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Watch a radiant Hattie McDaniel accept her Oscar at a segregated Academy Awards ceremony
10.24.2013
02:01 pm
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Hattie McDaniel and Fay Bainter
Hattie McDaniel and Fay Bainter
 
Ah, award shows! Those infamously schlocky and monumentally affected parades of self-congratulation! Often we’re left wondering how such talented actors can come across so plastic on stage, but Hattie McDaniel’s acceptance speech for her 1939 role of “Mammy” in Gone with the Wind is truly moving.

Gossip columnist Louella Parsons wrote:

“Hattie McDaniel earned that gold Oscar by her fine performance of ‘Mammy’ in Gone with the Wind. If you had seen her face when she walked up to the platform and took the gold trophy, you would have had the choke in your voice that all of us had when Hattie, hair trimmed with gardenias, face alight, and dress up to the queen’s taste, accepted the honor in one of the finest speeches ever given on the Academy floor.

McDaniel, of course, won for playing a maid—one of the only roles a black woman could get at the time. And while her most famous scene may be cinching up Scarlett O’Hara’s bodice, the night promised a moment of recognition for her amazing performance. The heartfelt words of a groundbreaking actress are only half the story, though.

When Gone with the Wind premiered in Atlanta in 1939, all of the black actors were barred from attending. Producer David O. Selznick asked that an exception be made for Hattie McDaniel, but MGM advised him not to because of Georgia’s segregation laws. Clark Gable threatened to boycott the Atlanta premiere unless McDaniel was permitted to attend, but McDaniel herself convinced him to go.
 

 
There is a cut between Fay Bainter’s presentation of the award and McDaniel’s acceptance; this was the part where she had to walk up to the podium from her segregated table in the back: Even in Los Angeles, McDaniel and her date were required to sit at a segregated table for two, apart from her Gone with the Wind colleagues. Regardless, she delivers one of the most poignant speeches in Oscar history. In 2006, she was depicted on a United States postage stamp, wearing the dress and gardenias from that historic night.
 

Posted by Amber Frost
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10.24.2013
02:01 pm
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For Your Consideration: Women Directors not included in this year’s Oscars

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In eighty-four years of the Academy Awards, only 4 women (Lina Wertmüller, Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola and Kathryn Bigelow), have been nominated for a Best Directing Oscar.

Only 1 has won - Kathryn Bigelow in 2011.

Should we be surprised by this when:

The voting population of the Academy is 94% White, 77% Male and 62 is the average age.

Here then, for your consideration are some of the Women Directors Missing from this year’s Oscars.
 

 
With thanks to Kate Muir
 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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02.26.2012
12:07 pm
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If 2012 Oscar nominated film posters told the truth

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If these were the movie posters, would you still go and see the film?

Find more here.
 
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A few more samples, after the jump…
 

READ ON
Posted by Paul Gallagher
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01.25.2012
11:14 am
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Bastien Dubois’s Oscar-transcending animated short ‘Madagascar - A Journey Diary’
02.27.2011
09:17 pm
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Although it’s a touch more interesting than most awards shows, we tend to treat the Oscars as little more than a gossip source, fashion show, or fun subject for betting pools.

With that said, there are gratifying aspects about the awards themselves, including the fact that French filmmaker Bastien Dubois‘s gorgeous and surreal Madagascar - Carnet de Voyage was nominated for Best Animated Short Film.

It lost, but that takes nothing away from this meditation on mortality on the intriguing African island nation. It’s a dizzying yet coherent display of what seems like a dozen different animation and mixed-media styles. Check it out.
 

 

Posted by Ron Nachmann
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02.27.2011
09:17 pm
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