“Shoplifters” Wins Palm Springs’ Best Foreign Language

Posted on January 12, 2019 by admin

By Creative Media Times

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“Shoplifters,” Japanese film directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda was named Best Foreign Language Film of the Year at Palm Springs International Film Festival. The jury award winners were announced today at the Riviera Palm Springs, California.

The film premiered at Cannes last year and won the top prize Palme d’Or, highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It is also on the Academy Awards’ shortlist for a Best Foreign Language category.

The family drama, which was also scripted and edited by Kore-eda, tells the story of an impoverished Japanese family who reply on shoplifting to cope with their life.

Other announced winners include Marcello Fonte, star of Italy’s Dogman and Joanna Kulig, of Poland’s Cold War, took top honors in the foreign language acting categories.

The Audience Awards for is set to be announced tomorrow, which includes Best Narrative Feature and Best Documentary Feature.

The 30th Annual Palm Springs Film Festival screened 226 films from 78 countries. The festival is held from January 3-14, 2019.

“The Rider” Chosen As Best Picture Of 2018 By The National Society of Film Critics

Posted on January 6, 2019 by admin

By Creative Media Times

Sony Pictures Classics

The National Society of Film Critics has chosen Chloe Zhao’s contemporary western drama “The Rider,” as best picture of 2018, the film critic organization announced on Saturday.

“The Rider” has received near universal acclaim since its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2017, where it won Art Cinema Award. The film had since had a successful run at Telluride and at Sundance last January, and received nominations at Independent Spirit Awards including best feature, director, editing and cinematography.

Drawing inspiration from its actors’ real life experiences, the docu-fiction tells the story of a young, Native-American cowboy and professional horse trainer Brady Blackburn (played by a real-life rider Brady Jandreau), his physical and emotional struggles after a near-fatal rodeo competition accident left him with steel plate in his head.

Academy Award winner Alfonso Cuaron’s black-and-white “Roma” was the best picture runner-up, and also won for best cinematography, best foreign-language film and best director for Cuaron.

Roma’s win is considered a big boost for its path to the Academy Awards where the film is considered to be one of top contenders to win the big prize.

[ Film Spotlight: Chloé Zhao’s “The Rider” >> ]

On the acting front, Olivia Colman won best actress in “The Favourite,” while Ethan Hawke as best actor for “First Reformed.”

See below for the full list of winners:

Best Picture: The Rider, dir. Chloé Zhao
Runners-up: Roma (dir. Alfonso Cuarón), Burning (dir. Lee Chang-dong)

Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Runners-up: Lee Chang-dong (Burning), Chloé Zhao (The Rider)

Best Actress: Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Runners-up: Regina Hall (Support the Girls), Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)

Best Actor: Ethan Hawke, First Reformed
Runners-up: Willem Dafoe (At Eternity’s Gate), Ben Foster (Leave No Trace), John C. Reilly (The Sisters Brothers and Stan & Ollie)

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2017 Gotham Awards: ‘Get Out’ Leads Nominees

Posted on October 19, 2017 by admin

By Creative Media Times

Jordan Peele’s surprise boxoffice hit ‘Get Out’ leads 27th Annual IFP Gotham Awards with four nominations including Best Feature, Best Actor for star Daniel Kaluuya, and a double nomination for Peele for his screenplay and directorial effort. The horror film’s producer Jason Blum is also set to receive an industry tribute.

Get Out’s Gotham success defied odds, not to mention genre conventions: released early this year with a modest $4.5 million budget, the film was a box-office smash ($253 million global) and is one of the best reviewed wide releases of the year so far.

In recent years, Gotham Awards has had great success in setting the tone for the awards season leading up to the Oscars. For the past three years, Gotham Awards’s best features Birdman (2014), Spotlight (2015) and Moonlight (2016) eventually won the academy awards’ best picture. A win for ‘Get Out’ certainly puts the film in a solid trajectory.

Also scoring multiple nominations are Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird”, Luca Guadagnino’s “Call Me By Your Name,” Kogonada’s “Columbus,” and Sean Baker’s “The Florida Project,” each netting three nominations apiece.

Netflix’s family drama epic “Mudbound,” was voted to receive Special Jury Award for Acting Ensemble for its cast which includes Blige, Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, Rob Morgan, and Jonathan Banks. Blige also received nomination for breakthrough actor.

Presented annually by the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) to honor independent filmmakers, Gotham Awards is considered an early boost for the awards season.

This year’s ceremony will be held on Monday, Nov. 27, at New York City and is to be hosted by John Cameron Mitchell.

Best Feature
“Call Me by Your Name”
“The Florida Project”
“Get Out”
“Good Time”
“I, Tonya”

Best Screenplay
“The Big Sick,” Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani
“Brad’s Status,” Mike White
“Call Me by Your Name,”James Ivory
“Columbus,” Kogonada
“Get Out,” Jordan Peele
“Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig

For full list of nominees: https://gotham.ifp.org