Tomorrow[/caption]
The 8th Annual Napa Valley Film Festival (NVFF) announced this year’s juried and audience award winners at the Uptown Theatre in Napa on Saturday, November 10, 2018.
The festival also announced that the next edition will take place from November 13 to 17, 2019.
Each of the festival winners received a large format wine bottle from one of the festival’s esteemed Vintner Circle winery partners. The two winners of the 18 films that vied for the title of Best Narrative Feature and Best Documentary Feature, as determined by the respective juries, were awarded $10,000, presented by Meadowood Napa Valley.
“I was most impressed by the array of topics and compelling and courageous film subjects included in this year’s festival,” said juror Amy Shatsky, Series Producer of PBS’s Independent Lens. Juror Alexandre Philippe, filmmaker and creative director of Exhibit A Pictures, also said, “Having served on multiple juries throughout the world, serving on the documentary jury at NVFF was unequivocally one of the most pleasant and enriching experiences of my year.”
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TOMORROW, TRANSMILITARY, GENERAL MAGIC Win Awards at 2018 Napa Valley Film Festival
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Tomorrow[/caption]
The 8th Annual Napa Valley Film Festival (NVFF) announced this year’s juried and audience award winners at the Uptown Theatre in Napa on Saturday, November 10, 2018.
The festival also announced that the next edition will take place from November 13 to 17, 2019.
Each of the festival winners received a large format wine bottle from one of the festival’s esteemed Vintner Circle winery partners. The two winners of the 18 films that vied for the title of Best Narrative Feature and Best Documentary Feature, as determined by the respective juries, were awarded $10,000, presented by Meadowood Napa Valley.
“I was most impressed by the array of topics and compelling and courageous film subjects included in this year’s festival,” said juror Amy Shatsky, Series Producer of PBS’s Independent Lens. Juror Alexandre Philippe, filmmaker and creative director of Exhibit A Pictures, also said, “Having served on multiple juries throughout the world, serving on the documentary jury at NVFF was unequivocally one of the most pleasant and enriching experiences of my year.”
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Watch an EXCLUSIVE Clip from CHINA LOVE on Chinese Ritual of Pre-Wedding Photography
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China Love. At Only Photo Studio just out of Shanghai. This is a “go-to” pre wedding photography studio with 3 floors of ‘old world’ romantic and fantasy sets. July 2015[/caption]
Just for you our readers, an exclusive clip from China Love directed by Olivia Martin-McGuire premiering in the U.S. on November 9, 2018 at 2018 DOC NYC.
China Love takes us on a billion-dollar ride of fantasy exploring contemporary China through the window of the pre-wedding photography industry. The film is a feature length observational documentary which follows Chinese and Australian participants as they navigate love, weddings and family in the lead up to the most important ritual of Chinese society – getting married.
China Love is directed and produced by Olivia Martin-McGuire, produced by Rebecca Barry and Madeleine Hetherton, and features documentary subject Allen Shi the owner of the Jihao Group.
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Austin Film Festival Announces 2018 Winners, THE INTERPRETERS Wins Hiscox Courage Award
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The Interpreters[/caption]
Austin Film Festival (AFF) announced its 2018 Jury Award winners, Hiscox Audience and Courage Award Winners, and the Screenplay Competition winners.
One film was selected to receive the Hiscox Courage Award. Voted on by the audience, the Hiscox Courage Award is presented to the film that best embodies the virtue of courage and to the filmmaker who best embraced the risk to share the story. The 2018 Hiscox Courage Award was awarded to The Interpreters, directed by Andres Caballero and Sofian Khan. The Interpreters is a documentary feature that follows local interpreters from Iraq and Afghanistan who worked with US forces and are now trying to rebuild their lives.
2018 Austin Film Festival Jury Award Winners
Narrative Feature: Clara, written by Akash Sherman and James Ewasiuk Documentary Feature: The Interpreters, directed by Andres Caballero and Sofian Khan Comedy Vanguard Feature: In Reality, written by Ann Lupo, Esteban Pedraza, and Aaron Pryka Dark Matters Feature: Ghost Light, written by Geoffrey Taylor and John Stimpson Narrative Short presented by ShortsTV: Judas Collar, written by Alison James Narrative Student Short: Woman in Stall, written by Josh Boles Documentary Short: Father K, directed by Judd Ehrlich Animated Short: Sister, written by Siqi Song Scripted Digital Series presented by Stage 13: Song in the Sky, created by Samuel Frederich2018 Austin Film Festival Hiscox Audience Award Winners
Narrative Feature: Above the Clouds, written by Simon Lord Documentary Feature: Care to Laugh, directed by Julie Getz Dark Matters Feature: Alive, written by Jules Vincent and Chuck McCue Comedy Vanguard Feature: In Reality, written by Ann Lupo, Esteban Pedraza, and Aaron Pryka Texas Independent Feature: The Iron Orchard, written by Gerry De Leon and Ty Roberts Narrative Short: Everything Mattress, written by Chase Joliet Documentary Short: Father K, directed by Judd Ehrlich Animated Short: Lost & Found, written by Bradley Slabe Narrative Student Short: Tiny Warriors, written by Jono Chanin Scripted Digital Series: The Gary Gold Story, created by Greg Ash Marquee Feature: Green Book, written by Nick Vallelonga, Brian Hayes Currie, and Peter Farrelly2018 Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition Winners
Drama Screenplay Award presented by the Writers Guild of America, East: Horsehead Girls by Wenonah Wilms Comedy Screenplay Award presented by Sony Pictures Animation: Sex APPeal by Tate Elizabeth Hanyok Sci-Fi Screenplay Award: Our Own Devices by Paul Vance Enderby Entertainment Award (scripts that can be produced under $10 million): Project Horizon by Charles Morris, II Horror Screenplay Award: The Patience of Vultures by Greg Sisco AMC Drama Teleplay Pilot Award: Worth by Stuti Malhotra Comedy Pilot Award: What Will Jessie Do? by Kevin Luperchio Short Screenplay Award: Ruby Throat by Sarah Polhaus Scripted Digital Series Award presented by Stage 13: Epizootic by Dan Young Drama Teleplay Spec Award: The Handmaid’s Tale, “Rebels” by Angela Jorgensen Comedy Teleplay Spec Award: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, “Kimmy Volunteers!” by Maggie Gottlieb Playwriting Award: Particular Disposition by Benjamin Fulk Fiction Podcast Award: The Rest Stop at the End of the Universe by Samuel Suksiri2018 Austin Film Festival Josephson Entertainment Screenwriting Fellowship Winners
In addition, producer Barry Josephson announced the selected fellows for the inaugural Josephson Entertainment Screenwriting Fellowship, which will provide a one-on-one mentorship with Josephson and his team in Los Angeles for the writers of one feature screenplay and one teleplay pilot. The winners were: Feature Screenplay: The Death of Colm Canter by Revati Dhomse & Hector Lowe Teleplay Pilot: Lifers Anonymous by Sean Collins-Smith
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GREEN BOOK, FREE SOLO, RELAXER, AMÉRICA Win at 2018 Virginia Film Festival
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L to R: Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali in GREEN BOOK[/caption]
After showcasing an impressive lineup of nearly 200 films, the audience attending the 31st Annual Virginia Film Festival voted Peter Farrelly’s Green Book winner of the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature, and National Geographic’s Free Solo won for Best Documentary Feature. Relaxer won the 2018 Programmer’s Awards for Best Narrative Feature, and América won for Best Documentary Feature.
The Virginia Film Festival also presented its first-ever Commonwealth Awards to honor their achievements of Virginia filmmakers. The inaugural Commonwealth Award winners were Fiddlin’, for Best Virginia Feature Film, and Werowocomoco, for Best Virginia Short Film.
2018 Virginia Film Festival Audience Awards
Narrative Feature: Green Book Documentary Feature: Free Solo Narrative Short: Are You Volleyball?! Documentary Short: Unstuck: An OCD Kids Movie2018 Virginia Film Festival Programmer’s Awards
Narrative Feature: Relaxer Documentary Feature: América Narrative Short: Lamb Documentary Short: Like Dolls, I’ll Rise
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MY NAME IS MYEISHA Wins Best Film at 2018 Ithaca Fantastik
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My Name is Myeisha[/caption]
The Ithaca Fantastik film festival wrapped up the 7th edition of genre programming, documentaries, events last Sunday, and awarded the top prize of Best Film to MY NAME IS MYEISHA, directed by Gus Krieger.
The 2018 edition of the festival hosted films from 19 different countries and welcomed guests such as STARFISH director A.T. White; GIRLS WITH BALLS actress Anne-Solenne Hatte; Perry Blackshear, director of THE RUSALKA; BOILED ANGELS director Frank Henenlotter, producer Mike Hunchback and criminal indie comic book artist and subject of the film Mike Diana; and CAM actor Patch Darragh. The festival also hosted the very first DRUNKEN CINEMA projection in the US where spectators were invited to participate to an informal drinking game involving secret rules while watching an 80’s classic genre film.
This year, the jury was composed of Yellow Veil Pictures co-owner Joe Yanick, programmer and producer Vanessa Meyer and the Archive co-owner and Vinegar Syndrome lead restoration artist Brandon Upson.
2018 Ithaca Fantastik Film Festival Award Winners
Best Film: MY NAME IS MYEISHA, dir. Gus Krieger Best Screenplay: DOG, Samuel Benchetrit and Gábor Rassov Best Achievement in Directing: Gus Krieger, MY NAME IS MYEISHA Special Mention directing: Yann Gonzalez, KNIFE + HEARTShort Films
Best Horror Short: MILK dir. Santiago Menghini Best WTF! Short: MOTHER FUCKER dir. Nicholas Payne, who was in attendance at the festival. Best comedy Short: FETISH, dirs. David Lee Hess and Richard H. PerryNecessary Voices Short Films
The Necessary Voices shorts section was created this year to uplift the voices of filmmakers and narratives that often aren’t lifted. This year’s Necessary Voices honorable mentions are as follows : DEATH METAL GRANDMA, dir. Leah Galant, EVERY GHOST HAS AN ORCHESTRA, dir. Shayna Connely TiCK, dir. Ashlea Wessel THOSE WHO CAN DIE, dir. Charlotte Cayeux SWEET DECEIT, dir. Shannon Jones ENTROPIA, dir. Marinah Janello BFF GIRLS, dir. Brian LonanoAudience Awards
Cinema Pur Audience Award: KEEP AN EYE OUT, dir. Quentin Dupieux International Competition Audience Award: MY NAME IS MYEISHA, dir. Gus Krieger Short Audience Award: FETISH, dirs. David Lee Hess and Richard H. Perry
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Watch Spine-Tingling Electrifying Trailer for CAM, Set in World of Webcam Porn
Netflix today released the new trailer for the psychological cyberworld thriller CAM starring Madeline Brewer, set in the world of webcam porn.
It follows Alice (Brewer), an ambitious camgirl, who wakes up one day to discover she’s been replaced on her show with an exact replica of herself. As this copy begins to push the boundaries of Alice’s internet identity, the control that Alice has over her life, and the men in it, vanishes. While she struggles to regain what she’s lost, she slowly finds herself drawn back to her show and to the mysterious person who has taken her place.
Daniel Goldhaber directed the pic, which was co-financed by Blumhouse Productions and Gunpowder & Sky and produced by Divide/Conquer. Goldhaber also co-wrote the story with Isabelle Link-Levy and Isa Mazzei, who penned the script from her experience as an ex-camgirl, making CAM a rare film about sex work openly written by a sex worker. Link-Levy, Adam Hendricks, John Lang, Greg Gilreath produced.
CAM premiered at this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal and stars Madeline Brewer (“The Handmaid’s Tale”), Patch Darragh (“The First Purge”), Melora Walters (“Venom”), and Devin Druid (“13 Reasons Why”). The film took home the best first feature and best screenplay awards from Fantasia and recently won best actress, a special jury prize for production design, and the audience award at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN8xZ5WDonk
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Miami Film Festival to Host Fashion in Film Program for 2019 Festival
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Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco[/caption]
Miami Design District (MDD) will partner with Miami Dade College (MDC) to present the acclaimed Fashion in Film Festival in the Miami Design District as part of the upcoming 36th edition of Miami Film Festival, March 1 to 10, 2019. The Fashion in Film Festival will be curated by Marketa Uhlirova, University of the Arts London, Central Saint Martins.
“Cinema at its best takes us to places of wonder, and for our next edition Miami Film Festival will take cinema to a new place of wonder: the Miami Design District, one of Miami’s coolest neighborhoods,” said Miami Film Festival executive director Jaie Laplante. “We are thrilled to be expanding the 36th edition of the Festival into this oasis for culture, art, food, fashion, and film.”
“Every year Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival puts on an extraordinary and surprising program. This year, the Miami Design District is honored to co-present and host the Fashion in Film Festival through this collaboration and partnership with the Miami Film Festival and Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London. We are grateful to Cathy Leff for helping bring Fashion in Film to the District and this new and exciting partnership with the Miami Film Festival,” said Craig Robins, President & CEO of Dacra, the real estate development company behind the Miami Design District. “The District serves as a center for high fashion, luxury and design. It also is a vibrant cultural hub where creative and enriching programming comes to life that serves our community. I couldn’t think of a better place for Fashion in Film to take place. Get your tickets early.”
This special Miami edition of the London festival takes place during the final weekend of Miami Film Festival, March 8 to 10th.The program will consist of a specially curated program comprising screenings, performance, panel discussions, and chats that explore the intersection between fashion and cinema. The program will be presented at Nite Owl Theater and in Paradise Plaza, a popular convening place within the District.
“For Miami, I am interested in staging a speculative dialogue between cinema, fashion and art – as three areas of creative practice that are normally seen as separate – to consider different kinds of intersections and continuities among them. Looking at the entire history of cinema it is evident that fashion and dress have been among major concerns for filmmakers and artists working in the medium of moving image. There has been great interest in the rituals of dressing, undressing, and posing; in self-fashioning and physical transformation; in the decadently pleasurable qualities of decorative surfaces, in the poetry and uncanny tension between the organic and the artificial body – and that of disembodied clothes that assume a life of their own,” commented curator Marketa Uhlirova, co-founder and director of the annual London festival.
While the full line-up of Fashion in Film will be unveiled in late January, Uhlirova, Laplante, and Leff divulged details of the program’s opening event taking place on March 8th. In collaboration with London composer, music producer, and filmmaker Rollo Smallcombe, Uhlirova will present The Inferno Unseen, their own assemblage of rushes from the kinetically experimental visuals of Henri-George Clouzot’s The Inferno, starring Romy Schneider, one of the most tantalizing uncompleted projects in film history. Smallcombe will accompany the presentation with live music. A Festival party on the rooftop deck of Paradise Plaza will complete the evening.
Miami Design District and Miami Film Festival’s announcement was unveiled at a reception in one of the future venues for the program, Nite Owl Theater, and was accompanied by a screening of James Crump’s new fashion documentary Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex, Fashion & Disco, courtesy of Film Movement.
Miami Film Festival is the only major film festival produced and presented worldwide by a college or university. MDC is also home to the renowned Miami Fashion Institute which has also used film as a teaching tool with its popular film series.
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Roy Cohn Documentary, From Director Ivy Meeropol, To Debut on HBO in 2019
A documentary on infamous attorney Roy Cohn will debut on HBO in 2019, drawing on extensive, newly unearthed archival material to present the most revealing examination of him to date. Director Ivy Meeropol (“Indian Point,” HBO’s “Heir to an Execution”), granddaughter of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, spent much of her life feeling both repelled and fascinated by the man who prosecuted the Rosenbergs in what became known as the “atomic spies” case, obtaining their convictions in federal court and then insisting on their executions.
The untitled film features recently discovered audiotapes of candid discussions between Cohn and journalist Peter Manso, recorded at the height of Cohn’s career as a power broker in the rough and tumble world of New York City business and politics.
This vivid portrait focuses on family, friends, colleagues, employees and lovers, as well as those targeted by him – all of whom were profoundly affected by crossing paths with Cohn. The film focuses on key periods of his life, including his time in Provincetown, Mass., where he was considerably more open about his sexuality than in other settings, and where he shared a house with Manso and novelist Norman Mailer.
The documentary includes interviews with playwright Tony Kushner, whose Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning play “Angels in America” featured Cohn as a main character, and actor Nathan Lane, who starred in it as Cohn for nearly a year. Lane offers insights into how devastatingly dangerous the actual Roy Cohn was and how he wielded power through invective and innuendo.
Director Ivy Meeropol notes, “The time has come for audiences to understand a man who, while hiding so much of himself from the world, has had a profound influence on our society, even to this day. We are thrilled to partner with HBO Documentary Films to bring this remarkable story to life.”
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Glenn Close to Receive Icon Award for her Performance in THE WIFE at Palm Springs International Film Festival
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Glenn Close in The Wife[/caption]
Glenn Close will receive the Icon Award at the 30th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) for her performance in The Wife. The Festival runs January 3-14.
In The Wife, Joan Castleman (Glenn Close) has spent forty years sacrificing her own identity and dreams to support her charismatic husband Joe (Jonathan Pryce) and his stellar literary career. Ignoring infidelities and excuses made in the cause of his art, she has put up with his behavior with undiminished grace and humor. The foundations of their marriage have, however, been built upon a set of uneven compromises – and Joan has reached a turning point. On the eve of Joe’s Nobel Prize for Literature, Joan confronts the biggest sacrifice of her life and some long-buried secrets. Directed by Björn Runge from a screenplay by Jane Anderson, based on the best-selling book by Meg Wolitzer, The Wife stars Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce, Christian Slater, Max Irons, Harry Lloyd, Annie Starke and Elizabeth McGovern. The film is distributed by Sony Pictures Classics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d81IM0loH7o
“Glenn Close is a rare and enduring talent who has consistently brought challenging characters to life on film, television and stage for over four decades,” said Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “In her latest feature film, The Wife, she gives a tour-de-force performance as the perfect spouse, who relinquishes her own ambitions to propel her husband’s career. It is our honor to present the 2019 Icon Award to Glenn Close.”
Close, a six-time Academy Award nominee, made her feature debut in The World According to Garp, earning her first Oscar nomination. She was subsequently Oscar-nominated for The Big Chill, The Natural, Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons and Albert Nobbs, for which she was also co-screenwriter, producer and lyricist on the Golden-Globe nominated song, “Lay Your Head Down.” She stars with Jonathan Pryce in Jane Anderson’s film adaptation of Meg Wolitzer’s bestselling novel, The Wife, as well as in Jane Anderson’s play, The Mother of the Maid, currently on stage at New York’s Public Theater through December 23. Her theater credits include Love for Love, The Crucifer of Blood, Barnum (Tony nomination) and Tony Awards for her performances in The Real Thing, Death and the Maiden and Sunset Boulevard. Starting in 2007, Ms. Close headlined the legal thriller Damages for five seasons, winning two consecutive Best Actress Emmys. Her 12 Golden Globe nominations include a Best Actress Award for a television production of The Lion in Winter. Among her 12 Emmy nominations is a Best Actress Award for Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story (earning her a Peabody Award as executive producer).
Past recipients of the Icon Award include Willem Dafoe, Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall, Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep. In 2011, the Palm Springs International Film Festival gave Close the Career Achievement Award for her performance in Albert Nobbs.

COLD WAR by Pawel Pawlikowski[/caption]
The Polish drama
HAPPY AS LAZARRO[/caption]
HAPPY AS LAZZARO
LAZZARO FELICE
Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Alice Rohrwacher
PRODUCED BY Carlo Cresto-Dina, Tiziana Soudani, Alexandra Henochsberg, Grégory Gajos, Arthur Hallereau, Pierre-François Piet, Michel Merkt, Michael Weber & Viola Fügen
GRÄNS (BORDER) by Ali Abbasi[/caption]
Ali Abbasi, Isabella Eklöf & John Ajvide Lindqvist for BORDER
Matteo Garrone, Ugo Chiti & Massimo Gaudioso for DOGMAN
Gustav Möller & Emil Nygaard Albertsen for THE GUILTY
Pawel Pawlikowski for COLD WAR
Alice Rohrwacher for HAPPY AS LAZZARO
Beyond the Bolex[/caption]
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”
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