The 22nd Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF), which runs runs January 6-17, 2011, will present Academy Award winner Michael Douglas with the Icon Award. The Icon Award honors a creative talent who, through the course of his or her career, has created a body of work which symbolizes the highest level of achievement in the motion picture art form.
The Berlin International Film Festival in a recent press release sharply condemned the harsh sentences handed down to the renowned Iranian director Jafar Panahi and his directing colleague Mohammed Rasulof.
Massachusetts-based independent film production and marketing firm Pyrate Motion Picture Company, LLC (aka Pyrate Films) has announced plans to develop an epic feature film about the British West Indies island of Anguilla and its sensational, but little known 1967 to 1969 battle for economic, social, and political justice.
Pyrate Films was launched in 2010 following a series of meetings in Anguilla with government ministers, including the Hon. Chief Minister Hubert Hughes, and several living patriots, including Anguilla’s rebel leader and founding father, the Hon. James Ronald Webster, now 85.
Bud Greenspan, the pioneering Olympic documentary filmmaker, died Saturday night. He was 84.
The 22nd annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) announced its Galas, Premieres and Special Presentation programs. The Festival launches on Thursday, January 6 with the French farce Potiche and wraps on Sunday, January 16 with The First Grader. 193 films from 68 countries, including 59 premieres (9 world, 17 North American and 33 U.S.), will unspool at the Festival, running from January 6-17 in Palm Springs, California.
The King’s Speech, directed by Tom Hooper lead the the 2011 London Critics’ Circle Film Awards with seven nominations including lead actor Colin Firth up for both Best Actor and Best British Actor, Best Actress for Bonham Carter, Best Film and Best British Film.
The Edinburgh International Film Festival in its 65th year has hired James Mullighan to produce the ambitious transformation of next year’s Festival, the blueprint of which has been shaped by Mark Cousins, Tilda Swinton and a wider artistic team to be announced.
Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” was the top winner with four awards in the Florida Film Critics Circle’s annual honors, but “The Social Network” received Best Picture award in 2010. The film about the founding of Facebook, won three awards, including Best Director (David Fincher) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin).
Eric Escobar has been selected to receive this year’s San Francisco Film Society/Hearst Screenwriting Grant for the continuing development of his script East County. The Hearst Screenwriting Grant of $15,000 is given to a mid-career American screenwriter whose project expresses both a unique personal perspective and an artistic approach to the subject. The grant is open to those who have been practicing writers for at least five years and who have previously written a minimum of one feature screenplay. Priority is given to writers whose previous short or feature screenplays have been produced as an independent film.
The 2010 Dubai International Film Festival draw to a close over the weekend and handed out its annual Muhr Awards. This year the festival featured a line-up of 157 films from 57 countries, including 41 world premieres, 13 international premieres, 58 Middle East premieres and 32 Gulf premieres.
The 2010 Satellite Awards took place last night, Sunday, December 19, 2010, at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles and “The Social Network” continued its awards domination by taking the prizes for Best Film (Motion Picture, Drama), Best Director and Best Screenplay, Adapted. “Inception” did tie with “The Social Network” also taking home 3 awards including Best Cinematography, Best Original Score and Best Art Direction & Production Design.
The Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association voted the THE SOCIAL NETWORK as the best film of 2010; rounding out the composite list of the top 10 films of the year were THE KING’S SPEECH (2), BLACK SWAN (3), 127 HOURS (4), WINTER’S BONE (5), INCEPTION (6), THE FIGHTER (7), TRUE GRIT (8), THE TOWN (9) and THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (10).