And the Oscar goes to …
Ten Stanford faculty members share their favorite Academy Award-winning or nominated films, old and new.
Just in time for the Oscars this weekend, Stanford faculty and scholars share their favorite films that have been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – either this year or in years past.
American Fiction (2023)
Nominee for: Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score), Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Adapted Screenplay
“American Fiction, which stars Stanford alums Issa Rae and Sterling Brown, offers a powerful, and at times comedic, gripping depiction of family, love, and the profits and prophets of racial stereotypes in America.”
– Lerone Martin is the Martin Luther King, Jr. Centennial Professor and the director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute
The Color Purple (2023)
Nominee for: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
“The direction, acting, singing, dancing, cinematography, and choreography was awe-inspiring in The Color Purple remake. The caliber of talent on the screen made me proud to be in the field. Whether the film receives an Oscar or not, one cannot snub those triple threats.”
– Aleta Hayes is a senior lecturer in the Department of Theater and Performance Studies
Rustin (2023)
Nominee for: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
“Along with the exceptional title performance by Colman Domingo, who personified the historical Rustin so well, the film highlights the intersections of racial and sexual politics, the contrasts in civil rights leadership styles, and the behind-the-scenes labor that enabled the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which Rustin organized. It captures vividly the personal and political risks of being out and gay at the time, along with Rustin’s exceptional ways of maneuvering within those constraints as a Black, gay pacifist. I hope the film brings greater public appreciation for his entire legacy, before and after the 1963 March.”
– Estelle Freedman is the Edgar E. Robinson Professor in U.S. History, Emerita
Drive My Car (2021)
Winner: Best International Feature Film
Nominee for: Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Achievement in Directing, Best Adapted Screenplay
“Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s 2021 film Drive My Car is not an overtly political film but offers a subtle critique of the attenuation of social bonds in late capitalist society. This minimalist and melancholic film dwells on love and grief, listening and intimacy, and explores the possibility of art to connect us in an imperfect world.”
– Jisha Menon is a professor of theater and performance studies
Parasite (2019)
Winner: Best Motion Picture, Best Directing, Best Original Screenplay, Best International Feature Film, Best Achievement in Production Design
Nominee for: Best Achievement in Production Design, Best Film Editing
“The Korean film, Parasite, by Bong Joon-ho, is a gory and searing commentary on human greed and class divisions in our contemporary world. It is a brutal reminder of the deep inequalities in modern urban life and the timebombs that lie just beneath the surface of fancy homes and pleasant parties.”
– Gordon Chang is the Olive H. Palmer Professor in the Humanities and a professor of history
Spotlight (2015)
Winner: Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Original Screenplay
Nominee for: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Achievement in Directing, Best Film Editing
“Spotlight’s riveting account of how the Boston Globe exposed the coverup of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church shows journalism students the power of investigative reporting to change lives and laws. Three of the main protagonists (Walter Robinson, Mike Rezendes, Sacha Pfeiffer) are alums of Stanford’s JSK Journalism Fellowships program, which supports the growth of accountability reporting around the world.”
– James Hamilton is the Hearst Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences and chair of the Department of Communication
Argo (2012)
Winner: Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing
Nominee for: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score), Best Achievement in Sound Mixing, Best Achievement in Sound Editing
“My film vote would be Argo, which is based on a true story of one of the CIA’s greatest moments. It’s a movie about a fake CIA movie that was actually used as cover for an operation to save Americans in Iran after the 1979 Revolution. So, a full circle art-meets-reality-meets-art production. While the ending takes some creative license, it hews quite well to history overall, and it’s an incredible story.”
– Amy Zegart is the Morris Arnold and Nona Jean Cox Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence
Ratatouille (2007)
Winner: Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Nominee for: Best Original Screenplay, Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score), Best Achievement in Sound Mixing, Best Achievement in Sound Editing
“Ratatouille is the closest movie I’ve found to capturing the experience of being a first-generation college student with a dream of becoming a professor. The family dynamics, the challenge of overcoming preconceptions and disadvantages, and the life-changing power of the idea that ‘anyone can cook’ all make Remy the Rat a source of inspiration and solidarity.”
– Dustin M. Schroeder is an associate professor of geophysics and of electrical engineering and a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
Network (1976)
Winner: Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Writing – Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Nominee for: Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing
“Network delivers biting social and political critique without ever underestimating the intelligence or imaginative appetite of the audience, unlike failed attempts such as the movie Don’t Look Up, which I had to turn off after 20 minutes of being spoon-fed an obvious and infantilizing narrative.”
– Tom Mullaney is a professor of history
La Grande Illusion (1939)
Nominee for: Best Motion Picture
“In our collective memory, World War II looms as the defining cataclysm of modern history. But in some respects, World War I was just as, if not more, epoch-making. From the time of Sargon to the Treaty of Versailles, most of humanity lived in empires. By the end of 1918, four of the largest Eurasian empires had collapsed: the Russian, the German, the Ottoman, and the Austro-Hungarian. With them, a certain aristocratic ethos also disappeared. [Director Jean] Renoir’s La Grande Illusion captures the passing of the imperial age through a charming and gripping story about French prisoners of war, their aristocratic ranking officer, and a worldly German captor, who loves to reminisce about the Parisian nightlife.”
– Dan Edelstein is the William H. Bonsall Professor in French
Chang, Edelstein, Freedman, Hamilton, Hayes, Martin, Menon and Mullaney are in departments that are part of the School of the Humanities and Sciences.
Schroeder is affiliated with the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.