Producers Guild of America (PGA) documentary nominations announced

The Producers Guild of America (PGA) has announced their nominations in the category of Documentary Theatrical Motion Picture for their 22nd annual PGA Awards which will be held at the Beverly Hilton on January 22nd, 2011. The nominees are Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer, Earth Made of Glass, Inside Job, Smash His Camera, The Tillman Story and Waiting for ‘Superman’. The remaining nominations will be announces on January 4, 2011.

The PGA Awards are one of the key guild awards in the lead-up to the Oscars. Last year's winner of the main Darryl F. Zanuck Award was The Hurt Locker, which then went on to capture the Best Picture Academy Award. Those who were paying attention to this result were not nearly so surprised when The Hurt Locker won. The PGA give awards to both film and television.

9th Sommets du cinéma d’animation de Montréal, December 2-5

Tonight marks the kickoff of the 9th Sommets du cinéma d’animation de Montréal. This year, the annual animation festival showcases 130 films from 22 countries (including Russia, Poland, France and Japan), and includes four feature films and dozens of short films, including nearly thirty from Quebec. The four features are Le Vilain petit canard (The Ugly Duckling) by Russia's Garri Bardine, a musical adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen tale Goodbye Mister Christie by Britain's Phil Mulloy, Liu Jian's Piercing 1 which just won Best Animated Feature at the 2010 Asia Pacific Screen Awards, and Waking Sleeping Beauty, a documentary about the difficulties of the Disney studios in the 1980s.

Among the animated shorts that will screen over the next few days are titles such as Les journaux de Lipsett (Lipsett Diaries) by Theodore Ushev, The Trenches by Claude Cloutier, Mamori by Karl Lemieux and The Circus by Nicolas Brault. You'll also have a chance to see some animation by talented students including Eva Cvijanovic's Once Upon a Many Time. 

2011 Sundance Film Festival out-of-competition feature films

The Sundance Film Festival announced the remainder of their feature film lineup for 2011. The out-of-competition selections include higher-profile films with star power such as Kevin Smith's Red State, Miguel Arteta's Cedar Rapids and Tom McCarthy's Win Win. Featured actors include Paul Giamatti, John C. Reilly, Laura Linney, Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Sigourney Weaver, Greg Kinnear, Pierce Brosnan, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer, Ewan MacGregor, Ray Liotta and Al Pacino.

Documentaries unveiled today include Morgan Spurlock's The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Eugene Jarecki's Reagan, and Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato's Becoming Chaz which profiles Chastity Bono's transition from female to male.

Sundance also has a Native Showcase which includes the feature film GRAB by Billy Luther and a selection of short films by native filmmakers. This is in addition to the previously announced On the Ice by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean which is in the U.S. Dramatic Competition category.

2010 National Board of Review Awards - winners announced

The National Board of Review has presented their selections for top films of 2010, and The Social Network dominates their choices. It won for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Other actors receiving recognition from NBR were Lesley Manville (Another Year), Christian Bale (The Fighter), and Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom). The French film Des hommes et des dieux (Of Gods and Men) won Best Foreign Film, while won Toy Story 3 Best Animated Feature. Waiting For “Superman” was named Best Documentary. In addition to the Best Film categories, the NBR named an addition Top Ten Films, Top Ten Independent Films, Top Five Foreign Films, and Top Five Documentaries.

After being passed over by the Gotham Awards in the Breakthrough category, Jennifer Lawrence received that honour from the NBR for her work in Winter’s Bone. Surprisingly, some major films such as 127 Hours, Black Swan, The Kids Are All Right or Blue Valentine were not recognized either with individual awards or on one of the top ten lists.

2010 Asia Pacific Screen Awards - winners announced

Chinese films dominated the 4th Annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards at a ceremony held Thursday, December 2 at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre in Australia’s Gold Coast. The Best Feature Film prize went to Tangshan dadizheng (Aftershock) by Feng Xiaogang and the film's star Chen Daoming won Best Performance By Actor. Aftershock led with six nominations and is the all-time largest-grossing film in China. The Best Animated Feature Film award went to Piercing I, and the Best Documentary Feature Film honour went to Canadian-Chinese film Last Train Home by Montreal native Lixin Fan.

Korea's Poetry took two prizes, the Directing prize for Lee Chang-dong and the Actress prize for Yun Jung-hee. The Israel / France / Germany co-production Lebanon also won two awards for writer/director Samuel Maoz - the Screen International Jury Grand Prize (shared with Caterpillar actress Shinobu Terajima) and Best Screenplay.

15th Annual Satellite Awards nominations announced

International Press Academy announced the nominees for the 15th Annual Satellite Awards on December 1. Leading with 11 nominations was Christopher Nolan's Inception, followed by 127 Hours with nine, The Social Network with seven and The King's Speech with six. The four were also nominated for Best Motion Picture Drama, as were Animal Kingdom, Blue Valentine, Get Low, The Ghost Writer, The Town, and recent Gotham Awards winner Winter's Bone. Alice in Wonderland, Black Swan, The Kids are All Right, Unstoppable and The Town each received five nominations.

In the Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy category, the nominees are Cyrus, The Kids Are All Right, Made in Dagenham, The Other Guys, Please Give, RED and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. In the television categories, "Glee" led the pack with 5 nominations.

Unusually, the IPA decided to expand most categories beyond the usual five nominees, not just the Best Picture category. The IPA was founded in 1996 by a former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and consists of entertainment journalists.

2011 Sundance Film Festival feature film competition lineup

The Sundance Institute unveiled their lineup for the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Six non-competitive categories will be announced later today. The 16 U.S. dramas were chosen from 1,102 submissions, and the 16 U.S. documentaries selected from 841 submissions. All U.S. films in competition are world premieres. 13 feature dramas were chosen from 1,073 submissions, while 12 international documentaries were selected from 796 submissions.

Three Canadian films were included in the four competitive categories. The fiction films The Salesman (Le Vendeur) by Sébastien Pilote, and Canadian-Japanese co-production Vampire by Iwai Shunji compete with 13 other films in the world dramatic category. Canadian-Ukrainian co-production Family Portrait in Black and White by Julia Ivanova competes in the World Cinema Documentary section.

Short lists announced for short film Oscars - animated and live action

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) today announced their short list of contenders in the two Short Film categories. Ten animated shorts in each category were selected from the thirty-three qualifying animated entries and the seventy-six qualifying live action entries. The films were chosen by the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch Reviewing Committee, and will be further whittled down to the final three to five nominations per category on January 25th when all the nominees are announced.

Included in the animated short film list are studio films such as Pixar's Day & Night and Warner Brothers' latest Roadrunner cartoon Coyote Falls. Also shortlisted in the Animated Feature category for Idiots and Angels, director Bill Plympton made the short film shortlist for The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger.

2010 Montreal English Critics Circle Awards (MECCA) Winners

Two weeks after announcing their nominations, the Montreal English Critics Circle Awards (MECCA) presented the awards at a ceremony at Theatre Ste-Catherine. The musical Haunted Hillbilly by the company SideMart Theatrical Grocery won Best Production and Best Director (Andrew Shaver). The wacky musical-comedy-horror story tells of a country singer who sells his soul to a vampire. A Line in the Sand, however took the Best Actor and Best Actress awards as well as Best Set Design. The winner of Best Ensemble was My Christmas in New York.

Two women shared the honour for Best Text. Amy Lee Lavoie wrote Rabbit, Rabbit and co-winner Joanna Nutter was the playwright for My Pregnant Brother. Miss Sugarpuss Must Die had received four nominations as did Haunted Hillbilly but came away with a single win for Best Costume Design for the team of Catherine Allan, Holly Gauthier-Frankel and Paul Van Dyck.

2010 Film Independent Spirit Awards nominees announced

The day after a big night at the 2010 Gotham Awards, Debra Granik's Winter's Bone is poised to dominate the 26th Film Independent Spirit Awards. Winter's Bone led the field with seven nominations, followed by Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right which received five nominations. Black Swan, Greenberg and Rabbit Hole each took four nominations.

The Best Feature nominees were 127 Hours, Black Swan, Greenberg, The Kids Are All Right and Winter’s Bone. Unlike the other Best Feature directors, however, Noah Baumbach (Greenberg) did not receive a nomination for Best Director but was edged out by John Cameron Mitchell for Rabbit Hole.

Winners will be announced on February 26, 2011 at a ceremony on the beach in Santa Monica. The host for the event will be actor Joel McHale.

2010 Gotham Independent Film Awards winners

On Monday night in New York, the Independent Feature Project (IFP) presented their 20th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards. The Gotham Awards are an East Coast version of the Independent Spirit Awards, whose nominees will be announced today Tuesday, November 30. The big winner of the night was Debra Granik's Winter’s Bone which took Best Feature and Best Ensemble Performance. Surprisingly, however, the much-lauded performance by Jennifer Lawrence did not win the Breakthrough Performance award which went to Ronald Bronstein for Daddy Longlegs.

Kevin Asch was a bit of a surprise winner of the Breakthrough Director award for Holy Rollers. Many had felt Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture) was the favourite. The Best Documentary prize went to the excellent Laura Poitras film The Oath, while the controversial documentary Waiting For ‘Superman’ by Davis Guggenheim took the Festival Genius award which was decided by online voting. Mike Ott's Littlerock was the winner of Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You.

2010 Blue Dragon Film Awards (Korea) winners

On Friday, November 26, the 31st annual Blue Dragon Film Awards took place at the National Theatre in Seoul, South Korea. The hosts were actor Lee Bum Soo and actress Kim Hye Soo who was hosting it for her 12th consecutive year. The Best Picture prize went to Secret Reunion but oddly enough it did not pick up any other awards.  

Moss won three awards (Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director) as did I Saw the Devil (Cinematography, Lighting, Music). Housemaid, Cyrano Dating Agency and The Man From Nowhere each took two awards.

Yoon Jung-hee (Poetry) and Su Ae (Midnight FM) shared the award in the Actress category. Choi Seung-hyun (aka TOP) of Into the Fire on the other hand won two prizes himself - Best New Actor and the Popularity award which he shared with three others. As with many Asian actors, TOP began as a pop star.

Award winners announced for 23rd International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)

The world's biggest documentary festival still runs until Sunday, but today at the 23rd International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) they announced their award winners. The opening night film Stand van de sterren (Position Among the Stars) by Leonard Retel Helmrich was the big winner, taking both the top prize VPRO IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary and also the Dioraphte IDFA Award for Dutch Documentary. Helmrich becomes the first two-time winner of for Best Feature-Length Documentary, having won in 2004 with The Shape of the Moon. Both films were part of a trilogy begun in 2002 with De stand van de zon (The Eye of the Day) about the Sjamsuddins, a Christian-Muslim family in Indonesia.

A Special Jury Award was given to the Canadian film You Don't Like the Truth – 4 Days inside Guantánamo by Luc Coté and Patricio Henriquez. It is a provocative film that uses actual interrogation footage of the Canadian prisoner Omar Khadr in Guantanamo to make a good case that he may very well be innocent, and even if guilty should be recognized as a child soldier. He has since pleaded guilty, which in light of this film seems to be a sad realization that a plea was his only path to freedom. Also from Canada, Katerina Cizek won the IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling for her interactive documentary HIGHRISE/Out My Window which was developed with the National Film Board (NFB). This is the first year IDFA has given the DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling and the environmental Best Green Screen Documentary award (Into Eternity).

2010 Festival du Film Brésilien de Montréal, Nov 26-Dec 2

Starting tonight, you can catch a full week of Brazilian cinema at the Festival du Film Brésilien de Montréal (Brazilian Film Festival of Montreal). The films tonight are O contador de Historias (The Storyteller) and Terra Vermelha (Bird Watchers) with French and English subtitles respectively.

The program consists of six features (Besouro, Blue Eyes, Elvis & Madona, and Time of Fear in addition to tonight's films) and four documentaries (A Night in 67, Beyond Ipanema, Dzi Croquettes and Diary of a Crisis). Most films are screened twice. All films are in Portuguese with subtitles in either French or English but Dzi Croquettes will be screened in both, French first and then in English at the second screening.

This is a larger sister festival to the Brazil Film Fest which took place in Toronto last month from October 21-24. All screenings take place at Cinéma du Parc at 3575 avenue du Parc. Tickets are $11, $8 for students, seniors and on Tuesdays.

4th Festival Bach de Montréal (FBM), Nov. 26 to Dec. 8

Today, the 4th Festival Bach de Montréal (FBM) - or Montreal Back Festival en Anglais - kicks off 13 days of music by Johann Sebastian Bach with a performance of the St. John Passion by Arion Orchestre Baroque & Les Voix baroques. In addition to concerts, the festival includes a talk by Harvard professor and director of the Leipzig Bach Archive Christoph Wolff and a masterclass by period cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras. The closing concert will be a complete performance of the Cello Suites by Queyras.

Highlights of the festival include Flying Bach, a performance by breakdancers(!) to Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Keyboard). Catrin Finch plays the complete Goldberg Variations on harp. The Children’s passion is a family-friendly show. Michael Zaugg and the St. Lawrence Choir present a singalong program of Christmas chorales plus music by Buxtehude, Praetorius and Mendelssohn, as well as traditional carols. In addition to high-profile ensembles such as The English Concert and l'Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, a you can catch a free lunchtime concert by young up-and-coming organists.