Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.
Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:
Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys
2023 Oscars Predictions:
Best Original Screenplay Past Lives, from left: Teo Yoo, Greta Lee, John Magro, 2023. © A24 / Courtesy Everett Collection
Weekly Commentary: Following its victories at the Golden Globes for best screenplay and the BAFTA for original screenplay, it appears almost inevitable that “Anatomy of a Fall” will secure the Oscar for its co-writers,...
Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:
Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys
2023 Oscars Predictions:
Best Original Screenplay Past Lives, from left: Teo Yoo, Greta Lee, John Magro, 2023. © A24 / Courtesy Everett Collection
Weekly Commentary: Following its victories at the Golden Globes for best screenplay and the BAFTA for original screenplay, it appears almost inevitable that “Anatomy of a Fall” will secure the Oscar for its co-writers,...
- 3/7/2024
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Story Ave starring Luis Guzman grossed $9.85k in a limited opening at one theater, Quad Cinema, with multiple sold-out shows. The first feature from director Aristotle Torres, which won for Best Cinematography at SXSW (see Deadline review) expands to Chicago and the Bronx next week, followed by LA and additional markets October 13.
Guzman plays a no-nonsense subway operator who becomes an unlikely mentor to a teenager (Asante Blackk) caught up in the dangerous world of Bronx graffiti gangs. Written by Torres and Bonsu Thompson. Produced by Jamie Foxx.
In an overall market “that’s not exactly easy,” Story Ave pulled in a diverse crowd, said Kino’s director of theatrical distribution, Maxwell Wolkin. “You have to get creative, and find an angle, and find things that hit. And it’s not necessarily always what you expect, but this film is audience friendly, it’s got a real voice, it’s connecting with people.
Guzman plays a no-nonsense subway operator who becomes an unlikely mentor to a teenager (Asante Blackk) caught up in the dangerous world of Bronx graffiti gangs. Written by Torres and Bonsu Thompson. Produced by Jamie Foxx.
In an overall market “that’s not exactly easy,” Story Ave pulled in a diverse crowd, said Kino’s director of theatrical distribution, Maxwell Wolkin. “You have to get creative, and find an angle, and find things that hit. And it’s not necessarily always what you expect, but this film is audience friendly, it’s got a real voice, it’s connecting with people.
- 10/1/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
The drama from debut director Aristotle Torres was a prizewinner at SXSW.
Kino Lorber has acquired North American rights to SXSW prizewinner Story Ave, debut feature of music video director Aristotle Torres.
Kino Lorber is planning a theatrical release for the film in October, followed by a digital and home video release on all major platforms.
Starring Luis Guzmán and Asante Blackk, Story Ave won a Special Jury Award for Cinematography at SXSW for director of photography Eric Branco.
The drama centres on a South Bronx teen artist who escapes into the world of graffiti gangs after the death of...
Kino Lorber has acquired North American rights to SXSW prizewinner Story Ave, debut feature of music video director Aristotle Torres.
Kino Lorber is planning a theatrical release for the film in October, followed by a digital and home video release on all major platforms.
Starring Luis Guzmán and Asante Blackk, Story Ave won a Special Jury Award for Cinematography at SXSW for director of photography Eric Branco.
The drama centres on a South Bronx teen artist who escapes into the world of graffiti gangs after the death of...
- 5/25/2023
- by John Hazelton
- ScreenDaily
Kino Lorber has acquired North American rights to the indie drama Story Ave, starring Asante Blackk (This Is Us) and Luis Guzmán (Wednesday) — which we were first to report on — slating it for release in theaters in October, with a on digital and home video debut to follow.
Marking the feature debut of well-known music video director Aristotle Torres, the film tells the story of Kadir (Blackk), a South Bronx teen and gifted visual artist who loses his way following the death of his younger brother. Overcome with grief and struggling with school and family, he escapes into the creative yet dangerous world of graffiti gangs. To prove himself and join his neighborhood’s ruling gang, Kadir attempts to rob Mta conductor Luis (Guzmán) on the Story Ave subway platform, only to be caught off guard when Luis agrees to give Kadir the cash if he’ll sit down to a meal with him.
Marking the feature debut of well-known music video director Aristotle Torres, the film tells the story of Kadir (Blackk), a South Bronx teen and gifted visual artist who loses his way following the death of his younger brother. Overcome with grief and struggling with school and family, he escapes into the creative yet dangerous world of graffiti gangs. To prove himself and join his neighborhood’s ruling gang, Kadir attempts to rob Mta conductor Luis (Guzmán) on the Story Ave subway platform, only to be caught off guard when Luis agrees to give Kadir the cash if he’ll sit down to a meal with him.
- 5/25/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
During his early years of theater and indie film acting, Luiz Guzmán did a spell as a youth counselor in New York City. The actor with a grizzled countenance and a world-weary voice appears to have tapped into those memories for drama “Story Ave.” The actor brings an anchoring warmth to his portrayal of the Mta conductor who is held up by the unsure and anguished, but also infuriating, protagonist in Aristotle Torres’ affecting debut feature (co-written with Bonsu Thompson).
Asante Blackk — of “This Is Us” and “When They See Us” — is Kadir, a high-schooler and aspiring artist whose younger brother has just died. A post-funeral reception makes clear that he and his mother (along with her boyfriend) are not a comfort to each other in this time of grief. Kadir is bedeviled by vivid nightmares that seem to damn him for not having done something to save his brother,...
Asante Blackk — of “This Is Us” and “When They See Us” — is Kadir, a high-schooler and aspiring artist whose younger brother has just died. A post-funeral reception makes clear that he and his mother (along with her boyfriend) are not a comfort to each other in this time of grief. Kadir is bedeviled by vivid nightmares that seem to damn him for not having done something to save his brother,...
- 3/28/2023
- by Lisa Kennedy
- Variety Film + TV
Naming a young Black man’s story after a transport stop gives off strong Fruitvale vibes, but Aristotle Torres’ feature debut reaches back further to the hip-hop morality tales of the early ’90s, like Boaz Yakin’s Fresh or Ernest Dickerson’s Juice — the wave that immediately followed John Singleton’s influential Boyz n the Hood. Surprisingly, given Torres’ history of videos for the likes of Ludacris and Nas, the soundtrack is light on rap, using unexpected needle drops like Pavarotti’s version of “La Donna e Mobile” to score scenes of spray-can anarchy on the New York subway.
In all other ways, however, Story Ave is very much a ’hood movie, in the sense that its young protagonist is both constrained and defined by the place where he lives, in this case the Bronx. That person is Kadir (Asante Blackk), a talented young artist tormented by the recent death of his disabled little brother.
In all other ways, however, Story Ave is very much a ’hood movie, in the sense that its young protagonist is both constrained and defined by the place where he lives, in this case the Bronx. That person is Kadir (Asante Blackk), a talented young artist tormented by the recent death of his disabled little brother.
- 3/17/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
There’s a double meaning to the title of writer-director Aristotle Torres’ debut feature, Story Ave, that neatly sums up what this homegrown NYC coming-of-age drama is all about.
On the one hand, it refers to the fictitious Bronx subway station where its main character, a young and troubled graffiti artist named Kadir, has an encounter that will put him on either the right or wrong path for the future. On the other, it underlines the storybook quality of a movie that, although entrenched in certain socioeconomic realities, veers toward fantasy in some unexpected ways.
Torres, adapting with co-writer Bonsu Thompson from a short they made together in 2018, jumps back and forth between the two elements throughout Story Ave, which takes familiar tropes of the urban youth genre (gang violence, domestic troubles, peer pressure, guns and drugs) and, in its most memorable moments, turns them into something slightly magical. The...
On the one hand, it refers to the fictitious Bronx subway station where its main character, a young and troubled graffiti artist named Kadir, has an encounter that will put him on either the right or wrong path for the future. On the other, it underlines the storybook quality of a movie that, although entrenched in certain socioeconomic realities, veers toward fantasy in some unexpected ways.
Torres, adapting with co-writer Bonsu Thompson from a short they made together in 2018, jumps back and forth between the two elements throughout Story Ave, which takes familiar tropes of the urban youth genre (gang violence, domestic troubles, peer pressure, guns and drugs) and, in its most memorable moments, turns them into something slightly magical. The...
- 3/11/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Asante Blackk (When They See Us) and Luis Guzmán (Traffic) have been tapped as the leads for Aristotle Torres’ feature directorial debut Story Ave, for FirstGen Content and Jamie Foxx’s Foxxhole Productions. The film, which has wrapped production in New York, will also star Alex Hibbert (Moonlight), Melvin Gregg (Nine Perfect Strangers), Cassandra Freeman (Monsters and Men) and Coral Peña (For All Mankind).
Based on Torres’ 2018 short of the same name — which was, in turn, based on his life — Story Ave follows a teenage graffiti artist (Blackk) who, after running away from home, holds up an unsuspecting Mta worker (Guzmán) in a robbery gone right that changes their lives forever.
Story Ave is a FirstGen Content and Foxxhole Entertainment Production, in association with Mero Mero Production, The Space Program, and Dark Rabbit Productions. Torres developed the feature through the Sundance Director and Screenwriter Labs,...
Based on Torres’ 2018 short of the same name — which was, in turn, based on his life — Story Ave follows a teenage graffiti artist (Blackk) who, after running away from home, holds up an unsuspecting Mta worker (Guzmán) in a robbery gone right that changes their lives forever.
Story Ave is a FirstGen Content and Foxxhole Entertainment Production, in association with Mero Mero Production, The Space Program, and Dark Rabbit Productions. Torres developed the feature through the Sundance Director and Screenwriter Labs,...
- 8/24/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
As Amazon Prime Video’s premiere of sequel Coming 2 America ends decades’ worth of wait for fans of the 1988 Eddie Murphy comedy classic, Coming to America, it seemed as good a time as any to look back at the first attempt to capitalize on the franchise, the 1989 spinoff television pilot. Indeed, it’s an endeavor of which few fans are aware, and a fascinating failure during an era in which television was churning out cinematic-inspired sitcoms left and right.
Of course, the Coming to America movie was a resounding success, a widely-accessible romantic comedy that permeated pop culture in a manner evocative of the A-list heyday of star Eddie Murphy. The 1988 film, put in the stable hands of director John Landis, wrought $288 million worldwide box office success, which made the notion of a sequel seem inevitable, despite how long it would take. However, the property first became fodder for...
Of course, the Coming to America movie was a resounding success, a widely-accessible romantic comedy that permeated pop culture in a manner evocative of the A-list heyday of star Eddie Murphy. The 1988 film, put in the stable hands of director John Landis, wrought $288 million worldwide box office success, which made the notion of a sequel seem inevitable, despite how long it would take. However, the property first became fodder for...
- 3/4/2021
- by Joseph Baxter
- Den of Geek
The Sundance Institute has announced the projects that have been invited to the 2019 Directors and Screenwriters Labs. At the Directors Lab (May 27-June 18), filmmakers will rehearse, shoot, and edit key scenes from their scripts. The Screenwriters Lab (June 20-24) immediately follows and provides the opportunity for one-on-one story sessions with screenwriter advisors. The labs are overseen by Sundance’s Feature Film Program director Michelle Satter and Labs director Ilyse McKimmie.
Founded in 1981, the Sundance labs have been a launching pad for directors such as Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Miranda July, Dee Rees, Boots Riley, Ryan Coogler, and Marielle Heller, among other names. At this year’s Sundance Film Festival, breakout titles such as Joe Talbot’s “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” and Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell” were supported by the labs.
The 2019 Sundance Institute Directors Lab Projects and Fellows are:
“The American Society of Magical Negroes” (U.
Founded in 1981, the Sundance labs have been a launching pad for directors such as Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Miranda July, Dee Rees, Boots Riley, Ryan Coogler, and Marielle Heller, among other names. At this year’s Sundance Film Festival, breakout titles such as Joe Talbot’s “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” and Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell” were supported by the labs.
The 2019 Sundance Institute Directors Lab Projects and Fellows are:
“The American Society of Magical Negroes” (U.
- 5/10/2019
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
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