Veteran actor cum activist film maker Edward Norton will receive this year’s Locarno Film Festival Excellence Award Moet and Chandon.
The Swiss festival will present a retrospective of the popular actor’s work, organizers announced on Monday. An Exclusive interface with Norton has set up for the festival delegates. The interaction is reported to be a special onstage conversation.
Locarno seems to be extremely happy to welcome Edward Norton. “He is someone who has shown immense talent in giving shape to characters as fascinating and complex as the times in which we live. I’m certain that his presence will leave its mark on the 2015 edition, giving the public a chance to better get to know one of the most interesting figures of 21st century Hollywood, “ Festival director Carlo Chatrian said.
Norton is a three-time Oscar nominee for Primal Fear (1996), American History X (1998) and last year’s Birdman. He is also a very public environmental activist, serving as a UN Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity since 2010.Past winners of Locarno’s Excellence Award include Gael Garcia Bernal, Juliette Binoche, Giancarlo Giannini, Isabelle Huppert, John Malkovich, Michel Piccoli and Susan Sarandon.
The Locarno Film Festival takes place Aug. 5-15.
Recognitions seem to galore on DAM999 directed by Sohan Roy the most controversial movie of the year 2011 which also made its place in the Oscar race of 2011. The movie has won Best Screen Play award and special jury award in the 8th Kosovo International Film Festival. The special jury award is given to the film tackling global issues.
With immense praise and appreciations pouring in from various film circuits DAM999 has, no doubt, made a special place in the hearts of people across the world.
Kosovo International Film Festival ‘ The Godess on the Throne’ encouraged young and experienced film makers from around the globe to compete on a multicultural stage for an opportunity of distribution and nearly 8 awards aiming to get films seen, marketed and ultimately sold. The 5 day film festival was held at Kosovo Railway station from 1-7 June 2015.
DAM999’ in recent times have headed to many film festivals and garnered huge accolades worldwide. It’s array of awards and appreciations includes 5 Oscar selections in 3 categories (original score, original song and best picture), the only official selection from India at the Golden Rooster Award, Award of excellence for the Motion Picture Sound Track and Award of Merit for Original Score by Global Music Awards 2012, Best International Feature Film, Special Jury Award, Best Movie of the Festival at International Film Festival for Environment, Health, and Culture 2013, declared Best English Film at Sangli Film Festival and adjudged as ‘Judges Favorite’ at International Film Festival – Antigua Barbuda.
Apart from these, ‘DAM 999’ has also been selected for screening at various global film festivals such as Tehran Film Festival, 10th Anuual Salento Film Festival, Jaipur International Film Festival, Kuala Lumpur Eco Film Festival, Malaysia, Chain NYC Film Festival, USA, Louisville’s International Festival of Film, USA and Trinity International Film Festival, USA.
Lorenzo Soria has been elected as the president of Hollywood Foreign Press Association for the 2015-2016 term which begins July 1. He succeeds outgoing president Theo Kingma, who announced the news at the organization’s annual election meeting.
Soria previously served as president of the HFPA, which presents the annual Golden Globe Awards, from 2003 to 2005. He will be joined by Meher Tatna, Jorge Camara and Serge Rakhlin, who were Lorenzo Soria Elected President of Hollywood Foreign Press Association elected vice president, treasurer and executive secretary respectively.
Soria, who was born in Argentina and raised in Italy, has lived in Los Angeles since 1982, working for Italy’s L’Espresso and La Stampa. “I”m humbled to be elected by my pers and colleagues here at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and thank them for allowing me to serve as their president,” Soria said.
The HFPA is a collection of journalists, representing 55 countries. In addition to presenting the Golden Globe Awards, it had donated more than $22 million to entertainment-related charities and scholarship programs.
Jazon Zada directs a Supernatural thriller named ‘ The Forest ‘ from a screen play by Sarah Cornwell and Nick Antosa based on an original idea by David’s Goyer.
The project is currently in production. Gramercy pictures is scheduled to release ‘ The Forest ‘ nationwide in the US on January 8, 2016. The international sales on the project is carrying on by Good universe, a firm which Sony pictures worldwide acquisitions previously acquired for multiple territories including Australia, Spain, Eastern Europe and all over Asia excluding Japan.
Tory Metzger and David Linde of Lava Bear films produce alongside Goyer through his phantom four label.
Excutive producers for co- financiers AI film are Len Blavatnik, Aviv Giladi and Lawrence Bender.
‘ The Forest ‘ Portrays the story of a young American woman goes in search of her missing twin sister and it takes place in the infamous suicide spot of Aokigara forest at the base of Mount Fugi.
The 68th edition of Cannes film festival was concluded on May 24th 2015. Like its previous years, this year’s event was too filled with grandeur of world cinema, and many impeccable film personalities walked the red carpet. ‘Dheepan‘, the movie directed by Jacques Audiard won the most respected Palme d’Or at the festival.
Many critics and industry experts speculated that Todd Haynes’ ‘Carol’ or Hou Hsiao-hsien’s ‘The Assassin’ will take the top prize at the festival. But at the final moment, ‘Dheepan’ won the top honor, and came out successfully at the Cannes.
The movie showcases the story of a Tamil Freedom fighter and his journey to find asylum in Europe. After the end of Sri Lankan Civil War, he shifts to Europe with his family, but he was greeted with more problems there.
“I wanted to reflect on the situation that is happening in the Mediterranean. Those people that sell roses to us in a café, where they come from, what is their background, their motivations – that is what spurred me on”, said Audiard after the award ceremony.
On the other hand, Hungarian Drama ‘Son of Saul’ won the Grand Prix award. This Laszlo Nemes directorial portrays the story of a Hungarian Prisoner who is assigned to work in a cemetry, and one day, when he finds a body, he assumes that it is his son’s.
“Europe is still haunted by the deportation during the Second World War. In Hungary, 450,000 people were deported, 100,000 of those being children. And many went straight to gas chambers. It still haunts us. It is not just a piece of history”, said Nemes.
Hou Hsiao-Hsien picked up the best director award for ‘The Assassin’.
Vincent Lindon for his performance in ‘The Measure of a Man’ won the Best Actor Award. Rooney Mara for ‘Carol’ and Emmanuel Bercot for ‘Mon Roi’ won the best actress award.
The 69th edition of the much reputed Edinburgh Film Festival is scheduled from June 17 – 28, 2015. The recent news from the corner is regarding the finalization of closing film in the festival. As per official reports, the festival will close with the screening of ‘Iona‘ a Scottish Film based on an island.
This will be the world premiere of ‘Iona‘ which is directed by Scott Graham. The film stars Ruth Negga, Douglas Henshall, Tom Brooke, Michelle Duncan, Ben Gallagher and Sorcha Groundsell in prominent roles.
‘Iona’ is Scott Graham’s second movie after the much successful flick ‘Shell’ which was released in 2012.
“I discovered many films and filmmakers at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Edinburgh was my home all through my twenties and it was in venues like Filmhouse and the Cameo where I learned the value of the stories we tell and the emotions we share. I’m thrilled Iona will have its premiere here and doubly thrilled it will close the Festival. What an honour”, said Graham Scott when asked about the selection of ‘Iona’.
“We are thrilled to be closing this year’s Festival with Scott Graham’s lovely, moving and enthralling Iona. He is a striking cinematic talent and the film will wrap this year’s Festival in the perfect way”, said Mark Adams, the new artistic director of Edinburgh International Film Festival.
Renowned Italian Film maker and writer Marco Bellocchio will be honored with the reputed Pardo d’onore Swisscom at this year’s Locarno Film Festival which will run through August 5 – 15.
Marco Bellocchio is not a new face at the Locarno Film Festival. His debut directorial venture, ‘Fists in the Pocket’ was screened at Locarno in 1965, and there it won the Vela d’argento. He was also the President of the jury in Locarno during the 1997 and 1998 festivals.
As a part of the special Piazza Grande screening, ‘Fists in the Pocket’ will be again shown before the audience this year on August 14, 2015.
The acclaimed film maker will also head a master class in the Spazio Cinema.
Agnes Varda was the recepient of ‘Pardo d’onore’ last year. Other receipients in the previous year includes, ean-Luc Godard, Ken Loach, Sidney Pollack, William Friedkin, JIA Zhang-ke, Alain Tanner and Werner Herzog.
Marco Bellochio‘s latest release was ‘Dormant Beauty’. The movie was a critical and commercial success upon its release in 2012. Film buffs all over the world are awaiting the announcement of Maco’s next film.
Dwayne Johnson is teaming up with Dreamworks again for a new movie which is titled, ‘Alpha Squad Seven’. This new flick will be directed by screenwriting duo, Jeremiah Friedman and Nick Palmer. Beau Flynn is producing this movie in the banner of FlynnPicture Co. Dwayne Johnson is co producing this movie in the banner of his 7 Buck Productions.
As per reports, the movie is expected to be a sci fi action thriller, and the story of this movie is set in space. This movie will be a four-quadrant action comedy adventure film, and it will have some unique elements which is quite different from other cliched space movies.
Flynn and Dwayne Johnson has been sharing some good rapport for the past four years. They have previously worked together in movies like, ‘Journey 2: The Mysterious Island’, ‘Hercules’ and the upcoming ‘San Andreas’ which will open on May 29.
Several studios started bidding for this project when it hit the midweek. Finally, after a tough competition with Paramount, Dreamworks came out with flying colors.
Kevin Williamson‘s ‘The Following‘ kick started its first season run in 2013 with highly positive reviews. But from the second season, the TV series started losing its viewership and audience, but still it has more than 5.5 million viewers and a rating of 1.9 among adults. The recent news from the corner is regarding Fox’s decision to stop airing this series.
With three new dramas waiting to get aired, Fox has cancelled ‘The Following‘ to clear some shelf space. Fox has also decided to cancel ‘Backstrom‘, another popular television series based on a popular Scandinavian book series by renowned criminologist and novelist Leif G.W. Persson.
‘Backstrom’ did well in its series debut. When it was aired first, it had a rating of 2.0 with adults and has a fan base of 8 million viewers. But later this rating declared when the when the series neared the finale.
‘Backstrom’ showcased the story of Everett Backstrom, a detective who heads up the Serious Crimes Unit in Portland. During his course of investigating various cases, the detective tries and fails miserably to combat his self destructive tendencies.
‘Grace of Monaco’, the biopic film directed by Olivier Dahan was such a movie which surpassed boundaries of hype during its production time. But, critics and audiences panned the movie upon its screening in Croisette. As per latest reports, the film which has bypassed a theatrical release will gets its debut on Lifetime Cable Network on May 25, 2015.
Earlier, the makers of the movie were planning to release the movie on November 2013. But later, the release of the film was subsequently pushed back to Spring 2014.
‘Grace of Monaco‘ is basically a biopic film about renowned American actress Grace Kelly. Nicole Kidman enacted the role of Grace Kelly in the movie, while Tim Roth did the role of Prince of Monaco.
The supporting star cast in the movie includes, Frank Langella, Parker Posey, Milo Ventimiglia, Derek Jacobi and Paz Vega.