13th Annual Costume Designers Guild (CDG) Awards - winners

The Costume Designers Guild held their ceremony for the 13th annual CDG Awards at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills on Tuesday night. The King's Speech (Jenny Beavan), Black Swan (Amy Westcott) and Alice in Wonderland (Colleen Atwood) were the winners for film.

It was perhaps a bittersweet victory for Black Swan designer Amy Westcott as she is not nominated for Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Most of the publicity for the film's costumes had centred on the Mulleavy sisters' label Rodarte. The sisters are personal friends of Natalie Portman and they themselves happily took credit for the costumes and claimed that they were jilted out of a screen credit because of their naïveté. Amy Westcott was asked to keep quiet to avoid bad press and only spoke out after the Oscar nominations were announced and her work went unrecognized.

It is clear that Westcott was indeed the true Costume Designer, and that Rodarte were sub-contracted to do certain items to her specifications as is commonly the case. For them to claim anything more is outrageous - like a composer for an end-credit song claiming to be the film score composer. The Mulleavy sisters should not have been allowed to create that false impression.

2011 Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts - winners

This morning at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto, the Canada Council for the Arts announced the eight winners of the 2011 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts. The awards each come with a cash prize of $25,000 and a medallion. The awards are given in recognition of career achievement and outstanding contributions in the visual and media arts by Canadian artists.

The recipients are photographer Geneviève Cadieux, visual artist Robert Fones, performance and visual artist Michael Morris, filmmakers David Rimmer and Barbara Sternberg and painter Shirley Wiitasalo for distinguished artistic achievement; metalsmith Kye-Yeon Son received the Saidye Bronfman Award for excellence in fine crafts; and Nancy Tousley received the Outstanding Contribution Award for her 30-year career as an art critic and journalist.

This is the 12th year for the Governor General's Awards. The Governor General of Canada David Johnston will present the 2011 Awards at a ceremony at Rideau Hall (1 Sussex Drive, Ottawa) on Wednesday, March 23 at 6 p.m.

2011 Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) Screenwriting Awards - finalists

The Writers Guild of Canada released the names of the finalists for their 15th Annual WGC Screenwriting Awards today -- officially, at least (there had been a good deal of Facebook and Twitter congratulations going around last week as many finalists received prior notice). The finalists for feature film screenwriting were Michael Konyves for Barney’s Version, Adriana Maggs for Grown Up Movie Star and Dennis Foon Life, Above All.

The Documentary nominees were Jon Cooksey for How to Boil a Frog, Jefferson Lewis for Outbreak: Anatomy of a Plague and Christine Nielsen for The Pig Farm.

For television, a number of shows received multiple nominations. The double-nominees were the animated show League of Super Evil, Children & Youth show Wingin’ It, and police dramas Rookie Blue and Flashpoint. The comedy Less Than Kind II received three nominations.

Toronto Human Rights Watch Film Festival, Feb 22-Mar 4

The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival is a touring festival of films by Human Rights Watch, an organization dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. The festival highlights human rights issues and struggles, and includes both dramas and documentaries. It started in New York in 1994 before expanding to London in 1996. They now tour various cities in Canada and the United States.

The 8th annual Toronto Human Rights Watch Film Festival starts tonight at TIFF Bell Lightbox. The festival continues until March 4.

Tonight's opening film is Ali Samadi’s The Green Wave, a documentary about the disturbing Iranian presidential elections in 2009. The special guest Payam Akhavan, Professor of International Law at McGill University in Montreal and co-founder of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre, will attend the gala screening.

Premiile Gopo - 5th Annual Gopo Awards for Romanian film - nominations

The Asociaţia Pentru Promovarea Filmului Românesc (Association for Romanian Film Promotion) announced the nominees today for their 5th Annual Premiile Gopo (Gopo Awards) for Romanian cinema. Florin Şerban's Eu când vreau să fluier, fluier (If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle) received a record thirteen nominations including Best Film, Director, Actor (George Piştereanu), Actress (Ada Condeescu) and Screenplay (Cătălin Mitulescu, Florin Şerban).

Marian Crişan's Morgen was next with eleven nominations, including Best Film, Director and Screenplay for Crişan, and two Actor nominations (András Hatházi, Yilmaz Yalcin). Radu Muntean's Marţi, după Crăciun (Tuesday, After Christmas) followed with ten nominations, including Best Picture, Director, Screenplay (Alexandru Baciu Radu Muntean Răzvan Rădulescu), Actor (Mimi Brănescu), and two nominations for Best Actress (Maria Popistașu, Mirela Oprişor).

Medalia de onoare (Medal of Honour), Felicia, înainte de toate (First of All, Felicia), and Caravana cinematografică (Kino Caravan) were next with seven nominations each. Medalia de onoare (Medal of Honour) was also a nominee for Best Film along with the Documentary Autobiografia lui Nicolae Ceauşescu (The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu).

Yeşilçam Ödülleri’nin - 4th annual Yeşilçam Awards for Turkish film - nominations

The Turkish Foundation of Cinema and Audiovisual Culture (TÜRSAK) has announced the nominees for the 4th Annual Yeşilçam Ödülleri’nin (Yeşilçam Awards). Çoğunluk (The Majority) led with eleven nominations, including Best Film and Best Director. It also received a nomination for editor Mary Stephen, who is a Hong Kong-born, France-based Canadian who studied at Concordia in Montreal (she was an editor on Montreal filmmaker Lixin Fan's Last Train Home). Çoğunluk screened at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival as part of their City to City programme which featured Istanbul.

Av Mevsimi (Hunting Season) followed with nine nominations. It too was nominated for both Best Film and Best Director.

The other nominees for Best Film were Eyyvah Eyvah, Kavşak (The Crossing), Kosmos and Yahşi Batı (The Ottoman Cowboys). With the exception of the comedy Eyyvah Eyvah, each also received a nomination for Best Director.

The Yeşilçam Ödülleri’nin are named in honour of Yeşilçam Street in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul which housed many film studios in the 1950s-1970s. Winners receive cash prizes from a pool of 250.000 TL, including 50,000 TL for the Best Film winner.

MPSE's 58th Golden Reel Awards for film sound - winners

The Motion Picture Sound Editors held their awards ceremony last night at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in Los Angeles for their 58th Annual Golden Reel Awards. The main winner of the night for film was Inception, which won for Best Sound Editing for Feature Film Music and for Sound Effects & Foley. Inception and Black Swan had led the nominations with three each, but Black Swan came away empty-handed.

The Documentary winner was Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage which profiles the Canadian prog-rock band. The winner for Animation was How To Train Your Dragon. The Foreign Language film winners was Micmacs. Country Strong won for Music in a Musical, while The Social Network won for Dialogue and ADR (Automated dialogue replacement).

The Academy Award nominees for Sound Editing are Inception, Toy Story 3, Tron: Legacy, True Grit and Unstoppable. Inception becomes the clear front-runner in this category at the Oscars.

The preferential ballot - Rank the Oscar Best Picture nominees

Now that the Academy Awards are one week away, it's a good time to prepare yourself for the big night. It helps to see as many of the films in advance as you can, but it isn't essential. If you want to know more about how it all works, take a look back at the article I wrote previously on the Academy and their awards process. Don't believe everything you read though, since many insiders and even some voters themselves don't understand how it really works.

In a nutshell, Academy is like a private club of accomplished industry professionals. The nominations for the Academy are done by the specific branches, ie. the writers nominate the writing categories, the actors nominate actors, directors nominate directors, editors nominate editors, etc. Everyone can nominate Best Picture.

The nominations were done with a preferential ballot, something not everyone realizes -- not even all the voters. It means they aren't nominating five people. A preferential ballot only counts one vote at any given time. Think of it as something like a political leadership convention - you can only support one candidate at a time. As candidates get eliminated, their supporters move to their second choice, then their third, and so one. The Academy's accountants only go down the list on the ballot as people are eliminated from contention.

8th Annual International Cinephile Society Awards - winners

The International Cinephile Society announced the winners of their 8th Annual ICS Awards this weekend. Their number one film of the year was Jacques Audiard's Un Prophète (A Prophet). It was also named the number one Film Not in the English Language and Audiard was named the top director. Niels Arestrup won for Best Supporting Actor, while Tahar Rahim was runner-up for Best Actor.

Another French crime thriller Carlos was number two on both top ten lists. Its star Édgar Ramírez was the one who edged Tahar Rahim for the Acting prize. But the film was runner-up in the directing category (Olivier Assayas) and for editing.

Lesley Manville (Another Year) tied with Giovanna Mezzogiorno (Vincere) for Best Actress. The Supporting Actress honour went to Olivia Williams for The Ghost Writer.

19th annual MovieGuide Faith & Values Awards - winners

The 19th annual MovieGuide Faith & Values Awards Gala was held on Friday night. MovieGuide is a publication by Ted Baehr, who is also the Chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission. Unlike the recent list of top films by Arts & Faith, this list is not so much about artistic merit as it is about advocating for a conservative Christian perspective.

Their top prize for film went to Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader. It is the third film in the series of films based on the books by C.S. Lewis. The number one film on their top ten list of films for families was Toy Story 3. For mature audiences, their number one film was Secretariat.

Their Faith and Freedom Awards for Promoting Positive American Values award for film went to Mao's Last Dancer, about Chinese dancer Li Cunxin's defection to the United States.

Wedge Curatorial Projects presents, Witness As Desired: A Celebration of African Canadian Film

This afternoon, TIFF Bell Lightbox hosts a free screening of short films by African-Canadian filmmakers as part of the free Family Day weekend events. The screening program is entitled Witness As Desired: A Celebration of African Canadian Film. It starts at 3:30pm in Cinema 4.

Featured filmmakers include Dawn Wilkinson, Powys Dewhurst, Alison Duke and Sharon Lewis. Many of the filmmakers will be in attendance at the screening. TIFF Co-director Cameron Bailey will also be in attendance.

There will be a reception and panel discussion with Cameron Bailey and the contemporary filmmakers involved following the screening.

47th annual Cinema Audio Society (CAS) Awards - winners

The Cinema Audio Society held their ceremony on Saturday night for the 47th annual CAS Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for 2010 at the Crystal Ballroom of the Millennium Biltmore Hotel. The mixing team for True Grit won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Picture. The team consisted of production mixer
 Peter F. Kurland, CAS
 re-recording mixers Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey and Greg Orloff.

Althought the sound in True Grit is not flashy, it is widely admired for its subtlety and naturalness which is often harder to create. It won out over fellow nominees Black Swan, Inception, Shutter Island and The Social Network.

Television winners included Temple Grandin, Boardwalk Empire and Deadliest Catch.

The CAS awarded two honourary awards. The Career Achievement Honoree was Jeffrey S. Wexler.  The CAS Filmmaker Award Honoree was DGA president Taylor Hackford. Technical Achievement Awards were given to the microphone Schoeps Super CMIT 2U and the audio repair software program Izotope Izotope RX-2
.

61st annual ACE Eddie Awards (editing) - winners

The American Cinema Editors (ACE) held its awards ceremony Saturday night for the 61st annual ACE Eddie Awards in film, television and documentaries (not to be confused with the Edda Awards). The winners for Best Edited Feature in the Dramatic category was The Social Network, while the Comedy winner was Alice in Wonderland.

The nominees in the Dramatic category had included the strong contenders Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception and The King's Speech. The competition in the comedy category consisted of Easy A, The Kids Are All Right, Made in Dagenham and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.

The Animation award went to Toy Story 3. The winner in the Documentary category was Banksy's Exit Through the Gift Shop.

The ACE Eddie Awards are generally thought to be a strong indicator of how the Oscars will vote for editing. The winner of the Oscar for editing has matched with the ACE Eddies for the last nine years in a row.

Edduverðlaunin 2011 - Edda Awards for Icelandic film - winners

The Íslenska kvikmynda- og sjónvarpsakademían (Icelandic Film and Television Academy) held their ceremony tonight at the Icelandic Opera House for their Edduverðlaunin 2011 (Edda Awards) for film and television. Árni Ólafur Ásgeirsson's drama Brim (Undercurrent) led with six wins. It had led with twelve nominations, and captured the prizes for Best Film, Actress (Nína Dögg Filippusdóttir), Sound, Film Score, Cinematography and Editing.

Dagur Kári's The Good Heart was not far behind with five awards. Kári won for Director and Screenplay, and the film also captured the prizes for Costume, Makeup and Production Design.

Rokland (Stormland) received two acting awards, for Lead Actor (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) and Supporting Actress (Elma Lísa Gunnarsdóttir).  The other acting award for Supporting Actor went to Thorsteinn Bachmann for Órói (Jitters). It was the only award for Órói, which like The Good Heart received ten nominations.

The Documentary winner was Fiðruð fíkn (Feathered Cocaine).

61st Berlin International Film Festival - award winners

The 61st Berlin International Film Festival is drawing to a close and they have presented their awards including the main jury awards. The Golden Bear for Best Film went to Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (Nader And Simin, A Separation) by Asghar Farhadi. It also won the Silver Bear prizes for Best Actor and Best Actress for the ensemble cast.

While the Berlin Festival openly condemned Iranian government's conviction of director Jafar Panahi, this won't be necessarily seen as a political and unearned decision by the jury, which was led by Isabella Rossellini. The film was very well-reviewed and doesn't have any blatant political content. Nonetheless, director Asghar Farhadi dedicated his wins to Panahi, saying "This goes out to you. I hope next time you will be standing here."

A torinói ló (The Turin Horse) by Hungarian director Béla Tarr claimed the Silver Bear Jury Grand Prix. The Silver Bear for Best Director was awarded to Ulrich Köhler for Schlafkrankheit (Sleeping Sickness).