Two of the nine movies nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture got their first public screenings this time last year at the Sundance Film Festival.
Director Luca Guadagnino’s “Call Me by Your Name,” recounting a teen’s first romance during an Italian summer, premiered to rave reviews in Park City last year and earned four nominations Tuesday. And Jordan Peele’s racially charged horror thriller “Get Out,” which also snagged four nominations, was shown at Sundance in a “secret” sneak preview.
“Call Me by Your Name” received nominations for Best Picture, actor in a leading role for Timothée Chalamet, adapted screenplay for James Ivory, and original song for Sufjan Stevens’ “Mystery of Love.”
“Get Out” received nominations for Best Picture, directing and original screenplay for Peele, and a lead-actor nod for Daniel Kaluuya.
The other big multiple nominee that premiered at Sundance last year is the 1940s race-division drama “Mudbound.” It received nominations for Virgil Williams and Dee Rees’ adapted screenplay, Mary J. Blige’s supporting performance, the original song “Mighty River” (sung by Blige), and Rachel Morrison’s cinematography.
Morrison’s nomination is historic because it’s the first time a woman has been nominated in the cinematography category.
“While it’s hard to believe that this ceiling has taken so long to break, I am absolutely humbled and thrilled to receive this great honor,” Morrison said in a statement. “I hope this nomination serves to encourage more women to throw a camera over their shoulder or to follow their dream no matter how distant it might appear.”
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The "Culture Shift" panel at Sundance Film Festival, discusses where artists and storytellers can change the culture at large which included actress Octavia Spencer ("Hidden Figures"), during the discussion at the Egyptian Theater in Park City on Friday, Jan. 19, 2018.
Morrison is serving on the U.S. Dramatic competition jury at this year’s Sundance — alongside Octavia Spencer, who was nominated for her supporting performance in Guillermo Del Toro’s “The Shape of Water.”
“My heart is bursting with pure elation for the cast and crew of ‘The Shape of Water,’” Spencer said in a statement. “Guillermo has given us all a dream job and to be recognized by the Academy is so deeply moving. I am jumping for joy from Park City for all of the nominees this morning! Congratulations everyone.”
A third U.S. Dramatic juror, actor Michael Stuhlbarg, has the rare distinction of appearing in three Best Picture nominees: “Call Me by Your Name,” “The Post” and “The Shape of Water.”
The romantic comedy “The Big Sick,” which got a rave reaction when it premiered at Sundance, received an original-screenplay nomination for Kumail Nanjiani (who starred) and his wife, Emily V. Gordon. The movie is a fictionalized version of Nanjiani and Gordon’s up-and-down early courtship.
Three of the nominees in the documentary feature category premiered at Sundance: the sports-doping exposé “Icarus,” the Syria documentary “Last Men in Aleppo” and the true-crime exploration “Strong Island.”
