Awards season is not over, and the local answer to the Oscars arrives Sunday with a chance for Greater Boston to make its mark (or for America to redeem itself) when it comes to honoring film.
While the nonprofit Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film puts “Birdman” in the lead for its awards, with nominations in seven categories, its most prestigious category is the “Buried Treasure,” and most of those landed nowhere near the Oscars glitz last month: the Dutch thriller “Borgman”; “Ilo Ilo,” a family film from Singapore; a full-length animated feature, “Rocks In My Pockets,” looking at mental illness; Germany’s haunting “The Strange Little Cat;” Japan’s elegiac “Uzamasa Limelight”; and “The Way He Looks,” a Brazilian coming-of-age film.
At the Sunday ceremony, Chlotrudis members will announce the winners of their annual awards and present special awards honoring individuals or films for particular distinction. Past recipients include Kerry Washington, Beth Grant and Philip Seymour Hoffman; this year filmmaker Signe Baumane will be in attendance to accept a special award.
Baumane is an animator, writer, fine artist and illustrator who began her career in Latvia and moved to New York in the mid-1990s to work with legendary animator Bill Plympton. With her own films – including “Natasha” and “Woman” (both Chlotrudis Short Film Festival finalists) – Baumane has won a cult reputation and critical acclaim for her frank takes on sex, pregnancy and dentistry, all done in a distinctive hand-drawn style. This year, her “Rocks In My Pockets” was selected as Latvia’s entry for the Academy Awards’ Best Foreign Film category.
Cambridge Day film writer Tom Meek will be presenting, as well as other local critics including Peter Keough of The Boston Globe.
The Chlotrudis Awards are at 5 p.m. Sunday at The Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Harvard Square. Tickets are $20 for the general public, or $15 for Chlotrudis and Brattle members. Information is here.
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