Award-winning filmmaker and advertising executive Deborah Riley Draper will be the featured speaker at the 2019 Black Women Film Network (BWFN) Summit Welcome Reception and Scholarship Awards hosted by Georgia Power on Thursday, March 7 at 6:30pm. Draper will discuss her career and achievements in a one-on-one conversation moderated by BWFN Scholarship Recipient and E! Networks Sr. Director of Content Strategy Jaunice Sills.
More than 40 films will compete in the three feature film juried competitions at the 43rd Cleveland International Film Festival for $30,000 in cash prizes. The competitions include George Gund III Memorial Central and Eastern European Competition; Nesnadny + Schwartz Portrait Documentary Competition and New Direction Competition.
The 2019 San Francisco International Film Festival will host the World Premiere of Fox Sports Films’ new MAGNIFY series documentary Q Ball, on Thursday, April 11 at the Castro Theatre. The film, executive produced by Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant, provides an intimate portrayal of several players on the San Quentin State Prison basketball team. Director Michael Tolajian, producer Rebekah Fergusson, and executive producers Kevin Durant, Rich Kleiman, Jamie Patricof, Katie McNeill, and Jordan deBree are expected to attend.
Oscar nominated and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky’s stunning film “Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements,” which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, will open the 11th ReelAbilities Film Festival: New York on April 2, with the festival continuing until April 9. The Festival showcases talent from around the world dedicated to awareness of the stories and artistic expressions of people with different abilities.
Yuli, a dazzling dramatization of the early life and work of legendary Cuban dancer Carlos Acosta will be the Opening Night Film of this year’s 38th Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, which runs April 4 to 20, 2019.
OWN is partnering with HBO to present OPRAH WINFREY PRESENTS: AFTER NEVERLAND, a conversation hosted by Oprah Winfrey featuring Wade Robson and James Safechuck, subjects of the two-part HBO documentary “Leaving Neverland,” alongside director Dan Reed.
Cleveland International Film Festival will present Indian director Rima Das with its SOMEONE TO WATCH Award, given to mid-career filmmakers who are rising stars in international filmmaking.
The documentary If the Dancer Dances invites viewers into the intimate world of the dance studio. The film, an Official Selection of Dance On Camera 2018, and Raindance 2018, opens theatrically in New York (The Quad) on Friday, April 26th and in Los Angeles on Friday, May 3rd (Laemmle Music Hall) with a national release to follow.
The Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) will honor ANTHROPOCENE: THE HUMAN EPOCH co-director Jennifer Baichwal with the Director Spotlight Award at the upcoming 43rd edition of the festival. The purpose of the Director Spotlight Award program is to showcase directors with distinguished careers by featuring a retrospective of their past work and screenings of their most recent film available.
Eleven screenwriters have been selected to participate in Sundance Institute’s seventh annual Screenwriters Intensive in Los Angeles, to take place February 28 – March 1, 2019. Part of the Institute’s commitment to introducing the industry to an inclusive pipeline of exciting new storytellers, the Intensive is a two-day workshop for writers or writer/directors from underrepresented communities developing their first fiction feature. Fellows at the Intensive will advance the art and craft of their work under the guidance of experienced filmmakers and in collaboration with Institute’s Feature Film Program.
Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu has been named President of the Jury of the 72nd Festival de Cannes, taking place place from Tuesday May 14 to Saturday May 25, 2019.
The 43rd Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF43) will open on March 18 with the world premiere of Bodies at Rest, Renny Harlin’s Chinese language crime thriller starring Nick Cheung and Richie Jen.