brownstein: montreal filmmaker joyce borenstein takes her oscar-voting duty seriously — very seriously
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montreal filmmaker joyce borenstein was an oscar nominee in 1993 for her short nfb animated documentary the colours of my father, a tribute to painter sam borenstein.
dave sidaway
/
montreal gazette
while many of us suffered through an exceptionally frigid february, montrealer joyce borenstein was able to escape to more temperate, faraway lands.
she ventured off to the moroccan desert, toured an observatory in chile and experienced the natural wonders of japan. she even managed to check out one of new york city’s most fabled nightspots to eavesdrop on a broadway legend.
oh, and the escapes cost borenstein nothing. she never left home. her mode of transport was a digital screening room accessible via her home screens.
borenstein, a former oscar nominee for her short nfb animated documentary the colours of my father, is a newly minted member of the academy of motion picture arts and sciences (ampas). as such, she was given access to every film nominated in all 24 academy award categories. dutifully, she spent 69 hours scoping out every single one.
she was then able to deduce which films stood out most for her and voted on her faves.
“this had to be one of my best winter escapes ever,” borenstein marvels. “and no complaints about the price, either.”
because her membership comes courtesy of being on the ampas animation board, she was only obliged to screen the short and feature-length animated offerings.
“i have very broad tastes, so i felt it necessary to watch all the movies nominated, then cast my vote on them. although i tend to draw the line at horror, i’ll still watch them.”
sitting in her downtown apartment’s living room, she is surrounded by the mesmerizing colours of her late famed father sam borenstein’s paintings — the focus of her academy award-nominated doc.
filmmaker joyce borenstein is surrounded by the paintings of her late father, sam borenstein, in her downtown montreal apartment.
dave sidaway
/
montreal gazette
she credits several oscar nominees from this year’s batch for transporting her on an unforgettable odyssey: the drama sirāt for bringing her to the sahara desert, the short doc perfectly a strangeness for landing her in chile, and the animated feature little amélie or the character of rain for allowing her to take in the natural splendours of japan.
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as for her visit back in time to new york city’s legendary sardi’s, it emanated from blue moon, her favourite film of 2025, which garnered oscar noms for best original screenplay and best actor for ethan hawke.
“i am a fly on the wall at sardi’s, new york city 1943, witnessing the heart-wrenching final days of lorenz hart, the lyricist of rodgers and hart, the broadway musical team,” borenstein notes. “this movie is magical.”
borenstein now hopes to touch base with hawke and blue moon director richard linklater in person and tell them how much she relished their work. she will be leaving the physical confines of her apartment this time and heading to hollywood to take in sunday’s 98th academy awards gala, hosted by conan o’brien, at the dolby theatre.
“then i’ll go to the after-parties, so i can really stargaze,” she quips.
as a new member of the academy of motion picture arts and sciences, montreal filmmaker joyce borenstein will be heading to hollywood to take in sunday’s 98th academy awards gala.
dave sidaway
/
montreal gazette
this marks borenstein’s second trip to the oscars. while her first visit in 1993 didn’t result in her capturing the gilded statuette, it did land her on the red carpet at the dorothy chandler pavilion, where she mingled with the likes of denzel washington (malcolm x), catherine deneuve (indochine), al pacino (best-actor winner for scent of a woman), sophia loren and federico fellini (presented with an honorary oscar for lifetime achievement).
“i didn’t actually talk to deneuve, but my sister, who accompanied me to the show, came to her rescue in the washroom after deneuve asked for help in buttoning her dress,” says borenstein, a retired professor of animation at concordia university’s fine arts faculty and at uqam, and a recipient of the 2012 queen’s diamond jubilee medal.
“yes, seeing those actors in person reduced them from godlike figures on the giant silver screen to fellow human beings of life-size proportions.”
regardless of the outcome, she took solace in the chocolate oscar presented to her on her flight back home, during which air canada had arranged for a surprise screening of the colours of my father.
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“even though i didn’t win the oscar, i returned home with my imagination bubbling, totally inspired, and with a chocolate oscar, which i slowly savoured as i recalled my moments of fame.”
filmmaker joyce borenstein is surrounded by memorabilia and paintings from her late father, sam borenstein, in her downtown montreal apartment.
dave sidaway
/
montreal gazette
borenstein feels the academy has evolved of late, noting its diversification in adding members across gender and race lines as well as in focusing more on international cinema.
“it’s relatively new that the academy is opening up to feature films from around the world. it used to be primarily localized on north american productions and mostly english speaking. now foreign films like brazil’s the secret agent and norway’s sentimental value are being included not just in the best international film category, but also in the overall best film category.”
with the oscar voting officially closed, borenstein is permitted to say which films she voted for in the different categories.
her choice for best film was the much-underrated train dreams: “so beautifully lyrical and quiet. … i want to help promote such poetic, gentle films.”
her pick for best international feature went to spain’s sirāt: “a father’s quest to find his lost daughter at raves in the sahara desert.”
no surprise, she opted for blue moon’s hawke for best actor: “he was exquisite and, against his usual type, got into his hart character, an awkward little man who just didn’t fit in society.”
as for surprise, she selected song sung blue’s kate hudson as best actress for her “powerful” performance as part of a neil diamond tribute act with hugh jackman.
sean penn got her nod for supporting actor as the “wired,” unhinged military man seeking revenge in one battle after another, while sinners star wunmi mosaku took her vote for supporting actress as an “unforgettable” hoodoo healer/herbalist.
borenstein had high praise for sinners — which scored a leading 16 nominations — “because it was slowly introduced and so artfully directed by ryan coogler.” but it was marty supreme director josh safdie who actually got her vote for best director.
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no shock that borenstein tagged the nfb’s stop-motion the girl who cried pearls for best animated short. “i loved it.” directed by chris lavis and maciek szczerbowski, this is a touching love fable set in montreal in the early 1900s.
overall, borenstein believes this was a bumper year for films. she acknowledges she was captivated and kept conscious by pretty much all she screened.
“but avatar at nearly three hours? really? too long!,” she says of the sequel avatar: fire and ash. “although if you see it on a small screen, you don’t get the wonderment of the effects.”
borenstein was wowed by the danish/czech republic feature doc mr nobody against putin, “all the more so because this russian co-director pavel talankin put his life on the line making this film about putin trying to recruit young soldiers as fodder for the war against ukraine.” the film’s other co-director is david borenstein, whom joyce looks forward to meeting on sunday and then “asking if he wants to do a dna test with me.”
while borenstein saw every nominated film in all 24 categories, she now reveals she only made her selections in 22 of them.
“i decided not to vote for the makeup/hairstyling and costume design awards. those were the last films i saw, and by then i was so overwhelmed by the superficiality of it all.”
as for her own filmmaking, she’s putting together a storyboard on a “tragic comedy.”
“it’s my life,” she concedes. “i had some rough times. i was a very shy person who had become tongue-tied under stress. fortunately, i overcame that. now comedy prevails.”
to screen five joyce borenstein films, including the colours of my father, see nfb.ca/directors/joyce-borenstein
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