News

Vol. I Issue 10 February 2013

Join us twice weekly. Send us links to your sizzle reels and film sites.

As this last weekend approached I was faced with marking my Academy Award ballot. This process is always really difficult. How does one sort out the “best” film or accomplishment of five or nine in the case of the Best Picture? For me it has been over 30 years of screenings. Thousand of films. Some really great films and many not so great. I also try to think what it means to be one of the nominees. What was the off-screen story but always more importantly what their contribution was to the work and how the film compares to others. What’s great about short films is that they can be made for almost nothing by a few filmmakers without a large budget, crew or cast.

The Academy has three nomination categories for films less than 41 minutes in length: short fiction, documentary and animation. Once nominated, there are public screenings and panels to celebrate the nominated films at the Academy in Beverly Hills. A group photograph of all the nominees is taken with a large Oscar in the lobby of the Academy headquarters. It is really a wonderful experience.

It wasn’t always like that. There were no special celebrations for the short or documentary films until the l980s. While the Foreign Language films had their seminar, nothing was done for these films. We tried to remedy that in the 1980s and started the Direct Cinema receptions and screenings with UCLA, USC and, a few years later, the Ida sponsored “Docuday” and the Academy started doing an annual reception for the shorts and documentary filmmakers. Today the Academy’s evening receptions for the short films, animated features (a relatively new Oscar category) and the documentaries are annual sell-out events. The filmmakers and their works are celebrated and it has become a highlight of the Oscar week for the filmmakers and those associated with the films.

When I first became a member of the Academy the short films and animation branch was headed by a number of extraordinary talents: T Hee, Saul Bass and June Forey. These three remarkable artists represented classic Disney animation (T. Hee), fiction and narrative short films (Saul Bass), and the television and theatrical films (June Forey, who voiced hundreds of characters.)

Saul Bass articulated the branch’s membership policy, “We want them to be part of our branch.” This liberal interpretation allowed documentary filmmakers like Ken Burns as well as voice artists and creatives like Stan Friedberg (and June Forey) to be part of a group that included IMAX filmmakers as well as classic character animation directors, colorists, layout artists, producers and other key short film and animation filmmakers. The animation filmmakers represent both the studio animators and the independent animators who work globally doing personal work as well as studio work. Other governors from 1979 to the present have included Hal Elias, who served on the Academy board for 37 years and was a short film publicist for MGM among other things; Bill Littlejohn, who worked on over 90 films as an animator ranging from Charley Brown, Peanuts Christmas Specials to working with the Hubleys’; Bill Scott, who acted and wrote over a hundred animated films, and Carl Bell, who worked on over 35 films at Disney in its animation department.

Unlike most of the other branches, the Short Films branch screens all of the submitted films in 16mm and 35mm and now in Digital Cinema, in an effort to find and nominate the best short films produced in the world. The branch rules allowed films to qualify in an effort to encourage more international entries in the 1990s by taking a first prize at key festivals in addition to the method that all Academy films can use to qualify, a theatrical week long (now three day for shorts) run in a theater in Los Angeles County. Branch screenings were expanded to New York to permit more members to participate in the nomination process in the 1990s. The final short listed screenings are in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Over one-third of the branch participates in the voting. The best change took place this year, sending DVD screeners to all Academy members of the short live action and animated nominated films. While this still won’t force members to watch them, members can’t claim they can’t see them. This is not only great for the branch but great for the nominated filmmakers. Who would not want to screen their short film for Academy members?

The process of the branch for selecting Nominees has remained unchanged for years—members screen the films in a theater rather than on DVDs, which is how the Documentary branch is dealing with the flood of feature docs and their unwillingness to trust committees. Nothing beats seeing films projected on a large screen with perfect sound and that is now lost. In a two step process, a committee (self selected from the branch membership) screens the films and the 15 films with the highest scores are short listed. The short listed films are then screened again and members vote.

The current Short Film Branch governors are Jon Bloom (pictured with the 2007 nominees), a 1983 fiction short nominee, filmmaker, editor and producer who chairs the branch, animator and Disney Creative Head and multi-Oscar winner, John Lasseter, and William "Bill" Kroyer,an award-winning director of animation and computer graphics commercials, short films, movie titles and theatrical films and faculty member Chapman College.

One of the challenges for the branch is how to grow live action producing members. With the addition of feature animation to the awards and the large number of feature animation films being released, the branch would like to have the most qualified animators to become members. The number of animators grows at a far faster rate than that of the live action filmmakers since only a few live action filmmakers can qualify for membership. The commercial success of animated features, the long production schedules and the large number of animators who work in qualifying positions allows for six plus individuals per picture to be eligible for membership. With five nominees a year, the number of individuals who can play a key role in two or three features becoming eligible for membership can easily approach 30 plus individuals annually. Add in the short animation nominees and competition for the limited new slots allocated to the branch can be brutal. The talent pool of animators is both astonishingly strong and suggests that Hollywood can easily double production from the 15 or so films made annually to 25 or 30 without having to compromise on talent.

Many of the filmmakers in the branch who make their Oscar nominated or winning live action short have made or are interested in making feature length works. A number of recent nominees or winners have made that transition. The following list looks at all of the live action nominees from 2001 to 2011, using the Internet Movie Database I looked up each nominee and listed what they reported they were doing professionally. Obviously, this is not intended to show everything. In each case, I listed credits or summarized credits shown in the IMDb listing.

Some observations about 11 years of Live Action Short Film Academy Award Nominees:

There were 86 nominations (out of a possible 110) This is because in some years only three films were nominated and in some cases only one filmmaker from a film was eligible for a nomination. Non-us based filmmakers dominate this category. Despite the huge number of short films being made annually in the Us, a majority of the nominated films come from filmmakers based abroad. In part this is due to the government subsidies available, but it is also due to the strong training programs, commercial support for the short films and a rich tradition of theatrical shorts. This year (2012) four of the five films in the live action category are from Us filmmakers. This is an unusual year. Few filmmakers have more than one nomination, only a handful of the nominees have made multiple Academy worthy short films. As one might expect, many of the filmmakers have continued their film work in television, some in features. The European Oscar winners (vs nominees) have done better at snagging features after a win than have their American counterparts. Again, this is likely a function of government support for entry features. Perhaps one of the short films seem to have been turned into a feature (or television) film. Some of the short films are intended to be sizzle reels for features, but it is not clear why so few of the nominated short films have been turned into features. A number of the Oscar winners have not continued working in film. No record of future productions are shown on IMDb. It would be interesting to see what they are doing now. Two of the Oscar winners have written critically award winning screenplays, one received two Academy Award nominations for his screenwriting. None of these nominees have gone on to win Oscars in directing or producing for feature films.

The data is from the Academy and the IMDb databases.

Apologies in advance, if credits were missed or other factual errors were made. In a week we’ll be able to add this year's winner.

2001 (74th)

Short Film (Live Action) (* won Academy Award)

*the accountant -- Ray McKinnon: Two Features: Randy and the Mob 2007 and Crystal 2004 Lisa Blount: Produced these features. Copy Shop -- Virgil Widrich Gregor's Greatest Invention -- Johannes Kiefer A Man Thing (Meska Sprawa) -- Slawomir Fabicki, Two Features: Loving 2012, Retrieval 2006 (Also wrote) Bogumil Godfrejow Has shot multiple features Speed for Thespians -- Kalman Apple, Shameela Bakhsh

2002 (75th)

Short Film (Live Action)

Fait D'Hiver -- Dirk Beliën, Anja Daelemans produced Comrade Kim Goes North I'll Wait for the Next One... (J'Attendrai Le Suivant...) -- Philippe Orreindy, Thomas Gaudin Inja (Dog) -- Steven Pasvolsky Feature, Deck Dogz Joe Weatherstone, produced episodic television. Johnny Flynton -- Lexi Alexander, directed 3 features: Lifted, Punisher: War Zone and Green Street Hooligans Alexander Buono as a Dp has shot series and features *This Charming Manon (Der Er En Yndig Mand) -- Martin Strange-Hansen, Mie Andreasen produced both features, series and documentaries.

2003 (76th)

Short Film (Live Action)

Die Rote Jacke (The Red Jacket) -- Florian Baxmeyer Multiple television films and series Most (The Bridge) -- Bobby Garabedian, William Zabka Mr. Zabka has appeared as an actor in numerous films and television shows Squash -- Lionel Bailliu Features: Fair Play and Denis (in post) (A) Torzija [(A) Torsion] -- Stefan Arsenijevic Directed: Lost and Found, Love and Other Crimes, and Do Not Forget Me Istanbul *Two Soldiers -- Aaron Schneider,Asc (Cinematographer numerous credits) and feature, Kiss the Girls, Andrew J. Sacks Series The Closer (98 episodes) and Major Crimes.

2004 (77th)

Short Film (Live Action)

Everything in This Country Must -- Gary McKendry Directed Killer Elite, Joseph and the Girl Little Terrorist -- Ashvin Kumar Produced and Directed features (2) and documentaries (2) 7:35 in the Morning (7:35 de la Mañana) -- Nacho Vigalondo Directed and written multiple films, series, shorts Two Cars, One Night -- Taika Waititi, Acted and directed and written multi television and films Ainsley Gardiner Nz based producer of multiple shorts, television and feature films *Wasp -- Andrea Arnold Actor, director and writer of numbers films, television programs

2005 (78th)

Short Film (Live Action)

Ausreisser (The Runaway) -- Ulrike Grote Ms. Grote has acted in over 42 programs, features, television series and films Cashback -- Sean Ellis, Director/Writer Metro Manila, The Broken Lene Bausager Producer, The Broken, Ginger and Rosa The Last Farm -- Rúnar Rúnarsson, Director/Writer Volcano, Thor S. Sigurjónsson Produced multiple features Our Time Is Up -- Rob Pearlstein, Director/Writer multiple television and a feature Pia Clemente Producer, documentaries *Six Shooter -- Martin McDonagh Writer/Director Seven Psychopaths, In Bruges

2006 (79th)

Short Film (Live Action)

Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea) -- Javier Fesser, no other credits shown Luis Manso Produced multiple features Éramos Pocos (One Too Many) -- Borja Cobeaga Writer, multi films and television series Helmer & Son -- Søren Pilmark no other credits, Kim Magnusso Producer over 100 film, television films (4 Best Short Film Academy Award nominations) Won for Ernst & Lyset The Saviour -- Peter Templeman, no other credits Stuart Parkyn, Producer, multi-short film credits *West Bank Story -- Ari Sandel Director, one short, one documentary

2007 (80th)

Short Film (Live Action)

At Night -- Christian E. Christiansen, Directed, Features and television series Louise Vesth Producer, multi features Il Supplente (The Substitute) -- Andrea Jublin

*Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets) -- Philippe Pollet-Villard Actor and director short films, a television film

Tanghi Argentini -- Guido Thys, Director, Multiple television series Anja Daelemans, nominated for 2 Short Film nominations (Gridlock, 2002) Producer/Pm various The Tonto Woman -- Daniel Barber, Directed The Keeping Room, Harry Brown Matthew Brown Produced 2 shorts

2008 (81st)

Short Film (Live Action)

Auf der Strecke (On the Line) -- Reto Caffi Manon on the Asphalt -- Elizabeth Marre, Director, Television series Olivier Pont Director, Television series New Boy -- Steph Green, Director Run and Jump Tamara Anghie Producer Run and Jump The Pig -- Tivi Magnusson, Producer Over 64 titles many short films, Dorte Høgh Writer multiple series, (Directed The Pig) *Spielzeugland (Toyland) -- Jochen Alexander Freydank Producer of multiple television series

2009 (82nd)

Short Film (Live Action)

The Door -- Juanita Wilson, Director As If I Am Not There James Flynn Multiple Producer credits for over 50 titles, television and theatrical Instead of Abracadabra -- Patrik Eklund, Director, Television film and feature Mathias Fjellström Kavi -- Gregg Helvey Miracle Fish -- Luke Doolan, Multiple credits as editor Drew Bailey Multiple credits as Assistant Director *The New Tenants -- Joachim Back, no other credits shown as a director, Tivi Magnusson This is Mr. Magnusson’s first Academy Award and second nomination. See 2008.

2010 (83rd)

Short Film (Live Action)

The Confession -- Tanel Toom The Crush -- Michael Creagh *God of Love -- Luke Matheny Feature Love Sick and multiple Television series episode Na Wewe -- Ivan Goldschmidt Wish 143 -- Ian Barnes, Multiple directing credits Television Samantha Waite Credits as production coordinator on multiple titles

2011 (84th)

Short Film (Live Action)

Pentecost -- Peter McDonald, Credits as actor Eimear O'Kane Credits as Producer on The Shadows and on television programs. Raju -- Max Zähle, Director, Television series Stefan Gieren Producer-Writer credit on feature film, Kunduz: The Incident at Hadji Ghafur *The Shore -- Terry George, Writer Two Oscar nominations for screenplays In the Name of the Father and Hotel Riwanda Producer and director on films and television series Oorlagh George Numerous credits as Assistant on features, documentaries and television shows Time Freak -- Andrew Bowler Writer and actor in a short film Gigi Causey Production manager, producer shorts, series and films

__________________________________________________________________________________

Credits: Editing by Jessica Just for SydneysBuzz

__________________________________________________________________________________

Mitchell Block specializes in conceiving, producing, marketing & distributing independent features & consulting. He is an expert in placing both completed works into distribution & working with producers to make projects fundable. He conducts regular workshops in film producing in Los Angeles and most recently in Maine, Russia and in Myanmar (Burma).

Poster Girl, produced by Block was nominated for a Documentary Academy Award and selected by the Ida as the Best Doc Short 2011. It was also nominated for two Emmy Awards and aired on HBO. He is an executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Carrier, a 10-hour series that he conceived & co-created. Block is a graduate of Tisch School and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. He is a member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Television Academy, a founding member of BAFTA-la and has been teaching at USC School of Cinematic Arts since 1979. Currently Block teaches a required class in the USC Peter Stark Producing Program.

______________________________________________________________________

©2013Mwb All Rights Reserved All Rights Reserved. All information and designs on the Sites are copyrighted material owned by Block. Reproduction, dissemination, or transmission of any part of the material here without the express written consent of the owner is strictly prohibited.All other product names and marks on Block Direct, whether trademarks, service marks, or other type, and whether registered or unregistered, is the property of Block.

Actors Laura Dern, Cuba Gooding Jr., Greg Kinnear and Mena Suvari have been tapped to present at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 39th Annual Student Academy Awards on Saturday, June 9, at 6 p.m. at the Academy.s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Hosted by Academy President Tom Sherak, the awards ceremony is the culmination of a week of industry activities that the Academy is hosting for the 13 student filmmakers from the U.S. and abroad who have been selected as winners this year. Check out their videos on Oscar’s YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/oscars.

Dern, who received a nomination for Actress in a Leading Role for “Rambling Rose” in 1991, will be seen next as Helen in “The Master,” due out later this year. Her other credits include “Inland Empire,” “We Don.t Live Here Anymore,” “Jurassic Park” and “Blue Velvet.”

Gooding won an Academy Award® for...

Ten students from nine U.S. colleges and universities have been selected as winners in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 39th Annual Student Academy Awards competition. Winners will be brought to Los Angeles to join the international student winners in the Foreign Film category for a week of industry activities. The festivities will culminate in the awards ceremony on Saturday, June 9, at 6 p.m. at the Academy.s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, where the placements in each category will be announced.

The winners are (listed alphabetically by film title in each category):

Alternative

“The Reality Clock,” Amanda Tasse, University of Southern California*

*Only one winner was selected in this category.

Animation

“Eyrie,” David Wolter, California Institute of the Arts

“The Jockstrap Raiders,” Mark Nelson, University of California, Los Angeles

“My Little Friend,” Eric Prah, Ringling College of Art and Design

Documentary

“Dying Green,” Ellen Tripler,...

Three student films, selected from 51 entries representing 29 countries, have been selected as winners in the Foreign Film category in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 39th Annual Student Academy Awards competition. The student filmmakers will be brought to Los Angeles to join U.S.-based Student Academy Award® recipients for a week of industry activities. The festivities will culminate in the awards ceremony on Saturday, June 9, at 6 p.m. at the Academy.s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

The 2012 Foreign Film winners are (listed alphabetically by film title):

“For Elsie,” David Winstone, University of Westminster, United Kingdom

“Of Dogs and Horses,” Thomas Stuber, Film Academy Baden-Wüerttemberg, Germany

“The Swing of the Coffin Maker,” Elmar Imanov, The International Film School Cologne, Germany

Academy members have viewed these films at special screenings to determine the winners. placements . Gold, Silver or Bronze . which will be revealed at the June 9 ceremony.

Thirty-five students from 20 U.S. colleges and universities have been selected as finalists in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 39th Annual Student Academy Awards competition. Academy members will view the finalists. films at special screenings and vote to select the winners. Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal awards, along with accompanying cash grants of $5,000, $3,000 and $2,000 respectively, may be presented in each of four categories: Alternative, Animation, Documentary and Narrative. Winners will be brought to Los Angeles, along with the international student winners in the Foreign Student Film category, for a week of industry activities and social events that will culminate in the awards ceremony on Saturday, June 9, at 6 p.m. at the Academy.s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

The finalists are (listed alphabetically by film title):

Alternative

“Falconer,” Micah Robert Barber, University of Texas at Austin

“In Between Shadows,” Tianran Duan, University of Southern California

“Last Remarks,...

HollywoodNews.com: Five finalists, selected from 51 entries representing 29 countries, will advance in the Foreign Film category in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 39th Annual Student Academy Awards competition. Up to three winners will be selected from this group and brought to Los Angeles to join U.S.-based Student Academy Award® winners for a week of industry activities and social events. The festivities will culminate in the awards ceremony on Saturday, June 9, at 6 p.m. at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

The 2012 Foreign Film finalists are (listed alphabetically by film title):

“Emily,” Benjamin Mathews, Australian Film Television and Radio School, Australia

“For Elsie,” David Winstone, University of Westminster, United Kingdom

“Of Dogs and Horses,” Thomas Stuber, Film Academy Baden-Wüerttemberg, Germany

“Skyborn,” Jamie Stone, National Film and Television School, United Kingdom

“The Swing of the Coffin Maker,” Elmar Imanov, The International Film School Cologne,...

Fifty-one entries from 29 countries, along with 518 entries from students representing 105 U.S. colleges and universities, are in competition for the 2012 Student Academy Awards. The competition . now in its 39th year . will culminate in the awards presentation, on Saturday, June 9, at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The presentation will include screenings of the winning films.

The Academy established the Student Academy Awards in 1972 to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level. Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal awards and corresponding cash prizes may be presented in each of five categories: Alternative, Animation, Documentary, Narrative and Foreign Student Film.

Past Student Academy Award® winners have gone on to receive 46 Oscar® nominations and have won or shared eight awards. At the 84th Academy Awards earlier this year, 2011 Student Academy Award winners Hallvar Witzø and Max Zähle were nominated in the Live Action...

2011 Student Academy Awards® credit: Todd Wawrychuk / ©A.M.P.A.S.

The deadlines to submit entries for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 2012 Student Academy Awards competition are Friday, March 23, 2012 (Foreign Student Film category) and Monday, April 2, 2012 (all other categories).

In the Foreign Student Film category, entries are accepted only from full-time college and university students attending schools that are members of the international film school organization known as Cilect (cilect.org), and located outside the borders of the United States.

The competition in all other categories is open to full-time college and university students at accredited U.S. institutions, whose films are made within the curricular structure of a film program or class at their respective schools. For 2012, the Academy has limited the list of accepted accreditation agencies for U.S. institutions to the following: Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools; New England Association of Schools...

The Artist tops off its triumphant run throughout this awards season with a big night at the Oscars. And the winners are... in bold:

Best Picture

The Artist

The Descendants

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

The Help

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

War Horse

Directing

The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius

The Descendants, Alexander Payne

Hugo, Martin Scorsese

Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen

The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick

Actor In A Leading Role

Demián Bichir in A Better Life

George Clooney in The Descendants

Jean Dujardin in The Artist

Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Brad Pitt in Moneyball

Actor In A Supporting Role

Kenneth Branagh in My Week with Marilyn

Jonah Hill in Moneyball

Nick Nolte in Warrior

Christopher Plummer in Beginners

Max von Sydow in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Actress In A Leading Role

Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis in The Help...

The 84th Annual Academy Awards ended up being one of the most entertaining Academy Award shows that I've seen in years, even though films I wanted to win didn't. I was rooting for Martin Scorsese and Hugo this year, but I knew that The Artist would end up taking home a majority of the big awards. In the end, each one of these films took home 5 Awards, Hugo took home the more technical ones though. I think it was a pretty easy year to predict the winners.

It was great to see Billy Crystal back up on stage; he really did a great job bringing light, fun entertainment that everyone could enjoy. Crystal was awesome and one of the best parts of the show. The guy is classic comedy. He helped bring back everything that the Oscars should be.

Here's the full list of nominees with the winners in bold.

If, for some crazy reason, you weren't glued to your TV last night watching the Oscars, here's a quick rundown of what you missed: not much. As expected, The Artist ended up winning most of the major awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor, although Hugo managed to snag a lot of the technical awards. In the end, they finished in a tie with 5 wins a piece. The only real surprise of the night was Meryl Streep's Best Actress win over Viola Davis for her performance in The Iron Lady. Other than that, it was somewhat a yawn-inducing show, with Billy Crystal doing a serviceable but unremarkable job as host. I think the clear highlight of the night came on the red carpet where Sacha Baron Cohen "accidentally" spilled Kim Jong-Il's ashes on Ryan Seacrest. Were you happy with this year's Academy Award winners? What did you think of the show overall?...

Crowded House said it best in the lyrics “Hey now, hey now, don’t dream its over.” Yes, the awards season officialy came to an end tonight at the Hollywood and Highland Center in Hollywood, CA. Tears, jubilation, substance and style were all memorable moments at the 84th Academy Awards hosted by Billy Crystal. With Sacha Baron Cohen’s shenanigans earlier on the red carpet and no huge upsets, Cirque du Soleil’s performance was the highlight of the evening.

The Oscar for Best Motion Picture of the Year went to “The Artist” produced by Thomas Langmann and Michel Hazanavicius won for Achievement in Directing. The movie becomes the first silent film to take the gold since the original Oscar ceremony 83 years ago when Wings won.

Christopher Plummer was the winner for a Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for his role in “Beginners”; Octavia Spencer, was the...

Well the hoopla is over for another year as Hollywood relishes in its self congratulatory extravagance with a ceremony that celebrates all that is “good” about the industry (and a ceremony that seems to ignore Everything joe public thinks is good). As predicted The Artist walked away with the most awards whilst – thank god – The Muppets picked up the best original song award. It’s also nice to see Christopher Plummer pick up his First Academy Award for his role in Beginners – definitely long-overdue methinks.

Anyway, here are the winners in full:

Best Picture:

The Artist Moneyball The Descendants The Tree of Life Midnight in Paris The Help Hugo Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close War Horse

Actress:

Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady Viola Davis – The Help Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Actor:

Jean Dujardin – The Artist Gary Oldman...

Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, The Artist Best picture * The Artist (The Weinstein Company) A La Petite Reine/Studio 37/La Classe Américaine/Jd Prod/France3 Cinéma/Jouror Productions/uFilm Production, Thomas Langmann, Producer The Descendants (Fox Searchlight) An Ad Hominem Enterprises Production, Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Warner Bros.) A Warner Bros. Pictures Production, Scott Rudin, Producer The Help (Touchstone) A DreamWorks Pictures Production, Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers Hugo (Paramount) A Paramount Pictures and Gk Films Production, Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers Midnight in Paris (Sony Pictures Classics) A Pontchartrain Production, Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers Moneyball (Sony Pictures Releasing) A Columbia Pictures Production, Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers The Tree of Life (Fox Searchlight) A River Road Entertainment Production, Nominees to be determined War Horse (Touchstone) A DreamWorks Pictures Production, Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy,...

The 84th Annual Academy Awards became a rightful homage to French cinema! "The Artist," distributed by The Weinstein company but the creative team is composed mostly of French folks, took home the big prize, the Best Picture award! "The Artist" won a total of 5 Oscars including Jean Dujardin for Best Actor, Michel Hazanavicius for Best Director, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score.

But "Hugo" also won 5 Oscars, mostly technical and artistic merits, such as Best Art Direction, Cinematography, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects.

"Hugo," of course, was itself an homage to George Melies, the French illusionist who gave us the trippy "A Trip to the Moon."

Both "The Artist" and "Hugo" led the Oscar nominations with 10 and 11 nods respectively.

There was really no "oh gosh what a surprise" moment of the evening except for Meryl Streep taking home the Best Actress Oscar from the perceived surefire winner Viola Davis of "The Help.

Here you go — the complete list of the 84th annual Academy Awards winners. The winners are listed first in bold, with the rest of the nominees following.

Best Picture

Winner: "The Artist"

"The Descendants"

"The Help"

"Hugo"

"Midnight in Paris"

"Moneyball"

"The Tree of Life"

"War Horse"

"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"

Best Actress

Winner: Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"

Viola Davis, "The Help"

Glenn Close, "Albert Nobbs"

Rooney Mara, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"

Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn"

Best Actor

Winner: Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"

Demian Bichir, "A Better Life"

George Clooney, "The Descendants"

Brad Pitt, "Moneyball"

Gary Oldman, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"

Best Director

Winner: Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"

Alexander Payne, "The Descendants"

Martin Scorsese, "Hugo"

Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"

Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life"

Best Animated Short

"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore," William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg

"Dimanche/Sunday,...

So here they are, the winners of the 2012 Academy Awards ceremony which took place at the Hollywood and Highland Centre La and was attended by Hollywood’s finest. The Artist didn’t win as many awards as we thought it might but came away with five awards in total including three of the biggies – Best Film, Best Actor and Best Director. Hugo also took 5 awards which was more than we thought possible.

The Iron Lady came in with two awards and we were so pleased to see Meryl Streep bring in her third Oscar after being nominated an astonishing 17 times!

The full list of winners are below along with the tally of how many awards each movie one. Please let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Awards Tally

The Artist – 5 Hugo – 5 The Iron Lady – 2 A Separation – 1 The Help – 1 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – 1 Undefeated – 1 Rango – 1 Beginners – 1 The...

Click to enter!

I am live-blogging the 84th Annual Academy Awards, I will begin when Billy Crystal walks out on stage. Why am I doing this? I watch the Oscars, therefore I know how boring it can be. I will have my laptop on hand so I figure I will bring some praise and cynicism to the party.

Winners will be in Red.

Click ‘Continue Reading’ to enter the Live Blog.

09:39pm

Goodnight everyone, see you at the movies.

09:38pm

It was a good show, celebrating movies never gets old for me. Congrats to The Artist, well deserved.

09:36pm

Damn right you bring that dog on stage.

09:35pm

Best Picture

“The Artist” Thomas Langmann, Producer

“The Descendants” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers

“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” Scott Rudin, Producer

“The Help” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers

“Hugo” Graham King and Martin Scorsese,...

The only hope that the 84th Academy Awards holds for India is Raju (Germany) that is nominated for Live Action Short category. Produced by Stefan Gieren and directed by Max Zähle, the film has been shot in India with a majority of Indian cast and crew.

The film is about a German couple who adopt an Indian orphan in Kolkata. Their child suddenly disappears and they realize that they are part of the problem.

In an interview to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, producer Stefan Gieren mentioned the challenges of shooting the film in Kolkata, “Making Raju was a series of insurmountable obstacles. As a producer I should have stopped the project several times during preproduction. As a filmmaker I was convinced that we had already lost so much that we could only win. So we tried. It was a very emotional process though. I remember roaming...

Tomorrow is the day where the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences celebrates the movies. We’ve waited all year and its finally here. By the time host Billy Crystal delivers his last punchline and concludes the 84th Academy Awards, the evening will have seen many celebrity-presenters appear on the Oscar stage at the Kodak Theatre.

Here’s my predictions for Hollywood’s big night.

Actor in a Leading Role

Demián Bichir in .A Better Life.

George Clooney in .The Descendants.

Jean Dujardin in .The Artist.

Gary Oldman in .Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Brad Pitt in .Moneyball.

Clooney’s performance was like none other he’s given before and with Slumdog Millionaire, Natalie Portman (Black Swan) and Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), Fox Searchlight is on a roll. However, The Artist’s Dujardin will take home his first Academy Award.

Possible upset – Brad Pitt is an all around good guy...

We've written, by vague estimates, something close to 80,000 words on the Academy Awards in the last six months. That's novel-length. And in two days time, it'll all be done, with the ceremony finally taking place at the no-longer-Kodak Theater at around 5pm Pst.

As such, we're not going to bother you too much with small talk: below, you'll find my final predictions for who's going to win on Sunday night. Tomorrow, the Playlist's boss man will weigh in with his own picks. And on Sunday, we'll be live-blogging the ceremony and winners, before final analysis comes in on Monday morning. Have a good Oscar weekend, boys and girls.

Best Documentary Short

"The Barber Of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement"

"God Is The Bigger Elvis"

"Incident In New Baghdad"

"Saving Face"

"The Tsunami & The Cherry Blossom"

Unclear on what's what here? Well, we've got Robin Fryday's "The Barber of Birmingham,...

Good news, cable-subscribing, non-industry Oscar viewers: Movies on Demand has officially made it easier for you to understand what the heck is going on during the murky, ambiguous hours between “Best Supporting Actress” and “Best Actor.” ShortsHD, a network available to digital customers of Comcast/Xfinity, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Cox Communications, Cablevision, Bresnan and Charter, has released the best of this year’s nominated shorts in two special packages: “Best Animated Short Films” and “Best Live Action Short Films.”

This year’s nominated shorts, which are also playing in theaters nationwide, range from an 11-minute time travel...

Oscar week for the 84th Academy Awards began Tuesday evening with .Shorts!,. featuring screenings of all the Oscar-nominated films in the Animated and Live Action Short Film categories, plus an onstage discussion with the filmmakers. This popular event began in 1997 and has sold out every year since then.

Calling the annual Oscars a celebration of film and the art, the event was hosted by director, writer, animator and two-time Oscar winner Brad Bird (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Iron Giant, Ratatouille).

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences screened all 10 of the Oscar-nominated animated and live-action short films on Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The shorts theatrical release is growing every year – grosses rise about 30% annually and are available on iTunes and VOD.

Watch live streaming video from academyawards at livestream.com Nominees for the 84th Academy Awards Short Film (Animated) “Dimanche/Sunday” Patrick Doyon...

Max Zähle‘s academy award nominated short film, Raju, wasn’t exactly easy to make. The director’s thesis film involved over a year of research and filming in a land where no man has gone before: Kolkata (aka Calcutta). The problematic logistics of shooting there speaks for itself, as do the joys. It’s undeniable that Zähle’s film is nothing short of beautiful, and a part of that beauty comes from the gritty, crowded, and beautiful streets of the city. At the heart of Raju is a moral dilemma, one that sparks conversation. To not spoil what the core conflict of the story is, most of my conversation with Zähle, who was on a train leaving the Berlin Film Festival as we spoke, focused on his own story. Here’s what Max Zähle had to say about the structure film school provides, the benefit of working as Pa, and...

Indiewire will provide regular updates of our predictions for the 84th Academy Award winners through February 26th, when the winners are announced. Short film predictions here. Check out all predictions in all the categories here. Short Film (Animated) "Dimanche/Sunday" Patrick Doyon "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg "La Luna" Enrico Casarosa "A Morning Stroll" Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe "Wild Life" Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby The Predicted Winner: La Luna The Potential Spoiler: Dimanche Short Film (Live Action) "Pentecost" Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane "Raju" Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren "The Shore" Terry George and Oorlagh George "Time Freak" Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey "Tuba Atlantic" Hallvar Witzø The Predicted Winner: Raju The Potential Spoiler:...

The 84th Academy Awards will pay homage to the Golden Age of Hollywood. The perceived Oscar frontrunner, .The Artist,. is a black-and-white silent movie, while one of the Oscar Best Picture contenders, .Hugo,. touches upon the life of Georges Méliès and his magical .Trip to the Moon. (1902). Even Marilyn Monroe is being honored via a Best Actress nomination for Michelle Williams who played the icon in .My Week with Marilyn..

Amidst the glamour and the spectacle, this is one of the most unpredictable Oscars in recent memory. There is no clear-cut favorite. Even the awards darling .The Artist. may lose its voice on Oscar night. But I am marching forward to reveal my fearless 2012 Oscar predictions. (Read after the jump for my complete predictions on 24 categories, watch the video for the majors!)

Best Picture

*** "The Artist"

"The Descendants"

"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

"The Help"

"Hugo"

"Midnight in Paris"

"Moneyball"

"The Tree of Life...

Max Zaehle (left) directing Wotan Mohring and Julia Richter in ‘Raju.’

Although his short film, “Raju,” deals with the weighty subject of illegal child-trafficking, director Max Zaehle is ebullient when discussing his work. Perhaps it’s because he recently scored his first Oscar nomination.

Zaehle, 34 years old, graduated from film school just one year ago, and “Raju,” which is set in Calcutta, India, was his thesis film. Though it wasn’t his first film, he says “It was the longest short I ever shot!

The Oscar-nominated short film Raju is something of an enigma. A German student film shot, not in a crew member's backyard, but in India, the film's small budget meant that, for director/co-writer Max Zähle, paying the cast wasn't an option—but he snagged two A-list German actors, Wotan Wilke Möhring and Julia Richter, to star all the same. And, of course, it's a student film that's been nominated for an Oscar... and that's not something that happens all too often.

Max Zähle, together with producer Stefan Gieren, learned of their Oscar nomination for Best Live Action Short for "Raju" while attending the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. As Zähle gathered with friends and colleagues around a laptop to see if his film was one of the chosen few, the unforgettable moment was captured on video. Speaking with Gold Derby about the experience, Zähle admitted, "We didn't believe it, and we didn't expect it; our plans were [simply] to enjoy the Sundance Festival." "Raju" centers around a German couple that travels to India to adopt an orphan. When the child suddenly disappears, the couple realize that they have unwittingly become involved in something more sinister than they initially could have imagined. At almost 24 minutes, it is one of the longer entries among the five nominated films this year and arguably the most serious in tone. It explores moral questions like "do human.

With the the annual Oscars ceremonies occuring in a the next few weeks ( Febuary 26 to be exact ) we movie buffs may want to check out some of the nominated films prior to the many red carpet shows that day. For most of the big catagories, it’s just a matter of heading to the multiplex ( where films like The Artist are still playing ) or marching into your video store, finding a vending dispenser, or logging into movie rental site ( for films like The Help ). Yes, for the feature films it’s pretty simple. But what about those two mysterious short film catagories : live-action and animated ? For many years, their only real exposure was a very brief sequence ( a few seconds, really ) as each film’s title was announced by the presenters during the big telecast. This was not the case during Hollywood’s golden age. A night at the old Bijou ( or Majestic,...

An Australian have been nominated for the 84th Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards announced overnight, with one more likely to be announced.

Included in the Oscars nomination line up is Australian film editor Kirk Baxter with producer Grant Hill likely to be recognised also.

Baxter, who won last year for David Fincher’s The Social Network, has been nominated for his work on David Fincher’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Hill, producer of Terrence Mallick’s Tree of Life will most likely be nominated, with the film up for best picture, but the nominees yet to be determined. Hill was also a producer of Mallick’s Thin Red Line and the Wachowski brothers’ Matrix Trilogy and V for Vendetta.

It is a relatively quiet year for Australians at the Oscars, compared to last year seven nominations in which seven nominations were received. Wins went not only...

This morning, Jennifer Lawrence and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominations for the 84th Academy Awards. The winners will be announced during the televised ceremony on February 26, 2012. Let’s get right into the nominations:

Best Picture

The Artist

The Descendants

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

The Help

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

War Horse

Snubs:

Bridesmaids

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Ides of March

50/50

Shame

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II

The Artist and The Descendants may stack up on top alphabetically, but they’re neatly placed in this two-horse race with the B&W, silent era drama in the easy lead. An upset is possible, I suppose, but a Descendants win would be more upsetting since its one of the weakest in Payne’s career. Extremely Loud & Yada Yada comes as a huge surprise though. Chock it...

Update (January 30, 2012): Australian producer Grant Hill is one of four producers that will accept the Oscar should Terence Malick's Tree of Life win Best Picture. The film's nominees were originally listed as 'to be determined', following the Academy's decision that only a maximum of three producers would be recognised per best picture contender.

It was decided on Friday that Tree of Life represented 'extraordinary circumstances' and the rule was waived. Should the film upset popular contenders Hugo and The Artist, the Oscar will be accepted by Hill alongside fellow producers Sarah Green, Bill Pohlad and Dede Gardner.

Correction: Sound re-recording mixer Andy Nelson, who received his thirteen nomination for best achievement in sound for Steven Spielberg's War Horse, is in fact British. In 2001, Nelson received an Australian Centenary Medal for his services to Australian film production for his work on Moulin Rouge.

.

January 25, 2012: The nominations for the 2012 Academy Awards were announced overnight,...

First the nominations, then a few notes after the list.

Best Picture

The Artist

The Descendants

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

The Help

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

War Horse

Directing

The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius

The Descendants, Alexander Payne

Hugo, Martin Scorsese

Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen

The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick

Actor In A Leading Role

Demián Bichir in A Better Life

George Clooney in The Descendants

Jean Dujardin in The Artist

Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Brad Pitt in Moneyball

Actor In A Supporting Role

Kenneth Branagh in My Week with Marilyn

Jonah Hill in Moneyball

Nick Nolte in Warrior

Christopher Plummer in Beginners

Max von Sydow in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Actress In A Leading Role

Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis in The Help

Rooney Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady...

Owen Wilson, Léa Seydoux in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris Best picture The Artist (The Weinstein Company) A La Petite Reine/Studio 37/La Classe Américaine/Jd Prod/France3 Cinéma/Jouror Productions/uFilm Production, Thomas Langmann, Producer The Descendants (Fox Searchlight) An Ad Hominem Enterprises Production, Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Warner Bros.) A Warner Bros. Pictures Production, Scott Rudin, Producer The Help (Touchstone) A DreamWorks Pictures Production, Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers Hugo (Paramount) A Paramount Pictures and Gk Films Production, Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers Midnight in Paris (Sony Pictures Classics) A Pontchartrain Production, Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers Moneyball (Sony Pictures Releasing) A Columbia Pictures Production, Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers The Tree of Life (Fox Searchlight) A River Road Entertainment Production, Nominees to be determined War Horse (Touchstone) A DreamWorks Pictures Production,...

By Roger Friedman

HollywoodNews.com: Best Picture nominees: The Artist, The Help, The Descendants, War Horse, Moneyball, Midnight in Paris, Tree of Life, Hugo, and the big surprise–Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Not nominated: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or Bridesmaids. Other big shocks–Albert Brooks was not nominated for “Drive,” which is s a shame in the Best Supporting Actor category. His spot went to Max von Sydow in “Extremely.” Another big shock — “Tintin” was not nominated for Best Animated Feature. This is actually shocking. Leonardo DiCaprio was not nominated for “J Edgar” in Best Actor–his spot went to Damien Bachir in “A Better Place.” The other actor nominees were George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Jean DuJardin, and Gary Oldman for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.” The latter film did much better than anyone could have guessed. Best Director went to Michel Hazanavicius, Alexander Payne, Woody Allen, Terrence Malick,...

Beverly Hills, CA – Nominations for the 84th Academy Awards were announced today (Tuesday, January 24) by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and 2010 Oscar® nominee Jennifer Lawrence.

Sherak and Lawrence, who was nominated for an Academy Award® for her lead performance in “Winter’s Bone,” announced the nominees in 10 of the 24 Award categories at a 5:38 a.m. Pt live news conference attended by more than 400 international media representatives. Lists of nominations in all categories were then distributed to the media in attendance and online via the official Academy Awards website, www.oscar.com.

Academy members from each of the branches vote to determine the nominees in their respective categories – actors nominate actors, film editors nominate film editors, etc. In the Animated Feature Film and Foreign Language Film categories, nominations are selected by vote of multi-branch screening committees. All voting members are eligible to select the Best Picture nominees.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has officially announced the nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards, and I'm happy with the outcome. The one compliant I have is that Michael Shannon wasn't nominated for Best Actor for his role in Take Shelter. In my opinion that was the best performance I've seen all year. Andy Serkis also didn't get his nomination for playing Ceaser in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. 

Hugo led the pack with 11 solid nominations, followed by The Artist with 10. Both Moneyball and War Horse nabbed six, and The Descendants and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ended up with five, but Fincher got snubbed for Best Director. 

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be...

Hugo, The Artist, The Help and the other Oscar nominations for the 2012 Academy Awards have been announced. The 84rd Annual Academy Awards is a film award show “accolade by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. The formal ceremony at which the awards are presented is one of the most prominent award ceremonies in the world and is televised live in more than 200 countries annually. It is also the oldest award ceremony in the media.” This year’s Oscars will be held at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center and will be shown on the ABC Television Network Sunday, February 26, 2012.

The full listing of the 2012 Academy Awards nominations is below.

Best Picture

The Artist Thomas Langmann, Producer

The Descendants Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close Scott Rudin,...

Nominations for the 84th Academy Awards were announced today (Tuesday, January 24) by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and 2010 Oscar® nominee Jennifer Lawrence. Brace yourselves for the surprises and omissions. The nominees were a little more than crazy this year to say the least – nine best picture nominees! This year’s balloting rules allowed for the possibility of between five and ten Best Picture nominees, and for the first time in Academy history, nine films have been nominated in that category.

Now for the shockers. No Michael Fassbender in the Best Actor category…no Albert Brooks in Best Supporting Actor category…no Adventures Of Tintin or Cars 2 in the Animated category! Terrence Malick and The Tree Of Life both saw some love with 2 nods this morning. How grand that Rooney Mara, Demián Bichir, Jonah Hill, and Nick Nolte are coming to the big party this year!

Here it is, folks... the moment you've all been waiting for. The 84th Annual Academy Award nominations were unveiled this morning from the Samuel Goldwyn Theater, and this year there are nine nominees for Best Picture with most of the ones you expected plus a few surprises including Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Moneyball and The Tree of Life. Terrence Malick also got a nod for Best Director, which was great to see even though it seems unlikely that he will win. Elsewhere, Gary Oldman picked up a nomination for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Jonah Hill snuck in for Best Supporting Actor for Moneyball and Melissa McCarthy got recognized for Bridesmaids. The Adventures of Tintin did not crack the Best Animated Feature line-up, and for the first time ever, neither did Pixar (their spots were stolen by two relatively unknown films, A Cat in Paris and Chico & Rita). The Muppets managed...

Here you go — the complete list of the 84th annual Academy Awards nominations. Winners will be announced on Sunday, Feb. 26, on ABC, hosted by Billy Crystal.

Best Picture

"The Artist"

"The Descendants"

"The Help"

"Hugo"

"Midnight in Paris"

"Moneyball"

"The Tree of Life"

"War Horse"

"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"

Best Actor

Demian Bichir, "A Better Life"

George Clooney, "The Descendants"

Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"

Brad Pitt, "Moneyball"

Gary Oldman, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"

Best Actress

Glenn Close, "Albert Nobbs"

Viola Davis, "The Help"

Rooney Mara, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"

Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"

Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn"

Best Supporting Actor

Kenneth Branagh, "My Week With Marilyn"

Jonah Hill, "Moneyball"

Nick Nolte, "Warrior"

Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"

Max von Sydow, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

Best Supporting Actress

Berenice Bejo, "The Artist"

Jessica Chastain, "The Help"

Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids"

Octavia Spencer, "The Help"

Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs"

Best Director

Michel Hazanavicius,...

Paramount Asa Butterfield and Chloe Grace Moretz in The Oscar-nominated film “Hugo.”

“Hugo” and “The Artist,” two new movies that pay tribute to the birth of cinema, were among the leading candidates when the 2012 Oscar nominations were announced this morning.

“Hugo,” a 3-D movie directed by Martin Scorsese, led the field with 11 nominations. “Hugo” explores the early days of cinema from a child’s point of view.

“The Artist,” distributed by the Weinstein Company, tells the story of an actor...

Announced live just minutes ago from the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverley Hills, the nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards are in.

In the end there were 9 Best Picture nominees and they are; The Artist, Moneyball, War Horse, The Help, Midnight in Paris, The Descendants, Hugo and two major surprises, Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life (Malick was also nominated for Best Director) and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. The latter just came out of nowhere.

Unfortunately and criminally, no Tinker Tailor Solider Spy for Best Picture. There was a Best Actor nomination for Gary Oldman which is well received but 10 nominees and Tinker Tailor wasn’t one of them.

The full list of nominees are in and Martin Scorsese’s Hugo leads the way with 11 nominations…

Actor in a Leading Role

Demián Bichir in “A Better Life”

George Clooney in “The Descendants”

Jean Dujardin in “The Artist...

By Sean O’Connell

hollywoodnews.com: And then there were nine.

That’s how many films will compete for the Best Picture Oscar at the 84th Academy Awards. “Winter’s Bone” Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence and Academy President Tom Sherak announced the nominees this morning, bringing to a close the lengthy first leg of the Oscar marathon (while simultaneously setting up Phase Two for the lucky nominees).

What made the cut? We have a full list of nominees below, but at first glance, Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” led the pack with 11 nominations. Albert Brooks seems like the most egregious snub. And Stephen Daldry’s “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” is the Best Picture nom that’s making most people angry. (Except for me, because I loved it.)

We’ll have full analysis on the site this morning, and a separate piece on Academy snubs, as some deserving films and talent...

This morning the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominations for the 84th Academy Awards. Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone, The Hunger Games) read the new Oscar nods, with by Academy President Tom Sherak. The big nominees were The Descendants, The Artist, and Hugo, all which come as no surprise. But Moneyball scored four big nominations, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy also walked away with a couple big nods, and The Muppets is now Oscar-nominated. The Adventures of Tintin was shut out of the Best Animated Film category, and Andy Serkis did not end up with a nomination for his work in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. As is so often the case with the Oscars, you can make a list of snubs that is almost longer than the nomination list. Indie faves got nothing: Michael Fassbender's performance in Shame is not recognized, and Martha Marcy May Marlene...

This morning at 5:30 Am Pst the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the 2012 Oscar nominations and there were certainly some surprises to behold. I mean... just look at that... Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close got a nomination. I dropped it from my list of nominees, but I remember a while back when everyone kept harping on me for continuing to keep it among the favorites. Ugh, wish I had stuck with my gut, it's a great film and well worthy of a nomination. As for total number of nominations, here are your leaders, but there is so much more to talk about than this and I'm working as fast as I can. Hugo - 11 nominations The Artist - 10 nominations Moneyball - 6 nominations War Horse - 6 nominations The Descendants - 5 nominations The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - 5 nominations The Help - 4 nominations Midnight in Paris - 4 nominations...

Yesterday the finalist list for short films was announced. This is, of course, much bigger news for the filmmakers in question than the general public who rarely gets the chance to see their work, but it's very much worth noting. In order to qualify to begin with a film must pass numerous gauntlets and be an awards magnet. Who knows. We could all be obsessed with one or three of these filmmakers in 5 to 10 years time if their careers bloom.

The Ten Finalists

Je Pourrais Être Votre Grand-Mère (I Could Be Your Grandmother) (19 min)

Trailer • France • Directed and produced by Bernard Tanguy

Official Synopsis: "A young business lawyer finds that the old Rumanian homeless person, in front of his flat, looks like his grandmother. One night, he makes her a cardboard card: I could be your grandmother. The passers-by become suddenly very generous. Other homeless people ask him a cardboard card.

Out of 107 qualified submissions, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced 10 finalists that will advance to the next round of voting for the Best Live-Action Short Film Oscar. Out of these, three to five will ultimately be nominated for the Academy Award.

Ironically, actor John Hurt stars in two of the finalists: the British shorts Love at First Sight and Sailcloth. Also among the finalists is The Shore, written and directed by the Oscar-nominated filmmaker Terry George (Hotel Rwanda) and starring Ciarán Hinds.

The 10 finalists (with links to trailers when available) are:

Je Pourrais Être Votre Grand-Mère (I...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 10 live action short films are advancing in the voting process for the 84th Academy Awards. This is list has been cut down from the original 107 films that qualified in this category. Three to five nominees will be chosen out of these 10 films. The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 5:30am.

The 10 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production company:

"Je Pourrais Être Votre Grand-Mère (I Could Be Your Grandmother)," Bernard Tanguy, director-producer (Rézina Productions)

"Love at First Sight," Michael Davies, director and Sandra Gorel, producer (Spellbound Films)

"Pentecost," Peter McDonald, director (Emu Productions)

"Raju," Max Zähle, director and Stefan Gieren, producer (Hamburg Media School/Filmwerkstatt)

"The Road Home," Rahul Gandotra, director-producer and Ameenah Ayub, producer (London Film School)

"The Roar of the Sea," Ana Rocha Fernandes and Torsten Truscheit,...