‘Black Panther,’ ‘A Star Is Born,’ ‘Roma’ included on nine Oscar nominations shortlists
Providing some degree of clarity in an Oscar season that has thus far been fairly wide open, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the shortlists of potential nominees in nine categories on Monday, including foreign-language film, song and documentary.
This is the first time the academy has simultaneously announced these lists, which are determined either by the specific branches involved or by special awards committees. While they may be light on obvious snubs or surprises, the shortlists will no doubt be closely picked over by Oscar prognosticators for clues of which way the academy voters may be leaning.
Out of 166 films originally submitted in the documentary feature category, 15 will advance to the final round of voting, including such critical and box-office successes as the Mister Rogers doc “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” the reunited-triplets film “Three Identical Strangers,” the rock-climbing doc “Free Solo” and the portrait of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg “RBG.”
Over the years, the documentary category has produced its share of controversies over films that were snubbed, such as the Roger Ebert documentary “Life Itself” and the Jane Goodall doc “Jane” being recently passed over, but this year, the branch appears to have avoided any such glaring omissions on its way to the final five nominees.
Out of 87 films that had been considered in the foreign-language category, nine films made the shortlist, including “Birds of Passage” (Colombia), “The Guilty” (Denmark), “Never Look Away” (Germany), “Shoplifters” (Japan), “Ayka” (Kazakhstan), “Capernaum” (Lebanon) “Roma” (Mexico), “Cold War” (Poland), and “Burning” (South Korea).
Two films that won prizes at Cannes earlier this year, “Border” and “Girl,” failed to make the cut. The former, a Swedish fantasy film, has earned a respectable $727,000 at the domestic box office, while the latter, a Netflix release from Belgium, earned a Golden Globes nod earlier this month but has spurred controversy for the casting of a cisgender male actor in a trans female role.
Of those on the foreign film shortlist, Alfonso Cuarón’s autobiographical drama “Roma” is widely expected to also earn a spot in the best picture race, which would mark a first for a Netflix title.
Members of the academy’s music branch advanced 15 songs to the final round of voting out of 90 that were eligible in the category, including Kendrick Lamar’s “All the Stars” from the superhero smash “Black Panther,” “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” from the Coen brothers’ western anthology “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” “Trip a Little Light Fantastic” from the Disney sequel “Mary Poppins Returns” and the Lady Gaga-sung ballad “Shallow” from director Bradley Cooper’s remake of “A Star Is Born.”
Two other submitted songs from “A Star Is Born” — “Always Remember Us This Way” and “I’ll Never Love Again” — did not advance to the shortlist.
In the visual effects race, the voting committee advanced all three of the year’s Marvel Cinematic Universe titles — “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Black Panther” — for nomination consideration. But the year’s biggest DC title, “Aquaman,” was left out of the running. “Bumblebee,” the well-regarded “Transformers” spinoff opening this week, also came up short, while two other titles opening this week are on the shortlist — “Mary Poppins Returns” and “Welcome to Marwen.”
The voting period for nominations begins on Jan. 7 and will conclude Jan. 14.
The nominations for the 91st Academy Awards will then be announced on Tuesday, Jan. 22.
Here are the shortlists announced on Monday in full:
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“Charm City”
“Communion”
“Crime + Punishment”
“Dark Money”
“The Distant Barking of Dogs”
“Free Solo”
“Hale County This Morning, This Evening”
“Minding the Gap”
“Of Fathers and Sons”
“On Her Shoulders”
“RBG”
“Shirkers”
“The Silence of Others”
“Three Identical Strangers”
“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
“Black Sheep”
“End Game”
“Lifeboat”
“Los Comandos”
“My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes”
“A Night at the Garden”
“Period. End of Sentence.”
“’63 Boycott”
“Women of the Gulag”
“Zion”
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Colombia, “Birds of Passage”
Denmark, “The Guilty”
Germany, “Never Look Away”
Japan, “Shoplifters”
Kazakhstan, “Ayka”
Lebanon, “Capernaum”
Mexico, “Roma”
Poland, “Cold War”
South Korea, “Burning”
MAKEUP AND HAIR STYLING
“Black Panther”
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“Border”
“Mary Queen of Scots”
“Stan & Ollie”
“Suspiria”
“Vice”
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
“Annihilation”
“Avengers: Infinity War”
“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”
“Black Panther”
“BlacKkKlansman”
“Crazy Rich Asians”
“The Death of Stalin”
“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”
“First Man”
“If Beale Street Could Talk”
“Isle of Dogs”
“Mary Poppins Returns”
“A Quiet Place”
“Ready Player One”
“Vice”
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
“When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings” from “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”
“Treasure” from “Beautiful Boy”
“All The Stars” from “Black Panther”
“Revelation” from “Boy Erased”
“Girl in the Movies” from “Dumplin’”
“We Won’t Move” from “The Hate U Give”
“The Place Where Lost Things Go” from “Mary Poppins Returns”
“Trip a Little Light Fantastic” from “Mary Poppins Returns”
“Keep Reachin’” from “Quincy”
“I’ll Fight” from “RBG”
“A Place Called Slaughter Race” from “Ralph Breaks the Internet”
“OYAHYTT” from “Sorry to Bother You”
“Shallow” from “A Star Is Born”
“Suspirium” from “Suspiria”
“The Big Unknown” from “Widows”
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
“Age of Sail”
“Animal Behaviour”
“Bao”
“Bilby”
“Bird Karma”
“Late Afternoon”
“Lost & Found”
“One Small Step”
“Pépé le Morse”
“Weekends”
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
“Caroline”
“Chuchotage”
“Detainment”
“Fauve”
“Icare”
“Marguerite”
“May Day”
“Mother”
“Skin”
“Wale”
VISUAL EFFECTS
“Ant-Man and the Wasp”
“Avengers: Infinity War”
“Black Panther”
“Christopher Robin”
“First Man”
“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”
“Mary Poppins Returns”
“Ready Player One”
“Solo: A Star Wars Story”
“Welcome to Marwen”
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