Samuel Goldwyn Films released the trailer for Rams directed by Jeremy Sims (Last Cab to Darwin, Beneath Hill 60) and starring Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, Hunt for the Wilderpeople), Michael Caton (The Animal, The Castle) and two time Academy Award-nominee Miranda Richardson (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Hours, The Phantom of the Opera). The film opens in theaters and VOD on February 5th, 2021.
The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) announced their 2020 award winners with the top honors going to Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, which earned a leading five wins: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Frances McDormand), Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography (Joshua James Richards). Never Rarely Sometimes Always earned two awards (Best Original Screenplay, Eliza Hittman; Most Promising Performer, Sidney Flanigan), while the rest of the Association’s honors were awarded to a diverse mix of the year’s best films.
Oscar®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson (“The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “They Shall Not Grow Old”) released a sneak peek at his upcoming documentary “The Beatles: Get Back” which will open in US theaters on August 27, 2021.
Focus Features released the official trailer for Land, the directorial debut of actress Robin Wright’s. Land also starring Robin Wright along with Demián Bichir and Kim Dickens will world premiere at 2021 Sundance Film Festival and open in theaters on February 12, 2021.
Following the rejection of their first submission, 14 Days 12 Nights by director Jean-Philippe Duval, to will now represent Canada in the race for Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, taking place on April 25, 2021.
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) today named “Small Axe” Steve McQueen’s anthology series, as Best Picture of the Year. Small Axe is an anthology series comprised of five original films set from the late 1960s to the mid 1980s that tell personal stories from London’s West Indian community, whose lives have been shaped by their own force of will despite rampant racism and discrimination. The title is derived from the African proverb, “If you are the big tree, we are the small axe.”
The winners of the 2020 Whistler Film Festival (WFF) were announced at the Awards Celebration on the final day of official programming at the 20th edition.
Funny Boy, by cowriter-director Deepa Mehta, originally submitted by Canada as the country’s entry for Best International Feature Film at 2021 Oscars, has been rejected because the film does not meet the Academy’s eligibility requirements for the International Feature Film category due to the amount of English dialogue in the film. The Academy mandates that a film cannot contain more than 50% English to be eligible. The film will now be submitted for consideration in the Best Picture and general entry categories for the 93rd Academy Awards®.
The Russian Film Week in New York kicks off the New Year with an online edition that brings the latest in Russian cinema to US audiences from January 23-29, 2021. Last year’s edition expanded the event’s program to audiences in Boston, Washington DC, Seattle, Chicago, Denver and Palo Alto with next year’s online edition opening up fresh Russian films to nationwide viewers.
The New York Film Critics Circle on Friday announced the annual award winners with Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow receiving the honor of Best Film of 2020. The film is based on the novel “The Half Life” by Jonathan Raymond, and stars John Magaro as a cook who joins a group of fur trappers in the Oregon Territory. The cook befriends a Chinese immigrant (Orion Lee) and the two collaborate on a successful business, although its longevity is reliant upon the participation of a nearby wealthy landowner’s prized milking cow. First Cow also stars Alia Shawkat, Scott Shepherd, Toby Jones, and Ewen Bremner.
Ammonite, Francis Lee’s remarkable historical drama starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan, is the 2020 recipient of the SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Prize, an award that celebrates the compelling depiction of scientific themes or characters in a narrative feature film. Presented through a partnership between SFFILM and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, this annual award carries a $25,000 cash prize and shines a light on special achievement in rendering the worlds of science and technology through the language of film with a screening event and conversation with the film’s creators and experts in the scientific fields being depicted.
Casey Feigh took home the Best Film Grand Prize for his comedic short Beginner’s Luck at the 5th annual Hollywood Comedy Shorts Film Festival. The comedic short stars Lauren Lapkus (The Wrong Missy), Matthew Gray Gubler (Criminal Minds), Ego Nwodim (Saturday Night Live), and Mary Holland (Happiest Season). Patrick Norman won Best Feature Script for his screenplay Derby Dolls.