A Closer Look at This Year’s Sundance-Supported Oscar Nominees: Margin Call

Kevin Spacey in Margin Call

Nate von Zumwalt, Editorial Coordinator

Leading up to the 84th edition of the Academy Awards this Sunday, February 26, we’re profiling all seven of this year’s Sundance-supported Oscar nominees. Click here for the full list of nominees.

Margin Call, written by J.C. Chandor

J.C. Chandor’s anxiety-ridden Wall Street drama belies his relatively light filmmaking résumé. Margin Call boasts an enthralling ensemble cast (Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Stanley Tucci)  and a daunting premise tucked into a script that thrills without sacrificing plausibility—all courtesy of first-time director, Chandor. Equally smart and pertinent, the film follows a team of shot callers at a fictitious investment bank (although loosely modeled on Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns) as a series of momentous events unravel at the onset of the 2008 financial crisis. Margin Call expertly probes a complex financial world at its most fragile moments, all the while examining the professional, personal, and moral obligations of those involved.

  • Nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the 2012 Academy Awards 
  • Margin Call screened in the Premieres section of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival
  • This is J.C. Chandor’s first feature-length film.
  • The all-star cast features Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Stanley Tucci, and Demi Moore.

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Alexis Chikaeze as Kai in 'Miss Juneteenth,' coming to digital platforms June 19

Channing Godfrey Peoples on a Bittersweet ‘Miss Juneteenth’ Release and the Urgency of Portraying Black Humanity on Screen

After premiering at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, Channing Godfrey Peoples’s debut feature is hitting digital platforms this Juneteenth—the day for which the film is named and which is very close to the director’s heart. “I feel like I’ve been living Miss Juneteenth my whole life,” she says.
The June 19 holiday—which commemorates the day slavery was finally abolished in Texas (more than two years after the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation was issued)—is celebrated in her hometown of Fort Worth with a deep sense of reverence and community, with barbecues, a parade, and a scholarship pageant for young Black women.

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