Gotham Independent Film Awards 2013 – nominations

NOMINEES ANNOUNCED FOR 23rd ANNUAL GOTHAM INDEPENDENT FILM AWARDS BY IFP

Monday, December 2nd at Cipriani Wall Street

Nominations Honor 23 Films

12 Years a Slave Receives Three Nominations
Blue Caprice, Concussion, Fruitvale Station, Inside Llewyn Davis,
And Upstream Color Receive Two Nominations Each

New York, NY (October 24, 2013) – The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s premier advocacy organization for independent filmmakers, announced today the nominees for the 23rd Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards by IFP. The Gotham Awards is one of the leading awards for independent film and signals the kick-off to the film awards season. For 2013, the seven competitive awards include Best Feature, Best Actress (presenting sponsor euphoria Calvin Klein), Best Actor, Best Documentary, the Audience Award, Breakthrough Actor, and Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director. The winner of the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award will receive an unrestricted grant of $15,000, courtesy of presenting sponsor Royal Bank of Canada. In addition to the competitive awards, Gotham Award Tributes will be given to actor Forest Whitaker, NYC Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment’s Katherine Oliver, and director Richard Linklater (presenting sponsor Russian Standard Vodka).

Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal announces 2013 programme

Montreal International Documentary Festival 2013 line-up

Montreal, Wednesday, October 23, 2013 – The 16th annual Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) will be held from November 13 to 24. This year’s edition boasts an exciting selection of 135 films from more than 40 countries, along with more than 100 guests from around the world.

The RIDM is honoured to open the festival with The Square (Al Midan), by Egyptian filmmaker Jehane Noujaim. The film is a spectacular and much-discussed chronicle of the eventful last two years in Egypt. Closing the festival will be the world premiere of Fermières by Annie St-Pierre, an affectionate and endearing look at the Cercles de Fermières du Québec.

OFFICIAL COMPETITION

European Union Film Festival in Toronto announces 2013 programme

9th Annual European Union Film Festival

November 14 – 27, 2013

The Royal Cinema – 608 College St, Toronto

Box Office info

- General Admission to all EUFF screenings is FREE and on a first-come, first-served basis.

- Seats to any screening can be secured in advance by a donation of min. $10 per seat at eutorontofilmfest.ca

- Advanced seats must be occupied min. 15 minutes prior to the start of the screening.

(Toronto – October 21, 2013) This may not be exactly what Prime Minister Stephen Harper had in mind when he announced “free trade” with the European Union. But, for two weeks in November at Toronto’s Royal Cinema, the 9th annual European Union Film Festival is offering up a full slate of acclaimed films with free general admission. 

The European Union Film Festival is proud to announce the Canadian schedule for its 2013 program. With this formidable line-up, the EUFF celebrates nine years of creative triumphs, showcasing the best contemporary cinema from its 28 member countries.

Festival du nouveau cinéma 2013 awards – winners

Last night at the closing gala of the 42nd Festival du nouveau cinéma, the award-winners were presented by the festival programmers and jurors. The festivals jurors included filmmakers such as Louise Archambault, Podz and Sébastien Pilote.

The top prize known as the Louve d'Or went to Amat Escalante's Mexican crime drama Heli. The film is a hard-hitting look at the effects of the drug trade and police corruption on a young working man and his family.

Frédérick Pelletier's Diego Star picked up a pair of prizes. It was presented with the Jury Special Prize for Focus Québec/Canada well as a Prix d'Interprétation (Best Actor Award) to its lead actor Isaka Sawadogo.

Air Canada enRoute Film Festival presents a film industry panel in Montreal

The Air Canada enRoute Film Festival is pleased to announce their first-ever film industry panel, to be held November 4, 2013, at the Centre Phi in Montreal. Aimed at film students, emerging filmmakers and the media, the discussion will focus on the complex world of festivals and film markets, the distribution of short works and methods of obtaining financing for a film based on the success of a first short. The panel discussion will start at 6 p.m. and will be followed by a screening of the top Air Canada enRoute Film Festival films at 7:30 p.m. and a networking cocktail at 9 p.m., to continue the conversation.

"In the spirit of supporting our young filmmakers to take flight, we want to offer them a unique opportunity for exchange and dialogue with industry mentors that can help them take their art to the next level," says Éric Lauzon, Manager, In-Flight Entertainment, Air Canada.

2013 Toronto After Dark Film Festival, Oct 17-25

The eighth annual Toronto After Dark Film Festival for horror, Asian, sci-fi and other genre films gets underway tonight with a screening of Jim Mickle's We Are What We Are. This movie is based on the original Mexican film Somos lo que hay (We Are What We Are) and is a critically-acclaimed arthouse horror film. This year, all of the screenings will take place at the Scotiabank Theatre at 259 Richmond Street West.

Each night, Toronto After Dark presents two features, at 7pm and 9:30pm, with additional screenings at 4:25 on Saturday and Sunday. Each feature film is preceded by a Canadian short film. The Pub After Dark social gatherings take place at 117 John Street.

Inaugural Reel Indie Film Festival, Oct 16-20

The music-themed film festival Reel Indie Film Festival (RiFF) kicks off its inaugural edition tonight at 7pm with a screening of Elise Salomon's Los Wild Ones. It will be preceded by the music video Will My Lady Love Me and the short film Black Metal.

It will be followed at 9pm by a screening of Window of Opportunity by  Samuel Warren Joseph. Screenings take place at the Royal Cinema at 608 College Street. The opening night party will take place at The Revival with Performances by David Barrett Trio and Bathurst Station.

"After all the planning and watching of films submitted to the inaugural year of the REEL INDIE FILM FESTIVAL, I am truly excited about our first line-up of Feature length films, Short Films and Music Videos,” says RiFF Executive Director Avi Federgreen. "There are terrific films including some outstanding Canadian titles. This is an excellent start to what I know will be many years of great programming for RiFF."

2013 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, October 16-20

Female Filmmakers Dominate at the 14th Annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival
Where Artists are Heroes!
October 16 – 20, 2013

The 14th annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, running October 16 – 20, 2013, returns to Toronto this fall to host the world’s largest festival of Indigenous film and media arts. The Festival has announced 101 films, including documentaries, features and shorts, and proudly presents a program dominated by female filmmakers with more than half of the screening works at the Festival made by women, a noteworthy representation.

Meanwhile, with TIFF premieres of both Jennifer Podemski’s indie drama Empire of Dirt and Jeff Barnaby’s debut feature film, Rhymes for Young Ghouls, the Native-Canadian presence at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival did not go unnoticed. With both of these films, and 99 more, screening at this year’s imagineNATIVE festival, Aboriginal art will idle no more with increased presence at the world’s most foremost festivals.

Planet In Focus announces complete 2013 film festival programming

PLANET IN FOCUS ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2013 FILM LINE-UP
John Walker’s visually evocative feature doc, Arctic Defenders opens the Festival

Tuesday, October 15, 2013: Planet in Focus (PIF), Canada’s largest environmentally themed film festival, is proud to announce its robust line-up of features and short films to be screened at the 14th annual Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival taking place in Toronto on November 21-24th, 2013.

John Walker’s Arctic Defenders is the Opening Night Film and provides a startling revelation that the Canadian government secretly moved Inuit communities into the High Arctic, without proper resources, in order to defend our sovereignty. Italian filmmaker Enrico Cerasuolo’s Last Call is the Closing Night Film and revisits the writers and the theories presented in the 1972 book “The Limits to Growth”, dubbed ‘one of the most important documents of our age’ by the New York Times, the book, explored the impact of over population, industrialization, pollution, food production and resource depletion.

8 Documentary Short Films On Oscar's 2013 Shortlist

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that the field of Documentary Short Subject contenders for the 86th Academy Awards® has been narrowed to eight films, of which three to five will earn Oscar® nominations.

Voters from the Academy’s Documentary Branch viewed this year’s 40 eligible entries and submitted their ballots to PricewaterhouseCoopers for tabulation.

The eight films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:

Stanley Kubrick exhibition announced for 2014 at TIFF Bell Lightbox

STANLEY KUBRICK EXHIBITION COMING TO TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX IN FALL 2014
Immensely popular exhibition celebrating the life and work of Stanley Kubrick to make its Canadian debut in Toronto

“In the whole history of movies, there has been nothing like Kubrick's vision of hope and wonder, of grace and of mystery, of humour and contradictions. It was a gift to us, and now it's a legacy.” -- Steven Spielberg

Toronto – Piers Handling, Director and CEO of TIFF and Noah Cowan, Artistic Director of TIFF Bell Lightbox, have announced that the first exhibition dedicated to the life and work of legendary film auteur Stanley Kubrick will be coming to Toronto’s TIFF Bell Lightbox in fall 2014. Stanley Kubrick, developed in collaboration by the Kubrick estate and Frankfurt’s Deutsches Filmmuseum which premiered the exhibition in 2004, has since travelled to some of the world’s most important cultural institutions in Paris, Rome, Brussels, Amsterdam, Melbourne, Los Angeles, and most recently São Paulo. TIFF is proud to be presenting the Canadian premiere of Stanley Kubrick.

Reel Asian Film Festival announces complete programming

REEL ASIAN CELEBRATES 17^TH YEAR

WHERE CULTURES MEET AND ASIAN FILM FANS UNITE

Toronto, October 8, 2013 — The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival (Reel Asian), presented by National Bank, celebrates its 17^th annual edition from November 5 to 16, 2013 with more screenings, high-profile guests from across North America and Asia, an exciting expansion to include films from across South Asia, an energy-driven collaboration between Toronto’s hottest up-and-coming dancers and filmmakers and 60 films from 14 countries including Hong Kong, India, Japan, Laos, Pakistan, South Korea, Taiwan, Canada and the United States.

Founded in 1997, Reel Asian began as a 3-day event established in response to meet the needs of an existing demand for Asian films in Toronto, and has since grown to a 12-day multi-city annual event attracting over 12,000 people each year. Reel Asian strives to develop programming that reflects the cultural diversity of Canada and increases public understanding and appreciation of the artistic, social and cultural contributions of those of Asian heritage through film. This year’s festival will take place November 5 to 16, 2013 inToronto and Richmond Hill. Highlights include:

Record 76 films compete for 2013 Foreign Language Film Oscar

76 Countries In Competition For 2013 Foreign Language Film Oscar®

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – A record 76 countries have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 86th Academy Awards®. Moldova and Saudi Arabia are first-time entrants; Montenegro is submitting for the first time as an independent country.

The 2013 submissions are:

Les Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM) announces opening & closing films

Montreal, October 7, 2013 – The Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) will have the honour of presenting the Quebec premiere of The Square (Al Midan), the new film by Egyptian filmmaker Jehane Noujaim, as the festival’s opening on November 13. This epic documentary, as spectacular as it is moving, is a chronicle of recent events in Egypt. Ten days and 135 films later, the festival will close with world premiere of Fermières by Annie St-Pierre, which looks into the province’s oldest women’s group, the Cercles de Fermières du Québec.

Opening Film - THE SQUARE
From January 2011 to July 2013 – from the first anti-Mubarak protests to the fall of Morsi – Egyptian filmmaker Jehane Noujaim’s (Control Room) crew stayed on the front lines of events as they unfolded in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Guided by Ahmed, a charismatic incarnation of valiant Egyptian youth; his friend and enemy, Magdy, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood; and Khalid Abdalla, an actor known for The Kite Runner, the film makes the square itself its central subject: it is the beating heart of a people who have been fighting for their rights for more than two years. Updated since the early cut shown at Sundance (where it won the Audience Award), this epic documentary is both spectacular and deeply moving; it is one of the year’s absolute must-see films.