The 21st Woodstock Film Festival announced the winners of its annual Maverick Awards competition, with Nomadland, directed by Chloé Zhao winning the award for Best Narrative Feature and Los Hermanos/The Brothers, directed by Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider winning for Best Documentary Feature
Hochwald by Evi Romen (Austria, Belgium) is the winner of the Golden Eye of the 16th Zurich Film Festival for the best film in focus competition. The film tells the story of Mario, who breaks out of his South Tyrolean homeland with his childhood friend Lenz and visits a gay bar in Rome with him. When Lenz falls victim during an armed attack, Mario returns to his home village, where his life gradually falls apart.
The American Film Institute (AFI) announced the program for the AFI Summit that will take place at AFI FEST held online this year from October 15 – 22, 2020. The lineup includes Riz Ahmed, Rachel Brosnahan, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Carey Mulligan and Andy Samberg among panelists; and a conversation with Academy Award® nominee, producer, director and writer Ava DuVernay about elevating and supporting BIPOC filmmakers through her company Array.
Slamdance will take a break from Park City in 2021 by moving virtually to slamdance.com, YouTube and physically to Joshua Tree, California. The festival will run February 12 – 25, 2021 with free viewing, filmmaker revenue share and a new program for creators with disabilities.
German actor and director Til Schweiger was moved and visibly delighted as he received the Golden Eye Award at The Zurich Film Festival for his filmmaking, “It’s great to be here in Zurich – at last. I am overjoyed and moved to receive the Golden Eye Award tonight. Many thanks again to the festival, this award means a lot to me!”
Showtime released the new documentary Kingdom of Silence for free online – on YouTube and SHO.com, two years to the date of the controversial murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The film is directed by Oscar(R) nominated and Emmy winning filmmaker Rick Rowley (16 Shots, Dirty Wars). Oscar and Emmy award winning director Alex Gibney (Enemies: The President, Justice and the FBI) executive produces in collaboration with Emmy and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright (The Looming Tower). Kingdom of Silence officially premiere on air on Friday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime.
Juan José Campanella’s delightfully dark comedy The Weasel’s Tale won the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature at the 36th Chicago Latino Film Festival held virtually this year. The Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary went to Jaime Murciego and Pablo Iraburu’s moving documentary Cholitas about a group of Aymará who climb Argentina’s Aconcagua Mountain.
“Can You Hear My Voice?” kicks off its film festival run with a U.S. premiere at the 2020 Nashville Film Festival (Music Features Competition), October 1-7. In the weeks to follow, the film will screen at several other U.S festivals, including the Heartland International Film Festival in Indiana (October 8-19). Other festival screenings in October and November include Doc Utah and the Twin Cities International Film Festival.
Filmmaker Yael Bridge’s new documentary The Big Scary “S” Word exploring the rich history of the American socialist movement, will have its World Premiere at Mill Valley, followed by screening at AFI FEST. The film was also an official selection of 2020 ;Hot DOCS Canadian International Documentary Film Festival.
The highly buzzed and acclaimed documentary Maxima directed by Claudia Sparrow follows Peruvian indigenous farmer Máxima Acuña in her fight to protect her land as she stands up to the largest gold producer in the world: US-based Newmont Mining Corporation.
Expulsion, a sci-fi thriller starring Colton Tapp (Three Days in August), Lar Park Lincoln (Friday The 13th: The New Blood), Michael Harrelson (Krampus: The Reckoning), directed by Sean C. Stephens and Aaron Jackson will be released on DVD, Blu-ray, Amazon Prime Video Direct, AppleTV, VUDU and Google Play digital platforms on Tuesday October 20, 202
Twin Cities Film Fest, set to run October 22-31 via a ‘Hybrid’ format opens on October 22 with the acclaimed documentary Black Boys, an intimate, inter-generational story that offers profound insight into black identity and opportunity at the nexus of sports, education and criminal justice.