Friday, May 27, 2016

Cannes Film Festival Awards 2016

As we mounted the stairs of the Red Carpet for the last time, the Closing Night Awards for the Cannes International Film Festival were announced by the Jury President, George Miller, Director of “Mad Max: Fury Road”.  The eight additional members, four women and four men -- Arnaud Desplechin, Kirsten Dunst, Valeria Golino, Mads Mikkelsen, László Nemes , Vanessa Paradis, Katayoon Shahabi and Donald Sutherland presented the awards. Surprise of the evening was that the German Competition film, Maren Ade’s “Toni Erdmann”, clearly an audience favorite and snatched up immediately for the U.S. by Sony Pictures Classics, received no award at all.  However, it was...

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Cannes Today: New Talent Emerges

Halfway through the Cannes Film Festival, buzz is hearing about “Jackie”, now in post-production, an account of the days of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in the immediate aftermath of John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963, directed by Pablo Larraín whose Directors’ Fortnight contender “Neruda” is receiving raves here.  Another hot Directors’ Fortnight film “Mean Dreams” with Bill Paxton is praised by one important film buyer as “Mud” meets “Cold in July” in a tense coming-of-age drama about a 15-year-old boy.  And Sony Pictures Classics has snatched U.S. rights to the German Competition comedy, “Toni Erdmann”. This year in the Cannes Film Festival’s Official...

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Thursday, May 26, 2016

Submissions Deadline Approaches for San Sebastian Films in Progress 30

Films in Progress, the twice-yearly event organized by the San Sebastian and Toulouse Festivals, is now receiving submissions for its 30th edition. The initiative has the objective of promoting the completion of Latin-American feature films faced with difficulties at the post-production stage and of promoting their international distribution. The films must have a running time of more than 60 minutes and must be totally or partially produced by production companies in Latin American countries. Films in Progress has contributed to the completion and dissemination of remarkable Latin American productions. Films presented at the last three editions of Films in Progress, such as "Matar a...

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Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Hollywood Take Note: Here Are 16 Women Who Dominated the Cannes Film Festival

Forget the Cannes jury awards. This year, the most famous film festival in the world showcased something much bigger than a couple of prize-winners: Women filmmakers and actors at the top of their game. It was hard to miss how much the women before and behind the camera were front and center, dominating the conversation in Cannes. More of the Official Selection films were focused on women than ever before. And a new kind of protagonist emerged at Cannes 2016. She's independent, strong, often androgynous, and not defined by her relationships with men.  Hollywood producers, executives and filmmakers, take note. This is how it can be done.  Check out the fabulous women...

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Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Vilnius Film Festival: Polish and Lithuanian Coproductions

Although they are neighboring countries, Poland and Lithuania have not had much cooperation in the field of cinema until recent years. The first initiative to boost cinematic relations between the two countries comes in the form of a journey for producers from both countries on a sailing boat last year. In fact, the Lithuanian Film Centre together with the Polish Film Institute and Film Commission Poland, established quite a unique project – an expeditionary workshop for Lithuanian and Polish producers on a route across the Baltic sea.  Six producers hailing from Lithuania and six from Poland spent the days between 12 and 14 September 2015 on the deck of the Brabander and...

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Vilnius: Visions du Réel Express Bridges Switzerland and Lithuania Via Audrius Stonys

As I was leaving Vilnius and its film festival, I ventured into FilmBox LT, the Vilnius Airport movie theatre, and I was transported directly to the Visions du Réel Film Festival in Nyon, Switzerland. There, an impressive and comprehensive retrospective of Audrius Stonys’ work was held, from his first film, "Open the Door to Him Who Comes" (1989), to the most recent, "Gates of the Lamb" (2014). Indeed, with this event, Lithuania was one of the festival’s focus countries with a total of twenty films – eighteen that pertained to the aforementioned retrospective and two that screened in the official program. The initiative came from the director of...

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Indiewire's 2016 Cannes Critics Poll Results: A Strong Year for Women

The prize-winners at the Cannes Film Festival awards ceremony drew some ire from both critics and observers from afar on Sunday evening, when the jury awarded the Palme d'Or to director Ken Loach's "I, Daniel Blake." Although the film has drawn positive notice from some of the writers covering this year's festival, there were a variety of other titles with fresh voices behind the camera — and some strong women in front of them — that many felt were worth recognizing.  So, as part of our traditional post-fest Critics Poll, we gave over two dozen of those dissatisfied writers a chance to champion their favorites. The results produced a collection of films and...

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The Marché du Film and Cinando Award Best Seller Pitches at Cannes

This Cannes, the Marché du Film and Cinando handed out their first-ever prize: the Cinando Best Seller Award. Thirteen sales agents from all horizons were invited to participate in a pitching contest that took place on May 17th at the Marché du Film. Selected pitchers were given details of a real project, “Codename Madeleine”, inspired by historical events, from an original idea by Pan Nalin, its director. They then had 48 hours to prepare a 5-minute pitch that would convince the Cinando Awards jury composed of three distributors: Norio Hatano from Longride (Japan), Ira von Gienanth from Prokino (Germany), Dylan Leiner from Sony Pictures Classics (USA) and...

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10th Los Angeles Greek Film Festival Announces Annual International Project Discovery Forum Details

Now in its fourth edition, the International Project Discovery Forum (IPDF), Los Angeles Greek Film Festival’s Industry Section and development workshop will present six impressive new projects by filmmakers from the Balkans and the Middle­ East region. IPDF Director A​raceli Lemos,​ in talking about this year’s selections remarks,"For this edition,we chose projects which are bold, diverse and thought­provoking. We are excited to meet all the filmmakers in person and work with them." The 20​16 IPDF projects a​re from both new and established filmmakers. They are A​lexis Alexiou'​s (“Wednesday 4:45”) third feature project...

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Monday, May 23, 2016

Memo to Distributors: Buy These 2016 Cannes Film Festival Movies

Plenty of movies that started at this year's Cannes Film Festival without U.S. distribution eventually found it: Sony Pictures Classics landed one of the favorites of the competition with "Toni Erdmann," expected to be a foreign language player in the Oscar race, and the company also nabbed the Studio Ghibli-produced "The Red Turtle." Strand Releasing picked up Alain Giraudie's eccentric character study "Staying Vertical," while IFC Films got the Palme d'Or-winning "I, Daniel Blake."  READ MORE: The 2016 Indiewire Cannes Bible But there were many other highlights from the program that remain without a distributor. Cannes isn't always the...

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Sunday, May 22, 2016

Cannes Awards Wrap: How George Miller's Jury Picked the Winners —and Losers

As juror László Nemes ("Son of Saul") said at the start of the Cannes Film Festival, juries are by their nature random. One thing you can count on is that the actors on the jury will shift the conversation. From the start, this year's actors said they were looking for emotion. And that's what the two top winners boast in abundance."It was a collective decision," said Miller of his "nine-headed beast," describing the awards process as like creating a painting. "We looked at every variable, it's not like ticking off a vote for the Oscars...we were looking at the awards like a totality. It took so much time, so much rigor, it was...

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Saturday, May 21, 2016

Cannes: 'Elle' Director Paul Verhoeven and Isabelle Huppert Defend Controversial Rape Thriller

Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven, whose "Basic Instinct" opened the festival in competition 25 years ago, returns to the realm of dark sexual fantasy in the Americanized French thriller "Elle" (Sony Pictures Classics), the last competition film to screen at Cannes. Now Isabelle Huppert has two gigantic performances heading toward the fall awards circuit: Mia Hansen-Love's Berlin hit "Things to Come" (Sundance Selects) and "Elle." Advance buzz promised controversy with the suggestion that the film's videogame entrepreneur (exquisitely played by Huppert), is not only viciously violated in the film's opening scene, but actually falls for...

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Friday, May 20, 2016

Quentin Tarantino Documentary '21 Years' Will Go Behind the Scenes, Gets the Weinstein Treatment

The Weinstein Company didn't exactly make a splash at Cannes this year, but it has compensated somewhat with an intriguing announcement during the festival: It has acquired worldwide rights (excluding French-speaking territories) to documentary "21 Years: Quentin Tarantino," from producer-director by Tara Wood. With Tarantino, Harvey and Bob Weinstein have enjoyed the closest thing the film industry has to a patron-artist relationship. They started working with Tarantino nearly 25 years ago on his first film "Reservoir Dogs" and have backed all his projects ever since.  Wood is turning to Tarantino in her doc series after "21 Years: Richard Linklater"...

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Cannes: Paul Schrader's 'Dog Eat Dog' Deserves a Buyer

If Paul Schrader came to Cannes seeking redemption with his latest film, Quinzaine closing entry "Dog Eat Dog," he got it.  The packed house applauded the lurid crime caper on Friday morning, where the writer-director faced questions about the dubious morality of ex-con anti-heroes (played by Schrader regulars Nicolas Cage and Willem Dafoe), who wreak havoc wherever they go.  Schrader’s been dealing with such issues since he wrote the script for Martin Scorsese’s "Taxi Driver," which won the Palme d’Or in Cannes 40 years ago. "From the first sequence on, I try to send the message that if you are taking this seriously, you’re in the wrong movie,"...

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Thursday, May 19, 2016

Nicolas Cage and Paul Schrader's 'Dog Eat Dog' Is 'Our Redemption' After Being Screwed By Producers

READ MORE: Paul Schrader’s 'Dog Eat Dog' Clips & Photos: Nicolas Cage Stars in Dour Crime Thriller Paul Schrader is on the final stretch of finishing his movie, "Dog Eat Dog," for the Cannes Film Festival. On the phone from New York the week before the festival, he was ready to sign off on the final mix on May 16th, get a print on the 18th, leave for Cannes with his Blu-Ray in hand, and face the critics when the film screened on the 20th in Directors Fortnight. "Every project has this drama," he chuckled. "But this is good drama!" Whatever the critics will say, the writer-director was upbeat. "You know there won't be many people left [at...

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Cannes: Sony Pictures Classics Jumps On Oscar Candidates at the Festival

While many festival buyers have been complaining that there isn't much left to acquire in the Cannes Film Festival, Sony Pictures Classics has not only scooped up what is believed to be the leading contender for the Palme d'Or — delightful zeitgeist drama/comedy "Toni Erdmann," from German director Maren Ade — but Studio Ghibli's animated feature "The Red Turtle," which debuted yesterday in Un Certain Regard. Both films will likely wind up in the Oscar race, assuming Germany submits "Erdmann" for the foreign Oscar; "The Red Turtle" has scored raves and is a likely animated contender.  Read Indiewire's 'The Red...

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Asghar Farhadi’s ‘The Salesman’ Among 7 Films Supported by Doha Film Festival Screening at Cannes

"The Salesman" written and directed by celebrated filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, and co-financed by the Doha Film Institute, had its world premiere in the official competition of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Six other films supported by the Doha Film Institute Grants program have been screening in key sections at the prestigious global film event.  "The Salesman" is produced by Memento Films Production and Asghar Farhadi Production, in coproduction with Arte France Cinéma and in association with Doha Film Institute, Memento Films Distribution and Arte France. Amazon and Cohen Media Group have recently picked up North American rights.  ...

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US in Progress and the Third Edition of Paris Coproduction Village

Industry Days 2016  includes the fifth edition of US in Progress and the third edition of Paris Coproduction Village. Industry Days aims at becoming a reference in professional meetings for French and European producers, with a strong positioning towards the enhancement of emerging cinematography.  Paris Co-Production Village Unveils Its Project Selections  Organized by Les Arcs European Film Festival within the frame of the Champs-Elysées Film Festival Industry Days, Paris Co-production Village is a development and financing platform for feature projects selected worldwide.  For its third edition, which will take place June 8-10, 2016 in...

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Wednesday, May 18, 2016

'The Neon Demon': Nicolas Winding Refn Reveals Why His Vampire Model Movie Is Autobiographical

READ MORE: 'The Neon Demon' New Clips: Elle Fanning Shows Her Walk in Nicolas Winding Refn's Cannes Thriller On the phone from his Copenhagen kitchen the week before Cannes, Nic Winding Refn knows the drill. He's already brought two violent underworld thrillers starring Ryan Gosling to compete in the festival, and served on the jury. Los Angeles-set "Drive" was a global hit, while "Only God Forgives," set in Thailand, was more divisive and controversial. So as soon as Refn finished his latest film, horror story "The Neon Demon" (which had already been acquired by his "Drive" distributor Bob Berney for Amazon Studios release, one of five in the...

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Monday, May 16, 2016

Why 'Loving' is Leading the Oscar Buzz at Cannes

So far the Hollywood movies screening at Cannes —Woody Allen's romantic roundelay "Cafe Society," starring Kristen Stewart, Shane Black's hit-man comedy "Nice Guys" starring Ryan Gosling, and Jodie Foster's Wall Street thriller "Money Monster" starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts—have played out of competition, more as red-carpet plays and marketing junkets than surefire Oscar launches. Other movies registering strongly at the festival will play the stateside art-house circuit to build up their awards cred: Jim Jarmusch's low-key poetic meditation "Paterson" (Amazon Studios), carried by actor Adam Driver, and Maron Ade's "Toni...

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Sunday, May 15, 2016

Steven Spielberg's 'The BFG' at Cannes: Our Report From the Big Premiere

READ MORE; All the News, Reviews and Interviews From Indiewire's 2016 Cannes Coverage  The Cannes gala ritual is always the same. The auteur and the cast walk up the Tapis rouge to the top, where they are greeted by Thierry Fremaux and turn around to face the phalanx of photographers and fans. It's all transmitted on the big screen at the Lumiere, as the audience watches the likes of Blake Lively in resplendent blue on the red Palais steps, her long train splayed behind her, followed by "The Artist" husband and wife team of Michel Hazanavicius and Bérénice Bejo. Steven Spielberg got book-ended standing ovations at the premiere screening of "The...

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Saturday, May 14, 2016

Cannes Buy: The Orchard Acquires 'Neruda,' Starring Gael García Bernal and Luis Gnecco

At a time when there isn't much left to buy, rising distributor The Orchard picked up North American distribution rights from Participant Media to Pablo Larrain’s stylized "anti-biopic" "Neruda," which premiered Friday to strong reviews in Cannes in the Director’s Fortnight section. The Orchard plans an awards-friendly fall release for the film.   Larraín, Luis Gnecco, and García Bernal reunited after working together on "No," which debuted in Cannes en route to an Oscar nomination. Written by Guillermo Calderon, "Neruda" is set in Chile in 1948. The movie launches with a meeting of the...

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Best of the Week: From My Video Interview with Tom Hiddleston to Reports from Cannes

Cannes Film Festival: Screen Talk at Cannes 8 Things Woody Allen and His Cast Revealed About 'Cafe Society' Cannes 2016: French Producers Plot World Domination  "Cafe Society': Vittorio Storaro Emerges the Star at Cannes Press Conference Cannes Jury Reacts to Woody Allen's Attack on Competition Things to Expect at Cannes And: Check out Indiewire's Cannes Bible And: Box Office Preview Emmy Video: 'The Night Manager' Star Tom Hiddleston Talks Career Choices Stay on top of the latest news from Anne Thompson! Sign up for the Thompson on Hollywood email newsletter here.

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Friday, May 13, 2016

Dreamworks Animation's 'Trolls' May Be Jeffrey Katzenerg's Last Cannes

If this really is Jeffrey Katzenberg's last hurrah at the Cannes Film Festival, he will be remembered as the man who turned the cathedral of cinema into a global market launch for feature animation. With the $3.8 billion sale of DreamWorks Animation to Comcast — Katzenberg had been trying to take the company private, not sell it and leave — the animation czar has six more months to see the last two films through their release. And then he will go on, Barry Diller-style, to his next chapter. READ MORE: How Jeffrey Katzenberg Finally Made DreamWorks Animation a Sexy Buy  DreamWorks Animation comes to Cannes this year with 25 minutes of footage from "Trolls" (November...

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The 20 Best Palme d'Or Winners at the Cannes Film Festival

Though the festival's top honor has gone through a few name changes (technically, a couple of the filmmakers mentioned below never had a Palme d'Or trophy for their mantle), the annual prize is its own form of cinematic time capsule. As with other yearly film awards, those winners aren't always bona fide masterpieces. But there are a significant number of them that have helped shape both the overall artistic direction of the festival and the film industries from which they hail.  Below, we've gathered twenty such films, each iconic in their own way and all part of Cannes' rich tradition.  Brief EncounterYear: 1946 It's only fitting that "Carol," one of last year's...

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The Bentonville Film Festival is Brought to You By Women, Diversity, and Corporate Synergy

Geena Davis looked victorious at the “A League of her Own” reunion softball game that closed the second annual Bentonville Film Festival. In the year since she launched the festival with co-founder Trevor Drinkwater, BFF's mandate -- to “champion women and diverse voices in media” -- has only become more relevant as the media questions the roles of women in entertainment and the federal government launches an investigation into discrimination against female directors in Hollywood.  READ MORE: Cannes 2016: Here's 11 Movies By Female Filmmakers That Should Have Been at the Festival (Girl Talk) "It’s fascinating that it’s all snowballed this...

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Thursday, May 12, 2016

'Café Society': 8 Things Woody Allen and Kristen Stewart Revealed About the Film at Cannes

Clouds rolled into Cannes for the Wednesday night opening of the festival and drowned out the good reviews and good will accorded Woody Allen's latest period valentine, "Café Society." Despite the opening night rape joke by Master of Ceremonies Laurent Lafitte, and another attack from Allen's estranged son, the writer-director and his cast had to keep moving. The next day, the team gamely parried media queries at roundtable interviews over lunch on the Carlton Beach. Hovering over the proceedings were the anxious Amazon team, which spent $20 million to acquire the movie, along with various handlers battling jet lag. Clearly, all the players had been briefed about...

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Wednesday, May 11, 2016

The Woody Allen Rape Joke Wasn't the Only Event on the First Day of Cannes — Critic's Notebook

READ MORE: Indiewire's 2016 Cannes Bible — Every Review, Interview and News Item Posted During the Festival Last year, it was high heels that hijacked the Cannes Film Festival, as stories about whether or not women were being prohibited from screenings for not wearing the accessories overshadowed most discussions about the actual films. This time, a bad throwaway line about Woody Allen and rape at the opening ceremony quickly became the talking point of the festival's first day. The awkward bit added insult to injury for Allen and those working on his new film "Cafe Society," which opened the festival, arriving just a few hours after the filmmaker's son published a critical piece...

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The 2016 Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival: New World Disorder

As the main topic of this year’s festival, Docaviv will feature a select group of thought-provoking films about a world that is changing with the collapse of physical and social boundaries, growing economic disparities, the waves of refugees and immigrants, civil wars, international terrorism, and the ultimate undoing of social solidarity. Within the framework of this theme the program does not only include documentaries about terror and refugees, but also about a fragmented society which is losing its solidarity. Both in Israel and elsewhere the gap between the haves and the have-nots is widening, and so are the frustrations and the unrest. Israeli and international titles...

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Pre Cannes Buzz: What Will Be Making Noise at the Croisette

The International Film Festival of Cannes, May 11th to 22nd, is the largest media event in the world after the Olympics.  The Red Carpet Gala Premieres of world renowned auteur films, movie stars plus their photos go to every newspaper, magazine and television station in the world. This year we’ll see the stars (and directors with their entourages) in films by Woody Allen, Jim Jarmusch, Jodie Foster ♀, Stephen Spielberg, Jeff Nichols, Sean Penn, Nicolas Winding Refn, Pedro Almodóvar, Ashghar Farhadi, Andrea Arnold ♀, Olivier Assayas, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Xavier Dolan, Bruno Dumont, Nicole Garcia ♀, Ken Loach, Paul Verhoeven, Hirokazu Kore-Eda, David...

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Cannes 2016: Here's 11 Movies By Female Filmmakers That Should Have Been at the Festival (Girl Talk)

Girl Talk is a bi-weekly look at women in film — past, present and future. "Lost in Paris," directed by Dominique Abel and Fiona GordonThe filmmaking duo (Dominique Abel is a man, Fiona Gordon is a woman), are Cannes regulars, thanks to their highly original offerings like 2008's Critics' Week pick "Rumba" and their 2011 Directors' Fortnight feature "The Fairy." "Lost in Paris" was long tipped to appear on this year's slate, billed as an off-beat comedy about a Canadian who ends up, you guessed it, lost in Paris amidst a slew of wild catastrophes. The film commenced production in June of last year and is reportedly complete, though not at...

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Cannes Opener 'Cafe Society': Vittorio Storaro Emerges the Star of Woody Allen's Hollywood Valentine

Narrated by Woody Allen himself, $30-million "Cafe Society" is his most lavishly mounted and first digital movie, lovingly photographed by famed Italian three-time Oscar-winner Vittorio Storaro in highly stylized compositions on the Sony CineAlta F65 camera. Another nomination may be in the offing for the cinematographer of "Reds," "Apocalypse Now," and "The Last Emperor," along with production and costume design. READ MORE: IndieWire's Review of 'Cafe Society' For the first time in the Cannes competition, the Amazon Studios logo came up on the screen at Cannes' Debussy Theatre as the assembled press corps Monday...

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Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Animation Block Party UPDATE: Tommy Stathes to Curate "Cartoon Restoration Showcase"

This summer’s Animation Block Party film festival will highlight the film preservation process with a Cartoon Restoration showcase on Saturday July 30th at BAMcinématek featuring a Q&A with Jerry Beck and Tommy Stathes. BAMcinématek is located at the Peter Sharp Building, 30 Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn, NY 11217. The ABP 2016 Cartoon Restoration presentation is curated by Tommy Stathes’ Cartoons On Film and includes exclusive new digital restorations of films from Max Fleischer and Bray Studios. Keynote titles include Diplodocus (J.R. Bray, 1915), Bobby Bumps’ Pup Gets Flea-Enza (Earl Hurd, 1919) and Dinky Doodle in The Pied Piper (Walter Lantz, 1924). The 13th annual...

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Why Cannes Programmers Are Stubborn About The Future Of Cinema — And Potentially Right

Kristen Stewart Will Hit It Big, Jim Jarmusch Will Triumph & Five More 2016 Cannes Film Festival Predictions "What is cinema?" That's the question posed by the title of collected writings by French critic Andre Bazin nearly 50 years ago. These days, it's a particularly tough question: TV overshadows feature films in the cultural landscape, while digital advancements range from social media to virtual reality. Now more than ever, we need a festival to clarify the changing identity of cinema.  Just don't tell that to Thierry Fremaux, the festival's poker-faced director. "In Cannes, our role is to defend film — to show both its power and vitality," he wrote me...

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Friday, May 6, 2016

5 Ways the Cannes Market Will Impact Indie Film

The red carpet at the 69th Cannes Film Festival may be the center of the film universe for 10 days starting on May 10, but the trenches of the independent film world are located away from the cameras at the Marché du Film, the marketplace where thousands of producers, distributors and sales agents gather every year to seek financing and breathe life into new projects. READ MORE: Cannes Lineup Leaves Uphill Battle for Acquisition Execs Though Cannes is the granddaddy of film festivals, the movies in competition have never been huge acquisition targets for U.S. distributors. Most English-language titles in the main competition are already spoken for this year, with...

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Thursday, May 5, 2016

Hola Mexico Film Festival Announces Lineup Including Closing Night Event with Alternative Band Zoé

The eighth annual Hola Mexican Film Festival, presented by DishLATINO,  the largest festival of cinema outside of Mexico, today announced a partial lineup of the 2016 festival schedule including opening and closing nights and four special showcase presentations. The festival runs May 13-22 with all screenings taking place at the Regal LA Live Stadium 14 Theatre, except for closing night which will be at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.    This year’s festival will open with "Thin Yellow Line" (La Delgada Linea Amarilla)  nominated for 14 Premios Ariel Awards (Mexico’s “Oscars”). The film is a story of smooth roads...

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Jews in the News: LA Jewish Film Festival to Screen Gripping Television and László Nemes First Film

This is a "go to" festival for international filmmakers with Jewish films who want to have their films premiere in Hollywood. The 11th L.A. Jewish Film Festival May 18th through May 25. Opening night on May 18 will be a grand, red carpet, star-studded gala at the Steve Tisch Cinema Center at the Saban Theatre, Beverly Hills. LAJFF will recognize the Laemmle Theater family with a special honor for their ongoing commitment to film and filmmakers. This family, headed by legendary Universal studio owner, Carl Laemmle and continuously run by subsequent three generations of Laemmles, is truly a force of nature. The Laemmle Theaters is a 75+ year old family...

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2016 Tribeca Film Festival Documentary Shorts: New York Then

The documentary shorts presented at the Tribeca Film Festival included both human stories and New York’s past. The films delved into themes of chaos, survival, and a glimpse into a life of the city that forever evolves but a time past that cannot be forgotten. After the screening, the filmmakers joined in for a Q&A.  About the Film: "Joe's Violin" A 91-year-old Holocaust survivor donates his violin to an instrument drive, changing the life of a 12-year-old schoolgirl from the Bronx and unexpectedly, his own. About the Director: Kahane Cooperman is the director/producer of "Joe's Violin." She has also directed several other documentaries....

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Refugee Voices in Film: An All Day Event at 2016 Cannes Film Festival

Against the backdrop of the largest refugee crisis since the Second World War, a full-day conference, "Refugee Voices in Film," will be held on the 18th of May at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, presented by the International Emerging Film Talent Association (IEFTA), in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Marché Du Film. The global humanitarian tragedy has sparked the interest of the entertainment world, specifically on refugee-related films, with filmmakers, some of whom are refugees themselves, telling their own stories and those of affected populations. "Refugee Voices in Film," an...

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Kering and the Festival de Cannes Poster 2016 'Women in Motion'

The second edition of the 'Women in Motion' program will take place in Cannes from May 11 to 22, 2016 at the 69th Festival de Cannes. The year’s official poster is of Frances McDormand whose presentation at last year’s first edition illuminated gender bias practices within the film industry in the most captivating, funny and serious presentation of the several presentations given. During her Talk on 22 May 2015, the actress addressed the impact gender discrimination had on budget negotiations for female filmmakers, the lack of money being one of the main issues faced within the industry. Frances McDormand made her point hit home: "We don't need...

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Wednesday, May 4, 2016

SeriesFest: Indie TV Continues to Rise With Pilot Competition Line-Up (Exclusive)

The international television and content festival SeriesFest has announced its official selections that will take part in their Independent Pilot Competition. For the festival's "second season," 34 titles in competition (full line-up below) will compete for Best Pilot, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Writer in the categories of Drama and Comedy, along with the Audience Award. SeriesFest runs from Thursday, June 23 to Saturday, June 25 at the Sie FilmCenter in Denver, Colorado. This year’s pilots feature such talent as Brad Leland, Jane Lynch, Tim Matheson, Amber Nash, George R.R. Martin, Tahmoh Penikett, Missi Pyle, Maisie Williams and Michael K....

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Withoutabox Launches Free Film Festival Judging Application for Amazon Fire TV (Exclusive)

Amazon's Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is continuing to enhance its offerings on Withoutabox, the submission service for film festivals and filmmakers. Being a film festival juror just got a whole lot easier.  Since 2001, Withoutabox has logged nearly 3 million fest submissions. At any one time hundreds of global festivals from Austin to Toronto are active on the platform.  Now IMDb is adding to the Amazon Appstore a Withoutabox free Amazon Fire TV app that will enhance the viewing and rating of Withoutabox film festivals submissions. As of Wednesday, film festival programmers and judges can easily...

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Monday, May 2, 2016

Cannes'16: Report on Gender Equality in the European Film Industry

The European Women's Audiovisual Network has released a report supported by KERING focused on the issue of women in the entertainment industry. The report is titled "Where Are the Women Directors?" To download the report in English or French visit HERE This new study was organized and managed by the EWA Network and carried out with the support and collaboration of its research partners between 2006 and 2013. The network's representatives - Alessia Sonaglioni and Francine Raveney - will be in Cannes on the occasion of a Women in Motion talk, in the company of Anna Serner, CEO at the Swedish Film Institute. This study is relevant at several...

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