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Over the weekend I watched all of this year's Oscar-nominated short films in the live action, animated and documentary categories. Well, actually, I watched almost all of them as there was one documentary short I had zero interest in watching beyond its opening credits. More on that in a second, but let's begin with the live action short films. And remember, these are predictions, not a ranking of my favorites, though I will be giving an opinionated take on each of the films. Live Action Cheryl Graf and Nissa Kashani in Parvaneh Of the three categories I'd say the live action lot had the largest selection of films I actually enjoyed. Of the bunch, only The Phone Call rubbed me the wrong way. It really doesn't accomplish much other than hammer home the melancholy as Sally Hawkins plays a crisis hotline worker who receives a call from a man (Jim Broadbent...

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

Los Angeles, CA – March 11, 2014 – For the fifth year, Théâtre Raymond Kabbaz (Trk) presents A Week of French Language Cinema in Los Angeles, with Free nightly screenings of critically acclaimed Francophonic films, from Saturday, March 15 to Thursday, March 20, 2014. The program includes notable films from France (3/15), Canada (3/16), Senegal (3/17), Belgium (3/18), Switzerland (3/19), and Quebec (3/20). All films include subtitles in English and nightly screenings start at 7:30pm. Saturday's opening night screening and Thursday's closing screening are preceded by receptions with wine and hors d’oeuvres at 7:00pm. To RSVP, please email rsvp.trk@lyceela.org with name, email address, number of people attending, and the screening(s) guests would like to attend. All films are suitable for audiences ages 13 and up. Admission is Free! This program is presented in collaboration with the Consulates of France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada; the Quebec Government Office in Los Angeles; and TV5Monde.

The award for Best Animated Short at the Oscars this year went to a fantastic film called "Mr. Hublot." The story is set in a mechanical world, and it follows a man with Ocd who brings a robot puppy into his life. The short was written and directed by Laurent Witz, and here's the synopsis:

Mr Hublot is a withdrawn, idiosyncratic character with Ocd, scared of change and the outside world. Robot Pet's arrival turns his life upside down: he has to share his home with this very invasive 

This is really a beautifully made, fantastic film, and now you'll see why it won the award. Enjoy the show! ...

Alfonso Cuarón's space thriller takes seven awards, but loses out to 12 Years a Slave for best picture

• How the night unfolded

• Full list of winners

Gravity may be set in space, but it achieved a landslide at the 86th Academy Awards, taking seven Oscars, while 12 Years a Slave went home with three.

Through its UK producer, David Heyman, Gravity qualifies as a British film, and its Oscar wins come in the wake of the best British film award at the Bafta ceremony. Amanda Nevill, CEO of the BFI, the UK's lead film agency said: "We join the whole British film industry in congratulating Steve McQueen on the awards for his remarkable and important film, 12 Years A Slave, and Alfonso Cuarón whose astonishing film, Gravity was made right here in the UK. Our industry continues to punch above its weight, with exceptional creative talent and world-leading practitioners, infrastructure and facilities...

Hard-hitting slavery drama starring Chiwetel Ejiofor becomes first film from black director to win top Academy award

• How the night unfolded

• Full list of winners

12 Years a Slave has won the best picture Oscar at the 86th Academy Awards, defeating a nine-strong field that included Gravity, The Wolf of Wall Street and American Hustle for the headline prize at this year's ceremony. 12 Years a Slave becomes the first film from a black director to take the best picture Oscar.

Directed by Steve McQueen, the landmark slavery drama stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as a free man kidnapped and sold to slaveowners in 19th-century Louisiana. It was based on the bestselling memoir by Solomon Northup, first published in 1853. 12 Years a Slave follows McQueen's award-winning dramas Hunger and Shame, and was produced by among others Brad Pitt's Plan B outfit. Pitt also takes a small but pivotal role as abolitionist carpenter Samuel Bass.

Chicago – Hollywood celebrated its big night at the 86th Academy Awards, and the biggest news was the selfie photo that apparently broke Twitter. The stark film “12 Years a Slave” won Best Picture, and Ellen DeGeneres took the celebrity group selfie that immediately was Tweeted around the world, overloading the popular website.

The other big win for “12 Years a Slave” was in the Best Supporting Actress category. Lupita Nyong’o took home the trophy, besting the early award season favorite, Jennifer Lawrence (“American Hustle”). Best Actor and Actress completed the awards season cycle for Matthew McConaughey (“Dallas Buyer’s Club”) and Cate Blanchett (“Blue Jasmine”), who were heavily favored. Alfonso Cuarón was honored as Best Director for the amazingly visual film “Gravity,” and Jared Leto was no surprise in winning the Best Supporting Actor for “Dallas Buyer’s Club.”

Host Ellen DeGeneres and the Selfie that Broke Twitter

Photo credit: ABC...

The Oscars honor the best performances on film, but the telecast is all about celebrating the best speeches. Here’s how we called it:

1. Dallas Buyers Club’s Matthew McConaughey, Best Actor

Running over three minutes, the Best Actor acceptance speech was a monument of pure unfiltered McConaughey-ness. He thanked God. He thanked his late father: “I know he’s up there right now, with a big pot of gumbo…he’s probably in his underwear, and he’s got a cold can of Miller Lite, and he’s dancin’.” He went on a very long tangent about how his hero is himself — or rather,...

Los Angeles, March 3: Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee's "Frozen" was given the award for the best animated feature film at the 86th Academy Awards held here Sunday evening.

"Frozen" narrates the tale of a fearless princess' adventurous journey to find her estranged sister, whose has the power to create ice and snow. It had been honoured with a Golden Globe in January.

"Mr Hublot", 11-minute short film, was honoured with Oscar for the best animated short film.

Written and directed by Laurent Witz and codirected by Alexandre Espigares, the short film is about Mr Hublot, who lives in a world where characters made partially.

Oscars 2014: 86th Academy Awards - live blog

The winners of the 2014 Academy Awards will be unveiled tonight (March 2) at a star-studded ceremony from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Ellen DeGeneres will be joined by a host of A-list Hollywood talent - including Jennifer Lawrence, Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Benedict Cumberbatch and Emma Watson - to celebrate the best films and performances of the last 12 months.

Digital Spy presents a full list of winners - which will be updated live - from the Academy Awards below:

Best Picture

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Dallas Buyers Club

Gravity

Her

Nebraska

Philomena

12 Years a Slave - Winner

The Wolf of Wall Street

Director

David O Russell (American Hustle)

Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity) - Winner

Alexander Payne (Nebraska)

Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)

Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street)

Best Actor

Christian Bale (American Hustle)

Bruce Dern (Nebraska)

Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street...

Oscar nominated short films will be screened in theaters across the country starting Friday, Jan. 31 and will be available on demand and for download on iTunes beginning Feb. 25.

The nominees in the three categories – Best Live Action Short, Best Animated Short and Best Documentary Short – span from running times of 5 minutes to 40 and come from a handful of countries around the world.

Click here to find a theater near you.

Here is a list of the nominated films, all of which will be screened as part of this event.

Best Live Action Short:

Do I Have To Take Care of Everything? from director Selma Vilhunen (Finland)

Just Before Losing Everything from director Xavier Legrand (France)

Helium from director Anders Walter (Denmark)

That Wasn’t Me from director Esteban Crespo (Spain)

The Voorman Problem from director Mark Gill (United Kingdom)

Best Animated Short:

Feral – Daniel Sousa (USA)

Get A Horse! – Lauren MacMullan...

Slamdance winner won the Max Ophüls Prize at the weekend, granting it a slot in the Berlinale.

Jakob Lass’ feature debut Love Steaks, this year’s winner of the Slamdance Trailer Competition Grand Prix, was awarded the prestigious Max Ophüls Prize in Saarbrücken at the weekend.

The film, which is in the Lola nomination long list, will therefore also have a screening slot in the Berlinale’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino on Feb 16.

Billed by the filmmakers as “the world’s first Fogma film” (with the obligatory manifesto), Love Steaks had its world premiere at Munich Filmfest last June where it won all four prizes of the Young German Cinema Support Awards.

This included for Best Screenplay, despite the film not having had any written dialogue and featuring the staff and guests at a wellness hotel on the Baltic Sea coast playing themselves alongside newcomers Lana Cooper and Franz Rogowski..

Lass’ graduation film from the University of Film...

News Louisa Mellor 16 Jan 2014 - 13:53

They're here: here are the Oscar nominations for 2014...

Ahead of the ceremony on March 2nd 2014, the nominations for the 2014 Academy Awards have now been announced. And, without further ado, here's the full list of runners and riders for this year's Oscars...

Best Picture

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Dallas Buyers Club

Gravity

The Wolf Of Wall Street

Her

Nebraska

Philomena

Twelve Years A Slave

Best Actor

Christian Bale (American Hustle)

Bruce Dern (Nebraska)

Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf Of Wall Street)

Chiwetel Ejiofor (Twelve Years A Slave)

Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Actress

Amy Adams (American Hustle)

Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

Sandra Bullock (Gravity)

Judi Dench (Philomena)

Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)

Best Supporting Actor

Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)

Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)

Michael Fassbender (Twelve Years A Slave)

Jonah Hill (The Wolf Of Wall Street)

Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Supporting Actress

Sally Hawkins...

A scene from Room on the BroomPhoto: Magic Light Pictures Ltd. Today the Academy announced the shortlist of ten animated short films that will be competing for nominations at the 2014 Oscars and I have gone ahead and found trailers/previews for seven of them, the complete short film for one of them and pictures for the two that didn't seem to have any video preview online as of yet. The Academy's Short Films and Feature Animation Branch Reviewing Committee viewed all 56 eligible entries for the preliminary round of voting at screenings held in New York and Los Angeles and now the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch members will select three to five nominees from among the 10 titles previewed below. The 86th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 16, 2014, at 5:30 a.m. Pt. Check out the titles contending for this year's race over the next couple of pages.