Monthly Archives: February 2022

television

FELIX & PAUL STUDIOS, IN ASSOCIATION WITH TIME STUDIOS, LAUNCH “SPACEWALKERS” WITH META QUEST

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

FELIX & PAUL STUDIOS, IN ASSOCIATION WITH TIME STUDIOS, LAUNCH THE SPECIAL FEATURE “SPACEWALKERS” EXCLUSIVELY WITH META QUEST 

 

Witness The World’s First Spacewalk Captured in Cinematic VR on Meta Quest’s  VR Headsets

 

Spacewalkers

 

WHAT: SPACEWALKERS, part of Space Explorers: The ISS Experience, is the latest special feature from Felix & Paul Studios. Accessible only on Meta Quest VR headsets, witness the world’s first-ever spacewalk captured in cinematic VR outside the International Space Station.

 

SPACEWALKERS SYNOPSIS: In spring 2021, Felix & Paul Studios sent the first-ever cinematic virtual reality camera designed to operate in the vacuum of space to the International Space Station. The result is a spectacular, fully immersive, 10-minute experience that will allow you to witness the world’s first spacewalk as if you were actually there. The images were captured in low Earth orbit over several days using specialized 3D, 360-degree Space Cameras. Catch this feature and more Emmy Award-winning experiences in the Space Explorers app on Meta Quest.

 

WHEN: March 1, 2021 at 12:00 AM PST / 3:00 AM EST In Horizon Venues

 

ACCESS: There are two ways to experience this content in fully-immersive virtual reality (VR) Meta Quest and Quest 2 headsets for free:

  • Oculus TV: Experience this content in high-quality 3D, 360° on Oculus TV HERE.
  • Horizon Venues app: You can also view the content on Horizon Venues HERE as part of its “Always On” Programming from March 1 at 12:00 AM PST to March 31 at 11:59 PM PST.

 

About Space Explorers: The ISS Experience

The largest production ever filmed in space, Emmy Award-winning Space Explorers: The ISS Experience is an epic immersive series that invites you to join eight astronauts on life-changing missions aboard the International Space Station. The series features NASA astronauts Anne McClain, Christina Koch, Jessica Meir, Andrew Morgan, Nick Hague and Victor Glover, CSA astronaut David Saint-Jacques, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano, and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi. Shot over two years using Felix & Paul Studios’ specialized 3D, 360-degree Space Cameras, and with exclusive access to the crew, the production produced over 200 hours of high-end virtual reality footage, and the first-ever visuals of the ISS, Planet Earth, and a spacewalk captured in high-end cinematic virtual reality. Get access to the astronauts’ full experience through moments of camaraderie, shared meals, and personal video logs. Behind the scenes, the footage is available at Time.com/Space.

 

About Felix & Paul Studios

Felix & Paul Studios is an EMMY® Award-winning creator of immersive entertainment experiences, creating unparalleled, highly engaging, presence-based experiences for the next generation of technology-enabled devices and venues. The studio’s catalog of over thirty 3D, 360-degree experiences exhibits the “industry’s best” in the new medium of immersive storytelling, including:

 

  • Originals: The Space Explorers series, Traveling While Black, MIYUBI, the Nomads series, Strangers with Patrick Watson:
  • Productions with notable franchises: Jurassic World, Cirque du Soleil, Fox Searchlight’s Wild and Isle of Dogs, and The Confessionals series with Just for Laughs starring Howie Mandel, Lilly Singh, Judd Apatow and Trevor Noah.
  • Collaborations with world-renowned leaders and performers: President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, LeBron James, President Bill Clinton, Eminem, Wes Anderson, Brie Larson, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray and many others.

 

The studio’s content is available for distribution in a range of immersive formats including 360-degree mobile on 5G-enabled smartphones, tablets, and headsets; 360-degree full-dome projection in domes and planetariums; fully-immersive VR on Meta Quest and other high-end virtual reality platforms; Giant Screen projection for science centers, space welcome centers and large-format cinemas; and the touring life-scale immersive exhibit, THE INFINITE, produced in partnership with PHI Studio. Felix & Paul Studios is the leading Space Media Company and the only media company recognized as an “Official Implementation Partner” by the ISS U.S. National Laboratory.

 

About TIME Studios

TIME Studios is the Emmy Award-winning television and film division of TIME, the global media brand that reaches a combined audience of more than 90 million around the world. Built on the foundation of TIME’s award-winning visual journalism, which has earned over 52 major awards and nominations in the last seven years, and achieved 577 million video streams across all platforms in 2019, Emmy-winning TIME Studios harnesses the access and authority of one of the world’s most trusted and respected brands to bring premium truth-based programming to television and film around the world while continuing to push the boundaries of journalism and visual storytelling through new cutting-edge mediums including virtual reality and augmented reality.

 

About Meta Quest

The Meta Quest team at Reality Labs lets people defy distance—connecting with each other and the world—through world-class VR hardware and software. The Meta Quest content team pursues the creation of best-in-class games, narrative experiences, and new VR use-cases like fitness, productivity, and travel. Meta Quest joins other teams at Reality Labs dedicated to cutting-edge research, computer vision, haptics, social interaction, and more. Reality Labs is committed to driving the state of the art forward through relentless innovation.

(Press release from Jesse Cohen)

#SBIFF, Film Festival, Santa Barbara International Film Festival

Free SBIFF Filmmaker Seminars!

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

 

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival is once again offering free filmmaker seminars. In previous years, the seminars were held behind the Lobero Theatre.

 

 

This year, however, the conversations will be held outside at Casa de la Guerra located at 15 East De La Guerra Street in downtown Santa Barbara.

The topics reflect films and highlights from the various sections and sidebars programmed for this year’s festival.

 

Topic – Diversity
Thursday, March 3 – 11:00 AM

Topic – Women Filmmakers
Friday, March 4 – 11:00 AM

Topic – Independent Filmmakers
Monday, March 7 – 11:00 AM

Topic – The Future of Theaters (In this Age of Streaming)
Tuesday, March 8 – 11:00 AM

Topic – International Filmmaking
Wednesday, March 9 – 11:00 AM

Topic – Documentary Activism
Thursday, March 10 – 11:00 AM

Topic – How to Make a Great Short
Friday, March 11 – 11:00 AM

 

About the Santa Barbara International Film Festival

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts and educational organization dedicated to discovering and showcasing the best in independent and international cinema. Over the past 36 years, SBIFF has become one of the leading film festivals in the United States – attracting 100,000+ attendees and offering 11 days of 200+ films including 100+ premieres representing over 60 countries, tributes, and panel discussions, fulfilling their mission to engage, enrich, and inspire the Santa Barbara community through film.

In 2016, SBIFF entered a new era with the acquisition of the historic and beloved Riviera Theatre. After a capital campaign and renovation, the theatre is now SBIFF’s new state-of-the-art, year-round home, showing new international and independent films every day. In 2019, SBIFF opened its own Education Center in downtown Santa Barbara on State Street to serve as a home for its many educational programs and a place for creativity and learning.

 

(Sourced from SBIFF.org)

 

Film Festival

“Citizen Penn” Wants Ukraine Supported Against Russia

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Hollywood actor and producer Sean Penn visits positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near the frontline with Russia-backed separatists in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Nov. 18, 2021. Sean Penn came to Ukraine to shoot a film.
(Ukrainian Joint Forces Operation Press Service via AP)

 

Hollywood film humanitarian (Citizen Penn), Sean Penn, is smack-dab in the middle of the most dangerous region on the planet, the battlefields of Ukraine. As the Russian military apparatus surrounded and consequently invaded its western-looking, democratic neighbor, Penn was working in Ukraine on a documentary exploring “the consequences of Russian agression” for Vice Studios when hostilities were happening.

 

In a publicly issued statement, Penn declared,

Sean Penn is visiting Ukraine for a new documentary for Vice Studios on the consequences of Russian aggression. (Photo @AP)

“Already a brutal mistake of lives taken and hearts broken, and If he doesn’t relent, I believe Mr. Putin will have made a most horrible mistake for all of humankind…President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people have risen as historic symbols of courage and principle. Ukraine is the tip of the spear for the democratic embrace of dreams. If we allow it to fight alone, our soul as America is lost.”

 

Often characterized and stereotyped by early-career exploits of consistently making news headlines for punching cameramen, his political viewpoints, and marrying the world’s most recognizable pop star of the time, Madonna, Penn has diligently changed his image through extensive efforts to aid assistance to his fellow ‘man’ in war-torn, disaster laden, disaffected countries beginning in 2002 with the war in Iraq, adding a herculean Haitian earthquake response effort, and more recently expanding the availability  COVID-19 vaccines to 1.3 million disadvantaged and low-income Los Angeleans through his CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort). CORE emanated from Penn and international aid worker, Ann Lee’s experiences in their Haitian relief and recovery efforts.

In today’s LATimes article, “Actor Sean Penn wants U.S. to help rescue Ukraine from Russian invasion,” journalist Meg James expounds upon Penn’s efforts to reach out to Ukraine. Ukrainian citizens and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lament the feelings of isolation as they fight for their freedom and the survival of their beloved Ukraine.

“America isn’t here. The European Union isn’t here,” a 24-year-old hotel employee in Kharkiv, Ukraine, named Alexander (he declined to give his last name)…So we’re fighting on our own.” Zelensky communicated that Ukraine needed more people like Penn and the true friends who support Ukraine’s struggle to maintain its freedom in the face of the Russian onslaught via a Facebook post, “Sean Penn demonstrates the courage that many others, including Western politicians, lack.

 

 

This afternoon, the German government announced a shipment of 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine “as quickly as possible.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a statement. “In this situation, it is our duty to help Ukraine, to the best of our ability, to defend itself against Vladimir Putin’s invading army.”

As reported in The Wrap, a recent petition by the Ukrainian government has called for producers, exhibitors, and world film festivals from screening and distributing Russian Federation cultural cinema and its distorted propaganda messaging. Russia has a long and storied cinema tradition of using the apparatus to further the ambitions of the federation. In recent years, several Russian films made their appearance at top world festivals.

 

 

#SBIFF, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, SBIFF Virtuosos

SBIFF Adds Ciarán Hinds as honoree for Virtuosos Award

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

CIARÁN HINDS TO BE HONORED WITH SBIFF’S VIRTUOSOS AWARD

 

Ciarán Hinds

 

Tonight, Saturday, March 5th, 8 PM, at the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara, Calif., Ciarán Hinds will be honored with the Virtuosos Award presented by UGG at the 37th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival. He will be joining fellow honorees Caitriona Balfe (Belfast), Ariana DeBose (West Side Story), Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza), Jamie Dornan (BELFAST) Emilia Jones (CODA), Troy Kotsur (CODA), Simon Rex (Red Rocket), and Saniyya Sidney (King Richard) at an in-person conversation about their respective films and Hinds Oscar-nominated performance in Kenneth Branagh’s BELFAST from Focus Features.

The Virtuosos Award is an honor created to recognize a select group of talent whose noteworthy performances in film have elevated them into the national cinematic dialogue. The evening will be moderated for the 12th year by Dave Karger, Turner Classic Movies host.

Last year’s Virtuosos included Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal), Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm), Kingsley Ben-Adir (One Night in Miami), Andra Day (The United States vs. Billie Holiday), Sidney Flanigan (Never Rarely Sometimes Always), Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman), Tahar Rahim (The Mauritanian), and Zendaya (Malcolm & Marie).

 

The 37th Santa Barbara International Film Festival, presented by UGG®, will take place in IN-PERSON from March 2 through March 12, 2022. 200+ films, filmmaker Q&As, industry panels, and celebrity tributes, will be held throughout Santa Barbara, including at the historic Arlington Theatre. This year’s lineup is available on SBIFF’s mobile app. For additional information or to buy passes, visit sbiff.org.

 

About the Santa Barbara International Film Festival

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts and educational organization dedicated to discovering and showcasing the best in independent and international cinema. Over the past 36 years, SBIFF has become one of the leading film festivals in the United States – attracting 100,000+ attendees and offering 11 days of 200+ films including 100+ premieres representing over 60 countries, tributes, and panel discussions, fulfilling their mission to engage, enrich, and inspire the Santa Barbara community through film.

In 2016, SBIFF entered a new era with the acquisition of the historic and beloved Riviera Theatre. After a capital campaign and renovation, the theatre is now SBIFF’s new state-of-the-art, year-round home, showing new international and independent films every day. In 2019, SBIFF opened its own Education Center in downtown Santa Barbara on State Street to serve as a home for its many educational programs and a place for creativity and learning.

 

(Sourced from SBIFF News)

 

 

television

SBIFF Announces Outstanding Directors and all Panelists!

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORS OF THE YEAR AWARD

 

 

Paul Thomas Anderson (LICORICE PIZZA), Kenneth Branagh (BELFAST), Jane Campion (THE POWER OF THE DOG), Ryusuke Hamaguchi (DRIVE MY CAR), and Steven Spielberg (WEST SIDE STORY) will receive the 2022 Outstanding Directors of the Year Award sponsored by The Hollywood Reporter at an in-person conversation about their respective films. Following one on one conversations, all the honorees will join in a panel discussion. The event will take place on Thursday, March 3rd at the historic Arlington Theatre, and will be moderated by Scott Feinberg.

 

SBIFF’s Executive Director Roger Durling (Cr, Clint Weisman Studio)

“The heart and soul of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival has always been the camaraderie and conversation emanating from its panels. After two years of virtual dialogues, it will definitely be thrilling and exhilarating to be in a room listening live to all of this incredible talent,” remarked SBIFF’s Executive Director Roger Durling.

 

 

The Writers Panel will be in-person Saturday, March 5 @ 11:00 am, moderated by Anne Thompson. Panelists include:

 

Kenneth Branagh (BELFAST)
Siân Heder (CODA)
Adam McKay (DON’T LOOK UP)
Denis Villeneuve (DUNE)
Zach Baylin (KING RICHARD)
Maggie Gyllenhaal (THE LOST DAUGHTER)
Jane Campion (THE POWER OF THE DOG)
Eskil Vogt (THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD)

 

The Producers Panel will be in-person Saturday, March 5 @ 2:00 pm, moderated by Glenn Whipp. Panelists include all ten Best Picture Oscar-nominees:

 

Lauar Berwick (BELFAST)
Patrick Wachsberger (CODA)
Kevin Messick (DON’T LOOK UP)
Teruhisa Yamamoto (DRIVE MY CAR)
Mary Parent (DUNE)
Tim White (KING RICHARD)
Sara Murphy (LICORICE PIZZA)
J. Miles Dale (NIGHTMARE ALLEY)
Tanya Seghatchian (THE POWER OF THE DOG)
Rita Moreno (WEST SIDE STORY)

 

The inaugural Animation Panel will be an in-person Sunday, March 6 @ 11:00 am, moderated by Roger Durling and admission is FREE. Panelists include:

 

Charise Castro Smith – Co-Writer/Co-Director (ENCANTO)
Charlotte De Le Gournerie – Producer (FLEE)
Enrico Casarosa – Co-Writer/Director (LUCA)
Mike Rianda – Co-Writer/Co-Director (THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES)
Don Hall – Co-Director (RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON)

 

The Women’s Panel will be in-person Saturday, March 12 @ 11:00 am, moderated by Madelyn Hammond. Panelists include:

 

Jessica Kingdom – Director (ASCENSION)
Lynn Harris – Producer (KING RICHARD)
Diane Warren – Composer Oscar-Nominated Original Song “Somehow You Do”
Amber Richards – production design (THE POWER OF THE DOG)
Elizabeth Mirzaei – Director – Oscar-Nominated Short (THREE SONGS FOR BENAZIR)

 

 

The 37th Santa Barbara International Film Festival, presented by UGG®, will take place in IN-PERSON from March 2 through March 12, 2022. 200+ films, filmmaker Q&As, industry panels, and celebrity tributes, will be held throughout Santa Barbara, including at the historic Arlington Theatre. This year’s lineup is available on SBIFF’s mobile app. For additional information or to buy passes, visit sbiff.org.

 

About the Santa Barbara International Film Festival

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts and educational organization dedicated to discovering and showcasing the best in independent and international cinema. Over the past 36 years, SBIFF has become one of the leading film festivals in the United States – attracting 100,000+ attendees and offering 11 days of 200+ films including 100+ premieres representing over 60 countries, tributes, and panel discussions, fulfilling their mission to engage, enrich, and inspire the Santa Barbara community through film.

In 2016, SBIFF entered a new era with the acquisition of the historic and beloved Riviera Theatre. After a capital campaign and renovation, the theatre is now SBIFF’s new state-of-the-art, year-round home, showing new international and independent films every day. In 2019, SBIFF opened its own Education Center in downtown Santa Barbara on State Street to serve as a home for its many educational programs and a place for creativity and learning.

 

(Sourced from SBIFF News)

 

#Berlinale, Berlin International Film Festival, Film Festival

Berlin International Film Festival Issues Statement on the Situation in Ukraine

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Berlinale Statement on the Situation in Ukraine

 

“We – festival workers, artists, filmmakers … – think fondly of our friends in Ukraine and we are by their side in a call for peace.

One week ago, the Berlin International Film Festival was celebrating a complicated yet successful edition. Filmmakers, artists, and journalists from all over the world gathered in Berlin to enjoy a collective and joyful experience. The feeling of being together again, with no distinctions of nationality, religion, or culture, transported us in a way that film festivals can accomplish.

While these memories remain fresh, other images have broken into our lives, bringing a darker perspective. The world is on a verge of a huge crisis. As a showcase of the free world, the Berlinale has always put at its center the notion of freedom and the will to bridge East and West.

Throughout its history, the Berlin International Film Festival has had the opportunity to showcase films relating to Ukrainian history and culture in all sections of the festival, recently, this year’s Klondike by Maryna El Gorbach and Terykony by Taras Tomenko, Oleg Sentsov’s Numbers in 2020, back to the films of Kira Muratova and the early short films of Myroslav Slaboshpytsky, and many more.


Films cannot change society and the course of history, but they can help in changing the minds of people. Films are telling us that the world is already in a too precarious condition to add even more suffering and destruction.”

 

(Released by Berlinale Press Office)

#Berlinale, Berlin International Film Festival, Film Festival

Successful Berlinale Flying the Flag for Cinema

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Posted by Larry Gleeson


Successful Berlinale 2022: Flying the Flag for Cinema

 

On the last day of the festival, Berlinale director duo Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian bid farewell to the audience at the Cineplex Titania cinema © Sandra Weller / Berlinale 2022

 

The 72nd Berlin International Film Festival wrapped successfully with numerous audience screenings. On the last day of the festival, Berlinale director duo Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian bid farewell to the audience at the Cineplex Titania cinema (former Titania-Palast) – the very setting in which the festival was held for the first time in 1951.

Despite the ongoing pandemic, the Berlinale 2022 was able to take place as an in-person festival in compliance with a strict hygiene and security concept, and the organizers were delighted with the lively interest shown by the public and trade visitors. Due to the pandemic, only 50 percent of seats in the cinemas were occupied.  This stipulation was enthusiastically accepted and a total of 156,000 tickets were sold. The Berlinale also took to the spotlight as a media event.

 

Iris Berben featured on the Red Carpet and Big Screen at the 2022 Berlinale Opening Gala (Photo cr. Berlinale)

 

The 2022 festival took place in a different format: From February 10 to 16, film teams from abroad presented their films to the public and accredited audiences at the premieres.

On the evening of February 16, the festive Award Ceremony festive took place in the Berlinale Palast, culminating in the presentation of the Golden Bear to Alcarràs (director: Carla Simón). From February 17 to 20, the public had an opportunity to see the Berlinale films in repeat screenings during the “Publikumstage” (“audience days”).

 

Carlo Chatrian, left, and Mariette Rissenbeek

“The successful conclusion of the Berlinale 2022 gives us great pleasure and confidence for the future. Sharing a cultural experience is possible even in times of pandemic; indeed, it becomes especially important then. We intended to fly the flag for cinema with this year’s festival, and we were thrilled to receive so much support for this from audiences and filmmakers alike,” commented Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian.

 

While the festival was able to take place in person, the European Film Market (EFM), the Berlinale Co-Production Market, Berlinale Talents, and the WCF Day of the World Cinema Fund were realized primarily as online formats.

At the WCF Day on February 16, 2022, the panels and discussions focused on the development of funding and decolonization strategies. With its differentiated funding program, the World Cinema Fund has been working to promote cultural diversity, cooperation, sustainable development, and the promotion of cinema in regions with weak film infrastructures since 2004, and thus aims to contribute to the democratization of international filmmaking.

 

Check out the recording of WCF Day 2022!

 

In addition, 1,438 pre-arranged and specially planned individual meetings with interested co-producers and financiers took place at the Berlinale Co-Production Market for the feature film and series projects selected in 2022. Three cash prizes were awarded to new projects. The pitching events “Co-Pro Series” and “Books at Berlinale” as well as the talk formats were also very popular with the 574 participants. Alcarràs by Carla Simón was the second former Berlinale Co-Production Market project to win the Golden Bear. In 2019, the project had already won the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award.

The online edition of the European Film Market (EFM) of the 72nd Berlinale came to a successful conclusion on February 17 and Berlinale Talents also looked back on a successful 20th-anniversary edition.

The 73rd International Film Festival Berlin will take place from February 16 to 26, 2023.

 

(Press release provided by Berlinale Press Office)

television

ALL TOGETHER NOW: BACK TO THE BIG SCREEN

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

 

 

The TCM Classic Film Festival is back! With a run slated for April 21-24, 2022, the festival will kick off April 21st with a 40th Anniversary screening of Steven Spielberg’s classic E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial at the world-famous TCL Chinese Theatre. This year’s edition is centered around the theme, “All Together Now: Back To The Big Screen.”

 

Lily Tomlin

 

In addition, comedian Lily Tomlin will be honored with a hand and footprint ceremony in the courtyard of the world-famous TCL Chinese Theatre Imax® in Hollywood and Leonard Maltin, one of the world’s most respected film critics and historians, is being honored with the third Robert Osborne Award, “recognizing an individual who has helped keep the cultural heritage of classic film alive for future generations.”

 

 

Rob Reiner, Meg Ryan, and Billy Crystal attend The 30th Anniversary Screening of ‘When Harry Met Sally’ at the 2019 10th Annual TCM Classic Film Festival (photo TCM Classic Film Festival)

 

TCM’s passion for classic movies has earned the respect of the world’s most admired directors, producers, writers, and actors. The TCM Classic Film Festival has attracted too many to name individually! Here is a sneak preview for this year:

 

ANNOUNCED 2022 SPECIAL GUESTS

 

KEVIN BACON – Actor
CRAIG BARRON – Visual Effects Artist
RICHARD BENJAMIN – Director, Actor
BEN BURTT – Sound Designer
TIM DALY – Actor
STEVE GUTTENBERG – Actor
LAWRENCE HILTON-JACOBS – Actor
KATHLEEN KENNEDY – Producer
LEONARD MALTIN – Film Critic and Historian
FRANK MARSHALL – Producer
MONT ALTO MOTION PICTURE ORCHESTRA
GARRETT MORRIS – Actor
PAUL REISER – Actor
MAGGIE RENZI – Producer, Actor
JOHN SAYLES – Director, Writer
MICHAEL SCHULTZ – Director
JANE SEYMOUR – Actor
STEVEN SPIELBERG – Director, Producer
MINK STOLE – Actor
LILY TOMLIN – Actor
GLYNN TURMAN – Actor
STEVEN WILLIAMS – Actor

 

Larry Gleeson, left, and starlet Angie Dickinson at the TCM Classic Film Festival’s MEET & GREET, at the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. (Photo courtesy of HollywoodGlee)

 

Reuniting with fellow fans, the movies, the memories, the stars, and the glamour –  it’s back live and in-person where it all began in Hollywood.  Come and be a part of the 2022 TCM Classic Film Festival, April 21-24! Information on passes is available HERE.

 

PASS HOLDER EXCLUSIVE: Club TCM

 

Exclusively for passholders*, Club TCM is a private locale in the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel where movie fans can gather to relax, meet new friends, and attend special presentations and events with many of our celebrity guests. Recreating the flavor of bygone Hollywood hotspots, Club TCM embodies true Hollywood glamour and is located in the Blossom Room—the site of the very first Academy Awards banquet.

 

ABOUT TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL

Held over four days in the heart of Hollywood, the TCM Classic Film Festival is a place where movie lovers from around the world can gather to experience classic movies as they were meant to be experienced: on the big screen, in some of the world’s most iconic venues, with the people who made them. Moreover, the TCM Classic Film Festival strives to be a place where a community of movie fans of all ages can share their love of classic movies with each other, make new friends and see films as they are seldom seen today.

 

#AFI, AFI Movie Club, American Film Institute

AFI Movie Club Selects DAVE For President’s Day

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

For President’s Day, the American Film Institute AFI Movie Club selected Dave, a political comedy/romance about a Presidential lookalike named Dave recruited by the Secret Service to become a stand-in for the President of the United States.

 

 

Dave stars Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Frank Langella, Kevin Dunn, Ving Rhames, Ben Kingsley, Charles Grodin, and is directed by the recently departed, Ivan Reitman. Check out the video on the iconic director (Animal House, Ghostbusters, Stripes) and his commentary on tone in his films!

 

 

Interestingly, Dave features a number of cameos by real-life politicians who were given the green light to improvise and deliver monologues on their respective ideologies. The pols donated all their earned wages from the film to charities.

 

 

Notable, writer Gary Ross was working as a speechwriter for then-presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, as he was penning the screenplay for Dave. Ross received an Academy Award nomination for his efforts – for his Dave screenplay!

Dave is available to stream on Hoopla, Amazon Prime, and Google Play.

#Berlinale, Berlin International Film Festival, Film Festival

Prizes of the International Jury of the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

The Prizes of the International Jury

The members of the 2022 International Jury, M. Night Shyamalan (President), Karim Aïnouz, Anne Zohra Berrached, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Connie Nielsen and Said Ben Saïd award the following prizes:

Golden Bear for Best Film
(awarded to the film’s producers)

 

Alcarras © LluisTudela

 

Alcarràs
by Carla Simón
produced by María Zamora, Stefan Schmitz, Tono Folguera, Sergi Moreno

 

María Zamora and Carla Simón

 

Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize

 

Kim Minhee, Lee Hyeyoung in Hong Sangsoo’s So-seol-ga-ui yeong-hwa © Jeonwonsa Film Co. Production

So-seol-ga-ui yeong-hwa (The Novelist’s Film)
by Hong Sangsoo

Silver Bear Jury Prize

 

Robe of Gems © Visit Films

 

Robe of Gems
by Natalia López Gallardo

 

Natalia López Gallardo

 

Silver Bear for Best Director

 

Vincent Lindon, Juliette Binoche in Avec amour et acharnement © Curiosa Films 2022

 

Claire Denis for
Avec amour et acharnement (Both Sides of the Blade)

 

Claire Denis

 

Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance

 

Alexander Scheer, Meltem Kaptan in Andreas Dresen’s Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush © Andreas Hoefer / Pandora Film

 

Meltem Kaptan in
Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush
by Andreas Dresen

 

Meltem Kaptan

 

Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance

 

Happy Salma, Laura Basuki in Nana | Before, Now & Then by Kamila Andini © Batara Goempar

 

Laura Basuki in
Nana
by Kamila Andini

 

Laura Basuki

 

Silver Bear for Best Screenplay

 

 

Laila Stieler for
Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush
by Andreas Dresen

 

Laila Stieler

 

Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution

 

Everything Will Be Ok by Rithy Panh

 

Rithy Panh and Sarit Mang for
Everything Will Be Ok
by Rithy Pan

 

Rithy Panh

 

Special Mention

 

© Armin Dierolf / hugofilm

Drii Winter
by Michael Koch

 

The 2022 International Jury

 

M. Night Shyamalan (Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0)

M. Night Shyamalan (South Asia / USA) – Jury President

Screenwriter, director, and producer M. Night Shyamalan has been captivating audiences worldwide with his genre films over the past three decades. His impressive filmmaking includes 14 feature films as a cinema director. His breakthrough, the 1999 psychological thriller The Sixth Sense starring Bruce Willis, was the second highest-grossing film of that year and received six Academy Award nominations. He then released a string of blockbusters with Unbreakable (2000), Signs (2002), and The Village (2004). The Visit (2015) was the most successful horror film of 2015. He could repeat this success with his next film Glass (2019). Shyamalan has also had an equally successful start in the TV sector in 2015 with the 10-episode event series Wayward Pines for FOX, based on the best-selling novels. Currently, Shyamalan serves as showrunner for the award-winning series Servant for Apple TV+. He has also directed several episodes of the series. His latest cinema film Old, which is based on the graphic novel “Sandcastle” was released internationally in cinemas in summer 2021. He is currently working on his next cinema film, Knock at the Cabin, which will be released in February 2023.

 

Karim Aïnouz

Karim Aïnouz (Brazil / Algeria)

Karim Aïnouz first studied architecture in Paris and Brasilia before doing a degree in film studies at New York University and gaining practical experience as an assistant director for Todd Haynes. His feature film debut Madame Satã premiered at Cannes in 2002, later O Céu de Suely (Love for Sale, 2006) and Viajo Porque Preciso, Volto Porque te Amo (I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You, 2009) screened in Venice. Aïnouz is also a regular guest at the Berlinale: in 2014, with Praia do Futuro (Futuro Beach) was shown in Competition; at the same time, Cathedrals of Culture ran in Berlinale Special, where he was one of six directors. His two documentaries Zentralflughafen THF (2018), awarded the Amnesty International Prize, and Nardjes A. (2020) were both shown in Panorama. His feature film A Vida Invisível (Invisible Life) won the main prize in Un Certain Regard section at Cannes in 2019, and two years later his autobiographical work O Marinheiro das Montanhas (Mariner of the Mountains) also screened at the Croisette.

Saïd Ben Saïd

Saïd Ben Saïd (France / Tunisia)

Saïd Ben Saïd is a French-Tunisian film producer, founder, and chairman of SBS Productions. His large output of 40 films includes films directed by Paul Verhoeven, David Cronenberg, Roman Polanski, Brian De Palma, Nadav Lapid, Philippe Garrel, Walter Hill, Alain Corneau, Kleber Mendonça Filho, André Téchiné and Ira Sachs. Recent releases include David Cronenberg’s Maps to the Stars with Julianne Moore who won Best Actress in Cannes in 2014, Paul Verhoeven’s Elle which was awarded Best Foreign Picture at the 2017 Golden Globes, Nadav Lapid’s Synonyms which won the 2019 Golden Bear at the Berlinale and Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Bacurau which received the 2019 Jury Prize in Cannes. His latest production is Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta, which premiered in the Competition at Cannes 2021. In 2015, Ben Saïd founded his distribution company SBS Distribution and his international sales arm SBS International to service his own productions.

Anne Zohra Berrached

Anne Zohra Berrached (Germany)

Anne Zohra Berrached, born in Erfurt in 1982 as the daughter of a German and an Algerian, first studied social pedagogy and worked as a theatre pedagogue in London before turning to filmmaking. After her first own short documentary film Der Pausenclown (2009), she studied at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. Her first feature-length film Zwei Mütter (Two Mothers) was awarded the section prize in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino at the Berlinale in 2013, and three years later 24 Wochen (24 Weeks) ran for the Golden Bear in the Competition. The film was awarded the German Film Award in Silver and received the GUILDE Film Award. Berrached, who usually has professional actors act together with amateurs in her films and focuses on the greatest possible authenticity, presented her most recent film Die Welt wird eine andere sein (Copilot) in the section Panorama of the Berlinale in 2021. In addition to her cinema work, the filmmaker has directed three highly acclaimed Tatort episodes.

 

Tsitsi Dangarembga

Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe)

Zimbabwean filmmaker and writer Tsitsi Dangarembga studied at Cambridge and the University of Zimbabwe before coming to Berlin to study directing at the German Film and Television Academy. As a screenwriter or director, she has been involved in several of her home country’s cinematic milestones, including Neria (1991), Flame (1996), Everyone’s Child (1996) and I Want a Wedding Dress (2011). In 1992, she founded her own production company, Nyerai Films, and in 2003, the International Film Festival for Women in Harare, which also gave birth to the African Women Filmmakers’ Development Hub. She is also one of the co-founders of the Institute of Creative Arts for Progress in Africa (ICAPA) Trust. Dangarembga’s most recent novel “This Mournable Body”, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020, which belongs to a three-part series including “Nervous Conditions” (1988) and “The Book of Not” (2006). In 2021, she was awarded the “Friedenspreis des deutschen Buchhandels“ as well as the PEN Pinter Prize and the PEN International Award for Freedom of Expression.

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi @Berlinale

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Japan)

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s episodic film Gûzen to sôzô (Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy) premiered in the Competition at the Berlinale in 2021, where it won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize. In the same year, he also received the Best Screenplay Prize for an adaptation of Murakami’s Doiraibu mai kâ (Drive My Car), which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Hamaguchi’s graduation film Passion from the Tokyo University of the Arts was screened at the San Sebastián Film Festival in 2008. This was followed by the feature film The Depths and the documentary Tōhoku Trilogy (Nami no oto (Sound of the Waves), Nami no koe (Voices from the Waves), Storytellers), which he directed together with Ko Sakai between 2011 and 2013. His international breakthrough came in 2015 with Happî awâ (Happy Hour), which celebrated its world premiere in Locarno. Three years later, he was invited to the competition in Cannes with Netemo sametemo (Asako I & II). In addition to his directing work, he also wrote the screenplay for Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Supai no tsuma (Wife of a Spy), which won the Silver Lion for Best Director at Venice in 2020.

Connie Nielsen

Connie Nielsen (Denmark / USA)

Connie Nielsen was born in Denmark where she started her career on stage alongside her mother in political Revue and Variety shows. She moved to France and Italy as a young woman to continue her studies and further her acting career internationally. Once in the US, she starred in Ridley Scott’s Oscar winner Gladiator (2000), Mission to Mars (2000) by Brian de Palma, and Basic (2003). She first appeared in a Danish production for Susanne Bier’s Brothers (2004) for which she was nominated for the European Film Award, among others, and received Best Actress awards in San Sebastián and the Danish film prize The Bodil. Nielsen has also worked with directors such as Olivier Assayas (Demonlover, 2002) and Lars von Trier (Nymphomaniac: Vol.1, 2013) and appeared in blockbusters such as Wonder Woman (2017) by Patty Jenkins and Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021). Most recently, she was a lead actress and executive producer on the British series Close to Me (2021). Nielsen is also the founder of the organization’s Human Needs Project and Road to Freedom Scholarships.

(Sourced from Berlinale Press Release)