SFFILM announced some of the film luminaries receiving honors at the 2019 SFFILM Awards Night. The honorees receiving prestigious awards for film include Chinonye Chukwu (Clemency, NEON) will receive the inaugural SFFILM Special Award for Breakthrough Directing, Marielle Heller (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Sony Pictures Entertainment) will receive the Irving M. Levin Award for Film Direction, and Lulu Wang ;(The Farewell, A24) will receive the Kanbar Award for Storytelling.
Academy Award and Tony Award nominee Adam Driver will receive the SFFILM Award for Acting (formerly the Peter J. Owens Award) at SFFILM Awards Night, the organization’s annual fundraising celebration honoring achievement in filmmaking craft. This year’s edition of the dinner and awards presentation event takes place Tuesday, December 3 at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts Exhibition Center.
The Lighthouse and Uncut Gems lead the nominations for the 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards with 5 nominations each. The Lighthouse is nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Male Lead, and Best Supporting Male; and Uncut Gems is nominated for Best Director, Best Editing, Best Feature, Best Male Lead, and Best Screenplay. Other nominees for Best Feature included A Hidden Life, Clemency, The Farewell, and Marriage Story. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the Santa Monica beach-adjacent award show.
Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will present Martin Scorsese with the Sonny Bono Visionary Award for The Irishman at its annual Film Awards Gala at the upcoming 31st edition of the annual festival. The event, presented by American Express, sponsored by AT&T and Entertainment Tonight and hosted by Mary Hart, is scheduled for Thursday, January 2 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The festival runs January 2-13, 2020.
The award-wining horror-fantasy film Zombi Child, from director Bertrand Bonello (Nocturama, Saint Laurent) blending mysticism, social commentary and horror will open in New York City at Film at Lincoln Center and Quad Cinema on January 24, 2020.
Vertical released the new trailer for the drama/thriller She’s Missing directed by Alexandra McGuinness; and starring Lucy Fry, Eiza González, Blake Berris, Sheila Vand, with Christian Camargo along with Josh Hartnett. She’s Missing opens in select theaters and available across all VOD platforms on December 20th.
Jerusalem-born trauma expert Ofra Bloch forces herself to confront her demons in a journey that takes her to Germany, Israel and Palestine in the documentary Afterward. The documentary film written and directed by Ofra Bloch opens in theaters on January 10, 2020 and on VOD on January 28, 2020.
The 39th annual Hawai‘i International Film Festival has ended on Oahu and the HIFF39 Audience Award have been collected, counted, and tabulated. Yellow Rose directed by Diane Paragas was voted winner of the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature and The Australian Dream directed by Daniel Gordon won for Best Documentary Feature.
After screening screened over 300 films from 63 countries, the 28th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF), concluded with the closing-night awards presentation. “We Believe in Dinosaurs” directed by Clayton Brown & Monica Long Ross won the award for Best Documentary Feature and “Sorry We Missed You” directed by Ken Loach won the award for Best Narrative Feature. “Just Mercy” directed by Destin Daniel Cretton was voted Best Film by the audience.
The psychological social horror film Do Not Reply, created by son-father directing duo Daniel Woltosz and Walt Woltosz, will have its New York premiere at the New York City Horror Film Fest on December 6.
The Producers Guild of America (PGA) revealed its 2020 Documentary Motion Picture nominees that will advance to the final voting process for the 31st Annual Producers Guild Awards. The Guild’s awards have been established as a bellwether for the Academy Awards, as PGA winners often predict the winners at the Oscars.
THE FAVOURITE dominated the first awards at this year’s 2019 European Film Awards in the technical categories – winning for CINEMATOGRAPHY, EDITING, COSTUME DESIGN and HAIR & MAKE-UP. Other winners include PAIN AND GLORY for PRODUCTION DESIGN; TWELVE-YEAR NIGHT for SOUND and ABOUT ENDLESSNESS for VISUAL EFFECTS