
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival will honor Academy Award® winning actor Geoffrey Rush with the Montecito Award at the 26th edition of the Festival, which runs January 27– February 6, 2011.

Sundance Institute announced the program of short films selected to screen at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. This year the Festival’s Short Film Program comprises 81 short films from U.S. and international filmmakers selected from 6,467 submissions up 6% over 2010. The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs January 20-30 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

The 8th annual Wild Rose Independent Film Festival announced this year’s award winners last month at the Awards Ceremony at the Fleur Cinema & Café. A total of 41 films were selected from over 400 submitted to the 2010 Wild Rose, with an additional 8 films invited to screen during the non-competitive portion; the Iowa Film Showcase series running Nov 7-11.
Tonight, Tuesday, December 7th, is the 2010 edition of the Best of the Midwest Awards, honoring the achievements of local Midwestern filmmakers who participated in the Midwest Independent Film Festival this year.

Strictly word of mouth and staunchly “D.I.Y.”, the multi-city Zero Film Festival, which drew thousands of film and music lovers in New York and Miami, descends on Los Angeles December 8-11, bringing together an infectious mix of music, art and truly independent cinema.

The San Francisco Film Society and the Kenneth Rainin Foundation announced the five winners of the fourth round of SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants. The grants are given twice annually to filmmakers for narrative feature films with social justice themes that will have significant economic or professional impact on the Bay Area filmmaking community. Between 2009 and 2013 the SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants will award more than $3 million, including a total of $275,000 already awarded.

The Whistleblower, directed by Larysa Kondracki won the $15,000 Borsos Competition for Best New Canadian Feature Film at the tenth annual Whistler Film Festival. The film, which had its Western Canadian premiere at the festival and stars Academy Award-winners Rachel Weisz and Vanessa Redgrave, is based on the true story of a Nebraskan police officer who takes a job working for the United Nations as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia.

The winners of the 13th edition of The Moët British Independent Film Awards were announced at the glittering ceremony held at Old Billingsgate which was hosted by James Nesbitt.

Bollywood and Hollywood is mourning the death of 40-year-old actor-director-producer Manish Acharya who passed away in Matheran in Maharashtra, India.

Lucy Walker’s ‘Waste Land’ took the top 2010 IDA Documentary Award, ‘IDA PARE LORENTZ AWARD’ as well as the the IDA Award for Best Documentary Feature. Waste Land follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio. There, he photographs an eclectic band of catadores–self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Muniz’s initial objective was to “paint” the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with them, as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage, reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores as they begin to re-imagine their lives. Waste Land offers stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and the alchemy of the human spirit.

The African Diaspora International Film Festival kicks off its second week on Saturday, December 4. Set in New York City, the festival presents the diversity of the Black experience through a wide selection of thought provoking films and documentaries.

Peter D. Richardson’s new feature documentary, “How to Die in Oregon”, will premiere in competition at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and will have its broadcast premiere on HBO in 2011.