How a Year of Upheaval Will Affect the Oscar Race (Column)

Young girls hide from drug cartels in Prayers For The Stolen, Mexico’s powerful entry to the International Feature Oscar race. Directed by Tatiana Huezo and loosely based on Jennifer Clement’s novel, the film, which screens at AFI Fest on November 14 and releases theatrically and on Netflix in the U.S.

The old adage “write what you know” has rarely paid off with such bleak, persuasive power as it does in Unclenching The Fists, which won the Grand Prize in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard sidebar this year, is Russia’s submission to the International Feature race at the Oscars and is screening at AFI Fest. Mubi has U.S. rights and is planning a theatrical release ahead of digital in 2022.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentThis month marks the 40th anniversary of my joining Variety, which sets off a number of thoughts.The first is a realization: 40 years? I’m old! (This is startling, because for many years I wasn’t.)The second reaction is how much things have changed. Occasionally, people will say, “Wow, 40 years at one place!” And I think, well, yes, but that requires a few footnotes.

Jeremy Bobb (Russian Doll, The Knick), Xander Berkeley (The Walking Dead, Air Force One), Rachel Keller (Legion, Fargo) and Oscar nominee Paul Raci (Sound of Metal) will join Nicolas Cage and Fred Hechinger in Butcher’s Crossing, the Western directed by Gabe Polsky, which has just wrapped production.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeThe slurp that rocked TV two decades ago is making a comeback. Fox is dusting off the “Joe Millionaire” franchise to launch “Joe Millionaire: For Richer or Poorer,” a reboot of the franchise that will debut in January 2022.

It’s over! Chase Stokes and Madelyn Cline have called it quits after more than one year of dating, according to reports.

Ross County have been told to put their bill into SPFL chiefs after the late cancellation of Saturday’s clash with Hibs.

It appears as though the mystery of a pregnant woman and her 22-month-old daughter who went missing back in 1998 has finally been solved.

The summer of 2021 saw Manchester United make a tough decision, opting to sign one England international over another.

Marta Balaga Russian documentary filmmaker Vitaly Mansky doesn’t keep things off the record, he said during his masterclass at Ji.hlava Intl. Documentary Festival.

Clayton Davis Clifton Collins Jr. has run the gamut in Hollywood.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentEvery year, the Oscar race is about questions: Who will be nominated, who will win? This year, there’s an added one: What’s the future of moviegoing?COVID has changed everything big and small— including awards eligibility, meaning a theatrical window was not necessary to qualify for awards. As cinemas closed in 2020, many studios’ opted for simultaneous streaming/theatrical releases.

Academy Awards. Variety’s experts present the Circuit Contenders, movies that could score a minimum of two nominations in the major categories — picture, director, screenplay, international film and the acting races.ANNETTE(Amazon) Though it came out earlier in the year, the performances from Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard and Simon Helberg are excellent.

Unclenching the Fists, the drama directed by Kira Kovalenko that won the grand prize this year in the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard sidebar, has been selected to represent Russia in the Best International Feature Film category at the 94th Oscars. The news was announced Monday by the Russian Oscar Committee.

The Danish Oscar committee has selected Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee as its entry for this year’s international Oscar race.

Australia is sending Granaz Moussavi’s When Pomegranates Howl to the Academy as its submission for this year’s International Oscar race.

Costa Rica on Friday selected Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s debut feature Clara Sola to as the country’s submission to the 2022 International Feature Oscar race. The pic, which made its world premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, was later scooped up by Oscilloscope Laboratories which will release it in theaters early next year.

Police Scotland is appealing for the public’s assistance in an effort to trace a man reported missing from Dumbarton last week.

Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn, which scooped this year’s Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, has been selected by Romania as its entry for the 2022 International Oscar race.