The Vote

Un Certain Regard awarded to 'After Lucia'

Jon Weisman — 2012-05-26T11:22:03-07:00

Michel Franco's "After Lucia" won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes, with the jury prize going to "Le Grand Soir."

Charles Gant's review of "After Lucia" can be found here.

Emilie Dequenne ("Our Children" and Suzanne Clement ("Laurence Anyways") shared actress honors.

'Beasts' turns Sundance-Cannes double play

Jon Weisman — 2012-05-26T10:30:53-07:00

"Beasts of the Southern Wild" has followed up its Sundance grand jury prize by winning top film honors at Cannes' Un Certain Regard, via the Fipresci Intl. Federation of Film Critics.

John Hopewell has more for Variety:

... Cannes competition player "In the Fog" and "Hold Back," which screened in Directors' Fortnight, nabbed further Fipresci nods.

Fipresci plaudits go to one outstanding film in Cannes Competition, another in Un Certain Regard and a third in either Directors' Fortnight or Critics' Week.

Following the tradition of "Blue Valentine," "Precious" and "Martha Macy May Marlene," "Beasts" has segued successfully from Sundance to Cannes where it receives its international premiere. The Fox Searchlight U.S. pick-up bowed early at Cannes to an upbeat reception. ...

Hopewell also notes that Cannes' Ecumenical Jury awarded its main prize to "The Hunt." Read the entire story here.

'No' gets more than a oui bit of Cannes recognition

Jon Weisman — 2012-05-25T12:57:39-07:00

Those in the know know "No" is a film to watch at Cannes. The Gael Garcia Bernal starrer just won the the Directors' Fortnight Art cinema prize, adding to its say-yes days at the annual fest.

In addition, Merzak Allouache's story of Islamic fundamentaluism ''The Repentant'' won the Europa Cinemas Label for best European film in Directors' Fortnight, and "Camille Rewinds" took the Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers' SACD Prize, given to a French-language film.

John Hopewell and Elsa Keslassy have more details on the awards for Variety.

Reality programming takes next step at Emmys with board decision

Jon Weisman — 2012-05-25T08:27:03-07:00

Brian Lowry of Variety relates the details:

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences board has approved the formation of a reality-TV peer group, recognizing the genre's growing presence in the TV landscape.

The decision - made as expected at Thursday's governors meeting (Variety, May 18) - expands the number of peer groups to 29, with two governors from each branch. An additional 13 elected and appointed officials also serve on the board.

Although some within the academy questioned the move - which renames the nonfiction peer group, which previously encompassed reality, as the documentary branch - the organization said in a statement the changes "reflect the growth and strength of reality programming and the producing and craft communities associated with the genre, while also differentiating the work of documentary style programming."

In an earlier letter to the board, membership committee chairman Dan Birman noted reality shows account for many of the top-rated series on TV and amending the structure "brings the academy current with established industry trends." It's unclear whether the shift will facilitate the addition of new members, or result in any future tinkering with the academy's presentation of the Emmy Awards.

The revision marks one of the first significant initiatives since the election of Warner Bros. TV Group head Bruce Rosenblum as the acad's chairman in November.

Great moments in awards acceptance: Don Rickles

Jon Weisman — 2012-05-24T16:42:31-07:00

If you didn't see Don Rickles accept the Johnny Carson Award at the Comedy Awards, aired by Comedy Central in early May, it's well worth your time — and not entirely for the reasons you might expect.

Daytime Emmys to make cable debut on HLN

Jon Weisman — 2012-05-24T14:19:43-07:00

Speculation that began three weeks ago has turned to reality: The Daytime Emmys have landed on HLN.

Ending the uncertainty over its broadcast future with barely a month before the black ties hit the Beverly Hilton, the Daytime Emmys have a deal for a new television home with HLN, which will televise the kudos live on June 23.

The 39th edition of the event, which had spent the past two years on CBS, will air live at 8 p.m. Eastern and 5 p.m. Pacific, with encore broadcasts to follow on HLN, which reaches approximately 95 million homes domestically. It will be the Daytime Emmys’ first appearance on cable.

Marc Lucas will direct the kudocast, which drew a 0.8 rating and 3 share among adults 18-49 for CBS last year (airing on a Sunday) and 5.4 million viewers overall. A host has not been finalized but is expected to be announced within the next two weeks.

LocoDistro, led by CEO Colleen Seldin and chief creative officer Gabriel Gornell, signed on to produce. The shingle came on board after Associated Television International parted ways with the Daytime Emmys in February.

National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences chairman Malachy Wienges told Variety that the daytime community was “unhappy” with the previous two shows. The org went to several producers looking for a fresher take.

“After the last show, the daytime community approached NATAS and said that if we have to do the show in 2012 the exact same as in 2010 and 2011, we would rather have an untelevised event and just have a sit-down dinner and honor ourselves in Beverly Hills.” Wienges said.

The new approach will focus on a celebration of daytime TV at a time of transition for the industry, which has seen such defining dramas as “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” leave the air in the past year.

“This has to be as much a tribute to daytime television as an awards show,” Gornell said.

That being said, Gornell asserted that the awards themselves — which spread across a number of genres that include animation, gameshows, talk, culinary and children’s programming, — wouldn’t be marginalized.

“While we pay tribute to television, it’s the awards that are going to get us there,” he said. “This show is probably going to have more awards than previous years and is probably going to have fewer song-and-dance numbers than previous years.” ...

Read the entire story here.

L.A. Asian Pacific fest bestows prizes

Jon Weisman — 2012-05-23T22:05:03-07:00

"Two Shadows," directed by Greg Cahill, won the audience award for feature-length narrative at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.

Michael Collins' "Give Up Tomorrow" earned the audience prize for documentary film at the fest, which wrapped May 20 and presented by Visual Communications.

“We’re very pleased to recognize these two outstanding productions from among a very stellar selection of feature-length works this year,” festival senior programmer Abraham Ferrer said. “More and more, the stories being presented at the Film Festival reflect a larger world-view and desire for engagement with audiences from all walks of life. 'Two Shadows' and 'Give Up Tomorrow' both accomplish those objectives in dramatic ways, and succeeded in connecting with festival audiences.”

"Shadows" told the story of a Long Beach hipster who received a cryptic letter from Cambodia claiming that her brother and sister, believed to have perished in civil war 20 years earlier, were still alive, causing her to return home to a threatening situation of her own.

"Give Up" exposed corrupt public officials in a backdrop to the struggle two mothers undertook over the fate of one young man.

Showtime campaigns with free weekend in June

Jon Weisman — 2012-05-23T10:42:10-07:00

The centerpiece of Showtime's Emmy campaign efforts will be its "Best in Sho" weekend from June 15-17, when it becomes the first pay cabler to offer free marathons of its Emmy-contending original scripted programming in collaboration with Time Warner Cable (in New York and Los Angeles) and DirecTV.

"Homeland," "Shameless," "Dexter," "House of Lies," "Nurse Jackie," "The Big C," "The Borgias," "Weeds" and "Californication" will be the available series, along with such documentaries as "Rebirth." The season finales of "Nurse Jackie," "Big C" and "Borgias" will air as part of the free transmissions via those distributors on June 17.

"Given our incredibly strong slate of original programming this year, our goal was to cut through the clutter and create seamless access for Emmy voters to view as many back-to-back episodes of our critically-acclaimed series as possible," Showtime EVP of corporate communications Trisha Cardoso said. "This free preview weekend complements our online streaming efforts – now voters have a chance to watch our award-winning series on air and online."

The free telecasts come even after TV Academy members received screeners Showtime original programming and selected docs in March. Additionally, for the fourth consecutive year, the network's dedicated award website will provide access to screen all episodes of its Emmy-eligible programs.

Checking in on Cannes

Jon Weisman — 2012-05-23T08:59:45-07:00

Variety critics Justin Chang and Peter Debruge have offered some so-far thoughts on the films of this year's Cannes Film Festival. They begin thusly:

Debruge: It's been raining for the last few days in Cannes, which is the perfect kind of weather to drive critics into movie theaters, where we feel grateful for grubby dramas set inside medieval-minded Romanian monasteries -- such as "Beyond the Hills," a skin-crawling, unsensationalized look at a real-life exorcism gone wrong from past Palme d'Or winner Cristian Mungiu -- or during the height of American Prohibition, like "Lawless," a John Hillcoat-Nick Cave collaboration whose blood seems laced with peyote, not moonshine. Still, it's a bit too early in the festival for the world's tastemakers to have arrived at anything resembling consensus regarding the films that have unspooled so far.

Chang: Even strong films that play in the competition spotlight are bound to have their detractors, yet I've heard unusually few dissenting remarks about Michael Haneke's runaway critical favorite (pictured above), "Amour" -- and I'm not about to add any. Anyone familiar with Haneke knows the milk of human kindness does not exactly flow through his body of work; here, he's found a way to be every bit as exacting and pitiless as ever about his subject, but with a devastating counterweight of emotional honesty provided by the extraordinary performances of Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva. Is it too early to declare "Amour" a masterpiece? I'm not so sure. There wasn't a moment in this film when I felt I was anywhere but in the hands of a master. ...

Read the entire piece here.

'Hatfields' premiere caps 29-year journey for producer

Jon Weisman — 2012-05-22T14:20:49-07:00

History Channel's "Hatfields and McCoys," the six-hour project that will try to make a late break into the Emmy movies and miniseries race with its Memorial Day premiere, depicts the three-decade feud between the two famous families. According to exec producer Leslie Greif, it took almost exactly that length of time to make.

"It took me 29 years, to bring it to life," said Greif (left) during an interview, joking that he gained a pound for each year. "It was a crazy journey. I had developed it over the years, pitched to networks, gotten greenlights three different times."

Founder and CEO of ThinkFactory Media, Greif credits History prexy and general manager Nancy Dubuc for giving "Hatfields" the big push it needed. He adds that Kevin Costner, who co-stars with Bill Paxton, provided some much-appreciated validation.

"He called me and said, 'Don't change a word in the script — I'm in,'" Greif says of Costner. "And he’s never done television his entire life."

Two principal aspects motivated Greif to stay with the project — its scope, and its resonance in today's world.

"What sets it apart is we’re able to tell a story that spans over 30 years, and we have almost 80 speaking parts, which is very rare in today's world," Greif said. "We had a very dense, complicated story and what’s very exciting is you get to see a complete evolution of this feud. We didn’t take (only) a moment of it, we tried to take it from the beginning to its actual conclusion. I think you get caught up, and it’s like reading a great long novel.

"Sadly, it tells a tale of the needless cycle of violence ... that still exists today. "