Fast And Furious franchise star Jordana Brewster and rising Australian actress Teagan Croft have joined Martin Henderson on XYZ Films and Sentient’s upcoming shark thriller Alphas, which has scored a raft of major pre-sales.
Signature has acquired the title for the UK, Australia & New Zealand, and Canada, SquareOne has picked up German-speaking Europe, and CDC and Zima will distribute in Latin America and Brazil.
Rights have also gone in Eastern Europe (Vertical Distribution), South Africa (Empire Entertainment), and Singapore (Shaw Renters).
Production on Alphas is scheduled to commence in Queensland this summer. Skyline franchise creator Liam O’Donnell will direct...
Signature has acquired the title for the UK, Australia & New Zealand, and Canada, SquareOne has picked up German-speaking Europe, and CDC and Zima will distribute in Latin America and Brazil.
Rights have also gone in Eastern Europe (Vertical Distribution), South Africa (Empire Entertainment), and Singapore (Shaw Renters).
Production on Alphas is scheduled to commence in Queensland this summer. Skyline franchise creator Liam O’Donnell will direct...
- 2/16/2024
- ScreenDaily
The American Film Market kicks off Oct. 31 and runs through Nov. 5 in its new headquarters at the Le Meridien Delfina in Santa Monica. Industry screenings are set at theaters throughout the city and AFM’s conference series, the AFM Sessions, will take place at the Hilton Santa Monica Hotel. More than 245 companies and organizations are exhibiting at this year’s AFM, with national pavilions from China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Thailand and the U.K. In all, buyers from more than 65 countries are registered at the film market.
Here are some of the buzziest titles at AFM 2023:
Alphas
Director: Liam O’Donnell
Producers: Pierre Morel, Renee Tab, Christopher Tuffin, Matthew Chausse, Drew Bailey
Key cast: Martin Henderson
Story is set in a quiet surfing community where killer whales are enlisted to fend off great white sharks after a series of attacks. When the alpha great white shark proves too powerful to stop,...
Here are some of the buzziest titles at AFM 2023:
Alphas
Director: Liam O’Donnell
Producers: Pierre Morel, Renee Tab, Christopher Tuffin, Matthew Chausse, Drew Bailey
Key cast: Martin Henderson
Story is set in a quiet surfing community where killer whales are enlisted to fend off great white sharks after a series of attacks. When the alpha great white shark proves too powerful to stop,...
- 10/31/2023
- by Carole Horst
- Variety Film + TV
Pierre Morel among producers. Production in Australia set for early 2024.
XYZ Films has boarded worldwide sales on Sentient Entertainment’s shark thriller Alphas starring Martin Henderson and will introduce to buyers at AFM next week.
Liam O’Donnell will direct the Australia-uk co-production and Taken and District 13 director Pierre Morel will produce alongside his partners Renee Tab and Christopher Tuffin of Sentient, and Matthew Chausse and Drew Bailey.
Principal photography is scheduled to start in Australia in early 2024 on Alphas, which takes place in a quiet surfing community where killer whales are enlisted to fend off great white sharks after a series of attacks.
XYZ Films has boarded worldwide sales on Sentient Entertainment’s shark thriller Alphas starring Martin Henderson and will introduce to buyers at AFM next week.
Liam O’Donnell will direct the Australia-uk co-production and Taken and District 13 director Pierre Morel will produce alongside his partners Renee Tab and Christopher Tuffin of Sentient, and Matthew Chausse and Drew Bailey.
Principal photography is scheduled to start in Australia in early 2024 on Alphas, which takes place in a quiet surfing community where killer whales are enlisted to fend off great white sharks after a series of attacks.
- 10/26/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
JJ Winlove’s heartfelt comedy June Again will have a simultaneous North American theatrical and video-on-demand release after being snapped up by Samuel Goldwyn Films.
The film, which made more than $2.5 million at the local box office, will be available in the US/Canada from January 7 as part of a deal negotiated by Annika Horne on behalf of Samuel Goldwyn Films and Caroline Couret-Delègue of Film Seekers, on behalf of the filmmakers.
The story follows matriarch June (Noni Hazlehurst), who, during a reprieve from an ongoing illness, sets about fixing all of her family’s problems, including reuniting her estranged children, saving the family business, and rekindling an old flame. The cast also includes Claudia Karvan and Stephen Curry.
Written and directed by Winlove, the project is produced by Jamie Hilton, Michael Pontin, and Drew Bailey for See Pictures, with principal production from Screen Australia in association with Screen Nsw.
The film, which made more than $2.5 million at the local box office, will be available in the US/Canada from January 7 as part of a deal negotiated by Annika Horne on behalf of Samuel Goldwyn Films and Caroline Couret-Delègue of Film Seekers, on behalf of the filmmakers.
The story follows matriarch June (Noni Hazlehurst), who, during a reprieve from an ongoing illness, sets about fixing all of her family’s problems, including reuniting her estranged children, saving the family business, and rekindling an old flame. The cast also includes Claudia Karvan and Stephen Curry.
Written and directed by Winlove, the project is produced by Jamie Hilton, Michael Pontin, and Drew Bailey for See Pictures, with principal production from Screen Australia in association with Screen Nsw.
- 10/17/2021
- by Sean Slatter
- IF.com.au
Exclusive: Following its success at the Australia/New Zealand box office, Australian feelgood drama June Again been snapped up for North America by Samuel Goldwyn Films.
Released by Studiocanal in its home territory, the film has taken $2.7M locally. It also won the Audience Award for Best Feature at the Sonoma International Film Festival 2021.
June Again follows matriarch June (Noni Hazlehurst), who, during a reprieve from an ongoing illness, sets about fixing all of her family’s problems, including bringing back together her estranged children, saving the family business, and rekindling an old flame. The film also stars Claudia Karvan and Stephen Curry.
The deal was negotiated by Annika Horne on behalf of Samuel Goldwyn Films and Caroline Couret-Delègue of Film Seekers, which represents international rights, on behalf of the filmmakers. Recent sales include U.K (Bohemia Pictures), Germany, Switzerland and Austria (Mt Trading), Spain (Filmax) and Scandinavia (Lucky Dogs...
Released by Studiocanal in its home territory, the film has taken $2.7M locally. It also won the Audience Award for Best Feature at the Sonoma International Film Festival 2021.
June Again follows matriarch June (Noni Hazlehurst), who, during a reprieve from an ongoing illness, sets about fixing all of her family’s problems, including bringing back together her estranged children, saving the family business, and rekindling an old flame. The film also stars Claudia Karvan and Stephen Curry.
The deal was negotiated by Annika Horne on behalf of Samuel Goldwyn Films and Caroline Couret-Delègue of Film Seekers, which represents international rights, on behalf of the filmmakers. Recent sales include U.K (Bohemia Pictures), Germany, Switzerland and Austria (Mt Trading), Spain (Filmax) and Scandinavia (Lucky Dogs...
- 10/15/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Directed by Antaine Furlong, starring Charlotte Best, and set in the elevator of a high-rise, the sci-fi thriller Rising Wolf has been acquired by Samuel Goldwyn Films:
Press Release: Los Angeles, CA – Samuel Goldwyn Films announced today that the company has acquired Worldwide Rights (excl. Australia and New Zealand) to Antaine Furlong’s feature ‘Rising Wolf’. The film stars Charlotte Best (A Name Without A Place), Jonny Pasvolsky (The Front Runner), Alex Menglet (TV’s Wentworth), Susan Prior (The Rover), Lily Stewart, Justin Cotta,Tahlia Sturzaker (I am Mother), and introducing Karelina Clarke.
A young woman wakes, trapped, kidnapped in an elevator of a super high rise building at the mercy of her tormentors. This stylistic thriller, set in Shanghai, explores a young woman's instinct to survive in a situation out of her control. Trapped, without any form of escape, and cocooned in the belly of the beast, Aria is forced to adapt her thinking,...
Press Release: Los Angeles, CA – Samuel Goldwyn Films announced today that the company has acquired Worldwide Rights (excl. Australia and New Zealand) to Antaine Furlong’s feature ‘Rising Wolf’. The film stars Charlotte Best (A Name Without A Place), Jonny Pasvolsky (The Front Runner), Alex Menglet (TV’s Wentworth), Susan Prior (The Rover), Lily Stewart, Justin Cotta,Tahlia Sturzaker (I am Mother), and introducing Karelina Clarke.
A young woman wakes, trapped, kidnapped in an elevator of a super high rise building at the mercy of her tormentors. This stylistic thriller, set in Shanghai, explores a young woman's instinct to survive in a situation out of her control. Trapped, without any form of escape, and cocooned in the belly of the beast, Aria is forced to adapt her thinking,...
- 4/7/2021
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Samuel Goldwyn Films has added to its growing list of Australian acquisitions, negotiating a deal for the worldwide rights to Antaine Furlong’s Ascendant.
Under the agreement, there will be a planned theatrical release of the film as Rising Wolf in the US on July 16.
Ascendant will be released in Australia and New Zealand this Thursday via Maslow Entertainment.
Set in Shanghai, the story follows Aria Wolf (Charlotte Best), a young woman who wakes, trapped, kidnapped in an elevator of a super high rise building at the mercy of her tormentors. Cocooned in the belly of the beast, Aria is forced to adapt her thinking, her beliefs, and her endurance.
The cast includes Jonny Pasvolsky (The Front Runner), Alex Menglet (Wentworth), Susan Prior (The Rover), Lily Stewart, Justin Cotta,Tahlia Sturzaker (I am Mother), and Karelina Clarke.
Ascendant was written by Kieron Holland and Furlong, who produced alongside Kristy Vernon,...
Under the agreement, there will be a planned theatrical release of the film as Rising Wolf in the US on July 16.
Ascendant will be released in Australia and New Zealand this Thursday via Maslow Entertainment.
Set in Shanghai, the story follows Aria Wolf (Charlotte Best), a young woman who wakes, trapped, kidnapped in an elevator of a super high rise building at the mercy of her tormentors. Cocooned in the belly of the beast, Aria is forced to adapt her thinking, her beliefs, and her endurance.
The cast includes Jonny Pasvolsky (The Front Runner), Alex Menglet (Wentworth), Susan Prior (The Rover), Lily Stewart, Justin Cotta,Tahlia Sturzaker (I am Mother), and Karelina Clarke.
Ascendant was written by Kieron Holland and Furlong, who produced alongside Kristy Vernon,...
- 4/7/2021
- by Sean Slatter
- IF.com.au
It was always going to be a big ask for Stage 23.
Antaine Furlong’s sci-fi thriller Ascendant (formerly Rising Wolf) required the visual effects company to provide more than 400 VFX shots, including 2D composites, photoreal 3D environments, and complex supernatural effects sequences, all while navigating a global pandemic.
However, through the use of cloud rendering, an expansion of their team from four to 15, and a transition to a largely remote workflow, Stage 23 managed to overcome the odds to bring Furlong’s vision of a dark, near-future Shanghai to life.
The independently-funded feature, which is about a young environmentalist who awakes in the elevator of a super high-rise building at the mercy of her tormentors, is scheduled for release at the beginning of April, having been filmed at Fox Studios last year.
Written by Furlong and Kieron Holland, the film stars Charlotte Best (Home and Away), Susan Prior (The Rover), and...
Antaine Furlong’s sci-fi thriller Ascendant (formerly Rising Wolf) required the visual effects company to provide more than 400 VFX shots, including 2D composites, photoreal 3D environments, and complex supernatural effects sequences, all while navigating a global pandemic.
However, through the use of cloud rendering, an expansion of their team from four to 15, and a transition to a largely remote workflow, Stage 23 managed to overcome the odds to bring Furlong’s vision of a dark, near-future Shanghai to life.
The independently-funded feature, which is about a young environmentalist who awakes in the elevator of a super high-rise building at the mercy of her tormentors, is scheduled for release at the beginning of April, having been filmed at Fox Studios last year.
Written by Furlong and Kieron Holland, the film stars Charlotte Best (Home and Away), Susan Prior (The Rover), and...
- 2/24/2021
- by Sean Slatter
- IF.com.au
In the heartfelt comedy June Again, a twist of fate gives family matriarch June (Noni Hazlehurst) a reprieve from a debilitating illness. Much to their amazement, June re-enters the lives of her adult children, Ginny (Claudia Karvan) and Devon (Stephen Curry), and learns that ‘things haven’t gone according to plan’. With limited time but plenty of pluck, she sets about trying to put everything, and everyone, back on track. When her meddling backfires, June sets out on a romantic journey of her own and discovers she needs help from the very people she was trying to rescue.
Written and directed by JJ Winlove, June Again is a Ticket to Ride production, from producers Jamie Hilton, Michael Pontion and Drew Bailey.
The film will be released theatrically via Studiocanal May 6.
The post ‘June Again’ (Trailer) appeared first on If Magazine.
Written and directed by JJ Winlove, June Again is a Ticket to Ride production, from producers Jamie Hilton, Michael Pontion and Drew Bailey.
The film will be released theatrically via Studiocanal May 6.
The post ‘June Again’ (Trailer) appeared first on If Magazine.
- 2/15/2021
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Bittersweet comedy Babyteeth has swept this year’s Aacta Awards, picking up seven prizes at Monday’s ceremony including Best Film and Best Direction for debut filmmaker Shannon Murphy.
The film’s stars Eliza Scanlen and Toby Wallace took home the best lead actress and actor gongs, Essie Davis and Ben Mendelsohn were decorated in the supporting acting categories, and scribe Rita Kalnejais, who adapted her 2012 Belvoir Street play, also won the best screenplay award.
The prizes add to the two Babyteeth already collected at the Friday industry awards, including Best Casting, presented to Kirsty McGregor and Stevie Ray, and Best Score, to composer Amanda Brown.
Babyteeth follows Milla (Scanlen), a seriously ill teenager who falls madly in love with smalltime drug dealer, Moses (Wallace). It’s her parents’ (Mendelsohn and Essie Davis) worst nightmare – but as Milla’s love brings her a new lust for life, things get messy...
The film’s stars Eliza Scanlen and Toby Wallace took home the best lead actress and actor gongs, Essie Davis and Ben Mendelsohn were decorated in the supporting acting categories, and scribe Rita Kalnejais, who adapted her 2012 Belvoir Street play, also won the best screenplay award.
The prizes add to the two Babyteeth already collected at the Friday industry awards, including Best Casting, presented to Kirsty McGregor and Stevie Ray, and Best Score, to composer Amanda Brown.
Babyteeth follows Milla (Scanlen), a seriously ill teenager who falls madly in love with smalltime drug dealer, Moses (Wallace). It’s her parents’ (Mendelsohn and Essie Davis) worst nightmare – but as Milla’s love brings her a new lust for life, things get messy...
- 11/30/2020
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
‘Koko: A Red Dog Story.’
Alternate content releases Koko: A Red Dog Story, Standing Up for Sunny and A Boy Called Sailboat premiered in Australian cinemas last weekend, together with the conventionally-released Kairos.
It is difficult to judge the box office results given the limited number of sessions and screens, but all faced the challenge of going into the market with minimal marketing support and publicity.
The third edition of the Red Dog franchise from writers and directors Aaron McCann and Dominic Pearce had the widest release on more than 80 screens, distributed by Roadshow Films and producer Nelson Woss’s Good Dog Distribution.
Last week Woss told If he was encouraged by the responses from test screenings in Indianapolis and charity previews in Perth. But he acknowledged there were no ads on TV or in newspapers and no billboards, bus shelters or buses for the the low-budget film co-funded by Screen Australia,...
Alternate content releases Koko: A Red Dog Story, Standing Up for Sunny and A Boy Called Sailboat premiered in Australian cinemas last weekend, together with the conventionally-released Kairos.
It is difficult to judge the box office results given the limited number of sessions and screens, but all faced the challenge of going into the market with minimal marketing support and publicity.
The third edition of the Red Dog franchise from writers and directors Aaron McCann and Dominic Pearce had the widest release on more than 80 screens, distributed by Roadshow Films and producer Nelson Woss’s Good Dog Distribution.
Last week Woss told If he was encouraged by the responses from test screenings in Indianapolis and charity previews in Perth. But he acknowledged there were no ads on TV or in newspapers and no billboards, bus shelters or buses for the the low-budget film co-funded by Screen Australia,...
- 12/9/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Macario De Souza, the writer/director behind ‘6 Festivals’.
Screen Australia has announced production funding for three feature films and one online project, to a total of $1.4 million.
The slate includes supernatural drama You Won’t Be Alone from writer/director Goran Stolevski and producers Kristina Ceyton and Samantha Jennings of Causeway Films; and 6 Festivals, a drama centred on a group of friends who commit to a bucket list of music festivals over one summer from writer/director Macario De Souza.
Also receiving funding are writer/director Tyson Johnston’s Streamline, about a prospective teen Olympic swimmer to played by Levi Miller; and Moments of Clarity, an online animated comedy about the existential truths of ordinary life from writer/director Tim Logan.
In addition to the above slate, completion funding was supplied to See Picture’s comedy feature June Again. Written and directed by JJ Winlove and produced by Jamie Hilton,...
Screen Australia has announced production funding for three feature films and one online project, to a total of $1.4 million.
The slate includes supernatural drama You Won’t Be Alone from writer/director Goran Stolevski and producers Kristina Ceyton and Samantha Jennings of Causeway Films; and 6 Festivals, a drama centred on a group of friends who commit to a bucket list of music festivals over one summer from writer/director Macario De Souza.
Also receiving funding are writer/director Tyson Johnston’s Streamline, about a prospective teen Olympic swimmer to played by Levi Miller; and Moments of Clarity, an online animated comedy about the existential truths of ordinary life from writer/director Tim Logan.
In addition to the above slate, completion funding was supplied to See Picture’s comedy feature June Again. Written and directed by JJ Winlove and produced by Jamie Hilton,...
- 10/15/2019
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
(L-r) Dena Kaplan, Ronny Chieng, Josh Lawson, Rafe Spall and Zahra Newman (Photo credit: Maria Boyadgis).
Studiocanal has acquired worldwide rights to Josh Lawson’s romantic comedy Long Story Short, which started shooting in Sydney today, and Australian rights to JJ Winlove’s dramedy June Again.
Rafe Spall plays Teddy, who wakes up the morning after his wedding to discover that every few minutes he’s jumping forward to the next year of his life in writer-director Lawson’s follow-up to The Little Death.
Teddy must use every precious moment wisely to prevent losing the love of his life (Diary of an Uber Driver’s Zahra Newman) and to learn to love the life he’s losing.
The cast includes Ronny Chieng (Crazy Rich Asians), Noni Hazlehurst, Dena Kaplan and Lawson.
See Pictures’ Jamie Hilton is producing alongside Michael Pontin and Isabel Stanfield, with funding from Screen Australia, Create Nsw and Spectrum Films.
Studiocanal has acquired worldwide rights to Josh Lawson’s romantic comedy Long Story Short, which started shooting in Sydney today, and Australian rights to JJ Winlove’s dramedy June Again.
Rafe Spall plays Teddy, who wakes up the morning after his wedding to discover that every few minutes he’s jumping forward to the next year of his life in writer-director Lawson’s follow-up to The Little Death.
Teddy must use every precious moment wisely to prevent losing the love of his life (Diary of an Uber Driver’s Zahra Newman) and to learn to love the life he’s losing.
The cast includes Ronny Chieng (Crazy Rich Asians), Noni Hazlehurst, Dena Kaplan and Lawson.
See Pictures’ Jamie Hilton is producing alongside Michael Pontin and Isabel Stanfield, with funding from Screen Australia, Create Nsw and Spectrum Films.
- 8/25/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Claudia Karvan, Noni Hazlehurst and Stephen Curry. (Photo credit: Andreas Bommert)
Writer-director Jj Winlove could not have wished for a better cast for his debut feature June Again.
Now shooting in Sydney, the comedy-drama stars Noni Hazlehurst as June, a woman who experiences a medical miracle, after which she has only a few days to bring together her estranged children, save the family’s wallpaper business and rekindle an old flame.
Claudia Karvan and Stephen Curry are playing her children in the movie produced by Jamie Hilton, Michael Pontin, Drew Bailey and Isabel Stanfield for See Pictures.
The Wellington-born Winlove wrote the screenplay in 2017, aiming to appeal to older cinemagoers. His La-based agent, Verve’s Parker Davis, and his manager Scott Carr shopped the project and Hilton pounced.
He wrote several more drafts until the producers started the casting process via casting director Kirsty McGregor. The three leads all sparked...
Writer-director Jj Winlove could not have wished for a better cast for his debut feature June Again.
Now shooting in Sydney, the comedy-drama stars Noni Hazlehurst as June, a woman who experiences a medical miracle, after which she has only a few days to bring together her estranged children, save the family’s wallpaper business and rekindle an old flame.
Claudia Karvan and Stephen Curry are playing her children in the movie produced by Jamie Hilton, Michael Pontin, Drew Bailey and Isabel Stanfield for See Pictures.
The Wellington-born Winlove wrote the screenplay in 2017, aiming to appeal to older cinemagoers. His La-based agent, Verve’s Parker Davis, and his manager Scott Carr shopped the project and Hilton pounced.
He wrote several more drafts until the producers started the casting process via casting director Kirsty McGregor. The three leads all sparked...
- 2/4/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Vol. I Issue 10 February 2013
Join us twice weekly. Send us links to your sizzle reels and film sites.
As this last weekend approached I was faced with marking my Academy Award ballot. This process is always really difficult. How does one sort out the “best” film or accomplishment of five or nine in the case of the Best Picture? For me it has been over 30 years of screenings. Thousand of films. Some really great films and many not so great. I also try to think what it means to be one of the nominees. What was the off-screen story but always more importantly what their contribution was to the work and how the film compares to others. What’s great about short films is that they can be made for almost nothing by a few filmmakers without a large budget, crew or cast.
The Academy has three nomination categories for films less than 41 minutes in length: short fiction, documentary and animation. Once nominated, there are public screenings and panels to celebrate the nominated films at the Academy in Beverly Hills. A group photograph of all the nominees is taken with a large Oscar in the lobby of the Academy headquarters. It is really a wonderful experience.
It wasn’t always like that. There were no special celebrations for the short or documentary films until the l980s. While the Foreign Language films had their seminar, nothing was done for these films. We tried to remedy that in the 1980s and started the Direct Cinema receptions and screenings with UCLA, USC and, a few years later, the Ida sponsored “Docuday” and the Academy started doing an annual reception for the shorts and documentary filmmakers. Today the Academy’s evening receptions for the short films, animated features (a relatively new Oscar category) and the documentaries are annual sell-out events. The filmmakers and their works are celebrated and it has become a highlight of the Oscar week for the filmmakers and those associated with the films.
When I first became a member of the Academy the short films and animation branch was headed by a number of extraordinary talents: T Hee, Saul Bass and June Forey. These three remarkable artists represented classic Disney animation (T. Hee), fiction and narrative short films (Saul Bass), and the television and theatrical films (June Forey, who voiced hundreds of characters.)
Saul Bass articulated the branch’s membership policy, “We want them to be part of our branch.” This liberal interpretation allowed documentary filmmakers like Ken Burns as well as voice artists and creatives like Stan Friedberg (and June Forey) to be part of a group that included IMAX filmmakers as well as classic character animation directors, colorists, layout artists, producers and other key short film and animation filmmakers. The animation filmmakers represent both the studio animators and the independent animators who work globally doing personal work as well as studio work. Other governors from 1979 to the present have included Hal Elias, who served on the Academy board for 37 years and was a short film publicist for MGM among other things; Bill Littlejohn, who worked on over 90 films as an animator ranging from Charley Brown, Peanuts Christmas Specials to working with the Hubleys’; Bill Scott, who acted and wrote over a hundred animated films, and Carl Bell, who worked on over 35 films at Disney in its animation department.
Unlike most of the other branches, the Short Films branch screens all of the submitted films in 16mm and 35mm and now in Digital Cinema, in an effort to find and nominate the best short films produced in the world. The branch rules allowed films to qualify in an effort to encourage more international entries in the 1990s by taking a first prize at key festivals in addition to the method that all Academy films can use to qualify, a theatrical week long (now three day for shorts) run in a theater in Los Angeles County. Branch screenings were expanded to New York to permit more members to participate in the nomination process in the 1990s. The final short listed screenings are in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Over one-third of the branch participates in the voting. The best change took place this year, sending DVD screeners to all Academy members of the short live action and animated nominated films. While this still won’t force members to watch them, members can’t claim they can’t see them. This is not only great for the branch but great for the nominated filmmakers. Who would not want to screen their short film for Academy members?
The process of the branch for selecting Nominees has remained unchanged for years—members screen the films in a theater rather than on DVDs, which is how the Documentary branch is dealing with the flood of feature docs and their unwillingness to trust committees. Nothing beats seeing films projected on a large screen with perfect sound and that is now lost. In a two step process, a committee (self selected from the branch membership) screens the films and the 15 films with the highest scores are short listed. The short listed films are then screened again and members vote.
The current Short Film Branch governors are Jon Bloom (pictured with the 2007 nominees), a 1983 fiction short nominee, filmmaker, editor and producer who chairs the branch, animator and Disney Creative Head and multi-Oscar winner, John Lasseter, and William "Bill" Kroyer,an award-winning director of animation and computer graphics commercials, short films, movie titles and theatrical films and faculty member Chapman College.
One of the challenges for the branch is how to grow live action producing members. With the addition of feature animation to the awards and the large number of feature animation films being released, the branch would like to have the most qualified animators to become members. The number of animators grows at a far faster rate than that of the live action filmmakers since only a few live action filmmakers can qualify for membership. The commercial success of animated features, the long production schedules and the large number of animators who work in qualifying positions allows for six plus individuals per picture to be eligible for membership. With five nominees a year, the number of individuals who can play a key role in two or three features becoming eligible for membership can easily approach 30 plus individuals annually. Add in the short animation nominees and competition for the limited new slots allocated to the branch can be brutal. The talent pool of animators is both astonishingly strong and suggests that Hollywood can easily double production from the 15 or so films made annually to 25 or 30 without having to compromise on talent.
Many of the filmmakers in the branch who make their Oscar nominated or winning live action short have made or are interested in making feature length works. A number of recent nominees or winners have made that transition. The following list looks at all of the live action nominees from 2001 to 2011, using the Internet Movie Database I looked up each nominee and listed what they reported they were doing professionally. Obviously, this is not intended to show everything. In each case, I listed credits or summarized credits shown in the IMDb listing.
Some observations about 11 years of Live Action Short Film Academy Award Nominees:
There were 86 nominations (out of a possible 110) This is because in some years only three films were nominated and in some cases only one filmmaker from a film was eligible for a nomination. Non-us based filmmakers dominate this category. Despite the huge number of short films being made annually in the Us, a majority of the nominated films come from filmmakers based abroad. In part this is due to the government subsidies available, but it is also due to the strong training programs, commercial support for the short films and a rich tradition of theatrical shorts. This year (2012) four of the five films in the live action category are from Us filmmakers. This is an unusual year. Few filmmakers have more than one nomination, only a handful of the nominees have made multiple Academy worthy short films. As one might expect, many of the filmmakers have continued their film work in television, some in features. The European Oscar winners (vs nominees) have done better at snagging features after a win than have their American counterparts. Again, this is likely a function of government support for entry features. Perhaps one of the short films seem to have been turned into a feature (or television) film. Some of the short films are intended to be sizzle reels for features, but it is not clear why so few of the nominated short films have been turned into features. A number of the Oscar winners have not continued working in film. No record of future productions are shown on IMDb. It would be interesting to see what they are doing now. Two of the Oscar winners have written critically award winning screenplays, one received two Academy Award nominations for his screenwriting. None of these nominees have gone on to win Oscars in directing or producing for feature films.
The data is from the Academy and the IMDb databases.
Apologies in advance, if credits were missed or other factual errors were made. In a week we’ll be able to add this year's winner.
2001 (74th)
Short Film (Live Action) (* won Academy Award)
*the accountant -- Ray McKinnon: Two Features: Randy and the Mob 2007 and Crystal 2004 Lisa Blount: Produced these features. Copy Shop -- Virgil Widrich Gregor's Greatest Invention -- Johannes Kiefer A Man Thing (Meska Sprawa) -- Slawomir Fabicki, Two Features: Loving 2012, Retrieval 2006 (Also wrote) Bogumil Godfrejow Has shot multiple features Speed for Thespians -- Kalman Apple, Shameela Bakhsh
2002 (75th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Fait D'Hiver -- Dirk Beliën, Anja Daelemans produced Comrade Kim Goes North I'll Wait for the Next One... (J'Attendrai Le Suivant...) -- Philippe Orreindy, Thomas Gaudin Inja (Dog) -- Steven Pasvolsky Feature, Deck Dogz Joe Weatherstone, produced episodic television. Johnny Flynton -- Lexi Alexander, directed 3 features: Lifted, Punisher: War Zone and Green Street Hooligans Alexander Buono as a Dp has shot series and features *This Charming Manon (Der Er En Yndig Mand) -- Martin Strange-Hansen, Mie Andreasen produced both features, series and documentaries.
2003 (76th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Die Rote Jacke (The Red Jacket) -- Florian Baxmeyer Multiple television films and series Most (The Bridge) -- Bobby Garabedian, William Zabka Mr. Zabka has appeared as an actor in numerous films and television shows Squash -- Lionel Bailliu Features: Fair Play and Denis (in post) (A) Torzija [(A) Torsion] -- Stefan Arsenijevic Directed: Lost and Found, Love and Other Crimes, and Do Not Forget Me Istanbul *Two Soldiers -- Aaron Schneider,Asc (Cinematographer numerous credits) and feature, Kiss the Girls, Andrew J. Sacks Series The Closer (98 episodes) and Major Crimes.
2004 (77th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Everything in This Country Must -- Gary McKendry Directed Killer Elite, Joseph and the Girl Little Terrorist -- Ashvin Kumar Produced and Directed features (2) and documentaries (2) 7:35 in the Morning (7:35 de la Mañana) -- Nacho Vigalondo Directed and written multiple films, series, shorts Two Cars, One Night -- Taika Waititi, Acted and directed and written multi television and films Ainsley Gardiner Nz based producer of multiple shorts, television and feature films *Wasp -- Andrea Arnold Actor, director and writer of numbers films, television programs
2005 (78th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Ausreisser (The Runaway) -- Ulrike Grote Ms. Grote has acted in over 42 programs, features, television series and films Cashback -- Sean Ellis, Director/Writer Metro Manila, The Broken Lene Bausager Producer, The Broken, Ginger and Rosa The Last Farm -- Rúnar Rúnarsson, Director/Writer Volcano, Thor S. Sigurjónsson Produced multiple features Our Time Is Up -- Rob Pearlstein, Director/Writer multiple television and a feature Pia Clemente Producer, documentaries *Six Shooter -- Martin McDonagh Writer/Director Seven Psychopaths, In Bruges
2006 (79th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea) -- Javier Fesser, no other credits shown Luis Manso Produced multiple features Éramos Pocos (One Too Many) -- Borja Cobeaga Writer, multi films and television series Helmer & Son -- Søren Pilmark no other credits, Kim Magnusso Producer over 100 film, television films (4 Best Short Film Academy Award nominations) Won for Ernst & Lyset The Saviour -- Peter Templeman, no other credits Stuart Parkyn, Producer, multi-short film credits *West Bank Story -- Ari Sandel Director, one short, one documentary
2007 (80th)
Short Film (Live Action)
At Night -- Christian E. Christiansen, Directed, Features and television series Louise Vesth Producer, multi features Il Supplente (The Substitute) -- Andrea Jublin
*Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets) -- Philippe Pollet-Villard Actor and director short films, a television film
Tanghi Argentini -- Guido Thys, Director, Multiple television series Anja Daelemans, nominated for 2 Short Film nominations (Gridlock, 2002) Producer/Pm various The Tonto Woman -- Daniel Barber, Directed The Keeping Room, Harry Brown Matthew Brown Produced 2 shorts
2008 (81st)
Short Film (Live Action)
Auf der Strecke (On the Line) -- Reto Caffi Manon on the Asphalt -- Elizabeth Marre, Director, Television series Olivier Pont Director, Television series New Boy -- Steph Green, Director Run and Jump Tamara Anghie Producer Run and Jump The Pig -- Tivi Magnusson, Producer Over 64 titles many short films, Dorte Høgh Writer multiple series, (Directed The Pig) *Spielzeugland (Toyland) -- Jochen Alexander Freydank Producer of multiple television series
2009 (82nd)
Short Film (Live Action)
The Door -- Juanita Wilson, Director As If I Am Not There James Flynn Multiple Producer credits for over 50 titles, television and theatrical Instead of Abracadabra -- Patrik Eklund, Director, Television film and feature Mathias Fjellström Kavi -- Gregg Helvey Miracle Fish -- Luke Doolan, Multiple credits as editor Drew Bailey Multiple credits as Assistant Director *The New Tenants -- Joachim Back, no other credits shown as a director, Tivi Magnusson This is Mr. Magnusson’s first Academy Award and second nomination. See 2008.
2010 (83rd)
Short Film (Live Action)
The Confession -- Tanel Toom The Crush -- Michael Creagh *God of Love -- Luke Matheny Feature Love Sick and multiple Television series episode Na Wewe -- Ivan Goldschmidt Wish 143 -- Ian Barnes, Multiple directing credits Television Samantha Waite Credits as production coordinator on multiple titles
2011 (84th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Pentecost -- Peter McDonald, Credits as actor Eimear O'Kane Credits as Producer on The Shadows and on television programs. Raju -- Max Zähle, Director, Television series Stefan Gieren Producer-Writer credit on feature film, Kunduz: The Incident at Hadji Ghafur *The Shore -- Terry George, Writer Two Oscar nominations for screenplays In the Name of the Father and Hotel Riwanda Producer and director on films and television series Oorlagh George Numerous credits as Assistant on features, documentaries and television shows Time Freak -- Andrew Bowler Writer and actor in a short film Gigi Causey Production manager, producer shorts, series and films
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Credits: Editing by Jessica Just for SydneysBuzz
__________________________________________________________________________________
Mitchell Block specializes in conceiving, producing, marketing & distributing independent features & consulting. He is an expert in placing both completed works into distribution & working with producers to make projects fundable. He conducts regular workshops in film producing in Los Angeles and most recently in Maine, Russia and in Myanmar (Burma).
Poster Girl, produced by Block was nominated for a Documentary Academy Award and selected by the Ida as the Best Doc Short 2011. It was also nominated for two Emmy Awards and aired on HBO. He is an executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Carrier, a 10-hour series that he conceived & co-created. Block is a graduate of Tisch School and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. He is a member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Television Academy, a founding member of BAFTA-la and has been teaching at USC School of Cinematic Arts since 1979. Currently Block teaches a required class in the USC Peter Stark Producing Program.
______________________________________________________________________
©2013Mwb All Rights Reserved All Rights Reserved. All information and designs on the Sites are copyrighted material owned by Block. Reproduction, dissemination, or transmission of any part of the material here without the express written consent of the owner is strictly prohibited.All other product names and marks on Block Direct, whether trademarks, service marks, or other type, and whether registered or unregistered, is the property of Block.
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As this last weekend approached I was faced with marking my Academy Award ballot. This process is always really difficult. How does one sort out the “best” film or accomplishment of five or nine in the case of the Best Picture? For me it has been over 30 years of screenings. Thousand of films. Some really great films and many not so great. I also try to think what it means to be one of the nominees. What was the off-screen story but always more importantly what their contribution was to the work and how the film compares to others. What’s great about short films is that they can be made for almost nothing by a few filmmakers without a large budget, crew or cast.
The Academy has three nomination categories for films less than 41 minutes in length: short fiction, documentary and animation. Once nominated, there are public screenings and panels to celebrate the nominated films at the Academy in Beverly Hills. A group photograph of all the nominees is taken with a large Oscar in the lobby of the Academy headquarters. It is really a wonderful experience.
It wasn’t always like that. There were no special celebrations for the short or documentary films until the l980s. While the Foreign Language films had their seminar, nothing was done for these films. We tried to remedy that in the 1980s and started the Direct Cinema receptions and screenings with UCLA, USC and, a few years later, the Ida sponsored “Docuday” and the Academy started doing an annual reception for the shorts and documentary filmmakers. Today the Academy’s evening receptions for the short films, animated features (a relatively new Oscar category) and the documentaries are annual sell-out events. The filmmakers and their works are celebrated and it has become a highlight of the Oscar week for the filmmakers and those associated with the films.
When I first became a member of the Academy the short films and animation branch was headed by a number of extraordinary talents: T Hee, Saul Bass and June Forey. These three remarkable artists represented classic Disney animation (T. Hee), fiction and narrative short films (Saul Bass), and the television and theatrical films (June Forey, who voiced hundreds of characters.)
Saul Bass articulated the branch’s membership policy, “We want them to be part of our branch.” This liberal interpretation allowed documentary filmmakers like Ken Burns as well as voice artists and creatives like Stan Friedberg (and June Forey) to be part of a group that included IMAX filmmakers as well as classic character animation directors, colorists, layout artists, producers and other key short film and animation filmmakers. The animation filmmakers represent both the studio animators and the independent animators who work globally doing personal work as well as studio work. Other governors from 1979 to the present have included Hal Elias, who served on the Academy board for 37 years and was a short film publicist for MGM among other things; Bill Littlejohn, who worked on over 90 films as an animator ranging from Charley Brown, Peanuts Christmas Specials to working with the Hubleys’; Bill Scott, who acted and wrote over a hundred animated films, and Carl Bell, who worked on over 35 films at Disney in its animation department.
Unlike most of the other branches, the Short Films branch screens all of the submitted films in 16mm and 35mm and now in Digital Cinema, in an effort to find and nominate the best short films produced in the world. The branch rules allowed films to qualify in an effort to encourage more international entries in the 1990s by taking a first prize at key festivals in addition to the method that all Academy films can use to qualify, a theatrical week long (now three day for shorts) run in a theater in Los Angeles County. Branch screenings were expanded to New York to permit more members to participate in the nomination process in the 1990s. The final short listed screenings are in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Over one-third of the branch participates in the voting. The best change took place this year, sending DVD screeners to all Academy members of the short live action and animated nominated films. While this still won’t force members to watch them, members can’t claim they can’t see them. This is not only great for the branch but great for the nominated filmmakers. Who would not want to screen their short film for Academy members?
The process of the branch for selecting Nominees has remained unchanged for years—members screen the films in a theater rather than on DVDs, which is how the Documentary branch is dealing with the flood of feature docs and their unwillingness to trust committees. Nothing beats seeing films projected on a large screen with perfect sound and that is now lost. In a two step process, a committee (self selected from the branch membership) screens the films and the 15 films with the highest scores are short listed. The short listed films are then screened again and members vote.
The current Short Film Branch governors are Jon Bloom (pictured with the 2007 nominees), a 1983 fiction short nominee, filmmaker, editor and producer who chairs the branch, animator and Disney Creative Head and multi-Oscar winner, John Lasseter, and William "Bill" Kroyer,an award-winning director of animation and computer graphics commercials, short films, movie titles and theatrical films and faculty member Chapman College.
One of the challenges for the branch is how to grow live action producing members. With the addition of feature animation to the awards and the large number of feature animation films being released, the branch would like to have the most qualified animators to become members. The number of animators grows at a far faster rate than that of the live action filmmakers since only a few live action filmmakers can qualify for membership. The commercial success of animated features, the long production schedules and the large number of animators who work in qualifying positions allows for six plus individuals per picture to be eligible for membership. With five nominees a year, the number of individuals who can play a key role in two or three features becoming eligible for membership can easily approach 30 plus individuals annually. Add in the short animation nominees and competition for the limited new slots allocated to the branch can be brutal. The talent pool of animators is both astonishingly strong and suggests that Hollywood can easily double production from the 15 or so films made annually to 25 or 30 without having to compromise on talent.
Many of the filmmakers in the branch who make their Oscar nominated or winning live action short have made or are interested in making feature length works. A number of recent nominees or winners have made that transition. The following list looks at all of the live action nominees from 2001 to 2011, using the Internet Movie Database I looked up each nominee and listed what they reported they were doing professionally. Obviously, this is not intended to show everything. In each case, I listed credits or summarized credits shown in the IMDb listing.
Some observations about 11 years of Live Action Short Film Academy Award Nominees:
There were 86 nominations (out of a possible 110) This is because in some years only three films were nominated and in some cases only one filmmaker from a film was eligible for a nomination. Non-us based filmmakers dominate this category. Despite the huge number of short films being made annually in the Us, a majority of the nominated films come from filmmakers based abroad. In part this is due to the government subsidies available, but it is also due to the strong training programs, commercial support for the short films and a rich tradition of theatrical shorts. This year (2012) four of the five films in the live action category are from Us filmmakers. This is an unusual year. Few filmmakers have more than one nomination, only a handful of the nominees have made multiple Academy worthy short films. As one might expect, many of the filmmakers have continued their film work in television, some in features. The European Oscar winners (vs nominees) have done better at snagging features after a win than have their American counterparts. Again, this is likely a function of government support for entry features. Perhaps one of the short films seem to have been turned into a feature (or television) film. Some of the short films are intended to be sizzle reels for features, but it is not clear why so few of the nominated short films have been turned into features. A number of the Oscar winners have not continued working in film. No record of future productions are shown on IMDb. It would be interesting to see what they are doing now. Two of the Oscar winners have written critically award winning screenplays, one received two Academy Award nominations for his screenwriting. None of these nominees have gone on to win Oscars in directing or producing for feature films.
The data is from the Academy and the IMDb databases.
Apologies in advance, if credits were missed or other factual errors were made. In a week we’ll be able to add this year's winner.
2001 (74th)
Short Film (Live Action) (* won Academy Award)
*the accountant -- Ray McKinnon: Two Features: Randy and the Mob 2007 and Crystal 2004 Lisa Blount: Produced these features. Copy Shop -- Virgil Widrich Gregor's Greatest Invention -- Johannes Kiefer A Man Thing (Meska Sprawa) -- Slawomir Fabicki, Two Features: Loving 2012, Retrieval 2006 (Also wrote) Bogumil Godfrejow Has shot multiple features Speed for Thespians -- Kalman Apple, Shameela Bakhsh
2002 (75th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Fait D'Hiver -- Dirk Beliën, Anja Daelemans produced Comrade Kim Goes North I'll Wait for the Next One... (J'Attendrai Le Suivant...) -- Philippe Orreindy, Thomas Gaudin Inja (Dog) -- Steven Pasvolsky Feature, Deck Dogz Joe Weatherstone, produced episodic television. Johnny Flynton -- Lexi Alexander, directed 3 features: Lifted, Punisher: War Zone and Green Street Hooligans Alexander Buono as a Dp has shot series and features *This Charming Manon (Der Er En Yndig Mand) -- Martin Strange-Hansen, Mie Andreasen produced both features, series and documentaries.
2003 (76th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Die Rote Jacke (The Red Jacket) -- Florian Baxmeyer Multiple television films and series Most (The Bridge) -- Bobby Garabedian, William Zabka Mr. Zabka has appeared as an actor in numerous films and television shows Squash -- Lionel Bailliu Features: Fair Play and Denis (in post) (A) Torzija [(A) Torsion] -- Stefan Arsenijevic Directed: Lost and Found, Love and Other Crimes, and Do Not Forget Me Istanbul *Two Soldiers -- Aaron Schneider,Asc (Cinematographer numerous credits) and feature, Kiss the Girls, Andrew J. Sacks Series The Closer (98 episodes) and Major Crimes.
2004 (77th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Everything in This Country Must -- Gary McKendry Directed Killer Elite, Joseph and the Girl Little Terrorist -- Ashvin Kumar Produced and Directed features (2) and documentaries (2) 7:35 in the Morning (7:35 de la Mañana) -- Nacho Vigalondo Directed and written multiple films, series, shorts Two Cars, One Night -- Taika Waititi, Acted and directed and written multi television and films Ainsley Gardiner Nz based producer of multiple shorts, television and feature films *Wasp -- Andrea Arnold Actor, director and writer of numbers films, television programs
2005 (78th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Ausreisser (The Runaway) -- Ulrike Grote Ms. Grote has acted in over 42 programs, features, television series and films Cashback -- Sean Ellis, Director/Writer Metro Manila, The Broken Lene Bausager Producer, The Broken, Ginger and Rosa The Last Farm -- Rúnar Rúnarsson, Director/Writer Volcano, Thor S. Sigurjónsson Produced multiple features Our Time Is Up -- Rob Pearlstein, Director/Writer multiple television and a feature Pia Clemente Producer, documentaries *Six Shooter -- Martin McDonagh Writer/Director Seven Psychopaths, In Bruges
2006 (79th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea) -- Javier Fesser, no other credits shown Luis Manso Produced multiple features Éramos Pocos (One Too Many) -- Borja Cobeaga Writer, multi films and television series Helmer & Son -- Søren Pilmark no other credits, Kim Magnusso Producer over 100 film, television films (4 Best Short Film Academy Award nominations) Won for Ernst & Lyset The Saviour -- Peter Templeman, no other credits Stuart Parkyn, Producer, multi-short film credits *West Bank Story -- Ari Sandel Director, one short, one documentary
2007 (80th)
Short Film (Live Action)
At Night -- Christian E. Christiansen, Directed, Features and television series Louise Vesth Producer, multi features Il Supplente (The Substitute) -- Andrea Jublin
*Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets) -- Philippe Pollet-Villard Actor and director short films, a television film
Tanghi Argentini -- Guido Thys, Director, Multiple television series Anja Daelemans, nominated for 2 Short Film nominations (Gridlock, 2002) Producer/Pm various The Tonto Woman -- Daniel Barber, Directed The Keeping Room, Harry Brown Matthew Brown Produced 2 shorts
2008 (81st)
Short Film (Live Action)
Auf der Strecke (On the Line) -- Reto Caffi Manon on the Asphalt -- Elizabeth Marre, Director, Television series Olivier Pont Director, Television series New Boy -- Steph Green, Director Run and Jump Tamara Anghie Producer Run and Jump The Pig -- Tivi Magnusson, Producer Over 64 titles many short films, Dorte Høgh Writer multiple series, (Directed The Pig) *Spielzeugland (Toyland) -- Jochen Alexander Freydank Producer of multiple television series
2009 (82nd)
Short Film (Live Action)
The Door -- Juanita Wilson, Director As If I Am Not There James Flynn Multiple Producer credits for over 50 titles, television and theatrical Instead of Abracadabra -- Patrik Eklund, Director, Television film and feature Mathias Fjellström Kavi -- Gregg Helvey Miracle Fish -- Luke Doolan, Multiple credits as editor Drew Bailey Multiple credits as Assistant Director *The New Tenants -- Joachim Back, no other credits shown as a director, Tivi Magnusson This is Mr. Magnusson’s first Academy Award and second nomination. See 2008.
2010 (83rd)
Short Film (Live Action)
The Confession -- Tanel Toom The Crush -- Michael Creagh *God of Love -- Luke Matheny Feature Love Sick and multiple Television series episode Na Wewe -- Ivan Goldschmidt Wish 143 -- Ian Barnes, Multiple directing credits Television Samantha Waite Credits as production coordinator on multiple titles
2011 (84th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Pentecost -- Peter McDonald, Credits as actor Eimear O'Kane Credits as Producer on The Shadows and on television programs. Raju -- Max Zähle, Director, Television series Stefan Gieren Producer-Writer credit on feature film, Kunduz: The Incident at Hadji Ghafur *The Shore -- Terry George, Writer Two Oscar nominations for screenplays In the Name of the Father and Hotel Riwanda Producer and director on films and television series Oorlagh George Numerous credits as Assistant on features, documentaries and television shows Time Freak -- Andrew Bowler Writer and actor in a short film Gigi Causey Production manager, producer shorts, series and films
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Credits: Editing by Jessica Just for SydneysBuzz
__________________________________________________________________________________
Mitchell Block specializes in conceiving, producing, marketing & distributing independent features & consulting. He is an expert in placing both completed works into distribution & working with producers to make projects fundable. He conducts regular workshops in film producing in Los Angeles and most recently in Maine, Russia and in Myanmar (Burma).
Poster Girl, produced by Block was nominated for a Documentary Academy Award and selected by the Ida as the Best Doc Short 2011. It was also nominated for two Emmy Awards and aired on HBO. He is an executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Carrier, a 10-hour series that he conceived & co-created. Block is a graduate of Tisch School and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. He is a member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Television Academy, a founding member of BAFTA-la and has been teaching at USC School of Cinematic Arts since 1979. Currently Block teaches a required class in the USC Peter Stark Producing Program.
______________________________________________________________________
©2013Mwb All Rights Reserved All Rights Reserved. All information and designs on the Sites are copyrighted material owned by Block. Reproduction, dissemination, or transmission of any part of the material here without the express written consent of the owner is strictly prohibited.All other product names and marks on Block Direct, whether trademarks, service marks, or other type, and whether registered or unregistered, is the property of Block.
- 2/28/2013
- by Mitchell Block
- Sydney's Buzz
This article originally appeared in If Magazine issue #146 (April-May 2012).
Broadcasters, take heed. Science-fiction is no longer just the domain of socially-inept teenage boys and overgrown fans of Dungeons and Dragons. With shows like The Walking Dead attracting viewers in their millions and HBO developing a series based on Neil Gaiman's best-selling fantasy American Gods, it has never been more acceptable to prefer your entertainment with a touch of nerdiness.
As a television genre, sci-fi has a long history. The grandfather of all American science-fiction programming is Star Trek, while the United Kingdom has spent almost half a century watching the adventures of everyone's favourite timelord in Doctor Who. But try naming a similarly iconic Australian TV series and you'll find yourself struggling.
The science-fiction and fantasy genre has always been enormously popular with younger audiences across all mediums, a factor ABC3 is all too aware of. Last year the...
Broadcasters, take heed. Science-fiction is no longer just the domain of socially-inept teenage boys and overgrown fans of Dungeons and Dragons. With shows like The Walking Dead attracting viewers in their millions and HBO developing a series based on Neil Gaiman's best-selling fantasy American Gods, it has never been more acceptable to prefer your entertainment with a touch of nerdiness.
As a television genre, sci-fi has a long history. The grandfather of all American science-fiction programming is Star Trek, while the United Kingdom has spent almost half a century watching the adventures of everyone's favourite timelord in Doctor Who. But try naming a similarly iconic Australian TV series and you'll find yourself struggling.
The science-fiction and fantasy genre has always been enormously popular with younger audiences across all mediums, a factor ABC3 is all too aware of. Last year the...
- 6/21/2012
- by Amanda Diaz
- IF.com.au
Zak Hilditch's short film Transmission took out the prize for Best Short Film at the St Kilda Film Festival overnight.
Hilditch and producer Liz Kearney were presented with a $10,000 cheque City of Port Phillip Mayor Rachel Powning at the St Kilda Town Hall.
The film, which tells the story of a deadly pandemic and its impact on a father-daughter relationship, also picked up awards for Best Director (for Hilditch), Best Actor (Angourie Rice) and Best Achievement in Editing (for Merlin Cornish).
Screen Australia supported the production of Transmission via its Springboard program. The short was made to support upcoming feature film These Final Hours, which is set to shoot in and around Perth in the second half of this year.
Seven minute documentary The Globe Collector took out Best Documentary for director Summer DeRoche and producer Andrea Distefano.
Any Questions for Ben? actor Josh Lawson won Best Achievement in Screenplay for After Credits,...
Hilditch and producer Liz Kearney were presented with a $10,000 cheque City of Port Phillip Mayor Rachel Powning at the St Kilda Town Hall.
The film, which tells the story of a deadly pandemic and its impact on a father-daughter relationship, also picked up awards for Best Director (for Hilditch), Best Actor (Angourie Rice) and Best Achievement in Editing (for Merlin Cornish).
Screen Australia supported the production of Transmission via its Springboard program. The short was made to support upcoming feature film These Final Hours, which is set to shoot in and around Perth in the second half of this year.
Seven minute documentary The Globe Collector took out Best Documentary for director Summer DeRoche and producer Andrea Distefano.
Any Questions for Ben? actor Josh Lawson won Best Achievement in Screenplay for After Credits,...
- 5/28/2012
- by Amanda Diaz
- IF.com.au
Everybody knows there is no exact formula to raise the funds necessary to produce a film or television program, but it doesn’t hurt to ask those who have done it successfully, using both traditional and new methods.
(note from the editor: this article was originally published in the November issue of Encore, before Screen Australia released the Drama Production Report for 2009/10)
According to the most recent National Survey of Feature Film and TV Drama Production, in 2008/09 thirteen features were financed mainly by film/TV industry sources (including cash flow against the Producer Offset); 11 were financed “substantially” by Screen Australia, State agencies and the Adelaide/Melbourne festival funds; seven (including three co-productions) were financed mainly from foreign sources; and one was financed mainly from private sources. Private investment dropped from $40m in 2007/08 to $5m in 2008/09, mainly due to the disappearance of the 10Ba model.
Under Screen Australia’s revised Terms of Trade,...
(note from the editor: this article was originally published in the November issue of Encore, before Screen Australia released the Drama Production Report for 2009/10)
According to the most recent National Survey of Feature Film and TV Drama Production, in 2008/09 thirteen features were financed mainly by film/TV industry sources (including cash flow against the Producer Offset); 11 were financed “substantially” by Screen Australia, State agencies and the Adelaide/Melbourne festival funds; seven (including three co-productions) were financed mainly from foreign sources; and one was financed mainly from private sources. Private investment dropped from $40m in 2007/08 to $5m in 2008/09, mainly due to the disappearance of the 10Ba model.
Under Screen Australia’s revised Terms of Trade,...
- 12/16/2010
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey are the director/producer team behind the Oscar-nominated short Miracle Fish. They are currently in post-production for Cryo, a science fiction short that will complement the story – and hopefully help finance – their first feature, Cargo.
Luke: Miracle Fish opened up a lot of doors, especially with the funding bodies in Australia and generating interest from agents and studios overseas. It thrust us into a world we knew in theory, and suddenly we were taking pretty significant meetings. I’ve got several things happening at once and they’re not all going to happen at the same time, so I’m keeping my finger in quite a few pies.
We’ve spent all of this year trying to figure out our options and what to pursue, because by January next year, when the Oscar nominations are announced, nobody is going to care anymore. There’s definitely...
Luke: Miracle Fish opened up a lot of doors, especially with the funding bodies in Australia and generating interest from agents and studios overseas. It thrust us into a world we knew in theory, and suddenly we were taking pretty significant meetings. I’ve got several things happening at once and they’re not all going to happen at the same time, so I’m keeping my finger in quite a few pies.
We’ve spent all of this year trying to figure out our options and what to pursue, because by January next year, when the Oscar nominations are announced, nobody is going to care anymore. There’s definitely...
- 10/26/2010
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
The first images from Cryo, the science fiction short from the team behind the Oscar-nominated Miracle Fish – director Luke Doolan and producer Drew Bailey.
When a journey to another planet goes horribly wrong mid‐flight, an ordinary female engineer finds herself fighting to ensure the future of mankind. Cryo stars Mirrah Foulkes, Brendan Donogue and Henry Nixon.
Cryo was developed and funded through Screen Australia’s Springboard initiative. The short film was devised to complment the feature film Cargo, which Bailey, Doolan and writer Matthew Dabner currently have in development with executive producer Paula Wagner.
Photos by Brad Shield and Drew Bailey.
When a journey to another planet goes horribly wrong mid‐flight, an ordinary female engineer finds herself fighting to ensure the future of mankind. Cryo stars Mirrah Foulkes, Brendan Donogue and Henry Nixon.
Cryo was developed and funded through Screen Australia’s Springboard initiative. The short film was devised to complment the feature film Cargo, which Bailey, Doolan and writer Matthew Dabner currently have in development with executive producer Paula Wagner.
Photos by Brad Shield and Drew Bailey.
- 10/25/2010
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
With another year’s ceremony come and gone, the 2010 Academy Awards announced the big winners during a ceremony at Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday night (March 7).
Taking home the top prize of Best Picture was “The Hurt Locker,” which ended up winning a total of six Oscar trophies.
As for the actor/actress categories, the Academy bestowed honors onto Jeff Bridges, Sandra Bullock, Mo’Nique and Christopher Waltz.
The complete list of 201o Oscar winners is as follows:
Actor in a Leading Role
Winner: Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”
Actor in a Supporting Role
Matt Damon in “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
Winner: Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”
Actress in a Leading...
Taking home the top prize of Best Picture was “The Hurt Locker,” which ended up winning a total of six Oscar trophies.
As for the actor/actress categories, the Academy bestowed honors onto Jeff Bridges, Sandra Bullock, Mo’Nique and Christopher Waltz.
The complete list of 201o Oscar winners is as follows:
Actor in a Leading Role
Winner: Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”
Actor in a Supporting Role
Matt Damon in “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
Winner: Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”
Actress in a Leading...
- 3/8/2010
- GossipCenter
A couple of Academy crowd-favorites won the top acting awards, and The Hurt Locker got the biggest prize of the night!
Sandra Bullock won her first Best Actress award — and even she seemed surprised by the win. Jeff Bridges didn’t seem overly shocked to nab Best Actor, but he still gave a aww-inducing speech celebrating his eminent show-biz family. We particularly liked the dude with the crazy hair who won for Sound Editing and Sound Mixing (Paul Ottosson of The Hurt Locker) and yawn Sandy Powell won for the third time for costume design (The Young Victoria). And you’re probably looking for all the rest of the winners, neatly formatted …
Best picture “Avatar” “The Blind Side” “District 9″ “An Education” (Winner)”The Hurt Locker” “Inglourious Basterds” “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” “A Serious Man” “Up” “Up in the Air” Best actor (Winner) Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart” George Clooney,...
Sandra Bullock won her first Best Actress award — and even she seemed surprised by the win. Jeff Bridges didn’t seem overly shocked to nab Best Actor, but he still gave a aww-inducing speech celebrating his eminent show-biz family. We particularly liked the dude with the crazy hair who won for Sound Editing and Sound Mixing (Paul Ottosson of The Hurt Locker) and yawn Sandy Powell won for the third time for costume design (The Young Victoria). And you’re probably looking for all the rest of the winners, neatly formatted …
Best picture “Avatar” “The Blind Side” “District 9″ “An Education” (Winner)”The Hurt Locker” “Inglourious Basterds” “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” “A Serious Man” “Up” “Up in the Air” Best actor (Winner) Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart” George Clooney,...
- 3/8/2010
- by willlee
- HollywoodLife
Oscar winners 2010 list is here.
We already wrote about possible winners and competition between- James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow, so we can say that we’re not at all surprised that this was Kathryn Bigelow’s night.
The Hurt Locker won 6 Oscars, including honour for Best Movie and Best Director.
So, Bigelow became the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Director.
On the other hand, the movie that still sits on the top of box office, James Cameron’s Avatar definetely had a bad luck. The movie won only 3 golden statues in technical categories – Art Direction, Cinematography and Visual Effects.
We can’t help but think that this show really seemed like Bigelow’s sweet revenge.
Sandra Bullock was named best actress for The Blind Side after she proudly attended Razzie 2010 event and took completely different award.
“Did I really earn this, or did I just wear you all down?...
We already wrote about possible winners and competition between- James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow, so we can say that we’re not at all surprised that this was Kathryn Bigelow’s night.
The Hurt Locker won 6 Oscars, including honour for Best Movie and Best Director.
So, Bigelow became the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Director.
On the other hand, the movie that still sits on the top of box office, James Cameron’s Avatar definetely had a bad luck. The movie won only 3 golden statues in technical categories – Art Direction, Cinematography and Visual Effects.
We can’t help but think that this show really seemed like Bigelow’s sweet revenge.
Sandra Bullock was named best actress for The Blind Side after she proudly attended Razzie 2010 event and took completely different award.
“Did I really earn this, or did I just wear you all down?...
- 3/8/2010
- by Fiona
- Filmofilia
Well, there weren't many major surprises nor many particularly memorable moments, but we still had a lot of fun watching the Oscars here tonight. Thanks to all of you who tuned in for the live podcast and joined us in the live chat over at Ustream [1]. As you may have heard, The Hurt Locker cleaned up, taking home a total of 6 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director, making Kathryn Bigelow the first female director to ever win the award. James Cameron's Avatar, on the other hand, won only for visual effects, art direction and cinematography. All of the acting categories went off as expected, with Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock winning Best Actor and Best Actress, while Christoph Waltz and Mo'Nique won the supporting trophies. If there was an upset at all, it was probably The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos), which beat...
- 3/8/2010
- by Sean
- FilmJunk
"The Insider" has your complete list of winners from Sunday night's 82nd Academy Awards! Read on to see who took home an Oscar on film's biggest night (winners' names bolded below)! Best Picture Winner: “The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier and Greg Shapiro “Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers “The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined “District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers “An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers “Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers “A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers “Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer “Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers Directing Winner: “The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow “Avatar” James Cameron “Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels “Up in the Air...
- 3/8/2010
- by TheInsider
- TheInsider.com
Forget the media-initiated battle between ex-husband and wife, the real face-off at this year's Oscars was between new technology and old-fashioned storytelling... and the victor, we're happy to report, is the latter.
As the dust settles on the gong-giving broo-ha-ha that was the 82nd Annual Academy Awards, it's Kathryn Bigelow's brilliant and brave The Hurt Locker that has emerged the big winner with golden baldies for Best Picture and Best Director among its five statuette haul, while former hubbie James Cameron's Avatar was left holding his rightful prizes for technical prowess in the Art Direction, Cinematography and Visual Effects categories.
After the Academy made its big decision about which movie to put their weight behind (and we do think they went with the right one!), the rest of the big winners were fairly predictable with the likes of Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock walking away with Best Actor...
As the dust settles on the gong-giving broo-ha-ha that was the 82nd Annual Academy Awards, it's Kathryn Bigelow's brilliant and brave The Hurt Locker that has emerged the big winner with golden baldies for Best Picture and Best Director among its five statuette haul, while former hubbie James Cameron's Avatar was left holding his rightful prizes for technical prowess in the Art Direction, Cinematography and Visual Effects categories.
After the Academy made its big decision about which movie to put their weight behind (and we do think they went with the right one!), the rest of the big winners were fairly predictable with the likes of Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock walking away with Best Actor...
- 3/7/2010
- Screenrush
It.s shaping up to be a battle between .The Hurt Locker. and .Avatar. at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards! Both films lead the pack with 9 nominations each including Best Picture, but only one will remain victorious.
From Best Short Film to Best Actor, here are my complete, humble but truly fearless Oscar predictions.
Best Picture
* .Avatar. James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
* .The Blind Side. Nominees to be determined
* .District 9. Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
* .An Education. Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
* .The Hurt Locker. Nominees to be determined
* .Inglourious Basterds. Lawrence Bender, Producer
* .Precious: Based on the Novel .Push. by Sapphire. Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
* .A Serious Man. Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
* .Up. Jonas Rivera, Producer
* .Up in the Air. Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers
And The Oscar Will Go To:
.The Hurt Locker. . The thrilling Iraq...
From Best Short Film to Best Actor, here are my complete, humble but truly fearless Oscar predictions.
Best Picture
* .Avatar. James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
* .The Blind Side. Nominees to be determined
* .District 9. Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
* .An Education. Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
* .The Hurt Locker. Nominees to be determined
* .Inglourious Basterds. Lawrence Bender, Producer
* .Precious: Based on the Novel .Push. by Sapphire. Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
* .A Serious Man. Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
* .Up. Jonas Rivera, Producer
* .Up in the Air. Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers
And The Oscar Will Go To:
.The Hurt Locker. . The thrilling Iraq...
- 3/5/2010
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
How many office Oscar pools are won by the wise ass who happens to know the competition in the often neglected short film categories? This year's winner could be you, but all joking aside, Magnolia Pictures has, for the past five years, made watching Oscar nominated short films in both the animated and live action categories easier than pie. - How many office Oscar pools are won by the wise ass who happens to know the competition in the often neglected short film categories? This year's winner could be you, but all joking aside, Magnolia Pictures has, for the past five years, made watching Oscar nominated short films in both the animated and live action categories easier than pie. Starting today until the big day, you can see two double short film bills. Each feature length program includes all of this year’s nominated films, and the animated program includes three additional titles,...
- 2/19/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Quickcard Review
The Door
Directed by: Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
Running Time: 17 minutes
Plot: In Russian (with subtitles), this is the story about a tragedy of a sick daughter and the tradition of a burial ceremony involving a door.
Overall
The beginning is easily the best part, but it seems to be the in the wrong film. It hooks you in with an abandoned amusement park, but then you realize it’s the entire city. It seems like an action movie with a man on the run, perhaps after a magical door. The film barely talks about the sick daughter, and rarely shows the emotional turmoil needed to feel connected to this short.
Final Score: 5/10
Kavi
Directed by: Gregg Helvey
Running Time: 19 minutes
Plot: This Hindi film is about a little boy who, along with his parents, are slaves.
Overall
Making bricks is his entire life, and the boy prides himself on this,...
The Door
Directed by: Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
Running Time: 17 minutes
Plot: In Russian (with subtitles), this is the story about a tragedy of a sick daughter and the tradition of a burial ceremony involving a door.
Overall
The beginning is easily the best part, but it seems to be the in the wrong film. It hooks you in with an abandoned amusement park, but then you realize it’s the entire city. It seems like an action movie with a man on the run, perhaps after a magical door. The film barely talks about the sick daughter, and rarely shows the emotional turmoil needed to feel connected to this short.
Final Score: 5/10
Kavi
Directed by: Gregg Helvey
Running Time: 19 minutes
Plot: This Hindi film is about a little boy who, along with his parents, are slaves.
Overall
Making bricks is his entire life, and the boy prides himself on this,...
- 2/19/2010
- by Jeff Bayer
- The Scorecard Review
Nick Park's A Matter Of Loaf And Death, featured in the 2010 Oscar Animated Shorts Program
2010 Oscar Shorts Program opens Friday at South Lamar – Animated & Live Action
If you boil the average feature-length movie down to its central question, you usually end up with a very fine sediment of Answer resting on a sludge of capricious character musings and stylized packing peanuts. This is obviously not true of all feature-length films, but for the mainstream fare, run-time is nearly as important to success as quality. Exhibit A: Transformers 2. Assuming you, the reader, agrees that the quality of this film was sub-…human, consider the fact that the entire plot/story/meaning of the film could have only taken up 10 to 15-minutes of your valuable time. In fact, that movie took up almost 2 and a half hours or your valuable time and grossed nearly a billion dollars worldwide. If the movie...
2010 Oscar Shorts Program opens Friday at South Lamar – Animated & Live Action
If you boil the average feature-length movie down to its central question, you usually end up with a very fine sediment of Answer resting on a sludge of capricious character musings and stylized packing peanuts. This is obviously not true of all feature-length films, but for the mainstream fare, run-time is nearly as important to success as quality. Exhibit A: Transformers 2. Assuming you, the reader, agrees that the quality of this film was sub-…human, consider the fact that the entire plot/story/meaning of the film could have only taken up 10 to 15-minutes of your valuable time. In fact, that movie took up almost 2 and a half hours or your valuable time and grossed nearly a billion dollars worldwide. If the movie...
- 2/17/2010
- by brad
- OriginalAlamo.com
Fans of Ewan McGregor, Kristen Stewart and James Van Der Beek (!) will be seeing double this spring, as arthouses and multiplexes host an array of indie films ranging from the travails of septuagenarian New Yorkers looking for love ("The Last New Yorker") to 13-year-old assassins on the hunt for their first kill ("Kick-Ass"). If real life is more your speed, there are new documentaries about reviving animation strips (the Disney doc "Waking Sleeping Beauty") and stripping down (the burlesque history "Behind the Burly Q"), while foreign wonders like the French crime epics "A Prophet" and "Mesrine" mix with Korean treasures "Mother" and "The Good, The Bad and The Weird."
But of course, why limit yourself to just what's playing in the first-run theater near you? We've also included a look at the films that will be playing Anywhere But a Movie Theater (online, on demand, and on DVD) in the next few months,...
But of course, why limit yourself to just what's playing in the first-run theater near you? We've also included a look at the films that will be playing Anywhere But a Movie Theater (online, on demand, and on DVD) in the next few months,...
- 2/16/2010
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
The Wabbit sent in this link to the live actioners: The Door (17m – Ireland/Russia) Juanita Wilson and James Flynn Official Site: http://www.thedoorshortfilm.com (film not available) Istället...
- 2/4/2010
- by Sasha Stone
- AwardsDaily.com
Nevada (Us), Feb 4 - A Hindi film has been nominated for the Oscars.
“Kavi”, directed-produced-written by Gregg Helvey (Overexposed), has been nominated in “Short Film” (Live Action) category of 82nd Academy Awards. It will compete with “The Door” (Juanita Wilson, James Flynn), “Instead of Abracadabra” (Patrik Eklund, Mathias Fjellstrom), “Miracle Fish” (Luke Doolan, Drew Bailey), and “The New Tenants” (Joachim Back, Tivi Magnusson).
Film revolves around Kavi, a boy in India, who wants to go to school and play cricket but is forced to work in a brick kiln as a modern-day slave. This 19-minute fictional film is Helvey’s University of Southern California.
“Kavi”, directed-produced-written by Gregg Helvey (Overexposed), has been nominated in “Short Film” (Live Action) category of 82nd Academy Awards. It will compete with “The Door” (Juanita Wilson, James Flynn), “Instead of Abracadabra” (Patrik Eklund, Mathias Fjellstrom), “Miracle Fish” (Luke Doolan, Drew Bailey), and “The New Tenants” (Joachim Back, Tivi Magnusson).
Film revolves around Kavi, a boy in India, who wants to go to school and play cricket but is forced to work in a brick kiln as a modern-day slave. This 19-minute fictional film is Helvey’s University of Southern California.
- 2/4/2010
- by News
- RealBollywood.com
How do you know when you've hit the saturation point of Oscar coverage? Probably when you instinctively draw parallels between a banner year for Austria (three nominations total for natives Christoph Waltz, Michael Haneke and Christian Berger) and a miserable year for Australia, which, for the first time since 1998, failed to supply a single acting nominee. (The country's beloved Foreign-Language hopeful Samson and Delilah was snubbed as well.) In fact, the only Aussies headed to the Kodak Theater in contention are Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey, nominated for their live-action short Miracle Fish. Down under, indeed. [THR, ABC]...
- 2/3/2010
- Movieline
The movie's star Jeremy Renner is up for the Best Actor in a Leading Role Oscar, competing against George Clooney ("Up in the Air"), Morgan Freeman ("Invictus"), Jeff Bridges ("Crazy Heart") and Colin Firth ("A Single Man").
In the Best Director category, Bigelow will fight it out with her ex-husband James Cameron, who is praised for his sci-fi epic "Avatar", along with Quentin Tarantino ("Inglourious Basterds"), Lee Daniels ("Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire") and Jason Reitman ("Up in the Air").
"The Hurt Locker" is also in the running for Best Picture - the film is among 10 nominees for the prestigious accolade, including "Avatar", "Up in the Air", "The Blind Side" and "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire".
Meanwhile, Sandra Bullock has landed her first Oscar nomination for her role in "The Blind Side" - the star will go up against Meryl Streep ("Julie & Julia"), Helen Mirren...
In the Best Director category, Bigelow will fight it out with her ex-husband James Cameron, who is praised for his sci-fi epic "Avatar", along with Quentin Tarantino ("Inglourious Basterds"), Lee Daniels ("Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire") and Jason Reitman ("Up in the Air").
"The Hurt Locker" is also in the running for Best Picture - the film is among 10 nominees for the prestigious accolade, including "Avatar", "Up in the Air", "The Blind Side" and "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire".
Meanwhile, Sandra Bullock has landed her first Oscar nomination for her role in "The Blind Side" - the star will go up against Meryl Streep ("Julie & Julia"), Helen Mirren...
- 2/3/2010
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has on Tuesday morning, February 2 announced the nominees of the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. The unraveling of the nominees affirmed that there will indeed be a head-to-head battle between Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep as the two are vying for Best Actress.
45-year-old Bullock was listed for the title for her role as Leigh Anne Tuohy in "The Blind Side". It is the first Academy Award gong the star of "The Proposal" collected. Meanwhile, 60-year-old Streep was nominated for her Julia Child portrayal in "Julie & Julia". With this nom, the "Doubt" leading lady has extended her reign as the most nominated performer in Academy history by collecting her 16th.
Also collecting her first Oscar nomination was "Up in the Air" young star, Anna Kendrick. The 24-year-old who is also known for her Jessica Stanley role in the "Twilight Saga" series earned a Best Supporting Actress nomination.
45-year-old Bullock was listed for the title for her role as Leigh Anne Tuohy in "The Blind Side". It is the first Academy Award gong the star of "The Proposal" collected. Meanwhile, 60-year-old Streep was nominated for her Julia Child portrayal in "Julie & Julia". With this nom, the "Doubt" leading lady has extended her reign as the most nominated performer in Academy history by collecting her 16th.
Also collecting her first Oscar nomination was "Up in the Air" young star, Anna Kendrick. The 24-year-old who is also known for her Jessica Stanley role in the "Twilight Saga" series earned a Best Supporting Actress nomination.
- 2/3/2010
- by celebrity-mania.com
- Celebrity Mania
Every year at about this time, the Academy of Arts and Sciences announces their nominations for the Oscars. This is a troubling time for film fans, as they see that their favorite movies may not get the big nod, or the best performances do not get put forward for lack of Academic backbone.
For this year, of course, the Academy accidentally looked over Nicolas Cage’s performance in Bad Lieutenant. No big deal. It was only one of the greatest performance in the past 100 years. I’m sure that the announcers this morning simply forget to read off his name. Right?
Anyway, we’ll make the best with what we have. And the nominees this year are pretty good. A lot of the nominated films are still playing in our theatres. Of the nominees, we’ve still got:
9 for Avatar
6 for Up in the Air
3 for Crazy Heart
2 for Sherlock Holmes...
For this year, of course, the Academy accidentally looked over Nicolas Cage’s performance in Bad Lieutenant. No big deal. It was only one of the greatest performance in the past 100 years. I’m sure that the announcers this morning simply forget to read off his name. Right?
Anyway, we’ll make the best with what we have. And the nominees this year are pretty good. A lot of the nominated films are still playing in our theatres. Of the nominees, we’ve still got:
9 for Avatar
6 for Up in the Air
3 for Crazy Heart
2 for Sherlock Holmes...
- 2/2/2010
- by daniel
- OriginalAlamo.com
Complete list of 82nd Annual Academy Award nominations announced.
Anne Hathaway announced the nominees this morning at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
As expected, there was lots of love for “Avatar” — the film is up in a total of nine categories, as is “The Hurt Locker,” including Best Picture and Best Director nominations for both James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow.
The academy’s announcement marked the first time in 66 years that there were 10 nominees in this marquee category, instead of the traditional five. The last time the academy went this route, “Casablanca” took home Oscar gold as the best picture of 1943. “The Blind Side” scored a spot next to films like “Up“, “Inglourious Basterds,” and “District 9.”
The best actor nominations went to Jeff Bridges for “Crazy Heart,” George Clooney for “Up in the Air,” Colin Firth for “A Single Man,...
Anne Hathaway announced the nominees this morning at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
As expected, there was lots of love for “Avatar” — the film is up in a total of nine categories, as is “The Hurt Locker,” including Best Picture and Best Director nominations for both James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow.
The academy’s announcement marked the first time in 66 years that there were 10 nominees in this marquee category, instead of the traditional five. The last time the academy went this route, “Casablanca” took home Oscar gold as the best picture of 1943. “The Blind Side” scored a spot next to films like “Up“, “Inglourious Basterds,” and “District 9.”
The best actor nominations went to Jeff Bridges for “Crazy Heart,” George Clooney for “Up in the Air,” Colin Firth for “A Single Man,...
- 2/2/2010
- by Allan Ford
- Filmofilia
<b>Best Motion Picture of the Year</b>•
Total Videos: (86)
Total Images: (52)');">Avatar: James Cameron, Jon Landau•
Total Videos: (31)
Total Images: (4)');">The Blind Side: Nominees to be determined•
Total Videos: (57)
Total Images: (20)');">District 9: Peter Jackson, Carolynne Cunningham•
Total Videos: (12)
Total Images: (27)');">An Education: Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey•
Total Videos: (20)
Total Images: (13)');">The Hurt Locker: Nominees to be determined•
Total Videos: (71)
Total Images: (28)');">Inglourious Basterds: Lawrence Bender•
Total Videos: (13)
Total Images: (4)');">Precious: Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness, Gary Magness•
Total Videos: (26)
Total Images: (2)');">A Serious Man: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen•
Total Videos: (49)
Total Images: (9)');">Up: Jonas Rivera•
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Total Images: (18)');">Up in the Air: Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman<b>Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role</b>• Jeff Bridges for
Total Videos: (18)
Total Images: (1)');">Crazy Heart• George Clooney for...
Total Videos: (86)
Total Images: (52)');">Avatar: James Cameron, Jon Landau•
Total Videos: (31)
Total Images: (4)');">The Blind Side: Nominees to be determined•
Total Videos: (57)
Total Images: (20)');">District 9: Peter Jackson, Carolynne Cunningham•
Total Videos: (12)
Total Images: (27)');">An Education: Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey•
Total Videos: (20)
Total Images: (13)');">The Hurt Locker: Nominees to be determined•
Total Videos: (71)
Total Images: (28)');">Inglourious Basterds: Lawrence Bender•
Total Videos: (13)
Total Images: (4)');">Precious: Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness, Gary Magness•
Total Videos: (26)
Total Images: (2)');">A Serious Man: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen•
Total Videos: (49)
Total Images: (9)');">Up: Jonas Rivera•
Total Videos: (22)
Total Images: (18)');">Up in the Air: Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman<b>Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role</b>• Jeff Bridges for
Total Videos: (18)
Total Images: (1)');">Crazy Heart• George Clooney for...
- 2/2/2010
- Films N Movies
Early this morning Tom Sherak and Anne Hathaway announced the nominations for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. The ceremonial event will be aired on March 7th on ABC and will be co-hosted by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. Check out the complete list of nominations below: Best Picture * “Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers * “The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined * “District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers * “An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers * “The Hurt Locker” Nominees to be determined * “Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer * “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers * “A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers * “Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer * “Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers Actor in a Leading Role * Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart” * George Clooney in “Up in the Air” * Colin Firth...
- 2/2/2010
- by Dave Campbell
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
Despite it being stupidly early in the morning in Los Angeles, the fine folks at The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences have wiped the sleep our of their bleary eyes, put on their best power suit and stepped up to the podium to announce the runners and riders for this year's Oscar ceremony.
Presented by Academy president Tom Sherak and 2008 Oscar-nominated actress Anne Hathaway, the nominations for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards were finally revealed after an interminable wait and unfortunately yielded very few surprises.
As predicted by every other awards ceremony this year, Up In The Air, Avatar and Precious gained numerous nods, with the former being nominated for Best Picture, Director, Actor and Supporting Actress (for both Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick).
Avatar unsurprisingly got nods for Best Picture and Best Director amongst others, while the critically lauded Precious was tagged for Best Supporting Actress (Mo'Nique...
Presented by Academy president Tom Sherak and 2008 Oscar-nominated actress Anne Hathaway, the nominations for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards were finally revealed after an interminable wait and unfortunately yielded very few surprises.
As predicted by every other awards ceremony this year, Up In The Air, Avatar and Precious gained numerous nods, with the former being nominated for Best Picture, Director, Actor and Supporting Actress (for both Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick).
Avatar unsurprisingly got nods for Best Picture and Best Director amongst others, while the critically lauded Precious was tagged for Best Supporting Actress (Mo'Nique...
- 2/2/2010
- Screenrush
Fuller commentary coming this evening. For now, just the list. The extra long wait this year... did it pay off for you with exciting reveals or only delay the inevitable disappointment? All reactions are welcome...
Best Picture
“Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
“The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined
“District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
“An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
“The Hurt Locker” Nominees to be determined
“Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
“A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
“Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer
“Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers
Best Director“Avatar” James Cameron
“The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow
“Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels
“Up in the Air” Jason Reitman...
Best Picture
“Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
“The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined
“District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
“An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
“The Hurt Locker” Nominees to be determined
“Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
“A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
“Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer
“Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers
Best Director“Avatar” James Cameron
“The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow
“Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels
“Up in the Air” Jason Reitman...
- 2/2/2010
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
The 82nd annual Academy Award nominations were announced Tuesday morning. Below is the complete list of nominations along with links to exclusive MakingOf content.
Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”
Actor in a Supporting Role
Matt Damon in “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”
Actress in a Leading Role
Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”
Actress in a Supporting Role
Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
Anna Kendrick in...
Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”
Actor in a Supporting Role
Matt Damon in “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”
Actress in a Leading Role
Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”
Actress in a Supporting Role
Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
Anna Kendrick in...
- 2/2/2010
- Makingof.com
The wait is over, folks... the nominees for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards were announced this morning by Academy president Tom Sherak and Anne Hathaway. And guess what? There weren't many surprises. Almost every category seemed to parallel the previous winners that we've seen already at earlier award ceremonies. It was cool to see some of the additional films up for Best Picture this year, including District 9 and Up (yes, Pixar finally got their Best Picture nod). I guess it was a bit of a surprise that Jeremy Renner got nominated for The Hurt Locker, and Maggie Gyllenhaal for Crazy Heart. The Secret of Kells was a dark horse nominee for the Best Animated Feature category, and I know some people will be excited to see In The Loop in there for Best Adapted Screenplay. Plus, just to spite Reed Farrington, Star Trek was nominated for Best Make-Up.
- 2/2/2010
- by Sean
- FilmJunk
As expected, the Oscar nominations were virtually surprise-free as they were announced this morning by Academy President Tom Sherak and Oscar-nominated actress Anne Hathaway. If you count "The Blind Side's" nomination for Best Picture as a surprise, that's the most gripping moment during the announcement (you could hear the audience clap with excitement when the film was announced).
But I'm more ecstatic with the inclusion of "District 9" for Best Picture, and sadden with the snub of "(500) Days of Summer."
"Avatar" and "The Hurt Locker" led the pack with 9 nominations each. James Cameron's sci-fi flick scored noms including Best Picture, Director, Art Direction, Cinematography, Film Editing, Music (Original Score), Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects. Although the biggest blockbuster in the world failed to get a Best Original Screenplay nomination.
"The Hurt Locker," Kathryn Bigelow's masterpiece (and my pick to win the top awards) scored nominations for Best Picture and Director,...
But I'm more ecstatic with the inclusion of "District 9" for Best Picture, and sadden with the snub of "(500) Days of Summer."
"Avatar" and "The Hurt Locker" led the pack with 9 nominations each. James Cameron's sci-fi flick scored noms including Best Picture, Director, Art Direction, Cinematography, Film Editing, Music (Original Score), Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects. Although the biggest blockbuster in the world failed to get a Best Original Screenplay nomination.
"The Hurt Locker," Kathryn Bigelow's masterpiece (and my pick to win the top awards) scored nominations for Best Picture and Director,...
- 2/2/2010
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the 10 semi-finalists in the live action short film category of the 2010 Academy Awards. Seventy-one pictures had originally qualified. The 10 films are listed below in alphabetical order: The Door, Juanita Wilson, director, and James Flynn, producer (Octagon Films Ltd.) The Ground Beneath, Rene Hernandez, director, and Kristina Ceyton, producer (Passion Pictures) Hotel, Tim Conrad, director-producer (Oyster Films) Instead of Abracadabra, Patrik Eklund, director, and Mathias Fjellstrom, producer (Direktorn & Fabrikorn) Kavi, Gregg Helvey, director-producer (Gregg Helvey) Miracle Fish, Luke Doolan, director, and Drew Bailey, producer (Druid Films) The New Tenants, Joachim Back, director, and Tivi Magnusson, producer (Park Pictures) The Response, Adam Rodgers, director, and Sig Libowitz, producer (Look at the Moon Productions) Short Term 12, [...]...
- 12/5/2009
- by Michelle Hutton
- Alt Film Guide
Ten live-action short films -- ranging from director Juanita Wilson and producer James Flynn's "The Door," which looks at a Russian father and daughter, to director Tristram Shapeero and producer Daniel Jewel's "Sidney Turtlebaum," about an eccentric gay Jewish man in London -- have been shortlisted for the best live-action short film Oscar.
On Friday, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences released the list of ten, from which three to five nominees will be chosen.
In addition to "Door" and "Turtlebaum," the contenders are: "The Ground Beneath," Rene Hernandez, director, and Kristina Ceyton, producer (Passion Pictures); "Hotel," Tim Conrad, director-producer (Oyster Films); "Instead of Abracadabra," Patrik Eklund, director, and Mathias Fjellstrom, producer (Direktorn & Fabrikorn); "Kavi," Gregg Helvey, director-producer; "Miracle Fish," Luke Doolan, director, and Drew Bailey, producer (Druid Films); "The New Tenants," Joachim Back, director, and Tivi Magnusson, producer (Park Pictures); "The Response," Adam Rodgers, director,...
On Friday, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences released the list of ten, from which three to five nominees will be chosen.
In addition to "Door" and "Turtlebaum," the contenders are: "The Ground Beneath," Rene Hernandez, director, and Kristina Ceyton, producer (Passion Pictures); "Hotel," Tim Conrad, director-producer (Oyster Films); "Instead of Abracadabra," Patrik Eklund, director, and Mathias Fjellstrom, producer (Direktorn & Fabrikorn); "Kavi," Gregg Helvey, director-producer; "Miracle Fish," Luke Doolan, director, and Drew Bailey, producer (Druid Films); "The New Tenants," Joachim Back, director, and Tivi Magnusson, producer (Park Pictures); "The Response," Adam Rodgers, director,...
- 12/4/2009
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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