The Oscar Calendar Weekly Watchlist for April 29 to May 6, 2012

I’m back with another edition of the Oscar Calendar’s Weekly Watchlist, the place where I Assemble all the news from the world of film in an effort to help Avenge independent film against the studio blockbusters....

Everyone will of course be talking about their favorite superheroes this week, but if you are really into superheroes, make sure to check out my friend Bubbawheat’s year-round coverage at Flights Tights And Movie Nights, as well as a week full of guest posts that some of my favorite bloggers have written for the Avengers Week hosted by The Focused Photographer, and some first-person photographs of the stars taken by Jaina of Time Well Spent at the European premiere. While you’re doing that, don’t forget that there are a lot of fantastic film bloggers covering festivals on the ground this week. For great coverage of Tribeca, I recommend following I Luv Cinema and Life Between Films, and The NYC Film Chick. For information on Hot Docs I recommend following The Matinee and Big Thoughts From A Small Mind. And for reviews from the Independent Film Festival Boston, check out A Constant Visual Feast.

Last week’s winners at the Tribeca Film Festival, give us a lot to think about in terms of next year’s Oscar foreign language race, with Kim Nguyen’s Rebelle (War Witch), Lucy Mulloy’s Una Noche, and Daniel Burman’s All In ((La Suerte En Tus Manos) all picking up prizes. In the documentary category, watch out for Nisha Pahuja’s The World Before Her, Arnon Goldfinger’s The Flat (Hadira), and Jeroen van Velzen’s Wavumba. A little further West, Matthew Gordon’s The Dynamiter and David Fine’s Salaam Dunk took top prizes at Nashville Film Festival.

This week the biggest awards news will likely come from those genre categories that everyone is always uncertain about during Oscar time, as we continue to watch for documentary and foreign language winners from Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, and the David Di Donatello Awards. Film lovers can also catch the end of Independent Film Festival Boston, Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, and the Jeonju International Film Festival.

Those who follow the Oscar shorts races will note the following directors qualified for next year’s Oscar consideration over the past week:

1. Brian Buckley for Asad
2. Shawn Christensen for Curfew
3. Leo Verrier for Dripped (Animated)
4. Isold Uggadottir for Revolution Reykjavik
5. Craig Webster for Carbon

While the documentary shorts don’t technically allow for qualification through festivals, it is also worth noting that Nadav Kurtz’ Paraiso won best documentary short at Tribeca, while Matt Lenski’s Meaning Of Robots took the prize at Nashville and Tania Khalaf’s Gaza Shield won at Athens.

At the commercial theaters, the two films that I am most looking forward to are Marvel’s The Avengers and Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, both of which have already been showing abroad for a while and have received good reviews. If you haven’t heard about them, one features Judi Dench and Maggie Smith battling supervillains, while the other has Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans going to a retirement home in India--unless I somehow got that mixed up. Other wide and limited releases include First Position, Last Call At The Oasis, A Little Bit Of Heaven, LOL, The Perfect Family, Jannat 2, Jesus Henry Christ, Mother’s Day and Get The Gringo.

For more on what is coming up in the world of movies, be sure to check out the full Oscar Calendar, and let me know in the comments which of these films you are most looking forward to seeing!
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