Film Festival News

Reporting on film festivals

James Harlon Palmer ‘s ANNIVERSARY: The 2019 Louisiana Film Prize’s Big $50K Winner is a home-grown musical

By John Wildman 6 years ago

“This year was marked by epic growth – more films entered in the competition, another steep climb in audience numbers, our first competing finalists coming from another country, a wider range of genres and styles, and more,” said Gregory Kallenberg, Founder and Executive Director of the Film Prize Foundation. “This record setting year was not only a banner year for the Film Prize, it was also a banner year for independent filmmaking at its highest level.”

Seamus Murphy’s A DOG CALLED MONEY Opens Sound Unseen Film + Music Festival; Gala selections and key titles for 20th Anniversary edition

By John Wildman 6 years ago

The Sound Unseen Film/Music Festival (November 12-17) previewed the film festival’s 20th Anniversary edition of the festival, revealing the titles of five initial selections. Recently announced as one of MovieMaker Magazine’s “25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World,” Sound Unseen has chosen Seamus Murphy’s A DOG CALLED MONEY for its Opening Night Gala co-presented with the Walker Art Center. Brandon Vedder’s STRANGE NEGOTIATIONS is the Centerpiece Selection.

Elia Suleiman’s IT MUST BE HEAVEN Opens New York City’s 2nd Annual CineCina Film Festival ; Announces Lineup celebrating World Cinema

By John Wildman 6 years ago

CineCina Film Festival Founder and Director Vina Sun, said, “In our second year, we have created a ‘road’ theme meant to highlight our cinematic journey, the connection, and mutual communication platform we seek to build to boost film culture exchanges. Our programming has expanded to all world cinema beyond the Chinese focus we established with last year’s debut. That creative road also leads to our Horizon Project, meant to encourage and develop young filmmakers, as well as Master Class lectures, which will feature film artists like one of our special guests this year, Samuel Maoz.”

Marielle Heller’s Tom Hanks-starrer A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD Opens Heartland International Film Festival 2019 among major awards players for this year’s fest

By John Wildman 6 years ago

Four top-tier titles expected to be major awards players this year have been secured for each of the gala slots for this year’s edition of the film festival, and a number of attention-getting films will join them as Heartland takes another major step toward being a leader on the regional circuit. Marielle Heller’s Tom Hanks-starrer A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD was chosen as the Opening Night Gala film, and Destin Daniel Cretton’s JUST MERCY will screen as the Closing Night Gala selection. Noah Baumbach’s MARRIAGE STORY is set to be the Centerpiece Screening, and Fernando Meirelles’ THE TWO POPES will be the Showcase Screening.

Lifetime Achievement Awards Cloris Leachman, Michael Apted: 2019 Heartland International Film Festival announces 2 Lifetime Achievement honorees and a special festival guest

By John Wildman 6 years ago

“Bold, daring, and innovative, are all key words for us at the Heartland International Film Festival this year, and our two honorees and our very special guest each are examples of those words in multiple ways. It will be a great pleasure to celebrate the work of our two incredible Life Achievement Award honorees; Michael Apted, who has proven to be an exemplary storyteller, regardless of whether he is working in fiction or documentary; and Cloris Leachman, an on-screen force-of-creative nature for going on 8 decades now,” said Heartland International Film Festival’s Executive Director Craig Prater. “That alone sets us up for an amazing film festival. However, to be able to also welcome to Heartland an actor who has put together one of the most eclectic and entertaining filmographies on record, AND happens to be one of Indy’s favorite son’s – Brendan Fraser? Well, that already puts us over the top for 2019, and we haven’t even announced our lineup yet.”

FILM FESTIVAL NEWS: Geena Davis’ Bentonville Film Festival announces their Call for Entries for 2020

By John Wildman 6 years ago

“BFF has an unwavering commitment to support groups and people historically underrepresented in media. This year, 86% of the films selected included key representation by female filmmakers and 62% included representation by filmmakers of color, LGBTQIA, or different abilities. We saw sold out houses for the competition and spotlight films and full audiences for impactful discussions held during the festival,” said Wendy Guerrero, President of Programming for Bentonville Film Festival.

Salute to Samuel Fuller at 2019 Niagara Falls International Film Festival; Film lineup Annc’d

By John Wildman 7 years ago

Niagara Falls International Film Festival’s Founder and President Bill Cowell said, “It’s always thrilling to both grow the film festival with more screenings and more filmmaker appearances for the local film fans to enjoy. But combining a salute to one of the greats of cinema like Samuel Fuller including his wife and daughter and some of the wonderful stars he worked with, with the best in independent film is going to add up to an incredible week for the city and the people here that truly love movies.”

Lisa Zi Xiang’s A DOG BARKING AT THE MOON leads wins at Austin’s All Genders, Lifestyles, and Identities Film Festival (aGLIFF) Awards and Wraps Honoree-rific Fest

By John Wildman 7 years ago

aGLIFF Board President Ashley Marshall, added, “This year’s festival was such a wonderful representation of our “prism” theme, as we got to celebrate with and get to know our visiting filmmakers, film jury members, and our aGLIFF film fans. Our vision for aGLIFF is to be a place where any queer person can walk into the theater and feel seen and surrounded by family, and this year felt like a gratifying culmination of sorts of our efforts to increase the diversity of our programming, our board, and our audience, to reflect the full prism of the rainbow. I know that I came away from this year’s fest feeling full of love and appreciation for our community and I hope everyone else had the same experience.”