ITV

Category: International

  • Slamdance fest awards declared

    Slamdance fest awards declared

    MUMBAI: This year the Slamdance Film Festival has awarded Keith Miller‘s Welcome to Pine Hill the grand jury award for feature narrative, while Jens Pfeifer‘s No Ashes, No Phoenix won the grand jury award for feature documentary at its 18th edition.
     
    The closing-night awards ceremony was held at the Treasure Mountain Inn. Exclaimed Slamdance co-founder and president Peter Baxter, “What a great way to end Slamdance‘s 18th festival — by celebrating the films our excellent jurors and incredible audiences have awarded these emerging filmmakers.”
     
    "This year‘s narrative and documentary competitions are stronger than ever, and these filmmakers represent the vanguard of true independent filmmaking," he added.
     
    Getting Up by Caskey Ebeling was given the Audience Award for Feature documentary, while the Audience Award for feature narrative was bagged by Andrew Edison’s Bindlestiffs.
     
    Besides the Grand Jury award to Keith Miller’s film for its poetic and emotionally honest depiction of one man‘s final journey in life, crafted from a true spirit of humanity and community, the Special Jury Award for bold originality was awarded to Heavy Girls by Axel Ranisch for its joie de vivre, an incredibly life-affirming film that is presented with a unique vision and an amazing cast.

    The Grand Jury award for feature documentary was given away to No Ashes, No Phoenix by Jens Pfeifer, the Grand Jury award for short documentary was awarded to Skylar Neilsen’s The Professional.

    The Slamdance Film Festival takes place every year in Utah.

  • Online voting for Oscar awards from next year

    Online voting for Oscar awards from next year

    MUMBAI: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is developing an electronic voting system in association with Evertone Counts Inc. that would keep potential Oscar winners be a click away from winning a trophy from the 85th annual Academy awards next year.

    ‘Academy‘s chief operating officer Ric Robertson said in a statement that it‘s the first step his organisation is taking toward developing a secure and convenient electronic voting system.

    The Academy and Everyone Counts Inc. would exclusively work with its longtime accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers to create the new system.

    Oscar voting in the past has been compiled through paper ballots sent through the mail.

    The 84th annual Academy Awards are set for February 26.

  • Greek director Angelopoulos dies in accident

    Greek director Angelopoulos dies in accident

    MUMBAI: Noted Greek director Theo Angelopoulos was killed in a road accident on Tuesday while he wasshooting for his latest film The Other Sea.

    The 76-year old Angelopoulos was working in Piraeus, a port city close to Athens when he met with an accident while shooting outdoor sequences.

    Starting his filmmaking career with Reconstruction in 1970, Angelopoulos then went on to make a series of political feature films about modern Greece: Days of ’36 (Meres Tou 36, 1972), The Travelling Players (O Thiassos, 1975) and The Hunters (I Kynighoi, 1977).

    The noted director was known for his distinct style marked by slow, episodic and ambiguous narrative structures as well as long takes.

    Having won the Grand Jury prize at Cannes Film Festival for Ulysses’ Gaze (1995) and Palme d’Or for Eternity and a Day (1998), Angelopoulos was honored at the 11th Mumbai Film Festival in 2009.

  • ‘Hugo’, ‘The Artist’ top Oscar nominations

    ‘Hugo’, ‘The Artist’ top Oscar nominations

    MUMBAI: Martin Scorcese‘ 3D family film ‘Hugo‘ has got 11 Oscar nominations while the silent black and white film ‘The Artist‘ got 10 nominations for the 84th annual Oscar Awards, making it a clear two- horse race.

    The show will air on Star Movies on 27 February.

    ‘The Artist‘ is the first black and white film to get a best picture nomination since ‘Good Night and Good Luck‘ in 2005. ‘Hugo is the fourth film released in 3D to score a best picture nomination, after ‘Avatar‘, ‘Up‘ and ‘Toy Story 3‘. If it is able to stop ‘The Artist‘s momentum, then it would be the first 3D film to win best picture.

    This year nine films have been nominated for best picture the most surprising being ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close‘. Another surprise was ‘The Tree Of Life‘ which among other things got nominated for picture and director Terrance Mallick despite having been previously ignored during the Oscar season.

    ‘War Horse‘ from Dreamworks and Reliance Entertainment got six nominations including best picture.Spielberg has been left off the director‘s list. However Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg now have the record for most best picture nominations for a producer with seven, passing Stanley Kramer.

    ‘The Descendants‘, which was earlier considered one of the front runners, only got five nominations making it virtually impossible for it to win Best Picture. However George Clooney is the favourite to win best actor for his role as a father trying to cope with grief over the fact that his wife is in a coma.
     
    Clooney‘s competition includes Gary Oldman who finally scored his first Oscar nomination for ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy‘, Surprisingly Leonardo DiCaprio has been left in the cold for his turn as former FBI director J Edgar Hoover in Clint Eastwood‘s ‘J. Edgar‘.
     
    In best actress, it is a two-way fight between Meryl Streep playing Margaret Thatcher in ‘The Iron Lady‘ and Viola Davis for ‘The Help‘. ‘The Help‘ is another best picture nominee and means that Dreamworks is the only studio to have two films competing for best film.

    Like ‘War Horse‘, ‘Moneyball‘ has also got six nominations including for best picture and for its stars Brad Pitt and Jonah hill. It is a serious threat for adapted screenplay.

    Woody Allen‘s ‘Midnight In Paris‘ scored four nominations including two for Allen for directing and writing. It has been over two decades since Allen last won an Oscar. He could win for original screenplay unless ‘The Artist‘ does a sweep.

    John Williams got two nominations for his scores for the two Spielberg films ‘War Horse‘ and ‘The Adventures of Tintin‘. He has now been nominated 47 times. Allen has now been nominated 23 times. Interestingly while ‘Hugo‘, ‘Midnight in Paris‘, ‘The Tree of Life‘ and ‘War Horse‘ got best picture nominations they did not get any acting nominations. Apart from Dicaprio other surprising omissions include ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo‘, ‘Drive‘, which are not on the best picture list.

  • Fox Searchlight to distribute The Surrogate

    Fox Searchlight to distribute The Surrogate

    MUMBAI: In a deal, Fox Searchlight has lapped up the rights to distribute Ben Lewin’s The Surrogate in all territories worldwide. A source close to the deal pegs the price at around $6 million.

    In the fact-based film produced by Judi Levine and Stephen Nemeth, John Hawkes plays a 38-year-old poet and journalist in an iron lung who decides to lose his virginity with the help of Helen Hunt’s sex surrogate. William H. Macy plays the priest who provides guidance to the conflicted man.

    It may be remembered that at last year‘s festival, Searchlight bought Martha Marcy May Marlene along with two other films. The Surrogate is the company‘s first purchase at this year‘s festival.

    So far during the fest, Sony Pictures Classics has grabbed North American rights of Malik Bendjelloul‘s competition documentary Searching For Sugar Man while Magnolia Pictures has picked up Lauren Greenfield’s competition doc The Queen of Versailles.

  • Razzies awards on April 1

    Razzies awards on April 1

    MUMBAI: Organisers of the Razzies Awards, termed as a spoof on the Academy Awards picks the year‘s worst films, have altered the schedule of their nominations and awards ceremony.

    Earlier, the Razzies used to announce contenders the night before the Oscar nominations, but this year the nominations will be released on February 25 a day before the Oscar ceremony.Winners of the Razzies will be announced on April 1.
     
    A news release announcing the change also says that it will give the 600 Razzies voters "additional time to see the dreck they will eventually nominate."

  • The Artist bags top PGA award

    MUMBAI: Following up on its Golden Globe win, The Artist took top honors at the Producers Guild Awards on Saturday. The film now continues its march to grab the Academy awards too.
     
    The Artist beat out George Clooney‘s family drama and another Oscar favourite The Descendants. The film won best musical or comedy at Sunday‘s Golden Globes while The Descendants won best drama along with a best actor nod for Clooney.
     
    Other nominees in the movie category were War Horse, The Help, Bridesmaids, Hugo, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball and Clooney’s The Ides of March.
     
    Along with honors from other Hollywood professional groups such as actors, directors and writers guilds, the producer prizes have become part of the preseason sorting out contenders for the Oscars, whose nominations come out January 24.

  • Underworld Awakening tops box-office

    Underworld Awakening tops box-office

    MUMBAI: Kate Beckinsale’s latest Underworld movie Underworld Awakening opened at No. 1 this weekend after making an estimated $25.4 million, it is understood.

    While this is the fourth film in the vampire action saga, Beckinsale starred in the first two films as the warrior Selene. After taking a reprieve for part three, she returns for this latest installment.

    Underworld Awakening was shown for the first time in 3D as well as on IMAX screens, where it made $3.8 million or in short 15 per cent of the film‘s weekend gross.
     
    Distributor Sony Screen Gems had hoped the film would end up in the low-$20 million range. But according to the studio‘s president of worldwide distribution Rory Bruer the film did even better despite a snow storm that hit much of the Midwest and East Coast.

    Opening in second place was Red Tails from executive producer George Lucas, about the Tuskegee Airmen who were the first black fighter pilots to serve in World War II. The film made an estimated $19.1 million, according to 20th Century Fox, which was well above expectations.

    Last week‘s No. 1 film, the Universal smuggling thriller ‘Contraband‘ starring Mark Wahlberg, dropped to the No. 3 spot with $12.2 million. It‘s now made $46.1 million in two weeks.

    The 9/11 drama from Warner Bros., starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, came in fourth place with $10.5 million.

    Meanwhile, Steven Soderbergh‘s international action film Haywire from Relativity Media, starring mixed martial arts superstar Gina Carano in her first film role, opened in fifth place with $9 million.

  • Megan Fox, Lindsay Lohan vie to play Liz

    Megan Fox, Lindsay Lohan vie to play Liz

    MUMBAI: Hollywood sirens Megan Fox and Lindsay Lohan are in the race to play Elizabeth Taylor in a new TV movie.

    The Jonah Hex star is in negotiation for the part in made-for-TV production Liz and Dick for the Life time channel, the film‘s executive producer Larry Thompson has confirmed, it is understood.

    “I‘ve been talking to Lindsay Lohan directly, and with her reps, and have been in conversation with other actresses, including Megan Fox. It‘s a very serious selection. It‘s like casting for Hollywood royalty,” Thompson has been reported to have said.
     
    It is said that Lohan is particularly keen to win the role following a a not-so-good year.

  • Netflix shakes up marketing team

    Netflix shakes up marketing team

    MUMBAI: After months of suspense, Netflix has shakenup its marketing team.

    Leslie Kilgore, the company‘s chief marketing officer for the past 12 years, will be replaced on an interim basis by current vp marketing Jessie Becker.

    Kilgore will step down but join the board as a non-executive director, it is reported.

    On the other hand, Jonathan Friedland, a former Disney executive who joined Netflix a year ago, will become chief communications officer at Netflix.

    Both Becker and Friedland will report to Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings.

    Netflix suffered several embarrassing marketing and communications blows in the latter part of 2011 revolving around a price increase and a hasty retreat from its plans to carve off its DVD service from its streaming product.