Historic firsts, snubs, and the Philippines’ elusive Oscar nod

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LOS ANGELES, USA – The announcement of the 97th Academy nominations yielded some historic firsts, the expected ecstatic reactions, and a reminder of the elusive Oscar nod for the Philippines.

The country’s entry to the Best International Feature this year, Ramona Diaz’s documentary, And So It Begins, did not land on the Academy’s shortlist last December. So there were no expectations when writer-comedians Rachel Sennott and Bowen Yang announced the nominees in a live presentation Thursday morning, January 23 (Thursday evening in Manila) at the Oscars’ Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

The country that was ecstatic was Latvia, which scored not only one but two nods for the first time. After only 15 submissions, the small country in Northern Europe cinched Best International Feature and Best Animated Feature nominations, thanks to Gints Zilbalodis’ lyrical, visually beautiful cat survival parable, Flow.

The Latvian filmmaker, who shared a video on Instagram showing him watching the live-streamed nominations ceremony while eating an apple and cuddling his golden retriever, said in a statement: “When we started working on this film, we never imagined it would lead to this. A Latvian film has never before been nominated and for a small independent film to be recognized in the Best Animated Feature category is unbelievable.”

“For over five years, a small group of young and passionate creators and I worked on telling this story about an anxious cat surviving in an unforgiving landscape — a cat who learns that friendship comes when you trust those around you.”

Gints, whose history-making film is only his second directing feature, added, “I want to emphasize that this film was made using completely free tools that anyone can access. I learned filmmaking by watching YouTube videos and experimenting on my own. I am so proud of this film and what it means for the next generation of animators.”

After over 30 submissions since 1984, Thailand came close to its first nod when its entry, Pat Boonnitipat’s How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (Lahn Mah), advanced to the International Feature shortlist. But the critical and commercial hit failed to make it to the final five.

Still, How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies and Flow’s impact on Academy voters stressed the importance of story, story, story. 

Flow is wordless while How to Make… is a simple drama about a young man forging a relationship with his ill grandmother. These films show that contenders do not have to be big-budgeted productions to have a fighting chance at the Oscars.

Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car, and Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation are a few samples of low-budgeted features with good storylines that made it to the Academy’s Best International Feature race.

‘Art does not understand hate’

The Philippines first submitted an entry, Lamberto V. Avellana’s Anak Dalita, in 1956. Some online sources claim that among the countries who submitted entries to the 29th Academy Awards, under the category then named Best Foreign Language, only the Philippines has not landed a nomination since. The entries then came from Denmark, France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, and Sweden.

Back to Walter’s I’m Still Here, Fernanda Torres became the second Brazilian to earn a Best Actress nod following her mother Fernanda Montenegro’s precedent-setting nomination in 1998 for Central Station, serendipitously also by Walter.

The director’s drama about a former congressman who returns to his country after exile and then disappears under the dictatorship regime (talk about stories that can be mined) also snapped citations for the Academy’s plum prize, Best Picture, and Best International Feature.

Brazilians also celebrated a milestone – I’m Still Here is the first film in Portuguese from that country to capture the Best Picture citation.

In other categories, Emilia Perez’s Karla Sofia Gascon made Oscars history as the first openly transgender performer to bag a Best Actress nomination. 

The Spain native told The Hollywood Reporter: “Now it is time to focus on my performance and put aside my ethnicity, sexuality or hair color, to move forward in ‘integration.’”

“Today it is proven that art does not understand hate. No one can question my work, even less the fact that I am an actress.”

In a drastically changed American political landscape where newly inaugurated President Donald Trump immediately began imposing his ultra-conservative ideology, starting with an executive order targeting the LGBTQ+ community, Karla also told The Hollywood Reporter: “He is shameless. I hope that whatever needs to happen happens to shut everyone up, on both sides.”

Earlier this month, at the Golden Globes show, the trans rights activist spoke on stage when Emilia Perez won the Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy honors: “The light always wins over darkness. You come and maybe put us in jail, you can beat us up [but] you never can take away our soul, our existence, our identity.”

Beyond wildest dreams

The wildfires that devastated Southern California were on the minds of some of the newly minted Oscar nominees.

The Substance’s Demi Moore, in the running for Best Actress for the first time (also her first Academy recognition), said in a statement: “Being nominated for an Oscar is an incredible honor and these last few months have been beyond my wildest dreams…This is a time of incredible contrasts and right now, my heart is with my friends, family, neighbors, and community here in LA.”

“The fires have devastated so many lives but to see the way our community has united leaves me in awe of the resilience and compassion that defines us, and this moment is a reminder of how incredible we are when we stand together.”

Best Supporting Actress nominee Zoe Saldaña (for Emilia Perez) said in her reaction quote: “It’s a bittersweet moment as our community in Los Angeles is processing the heartbreaking losses from the ongoing fires — homes, schools, businesses, and entire neighborhoods. My heart is with all those affected and I’m sending endless love and appreciation to our fearless first responders and everyone working to help rebuild our city.”

In response to the wildlife crisis, the Academy decided to cancel the usual live performances of the nominated songs on the March 2 show and will instead focus on the songwriters. The organization also announced that it will “acknowledge those who fought so bravely against the wildfires.”

Earlier, the Academy also nixed its traditional Oscar nominees luncheon at The Beverly Hilton and donated $250,000 that it would have spent to the LA wildlife relief efforts.

Notable snubs

Felicity Jones, who collected her second nod, this time for Best Supporting Actress in her portrayal of Erzsébet Toth, a wheelchair-bound woman who defies patriarchal society in The Brutalist, said, “Erzsébet’s story is one of resilience, resistance, strength, and hope. She represents the many women who are the underestimated force and steady backbone of their familial stories, particularly in times of tremendous hardship.”

Notable snubs included Angelina Jolie (Maria), Nicole Kidman (Babygirl), Selena Gomez (Emilia Perez), Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths), Daniel Craig (Queer), Denzel Washington (Gladiator II), and Challengers.

Will Diane Warren’s 16th Best Song nomination, for The Journey from The Six Triple Eight, finally be the charm? The popular songwriter delivered hits such as Because You Loved Me, Rhythm of the Night, If I Could Turn Back Time, and many more.

Overall, the Oscar choices mirrored the Golden Globe Awards citations, with some exceptions.

By the time Rachel and Bowen read the last nominations, five films reaped the most nods. Emilia Perez dominated and set the record for the most nominations (13), also a feat for a non-English language film. The Netflix film, directed by Jacques Audiard, increased France’s lead as the nation with the most citations (39) in the Best International Feature derby. Italy is second with 30 nominations.

Both The Brutalist and Wicked racked up 10 citations each while A Complete Unknown and Conclave garnered eight each.

Conclave, based on Robert Harris’ 2016 novel, changed the nationality of a crucial archbishop character, Vincent Benitez, from Filipino to Mexican.

Director Edward Berger had replied to Rappler’s question about the change via email. He wrote: “We looked for this role all over the world, especially in the Philippines but also all over the rest of Southeast Asia. We so wanted to stay true to the book and honor the nationality but given the complex sexuality of this character, it is truly the hardest role I ever had to cast.”

Anora by Sean Baker, who admires the late great Lino Brocka’s oeuvre, romped off with six recognitions, including Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for the filmmaker.

Anora, Emilia Perez, and The Substance (five nominations) have remarkably kept their awards momentum since they premiered almost a year ago at the Cannes Film Festival.

A sobering reaction quote was given by The Substance’s Coralie Fargeat, this year’s only female director nominee and only the 10th woman filmmaker in the Academy’s history to be cited.

She said to Variety: “When you look at these figures, they’re just crazy. So, it’s time for a change. That’s what the film says, too. Right now it’s moving just a little bit but it should move like the end of the film, like the hectoliters of blood I spilled!”

“I’m proud the film is a stone in that edifice. I’m proud to be able to represent something. I also got a lot of messages from young directors saying, ‘Thank you for making this film. It gives us so much strength, courage, and hope. It shows that it’s possible.’ We come, 2000 years ago, from a world organized in a very monolithic way.”

She added, “We’re still in that world. I don’t think we should lie to ourselves. We’re still completely in that world. We’re trying to crack it, and I made this film to express everything I wanted to say.” – Rappler.com