Producer Jessica Sanders is the winner of the Sun Valley Film Festival (SVFF) $25,000 Ford Producers Grant prize for her project titled Picking Cotton, based off the New York Times bestseller, and will now have the opportunity to take her in-development film one big step closer to reality.
Austin Film Festival & Writers Conference (AFF) announced their fifth annual “25 Screenwriters to Watch.” This year’s “25 Screenwriters to Watch” list includes a roster of promising and innovative voices, featuring writers from diverse backgrounds, mediums, and points in their careers.
Amidst the Covid-19 health crisis, for the first time ever, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival will present a digital edition of its full slate of films from June 11-20, 2020. Expanding beyond New York City, the festival announced the first eight films of the line up that will enjoy their U.S. Digital Festival Premieres, making the films available nationwide. In keeping with the festival’s long-standing tradition of contextualizing films with conversations, online screenings will feature in-depth discussions with filmmakers, film subjects and Human Rights Watch researchers. The festival plans to return to Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center next year and beyond.
In the new era of social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, AFI DOCS, the American Film Institute’s annual documentary celebration in the nation’s capital, announced the festival’s 18th annual edition is going global. AFI DOCS will showcase current non-fiction fare in a re-imagined online film festival – “where the best seat is in your house.” AFI DOCS 2020 will open with BOYS STATE, directed by Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine. The festival will run June 17–21 and films will be available to view on DOCS.AFI.com.
The documentary The 8th from directors Lucy Kennedy, Maeve O’Boyle, and Aideen Kane tells the story of Irish women and their fight to overturn one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the world. The film will have its U.S. premiere at the 2020 Human Rights Watch Film Festival, taking place June 11-20, 2020.
Kenyan director and 2019 Rory Peck Award winner, Pete Murimi’s documentary I am Samuel will have its U.S. premiere at 2020 Human Rights Watch Film Festival New York Digital Edition in June. The documentary had its World Premiere at the 2020 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.
The New York International Children’s Film Festival (NYICFF) in partnership with independent arthouse theaters and cultural organizations nationwide, will offer virtual cinema screenings for families, launching May 8th and available through May 17th.
Palm Springs Film Society announced their plans for Palm Springs International Film Festival ShortFest 2020 taking place in June in a recent update from Artistic Director Lili Rodriguez and Managing Director Rhea Lewis-Woodson. Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, an in-person festival will not take place in June, however, official selected films will screen on the festival’s website for free from June 16 to 22, 2020.
The 19th annual Ashland Independent Film Festival in Southern Oregon released its schedule for an interactive virtual festival showcasing 30 feature films and over 100 short films from May 22 – June 14.
This May, Stony Brook Film Festival will offer a series of award-winning short films from past Festivals for free online. The films will be released on Tuesdays and Fridays every week through June, with the first film released on May 5 at 12:00 pm.
After the 44th Cleveland International Film Festival was cancelled on March 11th, two weeks before its March 25th Opening Night, the organization quickly pivoted to CIFF44 Reinvented.
