Film Festivals
MATTERHORN by Diederik Ebbinge took the UPC Audience Award and Haifaa Al Mansour’s WADJDA was awarded with the Dioraphte Award for best Hubert Bals Fund-supported film at the 2013 International Film Festival Rotterdam. Both awards come with 10,000 Euro prize money. MATTERHORN tells the tragicomical story of widower Fred (Ton Kas) who leads a lonely life after his wife passed away. His life takes an unexpected turn when a stranger (René van ’t Hof) calls at […]
My Dog Killer (Môj pes Killer) by Mira Fornay, Soldier Jane (Soldate Jeannette) by Daniel Hoesl, and Fat Shaker (Larzanandeye charbi) by Mohammad Shirvani were announced as the three-way winners of the Hivos Tiger Awards at the 2013 International Film Festival Rotterdam, in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The directors win a prize of €15.000.
My Dog Killer (Môj pes Killer) by Mira Fornay (Slovakia/Czech Republic, 2013). An unflinching study of a troubled teen in small-town Slovakia, the film was praised by its jury for ‘showing a very strong subject from the inside’
Soldier Jane (Soldate Jeannette) by Daniel Hoesl (Austria, 2012). A provocative portrait of two women from different ends of the social spectrum, Hoesl’s debut feature was commended for it ‘strong imagery and visual power.’
Fat Shaker (Larzanandeye charbi) by Mohammad Shirvani (Iran, 2013). Shirvani’s drama about a stern patriarch was, the jury stated, ‘a fascinating story with superb characters.’
What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love (Indonesia, 2013) is the winner of NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) Award 2013.
The other winners of 2013 International Film Festival Rotterdam.
The 2013 South by Southwest Film Festival scheduled to run March 8-16, 2013, announced the Film Features lineup of 109 films, including 69 world premieres, 14 North American and 5 U.S. Premieres.
Highlights include Stephen Finnigan’s Hawking, Tim McCanlies’ When Angels Sing, Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing, Dan Mazer’s I Give It A Year, John Sayles’ Go For Sisters, Jacob Vaughn’s Milo, Penny Lane’s Our Nixon, Daisy von Scherler Mayer’s Some Girl(s), Zak Knutson & Joey Figueroa’s MILIUS, Adam Rifkin’s Reality Show, Sini Anderson’s The Punk Singer, M. Blash’s The Wait, Bryan Poyser’s The Bounceback, Jeffrey Schwarz’s I Am Divine, and Michał Marczak’s Fuck for Forest.
Miami International Film Festival (MIFF) announced the films selected to screen during its 30th edition which runs March 1 -10, 2013. Premiering at this year’s Festival will be 117 feature films and 12 short films from 41 countries.
This is the first year in MIFF’s history that the Festival will open and close with documentary features. The Festival will open with RADiUS-TWC’s Twenty Feet from Stardom directed by Morgan Neville and close with Venus and Serena directed by Maiken Baird & Michelle Major.
The Festival will honor two “remarkable” directors with Career Achievement Tributes: Swedish writer-director Lasse Hallström (My Life as a Dog, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape) and Spanish producer, writer, and Oscar-winning director Fernando Trueba (Belle Epoque, Chico & Rita). The Festival will screen the directors’ latest works including The Hypnotist (Hyponotisören) by Hallström and The Artist and the Model (El Artista y La Modelo) by Trueba. The Artist and the Model received 13 Goya nominations this year, including Best Picture and Best Director.
Miami International Film Festival’s 30th edition lineup:
River Phoenix’s final film, Dark Blood, directed by George Sluizer, co-starring Jonathan Pryce and Judy Davis will have its North American premiere at the upcoming Miami International Film Festival (MIFF) . Twenty years after its making, the film will be shown for the first time in North America at the 30th Anniversary edition of the Miami International Film Festival (March 1-10, 2013).
Dark Blood was 80% complete when River Phoenix passed away in 1993 and the uncompleted film disappeared into a vault. In 1999 Sluizer heard that the footage was going to be burned to make space and with less than 48 hours notice, he saved the film, engineering efforts to get the entire film moved to The Netherlands. The footage then sat for more than ten years until last year when Sluizer set about finishing the film. The film finally premiered overseas to a standing ovation in the fall of 2012 at the Dutch Film Festival.
The 2013 Sundance Film Festival announced the feature film winners at an Awards Ceremony, hosted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt on Saturday night in Park City, Utah. Fruitvale directed and written by Ryan Coogler was the big winner of the festival, winning both the U.S. Grand Jury Prize – Dramatic and Audience Award – U.S. Dramatic. The film is the true story of Oscar, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family and strangers on the last day of 2008
The complete list of 2013 Sundance Film Festival Awards:
Kentaro Hagiwara, director of the upcoming film, Spectacled Tiger is the winner of the 2013 Sundance/NHK International Filmmaker Award. The award was presented at a private ceremony at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Spectacled Tiger, co-written by Kyohta Fujimoto, is a romantic, coming-of-age film about a high school trivia quiz wunderkind, Taiga Suzuki, who lives in a world where things are only black or white, correct or incorrect. But when Taiga finds […]
The 19th Annual Slamdance Film Festival announced the feature film and short film recipients of this year’s awards in the Audience, Grand Jury, and the Sponsored Award Categories. MY NAME IS FAITH by Jason Banker, Jorge Torres-Torres, Tiffany Sudela-Junker received the Audience Award for Feature Documentary, and HANK AND ASHA by James E. Duff received the Audience Award for Feature Narrative. The Grand Jury Sparky Award for Feature Narrative went toTHE DIRTIES by Matt Johnson, while BIBLE QUIZ by Nicole Teeny won the Grand Jury Sparky Award for Feature Documentary.
The complete list of winners of 2013 Slamdance Film Festival
Computer Chess, directed and written by Andrew Bujalski, has been awarded the 2013 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize and will receive a $20,000 cash award by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Now in its tenth year, the Prize is selected by a jury of film and science professionals and presented to outstanding feature films focusing on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer or mathematician as a major character.
Computer Chess is an existential comedy about the brilliant men who taught machines to play chess – back when the machines seemed clumsy and we seemed smart. The cast includes Patrick Riester, Myles Paige, James Curry, Robin Schwartz, Gerald Peary and Wiley Wiggins. The jury presented the award to the film for its “off-beat and formalistically adventurous exploration of questions of artificial intelligence and human connections, unfolding during an early computer chess tournament.”
HBO Documentary Films has snapped up the U.S. television rights for the documentary “Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer” which had its world premiere Friday night to a sold out crowd at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Directed by Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin, the film is expected to premiere on the HBO channel at a future date. “Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer” tells the incredible story of three young women: Nadia, Masha and Katia. As members of the […]
Gravitas Ventures will release three “raucous Slamdance films” from 2013 Slamdance Film Festival in the next three months: Steven Feinartz’s documentary The Bitter Buddha, Michael Urie’s comedy He’s Way More Famous Than You and Peter Baxter’s documentary Wild In The Streets.
First up debuting in select theatres on February 15, 2013 and on VOD on February 19th is The Bitter Buddha, Steven Feinartz’s perceptive look at alt-comic genius Eddie Pepitone. Though often revered as a “comic’s comic”, Eddie Pepitone is a man at war with himself. And he has the scars to prove it. The Bitter Buddha takes the viewer backstage in the alternative comedy scene to reveal one of its most undervalued treasures. This portrait of a comedian looks at Pepitone’s off beat humor and lifestyle as he battles the world around him. Stand-up comedy, original animation and interviews with Patton Oswalt, Sarah Silverman, Zach Galifianakis and others provide insight into this beloved career comedian known as ”the guitarist that all the other guitarists go to see.”
CBS Films has grabbbed the coming-of-age comedy film TOY’S HOUSE, that premiered on Saturday at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. TOY’S HOUSE, directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, from a screenplay by Chris Galletta,stars Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Alison Brie, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Erin Moriarty, Marc Evan Jackson, Thomas Middleditch and Tony Hale. TOY’S HOUSE follows three teenage boys (Robinson, Basso and Arias) as they head into the wilderness with a […]