SIGGRAPH Opens Registration for its 2016 Event In Anaheim

Registration is now open for SIGGRAPH 2016, the world’s leading annual interdisciplinary educational experience showcasing the latest in computer graphics and interactive techniques. With the tagline “Render the Possibilities,” SIGGRAPH 2016 will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center, 24-28 July 2016. SIGGRAPH has announced a number of first-time exhibitors for the 2016 event. U.S.-based companies that will be exhibiting at the conference for the first time this year include Intervoke Technologies, Pixel Plow, Puget Systems, and Yost Labs, Inc. They join eight other tech companies from around the world as first-time exhibitors: Binary Alchemy/Germany; ftrack/Sweden; HoloDigilog...

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Cannes: Woody Allen’s' 'Café Society,' Starring Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg, to Open Festival

As expected, Cannes director Thierry Fremaux has selected Woody Allen's latest, "Café Society," to open the 69th Festival International du Film de Cannes (May 11 to 22). The film will make its world premiere on Wednesday 11 May in the Palais des Festivals’ Grand Théâtre Lumière, per usual for Woody Allen, as an Official Selection Out of Competition title. It’s a record-breaking coup for the New York director who has already opened the Festival twice, with "Hollywood Ending" (2002) and "Midnight in Paris" (2011).  The Competition Jury will be presided over by George Miller, and the Official Selection titles are due...

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Robert De Niro's Anti-Vaccine Controversy: When Did Tribeca Screw Up?

The Tribeca Film Festival has weathered criticism before, but nothing like the events of this past weekend. After generating backlash from the film community and beyond for programming "Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Catastrophe," a documentary directed by anti-vaccine activist Andrew Wakefield, the festival issued two statements defending the decision to show the film before announcing on Saturday that it had been pulled the lineup. The convoluted process ultimately put the blame on one person: Tribeca co-founder Robert De Niro.  READ MORE: Tribeca Film Festival Pulls Controversial Anti-Vaccination Doc from Festival ScheduleThe festival initially attempted to deter...

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Robert De Niro's Anti-Vaccine Controversy: When Did Tribeca Screw Up?

The Tribeca Film Festival has weathered criticism before, but nothing like the events of this past weekend. After generating backlash from the film community and beyond for programming "Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Catastrophe," a documentary directed by anti-vaccine activist Andrew Wakefield, the festival issued two statements defending the decision to show the film before announcing on Saturday that it had been pulled the lineup. The convoluted process ultimately put the blame on one person: Tribeca co-founder Robert De Niro.  READ MORE: Tribeca Film Festival Pulls Controversial Anti-Vaccination Doc from Festival ScheduleThe festival initially attempted to deter...

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Tribeca Film Festival Pulls Controversial Anti-Vaccination Doc from Festival Schedule

In an unprecedented move, the Tribeca Film Festival has pulled the controversial anti-vaccination documentary "Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe" from its schedule.  The film’s director, Andrew Wakefield, is a former UK surgeon and medical researcher. He is best known for a 1998 research paper, later declared fraudulent, that claimed a link between vaccination and autism. Other researchers couldn’t replicate the findings; later, a Sunday Times investigation found financial conflicts of interest, and the British General Medical Council investigated multiple allegations of misconduct.   READ MORE: Tribeca Film Festival Under Fire for Premiering...

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Official Poster for the 69th Festival de Cannes Revealed

The official poster for the 69th Festival de Cannes, taking place from 11 to 22 May and presided over by Australian director George Mille, was designed using stills from Jean-Luc Godard 's film "Contempt."  This 69th Festival de Cannes poster was designed by Hervé Chigioni and his graphic designer Gilles Frappier. The 2016 visual identity has been created by Philippe Savoir (Filifox). The festival described the poster as follows:  "It's all there. The steps, the sea, the horizon: a man's ascent towards his dream, in a warm Mediterranean light that turns to gold. As an image it is reminiscent of a timeless quote used at the...

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Submission for 20th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival is Now Open

Film submissions for the 20th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival are now open. The festival takes place from November 11-27, 2016. In addition, filmmakers can now submit films for the youth and children’s film festival Just Film, a sub-festival of Black Nights, running from November 11-20, 2016. Entry form and regulations can be found HERE. As a new feature the festival has introduced a submission fee of 50 euros. The program of the anniversary edition of Black Nights will consist of three competition programs - Main Competition, First Features Competition and Estonian Film Competition - and various non-competitive sections for features, documentaries, genre, sport films...

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Qumra, Arabic for Camera, Works to Help First and Second Time Filmmakers of MENA

The second edition of Qumra, March 4 - 9, organized by the Doha Film Institute has wrapped. Through a series of one-on-one meetings, consultations and tutorials, delegates at Qumra - the producers and directors associated with the 33 projects from 19 countries selected for the industry program - are provided with deep insights on how their films can find their voice in the global film market. Only 100+ people, all working hard and all meeting every day is especially appealing. Seen in light of mega-events as Berlin, Cannes, TIFF and Sundance, the intimacy of everyone sharing meals, attending the same party, staying at the same hotels within the famed souk and in...

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Gasparilla International Film Festival Unveils 10 Year Anniversary Lineup

Suncoast Credit Union Gasparilla International Film Festival (GIFF) has announced the official program for its 10th year anniversary in Tampa, Florida. The 10th annual festival will be held March 30-April 3 at the Tampa Theater and Ybor City’s Carmike Cinemas. With 115 films, the festival will host international and regional premieres of narrative features, documentaries and short films around the world, special tributes, master classes, panel discussions and much more. This year’s special tribute will celebrate the many accomplishments of Oscar, Grammy, Emmy, Golden Globe and Tony winner Rita Moreno. GIFF will honor Moreno with a Lifetime Achievement Award....

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San Francisco Film Festival Kicks Off with Whit Stillman’s 'Love & Friendship'

The two-week-long 59th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 21–May 5) launches Opening Night with Whit Stillman’s Jane Austen comedy of manners "Love & Friendship" (Amazon/Roadside Attractions, May 13), starring Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny. The movie debuted at Sundance, along with another literary adaptation, writer-producer-turned-director James Schamus's "Indignation" (Lionsgate/Summit, 2016), a 50s coming-of-age story starring Logan Lerman and Sarah Gadon,  which is based on a Philip Roth novel and will play April 30th in the festival's Centerpiece slot.  READ MORE: Whit Stillman Q & A READ MORE: How James Schamus Made His...

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Cannes: Valerie Donzelli Leads Semaine de la Critique Jury

To celebrate its 55th edition, the Cannes Film Festival's La Semaine de la Critique (Critics Week) will celebrate the emerging talent discoveries since 2011, which marked the 50th anniversary of the oldest sidebar in Cannes. Critics Week is also mounting Five Talents Talks with this year's young auteurs on the Nespresso Beach. The 50+5 edition jury comprises five filmmakers whose first or second feature played La Semaine in the past five years. The Jury President, French actress-writer-director Valérie Donzelli (2011 Critics Week opener "Declaration of War"), will award the Nespresso Grand Prize and the France 4 Visionary Award to one of seven competition...

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Memo to Distributors: Buy These SXSW 2016 Films

This year's 2016 SXSW Film Festival featured a lot of new work worthy of anticipation, from a work-in-progress screening of the raunchy animated comedy "Sausage Party" to another party movie from Richard Linklater. There were some appealing television offerings (get ready for "Preacher"), some unorthodox studio projects (hello, "Keanu") and a peek at the future of storytelling. But all of these instances are almost certainly going to be available to most people soon enough. That's not the case for many of the other highlights from the program, which entered the festival without theatrical distribution and have left it the same way. Here's a look at some of...

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TCM Classic Film Festival Brings Francis Ford Coppola to Hollywood

As part of the TCM Classic Film Festival, on April 29 Northern California auteur Francis Ford Coppola ("The Godfather Saga," "Apocalypse Now"), winner of five directing Oscars, will place his hands and feet in cement at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. It's hard to imagine that they aren't already there.  This marks the sixth consecutive year TCM has featured a hand and footprint ceremony at the Chinese. In 2011, Peter O'Toole was the honoree, followed by Kim Novak in 2012, Jane Fonda in 2013, Jerry Lewis in 2014 and Christopher Plummer in 2015.  The seventh annual TCM Classic Film Festival (April 28-May...

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31st Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG) Wraps

The International Film Festival in Guadalajara (FICG31) celebrated its 31th anniversary this year and moved to the center of town, a move toward regaining its early luster within the galaxy of younger festivals now competing for resources in México. With its myriad of activities beyond the mere programming of films, its mentoring other festivals such as Puerto Vallarta and Oaxaca, I would give it two thumbs up. On Friday, March 11, it announced its awards and officially announced next year’s Guest of Honor, Germany, closing with the German film, Doris Dörrie’s “Fukushima Mon Amour” (ISA: The Match Factory). This film is a deeply moving homage to the...

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Amazing Hammer Head | Stanley

SXSW Film 2016 Reveals the Gaps of the Hollywood System

If you can look past the cultural chaos that is SXSW, there's another kind of spectacle that takes place in the space between -- where the movies that are bigger than anything a SXSW competition filmmaker could imagine, but smaller, stranger, or riskier than almost everything else that comes from the studios. This is the sweet spot that defines SXSW premieres, and they tell us a lot about where the movie industry is going.  Megan Ellison had a good SXSW. She not only had a 10-minute one-on-one interview with President Obama just before his opening day keynote, but her Annapurna Pictures also backed the well-reviewed opening night film, "Everybody Wants Some!!," making...

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Berlin and its Political Stands: African Cinema Today

This 66th edition of the Berlinale did not focus so much on films as it did on issues, especially the issue of mass migration including Germany’s one million immigrants being welcomed by Angela Merkel. The sentiment of the Berlinale was expressed by Festival Director Dieter Kosslick in his introductory comment, “We are 90 million Germans. What are one million Syrians? We spent billions and billions to educate our kids, to teach them what happened in the Holocaust.” Nevertheless, the controversy throughout Germany and Europe continues to grow, as it does in the U.S. about what to do about the massive wave of migration, as if there were any other place the people,...

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San Francisco Film Society Announces Films in Competition for Golden Gate Awards, 35% Female-Helmed

The San Francisco Film Society has announced the films in competition for the Narrative Feature and Documentary Feature Golden Gate Awards, which will be presented at the San Francisco International Film Festival running from April 21-May 5. Of the 20 films in competition, seven, or 35 percent, were directed by women. The awards will distribute nearly $40,000 in total prizes this year. Films are selected with an emphasis on bringing attention to innovative and quality film making regardless of participation in other festivals. Notable inclusions in the documentary competition are "Cameraperson," a documentary from "Citizenfour" cinematographer Kirsten...

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Jodie Foster's 'Money Monster' to Screen at Cannes

It's looking as though Jodie Foster's "Money Monster" will make its world premiere at Cannes. The drama, starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney, hasn't officially been confirmed as part of the lineup by the festival, but Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and other outlets are reporting that the film will screen at Cannes, likely in advance of its May 13 U.S. theatrical release date. "Money Monster" focuses on a TV personality, financial guru Lee Gates (Clooney), who is taken hostage by a viewer (Jack O' Connell, "Unbroken"). Meanwhile, the show's producer (Roberts) tries to diffuse the crisis -- which involves a bomb-rigged vest that Lee is forced to...

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WATCH: Ethan Hawke as Chet Baker in 'Born to Be Blue' (EXCLUSIVE)

Ethan Hawke came into SXSW with two movies that show his range as an actor in his 45-year-old prime. In writer-director Robert Budreau's low-key biopic "Born to Be Blue" (IFC, March 25), he plays melancholy jazzman Chet Baker, and in Ti West's gritty western "In a Valley of Violence," he's a damaged ex-soldier with nothing to lose but his horse and beloved dog. Check out this exclusive clip from "Born to Be Blue," which IFC Films scooped up from the Special Presentations section of the Toronto International Film Festival last year. Hawke is earning raves as tragic trumpet maestro Baker, as he stages a comeback in the late ‘60s after falling down from...

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7 Great Films From the 2016 New Directors/New Films Series

READ MORE: 'The Fits,' 'Neon Bull' Headline First Wave of New Directors/New Films Selections Steven Spielberg. Spike Lee. Kelly Reichardt. Christopher Nolan. All of these filmmakers premiered their early works at the New Directors/New Films series, which has a long track record for heralding fresh talent. This year's edition, which runs March 16 - 27, is no exception. A joint production of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art, the series opens Wednesday with "Under the Shadow," Iranian director Babak Anvari's eerie period piece about a young woman and her daughter haunted by a demonic presence in the midst of the Iran-Iraq War. Allegorical horror at...

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SXSW: Food Sex and F-Bombs Dominate Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's 'Sausage Party' at Work-in-Progress Screening

READ MORE: SXSW 2016 Coverage From Indiewire For years, Pixar has been the high water mark for giving life to inanimate objects, but the R-rated comedy "Sausage Party" takes that tradition to edgier extremes. An unlikely passion project eight years in the making from co-writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the movie envisions talking food products in a grocery store who cuss and screw their way through a 90-minute romp. "Sausage Party" plays out like "Toy Story" by way of alt-comics icon Robert Crumb, which is just as ridiculous as it sounds. Even in the wildly unfinished version that premiered at the 2016 SXSW Film Festival, the August 12 release is...

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2016 Tribeca Film Festival TV Lineup Includes 'The Good Wife' Farewell and 'Six Feet Under' Tribute

The Tribeca Film Festival announced today an incredibly robust lineup of television-themed programming, including some much-anticipated premieres and tributes to currently airing shows. The schedule features an impressive range of programming, from hard drama to stoner comedy to documentary, as well as a number of breakout conversations and unique experiences. READ MORE: 2016 Tribeca Film Festival Lineup: 6 Hidden Gems One major highlight: To celebrate the 15th anniversary of "Six Feet Under," creator Alan Ball will be on hand to do a live commentary on the show's epic series finale. And a look back at "The Good Wife," timed to the show's upcoming conclusion,...

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SXSW Film 2016 Honors the Past While Facing an Exciting, Gaudy and Uncertain Future

The night before the SXSW Film Festival got under way, Michael Barker, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, defended his communal love of film in theaters. "In pursuing the new future, we cannot decimate the past," he said in his acceptance speech at one of the honorees at the Texas Film Awards, the annual benefit for Richard Linklater's now 30-year-old Austin Film Society.   Watching the Sony Classics reel, as the crucial art films I grew up on over the decades speed past, from Truffaut's "The 400 Blows" and Merchant/Ivory's "Howard's End" to more recent Oscar-winners "Blue Jasmine," "Alice"...

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SXSW Day 1: Obama Disrupts Festival, Meets Digital Players, Hits Interactive

Amid concerns that President Barack Obama's arrival on day one of SXSW might hijack the popular interactive/film/music conference, many film journalists stayed away from the packed Long Center for the Performing Arts in Austin, as snipers set up positions around the perimeter and on the roof of an opposite high-rise in advance of the POTUS arrival. Security guards showed me the gunmen, but wouldn't let anyone photograph them. The line for general admission snaked around the park, but VIP and press slipped into the lines for four airline-style security gates—no food or water bottles allowed. I applied for press credentials via SXSW and The White House, which were readily accepted,...

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SXSW Day 1: Obama Disrupts Festival, Meets Digital Players, Hits Interactive

Amid concerns that President Barack Obama's arrival on day one of SXSW might hijack the popular interactive/film/music conference, many film journalists stayed away from the packed Long Center for the Performing Arts in Austin, as snipers set up positions around the perimeter and on the roof of an opposite high-rise in advance of the POTUS arrival. Security guards showed me the gunmen, but wouldn't let anyone photograph them. The line for general admission snaked around the park, but VIP and press slipped into the lines for four airline-style security gates—no food or water bottles allowed. I applied for press credentials via SXSW and The White House, which were readily accepted,...

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European Films Receive FSS for Mexican Market

At Guadalajara’s 14th Market (4-9 March), European Film Promotion worked together with five European sales companies on marketing campaigns of seven European films from five different countries via Film Sales Support (FSS). FSS is backed by the Creative Europe - MEDIA Program of the European Union and facilitates sales of European films to Mexico and other countries in South America. To optimize sales opportunities, FSS encouraged sales agents to hold additional meetings with buyers in their offices in Mexico City after the market. This year, a total of almost €18,000 were reserved for marketing and networking purposes with local and South American distributors and...

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You Can Support Equality Through the British Council's Global Online LGBT Festival fiveFilms4freedom

On March 17, fiveFilms4freedom will become a 24-hour campaign asking people everywhere to watch a LGBT film together over the course of one single day. fiveFilms4freedom is the world’s first digital, global, LGBT film festival and will be promoted through the British Council’s network in more than 50 countries and regions, reaching audiences across the Americas, China, India, Israel, Kosovo, Poland, Turkey, Ukraine and the Middle East. This will be a chance for audiences, wherever they are, to enjoy LGBT cinema; to find out a little bit more about emerging LGBT filmmakers from around the world; and most importantly, to show support for freedom and ...

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San Francisco Film Festival Reveals Golden Gate Awards Competition

The San Francisco Film Society has revealed the films in competition for the Golden Gate Awards (GGA), which will distribute nearly $40,000 in total prizes this year in various narrative and documentary categories. SFFS is continuing its support for emerging global film artists in the United States via the Golden Gate Awards, which have been presented at the San Francisco International Film Festival (April 21–May 5) since its inaugural year in 1957. Given their spot on the calendar, with Sundance, SXSW and Tribeca ahead of them, it makes sense for the SFIFF to champion innovative new movies even if they've been screened at other fests. LA's fall AFI Fest's New Auteurs competition offers...

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The 2016 SXSW Springboard: 7 Potential Breakthrough Actors

This year's SXSW Film Festival is mere hours from kicking off in Austin, Texas, complete with a packed slate that should keep festival attendees pretty happy in between bouts of chowing down breakfast tacos and basking in the good ol' Texas sunshine. As ever, the festival features a strong lineup of both fresh premieres and festival favorites, much of which is bursting with new talent. Who's going to break out in a big way at this year's festival? We've got some ideas. READ MORE: SXSW 2016: 8 Exciting Films From This Year's Festival Addison Timlin, "Little Sister"A former theater kid who has moved into the cinematic space, thanks to turns in films like "Derailed"...

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14 Women Directors Included in Second Half of Tribeca Fest’s Feature Film Lineup

The Tribeca Film Festival has announced the second half of its feature slate for 2016. This newly announced 55-film lineup is 25% female directed, with the work of 14 women directors being featured across the Spotlight, Midnight and Special Screenings programs, as well as the 10th annual Tribeca/ESPN Film Festival. Though a mere 14 female-directed movies is hardly encouraging, films by women directors are screening in some prestigious slots in this half of the festival program. Particularly noteworthy in this regard is Liza Johnson’s "Elvis & Nixon," which will be the festival’s Centerpiece film. It stars Michael Shannon and Kevin Spacey as the titular cultural heavyweights,...

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Whistler Film Festival Opens Call for Submissions

The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) is seeking submissions for its 16th annual festival, which runs from November 30th to December 4th, 2016 and will feature up to 90 films comprised of approximately 45 features and 45 shorts. Canadian and International filmmakers are invited to submit films of all lengths and genres by the following deadlines: April 30th for early film submissions (discount on application); June 30th for regular film deadline; and July 31st for late film deadline with the extended late film deadline on August 15th. Cinematic excellence is at the heart of the Whistler Film Festival. To recognize the vitality of this art form, the 2016 festival will...

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LatinoBuzz: Films in Progress 29 Will Present Six Films from Argentina, Brazil and Chile

Films in Progress is the professional platform, which supports the production of Latin American feature films contributing to their completion and international circulation. Organized by the San Sebastian and Cinélatino, Rencontres de Toulouse Festivals, Films in Progress promotes meeting, dialogue and interaction between professionals from the Latin American and European film worlds, fostering the diversity and talent of independent filmmakers.  Films in Progress 29 received the submission of 182 films from 17 countries. The Toulouse - San Sebastian selection committee has selected 6 films: "A Cidade do Futuro" by Cláudio Marques...

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Estonian Film Fest Celebrated in Hollywood

Tallinn Black Nights International Film Festival director Tiina Lokk, and Estonian Golden Globe and Oscar nominated producer Ivo Felt, ("Tangerine," and "The Fencer,") sponsored a cocktail this week at the headquarters of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association HFPA on N. Robertson Blvd. West Hollywood. The gathering was held under the auspices of the Estonian Embassy in the U.S, the Estonian Film Institute, the Ministry of Culture of Estonia and Enterprise of Estonia.   Tallinn Black Nights International Film Festival (POFF) is at its 20th edition having received a "A Status" by the Federation of Film ...

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At True/False 2016, Filmmakers Inside the Frame

The most important movie of the 2016 True/False Film Festival may turn out to be a 30-minute short produced by three students from the University of Missouri. "Concerned Student 1950," which was only completed on Wednesday, debuted at 11:30 on a Saturday night, but the audience of a thousand-plus viewers who filled the Missouri Theater in downtown Columbia was electric, cheering the heroes and booing the villains as the film chronicled the protests that erupted after Mizzou's administration turned a blind eye racist incidents on campus. (The "1950" in the film's, and the group's, name comes from the year the university's first black student was admitted.) The...

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Tribeca Film Fest Adds 'A Hologram For The King,' 'Elvis & Nixon,' 'Devil And the Deep Blue Sea' With Jason Sudeikis, Jessica Biel & More

Today, the 15th annual Tribeca Film Festival announced the second half of its feature slate including 55 feature films, 43 of which are world premieres. Tribeca announced their Spotlight, Midnight, Centerpiece and Special Screening sections, along with the Work In Progress screenings and the feature film lineup for the 10th annual Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival. READ MORE: The 20 Most Anticipated Films Of The 2015 Tribeca Film Festival  Announced as the Centerpiece film of the festival is the world premiere of the historical comedy “Elvis & Nixon” starring Kevin Spacey and Michael Shannon. Highlights from the announcement include the world premiere of Bill Purple's...

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'The Automatic Hate': A 'Romeo and Juliet' Story Turns Incestuous

Director Justin Lerner likes to pitch his effectively eerie family drama "The Automatic Hate" as a combo of Thomas Vinterberg's "The Celebration" and Robert Altman's "The Long Goodbye." A shrieking Dogme95 incest drama meets a Raymond Chandler potboiler? I was intrigued. As a "Romeo and Juliet" incest tale of two cousins who face their mutual attraction, this one has headline-making potential. Writer/director Lerner and co-writer Katharine O'Brien set up a bait-and-switch mystery that then pulls us into the world of an unstable and broken family as their buried grudges of the past come into shattering present-day focus. "Automatic...

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Over 100 Film Industry Experts Attend 2nd Edition of Doha Institute's Qumra

Qumra, the annual industry event by the Doha Film Institute designed to nurture the development of emerging filmmakers, will welcome more than 100 industry professionals, including international film festival directors, producers, fund managers, script consultants, distributors and other experts during its second edition to be held from March 4 to 9, 2016. A number of industry leaders who attended the inaugural edition last year have confirmed their participation for the second time alongside many new organizations represented for the first time at the annual gathering dedicated to supporting first- and second-time filmmakers on both a creative and practical level....

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Berlin 2016: Middle East and North Africa at the Berlinale

This year we are seeing many films from MENA, that is an acronym for the Middle East and North Africa. More commonly called “Arab” cinema, (though the term is inaccurate because several countries in the region are not actually “Arab”) the films of this region are winning many awards and garnering much interest worldwide. More than 10 Arab films participated in the Berlinale’s Forum and Forum Expanded programs this year, in addition to the ones which participated in the Official Competition (“Inhebek Hedi”/ “Hedi” from Tunisia and “A Dragon Arrives!” by Mani Haghighi from Iran). This makes an especially remarkable year for Arab cinema’s presence in Berlin. ...

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Watch: Diego Luna Gives Remezcla an Intimate Look at 'Mr Pig,' His Mexico-Set Road Movie

Remezcla talked to Diego Luna about directing "Mr. Pig" during the Sundance Film Festival. They tagged along to his world premiere screening and took him on a ski lift ride the next morning. He shared his fears about filmmaking, the joy that sharing his art with an audience brings, and why he thinks his daddy issues make it into all his movies.This is the second episode of Remezcla's Panoramica series, where they follow Latino directors during the lead up to the world premiere of their most recent movie at big name film festivals.The Mexican premiere of "Mr. Pig" was Saturday, March 5 at the Guadalajara Film Festival (FICG). The film's ISA is...

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True/False: 'Concerned Student 1950' Premieres to Emotionally Charged Crowd, Including Spike Lee

READ MORE: True/False Film Festival: Why It Makes Sense To Have a Secret Screening Before Your World Premiere In November of last year, protests led by a group of African American students at the University of Missouri erupted and caused a national media storm. Last night, only four months after the events that led to the resignation of school President Tim Wolfe, the True/False Film Festival premiered "Concerned Student 1950," a 30 minute documentary about the protests made by undergraduates at the university. The film offers a rare glimpse inside the demonstrations. Rare because the student activists, who call themselves Concerned Student 1950, made a conscience choice to...

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Tribeca Film Festival Announces 2016 Competition Lineup That's 33% Female-Helmed

The competition slate for the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival has been announced. The 15th edition of the New York-based festival features three competition sections: U.S. Narrative, International Narrative and World Documentary. Of 18 films in the Narrative Competitions (U.S. and International), five are directed or co-directed by women -- 28%.  As is usually the case, female filmmakers fare much better in the Documentary Competition selection, where they helmed or co-helmed five of the twelve features, which amounts to a very respectable 42%.  So overall women directors account for 10 out of 30 of the films in Competition, or 33%.  Known for introducing fresh, bold voices, the...

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2016 Tribeca Film Festival Lineup: 6 Hidden Gems

READ MORE: Tribeca Film Festival Announces First Half of Feature Slate, Including 'Equals,' 'High-Rise' and More The Tribeca Film Festival shows up on the calendar each year to give New York plenty of red carpet action in the weeks leading up to Cannes, but that's not the whole story. While it follows Austin's SXSW Film Festival by a whole month, in recent years Tribeca has become a draw for both smaller narrative films seeking broader exposure and high quality documentary discoveries. Heading into its 15th year, the festival kicks off April 13 with "The First Monday in May," a documentary about the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Met Gala. However, the lineup announced so far...

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2016 Tribeca Film Fest: Demetri Martin’s ‘Dean,’ Drake Doremus’ ‘Equals,’ & Ben Wheatley’s ‘High-Rise’ Highlight Opening Line-Up

With Sundance in the can, Berlin in the rearview, SXSW on the horizon and Cannes looming further in the distance, tis the season for film festivals. And so, fittingly, today the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival announced its opening line-up, unveiling the slates for the U.S. Narrative, International Narrative, Viewpoints and World Documentary Competition feature film selections. Fifty-five of the 101 feature-length titles were announced as part of the festival’s 15th edition, which runs from April 13 – 24. Instead of one opening night film, Tribeca has chosen to go with four openers in three announced sections. U.S. Narrative is lead by“Kicks,” the directorial debut of Justin Tipping,...

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Coen Brothers to Award Janus Films and Criterion Collection at San Francisco Film Festival (EXCLUSIVE)

The Coen brothers, who recently participated in a Berlin Film Festival tribute to their old friend Ben Barenholtz, who helped them start their long careers, will show on April 30 at the Castro Theatre a recent restoration of their first feature "Blood Simple" (1984) at the 59th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 21-May 5). They will celebrate sibling international art-house cinema pioneers Janus Films and the Criterion Collection with an onstage conversation with partners Peter Becker and Jonathan Turell of Janus Films and the Criterion Collection.  Every self-respecting cinephile knows the Janus and Criterion logos. Founded in 1956 as a theatrical...

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Casting Europe at the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival

It is often said that it takes talent and luck to land a role. Today, proactivity and grace are added to this list of skillsets. In contemporary times, recognition seems less of a far-fetched notion than before thanks to the state of the art technology and interconnectivity. However, film festivals of the likes of Berlin play a substantial role as the gridiron for the discovery of new European talent as well as the creation of new roles and new relations, prompted by the ever so popular and widespread practice of co-productions on European turf. Among these relations is the one between actors and casting directors. European Shooting Stars  ...

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A Conversation with 2016 Athena Film Festival Award Winner Writer and Director Karyn Kusama

At the 2016 Athena Film Festival held at Barnard College in New York City, writer and director Karyn Kusama presented a Master Class in directing. Offering honest and often humorous anecdotes about working and surviving in the film industry, (it took her ten years after graduating from NYU film school to find representation), Kusama shared insightful advice to the audience of screenwriters and filmmakers. Kusama wrote and directed her first feature film, "Girlfight," in 1999, which won the Director’s Prize and shared the Grand Jury Prize at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. In 2004, Karyn directed the science fiction love story "Aeon Flux"...

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