News came through yesterday afternoon that
Up in the Air,
An Education and
Up! are all (I was going to say 'up' AGAIN) for Best Picture among a record 10 contenders.
Word is the real battle will be between James Cameron's
Avatar and Kathryn Bigelow's
The Hurt Locker. Bigelow and Cameron (her ex-husband) are also nominated for Best Director and if she wins, it would, astoundingly, be a first for a woman director.
Up in the Air is nominated for numerous other Oscars, including Best Actor for Clooney while both female leads, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick, are runners in the best Supporting Actress category.
Burma VJ and
The Cove are deservedly among the Best Documentary nominations. I caught
Burma VJ on More4 last week, it's riveting. Amazing scene from a street demonstration led by monks when the young reporter turns his small camera up to the surrounding buildings and there are people cheering from every single window. It's currently available to view on
4oD but if, like me, you suffer from rural (broad) bandwith poverty, much better to see it on the big screen at The Courtyard Hereford, either on or as part of the special day event
Here Comes Everyone:) Citizen Journalism in the Digital Age. Makes a pretty compelling case for cit journalism.
And reactions from 2 British contenders in the Adapted Screenplay shortlist (
from ScreenDaily.com):
Armando Iannucci, who co-wrote In The Loop with Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell and Tony Roche: “I was having lunch with Steve Coogan when I heard. I still haven’t had my lunch today. It’s an entirely UK-funded film made for a British audience, so when we had the premiere in Sundance [2009] I was hoping they were going to laugh and it was tense when the lights went down. But gradually they did laugh. It doesn’t surprise me that American audiences have responded to it because we love US comedy like Jon Stewart and
Seinfeld, which has very fast-paced dialogue. It was America that gave us fast-talking comedy.”
Nick Hornby, writer, An Education: “I read [Lynn Barber’s memoir in
Granta] and loved it and because my wife [producer Amanda Posey] is a producer I showed it to her and didn’t think I would write it. When she started talking about possible writers I found myself becoming quite possessive of it. When Lone [Scherfig] got the directing gig she was incredibly sympathetic to the script. The period in which it is set was a bit before my time, but I carry it with me because it was my parents’ time and so much of that time shaped our culture.”
Full nominations list courtesy of Guardian Film
An Education and Nowhere Boy are both set in the dark days of the late 50s and early 60s. Remarkably both films were in colour, which is not how I remember the time. My hometown was grey, I was grey, even the dog was grey. This was partly as a result of post war economics and the transfer of vast sums of money to our gallant allies the USA, who supported us financially during the war, but then wanted all the cash back. But the dullness of the time was also because our parent's generation had had rather too much excitement over the previous twenty years and were happy to settle for a little light boredom in exchange for a lack of bombs.
Is it implausible that Amy Winehouse should set fire to her hair while mending a fuse? Or that Guy Ritchie gave himself a black eye while 'juggling with cutlery'?
The event features a rare chance to see this new documentary and to take part in a Q&A with Chris afterwards. And there's a reception to follow.
Outstanding British Film went to Fish Tank, directed by another extremely able woman director, Andrea Arnold.
French prison thriller A Prophet beat rival The White Ribbon in the Best Film Not in the English Language category.
Not only might Kathryn Bigelow turn out to be the first ever woman to win the Best Director for The Hurt Locker but Carey Mulligan, the young star of An Education, has been nominated in the Best Actress category for her portrayal of a schoolgirl high on hedonism in '60s London.
Both female leads from Up in the Air, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick, are in the running for the Best Supporting Actress Award. They play two very different high-fliers whom George Clooney (also nominated for Best Actor) encounters as 'travelling light' management consultant, Ryan Bingham.
Oscars aside, it's worth highlighting two fantastic performances from Belgian-born actress, Yolande Moreau, in films showing at The Courtyard Hereford during Borderlines 2010. In Seraphine she's a simple maid with an unshakeable conviction that Virgin Mary has given her the impulse to paint.
A very different role for Moreau in Louise-Michel where she's a foul-mouthed woman leading a female revolt, with many convoluted, anarchistic and hilarious plot twists, against their factory boss. One screening only for this so don't miss it!
News came through yesterday afternoon that Up in the Air, An Education and Up! are all (I was going to say 'up' AGAIN) for Best Picture among a record 10 contenders.
Burma VJ and The Cove are deservedly among the Best Documentary nominations. I caught Burma VJ on More4 last week, it's riveting. Amazing scene from a street demonstration led by monks when the young reporter turns his small camera up to the surrounding buildings and there are people cheering from every single window. It's currently available to view on 4oD but if, like me, you suffer from rural (broad) bandwith poverty, much better to see it on the big screen at The Courtyard Hereford, either on or as part of the special day event Here Comes Everyone:) Citizen Journalism in the Digital Age. Makes a pretty compelling case for cit journalism.
