OSCARS 2017 89TH ACADEMY AWARDS: MOONLIGHT WINS AFTER ALL THE MIX UP!

Moonlight, a coming of age tale of a young black man Chiron growing up in a crime infested area of Miami beautifully told in three chapters was named the best film of 2016 at the 89th Academy Awards Oscar 2017 right after La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz named them as the winner when the presenter Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced the wrong winner La La Land. It bested eight other nominees on the category: Arrival, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures, La la land, Lion and Manchester by the Sea.

Best Director went to 32 year-old Damien Chazelle for the film La La Land making him the youngest director in Oscar history to win the Academy Award. Best Actress went to Emma Stone of La La Land while Best Actor went to Casey Affleck of the film Manchester by the Sea.

Academy Award winner for Best Sound Mixing Kevin O'Connell also made history with the most number of nominations without winning with 20 all but until his 21st nomination while Meryl Streep also celebrated her record breaking 20th acting nomination.

TV show personality Jimmy Kimmel hosted the ceremony.



Here is the complete list of winners:


Best Picture - Moonlight – Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner, and Jeremy Kleiner

Best Director - Damien Chazelle – La La Land

Best Actor - Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea as Lee Chandler

Best Actress - Emma Stone – La La Land as Mia Dolan

Best Supporting Actor - Mahershala Ali – Moonlight as Juan

Best Supporting Actress - Viola Davis – Fences as Rose Maxson

Best Original Screenplay - Manchester by the Sea – Kenneth Lonergan

Best Adapted Screenplay - Moonlight – Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney from In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue by Tarell Alvin McCraney

Best Animated Feature Film - Zootopia – Byron Howard, Rich Moore, and Clark Spencer

Best Foreign Language Film - The Salesman (Iran) in Persian – Asghar Farhadi

Best Documentary - Feature - O.J.: Made in America – Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow

Best Documentary - Short Subject  - The White Helmets – Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara

Best Live Action Short Film - Sing – Kristóf Deák and Anna Udvardy

Best Animated Short Film - Piper – Alan Barillaro and Marc Sondheimer

Best Original Score - La La Land – Justin Hurwitzdouble

Best Original Song - "City of Stars" from La La Land – Music by Justin Hurwitz, Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

Best Sound Editing - Arrival – Sylvain Bellemare

Best Sound Mixing - Hacksaw Ridge – Kevin O'Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie, and Peter Grace

Best Production Design - La La Land – David Wasco and Sandy Reynolds-Wasco

Best Cinematography - La La Land – Linus Sandgren

Best Makeup and Hairstyling - Suicide Squad – Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini, and Christopher Nelson

Best Costume Design - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Colleen Atwood

Best Film Editing - Hacksaw Ridge – John Gilbert

Best Visual Effects - The Jungle Book – Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones, and Dan Lemmon

OSCARS 2016 88TH ACADEMY AWARDS: FINALLY LEO WINS!

Spotlight, a Boston Globe investigative reporting about the clerical abuses in the Catholic church swept under the rug in the Vatican got the Oscar voter's nod and was named the year's Best Picture winner besting seven other nominees: The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn, Room and the blockbuster hits Mad Max: Fury Road and The Revenant. 

Finally on his sixth nomination Leonardo DiCaprio wins the Best Actor award for the film The Revenant for portraying the role of a winter survivor forsaken by his friend and mauled by a bear with a standing ovation from the audience while delivering his speech of gratitude and message for a call to address the climate change, its impact and adverse effect most especially on the underprivileged countries and people. Brie Larson, on the other hand, won the Best Actress award for the film, Room. Director Alejandro Inarritu won his second consecutive Oscar trophy for the film The Revenant, - the first in 65 years after Joseph L. Mankiewicz win in A Letter for Three Wives (1949) and All About Eve (1950).

One of the most surprising win of the night was that of Mark Rylance for winning the Best Supporting Actor trophy for Bridge of Spies while the young Alicia Vikander winning the Best Supporting Role for an actress. Mad Max: Fury Road went home with the most Oscars trophy with six from the following: Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Production Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Costume Design and Best Film Editing. 

Filipino co-director Ronnie del Carmen rejoices with co-director Pete Docter and producer Jonas Rivera for winning the Best Animated Feature Film for Inside Out, dedicated to the Philippines and Filipinos. Del Carmen was specifically nominated for the Best Original Screenplay but lost the category to Spotlight.  László Nemes' Son of Saul won the Best Foreign Language Film category for Hungary.

Ennio Morricone won the Best Original Score for The Hateful Eight while Sam Smith with songwriter Jimmy Napes won the Best Original Song for Writing's on the Wall for the film Spectre, a James Bond film series. 

Performances include Sam Smith, The Weeknd and a poignant performance of Lady Gaga featuring survivors of sexual assaults while United States Vice President Joe Biden made his appearance to deliver a message.

Chris Rock hosted the 88th Academy Awards popularly called Oscars 2016 in a year of controversy for lacking in diversity due to the obvious absence on nominees of the people of color and as a shout out to Hollywood and the Academy Awards made some witty monologues at the start of the ceremonies in reaction to the controversy.  


Photo Sources:

Academy Awards Official Website - www.oscar.go.com 

Coming Soon - www.comingsoon.net 

Latino Review.com -  www.latino-review.com

 

 

Bwakaw: Will This Be The First Philippine Entry to Oscar Academy Awards

Bwakaw Movie Starring Eddie Garcia in the Lead Role 

  
          Will Bwakaw be the first Philippine Entry which will SUCCESSFULLY make it as a nominee to the Best Foreign Language Film of the 85th Academy Awards on February 24, 2013 in Kodak Theater, Los Angeles, California and if ever win the coveted golden statuette, Oscars. It is now competing among other international submissions from 71 countries to be shortlisted to nine (9) and finally only 5 will be the official nominees for the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The Philippines has never been an awarded nor a nominee in the Academy Awards for Foreign Language Film but in Asia, Japan, China, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) and Israel has so far only won for Asia. Usually, the awards show happens last week of March in the 1990s and early 2000s but lately it is moved early in February for unknown reason (much better if its in late March) and people in the Philippines slowly losing interest in the Academy Awards because no Philippine entry has made it or even won the award and maybe considering boycotting or will not send an entry for some years and some other countries are also losing interest in the event. 

          Bwakaw is a drama-comedy about growing old, and everyone's fear of growing old alone. Rene is a gay man who came out of the closet at age 70. Ailing in his twilight years, he thinks it is now too late for love, even companionship, and that all there is to look forward to is Death. He has made a will, bequeathing his few possessions to his even fewer friends. Everything is packed and labeled, ready for distribution. He has even paid for a coffin, taking advantage of a funeral home's Summer Sale. Nowadays the only companion Rene has is Bwakaw, a stray dog that hangs around his house and follows him wherever he goes. As Rene waits for the day of his death, he gets the surprise of his life when it is Bwakaw who suddenly falls ill and is diagnosed with cancer. Rene is surprisingly affected, and he realizes that he values Bwakaw more than he thinks. In his struggle to get Bwakaw cured, Rene finds comfort in the most unlikely person: Sol, a tricycle driver who helps him bring Bwakaw to the vet and befriends him. Buoyed by Sol's friendship, Rene starts living. Little by little he discovers simple joys. To the surprise of his friends, he even has his hair dyed to look younger. One day, he finally decides to make a move on Sol. The revelation that Rene is gay and has feelings for him surprises and disgusts Sol. He rejects Rene and leaves in anger. In the meantime, Bwakaw's condition gets worse. Not even Rene's ancient Santo Entierro (a supposedly miraculous statue of Jesus Christ) can save Bwakaw. Bwakaw dies, and Rene's neighbors help him bury the faithful dog. But Bwakaw's death, even while it was still only imminent, has made a difference. Rene has found a new appreciation for life and what is most important. He decides to unpack the things that he has already willed to other people and make his house more inhabitable. He is, after all, still alive. 

          Bwakaw has received rave reviews and positive responses from critics around the world and many insiders says that this one to watch out for movie has a high chance of making it at least as one of the five official nominees for the 85th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and hopefully it will and the outcome will determine if we still have to submit entries to the Academy Awards or not. By the way, Philippines will never make it to the Academy Awards because most members of the academy are British who hates the Philippines so much. I don't know why British make it as members of the Academy since it is America and not British. Does that mean British are so insecure with America that they interfere and participate in America's affairs and events?