The Movie Award Season will officially kick into gear with the announcement of the Golden Globe nominations on Dec 9^th followed by the Academy Award nominations on January 13th.  It is becoming apparent that Jennifer Lopez and Antonio Banderas are the two Latino front runners in the acting categories.

Lopez generated buzz and critical acclaim at the Toronto film festival in September, when she was singled out for her gritty portrayal of Ramona Vega, in Hustlers where she played a Bronx-bred, single mother stripper at clubs frequented by Wall Street clients; a movie she also produced. Lopez is being talked about to be nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category for this role for both a Golden Globe and an Oscar. She has already nabbed a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award in the same category.  

The announcement of the Oscar nominees is scheduled for January 13th.  Should Lopez pick up the nomination that has so far eluded her, it would be her first Oscar nomination after making her debut 25 years ago in her star-making titular role in Selena in 1995.

The campaign for Lopez’s Best Supporting Oscar nomination went into full swing as voting members of the Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences began receiving their DVD’s of Hustlers.  With special private screenings and not to mention the hefty priced “For Your Consideration” advertisements in the Hollywood trade publications, this campaign is definitely going full out.

Although a long shot, given the competition this year, if Lopez were to win, she would be only the second Latina to win an Oscar in the Supporting Actress category. Rita Moreno won her Oscar in 1961, so it is overdue for another Latina to win.

Antonio Banderas Up for Best Actor Oscar

Antonio Banderas is a solid contender for his incredible multi- layered portrayal of Salvador Mello, an aging film director going through a personal life crisis in Pedro Almodovar’s Pain and Glory. His performance has already won Banderas the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival this past May in France. 

This role is the eighth collaboration between actor Banderas and director Almodovar, in a career span that began in the early  1980’s in their native Spain. At that time, the young international screen heartthrob caught the attention of singer Madonna who featured Banderas in her documentary Truth or Dare and with whom she later co-starred within the film version of Evita. He came to the US to do his first U.S. starring role in 1992’s The Mambo Kings. Since then he has appeared in numerous motion pictures as a leading man and his best-known movies include Desperado, Spy Kids, Philadelphia, The Mask of Zorro and as the voice of the swashbuckling pussycat in the animated Shrek film franchise. 

Pedro Almodovar’s Pain and Glory, since it is a Spanish language film may receive an Oscar nomination as Best International film, the category in which Roma won last year. 

Ana de Armas Stars in Possible Oscar-Nominated Film

The beautiful and talented Ana de Armas is featured in Rian Johnson’s delightfully inventive murder mystery Knives Out. A stand out performance in her role as nurse Marta Cabrera among an ensemble cast of screen veterans including Christopher Plummer, Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, and Chris Evans. The dark comedy has been well received by both critics and audiences and may well be nominated in the Best Picture category for the Oscars and Golden Globes, as well as the Screen Actors Guild Awards. 

For de Armas to be associated with a popular award-winning movie such as Knives Out will certainly boost and add prestige to her fast-rising career track beginning with her co-starring roles in Hands of Stone (2016) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

De Armas also has the distinction of co-starring as a “Bond girl” opposite Daniel Craig again as Paloma, in the upcoming James Bond 007 adventure No Time To Die, set for release in April 2020.  

Possible Latinos Directors Nominees?

Though there have been several major films starring Latinos, Dora The Explorer, Terminator: Dark Fate, and Ms. Bala, (La Llorona being the exception), few have been helmed by Latino directors. Fernando Mirelles of The Two Popes is Brazilian and Sam Mendes of the visually stunning world war I drama 1917 is London born of Portuguese and Trinadian descent. The only stateside Latina director in possible consideration would be Melina Matsoukas, of Cuban descent whose recently released feature film Queenie and Slim deals with an African-American couple on the run to Cuba after a violent encounter with a police officer. 

Other Possibilities

With no entries this year from the Mexican directors (Alfonso Cuaron, Alejandro Iñárritu, & Guillermo del Toro) who have dominated the awards for the past five years, the Oscar race will be strictly American. Two films will be leading the awards, Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in which Latinos were featured nominally (Ramon Franco Raul Cardoza, Gilbert Saldivar, Marco Rodriguez and Clifton Collins Jr.) and Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman (Bobby Cannavale and a cameo by Dascha Polanco).  

Let’s hope this Award season is a little more diverse and a little more inclusive, with a touch of brown, so to speak.  A bit more diverse than just Black and White.

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