The winners of the 2007 Pan African Film and Arts Festival were announced at the closing awards ceremony in Los Angeles, California today. PAFF is the largest international Black film festival in the United States showcasing films from the United States, Africa, Canada, South America, Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. The award-winning films were selected by PAFF’s urors while Audience Choice Awards were given to films based on the results of ballots cast by Festival filmgoers. Jury Awards were handed out for Best Documentary, Best Short, Best Director – First Feature, Best Feature, and Jury Favorite. PAFF Festival Choice Awards…
Author: Luz Aguado
Luz Aguado
Luz Aguado was born in Guanajuato, Mexico and grew up in East Los Angeles. She is the oldest of four siblings. Prior to attending The Art Institute, Luz was a student at the University of California Riverside where she studied biology and aspired to become a medical doctor. Now she studies Media Arts and Animation at The Art Institute of Los Angeles and hopes of one day having the opportunity to work for Disney Animation Studios. Three dimensional animation and the innovative techniques that have given animation a more realistic appearance is something that she wishes to focus on while at The Art Institute.
Russian blockbuster “Day Watch” comes into town today for its international premier at a special Berlinale presentation hosted by distributors Fox Searchlight Pictures.<br> The fantasy epic where the forces of light are put against the forces of dark with the future of mankind at stake shattered all Russian box-office records when it opened in Moscow just over a year ago. The film took in about $35 million domestically.<br> The films producers, First Channel and Fox Searchlight, have hopes that the shorter international version of “Day Watch” will repeat the success of the original film of the franchise, “Night Watch.”<br> “Night…
The members of the international short film jury are: Peace Anyiam-Fiberesima (Nigeria) , Riina Sildos (Estonia), Ning Ying (China)<br> The GOLDEN BEAR award was given to RAAK by Hanro Smitsman (The Netherlands)<br> RAAK was given the award “for being a brilliant film on its approach to the subjects of love, anger and desperation. But you mustn’t forget to mention the humour of the film. We honour the ability of the director to show in a compact manner three angles of the same story.” <br>The SILVER BEAR was given to DECROCHE by Manuel Schapira (France)<br>DECROCHE was awarded with the Silver bear…
The 57th Berlin International Film Festival opens Thursday with the world premiere of Olivier Dahan’s “La Vie en Rose” and runs until Feb. 18. A total of 373 films will be shown during the 11-day festival. Twenty-six films will be shown in the official competition section, with 22 of them competing for the festival’s Golden and Silver Bear awards. The bear is the symbol of Berlin and is an icon for the festival. The president of this year’s jury is American director Paul Schrader, famous for his classic “American Gigolo.” One of Schrader’s own films, “The Walker”, whose cast includes…
Santa Barbara, CA – The 22nd Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival announced the winners of the 2007 festival competition at the Closing Night ceremonies on February 4th. The festival, which began on January 25th, attracted more than 60,000 visitors to the area, bringing attendance to an all-time high. The Jury included many important figures: Jury Chair and film editor Dave Stein and filmmaker Candace Schermerhorn judged documentaries; actors Peter Riegert (“Animal House”/“Local Hero”) and Scott Mechlowicz (“Mean Creek”/“Euro Trip”) juried the Independent Features; for International Features was David Poland of Movie City News and Michael Mayer, director of the…
The jury and audience award-winners of the 2007 Sundance Film Festival were just announced at the Festival’s closing Awards Ceremony in Park City, Utah. The films receiving jury awards were selected by renowned jurors from the pool of films screening in the Independent Film Competition and the World Cinema Competition. Awards were given out to both dramatic and documentary films screening in the four categories: Documentary Competition, Dramatic Competition, World Cinema Documentary Competition, and World Cinema Dramatic Competition. The films in these four categories were also eligible for the 2007 Sundance Film Festival Audience Awards as selected by Film Festival…
Los Angeles, CA–Sundance Institute and NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) today announced the winners of the 2007 Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Awards. Of the 12 finalists, four winners were selected by members of an international jury which included Guillermo Arriaga, Carlos Digues, Toshio Endo, Bent Hamer, Yoshio Kakeo, Mitsuo Yanagimachi, Pawel Pawlikowski, Brad Silberling, and Rafael Yglesias. These annual awards were started in 1996 to recognize outstanding film directors from four global regions (Europe, Latin America, the United States, and Japan). The four winners are presented with the award at the annual Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony on Saturday, January 27. The…
“Water” Deepa Mehta’s film is set in 1938 Colonial India during Mahatma Gandhi’s rise to power and tells the and tells of the struggles of Indian widows in the 1930’s. In the past and present, many women whose husbands have died are forced to enter “widow houses.” These women are labeled as worthless without a husband to measure themselves by and they struggle to survive by begging and often turn to prostitution. The film focuses on the story of one widow —who is forced into poverty and wants to escape the social restrictions imposed on widows— and a man who…
French and Asian cinema are back at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival and are making quite a presence. There are four French and four Asian films selected for the festival’s official competition lineup. Francois Ozon’s “Angel,” about the troubles of a young author in early 20th century England, will be the closing film of the 57th Berlinale. “Angel” is a great ending for the festival which starts Feb. 8 with the world premiere of “La vie en Rose,” from another French director, Olivier Dahan. There will also be two other French films holding their world premieres in Berlin: Andre…
The 2007 Santa Barbara International Film Festival has announced the films for the 22nd installment of the event. The festival will be sponsored primarily by Chrysler and The New Yorker and will take place over 11 days beginning Thursday, January 25, through Sunday, February 4, and will feature 28 World Premieres, 18 US Premieres, and introduce films from 40 countries. SPIFF Director Roger Durling is ecstatic. “This is the most ambitious and most diverse line up of events and films the Festival has ever had,” he said. “There’s a film to satisfy any film-lover’s taste in here.” SBIFF will also…