The 2010 Dubai International Film Festival draw to a close over the weekend and handed out its annual Muhr Awards. This year the festival featured a line-up of 157 films from 57 countries, including 41 world premieres, 13 international premieres, 58 Middle East premieres and 32 Gulf premieres.
The Anchorage International Film Festival just wrapped its 10th edition and awarded its 2010 Golden Oosikar Awards to the top films, with “The Wild Hunt,” by Alexandre Franchi taking the top prize for Best Film.
The 2011 Palm Springs International Film Festival announced today a new program highlighting African Cinema as well as films selected to compete for the FIPRESCI Award, New Voices/New Visions Award and John Schlesinger Awards. The Festival will screen 40 of the 65 official submissions to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Best Foreign Language Film. The Festival will announce its complete line-up of films next week.
Duncan Jones’ new film “Source Code” starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga and Michelle Monaghan will open 2011 South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival (SXSW). This is the second feature from Jones, the son of David Bowie, whose first feature film, “Moon”also screened at SXSW in 2009.
German actor and artist Armin Mueller-Stahl will be awarded an Honorary Golden Bear at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival.
Some 60 feature and short films will celebrate their premieres at the House of World Cultures, Generation’s new main venue at the upcoming 61st Berlin International Film Festival scheduled for February 10 – 20, 2011. Twelve feature-length films have already been confirmed. “With each film our excitement about the House of World Cultures is mounting. We want to invite Berlinale visitors to a change of location, in a spectacular cinema, and to the greatly diverse settings in our films,” says section director Maryanne Redpath.
The first eight titles for the Competition programme of the 61st Berlin International Film Festival have been confirmed. In addition to the opening film True Grit by Joel and Ethan Coen another seven productions and co-productions have been selected. They include films from Turkey, the Netherlands, Israel, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and the USA.
The Derby City Film Festival today announced the selected films for the 2011 edition. In total 67 films will screen during the three day festival which will be held February 18th – 20th, 2011 at the Clifton Center. Of those screening, 41 of the films have been selected for competition.
Toronto International Film Festival has compiled its list of the top 10 Canadian feature films and short films in 2010. “It’s a pretty diverse list, everything from micro-budget movies to international co-productions,” Steve Gravestock, TIFF’s associate director of Canadian programming said.
Big changes are planned for the the 2011 Staten Island Film Festival scheduled for June 8 – 12, 2011. First up the festival is moving and will not return to the College of Staten Island. Instead the festival will screen its films at Snug Harbor Cultural Center, the Staten Island Zoo and the St. George Theatre with an additional screening at the Joan and Alan Bernikow Jewish Community Center of Staten Island.
Actor Sean Penn did not attend the Dubai International Film Festival where he was to accept the DIFF Lifetime Achievement Award at the Festival’s opening ceremony on December 12, 2010. The actor reportedly remained in Haiti with his charity the J/P Haitian Relief Organization (J/P HRO), amid concerns for the charity’s staff in the wake of violent protests following the recent disputed presidential election
The Jewish Museum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center will present the 20th annual New York Jewish Film Festival at the Film Society’s Walter Reade Theater, The Jewish Museum, and The JCC in Manhattan, Jan. 12-27, 2011. The festival’s 36 features and shorts from 14 countries—31 screening in their world, U.S. or New York premieres—provide a diverse global perspective on the Jewish experience. In celebration of the festival’s 20th anniversary, several film screenings will be followed by filmmakers and special guests in onstage discussions and/or performances.