America Ferrera Earns First Career Oscar Nomination for “Barbie” Performance

Posted on January 23, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

America Ferrera is celebrating a special first…

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has revealed the nominees for the 96th Academy Awards, with the 39-year-old Honduran American actress earning her first-ever nod.

Ferrara is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Gloria, a Mattel employee who befriends Barbie in Barbie.

Ferrera’s nomination came as a surprise to some. Despite an acclaimed performance in the film, She wasn’t nominated for a Golden Globe or a SAG Award in the category. She did, however, receive a Critics Choice Award nomination and received the See Her Award at the Critics Choice Awards.

In Barbie, Ferrera delivers a monologue about the challenging expectations of being a woman, which was widely shared on social media — the hashtags #barbiemonologue and #barbiespeech each garnering more than 10 million views on TikTok, with many recreating the powerful speech.

But Ferrera isn’t the only Latinx artist nominated…

Colman Domingo has received his first Oscar nod.

The 54-year-old Belizean-Guatemalan American actor earned the nomination in the Best Actor in a Leading Role category for playing the title character in Rustin, Netflix’s biopic about the gay Black civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, an adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. and the architect of the 1963 March on Washington.

Domingo is only the second openly gay man to earn an Oscar nomination for playing a gay character, following the 1999 nomination of Ian McKellen for his leading role in Gods and Monsters.

J.A. Bayona has earned his first Oscar nod.

The 48-year-old Spanish filmmaker earned a nod for Best International Feature Film for Spain’s Society of the Snow.

Other Hispanic nominees include Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz in the Best Animated Feature Film category for Robot Dreams; Rodrigo Prieto for Best Cinematography for Killers of the Flower Moon; and Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé for Best Makeup and Hairstyling for Society of the Snow.

Oppenheimer received the most nominations for the 2024 Oscars,with 13 nods.

Jimmy Kimmel will host the 2024 Oscars, which will be held March 10 at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.

Here’s the full list of 2024 Oscar nominations.

2024 Oscar Nominations List

Best Picture
American Fiction (Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Cord Jefferson and Jermaine Johnson, Producers)
Anatomy of a Fall (Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion, Producers)
Barbie (David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner, Producers)
The Holdovers (Mark Johnson, Producer)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas, Martin Scorsese and Daniel Lupi, Producers)
Maestro (Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Fred Berner, Amy Durning and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers)
Oppenheimer (Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan, Producers)
Past Lives (David Hinojosa, Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, Producers)
Poor Things (Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone, Producers)
The Zone of Interest (James Wilson, Producer)

Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper, Maestro
Colman Domingo, Rustin
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction

Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening, Nyad
Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall
Carey Mulligan, Maestro
Emma Stone, Poor Things

Actor in a Supporting Role
Sterling K. Brown, American Fiction
Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon
Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling, Barbie
Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things

Actress in a Supporting Role
Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple
America Ferrera, Barbie
Jodie Foster, Nyad
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers

Directing
Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet
Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese
Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan
Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos
The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
American Fiction (Written for the screen by Cord Jefferson)
Barbie (Written by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach)
Oppenheimer (Written for the screen by Christopher Nolan)
Poor Things (Screenplay by Tony McNamara)
The Zone of Interest (Written by Jonathan Glazer)

Writing (Original Screenplay)
Anatomy of a Fall (Screenplay – Justine Triet and Arthur Harari)
The Holdovers (Written by David Hemingson)
Maestro (Written by Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer)
May December (Screenplay by Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch & Alex Mechanik)
Past Lives (Written by Celine Song)

International Feature Film
Io Capitano (Italy)
Perfect Days (Japan)
Society of the Snow (Spain)
The Teachers’ Lounge (Germany)
The Zone of Interest (UK)

Animated Feature Film
The Boy and the Heron (Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki)
Elemental (Peter Sohn and Denise Ream)
Nimona (Nick Bruno, Troy Quane, Karen Ryan and Julie Zackary)
Robot Dreams (Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Amy Pascal)

Documentary Feature Film
Bobi Wine: The People’s President (Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp and John Battsek)
The Eternal Memory (Nominees to be determined)
Four Daughters (Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha)
To Kill a Tiger (Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim)
20 Days in Mariupol (Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath)

Live Action Short Film
The After (Misan Harriman and Nicky Bentham)
Invincible (Vincent René-Lortie and Samuel Caron)
Knight of Fortune (Lasse Lyskjær Noer and Christian Norlyk)
Red, White and Blue (Nazrin Choudhury and Sara McFarlane)
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Wes Anderson and Steven Rales)

Documentary Short Film
The ABCs of Book Banning (Sheila Nevins and Trish Adlesic)
The Barber of Little Rock (John Hoffman and Christine Turner)
Island in Between (S. Leo Chiang and Jean Tsien)
The Last Repair Shop (Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers)
Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó (Sean Wang and Sam Davis)

Animated Short Film
Letter to a Pig (Tal Kantor and Amit R. Gicelter)
Ninety-Five Senses (Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess)
Our Uniform (Yegane Moghaddam)
Pachyderme (Stéphanie Clément and Marc Rius)
War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko (Dave Mullins and Brad Booker)

Film Editing
Anatomy of a Fall (Laurent Sénéchal)
The Holdovers (Kevin Tent)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Thelma Schoonmaker)
Oppenheimer (Jennifer Lame)
Poor Things (Yorgos Mavropsaridis)

Cinematography
El Conde (Edward Lachman)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Rodrigo Prieto)
Maestro (Matthew Libatique)
Oppenheimer (Hoyte van Hoytema)
Poor Things (Robbie Ryan)

Production Design
Barbie (Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Adam Willis)
Napoleon (Production Design: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Elli Griff)
Oppenheimer (Production Design: Ruth De Jong; Set Decoration: Claire Kaufman)
Poor Things (Production Design: James Price and Shona Heath; Set Decoration: Zsuzsa Mihalek)

Costume Design
Barbie (Jacqueline Durran)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Jacqueline West)
Napoleon (Janty Yates and Dave Crossman)
Oppenheimer (Ellen Mirojnick)
Poor Things (Holly Waddington)

Music (Original Score)
American Fiction (Laura Karpman)
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (John Williams)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Robbie Robertson)
Oppenheimer (Ludwig Göransson)
Poor Things (Jerskin Fendrix)

Music (Original Song)
“The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot (Music and Lyric by Diane Warren)
“I’m Just Ken” from Barbie (Music and Lyric by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt)
“It Never Went Away” from American Symphony (Music and Lyric by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson)
“Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon (Music and Lyric by Scott George)
“What Was I Made For?” from Barbie (Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell)

Makeup and Hairstyling
Golda (Karen Hartley Thomas, Suzi Battersby and Ashra Kelly-Blue)
Maestro (Kazu Hiro, Kay Georgiou and Lori McCoy-Bell)
Oppenheimer (Luisa Abel)
Poor Things (Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston)
Society of the Snow (Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé)

Sound
The Creator (Ian Voigt, Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic)
Maestro (Steven A. Morrow, Richard King, Jason Ruder, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic)
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (Chris Munro, James H. Mather, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor)
Oppenheimer (Willie Burton, Richard King, Gary A. Rizzo and Kevin O’Connell)
The Zone of Interest (Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn)

Visual Effects
The Creator (Jay Cooper, Ian Comley, Andrew Roberts and Neil Corbould)
Godzilla Minus One (Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams and Theo Bialek)
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (Alex Wuttke, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland and Neil Corbould)
Napoleon (Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet, Simone Coco and Neil Corbould)

Jacob Elordi Earns Career-First BAFTA Film Awards Nod for “Saltburn” Performance

Posted on January 19, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Jacob Elordi has another chance to win at this year’s BAFTAs.

The 26-year-old half-Spanish Australian actor and Saltburn star, a previously revealed nominee for the BAFTA Film Rising Star Award, has earned his first-ever BAFTA nomination from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Elordi earned the nod in the Supporting Actor category for his work in Saltburn.

But he isn’t the only Latinx actor to earn a first BAFTA nod.

Colman Domingo is nominated in the Leading Actor category.

The 54-year-old Belizean-Guatemalan American actor is nominated for his performance in Netflix’s Rustin.

Rodrigo Prieto is nominated in the Cinematography category.

The 58-year-old Mexican cinematographer, previously nominated three times for a BAFTA, earned this year’s nod for his work on Killers of the Flower Moon.

J.A. Bayona, the Spanish filmmaker, is nominated in the Film Not in the English Language category for directing Society of the Snow. It’s his first BAFTA nod.

Winners will be announced at the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards ceremony, hosted by actor David Tennant on February 18 at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London.

Here’s the list of 2023 BAFTA Film Awards Nominations:

BEST FILM
ANATOMY OF A FALL Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion
THE HOLDOVERS Mark Johnson
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Dan Friedkin, Daniel Lupi, Martin Scorsese, Bradley Thomas
OPPENHEIMER Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, Emma Thomas
POOR THINGS Ed Guiney, Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
ALL OF US STRANGERS Andrew Haigh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey
HOW TO HAVE SEX Molly Manning Walker, Emily Leo, Ivana MacKinnon, Konstantinos Kontovrakis
NAPOLEON Ridley Scott, Mark Huffam, Kevin J. Walsh, David Scarpa
THE OLD OAK Ken Loach, Rebecca O’Brien, Paul Laverty
POOR THINGS Yorgos Lanthimos, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone, Tony McNamara
RYE LANE Raine Allen-Miller, Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo, Damian Jones, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia
SALTBURN Emerald Fennell, Josey McNamara, Margot Robbie
SCRAPPER Charlotte Regan, Theo Barrowclough
WONKA Paul King, Alexandra Derbyshire, David Heyman, Simon Farnaby
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Jonathan Glazer, James Wilson, Ewa Puszczyńska

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
BLUE BAG LIFE Lisa Selby (Director), Rebecca Lloyd-Evans (Director, Producer), Alex Fry (Producer)
BOBI WINE: THE PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT Christopher Sharp (Director) [also directed Moses Bwayo]
EARTH MAMA Savanah Leaf (Writer, Director, Producer), Shirley O’Connor (Producer), Medb Riordan (Producer)
HOW TO HAVE SEX Molly Manning Walker (Writer, Director)
IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE? Ella Glendining (Director)

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL Mstyslav Chernov, Raney Aronson Rath
ANATOMY OF A FALL Justine Triet, Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion
PAST LIVES Celine Song, David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon
SOCIETY OF THE SNOW J.A. Bayona, Belen Atienza
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Jonathan Glazer

DOCUMENTARY
20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL Mstyslav Chernov, Raney Aronson Rath
AMERICAN SYMPHONY Matthew Heineman, Lauren Domino, Joedan Okun
BEYOND UTOPIA Madeleine Gavin, Rachel Cohen, Jana Edelbaum
STILL: A MICHAEL J. FOX MOVIE Davis Guggenheim, Jonathan King, Annetta Marion
WHAM! Chris Smith

ANIMATED FILM
THE BOY AND THE HERON Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki
CHICKEN RUN: DAWN OF THE NUGGET Sam Fell, Leyla Hobart, Steve Pegram
ELEMENTAL Peter Sohn, Denise Ream
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Avi Arad, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Amy Pascal, Christina Steinberg

DIRECTOR
ALL OF US STRANGERS Andrew Haigh
ANATOMY OF A FALL Justine Triet
THE HOLDOVERS Alexander Payne
MAESTRO Bradley Cooper
OPPENHEIMER Christopher Nolan
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Jonathan Glazer

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
ANATOMY OF A FALL Justine Triet, Arthur Harari
BARBIE Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach
THE HOLDOVERS David Hemingson
MAESTRO Bradley Cooper, Josh Singer
PAST LIVES Celine Song

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
ALL OF US STRANGERS Andrew Haigh
AMERICAN FICTION Cord Jefferson
OPPENHEIMER Christopher Nolan
POOR THINGS Tony McNamara
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Jonathan Glazer

LEADING ACTRESS
FANTASIA BARRINO The Color Purple
SANDRA HÜLLER Anatomy of a Fall
CAREY MULLIGAN Maestro
VIVIAN OPARAH Rye Lane
MARGOT ROBBIE Barbie
EMMA STONE Poor Things

LEADING ACTOR
BRADLEY COOPER Maestro
COLMAN DOMINGO Rustin
PAUL GIAMATTI The Holdovers
BARRY KEOGHAN Saltburn
CILLIAN MURPHY Oppenheimer|
TEO YOO Past Lives

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
EMILY BLUNT Oppenheimer
DANIELLE BROOKS The Color Purple
CLAIRE FOY All of Us Strangers
SANDRA HÜLLER The Zone of Interest
ROSAMUND PIKE Saltburn
DA’VINE JOY RANDOLPH The Holdovers

SUPPORTING ACTOR
ROBERT DE NIRO Killers of The Flower Moon
ROBERT DOWNEY JR. Oppenheimer
JACOB ELORDI Saltburn
RYAN GOSLING Barbie
PAUL MESCAL All of Us Strangers
DOMINIC SESSA The Holdovers

CASTING
ALL OF US STRANGERS Kahleen Crawford
ANATOMY OF A FALL Cynthia Arra
THE HOLDOVERS Susan Shopmaker
HOW TO HAVE SEX Isabella Odoffin|
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Ellen Lewis, Rene Haynes

CINEMATOGRAPHY
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Rodrigo Prieto
MAESTRO Matthew Libatique
OPPENHEIMER Hoyte van Hoytema
POOR THINGS Robbie Ryan
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Łukasz Żal

EDITING
ANATOMY OF A FALL Laurent Sénéchal
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Thelma Schoonmaker
OPPENHEIMER Jennifer Lame
POOR THINGS Yorgos Mavropsaridis
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Paul Watts

COSTUME DESIGN
BARBIE Jacqueline Durran
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Jacqueline West
NAPOLEON Dave Crossman, Janty Yates
OPPENHEIMER Ellen Mirojnick
POOR THINGS Holly Waddington

MAKE UP & HAIR
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Kay Georgiou, Thomas Nellen
MAESTRO Sian Grigg, Kay Georgiou, Kazu Hiro, Lori McCoy-Bell
NAPOLEON Jana Carboni, Francesco Pegoretti, Satinder Chumber, Julia Vernon
OPPENHEIMER Luisa Abel, Jaime Leigh McIntosh, Jason Hamer, Ahou Mofid
POOR THINGS Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier, Josh Weston

ORIGINAL SCORE
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Robbie Robertson
OPPENHEIMER Ludwig Göransson
POOR THINGS Jerskin Fendrix
SALTBURN Anthony Willis
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE Daniel Pemberton

PRODUCTION DESIGN
BARBIE Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Jack Fisk, Adam Willis
OPPENHEIMER Ruth De Jong, Claire Kaufman
POOR THINGS Shona Heath, James Price, Zsuzsa Mihalek
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Chris Oddy, Joanna Maria Kuś, Katarzyna Sikora

SOUND
FERRARI Angelo Bonanni, Tony Lamberti, Andy Nelson, Lee Orloff, Bernard Weiser
MAESTRO Richard King, Steve Morrow, Tom Ozanich, Jason Ruder, Dean Zupancic
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE Chris Burdon, James H. Mather, Chris Munro, Mark Taylor
OPPENHEIMER Willie Burton, Richard King, Kevin O’Connell, Gary A. Rizzo
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Johnnie Burn, Tarn Willers

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
THE CREATOR Jonathan Bullock, Charmaine Chan, Ian Comley, Jay Cooper
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 Theo Bialek, Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE Neil Corbould, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland, Alex Wuttke
NAPOLEON Henry Badgett, Neil Corbould, Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet
POOR THINGS Simon Hughes

BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
CRAB DAY Ross Stringer, Bartosz Stanislawek, Aleksandra Sykulak
VISIBLE MENDING Samantha Moore, Tilley Bancroft
WILD SUMMON Karni Arieli, Saul Freed, Jay Woolley

BRITISH SHORT FILM
FESTIVAL OF SLAPS Abdou Cissé, Cheri Darbon, George Telfer
GORKA Joe Weiland, Alex Jefferson
JELLYFISH AND LOBSTER Yasmin Afifi, Elizabeth Rufai
SUCH A LOVELY DAY Simon Woods, Polly Stokes, Emma Norton, Kate Phibbs
YELLOW Elham Ehsas, Dina Mousawi, Azeem Bhati, Yiannis Manolopoulos

EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
PHOEBE DYNEVOR
AYO EDEBIRI
JACOB ELORDI
MIA MCKENNA-BRUCE
SOPHIE WILDE

Rodrigo Prieto Wins National Society of Film Critics’ Best Cinematography Award for “Killers of the Flower Moon”

Posted on January 6, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Rodrigo Prieto is celebrating a national win…

The National Society of Film Critics has announced the winners of its 58th annual awards, with the 58-year-old Mexican Oscar-nominated cinematographer among the honorees.

Prieto earned the Best Cinematography award for lensing Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.

Critics convened Saturday in New York and Los Angeles to vote on the year’s best movies and performances.

Here’s the complete list of honorees:

Best Picture: “Past Lives”
Runners-up:
“The Zone of Interest”
“Oppenheimer”

Best Director: Jonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest”
Runners-up:
Todd Haynes, “May December”
Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”

Best Film Not in the English Language: “Fallen Leaves”
Runners-up:
“The Zone of Interest”
“Anatomy of a Fall”

Best Nonfiction Film: “Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troisgros”
Runners-up:
“20 Days in Mariupol”
“Kokomo City”

Best Actor: Andrew Scott, “All of Us Strangers”
Runners-up:
Jeffrey Wright, “American Fiction”
Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer”

Best Actress: Sandra Hüller, “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest”
Runners-up:
Emma Stone, “Poor Things”
Lily Gladstone, “Killers of the Flower Moon”

Best Supporting Actor: Charles Melton, “May December”
Runners-up: Robert Downey, Jr., “Oppenheimer”, and Ryan Gosling, “Barbie” (tie)

Best Supporting Actress: Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers”
Runners-up:
Penélope Cruz, “Ferrari”
Rachel McAdams, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret”

Best screenplay: Samy Burch, “May December”
Runners-up:
Celine Song, “Past Lives”
David Hemingson, “The Holdovers”

Best cinematography:

Rodrigo Prieto, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Runners-up:
Łukasz Żal, “The Zone of Interest”
Hoyte van Hoytema, “Oppenheimer”

Best experimental film: Jean Luc-Godard’s “Trailer of a Film That Will Never Exist: Phony Wars”

Film heritage award: Criterion Channel

Film heritage award: Facets, Kim’s Video, Scarecrow Video and Vidiots

Special citation for a film awaiting U.S. distribution: Víctor Erice’s “Close Your Eyes”

Rodrigo Prieto to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at GuadaLAjara Film Festival

Posted on September 26, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Rodrigo Prieto is earning a special award…

The 57-year-old Mexican Oscar-nominated cinematographer will be honored with the 2023 Árbol de la Vida, a lifetime achievement award, at the 13th edition of the GuadaLAjara Film Festival on November 1.

Taking place at the Theater at the Ace Hotel in Downtown L.A., Prieto will be honored at the opening night gala celebration. Past honorees have included Oscar-winner Patricia Arquette, in addition to stars such as Xolo Maridueña, Rosario Dawson and Danny Trejo.

Prieto has garnered worldwide acclaim for his work on various feature films, collaborating with some of cinema’s most vital masters. He has picked up his three Oscar nods for Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain (2005) and two with Martin Scorsese — Silence (2016) and The Irishman (2019).

He’s teamed up with the iconic filmmaker again for Killers of the Flower Moon, the story of a group of men that murdered Osage tribe members in the 1920s. The Apple Original Films and Paramount Pictures co-distributed feature stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone.

Prieto also lensed Greta Gerwig’s billion-dollar Mattel meta-comedy Barbie from Warner Bros — now the highest grossing release of 2023.

Curated with Latinx and BIPOC communities in mind, GLAFF’s programming is a mix of films that aim to attract cinephiles and art and culture enthusiasts. The 2023 program and official selection includes a special Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) centerpiece gala screening of the 1960s Mexican classic Macario from director Roberto Gavaldón. More films will be announced in the coming weeks.

“GLAFF continues its mission to be a bridge between Latin America and U.S.-based Latinx/BIPOC creators,” says Ximena Urrutia, festival director. “Being part of a festival run by Latina women, we strive to add to the efforts of ensuring domestically and internationally Latinx representation.”

The GuadaLAjara Film Festival is supported by the University of Guadalajara, Guadalajara, the University of Guadalajara Foundation USA, the Grodman Legacy Family Foundation and the Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG).

Rodrigo Prieto Awarded Vilcek Prize in Filmmaking by Vilcek Foundation

Posted on March 15, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Rodrigo Prieto is a trailblazer…

The 55-year-old Mexican Oscar-nominated cinematographer is the recipient of the 2021 Vilcek Prize in Filmmaking, according to the Vilcek Foundation.

The award is part of the Vilcek Foundation Prizes, which are bestowed in a range of categories each year, in celebration of the outstanding contributions of immigrant trailblazers, within the arts and sciences.

Prieto, a Mexican native, has established himself over the years as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after DPs. Boasting credits including Amores Perros and Brokeback Mountain, he’s known for his collaborations with renowned directors including Martin Scorsese, Ang Lee, Julie Taymor, Oliver Stone and Alejandro González Iñárritu.

A three-time Academy Awards nominee most recently recognized by the Academy for his groundbreaking work on Scorsese’s The Irishman, Prieto has also received accolades for his work from BAFTA, the American Society of Cinematographers and the Independent Spirit Awards.

Known for his unconventional camerawork, and his remarkably detailed, evocative compositions, the DP grew up with a visual artist for a mother and an aeronautical engineer for a father. Thus, in his own career, he would come to balance technology with artistry, aiming with each new project to create a distinctive and visceral, cinematic experience. “That combination…is something that I have in my DNA,” Prieto says, “utilizing technology and different techniques to create art.”

Established in 2006, as a means of championing diverse perspectives—thereby advancing the arts and sciences—The Vilcek Foundation has thus far awarded over $5.8 million to immigrants from 56 different countries.

“As leaders in the arts, we have a responsibility to promote diversity by making space, providing access, and amplifying the artistic contributions of marginalized groups and individuals,” Vilcek Foundation President Rick Kinsel says. “The Vilcek Prizes in the arts and humanities enable us to speak to the value of immigration for our society in a non-politicized way.”

This year, other prize recipients include geneticist Ruth Lehmann, chemical biologist Mohamed Abou Donia, entrepreneur (and former presidential candidate) Andrew Yang, and a number of filmmakers—among them, Juan Pablo González, Miko Revereza and Nanfu Wang.

González has been awarded the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Filmmaking for the artistic rigor and deep emotional engagement that he brings to his immersive and intimate explorations of his hometown in rural Mexico.

Up next for Prieto is Scorsese’s sprawling crime drama, Killers of the Flower Moon. Set in 1920s Oklahoma, the Apple Original Film centers on an investigation into a string of brutal murders within the Osage tribe. Eric Roth wrote the script, adapting an acclaimed work of nonfiction by David Grann.

Rodrigo Prieto: The Cinematographer Behind the Lens of Taylor Swift’s “Cardigan” Video

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Everything’s o-Tay for Rodrigo Prieto…

The 54-year-old three-time Oscar-nominated Mexican cinematographer is earning rave reviews for his work on Taylor Swift’s music video for the pop star’s latest single “Cardigan.”

The top-secret music video, written, directed and styled by Swift, was filmed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The dreamy video, released on Friday, July 24 alongside Swift’s new album Folklore, presents a cottagecore aesthetic and features Swift in three different settings.

The “homespun” and “dreamlike” video starts out with Swift sitting in a candlelit cottage in the woods, wearing a nightgown and playing a vintage upright piano. When the soundboard starts glowing, she climbs into it and is magically transported to a moss-covered forest, where she plays the song on a grand piano producing a waterfall. The piano bench starts to glow and she climbs into it. She gets transported to a dark stormy sea, where she holds on to a floating piano. The piano soundboard glows and she climbs in, and she returns to the cottage, where she dons a cardigan.

“She had the whole storyline – the whole notion of going into the piano and coming out into the forest, the water, going back into the piano,” Prieto tells Rolling Stoneof hisfirst phone call with Swift.

Their last collaboration, on the music video for “The Man,” saw Swift adopting a male alter ego to satirize gender inequality.

From the beginning, though, Prieto says “Cardigan” was always going to be more ambiguous, and more personal: “When she called me and told me that this was more of a fantasy, I found that really appealing.”

This was in early July, when Prieto had simultaneously begun serving on a committee for the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) to conceive solutions for safely resuming film production during the ongoing pandemic.

Prieto had just finished filming a PSA for a healthcare company when Swift asked him to work on “Cardigan,” and he was well aware of the many, many layers of risks involved in the project.

“We needed to be safe, for her sake and for our sake as a crew during the shoot, but also for the future of filmmaking,” he says. “Because we want to keep working and doing what we do, and if, God forbid, someone got sick on one of the first jobs that was filmed, it would probably close down [the industry].”

The extensive safety protocols for the shoot ranged from standard – everybody had to get tested, and every member of the crew wore a mask – to outlandish: Because Swift would need to spend a large part of the shoot not wearing a face covering, the crew used a colored wristband system, determining which members of the team were permitted to stand closest to her. (Prieto, assistant director Joe Osborne, and set designer Ethan Tobman all wore one color, lighting designers and gaffers wore another, and so on.)

Prieto actually wore two face coverings – a mask and an acrylic shield – for most of the day-and-a-half-long shoot. And just to ensure that crew members crossed within a six-foot range of Swift as little as possible, the entire “Cardigan” video was shot by mounting the camera to a robotic arm, which was then controlled by a remote operator.

The “techno arm,” as Prieto calls it, is typically only used in the industry for crane shots and other establishing visuals.

“We were going to use the crane for the ocean scene,” Prieto explains, referencing the shot where the image zooms out on the wide expanse of the water before honing back in on Swift. “So then I said, let’s have it both days.”

Hooking the camera up to a giant robot was the safest way to get close-ups on Swift’s face, Prieto explains. And as unwieldy as that sounds, you’d never know from watching the video that a human being wasn’t behind the lens at all times.

There was, of course, the added tangle of secrecy – the filmmaking had to be done indoors to avoid crowds, and Swift wore an earpiece throughout the shoot to lip-sync to the song without any of the crew hearing it.

The crew built three sets on two stages across one large studio, and in order to create the illusion of natural light for the outdoor scenes, Prieto and his crew draped giant stretches of white bouncing fabric on the walls and ceiling. The process took longer than usual due to COVID, with the lighting crew working in small groups and frequently taking breaks so they could remove masks and catch their breath.

“Filmmaking is a gregarious endeavor by nature,” Prieto says. “People are close to each other, so it’s really hard to remember to keep to yourselves.” Given the distancing on set, it was sometimes tricky for crew members to communicate over reference points and documents – “we had to kind of point at each other” – but Prieto attributes Swift’s clear vision for the project as a guiding light.

Ahead of the shoot, she sent him and Tobman numerous visual references for each scene – a mix of photographs for the dark ocean water and drawings for the fantastical forest sequence. One illustration, of a sword lodged into a rock formation overlooking a creek, was particularly inspiring: “That became our focal interest – we didn’t imitate it, but the feeling of it was what we went with.”

On top of that, Swift came up with a detailed shot list for the video ahead of time, with each visual accompanied by a time sequence within the song.

“The ocean water, the fingers on the piano, whatever it may be, she knew what she wanted for each section,” Prieto says. Unlike with “The Man,” Swift couldn’t be as hands-on with her direction on set – she viewed each take through a video monitor after it was shot – but Prieto was impressed by her ability to “talk with the camera” and utilize cinematic language without formal training, like with the unorthodox, zoom-out-and-in shot over the ocean. “I was blown away, because it’s all metaphorical,” he says. “This video is not just pretty images of things; she’s telling a personal story through her lyrics, her music, and now through the video.”

The video has already been viewed more than 40 million times on YouTube since its release.

Prieto previously earned Academy Awards for his lensing work on Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain (2006), Martin Scorsese’s Silence (2017) and Scorsese’s The Irishman (2020).

His other film credits include Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Babel (2006) and Biutiful (2010), Francis Lawrence’s Water for Elephants and Cameron Crowe’s We Bought a Zoo.

Prieto to Make Feature Directorial Debut with the Revenge Thriller “Bastard”

Posted on March 26, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Rodrigo Prieto is stepping into the director’s chair…

The 51-year-old Mexican cinematographer, who has worked on films such as Martin Scorcese’s Silence and Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, will make his directorial debut with the revenge thriller Bastard.

Based on an original script penned by Bill Gullo, Bastard is a taut revenge thriller with a riveting antagonist at its core, set against a looming flood that will ravage the small town of Bird’s Point, Missouri.

A Mexico-City native, Prieto started his career shooting television commercials at the age of 22 before moving into features in 1992. He broke out into the film scene with his work on Amores Perros, which kicked off his collaboration with director Alejandro González Iñárritu. Prieto boasts a top-notch list of film credits including Julie Taymor’s Frida; Curtis Hanson’s 8 Mile; Spike Lee’s 25th Hour; Iñárritu’s 21 Grams and Babel; Oliver Stone’s Alexander; Kevin Macdonald’s State of Play; Pedro Almodóvar’s Broken Embraces; Francis Laurence’s Water for Elephants; Cameron Crowe’s We Bought A Zoo; Lee’s Brokeback Mountain; Ben Affleck’s Argo; and a clutch of Scorcese titles.

He’s most recently worked on HBO series Vinyl and Silence, the latter of which saw him earn an Oscar nomination.

Prieto directed his first short film Likeness, starring Elle Fanning, which premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.

Production is slated to begin in the first quarter of 2018.

Miranda Receives First Oscar Nomination for His Work on Disney’s “Moana”

Posted on January 25, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Lin-Manuel Miranda is thisclose to making history…

The 37-year-old Puerto Rican actor, playwright, composer, rapper, and writer, best known for creating and starring in the Broadway musicals Hamilton and In the Heights, has picked up his first Oscar nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Miranda, the recipient of an Emmy, two Grammys and three Tony Awards, earned the recognition for his musical work on the Disney animated film Moana. He’s responsible for the music and lyrics for the track “How Far I’ll Go,” which is nominated in the Best Original Song category.

Should he win, Miranda will become the youngest member of the EGOT club (recipients of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony), replacing Robert Lopez, who completed his quartet in 2014 with a best original song win for Frozen’s “Let It Go.”

He’d be only the second Latino to join the club, following in the footsteps of fellow Puerto Rican multi-faceted artist Rita Moreno.

But Miranda faces stiff competition… “How Far I’ll Go” is up against two songs from Oscar frontrunner La La Land, “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” and Golden Globe-winner “City of Stars,” as well as Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling” from Trolls and Sting’s “The Empty Chair” from Jim: The James Foley Story.

Miranda isn’t the only Latino nominee this year…

Like Miranda, Juanjo Gimenez has also picked up his first nomination. The 53-year-old Spanish filmmaker is nominated for Best Live Action Short Film for “Timecode.”

The short film picked up the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

Rodrigo Prieto has picked up the second Oscar nod of his career… The 51-year-old Mexican cinematographer is nominated in the Best Cinematography category for his work on Martin Scorsese’s Silence.

Prieto was previously nominated for an Academy Award for his work on Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, losing the prize to Dion Beebe’s Memoirs of a Geisha.

Other Latino nominees include Richard Alonzo for Best Makeup and Hair for his work on Star Trek Beyond and Adam Valdez for Best Visual Effects for his work on The Jungle Book.

The 89th annual Academy Awards will take place on February 26 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

Here’s the full list of nominees:

Best picture:
“Arrival”
“Fences”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hell or High Water”
“Hidden Figures”
“La La Land”
“Lion”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight”

Lead actor:
Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea”
Andrew Garfield, “Hacksaw Ridge”
Ryan Gosling, “La La Land,”
Viggo Mortensen, “Captain Fantastic”
Denzel Washington, “Fences”

Lead actress:
Isabelle Huppert, “Elle”
Ruth Negga, “Loving”
Natalie Portman, “Jackie”
Emma Stone, “La La Land”
Meryl Streep, “Florence Foster Jenkins”

Supporting actor:
Mahershala Ali, “Moonlight”
Jeff Bridges, “Hell or High Water”
Lucas Hedges, “Manchester by the Sea”
Dev Patel, “Lion”
Michael Shannon, “Nocturnal Animals”

Supporting actress:
Viola Davis, “Fences”
Naomie Harris, “Moonlight”
Nicole Kidman, “Lion”
Octavia Spencer, “Hidden Figures”
Michelle Williams, “Manchester by the Sea”

Best director:
“La La Land,” Damien Chazelle
“Hacksaw Ridge,” Mel Gibson
“Moonlight,” Barry Jenkins
“Manchester by the Sea,” Kenneth Lonergan
“Arrival,” Denis Villeneuve

Animated feature:
“Kubo and the Two Strings,” Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner
“Moana,” John Musker, Ron Clements and Osnat Shurer
“My Life as a Zucchini,” Claude Barras and Max Karli
“The Red Turtle,” Michael Dudok de Wit and Toshio Suzuki
“Zootopia,” Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Clark Spencer

Animated short:
“Blind Vaysha,” Theodore Ushev
“Borrowed Time,” Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj
“Pear Cider and Cigarettes,” Robert Valley and Cara Speller
“Pearl,” Patrick Osborne
“Piper,” Alan Barillaro and Marc Sondheimer

Adapted screenplay:
“Arrival,” Eric Heisserer
“Fences,” August Wilson
“Hidden Figures,” Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi
“Lion,” Luke Davies
“Moonlight,” Barry Jenkins; Story by Tarell Alvin McCraney

Original screenplay:
“20th Century Women,” Mike Mills
“Hell or High Water,” Taylor Sheridan
“La La Land,” Damien Chazelle
“The Lobster,” Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthimis Filippou
“Manchester by the Sea,” Kenneth Lonergan

Cinematography:
“Arrival,” Bradford Young
“La La Land,” Linus Sandgren
“Lion,” Greig Fraser
“Moonlight,” James Laxton
“Silence,” Rodrigo Prieto

Best documentary feature:
“13th,” Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick and Howard Barish
“Fire at Sea,” Gianfranco Rosi and Donatella Palermo
“I Am Not Your Negro,” Raoul Peck, Remi Grellety and Hebert Peck
“Life, Animated,” Roger Ross Williams and Julie Goldman
“O.J.: Made in America,” Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow

Best documentary short subject:
“4.1 Miles,” Daphne Matziaraki
“Extremis,” Dan Krauss
“Joe’s Violin,” Kahane Cooperman and Raphaela Neihausen
“Watani: My Homeland,” Marcel Mettelsiefen and Stephen Ellis
“The White Helmets,” Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara

Best live action short film:
“Ennemis Interieurs,” Selim Azzazi
“La Femme et le TGV,” Timo von Gunten and Giacun Caduff
“Silent Nights,” Aske Bang and Kim Magnusson
“Sing,” Kristof Deak and Anna Udvardy
“Timecode,” Juanjo Gimenez

Best foreign language film:
“A Man Called Ove,” Sweden
“Land of Mine,” Denmark
“Tanna,” Australia
“The Salesman,” Iran
“Toni Erdmann,” Germany

Film editing:
“Arrival,” Joe Walker
“Hacksaw Ridge,” John Gilbert
“Hell or High Water,” Jake Roberts
“La La Land,” Tom Cross
“Moonlight,” Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon

Sound editing:
“Arrival,” Sylvain Bellemare
“Deep Water Horizon,” Wylie Stateman and Renee Tondelli
“Hacksaw Ridge,” Robert Mackenzie and Andy Wright
“La La Land,” Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan
“Sully,” Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman

Sound mixing:
“Arrival,” Bernard Gariepy Strobl and Claude La Haye
“Hacksaw Ridge,” Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace
“La La Land,” Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee and Steve A. Morrow
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” David Parker, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson
“13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Mac Ruth

Production design:
“Arrival,” Patrice Vermette, Paul Hotte
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” Stuart Craig, Anna Pinnock
“Hail, Caesar!,” Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh
“La La Land,” David Wasco, Sandy Reynolds-Wasco
“Passengers,” Guy Hendrix Dyas, Gene Serdena

Original score:
“Jackie,” Mica Levi
“La La Land,” Justin Hurwitz
“Lion,” Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka
“Moonlight,” Nicholas Britell
“Passengers,” Thomas Newman

Original song:
“Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” “La La Land” — Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
“Can’t Stop the Feeling,” “Trolls” — Music and Lyric by Justin Timberlake, Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster
“City of Stars,” “La La Land” — Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
“The Empty Chair,” “Jim: The James Foley Story” — Music and Lyric by J. Ralph and Sting
“How Far I’ll Go,” “Moana” — Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda

Makeup and hair:
“A Man Called Ove,” Eva von Bahr and Love Larson
“Star Trek Beyond,” Joel Harlow and Richard Alonzo
“Suicide Squad,” Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson

Costume design:
“Allied,” Joanna Johnston
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” Colleen Atwood
“Florence Foster Jenkins,” Consolata Boyle
“Jackie,” Madeline Fontaine
“La La Land,” Mary Zophres

Visual effects:
“Deepwater Horizon,” Craig Hammack, Jason Snell, Jason Billington and Burt Dalton
“Doctor Strange,” Stephane Ceretti, Richard Bluff, Vincent Cirelli and Paul Corbould
“The Jungle Book,” Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Dan Lemmon
“Kubo and the Two Strings,” Steve Emerson, Oliver Jones, Brian McLean and Brad Schiff
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel and Neil Corbould

Trailer Released for Tommy Lee Jones’ “The Homesman” with Cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto

Posted on September 13, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

It looks like Rodrigo Prieto’s feels most at home on the range… And, it shows in his latest project.

Roadside Attractions and Saban Films have released the trainer for the western film The Homesman, in which the Oscar-nominated Mexican filmmaker worked as the cinematographer.

The critically acclaimed frontier drama is Tommy Lee Jones’ latest writer-director effort. It stars Jones and Hilary Swank. In exchange for helping George Briggs (Jones), a claim jumper, Mary Bee Cuddy (Swank) recruits him to help her escort three insane women from Nebraska to Iowa.

The film was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. It went on to premiere at Telluride, and is next at the Hamptons fest.

Prieto previously earned an Academy Award nomination for his cinematography on Ang Lee’s American West-based Brokeback Mountain.

The film is scheduled to be released in the United States on November 7, 2014.

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