
The 4th Annual Charleston International Film Festival (CIFF), scheduled to run five days May 18-22, 2011 in South Carolina, announced its 2011 Official Selections.

The 4th Annual Charleston International Film Festival (CIFF), scheduled to run five days May 18-22, 2011 in South Carolina, announced its 2011 Official Selections.

Whole Foods Market is really serious about its foray into film. The leading retailer of natural and organic foods and AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Festival, the nation’s leading documentary festival, announce the launch of a $50,000 grant program for filmmakers working in the green film genre.

RiverRun International Film Festival has added three feature films to its Festival lineup. The films, MISS REPRESENTATION, ANOTHER EARTH and THE TREE, will be shown as part of RiverRun’s Special Screenings. With the addition of these features, RiverRun will screen a total of 121 films.

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.

The Fort Myers Film Festival held March 24-27, 2011 announced its 2011 winners in the Documentary, Features, Shorts, Short Shorts, Strictly Local, Diverse/Latin and Faith & Inspirational categories.

In a message on their website, the Method Fest Independent Film Festival in Calabasas, California, announced that they are cancelling the 2011 festival.

The 16th Palm Beach International Film Festival held March 23 – 31, 2011, announced the festival jury winners and audience picks for best feature film, best documentary and best short film. The British film, ‘The First Grader’ took the top prize for best feature film, and ‘The Rescuers’ took the top prize for best documentary film.

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.

AFI FEST, celebrating its 25th year in 2011, will take place November 3 through 10 in Hollywood, California at the historic Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, the Mann Chinese 6 Theatres at the Hollywood & Highland Center, the Egyptian Theatre of the American Cinematheque and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The American Film Market (AFM), will be held November 2 through 9.
Four 2011 Tribeca Film Festival official selections THE BANG BANG CLUB, THE BLEEDING HOUSE, LAST NIGHT and NEDS, will be released nationwide via video-on-demand under the “Tribeca Film” banner simultaneously with the start of the Festival on April 20. The “Tribeca Film” VOD category will also offer other festival circuit titles, including Dax Shepard’s BROTHER’S JUSTICE and THE HIGH COST OF LIVING, starring Zach Braff. Tribeca Film is the comprehensive distribution label from Tribeca Enterprises.

The Dallas International Film Festival scheduled for March 31 – April 10, 2011 have added two new Honorees to the slate of DALLAS Star Award recipients – writer, producer and director Scott Z. Burns (THE INFORMANT, THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM) and posthumously to Texas legend and Academy-Award winner Horton Foote (TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, TENDER MERCIES). Horton Foote and Scott Z. Burns join Ann-Margret and Steve James on the 2011 roster of DALLAS Star Award recipients