Focus Features released the official trailer for Land, the directorial debut of actress Robin Wright’s. Land also starring Robin Wright along with Demián Bichir and Kim Dickens will world premiere at 2021 Sundance Film Festival and open in theaters on February 12, 2021.
Following the rejection of their first submission, 14 Days 12 Nights by director Jean-Philippe Duval, to will now represent Canada in the race for Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, taking place on April 25, 2021.
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) today named “Small Axe” Steve McQueen’s anthology series, as Best Picture of the Year. Small Axe is an anthology series comprised of five original films set from the late 1960s to the mid 1980s that tell personal stories from London’s West Indian community, whose lives have been shaped by their own force of will despite rampant racism and discrimination. The title is derived from the African proverb, “If you are the big tree, we are the small axe.”
The winners of the 2020 Whistler Film Festival (WFF) were announced at the Awards Celebration on the final day of official programming at the 20th edition.
Funny Boy, by cowriter-director Deepa Mehta, originally submitted by Canada as the country’s entry for Best International Feature Film at 2021 Oscars, has been rejected because the film does not meet the Academy’s eligibility requirements for the International Feature Film category due to the amount of English dialogue in the film. The Academy mandates that a film cannot contain more than 50% English to be eligible. The film will now be submitted for consideration in the Best Picture and general entry categories for the 93rd Academy Awards®.
The Russian Film Week in New York kicks off the New Year with an online edition that brings the latest in Russian cinema to US audiences from January 23-29, 2021. Last year’s edition expanded the event’s program to audiences in Boston, Washington DC, Seattle, Chicago, Denver and Palo Alto with next year’s online edition opening up fresh Russian films to nationwide viewers.
The New York Film Critics Circle on Friday announced the annual award winners with Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow receiving the honor of Best Film of 2020. The film is based on the novel “The Half Life” by Jonathan Raymond, and stars John Magaro as a cook who joins a group of fur trappers in the Oregon Territory. The cook befriends a Chinese immigrant (Orion Lee) and the two collaborate on a successful business, although its longevity is reliant upon the participation of a nearby wealthy landowner’s prized milking cow. First Cow also stars Alia Shawkat, Scott Shepherd, Toby Jones, and Ewen Bremner.
Ammonite, Francis Lee’s remarkable historical drama starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan, is the 2020 recipient of the SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Prize, an award that celebrates the compelling depiction of scientific themes or characters in a narrative feature film. Presented through a partnership between SFFILM and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, this annual award carries a $25,000 cash prize and shines a light on special achievement in rendering the worlds of science and technology through the language of film with a screening event and conversation with the film’s creators and experts in the scientific fields being depicted.
Casey Feigh took home the Best Film Grand Prize for his comedic short Beginner’s Luck at the 5th annual Hollywood Comedy Shorts Film Festival. The comedic short stars Lauren Lapkus (The Wrong Missy), Matthew Gray Gubler (Criminal Minds), Ego Nwodim (Saturday Night Live), and Mary Holland (Happiest Season). Patrick Norman won Best Feature Script for his screenplay Derby Dolls.
Writer and director Nicholas Jarecki’s (Arbitrage) dramatic thriller “Crisis” stars Academy Award-winner Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour, Mank) and Golden Globe-nominees Armie Hammer (Call Me By Your Name, The Social Network) and Evangeline Lilly (Antman and The Wasp, The Hurt Locker) alongside an outstanding ensemble cast that includes: Greg Kinnear (Little Miss Sunshine), Michelle Rodriguez (The Fast and the Furious series), Luke Evans (The Girl on the Train), Lily-Rose Depp (The King), Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi (“We Are Who We Are”), Duke Nicholson (Us), Veronica Ferres (Salt and Fire), and Martin Donovan (Tenet). Quiver will release the film in theatres nationwide on February 26, 2021 followed by a digital and on-demand release on March 5, 2021.
Former President Barack Obama revealed his favorite movies of 2020 which include Nomadland, Bacurau, Boys State, Martin Eden and, Crip Camp, the documentary produced by the Obamas’ company Higher Ground.
The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) announced the nominees for their top film honors of 2020 with Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland leading the field with seven total nominations. Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods, Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow and Charlie Kaufman’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things each earned six nominations, while Mank and Promising Young Woman are each recognized with five. Chadwick Boseman posthumously earns dual acting nominations for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Da 5 Bloods.