THE CASE AGAINST 8
The Ashland Independent Film Festival (AIFF) unveiled its complete program for the thirteenth annual Festival, to be held in the heart of historic downtown Ashland, Oregon, April 3 to 7, 2014. The Festival will open with THE CASE AGAINST 8, is a behind-the-scenes look inside the historic case to overturn California’s ban on same-sex marriage.
SUMMER OF BLOOD
The 2014 Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), today announced the World Narrative and Documentary Competition film selections, along with selections for the out-of-competition Viewpoints section which highlights unique, personal stories and diverse filmmakers in international and American independent cinema. Forty seven of the 87 feature-length films were announced as part of the 13th edition of the Festival, which will take place from April 16 to April 27 at locations around New York City and open with the documentary film TIME IS ILLMATIC.
The Festival announced that DIOR AND I will screen as opening night for the World Documentary competition, GABRIEL will open the World Narrative competition, and SUMMER OF BLOOD will open the Viewpoints section. All three titles will have their world premiere on April 17.
San Francisco Film Society (SFFS) and Kenneth Rainin Foundation (KRF) have selected 15 finalists for the latest round of SFFS / KRF Filmmaking Grants; more than $300,000 will be awarded to one or more narrative feature film projects at any stage of production. SFFS / KRF Filmmaking Grants are awarded twice annually to narrative films that will have significant economic or professional impact on the Bay Area filmmaking community. More than $2 million has been awarded since the launch of the Film Society’s flagship grant program in 2009. Winners of the spring 2014 SFFS / KRF Grants will be announced in late April.
The trailer has been released for the ‘stunning visual journey, WATERMARK from co-directors Jennifer Baichwal and photographer Edward Burtynsky. The film, an official selection at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival will open April 4th in NY and April 18th in Los Angeles. WATERMARK is a feature documentary film that brings together diverse stories from around the globe about our relationship with water: how we are drawn to it, what we learn from it, how we use it and the consequences of that use.
At the 86th Academy Awards held on Sunday night, he best documentary award went to 20 FEET FROM STARDOM, and Italy picked up it’s 11th best foreign film Oscar for THE GREAT BEAUTY. The documentary short Oscar went to THE LADY IN NUMBER 6: MUSIC SAVED MY LIFE, about 110-year-old Holocaust survivor, Alice Herz Sommer, who died just days before the ceremony.
The complete list of winners of 86th Academy Awards.
Guillaume Gallienne’s ME, MYSELF AND MUM
Guillaume Gallienne’s ME, MYSELF AND MUM was the big winner at the 39th César Awards in Paris, taking home five awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Adaptation, Best First Film and Best Editing. Adapted from his one-man stage show, Guillaume Gallienne shows what it’s like to grow up as a boy when everyone is convinced that you’re really a girl – or should have been. Playing both himself and his frosty grande dame mother, Gallienne traces his life from childhood in an aristocratic family through adventures in Spain, ill-fated stints at boarding school and a hair-raising spa visit to the present, when he comes out as… well, simply as his own uncategorisable self.
The complete list of winners of the 39th Cesar Awards:
SATELLITE BEACH written, directed and starring LUKE WILSON
The LA INDIE Film Festival will take place March 13 to 23, 2014 at the LET LIVE THEATRE (916 N. Formosa Ave.). 84 films from 16 countries make up the Features and Shorts lineup! There are nine Feature Films in competition. Among them is THE FRONTIER with a stellar turn by MAX GAIL as a retired professor who tries to reconnect after years of estrangement with his ranch hand son. From France is the stunning love story, YOU CANT WRITE A LETTER, from India, the terrifying, THE BLACK TAPE, from Brazil, with a stellar performance from one of its finest actresses, REGINA DUARTE is NEVER TOO OLD TO MEOW. Closing out the festival is the thought provoking documentary from Israel, CROSSROADS: LABOR PAINS OF A NEW WORLDVIEW explores the depths of the current human condition and the emergence of an integrated worldview.
WISH I WAS HERE, directed by Zach Braff, which premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival to lukewarm reviews, will open in theaters July 18, 2014, in Los Angeles and New York, and then expanding to more markets on July 25 and August 1. WISH I WAS HERE, a followup to Braff’s indie breakout hit Garden State, is a comedy about a 30-something man (Braff) arriving a major crossroads that push him to examine his life, career, and his family.
The official trailer has been released for Manny Pacquiao Movie, MANNY, the documentary film about Filipino boxer turned congressman Manny Pacquiao. MANNY is scheduled to world premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival and Conference taking place March 7 to 15, 2014, in Austin, Texas.
The American Film Institute partnered with the White House for the very first White House Student Film Festival which was held on Friday, February 28, 2014. K-12 students from all over the country were asked to create short films about the connection between technology and education. Inside the East Room of the White House, President Obama offered opening remarks prior to the screening of the top films.
The San Luis Obispo International Film Festival (SLOIFF) announced that actor Jeff Bridges will be presented with the 20th Anniversary King Vidor Award at the upcoming festival taking place March 5 to 9th, 2014. On Saturday, March 8 at the Fremont Theatre in San Luis Obispo, former King Vidor Award recipient James Cromwell will present the award followed by a conversation with Jeff Bridges, and a screening of one of his films.
GASLAND PART II, the follow up to Emmy Award-winning and Oscar®-nominated director Josh Fox’s groundbreaking documentary, GASLAND that exposed the truth, lies and corruption in the natural gas industry and inspired communities worldwide to act, will have its Australian Premiere on Saturday 1st March at the 8th Byron Bay International Film Festival. GASLAND PART II, which premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival in New York, shows how the stakes have been raised on all sides in one of the most important environmental issues facing the world today.