The lineup has been set for Contenders Film: Los Angeles, Deadline’s signature movie awards-season event. The showcase, which will take place Saturday, November 16 in Hollywood at the DGA Theater, features a star-studded lineup of actors and filmmakers behind 21 Oscar-hopeful films that have premiered this year, many first seen at festivals like Sundance, Cannes, Venice, Telluride and Toronto.
Deadline’s Contenders is an opportunity, as always, as a one-stop shop for awards voters to experience the story of acclaimed films up close and personal, highlighting what has brought the stars and creatives and their movies to this moment. The all-day event begins with a breakfast at 7:30 a.m. before panels start at 8:30 a.m.
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From the Sundance Film Festival in January the spotlight will be on Magnolia Pictures’ Thelma, with the remarkable 95-year-old star June Squibb on hand with her film. Also from Sundance is Saoirse Ronan and her sensational performance in Sony Pictures Classics’ The Outrun (she will also be joining the Contenders panel for Apple TV Originals’ Steve McQueen drama Blitz), as well as team behind Amazon MGM Studios’ breakout hit My Old Ass.
From the spring, Contenders will be highlighting Luca Guadagnino’s sexy Amazon MGM tennis tale Challengers, as well as Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two from Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures. Both directors are among those who will be on hand. From May’s Cannes Film Festival, Sean Baker and the ensemble cast of Neon’s Palme d’Or-winning film Anora are joining us onstage, as will Kevin Costner, star and director of his and Territory Pictures’ epic Western Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1, which also had its world premiere in the south of France.
From the Venice Film Festival in early September, Contenders will offer some extraordinary stars and filmmakers who premiered their latest there. Chief among them are Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, so brilliant in Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door, which took the festival’s top prize the Golden Lion; all three will be on our stage today to discuss the Sony Classics film. Also from SPC, the great Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here will be featured with its director and star Fernanda Torres in attendance. In addition, we have Falling Forward’s The Day of the Fight, with stars Michael C. Pitt and Nicolette Robinson joining writer-director Jack Huston for a conversation.
From Telluride’s prestigious film festival comes writer-director Jason Reitman with his Columbia Pictures comedy Saturday Night; he will be on hand with Grammy- and Oscar-winning composer Jon Batiste, who also plays Billy Preston in the film that depicts the frantic 90 minutes before the 1975 debut of the very first SNL broadcast. Also coming from a Telluride debut: Robbie Williams will join to discuss his Paramount biopic Better Man, as will co-writer and director RaMell Ross with his much praised Nickel Boys from Orion Pictures and Amazon MGM.
From the Toronto Film Festival, expect to see talent including star Pamela Anderson, director Gia Coppola and composer Andrew Wyatt in Roadside Attractions’ The Last Showgirl; Ryan Destiny and Brian Tyree Henry along with director Rachel Morrison of Amazon MGM’s The Fire Inside; Lupita Nyong’o, Mark Hamill and Kris Bowers from DreamWorks Animation’s hit The Wild Robot; Marianne Jean-Baptiste, a major lead actress contender, in the devastating Hard Truths from Bleecker Street and StudioCanal; and Oscar-winning director William Goldenberg along with stars Jennifer Lopez, Jharrel Jerome and the real-life people they play in Amazon MGM’s emotional true-story wrestling drama Unstoppable. Horror fans will also be happy to see Nicolas Cage, who will be appearing on behalf of Neon’s hit chiller Longlegs.
Also on the Contenders dance card is GVN Releasing’s The Performance, with star and producer Jeremy Piven, writer-director Shira Piven and writer/executive producer Joshua Salzberg set for a panel.
The presenting sponsor for this year’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles is United for Business. Sponsors are Eyeptizer Eyewear, Final Draft + ScreenCraft, and partners are Four Seasons Maui, 11 Ravens and Robina Benson Design House.
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