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Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire 
April 29, 2025 Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire
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April 15, 2025 "I´m Interested In the Unimportant, the Seemingly Worthless"
April 1, 2025 Go With the FLOW
The 97th Academy Awards | 2025 - Best Directors
Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood - Sunday, March 2, 2025 - Honoring movies released in 2024 February 25, 2025
By Bessy ADUT
There are too many categories for the Academy Awards so I would like to focus on 3 categories in my article today, one week before the 97th Academy Awards next Sunday. Let’s look at the nominees and I am going to present my thoughts on each one:
I have been watching the Oscars as far as I have known myself and it has been my biggest 'eyes on the prize' motivation that got me to Los Angeles and still keeps me here. As I have an MFA degree in Film Directing from CalArts, I would like to start my Oscar thoughts in this category first:
DIRECTING
NOMINEES
ANORA Sean Baker
THE BRUTALIST Brady Corbet
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN James Mangold
EMILIA PÉREZ Jacques Audiard
THE SUBSTANCE Coralie Fargeat
INTRODUCTION TO THESE MOVIES, DIRECTORS AND MY TAKE ON THEM:
ANORA Sean Baker
All the Film Directors above did an excellent job. Oscar Predictions say Best Picture — ‘Anora’ Seizes the Frontrunner Spotlight as Voting Gets Underway. SEAN BAKER wins BEST DIRECTOR at the 2025 Film Independent Spirit Awards and he gave a very powerful speech. He talked about the difficulties of being an independent filmmaker and trying to make a living. He mentioned he wouldn’t be able to get this far possibly if he also had a family and kids to take care of. Earlier BRADY CORBET gave a similar speech about the financial difficulties of being a filmmaker in the current climate. It is really difficult and only getting harder so I really would like to applaud all these directors for making this far in the game and even to be nominated in these categories.
Sean Baker’s speech can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIxtMGRlx0k
Anora was a very controversial movie in many ways and as Sean Baker mentioned it would probably not be made if it were a studio movie. A young sex worker from Brooklyn meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened. That is it in a nutshell. We see Anora going through all sorts of emotions that move us. Mikey Madison won a Best Actress award at the Independent Film Independent Spirit Awards. Acting awards are directly connected with the director who is able to get the best performance out of the actress.
I watched this movie twice and enjoyed it both times.
THE BRUTALIST Brady Corbet
Logline: When a visionary architect and his wife flee post-war Europe in 1947 to rebuild their legacy and witness the birth of the modern United States, their lives are changed forever by a mysterious, wealthy client.
I wrote a review about this movie earlier. One of the strongest period pieces of the year. Great performances by Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones and Guy Pierce. It takes us to dark and hopeful times in New York. It is mostly a Jewish tale but not like any we have seen before. Due to breathtaking cinematography, production design and believable performances of all the actors I believe Brady Corbet also is well deserved this nomination.
Brady Corbet won the Director BAFTA for The Brutalist | BAFTA Film Awards 2025 and he also gave a strong speech about the difficulties of independent filmmaking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NdVWPjXnLY
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN James Mangold
You can find my review on “A Complete Unknown”, a biopic of Bob Dylan.
In 1961, an unknown 19-year-old Bob Dylan arrives in New York City with his guitar and forges relationships with musical icons on his meteoric rise, culminating in a groundbreaking performance that reverberates around the world.
James Marigold deserves the nomination with all great performances from the cast and crew as well. Timothée Chalamet declared his goal to be 'one of the greats' in the SAG Awards speech when he won the best actor playing Bob Dylan already and he is expecting more. The film managed to take us to another time and into the world of folk musicians.
EMILIA PÉREZ Jacques Audiard
This was one of the most controversial films of this year. First of all, I would like to applaud the bravery of the director along with the cast, crew, and producers of this movie that can still be watched on Netflix.
Emilia Pérez follows three remarkable women in Mexico, each pursuing their own happiness. Cartel leader Emilia enlists unappreciated lawyer Rita to help fake her death so that she can finally live authentically as her true self.
Zoe Saldaña already won Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture, Cannes, Bafta, Critics’ Choice, SAG Awards, and more. Unfortunately, the real-life personas of Selena Gomez and Karla Sofia Gascon got a bit too political and affected their popularity and likeability for everyone.
THE SUBSTANCE Coralie Fargeat
This was the weirdest movie of the year I can say. I would like to congratulate the director for his obvious film studies and references to loved classics such as The Shining, Carrie, Videodrome and more influences can be seen in the cinematography.
Excellent directing the cast, particularly Demi Moore did an excellent performance in this role.
A fading celebrity takes a black-market drug: a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself.
Be a celebrity or not, aging is a struggle all women experience and it is a very relatable concept. It says a lot on the current culture we live in. Most women choosing to put injections on themselves and spend a lot of money to keep their youthful looks. As it says in the poster “It is absolutely f***** insane” film and Demi Moore’s terrific performance already earned her awards.
Demi Moore Wins Best Actress at SAG Awards After 47 Years in the Union, tells young actors: "Don’t Lose Sight of the Human Connection"
Demi Moore ‘Shocked’ by Golden Globe win, calls out producer who once called her a ‘Popcorn’ Actress: "That Corroded Me Over Time"
Coralie Fargeat has won awards for her writing and directing, including the Gold Derby Film Award for Best Director and the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay. She was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director.
Coralie is the only female film director we have this year’s Academy Award nominees and she did a terrific job showing the world from women’s eyes in the current popular culture and beauty/youthfulness standards.
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