SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – After dancing across the stage at the Arlington Theatre to start a two-hour salute to her work on the big screen, Oprah Winfrey sat down across from moderator John Horn of the LA Times and made it clear from the outset that she was under “no illusion” about her “body of work,” as she playfully referred to her scant work as a film actress throughout the evening. “God bless the editor who put that together,” she said of the typical introductory clip package that kicked off the Montecito Award tribute off.

Yes, Winfrey has only starred in four films (“The Color Purple,” “Native Son,” “Beloved” and “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”) and has offered her voice to a handful of others (“Charlotte’s Web,” “The Princess and the Frog”). But volume isn’t important, Horn said. Quality is. That, among many things throughout the evening, drew applause from the hometown crowd, as indeed, this year’s Montecito Award recipient at the 29th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival is a resident of, well, Montecito, just a few clicks up the 101 freeway.

Winfrey worked the room like it was a Chicago studio audience, often seemingly forgetting that the tables were turned on the legendary TV interviewer, as Horn had to force a number of questions to the fore before the charismatic icon got ahead of herself. Unlike a number of other honorees at this year’s festival that happened to miss out on Oscar nominations a few weeks ago – Emma Thompson, Oscar Isaac, Daniel Brühl and Adèle Exarchopoulos among them – Winfrey threw on her game face and delighted a capacity crowd.

Discussion naturally began with Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film “The Color Purple,” which Winfrey made it a point of saying a number of times changed her life entirely. “‘The Color Purple’ was a seminal moment in my life,” she said, recounting how she woke up one morning and read the local paper’s review of Alice Walker’s book and didn’t even bother to get dressed before throwing a coat over her pajamas and heading down to the book store to pick up a copy and read it cover to cover.

It became an obsession. She would purchase multiple copies and just hand them out to people, she said. She knew all of the characters inside and out – particular Sofia, who she would ultimately portray – and when news came that a film adaptation was in the works, that obsession turned into an intense drive to be a part of the production.

But Winfrey wasn’t an actress. She was the host of a tiny local Chicago talk show and she had a weight problem, which she surmised probably kept her away from the top of casting agents’ lists when it came to these parts. She turned up for an audition of “Moon Song,” the secretive working title of Spielberg’s adaptation, and waited two months before calling the casting agent back. She was crushed by a dismissive person on the other end of the phone who told her, “You don’t call us, we call you. You know who I just had in my office? Alfre Woodard. A real actress.”

Winfrey retreated to a “fat farm” in Wisconsin, she said. She wanted to get her weight under control, but more than anything, she wanted to be okay with not landing a role in a project she said she prayed intensely for. “I wanted to let it go,” she said. And the moment she thought it would be alright, the moment she finally found herself at ease with potentially seeing someone of Woodard’s caliber in the role she so desperately wanted, she got a call from Spielberg.

“I hear you’re in a fat farm,” he said, before conveying to her that not only did he want to cast her in the part of Sofia, but that if she lost one pound, she might lose the role. “Honey, I packed my bags in seven minutes, stopped at the Dairy Queen and went to audition,” she said. “I learned the principle of surrender” from that experience, she went on. “The principle of surrender is after you’ve done all you can do, you have to release it. I have used that principle about a millions times in my life.”

Despite the fact that she was very green – so much so that she thought she should look at the camera during takes, because that’s what she did as a TV host – Winfrey said that, to this day, she has never been happier in her life than when she worked on that film. And she learned so much, particularly the secrets of the craft of acting that she couldn’t seem to uncover in the countless Stanislavski books she had been reading.

She recalled a scene where Spielberg wanted her to cry, but she didn’t have the skill to find that moment. It wasn’t until she clued into, again, the idea of release, of surrendering herself to the character – and that if Sofia was going to cry, she was going to cry, and if not, then not even Steven Spielberg could make her – that she was able to fully grasp the paradoxical concept of telling the truth through acting.

She didn’t even attempt to conceal embarrassment over her work in Jerrold Freedman’s 1986 Richard Wright adaptation “Native Son,” which she called one of a long line of “nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen” roles she was offered in the wake of “The Color Purple,” but about a year later she read and loved Toni Morrison’s novel “Beloved.” She was very interested in adapting it for the screen, but even calling up the author didn’t do much to move the needle, as Morrison was skeptical over whether her work could be translated to film.

“If I did that film now, I’d do things differently,” Winfrey admitted. “I was very adamant about maintaining the integrity of the book. Now I know a book is one thing and a movie is another.” It took 10 years of hard work to finally realize the project on screen, and the experience ended up being as much a milestone in her life and career as “The Color Purple” was. It was at a time, 1998, when she was feeling tired of her daily talk show (which had become a huge sensation in the wake of her first film role) and she was thinking of stepping away from it.

“Putting myself in the spiritual space of what it’s like to be a slave, I said, ‘I don’t know what tired is,'” she said. “I came into a deeper understanding of who I am. That is when I realized the show is bigger than me…My role is to inspire, encourage, uplift and let people see the light in themselves. All those years [with ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’], that is what I was trying to do.”

Nevertheless, the box office disappointment of “Beloved” sent her into a “numbing depression.” She realized, she said, that the value of the system in place – test screenings, etc. – whereby she was being told what elements didn’t work. But there again, she was interested in maintaining the integrity of Morrison’s work. The result was a movie that didn’t reach as wide an audience as she had hoped, and that, she said, is what she would change now.

Eventually “The Oprah Winfrey Show” ran its course and she went out on top. “I didn’t want someone dragging me out of the ring, taking the mic out of my hand,” she said. She wanted to end it on her own terms, and she took a moment to consider a similar position “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno finds himself in now.

“Jay is going to have a moment,” she said. “When you do it and it’s your life and your routine – it took me a year to separate the show from myself and understand who I am separate from that show.”

While she was in the heat of building The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), that’s when movies started to call again. She had a relationship already with director Lee Daniels, who had considered her for the Mo’Nique role in “Precious” and even, she revealed, asked her to star in the role that Melissa Leo would eventually take in “Prisoners” when he was considering helming that film. That’s when “The Butler” finally came around.

She was worried that she hadn’t even thought about acting in 15 years at that time but she found her way into the character and thought it was a vital project. It was also one reflective of a history that many in our country seem to be more and more ignorant of. Is that depressing, Horn asked her.

“No,” she said. “It’s just who we are. Is it shocking that a news organization can’t do news today? No, because we’re not a culture that wants news. We’re a culture that wants entertainment. So that’s why CNN is having trouble. It’s who we are.”

Winfrey seemed most happy to have shared the screen with co-star Forest Whitaker in the film. She was taken by the actor’s “quiet dignity” and the whole experience may have ignited a desire for more film work in the future.

“I think I will do other films and make choices that are meaningful to me,” she said. “I have some specific things I won’t do, though. I won’t kill people [as a character in a movie]. Energetically, I don’t want to go to the place where I exert violence on somebody…For me, life is about energy.”

And here she sits, a woman born in the “apartheid state” of 1954 Mississippi who can live her life in the hills of Montecito, a trajectory she more than once called a “miracle.” Perhaps that fortune is why she can so easily trade in philosophies that, out of anyone else’s mouth, might read as platitudes. “The real goal in life is to become more who you are, so you can make decisions that matter to you and enhance who you are,” she might say. Or, “Anyone who’s ever believed in anything knows it doesn’t matter what other people think.” Or, indeed, her reasoning behind doing “Beloved”: “In spite of slavery, we’re still a people who can love.”

On that last point, it’s interesting to note that that very element – love – is what director Steve McQueen has consistently said lies at the heart of his Best Picture nominee “12 Years a Slave.” There was discussion early on about that film, and about the great year for African American cinema 2013 has been. She praised “12 Years” for being both entertaining and informative, going on to declare that she hopes it will win the Best Picture Oscar in March.

“I was having a conversation with Spike Lee about this recently,” she recalled. “He was saying that every five to 10 years, people talk about this abundance of black films, but then it goes away. So I hope [that’s not the case this time]…The fact that we’re open to hearing other people’s stories really excites me.”

Wong Kar-wai’s “The Grandmaster” is just the latest stylish entry in the filmography of a revered auteur. Yet remarkably, none of his films had been nominated for the Oscar for Best Cinematography until two weeks ago when his latest broke that unusual streak with a nomination for Philippe Le Sourd.

“It’s very exciting,” Le Sourd, who was also nominated by the American Society of Cinematographers, says. “I was surprised and feel like a kid. It was a long, long journey of shooting the film. I’m very honored and very proud.”

It was three years from the moment the director approached Le Sourd about working on the project to the moment final reshoots were finished, but of course, the cinematographer didn’t realize that’s what he was getting himself into. “I didn’t know when I met Kar-wai – he says ‘come with me for six months’ and it took three years! But every day was a discovery of a new scene. It was a unique experience with a film like that.”

Notwithstanding the grueling schedule, the invigorating spirit of a filmmaker like Wong Kar-wai went a long way. “He would try everything,” Le Sourd says. “Nothing is impossible, and we always have to make it better, have to be proud in our work. It’s challenging for everyone – every day, every night. And in China, you shoot seven days a week. It’s very challenging. The train station scene, for instance, took two months in the cold.”

Not only was the Chinese filming schedule new for Le Sourd, but he also needed to jump into Asian cinema in a way he never had before. While he had worked with Wong on a commercial and a short film, he had never worked on a feature with the director. As a Frenchman, he nonetheless thought, “Wong Kar-wai chose me, so I had to prove I was the right choice.”

That became a challenge right away as the first year was shot in Manchuria in sub-freezing temperatures. “Physically, it was very difficult, very challenging for the actors,” Le Sourd says. Mentally it was also trying. “What are you going to do in the middle of nowhere? One year later, you want to make sure it could be the same movie. Can you imagine shooting something and then two years later having to re-create it [during reshoots]? I have notebooks from every day to make sure of the same continuity.”

Filming martial arts was something Le Sourd had not done in this manner before, either. The action is swift and in order to operate the camera and properly capture it all and grab the right moment, he and his team had to be on top of things. As a result, one of Wong’s principal features of filming became all the more important: using shadows and silhouettes to convey movement and, consequently, the story. “I had to think about the shape,” Le Sourd says. “The main idea for me was ‘I want to see black-and-white’…if I see only the shape, I will better see the movement than seeing the face.”

The film is an interesting one, historically speaking, in the realm of cinematographer: it was shot on the last roll of Fujifilm ever produced. But Le Sourd isn’t absolutist about celluloid. “I think everything is possible on digital,” he says. “‘Gravity’ is amazing work and we couldn’t do it before. It’s a great adventure today to be a working cinematographer.”

But while not resisting the inevitable shift to digital, and acknowledging how it can improve filmmaking, Le Sourd is still nostalgic for film. “When you’re on the set, there’s something magical about film,” he says. “I would say it was a nice emotion to shoot the last roll of Fuji film on stock. It’s like an old friend that is passing – and old friend who was with you for such a long long time. You’re afraid to lose the memory. But you have to embrace new technology.”

This was just one thing that Le Sourd will never forget about the experience that was filming “The Grandmaster.” He had to be “the servant of the idea of the cinema with Wong Kar-wai,” he reminisces. “You start to change over three years. As the only foreigner [or close to it] on the film, I felt I was part of something unique.”

My memories of this year’s Golden Globes will forever be unhappy ones, not because of the list of winners (which mostly made for a respectable line-up), but because I was couch-ridden with the same flu-like thing everyone else was fighting off last month. So I look forward to getting back out to the Beverly Hilton next year and hitting the afterparty circuit as NBC has claimed a date for the 72nd annual: January 11, 2015.

As part of their original deal in re-upping for hosting duties on the show this past year, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will be back for round three as Hollywood’s hostesses for the evening. The duo “create an environment where anything can happen in a room full of the world’s biggest stars,” Dick Clark Productions CEO Allen Shapiro said via press release.

Additionally, NBC brass added to that a nugget reminding that the show hit a decade-high ratings mark with the telecast last month. The show delivered a 6.5 rating, 16 share in adults 18-49 and 20.9 million viewers overall, growing two percent from the 2013 telecast the in 18-49 rating and 6% in total viewers. It was the top-rated Globes show in that demographic since 2007.

I think establishing consistency by locking Fey and Poehler in for a string of gigs is the kind of thing the Academy might be wise to look at. Rather than a host guessing game every summer and eventual announcement, ultimately building the marketing of the show around a new face every year, maybe locking Ellen DeGeneres or whoever into a run would stabilize things a bit. Not that there should be too much fretting over the Oscarcast ratings to begin with.

Even for those of us who enjoy the red-carpet portion of awards season, the vacant questions and 360-degree cameras that female stars must face from the likes of E! have become a bit exasperating. But as Hadley Freeman notes, the women are beginning to fight back against this institution, with stars like Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Thompson and Elisabeth Moss making a point of rebelling against red-carpet routine, whether by photobombing fellows stars or giving the finger to the (ugh) “manicam.” “We have reached peak red carpet,” writes Freeman. “It’s all just got too stupid and too hysterical, and there are too many savvy, funny women working in the industry to put up with this bullshittery any more, or to swallow the old line that any bad behaviour on the red carpet could destroy their career.” [The Guardian]

As if Jared Leto’s campaign wasn’t going well enough, he just distinguished himself by having a “heart-to-heart” with a heckler who took issue with him playing a transgendered role. [The Wrap]

“The Grandmaster” picked up a leading 14 nominations for the Hong Kong Film Awards. [Variety]

Paul Greengrass has been selected by BAFTA to deliver this year’s annual David Lean Lecture on March 18. [Screen Daily]

Scott Feinberg reports from the Santa Barbara fest’s Virtuoso Awards, where Oscar nominees Jared Leto and June Squibb were among the seven actors feted. [Hollywood Reporter]

Scott Timberg on how this year’s Oscar nominees are indicative of contemporary’s reluctance to engage with the issues of the day. [Salon]

Oscar nominee Bruno Delbonnel talks about arriving at the distinctive tone and palette of “Inside Llewyn Davis.” [American Cinematographer]

John Hurt becomes the latest “Snowpiercer” star to speak out against The Weinstein Company’s editing of the film. [HeyUGuys]

“Dallas Buyers Club” director Jean-Marc Vallee talks to Mekado Murphy about his approach to filming and “letting the shots breathe.” [New York Times]

If Matthew McConaughey wins the Best Actor Oscar next month — and the smart money says he will — you could forgive the guy for taking his foot off the pedal a bit, and maybe dallying in one shoddy romantic comedy for old times’ sake. Instead, however, the McConnaissance is continuing unabated, as the revived Hollywood golden boy keeps signing up for one classy project after the next.

With Christopher Nolan’s upmarket blockbuster “Interstellar” out in November, MCConaughey has made his next commitment: the lead role in Gus Van Sant’s drama “Sea of Trees,” in which he’ll star opposite Oscar nominee Ken Watanabe.

The film, from an original script by “Buried” writer Chris Sparling, will star McConaughey as a suicidal American who befriends a Japanese man (Watanabe) in the titular forest at the base of Mount Fuji. That’s all the detail we have to hand, though the minimalism of the premise is promising.

With any luck, we’ll be getting Van Sant in the austere, formalist mode of “Gerry,” which would be a welcome switch after the drippy middlebrow disappointments of “Promised Land” and “Restless.” It’d be interesting, too, to see McConaughey in more of an art-film context: as strong as his recent run of projects has been, his creative comeback has yet to touch on something truly avant-garde.

Of course, I’m speculating here: this could be the “Finding Forrester” of forest-suicide movies. Either way, it’s a kick to see McConaughey add Van Sant to a roster of collaborators that, in the last three years alone, has been joinerd by Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Richard Linklater, Jeff Nichols, Steven Soderbergh and Lee Daniels. “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” seems a lot more than five years ago.

Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio look to be going separate ways again with upcoming projects after the two have consistently collaborated on a number of projects over the last decade. With only 2011’s “Hugo” as a brief reprieve, the director and star have cranked out five films since 2001 and there is surely more where that came from, but in the meantime, Scorsese’s “Silence” is moving along with casting while DiCaprio has kick-started a new vehicle for his “Wolf of Wall Street” co-star Jonah Hill.

The news on Scorsese’s “Silence” is that Liam Neeson has joined Andrew Garfield and Ken Watanabe on the cast of the Shusaku Endo adaptation, which details the story of 17th Century Jesuits struggling to bring Christianity to isolated Japan. It could end up being one of Scorsese’s most towering achievements, of a piece with a definitive thematic streak of faith and religion that has permeated his work. In an interview last year, Scorsese’s long-time editor Thelma Schoonmaker noted that, along with 1988’s “The Last Temptation of Christ” and 1997’s “Kundun,” “Silence” will be part and parcel of a “trilogy of religiously-based films,” and Scorsese is certainly stacking the cast in favor of an epic drama so far.

Elsewhere, it was announced today that Leonardo DiCaprio has acquired the rights to Marie Brenner’s 1997 Vanity Fair article “The Ballad of Richard Jewell,” which tells the true story of 1996 Olympic bombing hero-turned-suspect Richard Jewell. The project is being developed for actor Jonah Hill, who recently nabbed his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, for his work in Scorsese and DiCaprio’s “The Wolf of Wall Street.” Brenner’s 1996 Vanity Fair article “The Man Who Knew Too Much” became the basis for Michael Mann and Eric Roth’s “The Insider” in 1999, which landed seven Oscar nominations.

You can tell throughout the season that DiCaprio is proud of Hill’s work and seems almost more excited for him than for his own success on the circuit. “He was my first phone call this morning,” DiCaprio told me at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards on Jan. 16, the day the Oscar nominations were released. And now he’s developing what could be a baity role for Hill, one that could, conceivably, catapult him into the leading actor award circuit (that is, unless the upcoming “True Story” doesn’t do that first). It’s an intriguing story, one that could resonate in an internet-led society where, more and more, myth takes hold quicker than fact. No director has been announced, but who knows? Maybe it’ll end up being Scorsese.

“The Wolf of Wall Street” is up for five Oscars at the 86th annual Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Scorsese and DiCaprio, meanwhile, will be feted at a Cinema Vanguard Award tribute on Thursday, Feb. 6.

http://players.brightcove.net/4838167533001/BkZprOmV_default/index.html?videoId=4911753408001

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – I wrote recently about how “The Monuments Men” caught me a bit off guard for not diving full on into the baity nature of its premise. It’s more of a character-driven thing, providing a lot of opportunity for intimate moments with its all-star cast.

That was at the forefront of my mind when talking to star Matt Damon about the film recently, and that was the tricky part, he told me, finding the right tone. “I think that was the big challenge for George,” Damon says in the video embedded at the top of this post. “How to make it appropriately serious with the highest of stakes…but it should also feel like a heist movie and have some of the fun and the entertainment value that something like ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ has.”

Nevertheless, while that seemed to be a shorthand description for the film’s story early on – “‘Ocean’s Eleven’ in World War II” – it, again, isn’t such a neat description. The humor is there but subdued, and that, Damon says, was part of the balancing act.

“Because if you go too far in that direction you’re being inappropriately irreverent about an incredibly serious thing,” he says. “I think it was more about trying to capture that gallows humor that these guys have when they’re in war zones and to capture that time period and the way guys talk to each other and the way they didn’t show emotion.”

We also get into – however shallow – some discussion about Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” toward the end, in which Damon has a brief and unspecified role. If you haven’t heard those comments yet, again, they aren’t earth-shattering. As ever, Nolan collaborators are mum. But it sounds like Damon enjoyed himself.

(Note: We’re talking at the very beginning about Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s “garbage man” dig at Damon from the Golden Globes at the beginning of the interview.)

“The Monuments Men” opens nationwide on Feb. 7.

While the “Alone Yet Not Alone” scandal has rather dominated the Best Original Song conversation since the nominees were announced, there’s been some good news in the category this year — for the first time in a while, it contains at least a couple of songs that the general public actually cares about. Top 40 hits may have dominated the Oscars in the 80s, but have largely disappeared from the race in recent years. “Skyfall” reversed the trend last year; this year, however, we have two certifiable pop hits: Idina Menzel’s “Frozen” anthem “Let It Go,” and Pharrell Williams’ upbeat R&B track from “Despicable Me 2,” “Happy.”

That’s a happy outcome for telecast producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who are obviously keen to pack as much star power into the show as possible — and it has now been confirmed that Williams will indeed perform “Happy” on stage at the Oscars.

This promises a moment of rare pop relevance for the Academy — the infectiously catchy “Happy” is still climbing the charts in the US, having recently peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and should be even more ubiquitous by the time the ceremony rolls around in early March. (The song caught on earlier in the UK, where it remained at #1 for three weeks in January.)

Williams, meanwhile, is on a pretty hot streak these days, having just won a quartet of Grammys (including Producer of the Year and Record of the Year), and featured of two of 2013’s most inescapable pop singles, Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” and Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines.” All that, and his awesome Grammy Awards hat prompted a mini-meme online; here’s hoping he has something similarly dashing planned for the Oscars.

Anyway, no surprise that the Oscar producers, who have been inconsistent about featuring nominated songs on the show in recent years, would want him on stage. Here’s hoping this bodes will for performances from the remaining three nominees: aside from Menzel’s showstopper, the presence of U2 and erstwhile Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O would be reason enough for a lot of people to tune in.

File this under “retirement announcements we hope are short-lived,” as Kristin Scott Thomas claims that she’s ending her screen career: ” I cannot cope with another film. I realised I’ve done the things I know how to do so many times in different languages, and I just suddenly thought, I can’t do it any more. I’m bored by it. So I’m stopping.” Partly motivating this, she says, is the limited array of roles available to women her age: “I’m sort of, as the French would say, ‘stuck between two chairs’, because I’m no longer 40 and sort of a seductress, and I’m not yet a granny … When I go to the movies, I’d rather watch people who’ve lived, who have gone through the mill, who’ve had their heart broken a million times and are still looking for love.” [The Guardian]

Louise Tutts meets some of the key awards strategists on the beat, and find out how they get their films seen. [Screen Daily]

George Clooney discusses the trials and challenges involved in making “The Monuments Men.” [Variety]

Joshua Hammer on the recent wave of films — Oscar nominee “Omar” among them — about the world of informants in the Middle East. [New York Times]

With Toronto last week having made an aggressive move on Telluride, Scott Feinberg wonders where filmmakers’ festival loyalties will lie. [Hollywood Reporter]

Oscar contender “The Hunt” picked up four awards, including Best Film, at Denmark’s Bodil Awards, while Charlotte Gainsbourg took Best Actress for “Nymphomaniac.” [Screen Daily]

I’ve been waiting for someone to write this piece: Why “Frances Ha” and “Inside Llewyn Davis” are cinematic siblings. [The Dissolve]

A lovely piece by Mark Harris on the New York legacy of Philip Seymour Hoffman. [Grantland]

I’m not sure I’ve ever had a more purely enjoyable festival experience than I did at last year’s Miami International Film Festival. The location alone obviously takes some beating, but the convivial, celebratory atmosphere of proceedings, coupled with some imaginative programming (particularly of Latin American fare unlikely to be seen elsewhere), made it rather special. Cannes may have its attractions, but a relaxed press brunch with Darlene Love, for example, is not among them.

The lineup for this year’s festival was announced recently, and it’s a similarly flavorful mix of highlights from other fests — including a couple of Sundance hits from last month — and less exposed works from newcomers and familiar names alike. Things kick off on March 7 with the North American premiere of “Elsa and Fred,” a golden-years romantic comedy starring Oscar winners Shirley MacLaine, Christopher Plummer and Marcia Gay Harden. A remake of an Argentinian hit from 2005, about two elderly neighbors who fall reluctantly in love, the film is directed by Michael Radford — an Oscar nominee back in 1995 for “Il Postino.” “20 Feet from Stardom” kicked off the festival on an upbeat note last year, so here’s hoping this does the same.

The festival’s Awards Night gala, meanwhile, is a world premiere, “Rob the Mob” — a crime caper that reteams Andy Garcia with his “City Island” director Raymond de Felitta. I thought their last collaboration rather charming, with an unexpectedly deep ensemble; this one also stars Michael Pitt and Tony winner Nina Arianda.

Last year, it was Lasse Hallstrom who received the festival’s Career Achievement Tribute; this year, they’ve opted for actor-writer-director John Turturro, whose presentation will be followed by a screening of his new comedy “Fading Gigolo.” A Toronto premiere last year, opening Stateside in March, is stars Woody Allen as, and I quote, “a late-blooming pimp to Turturro’s middle-aged junior-florist-turned-hustler.” There’s a logline you don’t read every day. Other galas include “The Devil’s Violinist,” the latest historical drama from the prolific Bernard Rose, and the Elijah Wood-Sasha Grey (!) thriller “Open Windows.”

Among the more known quantities in the lineup, the minimal, unnerving Chilean thriller “To Kill a Man” — which won Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize in the world cinema strand — is one of 10 Latin American films selected for in the festival’s Knight Competition. The parallel documentary competition includes another buzzy Sundance title, “The Overnighters” — the doc I was most aggrieved to miss in Park City last month.

There’s plenty else besides, but I’m particularly glad to see a handful of my favorite 2013 festival films getting another well-deserved showcase. Among them Lukas Moodysson’s delightful return to form “We Are the Best!,” Robin Campillo’s “Eastern Boys” and James Gray’s “The Immigrant” — hopefully the last festival stop on the latter’s long, long, long road to release.

The Miami International Film Festival takes place from March 7 to 16.

A day later and I’m realizing I still haven’t fully absorbed the unfortunate, untimely passing of Philip Seymour Hoffman. A house full of people yesterday for a boring football game and the usual work-related stuff this morning has kept it a bit at bay ever since the news struck yesterday.

I will say I’m annoyed at the predictability of high-horse riding judgment from those who clearly have no idea what addiction entails. But that kind of finger-wagging, which we can always spot as little more than frustration on behalf of others – children, loved one, etc. – left in the wake of such a tragedy, is to be expected. It can be timed like the tides. And it’s always another level of sadness over these things.

Anyway, the point is, I’m still processing. We lost a genius, and one in his prime. These were the years of amazing Phil Hoffman performances. We were in the middle of it, you see? We just left the movie an hour in, so to speak, right in the meat of the second act build. But I’m grateful for the perspective of filmmakers like Cameron Crowe, who wrote a brief, poignant remembrance of Hoffman’s work on a key scene from his 2000 film “Almost Famous.”

Here’s the passage in full, courtesy of The Uncool:

“My original take on this scene was a loud, late night pronouncement from Lester Bangs. A call to arms. In Phil”s hands it became something different. A scene about quiet truths shared between two guys, both at the crossroads, both hurting, and both up too late. It became the soul of the movie. In between takes, Hoffman spoke to no one. He listened only to his headset, only to the words of Lester himself. (His Walkman was filled with rare Lester interviews.) When the scene was over, I realized that Hoffman had pulled off a magic trick. He”d leapt over the words and the script, and gone hunting for the soul and compassion of the private Lester, the one only a few of us had ever met. Suddenly the portrait was complete. The crew and I will always be grateful for that front row seat to his genius.”

The Uncool is Crowe’s official website and its moniker is meaningful in this instance. “The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we’re uncool,” Bangs says in the scene referenced above.

I don’t know what haunted Hoffman so much that he was driven to a relapse recently. I wouldn’t begin to pass a judgment. That’s one of the biggest problems with the ease of information on the internet, I’ve found. Everyone thinks they can be experts on anything, even the darkest reaches of souls they’ve never once met. People feel like an ugly family matter dragged out onto the op-ed pages of The New York Times is cause for dubious commentary, for instance, or the discovery of a father with a needle sticking out of his arm calls for stern dismissal and a harsh verdict. But they have no idea.

No one has to find sympathy in these situations, but an attempt at empathy would certainly be human. Whatever the case, my heart goes out to Hoffman’s family, and I selfishly weep for all the stunning work we’ve been robbed of ever seeing.

You can read more industry reactions to Hoffman’s death here.

With Woody Allen under fire following the resurfacing of his estranged daughter’s abuse allegations, and the “Alone Yet Not Alone” scandal leaving a bitter taste, Michael Cieply ponders the unexpected ethical issues that have entered this year’s Oscar race. “By and large, Oscar voters are lucky if they can find time to see the nominated films, let alone sort through a court case or a secret military operation. But they, including actors, are increasingly being asked to do just that,” he writes, before citing Roman Polanski’s surprise 2002 win as an example of the Academy “[using] the awards to send a message about focusing on art, not behavior.” [New York Times]

With voters no longer required to prove they’ve seen all five Best Foreign Language Film nominees, Tim Gray wonders how to keep the category fair. [Variety]

Films from Japan, Sweden and South Korea shared top honors at the Rotterdam Film Festival, while “Nebraska” took the Audience Award. [Screen Daily]

Rachel Weisz and Colin Farrell have joined the cast of Yorgos Lanthimos’s very intriguing “The Lobster.” [Hollywood Reporter]

In analyzing this year’s troubled Best Original Song race, Eric Henderson picks up on its mixed political messages. [Slant]

Rising star Miles Teller talks about Sundance, “That Awkward Moment” and getting just famous enough. [Vulture]

On the subtle but invaluable visual effects of “Her.” [Below the Line]

Celebrated tenor Placido Domingo reflects on the passing of Oscar-winning actor Maximilian Schell. [LA Times]

What an unhappy weekend it’s been. The Dissolve team offer their collected remembrances of Philip Seymour Hoffman. [The Dissolve]

I remember for a number of years I used to own a VHS tape called “Oscar’s Greatest Moments,” a unique peek at the Academy Awards over a 20-year stretch, from 1971 to 1991. Unique because the Academy rarely offers up this sort of material, for whatever reason. The organization’s YouTube channel has been a nice resource in recent years, but it’s been a while since we’ve seen something quite like Turner Classic Movies’ “And the Oscar Goes To” documentary, which premiered Saturday night and aired again this evening directly after the Super Bowl.

As deep dives go, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s film is not a profoundly illuminating experience and serves more as a stone skipped across the ceremony’s 85-year history. It’s also positioned as a nice promotion of the channel’s “31 Days of Oscar” scheduling, every day in February dedicated to Oscar-nominated filmmaking. But it’s nice to see the organization open the gates slightly with a polished, well-structured salute to Hollywood’s annual back-patting ritual.

The doc finds its way into the usual talking points, including the perspective on Academy embrace of minorities over the years. That’s a particularly hot button issue this season given that, in a year touted as a great one for African American filmmaking, only “12 Years a Slave” found recognition where other efforts such as “Fruitvale Station” and “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” were ignored.

“The handing out of Oscars on the Oscar show through the years has shown social change,” AMPAS president Cheryl Boone Isaacs says in the film. “I know for some not fast enough, but it has steadily moved in that direction.” Hattie McDaniel, Sidney Poitier, Louis Gossett Jr., Denzel Washington, Whoopi Goldberg and Halle Berry’s Oscar wins are featured.

Other controversies are touched upon, from the Academy’s reaction to the Hollywood black list to Sacheen Littlefeather declining Marlon Brando’s 1972 Best Actor award on the “Godfather” star’s behalf for Hollywood’s treatment of Native Americans to Michael Moore’s 2003 call of shame upon President George W. Bush for embarking upon the Iraq War (a moment that underscored, it seemed, the overall community’s tendency to come around to certain things quite slowly).Tom Hanks’ epic Best Actor acceptance speech for his work in “Philadelphia” drawing attention to the AIDS crisis is also featured.

Fortunately much time is spent on the below-the-line elements of filmmaking that are honored every year, and due to ratings concerns find their position on the show sometimes quietly under fire. Special Achievement Award-winning sound editor Ben Burtt explains how a hungry bear’s moans made for the ingredients of Chewbacca’s howls in “Star Wars” while back-to-back film editing victor Kirk Baxter (“The Social Network,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”) breaks down the thought process behind building tension in a scene through how it’s assembled.

There’s great educational value on that level throughout the documentary, in fact. Martin Scorsese’s (nevertheless Oscar-losing) vision for the fight scenes of “Raging Bull” is laid out with expert precision by one talking head, for instance. And there’s great insight from previous nominees such as Jason Reitman and Scorsese. “As a 6-year-old, I probably thought my father was some sort of magician,” Reitman recalls of his filmmaker father, Ivan Reitman. “I just knew that when I showed up at his workplace, incredible things happened. I’ll always be the son of the guy who directed ‘Ghostbusters.'”

Reitman is also candid in the film about one of his biggest memories of Oscar night 2010 is losing for his work on “Up in the Air,” while “The Queen” star Helen Mirren explains how surreal the night really is when you’re waiting for the envelope to be opened. “It is a bit like being in a car crash: everything slows down,” she says. “Everything goes in slow motion. Tick. Tick. Tick. The. Oscar. Goes. To.”

Most delightful is seeing some of the backstage video and other stories from behind the curtain besides. Longtime Oscarcast writer Bruce Villanch recalls an awkward meeting between Jim Carrey, Nicolas Cage and Sophia Loren, while a lovely moment is caught on camera as 1992 Best Actor winner Anthony Hopkins (“The Silence of the Lambs”) is seen meeting Robert Duvall for the first time backstage with his trophy in hand.

All in all, it’s a nice appetizer for the upcoming March 2 ceremony and a decent step forward for an Academy obviously looking to change its public face as of late. Try to catch it on Turner Classics sometime this month. Your next shot is Friday, Feb. 7.

The London Film Critics” Circle Awards have just been presented at a black-tie ceremony in London, and while it”d be unseemly for me to evaluate their choices – given that I”m one of the voters – it”s fair to say the wealth was generously spread. “12 Years a Slave,” which has taken the most Best Picture prizes from critics in the US, added another to its tally: in addition to the Film of the Year Award, it also took acting prizes for Chiwetel Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong”o.

The British Film of the Year award went to Clio Barnard”s devastating social-realist fable “The Selfish Giant,” beating the multi-Oscar-nominated “Philomena,” among others; Barnard”s film also took the Young Actor of the Year award for magnetic 13-year-old novice Conner Chapman.

Two other films took multiple awards: “Gravity” notched up another Director win for Oscar frontrunner Alfonso Cuaron, as well as the multi-disciplinary Technical Achievement Award (which yours truly was thrilled to present onstage) for VFX artist Tim Webber. Not yet released in the US, off-the-wall Irvine Welsh adaptation “Filth” won a pair of British-only categories for breakthrough director Jon Baird and star James McAvoy.

Perhaps the most surprising result, meanwhile, was for Supporting Actor of the Year, where “Captain Phillips” newcomer Barkhad Abdi beat out Jared Leto and Michael Fassbender. On a less competitive note, the Circle”s annual Dilys Powell Award for Contribution to British Cinema was awarded to Gary Oldman, with John Hurt on hand to present the honor.

And with that, it”s on to the afterparty. Full list of winners below, and remember to follow all the ups and downs of the season at The Circuit.

Film of the Year: “12 Years a Slave”

British Film of the Year: “The Selfish Giant”

Foreign Language Film of the Year: “Blue is the Warmest Color”

Documentary of the Year: “The Act of Killing”

Director of the Year: Alfonso Cuarón, “Gravity”

Screenwriter of the Year: Joel and Ethan Coen, “Inside Llewyn Davis”

Actor of the Year: Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”

Actress of the Year: Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”

British Actor of the Year: James McAvoy, “Filth”

British Actress of the Year: Judi Dench, “Philomena”

Supporting Actor of the Year: Barkhad Abdi, “Captain Phillips”

Supporting Actress of the Year: Lupita Nyong’o, “12 Years a Slave”

Young British Actor of the Year: Conner Chapman, “The Selfish Giant”

Breakthrough British Filmmaker of the Year: Jon S. Baird, “Filth”

Technical Achievement of the Year: Tim Webber (visual effects), “Gravity”

Dilys Powell Award for Contribution to British Cinema: Gary Oldman

Philip Seymour Hoffman had pretty much settled into one of the top tier actors of his generation. I shouldn’t even hedge: he WAS one of the great actors of his generation, arguably at the very top. His trick was making it look easy, so the other guys get that recognition. The flashy players stand out. But Hoffman was sublime each and every time out. He brought A-game to things like “Along Came Polly,” for Christ’s sake.

And now he’s gone?? I can’t even begin to register that. That’s a punch right in the stomach.

Hoffman’s credentials speak for themselves. Oscar-nominated for “Charlie Wilson’s War,” “Doubt” and “The Master.” A winner for “Capote,” which brought perception of his abilities to a whole other level. But he was an even keel of consistency every step of the way. “Boogie Nights,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Happiness,” “Flawless,” “Magnolia,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” “Almost Famous,” “Punch-Drunk Love,” “25th Hour” – I’m just typing out every single film at this point – “Red Dragon,” the immensely underrated “Owning Mahowny,” “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” even “Mission: Impossible III,” he’s bringing it. “The Savages,” “The Ides of March,” “Moneyball,” on and on and on and on.

The truly great work? “Capote.” “Synechdoche, New York.” “The Master.” “Almost Famous.” These are his gifts to our love of the form. I saw him for the first time in “Twister” and knew I was hooked.

The guy was 46 years old. He had three kids. He should still be here.

Anton Corbijn’s “A Most Wanted Man” is still on the way (having premiered at Sundance) and I’ve been very much looking forward to it. Ditto “God’s Pocket.” There are also a pair of “Hunger Games” sequels, though who knows if he was finished with his work on the final installment. (He was set to star in the television series “Happyish,” which Showtime just picked up last month.) So he’ll be with us for a short time longer, on screens big and small. But after that, it’s just the memories above. And what wonderful memories they are.

I assume more details on all of this will be forthcoming in due time, but at the moment, all we know, according to The Wall Street Journal, is the New York Police Department is investigating and they have confirmed that Hoffman was found dead in his apartment this afternoon.

Sadness. Profound sadness. We lost a treasure in his prime here.

UPDATE: CNN is now reporting that Hoffman was found “with a needle in his arm” and that law enforcement says it was an apparent drug overdose. Furthermore, The New York Times quotes an official on that, also noting in addition that “investigators found…envelope containing what is believed to be heroin.”

[youtube=://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VcWRJHBUDM&w=640&h=360]

Rife as they are with studio politics, the Annie Awards can sometimes perversely turn against frontrunners in the animated Oscar race, but if you were looking for any such shake-ups this year, you were out of luck. Disney’s all-but-certain Oscar winner “Frozen” was the night’s big winner, taking five awards for Best Animated Feature, Direction, Music, Production Design and Voice Acting for Josh Gad’s irrepressible summer-loving snowman.

But while the blockbuster fairytale was clearly a favorite, it wasn’t a sweeper, as a number of other films got a piece of the pie. It’s particularly sweet to see Hayao Miyazaki’s allegedly final feature “The Wind Rises” receive an award for its delicate, poetic writing. Meanwhile, DreamWorks’ heavily-campaigned “The Croods” took a trio of technical awards, while surprise Oscar omission “Monsters University” received two. (No such luck for “Despicable Me 2,” which led the nominations, but was rewarded only for its broadcast commercial.)

Full list of winners below. Keep up with the season thus far at The Circuit.

Best Animated Feature: “Frozen”

Best Animated Special Production: “Chipotle Scarecrow”

Best Animated Short Subject: “Get A Horse!”

Best Animated TV/Broadcast Commercial: “Despicable Me 2 – Cinemark”

Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production For Preschool Children: “Disney Sofia the First”

Best Animated TV/Broadcast Production For Children”s Audience: “Adventure Time”

Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production: “Futurama”

Best Animated Video Game: “The Last of Us”

Best Student Film: “Wedding Cake”

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES

Animated Effects in an Animated Production: “The Croods”

Animated Effects in a Live Action Production: “Pacific Rim”

Character Animation in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production: “Toy Story OF TERROR! “

Character Animation in an Animated Feature Production: “The Croods”

Character Animation in a Live Action Production: “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” – Gollum

Character Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: “Disney Mickey Mouse”

Character Design in an Animated Feature Production: “The Croods”

Directing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: “Toy Story OF TERROR!” (Angus MacLane)

Directing in an Animated Feature Production: “Frozen” (Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee)

Music in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: “Disney Mickey Mouse”

Music in an Animated Feature Production: “Frozen” (Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez, Christophe Beck)

Production Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: “The Legend of Korra”

Production Design in an Animated Feature Production: “Frozen”

Storyboarding in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: “Toy Story of TERROR!”

Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production: “Monsters University”

Voice Acting in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: “Adventure Time” (Tom Kenny)

Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production: “Frozen” (Josh Gad)

Writing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: “Futurama”

Writing in an Animated Feature Production: “The Wind Rises”

Editorial in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: “Disney Mickey Mouse”

Editorial in an Animated Feature Production: “Monsters University”

JURIED AWARDS

Winsor McCay Award: Katsuhiro Otomo, Steven Spielberg & Phil Tippett

June Foray Award: Alice Davis

Certificate of Merit: “I Know That Voice” (Documentary)

Ub Iwerks Award: Dragonframe

Special Achievement Award: Creative Talent Network Animation eXpo

Well, if you didn’t already think the cinematography Oscar race was a done deal, it certainly is now: season-long favorite Emmanuel Lubezki has taken the ASC Award for “Gravity.”

Of all the cinematography precursors on the circuit, the ASC is the most resistant to 3D and CGI-enhanced imagery: recent Oscar winners in the category like “Avatar,” “Hugo” and “Life of Pi” all failed to win here, so it wouldn’t have been a surprise to see the voters plump for the more old-school work of “Inside Llewyn Davis” or even “The Grandmaster.” The fact that they, too, joined the “Gravity” express underlines that this year, nothing is coming between Lubezki and his overdue first Oscar.

Unlike the Academy, however, the ASC doesn’t need to make amends. This is Lubezki’s third win from the group: he won in the 2006 race for Alfonso Cuaron’s last film, “Children of Men,” and in the 2011 race for Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” — losing the Oscar to “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “Hugo” respectively, with neither outcome an especially popular one. Both times, he lost to a film that was more highly regarded within the Academy; this year, however, he’s on board the popular favorite. Now on his sixth Oscar nomination, Chivo will not be denied.

The inaugural ASC Spotlight Award for international and festival features went to Polish team Ryszard Lenczewski and Lukasz Zal for the silky black-and-white lensing of Pawel Pawlikowski’s gorgeous period drama “Ida” — a fine standard-bearer for a most welcome new award. TV wins, meanwhile, went to “Game of Thrones,” “Killing Lincoln” and “Drunk History.”

Full list of winners below. Catch up with the season thus far at The Circuit.

Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Release: Emmanuel Lubezki, “Gravity”

ASC Spotlight Award: Ryszard Lenczewski and Lukasz Zal, “Ida”

Television Film or Miniseries: Jeremy Benning, “Killing Lincoln”

One-Hour Episodic Series: Jonathan Freeman, “Game of Thrones” (“Valar Dohaeris”)

Half-Hour Episodic Series: Blake McClure, “Drunk History” (“Detroit”)

ASC International Award: Eduardo Serra

Bud Stone Award of Distinction: Beverly Wood

Career Achievement in Television: Richard Rawlings, Jr.

ASC Board of Governors Award: John Wells

Lifetime Achievement Award: Dean Cundey

The Writers’ Guild of America Awards have taken place in their customary confusing fashion, with the lack of co-ordination between the East Coast and West Coast ceremonies meaning certain key winners were revealed well before their awards were actually presented. The WGA should probably work on that. Anyway, the big news is that the three big winners in the film categories are Spike Jonze for “Her,” Billy Ray for “Captain Phillips” and Sarah Polley for “Stories We Tell.”

Jonze’s win, of course, was in the Best Original Screenplay category, and it could foreshadow a similar result in the Oscar race — where the nominee field directly mirrors the WGA one. David O. Russell and Eric Singer would appear to be their chief competition for nomination co-leader “American Hustle,” but things seem to be tipping Jonze’s way — his is arguably the more inventive, more self-evidently writerly script, and the Academy often favors quirkier choices in this category. You have to go back 13 years to find an Oscar winner in this category that lost (as opposed to simply being ineligible for) the WGA Award: in the 2000 race, the Guild picked Kenneth Lonergan for “You Can Count on Me,” while the Academy preferred Cameron Crowe for “Almost Famous.”

The Best Adapted Screenplay win for “Captain Phillips” means less with regard to the Oscar race, given that the category’s clear frontrunner, John Ridley for “12 Years a Slave,” wasn’t eligible for the WGA Award. That exclusion made this a rather competitive Guild race: “Before Midnight” and “The Wolf of Wall Street” both could have shown up here, but it was well-liked industry stalwart Billy Ray (who also wrote the first “Hunger Games” instalment and directed the acclaimed 2003 indie “Shattered Glass”) who took what will likely remain his biggest win of the season.

In the documentary writing category, it’s nice to see Sarah Polley, who was rather shockingly left out of the Oscar race, take the award for her intricate, intimate construction of “Stories We Tell” — beating Oscar nominee “Dirty Wars,” among others.

In the TV categories, victorious shows included “Veep,” “House of Cards,” “The Simpsons,” “30 Rock” and, of course, “Breaking Bad” — which continued its farewell-season winning streak with a pair of awards.

Full list of winners below, with everything else at The Circuit.

  On the TV side of things, “30 Rock” and “Breaking Bad” both took wins in their farewell seasons, with “House of Cards” and “Veep” also rewarded. Winners listed after the jump, as they are announced.

Best Original Screenplay: Spike Jonze, “Her”

Best Adapted Screenplay: Billy Ray, “Captain Philli[ps”

Best Documentary Screenplay: Sarah Polley, “Stories We Tell”

TELEVISION CATEGORIES

Comedy Series: “Veep”

Drama Series: “Breaking Bad”

New Series: “House of Cards”

Episodic Comedy: Kack Burditt and Robert Carlock, “30 Rock” (“Hogcock!”)

Episodic Drama: Gennifer Hutchison, “Breaking Bad” (“Confessions”)

Long Form – Adapted: Shawn Slovo, “Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight”

Animation: Joel H. Cohen, “The Simpsons” (“A Test Before Trying”)

Comedy or Variety Series: “The Colbert Report”

Comedy or Variety Specials: “Blake Shelton’s Not So Family Christmas”

Daytime Drama: “Days of Our Lives”

Childrens – Episodic & Specials: Vincent Brown, “A.N.T. Farm” (“InfluANTces”)

Documentary – Current Events: Marcela Gaviria and Martin Smith, “Frontline” (“Egypt in Crisis”)

Documentary – Other Than Current Events: Randall MacLowry and Michelle Ferrari, “American Experience” (“Silicon Valley”)

News – Analysis, Feature or Commentary: Michael Rey, Oriana Zill de Granados and Michael Radutzky, “60 Minutes” (“Lethal Medicine”)

News – Regularly Scheduled, Bulletin or Breaking Report: Lisa Ferri and Matt Negrin, “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer” (“Tragedy at Newtown”)

Quiz and Audience Patricipation: John Duarte, Harry Friedman, Mark Gaberman, Debbie Griffin, Michele Loud, Robert McClenaghan, Jim Rhine, Steve D. Tamerius and Billy Wisse, “Jeopardy!”

Television Graphic Art and Animation: David Rosen, CBS News Animations: “Brain Injury,” “Pills,” “Bionic Leg,” “Midland Parade,” “Concordia Salvage”

Promotional Writing and Graphic Animation: Erial Tompkins, “The Crazy Ones – Building a Better Comedy”

Video Game Writing: Neil Druckmann, “The Last of Us”

Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement: Paul Mazursky

Evelyn F. Burkey Award for Career Achievement: James Schamus

Valentine Davies Award: Sam Simon