Oscar winning actress Catherine Zeta-Jones has quit as patron of the Swansea Bay Film Festival and her image has been removed from the festival’s website. This follows the resignation of actor Michael Sheen, who quit as vice president of the festival last month
The 13th Annual Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (MGLFF) returns to Miami-Dade County, Florida beginning April 21-May 1, 2011. The festival will feature more than 50 feature and short films from 15 countries with multiple screenings at the Colony Theater, Regal Cinemas South Beach, and Coral Gables Art Cinema.
Rentrak announced the top ten DVD sales and rentals for last week. Black Swan is still riding its Oscar buzz as it made both the DVD sales and rentals list.
The 2011 Fallbrook Film Festival had 68 films in competition; four were nominated for best of show in each category; and the following films were announced as award winners at the festival’s Gala at the Pala Casino Spa and Resort on Sunday.
Six film projects, selected from this year’s pool of 121 applicants, will receive financial and creative support from the Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) Sloan Filmmaker Fund. The projects will be awarded a total of $140,000 and will be recognized at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival (April 20- May 1, 2011).
The 11th Annual New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) which will take place from May 4 to May 8 in Manhattan, announced its complete line-up of 25 feature films.
“The Bad Penny,” a feature-length drama directed by Todd Bellanca, starring Tom Arnold and Bai Ling, received the Golden Palm Award at the 11th Annual International Beverly Hills Film Festival (BHFF) closing Gala Awards ceremony. The Audience Choice Award for Best Feature Film went to “The Chicago 8,” from writer/director Pinchas Perry, starring Danny Masterson, Gary Cole and Orlando Jones. The Jury Award for Best Feature Film went to “Polish Bar” from director Ben Berkowitz. “Polish Bar” star Judd Hirsch also won the prize for Best Actor. “Espera un Milagro,” a documentary from Spanish director Gemma Ventura also won two prizes for Best Director and Best Foreign Film.
Clay Jeter’s JESS + MOSS was announced as the winner of the $25,000 cash prize for the Target Filmmaker Award for Best Narrative Feature and Anne Buford‘s ELEVATE received the $25,000 cash prize for the Target Filmmaker Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2011 DALLAS International Film Festival. On receiving her award, Buford declared that the $25,000 would be donated back to the SEEDS ACADEMY, the one-of-a-kind boarding school in Senegal for basketball players.
, 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.
The 13th Wisconsin Film Festival wrapped five days of screening 211 movies, presenting more than 120 filmmakers and special guests at the nine downtown Madison and campus theaters that opened their doors to 35,858 audience members.
Oscar winning director Oliver Stone will receive the Founder’s Directing Award at the 54th San Francisco International Film Festival scheduled to run April 21 – May 5, 2011. The Founder’s Directing Award is presented each year to a master of world cinema and is given in memory of Irving M. Levin, visionary founder of the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1957.
The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization behind the annual Academy Awards, voted on Thursday to establish a new executive structure for the organization, replacing retiring executive director Bruce Davis with former Film Independent head Dawn Hudson and long-time Academy executive Ric Robertson, who will become the organization’s CEO and COO respectively. Robertson will report to Hudson in the new leadership tandem.