News

Rhode Island may be the smallest state in the United States, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t going big on film.

More than 300 films screened at the 42nd Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, which took place in Providence from Aug. 6 to 11: a diverse slate of narrative features, documentaries and short films represented 51 countries across the globe. The festival — one of 10 international fests that serve as official qualifiers for the Academy Awards’ live-action, animated and documentary short categories — received over 7,000 submissions this year.

For executive director Shawn M. Quirk, who has been with the festival for 13 years, Riiff has a two-pronged approach to serving filmmakers both in Rhode Island and beyond its borders. “It’s really about building this global community, as well as helping our local filmmakers who need that access,” Quirk tells THR.

“I love the idea of us being a global film [destination],” adds Quirk.

Mickey Rourke will star in anthology movie Berlin, I Love You, the latest in the Cities of Love series. 

Rourke is the latest to join the A-list ensemble that already includes Diego Luna, Orlando Bloom, Sophie Turner, Jack Huston and Jared Leto. Patrick Dempsey and Renee Zellweger will also star, as well as make their directorial debuts as part of the film.

Other directors will include Massy Tadjedin, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, Shekhar Kapur, Tom Van Avermaet and Fernando Eimbcke, along with German directors Til Schweiger, Dennis Gansel and Dani Levy.

Berlin, I Love You, which will begin production at the end...

Diego Luna is looking for love, signing on to star in romance ensemble film Berlin, I Love You. Sources say Orlando Bloom and Gemma Arterton also are in negotiations to join the anthology film, which already has Jack Huston and Sophie Turner attached to star.

Several directors will each handle one story in the project, with Patrick Dempsey and Renee Zellweger attached to make their directorial debuts as part of the film. They also will star in their segments.

Other directors that will helm segments include Massy Tadjedin, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, Shekhar Kapur, Tom Van Avermaet and Fernando Eimbcke,...

A re-energised Pula Film Festival, the biggest film festival in Croatia, will welcome top guests including Roger Michell, Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, Gyorgi Palfi, Tudor Giurgiu and Mike Cahill.

Fridriksson [pictured] will serve on a jury and be the subject of a retrospective including his films Rock in Reykjavik, Children of Nature, Devil’s Island, Angels Of The Universe, and Falcons.

The Pula Pro Industry section will include masterclasses from PR expert Charles MacDonald, marketing veteran John Durie, sound expert Ray Gillon of G-Minor and Nik Powell of the UK’s National Film and Television School (Nfts).

The festival boasts a new artistic team of Mike Downey, Hrvoje Puksec and Tanja Milicic, who took over in April.

The Pula Cinematheque section, under special advistor Rajko Grlic, will focus on the year 1965.

One new strand at the festival will be Dizalica, aimed at cinephiles aged 16-21; selections include We Are The Best! and Bitch Hug. This is added...

Here’s the new Viewfinder List, the entertainment industry survey which polls studio executives, producers and creatives for their top 10 short films, commercials and/or music videos. This is similar to The Black List, as the Viewfinder List honors short form content and the directors who made them. The list was created by producer Jeff Schroeder, Aaron Schmidt (Langley Park Pictures) and Patrick Chu (FilmNation). In recent years, some of the shorts have been optioned and some of their directors have gotten jobs — and hey, the attention never hurts. This year’s top vote-getter, Fool’s Day, was directed by Cody Blue Snider, the son of Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider. Here is the website where it is possible to watch the shorts:

Related:

Viewfinder List 2012

Viewfinder List 2011

Votes: 17

Fool’s Day, directed by Cody Blue Snider

Agents: WME – Roger Green, Solco Schuit

Managers: Circle of Confusion – Zach Cox

Votes: 15

Noah,...

So far, La Grande Belleza, my choice for the Oscar is in the lead!

See the full list of winners below:

The 26th European Film Awards: Winners

The more than 2,900 members of the European Film Academy - filmmakers from across Europe - have voted for this year’s European Film Awards. At the awards ceremony in Berlin the following awards were presented:

European Film

La Grande Bellezza

The Great Beauty

Italy/France , 140 min

Directed By: Paolo Sorrentino

Written By: Paolo Sorrentino & Umberto Contarello

Produced By: Nicola Giuliano & Francesca Cima

European Comedy

Love Is All You Need

Denmark, 111 min

Directed By: Susanne Bier

Written By: Anders Thomas Jensen & Susanne Bier

Produced By: Sisse Graum Jørgensen, Vibeke Windeløv

European Discovery – Prix Fipresci

Oh Boy

Germany, 83 min

Written & Directed By: Jan Ole Gerster

Produced By: Marcos Kantis & Alexander Wadouh

European Documentary

The Act Of Killing

Denmark/Norway/UK, 159 min

Directed By: Joshua Oppenheimer

Produced By: Signe Byrge Sørensen

European Animated Feature Film

The Congress

Israel/Germany/Poland/Luxembourg/France/Belgium, 120 min

Written & Directed By: Ari Folman

Animation: Yoni Goodman

European Short Film

Dood Van Een Schaduw

Death Of A Shadow

directed by Tom Van Avermaet

Belgium/France 2012, 20 min, fiction

European Director

Paolo Sorrentino for La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty)

European Actress

Veerle Baetens in The Broken Circle Breakdown

European Actor

Toni Servillo in La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty)

European Screenwriter

François Ozon for Dans La Maison (In The House)

European Cinematographer – Prix Carlo Di Palma

Asaf Sudry

for Lemale Et Ha’Halal (Fill The Void)

Israel

European Editor

Cristiano Travaglioli

for La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty)

Italy/France

European Production Designer

Sarah Greenwood

for Anna Karenina

UK

European Costume Designer

Paco Delgado

for Blancanieves

Spain/France

European Composer

Ennio Morricone

for The Best Offer

Italy

European Sound Designer

Matz Müller & Erik Mischijew

for Paradies: Glaube (Paradise: Faith)

Austria/Germany/France

European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award

Catherine Deneuve

European Achievement In World Cinema

Pedro Almodóvar

European Co-production Award– Prix Eurimages

Ada Solomon

People’S Choice Award for Best European Film

The Gilded Cage directed by Ruben Alves...

Paolo Sorrentino's "The Great Beauty" dominated the 26th European Film Awards taking home the best film, director, actor, and editing trophies. The counterpart of the Academy Awards completely ignored the big Cannes winner (and possibly Oscar contender) "Blue is The Warmest Color."

Here's the complete list of winners of the 26th European Film Awards:

European Film

La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty)

European Director

Paolo Sorrentino for La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty)

European Actress

Veerle Baetens in The Broken Circle Breakdown

European Actor

Toni Servillo in La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty)

European Screenwriter

François Ozon for Dans La Maison (In the House)

European Comedy

Love Is All You Need, Susanne Bier, Denmark

European Discovery - Prix Fipresci

Oh Boy!, Jan Ole Gerster, Germany

European Animated Feature Film

The Congress, Ari Folman, Israel, Germany, Poland, Luxembourg, France and Belgium

European Documentary

The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer, Denmark,...

Other winners included Love Is All You Need, The Act of Killing, The Congress and The Broken Circle Breakdown.

Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty was the big winner at the 26th European Film Awards in Berlin, picking up four of the silver statuettes for European Film, European Director, European Actor for Toni Servillo, and European Editor for Cristiano Travaglioli.

The Great Beauty is Italy’s Oscar entry this year and had won the EurAsia Grand Prix at Tallinn’s Black Nights Film Festival a matter of days before the awards ceremony in Berlin.

Sorrentino could not personally accept the two awards as he is serving on the jury at the Marrakech Film festival, but producer Nicola Giuliano brought members of the cast and crew on stage to receive the audience’s applause.

Veteran Italian composer Ennio Morricone received the European Composer statuette for his score of Giuseppe Tornatore’s The Best Offer and was given a standing...

Other winners included Love Is All You Need, The Act of Killing, The Congress and The Broken Circle Breakdown.

Paolo Sorrentino’s Italian drama The Great Beauty picked up top prizes at the 26th European Film Awards in Berlin, including best film, director and actor.

The film, which premiered in Cannes, is Italy’s submission for the 2014 Best Foreign-Language Oscar.

Winning the top Efa prize, it beat features including Cannes-winner Blue is the Warmest Colour, which walked away empty-handed from the ceremony.

More than 2,900 members of the European Film Academy voted for the awards.

Full list of winners

European Film

The Great Beauty, Paolo Sorrentino

European Comedy

Love Is All You Need, Susanne Bier

European Discovery – Prix Fipresci

Oh Boy, Jan Ole Gerster

European Documentary

The Act Of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer

European Animated Feature Film

The Congress, Ari Folman

European Short Film

Valladolid Short Film Nominee

Death Of A Shadow, Tom Van Avermaet

European...

"The Great Beauty," Italy's submission to the Oscars, scored four victories at Europe's equivalent to the Oscars: the European Film Awards. Than 2,900 members of the European Film Academy doled out their trophies at their ceremony in Berlin on Saturday. Best Film "The Great Beauty" (Italy/France) Best Director Paolo Sorrentino, "The Great Beauty" Best Actor Toni Servillo, "The Great Beauty" Best Actress Veerle Baetens, "The Broken Circle Breakdown" Best Screenwriter François Ozon, "In the House" Best Comedy "Love Is All You Need" (Denmark) Discovery – Prix Fipresci "Oh Boy" Best Documentary "The Act of Killing" (Denmark/Norway/UK) Best Animated Feature Film "The Congress" (Israel/Germany/Poland/Luxembourg/France/Belgium) Best Short Film "Death of a Shadow," directed by Tom Van Avermaet (Belgium/...

Laos-set drama, which is Australia’s submission for the Foreign Language Oscar, beat Gravity to the top prize.

The Rocket, from Australian director Kim Mordaunt, picked up the Audience Award at the 27th Leeds International Film Festival, which ended yesterday.

The film is about a boy who is believed to bring bad luck to everyone around him and leads his family and two new friends through Laos to find a new home. Distributed by Eureka! Entertainment, it debuted at Berlin in February, where it picked up a hat-trick of awards including Best Debut Film, and also won three prizes at Tribeca, including the Audience Award.

The Rocket was voted by Leeds audiences as overall favourite from 139 feature films. The two that were closest in the voting to The Rocket are both music documentaries, Filmage: The Story of Descendents / All and Revenge of the Mekons.

The top ten winners in the LIFF27 Audience Award for Best Film are:...

The European Film Academy has announced this year's nominations for Best European Short Film. At 15 participating film festivals, an independent jury presented one European short film in competition with a nomination in the short film category of the European Film Awards. The winner will be announced December 7th in Berlin.   The nominated short films are: Vila do Conde Short Film Nominee Cut directed by Christoph Girardet & Matthias Mueller Germany 2013, experimental, 12 min Valladolid Short Film Nominee Dood Van Een Schaduw (Death of a Shadow) directed by Tom Van Avermaet Belgium/France 2012, 20 min, fiction Venice Short Film Nominee Houses With Small Windows directed by Bülent Öztürk Belgium 2013, fiction, 15 min Drama Short Film Nominee La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak (Butter Lamp) directed by Hu Wei France/China 2013, fiction, 15 min Krakow Short Film Nominee Letter directed by Sergei Loznitsa Russia 2012, documentary, 20 min Berlin Short Film Nominee Misterio...

In just one week the fourth annual Telluride Horror Show kicks off in picturesque Telluride, Co, with Ben Ketai’s anticipated trapped-in-a-mine thriller Beneath rounding out the weekend.

Other films in the line-up include All Hallow’s Eve, a Halloween-based anthology that features the return of the demonic Art the Clown, who was first seen in the terrific short film Terrifier; Jesse T. Cook’s subversive and incredibly divisiveSeptic Man; and the World Premiere of Chemical Peel, directed by Grand Junction, Colorado, native Hank Braxtan.

Joining the fest will also be Guest Director Phil Tippett, who will be on hand to present a special sneak preview of Phil Tippett’s Mad God: Part 1, a surrealistic stop-motion nightmare featuring hundreds of detailed puppets. He will also present a special screening of his short film Mutantland.

For more info visit the official Telluride Horror Show website, "like" Telluride Horror Show on...

If you didn't tune in for the Academy Awards last night, here's a short breakdown of what you missed: William Shatner showed up from the future, Jennifer Lawrence tripped and fell, and Michelle Obama co-presented the award for Best Picture. It was kind of a weird night, but for the most part, the hardware was handed out to all of the expected parties. Argo won Best Picture, Daniel Day-Lewis won Best Actor and Jennifer Lawrence won Best Actress. If there was a surprise, it was that Life of Pi walked away with the most awards (4) including Best Director for Ang Lee. Zero Dark Thirty got shut out of everything except for Best Sound Editing (in a rare tie with Skyfall). Quentin Tarantino was also a pleasant surprise for Best Original Screenplay. What did you think of this year's Oscars? What was the highlight of the night? How would you rate Seth McFarlane as host?...

This evening’s Oscar ceremony is now over, and with the dust settling on the biggest awards ceremony of the entire year, and the winners and losers celebrating and commiserating together, we’ve put together a full list of the winners (as well as the beaten nominees) for this year’s awards.

Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain nailed the red carpet, apparently, and Sandra Bullock did wonderful things with a diamond hair-clip, while Bradley Cooper and Chris Pine both proved that beards are very much the hot thing right now. But the big events were yet to happen inside the La venue, as the audience sat ready to receive host Seth MacFarlane, and his inevitably cutting humour.

For the most part, MacFarlane was reserved, though a few barbs did land before the end of the night. He played his part also in the excellent musical staging throughout the ceremony, whose highlights featured Shirley Bassey,...

Tonight, Hollywood's biggest stars are at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood for the 2013 Oscar Awards, and Et is bringing you all of the winners as they are announced! (Winners underlined).

Click here for full Oscar coverage.

Best Supporting Actor

Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master

Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook

Alan Arkin, Argo

Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

Best Original Song

Before My Time, Chasing Ice

Pi's Lullaby, Life of Pi

Suddenly, Les Miserables

Everybody Needs a Best Friend, Ted

Skyfall, Skyfall

Best Supporting Actress

Sally Field, Lincoln

Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook

Helen Hunt, The Sessions

Amy Adams, The Master

Best Animated Film

Frankenweenie

The Pirates! Band of Misfits

Wreck-It Ralph

ParaNorman

Brave

Best Foreign Language Film

Amour

No

War Witch

A Royal Affair

Kon-Tiki

Best Adapted Screenplay

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Argo

Lincoln

Silver Linings Playbook

Life of Pi

Best Original Screenplay

Flight

Zero Dark Thirty

[link...

We will be posting all of tonight’s Oscar action here in this post – so refresh every so often and you’ll be in the know! Check out all of the nominations below, we will Red Bold the winners. Wait…a new Walking Dead is on? Well this is a predicament. See you tonight?

Best Picture…

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Silver Linings Playbook

Zero Dark Thirty

Lincoln

Les Miserables

Life of Pi

Amour

Django Unchained

Argo

Best Adapted Screenplay

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Argo

Lincoln

Silver Linings Playbook

Life of Pi

Best Original Screenplay

Flight

Zero Dark Thirty

Django Unchained

Amour

Moonrise Kingdom

Best Director

David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook

Ang Lee, Life of Pi

Steven Spielberg, Lincoln

Michael Haneke, Amour

Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Actor In A Leading Role

Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln

Denzel Washington, Flight

Hugh Jackman, Les Misérables

Bradley Cooper,...

While he stars in the Oscar-nominated short film "Death Of A Shadow," Matthias Schoenaerts got to celebrate early last night, as he took home the César Award for Best Newcomer for his fantastic performance in Jacques Audiard's "Rust And Bone." No doubt, the actor will have his fingers crossed for up-and-coming filmmaker Tom Van Avermaet on Sunday night where 'Death' will be hoping to take home a statue. But once the festivities are over, it will be back to work, and first up will be a reunion with his "Bullhead" director who first helped him break out on the international scene. We chatted with Schoenaerts yesterday afternoon, just before the Césars, and he shared with us what his plans for the New Year will be. "I'll be shooting in New York with Michael Roskam, we're shooting his first American feature film," Schoenaerts said. "I have a supporting role in that,...

Contributed by Jim Batts, Tom Stockman, Ken Parker, Melissa Thompson and Michelle McCue

On Oscar Sunday the great and good of the silver screen will assemble at the Dolby Theatre for the 85th Academy Awards. This year’s extravaganza will surely be a night to remember.

With it being the biggest event in movie geekdom, the Wamg crew came up with their own Oscar predictions. Some of the categories there was a consensus on, while others we were divided.

Throughout the awards season, frontrunners jockeyed for position, all hoping to head into Sunday’s ceremony as the favorite to take home gold.

Best motion picture of the year

“Amour” (Sony Pictures Classics) “Argo” (Warner Bros.) Jim, Tom, Ken, Michelle “Beasts of the Southern Wild” (Fox Searchlight) “Django Unchained” (The Weinstein Company) “Les Misérables” (Universal) Melissa “Life of Pi” (20th Century Fox) “Lincoln” (Walt Disney/20th Century Fox) “Silver Linings Playbook...

Are you sick of those ordinary Oscar office pools? Tired of only guessing the top 6 or 8 categories for the Academy Awards? Let your inner-movie geek shine with Bowl the Perfect Oscar Score (aka Oscar Bowling), created by Jeff Bayer.

Try to nail 300 points on the 2013 Academy Awards.

This is a confidence list.

There are 24 categories.

How to play

Pick your winners in all 24 categories. Then, give each winner a confidence score. Your most confident pick gets 24 points, second most confident gets 23 points, third most confident gets 22 points, and eventually your least confident pick gets 1 point.

This is perfect for Oscar parties, because the lead keeps changing. The winner is the one with the most points at the end. A perfect score is 300. If there is a tie (there never is a tie), then the winner is the one with the most points in these three categories combined (Best Picture, Best Actor,...

Are you sick of those ordinary Oscar office pools? Tired of only guessing the top 6 or 8 categories for the Academy Awards? Let your inner-movie geek shine with Bowl the Perfect Oscar Score (aka Oscar Bowling), created by Jeff Bayer.

Try to nail 300 points on the 2013 Academy Awards.

This is a confidence list.

There are 24 categories.

How to play

Pick your winners in all 24 categories. Then, give each winner a confidence score. Your most confident pick gets 24 points, second most confident gets 23 points, third most confident gets 22 points, and eventually your least confident pick gets 1 point.

This is perfect for Oscar parties, because the lead keeps changing. The winner is the one with the most points at the end. A perfect score is 300. If there is a tie (there never is a tie), then the winner is the one with the most points in these three categories combined (Best Picture, Best Actor,...

Are you sick of those ordinary Oscar office pools? Tired of only guessing the top 6 or 8 categories for the Academy Awards? Let your inner-movie geek shine with Bowl the Perfect Oscar Score (aka Oscar Bowling).

Try to nail 300 points on the 2013 Academy Awards.

This is a confidence list.

There are 24 categories.

How to play

Pick your winners in all 24 categories. Then, give each winner a confidence score. Your most confident pick gets 24 points, second most confident gets 23 points, third most confident gets 22 points, and eventually your least confident pick gets 1 point.

This is perfect for Oscar parties, because the lead keeps changing. The winner is the one with the most points at the end. A perfect score is 300. If there is a tie (there never is a tie), then the winner is the one with the most points in these three categories combined (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress).

You...

©A.M.P.A.S.

On Tuesday, The Academy hosted a reception featuring the 10 Oscar-nominated films in the Animated and Live-Action Short Film categories. The program showed all the nominated films in these categories.

Hosted by actor Jason Schwartzman, the evening featured the nominated filmmakers of the Animated Short and Live-Action Short categories. For the first time ever this year, all 6,000 voting members of the Academy were sent a DVD of the shorts on which to vote on. One hundred twenty-five pictures had originally qualified in the category.

The nominees for Animated Short Film are:

Adam And Dog

Minkyu Lee

Fresh Guacamole

Pes

Head Over Heels

Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly

Maggie Simpson In “The Longest Daycare”

David Silverman

Paperman

John Kahrs

The nominees for Live Action Short Film are:

Asad

Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura

Buzkashi Boys

Sam French and Ariel Nasr

Curfew

Shawn Christensen

Death Of A Shadow...

Are you sick of those ordinary Oscar office pools? Tired of only guessing the top 6 or 8 categories for the Academy Awards? Let your inner-movie geek shine with Bowl the Perfect Oscar Score (aka Oscar Bowling).

Try to nail 300 points on the 2013 Academy Awards.

This is a confidence list.

There are 24 categories.

How to play

Pick your winners in all 24 categories. Then, give each winner a confidence score. Your most confident pick gets 24 points, second most confident gets 23 points, third most confident gets 22 points, and eventually your least confident pick gets 1 point.

This is perfect for Oscar parties, because the lead keeps changing. The winner is the one with the most points at the end. A perfect score is 300. If there is a tie (there never is a tie), then the winner is the one with the most points in these three categories combined (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress).

You...

Of all the Oscar-nominated shorts, Tom Van Avermaet's gorgeous "Death of a Shadow" occupies the most complex and entrancing alternative reality. Matthias Schoenaerts ("Rust and Bone") plays Nathan Rijckx, a deceased Wwi soldier stuck in a limbo where an intricate steam-punk machine selects each person's moment of death.  He has a second chance at life if he agrees to work for a Grim Reaper figure who collects shadow images of the moment that people die. Rijckx agrees to shoot 10,000 shadows in order to return to life and find the woman he fell in love with at the moment he died. Flemish director Van Avermaet's 20-minute short won the Best of the Fest Award at La Shorts Fest 2012 and landed him an agent at CAA, (which also reps Schoenaerts); we will see more of him. In the interview below, Van Avermaet discusses sci fi and film noir, steam-punk, and creating the surreal on film.

CAA has signed Tom Van Avermaet. The Belgian filmmaker wrote and directed the short Death of a Shadow, which is up for an Oscar in the live-action category.  The short features fellow countryman Matthias Schoenaerts, also a CAA client. Video: 'Death of a Shadow' Trailer Death of a Shadow marks Van Avermaet's first professional short film. The story centers on a deceased World War I soldier who has to collect shadows to regain a second chance at life and love. During its march toward an Oscar nomination, Death of a Shadow has racked up the kudos including the Best of the

read more...

Vol. 1 Issue 9

This is a year where all of the live action short films are very good but none are great. It is ok not to be great. That’s a high bar. The films are all very well made and include three American directors, one from an American film school (USC), one with an actor directing himself and lots of stuff we’ve seen before. Two of the films deal with refugees in the third world, Somali and Afghanistan, one deals with old age dementia, one with death and unrequited love and one with a troubled (suicidal) young man. The plots, except in one case, are predictable. All of the films should briefly get their filmmakers attention from agents and managers always hot for young or at least undiscovered talent. The Academy has done its job and with more entries than ever, it wasn’t easy. Some fine films didn’t make it.

The most imaginative work is Death of a Shadow. It is set in a place where a man is working to earn back his life by taking pictures of death. It is stunningly produced and well cast with Matthias Schoenaarts, one of the hotter Euro actors of the moment. The two films set in the Third World deal with young people who have nothing or almost nothing in terms of worldly goods. Both are in apprenticeships and both are in careers they will become dead ends. In Buzhashi Boys the young character is training to be a blacksmith as his country is about to enter the 21st Century and in Asad, the young man is being trained as a fisherman in a country that will likely stay in the 19th Century for some time but once peace comes, will also likely be unemployed. While this is clearly coincidental, both films present pretty bleak pictures of the future.

The self-directed performance in Curfew is really well done. The filmmaker successfully casts himself opposite a young actress who does steal the show, but he gets the last laugh. He is really good. Henry, while predictable, is stunning. It deals with memories and should appeal to many Academy members as the film shifts its scenes like cards being shuffled. Like all of the films Henry is also beautifully produced.

This is the first year where All Academy members will be able to vote on the short films. All members received DVD screeners of the films. My only complaint with the Academy DVDs is that the films look very video, at least on my monitor, while the Dcp versions looked far more cinematic at the Academy screenings. Prior to this year, since the early 1970s, voters were required to see the films projected at special Academy screenings. The rules were changed in the 1970s to require members to screen the films before voting since advertising seemed to influence the outcome in this category over members seeing the films. None of the live action films have serious PR money behind them so the playing field should be even. (In Animation studios are behind a number of the films.) So may the best film win.

Asad, Bryan Buckley, director, and Mino Jarjoura, producer

Asad is set in a war-torn fishing village in Somalia, an all-Somali refugee cast stars in this coming-of-age fable of a Somali boy who is faced with falling into the pirate life, or rising above to choose the path of an honest fishing man. Directed by Bryan Buckley, who has been working as a television commercial director most of his career, this short film should help establish him in the theatrical feature world. Later this year, Buckley will direct his first feature film, the comedy Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus for Lionsgate Summit, starring Reese Witherspoon, adapted from Dr. John Gray’s classic guide to relationships.

Asad is well done. It is slick, solidly produced and directed. The production is feature-film like, big, well cast and nicely shot. The large cast, lots of background and many locations give this work a nice patina. The actors are non-professionals and they give solid performances. The film is moving, at times terrifying. This is a thoughtful work that gets to our hearts.

Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi2136908569/

Length: 17 min.

Language:Somali with English subtitles.

Country:USA

Buzkashi Boys, Sam French, director, and Ariel Nasr, producer Fawad Mohammadi with director Sam French

Buzhashi Boys is set against contemporary Afghanistan and is about two best friends, a charismatic street child and a blacksmith's son, who are struggling to realize their dreams in one of the most war-torn countries on Earth. Shot on location in Kabul by an alliance of Afghan and international filmmakers, Buzkashi Boys was produced through the Afghan Film Project, a non-profit foundation formed to tell Afghan stories while building the capacity of Afghanistan's fledgling film industry.

The film has the slick look of a commercial, which is not a surprise since the filmmaker is a top commercial director. The camera glides, the shots are well lit and the film fits together like a Rubric cube. Buzhashi Boys is fine start for someone who is a recent USC Cinema school graduate and has not been making films for lon. The film has solid production values including a massive game of Buzkashi or “dragging the goat,” in Farsi, which involves carrying a goat’s carcass in a polo like game which makes bull fighting look animal friendly. The film was written by Martin Roe who also went to USC.

Length: 30 min.

Language: Pashto

Country: Afghanistan, USA Production

Curfew, Shawn Christensen, director, writer and producer

A suicidal New Yorker, Richie’s attempt to end his life is interrupted by a call from his estranged sister asking him to babysit his niece for the evening.

Curfew starts with a bang and is both inventive and smart. Shawn Christensen’s directing debut is the film to beat. Curfew is about Richie, a young man who gets a phone call from his estranged sister, asking him to look after his niece for a few hours. The phone call comes moments before he is about to kill himself. His sister is no less a treat to deal with. Estranged from her husband it is clear that her life is also on the rocks.

The film has New York energy. It is sharp and original with a taut narrative arc that grabs us and continues for its entire length, from scenes in a rock and roll bowling alley to a visit to his former home where we think he is going to score some dope but he ends up with some flip books.

The film has a non-predictable ending which in this group of films is rare. It is really well done and the production is not out of control. The young girl actress is stellar. Just enough attitude so we want Richie to abandon her but enough cuteness for us to want him to keep her safe. This is a year where calling the winner is pointless in print, even if you have a one in five chance of being right it is a race that could go any number of ways.

Length: 20 min.

Language: English

Country:USA

Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw),Tom Van Avermaet, director, and Ellen De Waele, producer

This highly produced sci-fi fantasy work is about a dead Wwi soldier stuck in the limbo between life and death who has to collect shadows to regain a second chance at life.

Death of a Shadow, a Belgian-French co-production starring Franco-cinema’s star Matthias Schoenaarts, falls into that uncomfortable (for me) Twilight Zone-type film category. In a Twilight Zone-type film characters can walk on water, not follow narrative rules and have a surprise ending that is unpredictable because we’re not on this earth but in a parallel universe. I am not a fan of this style narrative because there are no rules. It is designed to surprise us and after several decades of watching them I have given up. While I don’t mind surprises I am troubled by characters that don’t live in our world. Perhaps I am jealous, because I require the characters in my films to be real?

This fantasy film is about a soldier whose job it is to capture the moment of death on a camera that registers shadows. The images are stored in a collection by the odd photography patron who may or may not be the devil. But who knows? Anything goes, and it does. Our character falls in love a woman called Sarah as he is about to be shot in what appears to a scene from a World War One film. My response on first viewing was to turn it off. I have since had the opportunity to see it a few times and, while I have not warmed up to it, I admit that it looks great. It has some solid special effects, nice production values and feels like a mash up of Martin Scorsese’s last film Hugo (in terms of the effects) and any number of other mechanical effect movies

Length: 20 min.

Language: German

Country: Belgium

Henry, Yan England, director Gérard Poirier as Henry Marie Tifo as Nathalie

The Canadian French-language short Henry captures the confusion and terror of Alzheimer's disease by looking at the 84-year-old character (Henry’s) struggle as his world moves between memories. Played with authenticity by Gérard Poirier, this is a deeply moving work that shows the effects of Alzheimer’s when it is evident that Henry does not recognize his wife, played effectively by Marie Tifo.

In some ways it feels like the best picture nominee Amour. The production, like all of the films in this category, is stunningly mounted. Yan England does a fine job directing this work and, if Academy voters behave as they sometimes do with this kind of material, England might go home with the Oscar.

Trailer: http://oscar.go.com/nominees/short-film-live-action/henry

Length: 21 min.

Language: English

Country: Canadian

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Credits: Editing by Jessica Just for SydneysBuzz

________________________________________________________________________

Mitchell Block specializes in conceiving, producing, marketing & distributing independent features & consulting. He is an expert in placing both completed works into distribution & working with producers to make projects fundable. He conducts regular workshops in film producing in Los Angeles and most recently in Maine, Russia and in Myanmar (Burma).

Poster Girl, produced by Block was nominated for a Documentary Academy Award and selected by the Ida as the Best Doc Short 2011. It was also nominated for two Emmy Awards and aired on HBO. He is an executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Carrier, a 10-hour series that he conceived & co-created. Block is a graduate of Tisch School and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. He is a member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Television Academy, a founding member of BAFTA-la and has been teaching at USC School of Cinematic Arts since 1979. Currently Block teaches a required class in the USC Peter Stark Producing Program.

______________________________________________________________________

©2013Mwb All Rights Reserved All Rights Reserved. All information and designs on the Sites are copyrighted material owned by Block. Reproduction, dissemination, or transmission of any part of the material here without the express written consent of the owner is strictly prohibited.All other product names and marks on Block Direct, whether trademarks, service marks, or other type, and whether registered or unregistered, is the property of Block.

Vol. I Issue 6

Send us links to your sizzle reels and film sites.

Note: See Issues 1, 2, 3, and 4 for reviews and clips of the Academy documentary films and short films. Additional reviews of the documentary features follow in this issue.

Best documentary feature

5 Broken Cameras Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi

The Gatekeepers Nominees to be determined *See note below

How to Survive a Plague Nominees to be determined

The Invisible War Nominees to be determined

Searching for Sugar Man Nominees to be determined

Best documentary short subject

Inocente Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine

Kings Point Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider

Mondays at Racine Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan

Open Heart Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern

Redemption Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill

Best animated short film

Adam and Dog Minkyu Lee

Fresh Guacamole Pes

Head over Heels Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly

Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare David Silverman

Paperman John Kahrs

Best live action short film

Asad Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura

Buzkashi Boys Sam French and Ariel Nasr

Curfew Shawn Christensen

Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw) Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele

Henry Yan England

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song) from a documentary

Before My Time from The documentary feature Chasing Ice Music and Lyric by J. Ralph

Note: *Nominees to be determined* The Documentary Brand gives the nomination to the individual(s) most involved in the key creative aspects of the filmmaking process. A maximum of two persons may be designated as nominees, one of whom must be the credited director who exercised directorial control, and the other of whom must have a producer or director credit. If a producer is named, that individual must have performed a major portion of the producing functions, in accordance with Academy producer criteria. No more than two statuettes will normally be given in the Documentary Feature category. All individuals with a “Producer” or “Produced by” credit on films that reach the semifinal round will automatically be vetted.

The Documentary Branch Executive Committee will determine which producers, if any, are eligible to receive an Oscar. In the unlikely event of a dispute, filmmakers may appeal the committee’s decision. In extremely rare circumstances, a third statuette may be awarded.

Production companies or persons with the screen credit of executive producer, co-producer or any credit other than director or producer shall not be eligible as nominees for the motion picture.

DGA Documentary Award Nominations

Kirby Dick The Invisible War

This is Mr. Dick’s first DGA Award nomination.

Malik Bendjelloul Searching For Sugar Man

This is Mr. Bendjelloul’s first DGA Award nomination.

Lauren Greenfield The Queen of Versailles

This is Ms. Greenfield’s first DGA Award nomination.

David France How To Survive A Plague

This is Mr. France’s first DGA Award nomination.

Alison Klayman Ai WeiWei: Never Sorry

This is Ms. Klayman’s first DGA Award nomination.

Two Academy Nominated Documentary Features

& One Academy Short Listed Documentary Reviewed

The Gatekeepers, directed by Dror Moreh

Documentary Feature Nominee

Six former heads of Israel’s domestic secret service agency, the Shin Bet, share their insights and reflect publicly on their actions and decisions in The Gatekeepers, a film by Dror Moreh. These six heads of the Shin Bet stood at the center of Israel's decision-making process in all matters pertaining to security. They worked closely with every Israeli prime minister, and their assessments and insights had—and continue to have—a profound impact on Israeli policy. The Gatekeepers is an exclusive account of their successes and failures.

I find The Gatekeepers remarkable. Not for its craft but for its concept and vision. Imagine

J Edger Hoover talking about his tenure at the FBI, his successes and his failures, his interactions with the Presidents and members of Congress, and his critical self-evaluation of his mission and how his agency’s work affected our nation. Imagine. Dror Moreh accomplished this feat when he convinced these six surviving members of the Shin Bet, to speak on camera.

The film provides a historical perspective of Israel that is both candid and critical of the successive governments in this rare Middle Eastern democracy. The Shin Bet was created in 1949 by David Ben-Gurion’s government to focus on the internal affairs of Israel and evolved into dealing with counterterrorism and intelligence gathering in the West Bank and Gaza.

These intelligence heads, like ours, report to the President/Prime Minister. They are not part of the military complex. It is this context that gives this work its power. We hear the story of Israel’s struggle to protect itself from both its internal and external enemies; the bombers, terrorists, agents and others who worked to destroy this small country. These men are not glamorous or like the fictional heads of the spy agencies we have seen in James Bond and Bourne films. They are bald or balding grandfather-types. Articulate, highly educated, calm and yet we know that they protected Israel from its enemies even if they had them killed.

This is one of the strongest of the nominated docs. It raises significant issues of personal responsibilities. Despite the lack of oversight we don’t feel that this is an organization gone amuck like the Catholic Church not protecting children or the Us Military not protecting its members from sexual harassment. We see these articulate men as guardians and protectors of their nation steadfastly doing their duty within the confines of their moral beliefs. What is scary about The Gatekeepers is that clearly there could have been abuses and wrongs done by the Shin Bet if these six had less character or their mission was redefined by the government without regard to moral or ethical standards. The film on reflection is troubling for regardless of how the spectator might feel about Israel it forces us to look at this conflict through the lenses of these six guardians and we can only wonder what they don’t tell us about what they did in the name of their country.

Credits:

Director: Dror Moreh

Camera: Avner Shahaf

Producers: Dror Moreh, Estelle Fialon, Philippa Kowarsky

Co Producer: Anna Van Der Wee

Sound: Amos Zipori

Sound Design: Aex Claude

Music: Ab Ovo, Jérôme Chassagnard, Régis Baillet

Editor: Oron Adar

Production Companies: Dror Moreh Productions, Les Films du Poisson, Cinephil

In Co-Production with: Mac Guff, Wild Heart Productions, Arte France, Iba, Ndr, Rtbf

With the support of: Cnc, Media, Région Ile-de-France, Procirep, Angoa, The Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts – Cinema Project

Distribution: Sony Classics

Trailer: http://www.sonyclassics.com/thegatekeepers/

The House I Live In, directed by Eugene Jarecki

Short Listed Documentary Feature for Academy Award nomination

The House I Live In looks at how America has waged war on some of its poorest citizens, costing countless lives, destroying families, and inflicting untold damage on future generations of Americans. It posits that over the last forty years, the War on Drugs has accounted for more than 45 million arrests and shows how America became the world’s largest jailer, damaging poor communities at home and abroad. Yet today drugs are cheaper, purer and more available than ever before. It shows that drug abuse is a public health issue. Despite this, it is treated by our society as a criminal matter and a vast machine has been created that feeds on the men and women who are incarcerated. Because of this, the prisoners are not offered help or a cure for their underlying problems, so they return to prison in a never ending cycle.

Eugene Jarecki, whose previous films looked at the military industrial complex (Why We Fight and The Trials of Henry Kissinger), won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at Sundance in both 2005 and 2010. The film tackles difficult material. Material that has been in scores of documentaries and television shows over the years. Yet Jarecki, using his personal experience, a wealth of interviews and strong case studies, builds a compelling case for changing the sentencing guidelines for crack (and cocaine) and for dealing with both addiction and the underlying causes of addiction. Jarecki is a skillful filmmaker who has picked a vast and complex subject and has created a work that while rich in content moves along at a good pace although it might have been stronger if it had tried to do less. The film editor Paul Frost and the composer Robert Miller do an excellent job building strong sequences with evocative music. It was nicely shot by Sam Cullman and Derek Hallquist. Richard Abramowitz’s Abramorama handled the distribution and was successful getting the work out which is never easy for such an issue oriented film.

Credits:

Director, Producer, Screenwriter: Eugene Jarecki

Producers: Melinda Shopsin, Sam Cullman, Christopher St. John

Executive Producers: Eugene Jarecki, Nick Fraser, Joslyn Barnes, Danny Glover, Russell Simmons, Roy Ackerman, John Legend, Sally Jo Feifer, Nick Fraser

Camera: Sam Cullman, Derek Hallquist

Sound: Matthew Freed, Art Jaso

Music: Robert Milller

Editor: Paul Frost

Production Companies: Charlotte Street Films, Zdf Enterprises, Independent Television Services, BBC, Aljazeera Documentary Channel, Vpro, Special Broadcasting Service Corporation, Louverture Films, Nhk

Distribution (Us): Abramorama Entertainment, Snag Films

How to Survive a Plague, directed by David France

Documentary Feature Nominee

How to Survive a Plague by writer and filmmaker David France tells the story of how two coalitions came together to lobby for effective treatments and funding for treatments of AIDS in the late 1980s when it was evident that the Us government and its health and other agencies were not being very effective dealing with the AIDS epidemic. The coalitions, Act Up and Tag (Treatment Action Group) helped to make AIDS more treatable. While there is still no cure for AIDS and thousands of people globally still die from the virus, it is now possible to prolong life with treatments that have been developed.

Despite having no scientific training, these self-made activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to patients in record time. With access to never-before-seen archival footage from the 1980s and '90s, filmmaker David France puts the viewer smack in the middle of the controversial actions, the heated meetings, the heartbreaking failures, and the exultant breakthroughs. Faced with their own mortality an improbable group of young men and women, many of them HIV-positive took on Washington and the medical establishment.

While there have been a handful of outstanding films dealing with the AIDS epidemic including Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, The Broadcast Tapes of Dr. Peter and Silverlake Life, to name a few, How to Survive a Plague picks up on the story begun in the landmark Common Threads and updates the struggle, looking at the quest to find a treatment and possibly a cure for this vicious disease. The film weaves together stories of activism and shows how a small determined group can effect change not just nationally but globally. While the film is not as well made as Common Threads or Dr. Peter, it’s powerful. The archival footage manages to capture some of the key figures of Act Up and Tag showing actions as they take place. Instead of relying on talking heads to tell this amazing story, it is presented with footage shot as the story unfolded. This footage and its solid editing distinguishes this film from so many of the works that have tried to tell this story.

Few documentaries have such powerful antagonists, the government, incompetence, a lack of urgency on the part of the medical community and fear. Throw in homophobia and it is evident that the dramatic actions of these heroes saved hundreds of thousands of possible victims from this mostly sexually spread plague.

My only serious criticism of this documentary is its failure to be clearer that the plague continues, that there is no cure for HIV/AIDS and that the community continues to give a false sense of hope. Currently the Cdc states:

” ..estimates that 1,148,200 persons aged 13 years and older are living with HIV infection, including 207,600 (18.1%) who are unaware of their infection1. Over the past decade, the number of people living with HIV has increased, while the annual number of new HIV infections has remained relatively stable. Still, the pace of new infections continues at far too high a level—particularly among certain groups.

HIV Incidence(new infections): The estimated incidence of HIV has remained stable overall in recent years, at about 50,000 new HIV infections per year.2 Within the overall estimates, however, some groups are affected more than others. Msm (men who have sex with men) continue to bear the greatest burden of HIV infection, and among races/ethnicities, African Americans continue to be disproportionately affected.”

This information could have been contained in the last few minutes of this powerful work, to inspire and warn the audience that testing is critical and that safe sex is still the only way to contain AIDS.

The Filmmaker

David France, Director, Producer

David France is an award-winning journalist and New York Times best-selling author who has been writing about AIDS since 1982 and today is one of the best-known chroniclers of the epidemic. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, GQ, and New York magazine, where he is a contributing editor, and has received the National Headliner Award and the GLAAD Media Award, among others. Several films have been inspired by his work, most recently the Emmy-nominated Showtime film Our Fathers, for which he received a WGA nomination. He is at work on a major history of AIDS, due from Alfred A. Knopf in 2013. Based on decades of reporting, How to Survive a Plague is his directorial debut.

Credits

Director: David France

Writers: David France, Todd Woody Richman, Tyler H. Walk

Producers: David France, Howard Gertler

Executive Producers: Dan Cogan, Joy A. Tomchin

Co-Producer: Todd Woody Richman

Camera: Derek Wieshahn

Sound: Stuart Deutsch, Topher Reifeiss

Original Music: Stuart Bogie

Editor: Todd Woody Richman, Tyler H. Walk

Production Companies: Public Square Films, Ninety Thousand Words

Distribution (Us): Sundance Selects

Short Notes and Update:

The International Documentary Association in Los Angeles presents Doc U: The Doc Reporter

Navigating the Intersection of Documentary and Journalism

Moderated by: Karin Skellwagen (The Brooks Institute)

With Panelists:

Sarah Burns (The Central Park Five)

Michael Donaldson (Partner, Donaldson & Callif)

David France (How To Survive A Plague)

For information: http://doc-u-jan-2013-la.eventbrite.com/

Sundance Announces 2013 International Documentary Competition:

Fallen City/ China (Director: Qi Zhao) — Fallen City spans four years to reveal how three families who survived the 2008 Sichuan earthquake to embark on a journey searching for hope, purpose, identity, and to rebuild their lives in a new China torn between tradition and modernity. North American Premiere

Fire in the Blood/ India (Director: Dylan Mohan Gray) — In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Western governments and pharmaceutical companies blocked low-cost antiretroviral drugs from reaching AIDS-stricken Africa, causing 10 million or more unnecessary deaths. An improbable group of people decided to fight back. North American Premiere

Google and the World Brain/ Spain, United Kingdom (Director: Ben Lewis) — In the most ambitious Internet project ever conceived, Google is working to scan every book in the world. Google says it is building a library for mankind. But some are trying to stop it, claiming that Google may have other intentions. World Premiere

The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear/ Georgia, Germany (Director: Tinatin Gurchiani) — A film director casting a 15-23-year-old protagonist visits villages and cities to meet people who answer her call. She follows those who prove to be interesting enough through various dramatic and funny situations. North American Premiere

The Moo Man/ United Kingdom (Directors: Andy Heathcote, Heike Bachelier) — A year in the life of heroic farmer Steve, scene stealing Ida (queen of the herd), and a supporting cast of 55 cows. When Ida falls ill, Steve’s optimism is challenged and their whole way of life is at stake. World Premiere

Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer/ Russian Federation, United Kingdom (Directors: Mike Lerner, Maxim Pozdorovkin) — Three young women face seven years in a Russian prison for a satirical performance in a Moscow cathedral. But who is really on trial: the three young artists or the society they live in? World Premiere

A River Changes Course/ Cambodia, U.S.A. (Director: Kalyanee Mam) — Three young Cambodians struggle to overcome the crushing effects of deforestation, overfishing, and overwhelming debt in this devastatingly beautiful story of a country reeling from the tragedies of war and rushing to keep pace with a rapidly expanding world. World Premiere

Salma/ United Kingdom, India (Director: Kim Longinotto) — When Salma, a young girl in South India, reached puberty, her parents locked her away. Millions of girls all over the world share the same fate. Twenty-five years later, Salma has fought her way back to the outside world. World Premiere

The Square (Al Midan)/ Egypt, U.S.A. (Director: Jehane Noujaim) — What does it mean to risk your life for your ideals? How far will five revolutionaries go in defending their beliefs in the fight for their nation? World Premiere

The Stuart Hall Project/ United Kingdom (Director: John Akomfrah) — Antinuclear campaigner, New Left activist and founding father of Cultural Studies, this documentary interweaves 70 years of Stuart Hall’s film, radio and television appearances, and material from his private archive to document a memorable life and construct a portrait of Britain’s foremost radical intellectual. World Premiere

The Summit/ Ireland, United Kingdom (Director: Nick Ryan) — Twenty-four climbers converged at the last stop before summiting the most dangerous mountain on Earth. Forty-eight hours later, 11 had been killed or simply vanished. Had one, Ger McDonnell, stuck to the climbers' code, he might still be alive. International Premiere

Who is Dayani Cristal?/ United Kingdom (Director: Marc Silver) — An anonymous body in the Arizona desert sparks the beginning of a real-life human drama. The search for its identity leads us across a continent to seek out the people left behind and the meaning of a mysterious tattoo. World Premiere. Day One Film

Producer’s Guild Announces Nominations for the Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures and Non-Fiction Television:

A People Uncounted(Urbinder Films)

Producers: Marc Swenker, Aaron Yeger

The Gatekeepers(Sony Pictures Classics)

Producers: Estelle Fialon, Philippa Kowarsky, Dror Moreh

The Island President(Samuel Goldwyn Films)

Producers: Richard Berge, Bonni Cohen

The Other Dream Team(The Film Arcade)

Producers: Marius Markevicius, Jon Weinbach

Searching For Sugar Man(Sony Pictures Classics)

Producers: Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn

Nominations for the Award for Outstanding Producer of

Non-Fiction Television:

American Masters(PBS)

Producers: Prudence Glass, Susan Lacy, Julie Sacks

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations(Travel Channel)

Producers: Anthony Bourdain, Christopher Collins, Lydia Tenaglia, Sandy Zweig

Deadliest Catch(Discovery Channel)

Producers: Thom Beers, Jeff Conroy, Sean Dash, John Gray, Sheila McCormack, Bill Pruitt, Decker Watson

Inside the Actors Studio(Bravo)

Producers: James Lipton, Shawn Tesser, Jeff Wurtz

Shark Tank(ABC)

Producers: Rhett Bachner, Becky Blitz, Mark Burnett, Bill Gaudsmith, Yun Lingner, Brien Meagher, Clay Newbill, Jim Roush, Laura Skowlund, Paul Sutera, Patrick Wood

BAFTA Short and Documentary Feature Nominations (British Academy of Film and Television Arts, London)

Documentary Feature

The ImposterBart Layton, Dimitri Doganis

Marley Kevin Macdonald, Steve Bing, Charles Steel

McCullin David Morris, Jacqui Morris

Searching for Sugar Man Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn

West of Memphis Amy Berg

Short Animation

Here to Fall Kris Kelly, Evelyn McGrath

I’m Fine Thanks Eamonn O'Neill

The Making of Longbird Will Anderson, Ainslie Henderson

Short Film

The Curse Fyzal Boulifa, Gavin Humphries

Good Night Muriel d'Ansembourg, Eva Sigurdardottir

Swimmer Lynne Ramsay, Peter Carlton, Diarmid Scrimshaw

Tumult Johnny Barrington, Rhianna Andrews

The Voorman Problem Mark Gill, Baldwin Li

The Broadcast Film Critics Association (Bfca)

Documentary Feature Nominations

Bully

The Imposter

Queen of Versailles

Searching for Sugar Man (Winner)

The Central Park Five

West of Memphis

________________________________________________________________________

Credits: Editing by Jessica Just for SydneysBuzz

________________________________________________________________________

Block Doc Workshops in Los Angeles February 2013 Ida Doc U

The International Documentary Association will be hosting Documentary Funding and Documentary Tune-Up Workshops with Block on February 9/10. http://www.documentary.org/news/february-documentary-producing-workshops-mitchell-block

Mitchell Block specializes in conceiving, producing, marketing & distributing independent features & consulting. He is an expert in placing both completed works into distribution & working with producers to make projects fundable. He conducts regular workshops in film producing in Los Angeles and most recently in Maine, Russia and in Myanmar (Burma).

Poster Girl, produced by Block was nominated for a Documentary Academy Award and selected by the Ida as the Best Doc Short 2011. It was also nominated for two Emmy Awards and aired on HBO. He is an executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Carrier, a 10-hour series that he conceived & co-created. Block is a graduate of Tisch School and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. He is a member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Television Academy, a founding member of BAFTA-la and has been teaching at USC School of Cinematic Arts since 1979. Currently Block teaches a required class in the USC Peter Stark Producing Program.

______________________________________________________________________

©2013Mwb All Rights Reserved All Rights Reserved. All information and designs on the Sites are copyrighted material owned by Block. Reproduction, dissemination, or transmission of any part of the material here without the express written consent of the owner is strictly prohibited.All other product names and marks on Block Direct, whether trademarks, service marks, or other type, and whether registered or unregistered, is the property of Block.

Paperman

ShortsHD™ The Short Movie Channel (www.shorts.tv), working with Magnolia Pictures, will release The Oscar® Nominated Short Films 2013 in over 260 theatres across the United States, Canada and Europe on February 1, 2013. This is the 8th year of the Oscar Nominated Short Film Theatrical Release. The announcement comes on the heels of last year’s record-breaking release, which was one of the top 50 grossing independent film releases in North America, earning over $1,700,000 nationwide. Since its debut in 2005, the Oscar® Nominated Short Films theatrical release program has grown 800%.

A key fixture of the awards season, the theatrical release featuring Live Action, Animation and Documentary short films is the only opportunity for audiences around the country to watch the nominated shorts prior to the 85th Academy Awards® ceremony on February 24, 2013.

This year’s release breaks new ground: a past Oscar winner in that category will host each film. Hosting the Live Action...

After a couple months of various organizations and associations sharing their favorites of the year, (look for our own Jeff Bayer at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards tonight), the big kahuna has spoken – Oscar nominations are in.

Here are the nominees for the 85th annual Academy Awards, with the ceremony taking place on February 24, which will be hosted by Seth MacFarlane.

Best Picture

Nominees:

Amour (2012): To Be Determined

Argo (2012): Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck, George Clooney

Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012): Dan Janvey, Josh Penn, Michael Gottwald

Django Unchained (2012): Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin, Pilar Savone

Les Misérables (2012): Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh

Life of Pi (2012): Gil Netter, Ang Lee, David Womark

Lincoln (2012): Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy

Silver Linings Playbook (2012): Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen, Jonathan Gordon

Zero Dark Thirty (2012): Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow, Megan Ellison

Best Performance by an Actor...

Contributors: Michelle McCue and Melissa Thompson

It was a morning of Oscar surprises . both shocking and welcomed. Nominations for the 85th Academy Awards® were announced today (Thursday, January 10) by this year’s Oscar host (and nominee) Seth MacFarlane, and actress Emma Stone. Minus the usual podium, MacFarlane and Stone humorously unveiled the nominees at a 5:38 a.m. Pt live news conference attended by more than 400 international media representatives. Wamg and the various outlets were greeted with a golden breakfast, strong coffee and Jamba Juice.

Let.s get right to it. Steven Spielberg.s Lincoln scored the most nominations with 12, followed by Life of Pi with 11, and Les Misérables and Silver Linings Playbook at 8 apiece.

The nominees for best motion picture of the year are:

“Amour” Nominees to be determined “Argo” Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers “Beasts of the Southern Wild” Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald,...

I've enjoyed watching the Academy Awards for as long as I can remember. Even though I don't always agree with their decisions, it's still a fun experience for me. This year Emma Stone and Seth MacFarlane woke up at the buttcrack of dawn to give us the nominations for the 85th Academy Awards, I however didn't wake up to watch because I was just too damn tired.

There's a lot of great movies that were nominated this year and Lincoln leads the pack with 12 nominations which isn't surprising at all. Life of Pi ended up getting 11 noms, Les Miserables got 8, Silver Linings Playbook got 8 as well, Argo ended up with 7, Zero Dark Thirty has 5, Skyfall got 5, Django Unchained got 5 and The Avengers got 1.

There aren't many surprises this year, some might think that Beasts of the Southern Wild was a surprise, but there's been so much ridiculous hype for the...

Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone took the stage at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills this morning to announce this year's Academy Award nominations, and they played out almost exactly as everyone expected. Steven Spielberg's Lincoln led the way with 12 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director and another Best Actor nod for Daniel Day-Lewis. Ang Lee's Life of Pi was up for 11 awards, while David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook and Tom Hooper's Les Miserables received 8 nominations apiece. There were a total of 9 Best Picture nominees this year, and if there were any surprises they would probably be Beasts of the Southern Wild and Amour. Django Unchained was also in the mix, although Quentin Tarantino was ignored for Best Director. On the bright side, Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams were all recognized for their performances in The Master, although the movie itself received no love.

The awards season is finally coming to its peak. The BAFTA nominations were announced yesterday. The Golden Globes ceremony will be held this Sunday. And now the Oscar nominations have been announced, cutting down the finalists that have been contending for the coveted awards over the past few months.

Waking up at an extremely early hour to announce the nominees at 5:30 a.m. Pt this morning, the brilliant duo of Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone were on hand to give us the below nominations.

Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln sweeps the nominations with an impressive 12 nods. Ang Lee’s Life of Pi follows swiftly behind it with 11. Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables and David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook each take 8 nominations. Ben Affleck’s Argo picks up 7, followed closely by Sam Mendes’ Skyfall with 6. Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty, and Michael Haneke...

Who’s in, who’s out?

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has finally settled the debate with its announcement of nominees for the 85th Academy Awards. Lincoln leads the pack with 12 nominations, followed by Life of Pi with 11.

Analysis is to come, but below are the contenders for the ceremony, which will take place Feb. 24.

Best Picture

Amour

Argo

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Django Unchained

Les Miserables

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Silver Linings Playbook

Zero Dark Thirty

Best Actor

Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook

Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables

Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

Denzel Washington,...

Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone announced the Oscar nominations Thursday, January 10. Powerhouse Steven Spielberg biopic Lincoln picked up 12 nominations, while Life of Pi picked up 11, and Silver Linings Playbook and Les Miserables got eight.

Click here for full Oscar coverage.

Read on to find out who picked up a nom!

Best Supporting Actor

Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master

Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook

Alan Arkin, Argo

Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

Best Original Song

Before My Time, Chasing Ice

Pi's Lullaby, Life of Pi

Suddenly, Les Miserables

Everybody Needs a Best Friend, Ted

Skyfall, Skyfall

Best Supporting Actress

Sally Field, Lincoln

Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook

Helen Hunt, The Sessions

Amy Adams, The Master

Best Animated Film

Frankenweenie

The Pirates! Band of Misfits

Wreck-It Ralph

ParaNorman

Brave

Best Foreign Language Film

Amour

No

War Witch

A Royal Affair

Kon-Tiki

Best Adapted Screenplay

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Argo

Lincoln...

Nominations for the 85th annual Academy Awards will be announced today by host Seth MacFarlane and actress Emma Stone at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

You can now watch the nominations Live by using the video below and later on we will post all the nominations.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

“Lincoln,” director Steven Spielberg’s film about the 16th president and his battle to end slavery, topped the nominations for the 85th Academy Awards on Thursday, receiving 12 nods, including best picture.

“Life of Pi” was second with 11 nominations, including best picture, best director (Ang Lee) and best adapted screenplay.

As usual, there were a handful of surprises.

VI Issue II

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The Invisible War written and directed by Kirby Dick

The Invisible War is a documentary about one of America’s most shameful and best kept secrets: the epidemic of rape within the U.S. military. The film paints a startling picture of the extent of the problem— the film claims that today a female soldier in combat zones is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. The filmmakers’ state that the Department of Defense estimates there were 22,800 violent sex crimes in the military in 2011, that 20% of all active‐duty female soldiers are sexually assaulted and that female soldiers aged 18 to 21 account for more than half of the victims.

Focusing on the powerfully emotional stories of rape victims, The Invisible War suggests a systemic cover-up of military sex crimes by the military. The film chronicles women’s struggles to rebuild their lives and fight for justice within and outside the military and features interviews with high-ranking military officials and members of Congress that reveal the conditions that exist for rape in the military, its long history, and suggests what can be done to bring about much-needed change.

Oscar and Emmy nominated director Kirby Dick (Outrage, This Film Is Not Yet Rated), found the inspiration for The Invisible War from a 2007 Salon.com article about women serving in Iraq entitled “The Private War of Women Soldiers,” by Columbia University journalism professor Helen Benedict. When Dick and Emmy-nominated producing partner Amy Ziering (Outrage) read Benedict's piece, they were astounded by the prevalence of sexual assault in the military.

This film is beautifully made, shot, directed and produced. It is one of the strongest films of the year. It shows that rape and other sexually based harassment seems to be wide spread in our military and that the military is unwilling to adjust its culture to effect the necessary change to provide a safe work environment for all of its members. The filmmakers make excellent choices in terms of who they interview, whose stories they tell. This is a strong advocacy film that can make a difference and start pushing the civilians who control our military to demand to make the necessary changes to protect the men and women who serve from each other. Frankly, it has to have a zero tolerance for any kind of harassment. With the striking of “don’t ask, don’t tell” the armed services are on their way to addressing this. The film was short listed for the documentary feature Academy Award.

Credits:

Director/Writer: Kirby Dick

Producers: Amy Ziering, Tanner King Barklow

Cinematography: Thaddeus Wadleigh, Kirsten Johnson

Music Supervisor: Dondi Bastone, Gary Calamar/Go

Editor, Associate Producer: Doug Blush

Executive Producer for Itvs: Sally Jo Fifer Cinedigm and Docurama Films

Revolution Reykjavík a short film by Isold Uggadottir

Gudfinna, a successful 58-year old mid-level employee of the Icelandic bank Landsbankinn, finds herself a victim of the economic failure, not only losing her job, but her lifesavings as well. Proud and independent, she struggles to shield her dire circumstances from her family members and friends. But as tensions in Icelandic society grow, so does her inner turmoil. She finds that she cannot deal with her increasingly desperate financial concerns and her ideas of self-worth. Slowly, Gudfinna, much like the Icelandic economy, finds herself metamorphosed into the utterly helpless being she never could have foreseen becoming.

Revolution Reykjavík is one of the outstanding short films of the 2011/12 year. One of the few works to screen at both New Directors and Telluride and dozens of other festivals, it is evident that Isold Uggadottir, while not yet a known name as a director, is tremendously talented. Watching Gudfinna fall apart is deeply moving. Her inner struggles are evident by the nuanced direction of a subtle performance. The film is nicely shot, edited and at 19 minutes it becomes a metaphor for the 2008 Icelandic banking disaster that wiped out tens of thousands of Icelanders and three of the major banks. It caused thousands of people to lose their jobs and created a political crisis for the country. Few portfolio works try for nuanced and subtle performances but are in-your-face testosterone fueled action works. This film is a keeper.

Director/ Writer’s Bio:

Isold Uggadottir is an Icelandic writer/director. Her four short films have been invited to over 120 international film festivals, including Telluride, Sundance and New Directors/New Films hosted by Lincoln Center & MoMA. Two of her films (Clean and Committed) have been honored with Icelandic Academy Awards for Best Short Film in 2010 and 2011, while Revolution Reykjavík and Family Reunion received nominations in 2012 and 2006. Additionally, Isold has received multiple international awards, most recently in Spain and Greece.

Isold holds an Mfa in writing and directing from Columbia University in New York, where she was honored with the Adrienne Shelly Award for Best Female Director. Screen International named her “one of the rising stars of Icelandic film.”

Credits:

Written and Directed: Isold Uggadottir

Producers: Snorri Thórisson, Isold Uggadottir

Director of Photography: Óskar Thór Axelsson

Editor: Isold Uggadottir

Academy announces 11 short films shortlisted for the Short Film Nomination

Because of a voting tie the Academy short listed 11 dramatic/fiction short films instead of 10. Culled from 125 submitted films, it is perhaps the best group of films entered in the last 30 years. These films range from a thesis work from Columbia’s University’s graduate film program to When You Find Me, directed by Bryce Howard, filmmaker Ron Howard’s 31 year old daughter, to the Danish 61 year old director Anders Walther with short film Oscar winner (and nominee) producer Tivi Magnusson for 9 Meter.

Following screenings in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in December, Branch members will select three to five nominees from among the 11 semi-finalists. It will be challenging for the committees to find the five best in this really impressive group of films. It is an embarrassment of solid filmmaking from a global group of filmmakers. Please note: I have not seen two of the short listed films and I am relying on others for their synopses to be accurate.

Below is an alphabetical listing of the short listed films, the key filmmakers, the country of production and a link to a clip. Take a look and make up your own mind:

A Fábrica (The Factory), Aly Muritiba, director (Grafo Audiovisual)

“An inmate convinces his mother to take a risk smuggling a cell phone for him into the penitentiary.

Length: 15 min.

Language: Portuguese

Country: Brazil

“Asad,” Bryan Buckley, director, and Mino Jarjoura, producer (Hungry Man)

A Somali boy must choose either the life of a pirate or that of a fisherman

Length: 17 min.

Language: Somali with English subtitles.

Country: USA

“Buzkashi Boys,” Sam French, director, and Ariel Nasr, producer (Afghan Film Project)

Two young boys dream of a better life. One is without parents and the other the father wants him to follow into his blacksmithing.

Length: 30 min.

Language: Pashto

Country: Afghanistan, USA Production

“Curfew,” Shawn Christensen, director (Fuzzy Logic Pictures)

A suicidal New Yorker, Richie’s attempt to end his life is interrupted by a call from his estranged sister asking him to babysit his niece for the evening.

Length: 20 min

Language: English

Country: USA

“Death of a Shadow” (Dood van een Schaduw),” Tom Van Avermaet, director, and Ellen De Waele, producer(Serendipity Films)

This highly produced sci-fi fantasy work is about a dead Wwi soldier stuck in the limbo between life and death who has to collect shadows to regain a second chance at life.

Length: 20 min.

Language: German

Country: Belgium

“Henry,” Yan England, director (Yan England) Henry, a concert pianist, has his life thrown into turmoil the day the love of his life mysteriously disappears. (Confession, I have not seen this film.)

Length: 21 min.

Language: English

Country: Canadian

“Kiruna-Kigali,” Goran Kapetanovic, director (Hepp Film Ab)

This tour‐de‐force Swedish short begins in a mist of frost and snow. A woman is driving to the hospital in Kiruna, the northernmost city of Sweden. Under the scorching sunlight of Kigali, Rwanda,another woman is being carried to the hospital on a stretcher. The two single mothers‐to‐be are on the verge of giving birth to a baby are thousands of miles apart, but share the same fear of entering the unknown world of motherhood. I think this is the film to beat.

Length: 15 min.

Language: Swedish/ Kinyarwanda

Country: Swedish/Rwanda

“The Night Shift Belongs to the Stars,” Silvia Bizio and Paola Porrini Bisson, producers (Oh! Pen LLC)

The story of Matteo (Enrico Lo Verso), a passionate mountain climber, and Sonia (Nastassja Kinski), a married woman, also in love with mountain, as they set out to climb a peak on the Dolomites, in Trentino, Italy. (Confession, I have not seen this film.)

Length: 24 min.

Language: English

Country: USA

“9 meter,” Anders Walther, director, and Tivi Magnusson, producer (M & M Productions A/S)

A boy tries to set a new record in the long jump as his mother fights her illness. (Confession, I have not seen this film.)

Length: 18 min.

Language: Danish

Country: Danish

“Salar,” Nicholas Greene, director, and Julie Buck, producer (Nicholas Greene)

In an isolated Bolivian village, on the edge of the vast Uyuni salt flats, two lives collide. This powerful film is my favorite of the 11 short listed films.

Length: 18 min.

Language: English

Country: USA

“When you find me,” Ron Howard, executive producer, and Bryce Dallas Howard, director (Freestyle Production Company)

This Cannon sponsored film looks at the story of two sisters whose childhood bond is tested by a tragedy that they were too young to understand at the time.

Length: 29 min.

Language: English

Country: USA

Mitchell Block specializes in conceiving, producing, marketing & distributing independent features & consulting. He is an expert in placing both completed works into distribution & working with producers to make projects fundable. He conducts regular workshops in film producing in Los Angeles and most recently in Maine, Russia and in Myanmar (Burma).

"Poster Girl," produced by Block was nominated for a Documentary Academy Award and selected by the Ida as the "Best" Doc Short 2011. It was also nominated for two Emmy Awards and aired on HBO. He is an executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning PBS series "Carrier,” a 10-hour series that he conceived & co-created. Block is a graduate of Tisch School and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. He is a member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Television Academy, a founding member of BAFTA-la and has been teaching at USC School of Cinematic Arts since 1979. Currently Block teaches a required class in the USC Peter Stark Producing Program.

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the shortlist for the Best Live Action Short Films category. From 125 pictures down to 11! And they are:

.A Fábrica (The Factory),. Aly Muritiba, director (Grafo Audiovisual)

.Asad,. Bryan Buckley, director, and Mino Jarjoura, producer (Hungry Man)

.Buzkashi Boys,. Sam French, director, and Ariel Nasr, producer (Afghan Film Project)

.Curfew,. Shawn Christensen, director (Fuzzy Logic Pictures)

.Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw),. Tom Van Avermaet, director, and Ellen De Waele, producer

(Serendipity Films)

.Henry,. Yan England, director (Yan England)

.Kiruna-Kigali,. Goran Kapetanovic, director (Hepp Film Ab)

.The Night Shift Belongs to the Stars,. Silvia Bizio and Paola Porrini Bisson, producers (Oh! Pen LLC)

.9meter,. Anders Walther, director, and Tivi Magnusson, producer (M & M Productions A/S)

.Salar,. Nicholas Greene, director, and Julie Buck, producer (Nicholas Greene)

.when you find me,. Ron Howard, executive producer, and Bryce Dallas Howard, director...

It’s that time of year, when the Academy starts rolling out their initial lists of films in the running for February’s Oscars. Earlier today, they unveiled the finalists for the visual effects award, a list featuring some of this year’s most costly movies. Now the Academy has released some contenders who most certainly will be the lowest-budget films among this year’s Oscar-hopefuls: the live action shorts.

Members of the Academy’s Short Films and Feature Animation Branch have narrowed down a list of 125 qualifying shorts to a group of 11 shortlisted films. The next cut is in January,...

Edoardo Ponti, Bryce Dallas Howard live action shorts among 11 movies still in contention for Oscar 2013 A Brazilian inmate trying to convince his mother to get him a cell phone, two young Afghans’ rite of passage to manhood, and the relationship between a couple of European mountaineers and heart-surgery survivors are among the topics featured in the 11 movies still in contention for the 2013 Academy Award in the Best Live Action Short category. Why 11 instead of 10 semi-finalists? As per the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ press release, that odd number was the result of a tie in the nominations balloting. The release adds that 125 live-action shorts had originally qualified. (Photo: Edoardo Ponti, Nastassja Kinski, Enrico Lo Verso The Nightshift Belongs to the Stars.) The 11 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title: The Factory / A Fábrica, Aly Muritiba, director (Grafo Audiovisual) Asad, Bryan Buckley, director, and Mino Jarjoura, producer (Hungry Man) Buzkashi Boys,...

The Academy announced today that eleven live-action shorts will advance in the voting process for the 85th Oscars. A tie in nominations balloting resulted in eleven films, as opposed to ten, for the shortlist. 125 films originally qualified for this category. Full list below. Listed in alphabetical order: “A Fábrica (The Factory),” Aly Muritiba, director (Grafo Audiovisual) “Asad,” Bryan Buckley, director, and Mino Jarjoura, producer (Hungry Man) “Buzkashi Boys,” Sam French, director, and Ariel Nasr, producer (Afghan Film Project) “Curfew,” Shawn Christensen, director (Fuzzy Logic Pictures) “Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw),” Tom Van Avermaet, director, and Ellen De Waele, producer (Serendipity Films) “Henry,” Yan England, director (Yan England) “Kiruna-Kigali,” Goran Kapetanovic, director (Hepp Film Ab) “The Night Shift Belongs to the...