Yorgos Lanthimos’ black comedy The Favourite was out front with 10 nominations for the 39th annual London Critics’ Circle Film Awards, including Film, Director, Screenwriter, Actress for Olivia Colman and Supporting Actress for Rachel Weisz. In addition, the film is nominated for British/Irish Film of the Year.
EIGHTH GRADE[/caption]
Eighth Grade is the big winner at 2018 Detroit Film Critics Society Awards with eight nominations and three wins for Best Picture; Best Supporting Actor; and Breakthrough for Bo Burnham, the film’s writer and director.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8lFgF_IjPw
Vice received five nominations and three wins for Adam McKay, Best Director; Best Ensemble; and tied for Best Screenplay with Green Book, which had four nominations. Other top nominees include A Star Is Born with six nominations and one win for Best Use of Music and The Favourite with five nominations, but no wins.
The Detroit Film Critics Society was founded in the Spring of 2007 and consists of a group of 21 film critics with a Michigan connection who write or broadcast in the Detroit area as well as other major cities including Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing, and Flint, Michigan; Toledo, Ohio; and New York, New York.
Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind[/caption]
One hundred sixty-six features have been submitted for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 91st Academy Awards®. Several of the films have not yet had their required Los Angeles and New York qualifying releases. Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and comply with all of the category’s other qualifying rules in order to advance in the voting process. This year, for the first time, films that have won a qualifying award at a competitive film festival or have been submitted in the Foreign Language Film category as their country’s official selection, are also eligible in the category. A shortlist of 15 films will be announced on December 17.
Films submitted in the Documentary Feature category may also qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture.
Nominations for the 91st Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 22, 2019.
The 91st Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 24, 2019, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:
“Above and Beyond: NASA’S Journey to Tomorrow”
“Active Measures”
“Amazing Grace”
“American Chaos”
“Andy Irons: Kissed by God”
[caption id="attachment_25696" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco[/caption]
“Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco”
“Avicii: True Stories”
“Bali: Beats of Paradise”
“Bathtubs over Broadway”
“Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché”
“Believer”
“Better Angels”
“Bill Coors: The Will to Live”
“Bisbee ’17”
“The Bleeding Edge”
“Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat”
“Breaking Point: The War for Democracy in Ukraine”
“Call Her Ganda”
“Charm City”
“Chef Flynn”
“The China Hustle”
“Christian Audigier The Vif”
“The Cleaners”
“Communion”
“Crime + Punishment”
“Dark Money”
“Daughters of the Sexual Revolution: The Untold Story of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders”
“The Dawn Wall”
“The Distant Barking of Dogs”
“Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes”
“Drug$”
“Eating Animals”
“Eldorado”
“Fahrenheit 11/9”
“Fail State”
“Family in Transition”
“Far from the Tree”
“Filmworker”
“The First Patient”
“Foreign Land”
“40 Years in the Making: The Magic Music Movie”
“Free Solo”
“Garry Winogrand: All Things Are Photographable”
“Generation Wealth”
“Ghost Hunting”
“Ghosthunter”
“The Gilligan Manifesto”
“The Gospel According to André”
“Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami”
“Graves without a Name”
“The Great Buster: A Celebration”
“Hal”
“Hale County This Morning, This Evening”
“Half the Picture”
“The Heart of Nuba”
“Hillbilly”
“The Homeless Chorus Speaks”
“Hondros”
“Howard”
“In Search of Greatness”
“In the Land of Pomegranates”
“Inventing Tomorrow”
“Invisible Hands”
“Itzhak”
“Jane Fonda in Five Acts”
“John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection”
“The Judge”
“Kangaroo: A Love Hate Story”
“Killer Bees”
“The King”
“King in the Wilderness”
“Kusama – Infinity”
“The Last Race”
“Leaning into the Wind: Andy Goldsworthy”
“Letter from Masanjia”
“Licu, a Romanian Story”
“Living in the Future’s Past”
“Liyana”
“Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle”
“Love & Bananas: An Elephant Story”
“Love, Cecil”
“Love, Gilda”
“Love Is Tolerance – Tolerance Is Love – Make Tolerance Great Again!”
“Making The Five Heartbeats”
“Maria by Callas”
“Matangi / Maya / M.I.A.”
“McQueen”
“Minding the Gap”
“Monrovia, Indiana”
“The Most Unknown”
“New Moon”
“93Queen”
“Nossa Chape”
“Of Fathers and Sons”
“Of Love & Law”
“On Her Shoulders”
“Opera about Poland”
“The Opera House”
“The Oslo Diaries”
“The Other Side of Everything”
“The Panama Papers”
“Path of Blood”
“People’s Republic of Desire”
“Philosopher King – Lee Teng-hui’s Dialogue”
“Pick of the Litter”
“Piripkura”
“Police Killing”
“Pope Francis – A Man of His Word”
“The Price of Everything”
“The Price of Free”
“Qiu (Inmates)”
“Quincy”
“RBG”
“The Rachel Divide”
“The Raft”
“Recovery Boys”
“Restoring Tomorrow”
“Reversing Roe”
“The Road Movie”
“Robin Williams: Come inside My Mind”
“Ruben Blades Is Not My Name”
“Samouni Road”
“Saving Brinton”
“Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland”
“Science Fair”
“Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood”
“Searching for Ingmar Bergman”
“Seeing Allred”
“The Sentence”
“Shirkers”
“Shot in the Dark”
“The Silence of Others”
“Sisters of the Wilderness”
“A Son of Man”
“Songwriter”
“Stan”
“Studio 54”
“Summer in the Forest”
“Tea with the Dames”
“That Summer”
“That Way Madness Lies…”
“They Fight”
“They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead”
“This Is Congo”
“This Is Home: A Refugee Story”
“Three Identical Strangers”
“To Be Continued”
“Transformer”
“Travel Ban”
“The Trial”
“Triumph: The Untold Story of Perry Wallace”
“Trust Machine”
“Under the Wire”
“United Skates”
“Unknown Distance”
“Up Down and Sideways”
“The Waldheim Waltz”
“We Could Be Heroes”
“Weed the People”
“What Haunts Us”
“What Lies Upstream”
“Whitney”
“Wonderful Losers: A Different World”
“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
“Yellow Is Forbidden”
“Yellowing”
FREE SOLO[/caption]
Free Solo leads the nominees for this year’s third annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards with six nominations and one honor, including Best Documentary, Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi for Best Directors, Best Sports Documentary, Most Innovative Documentary, Best Cinematography, Best Editing and a Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary honor for Alex Honnold.
Recognized with five nominations are Minding the Gap and Wild Wild Country.
The nominations for Minding the Gap are Best Documentary, Best Sports Documentary, Bing Liu for Best Director and for Best First Time Director, and Best Cinematography.
The nominations for Wild Wild Country are Best Documentary, Chapman Way and Maclain Way for Best First Time Directors, Most Innovative Documentary, Best Cinematography, and Best Limited Documentary Series.
Recognized with four nominations are Dark Money, Hitler’s Hollywood and Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
The nominations for Dark Money are Best Documentary, Kimberly Reed for Best Director, Best Political Documentary and Best Editing.
The nominations for Hitler’s Hollywood are Best Documentary, Best Political Documentary, Rüdiger Suchsland for Best Director, and Most Innovative Documentary.
The nominations for Won’t You Be My Neighbor? are Best Documentary, Morgan Neville for Best Director, Most Innovative Documentary and Best Editing.
Three Identical Strangers received three nominations and an honor, including Best Documentary, Tim Wardle for Best Director, Best Editing and an honor for David Kellman and Bobby Shafran for Most Compelling Living Subjects of a Documentary.
At the gala ceremony, filmmaker Stanley Nelson will be presented with the Critics’ Choice Impact Award, and multi award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore will be honored with the Critics’ Choice Lifetime Achievement Award.
For the first year, the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards has introduced the Catalyst Sponsorship, a program for industry leaders to support the event. The inaugural sponsors include Focus Features, National Geographic Documentary Films, Netflix, Curiosity Stream, and others.
“We are thrilled to celebrate this year’s outstanding documentary work at the upcoming event,” said Broadcast Film Critics Association President Joey Berlin. “The year 2018 has been called ‘The Year of the Documentary’ and we are so happy to give these films and shows the recognition and high praise that they deserve.”
The winners will be presented their awards at a gala event, hosted by science educator and television personality Bill Nye, on Saturday, November 10 at BRIC in Brooklyn, New York.
The nominees for the third annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards are:
CALIBRE[/caption]
After screening 121 new features, including 20 world premieres, from 48 countries across the globe, the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) announced the Award Winners for this year’s 72nd edition. Commenting on the incredibly high standard of entries at this year’s Festival and the outstanding quality of the submissions they were judging, the juries stressed that they had some tough decisions to make in choosing one winner in each category, giving Special Mentions to several films.
THE PARTING GLASS[/caption]
Artistic Director Mark Adams today unveiled details of the program for the upcoming Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), taking place next month between 20 June to 1 July. This year the Festival will screen around 121 new features, including 21 world premieres, from 48 countries across the globe.
Highlights include the long-anticipated Disney-Pixar animation INCREDIBLES 2, Q&A and IN PERSON events with guests including the award-winning English writer and director David Hare, the much-loved Welsh comedian Rob Brydon and star of the compelling Gothic drama THE SECRET OF MARROWBONE, actor George MacKay, as well as the Opening and Closing Gala premieres of the previously announced PUZZLE and SWIMMING WITH MEN. This year’s People’s Gala will be the World Premiere of Stephen Moyer’s directorial debut, THE PARTING GLASS, starring Melissa Leo, Cynthia Nixon, Denis O’Hare, Anna Paquin (who also produces), Rhys Ifans and Ed Asner.
Mark Adams, EIFF Artistic Director, said: “EIFF prides itself on offering films and events that entertain, challenge, provoke, illuminate and excite and 2018 is no exception! From the best of up-and-coming British filmmakers to striking new cinema from around the world, we offer something for everyone: from rare access to filmmakers, live events to experience and the opportunity to see films that may never appear in the country again. We remain one of the world’s most venerable and acclaimed film festivals and are delighted to be able to offer audiences the chance to see some of the most exciting and innovative new film talent, in a setting steeped in history.”
This year’s BEST OF BRITISH strand includes exclusive world premieres of Simon Fellows’ thriller STEEL COUNTRY, featuring a captivating performance from Andrew Scott as Donald, a truck driver turned detective; comedy classic OLD BOYS starring Alex Lawther; the debut feature of writer-director Tom Beard, TWO FOR JOY, a powerful coming-of-age drama starring Samantha Morton and Billie Piper; oddball comedy-drama EATEN BY LIONS; striking debut from writer and director Adam Morse, LUCID, starring Billy Zane and Sadie Frost; Jamie Adams’ British comedy SONGBIRD, featuring Cobie Smulders and Haifaa al-Mansour’s MARY SHELLEY, with Elle Fanning taking on the role of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. Audiences can also look forward to a special screening of Mandie Fletcher’s delightfully fun rom-com PATRICK.
This year the AMERICAN DREAMS strand will offer audiences the chance to delve deep into some of the very best new films from American independent cinema including: UNICORN STORE, the directorial debut of Oscar-winning actress Brie Larson in which she stars alongside Samuel L. Jackson and Joan Cusack; the heart-warming HEARTS BEAT LOUD starring Nick Offerman; glossy noir thriller, TERMINAL, starring and produced by Margot Robbie; the engaging comedy HUMOR ME from Sam Hoffman, starring Jemaine Clement and Elliott Gould; IDEAL HOME in which Paul Rudd and Steve Coogan play a bickering gay couple who find themselves thrust into parenthood; 1980s set spy thriller starring Jon Hamm, THE NEGOTIATOR; and PAPILLON, starring Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek.
The EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES strand, supported by James and Morag Anderson, will feature a wonderful selection of new films that are powerfully visionary and passionate about storytelling. Notable features include touching drama NEVER LEAVE ME highlighting how young Syrian lives have been affected by war; freewheeling Euro romp TULIPANI: LOVE, HONOUR AND A BICYCLE; actor-turned-director Mélanie Laurent’s fourth feature DIVING, the thought-provoking WHAT WILL PEOPLE SAY by writer-director Iram Haq; the wonderfully weird CHARLIE AND HANNAH’S GRAND NIGHT OUT; French ensemble comedy C’EST LA VIE! and the brooding and atmospheric drama THE SECRET OF MARROWBONE starring George MacKay, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Mia Goth and Matthew Stagg.
This year’s WORLD PERSPECTIVES strand offers audiences a fascinating snapshot of developing world-cinema themes and styles from talented filmmakers from around the world. Highlights include acclaimed epic Chinese drama AN ELEPHANT SITTING STILL; award-winning South American drama THE HEIRESSES; powerful political drama NO. 1 CHUNG YING STREET; GIRLS ALWAYS HAPPY, an unflinching but darkly funny tale of a Chinese mother and daughter and Brazilian comedy LOVELING. For lovers of the land down under there’s also raucous Aussie comedy FLAMMABLE CHILDREN (SWINGING SAFARI) starring native icons Kylie Minogue and Guy Pearce; THE BUTTERFLY TREE starring Melissa George and Ben Elton’s THREE SUMMERS starring Robert Sheehan and set at an Australian folk music festival.
This year’s EIFF program features a diverse selection of new DOCUMENTARIES which reflect the ability of documentary film to inspire and challenge audiences. There is a strong musical theme that runs through this year’s films from WHITNEY, the much-anticipated documentary about the life and times of superstar Whitney Houston; GEORGE MICHAEL: FREEDOM – THE DIRECTOR’S CUT narrated by George Michael himself and ALMOST FASHIONABLE: A FILM ABOUT TRAVIS directed by Scottish lead-singer Fran Healy. Audiences will be inspired by the creativity of Orson Welles in Mark Cousins’ THE EYES OF ORSON WELLES; HAL, a film portrait of the acclaimed 1970s director Hal Ashby; LIFE AFTER FLASH, a fascinating exploration into the life of actor Sam J. Jones the topical POSTCARDS FROM THE 48% will also screen followed by a Q&A with director David Wilkinson, who travelled the UK to meet people from all sides of the BREXIT debate.
As the sun sets, audiences will be able to journey into the dark and often downright strange side of cinema, with a selection of genre-busting edge-of-your-seat gems including: the gloriously grisly psychosexual romp PIERCING starring Mia Wasikowska; the world premieres of Matthew Holness’ POSSUM and SOLIS staring Steven Ogg as an astronaut who finds himself trapped in an escape pod heading toward the sun; dark and bloody period drama THE MOST ASSASSINATED WOMAN IN THE WORLD and the futuristic WHITE CHAMBER starring Shauna Macdonald.
The country focus for the Festival’s 72nd edition will be Canada and is supported by Telefilm Canada. FOCUS ON CANADA will allow audiences to take a cinematic tour of the country and its culture, offering insight as well as entertainment, from filmmakers new and already established. Selected by EIFF’s 2018 Young programrs are also a range of titles that explore the experiences of First Nations youth including INDIAN HORSE in which a young boy becomes a star ice-hockey player and KAYAK TO KLEMTU where a determined young girl, played by the charismatic Ta’kaiya Blaney, sets off to kayak the Inside Passage in British Colombia. The strand will also showcase a number of shorts in SPOTLIGHT ON CONTEMPORARY CANADIAN SHORT FILMS, a powerful combination of short fiction, documentary and animated films that focus on the central social, political and ethical issues prevalent within contemporary Canada.
Audiences are also invited to attend a number of talks in the Festival’s free lecture stand, Reel Talk, including: INTRODUCTION TO FILM STUDIES: FEMALE DIRECTORS IN AMERICAN CINEMA that will shine a spotlight on the acclaimed and ground-breaking female directors who shaped American cinema; Frank Cogliano and David Silkenat of the University of Edinburgh will record a live episode of their show Whiskey Rebellion, offering context for the history of paranoia in American politics and film, before answering questions from the audience in PARANOIA AND POLITICS IN AMERICAN FILM and FROM ROMERO TO GET OUT, OR: HOW HORROR HELPED WAKE ME UP TO THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE which will explore the power and importance of the horror genre.
Audiences can look forward to four programs of short animation as part of the Festival’s dedicated ANIMATION strand, supported by Emperor and the Culture & Business Fund Scotland. The McLaren Award for Best New British Animation will return once again with two varied programs showcasing some of the most highly-anticipated new short animations from the UK and there will also be a special retrospective of unique talent Elizabeth Hobbs, the award-winning indie animator running as part of Anim18, a celebration of British animation taking place across the UK.
The world of experimental film is once again uncovered in the Festival’s ever-popular BLACK BOX strand. A selection of short and feature-length films that push the boundaries of visual communication will screen including the world premiere of PIG FILM, taking a look at the future of film, and a range of experimental short films from Canada that foreground the material properties of 16mm. Also, as part of this year’s FOCUS ON CANADA, the BLACK BOX strand will feature a special screening of short films by Joyce Wieland.
This year’s EIFF SHORTS will offer a thrilling showcase of the finest brand-new short films from across the globe including DREAM IMAGES; OPTICS; RESISTANT BODIES; SPECTRES; FIRECRACKER, celebrating the vibrant state of UK shorts; KALEIDOSCOPE drawn from the thriving Scottish short film scene and THE YOUNG & THE WILD, handpicked by the EIFF Young programrs. New in 2018 will be the inaugural NEW VISIONS program, introducing glowing new voices aged 14-25 from across Scotland to submit their newest works to EIFF’s newly developed short film competition for young people.
A number of special events will take place throughout the Festival including JAWS in Concert, a screening of Steven Spielberg’s seminal blockbuster with John Williams’ iconic score played live by the RSNO,a screening of the much-loved LOCAL HERO followed by a Q&A with writer director Bill Forsyth in conversation with Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh’s Artistic Director, David Greig as well as an early preview of the upcoming season of the popular BBC Alba series BANNAN. Prior to the Festival on 27 May audiences will also have the chance to experience the vampire underworld in EIFF PLAY: BLADE, an immersive cinema experience built around a screening of the trailblazing comic-book adaptation of BLADE, in partnership with Hidden Door andThe List, in collaboration with New Media Scotland, and supported by Sir Ewan and Lady Brown. Continuing RETROSPECTIVE LIVE! – MONTEREY POP, DA Pennebaker’s brilliant concert film, will be played as if it were a real live gig as part of Summerhall’s brand new 10-day series, Southern Exposure.
Specially selected to showcase the very best in world cinema for younger audiences and the young at heart, FILM FEST JUNIOR boasts two UK Premieres, VITELLO and ZOMBILLENIUM as well as an exclusive preview of PRINCESS EMMY. As previously announced, the Festival’s expanded youth strand, The Young & the Wild will offer a range of masterclasses offering careers advice for filmmakers aged 15-25 years old, along with events and screenings for schools, as part of Scotland’s Year of Young People 2018 celebrations and supported by Baillie Gifford. The 2018 EIFF Young programrs, a group of 15-19 year olds who have curated their own shorts strand, The Young & the Wild, have also selected a number of films within this year’s program which are badged accordingly in the Festival brochure.
Anna and the Apocalypse[/caption]
In its 72nd year, Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has unveiled a rich selection of Scottish films, filmmakers, acting talent and films shot in Scotland as part of its 2018 Festival program. Opening with a spellbinding performance by acclaimed Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald in the highly regarded drama PUZZLE, this year’s program is set to showcase some of the very best features, shorts, documentaries, animations, exclusive events and talent from across the country.
EIFF Artistic Director Mark Adams said: “Edinburgh International Film Festival is renowned around the world for discovering and promoting the very best in international cinema and Scottish talent has always been at the heart of that. The Festival’s program always helps shine the light on to Scottish themes, performances and filmmakers, and I am thrilled that once again we can celebrate this high-level of craftsmanship in past and present Scottish work in our 72nd year.”
The Festival program will showcase a host of features filmed and set in Scotland, such as much-anticipated cult comedic horror/musical ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE, which was largely shot in and around Glasgow. The thriller CALIBRE, set against the backdrop of Beecraigs Country Park acting as the beautiful Scottish Highlands, stars Scottish actor Jack Lowden (England is Mine, Dunkirk) and is director Matt Palmer’s debut feature. The film is also in the running for this year’s prestigious Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film.
EIFF audiences can look forward to Scottish produced pop-art drama MAKE ME UP by Glasgow-based video artist Rachel Maclean, the much-anticipated documentary WHITNEY, directed by Kevin Macdonald and ALMOST FASHIONABLE: A FILM ABOUT TRAVIS, a documentary directed by the front man of Scottish band Travis, Fran Healy. Fran and the other band members will be in attendance for the film’s World Premiere. Scottish director and former Michael Powell Award winner Kenny Glenaan’s DIRT ROAD TO LAFAYETTE, written by James Kelman, which follows a father and son’s journey from Scotland to North Alabama to visit their American/Scots relatives will also receive its World Premiere at the Festival.
Also in the program are a number of documentaries by Scottish filmmakers, including BECOMING ANIMAL (one of the latest features from the Scottish Documentary Institute). Ece Ger’s MEETING JIM about Jim Haynes, the man who co-founded the Traverse Theatre and was fundamental to the growth of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe will also have its World Premiere in Edinburgh in June. Meanwhile, Edinburgh-based documentarian and EIFF Honorary Patron Mark Cousins, will be on hand to introduce two of his latest projects THE EYES OF ORSON WELLES and STORM IN MY HEART.
Scottish talent Shauna Macdonald can be seen on screen in horror, thriller WHITE CHAMBER, directed by Paul Raschid. Meanwhile, the work of Scottish actors Tommy Flanagan and EIFF Honorary Patron James Cosmo will be showcased, with Flanagan appearing in crime drama PAPILLON, produced by Joey McFarland, David Koplan, Ram Bergman and Roger Corbi, and Cosmo in Anthony Byrne’s IN DARKNESS alongside Natalie Dormer and Emily Ratajkowski.
Audiences can again look forward to a preview of the hit Gaelic TV show BANNAN, filmed on the beautiful island of Skye. The BBC Alba show follows a young woman returning to the island she had left when she was 18, and gently blends tones of soap opera, family drama and murder mystery. The Festival will allow audiences to catch the first three episodes of the fifth series, followed by a Q&A.
Taking a step back in time, EIFF will screen LONG SHOT by Maurice Hatton, which was filmed during the 1977 edition of the Festival and special event Behind the Curtain: Women & EIFF will be hosted by former EIFF Director Lynda Myles, who was the first female director of a film festival anywhere in the world, and Rachel Hosker, Archives Manager and Deputy Head of Special Collections at the University of Edinburgh.
A selection of Scottish-linked animations are confirmed for this year’s program including Dorte Bengtson’s family film VITELLO, written by Kim Fupz Aakeson and produced by Anders Berthelsen and former EIFF chair Bob Last, who also produced the 2010 Oscar-Nominated animation THE ILLUSIONIST, featuring Doon Mackichan in the role of Mother. A sneak preview of Red Kite’s animated feature PRINCESS EMMY, co-produced by the award-winning Scottish animation studio and voiced by a host of Scottish actors, including John Hannah, will also screen. Animator Elizabeth Hobbs will be in Edinburgh to present a screening of her short animations. A graduate of Edinburgh College of Art, Hobbs has a long history with EIFF and will present Elizabeth Hobbs: A Retrospective of Animated Work.
Local cycling legend David Millar will be on hand to present Finlay Pretsell’s, TIME TRIAL, followed by an extended Q&A with Millar and TV presenter Ned Boulting. Scottish director, Bill Forsyth will also introduce a screening of his classic film, LOCAL HERO, and participate in an extended Q&A with Royal Lyceum Theatre Artistic Director David Greig.
There will also be numerous Scottish shorts for audience members to enjoy including BLUE CHRISTMAS by Scottish director Charlotte Wells, Tom Chick’s MONUMENT: PARTS ONE AND TWO, Anna Stoltzmann’s MY HEAD ON THE MOUNTAIN, Evi Tsiligaridou’s THESE ARE MY HANDS and Francesco Rufini’s DOGMA. The Scottish Documentary Institute’s short film program Bridging the Gap – Love will also screen. Furthermore, there are shorts from the Scottish Film Talent Network (SFTN), which is supported by National Lottery funding from Creative Scotland and BFI NETWORK. SFTN forms the Scottish element of the BFI NETWORK, designed to discover, nurture and advance new and emerging filmmaking talent and is a consortium made up of the Centre for the Moving Image (CMI), DigiCult and Hopscotch Films. The shorts this year include 12 POINT KILL, BUNNY, I WAS HERE, LIFT SHARE, MY LONELINESS IS KILLING ME, NONE OF THE ABOVE and TOMORROW MIGHT BE THE DAY. SFTN short animation WIDDERSHINS will also screen as part of The McLaren Award: New British Animation 1 alongside LAUNDROMAT, a graduate film from Edinburgh College of Art’s Bafta winning Animation course, directed by Madeleine Sayers.
The first trailer was released today for the documentary WHITNEY which will have its world premiere at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 2018. The film directed by Kevin Macdonald, is probably one of the rare ones featuring her family in front of and behind the scenes, with sister-in-law, Pat Houston, as one of the Executive Producers. Miramax and Roadside Attractions will release WHITNEY in theaters July 6, 2018.
Whitney Houston broke more music industry records than any other female singer in history. With over 200 million album sales worldwide, she was the only artist to chart seven consecutive U.S. No. 1 singles. She also starred in several blockbuster movies before her brilliant career gave way to erratic behavior, scandals and death at age 48. The documentary feature Whitney is an intimate, unflinching portrait of Houston and her family that probes beyond familiar tabloid headlines and sheds new light on the spellbinding trajectory of Houston’s life. Using never-before-seen archival footage, exclusive demo recordings, rare performances, audio archives and original interviews with the people who knew her best, Oscar®-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald unravels the mystery behind “The Voice,” who thrilled millions even as she struggled to make peace with her own troubled past.
The House That Jack Built by Lars von Trier[/caption]
The Cannes Film Festival has added more films to the Official Selection 2018, and will welcome back the Danish director Lars von Trier, winner of the 2000 Palme d’or, to the Official Selection. His new film The House That Jack Built by Lars von Trier starring Matt Dillon and Uma Thurman will be screened Out of Competition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAaLDuEPglI
Mr. von Trier, who won the Palme d’Or in 2000 for “Dancer in the Dark,” has been absent from the Cannes festival for seven years, after comments he made during the news conference for his 2011 competition title “Melancholia.”
Mr. von Trier began by referring to his discovery, as an adult, that he had a German family. “What can I say? I understand Hitler,” he said. “I think he did some wrong things, yes, absolutely, but I can see him sitting in his bunker in the end.”
As the actress Kirsten Dunst squirmed and shook her head in the seat beside him, Mr. von Trier added, “He’s not what you would call a good guy, but yeah, I understand much about him and I sympathize with him a little bit. But come on! I’m not for the Second World War, and I’m not against Jews.”
The festival board voted to declare Mr. von Trier persona non grata. He was barred from that year’s prize ceremony or from entering the festival headquarters, although “Melancholia” stayed in the competition. via NY Times
Whitney, Academy Award®-winning director Kevin Macdonald’s highly anticipated documentary about the life and career of legendary superstar Whitney Houston will be released this summer in the United States on July 6th by Roadside Attractions and Miramax, and also on July 6th in the UK and Ireland by Altitude Film Entertainment.
Whitney is the intimate, definitive account of the superstar’s life and career, authored by renowned Oscar®-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald. The only film officially supported by the late singer’s estate, it includes previously unreleased recordings, rare never-before-seen footage and live performances recorded by Houston at various stages her life, as well as original studio recordings and acapellas of some of the late singer’s greatest hits. Because the filmmakers had access to vast archives of the Houston estate, the film also contains personal home movie footage that has never been seen publicly before, offering a rare glimpse of Whitney’s life behind-the-scenes as known only to her closest relatives, friends and collaborators.
Director Macdonald says, “I approached Whitney’s life like a mystery story; why did someone with so much raw talent and beauty self-destruct so publicly and painfully? I was lucky enough to have the support of Pat Houston and the Whitney Houston estate in this quest. They entrusted me with the ‘keys to the vault’ while giving me complete freedom to follow the story wherever it went. At heart, Whitney is an intimate family story that reveals a new side to a woman that even her most die-hard fans never knew.”
“To tell Whitney’s story, you have to know her story,” says Patricia Houston, the late singer’s manager, sister-in-law and the executor of Houston’s estate. “We could not be more excited that Whitney’s fans will have this authoritative and definitive documentary chronicling the full arc or her career and the scope of Whitney’s entire life. This is an amazing retrospective that celebrates Whitney with never-before-seen footage and Kevin approaches her life with no blinders on. He captures all of Whitney’s magic, and he does not ignore the hard times. This is a film that will truly thrill all who knew and loved her as a musician, actress, model and so much more.”
Academy Award®-winner Kevin Macdonald (Marley, Touching The Void, One Day in September, The Last King of Scotland), Academy Award®-winning producer Simon Chinn (Man on Wire, Searching For Sugarman), and his Lightbox co-founder Emmy® Award-winning producer Jonathan Chinn (LA 92, Fantastic Lies) and multi-Emmy® Award nominated and Happy Street Entertainment co-founder Lisa Erspamer (“Running From Crazy”) tell the unvarnished and authentic story of the late icon’s life in a film that examines both the meteoric highs and devastating lows of her remarkable and unforgettable career. Patricia Houston, Nicole David, Zanne Devine, Rosanne Korenberg, Joe Patrick, and Altitude Film Entertainment’s Will Clarke, Andy Mayson, and Mike Runagall executive produced.
Often referred to simply as ‘The Voice’, Whitney Houston was a singular talent, blessed with an extraordinary vocal range and incredible technical skill. As one of music’s biggest selling artists ever, she broke more records than any other female singer in the history of pop music. With over 200 million album sales worldwide, and remaining the only artist to chart seven consecutive US No. 1’s, Whitney Houston became the voice of a generation and is the most awarded female singer in history. Coming from an esteemed lineage of singers, Whitney was destined to be plucked from her gospel-singing roots to rule the world stage. She inspired a generation of singers from Mariah Carey and Lady Gaga to Beyoncé and her unforgettable performance of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ moved the nation.
But all these achievements became overshadowed by a story of deep internal turmoil, addiction and self-destruction. With unprecedented access to friends, family and collaborators – some of whom have never told their story before, Kevin Macdonald offers the first comprehensive look at Whitney Houston’s life, work and creative process. The film reveals a woman who was both blessed and cursed with perhaps the greatest natural ability of any pop star in history.