FESTIVALS 2018

Discuss past, present, and future releases. This is the place for news, reviews, and your 'best' lists.

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transformers2
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Re: FESTIVALS 2018

Post by transformers2 »

Congrats six. That's a really cool honor.

As for the audience award, I'm not really shocked about Green Book winning. It was warmly received following its premiere early last week and the trailer made it look like could be the type of heartwarming crowdpleaser that would delight the masses. Will be interesting to see how it factors into an Oscar race that doesn't appear to have any heavy favorites at the moment. I will say that I'm very surprised that A Star is Born didn't end up in the top three. It reportedly got multiple standing ovations following its first screening last weekend and I figured that alone would be enough to make it a shoo-in for a podium finish.

Lastly, do any of you cultured foreign film watchers know anything about the creative team behind the Midnight Madness winner The Man Who Feels No Pain? The premise sounds like it could be a blast, I just have no zero familiarity with Indian cinema.
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Re: FESTIVALS 2018

Post by Buscemi2 »

It's the first I've ever heard of the film.

With Indian cinema, it seems like that if you don't have one of the big studios or a powerful figure there backing your film, it gets lost in the shuffle or fades into obscurity. A few years back, Angry Indian Goddesses finished second at Toronto but failed to get a distribution deal as it was an Indian film made outside of the studio system there. The film finally showed up in the US last year on Netflix very quietly. Even with the Midnight Madness win, it will be surprising if we ever see The Man Who Feels No Pain released in a timely fashion (I'm sure that a company like Neon would love something like this).

The people in control like films such as Baahubali and Sanju. This doesn't seem to be either one.
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Chienfantome
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Re: FESTIVALS 2018

Post by Chienfantome »

Never heard of that Indian film.

As for Green Book winning the Toronto prize, it definitely some sort of surprise. The film could be a major surprise this fall.

And congrats Six on the prize, it's fantastic !!! :)
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Re: FESTIVALS 2018

Post by BanksIsDaFuture »

Not huge news, but my city (well Chapel Hill) is having its first ever mainstream film festival this week. We only have one for local films and a LGBT one at the moment, so it's cool that we'll be getting a mainstream one every year now.

It's a pretty stacked lineup, for a smaller city. I'll be seeing:

The Favourite
All About Nina (with director QnA)
Roma (w/director and star QnA)
Green Book
Destroyer (w/director QnA)

There's a lot that I'm interested in, but work is limiting me. I'm trying to squeeze in Wildlife, Everybody Knows, Dogman, Boy Erased, and The Old Man & The Gun, if I can.

It's my first film festival (after I slept instead of driving to TIFF to see Horns one year), so it's exciting.
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Re: FESTIVALS 2018

Post by numbersix »

That's a nice lineup, Banks!

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Re: FESTIVALS 2018

Post by transformers2 »

Damn, that's a hell of an inaugural slate
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Re: FESTIVALS 2018

Post by Buscemi2 »

Being near a big university helps.
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Re: FESTIVALS 2018

Post by Buscemi2 »

Since there isn't an awards thread yet, I figured I'd ask this.

Someone explain to me how The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is eligible for Oscars. Last year, the Academy made a rule that disqualified movies made by television networks that would get television airings right after their theatrical release (but somehow allowed Netflix to get past this) after some complained about O.J.: Made in America winning Best Documentary Feature. This decision caused Jane last year to be ineligible for Oscars and may cause Three Identical Strangers (produced by Channel 4) and Free Solo (produced by National Geographic Channel) to be also despite their box office success.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs goes beyond this. The film is a re-edit of a TV show Netflix picked up for airing (from Annapurna, hilariously) that The Coen Brothers decided not to show as such on Netflix as they felt it worked better as a film. If this somehow gets nominations but the above two documentaries get disqualified for "reasons", the Academy needs to admit defeat on having this nonsensical rule. Either be all or nothing over it instead of giving a forgettable movie maybe five people saw in a theatre four nominations over better films that played by the qualifying rules.
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numbersix
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Re: FESTIVALS 2018

Post by numbersix »

I don't think the history of a project's development comes into play at all. Otherwise Mulholland Drive, originally a TV series, would not have been elligible.

My understanding is that it's a feature film made by a SVOD rather than a TV broadcaster given a theatrical window for qualification. It's no different than Roma, which will win awards, or Icarus which picked up the Oscar last year.

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Re: FESTIVALS 2018

Post by Buscemi2 »

But is Netflix any different from HBO or Showtime? Yes, it is not a TV-based service (though you can watch it on your TV) but they can bid for content in the same way. And with the increase in cord cutting, streaming has become the new cable TV in a way. Allowing Netflix to skate by on eligibility loopholes sets a negative precedent, especially with a film that in other cases would be ineligible.

Mulholland Drive was different since it came before the rule change (and I don't recall it getting any awards traction anyway). It was only a recent move that's been seemingly overshadowed by the whole "let's make the Oscars like the MTV Movie Awards" thing.

The thing is that Buster Scruggs was developed as a TV series and shot as one. The decision to recut it as a film came late as it was seemingly decided there wasn't enough material for a series (the final run time suggests the episodes would have been shorter than your typical Netflix series). Assuming this is a player in the awards race, it should bring to question the legitimacy of this ill-advised rule only made because someone didn't like a seven and a half hour movie winning something.
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Re: FESTIVALS 2018

Post by numbersix »

As I said, its development history doesn't matter. No one cares what it once tried to be, the rules are about what it is - a feature length anthology movie. It's not a loophole, it's elligible.

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Re: FESTIVALS 2018

Post by Buscemi2 »

But how do you explain documentaries being ruled ineligible for doing the exact same thing? Jane was planned from the beginning as a theatrical release, followed the qualifying rules, and still got ruled ineligible all because a television network produced it. And we'll likely see it again with two of the year's most financially successful documentaries likely falling under the same issue. If Three Identical Strangers or Free Solo cannot compete in the Best Documentary Feature category all because a TV channel produced it, no way should a film that only became one at the very last minute be either.

Update the language of the rule. If the Academy claims to hate Netflix so much, don't let them compete. They're only drawing more attention to themselves by saying one thing and allowing another.
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numbersix
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Re: FESTIVALS 2018

Post by numbersix »

I thought Jane was eligible but it didn't make the final 5. Where did you read that it was ineligible?

EDIT: https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/ ... car-voting

Three Identical Strangers should be fine. I think it was funded by Film4 rather than Channel 4.

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Re: FESTIVALS 2018

Post by Buscemi2 »

Looks like in the end, the Academy did drop that rule. They were all ruled eligible.
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