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LEVIATHAN, IDA Among Nominations and First Winners for European Film Awards 2014

IDA

The European Film Academy announced the nominations for the 27th European Film Awards. For the top prize, the European Film of 2014, the nominees include FORCE MAJEURE, IDA, LEVIATHAN, NYMPHOMANIAC DIRECTOR’S CUT – VOLUME I & II and WINTER SLEEP. Andrey Zvyagintsev director of LEVIATHAN (LEVIAFAN), Paweł Pawlikowski director of IDA and Ruben Östlund director of FORCE MAJEURE (TURIST), also received nominations for Best Director. The winners will be announced during the awards ceremony on 13 December in Riga, Latvia, European Capital of Culture 2014.

EUROPEAN FILM 2014

FORCE MAJEURE
TURIST
Sweden/Denmark/France/Norway
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Ruben Östlund
PRODUCED BY: Erik Hemmendorff, Marie Kjellson & Philippe Bober

IDA
Poland/Denmark
DIRECTED BY: Pawel Pawlikowski
WRITTEN BY: Paweł Pawlikowski & Rebecca Lenkiewicz
PRODUCED BY: Eric Abraham, Piotr Dzięcioł, Ewa Puszczyńska & Christian Husum

LEVIATHAN
LEVIAFAN
Russia
DIRECTED BY: Andrey Zvyagintsev
WRITTEN BY: Oleg Negin & Andrey Zvyagintsev
PRODUCED BY: Alexander Rodnyansky & Sergey Melkumov

NYMPHOMANIAC DIRECTOR’S CUT – VOLUME I & II
Denmark/Germany/France/Belgium
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Lars von Trier
PRODUCED BY: Louise Vesth

WINTER SLEEP
KIŞ UYKUSU
Turkey/France/Germany
DIRECTED BY: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
WRITTEN BY: Ebru Ceylan & Nuri Bilge Ceylan
PRODUCED BY: Zeynep Özbatur Atakan

EUROPEAN COMEDY 2014

CARMINA & AMEN
CARMINA Y AMÉN
Spain
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Paco León
PRODUCED BY: Paco León, Ghislain Barrois & Álvaro Augustín

LE WEEK-END
UK
DIRECTED BY: Roger Michel
WRITTEN BY: Hanif Kureishi
PRODUCED BY: Kevin Loader

THE MAFIA ONLY KILLS IN THE SUMMER
LA MAFIA UCCIDE SOLO D’ESTATE
Italy
DIRECTED BY: Pierfrancesco Diliberto
WRITTEN BY: Michele Astori, Pierfrancesco Diliberto & Marco Martani
PRODUCED BY: Mario Gianani & Lorenzo Mieli

EUROPEAN DIRECTOR 2014
Nuri Bilge Ceylan for WINTER SLEEP (KIŞ UYKUSU)
Steven Knight for LOCKE
Ruben Östlund for FORCE MAJEURE (TURIST)
Paweł Pawlikowski for IDA
Paolo Virzì for HUMAN CAPITAL (IL CAPITALE UMANO)
Andrey Zvyagintsev for LEVIATHAN (LEVIAFAN)

EUROPEAN ACTRESS 2014
Marian Alvarez in WOUNDED (LA HERIDA)
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi in HUMAN CAPITAL (IL CAPITALE UMANO)
Marion Cotillard in TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT (DEUX JOURS, UNE NUIT)
Charlotte Gainsbourg in NYMPHOMANIAC DIRECTOR’S CUT – VOLUME I & II
Agata Kulesza in IDA Agata Trzebuchowska in IDA

EUROPEAN ACTOR 2014
Brendan Gleeson in CALVARY
Tom Hardy in LOCKE
Alexey Serebryakov in LEVIATHAN (LEVIAFAN)
Stellan Skarsgård in NYMPHOMANIAC DIRECTOR’S CUT – VOLUME I & II
Timothy Spall in MR. TURNER

EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER 2014
Ebru Ceylan & Nuri Bilge Ceylan for WINTER SLEEP (KIŞ UYKUSU)
Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne for TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT (DEUX JOURS, UNE NUIT)
Steven Knight for LOCKE
Oleg Negin & Andrey Zvyagintsev for LEVIATHAN (LEVIAFAN)
Paweł Pawlikowski & Rebecca Lenkiewicz for IDA

EUROPEAN DOCUMENTARY

JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF VIOLENCE
Denmark
01:19:31
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Jon Bang Carlsen
PRODUCED BY: Helle Ulsten & Jon Bang Carlsen
So-called “interventionists” enter suburban homes in the night and rip troubled teens from their beds to transport them, against their will, to a reform school in Utah.

MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE
Germany/Austria
01:28:00
DIRECTED BY: Marc Bauder
PRODUCED BY: Marc Bauder & Markus Glaser
Investment bankers are the real Masters of the Universe, not politicians, armies or even countries.

OF MEN AND WAR
France/Switzerland
02:21:40
WRITTEN, DIRECTED & PRODUCED BY: Laurent Bécue-Renard
Anger consumes a dozen combat vets long after their return from the front as they attempt to make peace with themselves, their past, and their families.

SACRO GRA
Italy/France
01:33:00
DIRECTED BY: Gianfranco Rosi
WRITTEN BY: Nicolo Bassetti
PRODUCED BY: Marco Visalberghi & Carole Solive
Rome’s giant ring road – the Grande Raccordo Anulare, or GRA – and the invisible worlds and possible futures harboured in this area of constant turmoil.

WAITING FOR AUGUST
Belgium
01:22:00
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Teodora Ana Mihai
PRODUCED BY: Hanne Phlypo & Antoine Vermeesch
During their mother’s absence, Georgiana has been catapulted into the role of head of the family, responsible for her six brothers and sisters in a social housing condo on the outskirts of Bacau, Romania.

WE COME AS FRIENDS
Austria
01:45:00
WRITTEN, DIRECTED & PRODUCED BY: Hubert Sauper
A science fiction-like odyssey in a home-made flying machine.

EUROPEAN DISCOVERY

10,000 KM
Spain
DIRECTED BY: Carlos Marques-Marcet WRITTEN BY: Carlos Marques-Marcet & Clara Roquet
PRODUCED BY: Tono Folguera, Sergi Moreno, Jana Díaz Juhl, Danielle Schleif & Pau Brunet

71
UK
DIRECTED BY: Yann Demange
WRITTEN BY: Gregory Burke
PRODUCED BY: Angus Lamont

PARTY GIRL
France
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger, Samuel Theis
PRODUCED BY: Marie Masmonteil & Denis Carot

THE TRIBE
PLEMYA
Ukraine
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy
PRODUCED BY: Valentyn Vasyanovych & Iya Myslytska

WOUNDED
LA HERIDA
Spain
DIRECTED BY: Fernando Franco
WRITTEN BY: Fernando Franco & Enric Rufas
PRODUCED BY: Koldo Zuazua

EFA JURY AWARDS 2014

EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHER – Prix CARLO DI PALMA 2014
Łukasz Żal & Ryszard Lenczewski for IDA

EUROPEAN EDITOR 2014
Justine Wright for LOCKE

EUROPEAN PRODUCTION DESIGNER 2014
Claus-Rudolf Amler for THE DARK VALLEY (DAS FINSTERE TAL)

EUROPEAN COSTUME DESIGNER 2014
Natascha Curtius-Noss for THE DARK VALLEY (DAS FINSTERE TAL)

EUROPEAN COMPOSER 2014
Mica Levi for UNDER THE SKIN

EUROPEAN SOUND DESIGNER 2014
Joakim Sundström for STARRED UP
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Tribeca Film to Release Uberto Pasolini’s Award-Winning Film “Still Life”

Tribeca Film will release Uberto Pasolini’s award-winning film Still Life from Beta Cinema in theaters January 16, 2015 with cable/telco and satellite video-on-demand and digital platforms starting January 13, 2015. Written and directed by Pasolini, the film stars Eddie Marsan (Happy-Go-Lucky) and Joanne Froggatt (Emmy® Award nominee, “Downton Abbey”). The film had its world premiere at the 2013 Venice Film Festival where it won four awards: the Orizzonti Award for Best Director, the Pasinetti Award for Best Film, Cinema D’Arte e d’Essai award, and the Civitas Vitae prossima for Best Film.

Life for the unassuming John May (Eddie Marsan) has always revolved around his work for the local council in South London, finding the next of kin of those who have died alone. Profoundly dedicated to his work, he believes that everyone deserves a dignified exit, and writes eulogies and organizes funerals for those who wouldn’t have them otherwise. But when a new case – an elderly alcoholic in a flat directly opposite his own – hits him harder than usual, he journeys outside London to track down the man’s long-abandoned daughter (Joanne Froggatt). Against the odds, the two lonely souls are drawn to each other – and John’s outlook starts to open to life’s possibilities.

Still Life was produced by Felix Vossen, Christopher Simon, and Uberto Pasolini.
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THE BETTER ANGELS Explores The Childhood of Abraham Lincoln

Many recent Hollywood blockbusters have taken well-known fictional characters and depicted their earliest adventures in prequels or origin films. With THE BETTER ANGELS, it appears that the origin film trend has now encompassed historical figures because the film portrays the childhood of Abraham Lincoln. THE BETTER ANGELS is the debut film from writer/director A.J. Edwards, a collaborator of Terrence Malick who worked in various roles on The New World, The Tree of Life, and To the Wonder (Malick also serves as a producer of THE BETTER ANGELS).

Considering that Lincoln is generally regarded as the greatest U.S. President THE BETTER ANGELS isn’t the first film to depict the earlier years of Lincoln. John Ford directed Henry Ford in Young Mr. Lincoln in 1939, though films about Lincoln’s origins stretch back at least as far as the 1913 silent short From Rail Splitter to President. Thankfully, THE BETTER ANGELS doesn’t do anything as hokey as other origin films and portray sequences like young Lincoln putting on his first stovepipe hat. In fact, if you miss the opening narration you might not even realize that this film is about young Abe Lincoln at all and think it is about no particular boy growing up in the nineteenth century (and is perhaps why the title was changed from the metaphoric Green Blade Rising to THE BETTER ANGELS, a famous phrase from Lincoln’s first inaugural speech). There’s a certain beauty in that subtly, but it also robs the film of the historical impact it probably should have considering its subject.

THE BETTER ANGELS begins in 1817, shortly after young Abe Lincoln and his family moved to Indiana as recounted by his older cousin, Dennis (Cameron Mitchell Williams), who also serves as the film’s narrator. The film depicts several major events in young Abe’s life, including the loss of his mother (Diane Kruger), learning to accept his stepmother (Brit Marling), his first encounter with slavery, and the little formal education he had as child from a devoted teacher, Mr. Crawford (Wes Bentley). Most of all, THE BETTER ANGELS is about the relationship between young Abe and his father, Tom (Jason Clarke), a strong-willed man who somewhat disapproves his son’s preference of studying over working.

There is much to THE BETTER ANGELS which is serene and peaceful, and the influence of Malick is obvious, particularly with the film’s ethereal tone partially provided by the black and white cinematography. The absence of color from this film is a curious choice and I’m not sure it services the movie to be in black and white. There are many beautiful landscapes and excellent shots of nature that would’ve looked stunning in color instead of the crystal-clear digital-looking black and white. I’m curious why Edwards decided to film it in black and white because from a narrative standpoint it did not seem necessary.

Which leads to the most significant issue of THE BETTER ANGELS – the equally colorless narrative. Lincoln is a fascinating historical figure, and his early years should be particularly interesting material for a film. But similar to Malick’s own work, this film mostly depicts Lincoln’s childhood in an understated way outside of the few significant happenings, like the death of his mother. Because of that, it’s not a particularly engaging film. Even the most patient Malick fans might fight it difficult to stay invested in a film that is largely about boys farming and getting into trouble. It doesn’t help that the conflict between Abe and his father is equally understated, which makes the film’s central narrative difficult to grasp.

Patient history buffs will likely enjoy THE BETTER ANGELS because of its exploration of Lincoln’s early years, but most others might find the film too slow-moving for their taste.

Film Review Rating 3 out of 5 : See it … It’s Good

THE BETTER ANGELS opens in select theaters nationwide on Friday, November 7.

http://youtu.be/IS-5G5X9BFE

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MANHATTAN ROMANCE Written & Directed by Tom O’Brien

Towards the end of MANHATTAN ROMANCE, Danny (Tom O’Brien, who also wrote, directed, and produced this movie) is presenting a documentary he created about New York relationships at a film festival. When an audience member asks Danny why his film lacks a resolution, Danny gives a semi-annoyed response about how life doesn’t have clean resolutions so there is no reason why films should have them either. There’s nothing wrong with that sentiment – plenty of great movies end unresolved – but when an actor/writer/producer/director expresses that shortly before the credits in his own film, it sounds like a preemptive defense of his lack of confidence in the ending of his own movie.

MANHATTAN ROMANCE is about Danny, an everyman who works as a television commercial editor as he toils on his documentary about love. However, that is just background detail because Danny’s real conflicts are within his own love life. He’s sexually frustrated because Theresa, the new age hippie girl he’s sort of seeing (played by recent Ed Burns favorite Caitlin FitzGerald) shows little interest in having sex with him, and his down-to-earth, peppy best friend Carla (Katherine Waterston) – with whom he gets along so well you’d suspect they are dating – is a lesbian. Or at least she is now, because she used to date guys. Anyway, right now she is in a relationship with the cold and calculating political strategist Emmy (Gabby Hoffman). MANHATTAN ROMANCE follows Danny as he attempts to navigate the rough waters of his love life, or, in truth, his lack thereof.

Of course, Danny lives in a city inhabited by eight million people, but as far as Danny is concerned there are only two women worth dating in the entire city. Even when Danny attends his cousin’s wedding and his relatives express that there are many eligible single women there, Danny totally ignores the opportunity. While I certainly know how it is to be completely infatuated with one woman (or, like Danny, two women) at a time, the fact that Danny only considers two unattainable women as worthy of his time shows the limit of the narrative’s scope. Also, since Danny gets bent out of shape any time either of these women don’t act the way he wants them to act reveals that he in no way, shape, or form should be directing a documentary about love – which, to be honest, looks increasingly like an excuse just to invade the personal lives of these two women as the film goes on.

O’Brien is an auteur actor/writer/producer/director who made his feature writing/directing debut with 2012’s Fairhaven, which was featured at that year’s Tribeca Film Festival. He returned to Tribeca this year as an actor in the well-regarded Alex of Venice. I have no doubt that O’Brien envisions himself in the mold of Woody Allen – whom his character namechecks early in this film – but one thing that Allen’s films always have are engaging characters. The only character of emotional substance in MANHATTAN ROMANCE is Carla, and much of that is due to Waterston’s enthusiastic portrayal of the character. Theresa is little more than a caricature of an extreme new age girl (and FitzGerald could offer so much more than that), and Danny is essentially a lovelorn sap who is frustrated about the lack of control in his love life. In other words, you’ve seen these characters in plenty of other movies before.

Because of that, much of MANHATTAN ROMANCE is as generic as its title. It even features a few musical interludes of montage of shots of the cityscape like just about any other New York-set romantic comedy. If O’Brien wanted to achieve something unique with MANHATTAN ROMANCE, he didn’t get there. It marks the work of an auteur still learning his craft, and hopefully O’Brien’s next film will feature more characters in line with Waterston’s Carla instead of thin characters like Danny.

RATING 2 out of 5 : See it … At Your Own Risk

MANHATTAN ROMANCE will screen at the Big Apple Film Festival on Wednesday, November 5 at 8:30 PM and Sunday, November 9 at 8:00 PM.
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FUGLY! Starring John Leguizamo & Rosie Perez

The tagline for FUGLY! – co-written and starring John Leguizamo – declares it “An Anti-Romantic Comedy.” However, that’s like putting a sign on a duck that says “this is not a duck” and expecting people to think it’s another animal. FUGLY! might not be melodramatic, but it’s as much of a romantic comedy as Garden State, 500 Days of Summer, or any other movie involving a male protagonist pining over a girl whom he thinks is the cure-all to his imperfections despite she being imperfect herself.

Jesse Sanchez (John Leguizamo) grows up an ugly kid in 1970s Queens, New York and attains confidence by being funny. When he gets to college, he enrolls in the drama program and meets Lara (Radha Mitchell), and the two have a one-night stand that lands them in trouble with the police and Lara’s father. Though parted, Sanchez spends the next two decades trying to recreate the love he felt on that one perfect night. Even though Sanchez’s acting career takes off and he gains a degree of fame, a tumultuous marriage to an actress named Zowie (Rosie Perez), issues with his mother (Olga Merediz) and brother Ray (Yul Vazquez), and his own feelings of inadequacy plague him. Only the advice of his grandfather (a very funny Tomas Milian) and thoughts of Lara seem to get Sanchez to look on the bright side of his successful life.

Much of FUGLY! reflects Leguizamo’s own life and career, but not enough to call the film autobiographical or semi-autobiographical. Like Leguizamo, Sanchez is an actor who came to prominence playing stereotypical Latino roles (gangsters and drug dealers) and later achieved notoriety with his one-man shows (the poster for Sanchez’s show “Freak” is essentially the poster for Leguizamo’s 2002 one-man show Sexaholix done in a different style). What’s odd about FUGLY! is that Leguizamo’s characters acts like twenty or thirty-something YouTube blogger throughout the film… except both Leguizamo and the Sanchez character are actually fifty years old. While Leguizamo certainly doesn’t look fifty, it still is a bit awkward seeing him play a character that is so much younger maturity-wise. That’s not to say middle-aged people can’t be immature, but you don’t often see fifty year olds making video blogs about their love lives and threatening to commit suicide.

FUGLY! also features animation by Bill Plympton, which contributes to FUGLY! being too gimmicky for its own good. These animated bits – and other imagery that pops up like GIFs on an internet site – are more distracting than they are clever or enjoyable. Yes, Woody Allen worked in a short animated sequence into the paragon of romantic comedies, Annie Hall, but that doesn’t mean it works in this movie. I’m also of the mind that after thirty-seven years directors should stop trying to remake Annie Hall in their own images.

Leguizamo’s one-man shows are hilarious and full of truth in every way that FUGLY! isn’t. Despite being somewhat based on Leguizamo’s own life, FUGLY! was directed by Alfredo De Villa – whose best-known film, 2008’s Nothing Like the Holidays, starred Leguizamo – and was co-written by first-time screenwriter Kathy DeMarco. I don’t know what went wrong in the mix here, but I strongly recommend tracking down recordings of Leguizamo’s one-man shows and watching those instead of FUGLY! for a better taste of what Leguizamo can do with his own material.

RATING 2 out of 5 : See it … At Your Own Risk

FUGLY! opens Friday, November 7 in New York at AMC Empire 25, with additional cities to follow. It debuts on Movies on Demand and VOD Release on Tuesday, November 25.

http://youtu.be/6a0tRAasSsI
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Watch TRAILER for Award-Winning Indie Film “Before I Disappear”

Here is the trailer for the multi-award winning “Before I Disappear,” directed by Shawn Christensen which premiered earlier this year at the SXSW Film Festival where it won the Audience Award. Starring Shawn Christensen, Fatima Ptacek, Emmy Rossum, Paul Wesley, Richard Schiff and Ron Perlman, “Before I Disappear” is based on the 2013 Academy Award® winning short film “Curfew.” At the lowest point of his life, Richie gets a call from his estranged sister, asking him to look after his eleven-year old niece, Sophia, for a few hours. “Before I Disappear” opens in theaters on November 28.

http://youtu.be/bosMzZh916I
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10 Animated Shorts Advance In 2014 Oscar® Race

The Bigger Picture”

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 10 animated short films will advance in the voting process for the 87th Academy Awards®. Fifty-eight pictures had originally qualified in the category.

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

“The Bigger Picture,” Daisy Jacobs, director, and Christopher Hees, producer (National Film and Television School)
“Coda,” Alan Holly, director (And Maps And Plans)
“The Dam Keeper,” Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi, directors (Tonko House)
“Duet,” Glen Keane, director (Glen Keane Productions & ATAP)
“Feast,” Patrick Osborne, director, and Kristina Reed, producer (Walt Disney Animation Studios)
“Footprints,” Bill Plympton, director (Bill Plympton Studio)
“Me and My Moulton,” Torill Kove, director (Mikrofilm in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada)
“The Numberlys,” William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg, directors (Moonbot Studios)
“A Single Life,” Joris Oprins, director (Job, Joris & Marieke)
“Symphony No. 42,” Réka Bucsi, director (Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest)

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, London, New York and San Francisco in December.

The 87th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

The Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
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“Pelican Dreams” The Entertaining DocuDrama

Nature documentaries don’t often warrant reviewing since their purpose is primarily to educate, not entertain. But many nature documentaries like Pelican Dreams often combine traditional nature photography with purposeful narratives that inject personality into the art form.

Pelican Dreams focuses on a young California Brown Pelican that was discovered wandering in traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. When she is taken to a nature sanctuary to find out what is wrong with her she is underweight and appears to be confused. This inspires documentarian Judy Irving (who previously directed another avian documentary, 2003’s The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill) to learn about the life of these pelicans and why “G.G.” (the name she gives the pelican for where she was discovered) ended up on the bridge.

She first begins by learning about the mating habits and adolescence of these pelicans at an island offshore of California where they breed. Irving contemplates their emotions, like how scary it must be to first learn to fly. In fact, one of the more unexpected aspects of Pelican Dreams is how the narrative style is far more personal than most documentaries. Irving reflects on her personal connection with pelicans, including her dreams about flying, and why they have such an impact on her. Later, she even introduces her husband, Mark Bittner (who also worked on this documentary) to an injured pelican named Morro, a bird that was cared for Bill and Dani Nicholson, who rehabilitate pelicans in their own backyard. It’s not a common technique of most nature documentaries to exhibit such a personal connection, but it adds a unique element to the film. It might not be an approach that is appreciated by those who prefer a less engaged narrator in nature documentaries, but it’s certainly not overbearing.

Much of the second half of the documentary is about the impact humans have on pelicans today, most notably from the pesticide DDT before it was banned. While brown pelicans were taken off the endangered species list in 2009, they have begun to cause the usual problems with overpopulation in human-settled areas and compete with other species (including humans) for food. Some problems are unavoidable – one of pelicans’ main foods is anchovies, which humans fish in large numbers – and Irving steers clear of common problems of environmental documentaries by not overly shaming humanity or attempting to push an agenda that is unrealistic. In other words, this isn’t a documentary that shakes its finger at humanity, especially since so much of the documentary focuses on the compassionate humans like the Nicholsons and veterinarian Monte Merrick who care for injured pelicans (and it’s worth noting that some of the pelicans’ issues might even be the result of overpopulation directly because of the conservation efforts).

Being a nature documentary, Pelican Dreams is filled with excellent camerawork of pelicans in flight – particularly the beautiful final shots – which I always thought were strange-looking animals. However, while watching this documentary I learned to appreciate the unique gawky, but graceful, movements of these birds. I never thought I would think that about pelicans, so on that level alone Irving accomplished what she set out to do with this documentary.

Film Review Rating 3 out of 5 : See it … It’s Good

Pelican Dreams will open at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas and at the Angelika Film Center in New York, and at the Royal, Playhouse 7, and Town Center in Los Angeles on November 7.
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20 Animated Features Submitted for 2014 Oscar® Race

Big Hero 6

Twenty features have been submitted for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 87th Academy Awards^®.

The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:

“Big Hero 6”
“The Book of Life”
“The Boxtrolls”
“Cheatin’”
“Giovanni’s Island”
“Henry & Me”
“The Hero of Color City”
“How to Train Your Dragon 2”
“Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart”
“Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return”
“The Lego Movie”
“Minuscule – Valley of the Lost Ants”
“Mr. Peabody & Sherman”
“Penguins of Madagascar”
“The Pirate Fairy”
“Planes: Fire & Rescue”
“Rio 2”
“Rocks in My Pockets”
“Song of the Sea”
“The Tale of the Princess Kaguya”

Several of the films have not yet had their required Los Angeles qualifying run. 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 also may qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture, provided they meet the requirements for those categories.

The 87th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

The Oscars^® will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre^® at Hollywood & Highland Center^® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
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CITIZENFOUR, FINDING VIVIAN MAIER, POINT AND SHOOT Among Nominees For 2014 IDA Documentary Awards

POINT AND SHOOT

The International Documentary Association (IDA) announced nominations for the 2014 IDA Documentary Awards set to take place on Friday, December 5th at the Paramount Theatre at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles. The five films nominated in IDA’s Feature category are: CITIZENFOUR, Laura Poitras’ portrait of whistleblowers, including Edward Snowden, and the disturbing state of surveillance of civilians in the post 9/11 age; FINDING VIVIAN MAIER, John Maloof and Charlie Siskel’s accounting of the discovery in an abandoned storage locker of what would turn out to be the work of one of the 20th Century’s greatest photographers; POINT AND SHOOT from Marshall Curry, the firsthand account of Matt Van Dyke’s personal odyssey in North Africa including fighting and imprisonment during the revolution in Libya; THE SALT OF THE EARTH, directors Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado’s poetic examination of the life and work of photographer Sebastião Salgado; and TALES OF THE GRIM SLEEPER, Nick Broomfield’s investigation of the notorious serial killer who terrorized South Central Los Angeles over a twenty-five year span.

2014 IDA Documentary Awards Nominations and Awards

BEST FEATURE AWARD

Citizenfour
Director: Laura Poitras
RADiUS-TWC, Participant Media, and HBO Documentary Films

Finding Vivian Maier
Directors: John Maloof, Charlie Siskel
Sundance Selects

Point and Shoot
Director: Marshall Curry
The Orchard

The Salt of the Earth
Directors: Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado
Sony Pictures Classics

Tales of the Grim Sleeper
Director: Nick Broomfield
HBO and SKY ATLANTIC

BEST SHORT AWARD

Ghost Train
Directors: Kelly Hucker, James Fleming
Premium Films (France)

Our Curse
Director: Tomasz Śliwiński

Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall
Director: Edgar Barens
HBO Documentary Films

Tashi and the Monk
Directors: Andrew Hinton & Johnny Burke

The Queen
Director: Manuel Abramovich

BEST CURATED SERIES AWARD

American Experience
Executive Producer: Mark Samels
Senior Producer: Sharon Grimberg
PBS

American Masters
Executive Producer: Susan Lacy
PBS

Independent Lens
Executive Producer: Sally Jo Fifer
Deputy Executive Producer: Lois Vossen
Independent Television Service (ITVS) in association with PBS

POV
Executive Producer: Simon Kilmurry
Series Producer: Chris White
POV/ PBS

Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel
Executive Producer: Rick Bernstein
HBO Sports

BEST LIMITED SERIES AWARD

Chicagoland
Executive Producers: Mark Benjamin, Marc Levin, Laura Michalchyshyn, Robert Redford
CNN/ BCTV and Sundance Productions

COSMOS: A SpaceTime Odyssey
Executive Producers: Brannon Braga, Mitchell Cannold, Ann Druyan, Seth MacFarlane
FOX/ National Geographic Channel

The Sixties
Executive Producers: Gary Goeztman, Tom Hanks, Mark Herzog
CNN/ Playtone and Herzog & Co

Time of Death
Executive Producers: Cynthia Childs, Dan Cutforth, Casey Kriley, Alexandra Lipsitz, Jane Lipsitz
Co-Executive Producer: Miggi Hood
Showtime

Years of Living Dangerously
Executive Producers: Daniel Abbasi, Joel Bach, James Cameron, David Gelber, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jerry Weintraub
Showtime

BEST EPISODIC SERIES AWARD

Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown
Executive Producer and Host: Anthony Bourdain
Executive Producers: Chris Collins, Lydia Tenaglia, Sandra Zweig
CNN

Morgan Spurlock Inside Man
Executive Producer and Host: Morgan Spurlock
Executive Producers Jeremy Chilnick, Mathew Galkin
Warrior Poets/CNN

Oprah’s Master Class
Executive Producers: Jon Kamen, Jonathan Sinclair, Justin Wilkes, Oprah Winfrey
OWN/ Harpo Studios

Our America with Lisa Ling
Executive Producers: Amy Bucher, Gregory Henry, Lisa Ling, David Shadrack Smith
OWN

VICE
Executive Producer: BJ Levin, Bill Maher, Eddy Moretti, Shane Smith
HBO

BEST SHORT FORM SERIES AWARD

A Short History of the Highrise
Executive Producers: Jason Spingarn-Koff, Silva Basmajian
National Film Board of Canada and The New York Times

Last Chance High
Executive Producer: Jason Mojica
VICE News

Op-Docs
Executive Producer: Jason Spingarn-Koff
The New York Times

Planet Money Makes a T-shirt
Executive Producer: Alex Blumberg
NPR

Russian Roulette
Executive Producers: Jason Mojica, Kevin Sutcliffe
VICE News

HUMANITAS AWARD

How I Got Over
Director: Nicole Boxer

Keep On Keepin’ On
Director: Alan Hicks
RADiUS-TWC

Limited Partnership
Director: Thomas G. Miller
PBS / Independent Lens

DAVID L. WOLPER STUDENT DOCUMENTARY AWARD

Cast in India
Director: Natasha Raheja
New York University

Evaporating Borders
Director: Iva Radivojevic
CUNY – Hunter College

Hotel 22
Director: Elizabeth Lo
Stanford University

My Dad’s a Rocker
Director: Zuxin Hou
University of Southern California

Solitary Plains
Director: J. Christian Jensen
Stanford University

ABCNEWS VIDEOSOURCE AWARD

1971
Director: Johanna Hamilton
Independent Lens/ PBS

The Assassination of President Kennedy
Executive Producers: Gary Goeztman, Tom Hanks, Mark Herzog
CNN/ Playtone and Herzog & Co

Captivated The Trials of Pamela Smart
Director: Jeremiah Zagar
HBO Documentary Films

Concerning Violence
Director: Göran Hugo Olsson
Kino Lorber

The Joe Show
Director: Randy Murray
Investigation Discovery/ Film Buff

CREATIVE RECOGNITION AWARDS

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY presented by Canon
Elevator
CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Hatuey Viveros Lavielle

BEST EDITING
Last Days in Vietnam
EDITING BY: Don Kleszy

BEST MUSIC
Alfred and Jakobine
MUSIC BY: Nick Urata

BEST WRITING
Finding Vivian Maier
WRITTEN BY: John Maloof & Charlie Siskel

PARE LORENTZ AWARD
Tashi and the Monk
Directors: Andrew Hinton, Johnny Burke

EMERGING DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER AWARD sponsored by Red Fire Films and Modern VideoFilm
Darius Clark Monroe

CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Robert Redford

PIONEER AWARD
Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato

PRESERVATION AND SCHOLARSHIP AWARD
Rithy Panh
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Watch TRAILER for A MOST VIOLENT YEAR, starring Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain

The OFFICIAL trailer is released for A MOST VIOLENT YEAR, starring Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain, and set to World Premiere at AFI Film Festival this Thursday. A MOST VIOLENT YEAR is a searing crime drama set in New York City during the winter of 1981, statistically the most dangerous year in the city’s history. From acclaimed writer/director J.C. Chandor, and starring Oscar Isaac (INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS) and Jessica Chastain (ZERO DARK THIRTY), this gripping story plays out within a maze of rampant political and industry corruption plaguing the streets of a city in decay.

http://youtu.be/lZU7U3k3gHY

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“71” Leads with 9 Nominations for 2014 British Independent Film Awards Nominations

71

The nominations for the 17th annual Moët British Independent Film Awards were announced today and the highest number of nominations goes to ‘71 with nine nominations including Best British Independent Film; Best Director and Debut Director for Yann Demange; Best Screenplay for Gregory Burke; Best Actor for Jack O’Connell and Best Supporting Actor for Sean Harris. PRIDE picked up seven nominations and CATCH ME DADDY, FRANK and MR TURNER picked up five nominations each.

Nominations for Best Actress go to Alicia Vikander for TESTAMENT OF YOUTH; Cheng Pei Pei for LILTING; Gugu Mbatha-Raw for BELLE; Keira Knightleyfor THE IMITATION GAME and Sameena Jabeen Ahmed for CATCH ME DADDY. Leading men hoping to take home the Best Actor award include Asa Butterfield for X+Y; Benedict Cumberbatch for THE IMITATION GAME; Brendan Gleeson for CALVARY; Jack O’Connell for ’71 and Timothy Spall for MR TURNER.

Best Supporting Actor nominations go to Andrew Scott and Ben Schnetzer, both for PRIDE; Michael Fassbender for FRANK; Rafe Spall for X+Y and Sean Harris for ’71. Dorothy Atkinson for MR TURNER; Imelda Staunton for PRIDE; Maggie Gyllenhaal for FRANK; Sally Hawkins for X+Y and Sienna Guillory for THE GOOB are all nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Award.

Directors who have delivered dynamic debuts this year and are fighting for the Douglas Hickox Award are Daniel Wolfe and Matthew Wolfe for CATCH ME DADDY; Hong Khaou for LILTING; Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard for 20,000 DAYS ON EARTH; Morgan Matthews for X+Y and Yann Demange for ’71.

The Raindance Award nominees for 2014 include: FLIM: THE MOVIE; GREGOR; LUNA; KEEPING ROSY and THE BEAT BENEATH MY FEET. This award honours exceptional achievement for filmmakers working against the odds, often with little or no industry support.

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

BEST BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM

’71
Calvary
Mr Turner
Pride
The Imitation Game

BEST DIRECTOR

John Michael McDonagh – Calvary
Lenny Abrahamson – Frank
Matthew Warchus – Pride
Mike Leigh – Mr Turner
Yann Demange – ’71

THE DOUGLAS HICKOX AWARD [BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR]

Daniel Wolfe, Matthew Wolfe – Catch Me Daddy
Hong Khaou – Lilting
Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard – 20,000 Days on Earth
Morgan Matthews – X+Y
Yann Demange – ’71

BEST SCREENPLAY

Graham Moore – The Imitation Game
Gregory Burke – ’71
John Michael McDonagh – Calvary
Jon Ronson, Peter Straughan – Frank
Stephen Beresford – Pride

BEST ACTRESS

Alicia Vikander – Testament of Youth
Cheng Pei Pei – Lilting
Gugu Mbatha-Raw – Belle
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Sameena Jabeen Ahmed – Catch Me Daddy

BEST ACTOR

Asa Butterfield – X+Y
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Brendan Gleeson – Calvary
Jack O’Connell – ’71
Timothy Spall – Mr Turner

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Dorothy Atkinson – Mr Turner
Imelda Staunton – Pride
Maggie Gyllenhaal – Frank
Sally Hawkins – X+Y
Sienna Guillory – The Goob

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Andrew Scott – Pride
Ben Schnetzer – Pride
Michael Fassbender – Frank
Rafe Spall – X+Y
Sean Harris – ‘71

MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER

Ben Schnetzer – Pride
Cara Delevingne – The Face of An Angel
Gugu Mbatha-Raw – Belle
Liam Walpole – The Goob
Sameena Jabeen Ahmed – Catch Me Daddy

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION

’71
20,000 Days on Earth
Catch Me Daddy
Lilting
The Goob

BEST TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT

Chris Wyatt – Editing – ’71
Dick Pope – Cinematography – Mr Turner
Robbie Ryan – Cinematography – Catch Me Daddy
Stephen Rennicks – Music – Frank
Tat Radcliffe – Cinematography – ’71

BEST DOCUMENTAR Y

20,000 Days on Earth
Next Goal Wins
Night Will Fall
The Possibilities Are Endless
Virunga

BEST BRITISH SHORT

Crocodile
Emotional Fusebox
Keeping Up With The Joneses
Slap
The Kármán Line

BEST INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT FILM

Blue Ruin
Boyhood
Fruitvale Station
Ida
The Badadook

THE RAINDANCE AWARD

Flim: The Movie…
Gregor
Luna
Keeping Rosy
The Beat Beneath My Feet

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 7th December

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