Sony Classics' Barker and Bernard on the Oscar Campaign Playbook

Sony Pictures Classics co-presidents Michael Barker and Tom Bernard finally sat down with IndieWire's "Screen Talk" podcast after years of being, in the hosts' words, the show's white whale. The subject: their current slate and the mechanics of a good Oscar campaign.

The timing suits them. The theatrical specialty market, which Barker and Bernard have championed for decades while rivals wavered, is showing genuine signs of life. A three-hour documentary sits at number two at the box office. A foreign-language "Godzilla" movie holds number one. Black Bear's indie "Wicker" sits in the top 10, and earlier this fall Sony Pictures Classics' Sundance title "The Only Living Pickpocket in New York," starring Oscar hopeful John Turturro, cracked the top 10 as well.

What's on the Sony Classics slate this season?

The label's awards portfolio, as laid out on the podcast, runs wide:

• Pedro Almodóvar's "Bitter Christmas"
• Florian Zeller's "Bunker," which the co-presidents describe as critically divisive but appreciated by audiences
• "Rehearsals for a Revolution," the UK's international Oscar entry from Iran, also vying for Best Documentary Feature
• The animated "Iron Boy"
• Sundance winner "Bedford Park"

They also teased "Violette," their latest acquisition, and a new film from Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the director of "Amélie."

What else did the podcast cover?

Co-hosts Anne Thompson and Ryan Lattanzio did not confine themselves to Sony's slate. The episode mourns the unexpected passing of Chilean filmmaker Sebastian Lélio, dissects Letterboxd's sale to The New York Times, and takes up the dismissal of James Gunn and Peter Safran from DC Studios.

The hosts also issued a direct plea to critics: go see Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson's indie "Mouse" as it expands nationwide this weekend. Their argument is blunt. Sophie Okonedo, they say, is hugely deserving of best supporting actress accolades, but the film needs critics to keep advocating for it if that campaign is to survive the widening release.

Why does the theatrical argument matter now?

Barker and Bernard have run the specialty division since its founding era and have never abandoned the theatrical model — the release of films exclusively in cinemas before home platforms — even as streaming reshaped the business around them. The current box office evidence, from the documentary at number two to the foreign-language "Godzilla" at number one, gives their long-held position its strongest supporting data in years.

That data arrives just as the season's campaign machinery starts turning. With Turturro positioned as an Oscar hopeful, "Rehearsals for a Revolution" chasing two categories, and "Iron Boy" and "Bedford Park" in the mix, Sony Classics enters the awards race with more live contenders than most studios of its size.

The full conversation is available on "Screen Talk" through preferred podcast platforms.