The American Film Institute’s annual lunch, which celebrates this year’s ten best films and television programs took place on Thursday after a month-long delay due to Los Angeles Wildfires, which served as a kickoff for a started award season that has been dormant when it comes to events but but Far from resting when it comes to news.
And although there was no direct conversation about the controversy that has swung the award season during the past week, the AFI Awards lunch may be the beginning of a sad last month for “Emilia Pérez”, the movie that seemed to be an Oscar best picture Frontrunner until The disclosure of former racist and anti-Muslim tweets from star Kara Sofía Gascón threatened to destroy her campaign.
Or it could be the beginning of a comeback for the Netflix movie, represented at lunch by director Jacques Audiard, stars Zoe Saldaña, Edgar Ramirez and Adriana Paz and composers/songwriter Clément Ducol and Camille. People associated with the film had a kind of mantra: “There is still a lot of affection for this movie. There is time left to turn things around. “
However, the director of another film in fighting shook his head as he thought of the lock of social media campaigns not only against Gascón and her film, but also about things like the use of AI in “The brutalist.”
“It’s like being inside a horn nest,” he said. “When you make a movie that you hope will entertain people, you don’t think about things like this happens.”
With the Oscar vote that started in less than a week, February 11 and ends just 7 days later February 18, the time for turns is in fact somewhat limited. But “Emilia Pérez” got a nice applause when it was named one of AFI’s 10 best films in 2024, and even greater cheer after a movie clip that lit Saldaña but also included some pictures of Gascón.
The reception was mainly on a par with them for “Anora”, “a complete unknown”, “Conclave”, “Dune: Part two” and most of the other films on AFI’s top 10, all of which were received warmly in a room whose 25 tables included one for each of the ten top films, one for each of the 10 TV programs and one for “Baby Reindeer”, which received a special award because it was not eligible for the usual AFI awards, that are reserved for US productions.
For a while it seemed as if the biggest reception would go to the two films that It wasn’t Nominated for the best image Oscar, Jesse Eisenberg’s “A Real Pain” and Greg Kwedar’s “Sing Sing”, both of which got arousing ovations after their very well chosen clips.
But then AFI ended the award part of the afternoon by playing a hefty piece of showstopping song “Defying Gravity” which acts as the climax to “Wicked”, which did what it was built to make and brought the house down.
The AFI Awards lunch is still not about attaching an applause meter to the clips and using it to take the dimensions of the awards ceremony. It was designed as a collegiate event, everything about celebration rather than competition. “I don’t know if anyone told you, but you won,” said AFI President and CEO Bob Gazale in his introduction. “There are no envelopes, there are no numbers, there is no sweat.”
There was also a lot of mix before and after the presentation: Jesse Eisenberg and Ralph Fiennes here, Zoe Saldana and Kristen Bell over there, Adrien Brody and Jason sail on one side of the room, “Nickel Boys”, Jeremy Kleiner and Dede, Gardner with “Conclave “director Edward Berger on another page, and everyone with the magician” Wicked “, Jeff Goldblum, brilliant in striped orange jacket and shades.
In a room filled with stars, however, the person who got the most plauditer may have been the Los Angeles firefighter Timmy Larson, who got a seat in the room and a standing ovation when he was introduced.
There was also some feeling in an opening tribute to the sentenced David Lynch, a student in AFI’s first class and one of the most famous of his students. The presentation was opened with a video of him that eradicated the virtues at AFI winter garden and then said: “I love AFI.” The screen faded to black and then to a message from AFI: “We love you too, David, and will always do it.”
