The 97th Oscars are this Sunday Mar. 2. Chronicle Reporter Ali Brenneman and Photojournalist Charles Rahn asked students who are interested in going into the film industry, their opinions and hopes for the award show. Their top picks were “Wicked” and “Anora.” Students told the Chronicle they didn’t like “Emilia Pérez,” nominated for 10 Oscars, including best picture and best director.
The film “Wicked” is an adaptation of the hit musical that picked up 10 Oscar nominations, and “Anora” is a film about a young sex worker who marries a rich Russian boy. Both are nominated for best picture.
“Emilia Pérez” is a film about a Mexican lawyer that attempts to tackle subjects like trans people and cartels.
TRANSCRIPT:
0:05: The Oscars are this weekend, so we asked students pursuing a career in the film industry what their opinions are on the award show.
0:14: I like that “The Wild Robot” was on the animation list.
0:19: I haven’t seen it personally, but I do think it is a cool story, and I really appreciate that animation is getting shown.
0:28: There’s a lot of good animated movies this year, so.
0:31: I thought “Sing Sing” was going to get a lot more than it did.
0:34: I’m also really surprised by a lot of the movies that got shut out, “Challengers” included.
0:38: As well as “Queer,” I don’t know if that was in the cut off or not, but definitely “Challengers,” I think was the most fun that I’ve had in the theater all year, and the fact that it’s not recognized for anything really surprises me.
0:51: I mean, I think I would love also for “Nosferatu” to win stuff because Robert Eggers never wins stuff and never gets nominated really, so it’s just whenever he does get nominated, I’m like, I want something of his to win, and I would love an “Anora” sweep, that’d be sick.
1:07: I don’t want “Emilia Pérez” to win anything because apparently it’s really bad and also problematic, so.
1:14: “Wicked” is a great movie,
1:15: I don’t necessarily think it’s going to sweep the way people expected it to just like last year with “Barbie,” how everyone expected “Barbie” to get everything and they got very little.
1:24: So, I think it’s going to be similar.
1:26: Students then described how their interest in their given field affects how they see the Oscars.
1:31: I genuinely do hope that, you know, “Wicked” wins at least, because honestly, everything from the marketing down to the actors, like, they were really on point with it.
1:43: I would love to see “Anora” win though, honestly.
1:47: It makes me hate celebrity culture a little bit more, but it’s always fun to watch.
1:53: I don’t know if other people watch it for the celebrity culture, but I watch it for the movies and stuff because then I can hype up what I like and stuff like that.
2:01: No, I think it’s very interesting just to see from, you know, a film major perspective kind of what the professionals are valuing in film.
2:13: I think, you know, doing market research is always important and I like seeing what genres and what kinds of films are interested by the difference between the public and then also the Academy so.
2:27: I feel like I’ve lost a little bit of love for the Oscars in the past few years because I feel like more and more we have seen it kind of turn away from being something more of like, “Oh, the best movies of all time, they’re always nominated for the Oscars.
2:42: They’re like, they recognize the best the best every year,” and now I feel maybe it’s just because I know it now because I go to Columbia and I know the industry, but it feels more and more now that it’s a pay to play kind of game rather than maintaining its artistic integrity.
3:01: Tune in this Sunday, March 2, to see if these students’ hopes and predictions come true.
3:06: This is Ali Brenneman for Chronicle TV.
Copy edited by Matt Brady
