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ROMA wins Best Foreign Language Film, but misses the chance for winning both Foreign Language and Best Picture awards

On the heels of this year's Academy Awards show and in anticipation of WWMPC’s release of The Road to Mother this Spring, we look back and think the potential history that would have been. Never has a film won both Best Foreign Language Film and Best Picture at the same time. We witnessed Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma taking home the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and being nominated for Best Picture. In a lineup which had no clear front-runner, the surprise winner, Peter Farrelly’s Green Book, took home the gold, in what could have been a monumental moment in Academy Award history. We would have to go back six years at the 85th Academy Awards when Michael Haneke’s Amour, from Austria, was nominated for both categories, winning Best Foreign Language Film, and twelve years before that with Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon receiving the same accolades. In the history of the Academy Awards, only eleven films have accomplished the feat of being nominated for both categories. Roma came very close in what many thought would be the first film to do so. Will we see history made soon? With the success of Roma, American audiences, who have not given foreign language films a chance, may finally give in to reading subtitles. The quality of this past year’s foreign films like Roma and Cold War have hopefully opened the eyes of American audiences on true art and cinematic wonders. We could only hope because film is still an art form, and many of these foreign films are masterpieces. Be sure to check out other Award-Winning Foreign Language Films like The Nightingale and Applause at indiemoviestore.com.

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71st DGA Awards Recap and Winners

The World Wide team was pleased to be in attendance at the 71st DGA awards held at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood this past Sunday (Feb 3rd). Despite the rainy weather which soaked the red carpet, the stars were in attendance to show their support for the nominated directors. There was another win for Alfonso Cuaron, director of ROMA which is a good thing for Foreign Language Films like the upcoming release of WWMPC’s THE ROAD TO MOTHER!

As the ceremony commenced, it was clear that this year’s DGA Awards were especially friendly to independent-leaning films like Alfonso Cuaron's ROMA, Peter Farrelly’s GREEN BOOK, and Bo Burnham’s EIGHTH GRADE. With recognition going to veterans like Spike Lee for BLACKKKLANSMAN and new directors like Bradley Cooper for A STAR IS BORN, the nominations for a wide variety of feature film and television projects appear to be becoming more diverse in both genre and story.

Diversity was a major theme of this year’s awards for both in front of and behind the camera, and was well-served with the wide variety of artists and filmmakers both new and old in attendance.

A few of the evenings highlights were:

Further recognition was afforded the UPM department (Unit Production Manager) for Kathleen McGill as well as the Directing teams including 1st and 2nd AD’s (Assistant Director) like Michael “Shelley” Ziegler (A STAR IS BORN) and Matt Rebenkoff (VICE).

All of the feature film directors were recognized, most being introduced by the stars of their films like John David Washington, Laura Harrier and Topher Grace for BLACKKKLANSMAN, Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira for ROMA, Christian Bale for VICE, as well as a touching introduction from Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali and Linda Cardellini for GREEN BOOK director Peter Farrelly.

Jordan Peele humorously delighted the crowd as he presented the award for First-Time Feature Film Director which went to 24-year-old Bo Burnham for the film EIGHTH GRADE. In his speech Burnham claimed that he didn’t see this as “a room of his peers, but rather a room full of people he admired”

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Also spotlighted at this year’s awards were documentaries like THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS, directed by Tim Wardle.

We hope the momentum for recognizing foreign language films continues into the 91st Academy Awards later this month and beyond.

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Directors Guild Awards Foreign Film Nominees – Getting Deserved Recognition

Awards Season is upon us, including the upcoming DGA Awards on February 2, 2019, and It looks as though foreign language films like Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma and Pawel Pawlikowski's Cold War are receiving more recognition this year at awards ceremonies than in past years. Hopefully this will start a trend with American cinema because, as we all know, some of the best quality films are from different parts of the world, which has always been a challenge for American audiences. “We just don’t like to read subtitles,” but the stories and production value can be exceptional. The World Wide Motion Pictures team will be attending this year’s Director’s Guild of America (DGA) Awards ceremony in Los Angeles and we’ll be excited to see if this shift towards foreign language films continues.

With World Wide's upcoming release of the epic film The Road to Mother from Kazakhstan, directed by Akan Satayev, we’re hopeful that American audiences will be more willing to give these foreign language films a chance when competing against the big studio superhero productions like The Avengers, Wonder Woman and Black Panther. Although popcorn movies are crowd pleasers, it’’s refreshing to see the change going on in the US market. This shift gives the impression that The Road to Mother, with its wonderful acting, direction, writing and overall great family story will be a success in theaters this Spring!

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A Look at John Carpenter’s “Halloween” through the Ages

by Brian Fee

The infamous baby-sitter slasher film, “Halloween”, created by John Carpenter is widely regarded as a classic horror movie and has been known to influence several proceeding slasher pictures. The “Halloween” franchise consists of 11 films ranging from the original, which was released in 1978, to today with the newest adaptation which was released this Halloween season. The original, being an independent film, did not stop the series from ranking 4th in gross sales out of all horror movie franchises. During the making of the original film and being on a tight budget, Carpenter decided to compose the soundtrack himself because he believed he could do it the fastest and cheapest. That ended being a great decision because the final product, “Halloween Theme”, ended up becoming one of the most famous movie soundtracks of all time. Through the use of high pitched sounds and rumbling bass, Carpenter created an instant classic inspired by Bernard Herrman’s score from “Psycho”. With the making of this film and score, Carpenter changed the course of low-budget, independent films. Here at WWMPC, we are proud to have worked with Malcolm McDowell who played Michael Myer’s psychiatrist, Dr. Samuel Loomis in the 2007 adaptation of “Halloween”. McDowell starred in one of our feature films, “Red Roses and Petrol”.

 

The most recent in the famed Halloween slasher series has arrived in theaters this October. This time directed by David Gordon Green and starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Nick Castle. The film follows Laurie Strode (Curtis) after she narrowly escaped a small-town Halloween tragedy four decades ago. There have been many spinoffs or remakes of John Carpenters “Halloween”, but the 2018 adaptation serves as a direct sequel to the original 1978 film.

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Sweetbitter Actress Ella Purnell Celebrates 22nd Birthday!

by Cecilia Farmer

Big, brown eyes. There are few actresses who can pull a viewer in with her gaze alone, but it is the first thing you notice about Ella Purnell in all her films. There’s a child-like innocence that comes through her face which is often juxtaposed with serious, dramatic turns in such notable films as Ways to Live Forever, Maleficent, and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. It doesn’t seem altogether long ago she was charming audiences with her alluring, somber performances as a young child actress, but Ms. Purnell is taking on more mature, coming-of-age roles.

This year, Ella Purnell is gathering national attention on the new Starz series Sweetbitter, a show about a naïve, young woman, Tess, who enters New York’s hedonistic, fast-paced restaurant scene as a waitress, unprepared for the behind-the-scenes intrigue and sexual politics. In an interview with Variety, Purnell shared that she identified with Tess because of her transition from child to adult, particularly in the past two years. She feels a duty to faithfully represent a coming-of-age story for a female protagonist that doesn’t involve a love story, “Everything seems to be about love when it comes to coming of age, and it’s not. . . . realizing that you’re an adult and you’re breaking authority, or learning how to trust yourself rather than [being] the adaptive child who does what she’s told; that’s much more of an interesting story to watch.”

We look forward to new developments in Ms. Purnell’s career as she continues to grow in to a seasoned actress and an inspiration for young woman – Happy 22nd birthday! 

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“Ways to Live Forever” Actor, Robbie Kay, Turns 23 Today!

By Ashley Callahan

Talented actor, Robbie Kay, celebrates his twenty-third birthday today. From sweet, boyish characters to action and science fiction, the young star has grown up in the spotlight. He has appeared in major feature films such as World Wide Motion Pictures’, Ways to Live Forever (2010) and Griff Furst’s Cold Moon (2016). With work that has been notably well received by critics, Alicia Cox of the magazine, Chatelaine, commented on his work in Fugitive Pieces (2007). She states, “Robbie Kay, who plays the young Jakob, gives a remarkable performance with little words and a lot of emotion. When he smiles, you can’t help but to be affected.”

Kay was born in Lymington, Hampshire, England although he moved to Brussels, Belgium at an early age. In 2006, the family moved to Prague where he attended the International School of Prague. After having traveled for much of his early life, he now resides in Houston, Texas, which he relocated to in 2011. His first role was in Peter Webber’s Hannibal Rising (2007). Since then, he has worked with actors such as Christopher Lloyd and Ella Purnell. In 2009, he was nominated for the Young Artist Award for best performance in both Fugitive Pieces (2007) and Pinocchio (2008). He was nominated again in 2014 for a Teen Choice Award for “Choice TV: Villain” for his performance as the sinister Peter-Pan in the Once Upon a Time series. Robbie Kay’s most recent projects have included the independent romantic comedy, No Postage Necessary (2018), and the comedy-horror flick, Blood Fest (2018). We look forward to see where the young star’s career takes him next and wish him well this upcoming year. Happy Birthday, Robbie Kay!