9 Foreign Language Films Advance in 2008 Oscar® Race

Posted by editor@vimooz.com on January 14, 2009 under Academy award, Awards, Foreign Film | Comments are off for this article

Nine films will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 81st Academy Awards®. Sixty-five films had originally qualified in the category.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

Austria, “Revanche,” Gotz Spielmann, director;
Canada, “The Necessities of Life,” Benoit Pilon, director;
France, “The Class,” Laurent Cantet, director;
Germany, “The Baader Meinhof Complex,” Uli Edel, director;
Israel, “Waltz with Bashir,” Ari Folman, director;
Japan, “Departures,” Yojiro Takita, director;
Mexico, “Tear This Heart Out,” Roberto Sneider, director; (pictured)
Sweden, “Everlasting Moments,” Jan Troell, director;
Turkey, “3 Monkeys,” Nuri Bilge Ceylan, director.

The shortlist will be winnowed down to the five 2008 nominees by specially selected committees in New York and Los Angeles. The committee members will spend this Friday, Saturday and Sunday viewing three of the films each day.

The 81st Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 22, 2009, at 5:30 a.m. PT and the Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network.

Sony Pictures Classics hopes to score with “Tyson”, and IFC Films snaps up “The Necessities of Life”

Posted by editor@vimooz.com on January 11, 2009 under Coming Soon, Industry | Comments are off for this article

Tyson

Sony Pictures Classics has picked up North American rights to the documentary “Tyson,” which will have its North American premiere at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival. The film is the first of NBA all-star Carmelo Anthony’s Krossover Productions. In the film, Mike Tyson examines his own life in and out of the ring with a candor, eloquence and vulnerability that is by turns poignant, funny and never less than brutally honest.  Read more …

“The Necessities of Life”

IFC Films has snapped up the US rights to the Canadian film “The Necessities of Life.” Set in 1952. An Inuit hunter named Tiivii, who suffers from tuberculosis, ends up in a sanatorium near Quebec City, far from home and his loved ones. Read more …

2008 Vancouver Film Critics Circle Nominees

Posted by editor@vimooz.com on January 5, 2009 under Awards, Foreign Film | Comments are off for this article

The Vancouver Film Critics Circle, announced the nominees for its annual awards today. They are:

CANADIAN FILMS

BEST CANADIAN FILM
C’est pas moi, je le jure! (pictured)
Heaven on Earth
The Necessities of Life

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A CANADIAN FILM
Antoine L’Écuyer, C’est pas moi, je le jure!
Jim Sturgess, Fifty Dead Men Walking
Natar Ungalaaq, The Necessities of Life

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A CANADIAN FILM
Marianne Fortier, Maman est chez le coiffeur
Julianne Moore, Blindness
Preity Zinta, Heaven on Earth

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A CANADIAN FILM
Gael Garcia Bernal, Blindness
Randy Quaid, Real Time
Mark Ruffalo, Blindness

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A CANADIAN FILM
Suzanne Clément, C’est pas moi, je le jure!
Maya Ritter, Finn’s Girl
Jayne Eastwood, Real Time

BEST DIRECTOR OF A CANADIAN FILM
Atom Egoyan, Adoration
Philippe Falardeau, C’est pas moi, je le jure!
Deepa Mehta, Heaven on Earth

BEST BRITISH COLUMBIA FILM
Fifty Dead Men Walking
Edison & Leo
Stone of Destiny

INTERNATIONAL FILMS

BEST FILM
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

WALL·E
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEAD ROLE
Sean Penn, Milk
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEAD ROLE
Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road/The Reader

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Josh Brolin, Milk
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Viola Davis, Doubt
Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Gus Van Sant, Milk

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Edge of Heaven
Let the Right One In
Tell No One

The winners will be announced next Monday [via]

Toronto International Film Festival Group (TIFFG) – Canada’s Top Ten Features And Short Films

Posted by editor@vimooz.com on December 16, 2008 under Awards, Foreign Film, Short Films | Comments are off for this article

The Toronto International Film Festival Group (TIFFG) announces Canada’s Top Ten feature and short films for 2008. Public screenings with introductions and Q&As by filmmakers, and topical panel discussions will be held from January 30 to February 7 at Cinematheque Ontario.

Canada’s Top Ten films are chosen by national panels of filmmakers, journalists, programmers and industry professionals. The Top Ten features and Top Ten shorts are selected among narrative, documentary, animation, and experimental films. Each film must have either premiered at a major Canadian film festival or obtained a commercial theatrical release in Canada in 2008. The filmmaker must be a Canadian citizen or resident and have a history of working in Canada or on Canadian-financed films.

Here are the top ten Canadian feature films of 2008 (in alphabetical order, including future release dates):
Adoration (pictured) - Atom Egoyan (Entertainment One/Seville Pictures, May 2009)
Before Tomorrow – Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Madeline Piujuq Ivalu (Alliance Films, February 2009)
Ce qu’il faut pour vivre (The Necessities of Life) - Benoit Pilon (Entertainment One/Seville Pictures)
C’est pas moi, je le jure! (It’s Not Me, I Swear!) – Philippe Falardeau (Entertainment One/Seville Pictures)
Fifty Dead Men Walking – Kari Skogland (TVA Films, Spring 2009)
Heaven on Earth - Deepa Mehta (Mongrel Media)
Lost Song - Rodrigue Jean
Maman est chez le coiffeur (Mommy Is at the Hairdresser’s) - Léa Pool (Equinoxe Films)
La Mémoire des anges (The Memories of Angels) – Luc Bourdon (National Film Board of Canada)
Pontypool - Bruce McDonald (Maple Pictures, March 2009)

The top ten Canadian short films of 2008 are as follows (in alphabetical order):
La Battue – Guy Édoin (Locomotion Distribution)
Block B – Chris Chong Chan Fui (Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre)
Drux Flux – Theodore Ushev (National Film Board of Canada)
Ghosts and Gravel Roads – Michael Rollo (Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre)
Green Door - Semi Chellas (Foundry Films)
Next Floor – Denis Villeneuve (Prends ça court!)
Nikamowin (Song) - Kevin Lee Burton (Vtape)
Passages - Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre (Vidéographe Distribution)
Princess Margaret Blvd - Kazik Radwanski (MDF Films)
Mon nom est Victor Gazon – Patrick Gazé (Disk4t_diffusion)

Tickets for the screenings go on sale December 16 on topten.ca, by phone at 416-968-FILM (toll-free 1-877-968-FILM) and at the year-round box office’s new location at 2 Carlton Street, West Mezzanine.

[via]