My 2014-2015 Oscar Predictions Part 1: The Outliers

Is it just me, or does this seem like a really tough year to pick from?  Well, lets give it a shot anyhow…
This will be the first of my 4 sets of predictions, as usual.

Part 1: The Outliers
This group is made up of the categories celebrating whole films which are not up for Best Picture.  These involve the shorts and the special full-length features.  These can usually be the toughest predictions to make, considering the films are not that well known.

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
Big Hero 6 (Walt Disney Pictures)
The Boxtrolls (Focus Features)
How to Train a Dragon 2 (DreamWorks Animation)
Song of the Sea (GKIDS)
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (GKIDS)

No Lego…. give me a second… (Sniff, sniff)… Okay, I’m back.  I think its down to Dragon and that Princess Kaguya film.  Since Dragon won the Annie award this year, I’m choosing that.

Prediction: How to Train Your Dragon 2

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FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Ida (Music Box Films), Poland, Pawel Pawlikowski
Leviathan (Sony Pictures Classics), Russia, Andrey Zvyagintsev
Tangerines, Estonia, Zaza Urushadze
Timbuktu (Cohen Media Group), Mauritania, Abderrahmane Sissako
Wild Tales (Sony Pictures Classics), Argentina, Damián Szifrón

The two I’ve heard most about are Ida and Leviathan.  Because leviathan is Russian, a sensitive issue right now, I think I’m going to guess Ida.

Prediction: Ida

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DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
Citizenfour (RADiUS-TWC)
Finding Vivian Maier (Sundance Selects)
Last Days in Vietnam (American Experience)
The Salt of the Earth (Sony Pictures Classics)
Virunga (Netflix)

Wouldn’t that be interesting if a Netflix film won, hey?  I will admit Virunga sounds interesting.  Honestly though, this category is a crapshoot.  I have no idea how they pick the winner.  Citizenfour may be a good pick as well.  Will Hollywood be too scared to acknowledge Netflix like this?  Well, they did with House of Cards so… ah the heck with it.  Virunga.

Prediction: Virunga

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DOCUMENTARY SHORT:
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 – Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry
Joanna – Aneta Kopacz
Our Curse – Tomasz Sliwinski and Maciej Slesicki
The Reaper (La Parka) – Gabriel Serra Arguello
White Earth – J. Christian Jensen

Crisis Hotline seems to be the front runner, as it touches a hot topic at the moment, only enhanced by the recent success of American Sniper.

Prediction: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1

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ANIMATED SHORT FILM:
The Bigger Picture – Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
The Dam Keeper – Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
Feast – Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed
Me and My Moulton – Torill Kove
A Single Life – Joris Oprins

The Disney backed film will win.

Prediction: Feast

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LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM:
Aya – Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis
Boogaloo and Graham – Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
Butter Lamp (La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak) – Hu Wei and Julien Féret
Parvaneh – Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
The Phone Call – Mat Kirkby and James Lucas

From my research it seems like Aya may be the pick, but I’m hearing great things about Butter Lamp, so I’m going to choose that as the surprise winner.

Prediction: Butter Lamp