THE 2014 ACADEMY AWARDS!

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Best Picture

Birdman (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, John Lesher and James W. Skotchdopole)

Best Director

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

J. K. Simmons (Whiplash)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

Best Original Screenplay

Armando Bo, Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolas Giacobone and Alejando Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Graham Moore (The Imitation Game)

Best Cinematography

Emmanuel Lubezki (Birdman)

Best Film Editing

Tom Cross (Whiplash)

Best Production Design

Anna Pinnock and Adam Stockhausen (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Best Costume Design

Milena Canonero (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Best Sound Mixing

Thomas Curley, Craig Mann and Ben Wilkins (Whiplash)

Best Sound Editing

Bub Asman and Alan Robert Murray (American Sniper)

Best Visual Effects

Scott Fisher, Paul Franklin, Ian Hunter and Andrew Lockley (Interstellar)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Mark Coulier and Frances Hannon (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Best Original Score

Alexandre Desplat (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Best Original Song

Lonnie Lynn Jr. and John Stephens - 'Glory' (Selma)

Best Animated Feature

Big Hero 6 (Roy Conli, Don Hall and Chris Williams)

Best Documentary Feature

Citizenfour (Mathilde Bonnefoy, Laura Poitras and Dirk Wilutzky)

Best Foreign Language Film

Ida (Pawel Pawlikowski) - Poland

Best Live Action Short Film

The Phone Call (Mat Kirkby and James Lucas)

Best Animated Short Film

Feast (Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed)

Best Documentary Short Subject

Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 (Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry)

BIRDMAN AND GRAND BUDAPEST LEAD 2014 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS

It was another saddening announcement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, as they faced the shame of revealing their 2014 nominations. Although Selma cracked the Best Picture lineup, sitting at eight after three consecutive years at nine, it only picked up a Best Original Song nomination otherwise. No female writers or directors were recognised, nor people of colour in any of the top categories save Best Picture. Bennett Miller becomes the first director since Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly to receive a nod in Best Director for a film, Foxcatcher, that is not up for Best Picture. The Oscars will be held on the 22nd of February, at The Academy's annual shitfest awards ceremony. All the nominees below:


Best Picture
American Sniper (Bradley Cooper, Clint Eastwood, Andrew Lazar, Robert Lorenz and Peter Morgan)

Birdman (Alejandro González Iñárritu, John Lesher and James W. Skotchdopole)

Boyhood (Richard Linklater and Cathleen Sutherland)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson, Steven M. Rales and Scott Rudin)

The Imitation Game (Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky and Teddy Schwarzman)

Selma (Christian Colson, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Oprah Winfrey)

The Theory of Everything (Tim Bevan, Lisa Bruce, Eric Fellner and Anthony McCarten)

Whiplash (Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook and David Lancaster)

Best Director

Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman)

Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher)

Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Steve Carell (Foxcatcher)

Bradley Cooper (American Sniper)

Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game)

Michael Keaton (Birdman)

Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night)

Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything)

Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)

Reese Witherspoon (Wild)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Robert Duvall (The Judge)

Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)

Edward Norton (Birdman)

Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)

J. K. Simmons (Whiplash)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

Laura Dern (Wild)

Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game)

Emma Stone (Birdman)

Meryl Streep (Into the Woods)

Best Original Screenplay

Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Armando Bo, Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolás Giacobone and Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman)

E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman (Foxcatcher)

Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler)

Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Paul Thomas Anderson (Inherent Vice)

Damien Chazelle (Whiplash)

Jason Hall (American Sniper)

Anthony McCarten (The Theory of Everything)

Graham Moore (The Imitation Game)

Best Cinematography

Roger Deakins (Unbroken)

Ryszard Lenczewski and Lukasz Zal (Ida)

Emmanuel Lubezki (Birdman)

Dick Pope (Mr. Turner)

Robert D. Yeoman (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Best Film Editing

Sandra Adair (Boyhood)

Joel Cox and Gary Roach (American Sniper)

Tom Cross (Whiplash)

William Goldenberg (The Imitation Game)

Barney Pilling (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Best Production Design

Nathan Crowley and Gary Fettis (Interstellar)

Suzie Davies and Charlotte Watts (Mr. Turner)

Maria Djurkovic and Tatiana MacDonald (The Imitation Game)

Dennis Gassner and Anna Pinnock (Into the Woods)

Anna Pinnock and Adam Stockhausen (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Best Costume Design

Colleen Atwood (Into the Woods)

Mark Bridges (Inherent Vice)

Milena Canonero (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Jane Clive and Anna B. Sheppard (Maleficent)

Jacqueline Durran (Mr. Turner)

Best Sound Mixing

Thomas Curley, Craig Mann and Ben Wilkins (Whiplash)

Gregg Landaker, Gary Rizzo and Mark Weingarten (Interstellar)

David Lee, Frank A. Montaño and Jon Taylor (Unbroken)

Walt Martin, John T. Reitz and Gregg Rudloff (American Sniper)

Frank A. Montaño, Jon Taylor and Thomas Varga (Birdman)

Best Sound Editing

Bub Asman and Alan Robert Murray (American Sniper)

Brent Burge and Jason Canovas (The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies)

Andrew DeCristofaro and Becky Sullivan (Unbroken)

Aaron Glascock and Martin Hernández (Birdman)

Richard King (Interstellar)

Best Visual Effects

Nicolas Aithadi, Stephane Ceretti, Paul Corbould and Jonathan Fawkner (Guardians of the Galaxy)

Daniel Barrett, Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon and Erik Winquist (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes)

Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Daniel Sudick (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)

Tim Crosbie, Lou Pecora, Richard Stammers and Cameron Waldbauer (X-Men: Days of Future Past)

Scott Fisher, Paul Franklin, Ian Hunter and Andrew Lockley (Interstellar)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard (Foxcatcher)

Mark Coulier and Frances Hannon (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

David White and Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou (Guardians of the Galaxy)

Best Original Score

Alexandre Desplat (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Alexandre Desplat (The Imitation Game)

Jóhann Jóhannsson (The Theory of Everything)

Gary Yershon (Mr. Turner)

Hans Zimmer (Interstellar)

Best Original Song

Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois – ‘Lost Stars’ (Begin Again)

Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond – ‘I’m Not Gonna Miss You’ (Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me)

Lonnie Lynn Jr. and John Stephens – ‘Glory’ (Selma)

Shawn Patterson – ‘Everything Is Awesome’ (The LEGO Movie)

Diane Warren – ‘Grateful’ (Beyond the Lights)

Best Animated Feature

Big Hero 6 (Roy Conli, Don Hall and Chris Williams)

The Boxtrolls (Graham Annable, Travis Knight and Anthony Stacchi)

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (Bonnie Arnold and Dean DeBlois)

Song of the Sea (Tomm Moore and Paul Young)

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (Nishimura Yoshiaki and Takahata Isao)

Best Documentary Feature

Citizenfour (Mathilde Bonnefoy, Laura Poitras and Dirk Wilutzky)

Finding Vivian Maier (John Maloof and Charlie Siskel)

Last Days in Vietnam (Rory Kennedy and Kevin McAlester)

The Salt of the Earth (Julian Ribeiro Salgado, David Rosier and Wim Wenders)

Virunga (Joanna Natasegara and Orlando von Einsiedel)

Best Foreign Language Film

Ida (Pawel Pawlikowski) – Poland

Leviathan (Andrey Zvyagintsev) – Russia

Tangerines (Zaza Urushadze) – Estonia

Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako) – Mauritania

Wild Tales (Damián Szifrón) – Argentina

Best Live Action Short Film

Aya (Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis)

Boogaloo and Graham (Ronan Blaney and Michael Lennox)

Butter Lamp (Julien Féret and Wei Hu)

Parvaneh (Stefan Eichenberger and Talkhon Hamzavi)

The Phone Call (Mat Kirkby and James Lucas)

Best Animated Short Film

The Bigger Picture (Christopher Hees and Daisy Jacobs)

The Dam Keeper (Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi)

Feast (Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed)

Me and My Moulton (Torill Kove)

A Single Life (Joris Oprins)

Best Documentary Short Subject

Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 (Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry)

Joanna (Aneta Kopacz)

Our Curse (Maciej Ślesicki and Tomasz Śliwiński)

The Reaper (Gabriel Serra Arguello)

White Earth (J. Christian Jensen)

IDA STILL IN THE RACE AS OSCAR FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM RACE NARROWS TO 9

With so many great titles in the running, out of a record-high 83 eligible selections, the process of slimming the Foreign Language Film Oscar race down to nine was never going to be a pleasant one. Such a shame, though, to note just how many of the year's best films have been nixed, particularly when the current list favours a number of films that didn't exactly need the boost. Anyway, here are the films which will compete for nominations next month on the 15th of January:

• Accused - Netherlands (Paula van der Oest)
• Corn Island - Georgia (George Ovashvili)
• Force Majeure - Sweden (Ruben Ostlund)
• Ida - Poland (Pawel Pawlikowski)
• Leviathan - Russia (Andrey Zvyagintsev)
• The Liberator - Venezuela (Alberto Arvelo)
• Tangerines - Estonia (Zaza Urushadze)
• Timbuktu - Mauritania (Abderrahmane Sissako)
• Wild Tales - Argentina (Damian Szifron)

THE OSCAR MAKEUP RACE NARROWS TO SEVEN

The annual cull of potential Oscar makeup contenders has occurred. Oddly, the Academy's makeup branch still insists on a shortlist of seven films and an eventual table of nominees of just three, so plenty of the year's finest makeup and hair artistry has been ruled out of contention. Among the casualties are many predicted nominees, including The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Into the Woods and Unbroken, though the current list of seven is a fairly formidable one nonetheless. Here are your nomination contenders:

• The Amazing Spider-Man 2
• Foxcatcher
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Maleficent
• Noah
• The Theory of Everything

ALL 79 QUALIFIED SONGS FOR OSCAR NOMINATIONS

The Original Song Oscar category is one of its antiquated curiosities, even now that they've reformed the voting practices. 79 films have qualified for nomination, with major singing stars like Patti Smith, No Doubt (be still my beating, throbbing, overflowing heart!), Liza Minnelli, Lorde and Coldplay intermingling with lesser-known contenders from arthouse films. Let's hope we don't see a repeat of last year's Alone Yet Not Alone fiasco...

• 'Afreen' (The Hundred-Foot Journey)
• 'All Our Endless Love' (Endless Love)
• 'America for Me' (A Most Violent Year)
• 'The Apology Song' (The Book of Life)
• 'Battle Cry' (Transformers: Age of Extinction)
• 'Batucada Family' (Rio 2)
• 'Beautiful Creatures' (Rio 2)
• 'Big Eyes' (Big Eyes)
• 'The Boxtrolls Song' (The Boxtrolls)
• 'Brave Souls' (Dolphin Tale 2)
• 'Call Me when You Find Yourself' (Life Inside Out)
• 'Chariots' (The Hornet's Nest)
• 'Colour the World' (The Hero of Colour City)
• 'Coming Back to You' (Life of an Actress: The Musical)
• 'Everyone Hides' (St. Vincent)
• 'Everything Is Awesome' (The LEGO Movie)
• 'Find a Way' (The Good Lie)
• 'Follow Me' (The Hornet's Nest)
• 'For the Dancing and the Dreaming' (How to Train Your Dragon 2)
• 'Gimme Some' (#Stuck)
• 'Glory' (Selma)
• 'Grant My Freedom' (The One I Wrote for You)
• 'Grateful' (Beyond the Lights)
• 'Hal' (Only Lovers Left Alive)
• 'Heart Like Yours' (If I Stay)
• 'Heavenly Father' (Wish I Was Here)
• 'I Love You Too Much' (The Book of Life)
• 'I'll Get You What You Want (Cockatoo in Malibu)' (Muppets Most Wanted)
• 'Immortals' (Big Hero 6)
• 'I'm Not Gonna Miss You' (Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me)
• 'It Just Takes a Moment' (Girl on a Bicycle)
• 'It's On Again' (The Amazing Spider-Man 2)
• 'The Last Goodbye' (The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies)
• 'Last Stop Paris' (Girl on a Bicycle)
• 'Let Me In' (The Fault in Our Stars)
• 'The Life of an Actress' (Life of an Actress: The Musical)
• 'Long Braid' (Work Weather Wife)
• 'Lost Stars' (Begin Again)
• 'Mercy Is' (Noah)
• 'Million Dollar Dream' (Million Dollar Arm)
• 'A Million Ways to Die' (A Million Ways to Die in the West)
• 'Mind' (If I Stay)
• 'Miracles' (Unbroken)
• 'Moon' (Work Weather Wife)
• 'The Morning' (A Small Section of the World)
• 'No Fate Awaits Me' (The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them)
• 'Not About Angels' (The Fault in Our Stars)
• 'The One I Wrote for You' (The One I Wrote for You)
• 'The Only Thing' (Third Person)
• 'Opportunity' (Annie)
• 'Ordinary Human' (The Giver)
• 'Over Your Shoulder' (Rudderless)
• 'Poisonous Love' (Rio 2)
• 'Quattro Sabatino' (The Boxtrolls)
• 'Ryan's Song' (Boyhood)
• 'Seeds' (Occupy the Farm)
• 'Shine' (Paddington)
• 'Sing Along' (Rudderless)
• 'Sister Rust' (Lucy)
• 'So Now What' (Wish I Was Here)
• 'Something So Right' (Muppets Most Wanted)
• 'Something to Shoot For' (Hot Guys with Guns)
• 'Special' (Special)
• 'Split the Difference' (Boyhood)
• 'Spreading the Word / Makhna'(Million Dollar Arm)
• 'Stay with You' (Rudderless)
• 'Still I Fly' (Planes: Fire and Rescue)
• 'Summer Nights' (Under the Electric Sky)
• 'Until the End' (Garnet's Gold)
• 'Way Back When' (Mr. Peabody & Sherman)
• 'We Could Be Kings' (Million Dollar Arm)
• 'We Will Not Go' (Virunga)
• 'We're Doing a Sequel' (Muppets Most Wanted)
• 'What Is Love' (Rio 2)
• 'Why Why Why' (St. Vincent)
• 'Yellow Flicker Beat' (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1)
• 'You Fooled Me' (Merchants of Doubt)
• 'You Got Me' (Dolphin Tale 2)

114 SCORES ELIGIBLE FOR OSCAR CONSIDERATION

Although the Academy publishes lists of eligible films for its main categories, and shortlists for some of its technical ones, one of the most high-profile and unique of these eligibility rosters is for the Original Score category. 114 scores have been submitted and accepted for consideration for Oscar nominations - Antonio Sanchez's for Birdman has been rejected, but five Alexandre Desplat scores will compete for nominations, any and all of which stand fair shots at gaining recognition. Here's the full list:

• Joshua Abrams (Life Itself)
• Mark Adler (Merchants of Doubt)
• Lorne Balfe (Penguins of Madagascar)
• Will Bates and Phil Mossman (I Origins)
• Christophe Beck (Cake)
• Christophe Beck (Edge of Tomorrow)
• Christophe Beck and Leo Birenberg (Red Army)
• Christophe Beck and Jake Monaco (Endless Love)
• Marco Beltrami (The Giver)
• Marco Beltrami (The Homesman)
• Marco Beltrami (Snowpiercer)
• Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders (The Drop)
• Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans (The One I Love)
• Joseph Bishara (Annabelle)
• Patrick Cassidy (Calvary)
• Toby Chu (Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return)
• Elia Cmiral (Atlas Shrugged: Who Is John Galt?)
• Bruno Coulais (Song of the Sea)
• Tim Davies and Gustavo Santaolalla (The Book of Life)
• John Debney (Draft Day)
• Alexandre Desplat (Godzilla)
• Alexandre Desplat (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
• Alexandre Desplat (The Imitation Game)
• Alexandre Desplat (The Monuments Men)
• Alexandre Desplat (Unbroken)
• Ramin Djawadi (Dracula Untold)
• Gustavo Dudamel (The Liberator)
• Alex Ebert (A Most Violent Year)
• Danny Elfman (Big Eyes)
• Danny Elfman (Mr. Peabody & Sherman)
• Ilan Eshkeri (Still Alice)
• Nina Fakhrara (The Signal)
• George Fenton (Bears)
• Bill Frisell (The Great Flood)
• Michael Giacchino (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes)
• Michael Giacchino (This Is Where I Leave You)
• Philip Glass (Visitors)
• Jonny Greenwood (Inherent Vice)
• Harry Gregson-Williams (The Equaliser)
• Lili Haydn (Anita)
• David Hirschfelder (The Railway Man)
• Hisaishi Jo (The Tale of the Princess Kaguya)
• Tom Holkenborg (Divergent)
• Tom Holkenborg (300: Rise of an Empire)
• Alberto Iglesias (Exodus: Gods and Kings)
• Steve Jablonsky (Transformers: Age of Extinction)
• Henry Jackman (Big Hero 6)
• Henry Jackman (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)
• Henry Jackman (The Interview)
• Johann Johannsson (The Theory of Everything)
• Nathan Johnson (Kill the Messenger)
• Patrick Jonsson (Virunga)
• Christopher Lennertz (Horrible Bosses 2)
• Christopher Lennertz (Ride Along)
• Martin Leon (The Good Lie)
• Mica Levi (Under the Skin)
• Son Lux (The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them)
• Vivek Maddala (American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs)
• Nuno Malo (No God, No Master)
• Clint Mansell (Noah)
• Dario Marianelli (The Boxtrolls)
• Joel McNeely (A Million Ways to Die in the West)
• Pat Metheny (Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed)
• Mike Mogis (The Fault in Our Stars)
• Jason Moran (Selma)
• Trevor Morris (Brick Mansions)
• Mark Mothersbaugh (22 Jump Street)
• Mark Mothersbaugh (The LEGO Movie)
• Blake Neely (The Case Against 8)
• Thomas Newman (The Judge)
• James Newton Howard (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1)
• James Newton Howard (Maleficent)
• James Newton Howard (Nightcrawler)
• Sonu Nigam and Bickram Ghosh (Jal)
• Mark Orton (My Old Lady)
• John Ottman (Non-Stop)
• John Ottman (X-Men: Days of Future Past)
• John Paesano (The Maze Runner)
• Laurent Petitgand (The Salt of the Earth)
• Zoe Poledouris-Roche and Angel Roche Jr. (The Hero of Colour City)
• Rachel Portman (Belle)
• Rachel Portman (Dolphin Tale 2)
• John Powell (How to Train Your Dragon 2)
• Steven Price (Fury)
• Carlos Rafael Rivera (A Walk Among the Tombstones)
• A. R. Rahman (The Hundred-Foot Journey)
• A. R. Rahman (Kochadaiiyaan)
• A. R. Rahman (Million Dollar Arm)
• J. Ralph (Finding Vivian Maier)
• J. Ralph (Garnet's Gold)
• Nicole Renaud (Cheatin')
• Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Gone Girl)
• Craig Richey (Girl on a Bicycle)
• Arturo Sandoval (At Middleton)
• Gustavo Santaolalla (Wild Tales)
• Anton Sanko (Ouija)
• Kristian Sensini (Rocks in My Pockets)
• Eric Serra (Lucy)
• Theodore Shapiro (St. Vincent)
• Howard Shore (The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies)
• Howard Shore (Rosewater)
• Clinton Shorter (Pompeii)
• Alan Silvestri (Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb)
• Garth Stevenson (Tracks)
• David Torn (That Awkward Moment)
• Joseph Trapanese (Earth to Echo)
• Brian Tyler (Into the Storm)
• Brian Tyler (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
• Nick Urata (Paddington)
• Fernando Velazquez (Hercules)
• Nathan Whitehead (The Purge: Anarchy)
• Timothy Williams (Walking with the Enemy)
• Gary Yershon (Mr. Turner)
• Hans Zimmer (Interstellar)

OSCAR VISUAL EFFECTS BAKE-OFF CONTENDERS ANNOUNCED

The Oscar race for Best Visual Effects has narrowed down to ten features. The annual process of determining the nominees in this category sees a final ten compete in a bake-off against one another, with presentations made by each film's VFX crew to the Academy's visual effects branch. The list is unfortunately lacking in imaginative design this year, with the selectors favouring films which simply make extensive use of effects, rather than crediting the innovative qualities of effects in films such as Under the Skin, for example. Nominees to be announced on the 15th of January. Interesting facts: eight of these titles are franchise features, while a nomination for X-Men: Days of Future Past would be the first Oscar nod for an X-Men film. Below are the ten titles headed to the bake-off.

• Captain America: The Winter Soldier
• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
• Godzilla
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
• Interstellar
• Maleficent
• Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb
• Transformers: Age of Extinction
• X-Men: Days of Future Past

15 DOCUMENTARIES ADVANCE TOWARD OSCAR NOMINATIONS

 

Recent years' Oscar Best Documentary races have been blighted by questionable choices during the shortlist-making process, or at least choices that did away with many of the most popular contenders. Though films such as Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me and Point and Shoot have failed to advance from the crowded eligible films list, most of the frontrunners are present on the Academy's 15-strong shortlist. Here are all of the films which will compete for a final five slots, to be announced on the 15th of January.

• Art and Craft (Purple Parrot Films)
• The Case Against 8 (Day in Court)
• Citizen Koch (Elsewhere Films)
• Citizenfour (Praxis Films)
• Finding Vivian Maier (Ravine Pictures)
• The Internet's Own Boy (Luminant Media)
• Jodorowsky's Dune (City Film)
• Keep On Keepin' On (Absolute Clay Productions)
• The Kill Team (f/8 filmworks)
• Last Days in Vietnam (Moxie Firecracker Films)
• Life Itself (Film Rites and Kartemquin Films)
• The Overnighters (Mile End Films West)
• The Salt of the Earth (Decia Films)
• Tales of the Grim Sleeper (Lafayette Film)
• Virunga (Grain Media)

ACADEMY'S LIVE ACTION SHORTS RACE REFINED TO 10

141 live action short films have been screened for AMPAS, and they've carried out their annual process of culling the vast majority of eligible titles to come up with a shortlist prior to nomination. Next month, members will meet in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in the US, and London in the UK, to decide upon three to five nominees in the Best Live Action Short category, depending on the strength of the year's crop. Just for once, I'd like to see an Oscar ceremony in which the maximum amount of films was nominated in every single category, and that includes expanding the Best Makeup category. Oh well, one way or another, Oscar nominations are announced on the 15th of January. Here are the ten live action short films vying for a spot in the race:

Aya (Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis)

Baghdad Messi (Sahim Omar Kalifa and Kobe van Steenberghe)

Boogaloo and Graham (Ronan Blaney and Michael Lennox)

Butter Lamp (Julien Feret and Hu Wei)

Carry On (Li Ya Tao)

My Father's Truck (Mauricio Osaki)

Parvaneh (Stefan Eichenberger and Talkhon Hamzavi)

The Phone Call (Mat Kirkby and James Lucas)

SLR (Stephen Fingleton and Matthew James Wilkinson)

Summer Vacation (Tal Granit and Sharon Maymon)

ALL THE OSCAR-ELIGIBLE DOCS! ALL OF THEM!

Take pity on me. I'm about to type up the 134 films declared eligible for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar this year. Note that these are not necessarily all eligible for main category Oscars; that list will emerge later in the year. Nominations set to arrive on the 15th of January, prior to which a shortlist of 15 features will be made - that's coming next month.

• Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil le Clerq
• Ai Wei Wei: The Fake Case
• Algorithms
• Alive Inside
• All You Need Is Love
• Altina
• America
• American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs
• Anita
• Antarctica: A Year on Ice
• Art and Craft
• Awake: The Life of Yogananda
• The Barefoot Artist
• The Battered Bastards of Baseball
• Before You Know It
• Bitter Honey
• Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity
• Botso the Teacher from Tbilisi
• Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart
• The Case Against 8
• Cesar's Last Fast
• Citizen Koch
• CitizenFour
• Code Black
• Concerning Violence
• The Culture High
• Cyber-Seniors
• DamNation
• Dancing in Jaffa
• Death Metal Angola
• The Decent One
• Dinosaur 13
• Do You Know What My Name Is?
• Documented
• The Dog
• E-Team
• Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me
• Elena
• Evolution of a Criminal
• Fed Up
• Finding Fela
• Finding Vivian Maier
• Food Chains
• The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden
• Getting to the Nutcracker
• Glen Campbell... I'll Be Me
• Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
• The Great Flood
• The Great Invisible
• The Green Prince
• The Hacker Wars
• The Hadza: Last of the First
• Hanna Ranch
• Happy Valley
• The Hornet's Nest
• I Am Ali
• If You Build It
• The Immortalists
• The Internet's Own Boy
• Ivory Tower
• James Cameron's Deepsea Challenge
• Jodorowsky's Dune
• Journey of a Female Comic
• Keep On Keepin' On
• Kids for Cash
• The Kill Team
• Korengal
• La Bare
• Last Days in Vietnam
• Last Hijack
• The Last Petrol
• Levitated Mass
• Life Itself
• Little White Lie
• Llyn Foulkes One Man Band
• Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
• Manakamana
• Merchants of Doubt
• Mission Blue
• Mistaken for Strangers
• Mitt
• Monk with a Camera
• Nas: Time is Illmatic
• National Gallery
• Next Goal Wins
• Next Year Jerusalem
• Night Will Fall
• No Cameras Allowed
• Now: In the Wings on a World Stage
• Occupy the Farm
• The Only Real Game
• The Overnighters
• Particle Fever
• Pay 2 Play: Democracy's High Stakes
• Pelican Dreams
• The Pleasures of Being Out of Step
• Plot for Peace
• Point and Shoot
• Poverty Inc.
• Print the Legend
• Private Violence
• Pump
• Rabindranath Tagore - The Poet of Eternity
• Red Army
• Remote Area Medical
• Rich Hill
• The Rule
• The Salt of the Earth
• Shadows from My Past
• She's Beautiful When She's Angry
• A Small Section of the World
• Smiling Through the Apocalypse - Esquire in the '60s
• Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
• The Supreme Price
• Tales of the Grim Sleeper
• Tanzania: The Journey Within
• This Is Not a Ball
• Thomas Keating: A Rising Tide of Silence
• Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People
• True Son
• 20,000 Days on Earth
• Unclaimed
• Under the Electric Sky
• Underwater Dreams
• Virunga
• Waiting for August
• Walking the Camino: Six Days to Santiago
• Warsaw Uprising
• Watchers of the Sky
• Watermark
• We Are the Giant
• We Could Be King
• Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger
• A World Not Ours