Press Releases Archive for August, 2015

2015 Governor’s Awards Go To Debbie Reynolds, Spike Lee, Gena Rowlands

The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted Tuesday night (August 25) to present Honorary Awards to Spike Lee and Gena Rowlands, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Debbie Reynolds.  All three awards will be presented at the Academy’s 7th Annual Governors Awards on Saturday, November 14, at the…

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Full-Service Distributor FilmBuff Establishes Midtown Manhattan Headquarters, Doubles Management Team, and Expands Annual Theatrical Slate

On the heels of the recent expansion of its management team and its rapid growth in theatrical releases, FilmBuff announced a move today of its headquarters toManhattan’s burgeoning NoMad district. The move comes during a banner year for the company, which recently released the documentaries Banksy Does New York and Winning: The Racing Life of Paul…

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Fifteen 2015 Student Academy Award Winners Named

ACADEMY REVEALS 2015 STUDENT ACADEMY AWARD® WINNERS ALL WINNING FILMS NOW ELIGIBLE FOR OSCARS® LOS ANGELES, CA — The Academy has voted fifteen students as winners of the 42nd Student Academy Awardscompetition. The Academy received a record number of entries this year — 1,686 films from 282 domestic and 93 international colleges and universities — which…

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VETERAN ANIMATION EXECUTIVES PENNEY FINKELMAN COX AND SANDRA RABINS  TO LEAD ORIGINAL FORCE ANIMATION AS CHINESE STUDIO LAUNCHES LOS ANGELES PRODUCTION OFFICE

(Culver City, CA, August 13, 2015) — Original Force, one of China’s most prominent and successful digital animation studios, has launched a new motion picture division and initiated production on three animated feature films, it was announced today by Harley Zhao, President and founder of Original Force. To support the company’s expansion into Hollywood, Original Force…

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20 Scientific And Tech Achievements Vie For 2015 Oscar

The Scientific and Technical Awards Committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that 20 scientific and technical achievements, involving 11 distinct investigations, have been selected for further consideration for 2015 Academy Awards. The list is made public to allow individuals and companies with similar devices or claims of prior art…

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NYFF Adds Nonfiction, Revivals, Restorations And A New Doc By Paul Thomas Anderson

THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER ANNOUNCED TODAY SPECIAL EVENTS AND REVIVALS LINEUP FOR THE 53RD NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL Special Events include Film Comment Presents: Son of Saul; World Premiere of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Junun; 15th Anniversary screening of O Brother, Where Art Thou?; North American Premiere of De Palma Revivals highlights include new restorations…

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Ex-TIFFer Shane Smith Takes Reins Of Hot Docs Programming

Hot Docs Names Shane Smith As New Director Of Programming Hot Docs is delighted to announce that Shane Smith will join the team as the organization’s new director of programming. Shane brings years of festival experience and expertise to the position, having headed up the Canadian Film Centre’s Worldwide Short Film Festival and programmed for…

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51st Chicago Int’l Film Festival To Honor Howard Shore

(CHICAGO, August 19, 2015) – The 51st Chicago International Film Festival, presented by Cinema/Chicago, will honor acclaimed composer and orchestrator Howard Shore in recognition of his contributions to film and television with a tribute and award ceremony on Sunday, October 18, 2015. Howard Shore is one of the most versatile, talented, and respected composers and music conductors…

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NATO & UNIC Asking For Uniform Projection Aspect Ratios

Projection Aspect Ratio of DCP Features Prepared by NATO/UNIC Technology Committees Summary Exhibition is ultimately responsible for the quality of the image and sound for theatrical presentations. We have seen two major releases (Tomorrowland and Jurassic World) that were delivered in non-standard aspect ratios (2.2:1 and 2.0:1) resulting in an inferior presentation of either the…

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HBO Gets To Sesame Street In Five-Year Partnership

SESAME WORKSHOP AND HBO ANNOUNCE FIVE-YEAR PARTNERSHIP   New Seasons of Sesame Street will Premiere on HBO and Continue to be Available to PBS (New York, August 13, 2015) – Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind the Emmy Award-winning program Sesame Street, and HBO, the nation’s leading premium cable network, today announced a new…

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THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER ANNOUNCES MAIN SLATE SELECTIONS FOR THE 53RD NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL

26 features include the World Premiere of Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies and new films from Chantal Akerman, Arnaud Desplechin, Todd Haynes, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Rebecca Miller, Michael Moore, Nanni Moretti, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Jia Zhangke, and more New York, NY (August 12, 2015) – The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today the 26 films that…

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Santa Barbara Honors Jane Fonda with the Kirk Douglas Award for 2016

TWO-TIME ACADEMY AWARD® WINNER JANE FONDA TO RECEIVE KIRK DOUGLAS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN FILM SANTA BARBARA, CA (August 11, 2015) – The Santa Barbara International Film Festival announced today that Jane Fonda will be honored with the tenth annual Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film.  The award will be presented at a black-tie…

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Key West Film Festival “Critics Focus” Program Taps Top Critics Ann Hornaday and Eric Kohn to Curate Films; “Brett Ratner Florida Student Filmmaker Scholarship” Announced

New York, NY — The Key West Film Festival announced today a new annual Critics Focus program in which the nation’s top film critics will be invited to curate spotlight selections. This year, Ann Hornaday, Chief Film Critic of The Washington Post, and Eric Kohn, Chief Film Critic of Indiewire, will attend and host audience…

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Cheryl Boone Isaacs Reelected Academy President

Cheryl Boone Isaacs was reelected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Tuesday night, August 4, by the organization’s Board of Governors. In addition, Jeffrey Kurland was elected first vice president; John Bailey, Kathleen Kennedy and Bill Kroyer were elected to vice president posts; Jim Gianopulos was elected treasurer; and Phil Robinson…

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Press Releases

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon