Nominations Special
David versus Goliath
As the Oscars approach, the showdown between Avatar and The Hurt Locker has tapped into a wider issue
And then there were 10
From Sundance favourites to extraordinary sci-fi visions, this year’s best picture nominations embrace every aspect of contemporary film-making. Mike Goodridge reports
Playing to the crowd
For all the hoopla surrounding the announcement that the Academy had expanded its best picture category to 10 features, four or five films have taken the lead in this year’s race.
Watching the world
Leon Forde gives an overview of this year’s foreign-language film contenders and charts their progress from festival appearances to the Oscars ceremony at Hollywood’s Kodak Theater. Plus a look back at Screen reviewers’ first impressions of the five nominated films
The Race So Far
And then there were nine
Nine films are on the foreign-language film Oscar shortlist this year. Mike Goodridge assesses what was left off the list and which might go forward to the final five
Best Picture
Best Picture: The gold standards
This year has been an unusually rich season for prestige awards contenders, kicking off as early as the Sundance Film Festival in January when Lee Daniels’ Precious (then called Push) was first seen as well as Lone Scherfig’s An Education, Cary Fukunaga’s Sin ...
Film-maker profiles
ScreenDaily speaks to ten directors whose films are expected to perform strongly this awards season.
Screenwriters
Actors And Actresses
Stars earn their stripes
With all the year’s films now out of the gate and screening to media, guilds and other awards groups, the complexion of the acting categories has become clearer.Mike Goodridge assesses the hottest contenders at this stage of the race.
Foreign Language
Awards Countdown: Foreign-Language Films
Screen International brings you interviews with the directors of six of this year’s foreign language Oscar submissions.
Crafts
Emerging from the shadow of drama
Which films could benefit from the Golden Globes’ unique musical or comedy categories? Mike Goodridge considers the candidates
Animation
Beating Up
2009 has been a landmark year for animation and, as if to reflect that, the feature animation Oscar category is swelling to the full five nominations for the first time since 2002.
