Academy Awards

Academy Picks Uber-Architects Renzo Piano and Zoltan Pali to Design Museum of Motion Pictures

Anne Thompson — Wed, 30 May 2012 16:32:39 GMT

Clearly, one way that new Academy CEO Dawn Hudson and departing AMPAS president Tom Sherak are establishing their legacy is by pushing forward with their Academy Museum of Motion Pictures initiative at LACMA.

They have now hired world renowned uber-architects Renzo Piano (The New York Times headquarters) and L.A.-based Zoltan Pali (Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts) to design the Academy Museum.

"Renzo’s track record of creating iconic cultural landmarks combined with Zoltan’s success in transforming historically-significant buildings is a perfect marriage for a museum that celebrates the history and the future of the movies," said Hudson.

LACMA chief Michael Govan has a relationship with Piano, who designed the expansion of the museum; the new Academy Museum will use the historic art moderne 1939 LACMA West building on the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax once owned by the May Company. Piano was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 1998; he's the founder of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, which has offices in Paris, Genoa and New York. Piano also designed the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Central St. Giles Court in London, the Kansai International Airport Terminal in Osaka, and the Menil Collection in Houston.

"We as architects make buildings that are portraits that represent our clients," said Piano. "The Academy museum will take the visitor through the back door of cinema, behind the curtain, and into moviemaking magic."

The design principal and co-founder of Studio Pali Fekete architects (SPF:a), Pali received a Los Angeles Business Council Architectural Award and an AIA Los Angeles "Next LA" Award. Pali restored the Greek Theatre, the Gibson Amphitheatre, and the Pantages Theatre--which won an LABC Award for Historic Preservation. SPF:a's renovation and expansion of the Getty Villa museum earned SPF:a the AIA Los Angeles Presidential Award.

"It is an honor and privilege to work with the Academy in bringing to life a historic, iconic building that I love with the story of motion pictures," said Pali.

The Museum Committee is composed of Sherak, Academy governors Craig Barron, Jim Bissell, Gale Anne Hurd, Rob Friedman and Robert Rehme, and Academy members Kathleen Kennedy and former president Sid Ganis.

Cannes Film Festival Closes with Winners --and Losers

Anne Thompson — Sun, 27 May 2012 19:25:44 GMT

The Cannes Film Festival came to a rainy close with an idiosyncratic set of award winners --which as usual had more to do with the composition of the jury than what critics and media had to say during the ten-day festival on the Cote d'Azur. Several of these winners will be released stateside and submitted for foreign Oscar contention.

The sole American winner was, unusually, a Sundance import placed in Un Certain Regard, which won the Camera D'Or for first-time director, Benh Zeitlin's "Beasts of the Southern Wild." Fox Searchlight, who bought Zeitlin his first tuxedo, will push the magical New Orleans delta water-adventure for year-end awards. Many thought the film deserved a spot in the main competition, but Searchlight was happy going for the smaller but more likely win.

As expected, Michael Haneke's deceptively simple, direct and hugely moving France/Austria co-production "Amour" won the Palme d'Or, ushering him into the ranks of two-time winners including Francis Ford Coppola, the Dardennes and Bille August. He also won for his last film in 2009, "White Ribbon," which was nominated for two Oscars, for cinematography and foreign film. Austria will likely submit "Amour" for the foreign Oscar.

Jury president Nanni Moretti made a point of praising the performances of veteran leads Emmanuelle Riva ("Hiroshima On Amour") and Jean Louis Trintignant ("A Man and a Woman"). Sony Pictures Classics is handling the film stateside and will push for more than just foreign consideration.

The jury's acting prizes went to surprise winners Mads Mikkelsen, who gives a lovely, sensitive performance as a mild, passive teacher wrongly accused of pedophila in Thomas Vinterberg's "The Hunt" (which lacks a U.S. distributor) and the non-pro Romanian actresses of Cristian Mingiu's "Beyond the Hills," Comina Stratan and Cristina Flutur, who endured long, cold takes while making the picture in sub-zero conditions. Two French actresses, Riva and "Rust & Bone" star Marion Cotillard, were the front-runners. Best Actress was presented by Alec Baldwin, who has been filming a Cannes movie on the Croisette with director James Toback.

Mungiu also won the screenplay prize. IFC, which also released his Palme d'Or-winning 2007 drama "4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days," is handling the likely Romanian Oscar submission stateside.

The Italian jury president may have had a hand in another surprise award, for fellow countryman Matteo Gorrone, who won the Grand Prix for "Reality," a film that received a mixed reaction from critics. He had won the same prize for "Gomorrah," in 2008.

The Cannes mise-en-scene award went to Mexican director Carlos Reygadas' "Post Tenebras Lux," which drew divisive critical reaction. Some also wondered why the Cannes Festival included in the Competition Brit Ken Loach's Prix de Jury-winner "Angel's Share," which was picked up during the Fest by IFC/Sundance Selects. Obviously this jury considered them worthy. "Wow," Loach said as he accepted his prize, thanking Cannes for being so generous over the years--he has been nominated for the Palme d'Or eleven times.

The Cinefondation's short film prize went to "Sessiz-Be Deng" by Turkish director L Rezan Yesilbas.

Among the films that came up empty-handed were literary adaptations from Walter Salles ("On the Road," starring Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart and last year's best actress winner, Kirsten Dunst) and David Cronenberg ("Cosmopolis," a brainy dystopian meditation starring Stewart pal Rob Pattinson); Jacques Audiard's stark survivor story "Rust & Bone," starring Marion Cotillard; Leos Carax's wild and crazy "Holy Motors"; and Wes Anderson's popular romantic opener "Moonrise Kingdom," which opened well stateside this weekend, following the "Midnight in Paris" playbook. (Our video interview with Anderson is here.)

Not expected to be in the running were two gangster pics from The Weinstein Co, rural Prohibition gangster movie "Lawless," starring Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy, and politicized urban thriller "Killing Them Softly," starring Brad Pitt as a ruthless hitman. That may be why Harvey Weinstein made a well-received press presentation of three other potential awards-contenders, Quentin Tarantino's "Dango Unchained," Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master," and David O. Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook."

Also not mentioned on closing night was Lee Daniel's "The Paperboy," starring Nicole Kidman, Matthew McConnaughey and John Cusack, which was heavily panned and has yet to announce a North American buyer. If Millennium's Avi Lerner's doesn't get the offers he wants, the company may release the film itself. My favorite Cannes tweet is from @MattDentler: "Even if the film didn't win the Cannes Golden Palm, Nicole Kidman's performance in THE PAPERBOY wins the Cannes Golden Shower."

Here's a round-up of other awards:

Directors Fortnight:

ART CINEMA AWARD 2012
No (Pablo Larrain, Chile-U.S.-Mexico)

EUROPA CINEMAS LABEL 2012 for best European film in Directors' Fortnight
The Repentant (Merzak Allouache, Algeria-France)

SACD PRIZE 2012 for best French-language film in Directors' Fortnight
Camille Rewinds (Noemi Lvovsky, France)

Un Certain Regard:

PRIZE OF UN CERTAIN REGARD
DESPUÉS DE LUCIA by Michel FRANCO

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
LE GRAND SOIR by Benoît DELÉPINE and Gustave KERVERN

UN CERTAIN REGARD AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS
Suzanne CLÉMENT for her performance in LAURENCE ANYWAYS directed by Xavier DOLAN

UN CERTAIN REGARD AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS
Emilie DEQUENNE for her performance in À PERDRE LA RAISON directed by Joachim LAFOSSE

SPECIAL DISTINCTION OF THE JURY
DJECA (Children of Sarajevo) by Aida BEGIC

Oscar Talk Is Back! Special Cannes Edition

Anne Thompson — Sat, 26 May 2012 01:59:00 GMT

My computer was running out of juice after hours in the Cannes Palais press room, and my headset was broken. But somehow, Kris Tapley, Guy Lodge and I reconvened for our first Oscar Talk podcast since Oscar season. When my battery ran out I managed to get on the Palais wifi on my iPhone and we continued to cover reaction to the Cannes selection, from "Moonrise Kingdom," "Rust and Bone," "Amour" and "On the Road" to "Lawless," "Beasts of the Southern Wild," "No," and "Paperboy."

We'll be back again for a mid-summer report on July 20.

LatinoBuzz: More Generation Mex Filmmakers on the Rise

Vanessa Erazo — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:29:16 GMT

Last week we featured some of Mexico ’s young filmmakers who have emerged as part of a recent revival in Mexican cinema. These new directors have pushed out the old guard and persevere in difficult situations, using public funding and micro-budgets to create films which take aim at Mexico’s social ills, broach difficult subjects, and take stylistic risks. These original and innovative artists are carving out a space for Mexican films in the international art house market. Here we continue to highlight even more directors from Generation Mex.

Gerardo Naranjo

Probably the most buzzed about Mexican director of late, Naranjo’s fourth feature Miss Bala (ISA:TCF) premiered at Cannes, went on to play festivals in Toronto and Los Angeles and was selected as Mexico’s official submission for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Loosely inspired by real events it tells the story of Laura, a young woman who aspires to compete in the Miss Baja beauty pageant. Instead she finds herself amidst narcos as an unwilling participant in Mexico’s drug war. Using long takes and very few cuts Naranjo accomplishes the difficult, a melancholy thriller and pensive allegory punctuated by intense moments of violent but often quiet action. 20th Century Fox released the film in limited theaters late last year. In his previous films Voy a explotar (I’m Gonna Explode) (ISA:Elle Driver), Drama/Mex, and Malachance he experimented stylistically but they all reflect his signature, emotionally resonant and sensitive depictions of characters on the edge.

Yulene Olaizola

Having only recently graduated from the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (CCC), one of the two major film schools in Mexico, she has already directed three feature-length films. Her thesis project, the award-winning documentary Intimidades de Shakespeare y Victor Hugo (Intimacies of Shakespeare and Victor Hugo) (ISA:Interior13 Cine) traces her grandmother Rosa's friendship with Jorge Riosse, her young, troubled tenant. Paraísos Artificiales (Artificial Paradises) (ISA: Interior13 Cine), named after an anthology by the 19th century French poet Baudelaire, was her impressive fiction debut. It’s dreamy, serene, and breathtaking landscapes of the lush seaside hills of Veracruz, Mexico provide the backdrop, as a young woman addicted to heroin tries to free herself from the compulsive need for a fix while staying at a beach resort. Her newest film Fogo is days away from its world premiere at The Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. In a departure from her previous projects, she chose to make a film in English focusing on the deterioration of a small community in Fogo Island, located off the coast Canada.

Pedro González-Rubio

In an effort to create an intimate environment for his second film Alamar (ISA: MK2 Diffusion), he wrote, directed, shot and edited the picture himself. Set in a small house on stilts that sits above the crystal-clear blue waters of the Yucatan Peninsula, it explores the bond between a father and son as they share a fishing trip together. When asked whether Alamar is a documentary or fiction at a festival screening he defiantly answered, “It’s a film.” Having invented parts of the story but documenting real events, he seamlessly blends reality and fiction in a picturesque and introspective cinematic meditation that at times almost becomes a photographic essay. Film Movement acquired the theatrical and DVD rights in North America. His directorial debut, Toro Negro, an unflinching look at an alcoholic bullfighter, won prizes at Havana, San Sebastian and Morelia Film Festivals.

Fernando Eimbcke

He had film festivals, critics and distributors clamoring for his attention after his black-and-white directorial debut, Temporada de Patos (Duck Season) (ISA: Traction Media) premiered at Cannes in 2004. It won prizes at AFI Fest and Guadalajara Film Festival and later several Ariel Awards (the Mexican equivalent of the Oscars.) The comedy-drama about two teenage boys who must entertain themselves after a power outage went on to play more than 70 festivals and was sold in more than 30 countries. He followed up this smashing success with Lake Tahoe, a minimalist quiet film in which teenaged Juan crashes his family's car into a pole and then scours the streets searching for someone to help him fix it. Eimbcke studied film in Mexico City at the Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos (CUEC).

Student Academy Award Winners Announced

Sophia Savage — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:33:55 GMT

U.S. winners of the 39th annual Student Academy Awards are in: ten students from nine schools have been chosen in Alternative, Animation, Documentaries and Narrative categories. The winners will join Foreign Film category winners (from Germany and the UK) in Los Angeles for a week of industry activities. An awards ceremony on June 9 will declare the category placements.

You can "follow the journeys" of how each of the winners got to this stage here. Details on the free and open public ceremony are here.

The winners are (listed alphabetically by film title in each category):

Alternative 

"The Reality Clock," Amanda Tasse, University of Southern California*

Animation 

"Eyrie," David Wolter, California Institute of the Arts

 "The Jockstrap Raiders," Mark Nelson, University of California, Los Angeles

 "My Little Friend," Eric Prah, Ringling College of Art and Design

Documentary

 "Dying Green," Ellen Tripler, American University 

"Hiro: A Story of Japanese Internment," Keiko Wright, New York University 

"Lost Country," Heather Burky, Art Institute of Jacksonville

Narrative

 "Nani," Justin Tipping, American Film Institute 

"Narcocorrido," Ryan Prows, American Film Institute 

"Under," Mark Raso, Columbia University

2012 Student Academy Awards Selects Foreign Winners

Maggie Lange — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:17:32 GMT

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has selected three international student film winners, from 51 entries representing 29 countries for the 39th Annual Student Academy Awards competition. The student filmmakers will be brought to Los Angeles to join U.S.-based Student Academy Award recipients for a week of industry activities, which will culminate in the awards ceremony on Saturday, June 9. The films will receive Gold, Silver, or Bronze medals, earning them $5000, $3000, or $2000 respectively.

The 2012 Foreign Film winners (listed alphabetically by film title):

"For Elsie," David Winstone, University of Westminster, United Kingdom

"Of Dogs and Horses," Thomas Stuber, Film Academy Baden-Wüerttemberg, Germany

"The Swing of the Coffin Maker," Elmar Imanov, The International Film School Cologne, Germany

Several past winners in the Foreign Film competition have gone on to earn further recognition from the Academy. At the 84th Academy Awards earlier this year, 2011 Student Academy Award winners Hallvar Witzø and Max Zähle were nominated in the Live Action Short Film category for "Tuba Atlantic" and "Raju," respectively. The 2010 Foreign Film award winner, Tanel Toom, was a nominee at the 83rd Academy Awards in the Live Action Short Film category for "The Confession." Two other previous student winners, Jan Sverak of the former Czechoslovakia, and Mike van Diem of The Netherlands, went on to direct films that won Oscars in the Foreign Language Film category.

LatinoBuzz: Mexico's Young Filmmakers Are Breaking Records and Pushing Boundaries

Vanessa Erazo — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:55:20 GMT

Mexico’s film industry broke records last year. Box office attendance reached an all-time high and due in part to increased public funding, local productions rose to more than 70 feature films. Yet, as is true in all of Latin America, Hollywood blockbusters edged out national films. Less than 10% of ticket sales were from Mexican movies. Still, there is much to be optimistic about. The amount of female filmmakers is on the rise along with increased budget allocations for state film financing. The vast majority of Mexican cinema is government funded (about 80%) and with more money comes greater opportunities for emerging artists to breakthrough. As part of this recent revival in Mexican cinematic production a new generation of directors have emerged, pushing boundaries, challenging stereotypes, and raising the international profile of Mexican films.

Carlos Reygadas

He didn’t start making films until he was in his thirties and remarkably his three feature films Japón, Batalla en el Cielo, and Luz Silenciosa (Silent Light) (ISA:Bac Films) all premiered at Cannes. His films deal with serious topics like love, spirituality, and death. And in the face of criticism, continues to defend his choice of depicting explicit sex scenes in Batalla en el Cielo and animal cruelty in Japón. His most recent feature is the much blogged about Post Tenebras Lux, an official selection at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Natalia Almada

She makes haunting, poetic, hypnotic and pensive documentaries. Her films have reached top-tier festivals like Sundance, Cannes, New Directors/New Films and have played at MoMA, The Guggenheim Museum and The Whitney Biennial. All Water Has a Perfect Memory, Al Otro Lado, El General, and her most recent film El Velador (The Night Watchman) are infused with her unique perspective. Coming from a bicultural family--she was born in Mexico to a Mexican father and American mother--she is able to highlight contradictions in both worlds using striking imagery and meditative silences.

Nicolás Pereda

Since 2007, he has proven to be a prolific artist, having directed five feature-length films: ¿Dónde están sus historias? (Where Are Their Stories?) (ISA:FIGa Films), Juntos (Together) (ISA:FIGa Films), Perpetuum Mobile (ISA:Ondamax Films), Todo en fin el silencio lo ocupaba (All Things Were Now Overtaken by Silence) (FIGa Films), and Verano de Goliat (Summer of Goliath) (ISA: FIGa FIlms). Pereda uses many of the same actors and characters in his films, including Gabino Rodriguez and Teresa Sanchez, who are not professional actors. He mixes fiction with documentary in fractured narratives that depict the absurdity that occurs in everyday life. Though only in his twenties he has had at least ten retrospectives of his films at cinemas and archives around the world. In 2010 his film Verano de Goliat (Summer of Goliath) was awarded the Orizzonti award for best film at the Venice Film Festival.

Jonás Cuarón

Son of the Academy Award nominated director Alfonso Cuarón, (Children of Men, Y tu mamá también) Jonás Cuarón stepped out of his father’s shadow and burst onto the scene with Año Uña (Year of the Nail).The film takes a year’s worth of photos Cuarón took of spontaneous everyday events, that he later assembled to create a fictional narrative. Using only still photos and the original subjects’ narration of events, the dialogue switches between English and Spanish, and the film between reality and fiction. The film’s opening explains that though the story is fictional, the people and the moments frozen in time by the photographs are very real.

Academy Boosts Film Preservation with Film-to-Film Initiative

Anne Thompson & Sophia Savage — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:55:21 GMT

In a welcome move in response to the takeover of digital technology and the reduced availability of film stock, the Academy is extending the reach of their film preservation efforts. Their $2 million Film-To-Film project will accelerate the work of their Academy Film Archive to both acquire and create new archival film masters and prints from at-risk elements, including films as recent as the 1990s.

"This is a moment of great transition for our industry," says Academy CEO, Dawn Hudson, "and we are responding to the urgency of that moment. By increasing our preservation efforts now, we are building a vital pipeline of films and film elements that we will not only safeguard, but also make available for audiences well into the future."

Among the initiative's films to be preserved are "Sleuth" (1972; four Academy Award nominations); "The Cardinal" (1963; six nominations including Best Director and Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Otto Preminger and John Huston, respectively); and "Cock of the Air" (1932; a comedy produced by Howard Hughes prior to the advent of the Production Code Administration).

Short films to be preserved include Saul Bass’s landmark "Notes on the Popular Arts" (1977) as well as four comedy shorts made between 1933-35. Silent films include Douglas Fairbanks' "The Mark of Zorro" (1920), Mary Philbin's debut in "The Blazing Trail" (1921) and Edwin S. Porter's "A Famous Duel" (1911), as well as Documentary shorts "The Odds Against" (1966), "Naked Yoga" (1975), and the Oscar winner "Young at Heart" (1987).

Experimental works by the likes of Stan Brakhage, Will Hindle, Nina Menkes and Penelope Spheeris will be preserved, as will reels of home movies from the collections of Steve McQueen, Esther Williams, William Wyler, Sam Fuller and James Wong Howe.

Film-To-Film has also acquired a selection of 35mm prints including "42nd Street" (1933), "The Asphalt Jungle" (1950), "Barry Lyndon" (1975), "Grease" (1978) and "The Princess Bride" (1987).

More details on the initiative below:

Until recently, the mass production of film stock required for theatrical exhibition made this resource widely available and affordable for preservation work. However, as the industry continues its rapid transition to digital technology, film prints and the film stock required to create them are becoming increasingly scarce. The Academy’s Film-to-Film project is intended to take advantage of the remaining availability of celluloid stock to preserve a diverse slate of important works on film. At the same time, the initiative also ensures that high quality film elements will exist for easier, more cost-effective digitization in the future.

"Film-to-Film represents an extraordinary commitment to preserving our film heritage on film, but it’s also a part of our digital future," noted Academy Film Archive director Mike Pogorzelski. "Once the industry has resolved the challenges still posed by digital preservation, including the lack of standard file formats and continuous technology migration, we will be able to scan these films without relying on brittle, fragile, or deteriorated elements."

Between 1992 and the launch of the Film-to-Film project, the Academy Film Archive had preserved approximately 1,000 titles. Under Film-to-Film initiative, which began in 2011, the Archive has preserved or acquired about 300 more, including feature films, documentaries, experimental works, shorts and the home movies of Hollywood luminaries. A number of the initiative’s preservation projects are being conducted in partnership with other institutions, including the UCLA Film &Television Archive and the British Film Institute, as well as other archives in countries including Hungary, Norway, Sweden and Japan.

Dedicated to the preservation, restoration, documentation, exhibition and study of motion pictures, the Academy Film Archive is home to one of the most diverse and extensive motion picture collections in the world, including the personal collections of such filmmakers as Alfred Hitchcock, Cecil B. DeMille, George Stevens, Fred Zinnemann, Sam Peckinpah and Jim Jarmusch.

Academy's Outdoor Summer Screenings to Include 'Casablanca,' 'Princess Bride,' 'Goonies' and 'Raising Arizona'

Sophia Savage — Mon, 07 May 2012 19:42:10 GMT

The Academy's summer screening series, "Oscars Outdoors," at the open-air theater of the Academy Hollywood campus, will kick off Friday, June 15, and run through August 18. These Friday night screenings will focus on classic and contemporary adult favorites (including "Casablanca," "North by Northwest" and "Raising Arizona"), while Saturday's will be family-friendly selections (including "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "The Princess Bride" and "The Karate Kid"). On August 17, the screening will be "audience choice," as determined by online voting. Most screenings will also include surprise screenings of animated and live-action short films. The schedule is listed below, along with ticket and venue details.

On May 19, the venue will be initiated with an invite-only screening of "Field of Dreams." TOH! will be there.

The series will compete with Cinespia's beloved Hollywood Forever Cemetery summer screenings, which tend to feature slightly edgier and genre fare. Recent years have included classics like "Blow Up," "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "Midnight Cowboy" and "Vertigo."

June

 Friday, June 15: CASABLANCA 

Saturday, June 16: SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS

Friday, June 22: RAISING ARIZONA 

Saturday, June 23: FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF

Friday, June 29: A STAR IS BORN (1937) 

Saturday, June 30: THE GOONIES

July

 Friday, July 6: SHANE 

Saturday, July 7: THE NUTTY PROFESSOR (1996)

Friday, July 13: TO BE ANNOUNCED

 Saturday, July 14: THE PRINCESS BRIDE  

Friday, July 20: PILLOW TALK

 Saturday, July 21: THE KARATE KID (1984)

Friday, July 27: DREAMGIRLS 

Saturday, July 28: THE DARK CRYSTAL

August

 Friday, August 3: NORTH BY NORTHWEST

 Saturday, August 4: STEAMBOAT BILL, JR.

Friday, August 10: YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN 

Saturday, August 11: BACK TO THE FUTURE

Friday, August 17: Audience Choice (vote here)

 Saturday, August 18: THE WIZARD OF OZ (Sing-Along)

Tickets to each "Oscars Outdoors" screening are $5 for the public; free for children 10 years and younger; and $3 for Academy members and students with ID. Seating is unreserved. Tickets are available here. Gates will open at 6:30 p.m. Screenings begin at sunset.

Attendees are encouraged to bring low lawn chairs, blankets, warm clothing. Popular food trucks will be on site during each screening.

The Academy Hollywood campus is located 1341 Vine Street in Hollywood (between De Longpre Avenue and Fountain Avenue, and between Vine Street and Ivar Avenue). The campus is accessible via the Metro Red Line train and the 210 Metro Local bus. Free parking will be available.

Awards Watch: Directors Guild Changes Policy on Awards Screeners

Anne Thompson — Mon, 07 May 2012 19:00:06 GMT

In a significant sign of the times, after long insisting that their 14,000 members only view contenders for Directors Guild of America awards on the big screen, the national board of the DGA is now allowing distributors to send award screeners to their membership.

Especially with their far-flung members shooting film and television all over the globe, the Guild has decided to make it easier for them to have access to seeing the films.

IDA's DocuWeeks Program is Safe From New Academy Rules

Jay A. Fernandez — Thu, 03 May 2012 20:20:27 GMT

The IDA’s annual summer DocuWeeks program, which for 15 years has pursued its mission to help documentaries qualify for Oscar consideration, was in danger of being victimized by the Academy’s new rules. The IDA now says that it has resolved the issue and will be unhampered in its ability to prep films for the awards race.

The new Academy rule in question stipulates that a theatrically screened film must be reviewed in either the Los Angeles Times or the New York Times. This was a problem because the New York Times considers DocuWeeks a festival, and thus refuses to review its selections. With that road blocked, IDA executive director Michael Lumpkin secured a guarantee from the L.A. Times that the paper would review all the films in the DocuWeeks program.

"It is upon the filmmakers to follow the review guidelines," Lumpkin says, “but we'll be qualifying films as we've done for 15 years already."

Last year, Danfung Dennis' "Hell and Back Again" was nominated for an Oscar and qualified through its DocuWeeks run.

The relevant section of the official Academy rule reads: “The film must have a movie critic review in either The New York Times and/or Los Angeles Times.” So an L.A. Times review is sufficient for qualification on its own.

The 16th Annual DocuWeeks showcase will take place at Laemmle NoHo 7 in Los Angeles August 10-30, and at IFC Center in New York August 3-23. The full line-up of films will be announced in July.

Watch the Trailers for the U.S. Finalists for 2012 Student Academy Awards

Maggie Lange — Wed, 02 May 2012 20:57:32 GMT

The Academy selected 35 students from 20 colleges and universities in the U.S. as the finalists for the 39th Annual Student Academy Awards. The awardees are in the running to receive Gold, Silver, Bronze Medal awards as well as accompanying cash grants of $5,000, $3,000, and $2,000 respectively. The four categories include Alternative, Animation, Documentary, and Narrative. Full list of finalists is here and trailers for the nineteen available films are below.

LatinoBuzz: Latin American Films Take Center Stage at the Box Office, Sometimes

Vanessa Erazo — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:07:13 GMT

It’s rare for a film in Spanish or Portuguese to make it to a U.S. theater. Even within Latin America or Spain, it’s difficult for local films to compete against Hollywood blockbusters. Once in a while, against all odds, Latino films triumph at their local box office. Juan Carlos Rulfo’s De Panzazo (Barely Passing), a Mexican documentary that denounces the education system, clobbered Oscar-nominated films The Artist (ISA:Wild Bunch) in Mexico and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close taking in $870,000 on its opening weekend this past February. Last year’s Violeta se fue a los cielos (Violeta Went to Heaven) (ISA:Latido Films) peaked as the second highest grossing film in its final weekend in Chilean theaters, beating out Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris (ISA: Imagina) and the Green Lantern. It ended up being the highest grossing Chilean film of 2011. Directed by the renowned filmmaker Andrés Wood, it was selected as Chile’s official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar and had its U.S. premiere at Sundance earlier this year. These successes are hard to come by, but a lucky few make it. Here are the most recent box office numbers on the Latino films that broke into the top ten.

Mexico

[REC]³ Génesis

The Spanish horror film [REC]³ Génesis (ISA:Filmax) reached number nine in Mexico making $350,251. The film is the 3rd sequel in the [REC] franchise. Quarantine was an American remake of the original [REC]. In the U.S. it will be released on Video on Demand on August 3, and a limited run in theaters starts September 7, 2012.

Argentina

Extraños en la noche

[REC]³ Génesis made less money in Argentina ($150,391), but reached a higher spot, as the sixth highest grossing film of the weekend.
Ninth place went to Extraños en la noche (Strangers in the Night), a locally produced romantic comedy about a young couple who work as musicians, unhappily performing for tourists.

Brazil

Xingu

Having premiered at Tribeca last week, Xingu (ISA:Rezo Films), a story about environmental activism and inspired by true events in a village of Brazilian Xingu Indians took the ninth spot making $246,772.

Spain

Grupo 7 (Unit 7)

Grupo 7 (Unit 7), a Spanish crime thriller about a police unit on an extremely dangerous special mission, came in at number nine with $282,116. It was just awarded a Special Jury Mention at the Tribeca Film Festival for Best Cinematography.

The most recent box office statistics available on Box Office Mojo for Latin America and Spain are from the weekend of April 20, 2012.

Extraños en la noche

Academy Awards To Remain at Hollywood & Highland for 20 Years At Renamed and Upgraded Dolby Theatre

Anne Thompson — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:23:20 GMT

As the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences continues to go through growing pains, one question is still wide open. When AMPAS president Tom Sherak ends his term, will the new president be Howard Koch, Jr. or Phil Robinson? Another question has been answered: the 85th Academy Awards will take place at the same Hollywood & Highland Theatre as before, only the Kodak will be renamed the Dolby Theatre. Good solution.

Under the new contract with the Academy, the Dolby Theatre will host the Academy Awards through 2033. There had been some discussion of moving the Oscar show downtown, as new CEO Dawn Hudson had moved the Los Angeles Film Festival. That, clearly, has been skuttled.

In another change, it's quite unusual for an Oscar press release to go out that isn't originated by the Academy, which does not usually share "branding" with anyone. But today's major Oscar announcement cited the CIM Group "closing two major transactions" --this is how the august Academy breaks news?

"The Academy Awards To Remain in Hollywood," touts the release, and "The Dolby Theatre to Debut at Hollywood & Highland Center."

Why did the Academy cede ground to the CIM Group? The owners of Hollywood & Highland signed a 20-year deal with the announcement to host the awards through 2033 slanted to give the Cim Group some much-needed branding.

In a separate agreement, Dolby Laboratories, Inc. and CIM announced a 20-year agreement starting this summer to rename and upgrade the 3400-seat Kodak Theatre--which has been the site of the Academy Awards since 2002--the Dolby Theatre. Naturally the newly-touted Dolby Atmos, complete with overhead speakers, will be installed.

“The Academy’s Board of Governors believes that the home for our awards is in Hollywood. It is where the Academy and the motion picture industry are rooted,” said Sherak. “We are pleased to have a new agreement with CIM that will continue our longstanding partnership."

Press Release to Toh! from The Esteemed Dictator of The Republic of Wadiya

Maggie Lange — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:02:44 GMT

To sell his upcoming film "The Dictator" (May 16), Sacha Baron Cohen, as is his wont, is immersing himself in character. Following Cohen's opening promo salvo --his intentional slip-up on Ryan Seacrest on the Oscar red carpet--Paramount now has blasted an official "press release" from the Esteemed Dictatorship of The Republic of Wadiya (below).

Date:     April 18, 2012
From:     Office of Propaganda
RE:           Dartz Motorz PROMBRON (ex.RussoBaltique) Aladeen Edition

OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM HIS EXCELLENCY ADMIRAL GENERALALADEEN – SUPREME LEADER, ALL TRIUMPHANT GENERAL, BELOVED OPPRESSOR, AND CHIEF OPHTHALMOLOGIST OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF WADIYA

His Excellency Admiral General Aladeen has graciously granted his express permission for Dartz Motorz, manufacturer of ultra-luxury armored vehicles and exclusive provider to the Wadiyan government motor pool, to offer limited edition commemorative vehicles honoring the Ruthless Protector of the Precious and Expendable People of Wadiya. Like civil rights in Wadiya, this offer will not be around for long.

Named for the undemocratically and forcibly elected Leader of Wadiya, the gold Aladeen Edition armored vehicles will be revealed to the people of the world at the Top Marques Monaco show under the high patronage of His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco. Top Marques Monaco, held at the Grimaldi Forum April 19 - 22, is revered as the world’s most exclusive supercar show where drivers experience firsthand the latest state-of-the-art machines on the prestigious Formula One racetrack, the Circuit de Monaco, mere weeks before the famous race takes place. A race that Aladeen has already won.

The Dartz Motorz PROMBRON (ex.RussoBaltique) vehicle comes from a long line of armored vehicles more than a hundred years in the making; it was originally built in 1912 for Russian Tzar Nikolai II. The PROMBROM was also NOT used in the accidental hit-and-run death of Wadiyan political opposition leader Maran Harouri, nor in the accidental repeated running over of the six witnesses to the hit-and-run.

Labeled the “World’s Most Expensive Armored Car,” the PROMBRON is the fastest and most maneuverable luxury armored all-road vehicle in the world. With supercar power and the technology of a spaceship, it boasts very unique protection capabilities from level B2 to B7+, providing occupants with resistance to RPGs and .50 caliber high velocity armor piercing rounds (or as Aladeen calls them, “love letters from his people.”)

Furthermore, all Dartz vehicles come equipped with patented 3” ionized glass, also RPG resistant. Each vehicle is handmade with great attention to sumptuous detail, exemplified in the exotic hand-stitched leathers and wood used in the interior, reclining massage seats, champagne bottle chillers and wine racks. And there’s room in back for up to six kidnapped actresses or faded supermodels.

Ten Aladeen Edition vehicles will be made available aspart of this limited offer. MSRP ranges from $500,000 to $750,000 (USD). Actual price will vary depending on equipment and package options. (Price excludes title, taxes, registration, license fees, insurance, dealer prep and additional options.) By purchasing one of these vehicles you are also legally agreeing to have sex with Aladeen.

10 Things Michael Moore Wants You to Know About the Academy's New Documentary Rules

Robert Silva — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:26:11 GMT

This year, Michael Moore helped rewrite the rules on which documentaries are eligible for the Academy Awards, and who votes for them. This has resulted in some heated exchanges with other filmmakers, largely because the new rules require a nominated film to have a review in either the New York Times or the L.A. Times.

At the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival on April 12, Moore set the record straight about criticisms regarding the new rules. He appeared via Skype in a brown hoodie -- degrading into a pixelated Yoda when the Internet stream slowed -- and explained why he believes the rule changes are (mostly) for the good.

#1. Change Is Obviously Needed

"If I said to you that Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and Woody Allen, none of them have never ever won an Oscar -- that would seem really bizarre wouldn't it?" Moore said.

"Now, let me say this: Frederick Wiseman, the Maysles Brothers, D.A. Pennebaker, Chris Hegedus, Steve James. I could go down a very long list of people who never won an Oscar, and many, like Fred Wiseman, who've never been nominated. How can that happen? How could these godfathers of our genre -- modern documentary -- never have even been nominated or won?"

#2 The Old System Was Weird, Insular, and Corrupt

"For many years a small committee watched the documentary films. The committee was made up of volunteers from the Academy. They were not documentary filmmakers, and they were not from the documentary branch. And so they would sit there with the 16mm projector running and -- after 10 minutes, 20 minutes, everybody had a little flashlight and they hit the flashlight, and they would stop the projector and they wouldn't watch the rest of the film," Moore said.

"And Roger Ebert about 20 years ago did a story about one of the reasons why this was. . . There was a documentary distributor on the committee. And according to Ebert, a third and half of all nominated films were distributed by this documentary distributor who sat on the selection committee. In fact, in the year of 'Roger & Me,' 1989, three of the five nominees were distributed by this man's company."

#3 The New Process Will Be More Democratic

"When I was elected to the Board of Governor for my branch, this was one of the things I really wanted to fix. I said, 'We should create a democracy movement within the documentary branch of the Oscar. We should bring democracy to our branch, meaning the entire branch should vote on who the five nominees are going to be, and then the entire Academy -- all 6,000 members -- should pick the winner from those five nominees,'" Moore said. "It was decided it was time to let everyone vote."

#4 More Documentaries Will Get Seen

"We're setting up procedures to guarantee that every [submitted] film does get seen by someone,” Moore said. “And I asked the Academy if they would shoulder the expense of sending every qualified movie to every member of the documentary branch and they've agreed to do it. So, in other words, if you've made a documentary, you want to submit it this year and your film will be sent to all 160 members of the documentary branch," Moore said.

"You can submit and will submit your documentary films when they are released throughout the year. So, your film comes out in June, we will get your movie in July. This way, no one's going to have to watch 100 movies in December, like the Oscars work now. We're going to watch them throughout the year."

#5 Bigger Movies Will Benefit (and They Should)

"I know that people have said, 'The little films will be overlooked.' But actually the history of the Oscar for documentaries is that the little film has not been overlooked; it's the larger film that has been overlooked.

"And the joke 15, 20 years ago was that if you were critically acclaimed, if you got good notices, if you were thought well of by the audience as one of the best documentaries of the year, that would be the kiss of death. You were guaranteed of not even being nominated. It was a weird feeling like, 'Oh my god, I've got all they great reviews -- oh, we're screwed!'"
#6 Glorified TV Movies, So Long!

"Too many of our nominated movies seemed to be made for television and the network and were qualified by sneaking a quiet run in New York and L.A. that wouldn’t be announced publicly and wouldn't get a review in the New York Times and L.A. Times because they wanted to get that review when the film showed on the network in a few months. They kept to the letter of the law, but not the spirit. They were really TV movies that weren't satisfied with just winning an Emmy; they wanted to win an Oscar, too."

#7 Why the New York Times Matters, But Not as Much as It Thinks It Does

"We were told by the New York Times that it is their policy to review every movie that gets a true theatrical release that opens in Manhattan, regardless of how big or small the film is. We thought, 'Wow, that's the way to guarantee this was really and truly in theaters,'" Moore said.

"This got reported initially by the New York Times that somehow we were ceding control of who can get nominated over to the New York Times. That is absolutely not true. We're only using them because of their rule. If they change that policy, we'll change."

#8 "If A.O Scott Has a Cold," Filmmakers Can Appeal

"We’ve instituted a very liberal appeal process where essentially all the documentary filmmaker has to do is say, 'Hey, here is the day my film opened in Manhattan, there's no review in the New York Times, but the film was there. Well, our attitude is: you're in, you're qualified, you are eligible. We're not going to be sticklers about this. We're using it pretty much as a guidepost to guarantee that the film was at the theaters."

#9 The New Rules Favor the Coasts, and It Sucks

"It is [cultural imperialism]. It's not right," Moore said. "I say that as someone from Michigan. But the larger Academy, though, for all the other fiction movies, they have to play that week in New York and L.A. So we're just lining up our rules to be totally in sync with the rest of the Academy to be totally the same, so documentaries are not looked at as the bastard stepcousins of cinema. The L.A. - New York thing, I'm not the biggest proponent of that. It's there simply because that's the general rule of the Academy for all movies."

#10 The New Rules Will Ensure the Survival of the Documentary Category

"Those who want to remove documentaries from the Oscar show, they still exist in large numbers. They're not the majority right now, and one thing I'm hoping to do with these new rules is take away any of their ammunition. And one of the biggest things is that they don't get to vote for documentaries unless they happen to be in New York or L.A. during one of those three nights [where all five nominees are shown in theaters] in January or February," Moore said.

"Starting this year, there's none of that. We'll have screeners, you can watch them at home, we're going to start streaming them next year,” he said. “Once we get more these 6,000 Academy members engaged, I think the talk of removing the documentaries from the Oscars will never come again."

569 Films Compete for 2012 Student Academy Awards

Maggie Lange — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 10:28:00 GMT

2012 marks the 39th year of the Student Academy Awards. 569 films are competing this year: 518 entries are from students in the States, representing 105 colleges and universities, and 51 more entries are from 29 countries around the world. A complete list of schools and countries represented in the competition is available here.

The Academy established the Student Academy Awards in 1972 to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the college level. Categories include Alternative, Animation, Documentary, Narrative and Foreign Student Film.

The competition culminates in the awards presentation on Saturday, June 9 at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, where they will screen the winning films. Winners of previous Student Academy Awards have gone on to receive 46 Oscar nominations and 8 wins. Wow.

'Monsieur Lazhar' Director Falardeau Talks Educational Boundaries, Says 'Death is Absurd'

Sophia Savage — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 19:08:00 GMT

Canada's "Monsieur Lazhar," from director Philippe Falardeau (One of five Oscar nominees for Best Foreign Language film; it lost to Iran's "A Separation"), is a quiet portrait of a mysterious new teacher (Mohamed Fellag) and his suffering young pupils, all of whom are coping with tragedy. While the intimate story is told with delicacy, it doesn't shy away from big issues -- education, death and immigration. The film comes from Falardeau's adaptation of Evelyne de la Cheneliere's play, "Bashir Lazhar."

Crossing the ill-defined boundaries between students and teachers has become rife with fear, Falardeau suggests in our interview below. The issue is front and center in "Monsieur Lazhar." Well-meaning teachers are thus cautioned against providing emotional support for children -- from a pat on the back or a hug to simply discussing taboo issues, such as death -- even when they see a child in need. "Monsieur Lazhar" raises tough questions, and while Falardeau doesn't claim to know the answers, he offers a venue for audiences to consider them. Fellag leads with a fine performance, alongside a troupe of excellent young actors. Music Box will release the film in New York and Los Angeles April 13, followed by a national roll-out. Here's the trailer. (Spoilers below.)

Would Monsieur Lazhar function the same way for his students without his layered backstory?

No, I don’t think he would. It would become your usual school genre drama where the teacher is an inspirational figure. The character’s background enriches the relationship with the children and deepens the drama without making the film specifically about immigration. Monsieur Lazhar is an accidental teacher. He rushes to this class for his own salvation. He needs to surround himself with children, in part to sublimate the loss of his own family. And he needs to reproduce the work and habits of his wife; she was the teacher in Algeria, not him. Only the audience is aware that the children's grief mirrors his own, although the young Alice does suspect something. He knows intimately what they are going through, without admitting to anyone -- even to himself -- that he also needs help.

One of the students declares; "Everyone thinks we're traumatized, but it's the adults who are." Do you think children experience death differently than adults?

It’s funny because that line is probably the only thing the character says out of her own thinking. Everything else she says is transmitted from her parents (the same parents we see criticizing Bashir and his teaching). I haven’t had to deal with the situation [of death] from up close, so I’m not sure. But I know that children are more resilient than we think. And they can talk about death and suicide, they understand the reality of it, but they do have a different perspective on it. More candid. They have fewer words to express what they feel.

Lazhar crosses many lines to become the children's teacher and to help them process the trauma they've been through, yet he does more good for them than any other adult. What does this say about the regulations of the education system, which are intended for the benefit and protection of students?

Oh boy! A tricky question! The fact that he tells the truth to the immigration officer and lies at school to become a teacher makes for an interesting character, that’s for sure. But also, his behavior, his outsider point of view, reveals who we are, where we are at, etc… It’s giving us a Polaroid of our school system, allowing us to questions some of the rules, like no physical contact with the children (in my film I’m suggesting that we could tolerate hugs and pats of encouragements, but never punishment). The film suggests we allow each teacher to invest classes with their own humanity; a classroom should resemble who the teacher is. It’s natural and it’s beneficial. (Sometimes there are mediocre or unmotivated teachers, but you can’t build or restrict a system just to avoid those situations.)

To quote Lazhar - "Don't try to find meaning" in death, because; "there isn't one." Is this message specific to Lazhar's loss and the children's, or a broader message about death?

It is specific to the fact that his wife died trying to finish the school year in Algeria (an act of resistance) and that he is now teaching in a class where a teacher committed suicide (an act of despair or profound depression). Bashir can’t put the two together. I myself, think that death is absurd. Most will say it gives meaning to life. I just think it ends it.  

What is your process working with actors, and is it different with children?

Time, work, work, and more time. Especially choosing the actors. I give everyone a lot of time in the audition (and usually the whole script), adults or children. A ten minute audition is a farce, even for smaller roles. With the children, I rehearse much more and I work with a coach. She can see where I want to go, so she can continue the work when I’m occupied on another task. She really brings the children to another level, she’s relentless.

Then I try to install a playful atmosphere on the set, like summer camp, so the children don’t get exhausted. They know it’s work, but you have to give them a little bonus, playing time. Also, it’s important that they trust you, that they know you won’t force them to do something they don’t want to do. Then they go all the way with you.

Santa Barbara Film Festival Sets Dates for January/February 2013

Anne Thompson — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 19:10:42 GMT

Now that the Academy Award show has set its dates, so is everyone else. Award-centric Santa Barbara International Film Festival, which books its tribute shows with an eye on the Oscars, will launch the 28th SBIFF on Thursday, January 24, 2013; it will run through Sunday, February 3. SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling, who added an acquisitions program to last year's eleven-day fest of indie and foreign films, Q & As and panels (which attracted more than 70,000 visitors), is now prepping the 28th edition.

Festival passes and packages go on sale May 1 and are discounted at 25% until June 25.

Immersed in Movies Previews 'Brave': Pixar Could Have a Contender

Bill Desowitz — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:57:12 GMT

What's my reaction to seeing the first half-hour of "Brave" (June 22)? Pixar is back at the top of its game. If the rest of the movie is as strong as what I saw at a Pixar press event in Emeryville last week, the film could be the leading Oscar contender for best animated feature. So much for last season's Oscar lockout of "Cars 2" for being a disposable popcorn movie.

In other words, leave it to Pixar to turn the princess fairy tale on its head with an ambitious medieval coming of age story about teenage rebellion and noble responsibility in the Scottish Highlands, wrapped in an action/adventure with magic and mysticism. Oh, yes, with a dash of "Moby Dick"-like scary danger thrown in for good measure along with some slapstick relief.

If you've seen the trailer, you already know that the setup involves the skilled archer and fiery redhead Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) defying her mother, Queen Elinor (voiced by Emma Thompson), who wants to marry her off to keep the peaceful kingdom united among the three lords. However, what is glimpsed in the first 30 minutes is a majestic and gorgeous animated journey, as Pixar proves once again why it's the industry leader in storytelling and technology.

For instance, as Merida joyfully rides through the forest on her powerful Clydesdale, Angus, we notice the rich detail: her curly red locks, the horse's fetlocks, the uneven rock formations; the grass, moss, and lichen mingling with the earthy brush; the magic hour lighting and the glistening waterfalls. Then there are the mysterious wisps and the introduction of a monstrous bear that's tied to some
curse.

No wonder this has been a particularly arduous seven-year production for Pixar (with director Brenda Chapman replaced by Mark Andrews a couple of years ago as they retooled the complicated story). "Brave" not only represents the studio's first period piece but also its first female-centric protagonist. And this is a fairly dark tale to boot with a lot of elements to coalesce. Plus it required time to create
new simulation tools for hair and cloth (the physics of Merida's curly red hair is the antithesis of Rapunzel's golden mane from "Tangled," and King Fergus wears nine simulated garments at the same time).

"It's not a princess story -- she just happens to be a princess and that raises the stakes of whatever decision she's going to be making and how it's going to affect the kingdom," offered Andrews earlier this week at Pixar's campus. Andrews is an extrovert who flung himself completely into "Brave" when duty called after co-writing "John Carter" with Andrew Stanton while also supervising the live-action feature's second unit.

"There's a great heart at the center of this film that just isn't for moms and daughters," he emphasized. "I'm a father of four (a girl and three boys, just like King Fergus). So I know about parenthood and the fears and tribulations. 'Look, I've done it all and I don't want you to make the same mistakes.' I get Elinor's play. I was also a teenager so I didn't want anyone telling me what to do, what to say, what to wear. So I get Merida's play. That's what I'm invested in: this universal, relatable story. I brought objectivity, which is what was needed since the story was stalling out and wasn't progressing. I don't care! Chop, chop! This doesn't work, this doesn't work, this doesn't work -- and shatter it! What still works? The mother/daughter relationship works; but there were a lot of holes. You fill in the blanks. You take Brenda's great ideas and the wonderful relationships that she started, clear away the clutter, find out where the missing places were, and solve them. I didn't succeed right off the bat. We twist and contort painfully."

So Andrews revamped "Brave" three or four times before it finally came together. But when Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull said, "Make me cry," and then emerged from an early screening doing just that, the director found his epiphany.

"Everybody's trying to put us into a box and I think our box is you can't put us in a box," Andrews suggested. "You don't know what you're going to get out of Pixar. Sure, we do our 'Cars 2' and there's going to be a 'Monsters 2' and everyone wants an 'Incredibles 2.' But after our Scottish epic/fantasy/adventure comes out, people are going to say, 'it's hard to predict you guys.' It's [about] story innovation. We still get to raise the bar for animation. Look at 'Rango': Could anybody have done 'Rango' before and have it be accepted? No, because we keep pushing the bar. Thank god for 'Rango' or 'How to Train Your Dragon'; even 'Puss in Boots.'"

Stay tuned to see if "Brave" fulfills its promise.

How Nicole Kidman Landed Grace Kelly for 'Grace of Monaco' (Poll)

Anne Thompson & Sophia Savage — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 17:15:07 GMT

Start the Oscar buzz now. Olivier Dahan, who directed Marion Cotillard to her Oscar win for "La vie en rose," has offered Nicole Kidman the much-coveted title role in his Grace Kelly biopic "Grace of Monaco." She is now in negotiations.

How did the 44-year old actress land the role? After all, the movie is set between 1961-62, when Kelly was 32. The answer: the star of this movie not only had to boast the movie star looks, class, and smarts to play Grace Kelly, but needed to be an internationally bankable star. Kidman would raise more funding and boost the budget for this period film, as well as adding to its awards prospects by dangling the sugar plum of a fourth Oscar nomination in distributors' heads. The film has been compared to The Weinstein Co.'s Oscar-winning "The King's Speech"; Kidman is also a favorite of Harvey Weinstein, who championed her Oscar-winning role in "The Hours." These are assets that her younger competitors did not have.

Arash Amel's script, which landed on the 2011 Black List of best unproduced screenplays, begins six years into the Oscar-winning refugee from Hollywood's marriage to Prince Rainier III of Monaco. While she's already raising two kids, she's also involved in the politics of the tiny city-state, per THR, which "got into a heated dispute with France, which grew tired of the petite principality being a tax haven. Kelly, still relatively new in her role as princess, maneuvered behind the scenes to save Monaco from a coup."

Appian Way is producing for Sony Pictures Classics.

Last October we considered which actresses could pull off the role, from Rosamund Pike, Gwyneth Paltrow and Naomi Watts to Charlize Theron, January Jones, Diane Kruger and Amber Heard. We focused on younger players who could play 32 and dismissed Kidman because of her age. Thankfully others did not.

Vote in our poll below:

ColCoa 2012

SydneyLevine — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 15:45:26 GMT

The 16^th Annual City of Lights, City of Angels (COL•COA) film festival will run April 16-23 in Los Angeles . Sponsored by The Franco-American Cultural Fund (FACF), the festival will present 34 features and 21 shorts, including 10 North American and U.S. Premieres, and 14 West Coast Premieres. “The historic triumph of The Artist (ISA:Wild Bunch) reflects a remarkable year for French cinema and we are glad to introduce a broad spectrum of new films to Hollywood that reveal both the quality and diversity of recent French productions,” stated François Truffart, COL•COA Executive Director and Artistic Director.

COL•COA will open with the North American Premiere of My Way (CloClo) (ISA:LGM), a biopic about French pop star icon Claude François, directed by Florent-Emilio Siri, co-written by Siri and Julien Rappeneau and starring Jérémie Renier. Recently released in France , My Way is already a critical and commercial success.

Several U.S. distributors will present their films at COL•COA before their U.S. release: Cinema Guild – Step up to the Plate (ISA:Jour2Fete); The Cohen Media Group – Farewell My Queen (ISA:Elle Driver): Kino Lorber –The Well Digger’s Daughter (ISA:Pathe); MPI Media – Americano (ISA:Bac Films); Sundance Selects – Goodbye First Love! (ISA:Films Distribution) and Polisse (ISA:Wild Bunch); Strand Releasing - 17 Girls (ISA:Films Distribution); The Weinstein Company – The Intouchables (ISA:Gaumont), A Gang Story (ISA:Gaumont) and War of the Buttons (ISA:Wild Bunch); and Screen Media for A Happy Event (ISA:Gaumont) from co-writer-director Remi Bezançon, also in competition at COL·COA for his animated feature Zarafa (ISA:Pathe).

Closing film on Sunday, April 22^nd will be a special presentation, in association with The Weinstein Company, of the already third most successful French box office success: The Intouchables (ISA:Gaumont) Starring François Cluzet and César winner for Best Actor Omar Sy, this hit comedy marks the fourth film from writer-directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano presented at COL•COA Cannes Jury Special Prize winner and 13 César-nominated drama, Polisse (ISA:Wild Bunch) co-written and directed by Maïwenn, will be presented at COL•COA, one day after its U.S. Premiere at Tribeca. Berlin International Film Festival opening film, Farewell My Queen (ISA:Elle Driver) co-written and directed by COL·COA 2011 Critics Award-winner Benoit Jacquot, will have a special presentation at COL·COA before opening the San Francisco International Film Festival. Other highlights include César multi-nominated and critically acclaimed film, The Minister (ISA:Doc & Film Interntional), written and directed by Pierre Schoeller; the 3D presentation in English of A Monster in Paris (ISA:EuropaCorp), an animated feature co-written and directed by Bibo Bergeron, starring Sean Lennon and Vanessa Paradis, and produced by Luc Besson; the anticipated thriller, 38 Witnesses (ISA:Films Distrubution), written and directed by Lucas Belvaux; as well as The Art of Love (ISA:Kinology), the new comedy from writer-director Emmanuel Mouret.

Several French high-profile titles will also be introduced in the U.S, such as Early One Morning, (ISA:Les Films Du Losange) written and directed by Jean-Marc Moutout; Cesar winner for Best Documentary Leadersheep (ISA:MK2 S.A.) by writer-director Christian Rouaud Silence of Joan, from writer-director Philippe Ramos; as well as the North American Premiere of Another Woman’s Life (ISA:Kinology), co-written and directed by Sylvie Testud and starring Juliette Binoche.

The program will feature several directorial debut films, including the North American Premieres of Love Lasts Three Years (ISA:Eurocorp), co-written and directed by novelist Frédéric Beigbeder; The Adopted (ISA:Studio Canal), co-written and directed by actress and freshman filmmaker Mélanie Laurent; Freeway (ISA:Sesame), co-written and directed by Christopher Sahr; the West Coast Premiere of Louise Wimmer (ISA:Films Distribution), written and directed by Cyril Mennegun; and Americano (ISA:Bac Films), starring Salma Hayek and co-starring writer-director Mathieu Demy, the son of Agnes Varda and Jacques Demy.

Five popular series will return in 2012, COL•COA docs will include Michel Petrucciani (ISA:Wild Bunch) written and directed by Michael Radford. After 10 will highlight Best Adaptation César winner Guilty (ISA:Films Distribution), co-written and directed by Vincent Garenq. COL•COA Classics will pay tribute to actor Yves Montand with a rare presentation of the restored Call me Savage from co-writer-director Jean-Paul Rappeneau. For this year’s Carte Blanche program, writer-director Alexander Payne selected Hotel du Nord directed by Marcel Carné, screenplay by Jean Aurenche and Henri Jeanson. The Film Noir series will include the West Coast Premiere of Paris by Night (ISA:TF1), co-written and directed by Philippe Lefebvre. The Focus on a Filmmaker, this year honoring actress writer-director Julie Delpy, will take place on Thursday, April 19^th and will include her new film, Le SkyLab (ISA:Films Distribution).

COL•COA Educational Program will offer four High School Screenings, one student screening and one Master Class in association with ELMA (European Languages and Movies in America). The program will host 3,500 students from over 70 high schools, colleges and universities in California .

To celebrate the announcement and recipients of the 2012 COL•COA Awards, the festival will close on Monday, April 23rd with the screening of two winning features and two winning shorts.

City of Lights, City of Angels is funded by the FACF, a unique partnership of the Directors Guild of America, the Motion Picture Association, France’s Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music and the Writers Guild of America, West with the vital support of L’ARP (France’s Association of Authors, Directors and Producers), the Los Angeles Film and TV Office of the French Embassy, and Unifrance.

All screenings are in French with English subtitles or, in the case of the family-oriented animated films, dubbed in English. Tickets are available for advance purchase online at www.colcoa.org (cash or checks only). Please visit www.colcoa.org for box office hours. Ticket prices are $10 for adults; $7 tickets for seniors (62+), disabled, and members of American Cinematheque, ASC, ICG, Film Independent, LACMA, SAG or Women in Film; $3 for students and under 21. Tickets are complimentary for DGA and WGAW guild members. The Happy Hour Talks are free on a first come, first served basis.

For film and press information, including hi-res photos, log onto www.colcoa.org. For public information, call (310) 289-5346.

City of Lights, City of Angels (COL•COA) was created in 1996 by The Franco-American Cultural Fund, a unique collaborative effort of the Directors Guild of America, the Motion Picture Association, the Writers Guild of America West, and France’s Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music (SACEM). COL•COA is also supported by l’Association des Auteurs-Réalisateurs-Producteurs (ARP), the Film and TV Office of the French Embassy in Los Angeles and UNIFRANCE.

COL•COA is committed to promoting new French films in the U.S. and to showcasing the vitality and the diversity of French cinema in Hollywood: comedies and dramas, box office hits in France and specialty films, first features and films from established writer-directors, art house movies as well as mainstream films.

In 15 years, 231 new feature films and 140 new shorts have been selected. COL•COA has constantly developed to become a showcase of at least 50 films, with a capacity of 20,000 in 2011 and an occupancy rate of 88%.

Its exclusive program has made of COL•COA an anticipated date in the industry calendar and one of the largest French film festivals in the world. Scheduled a few weeks after the Academy Awards® and one month before the Cannes Film Festival, COL•COA has become a prestigious event in Los Angeles.

Since 2004, the selection is exclusively composed of premieres. Several high-profile features are presented at COL•COA for the first time in North America or in the U.S. COL•COA is also known for presenting successful films a year before their commercial release in the U.S., raising the event’s profile among U.S. distributors who now use the event as a platform to launch and promote their film in Hollywood.

COL•COA has substantial representation by leading industry professionals, including distributors, exhibitors, directors, writers, producers, Academy members, agents, press members or public filmgoers, as part and parcel to the festival is the cultural exchange involved, as well as the introduction of films that may not have been available to the industry. COL•COA has developed partnerships with organizations like IFTA, The Cannes Film Market, Film Independent, Women in Film, The American Cinematheque, SAG, and since 2008, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. COL•COA “A WEEK OF FRENCH FILM PREMIERES IN HOLLYWOOD”

COL•COA is more than a film industry event. Many screenings are reserved early due to the festival’s reputation and increased visibility.In 2008, an educational program was also launched to promote foreign films among young American audiences in association with E.L.M.A (European Languages & Movies in America). Close to 7,500 high school students and 70 high schools in Los Angeles County have participated in the program since 2008. In 2010, a master class was introduced for colleges, film schools and universities.

More than 100 French writers, directors and producers have presented their film(s) at COL•COA. Among them are Costa-Gavras, Alain Corneau, Claire Denis, Michel Hazanavicius, Claude Lelouch, Claude Miller, Bertrand Tavernier, Olivier Assayas, Laurent Cantet, Arnaud Desplechin, Anne Fontaine, Bertrand Blier and Mathieu Kassovitz.

Whereas COL•COA is not a celebrity-driven event, many artists attend as it is a showcase for their work, a chance to mingle with other artists in a professional, yet relaxed and cordial environment, the true basis of cultural exchange. Among past COL•COA guests are actors and actresses Rosanna Arquette, Nathalie Baye, Bérénice Bejo, Marion Cotillard, Julie Delpy, Jimmy Jean Louis, Helen Mirren, Gena Rowlands, Sharon Stone, Charlize Theron and Lambert Wilson, as well as prominent American writers and directors: Wes Craven, Taylor Hackford, John Landis, Michael Mann and Alexander Payne.

Casting Watch: Stanley Tucci to Join Emma Watson in David Yates' 'Your Voice in My Head'

Maggie Lange — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:27:12 GMT

Stanley Tucci is currently in talks to star alongside "Harry Potter" star Emma Watson in the psychological drama, "Your Voice in My Head." At the moment, an almost unrecognizable Tucci can be seen in "The Hunger Games" as the flamboyant master of ceremonies.

Directed by David Yates (Warner Bros.'"Harry Potter") and based on the memoir by screenwriter and journalist Emma Forrest, "Your Voice in My Head" follows a talented young woman who attempts suicide in the wake of a crumbling relationship. Tucci is in talks with Warners to play the terminally-ill psychiatrist who helps her to recover. Ruby Films' Alison Owen is producer.

Variety reports that the role of psychiatrist was eyed by several top actors, including George Clooney, before the role when to Tucci. Variety writes: "Sources say Warners is already eyeing this as a major contender in the 2013 race, especially the best-actor slot."

They better get cracking.

First Look: Jennifer Lawrence in 'House at the End of the Street' and the Next Four Steps for 'Hunger Games' Star

Maggie Lange — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 21:01:01 GMT

Relativity is just one of several distributors looking to capitalize on the new stardom of "The Hunger Games" it-girl Jennifer Lawrence. "She's an unusually gifted actress," "Hunger Games" producer Nina Jacobson told TOH. "She brings authenticity, humanity and accessibility. The movie relies on her to an extraordinary degree."

It remains to be seen how the "Winter's Bone" Oscar nominee and critic's darling will fare in the four new movies still to come; all fall in the domestic drama category.

This new image from Relativity's upcoming thriller "House at the End of the Street" (September 21) shows Lawrence cowering as the threatened resident of a viciously haunted home. EW revealed this early photograph of the film, which focuses on the damage that families can inflict, a theme not dissimilar from "Winter's Bone" and "The Hunger Games."

“I wanted to talk about how a parent’s love can help us or hinder us in becoming the people we are,” filmmaker Mark Tonderai told EW. “It’s very much about a girl who’s becoming a woman, but her mother [Elizabeth Shue] still feels she can do an audit on her life. The daughter is rebelling against that.”

Also that month, Lawrence will appear in "Devil You Know" (September 28) - another thriller about a reclusive former film star with a tortured secret. Lawrence will play a young Rosamund Pike in the film.

Then Lawrence will be seen opposite Bradley Cooper, Julia Stiles, Robert De Niro, and Chris Tucker in David O. Russell's would-be awards contender "The Silver Linings Playbook" (November 21). Cooper and Lawrence team up again in Susanne Bier's adaptation of Ron Rash's novel, "Serena," pegged for 2013, in which she plays the title role. "Serena" is a Depression era film about a timber empire in North Carolina.

Whatever happens, Lawrence has the confidence of knowing that she has a franchise to come back to. Just like one of the Hollywood guys.

Directors Guild Returns Awards Show to Hollywood & Highland, Moves Up Date

Anne Thompson — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 18:24:23 GMT

The 65th Directors Guild of America Awards return to the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles on Saturday, February 2, 2013. That's near the once-named Kodak Theatre where the Academy Awards will continue to be held. The DGA awards are being given out a week ahead of this year's event. "The decision to move the date by one week was made during the process of securing the venue," said the DGA. While the Oscar nominations have been moved up by a week, the award telecast is within the same time frame.

Most of the time, the DGA feature film winner is also the winner for best director at the Oscars. Michel Hazanavicius won both this year, for "The Artist."