Who Will Win This Year's Oscars?

Get your popcorn, food delivery ready or your favorite snack by your side this Sunday because the 93rd Oscars are coming with a storm. Unlike any other awards show we have seen so far on TV, this one promises not just to be different but to be like a film we all will feel a part of.  The Academy Awards will be televised from two locations, the Dolby Theater and Union Station in LA, and it promises a whole lot of fun and glamour, as well as in-person red carpet moments.

This year's show with the theme "Bring Your Movie Love" is directed by Glenn Weiss and is divided in three parts - "Oscars: Into the Spotlight," the actual awards show and "Oscars: After Dark." To kick off the event the pre-show will feature all five of the nominated songs performed live by Celeste, H.E.R., Leslie Odom, Jr., Laura Pausini, Daniel Pemberton, Molly Sandén and Diane Warren, live from the Dolby Theater and Helsinki, Iceland.

This year's star cast includes Steven Yeun, Riz Ahmed, Angela Bassett, Halle Berry, Bong Joon Ho, Don Cheadle, Bryan Cranston, Viola Davis, Laura Dern, Harrison Ford, Regina King, Marlee Matlin, Rita Moreno, Joaquin Phoenix, Brad Pitt, Reese Witherspoon, Renée Zellweger and Zendaya.

These are my predictions for who will win the major categories this Sunday:

Best Film - "Nomadland"

Best Director - Chloe Zhao

Best Actor - Chadwick Boseman

Best Actress - Frances McDormand

Best Supporting Actor - Daniel Kaluuya

Best Supporting Actress - Maria Bakalova 

In addition to the big categories, there are also short films that are competing as well. These are the shorts nominated for an Oscar:

ANIMATED SHORT FILM NOMINEES 

 

BURROW 

Director: Madeline Sharafian 

Synopsis: A young rabbit embarks on a journey to dig the burrow of her dreams, despite not having a clue what she's doing. Rather than reveal to her neighbors her imperfections, she digs herself deeper and deeper into trouble. Country of Origin: USA 

GENIUS LOCI 

Director: Adrien Merigeau 

Synopsis: One night, Reine, a young loner, sees among the urban chaos a moving oneness that seems alive, like some sort of guide. Country of Origin: France 

ANYTHING HAPPENS I LOVE YOU 

Director: Michael Govier, Will McCormack 

Synopsis: In the aftermath of tragedy, two grieving parents journey through an emotional void as they mourn the loss of a child. Country of Origin: USA 

OPERA 

Director: Erick Oh 

Synopsis: “Opera” is a massive 8K size animation installation project which portrays our society and history, which is filled with beauty and absurdity. Erick enables viewers to experience the range of in-depth emotions through this epic reflection of human life. Country of Origin: USA/South Korea 

YES-PEOPLE 

Director: Gísli Darri Halldórsson 

Synopsis: One morning, an eclectic mix of people face the everyday battle - such as work, school and dish-washing. As the day progresses, their relationships are tested and ultimately their capacity to cope. Country of Origin: Iceland 

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM NOMINEES 

FEELING THROUGH 

Director: Doug Roland 

Synopsis: A late-night encounter on a New York City street leads to a profound connection between a teen in need and a DeafBlind man. Country of Origin: USA 

THE LETTER ROOM 

Director: Elvira Lind 

Synopsis: “The Letter Room” is a dark prison comedy about the secret life of a correctional officer who gets transferred to a job in the letter room, where a new world suddenly opens to him ways to find solace and spirituality afterwards. Country of Origin: USA 

THE PRESENT 

Director: Farah Nabulsi 

Synopsis: On his wedding anniversary, Yusef and his young daughter set out in the West Bank to buy his wife a gift. Between soldiers, segregated roads and checkpoints, how easy would it be to go shopping? Country of Origin: Palestine 

TWO DISTANT STRANGERS 

Director: Travon Free, Martin Desmond Roe Synopsis: In "Two Distant Strangers,” cartoonist Carter James' repeated attempts to get home to his dog are thwarted by a recurring deadly encounter that forces him to relive the same awful day over and over again. Starring Joey Bada$$, Andrew Howard and Zaria Simone. Country of Origin: USA 

WHITE EYE 

Director: Tomer Shushan 

Synopsis: A man finds his stolen bicycle, which now belongs to a stranger. While attempting to retrieve it, he struggles to remain human. Country of Origin: Israel 

DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM NOMINEES  

COLETTE 

Director: Anthony Giacchino  

Synopsis: On the anniversary of the start of the Nuremberg trials, 90-year-old Colette Marin-Catherine confronts her past by visiting the Nazi concentration camp in Germany where her brother was killed. As a young girl, she had been a member of the French resistance and had always refused to set foot in Germany. That changes when a young history student named Lucie enters her life. Prepared to reopen old wounds and revisit the terrors of that time, Marin-Catherine offers important lessons Country of Origin: France/Germany/USA 

A CONCERTO IS A CONVERSATION 

Director: Kris Bowers, Ben Proudfoot 

Synopsis: A virtuoso jazz pianist and film composer tracks his family's lineage through his 91-year-old grandfather from Jim Crow Florida to the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Country of Origin: USA 

DO NOT SPLIT 

Director: Anders Hammer 

Synopsis: The story of the 2019 Hong Kong protests, told through a series of demonstrations by local protestors that escalate into conflict when highly armed police appear on the scene. Country of Origin: USA/Norway 

HUNGER WARD 

Director: Skye Fitzgerald 

Synopsis: Filmed from inside two of the most active therapeutic feeding centers in Yemen, HUNGER WARD documents two women health care workers fighting to thwart the spread of starvation against the backdrop of a forgotten war. The film provides an unflinching portrait of Dr. Aida Alsadeeq and Nurse Mekkia Mahdi as they try to save the lives of hunger-stricken children within a population on the brink of famine. Country of Origin: USA 

A LOVE SONG FOR LATASHA 

Director: Sophia Nahli Allison 

Synopsis: The injustice surrounding the shooting death of 15-year-old Latasha Harlins at a South Central Los Angeles store became a flashpoint for the city’s 1992 civil uprising. As the Black community expressed its profound pain in the streets, Latasha’s friends and family privately mourned the loss of a vibrant child whose full story was never in the headlines. Nearly three decades later, director Sophia Nahli Allison removes Latasha from the context of her death to craft a dreamlike portrait of a promising life lost, demonstrating the impact one brief but brilliant life can have. Country of Origin: USA 

You can purchase tickets to view the shorts at:  https://tickets.oscar-shorts.com/. 

Tune in to watch the Oscars live on ABC at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT this Sunday, April 25. 

Undine

Undine works as a historian lecturing on Berlin's urban development. But when the man she loves leaves her, the ancient myth catches up with her. Undine has to kill the man who betrays her and return to the water. So when her lover Johannes (Jacob Matschenz) leaves her for another woman, Undine thinks she has no choice – until in the moment of betrayal, she meets Christoph (Franz Rogowski), an industrial diver, and unexpectedly falls for him. This is a new, happy and innocent love filled with curiosity and trust. But when Christoph starts to feel that Undine is running away from something, she has to face her curse once and for all. She doesn‘t want to lose this love. Undine is a film by award-winning German filmmaker Christian Petzold.  

In his director's statement, Petzold says:

“You humans! You monsters!” Thus begins Ingeborg Bachmann’s narration “Undine Leaves”. Undine is the betrayed woman of the waters. According to the myth, she lives in a lake in the forest. A man who’s fatefully enamored with a woman, whose love is unrequited and hopeless, who no longer knows what to do with himself or his feelings, who suffers absolute despair... can enter the forest, go to the banks of the lake and cry out Undine’s name. And she’ll come. And love him. Their love is a pact that may never be betrayed. And if it is betrayed, then the man must die. Then it comes to pass that he who loves and is loved seems easy and free, lovable and desirable once more." 

If you are captivated by myths, mysteries and love fairytales, Undine is a combination of all three. While set in a realistic setting in Berlin, this story unfolds in so many mysterious ways captivating the audience act by act. Its surprise ending is the perfect culmination of the love drama triangle. It is like a modern "Little Mermaid" story but in an adult and more realistic way. It is like putting a puzzle together and trying to make the pieces of the story fit, intrigued and guessing to its plot until the very last scene. It is a film I absolutely recommend. 

"...And maybe you can say that Undine is a fairytale figure who wants to become human. And we watch her realize this dream. She’s already human, she wants to remain human. When she goes diving with Christoph, she suddenly vanishes as if the water were pulling her into her element – she remembers nothing and says, “No, I don’t want to come back here again”. But the cursed/enchanted world, the mythical world, won’t let go. It sticks to her, it’s brutal, it pulls her under… The myths and fairytales, men’s myths, leave Undine a pitiful dearth of leeway. Undine is a woman who needs to escape the work of male projection," says the director. 

"...I liked the way it’s the Undine who speaks rather than some narrator or man. It’s a woman talking. You could make a film like that, I thought. One that’s about the undine or the undine’s despair. The curse in Ingeborg Bachmann is that men are never faithful because they basically only love themselves. And the breaking of this curse from a female perspective struck me as the right narrative approach; that our undine doesn’t want to go back to the forest lake. That she doesn’t want to kill. There’s a man, Christoph, who’s the first to love her for herself, and it’s a love she’ll fight for," continues Petzold. 

Motifs relating to the Undine myth can already be found back in Greek mythology. The word “Undenae” appears for the first time in a script of Paracelsus published posthumously in 1566: Undine – from the Latin unda, “wave”, is a water sprite in human form who can only attain an immortal soul through marriage to a human. Should she come back into contact with her element after her marriage, she must return to it. Should her husband remarry, he must die.

Undine will be released in select theaters and on VOD platforms on June 4, 2021. 

Shiva Baby

 

A near college graduate, Danielle, gets paid by her sugar daddy and rushes to meet her neurotic parents at a family shiva. Upon arrival, she is accosted by various estranged relatives about her appearance and lack of post-grad plans, while her confident ex-girlfriend, Maya, is applauded by everyone for getting into law school. Danielle's day takes an unexpected turn when her sugar daddy, Max, arrives at the shiva with his accomplished wife, Kim, and crying baby. As the day unfolds, Danielle struggles to keep up different versions of herself, fend off pressures from her family and confront her insecurities without completely losing it. Written and directed by Emma Seligman, Shiva Baby, is a dark comedy for the non-traditional tastes. 

"SHIVA BABY is about a young woman grappling with family, tradition, and independence. More importantly though, it is about that bitter realization many young women face when they realize that their sexual power isn’t as far-reaching as they thought and that their self-esteem can’t be entirely built upon sexual validation. For some women, this process takes years. For Danielle, it happens in a day, with her neurotic family, her sugar daddy, his wife and baby and Danielle’s accomplished ex-girlfriend all in tow to witness her self-combustion," says Seligman in her director's statement about the film.

Emma Seligman by Emma McInture

"Having grown up in an insular Jewish community, I attended a number of shivas. They always amused me because despite the fact that someone just died, people still ate bagels, complained, showed off their children, asked nosy questions and crossed personal boundaries. I always loved the contrast and thought it would be the perfect setting for a coming of age story. Family events can be filled with the utmost love and warmth, but they are also pervaded by generational differences that make you question your untraditional or non existent career path and your queerness. I wanted to put Danielle in an environment where she’d be confronted by a symphony of all her deepest insecurities," she adds. 

Shiva Baby cast includes Rachel Sennott, Molly Gordon, Diana Agron, Danny Deferrari, Polly Draper, and Fred Melamed.

Danny Deferrari and Fred Melamed in Shiva Baby

This award-winning film has captured the critics attention, including mine. In the witty and dark comedy, there is a lot of truth, vulnerability and raw authenticity that makes the film unique and oddly relatable.  From weird characters to strange motives, there is something for everyone in Shiva Baby. I absolutely recommend it.  The film has been released in select theaters by Utopia since April 2. 

Tough As a Mother - The New Elegant and Must-Have Jewelry for Every Mom

 

Jennifer Cervantes, Founder Tough as a Mother Tribe

I absolutely love the stone necklace pendants from Tough as a Mother Tribe and recommend them to all moms everywhere. As a mom and influencer, I want a jewelry that combines the power of looking both casual and elegant no matter where I am, while providing the healing energy of stones. I don't go anywhere without them now! They are a must-have and also the perfect gift for Mother's Day. 

Jennifer Cervantes who founded jewelry brand Tough as a Mother Tribe, utilizes the power and meanings of gemstones and the power of names to design jewelry that honors the most joyous and raw parts of motherhood and parenthood. Tough as a Mother Tribe is helping to empower and support moms on their parenting journey - to help women and parents find the strength to endure the real challenges of motherhood, no matter what stage of motherhood they may be in. 

“When you purchase a Tough as a Mother Tribe piece, you quietly unite with mothers across the world through our common bond. Our trials and triumphs through our motherhood journeys become shared experiences with each other, each of us silently cheering the others on. Whether you are buying for yourself, a first-time mom just embarking on her motherhood journey, or a third-time mom choosing hope as she carries her rainbow baby, you are in the right place,” says Jennifer.

 “COOL MAMA” Necklace - Chalcedony is a powerful healing stone that helps ward off negative thoughts and vibes to help mamas feel sane and grounded. Chalcedony helps promote good will while evoking benevolence, harmony and stability - something every mom needs! 

“GOOD VIBES MAMA” Necklace - Labradorite is a powerful stone that wards off anxiety and stress while imparting strength and perseverance. It can help strengthen intuition, eliminate fear and insecurity, and promote faith, self-love and trust in the universe. Labradorite can also promote creativity, focus and mental acuity, while helping calm and soothe the mind. 

 “BALANCED MAMA” Necklace - Quartz is a timeless gem that helps promote patience and balanced energy, and every mama needs the power to persevere! This master healing gemstone helps store, release and regulate good energy, while warding off negativity. It revitalizes and balances the body and can even promote focus and memory.

Get yours today: https://toughasamothertribe.com/. 

See You Then - A Powerful Film About The New Perspective on Transgender Experience

 

It is rare that I come across some original films that have a brilliant and real look at the characters' inner worlds and their emotional depths. See You Then is one of those films that does it so well. The film explores LGBTQ issues, transgender issues and the complicated world of fitting in. The film is emotional, raw and honest. It explores the complicity of motherhood, what it means to be a mother for a transgender and the character's inner desire be one. The reversal of roles and deep intimate relationships is authentic and worth seeing. See You Then had its World Premier at SXSW 2021. 

"Life has a way of showing you what is intended, beyond your plans and dreams. Whether you see it or not is up to you. Yes, I could not have children of my own for the reasons mentioned and beyond, but I have become a mother in a way that I would never have guessed and it has surpassed my expectations. I am a mother to any queer child, wherever they may be, who needs to feel that there is a maternal figure in their life: to listen to them, to show them love, to guide them and cheer them on their path. This is the greatest thing that I have accomplished in my life," says actress Pooya Mohseni.

Pooya Mohseni and Lynn Chen in See You Then

A decade after abruptly breaking up with Naomi (Lynn Chen), Kris (Pooya Mohseni) invites her to a dinner to catch-up on their complicated lives, relationships, and Kris' transition. Over the course of their one night encounter, they engage in a series of increasingly intimate and vulnerable conversations, before a shocking secret is revealed. See You Then focuses on the universal truth that no matter how much you change, a part of you will always stay the same. 

"I hope the film will provide a new perspective into the trans experience and spark a larger discussion around questions of identity, womanhood, and belonging. The aim of this story was never to focus on transitioning or trans- ness, but rather on the underlying humanity of these two characters and their lives. While everyone may not relate to the individual histories of these characters, they can empathize with trying to fix a broken relationship or harboring regrets for one’s past behavior. We endeavored to tell a story that anyone can relate to," says director Mari Walker.

Director: Mari Walker Writers: Mari Walker & Kristen Uno 

Cast: Pooya Mohseni, Lynn Chen, Nican Robinson, Danny Jacobs 

Producers: Mia Schulman, Matt Miller, Kristen Uno & Mari Walker

Make|SHIFT - New Documentary Film for the Shifting of Advertisement Today

 

In this ever-changing digital and social media age, it is hard to keep up with the latest trends. Social media has become the main tool advertisers and users, use to interact with one another. This concept is explored in the new documentary film Make|SHIFT. The film explores the trends and history of advertising and how it has changed through the years, the interaction between the viewer and the ads and the future of advertisement. It is an honest and raw look at the shifts and changes that have started to dominate the digital era and how advertisement has adjusted to engage the user. 

Make|SHIFT is a documentary film by WP Engine exploring the art and science behind the advertising industry's 20+ year evolution. Hear from a range of industry leaders from developers to designers to creative directors to founders at some of the most innovative agencies in the world, both small and large, digital and traditional. The film takes an inside look at how these makers and agencies have shifted and re-shifted their skillsets, creativity, and businesses, as new creative technologies emerged, declined, and were replaced by the next technology in an endless cycle of change.

Make|SHIFT was directed by Casey Suchan and Tim Cawley. The film was produced by Mary Ellen Dugan, David Fossas, Carley Thompson, Jeremy Coon, Barry Poltermann, Denise Roberts McKee, and 

Dorothy Ulrich. 

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For more information, go to: https://makeshift.film.

Social Media Handles: 

Instagram: @makeshift_film 

Twitter: @makeshift_film 

Facebook: @makeshiftmovie