13 Students From US Colleges Win 2013  Student Academy Awards

13 Students From US Colleges Win 2013 Student Academy Awards

 

Thirteen students from nine U.S. colleges and universities as well as three students from foreign universities have been selected as winners in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Student Academy Awards competition.  This year saw first-time honors go to Elon University, Occidental College and the University of Michigan in the U.S. competition, as well as to Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland, and RITS School of Arts, Belgium, in the foreign competition. The medal placements – gold, silver and bronze – in each of the award categories will be announced at the official aawards ceremony on June 8, 2013.

The winners are (listed alphabetically by film title):

11th African Diaspora International Film Festival - Chicago Releases 2013 Lineup; Opening Night Film "AFRICAN INDEPENDENCE"

11th African Diaspora International Film Festival – Chicago Releases 2013 Lineup; Opening Night Film “AFRICAN INDEPENDENCE”

African Independence

The Annual African Diaspora International Film Festival – Chicago (ADIFF- Chicago) will celebrate its 11th anniversary in Chicago from June 13 to June 20, 2013. The festival will kick off with the Chicago Premiere of Opening Night Film African Independence, written, directed and produced by scholar, filmmaker and PBS History Detectives host, Professor Tukufu Zuberi. 

10 Documentaries Selected for 2013 IFP Independent Filmmaker Labs

10 Documentaries Selected for 2013 IFP Independent Filmmaker Labs

Approaching the Elephant

The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) announced today the ten documentaries selected for the 2013 Independent Filmmaker Labs, IFP’s  annual year-long fellowship for first-time feature directors.  The key creative teams of the selected films will participate in three week-long sessions over the course of 2013, with the first – the Time Warner Foundation Documentary Completion Lab – taking place May 13-17 in New York City.

Toussaint Louverture

“Toussaint Louverture” to Open 2013 The People’s Film Festival

Toussaint Louverture

The second annual People’s Film Festival (TPFF) runs May 30 –June 2, 2013 in Harlem, New York at The Magic Johnson Theater, and kicks off with the feature film “Toussaint Louverture”  a two-part epic film directed by Philippe Niang, depicting the life of the Haitian leader. Louverture (Jimmy Jean-Louis) led the first successful slave revolt in world history, defeating Napoleon Bonaparte and winning independence from France.

Documentary "THE ACT OF KILLING" Wins Top Jury  and Audience Awards at International Madrid Documentary Festival

Documentary “THE ACT OF KILLING” Wins Top Jury and Audience Awards at International Madrid Documentary Festival

The Act of Killing

The Act of Killing, by Joshua Oppenheimer, Chistine Cynn and Anonymous won the top prizes, the Jury First Prize and the Audience Award at the just wrapped Documeta Madrid – International Madrid Documentary Festival. The jury commented,“We award the first prize to a film that raised considerable controversy and succeeded at making us feel extremely uncomfortable through a unique construction of fantasy and horror that elicits a brutal reality that remains in impunity.”  The filmmakers received a trophy and 10,000 € Euro.

Complete list of official awards:

Brooklyn Film Festival Announces Lineup for 2013 Festival, themed MAGNETIC; Opens with HairBrained

Brooklyn Film Festival Announces Lineup for 2013 Festival, themed MAGNETIC; Opens with HairBrained

(USA) Dir. Billy Kent

Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF) announced the film line-up for its 2013 festival, themed MAGNETIC, scheduled to run from May 31 through June 9 in Brooklyn, New York. The festival will open with Festival alumnus Billy Kent’s HairBrained starring starring Brendan Fraser, Alex Wolff, Julia Garner and Parker Posey. In the film, 14-year old genius/outcast Eli Pettifog (Wolff) is rejected from Harvard, he ends up at Ivy-League wannabe Whittman College. It’s hate at first sight. Eli’s 41-year-old dorm mate Leo (Fraser), a former gambler whose world has imploded, has dropped out of life to enroll in college. This odd duo become unlikely friends.

REVIEW: Greedy Lying Bastards

REVIEW: Greedy Lying Bastards

by Kelsey Straight

The conflicting ideals of science and politics have created misconceptions regarding climate change, as revealed by Craig Scott Rosebraugh’s documentary, Greedy Lying Bastards. Rosebraugh presents a fundamental struggle between scientific fact and political fabrication: where fact requires evidence, fabrication allows anything to masquerade as reality. The presentation of climate change as “the greatest hoax ever” does not come from humanitarianism, unfortunately, but from the oil industry and those politicians with direct ties to the oil industry. Rosebraugh’s documentary presents a world of individuals who need the earth for different reasons, either as a money-making resource, or as a home for our families and an environment for cultures. If we do not take care of the land that allowed our societies to grow, than the land will not take care of who we are in return.