IFC Films released the trailer for writer/director Ekwa Msangi’s intimate immigrant story Farewell Amor, an Official Selection of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. The film starring Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine (“The Chi”), Zainab Jah (False Positive), Jayme Lawson (The Batman) will open on Friday, December 11, 2020 in theatres and on Digital and VOD.
The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival announced the award winning films and filmmakers for this year’s 29th edition of the festival with Jessica Earnshaw’s Jacinta winning the jury prize for Best US Feature as well as earning a Special Jury Mention for the Critics Prize. Anabel Rodríguez Ríos’ Once Upon a Time in Venezuela won the jury prize for Best International Feature, and Lisa Molomot and Jeff Bemiss’ World Premiere of Missing in Brooks County earned the award for Best Southern Feature. Ra’anan Alexandrowicz’s The Viewing Booth was the recipient of this year’s HSDFF Critics Prize, and Sami Khan and Michael Gassert’s The Last Out won the Matt DeCample Audience Choice Award.
International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2020 (IDFA) announced the films selected for the Dutch, short, student, and young audience competitions, as well as for the non-competitive sections Luminous, Frontlight, and IDFA on Stage.
Clea DuVall’s LGBTQ+ holiday romantic comedy, Happiest Season will debut as a Hulu Original film on Hulu on Wednesday, November 25. The film stars Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Daniel Levy, Mary Holland, Burl Moseley, Victor Garber and Mary Steenburgen.
Tony and Emmy award winner Billy Crystal will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 23rd annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival, taking place as a virtual experience October 24 – October 31. Crystal will receive his award on Monday, October 26 following the screening of his latest critically acclaimed film Standing Up, Falling Down.
Vertical Entertainment will release the sci-fi thriller Parallel from director Isaac Ezban in theaters and on demand on December 11, 2020.
The 16th annual HollyShorts Film Festival will open with the premiere of Jackson Lewis Lee’s new short film THOMPSON FARM. Jackson Lewis Lee is the son of legendary filmmaker and Oscar-Winning writer/director Spike Lee. Thompson Farm will screen as part of the HollyShorts opening night lineup on Monday, November 9th.
Netflix released the trailer for the Italian drama “The Life Ahead” (La vita davanti a sé) from director Edoardo Ponti and starring Academy Award® winner Sophia Loren, along with Ibrahima Gueye. In the film set in seaside Italy, a Holocaust survivor Madame Rosa (Loren), takes in 12-year-old street kid Momo (Gueye), who recently robbed her. The two become each other’s protectors, anchoring an unconventional family.
The 43rd Denver Film Festival (DFF43) kicks off tonight, Opening Night, October 22 with Searchlight’s NOMADLAND. The film will also receive DFF43’s Rare Pearl Award which will be accepted by director, Chloé Zhao, in a video presentation before the film screening. The Rare Pearl Award highlights a film whose beauty and uniqueness stand out as finest of the year. Recent Rare Pearl Award winners include Portrait of a Lady on Fire (DFF42) and Roma (DFF41).
Sony Pictures Classics will finally release The Climb directed by Michael Angelo Covino in select theaters nationwide on November 13, 2020.
The 43rd Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF43) and the DocLands Documentary Film Festival (which ran in tandem this year) concluded on October 18th after 11 days of virtual and drive-in screenings, panels, and special events.
Filmmakers Aaron Sorkin and Chloé Zhao will receive honors at SFFILM Awards Night, which this year has shifted from its traditional seated dinner and onstage presentation format to a dynamic live-streamed showcase, taking place December 9.