Anand Patwardhan (India), The IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary Film Reason, The film is a broad-ranging examination of Indian society, where secular rationalists are hunted down as they attempt to stem the rising tide of religious and nationalist fundamentalism.Photo: Nichon Glerum International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam 2018, Award Show in de Stadsschouwburg.[/caption] Reason by Anand Patwardhan won the Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary at the awards ceremony of the 31st International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. Los Reyes by Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff won the Special Jury Award for FeatureLength Documentary. IDFA runs until Sunday November 25, 2018. Giacinto Scelsi. The First Motion of the Immovable by Sebastiano d’Ayala Valva was awarded the IDFA Award for Best First Appearance, and Kabul, City in the Wind by Aboozar Amini won the IDFA Special Jury Award for First Appearance. The Beeld en Geluid IDFA Award for Dutch Documentary went to ‘Now something is slowly changing’ by mint film office. But Now Is Perfect by Carin Goeijers received the IDFA Special Jury Award for Dutch Documentary. At the beginning of the evening, Reber Dosky presented the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Documentary Stipend (€ 50.000) to filmmaker Sophie Dros.
International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam 2018 Awards
IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary
[caption id="attachment_32858" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Reason by Anand Patwardhan[/caption]
Anand Patwardhan won the IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary (€ 15.000) with Reason (India). The film is a broad-ranging examination of Indian society, where secular rationalists are hunted down as they attempt to stem the rising tide of religious and nationalist fundamentalism.
From the jury report: The IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary is unanimously given to Reason by Anand Patwardhan for the epic storytelling of the rise of the far right in one of the most populated countries of this planet, the violence of religious and ultranationalist militias with the support of authorities and dominant medias, the dignity of resistance in multiple forms, often at life-cost, in a way that acknowledges the complexity of the situation but put it in a very understandable shape.
[caption id="attachment_32860" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Los Reyes by Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff[/caption]
In addition, the jury presented the IDFA Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary (€ 2.500) to Los Reyes (Chile, Germany) by Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff. In this almost fairytale-like film, the phenomenal, dreamlike camerawork centers almost entirely on the subtle interaction between two dogs, as they play with a ball, a stick, a stone, and each other.
From the jury report: The IDFA Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary goes to Los Reyes, by Bettina Perut and Iván Osnivikoff (Chile, Germany) for the creative and beautiful way it displaces the viewer gaze by associating a sensible look at non-human wonderful characters and the soundtrack that connects daily lives of animal and human stray dogs.
Birds Without Feathers[/caption]
The Whistler Film Festival will present an unprecedented number of female focused films, talent, events, and awards throughout its 2018 programs. The Festival will screen 21 feature films and 18 short films directed or co-directed by women or non-binary individuals, which makes up 46% of this year’s film programming, the highest percentage for the festival to date. WFF will also have 41 Canadian females out of 80 (51%) participating in 11 different talent programs, including 16 directors, 5 producers, 3 screenwriters, 8 filmmakers, 1 actor, and 7 musicians in bands in the Music Showcase.
“The Whistler Film Festival’s female focused initiatives are aligned with several industry wide mandates, and we are committed to promoting the shared goal of breaking the celluloid ceiling, increasing the number of women in the director’s chair, addressing the imbalance of industry diversity behind the camera, and supporting the collaborative efforts to bring more female written and directed narratives to screen, and more females on screen to reflect society,” says Shauna Hardy Mishaw, WFF Executive Director. “With strong representation both in front of and behind the camera in our films, and talent programs this year, Whistler is maintaining a timely leadership role for women in the industry, when the need is not only apparent, the collective is calling for it.“
The new trailer debuted today for 
John Maringouin’s brilliant, darkly comedic morality tale examines a wildly ambitious Westerner who tries to get in on China’s tech boom and finds that he may not be up to the task. Texan Jimmy Van Horn (David Zellner) is a cowboy huckster who arrives in the booming city of Shenzhen with a couple of bitcoins and huge ambitions of parlaying them into economic success. Lucky for Jimmy, he’s got a friend holding open the back door to this “accidental Shangri-La” — Bob Grainger (Robert Longstreet) – who’s gotten new teeth, a blonde wig and looks twenty years younger. He promises to do the same for Jimmy in 6 weeks. Maringouin (BIG RIVER MAN) develops a startling visual language in this excitingly fresh, complex perspective on China’s economic growth – and the gold rush mentality it inspires.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf2ybQTE-eg
Shoplifters[/caption]
The ballots have been tabulated and the festival attendees of the 38th edition of the Hawaii International Film Festival voted 
Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable[/caption]
The Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) presented their 2018 Jury awards with The Best Made In Hawaii Feature Award going to 
People’s Republic of Desire[/caption]
HIFF also debuted the inaugural Ka’ū Ka Hōkū Filmmaker Award, presented to an emerging filmmaker who has completed their first or second feature film which went to 
Filmmaker and Peabody Award winner, Leon Lee’s social justice documentary 
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?[/caption]
The Producers Guild of America (PGA) revealed today the 7 documentary films selected as 2019 Documentary Motion Pictures nominees that will advance in the final voting process for the 30th Annual Producers Guild Awards. The Producers Guild Awards honor excellence in motion picture and television productions, as well as some of the living legends who shape the profession.
The ceremony for the 2019 Producers Guild Awards presented by General Motors takes place on January 19, 2019 at The Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles where the final winners will be announced.
The films nominated for the Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures are listed below in alphabetical order:
Alexandria Bombach[/caption]
Sundance Institute announced today the eight members of the inaugural class of the Momentum Fellowship, a full-year program of deep, customized creative and professional support for writers, directors, and producers from underrepresented communities working across documentary and feature filmmaking, episodic content, and virtual reality, who are poised to take the next step in their careers.
The Momentum Fellowship evolved from the former Women at Sundance Fellowship, a highly successful model that merited evolution and expansion for impact across a greater cohort of underrepresented communities. Those eligible for this larger, more intersectional program now include artists identifying as women, non-binary, and/or transgender, artists of color, and artists with disabilities.
The 2019 Momentum Fellows are Alexandria Bombach, Amber Fares, Josh Feldman, Yance Ford, Ro Haber, Megha Kadakia, Alysa Nahmias, and Eva Vives.
“Our inaugural class of fellows bring such an array of unique talents and experiences to the creative table, and we are beyond excited for this year of collaboration and development,” said Karim Ahmad, Director of Outreach & Inclusion. “We also hope that this intersectional approach will be a model for increasingly vital conversations about allyship across demographic silos in the artist and industry communities at large.”
“After supporting six classes of Women at Sundance fellows, we are thrilled to expand the fellowship to include voices from underrepresented communities. The Momentum Fellowship offers critical support so that artists can fulfill their potential, create sustainable careers, and form a close-knit cohort that will develop into an invaluable alliance,” said Caroline Libresco, Director of Women at Sundance.
The robust, year-long Momentum Fellowship is made possible thanks to the generous support and strategic partnership of The Harnisch Foundation and Warner Bros. Pictures. The Fellowship includes professional mentorship; coaching through the Harnisch Coaching Program offered by Renee Freedman and Company; an artist sustainability grant; travel grants to the Sundance Film Festival to participate in curated activities; introductions to branded and episodic content; and bespoke year-round support.
Additionally, Sundance Institute has partnered with Warner Bros. Pictures to establish the Sundance Institute | Warner Bros. Feature Film Directors Track. In keeping with the company’s greater goals of inclusion and commitment to diversity in front of and behind the camera, Warner Bros. is dedicated to helping nurture and grow this new class of Fellows, which includes access to executives and workshops hosted on the studio’s Burbank lot. The Momentum Fellowship Program is meant to allow for customized activities and sub-groups where necessary, while still organized under the banner of an intersectional fellowship. Sundance Institute gratefully acknowledges each of the contributors to its Outreach and Inclusion Department and Women at Sundance, whose partnership has enabled the Institute to support dozens of bold and underrepresented voices in independent storytelling throughout the evolution of its programming.
Five filmmaking teams were granted funding in the Fall 2018 round of 
Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World[/caption]
From renowned film veterans including Eugene Jarecki (
Wrestle[/caption]
“Green Book” directed by Peter Farrelly[/caption]
The cast and director of the film 
Judi Dench[/caption]
Dame Judi Dench will receive the 2018 Richard Harris Award at the British Independent Film Awards for her outstanding contribution by an actor to British film, in recognition of her distinguished career in the UK and advocacy of the British film industry across the globe. The award will be presented to her at the 2018 awards ceremony to be held at Old Billingsgate Market on Sunday December 2nd marking the 21st anniversary of BIFA.
Now in its seventeenth year, the Richard Harris Award has previously been bestowed upon Daniel Day-Lewis, Helena Bonham Carter, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Julie Walters, John Hurt, Emma Thompson, Jim Broadbent, Alison Steadman, Bob Hoskins and, in 2017, Vanessa Redgrave. The award honors an actor or actress who has contributed significantly to British films throughout their career.
Jared Harris, in whose father’s memory the award is granted, commented: “Dangerous on stage, on screen and apparently behind the wheel of a car, Dame Judi Dench and Richard Harris have a lot in common! We are delighted that she has agreed to accept this award. Dame Judi has stolen every scene she has ever been in, and stolen our hearts along the way. Although she hates being called a national treasure and prefers to be thought of as a jobbing actor, she is undeniably both the standard bearer and the gold standard for British Actors.”
“It has been my absolute privilege to spend almost 60 years working in the British film industry, one of the most vibrant and creative homes for filmmakers in the world. To be recognized with this award, which bears the name of the great Richard Harris and counts some of my favorite actors and actresses amongst its past recipients is a source of deep pride and a very special honor.” – Dame Judi Dench
Following last year’s roles in Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express and Victoria & Abdul, directed by Stephen Frears, Dame Judi recently wrapped production on Disney’s Artemis Fowl, directed by Kenneth Branagh, and will soon be seen in feature film Red Joan, directed by Trevor Nunn.