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Richard Williams, the acclaimed animator who created the iconic characters Roger and Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, has died. He was 86.

Williams’ family announced the news to The Guardian and The Hollywood Reporter, saying that the three-time Oscar winner died at his home in Bristol, England, on Friday.

Besides Roger Rabbit, Williams also worked on two films in the classic Pink Panther series: The Return of the Pink Panther and The Pink Panther Strikes Again. The animator also created a number of short films, and won his first Oscar with the short film A Christmas Carol in 1973.

Williams...

On Tuesday evening, The Academy kicked off Oscar Week. In the final days leading up to Oscar Sunday, movie fans will be offered throughout the week a up-close look with a series of public programs celebrating this year’s nominees in the Animated Feature Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, Foreign Language Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, and Animated and Live Action Short Film categories.

Hosted by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Oscar Nominated for Kung Fu Panda 2, and director of Kung Fu Panda 3, the evening spotlighted the Animated Short Film and Live Action Short Film categories.

The “Oscar Week: Shorts” event, held at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, featured a screening of all 10 nominated shorts in their entirety, as well as discussions with all of the nominated filmmakers.

On the heels of breaking box office records for this year’s Oscar nominated short films in theaters across the country,...

The 88th Annual Academy Awards are just around the corner on Sunday evening, so once again, it’s time to lay down my predictions for who has the best chance of winning in each of the 24 categories, along with a bit of analysis as to why they appear to be the frontrunners. As usual, I’ll start from the smallest categories and work my way up, so let’s get started:

Best Animated Short Film

“Bear Story” Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala

“Prologue” Richard Williams and Imogen Sutton

“Sanjay’s Super Team” Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle

“We Can’t Live without Cosmos” Konstantin Bronzit

“World of Tomorrow” Don Hertzfeldt

Best Live Action Short Film

“Ave Maria” Basil Khalil and Eric Dupont

“Day One” Henry Hughes

“Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)” Patrick Vollrath

“Shok” Jamie Donoughue

“Stutterer” Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage

Best Documentary Short Subject

“Body Team 12...

More than 150 Oscar nominees came together at noon on Monday at the Beverly Hilton as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored this year’s Oscar contenders at its annual Nominees Luncheon.

From Left to Right:

Seated: Adam Benzine, Paul Massey, Michael Standish, Chris Jenkins, Randy Thom, Jason Smith, Josh Cooley, Maryann Brandon, Richard Williams, Patrick Vollrath, Ed Lachman, Mary Parent, David Acord, Anders Langland, Henry Hughes, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Tom Yellin

First Row: Rosa Tran, Jacqueline West, Ed Guiney, Evgeny Afineevsky, Matthew Shumway, Amy Hobby, Jonas Rivera, Gregg Rudloff, Signe Byrge Sorensen, Love Larson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Courtney Marsh, Nomi Talisman, Mark Ruffalo, Diane Warren, Paco Delgado, Bryan Cranston, Jistin Wilkes, Blye Pagon Faust, Roger Guyett, Basil Khalil, Drew Kunin, Sian Grigg, Andrea Berloff,

Second Row:Adam Stockhausen, Tom McArdle, Keith Redmon, Damian Martin, Ale Abreu, Matthew Heineman, Matt Damon, Bernhard Henrich, Cameron Waldbauer, Alan Robert Murray,...

ShortsHD, the Only Short Film Channel (www.shorts.tv), working with Magnolia Pictures, will open “The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2016” on over 400 screens across the United States, Canada, Europe and Latin America on Friday January 29, 2016. “The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2016” will showcase the Live Action, Animation and Documentary short film nominees compilation as three separate theatrical events.

This marks the 11th year of the Oscar nominated short films theatrical experience and is the only opportunity for audiences to watch the nominated short films prior to the 88th Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, February 28, 2016.

In 2015, the Oscar Nominated Short Films earned over $2.4 million worldwide, nearly doubling from just a few years prior. One of the most diverse categories in Academy consideration, this year’s Oscar® Nominated Short Films feature with projects originating from United States, France, Germany, Palestine, United Kingdom, Kosovo, Austria, Chile, Russia, Liberia, Pakistan, Vietnam, and Canada.

“Films...

Leave it to the Brits! The BAFTA nominations were announced and they gave us a slightly different look at the awards season! For instance, Tom McCarthy's "Spotlight," the leading Oscar contender in the U.S. just received 3 noms including Best Film, Supporting Actor for Mark Ruffalo and Original Screenplay. No Director nomination for McCarthy.

Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg's "Bridge of Spies," a handsomely-produced period piece led the pack along with Todd Haynes' "Carol," another handsomely-produced period piece. Both films garnered nine nominations each including Best Picture. "Bridge of Spies" and "Carol" will duke it out with "Spotlight," Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu's "The Revenant" (eight nominations), and Adam McKay's "The Big Short" (five nominations) for the Best Picture trophy.

So where's "Mad Max: Fury Road" and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" you ask? They're relegated to the technical categories. Apparently, sequels, no matter how great they are, can't compete with originals.

As awards show season shifts into high gear, the BAFTA Awards just released the list of hopefuls ahead of the February 14th ceremony at London’s Royal Opera House.

Leading the way with nine nominations each are “Bridge of Spies” and “Carol,” while “The Revenant” scored eight chances for glory.

“Mad Max: Fury Road” has seven nods followed by “Brooklyn” and “The Martian” with six each. Meanwhile, Alicia Vikander was nominated for Best Actress along with Cate Blanchett, Brie Larson, Dame Maggie Smith and Saoirse Ronan.

And the 2016 BAFTA Awards Nominees are…

Best Actor

Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

Bryan Cranston, Trumbo

Matt Damon, The Martian

Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett, Carol

Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

Dame Maggie Smith, The Lady In The Van

Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Brie Larson, Room

Best Film

Carol

Bridge Of Spies

The Revenant

The Big Short

Spotlight

Supporting Actor

Benicio del Toro,...

On Friday the nominations for the Ee British Academy Film Awards in 2016 were revealed. The BAFTAs will be announced on Sunday, February 14 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London. The ceremony will be hosted by Stephen Fry and broadcast exclusively on BBC One and BBC One HD, with the ceremony being rebroadcast on BBC America.

Bridge of Spies and Carol each receive nine nominations. The Revenant is nominated in eight categories. Mad Max: Fury Road has seven nominations. Brooklyn and The Martian are each nominated six times. The Big Short, The Danish Girl and Ex Machina receive five nominations. Star Wars: The Force Awakens receives four nominations.

Bridge of Spies is nominated in the following categories: Best Film, Director for Steven Spielberg, Original Screenplay, Original Music, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design and Sound. Mark Rylance is nominated for Supporting Actor.

Carol is nominated for Best Film, Director for Todd Haynes,...

Nominations for the 69th annual British Academy Film Awards arrived early this morning and in welcome news, the proceedings were topped by Todd Haynes’ Carol and Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies (both of which made our top 50 of the year), with 9 nominations each. Not far behind was The Revenant, which was nominated in eight categories. while Mad Max: Fury Road has seven nominations.

Following that, Brooklyn and The Martian are each nominated six times. The Big Short, The Danish Girl and Ex Machina received five nominations with Alicia Vikander picking up two acting nominations. A little film called Star Wars: The Force Awakens also managed to rack up four nominations.

Check out the full list below ahead of a ceremony on February 14th.

2015 Nominations

(presented in 2016)

Best Film

The Big Short Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Brad Pitt

Bridge Of Spies Kristie Macosko Krieger, Marc Platt, Steven Spielberg

Carol Elizabeth Karlsen,...

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has just announced there nominations and there’s quite a lot to process, so let’s start from the top. Steven Spielberg’s Cold War drama Bridge of Spies and Todd Haynes’ gorgeous relationship drama Carol have tied for the lead with nine nominations apiece, with both films receiving nominations for Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay (in their respective categories). Not far behind is Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s revenge epic The Revenant with eight nominations, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Editing.

What may come as a surprise to some is that Adam McKay’s comedy-drama about the 2008 financial crisis did rather well. It may have only received five nominations, but they were all major nods: Best Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Christian Bale), and Best Editing. Meanwhile, the film that has...

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Carol, The Revenant, Bridge Of Spies, Spotlight and more lead the charge at the 2016 BAFTAs...

The annual BAFTA film awards roll around again on February 14th, with Stephen Fry once again hosting. And it was Fry and Gugu Mbatha-Raw who read out the nominations for this year's gongs nice and early in London today.

Without further ado, here's what's up for said prizes in a few weeks' time.

Best Film

The Big Short Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Brad Pitt

Bridge Of Spies Kristie Macosko Krieger, Marc Platt, Steven Spielberg

Carol Elizabeth Karlsen, Christine Vachon, Stephen Woolley

The Revenant Steve Golin, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Arnon Milchan, Mary Parent, Keith Redmon

Spotlight Steve Golin, Blye Pagon Faust, Nicole Rocklin, Michael Sugar

Outstanding British Film

45 Years Andrew Haigh, Tristan Goligher

Amy Asif Kapadia, James Gay-Rees

Brooklyn John Crowley, Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey, Nick Hornby

The Danish Girl Tom Hooper, Tim Bevan,...

If there’s a trio of categories that aren’t given the respect that they deserve (or frankly, any respect at all), it’s the short film categories. Be it Best Animated Short, Best Documentary Short, or Best Live Action Short, they all are mostly ignored by the masses, especially when the first two have feature length cousins in Best Animated Feature and Best Documentary Feature to compete with as well. Still, they deserve to be noticed, so I wanted to quickly list what’s in contention this year. I’ve included the categories in my most recent Oscar prediction update, so there’s that as well. The Academy Awards are the sum total of all the categories, so these have their place, no doubt about that. It’s just a shame that more folks don’t recognize this. Here are the three short subject categories and the remaining contenders...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 10 live action short films will advance in the voting process for the 88th Academy Awards. One hundred forty-four pictures had originally qualified in the category.

The 10 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:

“Ave Maria,” Basil Khalil, director, and Eric Dupont, producer (Incognito Films)

“Bad Hunter,” Sahim Omar Kalifa, director, and Dries Phlypo, producer (A Private View)

“Bis Gleich (Till Then),” Philippe Brenninkmeyer, producer, and Tara Lynn Orr, writer (avenueROAD Films)

“Contrapelo (Against the Grain),” Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, director, and Pin-Chun Liu, producer (Ochenta y Cinco Films)

“Day One,” Henry Hughes, director (American Film Institute)

“Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut),” Patrick Vollrath, director (Filmakademie Wien)

“The Free Man (Zi You Ren),” Quah Boon-Lip, director (Taipei National University of the Arts)

“Shok,” Jamie Donoughue, director (Eagle Eye Films)

“Stutterer,” Benjamin Cleary, director (Bare Golly Films)

“Winter Light,...

The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences announced on Thursday the shortlists for both categories.

The live-action selections were culled from 144 eligible submissions while there were 60 for animation.

Members of the short films and feature animation branch viewed all the eligible entries for the preliminary round of voting and will next select five nominees.

Branch screenings will be held in Los Angeles, London, New York and San Francisco in December.

The 10 live-action films appear below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:

Ave Maria, Basil Khalil, director, and Eric Dupont, producer (Incognito Films);

Bad Hunter, Sahim Omar Kalifa, director, and Dries Phlypo, producer (A Private View);

Bis Gleich (Till Then), Philippe Brenninkmeyer, producer, and Tara Lynn Orr, writer (avenueROAD Films);

Contrapelo (Against the Grain), Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, director, and Pin-Chun Liu, producer (Ochenta y Cinco Films);

Day One, Henry Hughes, director (American Film Institute);

Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut), Patrick Vollrath, director (Filmakademie...

As much as I enjoy watching movies at the Telluride Film Festival, I also enjoy snapping pictures. Here are some of my favorites from this year’s gathering, with some thoughts about the filmmakers and the work they brought with them. Master animator Richard Williams and his wife Imogen Sutton show off a poster for Richard’s new short subject, which debuted in Telluride. He says it’s the best work he’s ever done. I didn’t get to see it over the busy weekend (to my regret) but I look forward to a Los Angeles screening sometime soon. Director Todd Haynes and Rooney Mara, who costars with Cate Blanchett in his new film Carol, chat with The Hollywood Reporter’s chief critic...

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