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Chicago Film Festival

53rd Chicago Int’l Film Fest – Poster Competition

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Be the look of the 53rd Chicago International Film Festival! Cinema/Chicago is again hosting its annual design competition seeking the unique poster to be the key image for this year’s Festival, Oct 12-26, 2017. The winning designer, selected by a panel of Festival officials, will receive a $2,500 cash prize!

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The official Festival poster is the signature look of the Chicago International Film Festival each year. Poster submissions should convey the experience of the Festival and be designed with the tagline “BECAUSE LIFE IS A MOVIE” Poster submissions must also conform to Cinema/Chicago’s design and submission guidelines and include the $25/entry fee. Submissions without the required elements (see below) or submission fee will not be considered.

Entries must be submitted by March 31, 2017 at 11:59pm CST. Late entries will not be accepted. Please read the Designer Agreement fully here. Complete rules and details are available here.

Design Guidelines:

  • All designs must be 27” x 40”, or scale to 27” x 40”
  • Must be vertically orientated
  • Design must be easily translated into a variety of mediums (online banners, book covers, etc.)
  • Design must incorporate the Festival’s official “eyes” logo (available here)
  • Design must reflect the theme “BECAUSE LIFE IS A MOVIE” and include that text
  • Design must clearly state: 53rnd Chicago International Film Festival
  • Design must include the festival dates: October 12-27, 2017
  • Design must include website: ChicagoFilmFestival.com
  • Artists must use their own original artwork; Copyrighted characters, images or clip art will not be accepted (with the exception of the Chicago International Film Festival logo)

Submission Guidelines:

  • All file submissions must be in pdf, jpeg or png format
  • Entries must be submitted at 300 dpi (CMYK)
  • File must be no larger than 12MB
  • Entries must include a completed Submission Form
  • To submit multiple designs, submit the Form and entry fee for each design

Good luck!

 

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(Source: chicagofilmfestival.com)

#Berlinale, #BIFF, Glashütte Original Documentary Award

ALMOST HEAVEN: A coming of age story in one of China’s largest funeral homes

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Nomination for the Berlin International Film Festival’s Glashütte Original Documentary Award

ALMOST HEAVEN (UK, 2017) is a gentle portrait of a young girl coming-of-age and her start into the working world learning an unusual job. The first feature film by British Director Carol Salter will celebrate its world premiere at the section Generation 14plus of the Berlin International Film Festival and is nominated for the overall sections Glashütte Original Documentary Award. The prize will be presented during the official Award Ceremony in the Berlinale Palast. ALMOST HEAVEN is one of 16 documentaries that have been nominated for the Award.

Synopsis

Far from home, afraid of the dark, and terrified of ghosts, young Ying Ling is training to become a mortician in one of China’s largest funeral homes. Charming, cheeky and quirky, Ying Ling spends 24 hours a day with her fellow trainee morticians, living together and working in a basement with no daylight. She learns to perform spa and beauty treatments for the dead, speaking to them softly, watched by their family members. Against this backdrop, she forms a special friendship with a fellow mortician Jin Hau and they share the strangeness of working with the dead together. In their spare time, they go together to arcades and fast food outlets, bantering playfully with each other, a welcome relief from the daily grind at the funeral home. But when Jin Hau suddenly leaves the funeral home, Ying Ling is left to face the harsh realities of the job alone.

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ALMOST HEAVEN is a reflection on death and the fragility of life but also a reflection what it is like to be young and alive; a tender elegy to first love, friendship and caring for the dead.

Director: Carol Salter, UK, 2017, 75 Minutes, Color, 5.1

Stay tuned for more on ALMOST HEAVEN!

The Director. Carol Salter is an award winning documentary director and editor who has specialized in making intimate portraits of extraordinary people in other cultures. Her films, e.g. the semi long documentary Mayomi (2008) and the documentary short film Unearthing the Pen (2011) have been presented at many international film festivals winning numerous awards worldwide.

(Source: rische & co pr)

 

 

#Berlinale, #BIFF, Berlin Film Festival, Berlinale Talents, Documentary, World Premiere

Glashütte Original Documentary Award Jury

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

For many years now, the Berlin International Film Festival has been committed to documentary film and diverse documentary forms. This was evident not only in the programmes of the different sections, initiatives and special series but also in the European Film Market (EFM).

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Thanks to the support of Glashütte Original, watch manufacturer from Saxony, the Berlin International Film Festival is launching a new award, the Glashütte Original Documentary Award.

The Glashütte Original Documentary Award is endowed with € 50,000, funded by Glashütte Original. The prize money will be split between the film’s director and producer. A total of 16 documentary entries from the current programmes of the Competition, Berlinale Special, Panorama, Forum, Generation and Perspektive Deutsches Kino sections are nominated for the Glashütte Original Documentary Award.

The prize will be presented during the official Award Ceremony in the Berlinale Palast on February 18. In addition to the prize money, Glashütte Original will also provide the trophy, which will be finely crafted in the company’s manufactory in Saxony.

 

A three-member jury will pick the winner:

 

 

Daniela Michel (Photo by Fabrizio Maltese)

Daniela Michel (Mexico)
Born in Mexico City, Daniela Michel is a film critic and founding director of the Morelia International Film Festival, an annual event launched in 2003 to support a new generation of Mexican filmmakers. After studying filmmaking she received a degree in English Literature. She has curated retrospectives of Mexican cinema in and outside Mexico. Michel has also served on the Jury for the “Un Certain Regard” and “La Semaine de la Critique” sections of the Cannes Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival, the Locarno International Film Festival, the San Sebastian International Film Festival, the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), the Sarajevo Film Festival, among other festivals, as well as the Rockefeller Foundation’s Media Arts Fellowships and the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.

 

 

Laura Poitras (Photo by Jan Sturman

Laura Poitras (USA)
Laura Poitras, who was born in the USA, first studied at the San Francisco Art Institute and then The New School in New York. Her work crosses the boundaries of documentary film, journalism, and art. In 2006 she began her 9/11 Trilogy with the film My Country, My Country, for which she received her first Oscar nomination. This was followed by The Oath (2010), which like My Country, My Country, was shown in the Berlinale’s Forum section. With CITIZENFOUR, the third part of her trilogy, Poitras won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2015. With this film about Edward Snowden, she also took home awards from the German Film Prize, the Director’s Guild of America, and BAFTA. Her reporting on NSA surveillance has appeared in Der Spiegel, The Guardian, and the Washington Post, and received a Pulitzer Prize and the Nannen Prize for Press Freedom. In 2016, she mounted her first solo museum exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. She is co-creator of the visual journalism project, Field of Vision.

 

 

Samir (Photo courtesy of Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion)

Samir (Iraq / Switzerland)
Samir was born in Bagdad and moved with his family to Switzerland when he was seven years old. In the 1980s, after studying at Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and training to be a typesetter, he began working as a cameraman, director, and screenwriter. Over the years he has made more than 40 short and full-length films. In 1994, he – and documentary filmmaker Werner Schweizer and producer Karin Koch – took over Dschoint Ventschr (spoken like Joint Venture) Filmproduktion, which concentrates on promoting young Swiss talents. Samir has directed both fiction and documentary films for the cinema and television – including Snow White (2005), which received multiple awards – as well as many stage productions. His documentary Iraqi Odyssey was screened in the Berlinale Panorama in 2015 and submitted by Switzerland for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

 

The following films are nominated for the Glashütte Original Documentary Award:

Competition (1)

Beuys – Germany
By Andres Veiel

Berlinale Special (1)

La libertad del diablo (Devil’s Freedom) – Mexico
By Everardo González

Panorama (5)

Belinda – France
By Marie Dumora

El Pacto de Adriana – Chile
By Lissette Orozco

Erase and Forget – United Kingdom
By Andrea Luka Zimmerman

Fünf Sterne (Five Stars) – Germany
By Annekatrin Hendel

Istiyad Ashbah (Ghost Hunting) – France / Palestine/ Switzerland / Qatar
By Raed Andoni

Forum (5)

For Ahkheem – USA
By Jeremy S. Levine and Landon Van Soest

Maman Colonelle (Mama Colonel) – Democratic Republic of Congo / France
By Dieudo Hamadi

El mar la mar – USA
By Joshua Bonnetta and J.P. Sniadecki

Mzis qalaqi (City of the Sun) – Georgia / USA / The Netherlands / Qatar
By Rati Oneli

Tigmi n Igren (House in the Fields) – Morocco / Qatar
By Tala Hadid

Generation (3)

Almost Heaven – United Kingdom
By Carol Salter

Shkola nomer 3 (School Number 3) – Ukraine / Germany
By Yelizaveta Smith, Georg Genoux

Soldado (Soldier) – Argentina
By Manuel Abramovich

Perspektive Deutsches Kino (1)

Eisenkopf (Ironhead) – Germany
By Tian Dong

All nominated films will celebrate their world premiere at the Berlinale 2017.

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(Source: Berlinale Press Office)

Hasty Pudding Theatricals

The Hasty Pudding Theatricals Honors Octavia Spencer as 2017 Woman Of The Year

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

CAMBRIDGE, MA (January 26th, 2017) – The Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the oldest theatrical organization in the United States, welcomed Oscar winning actress, OCTAVIA SPENCER (who was nominated for a second Oscar earlier this week), to Harvard University, where she received her Woman of the Year award.

The Woman of the Year is the Hasty Pudding Theatricals oldest honor, bestowed annually on performers who have made lasting and impressive contributions to the world of entertainment. Established in 1951, Woman of the Year has been given to many notable and talented entertainers, including Meryl Streep, Debbie Reynolds, Mary Tyler Moore, Julia Roberts, Jodie Foster, Dame Helen Mirren, and most recently Kerry Washington.

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Octavia Spencer, the Hasty Puddings 2017 Woman of the Year parades through Cambridge, Mass. (Photo credit: Getty Images)

The Woman of the Year festivities, presented by RELATED, began with a parade through the streets of Cambridge. The weather was uncharacteristically warm for Cambridge in January. Following the parade, the Hasty Pudding Theatricals hosted a celebratory roast for the actress at Farkas Hall, the Hasty Pudding’s historic home in the heart of Harvard Square since 1888. Before she was able to receive her pot, Ms. Spencer had to work her way off the “naughty list”, which she was placed on due to her roles in the Bad Santa movies. First she referenced her infamous pie scene from The Help by choosing one of three people to pie in the face. Her choice was a Hasty Pudding member dressed as Presidential Counselor, Kellyanne Conway. She also proved her fealty to her alma mater, Auburn University, by tackling an archrival, University of Alabama fan onstage. Due to her fondness for pink nail polish, she was charged with giving another Cast member a makeover with an oversize tube of nail polish. Finally, she rounded out her roast by singing a duet of James Brown’s “I Got You (I Feel Good)” in reference to her role in Get on Up.

A press conference followed the presentation, which was the first to be live-streamed free and to the public via the Hasty Pudding’s Facebook (www.facebook.com/thehastypudding), as it happened. To close out the festivities, the Hasty Pudding Theatricals members performed several musical numbers from the group’s upcoming 169th production, Casino Evil.

The Hasty Pudding Theatricals will celebrate their 51st Man of the Year, RYAN REYNOLDS, on Friday February 3rd, 2017. The traditional roast and Pudding Pot ceremony will take place at Farkas Hall, as well as the Opening night of HPT 169: Casino Evil.

TO LIVE STREAM the Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ Man of Year press conference, viewers can tune in at 8:30 p.m. EST on Friday, February 3rd via the Hasty Pudding’s Facebook www.facebook.com/thehastypudding

TO PURCHASE TICKETS to the Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ 169th production, Casino Evil, contact the HPT Box Office at 617-495-5205 or order online at www.hastypudding.org/buy- tickets. The show will be performed at Harvard University’s historic Farkas Hall, located at 12 Holyoke Street, from February 3rd until March 5th. The company then travels to New York to perform at The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College on March 10th and 11th (call 212-772-4448 for tickets), followed by performances on March 15th-17th at Hamilton City Hall in Bermuda.

ABOUT THE HASTY PUDDING INSTITUTE OF 1770

The Hasty Pudding Institute of 1770’s philanthropic mission is to provide educational and developmental support in all aspects of the performing arts for the underprivileged, to encourage satire and comedy, and to cultivate young talent around the world. The Institute is comprises the Hasty Pudding Club (the oldest social club in the United States), the Hasty Pudding Theatricals (the third oldest theater group in the world, after the Comédie-Française and the Oberammergau Passion Players) and the Harvard Krokodiloes (the foremost collegiate a cappella group in the United States). Over the last two centuries, it has grown into a premiere performing arts organization, a patron of the arts and comedy, and an advocate for satire and discourse as tools for change worldwide.

*Featured image courtesy of Getty Images

(Source: Press release via image.net)

 

 

#Berlinale, #BIFF, Berlin Film Festival, Documentary

World Premiere FOR AHKEEM: A story about a girl that never gives up

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Nomination for the Glashütte Original Documentary Award at Berlin Film Festival

FOR AHKEEM (USA, 2017) is the coming-of- age story of an extraordinary young girl who never gives up as she strives to balance school, family, and trauma within the challenging world of being a Black teenager in America. This feature documentary by Jeremy Levine and Landon Van Soest will celebrate its world premiere at the section Forum of the Berlin International Film Festival and is nominated for the overall sections Glashütte Original Documentary Award. The prize will be presented during the official Award Ceremony in the Berlinale Palast. FOR AHKEEM is one of 16 documentaries that have been nominated for the Award.

Beginning one year before the fatal police shooting of a Black teenager in nearby Ferguson, Missouri, FOR AHKEEM is the coming-of-age story of Daje Shelton, a Black 17-year-old girl in North St. Louis. She fights for her future as she is placed in an alternative high school and navigates the marginalized neighborhoods, biased criminal justice policies and economic devastation that have set up many Black youth like her to fail. After she is expelled from her public high school, a juvenile court judge sends Daje to the court-supervised Innovative Concept Academy, which offers her one last chance to earn a diploma. Over two years we watch as Daje struggles to maintain focus in school, attends the funerals of friends killed around her, falls in love with a classmate named Antonio, and navigates a loving-but-tumultuous relationship with her mother.

As Antonio is drawn into the criminal justice system and events in Ferguson just four miles from her home seize the national spotlight, Daje learns she is pregnant and must contend with the reality of raising a young Black boy.

Through Daje’s intimate coming of age story, FOR AHKEEM illuminates challenges that many Black teenagers face in America today, and witnesses the strength, resilience, and determination it takes to survive.

Stay tuned for more on this poignant film!

(Source: rische & co pr)

 

#BIFF, Berlin Film Festival

Berlin Film Festival Announces GWFF Best First Feature Award Jury

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Since 2006, when it introduced the GWFF Best First Feature Award, the Berlinale has been even more committed to supporting the next generation of film makers. The award is endowed with 50,000 Euros, donated by the GWFF (Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Film- und Fernsehrecht), a society dedicated to safeguarding film and television rights. The prize money is to be split between the producer and the director of the winning film. Additionally, the director will be awarded with a high-quality viewfinder as both a useful instrument and memorable trophy.

Festival Director Dieter Kosslick and the heads of the Competition, Panorama, Forum, Generation and Perspektive Deutsches Kino sections have nominated a total of 16 directorial debuts. The winners will be announced at the official Award Ceremony in the Berlinale Palast on February 18.

A three-person jury will decide on the GWFF Best First Feature Award:

Jayro Bustamante (Photo credit: berlinale.de)

Jayro Bustamante (Guatemala)
In 2015 with his debut feature, Ixcanul, Jayro Bustamante was the first Guatemalan director invited to participate in the Competition of the Berlinale. Cast with amateur actors from the region of the Kaqchikel Maya, the film won the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize. Ixcanul went on to screen at 60 other film festivals, including those in Karlovy Vary, Jerusalem, Telluride, Toronto, Biarritz, Cartagena, Mumbai, Guadalajara, Ghent, and San Sebastián, and took home 52 awards. What is more, Ixcanul was the second Guatemalan movie ever submitted for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Jayro Bustamante, who had previously studied in Paris and Rome, as well as directed commercials for Ogilvy & Matter, has also made a variety of short, documentary, and animated films. Currently he is working on his next two full-length feature films: Temblores and Los tenis de barrondo.

 

Clotilde Courau (Photo credit: Roch Armando)

Clotilde Courau (France)

Clotilde Courau began her acting career at 16 and performed on stage while still at acting school. For her screen debut in Jacques Doillon’s The Little Gangster, which ran in the Berlinale Competition in 1991, she received the European Film Award and her first nomination for a César. Ever since, Clotilde Courau has been an established star of French cinema. She is known for films such as Elisa (dir: Jean Becker, 1995); The Bait (dir: Bertrand Tavernier, 1995); the opening film of the Berlinale 2007, La vie en rose (dir: Olivier Dahan); and In the Shadow of Women (dir: Philippe Garrel, 2015). She has also starred in international productions, e.g. in Paul Mazursky’s The Pickle (1993) and Rod Lurie’s Deterrence (1999). Courau regularly performs on the stage: recently she played in “Piaf, l’être intime”, which she also directed. Her latest film Le Ciel attendra by Marie Castille Mention-Schaar will open in German cinemas in 2017.

 

Mahmoud Sabbagh (Photo credit: Ahmed Mater)

Mahmoud Sabbagh (Saudi Arabia)

Born in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) in 1983, author, director and producer Mahmoud Sabbagh presented his debut feature, Barakah Meets Barakah, in the Berlinale’s Forum section in 2016. There this remarkably humorous film won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. It went on to be screened at, e.g., the Toronto International Film Festival, and ultimately entered the race – only the second Saudi Arabian film ever to do so – for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. For some years now, Sabbagh, who has a degree in documentary filmmaking from New York’s Columbia University, has been considered one of the pioneers of a new independent generation of filmmakers in his country. Among other works, he has directed and penned a documentary on the controversial poet Hamza Shehata as well as the highly-regarded online TV series Cash.

 

The following 16 films are nominated for the GWFF Best First Feature Award:

Competition (2)

Django – France
By Etienne Comar
With Reda Kateb, Cécile de France, Alex Brendemühl, Ulrich Brandhoff

Wilde Maus – Austria
By Josef Hader
With Josef Hader, Pia Hierzegger, Georg Friedrich, Jörg Hartmann, Denis Moschitto

Panorama (2)

Kaygı (Inflame) – Turkey
By Ceylan Özgün Özçelik
With Algı Eke, Özgür Çevik

Pieles (Skins) – Spain
By Eduardo Casanova
With Ana Polvorosa, Candela Peña, Carmen Machi, Macarena Gómez, Secun de la Rosa, Jon Kortajarena, Antonio Duran “Morris”, Eloi Costa

Forum (3)

Adiós entusiasmo (So Long Enthusiasm) – Argentina / Colombia
By Vladimir Durán
With Camilio Castiglione, Mariel Fernandez, Laila Maltz, Martina Juncadella, Verónica Llinás

Casa Roshell – Mexico / Chile
By Camila José Donoso
With Roshell Terranova, Liliana Alba, Lia García, Diego Alberico, Cristian Aravena

Motza el hayam (Low Tide) – Israel / France
By Daniel Mann
With Gal Hoyberger, Susanne Gschwendtner, Amnon Wolf, Eran Ivanir, Oleg Levin

Generation (5)

As duas Irenes (Two Irenes) – Brazil
By Fabio Meira
With Priscila Bittencourt, Isabela Torres

Butterfly Kisses – United Kingdom
By Rafael Kapelinski
With Theo Stevenson, Liam Whiting

Estiu 1993 (Summer 1993) – Spain
By Carla Simón
With Laia Artigas, Paula Robles

Freak Show – USA
By Trudie Styler
With Alex Lawther, Abigail Breslin

Wallay – France / Burkina Faso / Qatar
By Berni Goldblat
With Makan Nathan Diarra, Ibrahim Koma

Perspektive Deutsches Kino (4)

Back for Good – Germany
By Mia Spengler
With Kim Riedle, Juliane Köhler, Leonie Wesselow, Nicki von Tempelhoff

Die beste aller Welten (The Best Of All Worlds) – Germany / Austria
By Adrian Goiginger
With Verena Altenberger, Jeremy Miliker, Lukas Miko, Michael Pink

Millennials – Germany
By Jana Bürgelin
With Anne Zohra Berrached, Leonel Dietsche, Jan Koslowski, Anna Herrmann

Die Tochter (Dark Blue Girl) – Germany
By Mascha Schilinski
With Helena Zengel, Karsten Antonio Mielke, Artemis Chalkidou

All nominated films will celebrate their world premiere at the Berlinale 2017.

 

American Black Film Institute

Bassett to be honored by American Black Film Institute

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

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Angela Basset (Photo via Pittsburgh Courier)

HOLLYWOOD, Calif./PRNewswire/—Academy Award nominated actress, Angela Bassett, will be honored with the “Reel Icon” award by the American Black Film Institute, at their annual  “New, Next, Now Legend” Oscar Week gala for her iconic roles and career achievement as one of cinemas all-time favorite actors, in a poll conducted by American Black Film Institute.

The event will be held at the fabulous Prestons-over-Hollywood at the Hollywood Loews Hotel, on Friday, February 24, and once again brings together actors, producers, writer/directors and top executives, as they celebrate and highlight the years’ accomplishments amid the backdrop of Hollywood’s most glamorous weekend.

ABFI’s theme for the evening “New, Next, Now, Legend” reflects its mission to preserve the cinematic legacy of African American films and films of the global Black experience, while nurturing its current crop of emerging talented writers, directors and artists who give voice to the continued enhancement of the Black experience on film.

“We are excited to bring the excitement and camaraderie of our previous Oscar festivities among industry professionals to Prestons-over-Hollywood, where we can pay well-deserved tribute to an iconic and well respected artist such as Angela Bassett, while fortifying partnerships, old and new, which is always the order of the day at the ABFI gala,” said American Black Film Institute Executive Director Gordon Kenney.

The ultra-chic venue which boasts a glass-enclosed wall-to-wall view of the iconic Hollywood sign and the Hollywood Hills, says it’s delighted to host Hollywood’s elite, in such an exclusive and elegant space, where the venues festivities at this time of year are normally reserved strictly for the Academy and its events. With the theme, “New, Next, Now, Legend,” other artists receiving awards include rising star of Survivor’s Remorse and Independence Day 2, Jessie T. Usher, HBO breakout star Issa Rae, creator and executive Producer of HBO’s hit “Insecure,” Golden Globe nominated director Barry Jenkins, Moonlight’s Naomie Harris, and emerging screen talent Janelle Monae, whose turns in both “Hidden Figures” and “Moonlight” have been garnering critical praise, as a rising screen talent worth watching.

The American Black Film Institute is a non-profit cinematic arts foundation, whose goal is to preserve and promote the legacy of diverse stories of people of color on film, while enhancing their financial viability and broadening their success.   With Academy Awards weekend as the backdrop, and a new crop of stars on the rise, the word is out that the 2017 ABFI gala promises to be among the events not to be missed.

(Source: Pittsburgh Courier News Room)

Short Film, Sundance Film Festival

Japanese Short Wins at Sundance

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

And so we put goldfish in the pool. Wins Grand Jury Prize

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Park City, Utah — Winners of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival jury prizes in short filmmaking were announced today by Sundance Institute at a ceremony in Park City, Utah. The Short Film Grand Jury Prize, awarded to one film in the program of 68 shorts selected from 8,985 submissions, went to And so we put goldfish in the pool., written and directed by Makoto Nagahisa. Full video of the ceremony is at youtube.com/sff. The Short Film program is presented by YouTube.

This year’s Short Film jurors are Shirley Kurata, David Lowery and Patton Oswalt.

Short Film awards winners in previous years include Thunder Road by Jim Cummings, World of Tomorrow by Don Hertzfeldt, SMILF by Frankie Shaw, Of God and Dogs by Abounaddara Collective, Gregory Go Boom by Janicza Bravo, The Whistle by Grzegorz Zariczny, Whiplash by Damien Chazelle, FISHING WITHOUT NETS by Cutter Hodierne, The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom by Lucy Walker and The Arm by Brie Larson, Sarah Ramos and Jessie Ennis.

The short film program at the Festival is the centerpiece of Sundance Institute’s year-round efforts to support short filmmaking. Select Festival short films are presented as a traveling program at over 50 theaters in the U.S. and Canada each year, and short films and filmmakers take part in regional Master Classes geared towards supporting emerging shorts-makers in several cities. Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program, supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and in partnership with The Guardian and The New York Times’ Op-Docs, provides grants to makers of documentary shorts around the world, including new filmmakers in Cuba featured in a Special Event program at this year’s Festival.

2017 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Jury Awards:

The Short Film Grand Jury Prize was awarded to: And so we put goldfish in the pool. / Japan (Director and screenwriter: Makoto Nagahisa) — One summer day, 400 goldfish were found in the swimming pool of a secondary school. This is a story about the four 15-year-old girls who put them there.

The Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction was presented to: Lucia, Before and After / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Anu Valia) — After traveling 200 miles, a young woman waits out Texas’s state-mandated 24-hour waiting period before her abortion can proceed.

The Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction was presented to: And The Whole Sky Fit In The Dead Cow’s Eye / Chile, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Francisca Alegría) — Emeteria is visited by the ghost of her patrón, Teodoro. She believes he has come to take her to the afterlife—but he has more devastating news.

The Short Film Jury Award: Non-fiction was presented to: Alone / U.S.A. (Director: Garrett Bradley) — This investigation into the layers of mass incarceration and its shaping of the modern black American family is seen through the eyes of a single mother in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The Short Film Jury Award: Animation was presented to: Broken – The Women’s Prison at Hoheneck / Germany (Directors: Volker Schlecht, Alexander Lahl, Screenwriters: Alexander Lahl, Max Mönch) — This animated documentary about Hoheneck, the main women’s prison in former East Germany, is based on original interviews with former inmates. It’s a film about political imprisonment, forced labor and enormous profits on both sides of the Iron Curtain.

A Special Jury Award for Cinematography was presented to: Dadyaa — The Woodpeckers of Rotha / Nepal, France (Directors and screenwriters: Pooja Gurung, Bibhusan Basnet, Cinematographer: Chintan Rajbhandari)— Atimaley and Devi’s village is haunted by memories. When a dear friend leaves the village without saying goodbye, the old couple faces a dilemma: keep living with the memories or leave the village for good?

A Short Film Special Jury Award for Editing was presented to: Laps / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Charlotte Wells, editor Blair McClendon) — On a routine morning, a woman on a crowded New York City subway is sexually assaulted in plain sight.

 

sundance-2017-poster

The Sundance Film Festival®
The Sundance Film Festival has introduced global audiences to some of the most groundbreaking films of the past three decades, including Boyhood, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station, Whiplash, Brooklyn, Twenty Feet from Stardom, Life Itself, The Cove, The End of the Tour, Blackfish, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Super Size Me, Dope, Little Miss Sunshine, sex, lies, and videotape, Reservoir Dogs, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, An Inconvenient Truth, Precious and Napoleon Dynamite. The Festival is a program of the non-profit Sundance Institute®. 2017 Festival sponsors include: Presenting Sponsors – Acura, SundanceTV, Chase Sapphire®, and Canada Goose; Leadership Sponsors – Adobe, AT&T, DIRECTV, Omnicom, Stella Artois® and YouTube; Sustaining Sponsors – American Airlines, Canon U.S.A., Inc., Creators League Studio, Daydream, Francis Ford Coppola Winery, GEICO, The Hollywood Reporter, IMDb, Jaunt, Kickstarter, Oculus and the University of Utah Health. Sundance Institute recognizes critical support from the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development, and the State of Utah as Festival Host State. The support of these organizations helps offset the Festival’s costs and sustain the Institute’s year-round programs for independent artists. Look for the Official Sponsor seal at their venues at the Festival. sundance.org/festival

 

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Sundance Institute
Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, Sundance Institute is a nonprofit organization that provides and preserves the space for artists in film, theatre, and new media to create and thrive. The Institute’s signature Labs, granting, and mentorship programs, dedicated to developing new work, take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally. The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences to artists in igniting new ideas, discovering original voices, and building a community dedicated to independent storytelling. Sundance Institute has supported such projects as Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station, Sin Nombre, The Invisible War, The Square, Dirty Wars, Spring Awakening, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and Fun Home.

 

(Source: Sundance Press Office)

Academy Awards, Oscar

La La Land leads 2017 Oscar Noms with a record-tying 14

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

La La Land continues its strong showing on the awards circuit with a whopping 14 Oscar nominations tying the all-time nominations record 0f 14 set by All About Eve (1950) and tied first by Titanic (1997).

 

With over 336 feature films in contention for best picture, the list is now nine;  Arrival,  Fences, Hell or Highwater, Hidden Figures, Hacksaw Ridge,  La La Land, Lion,  Manchester By The Sea, and Moonlight. In addition,

 

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Meryl Streep receives a record-breaking 2oth Oscar nmination for her role in Florence Foster Jenkins (Photo via imdb)

Legendary Hollywood actress, Meryl Streep, received a record-breaking 20th Oscar nomination for her role as a deluded singer in Florence Foster Jenkins. Ms. Streep breaks her own record of 19 nominations.

 

O.J.: Made in America, a Documentary Feature nominee, is the longest film ever nominated for an Academy Award with a run time of 7 hours and 47 minutes.
La La Land is the first musical with original music and story to receive a Best Picture nomination since All That Jazz (1979) and the second since Anchors Aweigh (1945).
Denzel Washington is the seventh individual to receive Acting and Best Picture nominations for the same film, joining Warren Beatty, Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Bradley Cooper.
With his Best Picture nomination for Manchester by the Sea, Matt Damon becomes only the third individual to be nominated in the Acting, Writing and Best Picture categories. The others are Warren Beatty and George Clooney.
With their Best Picture nominations for Moonlight, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner become the first individual producers to have nominations in the Best Picture category in four consecutive years.

In the acting categories, seven individuals are first-time nominees (Andrew Garfield, Mahershala Ali, Lucas Hedges, Dev Patel, Isabelle Huppert, Ruth Negga and Naomie Harris). Six of the nominees are previous acting winners (Denzel Washington, Jeff Bridges,Natalie Portman, Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Octavia Spencer).

A comprehensive 89th Oscars fact sheet is available, in addition to the brief history of the Oscars previously posted.

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The 89th Academy Awards will be announced in the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center, Sunday, February 26, 2017. Jimmy Kimmel is scheduled to host and the program will air on ABC at 7PM EST. Without further ado,

The Nominees are:

Actor in a Leading Role

Nominees

Casey Affleck

Manchester by the Sea

Andrew Garfield

Hacksaw Ridge

Ryan Gosling

La La Land

Viggo Mortensen

Captain Fantastic

Denzel Washington

Fences

Actor in a Supporting Role

Nominees

Mahershala Ali

Moonlight

Jeff Bridges

Hell or High Water

Lucas Hedges

Manchester by the Sea

Dev Patel

Lion

Michael Shannon

Nocturnal Animals

Actress in a Leading Role

Nominees

Isabelle Huppert

Elle

Ruth Negga

Loving

Natalie Portman

Jackie

Emma Stone

La La Land

Meryl Streep

Florence Foster Jenkins

Actress in a Supporting Role

Nominees

Viola Davis

Fences

Naomie Harris

Moonlight

Nicole Kidman

Lion

Octavia Spencer

Hidden Figures

Michelle Williams

Manchester by the Sea

Animated Feature Film

Nominees

Kubo and the Two Strings

Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner

Moana

John Musker, Ron Clements and Osnat Shurer

My Life as a Zucchini

Claude Barras and Max Karli

The Red Turtle

Michael Dudok de Wit and Toshio Suzuki

Zootopia

Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Clark Spencer

Cinematography

Nominees

Arrival

Bradford Young

La La Land

Linus Sandgren

Lion

Greig Fraser

Moonlight

James Laxton

Silence

Rodrigo Prieto

Costume Design

Nominees

Allied

Joanna Johnston

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Colleen Atwood

Florence Foster Jenkins

Consolata Boyle

Jackie

Madeline Fontaine

La La Land

Mary Zophres

Directing

Nominees

Arrival

Denis Villeneuve

Hacksaw Ridge

Mel Gibson

La La Land

Damien Chazelle

Manchester by the Sea

Kenneth Lonergan

Moonlight

Barry Jenkins

Documentary (Feature)

Nominees

Fire at Sea

Gianfranco Rosi and Donatella Palermo

I Am Not Your Negro

Raoul Peck, Rémi Grellety and Hébert Peck

Life, Animated

Roger Ross Williams and Julie Goldman

O.J.: Made in America

Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow

13th

Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick and Howard Barish

Documentary (Short Subject)

Nominees

Extremis

Dan Krauss

4.1 Miles

Daphne Matziaraki

Joe’s Violin

Kahane Cooperman and Raphaela Neihausen

Watani: My Homeland

Marcel Mettelsiefen and Stephen Ellis

The White Helmets

Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara

Film Editing

Nominees

Arrival

Joe Walker

Hacksaw Ridge

John Gilbert

Hell or High Water

Jake Roberts

La La Land

Tom Cross

Moonlight

Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon

Foreign Language Film

Nominees

Land of Mine

Denmark

A Man Called Ove

Sweden

The Salesman

Iran

Tanna

Australia

Toni Erdmann

Germany

Makeup and Hairstyling

Nominees

A Man Called Ove

Eva von Bahr and Love Larson

Star Trek Beyond

Joel Harlow and Richard Alonzo

Suicide Squad

Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson

Music (Original Score)

Nominees

Jackie

Mica Levi

La La Land

Justin Hurwitz

Lion

Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka

Moonlight

Nicholas Britell

Passengers

Thomas Newman

Music (Original Song)

Nominees

Audition (The Fools Who Dream)

from La La Land; Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

Can’t Stop The Feeling

from Trolls; Music and Lyric by Justin Timberlake, Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster

City of Stars

from La La Land; Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

The Empty Chair

from Jim: The James Foley Story; Music and Lyric by J. Ralph and Sting

How Far I’ll Go

from Moana; Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda

Best Picture

Nominees

Arrival

Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, Aaron Ryder and David Linde, Producers

Fences

Scott Rudin, Denzel Washington and Todd Black, Producers

Hacksaw Ridge

Bill Mechanic and David Permut, Producers

Hell or High Water

Carla Hacken and Julie Yorn, Producers

Hidden Figures

Donna Gigliotti, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Pharrell Williams and Theodore Melfi, Producers

La La Land

Fred Berger, Jordan Horowitz and Marc Platt, Producers

Lion

Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Angie Fielder, Producers

Manchester by the Sea

Matt Damon, Kimberly Steward, Chris Moore, Lauren Beck and Kevin J. Walsh, Producers

Moonlight

Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Producers

Production Design

Nominees

Arrival

Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Paul Hotte

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock

Hail, Caesar!

Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

La La Land

Production Design: David Wasco; Set Decoration: Sandy Reynolds-Wasco

Passengers

Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Gene Serdena

Short Film (Animated)

Nominees

Blind Vaysha

Theodore Ushev

Borrowed Time

Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj

Pear Cider and Cigarettes

Robert Valley and Cara Speller

Pearl

Patrick Osborne

Piper

Alan Barillaro and Marc Sondheimer

Short Film (Live Action)

Nominees

Ennemis Intérieurs

Sélim Azzazi

La Femme et le TGV

Timo von Gunten and Giacun Caduff

Silent Nights

Aske Bang and Kim Magnusson

Sing

Kristof Deák and Anna Udvardy

Timecode

Juanjo Giménez

Sound Editing

Nominees

Arrival

Sylvain Bellemare

Deepwater Horizon

Wylie Stateman and Renée Tondelli

Hacksaw Ridge

Robert Mackenzie and Andy Wright

La La Land

Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan

Sully

Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman

Sound Mixing

Nominees

Arrival

Bernard Gariépy Strobl and Claude La Haye

Hacksaw Ridge

Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace

La La Land

Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee and Steve A. Morrow

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

David Parker, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Mac Ruth

Visual Effects

Nominees

Deepwater Horizon

Craig Hammack, Jason Snell, Jason Billington and Burt Dalton

Doctor Strange

Stephane Ceretti, Richard Bluff, Vincent Cirelli and Paul Corbould

The Jungle Book

Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Dan Lemmon

Kubo and the Two Strings

Steve Emerson, Oliver Jones, Brian McLean and Brad Schiff

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel and Neil Corbould

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

Nominees

Arrival

Screenplay by Eric Heisserer

Fences

Screenplay by August Wilson

Hidden Figures

Screenplay by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi

Lion

Screenplay by Luke Davies

Moonlight

Screenplay by Barry Jenkins; Story by Tarell Alvin McCraney

Writing (Original Screenplay)

Nominees

Hell or High Water

Written by Taylor Sheridan

La La Land

Written by Damien Chazelle

The Lobster

Written by Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthimis Filippou

Manchester by the Sea

Written by Kenneth Lonergan

20th Century Women

Written by Mike Mills
Thank you to Oscars Producers Jennifer Todd and Mike DeLuca!
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Pictured left to right, Oscars Producers Jennifer Todd and Mike DeLuca. (Photo courtesy of Oscars.org)
(Source: oscars.org)
#Berlinale, European Film Market

The Film Industry of the Future: EFM Horizon

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

“EFM Horizon presented by Audi”: Virtual Reality, Computer Games, Startups, New Technologies and Innovations at the European Film Market

The film industry of the future, with the newest technological developments, trends that provide a glimpse of things to come and evolving business models, is the focus of a total of five innovative events united under the newly created label “EFM Horizon” and made possible with the support of Audi. The platform, which encompasses the formats “Propellor | Speednic”, “EFM Startups”, “VR NOW Con Business Mixer”, “Game & Cinema” and “The Next Level of Cinema”, simultaneously aims to offer EFM trade visitors opportunities for networking with members of adjacent sectors of the audio-visual industry, such as tech, virtual reality and games.

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“Game & Cinema”
Friday, February 10, 2017, 7:30pm to 9:30pm
MGB Kino (Niederkirchnerstr. 7, 10963 Berlin)

The local multiplayer event “Game & Cinema” combines cinema and computer games in a shared gaming experience that plays out on the big screen. The event format is produced by Booster Space and was presented for the first time at the International Games Week in Berlin. Trade guests from the film market can experience the world of gaming together with an audience of gaming fans within the cinema context and discover potential new uses for cinemas in the process.

 

“EFM Startups”
Monday, February 13, 10am to 12:30pm
Berliner Freiheit (Berliner Freiheit 2, 10785 Berlin)

The successful “EFM Startups” initiative, which brings the film industry together with thought leaders and mavericks from the tech scene, is continuing under the umbrella of “EFM Horizon presented by Audi”. Ten select startups from Germany, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Spain will present new technologies for production, distribution and marketing to EFM trade visitors. Pre-arranged one-on-one meetings with potential partners are intended to serve to pave the way for possible co-operations. “EFM PopUp Offices” in the atrium of the Martin-Gropius-Bau will be made available for use by the attending startups.logo_medienboard_berlin-brandenburg_1_

 

“EFM Startups” is made possible with the support of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.

The participants at “EFM Startups” 2017:

  • AIVA (Luxembourg)
  • CtrlMovie (Switzerland)
  • DIVE (Spain)
  • Illusion-Walk (Germany)
  • Mobisol Group (Germany)
  • Native Studios Creace (Germany)
  • PICL (The Netherlands)
  • SPHERIE by SpiceVR (Germany)
  • Viorama (Germany)
  • Virtelio by realab (Luxembourg)

 

“VR NOW Con Business Mixer”
Monday, February 13, 4pm to 7pm
Berliner Freiheit (Berliner Freiheit 2, 10785 Berlin)

Everyone is talking about virtual reality – and the film industry is no exception. At the same time, there is a lot of uncertainty about how these new technologies of VR, AR, MR, and 360° can be used in the film business, which technologies make sense, what costs they bring with them, etc. In talks, presentations and discussions, the “VR NOW Con Business Mixer” – a conference and networking event – addresses the most current impulses and trends in the sector and brings virtual reality pioneers and experts together with members of the film industry. At the same time, participants also have the opportunity to test diverse VR technologies.

The event is organized in co-operation with Virtual Reality e.V. Berlin-Brandenburg and made possible with the support of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.

 

“The Next Level of Cinema”
Tuesday, February 14, 11am to 1pm
Audi Berlinale Lounge (Marlene-Dietrich-Platz 1, 10785 Berlin)

Leading companies and creatives provide interested distributors, sales agents, producers, exhibitors and cinema operators with insight into the challenges facing the film industry of the future. Special emphasis is placed here on the topics of digitization and innovation. After taking a look at brief case studies, there will be opportunities for discussion with and among participants.

Included among the guests expected to attend are representatives from Audi, IBM (Watson), Dolby (Atmos) and filmmakers such as David O’Reilly and Thomas Wallner.

 

“Propellor | Speednic”
Tuesday, February 14, 2:30pm to 4:30pm
Rooftop Café (Potsdamer Platz 1, 10785 Berlin)

The question of the film industry of the future and how the branch can best work to actively shape its own development by employing forward-thinking concepts and innovations is at the centre of the first “Propellor | Speednic”, a closed networking and workshop event in Berlin. 24 select participants – twelve of them from the film industry and twelve from the technology sector – will discuss how we can develop and implement new sales, distribution and marketing models together as well as how we can learn from success stories from other branches.

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The incubator programme “Propellor Film Tech Hub” is a joint initiative of EFM, the International Film Festival Rotterda

m (IFFR), the international documentary film festival CPH:DOX and the Berlin-based i

nnovation studio Cinemathon.

Further information on the events as well as details regarding possibilities for attending “EFM Horizon presented by Audi” can be found at the „EFM Horizon” website.

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(Source: Berlinale Press Office)