Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation Sweeps at the 2004 IFP Independent Spirit Awards

FULL LIST OF WINNERS (pdf)

Saturday February 28, 2004

By: IFP/LA


The 2004 IFP Independent Spirit Awards, was held Saturday, February 28, at a tent on the beach in Santa Monica. The Spirit Awards is a celebration honoring films made by filmmakers who embody independence and who dare to challenge the status quo. This annual event, which began as a small grassroots program, has grown into one of the most anticipated events of the film year.

This year's big winner was Focus Features' Lost In Translation, which won Best Feature, Best Director, Best Male Lead (Bill Murray) and Best Screenplay. Lost in Translation was written and directed by Sofia Coppola and produced by Sofia Coppola and Ross Katz. (Full winner, presenter lists following).

This year's ceremony was sponsored by Premier Sponsors: IFC, Entertainment Weekly, DIRECTV, and Bravo; and by Principal Sponsors: Turning Leaf Vineyards, Starbucks Coffee Company, and Hewlett-Packard Company. On 3 Productions produced the Official 2004 IFP Independent Spirit Awards General Attendee Gift Bag and Presenter Gift Lounge.

The ceremony aired live on IFC, beginning at 5:00 pm EST. It will re-broadcast on Bravo later this evening beginning with an exclusive one-hour red carpet show at 9:00 pm EST/PST followed by the awards ceremony at 10:00 pm EST/PST.

Director John Waters served as Master of Ceremonies. Actor Tom Cruise served as Honorary Chair. Diana Zahn-Storey produced the 2004 IFP Independent Spirit Awards for the tenth year.

The following is a complete list of the winners:

Sofia Coppola on the set of "Lost in Translation"

Best Feature
Lost in Translation (Focus Features)
Producers: Sofia Coppola and Ross Katz

Best Director
Sofia Coppola
Lost in Translation (Focus Features)
* First-time filmmakers are not eligible for this category

Best Screenplay
Sofia Coppola
Lost in Translation (Focus Features)

Best First Feature
Monster (Newmarket Films)
Director: Patty Jenkins
Producers: Mark Damon, Donald Kushner, Clark Peterson, Charlize Theron, Brad Wyman

Thomas McCarthy, screenwriter of "The Station Agent"

Best First Screenplay
Thomas McCarthy
The Station Agent (Miramax Films)

John Cassavetes Award (For the Best Feature made for under $500,000)
The Station Agent (Miramax Films)
Writer/Director: Thomas McCarthy
Producers: Mary Jane Skalski, Robert May, Kathryn Tucker

Best Debut Performance
Nikki Reed
Thirteen (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
*Actors making their first appearance in a feature film

Best Supporting Female
Shohreh Aghdashloo
House of Sand and Fog (Dreamworks Pictures)

Best Supporting Male
Djimon Hounsou
In America (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Charlize Theron in "Monster"

Best Female Lead
Charlize Theron
Monster (Newmarket Films)

Best Male Lead
Bill Murray
Lost in Translation (Focus Features)

Best Cinematography
Declan Quinn
In America (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Best Foreign Film
Whale Rider (Newmarket Films)
Director: Niki Caro

Best Documentary
The Fog of War (Sony Pictures Classics)
Director: Errol Morris

"The Station Agent"

Mary Jane Skalski, producer of The Station Agent and The Jimmy Show, received the seventh annual Producers Award, which honors producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to produce quality independent films. The winner of the Producers Award received an unrestricted grant of $20,000. Toni Collette and Dylan McDermott presented the award.

Andrew Bujalski, director of Funny Ha Ha, won the tenth annual Turning Leaf Someone To Watch Award, a $20,000 grant created to honor a director of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award is funded by Turning Leaf Vineyards to help the winning filmmaker pursue his or her craft. Parminder Nagra and Mekhi Phifer presented the award.

Megan Mylan and Jon Shenk, directors of Lost Boys of Sudan, won the seventh annual DIRECTV/IFC Truer Than Fiction Award, presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features; a filmmaker of unique vision and talent who has not yet received significant attention. The award is accompanied by a $20,000 unrestricted grant funded by DIRECTV and IFC. Christina Applegate and Blair Underwood presented the award.

The Special Distinction Award was given to the film 21 Grams, director Alejandro González Iñárritu, writer Guillermo Arriaga, producer Robert Salerno, and its stars Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, and Naomi Watts. 21 Grams was ineligible for a Spirit Award because its budget, though still modest by studio standards, exceeded the Spirit Awards nomination guidelines. The award was presented by Laura Linney.

IFP Independent Spirit Award Winners by Distributor

FOCUS FEATURES - 4
FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES - 3
NEWMARKET FILMS - 3
MIRAMAX - 2
DREAMWORKS PICTURES - 1
SONY PICTURES CLASSICS - 1

Attendees
Joining host Dawn Hudson, Executive Director of IFP/Los Angeles, were Master of Ceremonies John Waters, and Honorary Chair Tom Cruise.

Presenters included: Jennifer Aniston, Christina Applegate, Kevin Bacon, Selma Blair, Erika Christensen, Hayden Christensen, Toni Collette, Rosario Dawson, Zooey Deschanel, Taye Diggs, Jake Gyllenhaal, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Daryl Hannah, Dennis Hopper, Djimon Hounsou, Juliette Lewis, Laura Linney, Lucy Liu, Derek Luke, Dylan McDermott, Michael McKean, Sir Ian McKellen, Samantha Morton, Emily Mortimer, Parminder Nagra, Joe Pantoliano, Amanda Peet, Mekhi Phifer, Mark Ruffalo, Kyra Sedgwick, Hilary Swank, Blair Underwood, Nia Vardalos, Naomi Watts, Mike White, and Elijah Wood.

Celebrity Guests and Nominees included: Patricia Clarkson, Hope Davis, Peter Dinklage, Faye Dunaway, Troy Garity, Willie Garson, Paul Giamatti, Sean P. Hayes, Keisha Castle Hughes, Sir Ben Kingsley, Carson Kressley, Elizabeth Moss, Peter Sarsgaard, Jim Sheridan, Jennifer Tilly, Charlize Theron, Isaiah Washington, Forest Whitaker, Lynn Whitfield, and many, many more...

About the 2004 IFP Independent Spirit Awards
Hosted annually on the Saturday before the Oscars, the IFP Independent Spirit Awards honor films and filmmakers who embody independence and challenge the status quo. Televised in millions of homes and covered internationally by the press, the Independent Spirit Awards program has become the vanguard event in independent film, recognizing the achievements of independent filmmakers and promoting independent film to a wider audience. The Independent Spirit Awards nominees are chosen on the basis of original, provocative subject matter; uniqueness of vision; economy of means, with particular attention paid to total budget and individual compensation; and percentage of independent financing.

In order to be eligible for consideration, submitted films must have shown at a commercial theater during the 2003 calendar year or have played at one of the following seven film festivals: Los Angeles Film Festival, New York, Seattle, Sundance, Telluride, Toronto or New Directors/New Films.

Awards are given in the following categories: Best Feature, Best First Feature, Best First Screenplay, Best Director, Best Screenplay, John Cassavetes Award (given to the best feature made for a budget under $500,000), Best Male Lead, Best Female Lead, Best Supporting Male, Best Supporting Female, Best Debut Performance, Best Cinematography, Best Foreign Film, and Best Documentary.

This year's nominees for Best Feature were American Splendor, In America, Lost in Translation, Raising Victor Vargas, and Shattered Glass. Best First Feature nominees were Bomb The System, House of Sand and Fog, Monster, Quattro Noza, and Thirteen.

IFP/Los Angeles, a nonprofit membership organization, champions the cause of independent film and supports a community of artists who embody diversity, innovation, and uniqueness of vision. IFP/LA provides its members with professional advice, educational programs, affordable camera and equipment rentals, and discounts to hundreds of industry-related businesses. IFP/LA's Filmmaker Labs offer writers, directors, and producers the opportunity to develop their projects. IFP/LA's mentorship and job placement program, Project:Involve, pairs filmmakers from culturally diverse communities with film industry professionals. IFP/Los Angeles also produces the IFP Independent Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, celebrating the best of American and international independent cinema. With more than 6,000 members, IFP/Los Angeles is Southern California's largest non-profit organization for independent filmmakers.

Best Film Bellwether Goes to Spirit Awards
By ELVIS MITCHELL

Published: February 27, 2004

It's the time of year when accolades like the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards are promoted and scrutinized as if they will accurately predict the outcome of the Oscar races. It would make about as much sense for the Weather Channel to base its forecasts on bunions instead of radar equipment.


Though the cutthroat competition for attention is often entertaining (the very title of the People's Choice Awards implies that voters in the other contests aren't people), the ceremonies and final results are often forgettable. So are the Oscars, but that's another story.

There is one awards presentation, however, that does have meaning beyond the trophies: the Independent Spirit Awards. These awards, which will be made tomorrow, are given by the Independent Feature Project, a nonprofit organization created in Los Angeles to help American filmmakers produce movies outside the studio system. Over the years some of those independent features have been nominees for Spirits and Oscars. (This year "Monster" was one.) But the significance of the Spirit Awards is not in their ability to predict winners of the Academy Awards, but in their ability to hint at the future of film. (In the last few years many indie scripts received best-original-screenplay nominations at the Oscars.)

The proof is in the nominations. In 1986, the first year of the Spirits, "Blood Simple," the debut effort of Joel and Ethan Coen, received five nominations. (Joel Coen shared the best-director prize with Martin Scorsese, who won for "After Hours.") Neither the Coens nor Mr. Scorsese were nominated for Oscars that year, but just as the indie world was blossoming in earnest, the Spirits provided some valuable signposts for moviemakers to keep an eye on. (One prize is actually called the Someone to Watch Award.)

This year the Spirit Awards are to be distributed under a huge white tent in Santa Monica, Calif., the day before the Academy Awards ceremony, just to remind film aficionados that there is another world out there. The presentation will be televised live on IFC Films in the afternoon and rebroadcast in the evening on Bravo. It has the amiable atmosphere of a relaxed high school assembly and, as at these gatherings, all the cool kids go outside to grab a smoke. The wry toastmaster is John Waters, whose filmmaking career probably strikes most indie aspirants as the ideal: someone steadfast in his determination to remain outside the mainstream and in his loyalty to Comme des Garçons. He has been the event's host for the last five years, proving that there is room for tradition everywhere.

The Independent Spirit Awards were born not simply to catch the back draft of the Academy Awards but to encourage those interested in movies that studios wouldn't make. With offerings from the boutique arms of the major studios — Fox Searchlight, Miramax, Sony Pictures Classics — now taking up more and more space on the Spirit Awards stage, that distinction may appear to have been lost. The 1999 nominees included a major studio film, "Election," and this year purists are bemoaning the inclusion of "Lost in Translation" and "In America" among the competitors.

But their presence should not be seen as an indication that the awards have gone astray; it is, rather, an indication of the influence of indie films on the larger world, a world in which indie lines and studio lines now often intersect. The answer to such complications involves looking past the details of a given movie's distribution and honoring instead those movies that reflect a filmmaker's personal vision — a pretty good definition of independent spirit. In addition, budgets must be considered. To be eligible for the Spirits, movies must have cost less than $12 million. That is a low budget by Hollywood standards, but it's not pocket change. To level the playing field a bit, the I.F.P., a national organization with about 9,000 members, has created a category for movies costing $500,000 or less: the John Cassavetes Award, named for the hard-working 1960's renegade who cobbled together pictures using whatever dough he could raise.

Nominees for all categories are winnowed from many submissions — 190 this year — by a committee of actors, directors, cinematographers and other movie professionals. (Full disclosure: critics are also part of the selection process, and in a previous job I was on the committee; Times critics never participate.) In addition to naming winners in predictable categories like best director, best screenplay and best documentary, the Spirit Awards also pay tribute to notable debuts: best first screenplay, best debut performance and best first feature. Nominees in this last category have included Spike Lee, Allison Anders, Donald Petrie, Whit Stillman, Todd Haynes, Todd Field, Quentin Tarantino, Terry Zwigoff and Richard Linklater.

So yes, the Spirit Awards nominees can be looked upon as a triple-A farm team for the majors. And the nominations are now so meaningful that studios have been known to make a lot of noise when their candidates are spurned. That could be a sign that the Spirits are resisting co-option by the studios' art-house wings. But it also means that the awards can draw audiences to movies that otherwise would have escaped their notice. When Derek Luke won last year's best actor award for "Antwone Fisher," he informed the crowd that a few years before he had been one of the waiters at the event.

It was a fitting moment, another indication of how, 18 years after their creation, the Spirit Awards have become the shabby-chic alternative in the movie business.

Independents flock to the Oscars
Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation leads indie pack at this weekend's Academy Awards
By Angela Baldassarre

Oscar Nominations
If the Oscar nominations last month proved anything, it's that the spirit of independent film is alive and well and here to stay. And for those of us in love with cinema, that's a very good thing.
The definition of what an independent film truly is has been skewed over the years. Movies that were once known as eclectic "art house" films with very little budget and unknown casts are now being bankrolled by the so-called indie houses like Miramax, Focus Features, Fox Searchlight and Lions Gate with heavy-hitters such as Julia Roberts (Full Frontal) and John Travolta (Pulp Fiction) on the marquee.
This year Cobalt Media Group paired with giant DreamWorks to bring House of Sand and Fog to the big screen thereby garnering a best actor nod for Ben Kingsley. Bill Murray's nod for Lost in Translation marks a notch for Focus Features.
The supporting actor category was dominated by indies as was the best actress category. Receiving nods went to Djimon Hounsou and Samantha Morton for In America (Fox Searchlight/20th Century Fox), Alec Baldwin as a smarmy casino pit boss in The Cooler (Lions Gate) and Benicio Del Toro and Naomi Watts for 21 Grams (Focus Features).
It was no surprise that Charlize Theron received a nod for her turn as a real-life serial killer in Monster (Newmarket Films); however, Hollywood is buzzing about the nomination for 13-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes in Whale Rider (Miramax) who reportedly couldn't even swim when she took the part.
Independents also prevailed in the supporting actress category with noms going to Shohreh Aghdashloo for House of Sand and Fog, Patricia Clarkson in Pieces of April, and indie darling Holly Hunter for Thirteen. Hunter received the Independent Vision Award at last year's Sundance Film Festival.
Cheers went up as Sofia Coppola received her best directing nod for Lost in Translation (Focus Features) and were quickly replaced by murmurs when Sigourney Weaver announced Fernando Meirelles for City of God (Miramax). Seems that the Hollywood elite has been campaigning hard for its nomination.

Thursday, February 26, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Film: Lord and Master
Men and their fantasies at the 76th Annual Academy Awards

By Jeannette Catsoulis

The nominations are announced, the Academy is taking a well-earned nap and Nicole Kidman is looking up "overexposed" in the dictionary. But as the anointed jostle for appointments with their plastic surgeons--and the shunned wish they had returned Peter Jackson's phone calls--some of you may be wondering why so many of this year's films are being discussed in terms of adjectives like "bleak" and "dismal" and "grim." And why the most fun you had in a movie theater all year involved Jack Black and a passel of kids.

From House of Sand and Fog to Cold Mountain, City of God to Mystic River, 21 Grams to Monster, feel-good experiences were in short supply. Prominent film critics, God bless them, are eager to offer explanations; but while Entertainment Weekly busily deconstructs Mystic River for signs of post-9/11 angst, and The New York Times develops its thesis on the rebirth of American idealism in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, I think something much more troubling is going on. The clue is right there in the Best Picture category, all but one presenting an overwhelmingly male world (and even Lost in Translation is more concerned with Bill Murray's midlife crisis than Scarlett Johansson's emotional limbo). Our screens are dominated by men on quests--for honor, for revenge, for glory, for self-knowledge. Mankind needs saving, and women need not apply. These films may not lack quality; but those of us who were seasick during Master and Commander, snoozed through Seabiscuit, and would be happy to see Elijah Wood take early retirement, have but one question: Where was the love?

More specifically, where was the sex? As we watched our manliest actors draw their swords, stroke their horses, float their boats, murder their friends and gallop through the Depression, we couldn't help noticing that last year's biggest movies were peculiarly chaste affairs. Though not nominated in this category, The Last Samurai saw Tom Cruise get more action from a bottle of hooch than from his female costar. Master and Commander? When even Russell Crowe is reduced to gazing passionately at Paul Bettany, things are very bad indeed. Lost in Translation? Aside from an off-screen fondle with a minor character, the only thing Bill Murray gets to wrap his lips around is a karaoke mike. The Return of the King? Three hours of battles and 21 minutes of total female screen time is not exactly a date movie. And don't even get me started on Mystic River, a film so claustrophobically homocentric it practically has "Stand By Your Man" on the soundtrack.

In a year when our most romantic movie featured actors who will never see 55 again, and even Charlize Theron was too ugly to take her clothes off, the sexiest thing on screen was Johnny Depp's swishy turn as Priscilla, Queen of the Ocean. Even the few recognized movies with something interesting to say to, and about, women were strangely averse to intimacy. After a lengthy tease, Cold Mountain's quickie in the snow was a romantic disappointment, while Lost in Translation's diaphanous panties remained an unfulfilled promise. (And much as I admire, even revere, the acting talents of William H. Macy, his full-frontal scene in The Cooler was more creepy than cute.) Meanwhile strong movies like Thirteen, The Missing, The Magdalene Sisters, Veronica Guerin and Kill Bill Vol.1--all female-driven, if unromantic, storylines--were almost completely ignored by the Academy. The message seems clear: when men go to war--at sea, in Middle-earth, on the racetrack, or on the streets of their home town--women need to shut up and keep the lovin' out of the way.

Will win: The Return of the King. If Jackson hasn't forced every one of the 2,000 people who worked on his trilogy to join the Academy in time for voting, he's a fool. Should win: Lost in Translation, because it's the only contender that gives a damn about a female audience.

Best Director

Oscar's narrowly focused celebration of testosterone-fuelled fantasies has bled into almost every category. While the most pressing concern--for producers of the telecast, at least--is whether Best Director nominee Peter Jackson will shave his feet (if not his face) before stepping onstage, it's worth noting that the addition of Fernando Meirelles for the overrated little-boys-running-wild-in-Brazil movie, City of God, only strengthens the overall masculine esthetic. The slighting of Quentin Tarantino and his exhilarating Kill Bill Vol.1 also says much about the mindset of this year's voters. Love or hate his slickness, there wasn't another director all year who gave us such a joyous display of movie love and woman worship. Shameful, too, is the omission of Gus Van Sant; unlike most Hollywood product, which fetishizes the exertion of control, Elephant's slow eruption into violence resonates with an honest and profound helplessness.

Will win: Please don't make me say it. Should win: Sofia Coppola. As the token woman with the token American indie (the first time an American woman has ever appeared in this category), she probably hasn't a prayer--despite being the only nominee whose touch with her actors is so light it's almost invisible.

Best Actor

In the race for Best Actor, only Johnny Depp's camp buccaneer in Pirates of the Caribbean threatens to alleviate the depressing tone of this year's entire event. (Two of the nominees in this group don't even make it to the final credits.) But since Depp's performance is more cabaret turn than acting, and Jude Law is the only male character in Cold Mountain who doesn't deserve a nomination, those slots should have been filled by Nick Nolte's solid anchoring of The Good Thief and Chiwetel Ejiofor's gentle decency in Dirty Pretty Things. Come decision time, if Depp is deemed too fey, Bill Murray too passive, and Ben Kingsley too depressing (and his Iranian colonel too ethnically sensitive), this could be Sean's year in spite of some heavy-handed emoting and a character who literally gets away with murder.

Will win: Sean Penn. Should win: Bill Murray--because, dammit, he should have won for Rushmore.

Best Actress

Braving the ire of the most feared group in Hollywood--showbiz moms--I nevertheless have to ask: What in Oscar's name is a 13-year-old kid doing with a Best Actress nomination? Yes, the whale thing was very cute; but if anything a child does in a movie is ever more than playing themselves in dress-up, I'll eat my Hope Davis wig from American Splendor. In a category filled with glaring omissions--Uma Thurman, Cate Blanchett, Scarlett Johansson, any one of the three leads in The Magdalene Sisters--the inclusion of this child is just silly. As for the rest, Charlize Theron is astounding, but I can't get past the props; I adore Samantha Morton, but Jim Sheridan's relentless self-promotion of In America has frayed my last nerve. And Naomi Watts' performance in 21 Grams, while heartbreaking, is also unvarying. Not that any of this matters; Charlize has been stomping the competition at every major awards event this year. Not even a whale would dare get in her way.

Will win: Charlize Theron. Should win: Diane Keaton. Not only does she deliver the most natural, unfussy performance of the year, she deserves the award just for convincing us Jack Nicholson would ever be attracted to any woman remotely close to his own age. Diane, women everywhere salute you.

Academy Awards: the Oscar equation

By BROOKS BARNES
The Associated Press
2/27/04 10:52 AM

The Wall Street Journal

Movie buff Sasha Stone says the final installment in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy was the year's best movie, hands-down. But the UCLA researcher still hesitated before making it the Best Picture choice in her Oscar pool. After all, she says, "Return of the King" broke box-office records, bringing in $361 million so far. "Oscar doesn't always love blockbusters," she says.

Does commercial success really hurt a film's Oscar chances? That's the big debate for this year's Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday night. Some Hollywood insiders already are proclaiming the return of the blockbuster after years of awards to smaller films, with "Return of the King," which had one of the highest opening box-office weeks ever, up for 11 Oscars. Small films continue to get buzz; one of the year's critical darlings is "Lost in Translation," a film with a budget of less than $4 million that was bested by "The Lizzie McGuire Movie" in ticket sales. And though independent studios said they would be hurt by the industry's controversial clampdown on "screener" DVDs given away to Oscar voters, now some believe the backlash may actually help small films this year.

To find out the real connection between ticket sales and Oscars, Weekend Journal analyzed the box-office results for winners of the past 20 years. Big-money films dominated many of the categories, with the median Best Picture winner, for instance, ranked No. 9 in total box-office receipts among films released the same year. Nearly half, in fact, finished in the top five, and three were overall sales champs ("Titanic" in 1998; "Forrest Gump" in 1995; and "Rain Man" in 1989). But big films haven't helped Hollywood's women. While the Best Actor winners came from movies with a median box-office ranking of 19, the typical Best Actress winner came from a film ranked 32.

If history is any guide, the "Lord of the Rings" finale should take honors for both Best Picture and Best Director (the same film has won both categories 80 percent of the time in the past 20 years). As for Best Supporting Actress, the numbers support picking Renee Zellweger for the Oscar pool. "Cold Mountain," in which Ms. Zellweger played a rough-edged mountain woman, was ranked 31st in box office for 2003, while the median ranking of movies featuring Best Supporting Actress winners is 30. (Our study used rankings by Exhibitor Relations, which grouped films by their release year but included box-office receipts from each film's entire U.S. run; box-office receipts for films released in 2003 were calculated through Feb. 22.)

The box-office approach looks less insightful when it comes to Best Actor. Going strictly by the numbers would back Jude Law from "Cold Mountain," but he is considered a unlikely prospect by oddsmakers and Hollywood insiders alike. Many Oscar-watchers consider the category a race between Bill Murray ("Lost in Translation") and Sean Penn ("Mystic River"). Putting Mr. Law aside, the numbers would give Mr. Penn and "Mystic River" an edge, but some industry observers think the tight race could split the vote and wind up handing the Oscar to Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean" (ranked third in box office for 2003).

For producer Gary Levinsohn, the big-vs.-small debate "hasn't been this big of an issue in years." He should know: In 1999, he found himself on the losing end of one of Oscar's most famous small-film triumphs. "Saving Private Ryan," the $216 million box-office hit Mr. Levinsohn produced with Steven Spielberg, was considered a likely winner. But the Best Picture statue went to Miramax's "Shakespeare in Love," a film with less than half the box-office gross. "Voters went for the let's-dress-up-and-dance movie that year," says Mr. Levinsohn, who predicts a "Rings" victory for Best Picture.

Of course, box office is simply one sign of a film's success, and many Oscar buffs rely on a variety of factors to predict the outcome. Some simply try to gauge the mood of Hollywood and pick up on any sentimental favorites (one this year is Diane Keaton, who hasn't won since "Annie Hall" in 1977 and is considered strong best-actress competition for Charlize Theron and "Monster.") Others focus on strategy: "Lord of the Rings" is seen by many as a likely Best Song winner, in part because "Cold Mountain" received two nominations in that category, with votes for each potentially canceling each other out.

Few indicators are more closely watched than the Golden Globe awards, presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in January just as Academy members are gearing up to vote. The Golden Globes' Best Picture-Drama award has accurately predicted the Oscar winner 70 percent of the time over the past two decades (and in three of the remaining six years, the Golden Globe winner for best comedy/ musical took home the Oscar). The Golden Globes have been equally prescient when it comes to Best Actress, though the batting average is lower for Best Actor (correctly calling the Oscar 60 percent of the time). For Las Vegas oddsmaker Benjamin Eckstein, the win by Tim Robbins in "Mystic River" makes him the favorite for Best Supporting Actor. "We go heavily on prior awards," Mr. Eckstein says.

There's always been some link between financial success and awards, but things were much clearer back in the studio-system days. Pictures favored by powerful studio bosses such as Louis Mayer almost always won Best Picture, and grandiose epics such as "Gone With the Wind" and "Ben-Hur" dominated the awards. (Both films were the No. 1 box-office winners in their years.) The studio system started breaking up in the early '60s, but big-budget blockbusters such as "Gandhi" and "Out of Africa" kept winning well into the '80s. Small films often were seen as long shots until 1996, when the "English Patient" won nine Oscars, including Best Picture. Indie films quickly became an Oscar force, with "Good Will Hunting" picking up nine nominations the next year.

Now indie films' odds are in question again, especially since last fall's flap over screener videos. When the Motion Picture Association told studios they couldn't send free DVD copies to voters, independent filmmakers complained the decision favored big-money movies, which voters have an easier time seeing in theaters. While a compromise eventually was struck to send out screeners under strict conditions, some Hollywood insiders say that in the end the controversy may have generated more, not fewer, nominations for independent films. "Some people were so mad that they voted for the smaller pictures," says veteran Oscar campaign strategist Tony Angellotti.

In the actress categories, industry observers favor Ms. Zellweger for her supporting role in "Cold Mountain" and Ms. Theron for her lead role in "Monster" -- one of the smallest movies in the mix this year, with box-office receipts of about $24 million and an overall ranking of 100. That's in line with the results of Weekend Journal's study, which found that winning roles for women typically came from much smaller films than those generating Oscars for men. Indeed, of the six major Oscar categories, the smallest film honored in the past 20 years won for best actress: Jessica Lange in 1995 for "Blue Sky," which grossed $3.3 million in the U.S.

Overall, there hasn't been a single best-actress winner from a No. 1 film in the past two decades -- but top-box-office movies have earned best-actor honors twice (Tom Hanks in "Forrest Gump" and Dustin Hoffman in "Rain Man"). For Screen Actors Guild President Melissa Gilbert, it reinforces the argument that big movies often put actresses on the sidelines to show off leading men. "It's an indication of just how wide the gap is," says Ms. Gilbert, who was the youngest actress to get a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame for her role in television's "Little House on the Prairie." Women get noticed in smaller movies, Ms. Gilbert says, "because they're usually the only ones that offer a diverse array of roles."

Obviously no analysis can give a perfect picture when it comes to the role of box office at the Academy Awards. Many Oscar contenders are released late in December to generate buzz ahead of the awards season. That means some box-office results included in the survey were racked up after the awards, when winning films may get a box-office bump. Also, Weekend Journal's study covered only the two decades back to 1982, when studios started precisely tracking box office data. Still, film producers, industry analysts and other experts who study the Oscars said the approach made sense. "Box office can have a huge impact," says Randy Nelson, a professor at Maine's Colby College who has studied the impact of Oscar wins on actors' paychecks.

The producers of this Sunday's telecast hope the big box office for "King" will translate into big ratings -- especially with young men who might not normally tune in. (Former Disney and Fox studio chief Joe Roth, who took over the show this year from longtime producer Gilbert Cates, hopes marketing on ESPN and appearances by jokesters Jack Black and Will Ferrell will help, too.) Mr. Roth may not need to try that hard for improved ratings: About 33 million people watched the show last year, down from 55 million the year megahit "Titanic" won 11 Oscars.

Brandon Sorlie says he will be tuning in Sunday night. The 23-year-old schoolteacher in the Bronx, N.Y., hasn't watched the Oscars the past few years, mainly because he hasn't been interested in the movies up for honors. With "Lord of the Rings" in the mix, Mr. Sorlie says he hopes to watch director Peter Jackson pick up a statuette. "I can't wait to see that," he says.

How have ticket sales related to Academy Award success? Here's a look at the median box-office ranking of the winning films in the following big Oscar categories since 1982

CATEGORY: Best Picture

RANK: 9

COMMENTS: The Best Picture with one of the worst performances in 20 years: "Braveheart," which made $76 million and cost about $72 million.

CATEGORY: Best Actor

RANK: 19

COMMENTS: Past statues have gone to actors in the year's No. 1 film (Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman). Last year's winner brought down the average, though -- Adrien Brody's "The Pianist" was ranked No. 80.

CATEGORY: Best Supporting Actor

RANK: 15

COMMENTS: The category where the fewest winners -- 10 percent -- have come from films also named Best Picture.

CATEGORY: Best Actress

RANK: 32

COMMENTS: From small films come big kudos, and maybe it's no wonder. A new study shows male film roles outnumber female parts by nearly 3-1.

CATEGORY: Best Supporting Actress

RANK: 30

COMMENTS: Only 55 percent of the actresses who win this category at the Golden Globes go on to win at the Oscars.

CATEGORY: Best Director

RANK: 11

COMMENTS: Follows Best Picture 80 percent of the time. Voters have recently started to change this pattern, though.

Source: Exhibitor Relations

Bollywood News > Bollywood needs films of international standards: Kamal Haasan (INTERVIEW)

By Subhash K. Jha, Mumbai, Feb 28 (IANS) :

Veteran actor Kamal Haasan says Bollywood needs to start making films of international standards that can destroy the impression of India abroad being a land of snake charmers and elephants.

The actor spoke to IANS about the international and domestic success of his new film "Virumaandi", his recent foreign trip and career plans. Excerpts from the interview:

Q: Do you think our cinema is finally being noticed abroad?

A: We need to carry our cinema forward, free it from the shackles of the bigotry abroad. I'm tired of being asked if we've elephants and snake charmers in India.

We've to make Hollywood-standard films. I'm bored with what we're doing. I've my own sensibilities as a filmmaker. I want to apply these to international standards.

Q: So you think Bollywood must behave like Hollywood in order to acquire an international feel?

A: No, ultimately the Hollywood coating has to be pulled off our cinema. Hollywood is a multi-cultural talent. The best of Hollywood is composed of all nationalities. Francis Coppola never took his American cinema to Italy. Likewise, we need to wear our cultural badge and still look cosmopolitan. I was reading the Urdu author Sadat Hassan Manto from 1947. He's truly international in feeling. I'd love to be one of his disciples.

Q: Where have you been (after the release of "Virumaandi")?

A: I enjoyed making "Virumaandi". After that it was time for me to move on. Essentially my trip abroad this time was a period of stocktaking. I had lots of time to be with myself, take walks, think. Decide about my future... The idea was to be as inactive as possible. The only time I allowed the pleasure of business to resurface was when I went to the Rotterdam film festival. Then I went to the US with the film where my production house Raj Kamal Films turned distributor with "Virumaandi".

Q: How did it do in the US?

A: We got three times more recognition and financial attention than we expected. There's a large percentage of Tamils among the NRIs. They all reacted favourably. But I wasn't looking at their reaction. I was completely cut off from the excitement for "Virumaandi", like a guy who takes hot steam inhalations during a cold. No limelight stuff for me except for one beautiful happening.

Q: What was that?

A: I met filmmaker Milos Forman in Paris. I'm his fan, though he didn't know who I was. My friend Jean Claude Carriere introduced us. Milos was surprised I remembered the title of all his films. Now of course he's caught in my web!

Q: Shouldn't you have stayed back in India to see how "Virumaandi" does?

A: I had a feeling it would click in a big way. Throughout the making of the film I kept making corrections. Earlier I couldn't rectify the errors in my filmmaking due to the fear of cost and the fear of delay. Here the delay happened because of extraneous factors (protests against the film's earlier title, "Saandiyar", which means bully).

Q: "Virumaandi" has become a blockbuster.

A: That's what they're saying. But I never look a gift horse in the mouth. If people are saying "Virumaandi" has revived the Tamil film industry then I won't be presumptuous enough to agree. No industry can be altered by one film. Likeminded people need to bring about that change.

Q: Does the success of "Virumaandi" provide you with the impetus to revive your dream project "Maridunayagam"?

A: One "Virumaandi" isn't enough to revive a project that large. We need $10 million for "Maridunayagam". It has to come from abroad. What surprised me was the response to "Virumaandi" at the Rotterdam film festival where, out of 180 entries, my film with parochial overtones about a specific clan in Tamil Nadu got widely noticed.

Q: Are you enjoying the success of "Virumaandi"?

A: For me the enjoyment would come from making my next film. Audiences' memories get blunt when there's too much room between two successes. I must say there was a lot of support for "Virumaandi" before release. After a long time I felt I was provided fraternal support.

My friend, music composer Ilaiyaraja, said he was moved by the film but worried about it. He was worried audiences wouldn't be able to identify with the rural background. He was also worried about the narrative, which is like Kurosawa's "Roshomon". There're two versions of the truth in "Virumaandi".

Q: What next?

A: I'm talking with Sangeetham Srinivasa Rao. We're good friends and collaborators. I like him even more now because he loved "Virumaandi"! Our discussions right now are in what Sangeetham calls a nebulous stage.

Q: When will you do a film with Mani Rathnam?

A: When he's ready with a story, or when I can give him a story. I hope it happens soon. We've been talking about a film. Much as people would like to believe otherwise, there's no problem between us. We need to go beyond "Nayakan". I can't have Mani Rathnam being unsure on my sets. He's our pillar of strength. He has to be sure about what we do together.

Q: Are you looking at a scenario where you'll have to produce all your films?

A: It looks like it. It's more convenient. But I'll have to leave the marketing to others. I'm not a pundit about what clicks. But I'm a man in the trenches who knows which way the bullets are flying.

Two sisters against the odds
A film about Don Quixote forms the backdrop to a story about fulfilling dreams and the necessity of hope

MONIQUE POLAK
Freelance

Saturday, February 28, 2004


It's hard not to peek at other people's mail. That's one of the reasons The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters works. With one exception, this novel consists entirely of letters and e-mail messages written by its protagonist, Olivia Hunt.

Olivia is a prolific correspondent. She writes to her best friend, her siblings, her parents, her colleagues and her former boyfriend. She even writes to Bruce Springsteen. But as those of us who still write letters or keep diaries know, we're really writing for ourselves. As Olivia puts it, "Writing for me is a way of making sense of what's happening." And there's a lot happening in Olivia's life.

An independent film producer, Olivia is probably a little like her creator, first-time author Elisabeth Robinson, a New York City-based independent film producer and screenwriter. She's feisty and fun. She has a wicked sense of humour. Best of all, she is able to laugh at herself.

When this novel starts, Olivia is in deep trouble. She has lost her cushy film studio job, her boyfriend has dumped her and she's on the fourth draft of her suicide note when she learns that her younger sister, Maddie, has leukemia.

Olivia will have to shuttle between the basement apartment where she's staying in L.A. to her sister's bedside in the small Ohio town where the girls were born and where Maddie still lives. Life becomes even more complicated when the film project Olivia has been working on - Don Quixote de la Mancha - gets the green light.

Don Quixote, the deluded Spaniard who insisted on dreaming impossible dreams, embodies this novel's central theme - the compulsion to go on, to keep fighting despite the odds. When the film deal nearly falls apart, and her dad tries to console her, Olivia objects, saying, "Trying's what losers do." But it's Maddie, whose condition deteriorates, who faces the toughest battle. She will have to decide whether to go ahead with a painful bone marrow transplant that in the end might not save her life.

This novel is about many things, including the bond that exists between sisters. Perhaps because Olivia and Maddie are so different, they have much to learn from each other. Olivia is worldly wise; Maddie understands life's more basic lessons. Robinson resists the urge to idealize the sisters' relationship. As Olivia writes in one of her letters to Maddie: "I'm aware that I haven't been the greatest sister in the world, but, you know, neither have you."

This novel is also about life in L.A. and it's peopled with celebrities readers will recognize. Robin Williams and John Cleese star in Olivia's movie. In an interesting intersection between fiction and reality, the author really was involved with Williams and Cleese in a film project about Don Quixote, though the film was never made.

Readers will get a kick out of Olivia's insider information. We learn, for instance, that Robin Williams has a body hair problem. As Olivia writes, "he's like a beaver in a sweatshirt and jeans." Olivia spends an evening with a wealthy comedian named Steve, who sounds a lot like Steve Martin. But when he takes her into his bedroom and whips out his banjo, Olivia can't decide whether he's trying to seduce or simply serenade her.

Robinson also provides insight into Hollywood society, where success is the price of admission. When Olivia is evicted from her apartment, she is careful not to divulge the news to other film types: "In Hollywood you don't want anyone to know you're in trouble, because they'll recoil as if you're a scabrous leper, as if failure might be contagious."

There are also some unforgettably comic scenes in this novel. As in a film, they provide much-needed relief after the more painful scenes. One takes place in an Ohio fitting room, another occurs when Olivia decides to seek revenge on a film executive by taking his beloved butter yellow Rolls Royce Silver Shadow for a joyride.

There's nothing fancy about Robinson's writing. But Olivia's letters have an energy and immediacy that makes them hard to put down. Parts of her letters to Michael, her former boyfriend, are less successful. Is she trying to impress him with descriptions like, the "fringe of leafy treetops whose green is just succumbing to yellow"? Or is Robinson trying to impress us? Her writing seems to works best when she does not have to try so hard.

When the sisters were little, Olivia used to read Maddie stories. But the stories Maddie liked best were the ones Olivia invented - the ones she called The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters. In the end, it's the baby sister, and not her more glamorous sibling, who is the wisest. Through Maddie, Olivia comes to understand that hope is a necessity: "Hope is neither false nor true but a kind of happiness itself, a fuel that carries us toward our dreams."

Former Romeo resident helped create documentary nominated for Oscar

"Capturing the Friedmans" among films nominated for best documentary feature.

By EDWARD MANDEL II - Staff Writer

For one weekend last summer, the film documentary "Capturing the Friedmans" outperformed such Hollywood blockbusters as "Finding Nemo" and "Bruce Almighty" at the box office, averaging $21,718 in just three theatres, while the other films were in nationwide release.

Romeo High School graduate Jesse Cory, 26, worked with the crew that created the documentary, which eventually earned nearly $3.2 million and is among five films vying for an Academy Award in the category of best documentary feature film of 2003.

The 76th annual Academy Awards will be broadcast this Sunday beginning at 8 p.m.

Cory is the son of Richard Cory, WBRW-TV Channel 6 station manager and sports director.

The cable studio airs programming received by cable television subscribers in northern Macomb County.

While in middle school and high school, Cory worked on different programs produced by WBRW, and when he turned 18 he traveled about the country to produce, direct and edit "The 13th Grade," a snowboarding action film. "The 13th Grade" won a Hometown Video Award in the Sports Entertainment category, as well as a Philo T. Farnsworth Award.

"I had anticipated ("Capturing the Friedmans") would be nominated," said Cory, who worked as a key grip on a 6-member crew that created the film.

"I did all the lighting for (the film)," Cory said.

The film won the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.

Cory lived in New York City when the film was being produced.

According to www.oscar.com, the documentary is about "a seemingly ordinary Long Island family (that) is torn apart when the father and one son are charged with multiple counts of child molestation. Drawing on sources that include extensive home movie footage, the film traces the unraveling of the Friedmans' lives in the wake of charges, as well as the often troubling nature of the police investigation."

Cory, who now lives and works in Detroit, has worked on numerous projects in the film industry, including Steven Soderbergh's "Naqoyqatsi," and as a segment producer for "The John Walsh Show."

Since 2000, he has managed shows for KCD Worldwide, an industry leader in fashion public relations.

Last weekend he worked on a video featuring Detroit rap artist TDAPIMP and recently worked with a crew that produced "Misunderstood," a video about Eminem created for broadcast on the "Oxygen" cable network.

Cory is currently developing a feature length film about heroin use in Detroit during the 1980s, and a documentary about crack cocaine and its social impact.

Another documentary, titled "Paint Cans and Politics," is being produced by Cory for release this summer. The film focuses on Detroit's most prolific graffiti writer, TRDL, as well as the world of graffiti writers and their effect on Detroit's comeback. More information about Cory and the film is available at www.detroitgraffiti.com.

Cory, who works for Technology Productions Inc., in Detroit, said he was never awed or intrigued by the film industry because for him, "everything comes down to working on the set and interacting with people."

When contacted last week, Cory said he might watch the Oscar telecast if he isn't busy.

"I'm not a consumer of television or feature films," he said. "I can't tell you the last film I went to see."

Instead, Cory said his passion is in filming documentaries.

For Cory, creating documentaries is "about leaving yourself open, and understanding the subject and letting (those subjects) allow you into their lives."

He said his objective in making and assisting others with the production of documentaries is to change and effect the way people see issues.

"I don't want to change the world," he said. "I want to make you think (about all aspects and sides to the issues)."

Cory said his father has supported him in every aspect of his life.

"He always told me I could do it," Cory said. "He's been the most inspirational person through the whole process."

The Oscars: Haverfod native Ross Katz now among Hollywood elite

By LAURA NACHMAN , Special to the Times 02/27/2004


When Ross Katz was growing up in Havertown in the '70s and '80s, he loved movies. Going to as many as five flicks a weekend at local theaters such as the old Eric Ardmore and Eric Wynnewood, Katz dreamed of someday being part of the movie industry.

At Sunday night's Academy Awards, Katz won't be dreaming. He is part of the Hollywood elite as the Oscar-nominated producer of "Lost in Translation."

It's star, Bill Murray, is also an Oscar contender.

"It's totally surreal," said Katz, 32, a 1989 graduate of Haverford High. "I watched every minute of 'The Academy Awards' on television every year. I was obsessed with movies. I'd watch 'Siskel and Ebert' every week and spend all my money on either movies or David Bowie records. To be part of it is just as exciting as it looks on television." This has been a heady awards season for Katz.

"Lost in Translation," which stars Murray as an actor in Japan, won the Golden Globe award for Best Motion picture - Comedy or Musical, and Katz accepted the award on stage along with director Sofia Coppola.

Katz was a disc jockey at student-run WHHS at Haverford High and worked as an intern at WYSP 94.1-FM.

Katz said: "I begged them to go on the air," and his persistence paid off with the shows "Saturday Night Requests" and "Sunday Night Six Pack." He used the on-air name of "Ross Andrews." He also fed his movie obsession by going to dozens of movie premieres for WYSP.

Katz was a radio-television-film major at Temple University, but feeling "restless," dropped out after two years to go to Hollywood with the full encouragement of his mother and older brother.

Katz was set to enroll in film school in Los Angeles, but when financial aid fell through, a couple of friends from his WYSP days helped him out.

"Andy Bloom (former program director at WYSP), gave me a room in his house.

He is largely responsible for where I am today." Katz was able to pursue his movie dream, and his first project was filmed in the house of another WYSP friend, former marketing manager Scott Segelbaum, who Katz described as "an amazing force in my life."

In 1992, Katz got his first professional job on the Quentin Tarantino film "Reservoir Dogs." He was a director's assistant on the film "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and a runner for producer Sydney Pollack on "The Firm."

Moving up the movie chain, Katz worked on the films "Sense and Sensibility," with Emma Thompson, "The Myth of Fingerprints" with Julianne Moore and "The Ice Storm" with Kevin Kline.

His first production credit was "Trick" with Tori Spelling. Other notable producing credits are "In the Bedroom" with Sissy Spacek, which was nominated for a Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Picture in 2001, the Emmy nominated "The Laramie Project," and of course this year's "Lost in Translation."

Katz spent 4½ months in Tokyo, Japan, for "Lost in Translation," which is nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Katz now lives in New York City where he runs his own production company, Elemental Films.

In 2003, he was cited by Variety as one of its "10 Producers to Watch." The world will be watching Katz Sunday at the Academy Awards.

Since his mother moved from Havertown to Arizona last year, his brother is an attorney in San Francisco, Calif., and his father lives in New York, Katz doesn't get back to Havertown these days. However, he fondly remembers WHHS, his humanities teacher at Haverford High, Hugh Gilmore "who inspired me," and Cenzo's pizza.

Comic Aspirations in Aspen
NY and Hollywood Agents, Producers Check Out Comedy Fest

By Georg Szalai

Georg Szalai is business editor of The Hollywood Reporter.

For a few days next week, Aspen, Colo., will once again be the center of the funny industry, as the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival (USCAF) kicks off its 10th-anniversary edition on Wednesday.

As has become tradition, about 300 industryites from New York and Hollywood will converge on the small town to enjoy some of the more than 100 performances -- including those by stand-up comedians, satirical theatre productions, and comedic films -- and maybe some skiing as well.

"The 10th anniversary of the festival will be a celebration of the innovators of our industry," said USCAF Executive Director Stu Smiley, emphasizing that this will include both newer as well as established talent. "Supporting and nurturing comedic talent has really been a focus for us."

Among well-known stars attending this year's festival are cast members of the HBO hit shows "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Sex and the City," Drew Carey, Greg Proops, Louis CK, Robert Schimmel, Joe Rogan, Caroline Rhea, and Phil Hendrie. Actress Diane Keaton will be honored with the AFI Star Award for her collected works.

Over its 10 years, USCAF, which is sponsored by HBO, has developed a reputation for putting the spotlight on a wide range of talents.

"Because of the diversity of shows, it's a very multidimensional festival," said Mark Scroggs, an agent at the talent and literary agency Don Buchwald & Associates.

Given the intimate setting, talent scouts from the theatre world, agencies, as well as film and TV companies also tend to get a deeper understanding of a performer's skills, long-time attendees said.

While only some of the standout talent will win festival awards in such categories as best alternative, one-man and theatrical performances, others will have the chance to win over talent scouts and potentially land new engagements or projects down the line.

Early Buzz

Among Aspen acts creating early buzz is "The Big Howard/Little Howard Show," which has already attracted strong attention during last year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival as well as a stopover in New York later in 2003. Directing his animated cyber buddy Little Howard via a computer keyboard, Howard Read creates a blend of stand-up, song, audience interaction, and banter.

Kirk Ward, who has appeared on the Fox hit TV show "Malcolm in the Middle" and is co-founder of the hip-hop comedy musical duo Supafloss, brings to USCAF his one-man show "Fatherland," which is based on the true story of brothers reuniting with their estranged father to learn valuable life lessons.

USCAF will also feature known TV talent in onstage roles. For example, the cast of Comedy Central's "Reno 911" will put on a special sketch performance in Aspen, and U.K.-Iranian stand-up Omid Djalili, who has starred in films such as "The Mummy" and currently is on the NBC comedy "Whoopi," will perform a stand-up set. Among the talent with current TV projects that get a chance to strut their comedic stuff: sketch group For the Kids, which recently signed a development deal with the WB Network; Louis CK, who is working on a CBS pilot; and Caroline Rhea, who's doing an ABC pilot.

As is tradition, the industry is expected to turn out strongly for USCAF's showcases of stand-ups, which include known talent such as Al Madrigal from the Fox comedy "The Ortegas," and lesser-known performers.

As always, USCAF will also feature a high-profile Hollywood lineup. This year's Film Discovery Program, which includes eight world premieres and a total of 22 comedic features and 19 shorts, will be USCAF's biggest yet.

This year's USCAF runs March 3-7.