The decade of crazy award season schedules continues. After two years of COVID-related delays and virtual ceremonies, 2023 finally felt somewhat back to normal. Now, the long WGA and SAG strikes are affecting the 2024 calendar even after the former came to an end over a month ago.
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Today, the Writer’s Guild announced the 2024 WGA Awards will move to Sunday, April 14. That’s over a month after the 96th Academy Awards on March 10. In fact, nominations won’t be announced until Wed. Feb 21, almost a month after the Oscar nominations are revealed. Considering so many Oscar nominees are often not WGA eligible, perhaps it’s all for the best.
This year, Academy Award screenplay contenders such as “Poor Things,” “The Zone of Interest,” “All of Us Strangers,” “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Asteroid City,” “Perfect Days,” and “The Taste of Things” are not WGA Awards eligible.
The question now is whether the SAG Awards will join the WGA Awards and the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards is moving further down the calendar. SAG Award voting is currently scheduled to begin on Dec. 4 but due to the ongoing strike there have been no nominating committees selected or, obviously, official SAG screenings. The SAG Awards nominations were meant to be revealed on Jan. 10 and the ceremony was scheduled to stream live on Netflix on Feb. 24. Even if the SAG strike ends in the next week or so, it’s unclear if the guild can stick to that same timeline. That may mean the only real industry precursors for the Oscars will be the PGA Awards and the BAFTA Awards. And, frankly, that might be sort of fun as the nominations and winners are full of surprises.
In other news, the 2024 Sundance Film Festival revealed its honorees for the Opening Night Gala: Celebrating 40 Years. Christopher Nolan will receive the inaugural Sundance Institute Trailblazer Award. Nolan’s “Memento” premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. It earned the Festival’s Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award before landing an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay the following year. Nolan is hoping to land his first Oscar win this March for “Oppenheimer.”
Additionally, Celine Song and Maite Alberdi will each receive a 2024 Vanguard Award. Their films “Past Lives” and “The Eternal Memory” premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival this past January and are Oscar contenders for Best Picture and Documentary Feature, respectively.
In a statement, Joana Vicente, Sundance Institute CEO noted, “As we step into the 40th edition of the Sundance Film Festival, it is a distinct honor to recognize Christopher Nolan, a prodigious artist whose singular talent and remarkable body of work have made him one of the most respected filmmakers of our time. We are looking forward to spotlighting the unique voices of both Celine and Maite, storytellers we have been supporting and deeply believe in. All three of these storytellers represent Sundance’s values. From the Festival to our year-round programs, it is artists that have and always will be at the very core of what we do. We look forward to our guests joining us at the Opening Night Gala and, in turn, enabling us to continue championing independent storytellers and their art that adds great value to our culture.”
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival runs from Jan 18 to Jan 28, 2024.