Jockey directed by Clint Bentley took the Audience Award – Narrative Feature and Juice Wrld directed by Tommy Oliver took the Audience Award – Documentary Feature at AFI FEST 2021. Love, Dad (Milý tati) directed by Diana Cam Van Nguyen won the Grand Jury Prize – Animation and Al-Sit directed by Suzannah Mirghani won the Grand Jury Prize – Live Action making the films eligible for the 2021 Best Live Action Short and Best Animated Short Academy Awards®.
The documentary Adrienne, debuting on HBO on Wednesday, December 1 (8:00 -9:40 p.m. ET/PT) and directed by Andy Ostroy, the late Adrienne Shelly’s husband, is a celebration of the life and work of the actor, filmmaker, wife and mother and a personal exploration of grief. Shelly starred in over twenty films including Hal Hartley’s indie classics “The Unbelievable Truth” and “Trust.” Known for her early ingenue roles, Shelly strove to tell her own female-centric stories and wrote and directed several movies including the Sundance Film Festival hit, “Waitress.”
The 2021 AFI European Union Film Showcase, taking place December 1–19 at the American Film Institute’s historic theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland will highlight 53 films representing all 27 EU member states, including 11 of the top contenders for this year’s Academy Award® for Best International Feature Film.
Here is the official trailer for Salt In My Soul, the documentary based on the posthumously published bestselling memoir of the same name, that takes you inside the mind of a young woman who tries to live a full life while dying.
Penélope Cruz will receive the International Star Award, Actress for her performance in Parallel Mothers at the Palm Springs International Film Awards. The Film Awards will take place in-person on January 6, 2022 at the Palm Springs Convention Center, with the festival running through January 17, 2022.
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Summer of Soul lead the nominations for the 37th Annual IDA Documentary Awards with four nominations, followed by Jessica Beshir with Faya Dayi and Nicholas Bruckman with Not Going Quietly each with three nominations.
Drive My Car by director Ryusuke Hamaguchi won the award for Best Feature Film at the 14th Asia Pacific Screen Awards, along with Best Screenplay for Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Oe Takamasa.
Vertical Entertainment released the official trailer for The Only One, the indie drama directed by first time filmmaker Noah Gilbert and starring Caitlin Stasey, Jon Beavers, along with Niseema Theillaud. The film “a love letter to France, good wine, and living your best life” opens in select theaters and on demand on December 10, 2021.
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) was the big winner at the sixth Critics Choice Documentary Awards winning in every category in which it was nominated, including the award for Best Documentary Feature, as well as Best Director (TIE), Best First Documentary Feature, Best Editing, Best Archival Documentary and Best Music Documentary.
ArtMattan Films will release the documentary She Had A Dream by Tunisian filmmaker Raja Amari in theaters in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, December 3, 2021
The Georgian film Brighton 4th directed by Levan Koguashvili won the Snow Leopard Award for Best Film at the 2021 Asian World Film Festival (AWFF). The jury awarded the Snow Leopard for Best Actor to Tolepbergen Baisakalov for Fire (Kazakhstan) and Best Actress to Arawinda Kirana for Yuni (Indonesia). Eran Kolirin, director of Let it Be Morning (Israel), was honored with the Snow Leopard Distinction Award for Directing and Yusif (Lebanon) was recognized with Snow Leopard Special Jury Award for the film’s production (Houssein Haidar, producer, actor, and screenwriter and Mohammed Kazem Fayad, director).
Jane Campion, Reinaldo Marcus Green, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Oscar Isaac will be honored at the annual 2021 SFFILM Awards Night, for exemplary achievement in film craft. This year’s celebration will take place on Monday, December 6 at San Francisco’s YBCA Forum.