“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.
The nominations and jury members for the thirteenth annual Moët British Independent Film Awards were announced today, Monday 1st November at St Martins Lane, London by Jared Harris.
The opening ceremony of the Rome Film Festival was marred by a protest over the Italian government’s drastic cuts to funds for cultural events, with some 800 people storming the red carpet. Keira Knightley and Eva Mendes, whose film “Last Night,” opened the festival, were whisked into the theater alongside the rest of the film’s cast, surrounded by bodyguards.
The 13th annual Savannah Film Festival, hosted by SCAD, presented Miles Teller with the “Discovery Award” on October 31.
George Hickenlooper, director of Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, Dogtown, Mayor of Sunset Strip and Factory Girl, died suddenly in Denver on Saturday at the age of 47. Hickenlooper was in Denver to promote his latest film, Casino Jack, at the Starz Denver Film Festival. The 33rd Starz Denver Film Festival will be devoted to director George Hickenlooper, the Denver Film Society announced Saturday night.
Screenwriter Will Rokos, who earned an Academy Award nomination for “Monster’s Ball” was in critical but stable condition after he was clipped in the head by a train while leaning over a subway platform in New York City. The NY Post reports, that cops said Rokos was waiting for a train Saturday afternoon when he leaned over to peer down the tunnel.
The 4th Annual Other Israel Film Festival will take place from November 11th – November 21st. Since its establishment, The Other Israel Film Festival showcases the diversity of Israeli life with award-winning films and open discussions on the margins of Israeli society that is rarely seen by the mainstream, let alone presented to American audiences. Among those are the country’s Arab population (Christian, Muslim, Bedouin and Druze) that makes up 20% of Israel’s population, as well as migrant workers, immigrants and more.
The 2010 jury, consisting of Carl Zimmer, Valerie Weiss and Randy Olson, have selected “An Eyeful of Sound” as the winner of the Nature Scientific Merit Award.