Oscar-Nominated ‘My Year of Dicks’ Writer Pamela Ribon Sent Her Animated Short to Dick’s Sporting Goods

Lily James is gracing the red carpet.

The Oscars’ annual In Memoriam segment on Sunday included a live performance of the song “Calling All Angels” by Lenny Kravitz.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Apple took home its first animated short Oscar for “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse,” a magical fable featuring a star-studded voice cast and luxurious hand-drawn animation. The film won at the 95th Academy Awards over the category’s other nominees: Pamela Ribon and Sara Gunnarsdóttir’s buzzy “My Year of Dicks”; “The Flying Sailor” from Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby; “Ice Merchants” from João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano; and Lachlan Pendragon’s “An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It.” “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” is based on the book of the same name by British artist and author Charlie Mackesy. Apple Original Films acquired the film last year and it debuted on Apple TV+ on Christmas Day 2022. The film was presented in partnership with the BBC, which made it available on broadcast and streaming in the U.K.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic How long does a documentary need to be? Frederick Wiseman frequently goes long, and Oscar-winning “OJ: Made in America” ran nearly eight hours. Lately, with “Bill Russell: Legend” and “Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker,” streamers have embraced the so-called “two-part documentary” — a fancy term for what used to be called a miniseries. So, while there are no limits on how much longer docs can get, it’s refreshing to see a compelling subject covered in 40 minutes or less, and doubly rewarding to realize that four of the five packaged in ShortsTV’s “2023 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Documentary” found audiences on their own merits, even without theatrical distribution.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Of the 10 films up for best picture, no fewer than six run 199 minutes or more. On one extreme, James Cameron’s punishing “Avatar” sequel is long enough to require bathroom breaks. At the other, Daniels’ ADHD-styled “Everything Everywhere All at Once” proves equally exhausting, dedicating every hyperkinetic second to stimulating easily distracted audiences. It’s enough to make folks grateful for the lower-profile but still engaging live-action shorts category, where nominees are bound by a strict 40-minute time limit. This year’s crop — the so-so “2023 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Live Action” program — clocks in at under two hours. Available in theaters and on myriad streaming platforms, the international assembly may be a hit-and-miss affair, but never outstays its welcome.

When filmmaker-actor-writer Miranda July was approached about narrating the documentary Fire of Love, she didn’t see herself as an obvious choice.

After bringing home an Oscar in 2019 for her animated short Bao, Domee Shi returned to her well of childhood experiences for Turning Red. Due to a family blessing/curse, 13-year-old Chinese Canadian Meilin (Rosalie Chang) transforms into a red panda whenever she experiences strong emotions, which is less than ideal for a teenager. Using Mei as a surrogate character, Shi replicates her childhood experience of struggling to please her mother as she entered adolescence. The film’s portrayal of the mother-daughter relationship sparked dialogues between teens and parents going through the same experience and gave Shi a chance to become closer with her own mother.

Are you a woman that wants to run your own company? Are you worried about some of the challenges you might face? Where can you find role models? How can you build a network?

The 95th Academy Awards® — scheduled for March 12 — feature many films with queer themes, such as “Tar,” “Everything Everywhere All At Once” and “The Whale.” Directed by out director Lukas Dhont, “Close” is also nominated for a Best International Feature Oscar®. While it’s not the favorite — “All Quiet on the Western Front” has that distinction — it’s certainly a remarkably moving motion picture worthy of the award.

The Oscar-nominated documentary “Fire of Love” is getting the narrative remake treatment. The acclaimed non-fiction movie, concerning the scientific research and on-the-job romance of French volcanologist filmmakers Katia and Maurice Krafft, will become a live-action narrative feature film.

EXCLUSIVE: Searchlight Pictures is making a deal to turn Fire of Love into a narrative feature. The film, which tells the story of the scientific research and romance of preeminent French volcanologist filmmakers Katia and Maurice Krafft, is a frontrunner in the Oscar race for Best Documentary after premiering at 2022 Sundance, winning a Jury Prize and being acquired by National Geographic Documentary Films.  

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic On Oscar night, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” will almost certainly win the Academy Award for feature animation. For many of those following along at home, it will look as though the director of “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “The Shape of Water” is being rewarded for some kind of secondary passion, as if del Toro had scaled Everest and then set his sights on a smaller peak on which to plant his flag. But that’s not how it happened at all. Way back in Mexico, del Toro started his filmmaking career doing animated shorts: Obsessed with Ray Harryhausen, the amateur future auteur built rudimentary armatures, painstakingly repositioning the puppets one frame at a time. Decades later, once established in Hollywood, del Toro accepted a side gig at DreamWorks Animation, serving as a story consultant on films such as “Megamind” and “Kung Fu Panda 2” as a pretext for teaching himself the trade. With “Pinocchio,” he put those lessons to work on a stop-motion passion project that’s every bit as challenging as his most impressive films.

 musical movie continues to add A-list actors to its cast! Based on the Tony-nominated Broadway musical, Paramount Pictures' new  film will see the return of some familiar faces and a host of new ones too. With Jenna Fischer confirmed in the role of Ms. Heron, Cady Heron's mom, ET is taking a look at the cast — from newcomers like Reneé Rapp to the OG of the  squad, Tina Fey.Fischer will be taking on the role of Ms. Heron, a role originally played by Ana Gasteyer in the original 2004 film.

alive. We’re attracted to these contrasts in all of our work — the humor, the sadness, life and death, profound and insignificant.”Forbis and Tilby — whose two previous animated shorts, “When the Day Breaks” and “Wild Life,” were also animated for Oscars — recently spoke to TheWrap via Zoom about returning to the Oscar race, making “The Flying Sailor” and the meaning of a lit cigarette. Congratulations on your third Oscar nomination. You’ve got a pretty enviable track record going. You make a film, you get nominated.Amanda Forbis: Just like that! [Laughs]Wendy Tilby: It’s easy, really.

Seven months after landing the highly coveted top jobs at Warner Bros. Motion Picture studios, Co-Chairpersons Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy were bestowed with the PGA Milestone award tonight and paid respect for their mega industry mentors, remembered emotionally their cinematic NYC and New Jersey youths, and gave a huge shoutout to their new boss, Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslav.

Katie Reul editor The Elephant Whisperers Kartiki Gonsalves’ documentary debut, “The Elephant Whisperers,” released on Netflix, shines a spotlight on the ways in which climate change and human encroachment are rapidly destroying the habitats of Asian elephants. The film’s dire warning is subtly woven into a heartfelt narrative about forging family in unlikely places with elephant caretakers Bomman and Bellie at its core. The duo raise an orphaned elephant named Raghu, whom they’ve cared for since infancy, as well as another calf named Ammu. “[Bomman and Bellie] are still understanding the process of what the Oscars exactly are, but they’re just overwhelmed with messages and calls and really happy to share their lives with such a large audience,” Helmer Kartiki Gonsalves told Variety. “I don’t think they’ve ever had this kind of recognition before.”

Anna Marie de la Fuente Mexico’s Yalitza Aparicio, Oscar nominated for her career-launching turn in Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma,” and Infinity Hill, producers of the Oscar-nominated Argentine drama “Argentina 1985,” have boarded sweatshop thriller “Bonded” as executive producers. The drama features a stellar cast that includes Golden Globe nominee Diego Calva (“Babylon”), Chile’s Alfredo Castro (“From Afar”), Mexico’s Paulina Gaitán (“Narcos”) and Jason Patric (“The Lost Boys”). The directorial feature debut of helmer-scribe Mohit Ramchandani, “Bonded” is produced by Mexican filmmaker Luis Mandoki (“Innocent Voices), Jon Graham (“The Vault”) and Kyle Stroud (“In Full Bloom”).

All the delights and debaucheries of old Hollywood are coming to people’s living rooms.

have to tell is critical. “Compelled, obsessed — I mean, you have to really love [a topic].