MUMBAI: The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences has announced that ten live-action short films have been shortlist among seventy one films that qualified in the category.
Nominees will be announced on 2 February in the run-up to the 82nd Academy Awards on 7 March.
The ten films in alphabetical order are: The Door; The Ground Beneath; Hotel; Instead Of Abracadabra; Kavi; Miracle Fish; The New Tenants; The Response; Short Term 12; and Sidney Turtlebau.
MUMBAI: Steven Spielberg has opted out of directing a remake of the James Stewart film Harvey.
It is said that Spielberg was in a drastic search to find a lead actor after Tom Hanks reportedly turned down the role while Robert Downey Jr refused to commit to doing the film.
The original film was based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play of the same name by Mary Chase.
Harvey, which tells the story about a man who claims his best friend is a giant invisible rabbit, was a huge success.
Stewart received a best actor nomination at the 1951 Oscars for his performance, while his co-star, Josephine Hull, won best supporting actress.
Spielberg has recently completed production on The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn.
MUMBAI: Film Independent (FI) has elected Bill Condon, Rodrigo Garcia, Alan Poul and Stephanie Allain to its board of directors.
Condon will serve as president, Garcia as vice-president, Poul as secretary, and Allain as treasurer. Condon et al are joined by new board members Joe Drake, DeVon Franklin, Sue Kroll, David Linde and Ted Mundorff.
Film Independent‘s current board of directors comprises the aforementioned as well as: Randy Barbato, Adriene Bowles, Effie T Brown, Laura Dern, Sid Ganis, Marcus Hu, Laura Kim, Allan Mayer, Gail Mutrux, Peter Schlessel, Jonathan Sehring, Mary Sweeney and Forest Whitaker.
Previous incumbents Vondie Curtis Hall (president), Troika Pictures Co-CEO Michael Helfant (vice-president), One Way Out Media‘s Tom Ortenberg (treasurer) and Kasi Lemmons (secretary) will all remain on the board.
MUMBAI: Arts Alliance Media will release a documentary about British band Blur titled No Distance Left To Run in cinemas on 19 January.
The feature follows the band as they reunited for their 2009 rehearsals and summer tour. It features previously unseen footage, including interviews and reportages, but will also chart the band‘s rise during the 1990s through to their headline slot at this year‘s Glastonbury Festival (pictured).
No Distance Left To Run is directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace and is produced by Lucas Ochoa and Thomas Benski. It will be released in digital cinemas the UK.
Said Pulse Films head of music Jamie Clark, “With our first feature film we can now add a further string to our bow; we see this as the first of many such projects to come out of Pulse. Blur is one of the most iconic bands of the last two decades, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to work with them.”
NEW DELHI: The Golden Peacock for the best film went to the Taiwanese film I can’t Live without you by Leon Dai, while Ounie Leconte won the best director award (Silver Peacock) for the film A Brand New Life, a South Korea-France co-production at the 40th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) that concluded at Kala Academy here last night.
The Special Jury award went to the Georgia-Kazakhstan film The Other Bank by George Ovashvili.
Apart from the Governor of Goa, Dr S S Sidhu, Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Dr S Jagathrakshakan, and Goa Assembly Speaker Pratapsingh Rane were among those who were present.
The glitter and shine of the show was lent by the Chief Guest of the evening, renowned star Mammootty, along with Bollywood stars Jackie Shroff and Rati Agnihotri, apart from International Jury member Sarika.
Others present at the programme, presented by actor Rohit Roy and former Miss India Sayali Bhagat, included V B Pyarelal, Joint Secretary (Films) in the I & B Ministry and Entertainment Society of Goa Chief Executive Officer Manoj Srivastava. The award-winners were also present.
While the Golden Peacock for the best film was presented by Dr Sidhu, the Silver Peacock for best director was given away by Mammootty and the Silver Peacock for best director by Dr Jagathrakshakan. As each award was announced, members of the jury read out the Citations.
The Golden Peacock also comprised a cash award of Rs two million each for the producer and director, and the Silver Peacock awardees received Rs 1.5 million each.
Dr Sidhu suggested the state government should think in terms of building a film city. He said the increasing participation in the film festival was evidence of the attempt to make this festival of the standard of those in Cannes, Toronto or Berlin.
Cinema, he said, is the ultimate product of artistic creation and self-expression. It was a vibrant medium which had led to job creation for millions. But he stressed the need to encourage filmmakers by creating a conducive environment to enhance the national image. He said there was a scope for an image makeover in the mainstream cinema to show the kind of resurgence that had been seen in regional cinema.
Dr Jagathrakshakan said the film industry is responsible for shaping the thoughts of the common man, and therefore there is greater responsibility on this medium. Indian cinema had begun to reach new heights, and the Oscar to maestro A R Rahman for the film ‘The Slumdog Millionaire’ was an ample example of this.
Cinema was also an important economic driver and the industry was expected to grow from the present Rs 85,000 million to 175,000 million by 2011, thus registering a compounded annual growth rate of 11 per cent. He said the central government will create the right policy environment for the growth of the film industry.
He said that a meeting of the organizing committee of the IFFI would be held soon to review the 40th IFFI and wanted suggestions on how this festival can be improved further.
Thespian Mammooty, who has acted in more than 300 films in the last 28 years in different languages, said India did not need to compete with Hollywood. Indian cinema was successful because it talked in the language of human emotions, and he felt honours received within the country were higher than Oscars or international awards, though he clarified that he was not belittling those awards.
The competition section had films from Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, China/UK, Georgia/Kazakhstan, Iran, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, South Korea/France, Sri Lanka and Taiwan and two from India.
The jury was headed by the noted Director from Brazil Joao Batista de Andrade. Other members of the jury were Kenichi Okubu (Japan), Jean-Michel Frodon (France), Sarika (India) and Vic Sarin (Canada).
Films from Croatia, Estonia, Italy, Poland and France were screened under Country Focus section while Latin America was the Continent in Focus. The films of Gurinder Chadha, Manoel de Oliviera and Nonjee Nimibutr were screened in Retrospectives Section.
The 11-day extravaganza, which began on 23 November with the screening of He Ping’s Wheat, witnessed screening of 300 films from 47 countries. In the international section, a total of 145 films were shown in 18 categories. These included 54 in Cinema of the World, 15 in the Competition, five in the Focus on Latin America, and 23 in the Country Focus categories.
NEW DELHI: Kelkkunnundo (Are You Listening) by Geethu Mohandas bagged the Golden Lamp Tree in the International Competition for Short films and documentaries at the Short Film Center held as part of the 40th International Film Festival of India.
The Vasudha Award for best environmental films was shared by Sanjeev Sivan and Umesh Aggarwala’s Underground Infernoand Meltdown in Tibet by Michael Buckley. The Silver Lamp Tree for International competition went to Wagah directed by Supriyo Sen.
The Golden Lamp Tree carries a cash prize of Rs 500,000, a trophy and a citation while the Silver Lamp Tree carries a cash prize of Rs 300,000.
Vasudha comprises a cash component of Rs 3,00,000 shared by the two films.
The awards were given away by the Chief Secretary of Goa, Sanjay Srivastava, Secretary for Information and Publicity Narendra Kumar and Festival Director S M Khan. Entertainment Society of Goa Chief Executive Officer Manoj Srivastava was also present.
Ramesh Tekwani, Vice President of Indian Documentary Producers Association, said there were 20 films in the international section and six in the environment section, shortlisted out of 300 entries. Last year, 50 films were taken by buyers from across the world.
The Jury Members for the International Competition section were Shaji Karun (Chairman), Juhani Allanen, Michael Orth, Marina Anna Eich and Philiph Cheah.
The Jury Members for the Environmental Competition Section were Mike Pandey (Chairman), Lucia Rikaki and Naira Margaryan.
MUMBAI: Brian Grazer and Ron Howard‘s Imagine Entertainment is among the leading Hollywood production companies to have signed development/production financing deals, entitled Creative Partnerships, with Reliance Big Entertainment.
The first project under the deal will be Mofos, a film about two 20-something best friends who are unemployed, strapped for cash, down on their luck and decide to start up a business as Los Angeles‘ most unlikely male escorts. The film will be produced by Brian Grazer and written by Josh Berghaus and Jay Shore.
Said Brian Grazer, “Ron and I are pleased to have signed this deal with our friends at Reliance. With their huge expertise in one of the most exciting film industries in the world, they bring a wholly different global perspective to our Hollywood based industry and we welcome the extra independence that their financing will give us.”
Confirming the partnership, Reliance Big Entertainment‘s chairman Amit Khanna commented, “Brian Grazer and Ron Howard have forged Imagine as a major powerhouse in Hollywood and I‘m delighted to have been able to close this deal. Our ‘creative partnerships‘ have proven very attractive to filmmakers seeking innovative ways in which to develop and finance individual films. We are now looking forward to moving into the filmmaking stage on several projects.‘
“These creative partnerships will lead to Reliance co-financing with the US Studios where existing first-look deals are in place. From the conversations to date, we know that the respective studios welcome our development silos and our subsequent co-financing ability. We broke completely new ground by empowering some of the best talent in Hollywood and continue to do so,‘” Khanna added.
The deal was brokered by CAA on behalf of Reliance Big Entertainment and Josh Berghaus and Jay Shore.
MUMBAI: Filmmaker Mrinal Sen will receive the lifetime achievement award at the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) that is to open on 11 December.
“Sen was selected for the award by a jury chaired by Malayalam actor Madhu. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 300000,” State Culture Minister MA Baby declared.
The 14th edition of the IFFK would be held over eight days and 164 films from various countries would be exhibited in 11 categories.
“There would be 14 films in competition, including two Malayalam films. The best film award will have a prize of Rs 1 million,” Baby added.
The IFFK is being organised by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy.
MUMBAI: Empowered by the super success of 2012, Sony Pictures Releasing International (SPRI) will have crossed the $2 billion mark at the box-office this coming weekend.
“The record haul will power Sony Pictures Entertainment to its best-ever box- office year worldwide,” said Sony Pictures Worldwide Marketing & Distribution chairman Jeff Blake.
2009 marks just the fifth time in motion picture history that any studio will have passed the $2 billion milestone internationally, following Paramount in 2008, Warner Bros. in 2007 and 2004, and 20th Century Fox in 2006.
SPE has already notched $3.357 billion at the box-office, surpassing the studio‘s previous worldwide box-office record of $3.334 billion in 2006.
Blake further said, “Even in the midst of an economy that continues to challenge our industry, this has been a tremendous year in just about every way we can imagine. First and foremost, we have had an extremely strong slate of films built by Amy Pascal, Michael Lynton and the Columbia, Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Animation production teams led by Doug Belgrad, Matt Tolmach, Clint Culpepper and Hannah Minghella.
In recent weeks, SPRI has pushed toward the $2 billion landmark with the blockbuster release 2012, that is supposed to pass $500 million internationally this weekend ($620 million worldwide box-office to date).
SPRI‘s many hits in 2009 include Angels & Demons that reached $352.6 million in foreign markets; Terminator Salvation, that made $220.6 million in SPRI‘s territories; District 9, that generated $69.4 million in SPRI‘s territories; The Ugly Truth that has taken in more than $114.2 from foreign audiences; The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 that grossed $86.4 million internationally and Seven Pounds, released in 2008 that earned $99.3 million from international markets in 2009. Finally, Michael Jackson‘s This Is It, that ended its highly successful run in most territories on Tuesday by rompiing in $180.0 million internationally, making it the most successful concert film of all time.
Domestically, this year, Sony Pictures has released eight top grossers and is enjoying one of the highest grossing years at the box-office in the studio‘s history with more than $1.370 billion to date.
MUMBAI: First Run Features has acquired the entire US rights of Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith‘s documentary The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg And The Pentagon Paper.
Yesterday the National Board Of Review named the film as one of the five top documentaries of the year and also announced it as one of the Freedom Of Expression Award winners.
Last week the film won the Special Jury Award at IDFA and it is on the shortlist of Academy Award documentaries in the running for a nomination.
First Run will release the film sometime in February next.