Film Festival News

Reporting on film festivals

Lanie Zipoy’s THE SUBJECT Opens Harlem International Film Festival lineup for 15th edition features undiscovered international titles and films from The HUB

By John Wildman 6 years ago

Harlem International Film Festival’s Program Director, Nasri Zacharia, said. “Like many film festivals, we have made the decision to present our slate of essential cinema virtually this year, but that decision has only intensified our desire to cull great world cinema that might have been otherwise overlooked, and deserves a spotlight, as well as to continue our efforts to truly showcase the filmmakers and the setting of our beloved home neighborhoods of Harlem, Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, which we call the HUB”.

Rachel Morgan, Creative Director of Sidewalk Film Festival announces complete film lineup for all-in all Drive-in 22nd edition of film festival

By John Wildman 6 years ago

Sidewalk Film Festival Creative Director and Lead Programmer, Rachel Morgan, said, “While we would much prefer to be running from film to film in unique and beautiful spaces in downtown Birmingham this late August, I’m super proud and excited that we’ve moved to a drive-in festival despite the many challenges brought about by the current era.

LINGUA FRANCA, THE DONUT KING, and FAREWELL lead 2020 Bentonville Film Festival’s Filmmaker Awards

By John Wildman 6 years ago

Isabel Sandoval’s LINGUA FRANCA took home the top prize winning the jury award for Best Narrative Feature. Alice Gu’s THE DONUT KING was awarded Best Documentary, Rachel Harrison Gordon’s BROKEN BIRD was selected for Best Short Film Narrative and Rachel Fleit’s AVA & BIANCA won for Short Film Documentary. Taylor Lee Nagel’s Lady Liberty and Miguel Angel Duran’s Immigrant Voices of America took the honors in Episodic.

FAR EAST DEEP SOUTH, TAHARA, A WHORE LIKE ME lead Women Texas Film Festival’s Filmmaker Awards for 2020’s Virtual Edition

By John Wildman 6 years ago

Women Texas Film Festival Founder and Festival Director Justina Walford said, “The virtual presentation somehow added to the immediacy of the moment with our screenings and Q&As and it was thrilling to not just experience each film without distractions but to also hear from so many filmmakers and actors and documentary subjects from all around the world right in our living rooms. And the films that our jury selected for these awards all shared the fact that they touched and inspired our judges to such an extent that they needed to be honored.”

Patricia Velásquez Guzmán’s APEGO Leads Cine Las Americas Awards from CLA2020 Virtual Showcase

By John Wildman 6 years ago

CLA Executive Director Jean Anne Lauer said, “It was vitally important to all of us associated with Cine Las Americas that we find a way to give these films and the filmmakers who created them a dedicated platform, even in the midst of shut downs, stay-at-home orders, and of course, every adjustment we all needed to make concerning our health and those around us. What resulted was a special event and coming together of our filmmakers, audiences, staff, and community. Regardless of it being in a virtual space, we made those connections Cine Las Americas is famous for.”

Oge Egbounu’s (In)visible Portraits Opens Bentonville Film Festival’s 6th edition debuts with a virtual/drive-in hybrid approach

By John Wildman 6 years ago

Wendy Guerrero , President of Programming of Bentonville Film Festival said: “ Our team has worked hard over the past few months to rethink and rebuild our Festival for 2020, always drawing on our mission to champion underrepresented voices, which has grown even more urgent as we continue these challenging circumstances. Our 2020 program is a celebration of art and diversity, perseverance, and talent. The films in this year’s lineup showcase what we’ve known all along: representation in media, means better content for all.

Olivia Peace’s TAHARA Opens Women Texas Film Festival announces slate of films for virtual fest August 13-16 with an emphasis on LGBTQIA+ and provocative docs

By John Wildman 6 years ago

Walford added, “We love being part of the international movement to showcase female filmmakers and we know we must continue our efforts with even more force so that we change the filmmaking industry in hiring an equitable gender ratio. Our goal has always been to show the range of the female storyteller, and the depths to which women can take us via their work in film- whether it be emotional, visual, introspective, startling, shocking, and horrific.

Annual $25,000 “Of a Certain Age” filmmaking grant launched in memory of Lynn Shelton

By John Wildman 6 years ago

Shelton often spoke of feeling inspired after seeing filmmaker Claire Denis speak at Northwest Film Forum and learning that Denis did not make her first feature until age 40. Shelton went on to make her own first feature film (We Go Way Back) at the age of 39. In the years since, she built a prolific canon of feature and television work and made an indelible mark on the landscape of American cinema.