Academy Anonymous
An invaluable, unparalleled and only partly-delusional resource for any cinephiles and Oscar-addicts forever obsessing about whether their favorite films, performances and artists will survive another grueling Oscar season.
Join us on our noble (futile! compulsive!) mission to track the contenders, mourn the flop-aroonis, cut-down the winners, champion the over-looked and generally forecast the state of the race with “100% accuracy" (results may vary).
Need your daily Oscar fix? We got you covered.
(But seriously, consider getting some real help when all this is over… this ain’t healthy.)
Academy Anonymous
Oscar Season 2025-2026: We're Back!!; Cannes Recap (We Went!!!); All The Films We Saw
On this episode of ACADEMY ANONYMOUS:
- We recap our first ever Cannes experience!
- We've seen big Oscar players: SENTIMENTAL VALUE; IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT; DIE MY LOVE; THE SECRET AGENT; NOUVELLE VAGUE; and more (THE MASTERMIND; THE PLAGUE; CHRONOLOGY OF WATER; SOUND OF FALLING; PILLION; YES!; THE HISTORY OF SOUND....); our thoughts!
- We also went to the Tribeca Film Festival; our quick recap.
- We have something brewing... A NEW WEBSITE!
Hey guys, welcome back to Academy. Anonymous, I'm Jules.
Speaker 2:And I'm your co-host, Joseph.
Speaker 1:And wow, it's been a long time. I think the last time we made an episode was in early April, right before.
Speaker 1:Cannes and you know, guys, we're so sorry that we've been MIA, but we've actually had a very busy few months. We've been fortunate enough to have a few exciting opportunities arise for us and, you know, the bulk of our time has been doing all of that. We were able to go to the Cannes Film Festival for the first time ever, which was freaking incredible, A trip I'll never forget. We hope to be back again next year. It was freaking amazing. We also went to the Rebecca Film Festival.
Speaker 2:Yeah, did a few days there.
Speaker 1:That was really cool too. That was our first time. Rebecca Film Festival yeah, did a few days there. That was really cool too, and that was our first time at Dr Rebecca as well. Of course, we've made episodes of how we went to the Sundance Film Festival. That was really cool too. So it's been a crazy year. We've had a lot of new experiences and down the line we're going to have even more new experiences. So it's been an amazing, amazing few months, and that's why we've been MIA. But, as you all know, we're about to kick into high gear with the Oscar season, because the festival barrage is about to start and we're about to get right now, in a couple of days, the Venice Film Festival, yeah, and then, shortly after that, the Telluride Film Festival, and then, shortly after that, the Toronto Film Festival, and then, shortly after that, the Telluride Film Festival, and then, shortly after that, the Toronto Film Festival and then, shortly after that, the New York Film Festival.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the big four.
Speaker 1:Exactly so. Lots and lots and lots going on right now, and you know, this is actually the time when Oscar season starts in proper.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's kicking up again, right, I mean, things were crazy in Cannes and there was a lot of conversation to be had about, you know, the aftermath of that festival. But, certainly things were sort of sleeping a little bit for a few months, but we're about to get very busy.
Speaker 1:Right and yeah. So Cannes was incredible, you guys. It really felt like Disney World for cinephiles, yeah, and we got incredible opportunities there. It was just amazing. And so let's see, just looking at what Cannes films I was able to watch, my favorite film of the festival was the Dardenne Brothers' Young Mothers, which was just an incredible experience. It was the last film I saw at the festival.
Speaker 1:It was such a beautiful way to end that trip, that journey, and I'm a huge fan of the Dardan brothers and this film is no exception, one of their greats. It's just such a beautiful film, so beautifully made. I can't wait to see it again. I can't wait to you guys see it again. I think it will be going to the Telluride Film Festival. They're usually very welcomed at that festival, so I expect it to go there.
Speaker 2:It'll be interesting to see if that film maybe gets selected from one of the countries for international, the international film race, possibly Belgium. France is stacked this year, so I'm thinking maybe Belgium Right.
Speaker 1:I saw Sound of Falling, the German film. You know that had a lot of people talking at the festival on the ground. You know we're going to try giving you a very brief sort of you know kind of experience of what it was like to be on the ground and talking to our colleagues and what the overall impression was of some of these films that we saw. So that's a film that people consistently kept talking about. It's an incredible movie. It's not for everyone. It will be going to Toronto. Mubi bought Mubi's going to be distributing it and it's just such an incredibly haunting movie. I can't wait for you guys to see that.
Speaker 2:Probably a front runner for foreign film as well.
Speaker 1:You know I would love that, but again, I know it's not going to be a film for everyone. It's very bold. It's very bold. It's having very provocative sort of conversation about gender and about so many topics and it's just a really haunting film. I haven't stopped thinking about that film since I saw it At one point on the ground.
Speaker 2:I think it was the favorite to maybe win one of the top three awards.
Speaker 1:Yes, I knew that the minute I saw it it was going to play somewhere. I knew it was not going to walk out empty handed and I actually predicted it would win the jury prize. The film that won alongside Sound of Falling for the jury prize was Surratt, and I can tell you that every single person we talked to in that Cannes Film Festival was crazy about Surratt. They loved Surratt, everybody loved it. Unfortunately, I was not able to make it to the screening that I needed to make because I had a rough night the night before. But you know what? It's one of my biggest regrets not seeing what everyone was saying. It was an incredible film at the Cannes Film Festival not seeing it there. You know you can't win them all, but that was a film that I can tell you everyone was excited about.
Speaker 2:And everyone sort of shouted out the idea that you have to see that on the big screen because the sound is just amazing and the visuals are great. And I think that film is from Spain, right?
Speaker 1:Yes, yes yes, absolutely, and it's going to Toronto Film Festival. Neon picked it up. Neon picked it up and it's also most likely going to be going to the Telluride Film Festival as well. So if any of you get a chance to see that, that is certainly a film that should place at the top of your list. Based on all the reactions that we heard from Ken and, again, a big regret for us that we didn't get to see that Um, you know, I was able to see Die my Love by Lynne Ramsey, which I loved, but I will say that I was fortunate enough to see it twice and the first time I had a little bit more of a mixed reaction.
Speaker 1:The second time was just such an incredibly beautiful experience. Um, I loved it, but I will say that on the ground it was unanimously praised by critics, which is no surprise. But I will say that on the ground, the response was very mixed and once you see the film you can understand why linear, slightly experimental, in some ways very artistic, you know, with Lin-Manuel's unmistakable sort of gaze. It's a very powerful film. It's very compelling, very beautifully done. Jennifer Lawrence is great in that movie, but I will say that people felt, you know, at a distance from it. You know it was something that wasn't embraced by most people. I would say I was very surprised Well, I shouldn't say surprised, but it was very polarized experience amongst the sea of colleagues with which we saw the film. So that was interesting. That was an interesting experience. I also got the opportunity to see Sentimental Value, which is a film that everyone's talking about right now with regard to, you know, the awards race. It was a really beautiful experience to be able to see that film in Cannes, one of the films I saw towards the end of my festival time and on the ground. I will say that you know, it was a very rapturous response. Everyone that I spoke to loved it, and I will say that I think most people were predicting that film to be the winner of the Palme d'Or Joseph, and I thought differently. We'll get to that in a minute, but it's a very powerful film. We're big fans of Joaquin Trier Really gorgeous performances.
Speaker 1:I think Renata Rheinsveig in this film is just incredible. Um, I would say she even outdoes her performance in Worst Person in the World, which is a performance in a movie that we're both very big fans of as well. That's saying something Right, and she's so beautiful in this movie, um, and I will say you know, it was very clear to see that this film was going to factor in into the awards race. It's certainly going to get an eye for Best Picture. It will certainly get nominated for its acting. Renata Reinsve is a shoe-in, stellan Skarsgård is a shoe-in, elle Fanning is a shoe-in. I paused a little bit with Ingrid. I think she has a very good chance Again. A quartet of really beautiful performances all around. I think strongest performance in my opinion is renato rynesville, um and inga.
Speaker 2:I think you mean inga. Yeah, inga, I'm sorry, I thought you said ingrid.
Speaker 1:Sorry, no inga and um uh, but a quartet of really beautiful performances they're all gonna factor in. It will certainly at least have three acting nominations. Um walking cheer uh will certainly be nominated. He'll be nominated for a screenplay, so it's a big Oscar player.
Speaker 2:It's an early favorite in a lot of categories. Right it was an early favorite.
Speaker 1:It's still pretty high in people's perception of how well you know overall. But that was another beautiful film I saw. I saw Pileon with Alexander Skarsgård. I freaking loved it it I cannot wait to see it again. I had a blast watching it. It was so freaking good that's Uncertain Regard.
Speaker 2:I think right. Yes.
Speaker 1:Uncertain in the Uncertain Regard section um Joseph, and I loved Nadav Lapid's uh recent film, yes, which just got acquired.
Speaker 2:Which went to Directors Fortnite.
Speaker 1:Exactly Directors Fortnite which we?
Speaker 2:thought was a weird, weird choice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know that was. You know some people talked about that. Yeah, that it was a film that could have easily played in competition and done really well. We thought in competition and won some awards.
Speaker 2:There was some commentary. There was some commentary on the ground.
Speaker 1:And it was certainly a controversial sort of screening coming in, but it was an incredible film, One of our favorites. We saw Drunken Noodles, which I think played part of the acid section. Yeah, I love that. I love Drunken Noodles.
Speaker 2:That was a beautiful film.
Speaker 1:I loved Harris Dickinson's debut film Urchin, which played in Uncertain Regard.
Speaker 1:It is so good, with an incredible lead performance a lot of people talked about it, yes, and I just recently got acquired and supposedly it's gonna have a winter release. If that were to happen, expect people to be talking about that performance and this movie. It is so good. I was so proud of harris dickinson. I don't know him personally, but I was proud as a fan of the uh talent that I saw on the screen and I think most of you will be as well you hope that he continues to to direct films absolutely, um, also in the uncertain regards section.
Speaker 1:Regards section was the Mysterious Case of the Flamingo. I think it won the main prize of the Uncertain Regards section. It was a beautiful film. I loved it. Readland was a film that played on, I believe, critics Week, which I loved as well. We were fortunate enough to see the Mastermind by Kelly Reichardt. We're huge Kelly Reichardt fans. That was a great experience to have In competition. Yeah, yeah, in competition. That was an amazing experience. We really loved the movie.
Speaker 2:And he was there because he had two movies Josh O'Connor but he did not show up to the first one, which people were kind of heaved about.
Speaker 1:but he did show up to the Mastermind able to see joshua carter at the premiere and you know we were able to have really some cool celebrity sightings, which was just freaking awesome. Um, I was in the room with the die my love premiere. That was so cool. Um, I saw a film that starred um vicky creeps, love me tender. Very beautiful film as well, the french film wild foxes. Um, which I believe won its section as well, a major prize in the director's fortnight section, as Joseph was saying. I saw the History of Sound with Paul Mesco and Josh O'Connor. I saw Romeria, which was a Spanish film in competition. We also got to see Wes Anderson's film, the Phoenician Scheme, which was really cool to see in that huge venue. That was an amazing experience.
Speaker 2:I love that film. By the way, that was one of my favorite films. Yes.
Speaker 1:And I was able to see Kristen Stewart's debut film, the Chronology of Water.
Speaker 2:Which was packed.
Speaker 1:Yes, there were three very talked about debut films Harris Dickinson, kristen Stewart and Scarlett Johansson. The best one was, in my opinion, harris Dickinson. Second, I would say, was Kristen Stewart. There's some very bold choices in that film, the Chronology of Water. I didn't love it, but there's certainly a bold choices in in that film, the chronology of water. I didn't love it but there's certainly a lot of strengths to it. Um I saw left-handed girl which um sean baker co-wrote with his collaborator, um his editor yeah, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:Yeah, his editor. Yeah, um, we saw that. We saw enzo uh, which was a film that was in the director's fortnight. Um, we saw juliette de carnell's new film, alpha oh boy, oh boy. A lot of people talking about that, yeah people, people certainly had their thoughts I liked it I liked it, but you know, I guess most people were more mixed on it.
Speaker 2:I, I liked it a lot of thoughts on the ground about that right um. I was able to see eddington um which was yeah, yeah, which is the line, was nuts for that?
Speaker 1:yeah, the line was freaking and you guys would not believe the line for that film. Um and uh, you know it was a film that certainly people talked about quite a bit, and then I also had a very polarized reaction. The film has already come out, so you guys already know the sort of polarized reactions that the film has had. Um, I won't. I think it's maybe the weakest ariast film that I've seen. Possibly, I would say that in my opinion. But it was really cool to see it there at the festival. I even got to meet Ari Aster. That was really cool.
Speaker 2:He actually went to a bunch of films. A lot of people were telling us yeah, he just ran into Ari Aster because he just happened to be sitting like two rows in front of me for this other film.
Speaker 1:Right. We both saw Nouveau Vague, uh by uh, the great Richard Linklater.
Speaker 2:I was a little iffy on it myself. I was shocked when I saw that Quentin Tarantino went, though I was like what is Tarantino doing here? But I think yeah yeah and uh.
Speaker 1:I also saw the new film, the second film by Michelangelo Covino, splitsville um, which is about to come out right now, any day now. I loved his first film, the Climb. I thought it was freaking great. I was a little bit more iffy on Splitsville personally, but I will say that I had a very enthusiastic reaction in the room. Michelangelo Covino was there, dakota Johnson was there. It was really cool, but for me a little bit more mixed. I saw another film in the director's Fortnite section called Her Will Be Done.
Speaker 1:We both saw an Italian film, ferrari that was a competition which might have been, I think, the weakest film in competition that we saw. I think.
Speaker 2:I didn't like it too much.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I wasn't crazy about it. I was very not crazy about Scott Johansson's Eleanor the Great, which just had a trailer. A few weeks ago, sony Pictures was already going to release it.
Speaker 2:That's my girl too. Yeah, I'll watch anything with June.
Speaker 1:Squibb. I love June Squibb, but unfortunately it's the weakest of the debuts that I saw.
Speaker 2:They should have invited Thelma, in my opinion.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think the reaction on the ground was kind of muted as well. I would have loved you know in the year that it's sort of shaping out to be with a stronger project. I really believe that June Squibb would have been a major factor as potentially being able to, you know, garner a second nomination. She's a wonderful actress. She only has a one Oscar nomination. She, I think, just turned, I think, 95 years old 96, I think yeah, and so well.
Speaker 1:How incredible would it have been to see her get nominated again. But the film is just not strong enough. I got to disagree with you, there, I almost wish that Thelma had come out this year, because I think she would have had a good shot of squeezing in.
Speaker 2:If Thelma had been directed in 2017, excuse me, in 2023 by Scarlett Johansson, she would have had a better shot. Being directed by Scarlett is going to raise the profile of the movie and because the best actress lineup is a dearth as far as, as far as I'm concerned, as far as I can see, I would say do not sleep on June Squibb. I just think she's that special.
Speaker 1:Yeah, again, I just think it's not strong enough. But we'll see. And then I think the weakest film I saw was a film, a French film, called Dalloway I think now it's called the Residence. I did not enjoy that we were able to see that in an incredible venue and it was not good.
Speaker 2:More commentary, more commentary on the ground on that film.
Speaker 1:It was a midnight screening, you know, I think most people weren't crazy about it, but I think that's a rough sketch of the films that I saw. Were you know what about you? What about you, Joseph?
Speaker 2:I enjoyed quite a few of those as well. Let's see, I really loved Case 137, which early on and, uh, people enjoyed it. Uh, your procedural film, but it's really really well done. Great performance on that right. Um, I loved the secret agent. I think the secret agent was my favorite film. As soon as I saw that film, I was like I don't care what anyone is saying about sentimental value. I think this is the movie that's going to win the palm dior.
Speaker 1:I saw that. I saw that as well. Secret Agent. Yes, it was excellent.
Speaker 2:It's an amazing film. I'm not surprised at all that Neon bought it. I almost worry that had a distributor bought it who maybe can focus a little bit more just on that movie. Its future is so bright in terms of you know when it's released in the US and what kind of reception it's going to have from critics groups and the awards bodies. So that was a wonderful film and I think we'll be hearing a lot about it. I saw the Little Sister, which ended up winning Best Actress.
Speaker 1:I was surprised because I think most people thought that Jennifer Lawrence was going to win. It would have been a nice win for her Again, a great performance. But yeah, the little sister pool prevailed.
Speaker 2:I kind of felt that J-Law would not be getting best actress, because she's J-Law. It's a very naturalistic performance in the Little Sister. I think she did a wonderful job and I actually saw her at the airport on my way out.
Speaker 2:She seems like a really wonderful person. I loved Two Prosecutors by Luznica, but then again, I love Luznica but it played early on and then I think a lot of people some people complained that it was a little slow and boring, but I was surprised by how many people I talked to who really loved how sort of austere the film is. It's an amazing film. Film is um, it's an amazing film. Uh, I think it will have possibly a shot at cracking the the five for foreign film. Um, I was kind of disappointed that the actor didn't win best actor um, because he's just outstanding in that piece, just outstanding um and a lot of people talked about that movie two prosecutors.
Speaker 1:um, it played early on. I think it might have even played the first day, and so I think a lot of people had a chance to screen that film. And there were a lot of people talked about that movie Two Prosecutors. It played early on. I think it might have even played the first day, and so I think a lot of people had a chance to screen that film and there were a lot of people that were again saying it was brilliant, amazing, a masterpiece, and then other people saying it was just too slow, too boring for me. We know this filmmaker. He's not for everyone but he's a very strong filmmaker.
Speaker 2:So that was also like Die my Love, an interesting sort of polarized reaction, at least on the ground. But it's going to NYFF. Oh, I'm so happy about that. And then I did get a chance to see the Palme d'Or winner. It was just an accident. And I mean, what can you say about Panahi? Panahi is just a brilliant filmmaker. It's an absolutely wonderful film. Neon at the end ended up buying it. I mean, I think think neon spends the entire festival on the phone just trying to handicap who's gonna win. And I this is honestly I think that they went and they picked up as many titles as they could from that official competition that were not spoken for to you know, because they really want to keep their little streak of yeah, you know I bought this film and it won the palm, dior and whatever.
Speaker 2:I think that's important to them, but it's absolutely insane. But the film is wonderful, like all his films. But I will say that and maybe we'll talk about it as the race progresses. Like any Panahi film, it's not the typical project that gets singled out by the Academy. All his films are brilliant but there's a reason why they don't have any nominations thus far. Had any of his previous films won the Palme d'Or, you could make the argument that makes them automatic Best Picture nominees. Or you can make the argument that because of the type of filmmaker he is, they miss. But anyway, it's a brilliant film and the Palme d'Or certainly has raised its profile and they're finally working with Neon no Bears, I think, worked with janice.
Speaker 1:Um, that was another brilliant film. Um, yeah, and, and on that note, I'll just say that you know, as the festival was winding down, you and I, you know, were very much predicting that jafar panahi was going to prevail and it wasn't going to be sentimental value that won the palm d'or, but it was actually going to be. It was just won the palm d'or, but it was actually going to be.
Speaker 2:It was just an accident yeah, I kind of felt like the you know again the j-law of it all. You know, can they really give sentimental value the big win? A lot of people were talking about it, but I thought it just it doesn't make sense. You want to. You want to pick something a little less predictable, I would say, and maybe possibly a little bit more timely maybe On the uncertain regards section I saw a lot of interesting stuff I loved.
Speaker 2:Once Upon a Time in Gaza. I saw Aisha Can't Fly Away, which was a really tough sit. But it's interesting when it's trying to explore heads or tails with John C Reilly like sort of in a cameo got picked up recently. But I like those filmmakers, sort of like a spaghetti western kind of italian romance thing, a lot like beautifully shot, um.
Speaker 1:I saw a pale view of hills, um, and which is going to oh really, yeah, and a special presentation really, um, it's kind of it was a.
Speaker 2:I was a little disappointed by it, but I love the novelist on whose work it's based. Let's see, I saw the Plague from Uncertain Regard and no one has, I think, seen or heard too much of this, but that's an amazing film.
Speaker 1:I had tickets to it but I had a scheduling conflict so I to miss it. But you know I'm kicking myself for it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I told you that, like, of all the films that I saw that you did not get a chance to see, I think that's the one that you would have had possibly the strongest feelings for, um, and I also think it's the one that could find a real crossover appeal, uh, with US audiences. Um, it's, it's a brilliant film. Uh, I hope it finds an audience.
Speaker 1:It just got acquired, didn't it by, I think?
Speaker 2:IOC, which makes sense for it. But I will say that it's. I will say that it could have gotten a higher profile distributor and I'm curious to see what kind of success it has. Apparently, charlie XCX really liked it. I think she was there for it. On Critics Week I saw Adam's Interest, which was brilliant.
Speaker 1:I loved her first film.
Speaker 2:Yeah, her first film actually was Playground and made the shortlist for a foreign film that year, I think 2022. Um, the actress is brilliant. Uh, it's the same actress from case 137.
Speaker 2:Uh, she's absolutely incredible and and the actress from happening that's right, and the actress from happening, and they're both just two brilliant actors, um great piece. And that filmmaker I think is has such a promising future. I can't wait to see her next film, 100% yeah, director's Fortnite. I was able to see Death Does Not Exist, which was an animated film, and there were so many amazing animated films this year. I couldn't see them all, but I did get a chance to see this one. It was interesting. Everyone was talking about Arco, for example. I didn't make it because of a scheduling conflict. I saw, yes, as you said, enzo Mirrors. Number three, christian Petzold. This is his first time at Cannes and I really liked that film too he's a wonderful filmmaker one of our favorites yeah, he's absolutely brilliant.
Speaker 2:I was kind of surprised that that was a director's fortnight film and not in one of the bigger sections, because he's you know he's made these films that have done really well, for example in in Berlin. So I saw Lucky Lou, which was great, and I saw the President's Cake, which was picked up after the festival and it won.
Speaker 2:It won an award, I think in its section and it won the Camerador, which is, I think, for the debut film, and I think that that's another film that I would sort of peg as a favorite for uh submission to foreign film and possibly advancing at least to that second round and Sony picks classics.
Speaker 2:I think is going to release that which is yeah, which is why I think that it really has a really bright future. Um, and then, uh, I did see Magellan. Um, which is not going to be for everyone, but it's beautifully shot. Um, galagos Gilbernal-Nell is in it, a very long film if you're familiar with the filmmaker, love Diaz, and I was a little bit surprised that he would take on something of that scope, but it's a very, very good film if you're a fan of his.
Speaker 2:It's going to on YFF as well, exactly, and then, most recently, I did get a chance to see Honey Don't. And so if you haven't seen Honey Don't, honey Do I mean it's. Aubrey Plaza and Margaret Qualley, I mean Charlie Day. So it's, it's, it's a fun night out. So that's my pitch to go see Aubrey Plaza this week.
Speaker 1:And you had great seats for that one too, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:I had amazing seats and I was able to see Margaret Qualley and Aubrey Plaza and Charlie Day and Charlie Day just looks so beautiful. Um, it was.
Speaker 1:It was a great, great festival yeah, you know, it was a experience that we'll never forget. Um, it was amazing. We felt so lucky to just be in the room and to be able to be there and present and meet so many people and see so many filmmakers that we admire and appreciate and take pictures with them when we could and we saw, express our gratitude yeah, we could.
Speaker 2:We actually saw the team from. Uh, just, we just happened to be right place, right time. We were able to see the team from sentimental value.
Speaker 1:After their award, after their awards, yeah al fanning is gorgeous.
Speaker 2:Renataata. Joaquin Sons of Skarsgård is so tall. We got to see Kleber and some of his cast members when he won Best Director. Yeah, I'm trying to think. Oh, you know, people loved that movie from Begun and I think that was my biggest regret. I had tickets for it. It was so early, but the night before I didn't get into like four in the morning.
Speaker 1:So that's the other thing about Cannes you will get no sleep. We got literally four hours of sleep every single day that we were there.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I was chugging down espressos, and even then it gets tough. It is so difficult to stay awake.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's so tough. It's part of the experience, yeah.
Speaker 1:I bet everyone was under the same sort of hangover and we were all like you know, comfort each other. It was so freaking cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that was my biggest regret that I missed began film. They said it was brilliant. He won an award for it. I saw him pick it up. It was great, and I think that's go to Telluride. I think it's even going to NYFF. Oh wow, that's great. I mean I really love Began and I'm trying not to read anything about the movie because I just I want to go in there and doing nothing about it and then, well, let's, should we talk about the winners for a second? I mean, we kind of called that.
Speaker 1:Thunder.
Speaker 2:Valley was not going to be able to win.
Speaker 1:We called that it was going to be. It was just. It was just an accident.
Speaker 2:It was, I really thought the secret agent could pull it out. And then when I saw that secret agent won two awards, I immediately told you that's the only excuse you can have for not giving secret agent the Palme d'Or is you're going to give it two awards.
Speaker 1:I told you when I saw it that Wagner Mora was going to win Best Actor and I knew he was going to win. It's a beautiful performance from Wagner. I hope it gets Oscar attention. Neon certainly has an actor play with him and I think he's going to make it all the way. I mean, that's just a hunch that I have.
Speaker 2:My issue with that was I thought he had a good chance, but the two prosecutors actor was so brilliant. I really thought can they really not get into this actor?
Speaker 1:actor was so brilliant. I really thought can they, can they really not get into this actor? Yeah, well, wagner, so great. It was so incredible in that, and so I knew the minute I saw it chalk it up, he's going to win best actor at the at the camp film festival um and he did yeah, um, and you're right. Uh, you know, the secret agent did very well.
Speaker 2:It also won director yeah um and sound of falling won a big award sound of falling and Sarad tied with the jury prize, and early on in the festival everyone was talking about both those titles, so it was really no surprise that they won something.
Speaker 1:They weren't going to go away with nothing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, even Sarad. Sometimes I found myself debating like what could it win with all these bigger titles around it?
Speaker 2:But they found room for it because you know those first three or four days, everyone kept talking about those two films, right and um, uh, the little sister surprise, little sister surprise. Even though, again, I thought the naturalistic performance of that and sort of you know, being able to include egypt as a winner and, you know, maybe wanting to avoid the paparazzi of having jennifer lawrence win, I thought that she would possibly be the favorite right.
Speaker 1:Um, I will say again, jennifer lawrence is great in her movie, absolutely great. I think it might be her best performance yet. Um, and the Darden brothers won a screenplay for my favorite film, uh, the young mother's home, uh, so I was very happy to see that as well. So I think it was a good group of winners. It was cool. Yeah, I, I think everyone was pleased, I agree. And then, just really quick, we were also able to go to Tribeca. Yeah, we saw several films. Yeah, well, in total, I think you and I saw like 30 films each for Cannes, which is crazy, and in Tribeca I think we saw like 20 films each. Yeah, so we saw a good variety of films. I'm not sure that I would say I saw anything that I think would factor in into the awards race.
Speaker 2:You know what? It's funny because it's certainly a more sort of festival that highlights up and coming filmmakers and independent films and there's a lot of them that are a lot of fun and I hope you know I can't wait to see the second films or the following films from these individuals. But I actually did see some titles that I think are going to factor in just in less prominent races. So you know, for example, the festival premiered, uh, this documentary called nachas um and it's absolutely wonderful and brilliant and I would be very surprised if it doesn't get highlighted throughout the end of the year as one of the best documentaries, um, and I really do think it can make that shortlist and it's sort of this really provocative take on sort of confederacy culture of the south. It's. It's really fascinating what's it called?
Speaker 2:um, it's called nachos um, and I was able to attend a q a with the filmmaker, and so, for example, more uh, low-key races or less marquee races, I think, is where you'll find bigger dance. I saw great short films and I really think that there's going to be a bunch of short films that are going to contend from this particular festival.
Speaker 1:Right, I think I saw. I think my favorite film was a Mexican film that I saw called 12 Moons, which is the, I think, debut. I think of the wife of the Mexican filmmaker that we really like, michelle Franco, michelle Franco, I think, debut. I think of the wife of the Mexican filmmaker that we really like.
Speaker 2:Michelle Franco. Michelle Franco, I think her name is Victoria Franco, and I think it is her debut.
Speaker 1:Yes, victoria Franco, and that was a really compelling film. It was beautifully shot and just really strong at the debut. I think that was my favorite. I also liked a film called what Marie mariel knew, which I think went to venice last year. I think. Um, one of the sections in venice, I believe or no, berlin, I should say went to berlin this year and um, I saw that and I like that quite a bit as well. It was kind of very yorgos-y, um, um. So that was cool. I saw a film called Inside with Guy Pearce, which I liked. I saw the Rose Byrne film called Toe, which hasn't been acquired yet, but it's interesting talking about Rose Byrne because she's got a big movie coming out this year that we talked about. If I had Legs I'd Kick you. That we saw at Sundance.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I was able to see Nick Offerman in the film Sovereign, which he's absolutely brilliant in, but I don't think a big enough distributor picked it up. But he's right, he's great in it and and really out of character, and I think it's actually available now if anyone wants to check it out.
Speaker 1:Um and I saw. I saw the lucy lu vehicle called rose me yes, which is based on a real life story, a very tragic story.
Speaker 2:Um, I think that's one of the titles that could angle awards inclusion, especially considering again just what I'm perceiving as a dearth and best actress. But no one has picked the movie yet, right? No?
Speaker 1:one has bought the film and I'm not so surprised by that. I wasn't crazy about the film personally, Lucy Liu. I think the goal is possibly to position the film for awards and to place Lucy Liu in consideration for Best Actress, but again, the film hasn't been bought. I don't think it's the strongest film. I think there's a lot of weak spots to it. We did see Lucy Liu a couple of times in the festival and yeah, so I'm not that surprised and she will get out there.
Speaker 2:She will get out there and keep doing this film.
Speaker 1:Right. Locarno just, I think, recognized her, made a tribute to her, I believe, for her and her work. I believe Rosemead went to Locarno recently, but yeah, it hasn't been bought by the us and again, I I'm not so surprised.
Speaker 2:I think it's a little bit of a weak film for me personally I honestly do think that this film again just the way best actress is shaping up. You cannot sleep on lucy lu if she gets a good distributor, and you cannot sleep on june squibb. That's just the way I'm seeing it play out. Um, I definitely think that, for example, um, I want to shout out a couple of really great short films that I think are going to show up at the end. You know, on the animated front, I want to shout out Playing God, the Quinta's Ghost and Snow Bear as three potential short films that could find their way, you know, in the final short list of, I think, 10 or 15 films. Very well done, but I think they're also going to play really well to Academy members.
Speaker 2:And then, on the narrative side, there was this brilliant short film called the Singers, which I would be shocked if it does not make that short list. This is an American short film from the US. And then I would also point out Baby Blues, which you got a chance to see, and I thought that was really well done and I think that could find its way into a shortlist, as well as the other two international short films. One of them is called Little Monsters and it's really funny, actually a very unique perspective, and the other one is Beyond Silence, which has to do with sort of sexual harassment, and I think that they're both very, very timely, very well done, and I'm going to have that broad appeal to possibly place in the live action shortlist, production shortlist.
Speaker 1:Right, Um, I did see a couple of little short films that were very, very well done as well. Um, well, you know, that's sort of a quick recap of two festivals that we were able to attend, uh, during this hiatus. Um, like I said, you know we apologize. It's been a while. We're glad to be back. Um, sorry for being MIA. Uh, we've just had some really incredible experiences and we feel very grateful.
Speaker 2:Right. And now we're at that point, though, where we can enjoy the rest of the Oscar race with everybody, and, like you said, things are about to get really, really crazy, interesting, mind-blowing. Possibly there are some films that are being talked about that I just just I don't understand, um, so I cannot wait to see what happens. And then, you know, we're also we. You know we're about to enter the fall. We're going to get new films from paul thomas anderson, which isn't going to any festival that's coming out soon, right, um, so not just that, but it's going to be a very fun september, um, between festivals and new releases, and you, you know, I hope that along the way, we can sprinkle in some conversation about, you know, where we stand after the summer, because there's a film called Weapons out there right now, and people are going a little crazy over it.
Speaker 2:And we got new trailers. Got trailers for Hedda, got trailers for a new Kiss of Spider-Woman trailer, got a trailer for.
Speaker 1:Anemone.
Speaker 2:Anemoneone came out first. Look at that.
Speaker 1:So a lot of great interesting stuff to talk about coming out right now right and um, I'll also say that, uh, joseph and I have been working on something special. We are creating an official website, uh, for this uh venture into awards obsession. Yeah, it's going to be called. Should we reveal the name yet, or no? Sure, yeah, it's going to be called Frames and Flickr, and we're in the final stages of getting everything ready to have the first version of the website up. Yeah, so it will be up any day now. If you're hearing this early on when we post it, it might be up. If you're hearing this early on when we posted, it might be up. If you're hearing it a few days after we posted, it might definitely be up by then.
Speaker 2:Right, but we will let you know over our socials and, yeah, hopefully we'll launch. I think our goal is to launch before the start of Venice.
Speaker 1:Yes, which is right now. It's going to start on Wednesday, so expect any day now for this website to be up, and we look forward to being able to interact with all of you via the website. Please check it out. Yeah, it'll be fun.
Speaker 2:We'll have our episodes on there, but we'll also do predictions and reviews and think pieces on the race and little tidbits of history and things like that patterns.
Speaker 1:All right, and that's it for this episode of Academy Anonymous. It's been great to reconnect again. I'm Jules.
Speaker 2:And I'm Joseph, and we're signing off till next time.
Speaker 1:And it's been a pleasure. The music on this episode entitled Cool Cats was graciously provided by Kevin MacLeod and Incompetechcom Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0. Http//creativecommonsorg. Forward slash licenses. Forward slash buy.
Speaker 2:Forward slash 3.0 disclaimer the academy anonymous podcast is in no way affiliated or endorsed by the academy of motion picture arts and sciences.