One of the most predictable awards seasons in recent memory — but really, when are they ever not? — comes to a close this Sunday, March 10 with the 96th annual Academy Awards. “Oppenheimer” is set to clean up with expected big wins including Best Picture and Best Director, and you’d think that, as deserving as Da’Vine Joy Randolph is for her performance in “The Holdovers,” she was the only supporting actress of the year. (IndieWire Editor-at-Large Anne Thompson’s own final predictions are here.)
This week’s episode of “Screen Talk” marks the last episode of the year where we talk about Oscar nominees, as next week we will finally dive into the actual winners. Anne Thompson and Ryan Lattanzio review each category to make their final picks. There’s little to disagree on, though there are a few categories we go rogue on, including in the crafts and animated feature races. While “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” is expected to dominate the latter, why not put a little hope into the air and suggest something different might happen, namely in a surprise and long-deserved win for Hayao Miyazaki for “The Boy and the Heron”?
Then, to mix it up, we segue into an interview with Rajendra Roy, chief curator of film for the Museum of Modern Art in New York and a member of the selection committee for MoMa and Film at Lincoln Center’s upcoming New Directors/New Films. If you’re looking for post-Oscars counter-programming, here is your ticket, with a festival of films from up-and-coming filmmakers running April 3 through 14. Roy talks the selection process and highlights some of the gems in the lineup. He also serves on the executive committee for the international branch of the Academy, so we circle back to the Oscars for a question-and-answer session about what that entails, and how the Academy is helping shore up submissions committees in countries who don’t have them.
Watch the full episode above or listen to it below.
Screen Talk is produced by Azwan Badruzaman and available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify, and hosted by Megaphone. Browse previous episodes here, subscribe here, and be sure to let us know if you’d like to hear the hosts address specific issues in upcoming editions of Screen Talk.
