See Update No. 2 on page 2 with the IIFF award winners.
See Update No. 1 on the next page identifying the nine IIFF selections among the Oscar nominees.
ORIGINAL POST, JAN. 4, 5:18 P.M.: The lineup for the second annual Irvine International Film Festival running Jan. 17-21 at Edwards Westpark 8 includes 11 films that are apparent Oscar contenders in polling that closes today. Among them is a documentary on an American basketball player joining a team in Iran and an animated short about a couple that has literally grown apart trying to rekindle the magic.
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The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg singled out The Iran Job as a possibility for an Academy Awards best documentary feature nominee in late November, although to be honest his list is a very long one and Till Shauder's indie doc is not among those the film reporter has in the front-runner positions. Steve Pond also gives The Iran Job a sliver of a chance of an Oscar nod in a report for The Wrap that notes one Kickstarter campaign was launched to make the documentary, and a second was later mounted to get it into LA and New York theaters in time for voter consideration.
THE IRAN JOB_11.14.1 from sara nodjoumi on Vimeo.
The 90-minute movie, which will be making its Orange County debut when it opens the Irvine fest on Thursday, Jan. 17, does sound worthy of catching. Kevin Sheppard expected the worst when he signed to play in one
of the world's most-feared countries, but he would encounter a much different Iran than what's depicted in the U.S. media. It may be that his charismatic personality drew generosity from everyday Iranians, including three strong-willed
women he befriended. They are seen finding refuge in Sheppard's apartment, where strong opinions on politics, religion and gender roles were freely aired. Timing is everything here: Shauder's camera rolled on this very personal story as Iran's reformist Green Movement rose, fell and went on to serve as a catalyst for the Arab Spring.
In a stronger Oscar consideration power position is U.K. director Timothy Reckart's 10-minute animated short Head Over Heels, which advanced to the round of 10 such films the Academy Award nominees will be plucked from–the short list if you will. The story is about a husband and wife who have grown so far apart that he lives on the floor and she lives on the ceiling. So coming back together could be dangerous. Head Over Heels joins The Iran Job in opening the festival at 8 p.m. Jan. 17. Tickets are $9-$12.
HEAD OVER HEELS – Trailer from Timothy Reckart on Vimeo.
According to IIFF executive director Jack Kaprielian, three other films making their Orange County premieres at his festival are getting Oscar looks: Open Heart, Dood van een shaduw (Death of a Shadow) and Pesaran-e-Buzkashi (Buzkashi Boys). The remainder he singled out are: Mondays at Racine, Inocente, Kings Point, Asad, Paraiso and Fresh Guacamole.
Polling among Oscar voters were to end today, and nominees are scheduled to be announced Thursday morning.
Academy Award hopefuls are, of course, only a handful of the several short and feature-length films that will roll at the IIFF. We'll clue you into more entries in the days ahead, but you can get a sneak peak at other trailers of festival films via IIFF's YouTube channel.
The Best Live Action Short category includes three films coming to the IIFF: Asad, which is about a boy in Somalia having to choose between a life of piracy or honest fishing; Pesaran-e-Buzkashi (Buzkashi Boys), a coming-of-age story about two best friends in war-torn Afghanistan that's set against a brutal national sport that involves polo players on horseback and dead goats; and Dood van een shaduw (Death of a Shadow), a Belgian entry about a deceased soldier who collects shadows of dying men and women
to buy back his own second chance at life and pursue a girl he met
the moment before he died.
Fresh Guacamole, which has director PES going table side as a follow up to Western Spaghetti, and Head Over Heels, which is described in the original post, received Best Animated Short Oscar nominations.
Best Documentary Feature nominee 5 Broken Cameras is not playing at the IIFF, but it did make its Orange County premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival last April. Among the most-haunting films I saw last year, the doc is composed of footage a Palestinian farmer shot of his village's nonviolent resistance to the Israeli army and illegal settlements, footage that is presented chronologically, in the order each camera was destroyed by soldiers or settlers.
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UPDATE NO. 2, JAN. 24, 4:27 P.M.: The Irvine International Film Festival announced the following winners at its second annual awards ceremony, which featured greater attendance than last year's inaugural ceremony.
MARK RYDELL
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AS A DIRECTORMARTIN LANDAU
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AS AN ACTORSHIRLEY KNIGHT
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AS AN ACTRESSFUMIO DEMURA
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT FOR HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO MARTIAL ART FILMSCOLE JENSEN
BEST EMERGING CHILD ACTOR
BEST FEATURE NARRATIVE
THE STORY OF LUKEBEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
THE IRAN JOBBEST 1ST TIME DIRECTOR WINNER
ALONSO MAYO for THE STORY OF LUKEBEST ACTOR
LOU TAYLOR PUCCI for THE STORY OF LUKEBEST ACTRESS
JANG YOUNGNAM for AZOOMABEST CINEMATOGRAPHER
STIJN VAN DER VEKEN for DOOD VAN EEN SCHADUW (Death of a Shadow)
BEST SHORT DRAMA
BUZKASHI BOYSBEST SHORT COMEDY
LEADER OF THE PACKBEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY
MONDAY'S AT RACINEBEST SHORT ANIMATION
HEAD OVER HEELSBEST TRAILER
THE STORY OF LUKEBEST STUDENT FILM
THE VISIT (UCLA)BEST TEEN FILM
A QUEST FOR PEACE: NON-VIOENCE AMONG RELIGIONSBEST K-6 FILM
FINNY'S MAGICAL MOMENT
Also, in case you missed my print story:
The Irvine International Film Festival Shows Off Its Good Eye
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.