Peeking at Oscar's Live-Action Shorts

The Wrap, 12.5.09
The Odds, Awards Coverage by By Steve Pond

Guessing what short films Academy voters might select used to involve little more than a shot in the dark. It's still a tricky business -- but with the Friday announcement of the live-action shortlist that narrowed the field to 10, at least we can get a look at a manageable field of contenders.

In recent years the voters have gone for black comedy (Martin McDonagh's "Six Shooter"), gritty reality (Andrea Arnold's "Wasp"), slick comedy (Ari Sandel's "East Bank Story") and Holocaust melodrama (Jochen Alexander Freydank's "Toyland"). This year's shortlisted films include most of those elements (but no Holocaust, thankfully); based on nothing but a smattering of information, a few trailers and some reviews, I'm thinking that "The Door" and "Miracle Fish" have strong shots this time around.

But let's face it, nobody really knows what they'll go for. Here are some trailers, photos and info to help slightly clarify a confusing picture:

-excerpted-
THE NEW TENANTS
Director: Joachim Back
Producer: Tivi Magnusson
Production company: Park Pictures
Country of origin: Denmark, USA
Language: English
Running time: 20 minutes
Description: Vincent D’Onofrio and Kevin Corrigan star in a comedy, shot in New York's Chelsea Hotel, in which two men suffer through a disastrous moving day and learn the strange history of their new apartment. Producer Tivi Magnusson was nominated last year in this category for “The Pig.” Also stars Jamie Harrold and Liane Balaban.

The 82nd Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.
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M & M FICTION ON OSCAR SHORTLIST
8 December 2009 | By Vicki Synnott

The Danish-American coproduction, "The New Tenants", a short fiction film directed by Joachim Back, is shortlisted for an Academy Award Nomination.

The original screenplay of "The New Tenants" is by Anders Thomas Jensen, the screen adaptation by David Rakoff. An Academy Award laureate himself, Jensen has received three Oscar nominations, one of them leading to a win for the short fiction "Election Night".

Synopsis: A prying neighbor, a glassy-eyed drug dealer, and a husband brandishing both a weapon and a vendetta, make up the welcome wagon in the darkly satirical short film "The New Tenants". Set amidst the as-yet-unopened boxes and the hopes for a fresh start of two men on what might just be the worst moving day ever, their new apartment reveals its terrifying history in a film that is by turns funny, frightening, and unexpectedly romantic.

"The New Tenants" is directed by Danish Joachim Back, currently living in New York. The film is produced by a team of five – Sam Bisbee, Tivi Magnusson, Erika Hampson, Christian Potalivo and Johanne Stryhn Hørby – for M&M Productions and Park Pictures.
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