This Friday, November 5th, the nine-day Rendezvous with Madness Film Festival in Toronto, Canada, kicks off with a screening of Carl Bessai’s Repeaters. The film follows three rehabilitation residents as they are forced to relive the same day over and over. With over 20 programs of feature and short films, the films’ themes are diverse, ranging from the startling journey of Ron Hynes in The Man of a Thousand Songs to the inner battles of […]
The Backcountry Film Festival makes a stop in Boise this week, November 4, 2010. Included in the lineup is Deeper from Teton Gravity Research. It won Best of Festival and features boarder Jeremy Jones in a quest for untouched terrain. Other highlights include Best Short Film Desert River from Sweetgrass Productions and Whiteback Warrior from TreeFight and Snaz Media about the decline of whitebark pines due to climate change and what’s being done to save […]
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday as part of a reorganization plan that would help it shed more than $4 billion in debt and hand control over to a group of hedge fund creditors. Read more in the NY Times
The 22nd annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will present Academy Award winner Javier Bardem with the International Star Award at its Awards Gala. Presented by Cartier, the Awards Gala will kick off the 2011 awards season on Saturday, January 8. The International Star Award recognizes an actor or actress who has both critically and commercially made the successful cross over from foreign-language films to mainstream international recognition. Bardem will join previously announced honorees […]
IFC Films has acquired rights to “Shoah.” Directed by Claude Lanzmann, the nine-and-a-half hour documentary received almost universal critical acclaim for its look at Holocaust survivors when it premiered in 1985. For the film’s 25th Anniversary, IFC plans to rerelease “Shoah” in New York City on Dec.10 at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, and on Dec. 24 at IFC Center. A national rollout will follow in 2011. Twelve years in the making, “Shoah” features interviews with survivors, […]
The documentary Reel Injun, by Canadian filmmaker Neil Diamond, won the Canada Award for best documentary at the first of two 2010 Gemini Awards Industry Galas. Diamond’s documentary “Reel Injun,” an examination of Hollywood’s treatment of Native Americans through the years, also airs as a PBS “Independent Lens” selection. In it, he draws on many of the films from Hollywood antiquity he watched while coming of age in “Reel Injun” basically covers a century of […]
“Box Elder,” a movie about “dudes being dudes” and highlighting Columbia college is headed to video-on-demand, which is an excellent thing for an independent film. Starting Monday, the film will be available for at least 90 days on cable and satellite Video On Demand throughout the U.S. and Canada. The number of people who view the film during its 90-day trial will determine how long it will remain available on cable and satellite Video On […]
Three-time Academy Award nominee Annette Bening, who has received critical acclaim this year for her performances in The Kids Are All Right and Mother and Child, will be honored with the American Riviera Award at the 2011 Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF). I fell in love with Annette Bening the moment I saw her on Broadway in Coastal Disturbances in 1987, commented SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling. “It was one of those ‘a star […]
“Intimate Grammar” was the big winner at the 2010 Tokyo International Film Festival. Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix was given to Intimate Grammar directed by Nir Bergman. Sarah’s Key directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner received double Awards; Award for Best Director and Audience Award, and POST CARD directed by Kaneto Shindo was awarded the Special Jury Prize! The complete list of winners include:
Select programming from the PBS Emmy® Award-winning weekly documentary series “Independent Lens” are nowl be available for purchase on iTunes. “The Parking Lot Movie,” directed by Meghan Eckman, will be the first film available from the 2010 Fall season of Independent Lens for purchase. Droll and quirky, “The Parking Lot Movie” — a brainy Slacker for the post-new millennium — follows a unique rite of passage as a select group of over-educated attendants use their […]
This probably won’t help the majority of true independent films, but The Weinstein Company announced on Monday that they are partnering with Icon UK Group to launch a new film finance and production fund to buy or produce films with budgets between $5 million and $20 million. The Weinstein Co., run by brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein, will handle U.S. distribution, while Icon UK will handle distribution in Britain. Other territories would be split between […]
The nominations and jury members for the thirteenth annual Moët British Independent Film Awards were announced today, Monday 1st November at St Martins Lane, London by Jared Harris. Joint Directors, The Moët British Independent Film Awards Johanna von Fischer & Tessa Collinson said: “This year’s nominations truly reflect the scope of independent filmmaking in the UK and regardless of budget each category showcases the wealth and variety of talent committed to making quality British films.” […]