The Spirit Awards celebrates artist-driven filmmaking and recognizes the finest achievements of today’s independent filmmakers.                                     2012 FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED - $115,000 in grants to be awarded to filmmakers - LOS ANGELES (Novembe...

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...

  Amnesty International, the human rights organization, is building a petition campaign to protest the sentence of Jafar Panahi, a leading Iranian filmmaker and human rights activist. Panahi, an internationally celebrated film director who won the coveted Golden Lion prize at the Venice Film Festival for his 2000 film "Dayareh" (Circle), has been sentenced to six years in prison plus a twenty-year ban on all his artistic activities—including film making, writing scrip...

The 13th Annual Hollywood Film Festival's "Hollywood Awards(r)" ceremony was held last night before a standing-room-only audience of over 1,100 Hollywood Film Festival(r) attendees at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.The festival and awards announced this year's winner of the "Hollywood Movie Award" -- J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" -- which was chosen by the public voting online at the Yahoo! Movies website. The voting site received 20 million unique visitors and over 160,000 votes were cast...

Today Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, announced its 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival award winners at a special event, presented by Target. The Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by The Los Angeles Times, ran from Thursday, June 18 to Sunday, June 28. “One of our goals at Film Independent is to help filmmakers build an audience for their work, and the Los Angeles Film Festival does just that,” said Film I...

  It was a true celebration of film as the Palm Beach International Film Festival celebrated announced its winners in the categories of Best Feature Film, Best Documentary, Best Short Film and Best Director. The jury for the 14th PBIFF consisted of:  Academy Award-nominated actress Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand & Fog, and the upcoming Stoning of Soraya M.) and Debbie Frank, COO of the Frank Theatres, who judged the Feature Films; Director Aaron Wells (whose film Rock and...

It was a true celebration of film as the Palm Beach International Film Festival celebrated its 14th installment, which took place April 23 – 27, 2009. After five days of screenings, the jury votes were tallied to determine the winners for Best Feature Film, Best Documentary, Best Short Film and Best Director, while audiences voted for their favorite in categories of features, documentaries and shorts. Jury winners were announced at an afternoon press conference, and the Audience Choice Award...

It was a true celebration of film as the Palm Beach International Film Festival celebrated its 14th installment, which took place April 23 – 27, 2009. After five days of screenings, the jury votes were tallied to determine the winners for Best Feature Film, Best Documentary, Best Short Film and Best Director, while audiences voted for their favorite in categories of features, documentaries and shorts. Jury winners were announced at an afternoon press conference, and the Audience Choice Award...

The Palm Beach International Film Festival (PBIFF) announced its highly anticipated film line-up for the 14th edition, April 23-27, 2009. Executive Director Randi Emerman announced that more than 110 films will screen at this year’s event, which now spans five days. “We’re a little shorter this year, yet we have added more venues, as well as a second weekend featuring the ‘Best of the Fest,” said Emerman. “The festival takes pride in our determination to bring Palm Beach County on...

 Wednesday, February 6----------While such mega-watt movie stars as Angelina Jolie, Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones steal much of the limelight in the media coverage of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the true heart of the event are the American indie and international films that the festival showcases. More than 70,000 visitors (a record number) came out for the mix of glamour and discovery in one of America's most beautiful festival venues. So, for the record, the winners of...

While such mega-watt movie stars as Angelina Jolie, Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones steal much of the limelight in the media coverage of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the true heart of the event are the American indie and international films that the festival showcases. More than 70,000 visitors (a record number) came out for the mix of glamour and discovery in one of America's most beautiful festival venues. So, for the record, the winners of this year's SBIFF include: The Pa...

The 23rd installment of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) presents its film line-up for 2008, featuring 215 films including 20 World Premieres, 22 U.S. Premieres and a rich selection of films representing 49 countries. The Festival takes place over 11 days beginning Thursday, January 24, through Sunday, February 3.“The Festival has continuously grown in stature,” commented SBIFF Director Roger Durling, “and this year’s film slate certainly reflects that. We’re ver...

On Sunday, November 26th, New Line Cinema’s The Nativity Story will become the first feature film ever to premiere at the Vatican. The Nativity Story is scheduled for a Dec. 1, 2006 release in the U.S., and will open in territories worldwide throughout the month of December. The premiere, to be held at the Vatican’s Aulo Paolo VI (Pope Paul VI Hall), will be attended by The Nativity Story ’s director Catherine Hardwicke, actors Shohreh Aghdashloo and Oscar Isaac, producers Marty Bowen and...

Did you ever see Bill Murray do the salsa? Or the mambo, rumba or any of that other Latin stuff? Well, let me tell you something. The guy’s got rhythm. I couldn’t help myself watching him in awe as he steered his way around the dance floor with a couple of breathless women. So, thinking I should get a firsthand experience, I navigated through the crowd of undulating bodies in a hope of being next in line. But woe is me, the music suddenly ended and Bill slipped off the floor.I found him in a...

“The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!”By Cassendra Gavawas all I could think of on that week leading up to the 4th annual RUSSIAN NIGHTS FILM and CULTURAL FESTIVAL, stationed in LA’s royal blue architectural gem, the Pacific Design Center. Now I love attending film festivals, especially exotic ones, but helping to organize them is another can of beans entirely. As a creative consultant to my “mad Russians”, as I tenderly refer to them, I was quickly driven to slurp the vo...

“The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!” was all I could think of on that week leading up to the 4th annual RUSSIAN NIGHTS FILM and CULTURAL FESTIVAL, stationed in LA’s royal blue architectural gem, the Pacific Design Center. Now I love attending film festivals, especially exotic ones, but helping to organize them is another can of beans entirely. As a creative consultant to my “mad Russians”, as I tenderly refer to them, I was quickly driven to slurp the vodka and guzzle t...

Standing ovations for international cinema masters like Pedro Almodóvar, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Terry George at AFI FEST 2004, which concluded Sunday at ArcLight Hollywood's Cinerama Dome with the US Premiere of New Line Cinema's SEA INSIDE. Written and directed by Alejandro Amenábar, the film stars Javier Bardem. Both filmmaker and star were in attendance.Although attendance figures are still being tabulated, festival organizers have seen a 20% increase in Box Office receipts over the previou...

JURY AWARDSINTERNATIONAL SHORTS COMPETITIONGRAND JURY PRIZETWO CARS, ONE NIGHT (New Zealand)Directed by Taika WaititiSPECIAL MENTIONRYAN (Canada)Directed By Chris LandrethJurors: Actor, Shohreh Aghdashloo; Film Critic, Wade Major; Filmmaker, Ray McKinnonINTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY COMPETITIONGRAND JURY PRIZETHE TAKE (Canada)Directed by Avi LewisSPECIAL MENTIONTHE OTHER SIDE OF AIDS (USA)Directed By Robin ScovillJurors: Filmmaker, Xan Cassavetes; Filmmaker, Paola Di Florio; Filmmaker, Allen HughesI...

76th Academy Awards®Oscars® for the 76th Annual Academy Awards were presented on Sunday, February 29, 2004 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.Actor in a leading role Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" (Buena Vista)Ben Kingsley in "House of Sand and Fog" (DreamWorks in association with Cobalt Media Group)Jude Law in "Cold Mountain" (Miramax)Bill Murray in "Lost in Translation" (Focus Features)++++ Sean Penn in "Mystic River" (Warner Bros.)...