92nd Academy Awards Nominees Includes Film Featuring New York Film Academy (NYFA) Alum Anouar Smaine

January 13, 2020

The New York Film Academy (NYFA) community celebrated multiple nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards Monday morning, including Best Animated Feature nominee I Lost My Body, which co-starred Filmmaking alum Anouar Smaine as the English-language voice for the Father character.

Smaine graduated from the Filmmaking program at NYFA’s Los Angeles campus in early 2010. The Algerian-born actor, director, and playwright has numerous credits across several different disciplines, including as an actor in The Looming Tower, Westworld, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Veronica Mars, and the first Arabic-language original production from Netflix, Jinn. Fluent in French, Arabic and all kinds of Middle Eastern and North African dialects, Anouar has found success in both acting and voiceover work, with credits in some of Hollywood’s biggest productions, including John Wick, Jarhead, Charlie’s Angels, The Looming Tower, Westworld, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, and Veronica Mars.

Anouar Smaine
NYFA alum Anouar Smaine

He also writes and directs in addition to acting, and made the multi-award-winning films Sharia and Battle Fields. Both films toured world festivals and earned several awards, including Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Film. 

“Whether you’re an aspiring actor, writer, producer or a director,” says Smaine about his Filmmaking studies, “NYFA will give you a chance to go into the trenches of creativity and prove your worth based on what you’re taught, and most importantly on what you want to express as a creative. NYFA will both empower you and challenge you to go beyond being a student by embracing the filmmaker, actor, and artist in you.”

Anouar is currently developing a feature film he plans to direct in early 2021 based on his internationally renowned short Battle Fields, in which he plays an Iraqi refugee who drives a limo in Los Angeles that comes face-to-face with an American Iraq War Veteran, played by Sean Stone, son of legendary director Oliver Stone.

I Lost My body

I Lost My Body is a 2019 French animated drama fantasy film directed by Jérémy Clapin that premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. The Oscar-nominated feature tells the story of a dismembered hand that escapes from a dissection lab and goes on a journey through Paris to get back to its body, remembering the life with the young man it was originally attached to.

Smaine was just one of the NYFA community members involved with this year’s Academy Award nominations, which were presented early Monday morning by NYFA Filmmaking alum Issa Rae and actor John Cho.

NYFA Game Design alum Guillermo Quesada helped develop the technology that allowed last year’s remake of The Lion King to be filmed on a virtual reality set. The Lion King was one of the Best Visual Effects nominees named Monday morning.

NYFA 1-Year Documentary Filmmaking alum Camille Bildsøe worked as the assistant to the director of Best Documentary Feature nominee The Cave, Feras Fayyad. Also competing in that category is The Edge of Democracy, directed by Petra Costa, who has taught master classes to NYFA Documentary Filmmaking students in the past.

Several New York Film Academy guest speakers also received nominations, including Al Pacino, who earned a Best Supporting Actor nod alongside co-star Joe Pesci for his work in Best Picture nominee The Irishman. Pacino, whose daughter Julie Pacino is a NYFA alum, spoke with NYFA students at our Los Angeles campus in 2014.

Adam Driver, who spoke with NYFA students at our New York campus in 2018, received an Academy Award nomination for Best Lead Actor for his work in Best Picture nominee Marriage Story.

Best Animated Feature nominee Toy Story 4 co-starred NYFA guest speaker Tony Hale as new breakout character Forky. Hale spoke with NYFA students at our Los Angeles campus last summer, as did Nathan Kelly, who served as unit production manager on Best Picture nominee Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood. NYFA 3D Animation & VFX alum Francisco Panzieri worked on Once Upon a Time as a compositor.

Another guest speaker celebrating this year’s nominations is President of Marvel Studios and Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Kevin Feige, who spoke with NYFA students at our Burbank-based campus last October. Avengers: Endgame, the culminating film of his brainchild—the Marvel Cinematic Universe—was nominated for Best Visual Effects.

issa rae i lost my body oscars 2020
John Cho and NYFA alum Issa Rae presenting the 2020 Oscars nominations

All in all, the nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards held the usual mix of snubs, sure things, and surprises. Gritty supervillain origin story Joker led the list with 11 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor, while close behind were Sam Mendes’s 1917, Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood with ten nominations each, including Best Picture. The Best Picture nominee list was rounded out by Ford v Ferrari, Jojo Rabbit, Little Women, Marriage Story, and Parasite.

The list notably lacked any women in the Best Director category, despite Greta Gerwig’s film Little Women picking up two acting nominations and a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination along with its Best Picture nod. Other notable moments from Monday morning’s announcement includes Antonio Banderas receiving his first-ever Oscar nomination, for his leading role in longtime collaborator Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory, and Scarlett Johansson becoming the 11th actor in history to be nominated for two different roles in two different films in the same year.

Like last year, the televised Oscars ceremony will go without a host, instead relying on various bits and presenters. The Academy Awards airs live on ABC on February 9. Announced presenters include last year’s winners Mahershala Ali, Olivia Colman, Regina King, and Rami Malek. Other presenters include Zazie Beetz, Timothée Chalamet, Will Ferrell, Gal Gadot, Mindy Kaling, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Anthony Ramos, Mark Ruffalo, Kelly Marie Tran, and Kristen Wiig. Additionally, Cynthia Erivo, Elton John, Idina Menzel, Chrissy Metz, Randy Newman, and Billie Eilish will perform.

New York Film Academy congratulates this year’s nominees and looks forward to seeing who goes home with an Oscar or two (or more) next month!

Here is a full list of the 2020 Oscars nominees:

Best Picture
Ford v Ferrari
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women
Marriage Story
1917
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Parasite – WINNER

Lead Actor
Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Adam Driver, Marriage Story
Joaquin Phoenix, Joker – WINNER
Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes

Lead Actress
Cynthia Erivo, Harriet
Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
Saoirse Ronan, Little Women
Charlize Theron, Bombshell
Renee Zellweger, Judy – WINNER

Supporting Actor
Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes
Al Pacino, The Irishman
Joe Pesci, The Irishman
Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – WINNER

Supporting Actress
Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell
Laura Dern, Marriage Story – WINNER
Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit
Florence Pugh, Little Women
Margot Robbie, Bombshell

Director
Martin Scorsese, The Irishman
Todd Phillips, Joker
Sam Mendes, 1917
Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Bong Joon Ho, Parasite – Winner

Animated Feature
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Dean DeBlois
I Lost My Body, Jeremy Clapin
Klaus, Sergio Pablos
Missing Link, Chris Butler
Toy Story 4,  Josh Cooley – WINNER

Animated Short
Dcera, Daria Kashcheeva
Hair Love, Matthew A. Cherry – WINNER
Kitbull, Rosana Sullivan
Memorable, Bruno Collet
Sister, Siqi Song

Adapted Screenplay
The Irishman, Steven Zaillian
Jojo Rabbit, Taika Waititi – WINNER
Joker, Todd Phillips, Scott Silver
Little Women, Greta Gerwig
The Two Popes, Anthony McCarten

Original Screenplay
Knives Out, Rian Johnson
Marriage Story, Noah Baumbach
1917, Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino
Parasite, Bong Joon-ho, Jin Won Han – WINNER

Cinematography
The Irishman, Rodrigo Prieto
Joker, Lawrence Sher
The Lighthouse, Jarin Blaschke
1917, Roger Deakins – WINNER
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Robert Richardson

Best Documentary Feature
American Factory, Julia Rieichert, Steven Bognar – WINNER
The Cave, Feras Fayyad
The Edge of Democracy, Petra Costa
For Sama, Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts
Honeyland, Tamara Kotevska, Ljubo Stefanov

Best Documentary Short Subject
In the Absence, Yi Seung-Jun and Gary Byung-Seok Kam
Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone, Carol Dysinger – WINNER
Life Overtakes Me, Kristine Samuelson and John Haptas
St. Louis Superman, Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan
Walk Run Cha-Cha, Laura Nix

Best Live Action Short Film
Brotherhood, Meryam Joobeur
Nefta Football Club, Yves Piat
The Neighbors’ Window, Marshall Curry – WINNER
Saria, Bryan Buckley
A Sister, Delphine Girard

Best International Feature Film
Corpus Christi, Jan Komasa
Honeyland, Tamara Kotevska, Ljubo Stefanov
Les Miserables, Ladj Ly
Pain and Glory, Pedro Almodovar
Parasite, Bong Joon Ho – WINNER

Film Editing
Ford v Ferrari, Michael McCusker, Andrew Buckland – WINNER
The Irishman, Thelma Schoonmaker
Jojo Rabbit, Tom Eagles
Joker, Jeff Groth
Parasite, Jinmo Yang

Sound Editing
Ford v Ferrari, Don Sylvester – WINNER
Joker, Alan Robert Murray
1917, Oliver Tarney, Rachel Tate
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Wylie Stateman
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Matthew Wood, David Acord

Sound Mixing
Ad Astra
Ford v Ferrari
Joker
1917 – WINNER
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Production Design
The Irishman, Bob Shaw and Regina Graves
Jojo Rabbit, Ra Vincent and Nora Sopkova
1917, Dennis Gassner and Lee Sandales
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Barbara Ling and Nancy Haigh – WINNER
Parasite, Lee Ha-Jun and Cho Won Woo, Han Ga Ram, and Cho Hee

Original Score
Joker, Hildur Guðnadóttir – WINNER
Little Women, Alexandre Desplat
Marriage Story, Randy Newman
1917, Thomas Newman
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, John Williams

Original Song
“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away,” Toy Story 4
“I’m Gonna Love Me Again,” Rocketman – WINNER
“I’m Standing With You,” Breakthrough
“Into the Unknown,” Frozen 2
“Stand Up,” Harriet

Makeup and Hair
Bombshell – WINNER
Joker
Judy
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
1917

Costume Design
The Irishman, Sandy Powell, Christopher Peterson
Jojo Rabbit, Mayes C. Rubeo
Joker, Mark Bridges
Little Women, Jacqueline Durran – WINNER
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Arianne Phillips

Visual Effects
Avengers: Endgame
The Irishman
1917 – WINNER
The Lion King
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker