• Directors Guild of America Announces 5 Nominees for 2011 DGA Award

    [caption id="attachment_2174" align="alignnone"]MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS – The Artist-[/caption]

    The Directors Guild of America announced the five nominees for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2011.

    “The directors nominated this year for the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film Award have each demonstrated an inspired command of the medium.  The fact that their prodigious talents have been recognized by their peers is the highest honor a director can achieve,” said DGA President Taylor Hackford.  “I offer my most sincere congratulations to each of the nominees.”

    The winner will be named at the 64th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 28, 2012, at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood and Highland.

    The nominees are (in alphabetical order):

    WOODY ALLEN

    Midnight in Paris
    (Sony Pictures Classics)
    Mr. Allen’s Directorial Team:

    Unit Production Managers:  Matthieu Rubin, Helen Robin
    First Assistant Director:  Gil Kenny
    Second Assistant Director:  Delphine Bertrand

    This is Mr. Allen’s fifth DGA Feature Film Award nomination.  He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for Annie Hall (1977), and was previously nominated in that category for Manhattan (1979), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989).  Mr. Allen was honored with the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996.

    DAVID FINCHER

    The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
    (Columbia Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures)

    Mr. Fincher’s Directorial Team:

    Unit Production Manager:  Daniel M. Stillman
    First Assistant Director:  Bob Wagner
    Second Assistant Director:  Allen Kupetsky
    Production Manager (Sweden Unit): Karolina Heimburg
    Second Assistant Directors (Sweden Unit): Hanna Nilsson, Pontus Klänge
    2nd Second Assistant Director (Sweden Unit): Niklas Sjöström
    2nd Second Assistant Director (U.S. Unit):  Maileen Williams
    Unit Production Manager (Zurich Unit): Christos Dervenis
    Unit Production Manager (U.K. Unit): Lara Baldwin
    Second Assistant Director (U.K. Unit): Paul Taylor

    This is Mr. Fincher’s third DGA Feature Film Award nomination.  He was previously nominated in this category last year for The Social Network and for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in 2008.  He previously won the DGA Commercial Award for Speed Chain (Nike), Gamebreakers (Nikegridiron.com), and Beauty for Sale (Xelibri Phones) in 2003 and was nominated in that category again in 2008.

    MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS

    The Artist
    (The Weinstein Company)

    Mr. Hazanavicius’ Directorial Team:

    Unit Production Manager:  Antoine De Cazotte
    Production Manager (FR): Ségoléne Fleury
    First Assistant Director (FR): James Canal
    First Assistant Director (US):  David Cluck
    Second Assistant Director:  Dave Paige
    Second Second Assistant Directors: Karla Strum, Ricky Robinson 

    This is Mr. Hazanavicius’ first DGA Feature Film Award nomination.

    ALEXANDER PAYNE

    The Descendants
    (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

    Mr. Payne’s Directorial Team:

    Unit Production Manager:  George Parra
    First Assistant Director:  Richard L. Fox
    Second Assistant Director:  Scott August
    Second Second Assistant Director:  Amy Wilkins Bronson

    This is Mr. Payne’s second DGA Feature Film Award nomination.  He was previously nominated in that category for Sideways in 2004.

    MARTIN SCORSESE

    Hugo
    (Paramount Pictures)

    Mr. Scorsese’s Directorial Team:

    Unit Production Managers:  Charles Newirth, Georgia Kacandes, Angus More Gordon
    First Assistant Director:  Chris Surgent
    Second Assistant Director:  Richard Graysmark
    Second Assistant Directors:  Tom Brewster, Fraser Fennell-Ball
    Production Managers (Paris Unit): Michael Sharp, Gilles Castera
    First Assistant Director (Paris Unit): Ali Cherkaoui

    This is Mr. Scorsese’s ninth DGA Award nomination.  He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film in 2006 for The Departed, and was previously nominated in that category for Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), The Age of Innocence (1993), Gangs of New York (2002), and The Aviator (2004). Mr. Scorsese also won the DGA Award last year for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Television for Boardwalk Empire.  In 1999, Mr. Scorsese was presented with the Filmmaker Award at the inaugural DGA Honors Gala, and he was honored with the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.

    The DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film has traditionally been one of the industry’s most accurate barometers for who will win the Best Director Academy Award.

    Only six times since the DGA Awards began in 1948 has the Feature Film winner not gone on to win the corresponding Academy Award.

    The six exceptions are as follows:

    1968: Anthony Harvey won the DGA Award for The Lion in Winter while Carol Reed took home the Oscar® for Oliver!
    1972: Francis Ford Coppola received the DGA’s nod for The Godfather while the Academy selected Bob Fosse for Cabaret.
    1985: Steven Spielberg received his first DGA Award for The Color Purple while the Oscar® went to Sydney Pollack for Out of Africa.
    1995: Ron Howard was chosen by the DGA for his direction of Apollo 13 while Academy voters selected Mel Gibson for Braveheart.
    2000: Ang Lee won the DGA Award for his direction of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon while Steven Soderbergh won the Academy Award for Traffic.
    2002: Rob Marshall won the DGA Award for Chicago while Roman Polanski received the Academy Award for The Pianist.

     

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  • SFFS Announces Call for Applications for Spring 2012 KRF Filmmaking Grants

    [caption id="attachment_48" align="alignnone"]The interior of the San Francisco Film Society | New People Cinema[/caption]

    The San Francisco Film Society and the Kenneth Rainin Foundation announce the January 10 opening of the application period for the Spring 2012 SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants. The grants are given twice a year to filmmakers for narrative feature films that through plot, character, theme or setting significantly explore human and civil rights, discrimination, gender and sexual identity and other urgent social justice issues of our time. The grants also support films that have a significant economic or professional impact on the Bay Area filmmaking community. Between 2009 and 2013 the SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants will award nearly $2.5 million, including more than $1 million awarded in the first six grant rounds. The letter of inquiry period for the seventh round of SFFS/KRF Filmmaking grants — totaling up to $300,000 for screenwriting, development, preproduction, production and postproduction — opens January 10; the early deadline is February 1 and the late deadline is February 8.

    Winners of the Spring 2012 SFFS/KRF Filmmaking grants will be announced in early April. 

    For additional information, including guidelines and application, visit sffs.org/Filmmaker-Services/Grants.

    SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants are made possible by the vision and generosity of the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. The grants support work by local filmmakers as well as attract projects of the highest quality to the Bay Area, providing tangible encouragement and support to meaningful projects and benefiting the local economy. In addition to a cash grant, recipients will receive various benefits through the Film Society’s comprehensive and dynamic filmmaker services programs.

    Five filmmaking teams working in various stages of production were awarded funds in the most recent round of SFFS/KRF grants:

    Lance Edmands, Kyle Martin: Bluebird
    $97,000 for production
    In the frozen woods of an isolated Maine logging town, one woman’s tragic mistake shatters the community balance, resulting in profound and unexpected consequences.

    Eric Escobar: One Good Thing
    $15,000 for screenwriting
    A jaded and bitter locksmith spends his days locking families out of their foreclosed homes. When a morning lockout turns up the abandoned child of a long-lost friend, his cynicism is put in check as he races to find the missing parents. For more information visit kontentfilms.com.

    Ian Hendrie, Jyson McLean: Mercy Road
    $35,000 for screenwriting
    Based on true events, Mercy Road traces the political and spiritual odyssey of a small-town Christian housewife as she slowly turns from a peaceful pro-life activist to an underground militant willing to commit violence and murder in the name of God.

    Chris Mason Johnson: Test
    $60,000 for production
    The year is 1985. The youngest, skinniest and most mocked member of San Francisco’s new contemporary ballet company begins a friendship with a brilliant dancer with a bad boy reputation in the same troupe. As lurid headlines threaten a gay quarantine, the two friends navigate a world full of risk that is also full of promise. For more information visit thenewtwentymovie.com.

    Oden Roberts, Azura Skye: Rosie Got Her Gun
    $100,000 for production
    Following a series of arrests, a troubled young woman struggling to avoid prison time is visited by an opportunistic Army recruiter. For more information visit odenroberts.com.

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  • Jennifer Lawrence to JoinAcademy President Tom Sherak to Announce Oscar® Nominations

     

    [caption id="attachment_2171" align="alignnone"]Jennifer Lawrence[/caption]

    Oscar-nominated actress Jennifer Lawrence will join Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak to announce the nominations for the 84th Academy Awards® on Tuesday, January 24.

    Sherak and Lawrence will unveil the nominations in 10 of the 24 categories at a 5:30 a.m. PT news conference at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, where hundreds of media representatives from around the world will be gathered. Nominations information for all categories will be distributed simultaneously to news media in attendance and via the Internet on the official Academy Awards website, www.oscar.com.

    Last year, for the 83rd Academy Awards, Lawrence received a nomination for her lead performance in “Winter’s Bone.” She will be seen next in “The Hunger Games” and recently completed work on “The Silver Linings Playbook.” Lawrence’s other film credits include “The Burning Plain,” “Like Crazy,” “The Beaver” and “X-Men: First Class.”

    Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

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  • 7 Films Remain in Competition in Makeup Category for 84th Academy Awards

    [caption id="attachment_2169" align="alignnone"]Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life[/caption]

    The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the name of the seven films that remain in competition in the Makeup category for the 84th Academy Awards®.

    The films are listed below in alphabetical order:

    “Albert Nobbs”
    “Anonymous”
    “The Artist”
    “Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life”
    “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”
    “Hugo”
    “The Iron Lady”

    On Saturday, January 21, all members of the Academy’s Makeup Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films. Following the screenings, members will vote to nominate three films for final Oscar consideration.

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

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  • Melancholia Voted Best Film of the Year by National Society of Film Critics

    [caption id="attachment_2167" align="alignnone"]Melancholia [/caption]

    “Melancholia”  was chosen as Best Picture of the Year 2011 by the National Society of Film Critics. Kristin Dunst was named best actress for her performance in Lars von Trier’s film, and Brad Pitt was named best actor for his work in “Moneyball” and “The Tree of Life.” Albert Brooks won best supporting actor for his appearance in “Drive,” and Jessica Chastain was named best supporting actress for her work in three films: “The Tree of Life,” “Take Shelter” and “The Help.”

    See below for all votes in Best Picture and other categories for outstanding film achievement.

    The Society, which is made up of 58 of the country’s most prominent movie critics, held its 46th annual awards voting meeting at Sardi’s Restaurant in New York City, using a weighted ballot system. Scrolls will be sent to the winners.

    BEST ACTOR
    *1. Brad Pitt – 35 (Moneyball, The Tree of Life)
    2. Gary Oldman – 22 (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
    3. Jean Dujardin – 19 (The Artist)

    BEST ACTRESS
    *1. Kirsten Dunst – 39 (Melancholia)
    2. Yun Jung-hee – 25 (Poetry)
    3. Meryl Streep – 20 (The Iron Lady)

    BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
    *1. Albert Brooks – 38 (Drive)
    2. Christopher Plummer – 24 (Beginners)
    3. Patton Oswalt – 19 (Young Adult)

    BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
    *1. Jessica Chastain – 30 (The Tree of Life, Take Shelter, The Help)
    2. Jeannie Berlin – 19 (Margaret)
    3. Shailene Woodley – 17 (The Descendants)

    BEST PICTURE
    *1. Melancholia – 29 (Lars von Trier)
    2. The Tree of Life – 28 (Terrence Malick)
    3. A Separation – 20 (Asghar Farhadi)

    BEST DIRECTOR
    *1. Terrence Malick – 31 (The Tree of Life)
    2. Martin Scorsese – 29 (Hugo)
    3. Lars von Trier – 23 (Melancholia)

    BEST NONFICTION
    *1. Cave of Forgotten Dreams – 35 (Werner Herzog)
    2. The Interrupters – 26 (Steve James)
    3. Into the Abyss – 18 (Werner Herzog)

    BEST SCREENPLAY
    *1. A Separation – 39 (Asghar Farhadi)
    2. Moneyball – 22 (Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin)
    3. Midnight in Paris – 16 (Woody Allen)

    BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
    *1. A Separation – 67 (Asghar Farhadi)
    2. Mysteries of Lisbon – 28 (Raoul Ruiz)
    3. Le Havre – 22 (Aki Kaurismäki)

    BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
    *1. The Tree of Life – 76 (Emanuel Lubezki)
    2. Melancholia – 41 (Manuel Alberto Claro)
    3. Hugo – 33 (Robert Richardson)

    EXPERIMENTAL
    Ken Jacobs, for “Seeking the Monkey King.”

    FILM HERITAGE
    1. BAMcinématek for its complete Vincente Minnelli retrospective with all titles shown on 16 mm. or 35 mm. film.
    2. Lobster Films, Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema and the Technicolor Foundation for Cinema for the restoration of the color version of George Méliès’s “A Trip to the Moon.”
    3. New York’s Museum of Modern Art for its extensive retrospective of Weimar Cinema.
    4. Flicker Alley for their box set “Landmarks of Early Soviet Film.”
    5. Criterion Collecton for its 2-disc DVD package “The Complete Jean Vigo.”

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  • Special Flight Among Lineup for 9th Human Rights Watch Film Festival in Toronto

    [caption id="attachment_2165" align="alignnone"]Special Flight[/caption]

    The 9th Human Rights Watch Film Festival opens on February 29, 2012 in Toronto Canada at TIFF Bell Lightbox with Fernand Melgar’s documentary Special Flight, a portrait of the legal limbo that faces thousands of detainees in Switzerland’s Frambois detention centre as refugees anxiously await confirmation of their requests for asylum. The festival is a co-presentation between TIFF and Human Rights Watch, and will run until March 9.

    Festival highlights include Jon Shenk’s The Island President (2011), winner of the Cadillac People’s Choice Documentary Award at the Toronto International Film Festival 2011, which follows Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed as he tries to save his country from being inundated by rising sea levels – the result of global warming; Pamela Yates’ Granito: How to Nail a Dictator (2011), a haunting tale of genocide and delayed justice that spans four decades, two films, and director Yates’ own career; Mimi Chakarova’s The Price of Sex (2011), a startling exposé of sex trafficking in Europe and the Middle East; and Sundance and Emmy Award-winning director Lee Hirsch’s The Bully Project (2011), which acts as a catalyst for change by confronting the prejudices which spark bullying and giving voice to those who work tirelessly to protect the vulnerable.

    “The lineup of timely films in this festival inform and remind audiences of human rights issues being faced around the world,” said Helga Stephenson, chairperson of the festival. “The themes that emerge this year – the plight of refugees, the trafficking of young women, bullying among teens – are extremely relevant. We hope the films will provide a springboard for discussion and increase awareness of human rights issues – both locally and globally.”

    The full line-up of films follows.


    Special Flight (Vol spécial)   Dir: Fernand Melgar

    Wednesday, February 29 at 8pm  *OPENING NIGHT*

    In Switzerland’s Frambois detention centre, refugees anxiously await confirmation of their requests for asylum while living in fear of the “special flights” that face those who are rejected, returning them to their countries of origin and crushing their dreams of a new life. Fernand Melgar’s film is a deeply affecting portrait of the legal limbo that faces thousands of detainees every year. Melgar evocatively captures the atmosphere of agonizing tedium and sudden, shocking rupture that characterizes these institutions: deportation notices arrive swiftly, with no option for appeal, and the physical removals from the centre are even more harrowing as the wardens often develop deep connections with the detainees.


    Habibi   Dir: Susan Youssef

    Thursday, March 1 at 8pm

    While shooting her documentary Forbidden to Wander, Susan Youssef travelled the Gaza Strip and observed how restricted access impeded development and stability, deepened poverty and radicalized the political conflict, with the resulting violence and despair permeating communities and individual psyches alike. This experience informed the making of Habibi, a tragic romance about Layla (Maisa Abd Elhadi) and Qays (Kais Nashef), university students whose blossoming passion is interrupted when they are forced to
    return home to their families, their student visas having been revoked during the latest wave of restrictions. The young lovers find themselves trapped between the physical barriers of political oppression and the restrictive, patriarchal ideology of the oppressed.


    The Bully Project   Dir: Lee Hirsch

    Friday, March 2 at 8pm

    News stories across North America attest to the destructive impact of bullying, as dozens of teens every year commit suicide following histories of emotional and physical violence from their peers that went unchecked and unchanged. Sundance and Emmy-award winning director Lee Hirsch spent a year documenting the lives of tormented teens and their families, exposing shocking scenes of verbal and physical abuse and vividly depicting bureaucratic indifference or impotence, parents who are powerless to help, and innocent kids on the cusp of adulthood who desperately cling to the slim hope that “things will get better.” The Bully Project acts as a catalyst for change by confronting the prejudices which spark bullying and giving voice to those who work tirelessly to protect the vulnerable.


    Color of the Ocean (Die Farbe des Ozeans)   Dir: Maggie Peren

    Saturday, March 3 at 8pm

    Located off the coast of northwest Africa, the Canary Islands are both a tourist paradise and a purgatory for refugees. Border guard José (Alex González) is cynical about his work, but his weary attitude is put to the test when he encounters Nathalie (Sabine Timoteo), a German tourist assisting a boatload of refugees she discovered landing on the coast. When one of the refugees, a Congolese man named Zola (Hubert Koundé), is placed in an internment camp with his son, Nathalie determines to help them escape – but the two soon find themselves in yet another precarious situation, in which they are dependent on nefarious smugglers.


    Burma Soldier   Dirs: Nic Dunlop, Annie Sundberg & Ricki Stern

    Sunday, March 4 at 8pm

    Myo Myint’s decision to enlist in the Burmese army at the age of seventeen was not motivated by ideology, but simply because it was the only path to employment, respect and security. In this capacity he supported the brutal military junta that dominated the nation for nearly half a century until he lost a limb to a mortar explosion, and emerged from this trauma as an activist determined to bring democracy to his country. Speaking from the Umpeim Mai refugee camp in northern Thailand as he awaits refugee status, Myint gives a sobering record of his experiences and his suffering at the hands of the military regime he once served, including over a decade in solitary confinement for voicing his disapproval of the junta. Myint’s story, illustrated by archival footage smuggled out of Burma, is a vivid account of an individual’s sacrifice to help change the lives of millions.


    This Is My Land… Hebron   Dirs: Giulia Amati & Stephen Natanson

    Monday, March 5 at 8pm

    The largest city in the occupied West Bank and the site of one of the first Israeli settlements there, Hebron is populated by 160,000 Palestinians and 600 Israeli settlers who require a garrison of 2,000 Israeli soldiers for protection. For these unwilling neighbours, conflict has become a way of life, and directors Giulia Amati and Stephen Natanson capture this charged situation through the multiple, interweaving narratives of residents and observers. Featuring interviews with ordinary Israelis and Palestinians living in the city, activists on both sides, prominent Ha’aretz journalists and members of the Israeli parliament, This Is My Land… Hebron is a vivid portrait of a chasm between cultures.


    The Price of Sex   Dir: Mimi Chakarova

    Tuesday, March 6 at 8pm

    Award-winning photojournalist Mimi Chakarova delves into the world of international sex trafficking in this startling exposé, revealing the cruel conditions that have forced thousands of women into a life defined by fear, shame and violence. With brutal honesty and courageous perseverance, these young women relate how they were bought, sold, and taken far from home to toil in brothels across Eastern and Western Europe and the Middle East. The culmination of an eight-year investigative journalism project that took Chakarova through Moldova, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece and Dubai, The Price of Sex boldly brings this ever more pressing issue into stark relief, and was awarded Human Rights Watch International’s 2011 Nestor Almendros Award for Courage in Filmmaking.


    Granito: How to Nail a Dictator   Dir: Pamela Yates

    Thursday, March 8 at 8pm

    Part political thriller, part memoir, Granito takes us through a haunting tale of genocide and delayed justice that spans four decades, two films, and director Pamela Yates’ own career. While filming in Guatemala, then under the harsh military dictatorship of General Efraín Ríos Montt, to make her 1982 documentary When the Mountains Tremble, Yates managed to capture the only known footage of the Guatemalan army as it carried out its genocidal campaign against the indigenous Mayan population. Twenty-five years later, this footage becomes evidence in an international war crimes case against the very army commander who permitted Yates to film. Conducting new interviews with activists, witnesses and forensic experts, Yates herself joins this disparate movement of truth-seekers, each of them contributing their own granito, or grain of sand, to the reconstruction of collective memory and the pursuit of justice.


    The Island President    Dir: Jon Shenk

    Friday, March 9 at 8pm  *CLOSING NIGHT*

    Cadillac People’s Choice Documentary Award, Toronto International Film Festival 2011

    Mohamed Nasheed spent two decades leading a pro-democracy movement against a cruel dictatorship in the Maldives, suffering imprisonments and torture until groundswell support elected him president at age 41. Suddenly he found himself facing a new crisis: the possible extinction of his own country. If ocean levels continue to rise at their current rate, over a thousand coral islands of the Maldives will be submerged like a modern Atlantis. Obtaining remarkable access to Nasheed during his first year in office, director Jon Shenk offers both an inspiring personal story and an insider’s look at the dirty business of political deal-making during the 2009 climate change summit at Copenhagen. Featuring stunning cinematography and a haunting score by Radiohead, The Island President is one of the year’s most essential documentaries.

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  • Tropfest NY Film Festival is Looking For Short Films

    [caption id="attachment_2163" align="alignnone"]Manhattan’s Bryant Park[/caption]

    Tropfest, which describes itself as the world’s largest short film festival, announced it is calling for entries for Tropfest New York, which will take place at Manhattan’s Bryant Park on June 23rd.  Filmmakers will have the opportunity to see their short film screened in front of a massive live and online audience, and judged by an industry and celebrity panel for a chance to win $20,000 cash and other prizes.

    Founded 20 years ago in Sydney, Australia, Tropfest is supported by some of the biggest stars in the international film community, Tropfest New York Ambassadors include: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Anthony Lapaglia, Liev Schreiber, Geoffrey Rush and Charles Randolph.

    Dozens of successful directors, writers, actors and others got their start at Tropfest.  Festival alumni include: Sam Worthington (Avatar, Last Night); Joel Edgerton (The Great Gatsby, Warrior, Animal Kingdom); Alister Grierson (director of the James Cameron-produced Sanctum); and Tony Rogers, whose Tropfest short, Wilfred, was the origin of the popular U.S. TV series of the same name starring Elijah Wood.

    There are a few simple guidelines Tropfest entrants must follow: all short films must be produced specifically for the event and have their premiere at Tropfest New York; films cannot exceed seven minutes, including titles and credits; and each film must contain the Tropfest Signature Item (TSI), which changes each year.  For the inaugural Tropfest New York, the chosen TSI is a staple of New York culinary culture, the “Bagel”.  In Tropfest tradition, filmmakers can include the “Bagel” in their films in any manner they choose.

    The Tropfest New York main event will be open to the public, free of charge. It will take place on Saturday June 23, 2012 at New York City’s Bryant Park, located in midtown on Sixth Avenue between West 40th and West 42nd Street.  An industry and celebrity panel will judge the selected finalists live, under the stars. During the final awards ceremony, the panel will announce the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners as well as awards for Best Actor and Best Actress and a People’s Choice award. Previous Tropfest judges have included some of the biggest names in the international film community

    In addition to the short film competition that serves as the centerpiece for the 3 day-long event, other ticketed festivities will include musical performances and a filmmaker symposium.

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  • Russian hit film Hipsters Coming to New York

    The hit Russian film, Hipsters, (Stilyagi) directed by Valery Todorovsky will open at Cinema Village in New York on February 24, 2012. Hipsters won four Nikas (Russian Oscar) for best film, production design, costumes and sound. The film has played in numerous North American film festivals including Toronto, Seattle, Chicago-winning Best Art Direction, and Washington D.C.


    Hipsters is a lavish, candy-colored musical set in Cold War Russia circa 1955. It tells the story of a communist party youth, Mels (named after Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin), whose life is changed when he encounters Moscow’s vibrant underground, American influenced jazz scene and the non-conformist kids, Hipsters, who inhabit it.

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  • IFFR announces Spectrum 2012 line-up

    SMALL ROADS, James Bennin

    In its main section Spectrum, the International Film Festival Rotterdam screens films by experienced directors and maestros of artistic and experimental cinema. In total, Spectrum is made up of seventy-two features and documentaries from thirty-two countries, among which eight films supported by IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund. The full Spectrum title list is available here.

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  • Trailer for 84th Academy Awards starring host Billy Crystal and Megan Fox

    The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has partnered with Funny Or Die to produce a trailer for the 84th Academy Awards. The trailer features host Billy Crystal and celebrity cameo appearances by Robin Williams, Josh Duhamel, Megan Fox, William Fichtner and Vinnie Jones.

    “We wanted to try something a little bit different this year instead of a traditional, clip-based piece,” said Academy Chief Marketing Officer Christina Kounelias. “The trailer has a fun twist that conveys how excited everyone is to have Billy back.”

    Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012.

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  • Independent Lens to Premiere 3 New Documentaries on PBS for Black History Month

    [caption id="attachment_2155" align="alignnone"]Daisy Bates – First Lady of Little Rock[/caption]

    “Independent Lens” will celebrate Black History Month, February 2012, on public television with premieres of three new documentaries.

    “Independent Lens’s” Black History Month program kicks off on February 2, 2012 with the premiere of “Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock,” the story of a seven-year journey by filmmaker Sharon La Cruise to get to know the mostly-forgotten civil rights activist Daisy Bates. Beautiful, glamorous, and articulate, Bates was fearless in her quest for justice, stepping into the spotlight to bring national attention to issues — and some say to herself. Unconventional and egotistical, she became a household name in 1957 when she fought for the right of nine black students to attend the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Her public campaign culminated in a constitutional crisis — pitting a president against a governor and a community against itself.


    [caption id="attachment_2156" align="alignnone"]The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975[/caption]
    Fresh from a successful theatrical run, on February 9, 2012 “Independent Lens” presents Goeran Hugo Olsson’s “The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975.” In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Swedish television journalists came to America to document the burgeoning black power movement. This fascinating film weaves this long-lost trove of film into an irresistible mosaic chronicling the movement’s evolution: footage shot on the streets of Harlem, Brooklyn, and Oakland; interviews with Black Power leaders including Stokely Carmichael, Angela Davis, and Eldridge Cleaver; and contemporary audio interviews with leading African American artists, activists, musicians, and scholars. The film provides a fascinating look at the people, society, culture, and style that fuelled an era of convulsive change.

    [caption id="attachment_2157" align="alignnone"]More Than a Month[/caption]

    Finally, on February 16, 2012, “More Than a Month” follows African American filmmaker Shukree Hassan Tilghman on a cross-country campaign to end Black History Month. Humorous and thought provoking, “More Than a Month” combines cinema verite, man-on-the-street interviews, and inspired dramatizations to explore what the treatment of history tells us about race and power in “post-racial” America. What does it mean that we have a Black History Month? What would it mean if we didn’t?

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  • The Artist and Starbuck Among Vancouver Film Critics Circle nominations

    [caption id="attachment_2153" align="alignnone"]Starbuck[/caption]

    The Artist topped the Vancouver Film Critics Circle nominations, receiving nods for best picture, best actor, best director and best screenplay.

    The Vancouver Film Critics Circle which highlights Canadian films, nominated Café de flore, Small Town Murder Songs and Starbuck for best Canadian film, and Daydream Nation, People of a Feather and Sisters& Brothers for best British Columbia film.

    The nominees for the 2012 Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards:

    BEST CANADIAN FILM

    Café de flore

    Small Town Murder Songs

    Starbuck

    BEST ACTOR IN A CANADIAN FILM

    Mohamed Fellag, Monsieur Lazhar

    Patrick Huard, Starbuck

    Peter Stormare, Small Town Murder Songs

    BEST ACTRESS IN A CANADIAN FILM

    Keira Knightley, A Dangerous Method

    Vanessa Paradis, Café de flore

    Ingrid Veninger, i am a good person/i am a bad person

    Rachel Weisz, The Whistleblower

    Michelle Williams, Take This Waltz

    BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A CANADIAN FILM

    Vincent Cassel, A Dangerous Method

    Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method

    Seth Rogen, Take This Waltz

    BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A CANADIAN FILM

    Hélène Florent, Café de flore

    Jill Hennessy, Small Town Murder Songs

    Hallie Switzer, I am a good person/I am a bad person

    BEST DIRECTOR OF A CANADIAN FILM

    David Cronenberg, A Dangerous Method

    Ed Gass-Donnelly, Small Town Murder Songs

    Ken Scott, Starbuck

    Jean-Marc Vallée, Café de flore

    BEST BRITISH COLUMBIA FILM

    Daydream Nation

    People of a Feather

    Sisters&Brothers

    BEST FILM

    The Artist

    The Descendants

    The Tree of Life

    BEST ACTOR

    Michael Fassbender, Shame

    Jean Dujardin, The Artist

    Michael Shannon, Take Shelter

    BEST ACTRESS

    Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene

    Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

    Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

    BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

    Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn

    Albert Brooks, Drive

    Christopher Plummer, Beginners

    BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

    Jessica Chastain, The Help, Take Shelter, The Tree of Life

    Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids

    Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

    BEST DIRECTOR

    Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

    Terence Malick, The Tree of Life

    Martin Scorsese, Hugo

    BEST DOCUMENTARY

    Cave of Forgotten Dreams

    The Interrupters

    Nostalgia for the Light

    Project Nim

    Surviving Progress

    BEST SCREENPLAY

    Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

    Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

    Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, The Descendants

    Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Moneyball

    BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

    A Separation

    Poetry

    The Kid with a Bike

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