Oscar Campaign: Last News

A column chronicling events and conversations on the awards circuit. 

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Zoe Saldaña is speaking out about the controversy surrounding her “Emilia Pérez” co-star Karla Sofía Gascón, whose past social media posts have resurfaced, drawing criticism for their offensive and Islamophobic rhetoric. The backlash has overshadowed the film’s historic Oscar recognition, including Saldaña’s first Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress. In an interview for an upcoming episode of the Variety Awards Circuit Podcast, Saldaña expressed her sadness over the situation, emphasizing that the film was created with the intention of inclusivity and love.

Jamie Lang Latin American super-producer Daniel Dreifuss was in his father’s hometown of Montevideo this week to speak to the Ventana Sur film market about how to craft an awards season campaign. It’s clear why the market would want to host Dreifuss as he’s a qualified authority on the subject, having backed Oscar-nominated fare such as Pablo Larraín’s 2012 feature “No” and last year’s four-time Academy Award-winner “All Quiet on the Western Front.” During his discussion, the hitmaker talked about far more than how to earn plaudits, however, explaining that if the initial goal of a project is to win awards, chances are that the honors will never come. Below, we highlight five takeaways from a one-on-one conversation between Dreifuss and Variety and his enlightening masterclass at Ventana Sur.

Naman Ramachandran Jude Anthany Joseph, director of India’s international feature Oscar contender “2018,” has started work on his next film. The untitled investigative thriller is being written by the filmmaker alongside journalist Josy Joseph. The film is based on the true story of Kerala Shipping Corporation’s cargo ship MV Kairali that disappeared in 1979 with a crew of 49 and 20,000 tonnes of iron ore on board while sailing from Margao, India to Rostock, Germany, via Djibouti.

Marta Balaga “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood” director Anna Hints keeps on bewitching her audience. Literally. “Maybe you are not wrong.