The Oscar Project Podcast

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In today's episode, I interview Paul Kowalski, the director of the short film "Sardinia," a dark look at what a world without humor could be like. The film screened at IndieShorts and won the Best Director Grand Prize at Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival in 2024.

Listen to hear about the real world inspiration for the film, casting a group of strong actors that could each bring their own interpretation to the characters, and a set of book recommendations that should be required reading for any aspiring filmmaker.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

• The 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis de Sade
• Notes on the Cinematograph by Robert Bresson
• Kieślowski on Kieślowski by Krzysztof Kieślowski
• Making Movies by Sidney Lumet
• On Film-making: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director by Alexander Mackendrick
• The Magic Lantern: An Autobiography by Ingmar Bergman
• Film Technique And Film Acting by V.I. Pudovkin
• Conclave by Robert Harris

Films and TV shows mentioned in this episode include:

• "Sardinia" directed by Paul Kowalski
• The Tenant directed by Roman Polanski
• The Lobster directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
• "Nimic" directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
• First Reformed directed by Paul Schrader
• Burn After Reading directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
• Miller's Crossing directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
• The Goonies directed by Richard Donner
• Mass directed by Fran Kranz
• Silence of the Lambs directed by Jonathan Demme
• Lawrence of Arabia directed by David Lean
• Vertigo directed by Alfred Hitchcock
• Amadeus directed by Miloš Forman
• Rosemary's Baby directed by Roman Polanski
• The Shining directed by Stanley Kubrick
• Stalker directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
• Cure directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
• Possession directed by Andrzej Żuławski
• Dekalog: One directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski
• Don't Look Now directed by Nicolas Roeg
• Come and See directed by Elem Klimov
• Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini
• Accattone directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini
• The Godfather directed by Francis For Coppola
• The Man Who Fell to Earth directed by Nicolas Roeg
• Quest for Fire directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud
• A Clockwork Orange directed by Stanley Kubrick
• Anora directed by Sean Baker
• Conclave directed by Edward Berger
• The Housemaster directed by Paul Kowalski
• Carrie directed by Brian De Palma
• If... directed by Lindsay Anderson

You can follow Paul on Instagram @pauljkowalski and the film @sardiniafilm and check out Paul's website.

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In today's episode, I interview Jonathan Hammond, the director of the short film "Fireflies in the Dusk," a clever genre bending comedy that brings the Victorian Age into the present day with hilarious results.

Listen to hear about some of the films that inspired Jonathan's concept for the film, how he got his actors to buy into the absurd situations their characters would encounter, and what happens when an actor getting food poisoning in the middle of busy L.A. traffic.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
• Mike Nichols: A Life by Mark Harris
• Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood by Mark Harris
• Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears by Michael Schulman

Films and TV shows mentioned in this episode include:

• "Fireflies in the Dusk" directed by Jonathan Hammond
• Somewhere in Time directed by Jeannot Szwarc
• Poltergeist directed by Tobe Hooper
• The Purple Rose of Cairo directed by Woody Allen
• Being John Malkovich directed by Spike Jonze
• A Room With a View directed by James Ivory
• "30 Meetings/30 Days" directed by Duane Andersen
• "A Little House in Aberdeen" directed by Emily Goss
• 8 Simple Rules (series)
• The Magicians (series)
• Pride & Prejudice directed by Joe Wright
• Chinatown directed by Roman Polanski
• Grand Illusion directed by Jean Renoir
• 2001: A Space Odyssey directed by Stanley Kubrick
• Young Frankenstein directed by Mel Brooks
• Molly's Game directed by Aaron Sorkin
• His Girl Friday directed by Howard Hawks
• Silence of the Lambs directed by Jonathan Demme

You can follow Jonathan on Instagram @jonohamm and the film @firefliesinthedusk and check out the film at the Cleveland International Film Festival!

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In today's episode, I am joined by Luis Mendez, the winner of the 2025 Oscar prediction contest on The Oscar Project. We talk about our reactions to the 97th Academy Awards, some movies from 2025 so far, and what we're looking forward to in the rest of 2025.
 
Books mentioned in this episode include:

• Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton
• Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever by Matt Singer
• Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears by Michael Schulman

Films mentioned in this episode include:

• Wicked directed by Jon M. Chu
• Anora directed by Sean Baker
• Conclave directed by Edward Berger
• The Substance directed by Coralie Fargeat
• Paddington in Peru directed by Dougal Wilson
• Heart Eyes directed by Josh Ruben
• Companion directed by Drew Hancock
• Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy directed by Michael Morris
• Mickey 17 directed by Bong Joon-Ho
• Inside Out 2 directed by Kelsey Mann
• High and Low directed by Akira Kurosawa
• Maleficent directed by Robert Stromberg
• Beauty and the Beast directed by Bill Condon
• Cinderella directed by Kenneth Branagh
• Sonic the Hedgehog directed by Jeff Fowler
• My Man Godfrey directed by Gregory La Cava
• The Shop Around the Corner directed by Ernst Lubitsch
• You've Got Mail directed by Nora Ephron
• Sleeping Beauty directed by Clyde Geronimi
• House on Haunted Hill directed by William Malone
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington directed by Frank Capra
• The Thin Man directed by W.S. Van Dyke

We talked about way more than this so check out the full list of films mentioned on Letterboxd.

Check out Luis's work at mendezmoviereport.com.

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In today's episode, I interview Lucy Davidson, the director of the short film "Baggage," a touching look at the weight we all carry with us in our day to day lives.

Listen to hear about the inspiration for the film, the importance of creating a sonic landscape that felt believable, and some of the fun little details you can look for as you watch the film.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Films mentioned in this episode include:

• "Baggage" directed by Lucy Davidson
• "Speak to Me" by Pink Floyd (50th Anniversary Music Video)
• Memoir of a Snail directed by Adam Elliot
• Mouse Hunt directed by Gore Verbinski
• Ratatouille directed by Brad Bird and Jan Pinkava
• Portrait of a Lady on Fire directed by Celine Sciamma
• Babe: Pig in the City directed by George Miller
• Mad Max directed by George Miller
• Happy Feet directed by George Miller
• Muppets From Space directed by Timothy Hill
• "Wander to Wonder" directed by Nina Gantz
• "In the Shadows of the Cypress" directed by Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani
• "Beautiful Men" directed by Nicolas Keppens

You can follow Lucy on Instagram @lucy_maree_davidson and check out her film playing at SXSW this week!

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The 97th Academy Awards are over and today I'm joined by Shawna Carroll from the Notes from Post newsletter to recap everything that happened at last night's ceremony.

Listen to hear us talk about the biggest winners and losers of the evening, some of the beautiful style we got to see, and anything that caught us by surprise.

Other topics mentioned:

• Art of the Cut podcast with Steve Hullfish
• Call Me By Your Name directed by Luca Guadagnino

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Today is the final episode in my preview of the 97th Academy Awards where I will have broken down every category over the course of this week. Today I am joined by Maria Banson from the Brunello Bombshell newsletter to break down all ten films nominated for Best Picture. I've listed the nominees below along with a few other films mentioned throughout the episode.

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get all new episodes, and head over to my Substack to submit your guesses for my annual Oscar prediction contest. You can also enter Maria's prediction contest.

The nominees for each category are listed below.

Best Picture:

• Anora
• The Brutalist
• A Complete Unknown
• Conclave
• Dune: Part Two
• Emilia Pérez
• I'm Still Here
• Nickel Boys
• The Substance
• Wicked

Other media mentioned in this episode include:

• Poor Things directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
• Memento directed by Christopher Nolan
• The Time Machine directed by Simon Wells
• Oppenheimer directed by Christopher Nolan
• Walk the Line directed by James Mangold
• Conclave (book) by Robert Harris
• Lord of the Rings directed by Peter Jackson
• Dune directed by Denis Villeneuve
• Dune: Messiah (forthcoming) directed by Denis Villeneuve
• Dune (book) by Frank Herbert
• Star Wars directed by George Lucas
• Midsommar directed by Ari Aster
• Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein
• Moonlight directed by Barry Jenkins
• Parasite directed by Bong Joon-ho
• The Motorcycle Diaries directed by Walter Salles
• Nickel Boys (book) by Colson Whitehead
• The Holdovers directed by Alexander Payne
• The Wizard of Oz (book) by L. Frank Baum
• The Wizard of Oz directed by Victor Fleming
• Gladiator directed by Ridley Scott
• Sing Sing directed by Greg Kwedar
• The Wild Robot directed by Chris Sanders

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Today is the third of a five episode preview of the 97th Academy Awards where I will be breaking down each and every category throughout the week. Today I am joined by Kevin Pettit from the See You at the Movies newsletter to break down all four acting categories, both screenplay categories, and Best Director. I've listed the nominees below along with a few other films mentioned throughout the episode.

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get all the preview episodes this week, and head over to my Substack to submit your guesses for my annual Oscar prediction contest.

The nominees for each category are listed below.

Best Original Screenplay:

• Anora
• The Brutalist
• A Real Pain
• September 5
• The Substance 

Best Adapted Screenplay:

• A Complete Unknown
• Conclave
• Emilia Pérez
• Nickel Boys
• Sing Sing

Best Supporting Actor:

• Yura Borisov – Anora as Igor
• Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain as Benji Kaplan
• Edward Norton – A Complete Unknown as Pete Seeger
• Guy Pearce – The Brutalist as Harrison Lee Van Buren Sr.
• Jeremy Strong – The Apprentice as Roy Cohn

Best Supporting Actress:

• Monica Barbaro – A Complete Unknown as Joan Baez
• Ariana Grande – Wicked as Galinda "Glinda" Upland
• Felicity Jones – The Brutalist as Erzsébet Tóth
• Isabella Rossellini – Conclave as Sister Agnes
• Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez as Rita Mora Castro 

Best Actress:

• Cynthia Erivo – Wicked as Elphaba Thropp
• Karla Sofía Gascón – Emilia Pérez as Emilia Pérez / Juan "Manitas" Del Monte
• Mikey Madison – Anora as Anora "Ani" Mikheeva
• Demi Moore – The Substance as Elisabeth Sparkle
• Fernanda Torres – I'm Still Here as Eunice Paiva 

Best Actor:

• Adrien Brody – The Brutalist as László Tóth
• Timothée Chalamet – A Complete Unknown as Bob Dylan
• Colman Domingo – Sing Sing as John "Divine G" Whitfield
• Ralph Fiennes – Conclave as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence
• Sebastian Stan – The Apprentice as Donald Trump 

Best Director:

• Sean Baker – Anora
• Brady Corbet – The Brutalist
• James Mangold – A Complete Unknown
• Jacques Audiard – Emilia Pérez
• Coralie Fargeat – The Substance 

Other media mentioned in this episode include:

• Curb Your Enthusiasm
• Seinfeld
• Conclave by Robert Harris
• Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
• Succession
• The Onion: A Knives Out Mystery directed by Rian Johnson
• Fight Club directed by David Fincher
• The Wizard of Oz directed by Victor Fleming
• The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
• Ferrari directed by Michael Mann
• Oppenheimer directed by Christopher Nolan
• Schindler's List directed by Stephen Spielberg
• Grand Budapest Hotel directed by Wes Anderson
• The English Patient directed by Anthony Minghella
• Walk the Line directed by James Mangold
• Logan directed by James Mangold

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Today is the third of a five episode preview of the 97th Academy Awards where I will be breaking down each and every category throughout the week. Today I am joined by Brandon MacMurray from the Short Stick Films website to break down Best Animated Short Film, Best Live Action Short Film, and Best Documentary Short Film. I've listed the nominees below along with a few other films mentioned throughout the episode.

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get all the preview episodes this week, and head over to my Substack to submit your guesses for my annual Oscar prediction contest.

The nominees for each category are listed below.

Best Animated Short Film:

• “Beautiful Men”
• “In the Shadow of the Cypress”
• “Magic Candies”
• “Wander to Wonder”
• “Yuck!”

Best Live Action Short Film:

• “A Lien”
• “Anuja”
• “I'm Not a Robot”
• “The Last Ranger”
• “The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent”

Best Documentary Short Film:

• “Death by Numbers”
• “I Am Ready, Warden”
• “Incident”
• “Instruments of a Beating Heart”
• “The Only Girl in the Orchestra”

Other films mentioned in this episode include:

• "Ice Merchants" directed by João Gonzalez
• "An Almost Christmas Story" directed by David Lowery
• Anora directed by Sean Baker
• Dune: Part Two directed by Denis Villeneuve
• Nickel Boys directed by RaMell Ross

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Today is the second of a five episode preview of the 97th Academy Awards where I will be breaking down each and every category throughout the week. Today I am joined by Enrico Banson from the Director's Notes newsletter to break down Best Animated Feature, Best International Feature, Best Documentary Feature, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song. I've listed the nominees below along with a few other films mentioned throughout the episode.

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get all the preview episodes this week, and head over to my Substack to submit your guesses for my annual Oscar prediction contest.

The nominees for each category are listed below.

Best Animated Feature:

• Flow
• Inside Out 2
• Memoir of a Snail
• Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
• The Wild Robot

Best International Feature:

• Emilia Pérez (France)
• Flow (Latvia)
• The Girl with the Needle (Denmark)
• I'm Still Here (Brazil)
• The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Germany)

Best Documentary Feature:

• Black Box Diaries 
• No Other Land
• Porcelain War
• Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat
• Sugarcane

Best Original Score:

• The Brutalist
• Conclave
• Emilia Pérez
• Wicked
• The Wild Robot

Best Original Song:

• "El Mal" from Emilia Pérez
• "The Journey" from The Six Triple Eight
• "Like a Bird" from Sing Sing 
• "Mi Camino" from Emilia Pérez 
• "Never Too Late" from Elton John: Never Too Late 

Other films mentioned in this episode include:

• "Incident" directed by Bill Morrison
• 20 Days in Mariupol directed by Mstyslav Chernov
• The Eternal Memory directed by Maite Alberdi
• Navalny directed by Daniel Roher
• Summer of Soul directed by Ahmir-Khalib Thompson
• My Octopus Teacher directed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed
• Will & Harper directed by Josh Greenbaum
• Piece by Piece directed by Morgan Neville
• Flee directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen
• The Remarkable Life of Ibelin directed by Benjamin Ree
• "The Last Repair Shop" directed by Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers
• The Last Showgirl directed by Gia Coppola
• Armageddon directed by Michael Bay
• The Lion King directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff
• Rocket Man directed by Dexter Fletcher
• Coco directed by Lee Unkrich
• Encanto directed by Byron Howard and Jared Bush
• Aladdin directed by John Musker and Ron Clements

Other media mentioned in this episode include:

• "Never My Love" performed by The Association
• "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Diane Warren, performed by Aerosmith
• "How Do I Live" by Diane Warren, performed by LeAnn Rimes
• "Remember Me" by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez
• "We Don't Talk About Bruno" by Lin-Manuel Miranda
• "Dos Oruguitas" by Lin-Manuel Miranda
• "A Whole New World" by Alan Menken and Tim Rice

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Today's is the first of a five episode preview of the 97th Academy Awards where I will be breaking down each and every category throughout the week. Today I am joined by Joanne Thornborough from the Pop! Goes My Brain newsletter to break down all of the technical categories. I've listed the nominees below along with a few other films mentioned throughout the episode.

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get all the preview episodes this week, and head over to my Substack to submit your guesses for my annual Oscar prediction contest.

The nominees for each category are listed below.

Best Sound:

• A Complete Unknown
• Dune: Part Two
• Emilia Pérez
• Wicked
• The Wild Robot

Best Production Design:

• The Brutalist
• Conclave
• Dune: Part Two
• Nosferatu
• Wicked

Best Cinematography:

• The Brutalist
• Dune: Part Two
• Emilia Pérez
• Maria
• Nosferatu

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:

• A Different Man
• Emilia Pérez
• Nosferatu
• The Substance
• Wicked

Best Costume Design:

• A Complete Unknown
• Conclave
• Gladiator II
• Nosferatu
• Wicked

Best Film Editing:

• Anora
• The Brutalist
• Conclave
• Emilia Pérez
• Wicked

Best Visual Effects:

• Alien: Romulus
• Better Man
• Dune: Part Two
• Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
• Wicked

Other films mentioned in this episode include:

• The Sound of Music directed by Robert Wise
• Ben-Hur directed by William Wyler
• Gone With the Wind directed by Victor Fleming

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