The 96th Academy Awards are going down next Sunday night and that means it is time for another go-around of my woeful predictions.  I don’t know that I’ve heard of many of these movies let alone seen them, so, with less basis in fact than most years, here’s my uneducated predictions for the non-acting awards.

Best Original Screenplay

Justine Triet and Arthur Harari, Anatomy of a Fall
David Hemingson, The Holdovers
Bradley Cooper and Josh Singer, Maestro
Screenplay by Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik, May December
Celine Song, Past Lives

I’ve seen a whopping two of these films, so I’m going to pick my favorite of the two, The Holdovers.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Cord Jefferson, American Fiction
Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, Barbie
Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Tony McNamara, Poor Things
Jonathan Glazer, The Zone of Interest

I’m assuming this will be the start of a big night for Nolan and Oppenheimer.

Best Animated Feature

The Boy and the Heron
Elemental
Nimona
Robot Dreams
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Once again, I’ll go with the one I’ve seen.

Best Cinematography

Edward Lachman, El Conde
Rodrigo Prieto, Killers of the Flower Moon
Matthew Libatique, Maestro
Hoyte van Hoytema, Oppenheimer
Robbie Ryan, Poor Things

Seems like I’m going all in with the atomic bomb movie.

Best Costume Design

Jacqueline Durran, Barbie
Jacqueline West, Killers of the Flower Moon
Janty Yates and Dave Crossman, Napoleon
Ellen Mirojnick, Oppenheimer
Holly Waddington, Poor Things

This seems like as good a place as any for Barbie to get on the board.

Best Documentary Feature

Bobi Wine: The People’s President
The Eternal Memory
Four Daughters
To Kill a Tiger
20 Days in Mariupol

I’ve neither seen nor heard of any of these, so this is a total shot in the dark.

Best Documentary Short Subject

The ABCs of Book Banning
The Barber of Little Rock
Island in Between
The Last Repair Shop
Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó

This is a total guess for a category that I know nothing about.

Achievement in Film Editing

Laurent Sénéchal, Anatomy of a Fall
Kevin Tent, The Holdovers
Thelma Schoonmaker, Killers of the Flower Moon
Jennifer Lame, Oppenheimer
Yorgos Mavropsaridis, Poor Things

I’m basing this solely on clips I’ve seen on the internet, having only seen one of these films.

Best International Feature Film

Io capitano, Italy
Perfect Days, Japan
Society of the Snow, Spain
The Teachers’ Lounge, Germany
The Zone of Interest, United Kingdom

Really, how should I know?

Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

Karen Hartley Thomas, Suzi Battersby, and Ashra Kelly-Blue, Golda
Kazu Hiro, Kay Georgiou, and Lori McCoy-Bell, Maestro
Luisa Abel, Oppenheimer
Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier, and Josh Weston, Poor Things
Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí, and Montse Ribé, Society of the Snow

I haven’t seen any of these movies, so I’m going with Maestro.

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)

American Fiction, Laura Karpman
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, John Williams
Killers of the Flower Moon, Robbie Robertson
Oppenheimer, Ludwig Göransson
Poor Things, Jerskin Fendrix

You can’t go wrong by picking John Williams.

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)

The Fire Inside from Flamin’ Hot, Music and lyrics by Diane Warren
I’m Just Ken from Barbie, Music and lyrics by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt
It Never Went Away from American Symphony, Music and lyrics by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson
Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People) from Killers of the Flower Moon, Music and lyrics by Scott George
What Was I Made For? from Barbie, Music and lyrics by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell

Hopefully the two nominees from Barbie don’t end up splitting the ballot.

Achievement in Production Design

Barbie, Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
Killers of the Flower Moon, Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Adam Willis
Napoleon, Production Design: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Elli Griff
Oppenheimer, Production Design: Ruth De Jong; Set Decoration: Claire Kaufman
Poor Things, Production Design: James Price and Shona Heath; Set Decoration: Zsuzsa Mihalek

Looks like another opportunity for Barbie to shine.

Best Animated Short Film

Letter to a Pig, Tal Kantor and Amit R. Gicelter
Ninety-Five Senses, Jared and Jerusha Hess
Our Uniform, Yegane Moghaddam
Pachyderme, Stéphanie Clément and Marc Rius
War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko, Dave Mullins and Brad Booker

Best Live Action Short Film

The After, Misan Harriman and Nicky Bentham
Invincible, Vincent René-Lortie and Samuel Caron
Knight of Fortune, Lasse Lyskjær Noer and Christian Norlyk
Red, White and Blue, Nazrin Choudhury and Sara McFarlane
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Wes Anderson and Steven Rales

These two picks are based on nothing but pure alchemy.

Achievement in Sound

The Creator, Ian Voigt, Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn, Tom Ozanich, and Dean Zupancic
Maestro, Steven A. Morrow, Richard King, Jason Ruder, Tom Ozanich, and Dean Zupancic
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Chris Munro, James H. Mather, Chris Burdon, and Mark Taylor
Oppenheimer, Willie Burton, Richard King, Gary A. Rizzo, and Kevin O’Connell
The Zone of Interest, Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn

I’m going to go with Oppenheimer, for no particular reason.

Achievement in Visual Effects

The Creator, Jay Cooper, Ian Comley, Andrew Roberts, and Neil Corbould
Godzilla Minus One, Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi, and Tatsuji Nojima
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams, and Theo Bialek
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Alex Wuttke, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland, and Neil Corbould
Napoleon, Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet, Simone Coco, and Neil Corbould

I’ve only seen one of these films, but despite being a category seemingly made for superhero flicks, I’m going with Godzilla Minus One.