Academy’s Governors Awards - recipients include Oprah

James Earl Jones, Dick Smith and Oprah Winfrey To Receive Academy’s Governors Awards

Beverly Hills, CA (August 2, 2011) – The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted tonight to present Honorary Awards to actor James Earl Jones and makeup artist Dick Smith and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to philanthropist Oprah Winfrey.  All three awards will be presented at the Academy’s 3rd Annual Governors Awards dinner on Saturday, November 12, at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center®.

Born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, Jones made his film debut in 1964 in Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb."  In 1970, he earned an Academy Award® nomination for his role as boxer Jack Jefferson in "The Great White Hope."  Jones has appeared in more than 50 feature films including "Claudine," "Conan the Barbarian," "Field of Dreams," "Coming to America" and, as Vice Admiral James Greer, "The Hunt for Red October," "Patriot Games" and "Clear and Present Danger."  Additionally, Jones has also voiced some of the most iconic characters in motion pictures including Darth Vader in the Star Wars trilogy and Mustafa in "The Lion King."

Montréal First Peoples’ Festival, August 2-9

This week brings the 21st edition of the Montréal First Peoples’ Festival. It takes place in and around the downtown Quartier des Spectacles where they've built a 100-foot tall teepee.

It opens tonight at the Grande Bibliothèque with the music and literary performance Anutshish / Maintenant, and film screenings of Tashina, Jesus Coyote TeeVee, and La Nouvelle Kahnawaké.

The festival will offer concerts, readings and storytelling, arts, seminars and a section devoted to film and video. On Thursday and Friday, they hold their third edition of the conference Revisioning the Americas Through Indigenous Cinema which is free and will provide simultaneous translation for attendees.

The 21st Montréal First Peoples’ Festival continues until August 9.

Festival des Films du Monde (Montreal World Film Festival) complete programming announced

A RICH AND VARIED MENU WITH AN ABANDANCE OF PREMIERES AT THE MONTREAL WORLD FILM FESTIVAL

August 18 to 28, 2011

383 FILMS FROM OVER 70 COUNTRIES
230 features and medium-length films
(107 world or international premieres and 51 North American premieres)
153 short films

A jury presided over by Spanish director Vicente Aranda

André Forcier's COTEAU ROUGE as opening film

A tribute to Catherine Deneuve

CFC Actors Conservatory Announces Participants and Accomplished Mentors

CFC ACTORS CONSERVATORY ANNOUNCES PARTICIPANTS AND ACCOMPLISHED MENTORS

Toronto, August 2, 2011 – The CFC (Canadian Film Centre) is pleased to announce the eight residents as well as some of the accomplished mentors for the third year of the CFC ACTORS CONSERVATORY, presented by Shaw Media and supported by the Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation.

Chaired by Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor Kiefer Sutherland, the five-month session, which launched today, is Canada’s first in-depth professional level, cross collaborative on-screen training program for actors. All participants in the CFC Actors Conservatory are well-established performers in areas of film, television and theatre across Canada and internationally.

The chosen participants are: Kristin Adams, Matthew Brown, Charlie Carrick, Amber Goldfarb, Trevor Hayes, Melissa Hood, Kimberly-Sue Murray and Johnathan Sousa.

Call for submissions: MONITOR 8, New South Asian Short Film + Video

Call for submissions | MONITOR 8: New South Asian Short Film + Video

DEADLINE: November 16, 2011

**Submissions must be received by November 16, regardless of postmark.**

SAVAC (South Asian Visual Arts Centre) invites submissions for its eighth annual experimental short film and video screening program, Monitor 8.

Monitor 8 is dedicated to the presentation of experimental short films and videos by/and/or about South Asians from Canada and around the world. We invite independent and innovative short films and videos that explore the aesthetic and form of the moving image and its relation to narrative. Monitor 8 encourages new, experimental and risk-taking work that challenges the viewer’s active engagement.

Call for submissions: the $100 Film Festival 2012

the $100 Film Festival

2012 Call for Submissions

Deadline for Entries:  December 1, 2011.
·      16mm or Super 8 Film under 22min
·      MUST provide a 16mm or Super 8 film print for screening.
·      Official Release date after December 1, 2009.

The Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers is pleased to present the annual $100 Film Festival from March 1-3, 2012.  The festival embodies the spirit of independent filmmaking and brings the experience of projected celluloid to our audience by only screening film prints.  It is the only competitive festival in Canada that screens exclusively on Super 8 and 16mm film.  The $100 Film Festival does not charge any entrance fees and pays artist honorariums for all films selected for the festival.    The selected films will also be eligible for festival prizes.

Osheaga Festival Musique et Arts 2011, July 29-31

The sixth annual Osheaga Festival Musique et Arts 2011 kicks off its music festival today. This year they've expanded to three days and five stages.

In addition to major headlining acts like Eminem, Elvis Costello & The Imposters and The Flaming Lips, you'll be able to catch performances by artists such as Karkwa, Sam Roberts Band, Death Cab for Cutie, Janelle Monáe, Fucked Up, The Rural Alberta Advantage and MSTRKRFT,

Osheaga Music and Arts Festival
Parc Jean-Drapeau, July 29-31
www.osheaga.com

Call for submissions: 4th Annual Film Snacks Competition

Enter our 4^th Annual Film Snacks Competition

Feel there's an environmental story yet to be told? This is your chance to tell it! The Film Snacks Competition is a platform for the best of tomorrow's film-making talent, featuring compelling short-films that build on environmental themes. You could have your film screened on the BIG screen, TV, and online!

To enter, you must simply upload your short film (2 minutes or less) to the designated page. Your submission must be based on an environmental theme.

Judges will be basing their decision on production quality (video and audio), creativity and entertainment value and choice of topic. The contest opens July 21, 2011, 12:01 a.m. ET and closes on September 15, 2011, 11:59 p.m. ET.

Summer in 70mm at TIFF Bell Lightbox, July 28-Aug 17

Summer in 70mm

After our popular 2010 holiday season of three classics—Jacques Tati’s Playtime, David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey—screened in 70mm, we present another season of widescreen spectacles (including a return engagement of Lean’s great desert adventure), each screening daily for week-long engagements.

Films in Summer in 70mm

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Lawrence of Arabia

68th Venice International Film Festival lineup announced

Today the full lineup for the 68th Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica di Venezia (Venice International Film Festival) was announced. The opening film is set to be the world premiere of The Ides Of March, directed by and starring George Clooney. Whit Stillman’s Damsels in Distress will close the festival.

Other titles in competition include David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, Steve McQueen's Shame, Carnage by Roman Polanski, Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker Tailor, Soldier, Spy, William Friedkin’s Killer Joe, Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights, Faust by Aleksander Sokurov, 4:44 Last Day on Earth from Abel Ferrara, and Dark Horse by Todd Solondz. A 22nd competition film will be unveiled during the festival.

The opening film Out of Competition is the documentary Vivan las Antipodas! by Victor Kossakovsky. Also playing out of competition are Steven Soderbergh's Contagion, Mary Harron's The Moth Diaries, Madonna’s W.E., and Al Pacino's documentary Wilde Salome. Al Pacino will be the recipient of the Jaeger-Le Coultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award.

2011 Urban X Awards - winners

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Call for submissions: monologues by Afro-Canadian playwrights

Call for Monologues – New Anthology – due August 5th
by QDF

CALL FOR MONOLOGUES

Playwrights Canada Press invites submissions of monologues written by Afro-Canadians to be included in a new anthology for publication in 2012/13. Specifically we are seeking new or previously published monologues, choreo-poetry, or spoken word pieces (written for the theatre) of approximately 5 minutes.  If previously published, the submission must include information on how to contact the publisher. If the play is unpublished, please indicate where reading scripts can be obtained.

Only electronic submissions in the form of a Word document or PDF will be accepted. The deadline for submissions is Friday August 5^th, 2011.  This call is only open to Canadian citizens and landed immigrants living in Canada.

Toronto International Film Festival 2011 announces first films

At a press conference this morning at the Hyatt Regency in Toronto, the Toronto International Film Festival announced their first group of films that will play at their 36th annual festival.

In the leadup to the press conference, co-director Cameron Bailey (@cameron_tiff) tweeted several of the titles in advance. He announced Michael Winterbottom's Trishna starring Freida Pinto and Riz Ahmed, Luc Besson's The Lady with Michelle Yeoh, David Thewlis, Huh Jong-ho's Countdown starring Jeon Do-yeon, and Fernando Mereilles' 360 starring Jude Law, Rachel Weisz and Anthony Hopkins. All four are world premieres.

The Opening Night gala is Davis Guggenheim's U2 documentary From the Sky Down. This is the first time that a documentary has opened the festival. Also announced were Sarah Polley's Take This Waltz and David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method. Also, the festival will host the world premiere of Bennett Miller's Moneyball with Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill.

Call for submissions: Vancouver Women in Film Festival (VWIFF 2012)

OPEN CALL FOR ENTRIES
 

7th Annual Vancouver Women in Film Festival (VWIFF 2012)

7 Annual March 08, 2012 to March 11, 2012

Each year since 2006, the Vancouver Women in Film Festival (VWIFF) has showcased an impressive line-up of short and feature films (narrative, documentary and animation) by established and emerging women filmmakers from around the world. The Festival is presented by Women in Film and Television Vancouver and is one of our key annual celebration events. In addition to offering independent filmmakers a professional screening opportunity, the festival also serves to build audiences and appreciation for relevant cinema by women.

“There was such a breadth of vision, expression and storytelling in the submissions we received last year, I’m very excited to see what we’ll be presenting to our audiences in 2012,” says Festival Artistic Director, Roslyn Muir.

Festival du Film de Juste pour rire 2011 (Just For Laughs Film Festival), July 24-30

JUST FOR LAUGHS FILMS                  

We have done it again!  After countless months of travel, sleepless nights, drinks, dance and hard work (in that order), we bring you the best comedy films, documentaries and shorts.

Homeboy Angelo Tsarouchas will be in town to present his award-winning film FRED & VINNIE; come see heavy-hitter Harvey Keitel and Emmy-winner Scott Caan in a tale of an unusual family reunion in A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO ENDINGS; or how about “the best movie about comedy” (Sarah Silverman said this) and the “wonderful... irreverent... brilliant” (The Huffington Postsaid this) PUNCHING THE CLOWN.

And we are proud to present the world premiere of the hilarious waiter-rebellion comedy, SERVITUDE, with several members of the cast and crew in attendance; marvel as madman Cap'n Video (aka Ralph Zavadil), the pre-Jackass prince of stupid neck-breaking stunts, finally gets his due in the Hot Docs smash hit (literally) BEAUTY DAY; the documentary PHUNNY BUSINESS will take us back to the historic comedy club All Jokes Aside which, for a decade, was the preeminent black comic showcase in America; while TELL YOUR FRIENDS! THE CONCERT FILM! will take you to the future of American comedy.