Those two films are among the standouts in a career that has also seen her serve as director of photography on “Fruitvale Station,” “Dope” and “Seberg,” and that has now expanded to include her feature directorial debut, “The Fire Inside.” The Amazon MGM Studios release stars Ryan Destiny as real-lifebOlympic boxer Claressa Shields, the first woman to win a gold medal for the U.S. and the only American boxer to take the gold in successive games. Written and produced by Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight,” “The Underground Railroad”), the film costars Brian Tyree Henry as Shields’ coach, Jason Crutchfield, and is as concerned with Shields’ life outside the ring after the gold as it is with her pugilistic exploits.

A month after the film’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, Morrison served as the filmmaker spotlight conversation at TheWrap’s annual business conference, TheGrill — and offstage, she spoke about her days at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied photography and film, and at the American Film Institute, where she received a Masters of Fine Arts in cinematography.

At what point did you decide you wanted to get into film? And why?
For me, it started in photography, and it was early. I think I was 6, 7, 8 years old. My mom had an old Olympus camera, and half the pictures of the family are from the point of view of a 7-year-old. (Laughs)

As early as high school, I would shut myself up in the darkroom, listen to my brooding teen-angst music and print photographs. So when I was applying to colleges, I applied to all the safe schools — ambitious but safe in terms of not being art schools — but I also applied to RISD and Tisch and some art schools. When I got into Tisch for photo, that was a no-brainer for me. And then, quickly, I got interested in cinematography, but at the time, there wasn’t a cinematography undergrad (program).

But you did study film at NYU.
Yeah, I ended up convincing everybody to let me double major in photo and film, which they said was crazy. (Laughs) They were maybe a little bit right. I managed it, but I was spread really thin.

And did you come out of those four years thinking that your future was in film more than photography?
No. Interestingly, I was taking my photo portfolio around by day and sending out my film reel by night. I loved it all and took any and every job that had anything to do with the camera. And at some point, maybe a few years down the line, the advice I was given was, “You really have to pick a career.” They are incredibly different. The type of photography I was interested in was very much photojournalism, even conflict photography. It was very documentary-style. I loved Robert Capa and Mary Ellen Mark and I was inspired by a lot of the Farm Security Administration photographers.

One of the things that I loved about film was the power of the story to build empathy and to have this entirely transformative experience. I would come out of the movie theater after a potent film and feel like I had lived another life. And as much as I loved photography, it still felt a little bit like I was looking at something, I wasn’t living it.

I think the secondary but maybe even more powerful thing was that I love to collaborate. The type of photography I was interested in was a very individualist and probably lonely career. And by choosing film, I was choosing a life of collaboration. I think, ultimately, I chose film because I wanted to be able to make things with other people.

Between NYU and AFI, you worked as a cinematographer for a while, didn’t you?
Yeah. For a minute, I was doing really interesting documentaries. I shot a documentary about an orphanage in Odessa in Ukraine. I shot in Argentina. I was getting to travel and shoot. I was living the dream. And then that first internet bubble burst, and anybody who wasn’t firmly planted in the space was out of work. To make a living, I started to get pulled into reality television, and I knew that if I didn’t do something drastic, I was gonna end up there. It was so close to the thing I loved, and yet so not what I wanted to do. So I applied to AFI, which was this mecca for cinematography. I figured if I got in, it would shake things up.

Cinematography is a famously male environment. Were there a lot of other women in the program?
No. There were six of us, I think, in a class of 28. That’s still statistically higher than our percentage in (Hollywood), but it’s obviously quite low. Even in photography, women have always been the exception to the rule, which never made any sense to me. Our currency is human emotion. If you think of what women do particularly well, it’s empathy and emotion. And so I think we’re quite predisposed to be good as storytellers and filmmakers and cinematographers.

How did AFI transform your career?
AFI is and was incredibly technical in all the best possible ways. I had some technical know-how going in, but it really bolstered my confidence. Especially as a woman in this industry, you have to be confident. This is a medium that’s entirely subjective. There are no actual rights and wrongs. So you have to let your gut drive the machine, and then people will follow. It’s a sad double standard: The second a woman second-guesses herself even for a millisecond, she’s quick to be labeled indecisive. So for me to come out of AFI with confidence was huge.

How did you get that confidence?
I guess through the process of making things, failing, picking yourself up, making more things, getting better. From a technical perspective, I experimented with every type of camera, every type of lens, every type of process. Really trying to throw all the different techniques at the wall and see what stuck. We would light for each other, we would gaff for each other, we would grip for each other. You have that experience of kind of playing every role on set, which I think is quite helpful later on because you understand what the team is comprised of and what each person is responsible for.

Did you get out and then think, Oh wow, I really have to go to work now to…
To pay for it? Yeah. I mean, that’s the thing. It’s a huge caveat. I came out with a good amount of debt, as did many of my friends. A lot of people fell back into the thing that they were trying to get away from ’cause that’s the quickest way to pay off that debt. I fell back into reality television for two, maybe two-and-a-half years after graduating, because I had to get out from under the crippling debt. The moment I’d paid off the private loans, I said to myself, “I’m never doing this again.” And I picked up a film camera again.

But, you know, when I went to school, that was one of the only ways you could get hands-on experience making movies. And I don’t think that’s true anymore. I think film school is great for some people, especially people who need accountability, like homework assignments. Or people who want to cut out all the other noise and say, “I’m gonna focus on this for two years.” But it’s not a necessity in the same way it used to be.

I mean, look at what Sean Baker did with an iPhone for Tangerine. And a step up from an iPhone, there are $6,000 cam- eras that can make beautiful films now. So there’s a whole other path that wasn’t avail- able to me when I was coming up. That’s to spend the money you were gonna spend on film school and buy yourself a camera and some lights and just go make lots of movies. I don’t think it’s a one-size-fits-all solution, but I think for some people, it’s amazing.

When you left reality TV for good and focused on film, did you have trouble being taken seriously because of your gender?
I mean, on the one hand, you never know why your phone doesn’t ring. I only actually know my own successes, I guess. But I know that I’ve definitely had no short- age of stories like when we were doing the pickups for “Black Panther,” the first AD and I were in a minivan, and the Teamster wasn’t leaving for the set. I looked at him like, “We’ve got to go.” And he’s like, “I’m waiting for the first AD and the DP.” We’re like, “That’s us, dude.” That’s basically still a day in my life, but you have to not take that personally and keep pushing through.

You’ve now directed your first feature. Did you direct at all when you were in school?
No, no. I was very focused on cinematography. I’m an anomaly, I’m sure, but I never set out to direct. I’ve never liked having the attention on me. It took every director I ever shot for telling me that I should be directing to finally let it percolate to where I would consider it for myself.

You turned to directing after you received American Society of Cinematographers and Oscar nominations for “Mudbound” and after you shot “Black Panther.” Was there a reason for that timing?
I spent a year after the nomination and after “Black Panther” reading scripts to shoot that weren’t as good as either “Black Panther” or “Mudbound.” Basically, every script I read felt like a step backwards. And so I figured it was better to start from scratch and try something new than to go backwards.

What was it about the story of “The Fire Inside” that made you think it was the film to launch your feature-directing career?
“The Fire Inside” is the story of an incredible female boxer named Claressa Shields. Nobody knows who she is. She’s one of the greatest female athletes ever and I had no idea who she was, and Barry (Jenkins) didn’t know who she was. I think there was something wrong about that. Also, as a female boxer, she’s by definition the exception to the rule — which, as we were just speaking about, I’m quite used to being as well. The idea that it’s not enough to be good at your craft, you also have to know how to look, how to act, how to fit other people’s perception of you. I’ve had to walk that line, too, so I saw some of myself in that story.

Were there moments making the movie where you thought, Nothing I’ve done or studied has prepared me for this?
To be honest, it wasn’t in the making of the film. When we were making the film, we got caught in a pandemic and some other things, but the making went incredibly smoothly and was really just a joy. There was so much respect and love for one another, and we all had a great time making the film. It was more the idea that directing can be a lonely profession. You’re the one carrying this boulder up a hill for years sometimes — the singular person championing a project from beginning to end. That was new to me.

Are you now thinking about directing more movies, or do you want to go back to being a cinematographer for a bit?
I had such a great first experience making the film, I probably do have the directing bug. Ask me again after the second film — but right now, I think the focus is probably going to be on directing long form. I still love shooting, and so my hope is to keep shooting commercials, because then I can keep playing with gear. It’s still such a part of who I am, but I think I’ll be dipping in and out of it, as opposed to doing longer-form projects that would take me out of directing for too long.

Read more of TheWrap’s College Issue here.

The post Rachel Morrison Charts Her Journey From Film School to Oscar History appeared first on TheWrap.

After CBS served as the Grammys’ broadcast home for 54 consecutive years when accounting for the upcoming 2025 and ’26 ceremonies, the awards will move to Disney beginning in 2027.

The Grammys will exclusively simulcast on ABC, Hulu and Disney+ from 2027 through 2036 as part of the new 10-year deal between Disney and the Recording Academy, the companies announced Wednesday. Disney now becomes the first new home for the Grammys in 50 years after CBS and the Grammys set a record for the longest broadcast partnership for an awards show in TV history.

As part of the deal, the Recording Academy will also produce Grammys-branded music specials and programming that will air across Disney’s platforms. In the first year of the agreement, in 2027, ABC will air the Grammy awards, the Oscars and will also serve as home for Super Bowl LXI.

“As The Walt Disney Company combines forces with The Recording Academy to open this exciting new chapter in the history of the Grammys, we do so with pride and gratitude,” Disney Entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden said in a statement. “Live events have never been more important to our culture and industry, and we just acquired one of the crown jewels, adding to our portfolio of world-class programming across all genres.”

It’s worth noting that while ABC will broadcast both the Grammys and the Oscars, only the Grammys will live stream across Hulu and Disney+ as the Oscars contract, which was most recently re-upped in 2016 through 2028, does not include a streaming component. It’s likely that the next contract extension for the Oscars will involve a live stream as well as broadcast element. The current Emmys deal, which was inked in 2018 and sees the TV ceremony rotating through the major broadcast networks through 2026, also doesn’t include a streaming element, though it’s likely the next deal would include it.

“We are completely thrilled to be bringing The Grammys and other new music programming to the Disney ecosystem,” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said. “We are grateful to our long-standing partners at CBS and now honored to be joining with Disney, an iconic company where creators have always been at the forefront. This partnership represents another important milestone in the Academy’s transformation and growth, and strengthens our ability to fulfill our mission of uplifting and serving music people around the world.”

The Grammys will air on CBS through 2026 in alignment with their 10-year deal extension with CBS, which was inked in 2016, before moving to Disney platforms in 2027.

The post Grammy Awards to Move From CBS to Disney in 2027 With 10-Year Streaming and Broadcast Deal appeared first on TheWrap.

“‘Emilia Pérez’ is one of the greatest achievements in cinema this year. This powerful film from visionary director Jacques Audiard is led by outstanding performances from Karla Sofia Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz and Edgar Ramírez,” festival chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi said in a statement. “It’s our honor to celebrate the director and cast of ‘Emilia Pérez’ with the Vanguard Award for this achievement in filmmaking.”

The Palm Springs honor, which celebrates the director and cast of an “exceptional film project,” is the latest accolade that “Emilia Pérez” has picked up ahead of its November 1 release in theaters (followed by a November 13 debut on Netflix). The Spanish-language musical drama about a Mexican former cartel boss (Gascón) and the people caught in her orbit won the Jury Prize in Cannes as well as the Best Actress award, shared among Gascón, Saldaña, Gomez and Paz. Last year, the Vanguard went to Martin Scorsese and the “Killers of the Flower Moon” cast. Prior to that, recipients have included fellow Best Picture Oscar nominees “The Fablemans,” “Belfast,” “La La Land” and “Little Miss Sunshine,” plus Best Picture winners “Green Book” and “The Shape of Water.”

The Palm Springs International Film Awards serve as a fundraising event for the Palm Springs International Film Society, a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting the art and science of film.

The post Jacques Audiard and ‘Emilia Pérez’ Cast to Receive Palm Springs Vanguard Award appeared first on TheWrap.

TheWrap was also nominated for Best Entertainment Blog for founder and editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman’s WaxWord and Online Journalist of the Year for Jeremy Fuster, who comprehensively covered Hollywood’s double strikes last year. Waxman was also nominated for “An Israeli Director Feels ‘Stabbed in the Back’ by the Global Left.”

Business editor Alexei Barrionuevo and former media reporter Natalie Korach received a nomination for “Death in the Desert: When Hamas Came to an Israeli Rave, Friends Perished.”

Senior film reporter Umberto Gonzalez was nominated for Celebrity Investigative for his dive into Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s upcoming “Red One” and questions surrounding the film’s budget crisis as well as Johnson’s own fame and work ethic. Gonzalez and senior writer Drew Taylor were also nominated for their look into A24’s expansion strategy.

Taylor also received a nomination for “The Final Days of ‘Coyote vs. Acme’: Offers, Rejections and a Roadrunner Race Against Time.”

Executive editor Adam Chitwood was also nominated for his profile on Bill Hader’s “emotional” experience following the conclusion of “Barry.” Chitwood and Taylor were nominated for their piece on 4k Blu-ray collectors and physical media. Chitwood received a third nomination for “Seth Meyers Embraced ‘Flights of Fancy’ to Turn ‘Late Night’ Into One of TV’s Best Shows.”

Executive awards editor Steve Pond was nominated for a personality profile of his own, his lengthy look at Martin Scorsese’s final years of his prolific career.

Senior TV reporter Kayla Cobb was nominated for her look into the “horrific” conditions surrounding the first season of the Netflix reality series “Squid Game,” while Fuster was also nominated for his reporting about the end of the WGA strike and his reporting about the mental health toll on union members.

Cobb received a second nomination alongside TV reporter Loree Seitz for the pair’s look into the increased interest in women’s sports and the rise in advertising as a result.

Reporter Andi Ortiz was nominated for her explainer of Wendy Williams’ conservatorship, and Matthew Creith was nominated for his Norman Lear obituary. Jeff Vespa and Tatiana Leiva received a nomination for their cover photo of Lily Gladstone.

The post TheWrap Earns 18 Nominations From National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards, Including Best Website and Journalist of the Year appeared first on TheWrap.

The “Megalopolis” director will receive his award at a gala tribute held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on April 26, 2025.

“Francis Ford Coppola is a peerless artist — one who has created seminal works in the canon of American film, and has also inspired generations of filmmakers who now embody his artistry and his independent spirit,” Kathleen Kennedy, chair of the AFI board of trustees said in a statement. “AFI is honored to present him with the 50th AFI Life Achievement Award.”

In addition to “Megalopolis,” Coppola is also known for being the filmmaker behind “The Godfather,” “The Godfather Part II,” “Apocalypse Now,” “The Outsiders,” “The Godfather Part III” and “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” to name just a few. He has won five Oscars, six Golden Globes, two Palmes d’Ors out of Cannes and a BAFTA Award.

Other recent winners include Nicole Kidman, Julie Andrews, Denzel Washington, George Clooney, Diane Keaton, John Williams, Steve Martin, Jane Fonda and Mel Brooks. The first Life Achievement Award went to John Ford in 1973.

The news of AFI’s highest honor comes just days after the 2024 AFI Fest wrapped in Los Angeles.

The post Francis Ford Coppola Named as AFI’s 50th Life Achievement Award Honoree appeared first on TheWrap.

“The Academy is pleased to support talented and emerging women filmmakers as they seek to advance and grow in their careers. Through the Gold Fellowship for Women, we aim to provide meaningful guidance, foster a more inclusive film industry and champion diverse voices,” said Academy senior vice president of Impact and Global Talent Development Kendra Carter. “We are deeply grateful to our partner CHANEL, whose shared commitment of empowering the next generation of women filmmakers and generous support makes this work possible.”

According to the Academy, which awards one U.S.-based and one non-U.S. recipient per cycle, “Applicants to the Gold Fellowship for Women must be alumnae of an Academy talent development program or be nominated by an Academy talent development partner company to be eligible for the U.S. fellowship. Non-U.S. applicants must be recommended by a member of a key film organization, production company or international festival to be considered.”

The biographies for the two filmmakers, provided by the Academy, read:

• Amirfazli is an Iranian writer, director and producer based in New York. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Film and TV Production at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Amirfazli’s work has been screened at the Sundance Film Festival, LA Shorts International Film Festival, Minimalen Short Film Festival and Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival. She directed several short films leading up to her debut feature, “In the Land of Brothers.” The film premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, earning her the Directing Award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition.

• Karamroudi is an Iranian actress, director, writer and producer. She studied filmmaking and acting at Karnameh Film School in Tehran and obtained a bachelor’s degree in music performance from Tehran University of Art in 2014 and a master’s degree in dramatic literature from Soore University in 2020. Karamroudi has appeared in feature films, short films and theater pieces as an actress and has participated in making five short films as a director, writer or producer. In 2024, she was invited to participate in the Berlinale Talents Labs and Script Station with her feature-length script, “I Can Hear You Whispering.”

The post Film Academy Names 2024 Gold Fellowship for Women Recipients appeared first on TheWrap.

Sean Baker’s “Anora” led all films with four nominations, including Best Feature, Best Director and Outstanding Lead and Supporting Performances for Mikey Madison and Yuri Borisov.

In the gender-neutral Gotham acting categories, other nominees included Pamela Anderson for “The Last Showgirl,” Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce for “The Brutalist,” Nicole Kidman for “Babygirl,” Marianne Jean-Baptiste for “Hard Truths,” Demi Moore for “The Substance” and Saoirse Ronan for “The Outrun.”

Eligibility for the Gotham Awards used to be restricted to films that came in under a $35 million budget cap, but the awards did away with that rule last year.  Currently, the definition of a film eligible for the Gothams is “filmmaking with a point of view … where the vision of an individual director, producer, writer or writer/director is abundantly evident.”

To qualify for the Best Feature category, films must also have U.S. citizens or permanent residents in two of the three main creative categories of director, producer and writer. This rule meant that notable films like “Emilia Perez,” “Maria” and “The Substance” were not eligible in the Best Feature category.

Over the last 10 years, only 15 of the 50 Gotham nominees for Best Feature have gone on to receive Best Picture nominations at the Oscars. In that time, four films – “Nomadland,” “Moonlight,” “Spotlight” and “Birdman” – have won both awards.  

The 344 annual Gotham Awards will take place on Monday, Dec. 2 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.

The complete list of nominees is below.

Best Feature
Anora
Sean Baker, director; Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan, producers (NEON)

Babygirl
Halina Reijn, director; David Hinojosa, Julia Oh, Halina Reijn, producers (A24)

Challengers
Luca Guadagnino, director; Luca Guadagnino, Rachel O’Connor, Amy Pascal, Zendaya, producers (Amazon MGM Studios)

A Different Man
Aaron Schimberg, director; Gabriel Mayers, Vanessa McDonnell, Christine Vachon, producers (A24)

Nickel Boys
RaMell Ross, director; Joslyn Barnes, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, David Levine, producers (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)

Best International Feature
All We Imagine as Light
Payal Kapadia, director; Julien Graff, Thomas Hakim, producers (Sideshow and Janus Films)

Green Border
Agnieszka Holland, director; Fred Bernstein, Agnieszka Holland, Marcin Wierzchoslawski, producers (Kino Lorber) 

Hard Truths
Mike Leigh, director; Georgina Lowe, producer (Bleecker Street)

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
Thien An Pham, director; Jeremy Chua, Tran Van Thi, producers (Kino Lorber)

Vermiglio
Maura Delpero, director; Francesca Andreoli, Maura Delpero, Santiago Fondevila Sance, Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli, producers (Sideshow and Janus Films)

Best Documentary Feature
Dahomey
Mati Diop, director; Mati Diop, Judith Lou Lévy, Eve Robin, producers (MUBI) 

Intercepted
Oksana Karpovych, director; Darya Bassel, Olha Beskhmelnytsina, Rocío B. Fuentes, Giacomo Nudi, Lucie Rego Pauline Tran Van Lieu, producers (Grasshopper Film)

No Other Land
Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor, directors; Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning, producers (Antipode Films)

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Johan Grimonprez, director; Rémi Grellety, Daan Milius, producers (Kino Lorber)

Sugarcane
Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie, directors; Emily Kassie, Kellen Quinn, producers (National Geographic Documentary Films)

Union
Stephen Maing, Brett Story, directors; Samantha Curley, Mars Verrone, producers (Self-Distributed)

Best Director
Payal Kapadia, All We Imagine as Light (Sideshow and Janus Films)

Sean Baker, Anora (NEON)

Guan Hu, Black Dog (The Forge)

Jane Schoenbrun, I Saw the TV Glow (A24)

RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)

Best Screenplay
Between the Temples, Nathan Silver, C. Mason Wells (Sony Pictures Classics)

Evil Does Not Exist, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Sideshow and Janus Films)

Femme, Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping (Utopia)

His Three Daughters, Azazel Jacobs (Netflix)

Janet Planet, Annie Baker (A24)

Breakthrough Director
Shuchi Talati, Girls Will Be Girls (Juno Films, Inc)

India Donaldson, Good One (Metrograph Pictures)

Alessandra Lacorazza, In the Summers (Music Box Films)

Vera Drew, The People’s Joker (Altered Innocence)

Mahdi Fleifel, To a Land Unknown (Watermelon Pictures)

Outstanding Lead Performance
Pamela Anderson, The Last Showgirl (Roadside Attractions)

Adrien Brody, The Brutalist (A24)

Colman Domingo, Sing Sing (A24)

Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths (Bleecker Street)

Nicole Kidman, Babygirl (A24)

Keith Kupferer, Ghostlight (IFC Films)

Mikey Madison, Anora (NEON)

Demi Moore, The Substance (MUBI)

Saoirse Ronan, Outrun (Sony Pictures Classics)

Justice Smith, I Saw the TV Glow (A24)

Outstanding Supporting Performance
Yura Borisov, Anora (NEON)

Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain (Searchlight Pictures)

Danielle Deadwyler, The Piano Lesson (Netflix)

Brigette Lundy-Paine, I Saw the TV Glow (A24)

Natasha Lyonne, His Three Daughters (Netflix)

Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing (A24)

Katy O’Brian, Love Lies Bleeding (A24)

Guy Pearce, The Brutalist (A24)

Adam Pearson, A Different Man (A24)

Brian Tyree Henry, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios)

Breakthrough Performer

Lily Collias, Good One (Metrograph Pictures)

Ryan Destiny, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios)

Maisy Stella, My Old Ass (Amazon MGM Studios)

Izaac Wang, DiÌdi (Focus Features) 

Brandon Wilson, Nickel Boys (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)

The post ‘Anora’ Leads Nominations for the 2024 Gotham Awards appeared first on TheWrap.

The Signal Awards announced their winners Tuesday morning and boasted 170,000 votes from podcast fans in just two short weeks.

There are two types of awards given: The Academy-decided Gold Award, and the public-voted Listeners’ Choice Award — and a number of honorees pulled dual honors. They include Cooper, Questlove, Brown, Noah, Notaro, Kara Swisher, Shannon Sharpe, Fortune Feimster, Mae Martin, “The Sporkful,” “The Stoop: Black, Queer and Free” and “Twenty Thousand Hertz.”

Other winners of the Gold Award are Oprah, Katie Couric, “Death, Sex & Money” and “Today, Explained.” Meanwhile, Listeners’ Choice Award winners include “Dark History,” “Prosecuting Donald Trump,” “The Nightingale of Iran,” “The Prof G Pod With Scott Galloway,” “Victory Light With The Kid Mero” and “Who Killed JFK?”

Furthermore, for the second year in a row, Audible has been awarded The Signal Awards’ Company of The Year, having earned the most honors across all categories. A winner’s party for the awards is scheduled for Nov. 12 at Brooklyn’s Public Records. During the festivities, “Where Should We Begin?’s” Esther Perel and “Las Culturistas'” Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang will be honored with the inaugural Special Achievement Awards.

Check out some of the highlighted winners below. Click here to see the complete list.

Interview or Talk Show

Slate’s Death, Sex & Money GOLD
Your Mama’s Kitchen GOLD
Apple News In Conversation GOLD
All There Is with Anderson Cooper GOLD, LISTENER’S CHOICE
Podcrushed
New Lines Magazine Presents: The Lede
Time Sensitive
Marc Summers Unwraps
On Being with Krista Tippett

Best Co-Host Team (Shows)

Handsome Podcast GOLD, LISTENER’S CHOICE
The Need to Know Podcast GOLD
Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway
A Field Guide To Gay Animals
Pretendians
Dead Writers
Nightcap
Culture Bites
And That’s Why We Drink
Varnamtown

Best Commute Podcast

Today, Explained GOLD
Netflix is a Daily Joke GOLD
And That’s Why We Drink GOLD LISTENER’S CHOICE
Where does Florida keep its memorabilia?
Hangin’ Out with the Old Fellas
The McKinsey Podcast
Very Special Episodes
TED Talks Daily

Best Co-Host Team (Pop Culture Podcasts)

The Bald and the Beautiful with Trixie and Katya GOLD
Crunchyroll Presents: The Anime Effect GOLD
Kermode and Mayo’s Take LISTENER’S CHOICE
Newcomers with Lauren Lapkus & Nicole Byer
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

Best Host (Current Events)

On with Kara Swisher GOLD, LISTENER’S CHOICE
Next Question with Katie Couric GOLD
The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich
Apple News Today
Conspiracy, She Wrote

Best Host

Oprah’s Super Soul GOLD
Apple News Today GOLD
Your Mama’s Kitchen GOLD
Dark History LISTENER’S CHOICE
How to Fail with Elizabeth Day
Reality with the King

Limited Series Documentary

Hysterical GOLD
The Youth Development Center GOLD
Backfired: The Vaping Wars GOLD
Grapevine GOLD
The Nightingale of Iran LISTENER’S CHOICE
The Good Thief
Long Shadow: In Guns We Trust
After Hotel Rwanda
In The Dark: The Runaway Princesses

Limited Series History

Pack One Bag GOLD
Who Killed JFK? LISTENER’S CHOICE
Inheriting
Road to Rickwood
The 99% Invisible Breakdown: The Power Broker
Unbiased History of Israel and Palestine

Limited Series & Specials News & Politics

In the Room with Peter Bergen GOLD
Big Take GOLD
The Political Scene GOLD
Prosecuting Donald Trump LISTENER’S CHOICE
Talking Feds
White Picket Fence
Pod Save America
Stay Tuned with Preet

Comedians Shaping Culture

What Now? with Trevor Noah GOLD, LISTENER’S CHOICE
Carefully Reckless with Jess Hilarious
Lovett or Leave It
Seek Treatment with Cat & Pat

Self-Improvement & Self-Help

The Mel Robbins Podcast GOLD
Everyday Better with Leah Smart GOLD
Big Lash Energy – Are You Faking Happy Too? LISTENER’S CHOICE
The Get Back To It Podcast
Whiskey, Jazz and Leadership
A Place of Yes
Real Men Feel
Therapy For Black Girls

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Further veterans of the Academy Awards who round out the 2025 creative team include production designers Misty Buckley and Alana Billingsley and red carpet show EP David Chamberlin. Michael Bearden, meanwhile, will make his debut as music director. 

In a Monday statement, Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy president Janet Yang said, “We are delighted to announce the return of our incredibly dynamic and creative Oscars team, Raj, Katy, Hamish, Misty, Alana and Dave. And we are thrilled to announce the addition of the brilliant Michael Bearden. Their love for cinema, their collective creative vision and their unparalleled expertise in live television make them the perfect team to create an exceptional show for our global audience on the film industry’s biggest night.”

Kapoor and Mullan added, “We are thrilled to lead the brilliant Oscars production team again and work alongside the Academy and Disney/ABC to help create an unforgettable night of television for movie lovers worldwide. We hope to continue to inspire and connect new generations to share our love for the art of filmmaking and celebrate all the incredible artists who are Oscar-nominated this year.”

Kapoor has won two Emmys, earlier this year for the 96th Oscars and in 2022 for “Adele: One Night Only.” He was nominated four times for exec-producing the Grammys and again in 2023 for “Norman Lear: 100 Years of Music and Laughter.”

The showrunner shared the 2024 Outstanding Variety Special (Live) Emmy with Mullan, who was also EP on, among many other titles, “Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas,” “Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration,” “The Little Mermaid Live!” and the London Olympics opening and closing ceremonies. She is a partner in the live event production company Done + Dusted, which was founded by Hamilton.

Five-time Oscars vet Hamilton directed his first Academy Awards in 2010 for the 82nd ceremony. He earned two of his 12 total Emmy nominations for directing the 86th and 87th Oscars (in 2014 and 2015), and won for the 96th Oscars. In 2023, he won his first Emmy for the 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show.

Buckley and Billingsley also won an Emmy for production design on the 96th Oscars. Billingsley is the winner of three additional Emmys, for art directing the 2020 and 2021 Academy Awards and the 2012 Grammys. Buckley has a total of six Emmy nominations.

“Last year’s show was a tremendous success in no small part to the creative vision of Raj, Katy, Hamish and their teams. We are excited to have them back and can’t wait for what’s in store for the 97th telecast,” Rob Mills, Walt Disney Television’s executive vice president of Unscripted and Alternative Entertainment, said.

New to the Oscars fold is Bearden, whose long list of credits includes his Emmy-nominated music direction for both the Super Bowl LI Halftime Show (with Lady Gaga) and “One Last Time: An Evening With Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga.”

Finally, Chamberlin will serve as executive producer of ABC’s “The Oscars Red Carpet Show” for the sixth consecutive time.

The Oscars will take place at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood, airing live on ABC and broadcast outlets worldwide on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The official live red carpet show kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.

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The 85 films make up the smallest field in the category in nine years. Last year saw 88 qualifying films, after the total number of eligible films had topped 90 in five of the previous six years. The record was 93, set in 2000.

In late September, all prospective voters in the category received emails inviting them to vote in the international category and telling them that those who opted in would receive emails with their assigned viewing on Friday, Nov. 1. But those emails came a week early, going to prospective voters on Friday afternoon, Oct. 25, and separating the members into seven separate groups.

Each group was given a list of 12 or 13 films to view, either in the Academy’s members-only screening platform devoted to the category or in theaters. Voters must see every film in the group for their vote to count, but they are also encouraged to see as many films as they want outside their group.

Films were not separated randomly into the groups but were chosen to create a mixture of regions, genres and running times. Group 1, for instance, is the only group with 13 entries and contains five films from Europe (Albania, Estonia, Norway, Italy and Switzerland), three from South and Central America (Bolivia, Paraguay and Costa Rica), one from Africa (Algeria), three from Asia (Armenia, Cambodia and Malaysia) and one from the Middle East (Iraq).

The list of films that were assigned to voters is not necessarily the same as the final list of qualifying films, which the Academy will release at a later date. Occasionally, an assigned film will later be determined to be ineligible under the category’s rules, though in most cases there is no difference between the list of assigned films and the final list.

Four films that were publicized as being their country’s submissions are missing from the list of assigned films. Three of those were documentaries: China’s “The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru,” Jordan’s “My Sweet Land” and Uruguay’s “The Door Is There.” Haiti’s “Kidnapping Inc.” was the fourth film announced as its country’s submission but that did not end up on any assignment lists.

First-round voting will take place from Dec. 9-13, with a shortlist of 15 films announced on Dec. 17. A second round of voting will narrow the 15 down to the final five nominees.

All of the eligible films will be placed in the Academy Screening Room devoted to the category, with new additions made every Friday. At the time the group assignments were made, 41 of the 85 titles were available in the screening room, though it did not contain such high-profile films as France’s “Emilia Perez,” Brazil’s “I’m Still Here,” Germany’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” Italy’s “Vermiglio,” Mexico’s “Sujo,” Norway’s “Armand,” Portugal’s “Grand Tour,” Senegal’s “Dahomey” and the United Kingdom’s “Santosh.”

The highest-profile films that are available for voters to stream include Austria’s “The Devil’s Bath,” Belgium’s “Julie Keeps Quiet,” Bosnia and Herzegovina’s “My Late Summer,” Cambodia’s “Meeting With Pol Pot,” Canada’s “Universal Language,” Denmark’s “The Girl With the Needle,” Iceland’s “Touch,” Ireland’s “Kneecap,” Japan’s “Cloud,” Morocco’s “Everybody Loves Touda,” Latvia’s animated “Flow” and Palestine’s “From Ground Zero,” which is made up of 22 short films by directors who live in Gaza.

The available films are spread unevenly among the seven groups. Voters in Group 6, for example, only have two films available to them in the screening room, while voters in Group 3 and 4 have eight.

This year’s international race has fewer obvious favorites than in other recent years. Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez” is the highest-profile entry and the default frontrunner, followed by “I’m Still Here” from director Walter Salles and “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” from Mohammad Rasoulof.  

TheWrap has a full list of the qualifying films here, with descriptions of every film and links to trailers when available.

Here is the list of films that have been assigned to voters in the Best International Feature Film category:

• Albania: “Waterdrop,” Robert Budina              
• Algeria: “Algiers,” Chakib Taleb-Bendiab
• Argentina: “Kill the Jockey,” Luis Ortega
• Armenia: “Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev,” Edgar Baghdasaryan
• Austria: “The Devil’s Bath,” Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala               
• Bangladesh: “The Wrestler,” Iqbal Hossain Chowdhury
• Belgium: “Julie Keeps Quiet,” Leonardo Van Dijl
• Bolivia: “Own Hand,” Rodrigo Gory Patino
• Bosnia and Herzegovina: “My Late Summer,” Danis Tanovic
• Brazil: “I’m Still Here,” Walter Salles
• Bulgaria: “Triumph,” Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov             
• Cambodia: “Meeting With Pol Pot,” Rithy Panh
• Cameroon: “Kismet,” Ngang Romanus         
• Canada: “Universal Language,” Matthew Rankin
• Chile: “In Her Place,” Maite Alberdi
• Colombia: “La Suprema,” Felipe Holguin Caro
• Costa Rica: “Memories of a Burning Body,” Antonella Sudasassi
• Croatia: “Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day,” Ivona Juka
• Czech Republic: “Waves,” Jiri Madl 
• Denmark: “The Girl with the Needle,” Magnus von Horn
• Dominican Republic: “Aire: Just Breathe,” Letitia Tonos
• Ecuador: “Behind the Mist,” Sebastian Cordero
• Egypt: “Flight 404,” Hani Khalifa         
• Estonia: “8 Views of Lake Biwa,” Marko Raat             
• Finland: “Family Time,” Tia Kouvo
• France: “Emilia Perez,” Jacques Audiard
• Georgia: “The Antique,” Rusudan Glurjidze                 
• Germany: “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” Mohammad Rasoulof
• Greece: “Murderess,” Eva Nathena
• Guatemala: “Rita,” Jayro Bustamante            
• Hong Kong: “Twight of the Warriors: Walled In,” Soi Cheang           
• Hungary: “Semmelweis,” Lajos Koltai            
• Iceland: “Touch,” Baltasar Kormakur              
• India: “Lost Ladies,” Kiran Rao            
• Indonesia: “Women From Rote Island,” Jeremias Nyangoen          
• Iran: “In the Arms of the Tree,” Babak Lotfi Khajepasha
• Iraq: “Baghdad Messi,” Sahim Omar Kalifa
• Ireland: “Kneecap,” Rich Peppiatt
• Israel: “Come Closer,” Tom Nesher
• Italy: “Vermiglio,” Maura Delpero
• Japan: “Cloud,” Kurosawa Kiyoshi
• Kazakhstan: “Bauryna Salu,” Askhat Kuchinchirekov          
• Kenya: “Nawi,” Vallentine Chelluget, Apuu Mourine, Kevin & Toby Schmutzler    
• Kyrgyzstan: “Paradise at Mother’s Feet,” Rusian Akun         
• Latvia: “Flow,” Gints Zilbalodis            
• Lebanon: “Arze,” Mira Shaib
• Lithuania: “Drowning Dry,” Laurynas Bareisa            
• Malaysia: “Abang Adik,” Jin Ong         
• Malta: “Castillo,” Abigail Mallia           
• Mexico: “Sujo,” Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez
• Mongolia: “If Only I Could Hibernate,” Zoljargal Purvedash              
• Montenegro: “Supermarket,” Nemanja Becanovic
• Morocco: “Everybody Loves Touda,” Nabil Ayouch
• Nepal: “Shambhakam,” Min Bahadur Bham               
• Netherlands: “Memory Lane,” Jelle de Jonge
• Nigeria: “Mai Martaba”             
• Norway: “Armand,” Halfdan Ullman Tondel
• Pakistan: “The Glassworker,” Usman Riaz
• Palestine: “From Ground Zero,” Aws Al-Banna…
• Panama: “Wake Up Mom,” Arianne Benedetti          
• Paraguay: “The Last,” Sebastian Pena Escobar
• Peru: “Yana-Wara,” Oscar Catacora and Tito Catacora
• Philippines: “And So It Begins,” Ramona S. Diaz
• Poland: “Under the Volcano,” Damian Kocur
• Portugal: “Grand Tour,” Miguel Gomes           
• Romania : “Three Kilometres to the End of the World,”  Emanuel Parvu
• Senegal: “Dahomey,” Mati Diop         
• Serbia: “Russian Consul,” Miroslav Lekic
• Singapore: “La Luna,” M. Raihan Halim        
• Slovakia: “The Hungarian Dressmaker,” Iveta Grofova
• Slovenia: “Family Therapy,” Sonja Prosenc
• South Africa: “Old Righteous Blues,” Muneera Sallies         
• South Korea: “12.12: The Day,” Kim Sung-su              
• Spain: “Saturn Return,” Isaki Lacuesta and Pol Rodriguez                
• Sweden: “The Last Journey,” Filip Hammar and Fredrik Wikingsson          
• Switzerland: “Queens,” Klaudia Reynicke
• Taiwan: “Old Fox,” Hsiao Ya-chuan
• Tajikistan: “Melody,” Behrous Sebt Rasoul
• Thailand: “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies,” Pat Boonnitipat
• Tunisia: “Take My Breath,” Nada Mezni Hafaiedh
• Turkey: “Life,” Zeki Demirkubuz          
• Ukraine: “La Palisiada,” Philip Sotnychenko               
• United Kingdom: “Santosh,” Sandhya Suri
• Venezuela: “Back to Life,” Luis Carlo Hueck and Alfredo Hueck
• Vietnam: “Peach Blossom, Pho and Piano,” Phi Tien Son

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