Awards

The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced the Documentary Motion Picture nominees for the 25th Annual Producers Guild Awards. The nominated films, are: A PLACE AT THE TABLE, FAR OUT ISN’T FAR ENOUGH: THE TOMI UNGERER STORY, LIFE ACCORDING TO SAM, WE STEAL SECRETS: THE STORY OF WIKILEAKS, and WHICH WAY IS THE FRONT LINE FROM HERE? THE LIFE AND TIME OF TIM HETHERINGTON. The 2014 Producers Guild Award winners will be announced on January 19, 2014 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. 

A PLACE AT THE TABLE
Director: Kristi Jacobson, Lori Silverbush

Around 49 million Americans struggle with the problem of not knowing where their next meal is going to come from. The stories of three people from Colorado, Pennsylvania and Mississippi shed light on the underlying causes of this huge problem. Rosie is so hungry that she can’t concentrate on schoolwork. Young Tremonica is severely overweight and suffering from asthma because of the cheap high-calorie food she gets at home – but it’s the only food her mother can afford. And Barbie, a single mother of two, struggles to get nourishing food for her young ones. Fresh products are very expensive – especially if you’re trying to survive on minimum wage or food stamps – but in some areas of the United States, they’re not even available if you have the money to pay for them. Take Barbie, for example: she has to travel a full hour to buy fruits and vegetables. Politicians have been condemning hunger since the 1970s, but the figures have kept rising all the while. As we watch the detrimental impact of malnutrition on the physical and mental development of Rosie, Tremonica and Barbie’s children, the film highlights various social, economic and cultural causes. They range from the subsidy system for food production (84 percent goes to soya beans, corn, cotton, cereals and rice, while only one percent goes to fruits and vegetables) to the emphasis on individual responsibility and private assistance.  [via IDFA]

FAR OUT ISN’T FAR ENOUGH: THE TOMI UNGERER STORY
Director/producer/writer: Brad Bernstein 

Far Out Isn’t Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story depicts one man’s wild, lifelong adventure of testing societal boundaries through his use of subversive art. This 98-minute film combines traditional documentary storytelling with original animation from over 70 years worth of art from the renegade children’s book author and illustrator. Using a historical palette of 20th century events to paint an artist’s epic yet controversial life story, this HD documentary film offers a feature-length retrospective of Ungerer’s life and art, pondering the complexities and contradictions of a man who, armed with an acerbic wit, an accusing finger and a razor sharp pencil, gave visual representation to the revolutionary voices during one of the most tantalizing and dramatic periods in American history. [via Official Film Site]

LIFE ACCORDING TO SAM
Directors: Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine

What is aging in Sam Berns, is aging in all of us. But in Sam’s body, the process is rapidly accelerated. When Sam was diagnosed with progeria at age two, his parents, Dr. Leslie Gordon and Dr. Scott Berns refused to accept that they would lose their son by age 13, the average age of death of a child with this disease. Eleven years later, Sam is 13 and his parents’ incredible race to save their son, has led to testing the first experimental drug that might prolong the lives of Sam and 28 other children from around the world that share this disease. Their discoveries may one day shed light on unlocking the aging process in us all. Life According to Sam is an inspiring film about the power of family and how we make the most of our lives in the time we are given. [via Official Film Site]

WE STEAL SECRETS: THE STORY OF WIKILEAKS
Director: Alex Gibney

 

Julian Assange. Bradley Manning. Collateral murder. Cablegate. WikiLeaks. These people and terms have exploded into public consciousness by fundamentally changing the way democratic societies deal with privacy, secrecy, and the right to information, perhaps for generations to come. We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks is an extensive examination of all things related to WikiLeaks and the larger global debate over access to information.

Having exposed institutions like Enron, the U.S. Army, and Congress, Academy Award winner Alex Gibney now tells the gripping story of what happens when an incredibly small group of people decide to break open the intelligence vaults of the most powerful nation on the planet. Eschewing the simplicity of heroes and villains, Gibney unearths a tangled web of incredible bravery, high ideals, questionable ethics, and stunning hypocrisy. Through it all, We Steal Secrets proves the power of individuals to shape our world. [ via S.S./Sundance Film Festival]

WHICH WAY IS THE FRONT LINE FROM HERE? THE LIFE AND TIME OF TIM HETHERINGTON 
Director: Sebastian Junger 

 

Photojournalist and filmmaker Tim Hetherington was always searching for the humanity within wartime conflict, as evidenced in his award-winning body of work. When he and Sebastian Junger spent a year filming a platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan in their Academy Award–nominated and Sundance Grand Jury Prizewinning film Restrepo, they weren’t simply looking for action; instead, they chose to focus on the many small moments that make war real. Hetherington’s footage of time he spent with the rebel army during Liberia’s civil war and in Libya prior to his untimely death from a mortar blast in 2011 conveys a rare sense of intimacy in sharp contrast to the violence surrounding him. Although he spent most of his time traveling to the epicenter of war zones, he was seeking the truth, rather than adventure. That is Hetherington’s enduring gift.

Director Sebastian Junger gracefully weaves together footage of Hetherington at work and moving interviews with his family, friends, and colleagues to capture his compatriot and friend’s unique perspective, compassion, and intense curiosity about the human spirit. [ via L.V./Sundance Film Festival]

 

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 12 YEARS A SLAVE

12 YEARS A SLAVE lead the nominations for the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards with 7 nods including Best Feature; other nominees for Best Feature include ALL IS LOST, FRANCES HA, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS and NEBRASKA.  MUD was selected to receive the annual Robert Altman Award, which is bestowed upon one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast.  Winners will be announced at the Spirit Awards on Saturday, March 1, 2014.

2014 FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD NOMINATIONS

Best Feature
12 Years a Slave, All Is Lost, Frances Ha, Inside Llewyn Davis, Nebraska

Best Director
Shane Carruth, Upstream Color; J.C. Chandor; All Is Lost; Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave; Jeff Nichols, Mud; Alexander Payne, Nebraska

Best Screenplay
Woody Allen, Blue Jasmine; Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke & Richard Linklater Before Midnight;Nicole Holofcener Enough Said; Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber, The Spectacular Now;John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave

Best First Feature
Blue Caprice, Director/Producer: Alexandre Moors; Producers: Kim Jackson, Brian O’Carroll, Isen Robbins, Will Rowbotham, Ron Simons, Aimee Schoof, Stephen Tedeschi; Concussion,Director: Stacie Passon, Producer: Rose Troche; Fruitvale Station, Director: Ryan Coogler; Producers: Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker; Una Noche, Director/Producer: Lucy Mulloy, Producers: Sandy Pérez Aguila, Maite Artieda, Daniel Mulloy, Yunior Santiago; Wadjda,Director: Haifaa Al Mansour, Producers: Gerhard Meixner, Roman Paul

Best First Screenplay
Lake Bell, In A World; Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Don Jon; Bob Nelson, Nebraska; Jill Soloway,Afternoon Delight; Michael Starrbury, The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete

John Cassavetes Award (best feature made for under $500,000)
Computer Chess, Writer/Director: Andrew Bujalski, Producers: Houston King & Alex Lipschultz;Crystal Fairy, Writer/Director: Sebastiàn Silva, Producers: Juan de Dios Larraín & Pablo Larraín; Museum Hours, Writer/Director: Jem Cohen, Producers: Paolo Calamita & Gabriele Kranzelbinder; Pit Stop, Writer/Director: Yen Tan, Writer: David Lowery, Producers: Jonathan Duffy, James M. Johnston, Eric Steele, Kelly Williams; This is Martin Bonner, Writer/Director: Chad Hartigan, Producer: Cherie Saulter

Best Female Lead
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine; Julie Delpy, Before Midnight; Gaby Hoffmann, Crystal Fairy;Brie Larson, Short Term 12; Shailene Woodley, The Spectacular Now

Best Male Lead
Bruce Dern, Nebraska; Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave; Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis;Michael B. Jordan, Fruitvale Station; Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club; Robert Redford, All Is Lost

Best Supporting Female
Melonie Diaz, Fruitvale Station; Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine; Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave; Yolonda Ross, Go For Sisters; June Squibb, Nebraska 

Best Supporting Male
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave; Will Forte, Nebraska; James Gandolfini, Enough Said;Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club; Keith Stanfield, Short Term 12

Best Cinematography
Sean Bobbitt, 12 Years a Slave; Benoit Debie, Spring Breakers; Bruno Delbonnel, Inside Llewyn Davis; Frank G. DeMarco, All Is Lost; Matthias Grunsky, Computer Chess

Best Editing
Shane Carruth & David Lowery, Upstream Color; Jem Cohen & Marc Vives, Museum Hours;Jennifer Lame, Frances Ha; Cindy Lee, Una Noche; Nat Sanders, Short Term 12

Best Documentary
20 Feet From Stardom, Director/Producer: Morgan Neville, Producers: Gil Friesen & Caitrin Rogers; After Tiller, Directors/Producers: Martha Shane & Lana Wilson; Gideon’s Army,Director/Producer: Dawn Porter, Producer: Julie Goldman; The Act of Killing,Director/Producer: Joshua Oppenheimer, Producers: Joram Ten Brink, Christine Cynn, Anne Köhncke, Signe Byrge Sørensen, Michael Uwemedimo, The Square, Director: Jehane Noujaim, Producer: Karim Amer

Best International Film
A Touch of Sin, (China), Director: Jia Zhang-Ke; Blue is the Warmest Color, (France), Director: Abdellatif Kechiche; Gloria, (Chile), Director: Sebastián Lelio; The Great Beauty,(Italy), Director: Paolo Sorrentino; The Hunt, (Denmark), Director: Thomas Vinterberg

17th Annual Piaget Producers Award 
Toby Halbrooks & James M. Johnston, Jacob Jaffke, Andrea Roa, Frederick Thornton

20th Annual Someone To Watch Award 
My Sister’s Quinceañera, Director: Aaron Douglas Johnston; Newlyweeds, Director: Shaka King; The Foxy Merkins, Director: Madeline Olnek

19th Annual Stella Artois Truer Than Fiction Award 
Kalyanee Mam, A River Changes Course; Jason Osder, Let the Fire Burn; Stephanie Spray & Pacho Velez, Manakamana

Robert Altman Award 
Mud, Director: Jeff Nichols, Casting Director: Francine Maisler, Ensemble Cast:  Joe Don Baker, Jacob Lofland, Matthew McConaughey, Ray McKinnon, Sarah Paulson, Michael Shannon, Sam Shepard, Tye Sheridan, Paul Sparks, Bonnie Sturdivant, Reese Witherspoon

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Five films – Andrew Bujalski’s COMPUTER CHESS, Randy Moore’s ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW, James Franco and Travis Matthews’ INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR., Kleber Mendonça Filho’s NEIGHBORING SOUNDS and Carlos Reygadas’ POST TENEBRAS LUX – have been nominated for the Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking 2014 Heterodox Award. The Cinema Eye Heterodox Award honors a narrative film that imaginatively incorporates nonfiction strategies, content and/or modes of production. The 2014 Heterodox Award will be presented at the 7th Annual Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking on January 8, 2014,  at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, New York.

The Five Nominees for the 2013 Cinema Eye Heterodox Award:

COMPUTER CHESS
Directed by Andrew Bujalski

Masterfully evoking the nerdy world of artificial intelligence engineers at a weekend computer chess convention, Andrew Bujalski’s 1980-set feature feels like a low-fi emissary from a pre-networked age. Shot in black-and-white on vintage video cameras, Computer Chess’s near-anthropological recreation is enormously witty — a loopy commentary on social ritual mediated by technology.

ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW
Directed by Randy Moore

The copyrighted images of the Walt Disney Corporation are deliciously appropriated by Randy Moore for his comic fantasia, Escape from Tomorrow. Shot secretly using consumer DSLRs and a stealth crew at real Disney theme parks, the film is both a hilarious psychosexual comedy and, with its legal provocation, a demonstration of how our childhood memories are the stuff of intellectual property disputes.

INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR.
Directed by James Franco and Travis Matthews

Some 40 minutes of gay S&M footage was purportedly deleted from William Friedkin’s 1980 feature Cruising, and it is this lost material that inspires Travis Matthews and James Franco’s Interior. Leather Bar. What initially feels like a behind-the-scenes documentary about the recreation of these scenes turns into something very different as the film plumbs issues of sexual anxiety, the cinematic history of gay representation and the power of celebrity.

NEIGHBORING SOUNDS
Directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho

The social strata of a Brazilian seaside high-rise are depicted with a hallucinatory tension in Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Neighboring Sounds. When a wealthy apartment complex — the director’s own — is hit by a series of crimes, a private security firm creates its own unease in a film that cooly captures a society amidst economic and cultural transformation.

POST TENEBRAS LUX
Directed by Carlos Reygadas

Boundaries between documentary and fiction, myth and autobiography are elided in Post Tenebras Lux, a seductively mysterious feature from Carlos Reygadas. A rich family moving to a mountainside home in a poor Mexican village face a series of psychic disruptions in this visually ravishing, deeply experimental work.

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 Cutie and the Boxer

Forty feature films and six shorts are among the nominees for the 7th Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking.  Zachary Heinzerling’s Cutie and the Boxer led all films with six nominations, while The Act of Killing received five. Heinzerling and the directing duos from two films nominated for Outstanding Feature –Leviathan‘s Castaing-Taylor & Paravel and After Tiller‘s Shane and Wilson – all led individual nominees with four nominations apiece. Making Cinema Eye history with his nomination in the feature film category, Lucien Castaing-Taylor becomes the first person to be nominated for Outstanding Feature after having been previously nominated for Outstanding Debut (he was nominated in 2011 for Sweetgrass).

Five films are in the running for Cinema Eye’s top award, Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking: Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing, Martha Shane and Lana Wilson’s After Tiller, Zachary Heinzerling’s Cutie and the Boxer, Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel’s Leviathan and Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell. 

Nominees for Outstanding Achievement in Direction included Alan Berliner for First Cousin Once Removed, Tinatin Gurchiani for The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear, Oppenheimer for The Act of Killing, Shane and Wilson for After Tiller, Castaing-Taylor and Paravel for Leviathan and Polley for Stories We Tell. This marks the first time in Cinema Eye history that more women were nominated for the Directing Award than their male counterparts. In addition, of the 11 individuals nominated for Cinema Eye’s top Feature Film award, 7 are women.

Cinema Eye also announced nominees for their inaugural award for Nonfiction Films Made for Television. Four of the six nominees came from HBO Documentary Films, including Lucy Walker’s The Crash Reel, Dawn Porter’s Gideon’s Army, Alex Gibney’s Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God and Sebastian Junger’s Which Way to the Front Line From Here: The Life and Times of Tim Hetherington. PBS nabbed the other two nominations, one for Susan Lacy’s Inventing David Geffen (American Masters) and Christine Turner’s Homegoings (POV). As the new television award recognizes the key producers from the network, the nominations for HBO Documentary Films’ Sheila Nevins (with four nods) and Sara Bernstein (with three) mark a first in Cinema Eye history – multiple nominations within the same category (but for different films).

The nomination for Sebastian Junger’s film about Tim Hetherington is notable. Junger and Hetherington were both nominated for two Cinema Eye awards in 2011 for their film Restrepo, and Hetherington posthumously won the Cinema Eye Honor for Nonfiction Short in 2012 for his film, Diary.

In the short film category, six films have been nominated, including the notable inclusion of Laura Poitras’Death of a Prisoner, which first appeared as a New York Times Op-Doc. Poitras won the Cinema Eye Honor for Direction in 2011 for her film, The Oath. She’s been at the center of one of the biggest global news stories of 2013 – the revelation of Edward Snowden’s identity and the secret spying by the United States government on American citizens and international allies.

Ten contenders were named for Cinema Eye’s Audience Choice Prize, which includes many of the most talked about and beloved documentaries of the year, including Morgan Neville’s 20 Feet From Stardom, Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s Blackfish, Greg “Freddy” Camalier’s Muscle Shoals, Mona Eldaeif and Jehane Noujaim’s Rafea: Solar Mama, Dave Grohl’s Sound City and Jehane Noujaim’s The Square. The double nomination for Noujaim in the category was another first – a director with two films nominated in the same category in the same year.

Winners of the 7th Annual Cinema Eye Honors will be announced on January 8, 2014 as Cinema Eye returns, for the fourth straight year, to the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, New York.  

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 “AQUEL NO ERA YO (THAT WASN’T ME),” Esteban Crespo, director

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the 10 live action short films that will advance in the voting process for the 86th Academy Awards®.  One hundred twenty pictures had originally qualified in the category. 

The 10 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:

“AQUEL NO ERA YO (THAT WASN’T ME),” Esteban Crespo, director (Producciones Africanauan)

“AVANT QUE DE TOUT PERDRE (JUST BEFORE LOSING EVERYTHING),” Xavier Legrand, director, and Alexandre Gavras, producer (KG Productions)

“DVA (TWO),” Mickey Nedimovic, director, and Henner Besuch, director of photography (Filoufilm Dani Barsch)

“HELIUM,” Anders Walter, director, and Kim Magnusson, producer (M & M Productions)

“KUSH,” Shubhashish Bhutiani, director (Red Carpet Moving Pictures)

“PITÄÄKÖ MUN KAIKKI HOITAA? (DO I HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF EVERYTHING?),” Selma Vilhunen, director, and Kirsikka Saari, screenwriter (Tuffi Films)

“RECORD/PLAY,” Jesse Atlas, director, and Thom Fennessey, executive producer (Collaboration Factory)

“THROAT SONG,” Miranda de Pencier, director (Northwood Productions)

“TIGER BOY,” Gabriele Mainetti, director (Goon Films)

“THE VOORMAN PROBLEM,” Mark Gill, director, and Baldwin Li, producer (Honlodge Productions)

The Short Films and Feature Animation Branch Reviewing Committee viewed all the eligible entries for the preliminary round of voting at screenings held in Los Angeles.  

Short Films and Feature Animation Branch members will now select three to five nominees from among the 10 titles on the shortlist.  Branch screenings will be held in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in December.

The 86th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 16, 2014, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2013 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® and televised live on the ABC Television Network.  The presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide. 

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Actor and comedian Patton Oswalt will serve as host for the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards. The 29th annual awards ceremony will take place on Saturday, March 1st with the premiere broadcast airing later that evening at 10:00 pm ET/PT exclusively on IFC. 

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 STARRED UP

STARRED UP led the nominations for the 16th annual Moët British Independent Film Awards with 8 nods including Best British Independent Film, Best Director for David Mackenzie, Best Screenplay for Jonathan Asser, Best Actor for Jack O’Connell, and two Best Supporting Actor nominations for Rupert Friend and Ben Mendelsohn. THE SELFISH GIANT picked up 7 nominations and Filth, Metro Manila and Le Week-end all picked up 5 nominations each.  The winners will be announced at the 16th awards ceremony which will be hosted by actor and BIFA Patron, James Nesbitt, who returns for his eighth year on Sunday December 8, 2013, at the Old Billingsgate in London.

The Moët British Independent Film Awards announced the following nominees for this year’s awards:

BEST BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM

Metro Manila
Philomena
The Selfish Giant
Starred Up
Le Week-end

BEST DIRECTOR

Jon S Baird – Filth
Clio Barnard – The Selfish Giant
Sean Ellis – Metro Manila
Jonathan Glazer – Under the Skin
David Mackenzie – Starred Up

THE DOUGLAS HICKOX AWARD [BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR]

Charlie Cattrall – Titus
Tina Gharavi – I Am Nasrine
Jeremy Lovering – In Fear
Omid Nooshin – Last Passenger
Paul Wright – For Those in Peril

BEST SCREENPLAY

Jonathan Asser – Starred Up
Clio Barnard – The Selfish Giant
Steven Knight – Locke
Hanif Kureishi – Le Week-end
Jeff Pope, Steve Coogan – Philomena 

BEST ACTRESS

Judi Dench – Philomena
Lindsay Duncan – Le Week-end
Scarlett Johansson – Under the Skin
Felicity Jones – The Invisible Woman
Saoirse Ronan – How I Live Now

BEST ACTOR

Jim Broadbent – Le Week-end
Steve Coogan – Philomena
Tom Hardy – Locke
Jack O’Connell – Starred Up
James McAvoy – Filth

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Siobhan Finneran – The Selfish Giant
Shirley Henderson – Filth
Imogen Poots – The Look Of Love
Kristin Scott Thomas – The Invisible Woman
Mia Wasikowska – The Double

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

John Arcilla – Metro Manila
Rupert Friend – Starred Up
Jeff Goldblum – Le Week-end
Eddie Marsan – Filth
Ben Mendelsohn – Starred Up

MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER

Harley Bird – How I Live Now
Conner Chapman / Shaun Thomas – The Selfish Giant
Caity Lotz – The Machine
Jake Macapagal – Metro Manila
Chloe Pirrie – Shell

 BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION

A Field in England
Filth
Metro Manila
The Selfish Giant
Starred Up 

BEST TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT

Shaheen Baig – Casting – Starred Up
Johnnie Burn – Sound Design – Under the Skin
Amy Hubbard – Casting – The Selfish Giant
Mica Levi – Music – Under the Skin
Justine Wright – Editing – Locke

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer
The Great Hip Hop Hoax
The Moo Man
The Spirit of ’45
The Stone Roses: Made of Stone

BEST BRITISH SHORT

L’Assenza
Dr Easy
Dylan’s Room
Jonah
Z1

BEST INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT FILM

Blue is the Warmest Colour
Blue Jasmine
Frances Ha
The Great Beauty
Wadjda

THE RAINDANCE AWARD

Everyone’s Going to Die
The Machine
The Patrol
Sleeping Dogs
Titus

THE RICHARD HARRIS AWARD (for outstanding contribution by an actor to British Film)

To Be Announced

THE VARIETY AWARD

To Be Announced

THE SPECIAL JURY PRIZE

Announced at the Moët British Independent Film Awards on Sunday December 8th, 2013

 

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“FERAL” directed by Daniel Sousa

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 10 animated short films will advance in the voting process for the 86th Academy Awards®. Fifty-six pictures had originally qualified in the category.

The 10 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:

“FERAL,” Daniel Sousa, director, and Dan Golden, music and sound design (Daniel Sousa) (pictured above)

“GET A HORSE!” Lauren MacMullan, director, and Dorothy McKim, producer (Walt Disney Feature Animation)

“GLORIA VICTORIA,” Theodore Ushev, director (National Film Board of Canada)

“HOLLOW LAND,” Uri Kranot and Michelle Kranot, directors (Dansk Tegnefilm, Les Films de l’Arlequin and the National Film Board of Canada)

“THE MISSING SCARF,” Eoin Duffy, director, and Jamie Hogan, producer (Belly Creative Inc.)

“MR. HUBLOT,” Laurent Witz, director, and Alexandre Espigares, co-director (Zeilt Productions)

“POSSESSIONS,” Shuhei Morita, director (Sunrise Inc.)

“REQUIEM FOR ROMANCE,” Jonathan Ng, director (Kungfu Romance Productions Inc.)

“ROOM ON THE BROOM,” Max Lang and Jan Lachauer, directors (Magic Light Pictures)

“SUBCONSCIOUS PASSWORD,” Chris Landreth, director (National Film Board of Canada with the participation of Seneca College Animation Arts Centre and Copperheart Entertainment)

The Academy’s Short Films and Feature Animation Branch Reviewing Committee viewed all the eligible entries for the preliminary round of voting at screenings held in New York and Los Angeles. Short Films and Feature Animation Branch members will now select three to five nominees from among the 10 titles on the shortlist. Branch screenings will be held in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in December.

The 86th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 16, 2014, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2013 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

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 FROZEN

 Nineteen features have been submitted for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 86th Academy Awards®.

The 19 submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:

“CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2”
“THE CROODS”
“DESPICABLE ME 2”
“EPIC”
“ERNEST AND CELESTINE”
“THE FAKE”
“FREE BIRDS“
“FROZEN”
“KHUMBA”
“THE LEGEND OF SARILA”
“A LETTER TO MOMO”
“MONSTERS UNIVERSITY”
“O APÓSTOLO”
“PLANES”
“PUELLA MAGI MADOKA MAGICA THE MOVIE – REBELLION”
“RIO: 2096 A STORY OF LOVE AND FURY”
“THE SMURFS 2”
“TURBO”
“THE WIND RISES”

Several of the films have not yet had their required Los Angeles qualifying runs. Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and comply with all of the category’s other qualifying rules before they can advance in the voting process. At least eight eligible animated features must be theatrically released in Los Angeles County within the calendar year for this category to be activated.

Films submitted in the Animated Feature Film category may also qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture, provided they meet the requirements for those categories.

The 86th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 16, 2014, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2013 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

 

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STOP-OVER (L’ESCALE)

Three documentaries – THE ACT OF KILLING, STOP-OVER (L’ESCALE) and THE MISSING PICTURE (L’IMAGE MANQUANTE) have been nominated for the European Film Academy EUROPEAN DOCUMENTARY 2013 category.  The European Documentary 2013 will be presented at the 26th European Film Awards Ceremony in Berlin on Saturday, December 7, 2013.

THE ACT OF KILLING
Denmark/Norway/UK, 159 min
DIRECTED BY: Joshua Oppenheimer
PRODUCED BY: Signe Byrge Sørensen

Anwar Congo and his friends are mass murderers dancing their way through musical numbers, twisting arms in film noir gangster scenes, and galloping across prairies as yodelling cowboys. 

L’ESCALE (STOP-OVER)
Switzerland/France, 100 min
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Kaveh Bakhtiari
PRODUCED BY: Elisabeth Garbar & Heinz Dill

In Athens, Amir, an Iranian immigrant, has a modest flat which has become a place of transit for migrants who, like him, have chosen to leave their country.

L’IMAGE MANQUANTE (THE MISSING PICTURE)
France/Cambodia, 90 min
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Rithy Panh 
PRODUCED BY: Catherine Dussart 

For many years, I have been looking for the missing picture: a photograph taken between 1975 and 1979 by the Khmer Rouge when they ruled over Cambodia… 

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 THE SQUARE directed by Jehane Noujaim

The International Documentary Association announced all of the nominees for the 29th annual IDA Documentary Awards ceremony, to be held Friday, December 6, 2013 at the Director’s Guild in Los Angeles.  The five films nominated in IDA’s Best Feature category include THE ACT OF KILLING (Joshua Oppenheimer), BLACKFISH (Gabriela Cowperthwaite), LET THE FIRE BURN (Jason Osder), THE SQUARE (Jehane Noujaim), and STORIES WE TELL (Sarah Polley).

The five nominated films in the Best Short category are THE EDUCATION OF MUHAMMAD HUSSEIN (Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady), THE FLOGSTA ROAR, NINE TO NINETY (Alicia Dwyer), SLOMO (Josh Izenberg), and VULTURES OF TIBET (Russell O. Bush).

The IDA Creative Recognition Awards honor excellence in cinematography, composing, editing, and writing in documentary feature films. The recipients of these awards represent the highest achievements in their respective crafts, and highlight the importance of their work in compelling documentary storytelling.  PABLO’S WINTER (cinematography by Julian Schwanitz) will be recognized with the award for Best Cinematography; LET THE FIRE BURN (edited by Nels Bangerter) will receive the Best Editing award; NARCO CULTURA (original music by Jeremy Turner) will be presented with the Best Music award; and HOW TO MAKE MONEY SELLING DRUGS (written by Matthew Cooke) will receive the Best Writing award.

In addition to recognizing the year’s best in documentary filmmaking and nonfiction programming, the 2013 IDA Documentary Awards will be honoring director, producer and writer Alex Gibney with the organization’s Career Achievement Award. Producer Geralyn Dreyfous will receive the Amicus Award, which acknowledges friends of the documentary genre who have contributed significantly to our industry, and Laura Poitras will receive IDA’s Courage Under Fire Award in recognition of “conspicuous bravery in the pursuit of truth.”

Each year IDA also recognizes the achievements of a filmmaker who has made a significant impact at the beginning of his or her career in documentary film. This year IDA will honor Zachary Heinzerling, the producer, director and cinematographer of one of the year’s most-acclaimed films Cutie and the Boxer, with the 2013 Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award.

2013 IDA Documentary Awards

BEST FEATURE AWARD

THE ACT OF KILLING
Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
Producers: Joshua Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sørensen
Executive Producers: Errol Morris, Werner Herzog, Torstein Grude, André Singer, Joram ten Brink, Bjarte Mørner Tveit
Drafthouse Films

BLACKFISH
Directors: Gabriela Cowperthwaite
Producer: Manuel V. Oteyza
Writers: Gabriela Cowperthwaite, Eli Despres
Executive Producers: Judy Bart, Erica Kahn
Magnolia Pictures

LET THE FIRE BURN
Director/Producer: Jason Osder
Executive Producer: Andrew Herwitz
The George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs

THE SQUARE
Director: Jehane Noujaim
Producer: Karim Amer
Noujaim Films

STORIES WE TELL
Director/Writer: Sarah Polley
Producer: Anita Lee
Roadside Attractions

BEST SHORT AWARD

THE EDUCATION OF MUHAMMAD HUSSEIN
Directors: Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady
Producers: Heidi Ewing; Rachel Grady; Sadia Shepard; Sara Bernstein (for HBO)
Executive Producers: Sheila Nevins (for HBO)
HBO Documentary Films

THE FLOGSTA ROAR
Director/Producer: Johan Palmgren
Writer: Johan Palmgren and Åsa Blanck
Strix Television AB, Swedish National Television

NINE TO NINETY
Director: Alicia Dwyer
Producer: Juli Vizza
Executive Producers: Sally Jo Fifer
Independent Television Service (ITVS)

SLOMO
Director: Josh Izenberg
Producer: Amanda Micheli
Executive Producer: Neil Izenberg
Big Young Films, Runaway Films

VULTURES OF TIBET
Director: Russell O. Bush
Producer: Elisabeth Oakham
Executive Producer: Gary Newsom
Bushfilm

BEST LIMITED SERIES AWARD

180 DAYS: A YEAR INSIDE AN AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL
Directors/Producers: Jacquie Jones, Garland McLaurin
Executive Producer: Jacquie Jones
NBPC/PBS

INSIDE COMBAT RESCUE
Producers: Jared McGilliard, John Collin, Jr.
Executive Producers: Jerry Decker, Ted Duvall, Richard J. Wells.
National Geographic Channel

INSIDE MAN
Producers: Kristen Vaurio, Lisa Kalikow, Shannon Gibson, Suzanne Hillinger, Lara Benario
Writers: Jeremy Chilnick, Morgan Spurlock
Executive Producers: Jeremy Chilnick, Matthew Galkin, Morgan Spurlock
CNN

VIEWFINDER: LATIN AMERICA
Directors: Manuel Contreras, Russ Finkelstein, Alfonso Gastiaburo, Juan Pablo Rojas, Paola Gosalvez, Luciana Freitas Silva, Susanna Lira, Fernanda Polacow and Juliana Borges
Producers: Rodrigo Vazquez, Patricia Boero
Writer: Ingrid Falck
Executive Producers: Flora Gregory
Series Producer: Jean Garner
Al Jazeera English

WITNESS
Directors:David Frankham, Abdallah Omeish
Producers: Ike Martin, Allison Kunzman, Youree Henley, Julie Herrin, Josiah Hooper
Co-Producer: Ra’uf Glasgow
Executive Producers: Michael Mann, David Frankham
Blue Light Productions and Little Puppet Productions with HBO Entertainment and HBO Documentary Films

BEST CONTINUING SERIES AWARD

30 FOR 30
Producers: Libby Geist, Andy Billman, Kyle Godwin, Brian D’Ostilio, Jenna Anthony, Erin Leyden, Deirdre Fenton
Executive Producers: Connor Schell, John Dahl, Bill Simmons
ESPN

CURIOSITY
Producers: Geoff Deehan, Christine Weber
Executive Producers: Erik Nelson, Simon Dickson, Sanjay Singhal, Dave Harding, Mike Masland, Howard Swartz, Simon Andreae
Discovery Channel

INDEPENDENT LENS
Producer: Lois Vossen
Executive Producers: Sally Jo Fifer
Independent Television Service (ITVS) in association with PBS

POV
Executive Producer: Simon Kilmurry
Co-Executive Producer: Cynthia López
VP of Programming & Production: Chris White
Series Producer: Andrew Catauro
American Documentary | POV in association with PBS

REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL
Producer: Joe Perskie
Executive Producers: Rick Bernstein
HBO Sports

DAVID L. WOLPER STUDENT DOCUMENTARY AWARD

This award recognizes exceptional achievement in non-fiction film and video production at the university level and brings greater public and industry awareness to the work of students in the documentary field.

BETWEEN LAND AND SEA
Directors/Producers/Writers: Sarah Berkovich, J. Christian Jensen
Stanford University

MY SISTER SARAH
Directors/Producer: Elizabeth Chatelain
University of Texas at Austin

OME: TALES FROM A VANISHING HOMELAND
Director/Producer: Raul O. Paz Pastrana
Producer: Emily Parkey
MFA Social Documentary Film Department at the School of Visual Arts

SODIQ
Directors/Producers/Writer: Adeyemi Michael
National Film & Television School, UK

WHY WE RACE
Directors: Kiley Vorndran, Ryan Westra, Andrew Evers, Ben Fischinger
Producer: Kiley Vorndran
Chapman University / Dodge College of Film and Media Arts

HUMANITAS DOCUMENTARY AWARD

This award is given to a film that explores the hopes and fears of human beings who are very different in culture, race, lifestyle, political loyalties and religious beliefs in order to break down the walls of ignorance which separate us.

ANTONS RIGHT HERE
Director: Lyubov Arkus
Producers: Konstantin Shavlovsky , Aleksandra Golutova
Writers: Lyubov Arkus
Executive Producers: Sergey Selyanov
INTERCINEMA Agency

BLOOD BROTHER
Director: Steve Hoover
Producer: Danny Yourd
Writers: Steve Hoover, Phinehas Hodges, Tyson VanSkiver
Executive Producers: Steve Hoover, Michael Killen, Kathy Dziubek, Jim Kreitzburg, Leigh Blake, John Carlin
Independent Television Service (ITVS)

LET THE FIRE BURN
Director/Producer: Jason Osder
Executive Producer: Andrew Herwitz
The George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs

THE SQUARE
Director: Jehane Noujaim
Producer: Karim Amer
Noujaim Films

PARE LORENTZ AWARD

The Pare Lorentz Award recognizes films that demonstrates exemplary filmmaking while focusing on the appropriate use of the natural environment, justice for all and the illumination of pressing social problems.

A PLACE AT THE TABLE
Directors/Producers: Lori Silverbush and Kristi Jacobson
Producers: Julie Goldman, Ryan Harrington
Magnolia Pictures

The Pare Lorentz Committee acknowledges A RIVER CHANGES COURSE (director Kalyanee Mam) with a Special Mention.

ABCNEWS VIDEOSOURCE AWARD

This award is given each year for the best use of news footage as an integral component in a documentary.

ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN REVISITED
Director/Producer: Peter Schnall
Executive Producers: Robert Redford, Andy Lack, Laura Michalchyshyn
Writers: Chana Gazit, Patrick Prentice
PARTISAN PICTURES in Association with SUNDANCE PRODUCTIONS

FREE ANGELA AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS
Director/Producer/Writer: Shola Lynch
Producers: Sidra Smith, Carole Lambert, Carine Ruszniewski
Overbrook Entertainment

LET THE FIRE BURN
Director/Producer: Jason Osder
Executive Producer: Andrew Herwitz
The George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs

THE TRIALS OF MUHAMMAD ALI
Director: Bill Siegel
Producers: Bill Siegel, Rachel Pikelny
Executive Producers: Justine Nagan, Gordon Quinn, Leon Gast, Kat White
Independent Television Service (ITVS), Kino Lorber

WE STEAL SECRETS: THE STORY OF WIKILEAKS
Director/Producer/Writer: Alex Gibney
Producer: Marc Shmuger
Focus World

Creative Recognition Award Winners

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

PABLO’S WINTER
Cinematographer: Julian Schwanitz
Director: Chico Pereira

BEST EDITING

LET THE FIRE BURN
Editor: Nels Bangerter
Director: Jason Osder

BEST MUSIC

NARCO CULTURA
Original Music By: Jeremy Turner
Director: Shaul Schwartz

BEST WRITING

HOW TO MAKE MONEY SELLING DRUGS
Writer/Director: Matthew Cooke

 

 

 

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FILL THE VOID (LEMALE ET HA’HALAL)

The European Film Academy announces the first winners in the categories cinematography, editing, production design, costume design, composer and sound design who will be honored at this year’s 26th European Film Awards. The 26th European Film Awards Ceremony. will take place at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele in Berlin on Saturday, December 7, 2013.

European Cinematographer 2013 – Prix Carlo di Palma:
Asaf Sudry
for LEMALE ET HA’HALAL (FILL THE VOID)
Israel
 … for his intuitive camerawork, both realistic and poetic, studying the characters with tenderness in an environment unknown to most of us – by sensitively lighting them he provides us with deep insight into their psychology and emotions.

European Editor 2013:
Cristiano Travaglioli
for LA GRANDE BELLEZZA (THE GREAT BEAUTY)
Italy/France

THE GREAT BEAUTY (LA GRANDE BELLEZZA)

… for an editing which continuously stimulates the senses and creates a weave of endless meanings in the storytelling.

European Production Designer 2013:
Sarah Greenwood
for ANNA KARENINA
UK

ANNA KARENINA

… for a production design that acts as if it were a character itself – dramaturgically integrated and contributing essentially to the film’s story and style.

European Costume Designer 2013:
Paco Delgado
for BLANCANIEVES
Spain/France

BLANCANIEVES

… for a costume design combining meticulous research of Spanish tradition and craft with the freedom of a gothic fairy tale.

European Composer 2013:
Ennio Morricone
for THE BEST OFFER
Italy

THE BEST OFFER

… for proving once again his extraordinary capacity of always renewing his style while remaining faithful to the style of the director and the film – a universal composer, indeed, and a true master.

European Sound Designer 2013:
Matz Müller & Erik Mischijew
for PARADIES: GLAUBE (PARADISE: FAITH)
Austria/Germany/France

PARADISE: FAITH (PARADIES: GLAUBE)

… for creating a sound design, pure and radical – like a music score that transforms every day sound into a composition.

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