The end of the first full working week of 2025 has seen one awards ceremony complete its cycle as others get into the final furlong…
Oscars voting deadline extended
VOTING for the Oscars has been extended by two days following the devastating wildfires taking place close to Los Angles this week.
Originally 10,000 Academy members had to vote for films and talent in the various categories by January 12 – but the date has been pushed back now to January 14, while the shortlist announcements will take place on January 19, not January 17 as originally scheduled.
Speaking of the Oscars, a historic film came to London this week…
Pakistan’s historic official Oscar country entry, ‘The Glassworker’ screens in the UK
A SELECT audience got to see Pakistan’s first ever animated official Oscar entry film, ‘The Glassworker’ on Wednesday evening (January 7) in London.
Usman Riaz, the intrepid writer-director-animator and musician behind ‘The Glassworker’ spoke to film journalist Ashanti Omkar after the screening and talked about the challenges of creating the country’s first ever animation studio to turn his dream into reality.
For him, the hardest challenge was raising the money to complete the film, embarking on a crowdfunding campaign that yielded results when he pitched to potential large scale investors, saying, “ff complete strangers can back this project…”. It worked.
The film had its world premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival (France) last June and he unveiled it with a trailer and press launch in Cannes – the month before and where we first met Riaz and his animation studio producer, cousin Khizer Riaz. See the interviews here – https://youtu.be/JAiNGHAeWs4
Of the film itself, it is beautifully animated, romantic, and captures a certain wistful time punctuated by war and strife which get steadily worse and overcome our two slightly off centred protagonists, Alliz and Vincent. Set in a fictional country, the anti-war message is clear and Riaz skilfully manages to balance its universality with his own cultural roots. We saw the Urdu language version – there is an English one with a strong British Asian cast.
An admirer of the world famous animation company, Studio Ghibli, he was part tutored and mentored by senior creatives from the Japanese outfit – one hopes Riaz’s talent and multidisciplinary approach – he is a student of western music and Alliz’s violin playing is a theme of the film – will continue to grow and develop regardless of whether ‘The Glassworker’ and its French film sales company get a distribution deal for the UK.
Many Indian films recognised by Oscars committee
Shuchi Tulati and Richa Chadha at Mami 2024
SEVERAL Indian films which did well in India and screened widely internationally have been recognised by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) – better known – simply as The Oscars.
It released a list a total of 323 feature films that qualify and are still in the running for an Oscar, while 207 films can be considered for the Best Picture Oscar category.
Among the Indian films that qualify include: Aadujeevatham – The Goat Life; All We Imagine as Light; Band of Maharajahs; Girls Will Be Girls; Putul; Santosh; Swantantriya Veer Savarkar.
All these films are set in India but have different backing and talent behind them – ‘All We Imagine as Light’ has mostly French backing and won The Grand Prix at Cannes last year, ‘Girls Will Be Girls’ is by a US-based director Shuchi Tulati but funded by Indian stars Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal and their production outfit, while ‘Santosh’ – directed by Brit Sandhya Suri – is made by a British based production company and also screened last year at Cannes. We covered the festival premieres of all these three films and have interviews with all the talent behind them. See our YouTube channel and use the search viewfinder.
Payal Kapadia, director of ‘All We Imagine as Light’ inspires country’s filmmakers at Golden Globes
EMERGING star writer-director Payal Kapadia was among the great and good of Hollywood on Sunday (January 3) when she attended the Golden Globes awards 2025.
Her film, ‘All We Imagine as Light’ (AWIAL) was competing in two categories – Best Director and Best Film Not In the English language. Just recently she spoke to the press about wanting to make a trilogy of connected films and said in our interview ahead of its London Film Festival screening last October that she wasn’t done with the city of Mumbai where AWIAL is set – see that interview here.
The film in the awards lost out to Brady Corbet for ‘The Brutalist’ and ‘Emilia Perez’, respectively.
Nevertheless, Kapadia created quite the impression, smiling and posing for the red carpet shots, wearing a black jumpsuit by designer Payal Khandwala.
Actor Divya Prabha who plays Anu in Kapadia’s film – which is essentially about two migrant nurses from Kerala and their local hospital colleague Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam) going to the seaside together – posted pictures to her Instagram account, remarking: “What joy to see this image payal (love smitten emoji). Witnessing an Indian filmmaker standing on the Golden Globe red carpet for the first time fills my heart with pride and inspiration.” Sure a lot of South Asian filmmakers felt similarly.
‘All We Imagine as Light’ premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year winning The Grand Prix, unofficially just behind the Palme d’Or which went to US Sean Baker’s comedy drama, ‘Anora’. The big winners on the night of the Golden Globes were ‘Emilia Perez’ with four awards and then ‘The Brutalist’, with ‘Shogun’ winning more than one in TV categories. Demi Moore’s win for her role in ‘The Substance’ has catapulted her into a favourable position for The Oscars, say commentators now.
And Finally about us
🎥 So too are our reviews: We Live in Time; Maria; Anora; Crocodile Tears, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story and The Superboys of Malegaon; Dahomey
🎭 Four creative women recognised with OBEs in New Year’s Honours List including poet Imtiaz Dharker
