The 2014 edition of The Writers Guild of America unveiled the Award nomination of this year. The awards are meant for honoring outstanding writing works in film, television, new media, video games, news, radio and promotional writing and graphic animation. The awards will be presented on a splendid eve on February 1st at simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York.
The Television, new-media, news and radio categories have already been announced. Breaking Bad and Orange Is the New Black are among the TV nominees, and this arena is having very less competition among all categories. The video game writing nominees will be announced on the coming Thursday.
Special honorees are the main highlight of this year’s Award fest. The Wire creator David Simon will receive the Ian McLellan Hunter Award for Career Achievement in New York. Focus Features co-founder James Schamus will be honored with the Evelyn F. Burkey Award; and 1010 WINS’ Philip V. Pilato was selected as the recipient of the Richard B. Jablow Award. Sam Simons, the Simpson’s executive producer will receive Valentine Davies Award in the Los Angeles.
Please find below the nominations of this year’s WGA Awards in various categories.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: FEATURE FILMS
American Hustle, Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell; Columbia Pictures
Blue Jasmine, Written by Woody Allen; Sony Classics
Dallas Buyers Club, Written by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack; Focus Features
Her, Written by Spike Jonze; Warner Bros.
Nebraska, Written by Bob Nelson; Paramount Pictures
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: FEATURE FILMS
August: Osage County, Screenplay by Tracy Letts; Based on his play; The Weinstein Company
Before Midnight, Written by Richard Linklater & Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke; Based on characters created by Richard Linklater & Kim Krizan; Sony Classics
Captain Phillips, Screenplay by Billy Ray; Based on the book A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips with Stephan Talty; Columbia Pictures
Lone Survivor, Written by Peter Berg; Based on the book by Marcus Lutrell with Patrick Robinson; Universal Pictures
The Wolf of Wall Street, Screenplay by Terence Winter; Based on the book by Jordan Belfort; Paramount Pictures
DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
Dirty Wars, Written by Jeremy Scahill & David Riker; Sundance Selects
Herblock – The Black & The White, Written by Sara Lukinson & Michael Stevens;The Stevens Company
No Place on Earth, Written by Janet Tobias & Paul Laikin; Magnolia Pictures
Stories We Tell, Written by Sarah Polley; Roadside Attractions
We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks; Written by Alex Gibney; Focus Features
The 7th edition of San Joaquin International Film Festival will open today, January 3rd and it will run till January 5th 2014. The festival will be held in California at the Janet Leigh Theatre, on the campus of University of the Pacific.
The festival of 2014 will have screenings of 15 motion pictures from 20 countries, and the opening film will be the Homecoming Premiere of “A River Changes Course’’. The film is directed by acclaimed director Kalyanee Mam, and the movie portrays the damage which has been brought by rapid development in Campodia. The film have already won many accolades, and it includes, ‘The Grand Jury Price for World Documentary’ in Sundance Film Festival, and the Golden Gate Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2013 San Francisco International Film Festival.
The selections for this year’s festival is being curated by SJIFF founder-director Sophoan Sorn. The thematic strand of the festival is ‘We are Connected’, and the organizers are trying their level best to make it realistic.
The Palm Spring Film Festival will be held from January 3rd – January 13th 2014, and this year, the event is much bigger and mightier than never before. The 25th edition of the festival will be filled with splendid grandeur, and it will witness some of the eminent personalities from the global film world coming under one roof.
The recent news from the corner is regarding the selection of Rock Band U2 to receive the Sonny Bono Visionary Awards.
The band’s much acclaimed song, ‘Ordinary Love’ which was heard in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom has been nominated for the best original song Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice awards and is considered a top contender for the best original song Oscar.
The award will be presented on January 4th at the Palm Springs in a special convention. As per reports, members of U2 like Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr will attend the prestigious eve of award ceremony. ‘Ordinary Love’ is an ode to Nelson Mandela, who had such a powerful impact on our world’, said Harold Matzner the chairman of Palm Springs Film Festival.
Harvey Weinstein, the co founder of Miramax Films, and co chairman of ‘The Weinstein Company’ was an unexpected honoree at the 18th Capri Hollywood Fest. The spectacular award ceremony was followed by the Italian premier of ‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom’, and Weinstein was one of the executive producers of the film.
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom was one of the main award eater in the festival, and stars Idris Elba and Naomi Harris received honors for their scintillating performance in the film. Idris Elba was named actor of the year, whereas Naomi Harris bagged the award of ‘Actress of the Year’.
“I’m not actually Jewish, I’m Sicilian,” the entertainment mogul cracked a joke after receiving the honor in the red carpet. The Festival founder Pascal Vicedomini called Weinstein, ‘Mr.Oscar’, and the whole audience received the address with a breathtaking applause. Weistein also recalled his memories of his meet up with Nelson Mandela, the legendary leader who vanished in the time curtain recently.
The Jaipur International Film Festival will be held from February 1st – February 5th 2014, and the online registration for the movies is going on with huge demand. The organizers of the film festival are trying hard to make this event a memorable one, and they have roped many imminent personalities from the film world to attend various segments of programs. One of the main highlight of this year’s festival is the ‘Writer’s Meet’ which is organized on a national level.
As we all know, a writer can be considered as the spinal cord of any movies. Without his presence, a film will be incomplete, and sometimes, even a highly talented director will fail to save a movie if provided with a bad script. The sole purpose of the writer’s meet is to create a movement in the film industry, which would motivate script writers to write good scripts and directors to make better films.
Anjum Rajabali, the writer of movies like Rajneeti and Satyagraha is the chairperson of the writer’s meet. Other fellow speakers includes, SriramRaghvan, writer of Agent Vinod, AkshatVerma, writer of Delhi Belly, Kamlesh Pandey who wrote Tezaab and Rang De Basanthi, and Vikramaditya Motwane, writer of Udaan and Lootera.
The Screenwriters Choice Awards 2013 is highly competitive this year, and the final nominee lineup includes multibillion projects like, ‘Blue Jasmine,’ ‘Her,’ and ’12 Years A Slave’. The ultimate winners of this reputed award will be announced at the Final Draft Awards, to be held Jan. 7 on the Paramount Studios lot.
Writer-director-producer Nancy Meyers was previously announced as this year’s inductee into the Final Draft Hall of Fame. This year’s awards show will be hosted by writer-director-comedian Jay Chandrasekhar.
“What’s unique about these awards is that Final Draft users range from award-winning professional writers to aspiring writers who will one day define this business,” said Marc Madnick, CEO of Final Draft, Inc.
The award committee this year can be considered as a rare blend of expertise and mastery. The nominating committee includes writers like Ted Griffin, Simon Kinberg, Larry Karasyewski, John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein, Stan Chervin, Brian Duffield, Dustin Lance Black, Amy Berg, Kirsten Smith, and David Wain.
Please find below the list of nominees for Screenwriters Choice Awards;
Best Original Screenplay
Blue Jasmine – Woody Allen
Gravity – Alfonso Cuaron & Jonas Cuaron
Her – Spike Jonze
Inside Llewyn Davis – Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Nebraska – Bob Nelson
Best Adapted Screenplay
12 Years a Slave – John Ridley (based on the book Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup)
Before Midnight – Richard Linklater & Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke (based on characters created by Linklater and Kim Krizan)
Captain Phillips – Billy Ray (based on the book A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips & Stephan Talty)
Philomena – Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope (based on the book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by Martin Sixsmith)
The Wolf of Wall Street – Terence Winter (based on the book The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort)
Best TV Comedy
Arrested Development – Mitchell Hurwitz (series creator)
Girls – Lena Dunham (series creator)
Modern Family – Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd (series creators)
Parks and Recreation – Greg Daniels, Michael Schur (series creators)
Veep – Armando Iannucci (series creator)
Best TV Drama
Alfonso Cuaron, the ace director who made 2013 memorable with ‘Gravity’ will receive the Visionary Award at the 12th annual Visual Effects Society Awards on Feb. 12 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The award is considered as recognition of his career and for his impeccable directorial excellence he showed in Gravity.
“He has been at the forefront in using visual effects to tell remarkable, highly nuanced stories that change the way we think about what is possible to achieve,” said VES board chair Jeff Okun in a statement.
Gravity is considered as one of the most successful movies of 2013. The movie garnered highly positive critical acclaim, and the performance of lead actors and the making style were praised to a great extend. Cuaron is also the editor of the movie, and his slick cuts played a crucial role in making the movie slick to the core.
James Cuaron is now an unquestionable name in the global film world. He made his directorial debut in 1992 with Sólo Con Tu Pareja. His credits also include A Little Princess, Great Expectations and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Geethu Mohandas is undoubtedly a woman with multitalented personality. The girl with golden eyes who entered the mainstream Malayalam Film Industry with movies like Thenkassipattanam and Life is beautiful is now trying her luck in direction. Her debut feature film as a director, ‘Liar’s Dice’ had its world premiere in Mumbai International Film Festival, and was opened to highly positive reviews. The recent news about the film is regarding its selection in Sundance Film Festival 2014.
Liar’s Dice is considered to be a highly realistic film which is quite extraordinary for a debutant to direct. The film follows a woman and her child on a journey in search for the child’s missing father. The movie stars Nazarudeen Shah, Geetanjali Thapa and Manya Gupta in lead roles.
Many people are still unaware about the debut film of Geethu Mohandas as an actress. She acted in a movie called ‘Onnu Muthal Poojyam Vare’ in 1986 and after that she acted in five Malayalam Movies as a child actor.
Clermont Ferrand International Short Film Festival is one of the most renowned film fests for the shorts category, and the 36th edition of this film festival is scheduled from January 31st to February 8th 2014. Indian Film Industry has something to cheer in this year’s festival as ‘Chidiya Udh’ an Indian short is competing in this International Festival.
‘Chidiya Udh’ is directed by Pranjal Dua, and it is actually a 22 minute FTII Diploma Film. The film was earlier screened on International Festival of moving Image Art, held in Bangalore, and was opened to highly positive critical acclaim. The making of the movie was well appreciated, and the realistic approach of Pranjal Dua towards filmmaking was praised to a great extend.
The short film portrays the life of two people, a young boy from a chicken farm, and a maid from a luxury hotel. They must give each other strength to escape from their dismal reality while nameless chickens continue to feed the city slaughterhouses. The movie showcases raw style of making, and this uncompromising film language is the main highlight of ‘Chidiya Udh’.
’12 Years a Slave’, the historical drama directed by Steve Mcqueen is a strong contender for the 86th Academy Awards in various sections. The chances of the movie to win some Oscars again got affirmed as it topped the nomination list for the 20th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.
‘August: Osage County’ directed by John Wells, ‘The Butler’ by Lee Daniels and Jean-Marc Valley’s ‘Dallas Buyer’s Club’ also topped the nominations with three nominations. ’12 Years a Slave’ have been nominated in categories like, ‘Cast in a Motion Picture’, ‘Best Lead Actor’ (Chiwetel Ejiofor), ‘Male Supporting Actor’(Michael Fassbender) and ‘Female Supporting Actress’(Lupita Nyong’o).
Chiwetel Ejiofor’s walk to the best actor award is not at all an easy task. He is facing strong competition from Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips), Matthew McConaughy (Dallas Buyers Club) and Forest Whitaker (The Butler). The same happens in the case of Best Supporting actor’s category.
The award ceremony of the SAG will be held on January 18th 2014.