Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Soul’s two Academy Awards and Tenet’s own Oscar were the genre winners at the unusual Academy Awards held on April 25.

Soul won Best Animated Feature and Best Score. “This film started as a love letter to jazz but we had no idea how much jazz would teach us about life. We don’t get to control what happens but we can, like a jazz musician turn whatever happens into something of value and beauty,” co-director Pete Docter said. “Our main character, Joe, is a music teacher and we want to thank music teachers and art teachers everywhere – you make the world a better place. My wish for all of us tonight is that we can follow the example of jazz musicians, wherever we are, whatever we have, we turn it into something beautiful.”

Composer Jean Batiste, who scored the film with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, said of the music win: “You know what’s deep is God gave us 12 notes, it’s the same 12 notes that Duke Ellington had, that Bach had, Nina Simone. I want to point out that every gift is special. Every contribution with music that comes from the divine into the instruments into the film, into the minds, hearts and souls of every person who hears it, the stories that happen when you listen to it and watch it and the stories you share, the moments you make, the memories you create, man, it’s just so incredibly special. It’s just so incredibly special… we’re incredibly humbled and thankful. I’m thankful to God for those 12 notes.”

The VFX team on Tenet accepted the Oscar, with Scott Fisher commenting, “It all goes back to our director Christopher Nolan. He leads us all and gives us incredible opportunities to do amazing things.”