Fantastic Fest has gone virtual for 2020 edition, with all new features and live events available FREE to view on the Alamo On Demand platform for anyone in the United States. The festival will be bookended by werewolf films – opening with TEDDY by France’s Boukherma brothers and closing with Amelia Moses’s thriller BLOODTHIRSTY.
The 43rd Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF43) announced its feature film lineup. This year’s festival will take place completely online for the very first time, from October 1st – October 11th.
The Nashville Film Festival announced its official program selections for its Shorts Programs, Episodics, NextGen and VR Competition Programs for the 51st edition of the festival, taking place virtually from October 1-7, 2020. Selections for the Shorts Programs, Episodics, NextGen and VR Competition Programs come from over 20 countries and cover diverse genres, including documentary, narrative, and animated shorts. Additional programming announcements for Nashville Film Festival’s virtual event will continue through early September.
Produced by members of the team that has brought SF IndieFest’s Another Hole in the Head (AHITH) to San Francisco for 16 years, Mr. HoleHead’s Warped Dimension is the first online film festival to be presented entirely through the Zoom app. Taking place from September 24th through the 29th, 2020, it will showcase Independent films from the genres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Action/Adventure, Horror, Thriller, Dark & Off-the-Wall Comedy, Animation, and Art/Experimental–as well as Music Videos and Documentaries with related content. 13 Features and 97 Short Films will be streamed over the six days of the fest.
In honor of National Video Game Day, the documentary Console Wars debuted the official trailer, providing a nostalgia-filled first look at the iconic ’90s battle between video game companies Sega and Nintendo.
The 32nd Filmfest Dresden international short film festival in Dresden, Germany, announced the winners of its National and International Competitions at the awards ceremony in the Schauburg Dresden festival cinema.
Filmmaker Frederick Wiseman released the new trailer for his latest film, the documentary City Hall that looks at Boston’s city government, covering racial justice, housing, climate action, and more. The film, as with all Wiseman’s films, is long, clocking in at over 4 and 1/2 hours. City Hall had its world premiere at Venice Film Festival, followed by North American Premiere at Toronto International Film Festival, then US Premiere at New York Film Festival; and will be released in November, 2020.
The new trailer debuted for the documentary feature Belly of the Beast featuring the original song ‘See What You’ve Done’ written and performed by nine-time Grammy winner and two-time Oscar nominated singer-songwriter, Mary J. Blige. Belly of the Beast exposes modern-day eugenics and reproductive injustice in California prisons.
Goldwyn Films released a new trailer for the coming-out/coming-of-age comedy film Dating Amber from director David Freyne, set for digital release on November 13. Set in Ireland during the mid-’90s, Dating Amber stars Fionn O’Shea as Eddie and Lola Petticrew as Amber who decide to stage a relationship in order to stop everyone speculating about their sexuality. The film also stars Sharon Horgan, Barry Ward, Simone Kirby, Evan O’Connor, Ian O’Reilly, and Emma Willis.
Netflix will release their first K-pop documentary, BLACKPINK: Light Up the Sky, which charts the meteoric rise of the South Korean four-member superstar girl group, BLACKPINK.
Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland won the Golden Lion for Best Film at the 77th Venice International Film Festival. Zhao who was not able to travel to Europe for the festival, accepted remotely from Los Angeles. Zhao adapted Nomadland from journalist Jessica Bruder’s 2017 nonfiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century and follows Fern (Frances McDormand), a woman who, after the economic collapse of her company town in rural Nevada, packs her van and sets off on the road to explore a life outside of conventional society as a modern-day nomad.
The Nashville Film Festival announces its official program selections for its Graveyard Shift Features & Shorts Competition, Animated Features Competition, Spotlight: Japan, US Independents and World Cinema Programs for the 51st edition of the festival, taking place virtually from October 1-7, 2020.