Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, has launched a new Documentary Lab, sponsored by Latino Public Broadcasting, with 14 filmmakers and 9 projects participating. Taking place in Los Angeles, the Documentary Lab is an intensive seven-week program, with a main focus of assisting documentary filmmakers on their works-in-progress and providing creative feedback. All of the Film Independent Labs are designed to suppor...

Interview with Chip Hourihan/Producer (along with Heather Rae) of "Frozen River by Sharon AbellaBio:Chip Hourihan is the producer (along with Heather Rae) of "Frozen River", winner of The Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, 2008 Gotham Independent Film Award (Best Feature), FIPRESCI Prize, and Best Feature Awards at the Hamburg, San Sebastián, Provincetown , and Stockholm Film Festivals. "Frozen River" was released theatrically in 2008 by Sony Pictures Classics and in 2009 by R...

  Wednesday, December 3-------On the same day as the Film Independent Spirit Award nominations were announced (cheeky, that), the annual Gotham independent Film Awards were given out in New York City. Winning top honors were FROZEN RIVER by Courtney Hunt as Best Feature Film and TROUBLE THE WATER by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal as Best Documentary.   FROZEN RIVER'S lead actress Melissa Leo also won the Gotham Breakthrough Actor award, and along wih her Film Inde...

  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...

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...

The Tribeca Film Festival, presented by American Express, along with the Tribeca Film Institute today announced the selected projects for Tribeca All Access (TAA), a program designed to help foster relationships between film industry executives and filmmakers from traditionally underrepresented communities. Celebrating its 5th year, Tribeca All Access will present 37 new projects, its largest showing ever, at the six-day event taking place April 21 – 26 during this year’s Tribeca Film Festiv...

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 ...

All Roads seed grantees Larry Blackhorse Lowe and Heather Rae are among 22 filmmakers and media artists selected as 2007 Media Arts Fellows by Renew Media.  Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, over $750,000 was collectively awarded to this year's Fellowship recipients recognizing the artistic excellence of film, video and new-media artists in the United States.  Artists selected for this honor represent a penchant for creative risk-taking; pushing the boundaries of genre, form, technique...

The 25th Sundance Film Festival wrapped here Sunday with screening of the award winning films. For the first time in the festivals history two films took both the audience and jury prizes in the narrative and documentary categories. “Quincenara”, which offers insight into Hispanic family culture through the eyes of teenagers living in Los Angeles, earned the best dramatic film honor from the Sundance jury of five film industry veterans as well as the top drama prize from audience members. Ma...

Mill Valley Film Festival closed its 28th year with screenings of more than 200 films from over 50 countries on Sunday, October 16. Always an exciting Festival component, more than 175 filmmakers and actors from around the globe made the trip to Mill Valley to share their filmmaking experiences with the audiences. “We had an exceptional slate of US and world cinema, tributes, spotlights, music events, parties and receptions for film lovers of all ages,” notes Founder/Director Mark Fishkin. �...

For 28 years, Mill Valley Film Festival has been presenting the best in American Independent and International feature films, hard-hitting documentaries, cutting edge video, delightful children’s fare and tributes to celluloid luminaries. This year is no exception. With more than 150 slated films and videos from around the globe, the Mill Valley Film Festival unspools October 6-16.“The 28th Festival is filled with extraordinary independent films from 55 countries around the world as well as ...

For 28 years, Mill Valley Film Festival has been presenting the best in American Independent and International feature films, hard-hitting documentaries, cutting edge video, delightful children’s fare and tributes to celluloid luminaries. This year is no exception. With more than 150 slated films and videos from around the globe, the Mill Valley Film Festival unspools October 6-16 at the CinéArts @ Sequoia, 25 Throckmorton Avenue in Mill Valley; 142 Throckmorton Theatre, 142 Throckmorton Aven...

The 31st Annual Seattle International Film FestivalThe 31st Annual Seattle International Film Festival announces award winners and concludes its 25-day run on Sunday June 12 with the North American premiere of award winning director Gus Van Sant’s film Last Days. Van Sant will be in attendance for the screening, which will be followed by the Closing Night Gala. SIFF 2005 was a great year and brought many eminent Seattleites together—from Microsoft’s Bill Gates to Eddie Vedder of Pearl Ja...

The 2005 Newport International Film Festival, the 8th Annual event, will get underway Tuesday, June 7th – 12th, 2005, and run for six glorious days and nights of entertaining films, informative symposiums, and, of course, those glamorous Newport parties. The Festival atmosphere is relaxed, yet filled with all the enchantment, energy, and excitement of Hollywood. The Newport International Film Festival draws filmmakers and celebrities from around the world. This year the festival will honor wri...

The 2005 Newport International Film Festival, the 8th Annual event, will get underway Tuesday, June 7th – 12th, 2005, and run for six days and nights of entertaining films, informative symposiums, and, of course, those glamorous Newport parties. The Festival atmosphere is relaxed, yet filled with all the enchantment, energy, and excitement of Hollywood. This year the festival will honor writer/director/actor/musician Michael McKean with the annual Claiborne Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement....

This year a record number of women filmmakers are making their mark in this prestigious American Festival. With many first time women feature and short filmmakers, Sundance has supported the growth of women in film. Sundance Film Festival now its 24th year in the past has not had such a balance of ratio’s, of course there are just more men making films than women too. But the openness to women filmmakers is still a struggle and the acknowledgement of Geoff Gilmore and Robert Redford at this...

2005 Sundance Film Festival Announces ProgramThe Sundance Institute has announced the slate of films for the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. New this year will be the inaugural World Cinema Competition, which brings more of an international focus on this once only US independent film Festival. The 2005 Sundance Film Festival will take place January 20–30, 2005, in Park City, Utah, USA. This Film Festival is the premier showcase for American independent film, is an important new platform for i...

Sundance Institute presents the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, an exhibition of work that showcases the best of independent cinema. Each year the programming staff views thousands of submissions to select the most exciting and innovative works for the Festival.The Sundance Institute announced the lineup of films for the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. The films listed below make up the Independent Feature Film Competition, inaugural World Cinema Competition, Premieres, Park City at Midnight, American...