Oscar's Documentary Shorts shortlist revealed

8 Doc Shorts on Oscar's 2011 Shortlist

Beverly Hills, CA (October 13, 2011) – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that the field of Documentary Short Subject contenders for the 84th Academy Awards® has been narrowed to eight films, of which three to five will earn Oscar® nominations.

Voters from the Academy’s Documentary Branch viewed this year’s 35 eligible entries and submitted their ballots to PricewaterhouseCoopers for tabulation.

The eight films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production company.

Complete Foreign Language Film submissions to the Academy

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has released its long list of 63 submissions being considered for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. For this award, the official film Academy of each nation submits their film for consideration. AMPAS usually gets over 60 nominees each year (last year there were 65). The deadline for submitting films for consideration was October 3, after which the Academy vetted the films.

One film that did not survive the vetting process was Albania's The Forgiveness of Blood, which was directed by American Joshua Marston in Albania (he also made the Colombian-set Maria Full of Grace). It was deemed ineligible, but they were allowed to resubmit and now their entry is Amnesty.

This has been an controversial year for the Foreign Language Film category on other fronts. Well-regarded directors such as Spain's Pedro Almodovar and Belgium's Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne were passed over as usual by their own committees. China's The Flowers of War by Zhang Yimou was submitted and accepted though it stars Christian Bale and is 40% English. Past winner Nikita Mikhalkov’s Burnt By the Sun 2: Citadel was submitted as Russia's entry even though it was a critical and box office flop. This infuriated the Russian committee chairman Vladimir Menshov, since other possibilities included Andrei Zvyagintsev's Elena, which won a special jury prize at Cannes, and Alexander Sokurov's Faust, named winner of the Golden Lion at Venice.

2011 Festival du nouveau cinéma, Oct 12-23

After announcing its full programming lineup a couple of weeks ago, the Festival du nouveau cinéma begins its 40th edition tonight. Tonight's opening gala screening at Cinéma Impérial will be La Guerre est déclarée (Declaration of War) by French director Valérie Donzelli. She will be in attendance with her producer Edouard Weil. Afterwards, the opening party takes place at the festival headquarters at Agora Hydro-Québec du Coeur des sciences de l'UQAM.

The festival has added a screening of Saya-zamurai (Scabbard Samurai) by Hitoshi Matsumoto to the schedule in the Temps ø programme. This will be the film's North American premiere. Matsumoto is known for his wacky and imaginative filmmaking style which has been compared to Terry Gilliam and Jacques Tati.

On the downside, last week the festival became a collateral victim of latest act of persecution by the government of Iran against filmmakers. Absolutely Tame is a Horse by Abdolreza Kahani had been scheduled to play at the festival. The Iranian government, however, decided for some reason to ban its international distribution. It's distribution company, Iranian Independents, had no choice but to comply and thus the festival has been forced to cancel its scheduled screenings.

Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival, Oct 12-16

The 12th Annual Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival begins tonight in Toronto. This year's theme is "Landscapes."

The opening night film will be The Revenge of the Electric Car, Chris Paine's follow-up to his acclaimed film Who Killed the Electric Car? Director Chris Paine and car converter Greg “Gadget” Abbott will walk the “green carpet” and be in attendance for the screening.

In addition to a diverse lineup of films, the festival offers a free children and youth program. There will also be an expanded industry series with panels, workshops and events of interest for all filmmakers and cineastes.

Reel Asian Film Festival announces programming

THE 15TH ANNUAL TORONTO REEL ASIAN
INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 
NOV 8 TO 19

Toronto, October 11, 2011 — The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival will celebrate its 15th anniversary this year with a series of new initiatives including free screenings, larger venues to accommodate growing audiences, a multi-venue media art installation, special guest filmmakers from across Asia and the world, and a major expansion into Richmond Hill. 

15 YEARS OF REEL ASIAN

Reel Asian is Canada’s longest-running and largest showcase dedicated to contemporary cinema by East Asian and Southeast Asian moviemakers from around the world.

Over the past 15 years, Reel Asian has risen to become the leading exhibitor of coveted Asian works with a film repertoire that has included over 330 premieres and over 15 gallery installations at exhibition spaces in the GTA.

2011 Golden Horse Awards - nominations

The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival announced the nominees for the 48th annual Golden Horse Awards. The awards are given to Chinese-language films from Taiwan, China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Malaysia and Singapore.

The Taiwanese film Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale led the way with 11 nominations. It received nominations for Seediq Bale is nominated for Best Picture, Director, New Performer, Supporting Actor, Art Direction, Cinematography, Original Film Score, Original Film Song, Action Choreography, Makeup and Costume Design, and Sound Effects. Three actors from the film—Nolay Piho, Bokeh Kosang and Lin Yuan-jie—compete in the Best New Performer category. Bokeh Kosang is also nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale is Taiwan's submission to the Academy for Best Foreign Language Film.

Next with nine nominations was mainland China's blockbuster hit Let the Bullets Fly. Another China-produced film The Piano in a Factory received seven. Both were also nominated for Best Picture. The other two Best Picture nominees were A Simple Life (Hong Kong's Best Foreign Language Film submission) and Return Ticket.

Call for submissions: Bell Media Diverse Screenwriters Program (East)

After the successful launch of the CTV Diverse Screenwriters Program last year, the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) split the program into Eastern and Western programs for this year. Now run in partnership with Bell Media, the West program which takes place in Vancouver opened for applications earlier this summer.

Now they have opened their call for submissions for their East program for Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime provinces. The Diverse Screenwriters East program will take place in Toronto. It is offered free-of-charge to selected writers and, if travel to Toronto is necessary, selected writers will receive travel support.

Up to eight people will be selected for the training program which involves a week-long intensive session followed by a 10-12 week mentorship in the spring with a story editor. One writer will be selected at the end of the program to receive a paid internship on a Bell Media TV series.

My top 10 films of TIFF 2011

Okay, okay, I'm late getting to this. But it's been a been a bit non-stop for me this last while.

Anyhow, awards season will be starting up soon and I've started mulling over my top film picks. From the 36th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, my top three films were definitely The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius), The Descendants (Alexander Payne) and A Separation (Asghar Farhadi). They're so different that I wouldn't be able to pick one as a favourite except arbitrarily based on my mood at any given moment.

But I enjoyed almost everything in the batch that I saw this year. I liked the wackiness of some of the Canadian films I saw, particularly Doppelgänger Paul by Paul Dylan Akio Smith and Kris Elgstrand. I got to take in a lot of excellent documentaries, including part of the massive The Story of Film: An Odyssey by Mark Cousins. I had been intimidated to watch any of it but at the suggestion of documentary programmer Thom Powers, I caught portions of it between screenings on the last weekend and am now eager to see it all.

Toronto Nuit Blanche, 7pm-7am

All night tonight, Toronto hosts their 6th Scotiabank Nuit Blanche all around the city's downtown. As always, the city is divided in to 3 zones, each one organized by a different curator. This year, Zone A is curated by Candice Hopkins, Zone B by Shirley Madill, and Zone C by Nicholas Brown.

Toronto has been hosting the Nuit Blanche since 2006. Each year it grows bigger, with the most recent editions attracting around 1 million people each. This year there are over 130 art exhibitions, projects and events for everyone to check out.

Translated as 'Sleepless Night', Nuit Blanche originated in Paris, France in 2002 as a way to bring contemporary art to the masses in public spaces. Then in 2005, the Paris organizers invited the City of Toronto to join the six other European cities to produce similar all-night events. Toronto was the first North American city to replicate the Paris model,  followed by others including San Francisco, New York, Miami and Chicago. The Nuit blanche à Montréal was developed separately as part of Festival Montréal en lumière (Montreal Festival of Lights).

Call for submissions: Shaw Media-Hot Docs Funds

A call for submissions has been put out for the Shaw Media-Hot Docs Funds. There are two programs for which they offer funding assistance: the Completion Fund and the Development Fund.

The Completion Fund is a grant program that provides successful applicants with up to 20 per cent of the total production costs to an exceptional maximum of $100,000. Eligible costs include those that are standard in the industry during post-production, including costs of enhancements and deliverables. The Completion Fund is open to Canadian producers who have made a commercially released documentary or fiction film or television series.

The Shaw Media-Hot Docs Development Fund is a loan program that offers successful applicants a conditionally repayable, interest-free advance of up to 80 per cent of development costs when the project has no market partner, or up to 50 per cent of development costs when the project has a market partner. The advances per project average in the range of $10,000 to $15,000. Eligible costs include: option fees, research fees, writer and story editor fees, director’s fees, reasonable travel costs, and normal producer fees and overheads. Expenses incurred prior to application to the Shaw Media-Hot Docs Development Fund are ineligible.

Toronto Palestine Film Festival, Sept 30-Oct 7

This week marks the 4th Annual Toronto Palestine Film Festival. The festival opens with the debut film Pomegranates and Myrrh by acclaimed Palestinian director Najwa Najjar. It tells the story of a newly married dancer and her struggles with society’s expectations of a wife whose husband is imprisoned. The jailed husband is played by Ashraf Farah, who will be in attendance.

The festival closes with Nana Dankwa's documentary Hip Hop is Bigger than the Occupation. It captures a ten-day tour of rappers through Palestine. Many of the featured rappers will be in attendance and will perform afterwards at the closing night party.

Other highlights include Dahna Abourahme's documentary Kingdom of Women about the women of the Ein El Hilweh refugee camp during the years 1982-1984. Stray Bullet which stars TIFF Audience Choice Award winner Nadine Labaki, will be followed by a panel with the film’s director Georges Hachem and Ashraf Farah.

3rd annual Rights Media DocFest, Sept 30-Oct 1

Beginning tonight, Journalists for Human Rights (jhr) and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) present their 3rd annual Doc-Fest Rights Media Documentary Film Festival.

Tonight, they will be screening Robin Pierro's Dream Deferred, The Price of Sex by Mimi Chakarova, and Remembering the Ashes: Incendies Through their Eyes by Anais Barbeau-Lavalette. The festival continues tomorrow afternoon with screenings of Burgundy: La petite bourgogne by Adam Bemma, The Team by Patrick Reed, and Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change by Zacharius Kunuk.

Screenings take place at BMO Amphitheatre - Molson Building, at Concordia University, 1450 Guy Street.

2011 YoungCuts Film Festival, Sept 30-Oct 2

The 10th anniversary edition of the YoungCuts Film Festival gets underway today with a free afternoon screening of films by Quebec CEGEP students. To reserve a seat, contact Mike@YoungCuts.com or 514.285.4591.

This will be followed by the Canadian Heritage Opening Night Screening at 7pm which features 17 films by Quebec's best young Anglophone filmmakers, and a screening of international shorts at 9pm. Screenings on Saturday and Sunday take place at 5pm, 7pm and 9pm. The festival presents at least one filmmaker award per screening.

YoungCuts selects 100+ films from over 1,200 submissions from more than 30 countries in 10 different languages. All selections are by filmmakers 25 years old and under.

12th Filmi South Asian Film Festival Festival, Sept 29-Oct 2

Tonight is the kickoff for the 12th edition of Filmi, North America's first South Asian Film Festival.

It opens with a screening at the Art Gallery of Ontario's Jackman Hall (317 Dundas Street West) of the film Footsteps into Gangland by Mani Amar. It is based on true events in the South Asian community of Vancouver.

The closing night film is the Canadian premiere of Dogs Lie by Richard Atkinson, and starring Ewa Da Cruz, Gita Reddy and Samrat Chakrabarti. It tells the story of eight patients and two staff who spend a fateful night at a New York sleep clinic.

The will also be holding an industry series at 725 King Street West on the afternoons of Saturday and Sunday. The panels will be on documentary, web series and music videos. The Filmi party takes place on Friday, September 30, 2011 at the Proof Vodka Lounge, 220 Bloor Street West.

Brazilian Film & TV Festival of Toronto, Sept 29-Oct 2

The 5th annual Brazilian Film & TV Festival of Toronto (BRAFFTv) launched tonight at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

The opening film will be Rosa Moreno by Carlos Augusto de Oliveira. It tells the story of a gay man from Denmark who goes to Brazil to adopt a baby on their black market, but after finding a willing mother he becomes emotionally involved with her.

The festival's closing night film will be the Canadian premiere of The Best Things In The World by Laís Bodanzky. It tells the coming-of-age story of a 15-year-old boy and his older brother as they are suddenly forced to deal with changing relationships.