The Oscar era is moving forward, despite the epidemic, despite a year in which the biggest release was postponed. The timing has changed for two months: The Academy Awards will be held on April 25. And the awards season, as it were, is over. The Oscar Race will be aired.
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With the red champions wrapped up, the Oscar race continues |
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Movies may be completed - the picture is locked - but their Oscar treasures continue until votes are cast. And the radiant environment, which gives the pleasure of cocktails and Q&As works very hard to direct the conversation.
This year, when many people are separated, theaters are closed in Los Angeles and New York and, more pressing concerns than who is campaigning for the best actor, the awards season operates in an unconventional COVID-19 lounge with only space for things thriving: buzz.
For Awards Daily co-founder Sasha Stone, who has been co-hosting the Oscars since 2000, it is like something he has never seen - a lavish awards ceremony, without red carpets, without anything that sounds real. He compares this year's race to the floating debris left by a sinking ship.
"It's not there," Stone said. What is missing is the ‘wow’ feature. This is exactly what the Oscars have in the form of. "
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However, the Oscar season continues, despite the epidemic, despite a year in which the biggest release was postponed. The timing has changed for two months: The Academy Awards will be held on April 25. And the awards season, as it were, is over. The Oscar Race will be aired.
The award campaigns are usually focused on doing everything possible to attract organization members and others to see their film on the big screen and have to accept that this year they will be watching in their living room, perhaps on a laptop, which may have more pauses and perhaps more views on their phone.
“The big challenge is: How do we get people to watch movies? Will they really watch them? What will they watch? ”Said Cynthia Swartz, one of Oscar's leading campaign experts. “Ninety-five percent of the educational campaign makes people watch a movie, especially on the big screen. Now you can't take them to the big screen. Everyone sees it at home. "
Keeping any unnamed movie Borat on zeitgeist is almost impossible this year, either because people are suffering from the epidemic, movies fail to physically appear above the box on your TV screen or because viewers can simply indulge in The Queen's Gambit . Swartz, who helped lead the campaign for everything from Boyhood to Black Panther, admitted, "Right now, it's hard for films to feel real and feel like they stick."
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The whole rhythm of the season calendar, from one medal group to another, is also no longer valid. Since the Oscar nomination is usually held in early January, the majority of voters plow through the polls during the holidays.
"It will be a challenge to keep your movie in full swing until April or March, when voting takes place," said Tom Bernard, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, whose rivals this year include the dementia drama Dad, and Anthony Hopkins. "It will be a very different journey between now and the end of April."
No doubt it has redefined the standard genres of movies in this race. Many of the films that may have been among the favorites this year - Steven Spielberg's West Side Story or Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch - have been postponed. That is left to the opening of leading portfolio of small films that may have had to fight hard to be seen - among them the open road of Chloe Zhao Nomadland, the family drama of Lee Isaac Chung of Korea and America Minari and Regina King's 60s Black icons One Night concert in Miami.
For some, it is interesting that this year’s extraordinary scenarios could extend traditional ideas - and frustrating limits - of what an Oscar movie is.
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“It will be fun because there were no blockers. We haven’t had blockbusters blocking this year, so how do we know what the hit was. I would like to know if it will disrupt indie-cinephile, ”said Steven Soderbergh, who directs Meryl Streep led by Let Them All Talk is one of the many live-action films. "The question is: Do you accept that and say: 'That was a year,' and don't wear pants about it. Just go: That was the year."
The last Oscars, Parasite victory, the first non-English film to take a very good picture, greatly revived support on social media. This year, when there is no real conversation, the race is likely to win online, making critics and experts even more influential.
Not everyone is sorry that the season of prizes - the slogan that is exploding, becoming more and more expensive, from September to February - has been turned upside down. Journalists who used to run from event to event can do so this year by clicking, while wearing sweatpants. Costs will be lower. The stars are not very old. Probably, some hope it will go down well.
At the moment, Zoom boxes are the most worn at all times. With the launch of Black and White Mank, Netflix has released its video conference in beautiful monochrome. For the Q&A of his dystopic space drama Midnight Sky, George Clooney could pursue a much better president than the average with a video conference: Cate Blanchett.
The IFP Gotham Awards, one of the first major parties of the year, will broadcast live its January 11 program from Cavernous Cipriani’s in Manhattan, with guests lined up around the tables. To deliver a digital strategy, editors rely on the online poker interface. On the bright side, says producer Jeffrey Sharp,
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