CineVegas will honor two actors, two directors and two video game design pioneers at the 2009 Festival, it was announced today by Trevor Groth, Artistic Director. Jon Voight will be given the Marquee Award, recognizing his artistic excellence, professional accomplishment and dedication to cinema. Willem Dafoe will be honored with the Vanguard Actor Award, which honors the distinctive mark he has made in film through his brave performances. The Vanguard Director Award will be given to George and ...

the Los Angeles Film Festival, announced additional official film selections and programming for the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by the Los Angeles Times. The Los Angeles Film Festival will run from Thursday, June 18 to Sunday, June 28. Louie Psihoyos’ The Cove and Rebecca Cammisa’s Which Way Home will be a part of the Free Screenings section.Walt Disney Pictures’ Ponyo will close this year’s Festival on Sunday, June 28 at 6:30 p.m. at the Mann Village Theater. From the A...

CELEBRATING THE BEST OF ISRAELI CINEMA June 3 – 18, 2009 The 24th Israel Film Festival, the largest showcase of Israeli films in the United States, announced today its most dynamic program since its founding. Encompassing over 30 movies, including award winning features, documentaries and student films, the Festival runs from June 3rd – June 18th, 2009 in Los Angeles. The gala Opening Night festivities will include the West Coast premiere of Lost Islands, the highest grossing and most hon...

The Hamptons International Film Festival will host its 9th annual Screenwriters’ Lab cosponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation this April 3 – 5 in East Hampton, NY. Over the course of one long weekend, emerging screenwriters will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one each day with established screenwriting mentors who will advise them on how to develop their scripts and move their projects closer to production. Within this supportive environment, the screenwriters are encouraged to tak...

The Smogdance Film Festival will expand its program this year to include informal discussions with filmmakers, whose work will be screened during the three-day festival, April 24 to 26, at the historic Pomona Fox Theater in Pomona, California. Among the filmmakers scheduled to attend are Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Saul Landau; director Paul Hendry (and most of his cast and crew) from the comedy, The Re-Bourne Identity; and Mexican director Alonso Alvarez Barreda, whose film, The St...

FURTHER ART BY CHANCE JURY REVEALED… PATRICIA BECKMANN WELLS Patricia Beckmann Wells studied cinema and animation at the University of Southern California. After the graduation she worked at Philips Media and Warner Digital as an animator. For many years she’s been working as a manager in companies like Film Roman and DreamWorks as Head of Training and Development and as chair of a new department at the Savannah College of Art and Design. She is the author of three Animation textb...

CINE GAYSan Diego Latino Film Festival continues its mission to help correct the often distorted images seen on television and in movies by presenting another year of the Cine Gay Showcase. Challenging the historical exclusion of under-represented communities in the media, the festival takes advantage of the opportunity of this showcase to highlight experiences of gay life in different corners of the world, underlining the universal experience as well as the unique expressions of the Latin GLBT ...

Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and Los Angeles Film Festival, has announced the filmmakers and film projects selected for its 8th annual Directors Lab, sponsored by Eastman Kodak Company. Taking place in Los Angeles from now until the end of March, the Directors Lab is an intensive eight-week incubator designed to assist directors with strong, original voices develop new narrative feature films, improve their craft, and advance their filmmakin...