Magnificent Obsession: The Films of Werner Schroeter, Nov 8-Dec 9

Tonight, TIFF Bell Lightbox kicks off a retrospective of Werner Schroeter which hasn't happened since 1988. Magnificent Obsession: The Films of Werner Schroeter opens with his 1986 film Der Rosenkönig (The Rose King). Schroeter passed away in 2010.

One of the most revered yet little-known filmmakers of the New German Cinema, Werner Schroeter had a profound impact on such compatriots as Fassbinder, Herzog and Wenders with his luxurious, operatic odes to ecstasy and excess. Come discover the enthralling works of "one of the truly revolutionary artists of our age" (Hans-Jürgen Syberberg).

The retrospective continues until December 9 and presents 19 films by Schroeter.

Now playing in Le Sud­-Ouest…, Nov 11-Dec 20

Tonight is the opening Vernissage for the exhibition «À l’affiche dans Le Sud-­Ouest…» La belle époque des cinémas de quartier dans Le Sud­-Ouest entre 1898 et 1982 (Now playing in Le Sud-­Ouest…: The Golden Age of the neighbourhood movie theatres in Le Sud-­Ouest, between 1898 and 1982).

The opening takes place from 5-7pm, November 8 at the Centre culturel Georges-Vanier, 2450,rue Workman (Métro Lionel‐Groulx). The bilingual, free exhibition will then run from November 11 to December 20.

The exhibition’s theme is the Golden Age of the neighbourhood movie theatres in Montréal’s arrondissement du Sud-Ouest between 1898 and 1982. It is the result of research done on the evolution and exploitation of the cinema in Pointe-Saint Charles, Griffintown, Ville-Émard, Côte-Saint-Paul, Saint-Henri, Petite-Bourgogne and Sainte-Cunégonde.

Call for submissions: The 69 Hour Film Challenge

The 69 Hour Film Challenge is a film making competition where film makers have 69 hours to create a funny short film about sex. Participants are given a secret list of ten items. At least three of the items must be in the film to qualify. It’s like a 24 hour film challenge but there’s more time to drink. Part of Darryl’s Hard Liquor and Porn Film Festival

Make a Film in 69 Hours
The Challenge starts at 9:00 pm – Thursday November 8, 2012
Films must be completed by 6:00 pm – Sunday November 11, 2012

2012 Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM), Nov 7-18

The 15th annual edition of Les Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM) or Montreal International Documentary Festival kicks off tonight with the Quebec premiere of Peter Mettler's beautifully trippy The End of Time. Director Peter Mettler will be in Montreal to present his film, as will producer Ingrid Veninger. Tonight's screening at the Monument National is invitation-only, but a second public screening will take place on November 9 at 5:30 p.m. at the Cinémathèque québécoise. The film is in English with French subtitles.

The closing night film will be the North American premiere of Journal de France by Raymond Depardon and Claudine Nougaret.

The festival will present 110 documentaries from 38 countries. Highlights include Leviathan by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel; Ex Press by Jet Leyco; Être là by Régis Sauder; and Off Label by Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher. The many highly-anticipated Canadian features include The Fruit Hunters by Yang Chung, The Carbon Rush by Amy Miller, Le chant des ondes by Caroline Martel, Jeppe On A Friday by Shannon Walsh and Arya Laloo, and Ma vie réelle by the late Magnus Isacsson.

Regent Park Film Festival 2012, Nov 7-10

The 10th Annual Regent Park Film Festival gets underway today with school programs during the day. Tonight, the festival kicks off with their traditional opening night screening of Community Stories: Youth Media Arts Program, a collection of short works by filmmakers who are 26 years of age or younger.

All programs at the Regent Park Film Festival are free.

The closing night film will be the Brazilian feature drama Besouro by João Daniel Tikhomiroff. The story explores the roots of the martial arts form capoeira and will be followed by a performance by Axé Capoeira.

Other features screening during the festival include the outstanding documentary The Interrupters by Steve James, and the New York pick-up basketball story Doin’ It in the Park by Bobbito Garcia and Kevin Couliau.

Grierson 2012 British Documentary Awards – winners

The Grierson Trust held its ceremony tonight for the 40th anniversary edition of the Grierson British Documentary Awards at Empire Leicester Square. The ceremony was hosted by artist Grayson Perry.

The winner for Best Cinema Documentary Award was Bobby Fischer Against the World, Liz Garbus' fascinating portrait of the brilliant but troubled chess champion. It had been up against Dreams of a Life by Carol Morley, Knuckle by Ian Palmer and Project Nim by James Marsh.

The Best Documentary on a Contemporary Theme – International award went to Hell and Back Again by Danfung Dennis while Charlie Russell took Best Documentary on a Contemporary Theme – Domestic for Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die. The Bengali Detective by Phil Cox was named Most Entertaining Documentary.

2012 Reel Asian Film Festival, Nov 6-17

The 16th Annual Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival begins today at Toronto's Isabel Bader Theatre with a screening of Han Yan's 第一次 (First Time). The film is a Hong Kong remake of the Korean film 아이앤지 (...ing) and is about a romance between a shy college student and the leader of a rock band. The director Han Yan will be in attendance. After the screening, the opening night party takes place at Crown Princess, $15 or free with opening night screening ticket.

The closing night film will be the Korean film 건축학개론 (Architecture 101) by 이용주 (Lee Yong-Ju). It too is a film about first love. Writer-director Lee will be in attendance at the screening.

Other features being screened at the festival include Romeo Candido's Prison Dancer, 물고기 (A Fish) by 박홍민 (Park Hong-min), The Mirror Never Lies by Kamila Andini, Graceland by Ron Morales, and Debbie Lum's Seeking Asian Female. Next week in Richmond Hill, the screenings continue with features including 浮城 (Floating City) by 嚴浩 (Yim Ho) and Yang Chung's The Fruit Hunters.

Call For submissions: Inside Out LGBT Film Festival

The Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival has put out a call for submissions for its 23rd edition of the festival.

For more than two decades, Inside Out has brought Toronto's lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) community together in celebration of the best queer film from Canada and around the world. Currently the largest event of its kind in Canada, the Inside Out LGBT Film Festival showcases the best and most diverse work of interest to LGBT communities. Taking place over 11 days, the Festival draws crowds of 35,000 to screenings, artist talks, panel discussions, installations and parties that highlight more than 180 films and videos from Canada and around the world.

They accept DVDs or secure online screeners for preview. DVDs must be labeled with the title, running time and contact information (including name, address, phone number and email).

2012 Sorta Unofficial New Zealand Film Awards – nominations

The tumultuous New Zealand awards scene seemed to settle in 2008 when the changing film and television awards merged to become the Qantas Film and Television Awards, which last year was branded the Aotearoa Film & Television Awards. Funding constraints have led to the Screen Directors Guild of New Zealand removing the film categories from this year's awards. In the resulting vacuum, filmmaker Ant Timpson and New Zealand Herald's Hugh Sundae created the Sorta Unofficial New Zealand Film Awards, also known as the Moas (named for the extinct New Zealand birds).

Tusi Tamasese’s The Orator tops the nominees with nods in 12 of 26 categories. Its nominations included the major categories of Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Fa'afiaula Sagote), Best Actress (Tausili Pushparaj), Supporting Actress (Salamasina Mataia) and Screenplay. It was the first ever film shot entirely in Samoa, in the Samoan language, with a Samoan cast and story. It was the New Zealand entry to the 84th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film but was not nominated.

Call for submissions: 2013 De Colores Festival of New Works

The De Colores Festival of New Works is a playwright’s unit/festival, which focuses exclusively on the development of Latin American playwrights in Canada. The yearlong unit provides the chosen playwrights with access to professional dramaturges, actors, and directors. The writers receive one-on-one developmental and dramaturgical support throughout the year for works in progress, which culminates in a public presentation of the work (as it is at the moment of the reading).

Festival dramaturges are Stephen Colella (company Dramaturge at YPT) and Erica Kopyto (company Dramaturge for Nightwood Theatre).

Alameda Theatre Company invites submissions from established and emerging playwrights for our Annual playwright's festival and unit. Currently we are seeking submissions for the 2013 DE COLORES FESTIVAL OF NEW WORKS.

British Independent Film Awards 2012 – nominations

The nominations for the 15th annual Moët British Independent Film Awards were announced today, at St Martins Lane, London by actor and BIFA Patron, Adrian Lester.

Joint Directors, The Moët British Independent Film Awards’ Johanna von Fischer & Tessa Collinson said: “In this our 15th year, we are delighted to welcome back six-time former host James Nesbitt. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our dedicated Pre-Selection Committee who watched over 200 films in order to produce the 2012 Nominations, which once again reflect the diverse range of British film talent, and also welcome this year’s appointed independent Jury who will now spend the next month considering the nominated films.”

The highest number of nominations this year goes to Broken with 9 nominations including Best Film, Best Director and Best Debut Director for Rufus Norris, Best Actor for Tim Roth and two Best Supporting Actor nominations for Cillian Murphy and Rory Kinnear. Sightseers and Berberian Sound Studio both picked up 7 nominations each.

2012 European Film Awards – nominations

Today at the Seville European Film Festival, the European Film Academy announced all the nominations for the 25th annual European Film Awards.

Leading the way with six nominations was Michael Haneke's Amour (Love). The drama about the love of an elderly couple was nominated for Best European Film, Director, Actor (Jean-Louis Trintignant), Actress (Emmanuelle Riva), Screenwriter and Cinematographer.

Steve McQueen's Shame and Thomas Vinterberg's Jagten (The Hunt) were next with five nominations. Shame was nominated for Best European Film, Director, Actor (Michael Fassbender), Cinematographer and Editor. Jagten (The Hunt) was recognized for Best European Film, Director, Actor (Mads Mikkelsen), Screenwriter and Editor.

2013 Cinema Eye Honors – nominations

Thirty-one feature films and five shorts will vie for this year’s Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking as nominees were announced this afternoon in Los Angeles at an event hosted by AFI FEST.

For the second year in a row, six films are in the running for Cinema Eye’s top award, Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking: Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi’s 5 Broken Cameras, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Detropia, Bart Layton’s The Imposter, Matthew Akers’ Marina Abramović The Artist is Present, Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims’ Only the Young and Malik Bendjelloul’s Searching for Sugar Man.  This marked the first year that nominees for this category were determined by votes from both the 25-person nominations committee as well as more than 60 directors of this year’s eligible films.

21 Animated Features Submitted For 2012 Oscar Race

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – Twenty-one features have been submitted for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 85th Academy Awards®.

The 21 submitted features, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

2012 Hollywood Post Alliance Awards – winners

In a gala celebration last night, 7th Annual Hollywood Post Alliance Awards were recognized for the outstanding contributions they have made in helping create the features, programs, spots, and entertainment seen around the world.

The Hollywood Post Alliance – the professional organization for the post production community - presented the 7th Annual HPA Awards to a sold out audience of industry insiders and luminaries. Industry professionals were honored in 12 creative categories as well as a number of special awards including Engineering Excellence, HPA Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation in Post Production, and the prestigious Charles S. Swartz Award for Outstanding Contribution in the Field of Post Production, which had been announced earlier.

Ray Dolby, Founder and Director Emeritus of Dolby Laboratories, received the Charles S. Swartz Award for his profound impact on the post production industry and innumerable contributions to image and sound recording technology. Sound Designer, Editor and technology visionary, Walter Murch, A.C.E. was on hand to present to his friend and colleague.