by Marla LewinThe Hedgehog (Le Hérisson), the story of a family and their private world told from the view point of the younest daughter, written and directed by Mona Achache, stole the hearts of the audiences and won the COL•COA Audience Award from the 28 features that were competing. The week-long festival set an attendance record of 14,957 at the Directors Guild of America. The Critics Special Prize went to Rapt, written and directed by Lucas Belvaux.Other favorite films with audi...
by Marla LewinThe festival hosted over 7,000 attendees at ArcLight Hollywood, and had numerous sold out screenings. IFFLA Executive Director Christina Marouda said, “This year’s festival has been a great opportunity to celebrate the work of known Indian filmmakers and introduce a new generation of talents as they enter a global filmmaking community". GRAND JURY AWARDS:BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE: THE MAN BEYOND THE BRIDGEDIR/SCR: Laxmikant ShetgaonkarCast: Chitranjan Giri, Veena Jomka...
by Marla Lewin
COLCOA’s City of Lights, City of Angels, a Week of French Film Premieres in Hollywood presented a Happy Hour Talk at the Renoir Theatre at the DGA on Friday.
It followed the international premiere and historic screening of the restored film Pierrot Le Fou, directed by Jean-Luc Godard based on a novel by Lional White, and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, and Godards’ once wife and muse Anna Karina. She was to be part of the panel along with Ser...
by Marla LewinJONI versus THE BARD, the Shakespeare SmackdownTonight Joan Darling presented her solo show, JONI VS THE BARD, the Shakespeare Smackdown as a benefit for Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills. We all know Shakespeare but who is Joan Darling? It is safe to say that without Joan Darling it might have been impossible for Katherine Bigelow and many other women to have had their careers. Joan is a true pioneer and has done much to shape both male and female directors over the years.Theatr...
by Marla LewinThe Opening night film already announced is Ridley Scot's ROBIN HOOD. 20th Century Fox will have an Out of Competition screening of Oliver Stone's WALL STREET - MONEY NEVER SLEEPS. Additional Out of Competition screenings are YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER from Woody Allen (Sony Classics) and TAMARA DREWE from Stephen Frears.This years line up is a virtual Boy's Club with not a single female director represented so far in the main competition. Although there are s...
by Marla Lewin
Last night we were treated to a wonderful performance of “Acting: The First Six Lessons,” a play adapted and performed by Beau Bridges and his daughter Emily Bridges. The play was based on the 1933 book by Richard Boleslavsky which was given to Beau, when he was fourteen by his father Lloyd Bridges. It was the only book about acting his father ever gave him.
Beau Bridges is a longtime Theatre West member and has done many workshops with the theatre company. Las...
by Marla LewinLenny Kravitz and Mariah Carey celebrate with Lee Daniels at Spirit AwardsLee Daniels' Precious swept the 25th anniversary of the Film Independent Spirit Awards taking home the Best Feature, Best Director, Best First Screenplay, Best Female Lead and Best Supporting Female awards. Precious won in every category for which it was nominated taking 5 awards. The other winners were lucky that Precious didn't have any male actors nominated and Lee Daniels wasn't a first time filmmaker....
based on a Getty Images photoby Marla LewinThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that Nicolas Chartier, has been denied attendance at the 82nd Academy Awards® as a penalty for violating Academy campaigning standards. If “The Hurt Locker” becomes the latest recipient of the Best Picture award at Sunday’s ceremonies, only three of the picture’s producers will be present for the celebration. The fourth of the film’s credited producers credentials...
(c) 2010 The Walt Disney Company. All rights reserved.
by Marc Halperin
After late night wrangling a settlement was reached between the Walt Disney Company and the UK's largest exhibition chain which is also the largest in Europe and largest in the world outside of North America to allow screening of Tim Burton's Alice. The Odeon boycott had also included its theatres in Ireland and Italy. The Boycott had grown to include several other theatre chains in Holland.
The...
by Marla Lewin2010 BAFTA Awards Winners photo (c) 2010 BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards for 2010 (BAFTA) were announced tonight at London’s Royal Opera House. In his first formal act as President of BAFTA, Prince William presented Vanessa Redgrave with a British Academy Fellowship. HRH Prince William succeeds Lord Attenborough in the position. David Parfitt, Chair of BAFTA, said: “The Academy has had a long...
Oliver Stone came to the 25th Santa Barbara Film Festival on Saturday February 13, for the West Coast premiere of his film South of the Border about the new left of center leaders in 7 countries in South America.
He talked with David Poland of Movie City News about many topics mostly political. He also touched on his new fiction film Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps. This clip below is about Wall Street. Future clips will touch on the other topics.
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by Marla Lewin
Jeff Bridges CRAZY HEART Photo by Lorey Sebastian (c) Fox Searchlight 2009
The final day of the 25th festival was proclaimed Jeff Bridges day. It is a full day of films starring Jeff Bridges concluding with a screening of Crazy Heart for which he is nominated for a Best Actor nomination by the Academy. A tribute to the Santa Barbara native will cap the evening.
At a Sunday morning brunch at the famed Fess Parker's Doubletree Resort the winners of the 201...
Three of last year's Oscar winners will return according to tradition to present the awards to this year's winners. Kate Winslet has been nominated for six Academy Awards and took home an Oscar for her leading role in 2008’s The Reader. Sean Penn has been nominated five times for Actor in a Leading Role and twice took home an Oscar: Mystic River(2003) and last year for Harvey Milk in Milk. Penélope Cruz,Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona...
Friday night Sandra Bullock received the 25th Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s American Riviera Award presented by Forest Whitaker on behalf of Chopin Vodka. The award was established to recognize an actor who has had a strong influence on American Cinema. Bullock has recently won the Golden Globe and SAG awards for Best Actress. The tribute was moderated by Pete Hammond, Film Critic for Box Office and a columnist for the LA Times-Envelope. ...
James Cameron received the Lucky Brand Modern Master Award from Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger at the 2010 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. ...
by Marla LewinLhagyari Trichen Namgyal Wangchuk, the 18th descendent of Tibet's Great Dharma Kings.Seven years in the making, Director Dirk Simon's, documentary When The Dragon Swallowed The Sun will have its world premiere this weekend. Simon stated this morning, "I am thrilled to be able to present a film that showcases such musical talent as Philip Glass, Damien Rice and Thom Yorke, together with amazing cinematography and intriguing, groundbreaking story matter. This film has the...
by Marla Lewin photo from "Michael Jackson: The Untold Story of Neverland"Just days after Dr. Conrad Murray surrendered to the Superior court in Los Angeles, where he was arraigned on one count of felony involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson there is a new film being screened at the 2010 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The world premiere of the feature documentary “Michael Jackson: The Untold Story of Neverland” by ...
by Marla Lewin You’ve Never Seen Oscar Like This: 82nd Academy AwardsThis year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences under the stewardship of President Tom Sherak has dedicated their energies to ensure that the ratings slide that the Oscar telecast has suffered over the last several years comes to an end. They have increased the list of Best Picture nominees from five to ten to make sure that more popular films make it into the show. They have chosen two exceptionally popular comed...
by Marla LewinAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and 2008 Oscar® nominee Anne Hathaway took the stage at a 5:38 a.m. PT this morning, live news conference to announce the nominees in 10 of the 24 categories.Nominations for the 82nd Academy AwardsBest motion picture of the yearAvatar(20th Century Fox), A Lightstorm Entertainment Production, James Cameron and Jon Landau, ProducersThe Blind Side (Warner Bros.), An Alcon Entertainment Production, Nominees to be determ...
by Marla LewinJohn Cooper and David Hyde Pierce opened with a hilarious wrap act to get things started.Alfred P. Sloan Award for depicting Science in Film went to OBSELIDIA by Diane Bell who said she was worried about paying her rent for the next six months and now she knows where it is coming from.The World Cinema Special Jury Prize for Documentary Film goes to ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE Directors Rob Lemkin & Thet Sambath are humbled: "we had a great purpose in making the film."...
by Marla Lewin
2010 marked the 16th anniversary of the Slamdance Film Festival, a showcase for the discovery of new and emerging talent. Slamdance was founded by independent filmmakers and is dedicated to the nurturing and development of new independent artists and their cinematic vision.
There are three competitive divisions at Slamdance: Grand Jury, Audience Awards and Special Sponsored Awards provided by Kodak and Dos Equis. The Slamdance Feature competitions is li...
by Marla Lewin
These are the high profile films that we know about so far and which ones have sold. Additional titles are listed that are expected to sell shortly.
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by Marc Halperin
We went to see the new play written and produced by Ray Bradbury it has been many years since the play was first conceived for his friends Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester. We were very lucky and Ray was at the theatre to introduce the play. (video attached below)
Times have changed, but people are still the same. We all grow up, the lucky ones fall in love and get old. It is a simple story and the reason Ray calls it Wisdom 2116 is to denote that...
Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland won the 2010 Sundance Shorts International Prize
photo courtesy of Sundance Film Festival
by Marla Lewin
The 2010 Sundance Film Festival announced the jury prizes in shorts filmmaking and gave honorable mentions based on outstanding achievement and merit. The awards were presented at a ceremony held in Park City, Utah. These award recipients will also be honored at the Festival’s Awards Ceremony hosted by David Hyde Pierce on Satur...
by Marc Halperin
The Sundance Film Festival is in full swing, some films are being bought and others are not. Understanding the reasons for these decisions is critical for independent filmmakers. Film Independent recently produced a round table that focused on indie distribution. It’s an offshoot from their Filmmaker Forum, which was held over an entire weekend in early October. This discussion looked at the economics of distribution; traditional, DIY, and digital stra...
Lewin Marla 
Marla is a producer, playwright, screenwriter, publicist and now a journalist. She attends 12 to 20 film festivals per year. She has spoken on filmmaking at many festivals including Cannes and SXSW.
