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  • 2012 Student Academy Awards Competition Now Accepting Entries

    The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is now accepting entries for its 2012 Student Academy Awards competition. Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal awards, along with cash prizes, may be presented to student filmmakers in the following categories: Alternative, Animation, Narrative, Documentary and Foreign Student Film.

    The rules and online application forms are available at: http://www.oscars.org/saa.

    The U.S. competition is open to all full-time college and university students at accredited institutions, whose films are made within the curricular structure of a film program or class at their respective schools. For 2012, the Academy has limited the list of accepted accreditation agencies for U.S. institutions to the following: Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools; New England Association of Schools and Colleges; North Central Association of Colleges and Schools; Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities; Western Association of Schools and Colleges; and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. U.S. entries must be submitted by Monday, April 2, 2012.

    In the Foreign Student Film category entries are accepted only from full-time college and university students attending schools that are members of the international film school organization known as CILECT (cilect.org), and located outside the borders of the United States. The deadline to submit a foreign student film for consideration is Friday, March 23, 2012.

    The 39th Annual Student Academy Awards presentation will be held on Saturday, June 9, 2012, at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

    The Academy established the Student Academy Awards in 1972 to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level. Past Student Academy Award winners have gone on to receive 43 Oscar® nominations and have won or shared eight awards. At the 83rd Academy Awards earlier this year, 2010 Student Academy Award winner Luke Matheny took home the Oscar for his Live Action Short Film “God of Love.”  Tanel Toom, another 2010 Student Academy Award winner, also was nominated in the Live Action Short Film category for “The Confession,” and John Lasseter, a 1979 and 1980 Student Academy Award winner, was a nominee in the Adapted Screenplay category for “Toy Story 3.”

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  • 10 Animated Shorts in Race for 2011 Oscar

    [caption id="attachment_1903" align="alignnone"]Wild Life[/caption]

    The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 10 animated short films will advance in the voting process for the 84th Academy Awards®. Forty-four pictures had originally qualified in the category.

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

    • “Dimanche/Sunday,” Patrick Doyon, director (National Film Board of Canada)
    • “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore,” William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg, directors (Moonbot Studios LA, LLC)
    • “I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat,” Matthew O’Callaghan, director and Sam Register, executive producer (Warner Bros. Animation Inc.)
    • “La Luna,” Enrico Casarosa, director (Pixar Animation Studios)
    • “Luminaris,” Juan Pablo Zaramella, director (JPZtudio)
    • “Magic Piano,” Martin Clapp, director and Hugh Welchman, producer (BreakThru Films)
    • “A Morning Stroll,” Grant Orchard, director and Sue Goffe, producer (Studio AKA)
    • “Paths of Hate,” Damian Nenow, director (Platige Image)
    • “Specky Four-Eyes,” Jean-Claude Rozec, director and Mathieu Courtois, producer (Vivement Lundi!)
    • “Wild Life,” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, directors (National Film Board of Canada)

    Short Films and Feature Animation Branch members will now select three to five nominees from among the 10 titles on the shortlist.

    The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, and the Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012.

     

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  • Kevin Smith is Pissed at Independent Spirit Awards for Not Nominating His Film

    The Independent Spirits were announced yesterday, and Kevin Smith was not one of the happy ones. He took to twitter to express how he really felt about his film ‘Red State’ not receiving a single nomination.

    How the fuck did the @SpiritAwards NOT nominate Michael Parks? Nor John Goodman? Nor Melissa Leo? Fuck your idiotic organization. #FakeIndie

    Red State, which is released on DVD and Blu-Ray did have a limited tour/run to allow the film and the actors to qualify for Oscars and other awards. Apparently, all for nothing.

    Written and directed by Kevin Smith, and starring Michael Parks, John Goodman, Melissa Leo and Stephen Root, the action horror film is about three high school boys who receive an online invitation for sex, and on the way encounter fundamentalist preacher with a much more sinister agenda.

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  • Coming Soon Forest Whitaker and Common to Star in indie film Pawn

    [caption id="attachment_1893" align="alignnone"]Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland[/caption]

    According to VIBE online, Forest Whitaker will star alongside rapper Common, in the upcoming indie film Pawn. Written by Jay Anthony White, the plot centers around an ex-con, who gets caught in between the Feds, local police and the mob. The film will start production on December 1st.

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  • Graphic Horror Movie Human Centipede 2 BANNED in Australia

    Just three weeks after its Australian premiere at the Brisbane International Film Festival, the horror movie ‘Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence’ has been banned in Australian. The film was originally rated R 18+ by the Classification Board in May, but was denied by the Review Board.

    What is the fuss about?

    The sequel to Tom Six’s 2009 film The Human Centipede: First Sequence, Human Centipede 2 tells the story of a man who becomes sexually obsessed with a DVD recording of the first film and who imagines putting the ‘centipede’ idea into practice.” The film features a 12-person centipede. 

    The full synopsis

    “Martin is a mentally disturbed loner who lives with his nagging mother in a bleak London housing project, where loud neighbors and cramped living conditions threaten to plunge this victim of sexual and psychological abuse over the edge.

    He works the night shift as a security guard in an underground parking garage, where customers and their vehicles come and go as he indulges his obsession with THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE (FIRST SEQUENCE) watching the film over and over on the small TV set in his office and meticulously examining the scrapbook he has lovingly filled with memorabilia from the film, including the mouth-to-anus surgery instructions made famous by Dr. Heiter, the mad scientist from Martin’s favorite movie.

    Pushed to the brink by his harridan mother, haunted by the teasing voices of his abusive and incarcerated father, Martin sets into motion his plan to emulate Heiter’s centipede by creating his own version, in a rented warehouse, which he begins to fill with victims, including a loud neighbor, two drunk nightclubbers, a prostitute and a lecherous john, and several more … including Martin’s pièce de résistance, one of the actresses from THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE (FIRST SEQUENCE).

    Except that Martin lacks the surgical skill, medical instruments and operating theater necessary to create a larger centipede in the image of Dr. Heiter’s masterpiece. So he makes use of materials at hand: duct tape, staple gun, household tools and a fanboy moxie.

    What follows is one of the most harrowing and terrifying films ever conceived, featuring a central character that makes FIRST SEQUENCE’s Dr. Heiter seem downright cuddly in comparison. THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE (FINAL SEQUENCE) is a triumph in biological horror by one of the new masters of the horror film.”

    Human Centipede 2 opened in the US early last month, October 2011, at the IFC Center in New York City

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  • New York Film Critics Circle Award The Artist Best Film of 2011

    [caption id="attachment_1882" align="alignnone"]The Artist[/caption]

    The New York Film Critics Circle has spoken and they officially love The Artist, giving the film the awards for Best Picture of 2011, and Best Director for Michel Hazanavicius. The Tree of Life was also highly lauded, receiving awards for Best Actor for Brad Pitt, Best Supporting Actress for Jessica Chastain and Best Cinematography for Emmanuel Lubezki.

    2011 Awards

    Best Picture – The Artist
    Best Director – Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
    Best Screenplay – Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Moneyball
    Best Actress – Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
    Best Actor – Brad Pitt, Moneyball, The Tree of Life
    Best Supporting Actress – Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life, The Help, Take Shelter
    Best Supporting Actor – Albert Brooks, Drive
    Best Cinematographer – Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life
    Best Non-Fiction Film (Documentary) – Cave of Forgotten Dreams
    Best Foreign Film – A Separation
    Best First Film – J.C. Chandor, Margin Call
    Special Award – Raoul Ruiz

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  • Take Shelter and The Artist lead the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Award nominations

    [caption id="attachment_768" align="alignnone"]Take Shelter[/caption]

    Take Shelter and The Artist lead the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Award nominations with 5 nods each including the nomination for Best Feature Film. Other nominees for Best Feature Film include 50/50, Beginners, and Drive.  Margin Call was selected to receive the annual Robert Altman Award.

    “The Film Independent Spirit Awards recognize the finest artistic achievements across the broad spectrum of independent filmmaking—from emerging talent working on a shoestring budget to established auteurs,” said Film Independent Senior Director Sean Mc Manus. “The 2012 nominees tell their stories in such an authentic way and reflect the inclusive nature of the independent filmmaking community. We are delighted to support them and expand the audience for their work.”

    2012 FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD NOMINATIONS



    BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer, Executive Producers are not listed)
    50/50
    Producers: Evan Goldberg, Ben Karlin, Seth Rogen
    Beginners
    Producers: Miranda de Pencier, Lars Knudsen, Leslie Urdang, Dean Vanech, Jay Van Hoy
    Drive
    Producers: Michel Litvak, John Palermo, Marc Platt, Gigi Pritzker, Adam Siegel
    Take Shelter
    Producers: Tyler Davidson, Sophia Lin
    The Artist
    Producer: Thomas Langmann
    The Descendants
    Producers: Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor

    BEST DIRECTOR
    Michel Hazanavicius
    The Artist
    Mike Mills
    Beginners
    Jeff Nichols
    Take Shelter
    Alexander Payne
    The Descendants
    Nicolas Winding Refn
    Drive

    BEST SCREENPLAY
    Joseph Cedar
    Footnote
    Michel Hazanavicius
    The Artist
    Tom McCarthy
    Win Win
    Mike Mills
    Beginners
    Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
    The Descendants

    BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
    Another Earth
    Director: Mike Cahill
    Producers: Mike Cahill, Hunter Gray, Brit Marling, Nicholas Shumaker
    In the Family
    Director: Patrick Wang
    Producers: Robert Tonino, Andrew van den Houten, Patrick Wang
    Margin Call
    Director: J.C. Chandor
    Producers: Robert Ogden Barnum, Michael Benaroya, Neal Dodson, Joe Jenckes, Corey Moosa, Zachary Quinto
    Martha Marcy May Marlene
    Director: Sean Durkin
    Producers: Antonio Campos, Patrick Cunningham, Chris Maybach, Josh Mond
    Natural Selection
    Director: Robbie Pickering
    Producers: Brion Hambel, Paul Jensen

    BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
    Mike Cahill, Brit Marling
    Another Earth
    J.C. Chandor
    Margin Call
    Patrick deWitt
    Terri
    Phil Johnston
    Cedar Rapids
    Will Reiser
    50/50

    JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD – Given to the best feature made for under $500,000.  Award given to the writer, director, and producer.  Executive Producers are not listed
    Bellflower
    Writer/Director: Evan Glodell
    Producers: Evan Glodell, Vincent Grashaw
    Circumstance
    Writer/Director: Maryam Keshavarz
    Producers: Karin Chien, Maryam Keshavarz, Melissa M. Lee
    Hello Lonesome
    Writer/Director/Producer: Adam Reid
    Pariah
    Writer/Director: Dee Rees
    Producer: Nekisa Cooper
    The Dynamiter
    Writer: Brad Inglesby
    Director: Matthew Gordon
    Producers: Kevin Abrams, Matthew Gordon, Merilee Holt, Art Jones, Mike Jones, Nate Tuck, Amile Wilson

    BEST FEMALE LEAD
    Lauren Ambrose
    Think of Me
    Rachael Harris
    Natural Selection
    Adepero Oduye
    Pariah
    Elizabeth Olsen
    Martha Marcy May Marlene
    Michelle Williams
    My Week with Marilyn

    BEST MALE LEAD
    Demián Bichir
    A Better Life
    Jean Dujardin
    The Artist
    Ryan Gosling
    Drive
    Woody Harrelson
    Rampart
    Michael Shannon
    Take Shelter

    BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
    Jessica Chastain
    Take Shelter
    Anjelica Huston
    50/50
    Janet McTeer
    Albert Nobbs
    Harmony Santana
    Gun Hill Road
    Shailene Woodley
    The Descendants

     

    BEST SUPPORTING MALE
    Albert Brooks
    Drive
    John Hawkes
    Martha Marcy May Marlene
    Christopher Plummer
    Beginners
    John C. Reilly
    Cedar Rapids
    Corey Stoll
    Midnight in Paris

    BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
    Joel Hodge
    Bellflower
    Benjamin Kasulke
    The Off Hours
    Darius Khondji
    Midnight in Paris
    Guillaume Schiffman
    The Artist
    Jeffrey Waldron
    The Dynamiter

    BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)
    An African Election
    Director/Producer: Jarreth Merz
    Bill Cunningham New York
    Director: Richard Press
    Producer: Philip Gefter
    The Interrupters
    Director/Producer: Steve James
    Producer: Alex Kotlowitz
    The Redemption of General Butt Naked
    Director/Producers: Eric Strauss, Daniele Anastasion
    We Were Here
    Director/Producer: David Weissman

    BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)
    A Separation
    (Iran)
    Director: Asghar Farhadi
    Melancholia
    (Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany)
    Director: Lars von Trier
    Shame
    (UK)
    Director: Steve McQueen
    The Kid With a Bike
    (Belgium/France/Italy)
    Directors: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
    Tyrannosaur
    (UK)
    Director: Paddy Considine

    PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD – The 15th annual Piaget Producers Award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to produce quality, independent films.  The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Piaget.
    Chad Burris
    Mosquita y Mari
    Sophia Lin
    Take Shelter
    Josh Mond
    Martha Marcy May Marlene

    SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD – The 18th annual Someone to Watch Award recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.  The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.
    Simon Arthur
    Silver Tongues
    Mark Jackson
    Without
    Nicholas Ozeki
    Mamitas

    TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD – The 17th annual Truer Than Fiction Award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition.  The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.
    Heather Courtney
    Where Soldiers Come From
    Danfung Dennis
    Hell and Back Again
    Alma Har’el
    Bombay Beach

    ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD – (Given to one film’s director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)
    Margin Call
    Director: J.C. Chandor

    Casting Director: Tiffany Little Canfield, Bernard Telsey

    Ensemble Cast: Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore, Zachary Quinto, Kevin Spacey, Stanley Tucci

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  • Beginners and Tree of Life tied for Best Film at 21st Gotham Independent Film Awards

    [caption id="attachment_785" align="alignnone"]Beginners [/caption]

    Beginners and Tree of Life tied for Best Films of 2011 at the 21st annual Gotham Independent Film Awards in New York City on Monday night.

    From writer/director Mike Mills, and starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer, Beginners is a comedy/drama about a father, who, following the death of his wife of 45 years, comes out of the closet at age 75.

    Tree of Life, directed by Terrence Malick and starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain is the story of a Midwestern family in the 1950’s.

    Girlfriend, directed by Justin Lerner received the Gotham Independent Film Audience Award and Scenes of A Crime, from co-directors Blue Hadaegh & Grover Babcock received the Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You Award.

    The complete list of winners:

    Best Feature – A Tie between: BEGINNERS directed by Mike Mills and TREE OF LIFE directed by Terrence Malick

    Best Documentary – BETTER THIS WORLD directed and produced by Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega

    Breakthrough Director Award – DEE REES Writer and director of Pariah

    Breakthrough Actor Award – FELICITY JONES Actor in Like Crazy

    Best Ensemble Performance Award – Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Melanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic, Kai Lennox, Mary Page Keller, Keegan Boos  in BEGINNERS

    Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You Award – SCENES OF A CRIME Blue Hadaegh & Grover Babcock, Directors and Producers

    Gotham Independent Film Audience Award – GIRLFRIEND Justin Lerner, Director

    Produced by Jerad Anderson, Kristina Lauren Anderson, Justin Lerner, Shaun O’Banion The Audience Award was voted on line by filmgoers who love movies.

    euphoria Calvin Klein Spotlight on Women Filmmakers ‘Live the Dream’ grant – LUCY MULLOY for upcoming film UNA NOCHE

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  • Documentary film maker Jehane Noujaim Arrested in Egypt

    Documentary filmmaker Jehane Noujaim, who directed the documentary film Control Room, a 2004 documentary about Arabic-language news network Al Jazeera, was reportedly arrested and released on Friday by Egyptian security forces after being held for 36 hours.

    Ms. Noujaim was filming in Tahrir Square for a planned documentary about the protests in Egypt.

    She reportedly said “I ran into then one military guy, my camera got taken, my eyepiece got broken by him, he called me a spy; whereas the rest of the military had been very helpful in getting us out of the situation, this particular military guy was absolutely not.”

    Noujaim, who also directed  “Startup.com” and “Mokattam,” and others were charged with congregation and destruction of public property. She was freed unharmed after the Committee to Protect journalists appealed to Egyptian authorities to let her go.

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  • Renowned 89 year-old Cinematographer finds inspiration in current Occupy movements

    Haskell Wexler, an 89 year-old Academy Award Winning cinematographer, is turning his camera on the Occupy LA movement for his latest political and social documentation.

    The groundbreaking cinematographer and film director has been in the business since the early 1960s, starting out with documentaries, then breaking into Hollywood with Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, for which he won his first Oscar. He went on to shoot such famous and well respected films as In the Heat of the Night and One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest. But healso continued to make documentaries and socially relevant films, such as Medium Cool, which he directed, and stands out as a lesser-known film renowned for its realistic and almost journalistic style in capturing the atmosphere leading up to the The Democratic National Convention in 1968.

    Now Wexler has seemed to found a new subject of inspiration and filmmaking with the Occupy movement spreading throughout the country, focusing on LA, where he lives. He has already generated press for his videos (which are being posted online, on various sites) from such publications as The Huffington Post and the LA Times. Vimooz looks forward to what could turn into a full-length documentary. Although Wexler is older and seemingly at the end of a long and great career, it seems he is by no means ready to sit back and stop filming. As he told the LA Times, “You can take that insulation and figure you’re an old guy and you [already] did your thing, and then something inside me gets reminded that my ‘thing’ is what makes me alive — to be able to have a camera and an idea and an urge that gives me pleasure.”

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  • Iranian Film Wins at 5th Asia Pacific Screen Awards

    Nader az Simin (A Separation)

    Asghar Farhadi’s Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (A Separation, Islamic Republic of Iran) won the Best Feature Film Award at the 5th Asia Pacific Screen Awards.  Asghar Farhadi, who wrote, produced and directed the film, accepted his Award at the APSA Ceremony on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia from 2011 APSA International Jury President, Hong Kong’s Nansun Shi.

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  • Ralph Fiennes and Kenneth Branagh to be honored at 14th Moët British Independent Film Awards

    [caption id="attachment_1857" align="alignnone"]Ralph Fiennes[/caption]

    Ralph Fiennes will receive the coveted Richard Harris Award and Kenneth Branagh The Variety Award at the upcoming The Moët British Independent Film Awards ceremony on Sunday 4th December.

    The Richard Harris Award was introduced in 2003 in honor of Richard Harris and recognizes outstanding contribution to British film by an actor.  Previous winners have included John Hurt, David Thewlis, Bob Hoskins, Jim Broadbent, Daniel Day-Lewis and most recently Helena Bonham Carter in 2010.
    [caption id="attachment_1858" align="alignnone"]Kenneth Branagh [/caption]

    Kenneth Branagh will receive the Variety Award which recognizes an actor, director, writer or producer who has helped to focus the international spotlight on the UK.  The Variety Award was received last year by Liam Neeson and has previously been awarded to Sir Michael Caine, JK Rowling, Dame Helen Mirren, Richard Curtis, Michael Sheen and Keira Knightley to name a few.

    Both Ralph Fiennes and Kenneth Branagh will be present to receive their awards.

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