News

All the News.

  • Complete List of 63 Countries Competing For 84th Academy Awards Foreign Film Oscar

    [caption id="attachment_1730" align="alignnone" width="550"]First time entrant New Zealand – The Orator directed by Tusi Tamasese[/caption]

    Sixty-three countries, including first-time entrant New Zealand, have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 84th Academy Awards®.

    The 2011 submissions are:
    Albania, “Amnesty,” Bujar Alimani, director;
    Argentina, “Aballay,” Fernando Spiner, director;
    Austria, “Breathing,” Karl Markovics, director;
    Belgium, “Bullhead,” Michael R. Roskam, director;
    Bosnia and Herzegovina,”Belvedere,” Ahmed Imamovic, director;
    Brazil, “Elite Squad: The Enemy Within,” José Padilha, director;
    Bulgaria, “Tilt,” Viktor Chouchkov, Jr., director;
    Canada, “Monsieur Lazhar,” Philippe Falardeau, director;
    Chile, “Violeta Went to Heaven,” Andrés Wood, director;
    China, “The Flowers of War,” Zhang Yimou, director;
    Colombia, “The Colors of the Mountain,” Carlos César Arbeláez, director;
    Croatia, “72 Days,” Danilo Serbedzija, director;
    Cuba, “Havanastation,” Ian Padrón, director;
    Czech Republic,”Alois Nebel,” Tomás Lunák, director;
    Denmark, “Superclásico,” Ole Christian Madsen, director;
    Dominican Republic,”Love Child,” Leticia Tonos, director;
    Egypt, “Lust,” Khaled el Hagar, director;
    Estonia, “Letters to Angel,” Sulev Keedus, director;
    Finland, “Le Havre,” Aki Kaurismäki, director;
    France, “Declaration of War,” Valérie Donzelli, director;
    Georgia, “Chantrapas,” Otar Iosseliani, director;
    Germany, “Pina,” Wim Wenders, director;
    Greece, “Attenberg,” Athina Rachel Tsangari, director;
    Hong Kong,”A Simple Life,” Ann Hui, director;
    Hungary, “The Turin Horse,” Béela Tarr, director;
    Iceland, “Volcano,” Rúnar Rúnarsson, director;
    India, “Abu, Son of Adam,” Salim Ahamed, director;
    Indonesia, “Under the Protection of Ka’Bah,” Hanny R. Saputra, director;
    Iran, “A Separation,” Asghar Farhadi, director;
    Ireland, “As If I Am Not There,” Juanita Wilson, director;
    Israel, “Footnote,” Joseph Cedar, director;
    Italy, “Terraferma,” Emanuele Crialese, director;
    Japan, “Postcard,” Kaneto Shindo, director;
    Kazakhstan, “Returning to the ‘A,’” Egor Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky, director;
    Lebanon, “Where Do We Go Now?” Nadine Labaki, director;
    Lithuania, “Back to Your Arms,” Kristijonas Vildziunas, director;
    Macedonia, “Punk Is Not Dead,” Vladimir Blazevski, director;
    Mexico, “Miss Bala,” Gerardo Naranjo, director;
    Morocco, “Omar Killed Me,” Roschdy Zem, director;
    Netherlands, “Sonny Boy,” Maria Peters, director;
    New Zealand,”The Orator,” Tusi Tamasese, director;
    Norway, “Happy, Happy,” Anne Sewitsky, director;
    Peru, “October,” Diego Vega and Daniel Vega, directors;
    Philippines, “The Woman in the Septic Tank,” Marlon N. Rivera, director;
    Poland, “In Darkness,” Agnieszka Holland, director;
    Portugal, “José and Pilar,” Miguel Gonçalves Mendes, director;
    Romania, “Morgen,” Marian Crisan, director;
    Russia, “Burnt by the Sun 2: The Citadel,” Nikita Mikhalkov, director;
    Serbia, “Montevideo: Taste of a Dream,” Dragan Bjelogrlić, director;
    Singapore, “Tatsumi,” Eric Khoo, director;
    Slovak Republic,”Gypsy,” Martin Sulík, director;
    South Africa,”Beauty,” Oliver Hermanus, director;
    South Korea,”The Front Line,” Jang Hun, director;
    Spain, “Black Bread,” Agusti Villaronga, director;
    Sweden, “Beyond,” Pernilla August, director;
    Switzerland, “Summer Games,” Rolando Colla, director;
    Taiwan, “Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale,” Wei Te-sheng, director;
    Thailand, “Kon Khon,” Sarunyu Wongkrachang, director;
    Turkey, “Once upon a Time in Anatolia,” Nuri Bilge Ceylan, director;
    United Kingdom,”Patagonia,” Marc Evans, director;
    Uruguay, “The Silent House,” Gustavo Hernández, director;
    Venezuela, “Rumble of the Stones,” Alejandro Bellame Palacios, director;
    Vietnam, “The Prince and the Pagoda Boy,” Luu Trong Ninh, director.

    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.

    Read more


  • 8 Documentary Short Films Make 2011 Oscars Shortlist

    [caption id="attachment_1728" align="alignnone" width="550"]The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement[/caption]

    The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that the field of Documentary Short Subject contenders for the 84th Academy Awards® has been narrowed to eight films, of which three to five will earn Oscar® nominations.

    The eight films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production company.

    “The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement,” Purposeful Productions, Inc.
    “God Is the Bigger Elvis,” Documentress Films
    “In Tahrir Square: 18 Days of Egypt’s Unfinished Revolution,” Downtown Docs
    “Incident in New Baghdad,” Morninglight Films
    “Pipe Dreams,” Leslie Iwerks Productions
    “Saving Face,” Milkhaus/Jungefilm
    “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom,” Supply & Demand Integrated
    “Witness,” Buche

    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.

    Read more


  • Finland’s Oscar submission LE HAVRE – opens in LA and NYC on October 21

    [caption id="attachment_1724" align="alignnone" width="550"]Le Havre[/caption]

    Finland’s official submission for 2012 Academy Awards – Best Foreign Language Film, ‘Le Havre’ by director Aki Kaurismäki will be released in NYC and LA on Friday, October 21 with an expected national release to follow.

    The film premiered at 2011 Cannes Film Festival where it was awarded the FIPRESCI Critic’s prize, and was screened at the recent Telluride, Toronto and New York film festivals.

    In his wry and warm-hearted portrait of the French harbor city that gives the film its name, legendary Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki (The Man Without a Past, The Match Factory Girl) pays tribute to the Gallic cinema he loves with a film that exists somewhere between the reality of contemporary France and the classic cinema of Jean-Pierre Melville and Michel Carné.

    LE HAVRE, Kaurismäki’s 16th feature concerns a young African refugee (newcomer Blondin Miguel) who is thrown by fate into the path of Marcel Marx (André Wilms), a well-read bohemian who works as a shoe-shiner. With innate optimism and the unwavering solidarity of his community, Marcel stands up to officials doggedly pursuing the boy for deportation. Kati Outinen, Kaurismäki’s muse who appears in most of his films, plays Marcel’s wife Arletty.

    2011  35 mm  In French with English Subtitles   Not Rated   93 min  Sound: Dolby SRD  Aspect Ratio: 1.85

    Read more


  • 11 Nonfiction Short Film Finalists for 2012 Cinema Eye Honors

    Eleven films from six countries have been named as finalists for the 2012 Cinema Eye Honors for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking.  This is the second year that Cinema Eye has presented an award for Nonfiction Short Filmmaking.  Last year the award went to The Poodle Trainer, directed by Vance Malone.

    2012 Cinema Eye Honors Short Film Finalists:

    Bathing Micky (MICKY BADER) (Sweden/Denmark)
    Directed by Frida Kempff

    Diary (United Kingdom)
    Directed by Tim Hetherington

    Guanape Sur (Italy)
    Directed by János Richter

    Il Capo (The Chief) (Italy)
    Directed by Yuri Ancarani

    Incident by a Bank (Sweden)
    Directed by Ruben Östlund

    Minka (USA)
    Directed by Davina Pardo

    Out of Reach (POZA ZASIEGIEM)
    (Poland)
    Directed by Jakub Stozek

    Poster Girl (USA)
    Directed by Sara Nesson

    Ray’s Birds (USA)
    Directed by Deborah Stratman

    This Chair is Not Me (United Kingdom)
    Directed by Andy Taylor Smith

    Tussilago (Sweden)
    Directed by Jonas Odell

    Read more


  • Award winning film, Vegucated, kicks off Fall Tour in NY

     

    The new documentary Vegucated, recently awarded “Best Documentary Feature” at the 2011 Toronto Independent Film Festival is going on the road.

     

    The tour kicks off tonight in New York City with the U.S. premiere at the at the SVA Theatre, then to Midwest Premiere at the Show Me Justice Film Festival, on Saturday, October 15th, at University of Central Missouri. Other cities follow.

    Vegucated is a feature-length documentary that follows three meat- and cheese-loving New Yorkers who agree to adopt a vegan diet for six weeks. There’s Brian, the bacon-loving bachelor who eats out all the time, Ellen, the single mom who prefers comedy to cooking, and Tesla, the college student who avoids vegetables and bans beans. They have no idea that so much more than steak is at stake and that the fate of the world may fall on their plates. Lured with true tales of weight lost and health regained, they begin to uncover hidden sides of animal agriculture and soon start to wonder whether solutions offered in films like Food, Inc. go far enough. Before long, they find themselves risking everything to expose an industry they supported just weeks before.

    But can their conviction carry them when times get tough? What about on family vacations fraught with skeptical step-dads, carnivorous cousins, and breakfast buffets?

    Part sociological experiment, part science class, and part adventure story, Vegucated showcases the rapid and at times comedic evolution of three people who share one journey and ultimately discover their own paths in creating a kinder, cleaner, greener world, one bite at a time

    Read more


  • Actress Famke Janssen’s Directorial Debut ‘Bringing Up Bobby’ Gets a Theatrical Distribution Deal

     

    monterey media has acquired North American rights to actress Famke Janssen’s writing and directorial debut, “Bringing Up Bobby” with a late 2011 theatrical release date planned. “Bringing Up Bobby ” stars Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil, The Three Musketeers), Bill Pullman (Independence Day, Sleepless in Seattle, The Grudge) and Marcia Cross (star of “Desperate Housewives”). The film premiered recently at the Deauville American Film Festival and will have its US premiere at The Savannah Film Festival this November.

    About Bringing Up Bobby
    In an effort to escape her past and build a better future, Olive (Milla Jovovich), an attractive European con artist, and her 10-year-old American-born son, Bobby (Spencer List), find themselves living in Oklahoma.  But as Olive and Bobby blithely charm their way from one comical adventure to another, Olive’s criminal past finally catches up with her, forcing her to make the toughest judgment of all.

    Read more


  • Hollywood Film Festival to honor George Clooney

    George Clooney in The Descendants

    The 15th annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Film Awards, will honor Oscar winner George Clooney with the “Hollywood Actor Award” for his critically acclaimed performance in Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants.”

    Read more


  • 37 films nominated in this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards

    Band Baaja Baaraat (Wedding Planners, India)

    The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) announced that 37 films from 19 countries and areas have been nominated in this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

    Read more


  • Iran Sentences Actress to 90 lashes For Appearing in Film

    [caption id="attachment_1706" align="alignnone" width="550"]Iranian actress Marzieh Vafamehr in My Tehran for Sale[/caption]

    Iranian actress Marzieh Vafamehr has been sentenced to one year in prison and 90 lashes for her starring role in Australian film My Tehran for Sale.

    Although the exact charges are not clear, Vafamehr do appear with a shaved head and no headscarf in the film, which also explores cultural oppression in Iran and taboos such as drug use, all no-no’s under Iranian tough laws.

    Shot in secret in Iran with a local crew in 2008, My Tehran for Sale is described as a groundbreaking film, revealing fresh truths behind the facade of contemporary Iran. Marzieh is an actress living in Tehran where, like most young people, she is forced to lead a secret life to express her art. At an underage rave party she meets Saman, now an Australian citizen, who offers a way out–until things go terribly wrong. Is Australia a place of hope, or simply another regime whose aim is to freeze the soul? shot entirely on location in Tehran, with the assistance of Bahman Ghobadi (Turtles can Fly) and post-producedin Adelaide, this is a uniquely daring project. it explores a woman’s struggle for independence and for the courage necessary to break from everything in your life. Adelaide-based filmmaker Granaz Moussavi is one of the most prominent poets of her generation in Iran. She has based this uncompromising debut feature on friends and acquaintances n Tehran’s underground arts community.
    Vafamehr will reportedly appeal her sentence.
    In related news, two of eight documentary film-makers detained in Iran were released, the website of the organization of documentary filmmakers said.

    “Our colleagues Naser Safarian and Mohsen Shahrnazdar were released,” a statement said. However, no additional details were available.

    Filmmakers Mojtaba Mir Tahmaseb, Katayoon Shahabi, Hadi Afarideh, Naser Safarian, Shahnam Bazdar and Mohsen Shahrnazdar were arrested on September 17, accused of espionage and other charges related to a BBC documentary they were working on.

    Read more


  • Real Steel and Human Centipede 2 Are This Week’s Box-Office Champs

    [caption id="attachment_1704" align="alignnone" width="550"]Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence[/caption]

    “Real Steel” was literally a tough one to beat at the box office, with the action film starring Hugh Jackman, beating the competition to take the number 1 spot with a decent $27.3 million.  George Clooney’s political drama “The Ides of March,”was a distant second with $10.4 million.

    1. “Real Steel” (Disney/DreamWorks): $27.3 million.

    2. “The Ides of March” (Sony/Cross Creek): $10.4 million.

    3. “Dolphin Tale” (Warner Bros./Alcon): $9.2 million.

    4. “Moneyball” (Sony): $7.5 million.

    5. “50/50” (Summit/Mandate): $5.5 million.

    6. “Courageous” (Sony): $4.6 million.

    7. “The Lion King 3-D” (Disney): $4.6 million.

    8. “Dream House” (Universal/Morgan Creek): $4.5 million.

    9. “What’s Your Number?” (Fox/New Regency): $3.1 million.

    10. “Abduction” (Lionsgate): $2.9 million.

    In the specialty market, the sequel “Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence” grossed $54,000 from 18 screens. Other newcomers included “The Women on the Sixth Floor” which debuted on six screens in New York and Los Angeles and grossed $26,150; and Emilio Estevez’s “The Way” – starring his father Martin Sheen opened on 33 screens grossing $132,411.

    Read more


  • Peter Fonda and Tim Robbins Gulf Oil Spill Doc ‘The Big Fix’ to Open New Orleans Film Fest

    The Big Fix, from The Sundance Award Winning Filmmakers behind the movie FUEL, will have its North American premiere as the Opening night Film of the 22nd Annual New Orleans Film Festival on Friday, October 14th, 2011. Directed by Louisiana native Josh Tickell and produced and co-directed by his wife and filmmaking partner Rebecca Harrell Tickell, The Big Fix is described as ‘part daring journalism, archival investigation and eco-horror story.’

    Through interviews with scientists, government officials, journalists (including Rolling Stone’s Jeff Goodell who examined the Gulf spill in his article ‘The Poisoning’), activists (Peter Fonda, Amy Smart and Grammy-winner Jason Mraz who also contributed an original song), New Orleans attorney Stuart Smith and Gulf States natives, The Big Fix recounts the events surrounding the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico. The Big Fix reveals the powerful political and corporate system that put profits over the health and long-term sustainability of people and the environment.

    The Big Fix explores the complicit behavior of the US government in the long-term use of the chemical dispersant, Corexit 9527, a known hemolitic (blood thinner). In an unexpected twist of fate, Co-Director/Producer Rebecca Harrell Tickell became severely ill after being exposed to the oil and Corexit mixture while filming. Like many of the residents of the gulf south who have experienced blood in their urine, skin lesions, and other blood-related disorders, Harrell Tickell‘s condition persists.

    A rough cut of The Big Fix received critical acclaim this year as the only documentary in Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival. European audiences were stunned to see evidence suggesting the Macondo well site is still leaking oil. Now LSU and other researchers confirm it.

    Read more


  • Arpa Film Festival Award Winning Comedy My Uncle Rafael Gets A Theatrical Release Deal

    Following its successful showing at the Arpa International Film Festival where it garnered three major awards, producers of indie comedy “My Uncle Rafael” have officially announced finalizing an agreement for a North American theatrical release. Slater Brothers Entertainment handle the domestic release which is expected to hit theaters in early 2012.

    Hailed as as the first American comedy in history with an Armenian lead character, “My Uncle Rafael” follows an old Armenian Uncle who gets cast in a reality show and has one week to save a dysfunctional American family from breaking up. Directed and edited by filmmaker and former Spielberg assistant Marc Fusco, the film stars comedy veterans Missi Pyle (Charlie & the Chocolate Factory), John Michael Higgins (Couples Retreat), Anthony Clark (Yes, Dear), Joe Lo Truglio (Paul), Rachel Blanchard (Flight of the Concords), and introduces Vahik Pirhamzei as Rafael.

    After the North American premiere at the Arpa International Film Festival, ‘Rafael’ took home the festival’s Breakthrough Performance Award for Vahik Pirhamzei and his remarkable comedic portrayal of the film’s outspoken, yet beloved Uncle Rafael. The Best Director trophy went to Marc Fusco and Best Screenplay Award to Scott Yagemann and Vahik Pirhamzei.

    {youtube}KTY8PCDji7U{/youtube}

    Read more