In Contention

Tag: The Stoning of Soraya M

  • ‘Nine’ leads Golden Satellites with 11 nods

    Shohreh Aghdashloo in The Stoning of Soraya M.(UPDATE: Full list of categories and special awards added, including a random Best Ensemble prize for “Nine.” Also, a pointless Ten Best Films of 2009 list that leaves out some of their very own Best Picture nominees. Don’t even try to make sense of it. Thanks to Ziyad for the info.)

    It isn’t really worth spending too much time talking about the Golden Satellites — after all, this is the group who last year thought “Elegy” was an original screenplay written by Philip Roth.

    Still, while their nominations are typically meaningless, they are, as usual, fun to consider. At the very least, unlike many other awards bodies on the precursor track, they don’t slavishly try to anticipate the Academy’s choices. When they throw in a Best Picture nod for “The Stoning of Soraya M.,” or a Best Actress mention for Catalina Saavedra, Oscar is the furthest thing from their minds. I salute them for that.

    Anyway, enjoy the list and its assorted quirks and surprises — from the exclusion of Gabourey Sidibe in Best Actress to the female triple-header in Best Director to their curious classification of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” as “animated or mixed-media.” Just don’t take it too seriously.

    Best Motion Picture (Drama)
    “Bright Star”
    “An Education”
    “The Hurt Locker”
    “The Messenger”
    “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire”
    “The Stoning of Soraya M.”

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  • David Poland’s Oscar underdogs … where are the ladies?

    Tilda Swinton in JuliaFor those of you bored of reading the same ever-narrowing list of names in the assorted Oscar-speculation pieces across the web, David Poland’s latest column is a slight breath of fresh air.

    Decrying the fact that many pundits are making ludicrous long-shot calls like “This Is It” for Best Picture, while ignoring more deserving contenders who could use the attention, Poland provides a list of less-hyped contenders in the top categories that he feels merit consideration.

    His definition of the term “underdog” ranges from genuinely fanciful contenders (Catherine O’Hara and James Gandolfini for “Where the Wild Things Are,” “In the Loop” for Best Picture) to names still very much in the race who  have lately lost a bit of steam (Matt Damon, Jeremy Renner and Viggo Mortensen, all in the Best Actor category).

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  • It’s not so dire, Mr. Friedman

    Shohreh Aghdashloo in The Stoning of Soraya MObviously Hollywood Reporter gossip hound Roger Friedman hasn’t been reading our Contenders section, or else he’d know there are plenty of lead actress hopefuls out there, not the dearth he apparently perceives.

    Friedman rattles off 12 contenders in a recent piece titled Shortage of “Best Actresses in the Coming Oscar Season,” but he misses some key possibilities.  Abbie Cornish in “Bright Star,” for one, who didn’t necessarily impress me much, but could certainly be in the hunt.  “Precious,” meanwhile, is considered a ripe opportunity for supporting contender Mo’Nique, but lead Gabourey Sidibe could certainly find her share of notices.

    Gwyneth Paltrow in “Two Lovers” and Zooey Deschanel in “(500) Days of Summer” are two extreme longshot contenders whose films have already been released, but Penelope Cruz deserves to be in the discussion for “Broken Embraces,” surely, as does Tilda Swinton in “Julia.”

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  • INTERVIEW: ‘The Stoning of Soraya M.’ director Cyrus Nowrasteh

    Cyrus Nowrasteh on the set of The Stoning of Soraya M.Those seeking a cinematic escape from this week’s barrage of “Transformers” silliness couldn’t find a much more sober alternative than Cyrus Nowrasteh’s “The Stoning of Soraya M.,” an adaptation of the non-fiction bestseller by French-Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam.

    A spare, moving study of gender persecution in 1980s Iran, as frank and unpretentious as its title, Nowrasteh’s fact-based drama may pivot on the eponymous ritual killing, but builds its larger narrative on more cathartic themes of storytelling and silence-breaking. As such, while it may sound like a grim night at the movies, it’s an oddly hopeful film – one whose accessibility was proved with the runner-up Audience Award at last year’s Toronto fest.

    Shohreh Aghdashloo (whom you’ll remember from her deservingly Oscar-nominated work in 2003’s “House of Sand and Fog”) plays Zahra, a senior resident of a remote desert village seeking retribution against the town’s male elders for their collective murder of her niece, the Soraya of the title.

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  • 6/23 Web Round-up

    Shohreh Aghdashloo in The Stoning of Soraya M.• How Sacha Baron Cohen ensnares his victims. [Daily Telegraph]

    • 26 titles announced for this year’s Toronto fest. [indieWIRE]

    • Anna Pickard breaks down the recent “2012” trailer. [The Guardian]

    • Gina Piccalo talks to Shohreh Aghdashloo, star of “The Stoning of Soraya M.” [Los Angles Times]

    • Noah Forrest joins the “Year One” dogpile. [Movie City News]

    • Michael Cieply profiles “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. [New York Times]

    • An antidote of sorts to last week’s slew of dad lists with good cheer: the 10 most horrible dad movies. [Premiere]

    • Brad Brevet talks to “The Hurt Locker” director Kathryn Bigelow. [Rope of Silicon]

    • Simon Pegg profiled across the pond. [The Times]

  • More announcements from TIFF

    Toronto International Film FestivalPaul Dano and Zooey Deschanel are to be featured in “Gigantic” with John Goodman in a supporting role. In “Lovely Still,” acting icons Martin Landau and Ellen Burstyn portray two seniors who find love late in life struggling with the baggage that comes with a life so long lived.

    “Lymelife” looks interesting, a film seen through the eyes of a young boy, portrayed by Rory Culkin, and what happens when an outbreak of Lyme disease hits a small town. Alec Baldwin portrays the boy’s loud mouth father with strong support from Cynthia Nixon, Timothy Hutton and Kiran Culkin in a film executive produced by no less than Martin Scorsese.

    One of the more intriguing films of the fest will be the US film, “The Stoning of Soraya M”, a study of an Iranian woman falsely accused of adultery which is a crime punished with death by stoning. Oscar nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo stars in the film.

    Mark Ruffalo is back in town with more than one film, co-starring with Ethan Hawke in “What Doesn’t Kill You” about two friends looking out for one another in a tough Boston neighborhood. The film was produced by filmmaker Rod Lurie, who’ll be in the thick of the Oscar hunt this year with his own “Nothing But the Truth.”

    The other titles include “Rain” from the Bahamas, “Cold Lunch” from Norway, “Vacation” from Japan, “Apron Strings” from New Zealand, “Better Things” from the United Kingdom, and “Daytime, Drinking” from South Korea.