‘Wallace and Gromit’ to Return in New Feature Film From Aardman

Naman Ramachandran In a new series, Variety catches up with the directors of the films shortlisted for the International Feature Oscar to discuss their road to the awards, what they’ve learned so far, and what’s taken them off guard.Maria Schrader, an Emmy winner for directing the Netflix series “Unorthodox,” is also a Berlin Silver Bear winning actor for “Aimée & Jaguar” (1999). Her latest feature “I’m Your Man” follows a scientist (Maren Eggert, “Giraffe”) who agrees to live for three weeks with a humanoid robot (Dan Stevens, “Downton Abbey”) designed to make her happy.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorWith “No Time to Die,” Cary Joki Fukunaga took great care when it came to using VFX and special effects. From underwater fights to an Aston Martin DB5 shootout to an explosive finale, the latest James Bond installment “No Time to Die” is bursting with action-packed moments, but Fukunaga wanted to keep the emotional arc of the storytelling front and center. He didn’t want to undermine that sense of reality and use effects purely to enhance the emotional connection to Bond’s story.“No Time to Die,” made the VFX Oscar shortlist, and should it be nominated on Feb.

GameStop: Rise of the Players, Adrian Brody passion project Clean, Cannes winner Compartment No. 9, Danish upscale restaurant drama A Taste of Hunger and Woody Allen’s latest Rifkin’s Festival hit theatres crowded by Oscar contenders in a specialty market consumed by awards season (and as a major storm looks set to pummel the Northeast).

A column chronicling conversations and events on the awards circuit.

Addie Morfoot ContributorBack in the 1980s, former HBO Documentary Films president Sheila Nevins saw an opportunity in the nonfiction short format.“I was watching the Academy Awards one night and there was this category called best docu short and the people who made them were getting Oscars,” Nevins says. “At the Emmys, docus were kept hidden and given out on a special day.

The Sundance Film Festival is revealing award winners for its 2022 edition on Friday afternoon beginning at 2 p.m. PT. Like the rest of this year’s festival, which was forced to go all-virtual because of the recent Omicron surge, the awards ceremony is playing out on Twitter.

shortlist.Turner’s “Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day” looks back at the history of lynching in America through the ways they’ve been documented on souvenir postcards from 1880 to 1968.Turner described how photographers would take pictures of the lynchings and create postcards of the imagery that people would then send to their friends and family. She says that while the imagery was “graphic,” she tried to focus viewers’ eyes on the amount of people attending the lynchings and the fact that families were there, rather than the lynching itself, to properly contextualize the point in time.“We’re going beyond the brutality of the body itself, but that is also part of what I want viewers to confront,” she said.

Zack Sharf Sean Penn doubled down in an interview with The Independent on his belief that “men have become quite feminized.” The two-time Oscar winner generated headlines earlier this month after telling one newspaper, “I am in the club that believes that men in American culture have become wildly feminized. I don’t think that being a brute or having insensitivity or disrespect for women is anything to do with masculinity, or ever did.

Panama makes its debut on the International Feature Oscar shortlist with the character-driven thriller Plaza Catedral. This contender from Abner Benaim (Ruben Blades Is Not My Name) is a taut two-hander between a grieving mother and a young street hustler, with a sobering message about corruption and violence. Samuel Goldwyn Films recently acquired the title.

As voters across the Academy branches mull over their Oscar nomination ballots, among the films they’re considering are two that deal with the Deaf experience. One, CODA, is the fictional coming of age story of a girl raised by Deaf parents. The other – Audible – tells a coming of age story as well, but this one is real.

NewFest, New York’s LGBTQ+ film and media organization, on Friday unveiled the spring lineup for “NewFest Presents,” its monthly screening series taking place in-person at The LGBT Community Center in NYC, and streaming virtually through NewFest’s Virtual Screening Room nationwide. The announcement was made today by NewFest’s executive director David Hatkoff and director of programming Nick McCarthy.

EXCLUSIVE: Kevin Costner is set to get back behind the camera for the first time since 2003’s critically acclaimed Open Range. Costner will direct the period Western Horizon, setting an August 29 production start in Utah. Costner will star in the film, produce it and finance it through his Territory Pictures production company.

have now made their choices for the best film accomplishments of 2021, culminating this week with a day in which the Producers Guild, Writers Guild and Directors Guild all announced their nominations within a few hours of each other.And when the dust cleared, the Oscar race looked pretty much the same way it did before the guilds started announcing nominations.“Belfast?” Check. “The Power of the Dog?” Yep.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentAs we enter the final countdown to the Feb. 8 Oscar nominations announcement, Isabella Rossellini is clearly rooting for Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God,” which is Italy’s candidate for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film and among the shortlisted titles.To help promote the pic with Academy voters, Rossellini engaged in an online chat with the director and young Italian actor Filippo Scotti, who plays Sorrentino’s alter-ego Fabietto in the pic. She also wore a gold horn amulet that belonged to her father, the late great Italian master Roberto Rossellini, for good luck.Here are edited excerpts of the conversation, to which Variety has been given exclusive access.

It is very rare for a married couple to be nominated for acting Oscars in the same year, but it has happened three times in the past.

Oscar nomination voting started today, and George Clooney as he has often in his career, has a movie that deserves consideration in The Tender Bar which so far has been somewhat unfairly overlooked in critics and guild award nominations but is the kind of small gem, a family dramedy and coming-of-age story, that I think is the finest directorial job Clooney has done since Good Night And Good Luck. Apparently those who have caught the film in its streaming run that began on January 7 on Amazon Prime agree. In fact the streamer says the movie, which is based on JR Mohringer’s memoir of growing up in Long Island where the patrons of his Uncle Charlie’s bar basically stood in as father figures for him, had one of the best debuts of any original movie on Prime Video, currently in their top 10 movie releases of all time,  and opened globally on the service worldwide in over 240 countries and territories where it was #1 in its opening week. It has also been getting a large amount of five star reviews from users on the site.

In one of Syrian-born artist Mohamad Hafez’s stunning 3D pieces, a figurine of the Virgin Mary stands before an ornate portal, her hands joined in prayer. The building around her, rendered in plaster, paint, rusted metal and found objects, is blasted to ruins.

West Side Story‘s Steven Spielberg, The Power of the Dog‘s Jane Campion, Dune‘s Denis Villeneuve, Licorice Pizza‘s Paul Thomas Anderson and Kenneth Branagh of Belfast have been nominated for the top feature film prize as the Directors Guild unveiled nominations Thursday for its 74th annual DGA Awards.

Manori Ravindran International EditorIn the streaming age, documentary filmmakers, once the long-suffering artists working in obscurity to finish self-funded passion projects, have become rock stars. Deep-pocketed platforms like Netflix and Hulu have dished out for costly archival clearances and biopic rights, and the strategy has invariably led to awards glory.But just as the medium has become more elevated, so too has it grown increasingly global in scope, with a vast network of documentary gatekeepers venturing outside the traditional nonfiction markets of the U.S.

Clayton Davis After a stampede of awards announcements that include ACE Eddies, Producers Guild and Writers Guild of America Awards, the prestigious Directors Guild of America Awards finally weighs in with their own set of nominees that recognizes achievements in directing.In the motion pictures category, the group nominated Kenneth Branagh for “Belfast” (Focus Features), Jane Campion for “The Power of the Dog” (Netflix), Paul Thomas Anderson for “Licorice Pizza” (MGM/United Artists Releasing), Steven Spielberg for “West Side Story” (20th Century Studios) and Denis Villeneuve for “Dune” (Warner Bros).Notable snubs included Joel Coen (“The Tragedy of Macbeth”), Adam McKay (“Don’t Look Up”), Siân Heder (“CODA”), Guillermo del Toro (“Nightmare Alley”) and Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (“Drive My Car”). Campion is the second woman ever to receive a second nod from the Directors Guild.

Nicolas Cage, believes he’s finally found his perfect match after marrying Riko Shibata, his fifth wife. “I’m really happily married. I know five is a lot, but I think I got it right this time,” he told The Los Angeles Times in an interview published on Thursday (January 27). The Oscar winner, 58, was previously married to Patricia Arquette, Lisa Marie Presley, Alice Kim and Erika Koike. And when asked by the outlet to list his favorite things in life, Nicolas immediately put Riko at the top of the list! Fifth time’s truly a charm!

The clock is ticking.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentHollywood has given us a wide range of mothers, including the hard-working and devoted (“Claudine”), the self-sacrificing (“Bambi”) and the monstrous (“The Manchurian Candidate”).It’s hard to come up with anything new on the subject, but first-time writer-director Maggie Gyllenhaal, adapting Elena Ferrante’s novel, constantly surprises us by depicting several mothers who are complex, original and have the ring of truth in “The Lost Daughter.”“The book and, I hope, the film articulate a lot of the experience about being a woman that we don’t often talk about,” Gyllenhaal tells Variety. “Not just in terms of mothering and how complicated it is — it brings you to your knees.

After they won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2019 for their thrilling Free Solo, directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin went underground—in a manner of speaking.

The Writers Guild of America has penciled in the film nominees for its 74th annual WGA Awards, which will be virtual again this year.

Clayton Davis Since the early 2000s, the Oscars have been in a rhythm of awarding darker movies with tinges of death, depression, racism and violence, illustrated by best picture winners such as “Million Dollar Baby” (2004), “Crash” (2005), “The Departed” (2006) and “No Country for Old Men” (2007). They stopped the trend with the uplifting “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008), which nearly swept the ceremony, winning eight Oscars, the most of any film since that time.

He knew the time had come after Oh discovered a program called Quill that enables artists to easily draw, paint and animate environments for a virtual reality headset. He also knew he was ready to tackle this project after the birth of his niece.“In the decade-plus since my grandfather died, I’ve had to say goodbye to others in my family.

“Belfast,” “Dune,” “King Richard,” “No Time to Die” and “The Power of the Dog” have been nominated as the best dramatic film editing of 2021 by the American Cinema Editors, which announced the nominees for the 72nd annual ACE Eddie Awards on Thursday.Those five films will compete in the Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic) category, while the field in Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy) will consist of “Cruella,” “Don’t Look Up,” “The French Dispatch,” “Licorice Pizza” and “tick, tick…BOOM!”The most surprising omission was probably “West Side Story,” while ACE Eddie voters also bypassed “Nightmare Alley,” “CODA” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”Nominations for the editing of animated features went to the same five animated films that have also been nominated by the Cinema Audio Society, Motion Picture Sound Editors, Visual Effects Society and Art Directors Guild: “Encanto,” “Luca,” “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” “Raya and the Last Dragon” and “Sing 2.”In the television categories, “Kevin Can F**k Himself” received three nominations to sweep the Best Edited Multi-Camera Comedy Series category, while “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Ted Lasso,” “Succession,” “Mare of Easttown” and “The White Lotus” each received two.The nominations were announced on a day that will also see nomination announcements from the Producers Guild, Directors Guild and Writers Guild, capping a wild four-day blitz in which 10 different guilds or professional societies announced their nominations.

Clayton Davis A shortened eligibility year, multiple monochrome films and an underappreciated year for animation is what sums up the 2021 cinematic year. Oscar voters will be voting for their favorites in 23 categories for six days.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorThe American Cinema Editors (ACE) has nominated “Belfast,” “Dune,” “King Richard,” “No Time to Die” and “The Power of the Dog” in the category of feature film drama at the 72nd annual ACE Eddie Awards.In the best edited comedic feature category, “Cruella,” “Don’t Look Up,” “The French Dispatch,” “Licorice Pizza” and “Tick, Tick…Boom!” all received nominations.Among the animated features nominated were “Encanto,” “Luca,” “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” “Raya and the Last Dragon” and “Sing 2.” The TV nominees include “Succession” and “The White Lotus.”The Eddies are considered a precursor for the best picture and best editing categories at the Oscars.

The Producers Guild has pulled back the curtain on the nominations for its 33rd annual PGA Awards, which cover theatrical motion pictures, animated features, TV series and specials and televised/streamed motion pictures. See the full list below.

Clayton Davis After all the talk of a potential Lady Gaga-Kristen Stewart Oscar night showdown, could it be much ado about nothing?Both actresses have a very vocal and passionate fanbase. Leading up to the Screen Actors Guild awards nominations, many predicted that the two would ultimately be the final two standing in the race for the Oscar statuette.

Best Picture Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” seems to have taken pole position in the best picture race. Campion won a screenplay Oscar at the 1994 ceremony for “The Piano,” which was also nominated for best pic (it lost to “Schindler’s List.”). Early front-runner “Belfast” should also make the ballot.

Clayton Davis The Producers Guild of America announced its nominations for the motion picture and television categories for the upcoming 33rd PGA Awards, and it was a good day for the streamers (once again).Netflix ruled the film side with three films landing in the field of 10 nominees: “Don’t Look Up” from Adam McKay, “The Power of the Dog” from Jane Campion and “Tick, Tick … Boom!” from Lin-Manuel Miranda.Warner Bros. captured two nods from its slate: “Dune” from Denis Villeneuve and “King Richard” from Reinaldo Marcus Green.At the best possible moment with Oscar voting opening today, Amazon Studios’ “Being the Ricardos” from Aaron Sorkin snagged one of the coveted spots, which helps its best picture chances considerably.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentBhutan’s first Oscar entry in 23 years, Pawo Choyning Dorji’s feature debut “Lunana: A Yak in The Classroom” is handled by Samuel Goldwyn Films in North America. The movie follows a young teacher from Bhutan’s capital who dreams of emigrating to Australia to become a singer and instead finds himself assigned to a school in the most remote village in Northern Bhutan, where he unexpectedly bonds with local children and finds happiness.What does it mean to you to be shortlisted for the best international feature Oscar? The shortlisting has meant so much because it’s a historic moment for our little Himalayan Kingdom.

James Bond, speculation continues to be rife over who Daniel Craig's successor will be after his explosive exit from the franchise in No Time To Die. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the 007 films, so surely this is the best time to announce the next star to take up the Licence to Kill? Now, industry insiders have teased the wait for the big news may actually not be that long away after all. Deadline's Justin Kroll tweeted: "While it's been crickets on the #BondWatch scene, making it seem like this will be a long process, one source with a couple clients in the mix told me something interesting recently of when a decision may come down the pipeline, "I think we he[ar] who it is after the Oscars.