2013 German Film Award Winners

Posting winners as they are announced via Twitter and facebook.  When info becomes available at official site, will confirm winners.  All winners are confirmed in official site that you can check here.

Honorary Lola goes to Werner Herzog; Audience Award Lola to Schlussmacher by Matthias Schweighöfer and Torsten Künstler.

Seems that Oh Boy will win most major awards... only one to go... and went to Oh Boy, which becomes the big winner tonight.

Winners are in BLUE.

3/22/13
A few hours ago the Deutsche Filmakademie (German Film Academy) announced the nominees for the Deutscher Filmpreis (German Film Awards) -better known as Lolas- and Cloud Atlas leads the pack with 9 nods including top award and Best Director closely followed by Jan Ole Gester's debut film Oh Boy with eight nods.

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66th Festival de Cannes Official Selection Lineup - Update 1

Today organizers announced five (5) more films in the Official Selection, with Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive (with Tilda Swinton) going into the Competition, Claude Lanzmann's Le Dernier des Injustes out of competition and three (3) films in Un Certain Regard: Lucia Puenzo's Wakolda, Hiner Saleem's My Sweet Pepperland and Katrin Gebbe's Tore Tanzt.

4/18/13
A few minutes ago the Official Selection lineup was unveiled and yes, there are some very positive surprises for me even when most films in the main competition are the ones everyone was buzzing and speculating will make the selection. The surprises: the latest film by master filmmaker Jia Zhangke, one of my favorite Sixth Generation Chinese directors, and none other than Amat Escalante that even when his films are quite violent, truly mesmerizes me with his particular and peculiar style. Fantastic!

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21st L'ACID Selection

Reliable news have already the ACID selection even when it is not posted at the official site of L'Association du Cinéma Indépendant pour sa Diffusion, so I'm doing post and will confirm as soon as they publish at official site plus will add the special screenings and any other event they program for this year.

Update
The announcement is up at official site thus films are confirmed.

These are the nine (9) feature films in the 2013 selection

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45th Quinzaine des Réalisateurs Lineup

Today Edouard Waintrop, Artistic Director, announced the Directors' Fortnight selection that includes comedies, thrillers, 2 horror films, and 3 documentaries. A total of 21 features will screen with 17 world premieres selected after checking 3,311 titles.

There are some surprises as Yolande Moreau's first solo film, Sebastian Silva's film, the only Romanian film in all Cannes (a short) plus the most surprising duo of Jodorowsky films (!) one by him and another about him.  But most impressive is the fact that I have seen one of the films in the selection, fabulous short film Swimmer by Lynne Shelton!

Feature Films
Opening Film: The Congress, Ari Folman, Israel, Germany, Poland, France and Belgium
Closing Film: Henri, Yolande Moreau, France and Belgium

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52nd Semaine de la Critique Lineup

A few minutes organizers released a video with Charles Tesson, Semaine Artistic Director, announcing this year selection with films that seem will be the usual "strange" films, which is absolutely Great!

As always there are seven (7) films in the Selection of 1st or 2nd films.

For Those in Peril, Paul Wright, UK
Dabba (The Lunchbox), Ritesh Batra, India, France and Germany
Le Démantèlement (The Dismantlement), Sébastien Pilote, Canada
Los Dueños, Agustin Toscano and Ezequiel Radusky, Argentina
Nos héros sont morts ce soir, David Perrault, France
Salvo, Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza, Italy and France
МАЙОР The Major, Yury Bykov, Russia

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2013 Cannes Film Festival News

In last Thursday press conference besides announcing the lineup a few more things happened that are worth sharing. First was the release of "A Word From The President" were Gilles Jacob tells us about his vision for current edition and second, a hosting fund raising auction with Plantu & Friends in an event called Cartooning For Peace.

A Word From The President

Everyone knows the Cannes event that changes every year: poster, films, juries, prizes; behind its walls, there’s also an attitude which, decade in decade out, guarantees the continuing existence of this institution. The idea is one I particularly like, and it sees the festival as a shelter for endangered artists. Our influence has a long history: in the 1970s, already, Robert Favre le Bret and Maurice Bessy fou ght over Andrei Tarkovski; next, with Pierre Viot, we invited film makers harassed in their own countries, but who would be protected by the aura of the festival. Such watchfulness set precedents. I’m not going to list the names of those who benefitted, from Eastern Europe, Asia or the Middle East, but when we come across them, even years later, the warmth of their friendship is proof of their gratitude. And our doors remain open, both to them and to others... To all the others ...

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66th Festival de Cannes Short Films and Cinéfondation Lineup

While the Official Selection of feature films for the 66th Festival de Cannes will be revealed on Thursday 18th April, the list of Short Films is unveiled today.

As we already know the Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury, presided by Jane Campion, will announce the award winners for the Short Film Competition and the Cinéfondation Selection.

Short Films Competition

This year, the Selection Committee received 3,500 short films, representing productions from no fewer than 132 countries.

Nine films will compete in 2013 for the Short Film Palme d’Or, to be awarded by Jane Campion, President of the Jury, at the Closing Ceremony of the 66th Festival de Cannes on 26th May. For the first time, a Palestinian film will take part in the Short Films Competition.

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2013 Cannes Wish List

As next Thursday April 18 we will learn the Cannes Official Selection let me share with you all my wish list with films that hopefully will make any section of the festival but IF they don't still believe that most films will be must be seen.

The Masters

Le Passe (The Past) by Asghar Farhadi.
Know director became famous for his Oscar winner film but I follow him closely since his 2006 Fireworks Wednesday and this is must be seen for me for him and because Tahar Rahim is the lead. Let's hope Bérénice Bejo acts better here than in her other films, sigh.

La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) by Paolo Sorrentino.
Absolutely must be seen for me as teaser has such beautiful images of Rome on top the star is none other than Toni Sevillo. (Photo)

Nymphomaniac by Lars Von Trier.
Soon we will know if director deeply tarnished his relationship with the festival or not. If film is not in Cannes then surely will be in Venice. Who can resist Charlotte Gainsbourg performing a self-diagnosed nymphomaniac? Not me.

Malavita by Luc Besson.

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5th La Fabrique Les Cinémas du Monde

Located at the heart of Cannes Film Festival’s international village, the pavilion is a unique venue dedicated to filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Near and Middle East. As a platform for working and networking opportunities, it has become the place to be for artists, professionals and international institutions seeking information on world cinema during the festival.

Since 2009, the Cinémas du Monde Pavilion has been run by the Institut Français in partnership with the International Organisation of La Francophonie, the Audiovisuel Extérieur de la France – composed of RFI, Monte Carlo Doualiya, France 24, and the partner French-language channel TV5 Monde. With their shared desire to promote cultural dialogue and diversity, the pavilion’s partners have contributed resources and expertise enabling world cinema to have its own workspace and networking area at the biggest international festivals.

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Cinéfondation L'Atelier 2013

For L’Atelier’s 9th edition, 15 projects from 14 countries have been selected. Since its creation in 2005, L’Atelier has been stimulating creative filmmaking and encouraging the emergence of a new generation of filmmakers.

By inviting directors and their producers to meet hundreds of potential partners during the Festival de Cannes, L’Atelier offers its participants access to international co-production, thereby maximizing their chances of completing their projects. So far, out of 126 projects presented over the last eight years, 83 have been completed and 29 are currently in pre-production.

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52nd Semaine de la Critique Poster

Today the poster was released and the following is the commentary for the poster selection.

For its 52nd edition, La Semaine de la Critique continues its series of portraits initiated last year with the collaboration of Les Bons Faiseurs agency.  Following on from Anamaria Vartolomei's classic pale beauty, the beautifully lit face of Soko stands out against the logo of the Selection that revealed her in the superb Augustine, Alice Winocour's debut film.

By discovering first features, the section in charge of talent scouting also showcases new actors, often performing their first roles on the big screen. Maggie Cheung, Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux, Gael García Bernal, Alice de Lencquesaing, all these actors whose early and promising years are reflected in Soko's luminescent and serene beauty, which radiates the pleasure and sensuality of performance.

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2013 Quinzaine des Réalisateurs Poster

Today the release of the parallel Cannes section poster, perhaps because is a black and white photo or maybe because is an excellent composition but I'm finding 2013 Cannes graphic identity outstanding as the Festival de Cannes poster is amazing and now this section releases another great poster with a great reasoning behind.

Poster 2013

Two persons in the middle of the desert, under a distant western sky.

The epitome of Adventure. Two modern-day cow-boys in a motor vehicle.

Or, why not, the vehicle of two filmmakers scouting locations, who briefly, forget their solitude to confront their experience and their destiny under a Fordain sky.

The Quinzaine des Réalisateurs this year will be a meeting place for creative artists in the midst of desire.

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7th Gopo Award Winners

Today was the award ceremony which was live streamed for a while (suddenly the live stream turned into another TV show!) but truth is that without Cristian Mungiu's Beyond the Hills the awards lost interest for me.

Nevertheless most tech awards went to Undeva La Pilula so imagine that has to get a top award (no announcement yet about top awards).

Winners are in *BLUE and to check winners in all categories you can go to official site (not up yet but will be eventually) or their facebook page here where organizers announced live the winners.

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2013 Swiss Film Award Winners

Today at the awards ceremony winners were announced and as expected by me, Ursula Meier's Sister won big, including the top award.

Winners are in *BLUE. To check winners in all categories go here.

1/31/13
Last night the Federal Office of Culture announced the contenders for this edition. This official ceremony, known as “Nominations Night”, was held in Solothurn concert hall as part of the Solothurn Film Festival, and signals the countdown to the Swiss Film Award ceremony, which will take place on 23 March 2013 in the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices in Geneva. The guest speakers at the gala event were Federal Councillor Alain Berset, Charles Beer, President of the Executive Council of the canton of Geneva and President of the Association “Quartz” Genève Zürich, and Christian Frei, President of the Swiss Film Academy.

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2013 Festival de Cannes Poster

A few minutes ago the official festival poster was announced with American movie icons Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman in a 1963 photo from the shooting of Melville Shavelson's A New Kind of Love.

The following is what the festival announced about the original photo and the poster.

The original photo

To grace the poster for its 66th edition, the Festival de Cannes has chosen a couple who embody the spirit of cinema like no other: Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman, photographed during the shooting of the aptly named A New Kind of Love, by Melville Shavelson (1963).

For the Festival it is a chance both to pay tribute to the memory of Paul Newman, who passed away in 2008, and to mark its undying admiration for Joanne Woodward, his wife and most favored co-star.

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