Myannmar Motion Picture Academy Awards – winners

The Myanmar (or Burma) government presented 11 prizes of the Myannmar Motion Picture Academy Awards for films of 2011 at Thuwunna National Indoor Stadium in Yangon on Sunday evening. The ceremony returned to Yangon after six years in the new capital of Nay Pyi Taw.

Htar Waya A Linn Tan Myar by Tun Aung Zaw swept the field with eight of the eleven awards. Its wins included Best Picture, Director, Actor (Naung Naung), Actress (Melody), Supporting Actor (Mos) and Screenplay.

The only other winners were Yinn Kwae Nar for Supporting Actress (Chit Snow Oo), and Pan Kyar Wutt Hmone for Cinematography and Sound.

Ghana Movie Awards 2012 – winners

The 3rd Annual Ghana Movie Awards ceremony took place the Accra International Conference Centre.

Leading the pack was Single & Married by Pascal Amanfo. It won five awards including the main trophies for Best Picture and Best Directing – English Language. It also won for Supporting Actress – English Language (Anita Eskine), Cinematography and Music.

Desmond Elliot's In The Cupboard picked up two major awards. It won for Best Picture – African Collaboration and Best Adapted or Original Screenplay.

Van Vicker won two awards by himself, both for Joni Waka. He was declared Best Actor – English Language and claimed the prize for Best Directing – Local Language.

Free downloadable eBooks for award contending movies

In addition to many screenplays that have been made available, some Hollywood studios are offering "For Your Consideration" material as free eBooks for download on iTunes. They can be  viewed on your iPad.

Films offering promotional material this way include Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Cloud Atlas, The Dark Knight Rises, Frankenweenie, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Les Misérables, Lincoln, and The Sessions.

2012 Online Film Critics Society Awards – nominations

Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master was the most nominated film for the 16th Annual Online Film Critics Society Awards nominations, earning a total of eight. The film was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Anderson), Best Actor (Joaquin Phoenix), Best Supporting Actor (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Best Supporting Actress (Amy Adams), Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Cinematography.

Joining The Master in the Best Picture race Ben Affleck’s Argo, Leos Carax’s Holy Motors, Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom and Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty. The five films nominated for Best Picture had corresponding Best Director nominations.

Lincoln, Steven Spielberg’s historical account of the passage of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, was the second most nominated film picking up six mentions including Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), Best Supporting Actor (Tommy Lee Jones), Best Supporting Actress (Sally Field), Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography. Day-Lewis and Phoenix were nominated in Best Actor alongside John Hawkes in The Sessions, Denis Lavant in Holy Motors and Denzel Washington in Flight. The Best Actress nominees were Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty, Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook, Emmanuelle Riva in Amour, Quvenzhané Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild and Rachel Weisz in The Deep Blue Sea.

2012 Österreichischen Filmpreis (Austrian Film Awards) – nominations

The Akademie des Österreichischen Films (Academy of Austrian Film) has announced the nominations for their 3rd annual Österreichischen Filmpreis (Austrian Film Awards).

Most interestingly, the highest profile Austrian film this year, Michael Haneke's Amour, was not among the nominees. Haneke himself declined to submit it for consideration, saying it was "kind of stupid" to compete against those who were just beginning and "that would be unfair." Amour was winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and has won numerous other awards since, including the European Film Awards.

The resulting nominations were led by Florian Flicker's Grenzgänger (Crossing Boundaries) with seven nominations, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Andreas Lust) and Best Screenplay. The film is an adaptation of Karl Schönherr’s “Der Weibsteufel” about two men and one woman involved in a dramatic triangle.

Alliance of Women Film Journalists' 2012 EDA Awards – nominees

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists has announced their nominations for the 2012 AWFJ EDA Awards. The EDAs are named in honor of AWFJ founder Jennifer Merin’s mother, stage, film and television actress Eda Reiss Merin, and is an acronym for "Excellent Dynamic Activism."

Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty dominates the nominees as it has done with most awards up until now. It received ten nominations including Best Film, Best Director, Best Woman Director, Best Actress (Jessica Chastain), and Best Screenplay.

Ben Affleck's Argo followed with eight nominations, while Steven Spielberg's Lincoln nabbed seven. Both received nominations for Best Film, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

2012 Women Film Critics Circle Awards – winners

The Women Film Critics Circle has announced their winner for their 2012 WFCC Awards. They have been known to make some eyebrow-raising choices but this year, their selection seems fairly sensible.

As with most awards thus far, they lavished praise on Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty. It won three awards, taking Best Movie by a Woman, Best Equality of the Sexes and Best Female Images.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel won two awards for acting. Maggie Smith was named Best Comedic Actress, while the whole cast won for Best Ensemble. Lincoln also took two awards, for Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) and Best Male Images. The Damish film A Royal Affair took the awards for Best Movie about Women and the Karen Morley Award, given for best exemplifying a woman’s place in history or society, and a courageous search for identity.

2012 Black Film Critics Circle Awards – winners

The Black Film Critics Circle has announced the winners for their 4th annual BFCC Awards.

Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty was again the top winner with three awards. It won for Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress (Jessica Chastain).

Steven Spielberg's Lincoln garnered two wins, with Daniel Day-Lewis taking Best Actor and the entire cast being named Best Ensemble. Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained also won two awards. Christoph Waltz was named Best Supporting Actor while Tarantino won Best Original Screenplay.

2012 Russian Guild of Film Critics Awards – winners

The Гильдия киноведов и кинокритиков России (Russian Guild of Film Critics) held the annual ceremony in Moscow to announce the winners for their 15th Белый Слон (White Elephant) awards for the best in Russian cinema. Formerly, the awards were known as the Золотой Овен (Golden Ram) Awards.

The top winner on the night was Фауст (Faust) by Александр Сокуров (Alexander Sokurov) which won four awards. It won for Best Film, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor for Антон Адасинский (Anton Adasinsky). In addition, it shared Best Screenwriter which went to Юрий Арабов (Yuri Arabov) for both Faust and Орда (The Horde). Faust was the Golden Lion winner at the 2011 Venice Film Festival.

Shortlist of 9 films for 2012 Foreign Language Film Oscar

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – Nine films will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 85th Academy Awards®. Seventy-one films had originally qualified in the category.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

Prix Lumières 2013 – nominations

The Académie des Lumières du Cinéma have announced the nominations for the 18th Prix Lumières. Leading with five nominations each were De rouille et d'os (Rust and Bone) by Jacques Audiard and Camille redouble (Camille Rewinds) by Noémie Lvovsky. Both films' nomininations included Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actress (Marion Cotillard for Rust and Bone and Noémie Lvovsky for Camille Rewinds) respectively.

Next with four nominations were the award-winning films Amour by Michael Haneke and Holy Motors by Leos Carax. Both were nominated for Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. The fifth nominee for Best Film was Benoît Jacquot's Les Adieux à la reine (Farewell, My Queen).

Two Canadian films are in the running for the Best Foreign Language French Film. The candiates for the awards were Laurence Anyways by Xavier Dolan and last year's Oscar nominated Monsieur Lazhar by Philippe Falardeau. They compete against A perdre la raison (Our Children) by Joachim Lafosse, La Pirogue by Moussa Touré, and Ursula Meier's L'Enfant d'en haut (Sister).

THR's Composer Roundtable interview

The next roundtable by the trade publication The Hollywood Reporter is with film composers.

The gathered for the group discussion were Fernando Velazquez (The Impossible), Alexandre Desplat (Argo, Moonrise Kingdom, Rise of the Guardians, Zero Dark Thirty), Marco Beltrami (The Sessions), Patrick Doyle (Brave), Mychael Danna (Life of Pi) and Danny Elfman (Frankenweenie, Hitchcock, Promised Land, Silver Linings Playbook).

Mychael Danna is a Canadian-born composer who I knew at the University of Toronto where we took a bunch of classes together. He got his start composing for Atom Egoyan and he's gone on to score all of his feature films.

Topics discussed in the roundtable include communicating with and understanding the director, working with the limitations of time and budget, dealing with temp music, and how they first got interested in scoring films.

2012 National Film Registry selection of 25 films for preservation

The Matrix, A League of Their Own, A Christmas Story, Uncle Tom’s Cabin among registry additions

The excitement of national football; the first black star of an American feature-length film; the visionary battle between man and machine; and an award-winning actress born yesterday are part of a kaleidoscope of cinematic moments captured on film and tapped for preservation. The Librarian of Congress James H. Billington today named 25 motion pictures that have been selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. These cinematic treasures represent important cultural, artistic and historic achievements in filmmaking.

"Established by Congress in 1989, the National Film Registry spotlights the importance of preserving America’s unparalleled film heritage," said Billington. "These films are not selected as the ‘best’ American films of all time, but rather as works of enduring importance to American culture. They reflect who we are as a people and as a nation."

AARP's 10 Best Movies for Grownups in 2012

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has released their 12th annual list of 10 Best Movies for Grownups.

As one might expect, some of the choices featured older characters and actors with stories that reflected the realities of the older generation, such as Amour, Quartet and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. However, some of the choices were simply good movies that featured few if any older characters – Argo, The Sessions, Silver Linings Playbook, and Zero Dark Thirty.

Last year's 10 Best list included eventual Best Picture Oscar-winner The Artist.

London Critics' Circle Awards 2013 – nominations

The London Critics' Circle is delighted to announce the nominations today for its 33rd Film Awards. Michael Haneke’s Amour and Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master lead the nominations with seven apiece.

Amour received nods in categories including both Film of the Year and Foreign Language Film, the Director and Screenwriter awards for Haneke, Actor for Jean-Louis Trintignant, Actress for Emmanuelle Riva and Supporting Actress for Isabelle Huppert.

The Master picked up nominations for Film, the Director and Screenwriter awards for Anderson, Actor and Supporting Actor for Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman respectively and Supporting Actress for Amy Adams.

Having recently made box office history in the UK, Skyfall now becomes the most fêted Bond film at the Critics’ Circle Awards. It leads the British field with a stellar five nominations. These include the British Film award, British Actor of the Year for Daniel Craig and Judi Dench, who is nominated in two categories: Supporting Actress and British Actress of the Year, the latter of which is shared with her role in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Toronto Film Critics Association announces its 2012 awards

The TFCA honours Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master with four awards

BESTIAIRE, GOON and STORIES WE TELL compete for Rogers $100,000 Best Canadian Film Award

TORONTO — The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson’s 70mm drama about a battle of wills between a ravaged war veteran and the cult leader who offers him a place at his right hand, dominated the 2012 awards of the Toronto Film Critics Association.

Anderson’s film took Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay, with co-star Philip Seymour Hoffman named the year’s Best Supporting Actor. Anderson has now won Best Picture twice (previous was Magnolia 1999) and Best Director three times (previous was Magnolia and Punch-Drunk Love 2002). He also shared the Best Screenplay prize with Being John Malkovich author Charlie Kaufman (1999).

The Black List – top unproduced screenplays of 2012

The Black List was compiled from the suggestions over 290 film executives, each of whom contributed the names of up to ten of their favorite scripts that were written in, or are somehow uniquely associated with, 2012 and will not have completed principal photography during this calendar year.

This year, scripts had to receive at least six mentions to be included on the Black List.

All reasonable effort has been made to confirm the information contained herein. The Black List apologizes for all misspellings, misattributions, incorrect representation identification, and questionable 2012 affiliations.

2012 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards – winners

Zero Dark Thirty, the eagerly-awaited drama chronicling the long and complex 10-year hunt for Osama bin Laden in the wake of 9/11, clearly hit its mark, according to the Chicago Film Critics Association. In the voting for their annual awards, the film led all competitors with five awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Kathryn Bigelow, Best Original Screenplay for Mark Boal, Best Actress for Jessica Chastain and Best Editing for William Goldenberg & Dylan Tichenor. Interestingly, both Bigelow and Boal won in the same categories three years earlier with 2009's The Hurt Locker, which the group also named Best Picture. As for Chastain, this marks the second year in a row where she has been cited by the CFCA, having won their Best Supporting Actress prize last year for The Tree of Life.

In second place with four awards was The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson's complex drama about an aimless young man in post-war America who falls under the spell of a charismatic leader of a mysterious new movement. For his performance as that leader, Philip Seymour Hoffman was named Best Supporting Actor and as his equally determined wife, Amy Adams was named Best Supporting Actress. In addition, Mihai Milaimare Jr. won the award for Best Cinematography while Jonny Greenwood took the prize for Best Original Score.

Satellite Awards 2012 – winners

The International Press Academy held a gala ceremony at the InterContinental in Century City, California for their 17th annual Satellite Awards.

The big winner of the night was David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook. It took five awards total, including the top prizes of Best Motion Picture and Best Director. It also won Best Actress (Jennifer Lawrence), Best Actor (Bradley Cooper) and Best Editing.

Tom Hooper's musical Les Misérables had led with ten nominations, plus the pre-announced Best Ensemble Award. In addition to Best Ensemble, it won for Best Supporting Actress (Anne Hathaway), song and sound.

Ang Lee's Life of Pi won for Best Screenplay and Cinemtography. The previous awards juggernaughts Zero Dark Thirty and Lincoln only managed one award each. Zero Dark Thirty won for Original Screenplay, while Lincoln won for Art Direction.

African-American Film Critics Association Awards 2012 – winners

The African-American Film Critics' Association has revealed its winners for their year-end awards. As is usual, many of the winners are African-American or from African-American friendly movies.

However, the winner of the top award Best Picture was Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty, the drama about the hunt for Osama bin Laden. It was the film's only award.

The biggest haul went to African-American filmmaker Ava DuVernay's Middle of Nowhere, taking four prizes. It won for Best Actress, Screenplay, Independent Film and Music. It was #4 on their Top 10 list.

Ben Affleck was named Best Director for Argo. Denzel Washington took Best Actor for Flight, while Best Supporting Actor and Actress went to Nate Parker for Arbitrage and Sally Field for Lincoln respectively.

WGA Awards 2013 – eligible films

The Writers Guild of America has listed its eligible films for the 65th annual WGA Awards. More than most guilds, the Writers Guild is very strict about enforcing eligibility requirements. They require that scripts be produced under WGA jurisdiction or under a collective bargaining agreement in Canada, Ireland, New Zealand or the U.K. As a result, major films are excluded every year.

This year, films excluded from the eligibility list include Django Unchained by Quentin Tarantino, Amour by Michael Haneke, Les Misérables by William Nicholson and others, Seven Psychopaths by Martin McDonagh, Middle of Nowhere by Ava DuVernay, Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar, Quartet by Ronald Harwood, and Anna Karenina by Tom Stoppard.

7 Features shortlisted for Makeup and Hairstyling Oscar

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that seven films remain in competition in the Makeup and Hairstyling category for the 85th Academy Awards

The films are listed below in alphabetical order:

Film Comment lists of best films of 2012

“HOLY MOTORS,” “THE MASTER” AND “MOONRISE KINGDOM” ARE 1-2-3 FOR FILMS RELEASED DURING THE YEAR

“OUR CHILDREN,” “MEMORIES LOOK AT ME” AND “FIRST COUSIN ONCE REMOVED” TOP THE FILMS WITHOUT U.S. DISTRIBUTION LIST

Film Comment’s annual end-of-the-year survey of film critics, journalists, film section editors, and past and present contributors was released today with Leos Carax’s HOLY MOTORS, Paul Thomas Anderson’s THE MASTER and Wes Andreson’s MOONRISE KINGDOM taking the top spots among films released in 2012. Among films that made appearances at film festivals or special screenings worldwide, but haven’t been picked up for stateside distribution as of yet, Joachim Lafosse’s OUR CHILDREN, Song Fang’s MEMORIES LOOK AT ME and Alan Berliner’s FIRST COUSIN ONCE REMOVED received the top rankings.

282 Feature Films in Contention for 2012 Best Picture Oscar

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – Two hundred eighty-two feature films are eligible for the 2012 Academy Awards®, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today.

To be eligible for 85th Academy Awards consideration, feature films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County by midnight, December 31, and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days.

Under Academy rules, a feature-length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes and must have been exhibited theatrically on 35mm or 70mm film, or in a qualifying digital format.

Prix Louis-Delluc 2012 – winners

An awards presentation took place today at Fouquet's in Paris for the 70th edition of the Prix Louis-Delluc (Louis Delluc Prize) for the best French film of the year.

The winner for the main prize was Benoît Jacquot for Les Adieux à la reine (Farewell, My Queen), which stars an impressive cast of actresses including Diane Kruger, Léa Seydoux, Julie-Marie Parmentier and Virginie Ledoyen. The adaptation of the prize-winning Chantal Thomas novel about the final days of the court of Marie Antoinette overcame some stiff competition from titles such as Amour by Michael Haneke, De rouille et d'os (Rust and Bone) by Jacques Audiard, and Holy Motors by Leos Carax.

Call for submissions: Cinema Politica's Divine Interventions

Cinema Politica, the Montreal-based Canada-wide screening series for politically and socially conscious documentary, is launching a new project and have announced a call for submissions.

Divine Interventions: Documentary, Spirituality and Social Justice is a special screening project that examines the intersection of spirituality and social justice. It "explores the role spirituality, religion and secularism play in fostering or inhibiting a plurality of perspectives, understanding across cultural, religious, and ethnic borders, and participation in social causes. This screening initiative starts in inclusive spaces where audiences, artists and activists interrogate the intersection of spirituality and social justice, and subsequently moves on to a sustained online conversation with the aim of fostering engaged communities across geographic barriers."

Call for submissions: 2013 Toronto Student Film Festival

The Toronto Student Film Festival has put out a call for submissions for its 2013 edition of the festival.

The Toronto Student Film Festival is run by youth for youth. It accepts submissions from everywhere in the world and films can be shot on any format, whether it is shot on a cell-phone or an HD camera.

The Director, DOP, Writer and Editor of eligible films must be 21 years of age or younger on December 31st, 2013. For the age categories of 12 – 15 and 16 – 18, the Director, DOP, Writer and Editor must be the appropriate age on December 31st, 2013.

2013 Sundance Film Festival Adds Four Feature Films

Sundance Institute today announced the addition of four films to the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, including Magic Magic (Director: Sebastián Silva), Muscle Shoals (Director: Greg 'Freddy' Camalier) and Wrong Cops (Director: Quentin Dupieux) as well as El Mariachi (1993) for the From the Collection screening. The 2013 Festival will be January 17-27 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival, said, “With the addition of these four films, the 2013 Sundance Film Festival will present an even more well rounded program of independent films. Each adds to the Festival in exciting, challenging and entertaining ways.”

About the From the Collection screening, John Nein, Senior Programmer for the Sundance Film Festival, said, “Among the offerings the Festival provides audiences is the opportunity to explore the legacy of independent film, side by side with new work. El Mariachi has become an iconic independent film and it continues to inform and inspire independent filmmakers and audiences alike – making it a fitting selection for our From the Collection screening.”

THR's Producer Roundtable interview

The next roundtable from The Hollywood Reporter is now here and it features producers.

The interview takes place with esteemed producers Stacey Sher (Django Unchained), Eric Fellner (Anna Karenina and Les Miserables), Joanne Sellar (The Master), Philippa Boyens (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey), Bruce Cohen (Silver Linings Playbook) and Grant Heslov (Argo).

Topics discussed include models with which studios greenlight projects, star directors who see themselves as indie, how to say no to a director, how producing affects private life, imagining their films with different directors, and projects they wished they could've done.

Golden Globe Awards 2013 – nominations

This morning, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced the nominees for the 70th Golden Globe Awards.

Leading with seven nominations was Steven Speilberg's Lincoln. It was nominated for Best Motion Picture (Drama) as well as Best Director, Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), Best Supporting Actress (Sally Field), Best Supporting Actor (Tommy Lee Jones) Best Screenplay and Best Original Score.

Also nominated for Best Motion Picture Drama were Argo, Django Unchained, Life of Pi and Zero Dark Thirty. The Musical or Comedy nominees for Best Motion Picture were The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Les Miserables, Moonrise Kingdom, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and Silver Linings Playbook.

Screen Actors Guild Awards – nominations

Nominees for the 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® for outstanding performances in 2012 in five film and eight primetime television categories as well as the SAG Awards honors for outstanding action performances by film and television stunt ensembles were announced this morning in Los Angeles at the Pacific Design Center’s SilverScreen Theater in West Hollywood.

SAG-AFTRA Executive Vice President Ned Vaughn introduced Busy Philipps (TBS’ “Cougar Town” and the 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® Social Media Ambassador) and Taye Diggs (“Private Practice”) who announced the nominees for this year’s Actors®. SAG Awards® Committee Vice Chair Daryl Anderson and Committee Member Woody Schultz announced the stunt ensemble nominees.

The 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® will be simulcast live nationally on TNT and TBS on Sunday, Jan. 27 at 8 p.m. (ET)/5 p.m. (PT) from the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center. An encore performance will air immediately following on TNT at 10 p.m. (ET)/7 p.m. (PT). Recipients of the stunt ensemble honors will be announced from the SAG Awards® red carpet during the tntdrama.com and tbs.com live pre-show webcasts, which begin at 6 p.m. (ET)/3 p.m. (PT).

Cinema Eye Honors Announces 2013 Heterodox – nominees

The Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking today announced the five nominees for its third annual Cinema Eye Heterodox Award, sponsored by Filmmaker Magazine. The Cinema Eye Heterodox Award honors a narrative film that imaginatively incorporates nonfiction strategies, content and/or modes of production.

The five films nominated for the 2013 Heterodox Award are: Paolo and Vittorio Taviani’s Ceasar Must Die (Cesare deve morire), Craig Zobel’s Compliance, Jem Cohen’s Museum Hours, Pablo Larraín’s No, and Terence Nance’s An Oversimplification of Her Beauty.

These films illuminate the formal possibilities of nonfiction filmmaking while raising provocative questions about ongoing documentary orthodoxy and the perceived boundaries between narrative and nonfiction filmmaking. Previous winners of the award were Matt Porterfield’s Putty Hill (2011) and Mike Mills’ Beginners (2012).

2013 NAACP Image awards – nominations

Today, the nominees for the 44th annual NAACP Image awards were announced in Hollywood, CA. Niecy Nash, Anthony Anderson, Yvette Nicole Brown, Garcelle Beauvis, Tyler James and Zendaya Coleman joined NAACP Board Member Leonard James for the press conference. Reflecting on the history of the ceremony, James said:

"The Image Awards is unique in that it celebrates art and supports our social justice work."

This year's motion picture nominations is led by Django Unchained and Beasts of the Southern Wild both, with four nods. HBO's Treme and ABC's Grey's Anatomy lead the television nominations also with four nods. ABC's Scandal received two nods for Outstanding Television Drama and Outstanding Actress in a Television Drama.

75 Original Songs eligible for 2012 Oscar

Seventy-five songs from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2012 are in contention for nominations in the Original Song category for the 85th Academy Awards®, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today.

The original songs, along with the motion picture in which each song is featured, are listed below in alphabetical order by film and song title:

2013 Critics' Choice Movie Awards – nominations

The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) has announced the nominees for the 18th annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards. The winners will be announced live at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards ceremony on Thursday, January 11, 2013 from the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif. The show will broadcast live on The CW Network at 8:00 PM ET/PT.

Lincoln received a record-setting 13 nominations for the 18th annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, beating out previous record holder Black Swan, which had 12 nominations in 2011. Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln garnered nods for Best Picture, Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis, Best Supporting Actor for Tommy Lee Jones, Best Supporting Actress for Sally Field, Best Acting Ensemble, Best Director for Steven Spielberg, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Best Score.

Following closely behind is Les Misérables, which received 11 nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor for Hugh Jackman, Best Supporting Actress for Anne Hathaway, Best Acting Ensemble, Best Director for Tom Hooper, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Best Song for “Suddenly.”

104 Original scores eligible for 2012 Oscar nomination

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – One hundred four scores from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2012 are in contention for nominations in the Original Score category for the 85th Academy Awards®, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today.

The eligible scores along with their composers are listed below in alphabetical order by film title:

American Film Institute's top ten of 2012

The American Film Institute has released its annual list of the top ten movies and television programs of the year.

Included in the top movies list are current awards season darlings such as Argo, Lincoln, Les Misérables, Silver Linings Playbook and Zero Dark Thirty. It is interesting to see the inclusion of Les Misérables because it's primarily a British production and AFI only selects American titles for its lists.

But notable omissions include the Paul Thomas Anderson film The Master and Flight by Robert Zemeckis. There are also no animated films or documentaries, even though it was a strong year for both.

2012 Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) Awards – winners

This morning, the Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) announced their winners for 2012, honoring a wide sweep of films, from musicals to science fiction. And while only three films garnered more than one award, it was clear that historical/political dramas resonated most with the critics from the nation's capital.

Zero Dark Thirty, the account of U.S. intelligence specialists' and Army special forces' pursuit and elimination of terrorist Osama bin Laden, won Best Film. Kathryn Bigelow won Best Director after having done so three years ago for The Hurt Locker. It also netted Jessica Chastain her first Best Actress award.

Daniel Day-Lewis won Best Actor for his riveting portrayal of President Abraham Lincoln in the year's other outstanding historical drama, Lincoln. Best Supporting Actor went to Philip Seymour Hoffman for The Master and Best Supporting Actress went to Anne Hathaway for Les Misérables, which also scooped the Best Acting Ensemble.

2012 Kalasha Film/TV Awards (Kenya) – winners

The Kenya Film Commission hosted the fourth annual Kalasha Film and Television Awards ceremony on Saturday evening at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre.

The film Nairobi Half Life by Tosh Gitonga dominated the night with five wins, including the top prizes of Best Feature Film and Best Director. It also won for Best Actor (Joseph Wairimu), Screenplay and Cinematography. Nairobi Half Life is Kenya's first ever submission to the Academy for consideration as Best Foreign Language Film.

It won the Best Feature Film category against competition from Lost In Africa, Shattered and Senior Pastor. The only award claimed by those three was a Best Actress win for Rita Dominic in Shattered.

2012 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards – winners

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association held their 38th Annual LAFCA Awards today. Winners were led by Michael Haneke's Amour and Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master.

The foreign-language Amour was named Best Picture, but was oddly it did not win for Best Foreign-Language Film. It picked up an additional award for Emmanuelle Riva, who shared Best Actress with Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook.

The Master was runner-up for Best Picture. It captured more awards, however, taking Best Director, Actor (Joaquin Phoenix), Supporting Actress (Amy Adams), and Production Design. It was also runner-up for editing.

British Independent Film Awards 2012 – winners

The 15th annual Moët British Independent Film Awards took place tonight at Old Billingsgate in London. Actor and BIFA patron James Nesbitt hosted the event.

Broken by Rufus Norris took the top prize of Best British Independent Film. It also won for Best Supporting Actor, which went to Rory Kinnear. It had led with 9 nominations

Peter Strickland's Berberian Sound Studio, however, picked up a larger haul on the night, with four awards. It won Best Director, as well as Best Actor (Toby Jones), Best Achievement in Production and Best Technical Achievement.

New York Film Critics Online 2012 awards – winners

Today, the New York Film Critics Online announced the winners for their 2012 NYFCO Awards.

Yet again, Zero Dark Thirty by Kathryn Bigelow proved to be the favourite of the critics' group. Her dramatization of the hunt for Osama bin Laden won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay.

Steven Spielberg's historical drama Lincoln won two acting awards. Daniel Day-Lewis was named Best Actor while his castmate Tommy Lee Jones won Best Supporting Actor. This time, however, Sally Field missed on Best Supporting Actress in favour of Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables.

2012 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards – winners

The Boston Society of Film Critics handed out their awards today for their picks for the best of cinema in the year 2012.

As with previous critics' awards, the main winner was Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty, which won for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Film Editing. The film is a telling of the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

Steven Spielberg's Lincoln picked up three wins. Daniel Day Lewis claimed Best Actor and Sally Field won Best Supporting Actress, while Tony Kushner won Best Screenplay.

There were two double-winners. Michael Haneke's Amour won Best Foreign-Language Film and Best Actress (Emmanuelle Riva).

Free Japanese Films, December 9-10

The Japan Foundation and the Consulate-General of Japan in Toronto present Japanese Film Screenings in Toronto
"Happy Flight", "Someday" and "Villon's Wife"

Sunday, December 9 and Monday, December 10 at the Bloor Cinema

The Japan Foundation and the Consulate-General of Japan in Toronto are proud to present screenings of three critically-acclaimed Japanese films in Toronto.

Location: Bloor HotDocs Cinema

Address: 506 Bloor St. W., Toronto (Bloor and Bathurst)

Phone: 416.637.3123

2012 Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) Awards – nominations

The Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) have announced the nominations for their 2012 WAFCA Awards.

Steven Spielberg's historical drama Lincoln leads the field with eight nominations. Its nominations included the top categories of Best Film, Best Diretor and Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), Best Acting Ensemble and Best Adapted Screenplay.

The 2012 WAFCA Award winners will be announced at 8am on Monday, December 10, 2012.

2012 Citra Awards for Indonesian film – winners

The Indonesian Film Festival (FFI) came to a close on Saturday night at Benteng Vredeburg in Yogyakarta with a ceremony to present the 2012 Piala Citra (Citra Awards) for Indonisian cinema.

Herwin Novianto's Tanah Surga... Katanya (Land of Heaven ... He Said) led the night with six wins. In addition to Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay, it won for Art Direction, Music and Supporting Actor (Fuad Idris).

Erwin Arnada's Rumah di Seribu Ombak (House at a Thousand Waves) scooped four awards. It won for Best Adapted Screenplay, Editing and Sound Design and Best Young Talent (Dedey Rusma).

2012 IDA Documentary Awards – winners

The International Documentary Association held their 28th annual IDA Documentary Awards last night at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles, with comedian/illusionist Penn Jillette hosting the ceremony.

Malik Bendjelloul's Searching for Sugar Man came away with the top prize, the Best Feature Award. It also picked up an award for Best Music, by Sixto Rodriguez and Bendjelloul himself. He had been up against The Central Park Five by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon; The Invisible War by Kirby Dick; The Queen of Versailles by Lauren Greenfield; and Women With Cows by Peter Gerdehag. Women With Cows managed a win for Best Cinematography.

The Academy Award-winning short film Saving Face by Daniel Junge and Pakistani-Canadian Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy was winner of the Best Short Award.

THR's Agent Roundtable interview

The Hollywood Reporter's latest roundtable interview features their first gathering of agents and representatives. They have shown a rare degree of progressiveness in bringing together six women in a male-dominated industry. One of the six is non-white.

The agents who participated in the interview were WME’s Sharon Jackson, Gersh’s Leslie Siebert, CAA’s Maha Dakhil, UTA’s Blair Kohan, Paradigm’s Debbee Klein and ICM Partners’ Lorrie Bartlett.

Some of the topics discussed include straddling work and family life, professional advice from others, mistakes made, when clients leave, and whether men have advantage in signing clients.

2012 WFTV (UK) awards – winners

Today at the London Hilton on Park Lane, Women in Film and Television (UK) presented their Women in Film and Television Awards, largest annual event in the UK celebrating women who work in the film, TV, and digital media industries. The event was hosted by comedian Sue Perkins.

This year's honourees included writer-director-producer Lynne Ramsay, who made the films Ratcatcher, Morvern Callar and We Need to Talk about Kevin. She was unable to attend, but sent a message from L.A. through video link.

Writer-director Sally El Hosaini was awarded the FremantleMedia UK New Talent Award. Her debut feature film was the award-winning drama about Egyptian immigrants in East London, My Brother the Devil.

THR's Costume Designer Roundtable interview

The Hollywood Reporter has done yet another of their very fine roundtable interviews. This latest is features Costume Designers. As with the previous interviews, this one lacks diversity (although there is I suppose some gender diversity with the inclusion of two men). However, the designers gathered are knowledgable and experienced, with many of them having started in theatre. None of them, however, initially set out to become costume designers.

The featured designers are Jacqueline Durran (Anna Karenina), Joanna Johnston (Lincoln), Paco Delgado (Les Misérables), Mark Bridges (The Master), Colleen Atwood (Snow White and the Huntsman) and Julie Weiss (Hitchcock).

Topics discussed include misconceptions about the job, competitiveness, working long hours, ongoing collaborations with directors, working with actors, regrets and advice for up-and-comers in the field.