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Tag: Motion Picture Arts

  • E-voting for Oscars simplified

    E-voting for Oscars simplified

    MUMBAI: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is making significant changes to simplify its electronic voting system, which got almost as much flack last awards season as the Obamacare website is currently receiving. The changes involve reducing the number of passwords required, making the VIN number assigned to each member invisible to users and making it easier to change passwords.

     

    The changes, developed over the past eight months since e-voting was used by the Academy for the first time to determine winners of the 85th Oscars, come in response to gripes from members who found the online voting website, offered as an alternative to a traditional paper ballot, difficult to navigate.

     

    The Academy also is encouraging its members to log on to their member accounts on Monday to pay their annual dues and to register how they wish to vote this year, either electronically or by paper ballot. The email outlined the improvements that have been made to the online voting process.

     

    The biggest change to e-voting this year is that members will now be able to use a single user name and password for both sites. Also, the Academy is making it easier to change passwords.

     

    In spite of last year’s e-voting challenges, the Academy eventually reported, at an unprecedented all-members meeting on 4 May that there had been record voting-participation of 90 per cent in large part because of e-voting.

  • Ray’s restored and preserved prints of Apu trilogy to be exhibited in California

    Ray’s restored and preserved prints of Apu trilogy to be exhibited in California

    New prints of the three films of cine craftsman Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy preserved by the Archives of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are to be screened by the Academy which gave him a lifetime achievement award.

    Actress Sharmila Tagore (Apur Sansar) and Dilip Basu, Founding Director of the Satyajit Ray Film and Study Center collection at the University of California, will be present as special guests for the screenings.

    Pather Panchali and Aparajito will be screened on 6 September while Apur Sansar will be screened on 9 September at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

    Satyajit Ray received an Honorary Award from the Academy in 1992 in recognition of his rare mastery of the art of motion pictures, and of his profound humanitarian outlook, which has had an indelible influence on filmmakers and audiences throughout the world.

    The Academy Film Archive’s Satyajit Ray Preservation Project is an ongoing effort to preserve and restore Ray’s entire filmography. It began in 1992, after the producers of the Oscar telecast, who were gathering clips for the presentation of Ray’s Honorary Award, discovered that there were very few prints or video masters of Ray’s films in the US and that they were incomplete and in poor condition.

    Earlier, Ray has been honoured this year by screening of his films at the Toronto Film Festival and the British Film Institute which is currently also hosting an exhibition of posters by him.

  • Oscar nominations voting opens today to 5,856 Academy Voters

    Oscar nominations voting opens today to 5,856 Academy Voters

    MUMBAI: Nominations voting for the 85th Academy Awards open Monday for the 5,856 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Members will have until 3 January, 2013 to vote electronically or mail in a paper ballot.
    Any paper ballots received after the deadline will not be counted.
    Nominations and final Awards ballots will be tabulated and verified by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to ensure that all aspects of the balloting process are accurate and secure.
    This will be the first year the Academy is providing its membership the opportunity to vote electronically. Several voting resources will be available to members, including assisted voting stations in Los Angeles, New York and London, and a 24-hour support call center during voting periods.
    The 85th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on 10 January, 2013 in the Academy‘s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
    Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on 25 February, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood & Highland Center® and televised live on Star Movies. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

  • Academy to screen Spielberg’s ET as part of 30th anniversary of the film

    Academy to screen Spielberg’s ET as part of 30th anniversary of the film

    MUMBAI: As a part of celebrating the 30th anniversary of Steven Spielberg‘s science-fiction masterpiece ET: The Extra-Terrestrial, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has arranged a special screening.
    The Science and Technology Council of the Academy has teamed up with the Palo Alto International Film Festival (PAIFF) to present a screening of the 1992 release on 28 September at the Outdoor Festival Village Stage in Palo Alto, it is understood.
    Termed as Spielberg‘s “most personal film” and considered by many as a benchmark in the science fiction genre, ET continues to delight audiences with its emotional story of the intense relationship between the young Elliott (Henry Thomas) and the lovable alien who is trying to return to his home planet.
    The film, also starring Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote in prominent roles, was nominated for nine Academy Awards but won four.

  • Hawk Koch is president of the Academy

    Hawk Koch is president of the Academy

    MUMBAI: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences‘ board of governors have elected film producer Hawk Koch as its new president yesterday. He succeeds Tom Sherak, who has held the honorary position since 2009.
    After assuming the Academy post, Koch follows in the footsteps of his father, the late producer Howard W. Koch, who served as Academy president from 1977 to 1979.
    Koch has been a member of the Academy‘s producer‘s branch since 2004. He has served a three-year term as treasurer, served another one-year term as vice president, and was first vice president of the Academy during the past year.
    The veteran film producer‘s credits range from 1978‘s Heaven Can Wait to 1992‘s Wayne‘s World and its 1993 sequel to 2002‘s Collateral Damage. He recently served as executive producer of Source Code and is exec producer on the upcoming Very Good Girls. Hawk also currently serves, along with Mark Gordon, as one of the two presidents of the Producers Guild of America.
    The board also elected public relations branch governor Cheryl Boone Isaacs as the board‘s first vice president. While producer Kathleen Kennedy was elected as one vp post, writers branch governor Phil Robinson was elected as the second. Public relations branch governer Rob Friedman, co-chairman and CEO of Summit Entertainment, was elected treasurer. Finally, executives branch governor Robert Rehme, who was a past Academy president, was elected secretary.
    The Academy president is elected from among the board of governors. While the Academy president can serve as many as four consecutive one-year terms, Koch‘s tenure will be limited to one year, since members of the board of governors may serve a maximum of three consecutive three-year terms, and he is currently beginning his last year as a member of the board.
    The board also elected public relations branch governor Cheryl Boone Isaacs as the board‘s first vice president. While producer Kathleen Kennedy was elected as one vp post, writers branch governor Phil Robinson was elected as the second. Public relations branch governer Rob Friedman, co-chairman and CEO of Summit Entertainment, was elected treasurer. Finally, executives branch governor Robert Rehme, who was a past Academy president, was elected secretary.

  • Netflix launches marketing campaign for Academy Awards

    Netflix launches marketing campaign for Academy Awards

    MUMBAI: Online movie rental service Netflix has launched a promotional campaign, in cooperation with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Amapas).

    The aim is to promote tune-in to the 79th Academy Awards telecast while entertaining movie fans at Netflix’s site. In India the Oscars will air on Star Movies on 26 February.

    Rooted in this year’s Academy Award’s promotional theme, which highlights some of cinema’s most unforgettable movie lines, the multi-platform effort will utilise online, broadcast, viral and print vehicles to give consumers a chance to learn more about the great movies behind the memorable Oscar quotes.

    The promotion will feature a series of efforts, including specially created editorial content at netflix.com and oscar.com. The program will also gain momentum through a national movie quotes survey, communication on Netflix’s iconic red mailers, a national radio promotion and a viral video programme.

    The Oscar-themed messaging on Netflix’s home and awards pages includes tune-in information featuring this year’s Academy Awards key artwork. The site will showcase Netflix’s library of Academy Award-winning films, and is designed to be a fun and interactive way for consumers to learn more about the movies they love. Oscar.com will in turn feature Netflix in relation to the quotes campaign. Visitors to the Oscar site will be given the opportunity to link to netflix.com to learn more about their movies of interest.

    Netflix will also conduct a survey of its members to find out the most memorable and quotable movie lines from 2006. The Netflix viral video programme will capture recognizable personalities, and everyday people, performing their version of memorable movie lines from Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, The Godfather, A Few Good Men and Jerry Maguire.

    The footage will be posted on a video wall which can be accessed at www.netflix.com/oscars beginning on 12 February 2007. Consumers can also post their own video, showcasing quotes from the above mentioned movies, on the site. The first 500 participants will be rewarded with a one-month membership to Netflix. Netflix will also link from this dedicated page to oscar.com where pertinent information about this year’s telecast will be featured.

    Netflix chief marketing officer Leslie Kilgore says, “The Academy Awards are the Super Bowl of the movie business, and we’re extremely pleased to collaborate with the Academy to promote the Oscars and to highlight many of the best loved and best remembered moments in film history.

    “The multi-dimensional nature of the campaign will allow us to reach a wide audience and really engage people in an entertaining way.”