AFI announced the 2021 honorees – 10 outstanding films and 10 outstanding TV programs deemed culturally and artistically representative of this year’s most significant achievements in the art of the moving image. Belfast and Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) were honored in a category for “Special Awards,” designated for works of excellence that fall outside of the Institute’s criteria of American film and television.
Henry Vallejo’s film Powerful Chief (Manco Cápac) is Peru’s official Oscar entry for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards taking place on March 27, 2022 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Film Festival will open with the world premiere of Everything Everywhere All At Once at the upcoming 29th edition, on March 11, 2022 in Austin, Texas. Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels, the film is a hilarious and big-hearted sci-fi action adventure about an exhausted Chinese American woman (Michelle Yeoh) who can’t seem to finish her taxes.
IFC Films will release Justin Kurzel’s award winning film Nitram (True History of the Kelly Gang, Snowtown Murders Macbeth) which premiered in competition at the 2021 Cannes International Film Festival to outstanding critical reception.
The Harder They Fall directed by Jeymes Samuel and starring Idris Elba, Jonathan Majors, Regina King, Zazie Beetz along with LaKeith Stanfield lead the African American Film Critics Association’s annual list of the top 10 films of the year. Other films on the list include King Richard, Respect, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Passing and Belfast.
The 33rd annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will open with the screening of Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over, directed by Dave Wooley and David Heilbroner, on Friday, January 7, with both directors and Dionne Warwick in attendance. The festival will close with The Duke, directed by the late filmmaker Roger Michell on Sunday, January 16. The festival will screen 129 films from 70 countries, including 32 premieres (4 World, 7 North American, 2 International and 19 U.S.) from January 6-17, 2022. The line-up includes Talking Pictures, International Feature Film Oscar® Submissions, New Voices New Visions, Modern Masters, Queer Cinema, Cine Latino, True Stories, World Cinema Now, and more.
A&E Network’s documentary series event “Secrets of Playboy” explores the hidden realities behind the fable and philosophy of the Playboy empire through today’s lens. Four years after Hefner’s death, insiders, colleagues, executives, Playmates and employees from all levels of the brand share the full story of what life within the Playboy world was truly like. Across ten hours, the series delves into the complex world Hugh Hefner created and examines its far-reaching consequences on our culture’s view of power and sexuality.
The Overlook Film Festival, showcasing exciting work in new and classic genre cinema, live events, and its trademark interactive activities returns to New Orleans, June 2 through June 5, 2022.
The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) announced their top honorees for 2021 with Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast” winning Best Film and Best Original Screenplay. The semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama from filmmaker centers on a nine-year-old boy and his family during the troubles in 1969 Northern Ireland.
Outsider Pictures will release in U.S. theaters, Bob Spit – We Do Not Like People (Bob Cuspe – Nós Não Gostamos de Gente), the stop-motion animation directed by Cesar Cabral that ingeniously mixes documentary, comedy and road-movie. Winner of the Best Feature Award in the Contrechamp competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and the Grand Prize for Animated Feature at the Ottawa International Animation Festival, the Brazilian film opens on Wednesday, December 15 at the Laemmle NoHo 7 in Los Angeles.
Joe Wright’s Cyrano was named Best Picture of 2021 by the Detroit Film Critics Society along with Best Actor for Peter Dinklage. Best Actress honors went to Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye. In other categories, Flee and Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) tied for Best Documentary.
Licorice Pizza, a coming-of-age drama set in the San Fernando Valley of the Seventies from Paul Thomas Anderson, was named Best Picture of 2021 by Atlanta Film Critics Circle.