by Hillary Busis

The good news: Sundance is holding a second film festival this year. The better news: For once, attendees can leave their fashionable parkas at home.

The Sundance Institute announced today that it will be hosting a four-day summer film festival called Next Weekend in Los Angeles this August. Next Weekend will be an extension of Sundance proper’s “Next” section, which launched in 2010 and features “stylistically adventurous films that take a bold approach to storytelling,” such as Zal Batmanglij’s sound of my voice and Mike Birbiglia’s Sleepwalk With Me.

Next Weekend will run Aug. 8-11 and includes screenings of eight features, a shorts program, a panel discussion, and ShortsLab: Los Angeles, the Institute’s annual short-filmmaking workshop. “The best part of independent filmmaking is the freedom to tell your stories your own way, to take risks and not be beholden to convention of any kind,” Sundance president and founder Robert Redford said in a statement. “At the core of Next Weekend are artists that are taking risks and pushing boundaries. As such, it’s fitting that Sundance Cinemas will be the home for this festival and these films.”

The mini-fest’s schedule will be announced this summer.

More >>

Best motion picture
• Argo, Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers

Achievement in directing
• Life of Pi, Ang Lee

Performance by an actor in a leading role
• Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln

Performance by an actress in a leading role
• Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
• Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
• Anne Hathaway, in Les Misérables
Continue reading →

Ben Affleck, Argo
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
Tom Hooper, Les Miserables

Directors Guild of America

by Todd McCarthy

The arrival of quite a few strong films over the past four months allows us to bid farewell to 2012 reasonably well satisfied with the year overall. The all-but-guaranteed grimness of any year’s January-March releases promises to dash whatever residual good cheer carries over into the new year, but, looking a bit further down the line, a number of upcoming films involve intriguing talents applying themselves to potential interesting material to mark them as must-sees.

Surveying various lists of films due to be released in 2013, the following 15 jumped out, for various reasons, as ones I’m most eagerly anticipating. They are listed, more or less, in order of their scheduled release dates.

Full Article >>

“Lincoln,” “Django Unchained,” “Life of Pi,” “Zero Dark Thirty” and “Argo” are the nominees for Best Motion Picture, Drama at the Golden Globes, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced on Thursday.

In the Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical category, nominees are “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” “Les Miserables,” “Moonrise Kingdom,” “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” and “Silver Linings Playbook.”

Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” led all films with seven nominations, followed by “Argo” and “Django Unchained” with five and “Les Miserables,” “Silver Linings Playbook” and “Zero Dark Thirty” with four.

Source >>

Silas Lesnick

This Friday, Paramount Pictures will reveal the first nine minutes of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness before select IMAX showings of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Read the full list of participating theaters by clicking here). Today, ComingSoon.net was afforded the rare opportunity of visiting Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions and talking with some of the talent behind next summer’s much anticipated release. We’ll have a lot more from the visit posted soon, but one mystery was officially revealed: Alice Eve’s role is that of Carol Marcus.

Marcus, played by Bibi Besch in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, was, in the original timeline, a Federation scientist whose work led to the top-secret “Project Genesis.” She had a relationship with James T. Kirk and became mother to his son, David, but the pair ultimately decided that it was best for her to raise the boy alone.