32 films on the Main Slate lineup for the 50th New York Film Festival

32 films on the Main Slate lineup for the 50th New York Film Festival

Sally Potter’s Ginger and Rosa

Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or winner Amour starring veteran French actors Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva is among 32 films on the Main slate lineup for the 50th New York Film Festival. More 2012 Cannes Film Festival winners on the lineup include Critics Week Grand Prize winner Here and There by Spanish director Antonio Mendez Esparza (Aquí y Allá) and Chilean Pablo Larrain’s Director’s Fortnight prizewinner No.

Award winning films on the lineup from other festivals include Berlinale Golden Bear winner Caesar Must Die (Cesare deve morire) directed by Paolo Taviani & Vittorio Taviani; Song Fang’s Memories Look At Me, winner of the best first feature prize at the recent Locarno Film Festival,

World premieres include Alan Berliner’s new essay film First Cousin, Once Removed, as well as the gala titles. Ang Lee’s Life of Pi will open the festival on Friday, September 28 while David Chase’s Not Fade Away is in the Centerpiece slot on Saturday, October 6 and Robert Zemeckis’ Flight will close the 50th NYFF on Sunday, October 14.

The 50th New York Film Festival runs September 28 thru October 14th, 2012.

The Main Slate of the 50th New York Film Festival:

7 Scientific Achievements in Competition for 85th Academy Awards

7 Scientific Achievements in Competition for 85th Academy Awards

The Scientific and Technical Awards Committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that seven scientific and technical achievements have been selected for further awards consideration.

The list is made public to allow individuals and companies with similar devices or claims of prior art the opportunity to submit their achievements for review. The deadline to submit additional entries is Tuesday, August 28, at 11:59 p.m. PT.

The committee has selected the following methods or devices for further consideration:

Film produced by registered sex offender pulled from Oceanside International Film Festival

Film produced by registered sex offender pulled from Oceanside International Film Festival

The film “Music High” was pulled at the last minute from the Oceanside International Film Festival in San Diego, California, after organizers learned that March Charles Maine, who produced, wrote and directed the film, is a registered sex offender. As reported by NC Times, Maine, a former San Diego police officer, plead guilty in 2007 to a charge of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 years of age in connection with a 1995 incident […]

Four Films Awarded Grants from San Francisco Film Society Documentary Film Fund

Four Films Awarded Grants from San Francisco Film Society Documentary Film Fund

The San Francisco Film Society today announced the four winning projects in the second round of SFFS Documentary Film Fund grants,.

The 2012 winners include Mike Plunkett, director; Anna Rose Holmer, producer, Charge – $20,000; David Sampliner, director/producer, My Own Man – $40,000; Shaul Schwarz, director; Lars Knudsen, producer; Jay Van Hoy, producer, Narco Cultura – $20,000; and Johanna Hamilton, director/producer, Untitled 1971 – $20,000

Film Critic Leonard Maltin to Preside Over Jury for 2012 Napa Valley Film Festival

Film Critic Leonard Maltin to Preside Over Jury for 2012 Napa Valley Film Festival

Film critic Leonard Maltin will serve as President of the Jury for the second annual  Napa Valley Film Festival (NVFF)  to be held November 7 – 11, 2012. As President of the Jury at NVFF, Maltin will oversee the Judging process, providing leadership to the other Jurors grouped into three categories: Narrative Features, Narrative Shorts, and Documentary Features and Shorts. Mr. Maltin will participate most closely in the evaluation of films in the Narrative Features Competition. […]

Ang Lee's new film Life of Pi to kick off 2012 New York Film Festival

Ang Lee’s new film Life of Pi to kick off 2012 New York Film Festival

The New York Film Festival will open with the World Premiere of Ang Lee’s Life of Pi on Friday, September 28.  “I am both delighted and honored to be back at the New York Film Festival with Life of Pi,” Ang Lee said in a statement today. “I have the deepest respect for Richard Peña and his team and to be selected by them as the Opening Night film for the 50th Anniversary is extremely […]

Simon and The Oaks Nominated for 13 Swedish Oscars to Open in NYC and LA on October 12

Simon and The Oaks Nominated for 13 Swedish Oscars to Open in NYC and LA on October 12

SIMON AND THE OAKS, the award winning feature film directed by Lisa Ohlin will open in New York at The Paris Theater and in Los Angles at The Landmark on October 12, 2012.  A national release will follow. Simon and The Oaks, a major commercial success in its native Sweden, has received a record 13 nominations for the 2012 Sweden’s Guldbagge Awards (the local equivalent of the Oscars), including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress and […]

Tribeca Film to Release Indie Film Resolution from 2012 Tribeca Film Fest

Tribeca Film to Release Indie Film Resolution from 2012 Tribeca Film Fest

The “genre-defying tour-de-force” film Resolution which captivated audiences and critics at its Tribeca Film Festival and Fantasia International Film Festival premieres earlier this year will finally get a release. Tribeca Films will release the directing duo Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson’s “naturalistic-yet-otherworldly thriller” with a planned early 2013 theatrical release day Moorhead and Benson brilliantly straddle the line between raw thrills and honest emotion as complex characters and powerful performances drive this ambitious, unconventional narrative […]

Spike Lee's Bad 25 and Lee Daniels' The Paperboy Among New Films Added to 2012 Toronto Film Fest

Spike Lee’s Bad 25 and Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy Among New Films Added to 2012 Toronto Film Fest

Nicole Kidman in Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy

The Toronto International Film Festival has added 3 Galas and 18 Special Presentations, including 8 World Premieres, to its 2012 slate. The Festival will close with Paul Andrew Williams’ A Song For Marion, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Terence Stamp. 

Films added include Spike Lee’s Bad 25 which celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Michael Jackson “Bad” album with unseen footage, and Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy starring Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, John Cusack, David Oyelowo and Zac Efron,

The Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 6 to 16, 2012. 

World Premieres From Edward Burns Among Films in 2012 Toronto Film Festival's Contemporary World Cinema Program

World Premieres From Edward Burns Among Films in 2012 Toronto Film Festival’s Contemporary World Cinema Program

The Contemporary World Cinema program at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival will feature the world premieres of films by directors such as Sara Johnsen, Kasia Rosłaniec, Edward Burns, Sion Sono, Robert Connolly, John Akomfrah, Saïd Ould-Khelifa, Annemarie Jacir, Jo Sung-hee and Licinio Azevedo.

The Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 6 to 16, 2012. 

Film lineup includes:

"Ricky on Leacock," "We Women Warriors," and "Holy Man" are Shining Lights at IDA's Docuweeks Fest in NYC and LA this Month

“Ricky on Leacock,” “We Women Warriors,” and “Holy Man” are Shining Lights at IDA’s Docuweeks Fest in NYC and LA this Month

by Francesca McCaffery

There are some really nice doc films at IDA’s continuing DocuWeeks Festival (in New York and Los Angeles) this week…Here were a few genuine stand-outs:

In Ricky on Leacock, director Jane Weiner shares with us nearly forty years of friendship and footage on the creator of cinéma vérité, the legendary filmmaker Richard Leacock. Ricky is one of those great artist depictions which allow the viewer to feel and create their own assumptions and thoughts about both the upbringing and family background of the subject, but this absence works wonderfully here: We witness what an elegant, generous spirit really was, and through wonderful interviews and clips from the likes of D.A. Pennebaker, Robert Drew, Ed Pincus, Jonas Mekas, Dušan Makavejev, and others, we see what an astounding influence Leacock had on certainly not only cinema and how it was conceived for the new generation, but television, TV journalism and live news.

Always searching to make the camera and sound equipment as unobtrusive and invisible as possible, one only wonders how much work the man could have created in the wholly digital age. “My life has been about cooking and making film, and it’s been wonderful,” Leacock joyfully intones at the end of the film. Who could ask for anything more, from an artist or the truly great and inspiring film about his still important legacy? A must-see doc this season- one that will really lift both your heart and soul.

The 2012 Docuweeks Festival starts in LA & Continues in NYC-Interview with brave "We Woman Warriors" Director Nicole Karsin

The 2012 Docuweeks Festival starts in LA & Continues in NYC-Interview with brave “We Woman Warriors” Director Nicole Karsin

Please don’t forget to check out the remaining two weeks of the  Docuweeks 2012, the incredible film festival of the International Documentary Association, playing at NYC’s IFC Center through August 30th. There are some great, new, Oscar-worthy documentary films playing there now, and VIMOOZ will be giving you capsule reviews throughout the festival. (Docuweeks started in Los Angeles today, August 10th, at the Laemmle Noho 7 Theater.

One wonderful documentary is We Women Warriors, which follows three native women caught in the crossfire of Colombia’s warfare who use nonviolent resistance to defend their peoples’ survival. Colombia has 102 aboriginal groups, one-third of which face extinction because of the conflict. Trapped in a protracted predicament financed by the drug trade, indigenous women are resourcefully leading and creating transformation imbued with hope. We Women Warriors bears witness to neglected human rights catastrophes and interweaves character-driven stories about female empowerment, unshakable courage, and faith in the endurance of indigenous culture.” 

Nicole Karsin, the director the doc of We Women Warriors, speaks with VIMOOZ: