The Urbanworld Film Festival Presented by BET Networks Announces 2011 Festival Slate & Celebrates 15th Anniversary The 15th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival (www.urbanworld.org), presented by BET Networks, announced today that the world premiere of Diane Paragas' and Nelson George's Brooklyn Boheme (Spike Lee, Chris Rock, Branford Marsalis, Rosie Perez, Saul Williams) will serve as Opening Night selection for the festival, which will take place September 14-18, 2011 in midtown ...

  As the Sundance Film Festival enters its mid-way point and there is an obvious thinning in the ranks of both celebrities and professionals, here is a rundown of some of the buzz, information and deals that are making noise in Park City this week. FILMMAKER MAGAZINE OFFERS NO GLITZ SUNDANCE COVERAGE If you believed what you read in most newspapers and see on television entertainment magazines, Sundance seems to exist merely as a playground for fabulous celebrities where they...

Sundance Institute announced members of five juries awarding prizes at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival which runs January 20-30, 2011. The juries are comprised of 23 individuals spanning the global arts community. Juror photos and extended biographies, in addition to the complete Festival lineup and schedule, are available at www.sundance.org/festival. All awards will be announced the evening of January 29 at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony. The Short Film Awards will als...

The Philadelphia Film Society is pleased to announce that it has promoted Director of Programming Michael Lerman to Artistic Director and hired Tom Quinn and Ryan Werner as programmers of the Philadelphia Film Festival. Lerman, Quinn and Werner previously worked together as programmers for the Woodstock Film Festival, successfully building the Festival through the programming of diverse, intelligent and engaging films. Quinn and Werner begin immediately, and will work with Lerman to curate the s...

The San Francisco Film Society and the Kenneth Rainin Foundation announced the five winners of the Spring 2010 SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants tonight at the Golden Gate Awards at Temple Nightclub - Prana Restaurant. The grants are given twice annually to filmmakers for narrative feature films with social justice themes that will have significant economic or professional impact on the Bay Area filmmaking community. The panelists who reviewed the finalists' submissions are Jacob Kornbluth, award-winni...

"The Academy Awards" for Independent Film, aka, "The 18th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards", was held this evening at "The Museum of American Finance" and "Cipriani Wall Street". The evening commenced with Terrence Howard singing the track, "Love Makes You Beautiful", off his latest CD, "Shine Through It".Michelle Byrd addressed the audience congratulating IFP as it turns 30 this year. "Indie film is an artform. Since IFP's inception, they have assisted over 7000 films to be made, connect...

  Tuesday, December 2-------The Film Independent Spirit Awards, also referred to as the "indie Oscars" has announced its nomination list today, giving added fuel to the awards season. Top nominees include FROZEN RIVER (Courtney Hunt), BALLAST (Lance Hammer) and RACHEL GETTING MARRIED (Jonathan Demme). Other films competing for the Best Feature Award include THE WRESTLER (Darren Aronofsky) and WENDY AND LUCY (Kelly Reichardt).   FROZEN RIVER, which won the ...

The Film Independent Spirit Awards, also referred to as the "indie Oscars" has announced its nomination list today, giving added fuel to the awards season. Top nominees include FROZEN RIVER (Courtney Hunt), BALLAST (Lance Hammer) and RACHEL GETTING MARRIED (Jonathan Demme). Other films competing for the Best Feature Award include THE WRESTLER (Darren Aronofsky) and WENDY AND LUCY (Kelly Reichardt). FROZEN RIVER, which won the top prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, boasted six nomination...

The Times BFI 52nd London Film Festival rounded off its most successful year to date with the European premiere of Danny Boyle’s SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. This year’s Festival hosted 191 feature films and 109 short films from 43 countries including a record 15 world premieres. There were 398 screenings and 537 visiting international filmmakers, a record 1096 industry professionals, and the highest ever audience attendance. High-profile international filmmakers and actors attended their film’s s...

Barry Jenkins has emerged as a talent to watch with his debut feature Medicine for Melancholy. The film charts the aftermath of a drunken one-night stand between two African-American twentysomethings, and has been described by the director (when pushed) as "Before Sunset meets Do the Right Thing… with a dash of French New Wave to sweeten the pot." It's a warm-hearted, witty romantic drama with a great indie soundtack, which also succeeds in raising questions about the relationship between race...

IFP announced today the nominees for the 18th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards™ which will take place on Tuesday, December 2nd at New York City's Cipriani Wall Street. It also announced the new name for the awards, making the subtle shift from the Gotham Awards to the Gotham Independent Film Awards™. Presented by IFP, the nation's oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers, the Gotham Independent Film Awards™ is one of the leading awards for independent film and the fir...

Tuesday, September 16------The American indie festival hit Medicine For Melancholy by director Barry Jenkins, kicked off the festivities at a gala screening held last night for the opening of the Independent Film Week, hosted by the Independent Feature Project (IFP).The San Francisco-based film stars Wyatt Cenac and Tracey Heggins as  two African-American twenty-somethings dealing with the conundrum of being a minority in a rapidly gentrifying San Francisco. The film earned raves at SXSW, Los...

Friday, September 12-------Che, the 4 1/2 hour epic on the life of revolutionary Che Guevera, has been acquired for all North American rights by IFC Films. The film, directed by Steven Soderbergh, had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where the film's lead Benicio del Toro won the Best Actor prize. It screened this past week at the Toronto International Film Festival and will be screening next at the New York Film Festival. Che gives IFC Films a strong contender for end-of-the-ye...

 Saturday, September 6------Coming off of a shopping spree of acquisitions at the Cannes Film Festival, New York-based specialty distributor IFC Films is screening an unprecedented seven films at this year's Toronto International Film Festival. With most US distributors in retrenchment mode (or some being shuttered completely), IFC's day-and-date release of films in theaters and via Video On Demand has given them the financial clout to fill the need for an expanding pipeline of new product.That...

courtesy of fest08.sffs.org Video Scoop The video edition of Scoop features interviews with Mike Leigh, director Ted Thomas (Walt & El Grupo), and director Barry Jenkins (Medicine for Melancholy). Who’s in Town? Arriving today are directors Patricio Lanfranco (The Judge and the General), Jonathan Levine (The Wackness), Mahmoud al Massad (Recycle), Jirí Menzel (I Served the King of England) and Robb Moss (Secrecy); subject Juan Guzmán (The Judge and the General); and jurors Florence Alm...

The Sarasota Film Festival Competition and Audience Awards were announced at a reception hosted by the Longboat Key Club and Resort, on Saturday afternoon, April 12th, 2008. The awards were introduced by Festival Director of Programming, Tom Hall and Festival Programmer, Holly Herrick and were presented by each of the competition category jurors. The Audience Awards were presented by Hall and Herrick. The 2008 Sarasota Film Festival presented three competitions, Best Narrative Feature, Best ...

The Sarasota Film Festival kicks-off its 10th Anniversary with a sneak-peak at some of the highlights of this years films, honorees and special programs; Among them is the announcement of the three major competitions, Best Narrative Feature, Best Documentary Feature, and Independent Visions - each showcasing a selection of the finest films at the festival. Special programs include Face To Face: The Films of Liv Ullmann and Ingmar Bergman; and Israel@60: The Nation, The Diaspora and Beyond. For ...

The 15th annual South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference & Festival is thrilled to announce the complete lineup of feature films slated to screen at the event, March 7-15, in Austin, Texas.Over the course of nine days, 114 features will screen at the festival, with65 of those having their world premieres at SXSW 2008. Among the high-profile films added to the festival¹s ³Spotlight Premieres² categoryare: Kimberly Peirce¹s 'Stop-Loss,' Nicholas Stoller¹s 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall,' Martin ...