Directors Guild of America announced the five nominees for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2013. The winner will be named at the 66th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 25, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.
New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion and the only woman to win the coveted Palme d’Or, will head the jury at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the organizers announced Tuesday. “I am truly honored to join with the Cannes Film Festival as President of the ‘in Competition’ features for 2014,” said Campion in a statement. “To tell the truth I can’t wait,” added Campion who succeeds last year’s jury head Steven Spielberg. Campion who won the Palme d’Or for “The Piano” in […]
Stray Dogs (Tsai Ming-liang) and Hide Your Smiling Faces (Daniel Patrick Carbone)
The National Society of Film Critics, made up of many of the country’s most distinguished movie critics, on Saturday, January 4th, 2014, chose INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS as Best Picture of the Year 2013. The film also won awards for Best Director, Best Actor and Best Cinematography. BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR won the award for Best Foreign-Language Film, and THE ACT OF KILLING and AT BERKELEY (Frederick Wiseman) tied for Best Non-Fiction Film. In an amazing nod to independent films, LEVIATHAN won the award for Experimental Film; STRAY DOGS and HIDE YOUR SMILING FACES won the award for Best Film Still Awaiting American Distribution.
James Avery, who played “Uncle Phil” on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” died earlier this week at age 68. According to reports, Avery died Tuesday night at a Los Angeles hospital due to complications from open-heart surgery. Avery just recently wrapped the indie film WISH I WAS HERE directed by Zach Braff, set to premiere later this month at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.
No Place on Earth, Written by Janet Tobias & Paul Laikin
Award season continues with the Writers Guild of America announcing nominations for outstanding achievement in writing for the screen during 2013. Winners will be honored at the 2014 Writers Guild Awards on Saturday, February 1, 2014, at simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York City.
The European premiere of QISSA by Indian director Anup Singh will officially open the 43rd International Film Festival Rotterdam on Wednesday 22 January, 2014. Set in post-colonial India, QISSA tells the story of Umber Singh, a Sikh, who is forced to flee his village due to ethnic cleansing at the time of partition in 1947. Umber decides to fight fate and builds a new home for his family. When Umber marries his youngest child Kanwar to Neeli, a girl of lower caste, the family is faced with the truth of their identities; where individual ambitions and destinies collide in a struggle with eternity.
GLORIA
The 25th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) announced the 21 films eligible for the Cine Latino Award, which will be presented to the best Ibero-American film screening at the Festival. The list of films include GLORIA directed by Sebastian Lelio and Chile’s entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category for the Oscars. GLORIA stars Paulina García who won the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for her performance as a vivacious, middle-aged divorcée who finds what may be her last chance for love while grooving on the dance floor of the local singles club. PSIFF is scheduled to run January 3-13, 2014.
THE NOTEBOOK (Le Grand Cahier), directed by Janos Szasz (Woyzech, The Witman Boys) and the Hungarian entry for Best Foreign Language Film is set for release in the U.S. after having been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics. Set on the onset of WWII, The Notebook, which stars Ulrich Thomsen (The Celebration) and Ulrich Matthes (Downfall), tells the story of thirteen year old twins abandoned by their parents and forced to live with their cruel grandmother in a village on the Hungarian border. Studying the evil surrounding them, the twins learn to rely on their loyalty to one another, ultimately surviving in the face of challenging circumstances.
FRUITVALE STATION
The Producers Guild of America announced the motion picture and long-form television nominations for the 25th Annual Producers Guild Awards. Although no indie films made the list of nominees for The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures, FRUITVALE STATION will be honored with the Stanley Kramer Award. The Producers Guild will also present special honors to Barbara Broccoli & Michael G. Wilson (David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures), Robert Iger (Milestone Award), Peter Jackson & Joe Letteri (Vanguard Award), Chuck Lorre (Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television), and Chris Meledandri (Visionary Award). The 2014 Producers Guild Award winners will be announced on January 19th.
Tom’s Restaurant was the locale that inspired Suzanne Vega’s 1987 song “Tom’s Diner” but it is probably more known for its exterior which became famous worldwide thanks to the popular sitcom Seinfeld, since Jerry Seinfeld’s and his friends regularly gathered to eat and chat at the diner. However, Tom’s Restaurant is a diner located in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Frequented by artists, musicians, comedians, students and faculty of nearby Columbia University, it has been owned and operated by the Greek-American family of Minas Zoulis since the 1940s.
From over 1,000 submitted films, the DC Independent Film Festival announced the finalists films selected to screen in the upcoming festival set for February 19 to 23, 2014. The feature film finalist include 3 MILE LIMIT, BLOOD AND CIRCUMSTANCE, FINDING NEIGHBORS, GREENCARD WARRIORS, LAWRENCE & HOLLOMAN, PAAT, SONS OF THE CITY, THE TOASTMASTER, and THEY WILL OUTLIVE US ALL. The documentary finalists include BROTHERS HYPNOTIC, FUREVER, OFIR, PARTNERS FOR PEACE, THE ROAD TO FAME, and THIS AIN’T NO MOUSE MUSIC!.
The first trailer is released for Mona Fastvold’s feature debut THE SLEEPWALKER starring Gitte Witt, Christopher Abbott, Brady Corbet, and Stephanie Ellis, scheduled to World Premiere in In Compeitition at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. THE SLEEPWALKER chronicles the unraveling of the lives of four disparate characters as it transcends genre conventions and narrative contrivance to reveal something much more disturbing.