That is a long title. My apologies. After all the awards handed out. After I got slammed with so many screeners during awards season that I actually wonder if I actually can catch up, the Oscar’s are Sunday. Descriptive Video Works is providing live audio description for those who watch on ABC. I know the intent is to pump it through to their streamers as well, but I don’t trust Hulu for anything audio description related, and Disney Plus still has no audio description for Oscar Nominees Sugar Cane and Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes.
When it was first announced at Cannes, The Substance seemed like a “no way in hell’ critics darling. Sing Sing had been a lock for Best Picture since debuting at Toronto in 2023. Dune PArt II was the front runner. Best film of the year. or, was that Challengers? Luca Guadagnino’s tennis film managed ultimately no nominations, despite having so many other nods along the way. Before the festivals, we had a strong feeling Apple would get Blitz into the Oscar’s, and everyone was looking forward to Samuel L Jackson getting his second Oscar nomination for The Piano Lesson. remember when Denzel Washington also seemed like a sure fire thing for Supporting Actor? Then, people started to see the movies. Oscar campaigns launched. Angelina Jolie fell from her guaranteed status, and watched her film get a Cinematography nomination. All of this, and the most nominated film of the year is the most divisive Best Picture nominee of the 21st century. Emilia Perez seemed like the kind of film that would be attacked from the outside, but then there came questions about the representation from both the trans community, and also the Latinx community. That led to a late stage surge and surprise Best Picture nomination for I’m Still Here, a much better Latinx film, with a lead actress who could steal her category.
There’s been talk of the AI used in The Brutalist. It is a moot point for blind audiences, since the few lines spoken are dubbed for us in the audio description. Despite Oscars of years past having an aversion to movies focused on sex workers, we might have a Best Picture winner that is centered around one. or, we could give the Oscar to a movie that educates the public on the selection process of the pope, at a time when the pope is extremely ill. A body horror movie is in the Best Picture race. A film shot in first person perspective is in the Best picture race. For the first time, two international nominees are in the category, that are both nominated in International Feature (last year, Anatomy Of A fall was not submitted by France).
And, in the international race, we have an Iranian film from a German director. we have a Mexican film submitted from France. There’s an animated film from Latvia.
Four of the five nominees for best director are first time nominees in that category. Sebastian Stan, Demi Moore, Guy Pearce, and Isabella Rossellini are among the first time nominees who have been gunning for a nomination for years. We have a competition between two actors who both won Emmy awards for playing brothers on Succession, with Kieran Culkin against Jeremy Strong. And, with Zoe Saldana favorited to win for Emilia Perez, and categories often presented by the winner from the opposite gender of the previous year, we should get Iron Man handing Gamora an Oscar.
But, after all of this, did blind people win? Well, all ten best Picture nominees, including the two international features, have audio description. Every Director, Acting, Writing, and below the line tech nomination has audio description. This year, we will have a visual effects winner with audio description. And while we are almost guaranteed to have an international Feature winner with audio description, we are equally guaranteed to not have one in Documentary. Only one of the five has actively available audio description and no one is predicting it to win. Sugar cane does have a track, it just isn’t uploaded to Disney Plus/Hulu. The remaining three have no known audio description, and English is not the primary language. In Animated Feature, we do have a big problem. The Wild Robot or Flow? Flow is the only nominee in the category without audio description, and the only potential upset for the wildly popular The Wild Robot.
I’m predicting Wild Robot over Flow, but we most definitely will lose the Documentary category, to a film that is truly deserving but lacks audio description. Documentary Short does have some contenders with audio description, like I Am Ready Warden and The Only Girl In The Orchestra, but I’m unaware of the live action short, or animated short categories.
So, I’m predicting that blind and low vision people are losing at least one Oscar this year. Hopefully, no more than that.