Lloyd Kaufman, President of Troma and creator of The Toxic Avenger, will deliver a keynote address at  the 'Packaged Media and Beyond' conference at The Wynn in Las Vegas on April 20, 2012. Kaufman will also appear at the Las Vegas screening of Father's Day that evening at Theatre 7.   Kaufman's keynote address opens the second day of the two-day conference - sponsored by the Media-...

By Maria Esteves – February 15, 2012 The 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards hosted by two-time GRAMMY winner LL COOL J was held at STAPLES Center, Los Angeles, California, Sunday, February 12, 2012, 8:00pm ET. Presented by The Recording Academy, produced by John Cossette Productions and AEG Ehrlich Ventures, GRAMMY Awards honored musical excellence in the recording arts and sciences to artists and technical professionals of 2011. This year’s GRAMMY sponsors were Delta Air Lines, Dial Global Radio,...

By Maria Esteves – January 14, 2012 The 54th Annual Grammy Awards Nominations were announced by The Recording Academy on Friday, November 30, 2011. It is the year that marks a profound presence in the genre of electronic and dance music. Electronic dance music producer Skrillex (Sonny John Moore) received five Grammy nominations including Best New Artist. 14-time Grammy winner producer/singer Kanye West received seven Grammy nominations including Song of the Year. Adele, Bruno Mars, and Foo...

By Maria Esteves – March 12, 2011 The 26th Annual 2011 International Dance Music Awards (IDMA) presented by the Winter Music Conference; hosted by chief executive officer/founder Daniel Glass, Glassnote Records, with Naughty Natalia de la Cruz was held at Dolce, Miami Beach, FL, Thursday, March 10, 2011. IDMA annually acknowledges exceptional achievements and innovation in the dance music industry worldwide (artists, DJs, producers, promoters, remixers, record labels, radio shows, podca...

BAFTA, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, has announced its "longlists", a rather quaint annual exercise that reduces the number of potential candidates for BAFTA Awards to 15. At the moment, in one of the key races of the awards season, the historical epic THE KING'S SPEECH and the ballet-goes-mad BLACK SWAN are tied for most mentions (to be translated in a few weeks time to most nominations). Not far behind are the films INCEPTION and THE SOCIAL NETWORK. The Leading Actor candi...

  Rob Marshall's Nine (2009) appears to be one of those movies that people walk away from either loving or hating. When I saw it in Palm Springs with Rob Marhsall on panel, I took the opportunity to pose him some of my curious questions regarding his follow up to one of my favorite films ever, Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 (1963). When Rob entered the room he stood back and regarded the panel chairs in the right corner of the room and shook his head, dissatisfied. He picked up...

Summer is coming to Tallinn next week.....well not exactly the balmy weather of July and August, but a film that brings with it the sultriness of that special season. The American indie hit (500) DAYS OF SUMMER opens the 13th edition of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, the biggest film festival event in Eastern Europe, on November 26. The festival, which will unspool nearly 250 films in Estonia's capital city, is a true feast for adventurous cinema lovers. One of the big American indie hi...

  Summer is coming to Tallinn next week.....well not exactly the balmy weather of July and August, but a film that brings with it the sultriness of that special season. The American indie hit (500) DAYS OF SUMMER opens the 13th edition of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, the biggest film festival event in Eastern Europe, on November 26. The festival, which will unspool nearly 250 films in Estonia's capital city, is a true feast for adventurous cinema lovers. One of the bi...

Penélope Cruz will be presented with a Gotham Award Tribute at the 18th Annual Gotham Awards™ on Tuesday, December 2nd in New York. Presented by IFP, the nation's oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers, The Gotham Awards™ is one of the leading awards for independent film and the first major honors of the film awards season. The awards provide critical early recognition to worthy independent films, such as past winners JUNO (2007), HALF NELSON (2006), JUNEBUG (2005), all o...