2012 华语电影传媒大奖 (Chinese Film Media Awards) – winners

The 12th annual 华语电影传媒大奖 (Chinese Film Media Awards) were held on May 30 at at Hainan International Convention and Exhibition Centre in Haikou, the capital of south China's Hainan Province.

The Best Film award went to the Taiwanese historical epic 赛德克·巴莱 (Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale) by 魏德胜 (Te-Sheng Wei). However, that was its only award.

The Hong Kong suspense thriller 夺命金 (Life Without Principle) by Johnny To and the romance 那些年 (You Are the Apple of My Eye) by 九把刀 (Giddens Ko) both won four awards. 夺命金 (Life Without Principle) had led the nominations with ten and picked up Best Director, Screenplay, Actor for 刘青云 (Lau Ching Wan) and Supporting Actress for 何韵诗 (Denise Ho Wan Si). 那些年 (You Are the Apple of My Eye) picked up Most Popular Movie, Notable Performance for 陈妍希 (Michelle Chen), New Director, and New Actor for 柯震东 (Zhendong Ke).

2012 Golden Trailer Awards – winners

The winners for the 13th Annual Golden Trailer Awards were announced last night at a ceremony in Los Angeles, California.

The top prize Best in Show went to The Dark Knight Rises for its trailer "Chant" by Open Road Entertainment. It also won Summer 2012 Blockbuster Trailer and two poster awards. The film opens on July 20, 2012 in North America.

The remaining awards were spread around to a wide range of titles. Among the many winners, Snow White and the Huntsman won for Best Action Trailer, Bridesmaids won for Comedy, George Harrison: Living in the Material World took the Documentary category, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo took the Drama prize, and Take Shelter won for Independent.

2012 InspiraTO Festival, June 1-10

7th Annual InspiraTO Festival
Alumnae Theatre (Mainstage), Toronto
June 1-10, 2012

InspiraTO is back and it's bigger and better than ever!

Canada's largest ten-minute play festival launches its 7th successful season June 1-10, 2012 at Toronto's Alumnae Theatre Mainstage (view map). InspiraTO 2012 is primed to produce its largest collection of plays to date: 24 fascinating and provocative ten-minute plays, created and brought to life by an incredibly talented slate of up-and-coming emerging artists.

TAIS Showcase 2012, June 1-4

The Toronto Animated Image Society holds their annual screening event, the TAIS Showcase beginning tonight. The opening show will be TAIS Showcase 2012 and Anijam: Technical Difficulties, consisting of the best from Canadian and international animation.

The screenings continue with Creations, obsessions, and sensations, a free show of National Film Board (NFB) works. On Sunday afternoon, they will host Children’s Screening Program & Animation Workshop for Kids which is $5 for kids and free for accompanying adults. The series closes with Meet the Artist: Iain Gardner – Artist Talk and Screening, a pay-what-you-can screening and talk by the Scottish filmmaker. Gardner is an animator, festival programmer and winner of Best Animated Short at the 2011 CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival.

2012 TIFF Emerging Filmmakers Competition - finalists announced

The Toronto International Film Festival has announced the finalists of their second RBC Emerging Filmmakers Competition. The 20 participating filmmakers of the 2011 TIFF Talent Lab were asked to make a short film on a given theme with selected films becoming eligible to win prizes. This year's theme was "time."

Talent Lab participants were asked to develop a 1-5 minute short film and given three months to make their film. Each filmmaker received a $500 bursary donated by RBC and a small video camera. Finalists were selected by a jury panel comprised of established film industry producers, directors and executives. The top five films will now be judged before the 2012 Festival by online voters as well as an official jury of industry professionals.

Toronto Theatre Critics' Awards 2012 – winners

Last night, the Toronto Theatre Critics Association announced the winners for their 2nd annual Toronto Theatre Critics' Awards.

Topping the awards were Carole Fréchette's The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs, and the musicals Ride the Cyclone by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell, and Caroline, or Change by Tony Kushner. They each picked up three awards.

This year, the Best New Play category was divided into Best Canadian Play and Best International Play and both awards went to Asian-themed plays. The Canadian Play award went to Ins Choi's Kim’s Convenience which was a huge Fringe Festival hit before being picked up by Soulpepper. The play is set in a Korean variety store and stars Paul Sun-Hyung Lee who won took the honours for Best Actor in a play. The popular play has been extended yet again for another run from June 27 to July 4.

2012 Guichet d’Or prize goes to Ken Scott and Martin Petit

TELEFILM CANADA AWARDS ITS 2011 GUICHET D’OR TO THE CANADIAN DIRECTOR AND CO-WRITERS OF THE FEATURE STARBUCK

KEN SCOTT AND MARTIN PETIT TAKE TOP HONOURS

Montreal, May 30, 2012 – Telefilm Canada this morning awarded its Guichet d’Or prize to the director and co-writer of Starbuck, Ken Scott, as well as to the film’s co-writer, Martin Petit, in the company of Patrick Huard, Julie LeBreton and Antoine Bertrand. The prize comes with a cash award of $20,000 for each of the winners. The Guichet d’Or has been awarded annually for the past five years to the Canadian writer and director of the Canadian French-language feature film with the highest-grossing domestic box-office sales during the previous year. In 2011, Starbuck took in more than $3.5 million at the Canadian box office.

Mutek International Festival of Digital Creativity and Electronic Music, May 30-June 3

The 13th Mutek International Festival of Digital Creativity and Electronic Music begins today with several shows including performances by Nelly-Eve Rajotte, TRINITY, Robin Fox, DKMD, Blondes and Apparat Band. A number of other shows and performances will be free.

Of particular interest is the North American premiere of Cinechamber, in which the Fellini space in Excentris has been set up to be a panoramic projection room that can be operated in sync with audio artists. A dozen local and international artists have been invited to manipulate the intermodal platform live, and navigate the space as an audio-optical instrument or as instrumentalists working in analog or digital real-time formations.

In addition, Mutek will host a "Tools for an Unknown Future" Symposium and a Digi_Section Conference.

LIFT's free panel on short film funding

PANEL DISCUSSION: SHORT FILM FUNDING

Wednesday, May 30, 2012 - 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Seating is limited. First come, first served.

Join curators from Bravo!FACT, Astral’s Harold Greenberg Fund and Canadian Short Screenplay Competition (CSSC) for an informal panel discussion on short film funding. Get familiar with the funds available, for whom and the critical elements for getting your film funded.

Call for submissions: Confessions Underground

CALL FOR CONFESSIONS: Deadline July 1st

Part social experiment, part public intervention, Confessions Underground is a video based art project that gives willing participants the rare opportunity to record a private on-camera confession and broadcast it publicly over 300 of Toronto’s digital subway platform screens.

From July 2st – July 15th, video confessions will be screened daily throughout Toronto’s underground subway system, intersecting with the daily comings-and-goings of commuter traffic.

Sound terrifying? Yes, probably. But who knows? It could also be exhilarating, cathartic, perhaps even liberating.

2012 Bulgarian Film Academy Awards – winners

The Българската филмова академия (Bulgarian Film Academy) held the ceremony tonight for their 3rd annual Наградите на Българската филмова академия (Bulgarian Film Academy Awards).

The big winner of the night was Аве (Avé) by Константин Божанов (Konstantin Bojanov). It took a total of three awards. It not only won the top prize of Best Film, but also picked up Best Actor for Ованес Торосян (Ovanes Torosian) and Best First Film. The story is about an art student Kamen hitchhiking from Sofia to Ruse and meeting a young woman Avé who claims to be on her way to visit and terminally ill grandmother.

The internet-themed drama Love.net by Илиян Джевелеков (Ilian Djevelekov) managed to pick up more awards, however. It won for Best Director, Cinematographer, Art Direction and Editing.

60th Stratford Shakespeare Festival, May 28-Oct 28

Tonight, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival launches their 60th season with a Gala presentation of Much Ado About Nothing. Directed by Christopher Newton, the play will star Ben Carlson as Benedick and Deborah Hay as Beatrice. Newton was a member of the Festival’s acting company from 1966 to 1968.

Five other plays open in quick succession this week: 42nd Street, directed by Gary Griffin and featuring Sean Arbuckle as Julian Marsh, Kyle Blair as Billy Lawlor, Cynthia Dale as Dorothy Brock, and Jennifer Rider-Shaw as Peggy Sawyer; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, directed by Donna Feore, featuring Stephen Patterson as Snoopy, Erica Peck as Lucy and Ken James Stewart as Charlie Brown; Cymbeline, directed by Antoni Cimolino, featuring Graham Abbey as Posthumus, Tom McCamus as Iachimo, Cara Ricketts as Innogen, and Geraint Wyn Davies as Cymbeline; The Pirates of Penzance, directed by Ethan McSweeny, featuring Sean Arbuckle as the Pirate King, Kyle Blair as Frederic, C. David Johnson as the Major General, and Amy Wallis as Mabel Stanley; and The Matchmaker, directed by Chris Abraham, featuring Tom McCamus as Horace Vandergelder and Seana McKenna as Dolly Levi.

The Script Tease Project 2012, May 28-June 3

After a very successful inaugural run last year, the Script Tease Project by the improv troupe The National Theatre of the World returns with another week of their very popular brand of improvised plays in collaboration with local writers.

Tonight, the run kicks off with Maja Ardal, and Icelandic-Canadian playwright. She, like the other writers, will be asked to provide the first two pages of a play. The troupe, consisting of Matt Baram, Ron Pederson and Naomi Sniekus, will then improvise the remainder of the play in the style of the writer.

The shows will continue all week with an 8pm show every weekday and two shows a day on Friday to Sunday. The other invited writers are Michael Healey, Anusree Roy, Sky Gilbert, Karen Hines, Lee MacDougall, Scott Thompson, Adam Pettle, Ins Choi and John Murrell.

2012 DOC NOW Film Festival, May 28-June 1

Ryerson University's 2012 DOC NOW Documentary Media Festival began earlier this month with an exhibition of Rehab Nazzal's At Home, as part of the CONTACT Photography Festival. Tonight, the film festival portion of the festival begins at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

The opening screening will be Alternatives and features The Grass Is Always Greener by Arianne Persaud, Food for All by Marcelo Paolinelli, Brunswick St. by Halley Roback and Kevin Fraser's Analogue. Each film explores those with a different perspective on everyday topics.

The film screenings continue until Friday, June 1 at TIFF Bell Lightbox. The following week, there will be additional screenings of each program on June 8 and 9 at the School of Image Arts building in room 304.

2012 Festival de Cannes – award winners

The 65th Festival de Cannes drew to a close tonight with the closing awards ceremony at the Grand Théâtre Lumière, hosted by Academy Award nominated actress Berenice Bejo.

The top prize was captured yet again by Michael Haneke for his portrait of an elderly couple Amour. This is the second time he has bested Jacques Audiard who was also in competition with De rouille et d'os (Rust and Bone). Haneke becomes one of the few two-time Palme d'Or winners alongside Alf Sjöberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Bille August, Emir Kusturica, Shohei Imamura, and brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, and only the second after August to win with consecutive films – his previous Palme d'Or was for his 2009 film Das weiße Band (The White Ribbon).

Matteo Garrone picked up his second Grand Prix for his film Reality. Previously, he had won in 2008 for Gomorrah.

2012 Leo Awards for B.C. film/TV – winners (part 2)

After Friday night's presentation of the Celebration Awards, the 14th annual Leo Awards for British Columbia's film and television industry presented the remaining trophies last night. The Gala Awards presentation was hosted by Sanctuary stars Amanda Tapping and Robin Dunne.

Carl Bessai's Sisters&Brothers the Feature Length Drama categories with a total of six awards. In addition to the Editing award from Friday, it picked up Best Feature Length Drama, Best Direction, Musical Score, Supporting Actor (Tom Scholte) and Lead Actress (Amanda Crew). It had led with twelve nominations. Sisters&Brothers is an ensemble film that explores a number of sibling relationships and has a light touch that is atypical of Bessai's often weighty work.

The only other multiple prize-winner in the feature section was Sunflower Hour, picking up Best Supporting Actress (Johannah Newmarch) to go with its Casting prize from Friday. Donovan's Echo did not manage to add to its two awards from earlier.

2012 Leo Awards for B.C. film/TV – winners (part 1)

The first group of winners for the 2012 Leo Awards were presented last night at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. The evening was hosted by Gary Jones.

So far, Donovan's Echo leads the Feature Length Drama section with two awards, for Best Overall Sound and Sound Editing. Other winners for feature films are Doppleganger Paul (Screenwriting), Sisters&Brothers (Picture Editing), Magic Beyond Words: The J.K. Rowling Story (Production Design), Hamlet (Costume Design), and Sunflower Hour (Casting).

The remainder of the awards will be presented tonight, also at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. The Gala Awards Ceremony will be hosted by Amanda Tapping and Robin Dunne.

Un Certain Regard 2012 award winners

UN CERTAIN REGARD 2012 AWARDS

Un Certain Regard 2012 presented 20 films directed by 26 directors hailing from 17 different countries. Four of the works were first films.

Presided over by Tim Roth (actor, director), the Jury was comprised of Leïla Bekhti (actress), Sylvie Pras (head of cinema - Centre Pompidou Paris, artistic director - La Rochelle Festival), Tonie Marshall (director, producer) and Luciano Monteagudo (critic - Pagina/12 - Buenos Aires).

“This was an extraordinarily strong group of films and our deliberations were passionate. The film makers never once failed us! Incredible!” Tim Roth

2012 Toronto International Music Summit, May 26

The first ever Toronto International Music Summit takes place today in the city's downtown. The Toronto Music Summit is a conference for the independent and unsigned emerging artist representing all genres of music.

The headlining guest speakers are Kardinal Offichall and music video producer Director X. Conference speakers include Dale Kotyk (Vice President Marketing, Warner Music Group), Vered Koren (Director Music & Brand Partnerships, EMI Music Canada), Rodney Murphy (SOCAN Education & Outreach), and Jeff Leake (Program Director, Sirius Satellite Radio).

The main conference takes place at the Fairmont Royal York, while the performances take place at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Call for submissions: Toronto After Dark Film Festival

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival has officially put out a call for submissions for its 2012 edition, its seventh.

TAD is Toronto's leading genre festival for films including horror, sci-fi, fantasy, animation, crime, action, suspense, thriller, documentary, music videos and cult/bizarre films, both in short form and feature-length.

The 7th Annual Toronto After Dark Film Festival expands this year to nine nights, from October 18-26, 2012. It returns to the Bloor Cinema.

2012 Quinzaine des Réalisateurs (Directors' Fortnight) award winners

Art Cinema Award
No, Pablo Larraín (Chile, U.S., Mexico)
Jury 2012 : Joanna Lapinska, Albert Wiederspiel and Jimi Andreani

. Given by the CICAE, Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d’Art et d’Essai (International Confederation of Art Cinemas), its mission is to promote quality motion pictures on wide screens, to defend the ‘’right for cultural diversity’’.

2012 Cinéfondation award winners

The 15th Cinéfondation award winners revealed today by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and his Jury

The Cinéfondation and Short Film Jury headed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and including Arsinée Khanjian, Karim Aïnouz, Emmanuel Carrère and Yu Lik-Wai, has awarded the 2012 Cinéfondation Prizes during a ceremony held in the Buñuel Theatre, followed by the screening of the winning films.

The Cinéfondation Selection consisted of 15 student films, chosen out of nearly 1 700 entries coming from 320 film schools around the world.


First Prize:

Free screening of Overheard 2

In celebration of May being Asian Heritage Month, the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival hosts a number of events including a free screening tonight of Felix Chong and Alan Mak's crime drama Overheard 2. It is a sequel in name only, since the main cast is the same as in Overheard but their characters are not.

Manson Law (Ching Wan Lau), a celebrated stockbroker in Hong Kong is injured in a car accident. The police, led by Inspector Jack Ho (Louis Koo), discovers a military surveillance device in the car wreck. Meanwhile, the wiretapper Joe (Daniel Wu) is unveiling his extensive plan that targets the mysterious financial conglomerate, the Landlord Club. The fate of these three men soon intertwines in the cat-and-mouse game that may bring down the entire stock market. -- Distribution Workshop

Rehearsal Hall 2012, May 25-27

Rehearsal Hall is an event put on by Fresh Herbs, Tarragon Theatre's youth development program(s). The mini-festival of their latest creations features 10-minute plays, a staged reading and a public panel. All events are pay-what-you-can.

It kicks off tonight with an open rehearsal of the two primary programs. Then tomorrow, there will be a professional workshop reading of The Education of Jamie Stewart by Lyndsey Bourne, followed by the first of the primary programs. The second takes place on the Sunday afternoon, followed by a panel discussion.

2012 Cannes Critics Week – awards winners

51ST SEMAINE DE LA CRITIQUE – AND THE WINNERS ARE…

* * * Feature films * * *

Nespresso Grand Prize for La Semaine de la Critique
Jury : Bertrand Bonello (President) and film critics Francisco Ferreira (Expresso, Portugal),
Akiko Kobari (Yukan Fuji, Japan), Robert Koehler (Variety, USA) and Hanns-Georg Rodek (Die Welt, Germany).

AQUÍ Y ALLÁ Antonio Méndez Esparza
(Spain/USA/Mexico)