CHRISTOPHER NOLAN AND EMMA THOMAS TO RECEIVE
“NATO SPIRIT OF THE INDUSTRY AWARD”
AT CINEMACON®
Universal Pictures' Oppenheimer arrives exclusively
in theatres on July 21, 2023
WASHINGTON D.C. and LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (February 23, 2023) – The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) will honor Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas with the NATO Spirit of the Industry Award during this year’s CinemaCon, Mitch Neuhauser, Managing Director of CinemaCon, announced today. CinemaCon, the official convention of NATO, will be held April 24-27, 2023, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Nolan and Thomas will be presented with this special honor at the Big Screen Achievement Awards ceremony taking place on the evening of Thursday, April 27, at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace and hosted by official presenting sponsor The Coca-Cola Company.
“I am deeply honored to present the Spirit of the Industry Award to our good friends Chris and Emma as my last official act as President of NATO,” noted NATO President and CEO John Fithian. “No one has done more to advance the theatrical experience than these two champions of cinema.”
Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas’ films shatter the limits of what cinematic storytelling can achieve, maintaining a shared passion and commitment to the theatrical filmgoing experience that is unwavering and unparalleled. Nolan and Thomas’ films, including Tenet, Dunkirk, Interstellar, Inception and The Dark Knight trilogy, have earned more than $5 billion at the global box office and have been awarded 11 Oscars and 36 nominations, including two Best Picture nominations.
Nolan and Thomas’ work can be seen this summer in Universal Pictures’ Oppenheimer, their first film with the studio, arriving exclusively in theaters on July 21, 2023. Written and directed by Nolan, Oppenheimer is an IMAX®-shot epic thriller that thrusts audiences into the pulse-pounding paradox of the enigmatic man who must risk destroying the world in order to save it. Oppenheimer stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, Emily Blunt as Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer, Matt Damon as General Leslie Groves Jr., and Robert Downey, Jr. as Lewis Strauss. Oppenheimer also stars Florence Pugh, Benny Safdie, Michael Angarano, Josh Hartnett, Rami Malek and reunites Nolan with actor, writer and filmmaker Kenneth Branagh. Additional cast includes Dane DeHaan, Dylan Arnold, David Krumholtz, Alden Ehrenreich, and Matthew Modine.
The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin. The film is produced by Emma Thomas, Atlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan.
Oppenheimer is filmed in a combination of IMAX® 65mm and 65mm large-format film photography including, for the first time ever, sections in IMAX® black and white analog photography.
CinemaCon will attract upwards of 6,000 motion picture professionals from all facets of the industry--from exhibition and distribution, to the equipment and concession areas--all on hand to celebrate the movie-going experience and the cinema industry.
The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) is the largest exhibition trade organization in the world, representing more than 35,000 movie screens in all 50 states, and more than 32,000 screens in 100 countries worldwide. NATO’s membership includes the largest cinema chains in the world as well as hundreds of independent theatre owners.
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WASHINGTON D.C. and LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (January 31, 2023) – The The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) will honor Rolando B. Rodriguez, Chairman of NATO and Senior Advisor to The Marcus Corporation and Influx, with the 2023 NATO Marquee Award during this year’s CinemaCon, Mitch Neuhauser, Managing Director of CinemaCon, announced today. CinemaCon, the official convention of NATO, will be held April 24-27, 2023, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Rodriguez is being recognized by NATO for his unequalled dedication, commitment, and service to the motion picture theatre industry. He will receive the industry’s highest tribute as part of CinemaCon's “State of the Industry” program on Tuesday, April 25.
NATO’s President & CEO, John Fithian, said of Rodriguez, “Rolando has served NATO and the entire industry through existential challenges over the past few years with strong and strategic leadership. He is tireless in his efforts, thoughtful in execution, and able to incorporate the advice of all exhibitor members, big and small. Rolando has guided me at the twilight of my career at NATO and I will always be grateful for that.”
Rodriguez currently serves as Chairman of the National Association of Theatre Owners and Senior Advisor to The Marcus Corporation and Influx. Most recently he was Chairman, President and CEO of Marcus Theatres and Executive Vice President of The Marcus Corporation until October 2022. Since his tenure began in 2013, Rodriguez oversaw the Marcus Theatres division with 85 locations in 17 states while also leading the corporate-wide real estate and development strategy. Prior to his time at Marcus, Rodriguez worked as a Senior Leader with AMC Theatres for 30 years and as CEO of Rave Cinemas, where he facilitated its turnaround and sale.
At NATO, Rodriguez served previously in many other key leadership roles such as Vice-Chairman, Chairman of the Strategic Planning Committee, co-founder of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, Executive Board Member and Advisory Board member.
Rodriguez also serves on the Board of Directors of the Global Cinema Federation, as well as the Children’s Wisconsin Board of Directors. He leads multiple Hispanic initiatives, including serving as the Board Chairman for the Hispanic Collaborative. Rolando has been honored with multiple awards for his leadership including the ShowEast Dan Fellman Leadership Award and the NATO of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan Excellence in Service Award in 2022.
Rodriguez received his BA in Business Management from Eckerd College and an MBA in the Executive Fellows Program at Rockhurst University.
CinemaCon will attract upwards of 6,000 motion picture professionals from all facets of the industry--from exhibition and distribution, to the equipment and concession areas--all on hand to celebrate the movie-going experience and the cinema industry.
The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) is the largest exhibition trade organization in the world, representing more than 35,000 movie screens in all 50 states, and more than 32,000 screens in 100 countries worldwide. NATO’s membership includes the largest cinema chains in the world as well as hundreds of independent theatre owners.
The Movie Report wants to attend all your film special events! Please send any and all invitations to this address. Thanks!
All Award Winners,
Including in New Performance Categories, to be Announced
at the 38thFilm Independent Spirit Awards on March 4 in Santa Monica
Chloé Zhao and Siân Heder
Announced as Honorary Co-Chairs
LOS ANGELES (November 22, 2022) – Film Independent, the nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering independence and inclusivity in visual storytelling, announced this morning the nominations for the film categories at the 2023 Film IndependentSpirit Awards. Film Independent President Josh Welsh introduced the prerecorded video announcements, which featured guest presenters Raúl Castillo (2019 Spirit Awards nominee for We Are Animals), and Taylour Paige (2022 Spirit Award winner for @zola). Watch here:
“We couldn’t be more honored to celebrate this year’s exciting film nominees,” said Josh Welsh, President of Film Independent. “As the Film IndependentSpirit Awards evolve with our changing industry, including embracing non-gendered categories, we look to these artists to lead us into the future. And as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of our Artist Development programs, we are incredibly proud to have Film Independent Fellows Siân Heder and Chloé Zhao return as our honorary co-chairs.”
The 2023 Best Feature nominees included Bones and All, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Tár, Women Talking, and Our Father, the Devil. Everything Everywhere All at Once led all films with eight total nominations, including Best Director for Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, and acting nominations for stars Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ke Huy Quan, and Stephanie Hsu. Tár received seven nominations including Best Director for Todd Field and acting nominations for Cate Blanchett and Nina Hoss.
New to the nominations this year is the Best Breakthrough Performance category, honoring actors making themselves known to wider audiences through noteworthy character portrayals. The nominees include, in addition to Stephanie Hsu, Frankie Corio of Aftersun, Gracija Filipović of Murina, Lily McInerny of Palm Trees and Power Lines, and Daniel Zolghadri of Funny Pages.
Also new this year is a switch to gender neutral acting awards, with the separate lead and supporting actor and actress categories being replaced by the ten-nominee Best Lead and Best Supporting Performance awards.
Women Talking, from director Sarah Polley, was selected to receive the Robert Altman Award, which is bestowed upon a single film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast. The Altman Award was created in 2008 in honor of legendary director Robert Altman, known for populating his films with extraordinary ensemble casts.
In addition to the film nominees, Academy Award-winning filmmakers and previous Film Independent Fellows Chloé Zhao (Nomadland, Eternals) and Siân Heder (CODA, Tallulah) were announced as the honorary co-chairs of the 38thSpirit Awards. Both co-chairs were also recognized at the 2021 Spirit Awards, where Chloé Zhao won Best Director, Best Editing and Best Feature for Nomadland, and Siân Heder was nominated for Best New Scripted Series for Little America. Previous honorary chairs include Kristen Stewart, Shaka King, and Ava DuVernay.
Celebrating creative independence, diversity, innovation and uniqueness of vision, the 38thFilm IndependentSpirit Awards will take place on Saturday, March 4, 2023. The in-person show, held on the beach in Santa Monica, will be streamed internationally across multiple online and digital platforms. The Spirit Awards are the primary fundraiser for Film Independent’s year-round slate of programs, which cultivate the careers of emerging filmmakers and promote diversity and inclusion in the industry.
This year the Spirit Awards Film Nominating Committees selected nominees from over 25 different countries, applying the following guidelines in determining nominees: uniqueness of vision, original and provocative subject matter, economy of means. The Spirit Awards Nominating Committees are comprised of writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, editors, actors, critics, casting directors, film festival programmers and other working film professionals. Of all nominated writers and directors, 61% are women and 34% are BIPOC. Of all nominated actors, 70% are women and 27% are BIPOC. And of all 2023 nominees, 51% are women and 33% are BIPOC. This year, the Spirit Awards nominating committees are 50% female, 6% Nonbinary, 3% Transgender, and 61% BIPOC; 32% identify as LGBTQ+ and 8% identify as people with disabilities (PWD).
Spirit Awards nominations in television-specific categories will be announced separately on Tuesday, December 13.
The Film IndependentSpirit Awards are supported by the Official Spirit, Bulleit Frontier Whiskey, and the Official Water, FIJI Water. Getty Images is the Official Photographer.
(Award given to the producer. Executive Producers are not awarded.)
Bones and All
Producers: Timothée Chalamet, Francesco Melzi d’Eril, Luca Guadagnino, David Kajganich, Lorenzo Mieli, Marco Morabito, Gabriele Moratti, Theresa Park, Peter Spears
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Producers: Daniel Kwan, Mike Larocca, Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang
Our Father, the Devil
Producers: Ellie Foumbi, Joseph Mastantuono
Tár
Producers: Todd Field, Scott Lambert, Alexandra Milchan
Women Talking
Producers: Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Frances McDormand
BEST FIRST FEATURE
(Award given to the director and producer)
Aftersun
Director: Charlotte Wells
Producers: Mark Ceryak, Amy Jackson, Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski
Emily the Criminal
Director: John Patton Ford
Producers: Tyler Davidson, Aubrey Plaza, Drew Sykes
The Inspection
Director: Elegance Bratton
Producers: Effie T. Brown, Chester Algernal Gordon
The Cathedral
Writer/Director: Ricky D’Ambrose
Producer: Graham Swon
Holy Emy
Writer/Director: Araceli Lemos
Writer/Producer: Giulia Caruso
Producers: Mathieu Bompoint, Ki Jin Kim, Konstantinos Vassilaros
A Love Song
Writer/Director/Producer: Max Walker-Silverman
Producers: Jesse Hope, Dan Janvey
Something in the Dirt
Writer/Director/Producer: Justin Benson
Director/Producer: Aaron Moorhead
Producer: David Lawson Jr.
BEST DIRECTOR
Todd Field, Tár
Kogonada, After Yang
Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Sarah Polley, Women Talking
Halina Reijn, Bodies Bodies Bodies
BEST SCREENPLAY
Lena Dunham, Catherine Called Birdy
Todd Field, Tár
Kogonada, After Yang
Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Sarah Polley, Women Talking
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Joel Kim Booster, Fire Island
Jamie Dack & Audrey Findlay, story by Jamie Dack, Palm Trees and Power Lines
K.D. Dávila, Emergency
Sarah DeLappe, story by Kristen Roupenian, Bodies Bodies Bodies
John Patton Ford, Emily the Criminal
BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE
Cate Blanchett, Tár
Dale Dickey, A Love Song
Mia Goth, Pearl
Regina Hall, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.
Paul Mescal, Aftersun
Aubrey Plaza, Emily the Criminal
Jeremy Pope, The Inspection
Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie
Taylor Russell, Bones and All
Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE
Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway
Nina Hoss, Tár
Brian d’Arcy James, The Cathedral
Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Trevante Rhodes, Bruiser
Theo Rossi, Emily the Criminal
Mark Rylance, Bones and All
Jonathan Tucker, Palm Trees and Power Lines
Gabrielle Union, The Inspection
BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Frankie Coiro, Aftersun
Gracija Filipović, Murina
Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Lily McInerny, Palm Trees and Power Lines
Daniel Zolghadri, Funny Pages
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Florian Hoffmeister, Tár
Hélène Louvart, Murina
Gregory Oke, Aftersun
Eliot Rockett, Pearl
Anisia Uzeyman, Neptune Frost
BEST EDITING
Ricky D’Ambrose, The Cathedral
Dean Fleischer Camp & Nick Paley, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Blair McClendon, Aftersun
Paul Rogers, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Monika Willi, Tár
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
Given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast.
Women Talking
Director: Sarah Polley
Casting Directors: John Buchan, Jason Knight
Ensemble Cast: Shayla Brown, Jessie Buckley, Claire Foy, Kira Guloien, Kate Hallett, Judith Ivey, Rooney Mara, Sheila McCarthy, Frances McDormand, Michelle McLeod, Liv McNeil, Ben Whishaw, August Winter
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Award given to the director and producer.
All That Breathes
Director/Producer: Shaunak Sen
Producers: Teddy Leifer, Aman Mann
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Director/Producer: Laura Poitras
Producers: Howard Gertler, Nan Goldin, Yoni Golijov, John Lyons
A House Made of Splinters
Director: Simon Lereng Wilmont
Producers: Monica Hellström
Midwives
Director/Producer: Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing
Producers: Mila Aung-Thwin, Ulla Lehmann, Bob Moore
Riotsville, U.S.A.
Director: Sierra Pettengill
Producers: Sara Archambault, Jamila Wignot
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Award given to the director.
Corsage (Austria/Luxembourg/France/Belgium/Italy/England)
Director: Marie Kreutzer
Joyland (Pakistan/USA)
Director: Saim Sadiq
Leonor Will Never Die (Philippines)
Director: Martika Ramirez Escobar
Return to Seoul (Cambodia)
Director: Davy Chou
Saint Omer (France)
Director: Alice Diop
PRODUCERS AWARD presented by Bulleit Frontier Whiskey
The Producers Award, now in its 26th year, honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality independent films.
Liz Cardenas
Tory Lenosky
David Grove Churchill Viste
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
The Someone to Watch Award, now in its 29th year, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.
Adamma Ebo, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.
Nikyatu Jusu, Nanny
Araceli Lemos, Holy Emy
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
The Truer Than Fiction Award, now in its 28th year, is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition.
Isabel Castro, Mija
Reid Davenport, I Didn’t See You There
Rebeca Huntt, Beba
The Movie Report wants to attend all your film special events! Please send any and all invitations to this address. Thanks!
Even if one is unaware of the backstory of the 27-year journey it took for Tyler Perry to finally realize A Jazzman's Blues on the screen, it is quite evident from the first post-Netflix logo frames how much more this particular project, the first screenplay he ever wrote, means to the ever-prolific writer/director/producer. Even though the opening scenes (and, for that matter, the bookending epilogue) are set in the not too far-flung year of 1987, there is a richness to the image and, especially, flavor to the place. The antiseptic, blatantly studio-bound aesthetic characteristic of much of his recent work on both the big and small screens is gone, with the honeyed tones of Brett Pawlak's cinematography not only distinctly cinematic (a pity that 99.9% of the film's audience will only be viewing this on a television screen) but quite transporting to the film's primary setting of Hopewell, Georgia.
After the brief framing introduction, the film then further transports 50 or more years back to 1937 and familiar territory to, if not necessarily Perry's own films, many a movie melodrama of yesteryear, with two young, star-crossed lovers. Bayou (Joshua Boone) is the mild-mannered, mama's boy son of washer woman Hattie Mae (Amirah Vann) and jazz musician Buster (E. Roger Mitchell). Leanne (Solea Pfeiffer) is a young woman derisively nicknamed "Bucket" due to her mother leaving her to live with her grandfather. A humble meeting at a gathering leads to nightly secret meetings she summons via paper airplanes through his window, but such bliss is destined/doomed to be short-lived, and the two are forcibly separated. A full decade passes, and while the time has brought with it some inevitable change for Bayou and his family, his love for Leanne remains stronger than ever, despite having no reciprocated contact all this time -- even when she returns to town not only married to a white man, but passing as a white woman.
The love story is meant to be the primary hook for the whole film, but, ironically, this is the probably the angle that is the least captivating. This is no fault of the actors, however. Established stage stars Boone and Pfeiffer are appealingly fresh screen presences, with the dramatic chops to match and a natural, no-frills chemistry that sells the initial, pure connection between Bayou and Leanne. However, Perry's writing of Leanne after the time jump greatly diminishes rooting interest and investment in her and Bayou's ongoing relationship. With her decision to pass also comes a sense of self-involved entitlement, and if Perry more fully fleshed out the psychological and emotional fallout from her childhood trauma, there may have been some leeway for empathy. As is, though, she comes off as a bit too selfish in her actions and motivations, perhaps even consciously taking advantage of Bayou's intense devotion to her.
Luckily, Bayou's life and world are fully developed beyond his single-minded focus on Leanne, and more involving are the relationships with his family members. Vann is equal parts warmth and grit as the caring but steely strong Hattie Mae, who, like her portrayer, is a bona fide star in the juke joint she runs in the neighborhood. Driving most of the drama is the tension with Bayou's more Alpha-male older brother Willie Earl (Austin Scott), who could have easily fallen into a one-dimensional villain trap, given how the brothers' relationship fits into the Cain and Abel archetype. The title A Jazzman's Blues presumably refers to Bayou and his tortured romance with Leanne, but it actually is a more accurate description of Willie Earl's arc. While Bayou eventually falls into a career as a jazz singer in a rather flukish manner, Willie Earl, much like the father who blatantly favored him, has music as his primary pursuit since his youth. Even though it leads into some unsavory actions and a destructive drug habit, his bitterness and envy over Bayou's seemingly easy success comes from a very real and relatable place, made all the more so by the vulnerable shades in Scott's performance.
One wishes Scott also had more opportunity to showcase his own considerable vocal talents in the film, but even so, the film is at its best during its numerous musical performance scenes. Boone is magnetic with his smooth, Nat King Cole-esque vocal style, and providing variety and contrast is Vann's stellar voice at the centerpiece of the film's more energetic juke joint numbers. In fact, the film's music as a whole -- both the score by Aaron Zigman and songs produced by the great Terence Blanchard -- serves as a far more effective unifying element to A Jazzman's Blues than the central romance. This is no better exemplified than by the film's central original song, the Blanchard and Ruth B.-penned "Paper Airplanes," which packs a punch during its later reprises due to the soulful composition and performances of the song itself, and not so much the narrative it's attached to. But feeling is feeling all the same, and one cannot deny that Perry ultimately elicits an earnest emotional response with A Jazzman's Blues.
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(photo by Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures)
