submission for Best International Feature. Both movies gained on the EFAs and with the LAFCA (plus “No Other Land” was truly nominated within the BIFA class that “Anora” gained.)
Though each movies have their very own uphill battles, with “No Other Land” nonetheless not having a distributor going into preliminary Oscar voting, and it being an extremely aggressive yr for “Flow” to interrupt into each Best International Feature and Best Animated Feature, these recognitions imply it will be stunning if both movie didn’t make the shortlists they’re up for come December 17.
