by Marla Lewin photo from "Michael Jackson: The Untold Story of Neverland"Just days after Dr. Conrad Murray surrendered to the Superior court in Los Angeles, where he was arraigned on one count of felony involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson there is a new film being screened at the 2010 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The world premiere of the feature documentary “Michael Jackson: The Untold Story of Neverland” by ...
by Marla Lewin You’ve Never Seen Oscar Like This: 82nd Academy AwardsThis year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences under the stewardship of President Tom Sherak has dedicated their energies to ensure that the ratings slide that the Oscar telecast has suffered over the last several years comes to an end. They have increased the list of Best Picture nominees from five to ten to make sure that more popular films make it into the show. They have chosen two exceptionally popular comed...
by Marla LewinAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and 2008 Oscar® nominee Anne Hathaway took the stage at a 5:38 a.m. PT this morning, live news conference to announce the nominees in 10 of the 24 categories.Nominations for the 82nd Academy AwardsBest motion picture of the yearAvatar(20th Century Fox), A Lightstorm Entertainment Production, James Cameron and Jon Landau, ProducersThe Blind Side (Warner Bros.), An Alcon Entertainment Production, Nominees to be determ...
by Marla LewinJohn Cooper and David Hyde Pierce opened with a hilarious wrap act to get things started.Alfred P. Sloan Award for depicting Science in Film went to OBSELIDIA by Diane Bell who said she was worried about paying her rent for the next six months and now she knows where it is coming from.The World Cinema Special Jury Prize for Documentary Film goes to ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE Directors Rob Lemkin & Thet Sambath are humbled: "we had a great purpose in making the film."...
by Marla Lewin
2010 marked the 16th anniversary of the Slamdance Film Festival, a showcase for the discovery of new and emerging talent. Slamdance was founded by independent filmmakers and is dedicated to the nurturing and development of new independent artists and their cinematic vision.
There are three competitive divisions at Slamdance: Grand Jury, Audience Awards and Special Sponsored Awards provided by Kodak and Dos Equis. The Slamdance Feature competitions is li...
by Marla Lewin
These are the high profile films that we know about so far and which ones have sold. Additional titles are listed that are expected to sell shortly.
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by Marc Halperin
We went to see the new play written and produced by Ray Bradbury it has been many years since the play was first conceived for his friends Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester. We were very lucky and Ray was at the theatre to introduce the play. (video attached below)
Times have changed, but people are still the same. We all grow up, the lucky ones fall in love and get old. It is a simple story and the reason Ray calls it Wisdom 2116 is to denote that...
Reporting on movies, film festivals, film production, premieres, movie events, industry trends and plays from around the world
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Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland won the 2010 Sundance Shorts International Prize
photo courtesy of Sundance Film Festival
by Marla Lewin
The 2010 Sundance Film Festival announced the jury prizes in shorts filmmaking and gave honorable mentions based on outstanding achievement and merit. The awards were presented at a ceremony held in Park City, Utah. These award recipients will also be honored at the Festival’s Awards Ceremony hosted by David Hyde Pierce on Satur...
by Marc Halperin
The Sundance Film Festival is in full swing, some films are being bought and others are not. Understanding the reasons for these decisions is critical for independent filmmakers. Film Independent recently produced a round table that focused on indie distribution. It’s an offshoot from their Filmmaker Forum, which was held over an entire weekend in early October. This discussion looked at the economics of distribution; traditional, DIY, and digital stra...
by Marla Lewin
Marla Lewin co-producer Life After War photo by Jimmy Malecki
Back in 2002 we were in Park City at Sundance with Doug Pray of Scratch. It was four months after 9/11, and we had heard about what was going on in Afghanistan the previous night over dinner. At lunch the next day with Doug we began discussions about p...
by Marla Lewin
Sunday marked another milestone in this year’s awards season as The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced their winners in television and motion picture productions at their 21st Annual PGA Awards ceremony held at the Hollywood Palladium.
The Winners are listed in Bold in each category:
Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures:
AVATAR
Producers: James Cameron, Jon Landau
DISTRICT 9
Produce...
by Marla Lewin
Sandra Bullock continued her remarkable year where she has dominated the box office and been declared the number one top grossing star in the movies today. Bullock has become a serious best-actress competitor in the past month, with her SAG win, a win last week at the Golden Globes and a tie with Meryl Streep in the Critics Choice Movie Awards. The stars seem to be aligning for this well liked actress who has quietly entertained a...
by Marla Lewin
A controversial film will World Premiere in the US Documentary Competition at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. SMASH HIS CAMERA, from Oscar-winning filmmaker Leon Gast (WHEN WE WERE KINGS) documents the life of Ron Galella, the self-proclaimed paparazzo superstar who pursued and made art of a celebrity world that despised him. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis sued him, Marlon Brando broke his jaw and Steve McQueen gave him a look that would have killed, if looks could ki...
by Marla LewinIn response to the powerful earthquake that has devastated the island of Haiti, the “Tweet House” in Park City during the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, is offering a virtual and physical event called “The Celebrity Tweetup for Haiti”. The Tweetup will be held at The Tweet House, located at the SHOP Yoga Studio in Park City, Utah on Saturday, January 23rd from 5 to 7pm.Actor LeVar Burton, best known for his role in Star Trek: The Next Generation and co-host of the Tweetup sa...
by Marla Lewin
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voting members must return their completed Oscar nominations ballots to PricewaterhouseCoopers no later than 5 p.m. on Saturday, January 23. Ballots received after that deadline will not be counted. There are 5,777 voting members.
PricewaterhouseCoopers will tabulate the ballots using the preferential voting system. This system is so convoluted that it makes Florida’s 2000 Butterfly ballot look simple.
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by Marla Lewin
The Santa Fe Film Festival has announced the selection of Michael Hare and Rose Kuo as Co-Executive Directors of the Festival succeeding Founder and Executive Director, Jon Bowman, whose retirement from the Festival was announced late last year.
Commenting on the selections of Hare and Kuo, Tom Maguire, Sante Fe Film Festival Chairman of the Board, said “The Sante Fe Film Festival has enjoyed much success over the course of its ten year history and we are p...
by Marla LewinNine films will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 82nd Academy Awards®. Sixty-five films had originally qualified in the category.The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:Argentina, “El Secreto de Sus Ojos,” (The Secret of Her Eyes) Juan Jose Campanella, director;Australia, “Samson & Delilah,” Warwick Thornton, director;Bulgaria, “The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks around the Corner,” Stephan Komand...
by Marla Lewin
Jan Stuart, Katherine Tulich and Jonas Holmberg photo by Marc Halperin
The 21st Palm Springs Film Festival concludes today with its awards luncheon and wrap party tonight. The Palm Springs Film Festival Mercedes-Benz Audience Award went to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo which sold out its single screening during the first weekend. Film was the most buzzed about feature because of its early sell-out.
Darryl MacDonald announced that the festival again b...
By Marla Lewin
The American Film Institute held its annual awards luncheon today in Los Angeles. The tenth annual event remained an honoree-only affair, with no press and no public in attendance. For each of the honored films and television programs, Hewlett-Packard, the event sponsor creates a scholarship to the world-renowned AFI Conservatory in Los Angeles.
Because 2009 marked the 50th anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic NORTH BY NORTHWEST, AFI acknowledged this lan...
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