The 51st Thessaloniki International Film Festival will open on December 3rd with Danny Boyle’s “127 hours”. Boyle’s follow-up to his Oscar winning film “Slumdog Millionaire” is based on the book by Aron Ralston and tells the heroic adventures of the young climber Aron Ralston played in the film by James Franco.
Leonard Retel Helmrich’s Position Among the Stars, the film that opened the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, won both the VPRO IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary and the Dioraphte IDFA Award for Dutch Documentary. This is the first time ever at IDFA that a director has won the award for feature-length documentary twice: Retel Helmrich also won in 2004 with The Shape of the Moon.
The Dubai International Film Festival named American film icon and international social and political activist Sean Penn as its Western honoree for 2010. Penn, whose career spans nearly three decades, more than 45 films and notable successes as producer, director, actor and screenwriter, will accept the DIFF Lifetime Achievement Award at the Festival’s opening ceremony on December 12, 2010.
Winter’s Bone by Debra Granik was the big winner at the Stockholm International Film Festival Award taking the prizes for Best Film, Fipresci – The International Film Critics Prize for Best Film, and lead actress, Jennifer Lawrence, taking the best prize for Best Actress.
The 2nd Cheyenne International Film Festival (CIFF2) is scheduled for May 20 – 22, 2011 at the historic Atlas Theater in Downtown Cheyenne, Wyoming.
In the wake of the moderate success of fashion films “Valentino The Last Emperor” and “The September Issue,” IFC Films announced that the company is acquiring the U.S. rights to Pierre Thorentton’s French documentary “Yves Saint Laurent: L’Amour Fou.”
Rapper Ja Rule will reportedly be starring in faith-based movie called “I’m in Love with a Church Girl,” alongside Stephen Baldwin and Adrienne Bailon.
The Artivist Collective will announce the Artivist Award winners at the 7th Annual Artivist Film Festival. These awards honor those artists whose exemplary work in their community stands out as a shining example of one’s ability to change the world for the better. Actor Peter Fonda will accept the Artivist Award for Lifetime Achievement in Arts and Advocacy, Barbara Pyle will receive the award for Environmental Humanitarianism, and Avis Richards will receive the award for Community Advocate.
The 47th Golden Horse Awards, Chinese Oscars, were recently presented in Taipei. When Love Comes by Chang Tso-chi, a drama centered on a teenage daughter in a dysfunctional family, was the big winner taking home awards for Best Picture, Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction.
International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2010 will present a feast of 18 films in the International Competition Section. Previously restricted to feature films from Asia, Asia Pacific, Africa and Latin America, this year the International Competition Section has been made open to all feature films from across the world. 18 films (15 foreign and 3 Indian) feature films have been short listed for in this Section.
Giorgos Lanthimos’ film Kynodontas (Dogtooth) took the top prize, KINGFISHER Award, at the 21st Ljubljana International Film Festival (LIFFe) held in the Slovenian capital, November 10 – 21.
The first annual Snow Film Fest NYC (SFFNYC) held November 19th and 20th in New York City announced the winners: