Awards

Composer John Williams to Receive 44th AFI Life Achievement Award

Composer John Williams will be the recipient of the 44th AFI Life Achievement Award, America’s highest honor for a career in film. For the first time in American Film Institute (AFI) history, the award will be bestowed upon a composer. Williams will be honored at a gala Tribute on June 9, 2016 in Los Angeles, CA. The AFI Life Achievement Award Tribute special will return for its fourth year with Turner Broadcasting to air on TNT in late June 2016, followed by an encore presentation on its sister network, Turner Classic Movies (TCM). “John Williams has written the soundtrack to our lives,” said Sir Howard Stringer, Chair, AFI Board of Trustees. “Note by note, through chord and chorus, his genius for marrying music with movies has elevated the art form to symphonic levels and inspired generations of audiences to be enriched by the magic of the movies. AFI is proud to present him with its 44th Life Achievement Award.” John Williams’ storied career as the composer behind many of the greatest American films and television series of all time boasts over 150 credits across seven decades. Perhaps best known for his enduring collaboration with director Steven Spielberg, his scores are among the most iconic and recognizable in film history, from the edge-of-your-seat JAWS (1975) motif to the emotional swell of E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982) and the haunting elegies of SCHINDLER’S LIST (1993). Always epic in scale, his music has helped define over half a century of the motion picture medium. Three of Williams’ scores landed on AFI’s 100 Years of Film Scores — a list of the 25 greatest American film scores of all time — including the unforgettable STAR WARS (1977) soundtrack, at number one. With five Academy Award® wins and 49 nominations in total, Williams holds the record for the most Oscar® nominations of any living person. Other career touchstones include CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977), RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) and the INDIANA JONES series (1984–2008), JURASSIC PARK (1993), SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998), the first three films of the HARRY POTTER series (2001–2004), MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA (2005), THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN (2011), LINCOLN (2012) and THE BOOK THIEF (2013). He will soon transport audiences back to a galaxy far, far away with STAR WARS: EPISODE VII – THE FORCE AWAKENS, opening December 2015, and he is set to reteam with Spielberg for THE BFG in 2016. Watch Williams at the AFI Life Achievement Award Tribute to George Lucas in 2005. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBbudefAzFw More About John Williams Born and raised in New York, Williams moved to Los Angeles in 1948, where he studied composition with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. After service in the Air Force, he returned to New York and studied piano with Madame Rosina Lhévinne at The Juilliard School, and also worked as a jazz pianist both in nightclubs and on recordings. He returned to Los Angeles and began his career in the film industry, working with many accomplished film composers including Bernard Herrmann, Alfred Newman, Henry Mancini, Elmer Bernstein and Franz Waxman. He went on to write music for more than 200 television films for the groundbreaking anthology series ALCOA THEATRE and KRAFT TELEVISION THEATRE. His more recent contributions to television music include the well-known theme for NBC NIGHTLY NEWS (“The Mission”), the theme for what has become network television’s longest-running series, NBC’s MEET THE PRESS and the theme for the prestigious PBS arts showcase GREAT PERFORMANCES. Williams went on to compose the music and serve as music director for more than 150 films, including some of the most successful films of all time. His 40-year artistic partnership with director Steven Spielberg began in 1972 with the film THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS. The five Academy Awards^® Williams has received are for: his adaptation of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (1971), STAR WARS (1977) and hree of his scores with Spielberg: JAWS (1975), E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982) and SCHINDLER’S LIST (1993). He is also the recipient of 22 Grammy Awards^®. Williams served as Music Director of the Boston Pops Orchestra for 14 seasons and remains their Conductor Laureate. He has composed numerous works for the concert hall, and maintains vibrant relationships with many of the world’s leading symphony orchestras. He has composed music for many important cultural and commemorative events, including the theme for the rededication of the Statue of Liberty in 1986 and themes for four Olympic Games. In 2003, he received the Olympic Order, the International Olympic Committee’s highest honor, for his contributions to the Olympic movement. He was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in December of 2004 and the National Medal of Arts in 2009. Williams was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2009 and in January of that same year, he composed and arranged “Air and Simple Gifts” especially for the first inaugural ceremony of President Barack Obama.
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European Film Academy to Honor Charlotte Rampling and Christoph Waltz

The European Film Academy will present Charlotte Rampling with the honorary Lifetime Achievement Award, and the European Achievement In World Cinema will go to two-time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz. Both Charlotte Rampling and Christoph Waltz will be honorary guests at the 28th European Film Awards Ceremony on December 12th, 2015, in Berlin. Born in England, Charlotte Rampling grew up in Gibraltar, France, Italy and Spain to become a truly European multi-language actress. Throughout her career, Charlotte Rampling has worked with great European directors from Luchino Visconti, Liliana Cavani and Patrice Chéreau to François Ozon, Laurent Cantet, Claude Lelouch, Gianni Amelio, Bille August and Lars von Trier. Charlotte Rampling is a five-time EFA Nominee and won European Actress 2003 for SWIMMING POOL. She has received an Honorary César and has been nominated four times in France, as the murder suspect Barbara in HE DIED WITH HIS EYES OPEN, the lonely wife in UNDER THE SAND, a famous mystery author in SWIMMING POOL and the deranged Alice Pollock in LEMMING. She recently received a Silver Berlin Bear for her role in 45 YEARS which is also part of this year’s EFA Selection. Among some of Charlotte Rampling’s most interesting films are THE NIGHT PORTER by Liliana Cavani, HEADING SOUTH by Laurent Cantet, STARDUST MEMORIES by Woody Allen, THE VERDICT by Sidney Lumet, UNDER THE SAND by François Ozon, MAX MY LOVE by Nagisa Oshima and MELANCHOLIA by Lars von Trier. Born in Austria, Christoph Waltz studied acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna and in New York. He started out as a theatre actor and quickly became a popular TV star. In 2009 Christoph Waltz shot to international fame with Quentin Tarantino’s INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS for which he received the Best Actor Award in Cannes, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and his first Oscar. He acted in THE GREEN HORNET by Michel Gondry, in CARNAGE by Roman Polanski and in 2012 he again collaborated with Quentin Tarantino, playing Dr. King Schultz in DJANGO UNCHAINED which won him another Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and ultimately a second Oscar. And he plays a leading part in the new James Bond film SPECTRE.
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2016 Cinema Eye Shorts List Revealed for 9th Cinema Eye Honors Awards

Ten nonfiction short films were announced today as finalists for the 2016 Cinema Eye Honors, the 9th edition of the largest annual celebration for and recognition of the nonfiction film artform and the creators of those films. The announcement of the 2016 Cinema Eye Shorts List was made on the opening day of the 2015 Camden International Film Festival (CIFF), a key festival partner of the Cinema Eye Honors. For the second year in a row, all ten films, which are among the most acclaimed short documentaries of the year, will screen this weekend at the 11th Annual Camden International Film Festival. This is the first time that all the filmmakers on the list have never been on the Shorts List before or a previous Cinema Eye nominee. This marks the fourth year that the CEH Shorts List has been announced in Camden. This January will mark the seventh year that CIFF hosts their annual reception on the eve of Cinema Eye’s award ceremony. A key part of Cinema Eye Week, a multi-day event held from January 10-13 in New York City in January 2016, the CIFF reception has become the largest single event for nonfiction film in the city and an important kickoff for the new year in the documentary community. From the ten finalists on this year’s Shorts List, five films will be named as nominees for the Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking Award. Nominees in that category and nearly a dozen feature film categories will be announced on Wednesday, November 11 in Copenhagen, Denmark at CPH:DOX. Awards will be presented during Cinema Eye Honors on January 13, 2016, in New York City. This year’s ten finalists are: Body Team 12 (Liberia/USA) (pictured above) Directed by David Darg Born to Be Mild (UK) Directed by Andy Oxley The Breath (Switzerland) Directed by Fabian Kaiser Buffalo Juggalos (USA) Directed by Scott Cummings Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah (Canada) Directed by Adam Benzine The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul (Australia) Directed by Kitty Green Hotel 22 (USA) Directed by Elizabeth Lo {The And} Marcela & Rock (USA) Directed by Topaz Adizes The Solitude of Memory (Mexico/USA) Directed by Juan Pablo González Super-Unit (Poland) Directed by Teresa Czepiec
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Winners of 42nd Student Academy Awards Receive Medal Awards

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences last night honored 15 student winners from colleges and universities around the world at the 42nd Student Academy Awards ceremony, held at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal awards were announced and presented by actors Michelle Rodriguez and Jason Mitchell, Oscar®-winning director John Lasseter, and the Oscar-winning team behind the animated feature “Big Hero 6,” Roy Conli, Don Hall and Chris Williams. The 2015 Student Academy Award winners are: Alternative Gold: “Chiaroscuro,” Daniel Drummond, Chapman University, California Silver: “Zoe,” ChiHyun Lee, The School of Visual Arts, New York Animation Gold: “Soar,” Alyce Tzue, Academy of Art University, San Francisco Silver: “An Object at Rest,” Seth Boyden, California Institute of the Arts Bronze: “Taking the Plunge,” Nicholas Manfredi and Elizabeth Ku-Herrero, The School of Visual Arts Documentary Gold: “Looking at the Stars,” Alexandre Peralta, University of Southern California Silver: “I Married My Family’s Killer,” Emily Kassie, Brown University Bronze: “Boxeadora,” Meg Smaker, Stanford University Narrative Gold: “Day One,” Henry Hughes, American Film Institute, California Silver: “This Way Up,” Jeremy Cloe, American Film Institute Bronze: “Stealth,” Bennett Lasseter, American Film Institute Foreign Film Gold: “Fidelity,” Ilker Çatak, Hamburg Media School, Germany Silver: “The Last Will,” Dustin Loose, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany Bronze: “Everything Will Be Okay” Patrick Vollrath, Filmakademie Wien, Austria The Student Academy Awards were established in 1972 to provide a platform for emerging global talent by creating opportunities within the industry to showcase their work. Past Student Academy Award winners have gone on to receive 47 Oscar nominations and have won or shared eight awards. They include Pete Docter, John Lasseter, Spike Lee, Trey Parker and Robert Zemeckis. Image: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented its 42nd Annual Student Academy Awards® on Thursday, September 17, in Beverly Hills. Gold Medal winners (left to right): Alternative film winner Daniel Drummond, Documentary film winner Alexandre Peralta, Animated film winner Alyce Tzue, Narrative film winner Henry Hughes and Foreign film winner Ilker Catak. credit: Todd Wawrychuk / ©A.M.P.A.S.
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Robert Redford, Helen Mirren, Steve Golin to be Honored at 2015 IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards

Robert Redford and Helen Mirren will be presented with Actor and Actress Tributes at the 2015 IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards set for Monday, November 30th at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. Steve Golin will be awarded the Industry Tribute. They will join Todd Haynes, the previously announced Director Tribute recipient. “We are thrilled to recognize the careers and achievements of such lauded industry veterans as Robert Redford, Helen Mirren, and Steve Golin as part of our 25th anniversary celebrations,” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director of IFP and the Made in NY Media Center. “To celebrate these individuals who have contributed so much to the independent film community and to the entertainment world at large – and in such a landmark year for the Gothams – is truly an honor.” Todd Haynes, Robert Redford, Helen Mirren, and Steve Golin will join a prestigious group of previous honorees including: Bennett Miller, Tilda Swinton, Ted Sarandos, Jeff Skoll, James Schamus, Bob & Harvey Weinstein, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sheila Nevins, Jonathan Sehring and film critic Roger Ebert; actors Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Charlize Theron, Stanley Tucci, Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem, and Penélope Cruz; filmmakers David O. Russell, David Cronenberg, Mira Nair and Gus Van Sant. For the fifth year, IFP will present the euphoria Calvin Klein Spotlight on Women Filmmakers ‘Live the Dream’ grant, a $25,000 cash award for an alumnus of IFP’s Independent Filmmaker Labs. This grant aims to further the careers of emerging female directors by supporting the completion, distribution and audience engagement strategies of their first feature film. The 2014 winner of this grant was director, writer, and producer Chloé Zhao, whose film Songs My Brothers Taught Me premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. In addition, euphoria Calvin Klein will present the annual Best Actress award. Submissions for the IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards are now being accepted in seven of the competitive categories: Best Feature, Best Documentary, Best Actor, Best Actress, Breakthrough Actor, Best Screenplay, and the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award. The deadline for submissions is September 17th.
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15 Students Are Winners of 42nd Student Academy Awards

The Academy has voted fifteen students as winners of the 42nd Student Academy Awards competition. The Academy received a record number of entries this year — 1,686 films from 282 domestic and 93 international colleges and universities — which were voted upon by a record number of Academy members. Past Student Academy Award winners have gone on to receive 47 Oscar® nominations and have won or shared eight awards. Previous winners include Pete Docter, John Lasseter, Spike Lee, Trey Parker and Robert Zemeckis. The winners are (listed alphabetically by film title): Alternative “Chiaroscuro,” Daniel Drummond, Chapman University, California “Zoe,” ChiHyun Lee, The School of Visual Arts, New York Animation “An Object at Rest,” Seth Boyden, California Institute of the Arts “Soar,” Alyce Tzue, Academy of Art University, San Francisco “Taking the Plunge,” Nicholas Manfredi and Elizabeth Ku-Herrero, The School of Visual Arts Documentary “Boxeadora,” Meg Smaker, Stanford University “I Married My Family’s Killer,” Emily Kassie, Brown University “Looking at the Stars,” Alexandre Peralta, University of Southern California Narrative “Day One,” Henry Hughes, American Film Institute, California “Stealth,” Bennett Lasseter, American Film Institute “This Way Up,” Jeremy Cloe, American Film Institute Foreign Film “Everything Will Be Okay…,” Patrick Vollrath, Filmakademie Wien, Austria “Fidelity,” Ilker Catak, Hamburg Media School, Germany “The Last Will,” Dustin Loose, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany Students will arrive in Los Angeles for a week of industry activities that will culminate in the awards ceremony onThursday, September 17, at 7:30 p.m., at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The medal placements – gold, silver and bronze – in the five award categories will be announced at the ceremony. First-time honors go to Chapman University in the Alternative category and Filmakademie Wien in the Foreign Film competition. Academy members voted the winners from a field of 33 finalists, announced last month. The 42nd Student Academy Awards ceremony on September 17 is free and open to the public, but advance tickets are required. The Student Academy Awards were established in 1972 to provide a platform for emerging global talent by creating opportunities within the industry to showcase their work. image via pinterest: Spike Lee accepting a Dramatic Merit Award for his student film “Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads”, with presenter Ronald Neame at the 1983 (10th) Student Academy Awards ceremony.
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Spike Lee, Gena Rowlands, Debbie Reynolds to Receive Honorary Oscar Awards

Spike Lee, Gena Rowlands, and Debbie Reynolds will honored at the upcoming Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 7th Governors Awards on Saturday, November 14. The Academy will present Honorary Awards to Spike Lee and Gena Rowlands, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to DebbieReynolds. The Honorary Award, an Oscar statuette, is given “to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy.” The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, also an Oscar statuette, is given “to an individual in the motion picture arts and sciences whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.” “The Board is proud to recognize our honorees’ remarkable contributions at this year’s Governors Awards,” said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs. “We’ll be celebrating their achievements with the knowledge that the work they have accomplished – with passion, dedication and a desire to make a positive difference – will also enrich future generations.”
Lee, a champion of independent film and an inspiration to young filmmakers, made an auspicious debut with his NYU thesis film, “Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads,” which won a Student Academy Award® in 1983. He proceeded to blaze a distinctive trail with such features as “She’s Gotta Have It,” “School Daze” and “Do the Right Thing,” which earned him a 1989 Oscar® nomination for Original Screenplay. His work as a director ranges from the Oscar-nominated documentary feature “4 Little Girls” to such mainstream successes as “Malcolm X” and “Inside Man.” Lee’s other feature credits include “Mo’ Better Blues,” “Jungle Fever,” “Crooklyn,” “He Got Game,” “25th Hour,” “Miracle at St. Anna” and “Red Hook Summer.” He currently serves as the artistic director of the graduate film program at NYU. Rowlands, an original talent whose devotion to her craft has earned her worldwide recognition as an independent film icon, received Academy Award nominations for her lead performances in “A Woman under the Influence” (1974) and “Gloria” (1980), both directed by her husband and frequent collaborator, John Cassavetes. She got her start on the New York stage and in live television in the 1950s and has appeared in 40 feature films to date, from “The High Cost of Loving” in 1958 to “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks,” which she starred in earlier this year. Her other notable films include “Lonely Are the Brave,” “Faces,” “Minnie and Moskowitz,” “Opening Night,” “Another Woman,” “Unhook the Stars,” “Hope Floats,” “Playing by Heart,” “The Notebook” and “Broken English.” Reynolds, a Hollywood icon since she won hearts with her buoyant performance in “Singin’ in the Rain,” embarked on the role of a lifetime as a founding member of the Thalians, a charitable organization conceived and sustained by entertainers to promote awareness and treatment of mental health issues. She served as the group’s president almost continuously from 1957 to 2011, adding numerous terms as board chair and frequently presiding over its annual fundraising gala. Her tireless efforts have enabled the Thalians to contribute millions to the Mental Health Center at Cedars-Sinai and to UCLA’s Operation Mend, which helps military veterans recover from the physical and psychological wounds of war. Reynolds has appeared in more than 40 feature films, including “The Tender Trap,” “A Catered Affair” and “Mother,” and received a 1964 Oscar nomination for her lead performance in “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.”

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Director Brian De Palma to be Honored at Venice International Film Festival

Director Brian De Palma will receive the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker 2015 Award, dedicated to personalities who have made particularly original contributions to contemporary cinema, at the upcoming Venice International Film Festival. Regarding this award, the Director of the Festival Alberto Barbera declared, “The child of an artistic era (the ‘70s) full of innovative ferment, Brian De Palma has made a name for himself as one of the most skillful directors in constructing perfect narrative mechanics with great creative freedom, experimenting with new technical solutions, rejecting the classic rules of the language, abandoning himself to aesthetic virtuosity, and celebrating his favorite authors. When watching a movie by Brian De Palma, we revert to being basic spectators. Although our eyes are wide open to avoid falling into the trap, we know full well we’re bound to fall into it anyway. De Palma’s cinema is playful to the nth degree; it is a pleasure for the eyes and at the same time a game that tantalizes the cinéphile. He has never lost the curiosity of the experimenter as he reinvents the already-seen, and when it comes to constructing and manipulating images, this fundamental trait makes De Palma one of the greatest innovators who came of age in the shadow of the New Hollywood.” “Jaeger-LeCoultre is proud to pay tribute to Brian De Palma with the Glory to the Filmmaker Award”, declared Daniel Riedo, CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre. “For ten years, our company has supported the seventh art and the Venice International Film Festival through continuous promotion of cinema’s creativity and ingenuity. Precision watches and the maximum expression of the cinematographic art are fruit of the same passion. Both call for months and even years of concentration and patience, in order for the virtuosity of talented professionals to lead to the creation of masterpieces of aesthetic and technical perfection, destined to last forever.” The award will be given to Brian De Palma on September 9th at 9.30 p.m. in the Sala Grande (Palazzo del Cinema) during the 72nd Venice International Film Festival (September 2-12, 2015), directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by the Biennale chaired by Paolo Baratta. Following the award ceremony, the 72nd Film Festival will present the world premiere, Out of Competition, of the documentary De Palma (109’) by Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow. The film grew out of the two directors’ spending time with Brian De Palma for over ten years. It’s an intimate conversation between filmmakers, chronicling Brian’s six decade long career, his life, and his filmmaking process. This major award consolidates the important bond between the Venice Film Festival and Brian De Palma, who has presented seven movies at the Lido, the first time forty years ago with Sisters in the section Proposte di nuovi film (1975). In 1981, De Palma screened Blow Out in the section Mezzogiorno/Mezzanotte; in 1987, The Untouchables, an out-of-competition Special Event; in 1992, Raising Cain, the closing film in competition; in 2006, The Black Dahlia, the opening film in competition; in 2007, Redacted, in competition and the winner of the Silver Lion; and in 2012, Passion, in competition. Born in 1940, Brian De Palma studied film in New York. In 1963, he directed The Wedding Party, giving twenty-year-old Robert De Niro his first part. Carrie, a movie starring Sissy Spacek and based on the Stephen King novel, was his first big success. To date, De Palma has directed over 30 films, including The Untouchables (1987) with Robert De Niro, Kevin Costner and Sean Connery; Mission Impossible (1996) with Tom Cruise; and Scarface (1983) with Al Pacino. Over the years, De Palma has directed stars such as John Travolta, Melanie Griffith, Tom Hanks and Sean Penn. He is particularly famous for his psychological thrillers, which feature his personal style, unusual camera angles and elements that often recall works by the directors who have influenced him, in particular Alfred Hitchcock. Among the great actors Brian De Palma has directed, three have received Oscar nominations: Sissy Spacek (best actress, Carrie), Piper Laurie (best supporting actress, Carrie) and Sean Connery (best supporting actor, The Untouchables), who received the Oscar for his performance. Jake Paltrow was born September 26, 1975 in Los Angeles, CA. His films are Young Ones (2014) and The Good Night (2007). Noah Baumbach was born and raised in Brooklyn. His films include Kicking and Screaming (1995), The Squid and the Whale (2005), Margot at the Wedding (2007), Greenberg (2010), Frances Ha (2012), While We’re Young (2014), and Mistress America (2015). Jaeger-LeCoultre has been a sponsor of the Venice International Film Festival for eleven years, and for nine years has sponsored the Glory to the Filmmaker Award. In the past years, the prize has been awarded to Takeshi Kitano (2007), Abbas Kiarostami (2008), Agnès Varda (2008), Sylvester Stallone (2009), Mani Ratnam (2010), Al Pacino (2011), Spike Lee (2012), Ettore Scola (2013) and James Franco (2014).
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2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards Now Accepting Entries

Film Independent President Josh Welsh announced that the call for entries for the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards is now open. The Regular Deadline is Tuesday, September 22, 2015 and the Final Deadline is Tuesday, October 13, 2015. The nominations will be announced on November 24, 2015 in a press conference. The Awards will be held on February 27, 2016 and will premiere exclusively on IFC. “There are so many strong films this year, coming out theatrically as well as at the major festivals,” said Josh Welsh, President of Film Independent. “We’re so excited to begin the process of considering all the great work that we’ll be recognizing at next year’s Spirit Awards.” The Film Independent Spirit Awards include the following categories: Best Feature, Best First Feature, Best Screenplay, Best First Screenplay, Best Director, John Cassavetes Award (given to the best feature made for a budget under $500,000), Best Male Lead, Best Female Lead, Best Supporting Male, Best Supporting Female, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best International Film, and Best Documentary. The Filmmaker Grants, for emerging filmmakers, include the Producers Award, the Truer Than Fiction Award and the Someone to Watch Award. As the first event to exclusively honor independent film, the Film Independent Spirit Awards has made a name for itself as the premier awards show for the independent film community. Artists who have received industry recognition first at the Spirit Awards include Joel and Ethan Coen, Ava DuVernay, Spike Lee, Lynn Shelton, Oliver Stone, Ashley Judd, Steve McQueen, Robert Rodriguez, David O. Russell, Aaron Eckhart, Neil LaBute, Darren Aronofsky, Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman, Hilary Swank, Marc Forster, Todd Field, Christopher Nolan, Zach Braff, Amy Adams, Lena Dunham and many more. Film Independent Members vote to determine the winners of the Film Independent Spirit Awards. Members are filmmakers, film industry leaders and film lovers. Anyone passionate about film can join at filmindependent.org/membership to be eligible to vote for the winners of the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards In addition to celebrating the broad spectrum of independent filmmaking, the Spirit Awards is also the primary fundraiser for Film Independent’s year-round programs, which cultivate the careers of emerging filmmakers and promote diversity in the industry.
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Todd Haynes to Receive Director Tribute at IFP’s 25th Gotham Independent Film Awards

Todd Haynes will be presented with this year’s Director Tribute at the 25th Annual IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards. Each year, the Director Tribute is awarded to a veteran filmmaker with unique vision who has made a significant contribution to the motion picture industry. In its press release the IFP states that Todd Haynes exemplifies the true independent spirit, with a career spanning over the last three decades and a truly extraordinary and uncompromising body of work. Haynes made his directorial debut in 1987 with the controversial short film Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, using Barbie dolls to portray the life and death of singer Karen Carpenter. His feature film debut followed in 1991 with the provocative Poison, which went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance, spearheading what would become known as the New Queer Cinema. Haynes’s second feature, Safe, was later voted the best film of the 90’s by the Village Voice’s Critic Poll. Haynes’s next film, Velvet Goldmine, premiered in Official Selection at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, where it received a Special Jury Prize. This was followed by Far From Heaven (2002), which received four Oscar nominations, including one for Haynes’ Original Screenplay. His 2007 film, I’m Not There, imagined the life and work of Bob Dylan through the guise of seven fictional characters, and once again won him mass critical acclaim. In 2011, Haynes directed and co-wrote Mildred Pierce, a five-hour mini-series, which garnered 21 Emmy nominations, winning five of them, in addition to three Golden Globes Awards. His latest feature film, Carol, premiered in the Official Selection of the 2015 Cannes Films Festival, where Rooney Mara was awarded the prize for Best Actress. The much-anticipated film, which also stars Cate Blanchett, is scheduled for release in November 2015. “We are thrilled to present the Director Tribute to Todd Haynes in our 25th Anniversary year” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director, IFP and Made in NY Media Center. “Todd’s career exemplifies precisely the kind of visionary, independent filmmaking the Gotham Awards first began championing in 1991. We’re also honored to celebrate screenwriting this year for the first time, finally giving due credit to the significance of this craft to independent film as an art form.” The eight competitive Gotham Awards include Best Feature, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Documentary, Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director, Breakthrough Actor, Audience Award, and now Best Screenplay. Recent past winners include Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), CITIZENFOUR, and Boyhood (2014) Inside Lleywn Davis, Fruitvale Station and The Act of Killing (2013); Moonrise Kingdom, Beasts of the Southern Wild and How to Survive a Plague (2012);Beginners, The Tree of Life and Better This World (2011); all of which went on to win numerous awards and garner Oscar™ nominations. Last year the organization honored director Bennett Miller, actress Tilda Swinton, and Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos. Todd Haynes and the additional Gotham Awards tribute recipients to be announced will join a prestigious group of previous honorees including: Jeff Skoll, James Schamus, Bob & Harvey Weinstein, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sheila Nevins, Jonathan Sehring and film critic Roger Ebert; actors Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Charlize Theron, Stanley Tucci, Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem, and Penélope Cruz; filmmakers David O. Russell, David Cronenberg, Mira Nair and Gus Van Sant.
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Cheryl Boone Isaacs Re-elected President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Cheryl Boone Isaacs was re-elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Tuesday night (August 4) by the organization’s Board of Governors. In addition, Jeffrey Kurland was elected first vice president; John Bailey, Kathleen Kennedy and Bill Kroyer were elected to vice president posts; Jim Gianopulos was elected treasurer; and Phil Robinson was elected secretary. Boone Isaacs is beginning her third term as president and her 23rd year as a governor representing the Public Relations Branch. Kurland and Bailey were re-elected to their posts. Kennedy has served previous terms as vice president. Last year Kroyer served as secretary. This will be the first officer stint for Gianopulos. Robinson has served previous terms as vice president as well as secretary. Boone Isaacs currently heads CBI Enterprises, Inc., where she consults on film marketing efforts. Starting this September, she will be an adjunct professor at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. She recently received an honorary doctorate from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Over her career, Boone Isaacs has consulted on such films as “The Call,” “The Artist,” “The King’s Speech,” “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” “Spider-Man 2” and “Tupac: Resurrection.” Boone Isaacs previously served as president of theatrical marketing for New Line Cinema, where she oversaw numerous box office successes, including “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” and “Rush Hour.” Prior to joining New Line in 1997, she was executive vice president of worldwide publicity for Paramount Pictures, where she orchestrated publicity campaigns for the Best Picture winners “Forrest Gump” and “Braveheart.” Academy board members may serve up to three consecutive three-year terms, while officers serve one-year terms, with a maximum of four consecutive years in any one office. A full listing of the Academy’s 2015–16 Board of Governors.
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Carol Burnett to be Honored with 2015 SAG Life Achievement Award

Carol Burnett – comedic trailblazer, actor, singer, dancer, producer and author – has been named the 52nd recipient of SAG-AFTRA’s highest tribute: the SAG Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment. Burnett will be presented the performers union’s top accolade at the 22nd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®, which will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016. Given annually to an actor who fosters the “finest ideals of the acting profession,” the SAG Life Achievement Award will join Burnett’s exceptional catalog of preeminent industry and public honors, which includes multiple Emmys®, a special Tony®, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and both a Kennedy Center Honor and its Mark Twain Prize for Humor. Burnett’s film credits include playing Miss Hannigan in the film version of the musical, Annie, directed by John Huston; Noises Off, directed by Peter Bogdanovich; A Wedding, directed by Robert Altman; and Four Seasons, directed by Alan Alda. On Broadway she recently starred in A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters (2014), opposite Brian Dennehy, Fade Out, Fade In, with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green with music by Jule Styne; Stephen Sondheim’s musical review Putting It Together;and Ken Ludwig’s farce Moon Over Buffalo, starring with Philip Bosco. She produced and starred in numerous television specials and guest starred on several television series, including Glee, Hot in Cleveland, Hawaii 5-0 and Law and Order: SVU. She also starred in the television series Fresno and Carol & Co., as well as the highly acclaimed made-for-television movies Friendly Fire, Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice. In 2005 she returned to her Once Upon a Mattress roots, appearing in a television special, this time playing the evil Queen Aggravain. image: Credit: Courtesy of Randee St. Nicholas | via kpbs
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