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Whittling down this year’s record 92 foreign-language Oscar submissions to a shortlist of nine was a challenge for the Academy which, under the leadership of new president John Bailey, instituted voting changes for the disparate group of Academy volunteers commandeered by foreign-language committee chair Mark Johnson.

Eight of the films were well-known from festival play and have been racking up awards, most notably European Film Awards winner “The Square.” Two lesser-known films that were not widely predicted made the cut, “Félicité” from Senegal and “The Wound” from South Africa. Steady as they go for Sony Pictures Classics and Magnolia Pictures, which lead the field with three and two films, respectively.

The nine films are listed alphabetically below.

“A Fantastic Woman” (Chile, Sony Pictures Classics)

Berlin debuted Sebastián Lelio’s transgender drama, which won Best Screenplay and played well at Telluride and Toronto.

“Félicité” (Senegal, Strand Releasing)

In Alain Gomis’s family drama,...

Kevin Spacey’s Oscar chances, obliterated. Dustin Hoffman’s, gone. While we don’t yet have the hashtag, March 4, 2018 will be remembered as the year that the issue of sexual harassment took center stage at the Dolby Theatre.

If one of the historical perks of Hollywood stardom was the ability to misbehave without consequences, those days are over. Sony pulled Ridley Scott’s AFI Fest closer “All the Money in the World,” which was primed for an awards campaign around Spacey, now accused of multiple instances of sexual harassment and abuse.

While Hoffman presented a Hollywood Film Award Sunday night, it’s unlikely that his crusty New York patriarch will be in the running for “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)” after multiple harassment claims — in addition to Meryl Streep’s own account of how he introduced himself by grabbing her breast. (Streep will move into Oscar mode as...

Kevin Spacey’s Oscar chances, obliterated. Dustin Hoffman’s, gone. While we don’t yet have the hashtag, March 4, 2018 will be remembered as the year that the issue of sexual harassment took center stage at the Dolby Theatre.

If one of the historical perks of Hollywood stardom was the ability to misbehave without consequences, those days are over. Sony pulled Ridley Scott’s AFI Fest closer “All the Money in the World,” which was primed for an awards campaign around Spacey, now accused of multiple instances of sexual harassment and abuse.

While Hoffman accepted a Hollywood Film Award Sunday night, it’s unlikely that his crusty New York patriarch will be in the running for “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)” after multiple harassment claims — in addition to Meryl Streep’s own account of how he introduced himself by grabbing her breast. (Streep will move into Oscar mode as...

Now that a record 92 countries have submitted foreign-language Oscar contenders, the Academy has to figure out what to do with them. Screening and ranking that many films is a challenging process, and Mark Johnson, chairman of the Academy’s foreign-language committee, know that it’s time for an overhaul.

“Ninety-two is a scary number,” said Johnson. “It keeps going up every year. I think it’s imminent that we will make some radical changes on how we whittle these down. I remember it was not that long ago that I would see 60 movies, that was the bulk out of 80. Now, we’ll see.”

Johnson is working on the problem with the Academy’s erudite new president, cinematographer John Bailey, who once argued rigorously in favor of Bela Tarr’s black-and-white masterpiece “The Turin Horse.”

Read More:New Academy President John Bailey is Willing to Ask if Movies Need Theaters For Oscar Qualification,...

Now that a record 92 countries have submitted foreign-language Oscar contenders, the Academy has to figure out what to do with them. Screening and ranking that many films is a challenging process, and Mark Johnson, chairman of the Academy’s foreign-language committee, know that it’s time for an overhaul.

“Ninety-two is a scary number,” said Johnson. “It keeps going up every year. I think it’s imminent that we will make some radical changes on how we whittle these down. I remember it was not that long ago that I would see 60 movies, that was the bulk out of 80. Now, we’ll see.”

Johnson is working on the problem with the Academy’s erudite new president, cinematographer John Bailey, who once argued rigorously in favor of Bela Tarr’s black-and-white masterpiece “The Turin Horse.”

Read More:New Academy President John Bailey is Willing to Ask if Movies Need Theaters For Oscar Qualification,...

‘Things Blowing Up Good’ has been surefire entertainment since the beginning of cinema, but this ill-fated Cinerama extravaganza about the biggest explosion in recorded human history limps along despite some pretty darned impressive volcanic effects. It’s quite an entertaining spectacle, with various good performers in three soap opera plots, either overacting or loitering about with nothing to do. And don’t forget the from-left-field musical striptease.

Krakatoa East of Java

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 131 min. / Street Date September 12, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Maximilian Schell, Diane Baker, Brian Keith, Barbara Werle, Sal Mineo, Rossano Brazzi, John Leyton, J.D. Cannon, Jacqueline (Jacqui) Chan, Victoria Young, Marc Lawrence, Geoffrey Holder, Niall MacGinnis, Sumi Haru.

Cinematography: Manuel Berenguer

Film Editors: Walter Hannemann, Warren Low, Maurice Rootes

Production Design: Eugèné Lourié

Costumes: Laure Lourié

Special Effects: Eugèné Lourié, Alex Weldon, Francisco Prósper

Original Music: Frank De Vol

Written by Clifford Newton Gould,...

10th Anniversary of NewFilmmakers Los Angeles Comes with Latino & Hispanic Cinema Film Festival, September 16Ficg in L.A. is not the only Latino Film Festival in Los Angeles, a city populated almost 50% by Latinos. NewFilmmakers Los Angeles and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences spotlight emerging global filmmakers at the Annual Latino & Hispanic Cinema Film Festival honoring Hispanic Heritage Month this September.

Celebrating 10 Years, NewFilmmakers Los Angeles continues to champion and promote the works of global emerging filmmakers. With the goal of showcasing, supporting and connecting emerging filmmakers, Nfmla has rapidly expanded to become much more than a monthly film festival for shorts.

As a monthly event, founder Larry Laboe and Susie Kim consistently support emerging filmmakers in much the same way as NewFilmmakers New York does on a weekly basis. In New York, NewFilmmakers New York is a part of the Anthology Film Archives founded in 1998 by Jonas Mekas.

While celebrating the premiere of his show I Love Dick on Thursday, Kevin Bacon had a very special date on the red carpet: his daughter, Sosie Bacon. While posing together at the Linwood Dunn Theater in La, the 25-year-old 13 Reasons Why star couldn't help but goof off a little bit in front of photographers, and (as usual) we couldn't help but notice that she's the perfect mix of her superstar parents. Kevin, who shares Sosie with wife of 27 years Kyra Sedgwick, has brought his daughter along to plenty of fun events, from a Knicks game with Norman Reedus to the Golden Globe Awards (where she served as Miss Golden Globe in 2014!). You might as well get used to seeing Sosie around now, because with all of the roles she's been racking up recently, there's probably going to be a lot more of her in all of our futures.

This kitty needs no introduction: Simone Simon is the purring-sweet immigrant with a dark atavistic secret. It's Val Lewton's debut smash hit. The real hero is director Jacques Tourneur, who conveys a feeling of real life being lived that won over audiences of 1942 and drew them into his web of fantasy. Cat People Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 833 1942 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 73 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date September 20, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Tom Conway, Jane Randolph, Jack Holt, Elizabeth Russell, Theresa Harris. Cinematography Nicholas Musuraca Art Direction Albert S. D'Agostino, Walter E. Keller Film Editor Mark Robson Original Music Roy Webb Written by De Witt Bodeen Directed by Jacques Tourneur

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Val Lewton never had to be 'discovered,' actually. Life magazine awarded him his own photo layout and the critics praised him as the maker of a new brand of psychologically based horror films.

The Academy celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Academy Film Archive with the screening series “Archival Revival – 25 years of the Academy Film Archive,” curated from the extensive, diverse collection of motion pictures that the archive has restored and preserved. The series, which runs fromJuly 18 through September 12, will showcase a broad range of titles – musicals, documentaries, silent films, Pre-Code comedies, experimental films and horror classics.

In 1991 the Academy’s Board of Governors made a commitment to create a world-class archive for the preservation, restoration, documentation and study of motion pictures. The Academy Film Archive currently holds more than 190,000 elements, including trailers, feature films, and the film collections of such artists as Alfred Hitchcock, Penelope Spheeris, James Wong Howe, Albert Maysles and Su Friedrich. It also holds the collections of such institutions and programs as the Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival and the Student Academy Awards.

Take...

There are few things I've been looking forward to more this year than the release of Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight." Since the live-reading he did of the script here in Los Angeles, I've been excited to see how he would hone the ending of the piece and how he and his longtime collaborator Robert Richardson would make the whole thing look. Tarantino's films are events for me, and I think a big part of that is because there is so much of my DNA as a film fan that was formed the same way as it was for him. Starting with the Comic-Con presentation for the film, though, something else has become important thanks to the emphasis that Tarantino has placed on the 70Mm presentation of the movie. After all, he went out of his way to work with Panavision to shoot in a real Ultra Panavision format,...

© 2015 Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced its fall programming slate, beginning with “This Is Duplass: An Evening with Jay and Mark” and “In the Labyrinth: A Conversation with Guillermo del Toro” hosted by Academy Museum Director Kerry Brougher.

Other events to be presented from October through early December include a conversation with Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien, a screening of Fellini’s “Amarcord,” a look back at the first days of Disneyland with “Hollywood Home Movies,” a new restoration of 1943’s “Heaven Can Wait,” an Academy Film Scholars Lecture highlighting prolific director Lois Weber, and an anniversary screening of the holiday classic “Remember the Night.”

This Is Duplass: An Evening With Jay And Mark Tuesday, October 6, at 7:30 p.m. Samuel Goldwyn Theater, Beverly Hills Jay and Mark Duplass will take the stage to discuss their smart, off-center and comedic cinematic style,...

Hailing from Scotland, Simon knew as a kid he wanted to move to New York and at age 21 he did. Working at a non-profit arts agency, he soon moved in 1999 to Pov where he rose to the position of Executive Director.

Two months ago he left New York and moved to L.A. to take the reigns at the International Documentary Association where he will put “the I in Ida”.

Up to now, Ida has been very L.A. focused. To make Ida more international and more national as well, Simon plans to up the educational component along with filmmaker services, perhaps even expanding their funding of films.

All depends on fundraising of course.

Ida is hosting its Ida Conversations Series in a conversation with award-winning filmmaker Rory Kennedy on Monday 8/31. It should be a wonderful conversation with one of the finest filmmakers working today. The event will take place at the Linwood Dunn Theatre in Hollywood at 7:00pm. Sign up here.

On the international front, very preliminary talks are ongoing with Dok Leipzig, Doc Montevideo and others.

The Ida Awards also recognizes international filmmakers – recent winner include Patrica Guzman and Laura Poitras. And, he hopes to expand the reach of the awards to doc series and more filmmakers from around the world.

Simon has built a strong network with international broadcasters, funds and films from his sixteen years at Pov. Under his leadership as Executive Producer, Pov also became more international. This season for the first time, Pov featured a Swiss doc, “Neuland”.

The Swiss have enormous resources for docs. Financing today must bring in international broadcasters to make a movie work. Filmmakers need to know that they must conform to the 52 minute format to get Holland, Sweden, etc. As with fiction features today, international coproductions are the engine driving the film business.

Simon would also like to build up Ida’s advocacy position in three or four issue-areas such as investigative reporting which increasingly needs certain protections. Filmmakers interested in this need training formally with journalists who have legal protections.

And in 2016, Ida will hold its bi-annual conference focused exclusively on documentary filmmakers – Getting Real ( http://www.documentary.org/getting-real). Planning is underway for the Fall 2016 event, so stay tuned for details.

We welcome Simon to L.A. and look forward to the growing sophistication of documentary advocacy, education and international cooperation.