As someone with a short attention span who also embraces opportunities to learn more about the world, I have always appreciated the allure of documentary shorts. As usual, however, the 2017 crop of Academy Award nominees in the Documentary Shorts category fixate on weighty, worldwide topics: Three out of the five nominees deal with the humanitarian crisis caused by the violent rise of ISIS (“4.1 Miles,”“The White Helmets,”“Watani: My Homeland”), while a third spotlights end-of-life care (“Extremis”). Yet there is a common theme threaded throughout all of these docs, and that is the unwavering kindness of strangers, and the undaunted strength of the human spirit. In a cruel and chaotic world, that’s definitely something to root for.
Like animated short films, live action shorts need to pack an immediate emotional punch. As a result, short films often tap into themes already loaded with drama, such as bigotry, bullying, and of course, death. The 2014 Academy Awards Live Action Short winner, “Helium,”about a young boy with a terminal illness and the hospital janitor who befriends him, preps your soul for a big, cathartic sobfest, while Tribeca Film Festival favorite “Listen”bubbles with tension as a woman in a burqa attempts to report her husband’s abuse.
The American Cinema Editors (ACE) have announced their nominations for the 67th Annual ACE Eddie Awards. Spotlighting outstanding editor work in film, television, and documentaries, the ACE Eddie Awards will be held Friday, January 27 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The full list of nominees are available after the jump.
NIcole Kidman will be honored with the International Star Award for her performance in Lion. The honor will be given to the actress at the Palm Springs International Film Festival’s (PSIFF) Film Awards Gala.
Brie Larson, who is getting tons of awards buzz for her work in Room, will be honored with the Breakthrough Performance Award at the 27th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival. The Awards Gala, which will also feature previously announced honoreesCate Blanchett,Johnny Depp, and Saoirse Ronan, takes place Saturday January 2 at the Palm Springs Convention Center.
Saiorse Ronan will be honored at the 27th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) with the International Star Award. The honor recognizes an actor or actress who has attained global acclaim thanks to their body of work.
Whether you’ve spent your gaming years within the Metroid, Zelda, and Mario universe, Nintendo’s sense of imagination and universe has never been lacking. Whether the Mushroom Kingdom or Hollywood are a perfect match is debatable (anyone remember 1993’s Super Mario Bros.?), but this year Nintendo has come out with their own special (and tongue-in-cheek) awards to honor this year’s Oscar nominees.
The American Film Institute (AFI) have announced their selections for AFI Awards 2014. The list includes 11 movies and 10 TV programs that were “deemed culturally and artistically representative of the year’s most significant achievements in the art of the moving image.
“We celebrate these films and television programs as more than just milestones in a year of excellence.” said Bob Gazzale, AFI President and CEO. “They are a part of our American cultural heritage – collectively, a new chapter in the story of the art form and of our nation.”
This year’s jury board (one for each category) included producer/writers Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad) and Marshall Herskovitz (thirtysomething, Once and Again), director Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou, Talk To Me), actress Phylicia Rashad (Cosby Show), film critic Leonard Maltin, and cinematographer Matthew Libatique (Black Swan)l
The honorees will attend the annual AFI Awards private luncheon January 9, 2015 in Los Angeles, Ca.
Boyhood, director Richard Linklater’s magnum opus of a young child’s (Ellar Coltrane) subtle journey of self-discovery, was named Best Picture of the Year by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA).
“Originality was honored in this year’s awards from LAFCA, with several prizes going to Richard Linklater’s twelve years in the making Boyhood, and other important awards for the imaginative Grand Budapest Hotel, the groundbreaking cinematography of Birdman, and the tour de force performance by Tom Hardy in Locke,” said LAFCA president Stephen Farber. “Our group again honored a range of films from around the world and an impressive array of emerging and veteran talents.”
The 40th annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association awards takes place Saturday, January 10 at the Intercontinental, Los Angeles.
Lorelei Linklater, Ethan Hawke, and Ellar Coltrane in Boyhood (IFC Films, Matt Lankes)
Below is a list of the winners:
Picture: Boyhood (Runner-up: Grand Budapest Hotel)
Director: Richard Linklater, “Boyhood” (Runner-up: “The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson)
Actor: Tom Hardy, “Locke” (Runner-up: Michael Keaton, “Birdman”)
Screenplay: The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson (Runner-up: Birdman, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo)
Animation: The Tale of Princess Kaguya (Runner-up: The Lego Movie)
Foreign Language Film: Ida (Runner-up: Winter Sleep)
Documentary/Non-Fiction Film: Citizenfour (Runner-up: Life Itself)
New Generation: Ava DuVernay, “Selma”
Film Editing: Sandra Adair, “Boyhood” (Runner-up: Barney Pilling, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”)
Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, “Birdman” (Runner-up: Dick Pope, “Mr. Turner”)
Production Design: Adam Stockhausen, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” (Runner-up: Ondrej Nekvasil, “Snowpiercer”)
Score: (tie) Jonny Greenwood, “Inherent Vice” and Mica Levi, “Under The Skin”
Douglas E. Edwards Independent/Experimental Film/Video: Walter Reuben, “The David Whiting Story”
The Imitation Game, a WWII set feature that centers on code breaker Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch), will receive the Ensemble Performance Award at the 26th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF).
The cast members, along with Cumberbatch, include Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear, Allen Leech, Matthew Beard, Charles Dance, and Mark Strong. The Awards Gala takes place Saturday, January 3 at the Palm Springs Convention Center.
“The Imitation Game is one of the very best ensembles to grace the screen this season,” said Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley lead an outstanding cast in The Imitation Game, a film about Alan Turing as he attempts to crack Germany’s Enigma machine. The Palm Springs International Film Festival is proud to present the entire cast of The Imitation Game with the Ensemble Performance Award.”
Other honorees that will receive awards at the event include Julianne Moore (Still Alice), Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl), Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything), and J.K. Simmons (Whiplash).
PSIFF runs January 2-12. For more info, please go to its official site.
