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While the 16th Best Picture winner - Casablanca - stands proudly as a bonafide classic, it isn't the only nominee of that year that stands the test of time as a genuine masterpiece. That honour also falls on William A. Wellman's undervalued social drama, The Ox-Bow Incident . At a tight 75 minutes long, The Ox-Bow Incident manages to deliver a stunning thriller that leaves the three hour bloated e...

Lakesedge is the debut novel from Australian author Lyndall Clipstone, and it's a great one. Steeped in gothic romance and fantasy, Lakesedge tells the story of Leta, a girl who finds herself inexplicably drawn to the Lord Under, a sinister death god lurking in the black waters of the lake . Powerful, immersive, and superbly written, Lakesedge will entrance readers with a deep mystery that will le...

Every so often the Academy Awards get it right, and for the 16th Best Picture winner they chose one of the greatest films ever made: Michael Curtiz's Casablanca . Featuring outstanding performances from Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Raines, and more, this film is film that has had more words written about it than many others. Co-hosts Dave and Andrew dig in deep with Casablanca , seeking...

James Cagney danced and sung his way to a Best Actor Oscar for Michael Curtiz's Best Picture nominated film, Yankee Doodle Dandy . In this episode of Awards Don't Matter , both Andrew and Dave are genuinely surprised by the love they have for a film that has all of the faults of other films that were nominated in 1942, and that they've covered in the past. We also ask, will Lin Manuel Miranda get...

As we arrive at the 15th Best Picture winner, Mrs Miniver , we find ourselves in the depths of the cinematic output during World War Two. As such, the Academy Award winners during the era reflected an optimism or jingoism that was needed to drive people to support the war effort. William Wyler's film is one such winner, with Greer Garson taking the lead and winning the Best Actress award. Co-hosts...

We all have a creative entity within us, but how do we get to that path of creativity? In Roger Ungers documentary, Finding Creativity , he seeks to answer that question by interviewing various creative minds, like a glass blower, a chef, a musician, and more. And, stretching deeper into the well of creativity, Andrew interviews Roger about his creative process. Finding Creativity screens at the 6...

The Melbourne Documentary Film Festival is always home to a plethora of great and varied documentaries from around the globe. This year, the festival will host the deep and moving documentary, Batoor: A Refugee Journey by Walkely Award winning photojournalist, Barat Ali Batoor. Batoor: A Refugee Journey follows Batoor's path from Afghanistan through to Australia in search of safety and sanctuary....

We once again return to the world of Alfred Hitchcock's with the third of his Best Picture nominated films, Suspicion . Joan Fontaine won Best Actress for her performance as Lina, a young woman who falls for a suave and confident man named Johnnie, played with ultimate-comfort by Cary Grant. Dave defends his favourite Hitchcock, delving into the complexity of the narrative, the uncertainty of the...

The Melbourne Documentary Film Festival kicks off its in-person in-cinema screenings on July 21st through to July 31st at the Cinema Nova. Screening at this years fest is the film, Mental as Everything : Damon Smith has estimated that he has spent around 50 thousand hours of his life, so far, participating in absurd ritualistic behaviors associated with his obsessive Compulsive Disorder. With the...

We arrive at maybe the most notorious and contentious Best Picture winners... ever? John Ford's How Green Was My Valley which triumphed over the 'Best Film Ever', Orson Welles Citizen Kane . In a possibly strident, and yet no less passionate, defense of How Green Was My Valley , co-hosts Dave and Andrew discuss John Ford's enduring classic, encouraging modern viewers to embrace this film without t...

The Scandinavian Film Festival is fast approaching, and Andrew caught up with the Icelandic Film Centre's Festival Manager, Christof Wehimeier, to discuss all things Nordic with an interview that explores the importance of cultural representation on film, what exactly makes up a Scandinavian film, and the need for festivals like this. Head over to the festival website for more details, and keep up...

Perth's Revelation Film Festival has been partially delayed due to lockdowns, but that doesn't stop the films being talked about. Andrew catches up with local filmmaker Sharnya Yates to discuss her short film,  Choice , which screens alongside  Rebel Dykes . This is a powerful short film that deserves to be seen by all.  The plot is:  Nina is a caring, loving, but exhausted mum...

Charlie Chaplin is best known for his silent films, but quick in the minds of film lovers would be his iconic speech that concludes his Best Picture nominated film, The Great Dictator . Co-hosts of Awards Don't Matter sift through this powerful satire and assess how difficult it is to craft biting comedy that shakes its fists at the powerful. Find out in this episode whether Chaplin's maniacal dic...

Perth's Revelation Film Festival kicks off on July 1st and runs through til July 11th. Andrew caught up with festival programmer Richard Sowada to discuss how the festival has changed due to the ongoing pandemic, the impact of streaming services on film festivals, and more. Make sure to head along and check out some of the stellar films screening at this years festival, and if you can't head along...

The great Alfred Hitchcock never won a Best Director Oscar, and only received the prestige of winning Best Picture once in his career. Join co-hosts Dave and Andrew as they return to Manderlay and revisit the gothic romance that is Rebecca . Featuring stellar performances from Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier, this is a mystery you'll want to dive into. Subscribe via R S S Feed , Anchor.fm , App...

We take momentary leave from the 1930's and 1940's to move to the modern day, and look at the most recent Best Picture winner, the 93rd in fact: Chloé Zhao's Nomadland . Winning three awards, including Best Actress for Frances McDormand and Best Director for Chloé Zhao, Nomadland follows Fern (McDormand) as she navigates her nomad life in modern America, through the rising gig economy and the pres...

The deserving Best Picture winner of 1939, Ernst Lubitsch's masterful Ninotchka , gets a deep dive discussion in this episode as co-hosts Dave and Andrew swoon over Greta Garbo, laugh over her immaculate comedic timing, and fawn over the hilarious script co-written by the one and only Billy Wilder. Dig into this Russian/France rom-com and discover your new relationship litmus film. Please, go and...

Aussie author, screenwriter, and critic, Anthony O'Connor, has landed on the bookshelves of the nation with his debut novel, STRAYA , a post-apocalyptic look at the Australia of the future. I won't drop a synopsis here - you'll have to dig into the interview above for that, and much more, including what goes in to writing a sci-fi novel, the need to be genre agnostic, and how long it takes to actu...

Writer/Director JJ Winlove helms June Again , a powerful drama/comedy about a mother living with dementia, June (Noni Hazelhurst), who has a day of clarity and sets about restoring the fractures in her family. Her kids, Ginny (Claudia Karvan) and Devon (Stephen Curry), have stopped talking to one another, and it's up to June to bring them together once again. Andrew caught up with actor Stephen Cu...

A long epic Best Picture winner deserves a long epic discussion. It's Gone With the Wind time as Dave and Andrew tackle Victor Fleming's (and George Cukor and Sam Wood) 1939 'classic', tackling the themes of racism, love, Vivien Leigh's performance, and Clark Gable's attractiveness. It's a long, complex discussion, embracing film history, and the value of reflection. Dig on in. Read Angelica Jade...

'This is why I'm obsessed with movies' - Dave We reach a monumental moment in the history of the Academy Awards: the first film not in the English language to be nominated for Best Picture. This is Jean Renoir's masterpiece, Grand Illusion ( La Grande Illusion ). Nominated solely for Best Picture, this masterful film encompasses the war movement in 1914, following captive French soldiers and their...

We return to the world of Frank Capra with his second Best Picture winner, You Can't Take it With You . Co-hosts Dave and Andrew dig into this charming film, and as they do they uncover a Hollywood that wilfully steals from its own past to weave new stories . Full of delight and whimsy, this Best Picture winner features Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart and Edward Arnold. At the end, Da...

The first version of A Star is Born features the first ever Best Actress winner, Janet Gaynor, and Frederic March, and is directed by William A. Wellman, who collectively tell the tale of an actress on the rise, and an actor on his way down. It is a celebration of the rise and fall of greatness. Co-hosts Dave and Andrew leap into this slightly problematic tale, questioning its importance nowadays,...

Truth becomes fiction in William Dieterle's biopic of the famed French author, Emile Zola, in the 10th Best Picture winner, the creatively titled The Life of Emile Zola . With a narrative that embraces the heights of the Dreyfus Affair, while also taking in the divide between the impoverished and the wealthy, at the same time it critiques the military. In this episode of Awards Don't Matter , co-h...

Welcome to the episode where Dave says the fateful line, 'I outright refuse to ever watch (this) again'. Yep, it's Robert Z. Leonard's Best Picture winner, The Great Ziegfeld , where the charismatic William Powell misplaces his charm in a bloated epic as follies producer Florenz "Flo" Ziegfeld Jr., paired with the Best Actress winner Luise Rainer, and an extended cameo by Myrna Loy. This is a rath...