TIFF revealed its Canada’s Top Ten list of features and short films of 2019. This year’s Top Ten list features three directorial debuts and four Indigenous filmmakers. The shorts and features lineups showcase works by 12 of Canada’s most talented female filmmakers. Four directors are alumni from TIFF’s Talent Development programs: Filmmaker Lab, Writers’ Studio, and Telefilm Canada’s PITCH THIS!
The Brooklyn Horror Film Festival will return in 2020 for its fifth edition and run for another full eight days from October 15th to the 22nd in venues in Brooklyn, NY. BHFF will once again partner with Nitehawk Cinema as a primary screening venue.
Noah Baumbach’s divorce drama Marriage Story leads all films in the Vancouver Film Critics Circle’s international section with five nominations including Best Picture.
The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) announced the nominees for their top film honors of 2019. Nominees include Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story and Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite plus Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
Gravitas Ventures will release filmmaker Emily Ting’s second directorial feature Go Back to China, which made its world premiere in competition at SXSW Film Festival earlier this year. The film starring veteran Hong Kong actor Richard Ng, Lynn Chen, and Kelly Hu, will make a limited theatrical bow in select cities March 6, 2020 and simultaneous with a wide cross-platform cable/satellite/telco and internet VOD release on the same day.
32 projects from 21 countries at the dynamic crossroads of film, art and technology will be showcased in the New Frontier program for the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. This curated collection of cutting-edge independent and experimental media works are by creators who are pushing artistic innovation across mediums that include rocket travel, biotech, facial recognition, mixed reality (MR), smartphone AR, underwater VR, game engines, big data, AI, the human archive, and innovative uses of SMS text & iPhone video capture.
![[From left to right] Haley Bennet as “Hunter,” Austin Stowell as “Richie,” David Rasche as “Michael” and Elizabeth Marvel as Katherine. Courtesy of IFC Films. An IFC Films Release.](https://images.vimooz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/13170628/swallow-restaurant-1024x532.jpg)
The indie drama Swallow, written and directed by Carlo Mirabella-Davis, in his directorial debut will open in select theaters and on demand on March 6th, 2020. Swallow which world premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival stars Haley Bennett, Austin Stowell, Elizabeth Marvel, David Rasche and Denis O’Hare.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Marriage Story, and Parasite are among the films nominated by the Phoenix Critics Circle for the best films of 2019 awards. Members have narrowed the films from 2019 to the top nominees in each category. Voting is underway for the winners and they will be announced on Saturday, December 14th, 2019.
HBO Documentary Films has acquired the powerful and eye-opening documentary Welcome to Chechnya, from Academy Award nominated director David France (“How to Survive a Plague,” “The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson”). This searing documentary shadows a group of brave activists risking their lives to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ persecution in the repressive and closed Russian republic of Chechnya. With unfettered access and a commitment to protecting anonymity, this documentary exposes these underreported atrocities, while highlighting an extraordinary group of heroic people confronting crushing brutality.
Participant and Magnolia Pictures have acquired North American rights to the documentary JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Dawn Porter (TRAPPED, GIDEON’S ARMY). The film chronicles the life and career of the legendary civil rights activist and Democratic Representative from Georgia. Magnolia is planning a Spring 2020 theatrical release.
