Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, announced nominations for the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards this morning. Anthony Mackie and Kate Beckinsale served as presenters. Nominees for Best Feature include 50/50, Beginners, Drive, Take Shelter, The Descendants and The Artist.Margin Call was selected to receive the annual Robert Altman Award, which is bestowed upon one film’s director, casting director and ense...

The Official Awards of the sixth edition THE PRIZES AWARDED BY THE INTERNATIONAL JURY The international jury chaired by Ennio Morricone and comprised of Susanne Bier, Roberto Bolle, Carmen Chaplin, David Puttnam, Pierre Thoretton, Debra Winger has pronounced its verdict on the films competing in the Official Selection.  The international Jury has awarded: - The Marc' Aurelio Jury Award for Best Film: Un cuento chino by Sebastián Borensztein - The Marc'...

Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Film Independent Spirit Awards and Los Angeles Film Festival has announced the filmmakers and projects selected for its 11th annual Producers Lab. Sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the seven-week program takes place in Los Angeles and is designed to help producers improve their craft, and move their current projects into production in a nurturing, yet challenging creative environment. Film Independent has also awarde...

FULL FEATURE LINEUP (STARRED FILMS INDICATE FILMS ELIGIBLE FOR NEWFEST's JURY AWARDS)FEATURE NARRATIVE LINEUP2 Frogs in the West, dir. Dany Papineau (NY PREMIERE)3, dir. Tom Tykwer (NY PREMIERE)A Few Days of Respite (Quelque jours de respit), dir. Amor Hakkar (NY PREMIERE)August, dir. Eldar Rapaport (NY PREMIERE) **Blackmail Boys, dir. Bernard & Richard Shumanski **Buffering, dir. Darren Flaxstone & Christian Martin (NY PREMIERE)Circumstance, dir. Maryam Keshavarz **Codependent Lesbian Space Al...

The San Francisco Film Society wrapped its 54th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 21 - May 5) with 265 screenings of 193 films from 48 countries, which were attended by 278 filmmakers and industry guests from 22 countries around the globe. "I had a hell of a good time!" exclaimed Frank Pierson, recipient of this year's Kanbar Award for excellence in screenwriting. "I enjoyed the informality of spirit and the professionalism of execution of the who...

  678 (Mohamed Diab, Egypt)  There is no doubt that we are living in historic times. The political and social upheaval in the Middle East and northern Africa are among the most stunning events of the new millennium, and it still remains unclear whether this will herald a period of unprecedented stability and its complete opposite. Helping us to understand the turmoil and the inner lives of those cultures, four films in the New Directors/New Film series, entering its first weekend...

  New Directors/New Films, the program of film discoveries co-presented by New York's  Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, has been a strong launching pad for debut directors over the past four decades. In its 40 years, the event has introduced such leading international cinema auteurs as Chantal Akerman, Pedro Almodóvar, Guillermo Del Toro, Agnieszka Holland, Wong Kar Wai, George Miller and Christopher Nolan, as well as such important American film talen...

The Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) today announced the 12 projects selected for Tribeca All Access (TAA) program. This year, the program will introduce $10,000 grants for each project along with tailored mentorships to maximize its impact. Now in its eighth year, TAA was created to help foster and nurture relationships between film industry executives and filmmakers from traditionally underrepresented communities. TAA will present the 12 projects throughout a five-day program taking place during ...

Eleven Feature Narratives, Including US and World Premieres, Contend for $15,000 New Directors Prize   San Francisco, CA – The 54th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 21–May 5) will award close to $100,000 in total prizes this year. The New Directors Prize of $15,000 is given to a narrative first feature that exhibits a unique artistic sensibility and deserves to be seen by as wide an audience as possible. Seventeen countries contributed to the production...

This is an overview of my 2011 Sundance experience  For Europeans, heading to a remote mining town now ski resort and festival headquarters in Park City, Utah, tucked away in the Wasatch mountains outside of Salt Lake City, it's no simple journey. It entails careful planning several months in advance, serious budgetary calculation to secure a bed in those expensive shared- condos, and blocking extra time to your return schedule as flipping time zones wrecks havoc with your metabolism a...

  For American Independent filmmakers (and increasingly, international ones too), the Sundance Film Festival is an opportunity to put one's project on the world stage and, hopefully, end up with a delicious distribution deal. Of course, truth be told, less than 5% of the 250 films on offer here will create any sort of noise after the Festival concludes (well, push that up to 10% if you include the films that will eventually be asked to participate on the international film festival circ...

By Maria Esteves – January 6, 2011 The 20th Sundance Film Festival 2011 (SFF2011) held in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance, Utah, commence January 20-30, 2011. The festival supported by the nonprofit Sundance Institute, founded by Robert Redford annually presents highly acclaimed independent cinema from American and International filmmakers. This year’s festival celebrates its 20th anniversary by showcasing over 100 American and international films in and out of comp...

Sundance Institute announced today the lineup of films selected to screen in the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to the four Competition Categories, the Festival presents films in six out-of-competition sections to be announced on December 2. The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs January 20-30 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. On Day One, the Festival will forego the convention of one opening ni...

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 Hubert Bals Fund of the Rotterdam film festival announces financial contributions to 27 film projects for a total amount of 385,000 Euro. One of the winners, TONY MANERO by Pablo Larraín, is selected for the Directors’ Fortnight 2008. It brings the total of Rotterdam-backed titles in Cannes to sixteen. This Spring, Hubert Bals Fund contributions will go to filmmakers in seventeen countries. Among them are maestro Lav Diaz (Philippines), upcoming talent Edwin (Indonesia), about to make his...