Call for submissions: imagineNATIVE’s Documentary, Drama TV Pitch

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:
2012 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival
DOCUMENTARY & DRAMA TV PITCH:
Exclusive Professional Training & Pitch Sessions

This is your chance to be part of an intensive pitch training opportunity at this year's imagineNATIVE!

Do you have a great idea for a pilot episode of a series drama (30 or 60 min), OR a feature, short or series documentary?  Enter our competitions to pitch your idea to a panel of commissioning editors and acquisitions executives from the major Canadian broadcasters – who will provide valuable feedback and development advice.  You will also have a chance to win imagineNATIVE’s Documentary Pitch or Drama TV Pitch prizes to help your idea become a reality.

2012 Golden Icons Academy Movie Awards (GIAMA) – nominees

Nominees have been announced for the Inaugural edition of the Golden Icons Academy Movie Awards (GIAMA). Nominated films include South Africa’s Man on Ground, Nigerian Films Unge’s War, I’ll take my Chances, Two Brides and A Baby, Ghanaian Films Sinking Sands, Somewhere in Africa, The Groom’s Bride, Hands of Time, Deadly Affair, and Sierra Leone’s Enemy of the Family.

Only films that were produced and/or released between January 2011 and June 2012 were considered eligible for review and nomination.

The winners for the 1st Annual Golden Icons Academy Movie Awards will be presented at a ceremony on October 20, 2012, in Houston, TX and will be hosted by Nollywood Untamed Actor Jim Iyke.

Festival des Films du Monde 2012, Aug 23-Sept 3

The 36th Festival des Films du Monde (Montreal World Film Festival) begins Thursday night with a gala screening of the Chinese film Million Dollar Crocodile by Lisheng Lin. This year's festival features a focus on China and includes a China Film Business Week and a good number of Chinese films including Wings by Yazhou Yang and Bo Yang in the World Competition.

The festival presents 212 feature films of which 110 are world or international premieres; 16 medium length films (12 world or international premieres) and 144 short films (94 world or international premieres). There will be a master class featuring German director Volker Schlondörff. The festival also presents a tribute to Mel Hoppenheim, founder of Panavision Canada and supporter of the Canadian film and television industry and Montreal's Concordia University.

Call for entries: 2012 24-Hour Playwriting Contest

Stock up on coffee and dust off your lucky mug. Pat the Dog Playwright Centre is thrilled to announce we are hosting our fourth annual 24-hour playwriting contest. This means 30 adrenaline-pumped writers from across Ontario will be hitting the keyboards from 4:00 PM on Friday, October 5, 2012 to 4:00 PM Saturday, October 6, 2012.

All contestants write off-site, so you can write at home, in a coffee shop, on a bus… the location is up to you. There’s no entry fee and no restriction on final script length. All you have to do is write an original play using three secret words — in 24 hours. How easy it that?

Not very. But the rewards could be great. Our winning playwrights are everywhere!

2012 Artios Awards – nominees

The Casting Society of America has announced the nominations for its 28th Annual Artios Awards presented for Outstanding Achievement in Casting. The criteria are originality, creativity and the contribution of casting to the overall quality of a project.

Nominations in the Feature categories included many of the Awards-season films such as The Artist, The Descendants, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Help and Moneyball. Among the few recent films nominated were The Hunger Games and 21 Jump Street.

Bernard Telsey received ten nominations all on his own for his work on Margin Call and Friends With Kids, as well as on the television shows A Gifted Man, Smash and The Big C, and the stage shows A Streetcar Named Desire, The Best Man, Evita, Porgy and Bess and The Submission. Tiffany Little Canfield was nominated alongside Telsey for Margin Call, Friends With Kids and Smash.

TIFF announces final films, guest list, doc conference and more

FESTIVAL MASTERS PROGRAMME SERVES UP A CINEPHILE’S FEAST INCLUDING FILMS FROM MICHAEL HANEKE, BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI, MICHAEL WINTERBOTTOM AND HONG SANG-SOO

Toronto – The 37th Toronto International Film Festival®’s Masters programme presents a cinematic feast of 14 films by modern masters of celluloid, including the world premieres of new films by Goran Paskaljevic and Bernard Émond.

“These Masters films represent cinema’s living legacy,” said Piers Handling, Director and CEO, TIFF. “We are proud to present new work from directors as renowned as Manoel de Oliveira, Michael Haneke, Bernardo Bertolucci and Abbas Kiarostami. All 14 filmmakers command the respect of audiences, critics and above all their filmmaking peers.”

2012 Amandaprisen, Norwegian Film Awards – winners

The 28th Annual Amandaprisen (Amanda Awards) for Norwegian cinema took place this weekend at the Haugesund Concert Hall during the opening night of the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund, Norway. The host was Ingrid Bolsø Berdal.

The winner of the top prize of Best Norwegian Film was Jannicke Systad Jacobsen's Få meg på, for faen (Turn Me On, Dammit!). It also picked up Best Cinematography.

Pål Sletaune’s Babycall (The Monitor), however, picked up more trophies with four. It won for Best Actress (Noomi Rapace), Screenplay, Production Design, and Sound Design. It had led the field with eight nominations.

Joachim Trier won Best Director for Oslo, 31. august (Oslo, August 31st). It also scooped the prize ror Best Editing. Arild Andresen's Kompani Orheim (The Orheim Company) also won two awards, both for acting. Kristoffer Joner was named Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress went to Cecilie A. Mosli.

2012 Ophir Awards for Israeli film – nominations

Complete list of nominations for the 2012 Ophir Awards

Best Feature Film
The Ballad of the Weeping Spring – Producers: Haim Sharir, Moshe Edery, Leon Edery
God’s Neighbors – Producer: Mark Rosenbaum
The World is Funny – Producers: Talia Kleinhendler, Moshe Edery, Leon Edery
Fill the Void – Producer: Assaf Amir
Rock the Casbah – Producers: Michael Sharpstein, Moshe Edery, Leon Edery

Best Fringe Feature Film
Joe + Belle – Producers: Roni Kedar, Amir Fishman

RIDM's 15 years, 15 all-time favourites

Special RIDM program:
“15 years, 15 all-time favourites” chosen by 15 guest programmers

For the last 15 years, the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) has been an exceptional showcase for Canadian and international documentaries. To celebrate its 15th anniversary, the festival’s team invited 15 high-profile figures in the film world to share their all-time favourite documentary. 15 personal choices that add up to an original, subjective story of the first cinematic genre will be presented in a special section of this year’s programming.

The guest programmers are: Philippe Falardeau, Gael Garcia Bernal, Frederick Wiseman, Barbet Schroeder, Agnès Varda, Patricio Guzman, Lou Reed, Kim Longinotto, Jia Zhang-ke, Alanis Obomsawin, Gilles Jacob, Naomi Kawase, Philip Glass, Laura Poitras and Samira Makhmalbaf.

2012 Mascara & Popcorn Film Festival, Aug 16-19

The 3rd edition of the Mascara & Popcorn Film Festival starts tomorrow night. The festival spotlights genre and independent films but also includes music, fashion, visual arts and more.

"Mascara & Popcorn is a cultural event dedicated to promoting independent film and multi-disciplinarian art thus allowing film makers and artists to exhibit their craft in an atmosphere that's appropriate and thought-provoking. Our goal is to expose our film makers to producers, our partners and organizations. Short film and features, panels, cocktails, thematic events, emerging artists, networking events and unique opportunities to participate in workshops, attend interactive lectures, and listen to colleagues share their knowledge."

Call for submissions: 2013 ReelWorld Film Festival

The ReelWorld Film Festival (RWFF) is now accepting submissions for their 13th edition of the festival.

The ReelWorld Film Festival is Toronto's multicultural festival which promotes, encourages and showcases the work of racially and culturally diverse film and video makers. We are pleased to create an awareness of and appreciation for diverse stories. They accept Canadian and International submissions that reflect culturally and racially diverse content and features racially diverse people either in front of or behind the camera.

They accept feature narratives, shorts, documentaries, children’s programming, experimental films and student films. They only accept music videos from Canadian filmmakers.

Call for submissions: New Ideas Festival 2013

The Alumnae Theatre in Toronto has announced a call for submissions to its 25th anniversary edition of the New Ideas Festival.

New Ideas is a juried, 3-week festival which focuses on script development, and offers playwrights an opportunity to collaborate with other theatre artists. Playwrights are encouraged to participate in the whole production process, from choosing a director and cast to attending rehearsals and revising their work as it comes off the page. New Ideas offers dramaturgical support to playwrights who request it, free rehearsal and production space, technical support, access to Alumnae Theatre’s costume and props collections, publicity, and sold-out houses.

Anyone anywhere can submit up to two scripts that have not been previously performed outside of a workshop. The running time cannot exceed 40 minutes. All genres are accepted. Preference will be given to scripts that offer challenging roles for women of all ages.

Jonathan Caouette's Walk Away Renée premieres at Docville

“Walk Away Renée” by Jonathan Caouette
Quebec première at Docville

Montreal, August 14, 2012 - The Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) is pleased to announce the seventh film in its monthly Docville series: Walk Away Renée, by American director Jonathan Caouette. The documentary will have its Quebec première on Thursday, August 30 at 7 p.m. at Cinéma Excentris, followed by a Skype Q&A session with the filmmaker.

In 2003, Caouette released his sensational first film, Tarnation. Made with footage he had been filming since the age of 11, the film was an unsettling self-portrait of a young man coping with a dysfunctional family and coming to terms with his homosexuality.

More TIFF films announced: Contemporary World Cinema, Wavelengths, Industry and more

WORLD PREMIERES FROM SION SONO, DROR SABO, EDWARD BURNS, ANNEMARIE JACIR, PELIN ESMER, CARLOS SORIN, ZÉZÉ GAMBOA AND LUU HUYNH ARE AMONG 62 INTERNATIONAL TITLES IN FESTIVAL’S CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA PROGRAMME

Scholars from University of Toronto's Munk School for Global Affairs to lead conversations about 5 Contemporary World Cinema films

Toronto – The Contemporary World Cinema programme delivers cinematic gems from around the globe at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival®. Offering a variety of filmmakers’ voices and perspectives from around the world, the lineup draws from Argentina, Belgium, Denmark, Israel, India, Japan, Mozambique, Spain, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Canada and more. This smorgasbord of global trends in cinema also features the world premieres of films by directors such as Sara Johnsen, Kasia Rosłaniec, Edward Burns, Sion Sono, Robert Connolly, John Akomfrah, Saïd Ould-Khelifa, Annemarie Jacir, Jo Sung-hee and Licinio Azevedo.

2012 World Soundtrack Awards – nominations

The World Soundtrack Academy has announced the list of its nominees for the 12th World Soundtrack Awards.

The nominees for Film Composer of the Year are Alexandre Desplat, Alberto Iglesias, Cliff Martinez, Howard Shore, and John Williams. Desplat has won Film Composer of the Year award four times in the last five years, but has yet to win an Academy Award.

Nominees for Best Original Film Score of the Year are Drive by Cliff Martinez, Hugo by Howard Shore, The Adventures of Tintin by John Williams, The Ides of March by Alexandre Desplat, and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by Alberto Iglesias.