Oscars Fever! Plus reviews of ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’, ‘I’m Still Here’ and ‘Dahomey’

Primal Screen

It’s Oscars fever in the studio this week! Even if you don’t have a medically certifiable diagnosis of fever, perhaps you have some milder symptoms still attributable to the 97th Academy Awards – it’s hard not to get a little lightheaded at Hollywood’s night of nights.

Anthony Carew jumps into the guest host chair this week with Thomas Caldwell and Vyshnavee Wijekumar, dissecting the highs and lows of this year’s Academy Awards before getting into the “real cinema”.

They review Mohammad Rasoulof’s devastating political thriller about a family’s disintegration, The Seed of the Sacred Fig; Walter Salles’ masterful historical drama based on a true story set against the backdrop of Brazil’s oppressive military dictatorship in the 1970s, I’m Still Here; and Mati Diop’s playful hybrid docu-fiction following 26 looted cultural objects from France back to Benin, Dahomey.