The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its fall programming lineup this week for both Los Angeles and New York. A full schedule and tickets for the screenings can be found here: oscars.org/events. The fall slate will highlight two new programming series. The Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library created a new speaker series, Words on Film, that invites writers and filmmakers to discuss their work and their creative and research processes with the public in a casual, dynamic way. In addition, the Academy presents the inaugural Robert Osborne Celebration of Classic Film, a new series funded by the Robert Osborne Estate designed to return classic films to the big screen for new audiences.

Muriel’s Wedding 25th Anniversary – September 13 – 7:30 p.m. PT
Samuel Goldwyn Theater, Beverly Hills, with special guest Toni Collette

A cult favorite of 1990s independent cinema, this film helped launch Toni Collette’s international career. Alongside Rachel Griffiths, she expertly fronts this revisionist Cinderella story in which two women find each other despite their struggles with gender, class and disability. Ultimately, Muriel’s Wedding is an emphatic celebration of pop music and female friendship, telling a widely accessible story about learning to love yourself in a world that assigns value based on how well you fit into a mold.

PJ Hogan’s “Muriel’s Wedding” is perhaps one of most impactful Australian films released in the past 40 years. Not only did the film introduce us to the talents of Toni Collete and Rachel Griffiths, the comedy, set in the fictitious beach community of ‘Porpoise Spit’, also coined numerous phrases such as ‘Deirdre Chambers. What a concidence!’ or ‘You’re terrible Muriel’, which are now part of international folklore. The 2019 Australian International Screen Forum celebrated this landmark film’s 25th anniversary with a special screening, yesterday, and appearance by Muriel herself, Toni Collette, in conversation, alongside her Heslop brother Dan Wyllie. Pictures from the screening and Q&A have been added to the photo gallery.

Showcasing groundbreaking new Australian content, workshops with leading film industry mentors, and heralding exciting new Australian filmmakers, the second annual Australian International Screen Forum will take place at Lincoln Center in New York City on March 19-22, 2019. he Centerpiece event will be the 25th Anniversary Celebration of Muriel’s Wedding with a screening of the remastered version, by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, of the landmark Australian film, with members of the cast in attendance, including its star Toni Collette.

As we speak, Toni Collette is attending the 34th Annual Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica. She is nominated as Best Female Lead for “Hereditary”. A first batch of pictures have been added to the photo gallery with more updates to come.

With the 2019 awards season in its last (boring) week, Toni Collette will be doing at least one public appearance as a “Hereditary” nominee this Saturday. Entertainment Tonight can exclusively reveal the final presenters for the 2019 Film Independent Spirit Awards, which includes three of this year’s Best Female Lead nominees: Glenn Close, Toni Collette and Carey Mulligan, nominated for The Wife, Hereditary and Wildlife, respectively. ET previously announced that Sterling K. Brown, Elsie Fisher, Regina Hall, Armie Hammer and KiKi Layne will be presenting this year. They will be joined by Viggo Mortensen, Amanda Seyfried, Tessa Thompson and Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard. Aubrey Plaza serves as this year’s host and told ET, “I want there to be a vibe where the audience feels like, Is this supposed to be happening? Or have we gone off the rails? I want there to be an element of danger. I want everyone to feel like, ‘Man, anything can happen at any moment.'” The 34th Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards will be held in Santa Monica, California, on Feb. 23 and air live on Facebook Watch and IFC at 5:00 p.m. ET / 2:00 p.m. PT.

Yesterday, Toni Collette and Ari Aster have gathered for what looks like A24’s Oscar campaign for “Hereditary”, as the actress and director have attended a Q&A for the film hosted by Deadline Contenders. “I think every actor longs for a chance to ‘go for it’ and when I read this script it was undeniable,” Collette said. “It was such an opportunity for me to kind of traverse so many different areas…it’s the story of an awakening in this woman. People usually have an awakening or an epiphany about their lives and it means they have some understanding and it gives them a little more control in their lives. I think the true horror of this story is that once she does realize what the truth of her life has been there’s no hope, no way out.” Hereditary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and earned strong reviews, especially for Collette’s work. Writer-director Ari Aster said the horror genre helped the film. “One thing that I love about genre storytelling,” Aster said, “is that you can take thematic material that might be difficult for people to digest…and you can filter it through this other thing that takes what might be a deterrent to people seeing the movie and suddenly render it a virtue.” You can read more over at Deadline. Many many thanks to Mouza for the heads-up!