Tomer Shoshan's "White Eye" is nominated in the short film category • "Manek" leads with ten nominations • "Land of the Nomads" is the favorite to win
Daniel Gad in "Ein Levana"
Photo:
Eastern Saar
After a particularly difficult year for the film industry, the Oscar ceremony (which will be broadcast live on yes) will take place tonight in Los Angeles. The ceremony will take place physically and not virtually, the winners and presenters will arrive at two different venues in Los Angeles, however the ceremony will be very limited compared to previous years.
The center of Israeli interest in the ceremony is the Israeli film "White Eye", which is nominated for an Oscar in the short film category. The film by Tomer Shoshan, a graduate of the film department at Manshar School, was shot entirely in one complex whip lasting 20 minutes, and it accompanies a Tel Aviv guy (Daniel Gad) who stumbles upon his stolen bicycle on the street. But the seemingly simple attempt to recover the stolen property leads to an unpredictable and destructive sequence of events.
Shoshan has been in Los Angeles for more than two weeks with the film's producers, Shira Hochman and Kobi Mizrahi, and with the film's star, actor Daniel Gad. "I'm pretty optimistic," Shoshan said in an interview with Israel Today. "The film premiered two years ago at the SXSW Festival in Texas, and from there it rolled into a hundred more festivals around the world and won 26 awards. It actually paved the way for an Oscar, The Oscar? Every step we took - surprised us and made us believe that the unbelievable could be done with it. An Oscar campaign is something I just worked on. I invested out of my pocket a sum close to six digits. There was also an Almodóvar film with a financial back of Sony Studios behind it. "It's not fair, but here he is left out of the final five. It gives a sense that the members of the academy are ultimately choosing something that is better."
Netflix Leads
Corona Outbreak Has left most cinemas around the world closed this year. It is therefore not surprising that the streaming giant Netflix holds 35 Oscar nominations this year and easily leads the old studios. Netflix's "Maneck" leads with ten nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director for David Fincher, Best Actor for Gary Oldman and Best Supporting Actress for Amanda Seyfried. Oldman plays American-Jewish screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz (Mank), who wrote the screenplay for Orson Welles' Citizen Kane. The film is shot in black and white and recreates the Hollywood of the 1930s and 1940s. The script was written by Fincher's late father.
Another Netflix movie, "The Inauguration Trial from Chicago," holds six nominations, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for British comedian Sasha Baron Cohen. The film was directed by Arun Sorkin, creator of the "White House" series.
But despite Netflix's dominance at this year's ceremony, the favorite to win is "Land of the Nomads" by Chinese-American director Chloe Zhao, who garnered praise from all sides and picked up awards at all preliminary ceremonies. This is a minimalist and exciting journey film about a middle-aged widow (Frances McDormand), who travels around the western United States in search of temporary jobs as part of a motorized nomadic community. Experts predict that this film will pick up the best film award. In the directorial category and in the lead actress category for McDormand - who has won an Oscar twice before and may win a third time.
Another film that holds six nominations is "The Father" starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Coleman. The film, which deals with an aging man who refuses to get help from his daughter, is nominated in the best film category, and both of its actors are nominated in acting categories.
The other films nominated in the best film category are the Korean-speaking "Minari" (a delicate adolescence drama about a South Korean immigrant family settling in an agricultural area in Arkansas), "Judas Iscariot and the Black Messiah" (about an undercover African-American agent working for the FBI The Blacks), "Metal Sounds" (about a rock band drummer who suddenly loses his hearing) and "Promising Young Woman" starring Carrie Mulligan who plays a trauma-stricken woman who seduces men who are sexual predators and teaches them a lesson.
Will the late player win?
A particularly moving nomination at this year’s ceremony is that of the late actor Chadwick Bozman for his role in the film “Ma Rainey’s Blues”.
Bozeman, the star of "The Black Panther," passed away last August from cancer.
At the last Golden Globe Awards ceremony he won an award for this role.
Veteran actress Glenn Close is nominated for an Oscar this year for the eighth time in her career, this time for her role in Ron Howard's Appalachian Diaries, which aired on Netflix.
Close has never won an Oscar despite the many nominations.
The good news is that this year there are a record number of nominations for women: 76 nominations in various categories.
Director Chloe Zhao is the first woman ever to win four different nominations at the ceremony.
In addition, this year's directing category includes two women: Zhao and the director of the film "A Promising Young Woman," Emerald Panel.
Along with both, so far there have been a total of seven women nominees in this category.