Mariah Carey (as Mrs. Weiss, left) and Gabourey Sidibe (as Precious, right) in PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL 'PUSH' BY SAPPHIRE Photo credit : Anne Marie Fox

The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced  that PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL ‘PUSH’ BY SAPPHIRE will be honored with the 2010 Stanley Kramer Award. The film’s producers will be honored with the award at the 21st Annual PGA Awards ceremony on Sunday, January 24, 2010 at the Hollywood Palladium.

The Stanley Kramer Award was established in 2002 to honor a motion picture, television program, studio, network, producer, executive or other individual entity whose work illuminates provocative social issues in an accessible and elevating fashion.

PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL ‘PUSH’ BY SAPPHIRE is a vibrant, honest and resoundingly hopeful film about the human capacity to grow and overcome. Set in Harlem in 1987, the film is the story of Claireece “Precious” Jones (Gabourey Sidibe), a sixteen-year-old African-American girl born into a life no one would want. She’s pregnant for the second time by her absent father; at home, she must wait hand and foot on her mother (Mo’Nique), a poisonously angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School is a place of chaos, and Precious has reached the ninth grade with good marks and an awful secret: she can neither read nor write. Precious may sometimes be down, but she is never out. Beneath her impassive expression is a watchful, curious young woman with an inchoate but unshakeable sense that other possibilities exist for her. Threatened with expulsion, Precious is offered the chance to transfer to an alternative school, Each One/Teach One. Precious doesn’t know the meaning of “alternative,” but her instincts tell her this is the chance she has been waiting for. In the literacy workshop taught by the patient yet firm Ms. Rain (Paula Patton), Precious begins a journey that will lead her from darkness, pain and powerlessness to light, love and self-determination.

“‘Precious’ is a remarkable film that sends a powerful message of hope – brilliantly reminding us that we have the power to persevere regardless of life’s difficulties. Stanley Kramer’s legacy is ideally celebrated with the selection of this very worthy film,” said PGA Awards Co-Chairs David Friendly and Laurence Mark.

“Stanley’s films always talked about things we wanted to ignore. He taught us so much about ourselves and made us think about our values and purpose,” said Karen Kramer. “‘Precious’ is truly a film that embraces this philosophy. It tells us quite eloquently that it isn’t what happens to us that defines who we are, but rather what we choose to become.”

“We are thrilled to receive the Stanley Kramer Award and feel honored that the Producers Guild of America has chosen to recognize ‘Precious’ out of this year’s diverse film slate,” shared producers Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness. “It is an honor to join the ranks of past recipients and we feel blessed that the film has been so well received.”

PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL ‘PUSH’ BY SAPPHIRE stars Mo’Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd, Lenny Kravitz and introducing Gabourey Sidibe. The film premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, where it received the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, and star Mo’Nique was awarded a Special Jury Prize for Acting. It subsequently screened in the prestigious Un Certain Regard section of the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, and was a Centerpiece at the 2009 New York Film Festival. In September, PRECIOUS won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, becoming the first film in history to win audience citations at both Sundance and Toronto. The film also received audience prizes at the San Sebastian and Chicago Film Festivals.

Lionsgate in association with Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry present A Lee Daniels Entertainment / Smokewood Entertainment Group Production of PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL ‘PUSH’ BY SAPPHIRE, directed by Lee Daniels from a screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher based on the novel Push by Sapphire. The film is produced by Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness, and Gary Magness. Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Lisa Cortés, and Tom Heller are Executive Producers; Simone Sheffield serves as Co-Executive Producer; Mark G. Mathis is Co-Producer; and Asger Hussain serves as Associate Producer.

source: Producers Guild of America (PGA)

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“Samson and Delilah"

“Samson and Delilah” winner of this year’s Cannes Film Festival Camera D’or award, won big at Inside Film Awards – the “people’s choice” awards of Australian film.   “Samson and Delilah” the Aboriginal teenage love story, took home six awards, including best feature, best actor and best actress.

The full list of winners:

The SHOWTIME IF Award for Best Feature Film
Samson & Delilah – Warwick Kath Shelper

The TIME OUT IF Award for Best Actor
Rowan McNamara – Samson & Delilah
The IF Award for Best Actress
Marissa Gibson – Samson & Delilah

The Jameson IF Award for Best Script
Samson & Delilah – Warwick Thornton

The Dinosaur Design IF Award for Best Music
Samson & Delilah – Warwick Thornton

The National Film & Sound Archive IF Award for Best Direction
Samson & Delilah – Warwick Thornton

The Zig Zag Lane IF Award for Best Sound
Balibo – Sam Petty, Emma Bortignon, Phil Heywood, Ann Aucote

The AVID IF Award for Best Editing
Balibo – Nick Meyers

The Dyson IF Award for Best Production Design
Mary & Max – Adam Elliot

The Sony IF Award for Best Cinematography
Beautiful Kate – Andrew Commis

The Resolution Design Independent Spirit IF Award
My Tehran For Sale – Director: Granaz Moussavi Producers, Julie Ryan, Kate Croser, Granaz Moussavi

The EFilm IF Award for Rising Talent
Dominic Allen

The Holding Redlich IF Award for Best Short Film
Ralph – Director Deborah Mailman, Producers Jessie Mangum and Kylie Du Fresne

The Autodesk IF Award for Best Animation
The Cat Piano – Directors Eddie White & Ari Gibson, Producer Jessica Brentnall

The Production Book IF Award for Best Short Documentary
Mankind is No Island – Jason Van Genderen
The FACB IF Award for Best Documentary
The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce – Michael James Rowland, Producer Nial Fulton

The Chaotic Pictures IF Award for Best Music Video
Sway Sway Baby – Short Stack – Dan Reisinger

The Cutting Edge IF Award for Box Office Achievement
Australia – Baz Luhrmann, G.Mac Brown and Catherine Knapman

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Valeria Solarino and Donatella Maiorca

New Italian Cinema, presented by the San Francisco Film Society, the Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco and New Italian Cinema Events of Florence, Italy, wrapped up an eight-day run dedicated to celebrating the rich cinematic tradition of Italy and bringing the country’s newest directors and films to audiences in San Francisco. Director Donatella Maiorca was on hand to accept the NICE City of Florence Award for her film Sea Purple (Viola di mare).

New Italian Cinema featured a competitive series of seven feature films by emerging directors, a three-film tribute to acclaimed director Marco Risi and two sold-out Closing Night screenings of Marco Bellocchio’s latest tour de force Vincere. Attendance was excellent this year, with eight sold-out screenings contributing to a total attendance of 4,167.

The NICE City of Florence Award was decided by audience ballots from San Francisco and Seattle screenings of films in competition and announced at the Closing Night award ceremony Sunday, November 22, by Rod Armstrong of the Film Society and Viviana del Bianco of New Italian Cinema Events.

In addition, the New Italian Cinema Events organization inaugurated the new Susan Batson Award for acting, given this year to actress Valeria Solarino, who was present at the ceremony to accept the honor. The award acknowledges Solarino’s great achievements as an actress throughout her career, highlighting in particular her work in Sea Purple.

New Italian Cinema will return as part of the San Francisco Film Society’s Fall Season in November 2010.

source: San Francisco Film Society

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“The Cat Piano,” Eddie White and Ari Gibson, directors (The People’s Republic of Animation)

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 10 animated short films will advance in the voting process for the 82nd Academy Awards®. Thirty-seven pictures had originally qualified in the category.

The 10 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production company:

• “The Cat Piano,” Eddie White and Ari Gibson, directors (The People’s Republic of Animation)
• “French Roast,” Fabrice O. Joubert, director (Pumpkin Factory/Bibo Films)
• “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty,” Nicky Phelan, director, and Darragh O’Connell, producer (Brown Bag Films)
• “The Kinematograph,” Tomek Baginski, director-producer (Platige Image)
• “The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte),” Javier Recio Gracia, director (Kandor Graphics and Green Moon)
• “Logorama,” Nicolas Schmerkin, producer (Autour de Minuit)
• “A Matter of Loaf and Death,” Nick Park, director (Aardman Animations Ltd.)
• “Partly Cloudy,” Peter Sohn, director (Pixar Animation Studios)
• “Runaway,” Cordell Barker, director (National Film Board of Canada)
• “Variete,” Roelof van den Bergh, director (il Luster Productions)

The Short Films and Feature Animation Branch Reviewing Committee viewed all the eligible entries for the preliminary round of voting in screenings held in New York and Los Angeles.

Short Films and Feature Animation Branch members will now select the five nominees from among the 10 titles on the shortlist. Branch screenings will be held in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in January 2010.

The 82nd Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

source: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

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“The Beaches of Agnès”, a film by Agnès Varda, was recently announced as selection by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of for the short-list Documentary Feature category.  If nominated, it will be the first Oscar nomination for filmmaker/legend Agnès Varda, who at 81, has been making films for the past 50 years.   Distributed by Cinema Guild, “The Beaches of Agnès” has received rave press during its theatrical release, including a 96% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and it is the best reviewed documentary of the year, according to Metacritic.

Agnès Varda, whom A.O. Scott in The New York Times deemed “a treasure” when writing about her acclaimed documentary, “The Gleaners And I”, returns with a movie that synthesizes 50 years of filmmaking, and 80 years of a life well-lived. An early member of the French New Wave, Varda has worked with Chris Marker, Alain Resnais, Jean-Luc Godard, Jane Birkin, Michel Piccoli, Catherine Deneuve and Philippe Noiret – not to mention Harrison Ford, the Black Panthers and Viva. Stories of her childhood in Brussels and adolescence in occupied Paris, of Los Angeles in the ‘60s, and of life in her 14^e arrondissement Paris neighborhood are melded with clips from both documentary and fiction work. Husband/filmmaker Jacques Demy, who died in 1990, is an abiding presence. Varda is an avid collector: of people and places, sensual experiences and intellectual preoccupations, personal commitments and political principles. She is a mother and wife, a feminist, nature-lover and urban-dwelling artist. Above all, she is a woman in love with the cinema whose new movie perfectly expresses her sentiment, “While I live, I remember.

source: Cinema Guild

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“Every Little Step” James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo

As award season heats up, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Wednesday announced the 15 films in the Documentary Feature category that will advance in the voting process for the 82nd Academy Awards®. Eighty-nine pictures had originally qualified in the category.

The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production company:

• “The Beaches of Agnes,” Agnès Varda, director (Cine-Tamaris)
• “Burma VJ,” Anders Østergaard, director (Magic Hour Films)
• “The Cove,” Louie Psihoyos, director (Oceanic Preservation Society)
• “Every Little Step,” James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo, directors (Endgame Entertainment)
• “Facing Ali,” Pete McCormack, director (Network Films Inc.)
• “Food, Inc.,” Robert Kenner, director (Robert Kenner Films)
• “Garbage Dreams,” Mai Iskander, director (Iskander Films, Inc.)
• “Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders,” Mark N. Hopkins, director (Red Floor Pictures LLC)
• “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers,” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, directors (Kovno Communications)
• “Mugabe and the White African,” Andrew Thompson and Lucy Bailey, directors (Arturi Films Limited)
• “Sergio,” Greg Barker, director (Passion Pictures and Silverbridge Productions)
• “Soundtrack for a Revolution,” Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, directors (Freedom Song Productions)
• “Under Our Skin,” Andy Abrahams Wilson, director (Open Eye Pictures)
• “Valentino The Last Emperor,” Matt Tyrnauer, director (Acolyte Films)
• “Which Way Home,” Rebecca Cammisa, director (Mr. Mudd)

The Documentary Branch Screening Committee viewed all the eligible documentaries for the preliminary round of voting. Documentary Branch members will now select the five nominees from among the 15 titles on the shortlist.

The 82nd Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Source:The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

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Hamish Hamilton will direct the 82nd Academy Awards® telecast, show producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman announced on Wednesday. It will be Hamilton”s first time directing the Oscar show.

“Hamish is a first-rate live-show director who will bring enthusiasm, experience and a fresh eye to the table,” said Shankman. “He”s also a master of working with all of the latest technology in television production, which speaks to the kind of cutting-edge show Bill and I are planning.”

“Adam and I know that having Hamish at the helm will give us the right style and energy for the show we want to produce,” added Mechanic. “And his approach definitely won”t feel like ‘business as usual.””

Hamilton has directed many of today”s most celebrated live televised events including the “MTV Video Music Awards” and the “MTV Europe Music Awards,” in addition to live concert performances by such renowned musical artists as U2, Neil Diamond, Josh Groban, Stevie Wonder, and Christina Aguilera, among many others. In February 2010, he will direct the Super Bowl XLIV half-time show.

The 82nd Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy”s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Source:The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

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"Diary of a Times Square Thief" Directed & Written by Klaas Bense

The nominees for the International Documentary Association’s 2009 IDA Documentary Awards competition were announced this week. The winners will be announced December 4th at the Directors Guild in Los Angeles, in a ceremony hosted by This American Life’s Ira Glass.

The IDA will not only be honoring the best films of the year but will also recognize filmmakers and film journalists who displayed conspicuous bravery in the pursuit of truth — and put Freedom of Speech above all else, including their own personal safety, in a special “Courage Under Fire” tribute to be presented by Current Media journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee.

The five nominated films for Distinguished Documentary Achievement in IDA’s feature category are: “Afghan Star”, the timely and moving film following the dramatic stories of four young finalists—two men and two women—as they hazard everything to compete in Afghanistan’s version of American Idol; “Anvil! The Story Of Anvil”, the hilarious and unexpectedly moving account of an obscure Canadian metal band’s last-ditch quest for elusive fame and fortune; “Diary Of A Times Square Thief”, which documents the search for the writer of a mysterious diary that the filmmaker finds on EBay; “Food, Inc.”, that lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that’s been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies; and “Mugabe And The White African”, the story of Michael Campbell, a tough, humorous 74-year-old fifth-generation white African farmer who withstands land invasions and violence in his stand against Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s land seizure program.

2009 International Documentary Association Awards

Host

Ira Glass

Honors

CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Errol Morris

PIONEER AWARD

Nicolas Noxon

AMICUS AWARD

Michael C. Donaldson

JACQUELINE DONNET EMERGING FILMMAKER AWARD

Natalia Almada

Feature Documentary Nominees

Afghan Star
Director/Producer: Havana Marking
Executive Producers: Mike Lerner, Martin Herring, Saad Mohseni, Jahid Mohseni
Kaboora Productions: Roast Beef Productions; Red Start Media; Zeitgeist Films in association with HBO Documentary Films

Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Director: Sacha Gervasi
Producer: Rebecca Yeldham
Little Dean’s Yard; Ahimsa Films; Abramorama; VH1

Diary of a Times Square Thief
Director/Writer: Klaas Bense
Producers: Janneke Doolard, Hans de Weers, Reinout Oerlemans
Executive Producer: Janneke Doolaard
Eyeworks Film & TV Drama

Food, Inc.
Director/Producer: Robert Kenner
Producer: Elise Pearlstein
Co-Producers: Eric Schlosser, Richard Pearce, Melissa Robledo
Executive Producers: William Pohlad, Robin Schorr, Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann
River Road Entertainment; Participant Media; Magnolia Pictures

Mugabe and the White African
Directors: Lucy Bailey, Andrew Thompson
Producers: David Pearson, Elizabeth Morgan Hemlock
Executive Producers: Steve Milne, Pauline Burt
Arturi Films in association with Explore Films, Film Agency For Wales and Molinare Productions.

Short Documentary Nominees

The Delian Mode
Director//Producer/Writer: Kara Blake
Producer: Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre
Philtre Films

Salt
Directors: Michael Angus, Murray Fredericks
Producer/Writer: Michael Angus
Jerrycan Films

Sari’s Mother
Director/Producer: James Longley
Daylight Factory LLC; HBO Documentary Films

The Solitary Life of Cranes
Director: Eva Weber
Producer: Samantha Zarzosa
Odd Girl Out Productions

Continuing Series Award-Nominees

American Experience
Executive Producer: Mark Samels
Senior Producer: Sharon Grimberg
Coordinating Producer: Susan Mottau
Series Manager: James E. Dunford
Series Producer: Susan Bellows
WGBH; PBS

Episodes Submitted:
A Class Apart (Dirs./Prods.: Carlos Sandoval, Peter Miller; Writer: Carlos Sandoval)
The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Dir./Prod./Writer: David Grubin)
The Polio Crusade (Dir./Prod./Writer: Sarah Colt)
The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln (Dir./Prod./Writer: Barak Goodman)

Iconoclasts
Directors/Producers: Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky
@radical media; Grey Goose Entertainment; Sundance Channel

Episodes Submitted:
Desmond Tutu & Richard Branson
Stella McCartney & Ed Ruscha
Tony Hawk & John Favreau
Bill Maher & Clive Davis
Venus Williams & Wyclef Jean
Cameron Diaz & Cameron Sinclair

P.O.V.
Executive Director: Simon Kilmurry
Vice President: Cynthia López
American Documentary, Inc.; PBS

Episodes Submitted:
Inheritance (Dir./Prod.: James Moll; Prod.: Christopher Pavlick; Exec. Prods.: Chris Malachowsky, Ryan Malachowsky)
Campaign (Dir./Prod.: Kazuhiro Soda)
Up the Yangtse (Dir.: Yung Chang; Prods.: Mila Aung-Thwin, Germaine Ying-Gee Wong, John Christou; Exec. Prods.:  Daniel Cross, Mila Aung-Thwin, Ravida Din, Sally Bochner)

Limited Series Award–Nominees

Architecture School
Director/Executive Producer/Original Concept: Michael Selditch
Original Concept: Stan Bertheaud
Senior Producer: Rob Tate
Producer: Rachel Clift
Executive Producers: Lynne Kirby, Laura Michalchyshyn
Sundance Channel

The Alzheimer’s Project
Series Producer: John Hoffman
Executive Producers: Sheila Nevins, Maria Shriver
Directors/Producers: Shari Cookson, Nick Doob, Eamon Harrington, John Watkin, Bill Couturié
Producers: John Hoffman, Susan Froemke, Anne Sandkuhler
HBO Documentary Films; National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health; Alzheimer’s Association; Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund; Geoffrey Beene Gives Back Alzheimer’s Initiative.

In Their Boots
Executive Producer: Richard Ray Perez
Line Producer: Sandi Williams
Producers: Amanda Spain, Abe Greenwald
Brave New Foundation

Time for School
Executive Producer: Pamela Hogan
Producer/Writer: Oren Rudavsky
Producer: Tamara Rosenberg
Wide Angle; WNET Thirteen; PBS

We Shall Remain
Executive Producers: Mark Samels, Sharon Grimberg
Directors/Producers/Writers: Ric Burns, Dustin Craig, Sarah Colt
Director/Producer: Stanley Nelson
Director: Chris Eyre
Producer/Writer: Mark Zwonitzer
Producer: Rob Rapley
Writers: Anne Makepeace, Marcia Smith
American Experience; WGBH; Native American Public Television

ABCNews VideoSource Award–Finalists

Earth Days
Director/Producer/Writer: Robert Stone
Executive Producer: Mark Samels
American Experience Films; Zeitgeist Films

Mugabe and the White African
Directors: Lucy Bailey, Andrew Thompson
Producers: David Pearson, Elizabeth Morgan Hemlock
Executive Producers: Steve Milne, Pauline Burt
Arturi Films in association with Explore Films, Film Agency For Wales and Molinare Productions.

Sergio
Director: Greg Barker
Producers: John Battsek, Julie Goldman
Executive Producers: Samantha Power, Sheila Nevins, Nick Fraser
HBO Documentary Films; BBC Storyville

Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech
Director/Producer: Liz Garbus
Producers: Rory Kennedy, Jed Rothstein
Executive Producers: Sheila Nevins, Nancy Abraham
Moxie Firecracker Films; HBO Documentary Films

Soundtrack for a Revolution
Directors/Producers/Writers: Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman
Producers: Joslyn Barnes, Jim Czarnecki, Dylan Nelson
Executive Producers: Danny Glover, Gina Harrell, Mark E. Downie, Marc Henry Johnson
Louverture Films; Freedom Song Productions; Goldcrest Films International; Wild Bunch

Studs Terkel
Director: Eric Simonson
Producers: Josh Veselka, Lisa Heller
Executive Producers: Sheila Nevins, Linda Ellerbee, Rolf Tessem
Lucky Duck Productions, Inc.; HBO Documentary Films

Thank You, Mr. President: Helen Thomas at the White House
Director/Producer: Rory Kennedy
Producers: Liz Garbus, Jack Youngelson
Executive Producer: Sheila Nevins
Moxie Firecracker Films; HBO Documentary Films

Valentino: The Last Emperor
Director/Producer: Matt Tyrnauer
Producer: Matt Kapp
Executive Producer: Carter Burden
Acolyte Films; Truly Indie; Vitagraph Films

Wounded Knee
Director/Producer: Stanley Nelson
Executive Producers: Sharon Grimberg, Mark Samels
Writer: Marcia Smith
Firelight Media; American Experience; WGBH; Native American Public Television

IDA Music Documentary Award – Nominees

Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Director: Sacha Gervasi
Producer: Rebecca Yeldham
Little Dean’s Yard; Ahimsa Films; Abramorama; VH1

Archaeology of Memory: Villa Grimaldi
Directors/Producers: Quique Cruz, Marilyn Mulford
Interfaze Productions

The Audition
Director/Producer: Susan Froemke
Producer: Douglas Graves
Metropolitan Opera

It Might Get Loud
Director/Producer: Davis Guggenheim
Producers: Thomas Tull, Lesley Chilcott, Peter Afterman
Executive Producers: Bert Ellis, Mike Mailis
Steel Curtain Pictures; Sony Pictures Classics

Soundtrack for a Revolution
Directors/Producers/Writers: Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman
Producers: Joslyn Barnes, Jim Czarnecki, Dylan Nelson
Executive Producers: Danny Glover, Gina Harrell, Mark E. Downie, Marc Henry Johnson
Louverture Films; Freedom Song Productions; Goldcrest Films International; Wild Bunch

Tibet in Song
Director/Producer/Writer: Ngawang Choephel
Executive Producer: Anne Corcos
Guge Productions; Tashi Sholpa Productions

Pare Lorentz Award-Finalists

The Cove
Director: Louis Psihoyos
Producers: Fisher Stevens, Paula DuPre Pesmen
Co-Producer: Olivia Ahnemann
Executive Producer: Jim Clark
Oceanic Preservation Society; Diamond Dogs; Skyfish Films; Roadside Attractions; Lionsgate

Earth Days
Director/Producer/Writer: Robert Stone
Executive Producer: Mark Samels
American Experience Films; Zeitgeist Films

The Final Inch
Director/Producer: Irene Taylor Brodsky
Producer: Tom Grant
Vermilion Pictures; Google.org; HBO Documentary Films

Food, Inc.
Director/Producer: Robert Kenner
Producer: Elise Pearlstein
Co-Producers: Eric Schlosser, Richard Pearce, Melissa Robledo
Executive Producers: William Pohlad, Robin Schorr, Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann
River Road Entertainment; Participant Media; Magnolia Pictures

The Last Mermaids
Director/Producer: Liz Chae
Executive Producers: Kenneth K. Chae, Nam Im Yoon
Chae Films; Columbia University

Mugabe and the White African
Directors: Lucy Bailey, Andrew Thompson
Producers: David Pearson, Elizabeth Morgan Hemlock
Executive Producers: Steve Milne, Pauline Burt
Arturi Films in association with Explore Films, Film Agency For Wales and Molinare Productions.

Soundtrack for a Revolution
Directors/Producers/Writers: Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman
Producers: Joslyn Barnes, Jim Czarnecki, Dylan Nelson
Executive Producers: Danny Glover, Gina Harrell, Mark E. Downie, Marc Henry Johnson
Louverture Films; Freedom Song Productions; Goldcrest Films International; Wild Bunch

We Shall Remain
Executive Producers: Mark Samels, Sharon Grimberg
Directors/Producers/Writers: Ric Burns, Dustin Craig, Sarah Colt
Director/Producer: Stanley Nelson
Director: Chris Eyre
Producer/Writer: Mark Zwonitzer
Producer: Rob Rapley
Writers: Anne Makepeace, Marcia Smith
American Experience; WGBH; Native American Public Television

Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love
Director/Producer/Writer: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
Co-Producers: Sarah Price, Scott Duncan, Hugo Berkeley, Gwyn Welles
Executive Producers: Jennifer Millstone, Patrick R. Morris, Edward Tyler Nahem, Kathryn Tucker, Jack Turner, Miklos C. Vasarhelyi
Groovy Griot; 57^th & Irving Productions; Shadow Distribution

IDA/David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award-Nominees

Arresting Ana
Director/Producer: Lucie Schwartz
University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

Famous 4A
Director/Producer: Mike Attie
Stanford University

The First Kid to Learn English from Mexico
Director/Producer: Peter Jordan
Localfilms; Stanford University

The Last Mermaids
Director/Producer: Liz Chae
Executive Producers: Kenneth K. Chae, Nam Im Yoon
Chae Films; Columbia University

My Name is Sydney
Director/Producer: Melanie Levy
Stanford University

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Paranormal Activity

Nominations announced for the People’s Choice Awards 2010 to be hosted by Queen Latifah on January 6 on CBS.

You can vote at PeoplesChoice.com.

And here are the nominees for FAVORITE INDEPENDENT MOVIE
(500) Days of Summer
District 9
Inglourious Basterds
Paranormal Activity
Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail

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Norwegian freelance journalist Paal Refsdal, kidnapped a week ago in eastern Afghanistan was released Thursday along with his Afghan interpreter, the AP reported.  Refsdal was in Afghanistan filming a documentary for a Norwegian production company with funding from the Norwegian Film Institute.

The documentary — “Den Andre Siden,” or “The Other Side” — proposed to “follow three Afghans from a perspective not yet shown in Western media,” giving “a better and more nuanced picture of Afghan society, but on the Afghans’ terms.”

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