Good find from Awardsdaily.
AMPAS get a website facelift.
January 4, 2009
Cannes Gets a Jury President!
Variety has the announcement:
French actress Isabelle Huppert will serve as jury president of the 62nd Festival du Cannes.
"I am very glad and very proud," said Huppert. "I've had a long relationship with Cannes and this next meeting will definitely seal my love for the Festival and thus for global cinema."
Over the years, Huppert has come to the festival more than twenty five times -- as an awards presenter, jury member, symposium head, and with films in or out of competition. She won Best Actress at the fest for "The Piano Teacher" (2001) and "Violette Noziere" (1978).
Cannes fest will unspool May 13-24, 2009.
"I am very glad and very proud," said Huppert. "I've had a long relationship with Cannes and this next meeting will definitely seal my love for the Festival and thus for global cinema."
Over the years, Huppert has come to the festival more than twenty five times -- as an awards presenter, jury member, symposium head, and with films in or out of competition. She won Best Actress at the fest for "The Piano Teacher" (2001) and "Violette Noziere" (1978).
Cannes fest will unspool May 13-24, 2009.
-Now, once we know the films in competition, we can start obsessing over this as well!
NSFC Awards (expanded)
Includes second and third place finishes
BEST PICTURE
1. Waltz with Bashir, directed by Ari Folman (26)
2. Happy-Go-Lucky (20)
3. WALL-E (20)
BEST NON-FICTION FILM
1. Man on Wire, directed by James Marsh (55)
2. Trouble the Water (34)
3. Encounters at the End of the World (26)
BEST DIRECTOR
1. Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky (36)
2. Gus Van Sant, Milk & Paranoid Park (20)
3. Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire (16)
BEST ACTOR
1. Sean Penn, Milk (87)
2. Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler (40)
3. Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino (38)
BEST ACTRESS
1. Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky (65)
2. Melissa Leo, Frozen River (33)
3. Michelle Williams, Wendy and Lucy (31)
(more after the cut)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
1. Eddie Marsan, Happy-Go-Lucky (41)
2. Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight (35)
3. Josh Brolin, Milk (29)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1. Hanna Schygulla, The Edge of Heaven (29)
2. Viola Davis, Doubt (29, on fewer ballots)
3. Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona (24)
BEST SCREENPLAY
1. Happy-Go-Lucky, by Mike Leigh (29)
2. A Christmas Tale (24)
3. Synecdoche, New York (17)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
1. Slumdog Millionaire, Anthony Dod Mantle (29)
2. The Flight of the Red Balloon (22)
3. The Dark Knight (18)
4. Still Life
BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM
1. Razzle Dazzle, directed by Ken Jacobs
As If Beverly Hills Chihuahua Wasn't Bad Enough...
We now have to suffer through this:
-Alternate title....Gag Force? (or is that too dirty for Disney?)
January 3, 2009
NSFC Awards
The National Society of Film Critics gave out their awards today, and the winners are:
BEST PICTURE:“Waltz with Bashir,” directed by Ari Folman
BEST DIRECTOR:Mike Leigh, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
BEST ACTOR:Sean Penn, “Milk”
BEST ACTRESS:Sally Hawkins, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:Eddie Marsan, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:Hanna Schygulla, “The Edge of Heaven”
BEST SCREENPLAY:“Happy-Go-Lucky,” written by Mike Leigh
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY“Slumdog Millionaire,” Anthony Dod Mantle
BEST NON-FICTION FILM“Man on Wire,” directed by James Marsh
BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM:“Razzle Dazzle,” directed by Ken Jacobs
BEST DIRECTOR:Mike Leigh, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
BEST ACTOR:Sean Penn, “Milk”
BEST ACTRESS:Sally Hawkins, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:Eddie Marsan, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:Hanna Schygulla, “The Edge of Heaven”
BEST SCREENPLAY:“Happy-Go-Lucky,” written by Mike Leigh
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY“Slumdog Millionaire,” Anthony Dod Mantle
BEST NON-FICTION FILM“Man on Wire,” directed by James Marsh
BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM:“Razzle Dazzle,” directed by Ken Jacobs
-I wonder if they liked Happy-Go-Lucky at all...
Bait an Oscar: Year 2009!
Can you come up with a project our Academy won’t resist? Do you have a film idea that would definitely sweep our month-long awards season? Can you, wherever you are, Bait an Oscar?
For years now, film lovers and Oscar buzzers around the world have participated in our monthly competition. The goal: win the coveted Best Picture Oscar and join our elite Academy (featuring some of the best undiscovered writers out there).
Every month is a new Oscar season and a new chance to blow away the competition: from precursor awards like the Golden Globes and the National Board of Review to the Official Awards (including the Big 8 Awards and the Creativity Awards); everyone gets a chance to bait their favorite talent to Oscar glory.
The sky 
is the limit while creating the ultimate Oscar project. See our latest Bait of the Month champ: the Peter Jackson epic The Mystic, winner of 5 Academy Awards including Best Casting Choice (Viggo Mortensen as the Russian mystic Rasputin) and Best Adapted Screenplay.
You also get the chance to learn and improve your writing skills. Our Bait an Oscar contestants review all the “baits” every month and provide constructive (or not) criticism to every author. The key is learning to receive feedback, good or bad, because let’s face it; Hollywood is a tough territory.
Competition gets definitely fun, it gets passionate and it even gets (too) intense but hey, these are the Oscars, right?
So, Can you Bait an Oscar?
Click here to learn more about our popular feature.
January 2, 2009
John Travolta Loses a Son
Sad news...here's the story from CNN:
The 16-year-old son of actors John Travolta and Kelly Preston died Friday morning after suffering a seizure while vacationing with his family in the Bahamas, Travolta's attorney told CNN.
At this point, we know that John Travolta and Kelly Preston's only son, Jett, had a seizure at around 10 a.m. this morning," attorney Michael Ossi said. "All attempts to revive him were unsuccessful."
The boy hit his head after the seizure, but the exact cause of death is not known, Ossi said. An autopsy will be conducted Monday. His body will be transferred to Ocala, Florida, for burial, he said.
Jett's death "was completely out of the blue," he said. "John and Kelly are happy when their children are happy. This is the worst day of John's life."
The boy hit his head after the seizure, but the exact cause of death is not known, Ossi said. An autopsy will be conducted Monday. His body will be transferred to Ocala, Florida, for burial, he said.
Jett's death "was completely out of the blue," he said. "John and Kelly are happy when their children are happy. This is the worst day of John's life."
-The whole story can be found on any news site, but our thoughts are with the family...
This Makes 2008 Look Rather Good Overall...
...for movies at least. This video is up at Awards Daily and In Contention, so I thought it had a place here as well:
-Impressive, right?
The Awards Circuit Community Awards BEGINS
January 1, 2009
New Films Added to the National Film Registry!
Here's the story from Variety:
“The Asphalt Jungle,” “Sergeant York,” “In Cold Blood,” “The Pawnbroker,” “Deliverance” and “The Terminator” are among the 25 films selected in 2008 by the Library of Congress for inclusion in its National Film Registry.
The registry is designed to ensure that pics that are “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant will be preserved for all time.
As always, the selections for ‘08 range from classics to obscure gems. “Disneyland Dream” is a Connecticut family’s 1956 home movie of their trip to Disneyland and other Los Angeles-area spots after winning a contest sponsored by Scotch Brand Cellophane Tape. (It’s become a cult fave on the Web among Disney buffs.) “No Lies” is a 16-minute 1973 film by then-NYU film student Mitchell Block about the treatment of a rape victim by investigators.
The annual registry selections are chosen by Librarian of Congress James Billington from nominations made by the public via the website of the library’s National Film Preservation Board and by board members including Martin Scorsese, Caleb Deschanel, Gregory Nava and Leonard Maltin. For inclusion, the pic must be a U.S. production and be at least 10 years old.
Other famed pics on the list include “A Face in the Crowd” (1957); “Flower Drum Song” (1961); “Foolish Wives” (1922); “The Invisible Man” (1933); “Johnny Guitar” (1954); “The Killers” (1946); “The Perils of Pauline” (1914); and “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” (1958).
Also making the cut is a collection of rare color WWII European battle footage shot by helmer George Stevens; MGM’s 1929 musical “Hallelujah,” directed by King Vidor with an all-black cast; and “Free Radicals,” a 1979 four-minute experimental short in which New Zealand filmmaker Len Lye made scratches directly on the film stock and then set the sticklike images dancing to field recordings of the music of an African tribe.
Buster Keaton’s first two-reeler, 1920’s “One Week,” is on the list, as is W.C. Fields’ 1926 pic “So’s Your Old Man” and 1989’s “Water and Power,” filmmaker Pat O’Neill’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner that blends images of downtown Los Angeles with scenes of water flowing to the city from the Owens Valley.
Docs getting the preservation nod include the landmark 1910 study of Native Americans, “White Fawn’s Devotion”; “On the Bowery,” Lionel Rogosin’s 1957 docudrama depiction of the lives of three denizens of Gotham’s skid row; and 1964’s “The March,” a docu on the 1963 March on Washington produced through the United States Information Agency.
The inclusion of “Disneyland Dream” reflects a push by the Library to find worthy examples of amateur filmmaking that captures a unique event or moment in time for the nation, said Patrick Loughney, head of the Library’s Packard Campus audiovisual preservation facility.
The National Film Registry was established in 1989. The 25 selections of 2008 bring the number of titles in the collection to 500. All titles in the registry are available for screening free of charge at the Library of Congress on Capitol Hill.
“Both as a public-awareness tool and as an educational learning aid for students, the registry helps this nation understand the diversity of America’s film heritage and, just as importantly, the need for its preservation,” Billington said in announcing the selections.
“The nation has lost about half of the films produced before 1950 and as much as 90% of those made before 1920. In addition, more and more nitrate-based and acetate-based films are deteriorating with the passage of time,” he added.
The registry is designed to ensure that pics that are “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant will be preserved for all time.
As always, the selections for ‘08 range from classics to obscure gems. “Disneyland Dream” is a Connecticut family’s 1956 home movie of their trip to Disneyland and other Los Angeles-area spots after winning a contest sponsored by Scotch Brand Cellophane Tape. (It’s become a cult fave on the Web among Disney buffs.) “No Lies” is a 16-minute 1973 film by then-NYU film student Mitchell Block about the treatment of a rape victim by investigators.
The annual registry selections are chosen by Librarian of Congress James Billington from nominations made by the public via the website of the library’s National Film Preservation Board and by board members including Martin Scorsese, Caleb Deschanel, Gregory Nava and Leonard Maltin. For inclusion, the pic must be a U.S. production and be at least 10 years old.
Other famed pics on the list include “A Face in the Crowd” (1957); “Flower Drum Song” (1961); “Foolish Wives” (1922); “The Invisible Man” (1933); “Johnny Guitar” (1954); “The Killers” (1946); “The Perils of Pauline” (1914); and “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” (1958).
Also making the cut is a collection of rare color WWII European battle footage shot by helmer George Stevens; MGM’s 1929 musical “Hallelujah,” directed by King Vidor with an all-black cast; and “Free Radicals,” a 1979 four-minute experimental short in which New Zealand filmmaker Len Lye made scratches directly on the film stock and then set the sticklike images dancing to field recordings of the music of an African tribe.
Buster Keaton’s first two-reeler, 1920’s “One Week,” is on the list, as is W.C. Fields’ 1926 pic “So’s Your Old Man” and 1989’s “Water and Power,” filmmaker Pat O’Neill’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner that blends images of downtown Los Angeles with scenes of water flowing to the city from the Owens Valley.
Docs getting the preservation nod include the landmark 1910 study of Native Americans, “White Fawn’s Devotion”; “On the Bowery,” Lionel Rogosin’s 1957 docudrama depiction of the lives of three denizens of Gotham’s skid row; and 1964’s “The March,” a docu on the 1963 March on Washington produced through the United States Information Agency.
The inclusion of “Disneyland Dream” reflects a push by the Library to find worthy examples of amateur filmmaking that captures a unique event or moment in time for the nation, said Patrick Loughney, head of the Library’s Packard Campus audiovisual preservation facility.
The National Film Registry was established in 1989. The 25 selections of 2008 bring the number of titles in the collection to 500. All titles in the registry are available for screening free of charge at the Library of Congress on Capitol Hill.
“Both as a public-awareness tool and as an educational learning aid for students, the registry helps this nation understand the diversity of America’s film heritage and, just as importantly, the need for its preservation,” Billington said in announcing the selections.
“The nation has lost about half of the films produced before 1950 and as much as 90% of those made before 1920. In addition, more and more nitrate-based and acetate-based films are deteriorating with the passage of time,” he added.
-Very cool to see Terminator there!
Trailer for Two Lovers
The latest from director James Gray (the film was called the best American drama of 2008 early on in the year...perhaps it'll fare just as well in 2009) has a trailer:
-I'm a sucker for Brooklyn set films, as it's my hometown and stomping grounds, but even so, this looks pretty good, though perhaps a tad melodramatic...thoughts?
Goodfellas Pt. 2?
Apparently there is news floating around that Martin Scorsese is interested in directing a film about infamous hitman (turned snitch), John Martorano. Also, it appears that he is bringing the "Departed" gang back to produce this film. I'm not sure if any of this is true, but Scorsese has already done a movie about a dude that snitched. Some might think it's redundant, but we are talking about Scorsese here. He's a legend behind the camera, so I'm always willing to give Marty the benefit of the doubt. Thoughts?
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