
, director of American film classics such as “12 Angry Men,” “Serpico,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” “The Verdict,” “Network” died Saturday morning at his home in Manhattan. He was 86. His stepdaughter, Leslie Gimbel, said the cause was lymphoma.

, director of American film classics such as “12 Angry Men,” “Serpico,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” “The Verdict,” “Network” died Saturday morning at his home in Manhattan. He was 86. His stepdaughter, Leslie Gimbel, said the cause was lymphoma.

Academy Award®-winning filmmaker, Alan Arkin, will be honored at the Florida Film Festival’s 20th anniversary event, “An Evening with Alan Arkin,” on April 15. The Oscar® winning, three-time Academy Award® nominated filmmaker will receive the John M. Tiedtke Lifetime Achievement Award and the evening’s event will also include the 45th anniversary screening of The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!, the film that earned Arkin his first Oscar® nomination in 1966.

Film Independent Spirit Award-winner Patty Jenkins (Monster) along with Jennifer Aniston, Alicia Keys, and Demi Moore have been signed to direct the Lifetime Original Movie Project Five, an anthology of five short films exploring the impact of breast cancer on people’s lives. The film’s fifth director will be announced in the coming weeks.

Joe Wizan, a former head of 20th Century Fox‘s motion picture division and an independent producer of films such as “Jeremiah Johnson” and “… And Justice for All,” has died. He was 76.

Director Tom McCarthy’s (Station Agent, The Visitor) latest feature film Win Win is a terrific little movie, which just opened Friday. It stars Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan and Bobby Cannavale.

Gary Winick, a pioneering producer and director of independent digital films who found mainstream success with such movies as “13 Going on 30” and “Letters to Juliet,” has died. He was 49.

Dirty mouth. Actress Melissa Leo dropped the F-bomb while accepting the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress at the 83rd annual Academy Awards on Sunday night.

We here at Vimooz just love it when an incredibly hard-working player from the independent film scene crosses over into the big-time, especially when you it’s someone who will keep their sense of humor, soul and integrity intact. That is why we are pushing for John Hawkes to win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar this weekend for his role as “Tear Drop” in this year’s little indie-that-really-did-it: Winter’s Bone.

Walter Seltzer, a Hollywood producer who made seven films with Charlton Heston, has died. He was 96.

David F. Friedman, a film producer who cheerfully and cheesily exploited an audience’s hunger for bare-breasted women and blood-dripping corpses in lucrative low-budget films like “Blood Feast” and “Ilsa: She-Wolf of the S.S.,” died on Monday in Anniston, Ala. He was 87.