Reeling 2010, the second-oldest LGBT film festival in the world, opens its 29th year on November 4th, showcasing innovative gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender films from around the world. Reeling will take place at Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema (2828 N. Clark St.), the Festival’s home base at Chicago Filmmakers (5243 N. Clark St.) and, for the first time in festival history, Instituto Cervantes (31 W. Ohio St.) and ShowPlace ICON (150 W. Roosevelt Rd.).
This Friday, November 5th, the nine-day Rendezvous with Madness Film Festival in Toronto, Canada, kicks off with a screening of Carl Bessai’s Repeaters. The film follows three rehabilitation residents as they are forced to relive the same day over and over. With over 20 programs of feature and short films, the films’ themes are diverse, ranging from the startling journey of Ron Hynes in The Man of a Thousand Songs to the inner battles of motocross legend Larry Linkogle in Mind of the Demon: The Larry Linkogle Story.
The Backcountry Film Festival makes a stop in Boise this week, November 4, 2010. Included in the lineup is Deeper from Teton Gravity Research. It won Best of Festival and features boarder Jeremy Jones in a quest for untouched terrain. Other highlights include Best Short Film Desert River from Sweetgrass Productions and Whiteback Warrior from TreeFight and Snaz Media about the decline of whitebark pines due to climate change and what’s being done to save these iconic alpine trees. Whiteback Warrior won Best Environmental Film.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday as part of a reorganization plan that would help it shed more than $4 billion in debt and hand control over to a group of hedge fund creditors.
The 22nd annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will present Academy Award winner Javier Bardem with the International Star Award at its Awards Gala. Presented by Cartier, the Awards Gala will kick off the 2011 awards season on Saturday, January 8.
IFC Films has acquired rights to “Shoah.” Directed by Claude Lanzmann, the nine-and-a-half hour documentary received almost universal critical acclaim for its look at Holocaust survivors when it premiered in 1985.
The documentary Reel Injun, by Canadian filmmaker Neil Diamond, won the Canada Award for best documentary at the first of two 2010 Gemini Awards Industry Galas.
“Box Elder,” a movie about “dudes being dudes” and highlighting Columbia college is headed to video-on-demand, which is an excellent thing for an independent film. Starting Monday, the film will be available for at least 90 days on cable and satellite Video On Demand throughout the U.S. and Canada. The number of people who view the film during its 90-day trial will determine how long it will remain available on cable and satellite Video On Demand.
Three-time Academy Award nominee Annette Bening, who has received critical acclaim this year for her performances in The Kids Are All Right and Mother and Child, will be honored with the American Riviera Award at the 2011 Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF).
“Intimate Grammar” was the big winner at the 2010 Tokyo International Film Festival. Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix was given to Intimate Grammar directed by Nir Bergman. Sarah’s Key directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner received double Awards; Award for Best Director and Audience Award, and POST CARD directed by Kaneto Shindo was awarded the Special Jury Prize! The complete list of winners include:
Select programming from the PBS Emmy® Award-winning weekly documentary series “Independent Lens” are nowl be available for purchase on iTunes. “The Parking Lot Movie,” directed by Meghan Eckman, will be the first film available from the 2010 Fall season of Independent Lens for purchase.
This probably won’t help the majority of true independent films, but The Weinstein Company announced on Monday that they are partnering with Icon UK Group to launch a new film finance and production fund to buy or produce films with budgets between $5 million and $20 million.