Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, announced nominations for the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards this morning. Anthony Mackie and Kate Beckinsale served as presenters. Nominees for Best Feature include 50/50, Beginners, Drive, Take Shelter, The Descendants and The Artist.Margin Call was selected to receive the annual Robert Altman Award, which is bestowed upon one film’s director, casting director and ense...
The Gotham Awards, one of the first events of the awards season, have announced the nominees for their 21st edition. The big winners were THE DESCENDANTS (Alexander Payne) and MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE (Sean Durkin), which each led the pack with three nominations each. Films nominated in the top category of Best Feature include THE TREE OF LIFE (Terrence Malick), THE DESCENDANTS (Alexander Payne), BEGINNERS (Mike Mills), TAKE SHELTER (Jeff Nichols) and MEEK’S CUTOFF (Kelly Reichardt). I...
The Gotham Awards, one of the first events of the awards season, have announced the nominees for their 21st edition. The big winners were THE DESCENDANTS (Alexander Payne) and MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE (Sean Durkin), which each led the pack with three nominations each. Films nominated in the top category of Best Feature include THE TREE OF LIFE (Terrence Malick), THE DESCENDANTS (Alexander Payne), BEGINNERS (Mike Mills), TAKE SHELTER (Jeff Nichols) and MEEK’S CUTOFF (Kelly Reichardt). In a sur...
Twenty years ago when Raindance founder Elliot Grove proposed the name for a festival he had in mind that would be devoted to indie films to take place in his adopted city of London, little did he realize how the organization would grow in the past two decades to become one of the pre-eminent festivals and filmmaker training programs on the continent. In a clear nod to the successful profile of the Sundance Film Festival (although with a specifically British nod to the drizzly UK weathe...
The 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival runs from June 16 - 26 .
Today the Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by the Los Angeles Times, announced the first round of official US and international selections. The 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival is produced by Film Independent — the non-profit arts organization that also produces the Spirit Awards — and will screen over 200 feature films, shorts, and music videos, representing more than 30 countries. Opening and Closing Night...
This is an overview of my 2011 Sundance experience
For Europeans, heading to a remote mining town now ski resort and festival headquarters in Park City, Utah, tucked away in the Wasatch mountains outside of Salt Lake City, it's no simple journey. It entails careful planning several months in advance, serious budgetary calculation to secure a bed in those expensive shared- condos, and blocking extra time to your return schedule as flipping time zones wrecks havoc with your metabolism a...
Winning an award at the Sundance Film Festival is no small accomplishment. The competition to just get into the Festival is fierce (150 films chosen out of over 2000 submissions.....ouch). However, winning the top prizes is still no assurance that the films will be widely seen or make any dent at the box office. Some years, the top prize winners have barely registered beyond the festival circuit. In others, such as last year's winner WINTER'S BONE, the win at Sundance led to an outs...
As the Sundance Film Festival enters its mid-way point and there is an obvious thinning in the ranks of both celebrities and professionals, here is a rundown of some of the buzz, information and deals that are making noise in Park City this week.
FILMMAKER MAGAZINE OFFERS NO GLITZ SUNDANCE COVERAGE
If you believed what you read in most newspapers and see on television entertainment magazines, Sundance seems to exist merely as a playground for fabulous celebrities where they...
For American Independent filmmakers (and increasingly, international ones too), the Sundance Film Festival is an opportunity to put one's project on the world stage and, hopefully, end up with a delicious distribution deal. Of course, truth be told, less than 5% of the 250 films on offer here will create any sort of noise after the Festival concludes (well, push that up to 10% if you include the films that will eventually be asked to participate on the international film festival circ...
By Maria Esteves – January 6, 2011
The 20th Sundance Film Festival 2011 (SFF2011) held in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance, Utah, commence January 20-30, 2011. The festival supported by the nonprofit Sundance Institute, founded by Robert Redford annually presents highly acclaimed independent cinema from American and International filmmakers.
This year’s festival celebrates its 20th anniversary by showcasing over 100 American and international films in and out of comp...
Sundance Institute announced today the lineup of films selected to screen in the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to the four Competition Categories, the Festival presents films in six out-of-competition sections to be announced on December 2. The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs January 20-30 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.
On Day One, the Festival will forego the convention of one opening ni...
Tuesday, September 4---------The Toronto International Film Festival doesn't officially open for another 48 hours, but already a hurricane of film talents, industryites, press and film buffs are descending onto the Ontario metropolis with a torrent that is almost audible. Coming in from Los Angeles, New York and the four corners of the globe, including the just concluded Montreal World Film Festival, and the still continuing Venice Film Festival......all eyes are on "the gateway to North...
The Toronto International Film Festival doesn't officially open for another 48 hours, but already a hurricane of film talents, industryites, press and film buffs are descending onto the Ontario metropolis with a torrent that is almost audible. Coming in from Los Angeles, New York and the four corners of the globe, including the just concluded Montreal World Film Festival, and the still continuing Venice Film Festival......all eyes are on "the gateway to North America" as the frenzy, fun and fero...
The Deauville Film Festival has announced the lineup for its 33rd edition, which takes place Aug. 31- Sept. 9.The Festival focuses on American films and will screen some 64 features, including world premieres of Sidney Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" and Ben Affleck's "Gone, Baby, Gone."PREMIERE"1408" - Mikael Hafstrom“All The Boys Love Mandy Lane” - Jonathan Levine“Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead” - Sidney Lumet"Bonneville - Christopher N. Rowley“Death at a Funeral...
Saturday, January 27----A series of "last minute" deals were announced in the past 24 hours that have made this Sundance a very positive one for film buyers and sellers. While there will undoubtedly be more announcements in the coming days, these acquisition pick-ups underscores the Festival's growing importance as not only a treasure trove of American indies, but of international fare as well.
This was evident with the announcement that ENEMIES OF HAPPINESS, a Danish documentary by Eva Mulva...
Sundance Online Dailies Editor Sandy Mandelberger sat down with director Mike Cahill to discuss KING OF CALIFORNIA: one of the more anticipated big-name films that has its world premiere later this week in Sundance, a comedy drama about the often flinty relationship between a father and a daughter. The film stars Michael Douglas in one of the quirkiest performances of his long career, and Evan Rachel Wood, a fast rising star who made her mark a few years ago with the Sundance sleeper THIREEN (di...
Sunday, January 21----One of the more anticipated big-name films that has its world premiere later this week is KING OF CALIFORNIA, a comedy drama about the often flinty relationship between a father and a daughter. The film stars Michael Douglas in one of the quirkiest performances of his long career, and Evan Rachel Wood, a fast rising star who made her mark a few years ago with the Sundance sleeper THIREEN (directed by Catherine Hardwicke, who is serving as a juror this year).
KING OF C...
Tuesday, January 9----Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas takes on one of the quirkiest roles of his long career in the highly anticipated KING OF CALIFORNIA, which screens in the Sundance Film Festival's prestigious Premieres Section. The film is the directorial debut of writer/director Mike Cahill.
Joining Douglas (who won a Best Actor Oscar for his 1980s "greed is good" zeitgeist performance as an amoral stock trader in Oliver Stone's WALL STREET) is rising star Evan Rachel Wood. The accla...