«Let’s start with my memories. I think I released three films of Woody Allen, and it was a real treat to work on his films. I do remember meeting with him at the Ritz and saying, «Did you know that your film your previous film «Alice» did more box office wise in France than in the States, and also more in France than in the rest of the world?» And I still can remember the music of his answer, – «Oh really?» And yeah, he didn’t know that France was such a dear audience for him. He is not very supported by the American community and the American voters in the Academy. Of course, the trajectory of his career interfered with the judgments of the Academy. Therefore, in some cases, I don’t follow the recommendation of the Oscars. For some reason, the Academy tends to award special performances as over the top. For instance, if Robert de Nero plays the boxer in the «Raging Bull» and he puts on a lot of weight and starts working on boxing, then his «Oscar» is well deserved, but it’s a kind of a caricatural thing. Antony Hopkins’ performance in the film «The Remains of the Day», which I handled also, was so subtle and amazing, – I can’t remember if he won an Oscar for that, – all I’m saying is it’s going to be hard for the voters to give an award to Antony Hopkins in that one rather than the performance when someone plays the lead singer of Queen or Elton John.

As a viewer… I’d prefer to go watch the film that someone has made whose films I love. I would rather tend to say someone like Anthony Hopkins cannot go wrong, anything he will do, or any other specific director whose films you expect the same level of quality film after film, like Woody Allen, etc.

While talking about the Oscars it's important to pay attention to the skills of good choices done by the producers or project developers. To give a pretty good example – in Harvey Weinstein's win days, something we can’t take from him is his sense of flare for spotting films that can go up to the Oscars.

Modern success is the consequence of very smart marketing so it's a long story of mastering the arcades of the media and the influence that you can get and of course, it's important to have a big Network and know who is in it.

Thank you so long and you, go for the Oscars.»

Bruno Chatelin

A voting member of the European Film Academy, Cesar and Lumières Academy,

Filmfestivals.com Co-Founder/Editor,

the former Marketing Director for Columbia TriStar Films, and founding Managing Director of the JVC between Twentieth Century Fox and the French major UGC