Awards: 2015 Spirit Award Nominations on November 25

The nominations have been announced! Click here for the full list: http://raymonddeasislo.blogspot.com/2014/11/awards-2014-independent-spirit-award.html




The 2014-2015 awards season is slowly heating up. Film Independent announced today that the 2015 Spirit Award nominations will be held two weeks from now on November 25 at the W Hollywood in Hollywood. Rosario Dawson (Top Five, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Cesar Chavez, Rent) and Diego Luna (The Book of Life, Cesar Chavez, Y Tu Mama Tambien) will host the event in a press conference style at 10:00 am PT.

“We are so thrilled that Rosario Dawson and Diego Luna are teaming up once more to join Film Independent in announcing this year’s Spirit Award nominees,” said Josh Welsh, President of Film Independent. “This year marks our 30th anniversary and we look forward to celebrating with the independent film community on the beach on February 21st.”

Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization that also produces the Los Angeles Film Festival and Film Independent at LACMA Film Series, will announce the winners on Saturday, February 21, 2015 at the 30th Film Independent Spirit Awards. The live event is held under Film Independent’s signature tent on the beach in Santa Monica and will broadcast live exclusively on IFC at 2:00 pm PT/ 5:00 pm ET.

The organization also announced that Maggie Mackay has been promoted to Director of Spirit Awards Nominations. Mackay was formerly Senior Programmer at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Announced earlier this month, Joel Gallen of Tenth Planet Productions joined the team as executive producer and producer Shawn Davis returns for his 13th show.

Spirit Awards are given out in the following categories: Best Feature, Best First Feature, Best First Screenplay, Best Director, Best Screenplay, John Cassavetes Award (given to the best feature made for a budget under $500,000), Best Male Lead, Best Female Lead, Best Supporting Male, Best Supporting Female, Best Cinematography, Best International Film, Best Documentary, Best Editing and the Robert Altman Award. The Filmmaker Awards include the Piaget Producers Award, the LensCrafters Truer Than Fiction Award and the Kiehl’s Someone to Watch Award.

In addition to celebrating the broad spectrum of independent filmmaking, the Spirit Awards is also the primary fundraiser for Film Independent’s year-round programs, which cultivate the careers of emerging filmmakers and promote diversity in the industry. To learn more about table sales and attendance, please contact jmurby@filmindependent.org or 310.432.1253.

About the Film Independent Spirit Awards
Now in its 30th year, the Film Independent Spirit Awards is an annual celebration honoring artist-driven films made with an economy of means by filmmakers whose films embody independence and originality. The Spirit Awards recognizes the achievements of American independent filmmakers and promotes the finest independent films of the year to a wider audience. The winners of the Spirit Awards are voted upon by Film Independent and IFP Members. Awards are given in the following categories: Best Feature, Best First Feature, Best First Screenplay, Best Director, Best Screenplay, John Cassavetes Award (given to the best feature made for a budget under $500,000), Best Male Lead, Best Female Lead, Best Supporting Male, Best Supporting Female, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best International Film, Best Documentary and the Robert Altman Award. The Filmmaker Grants include the Piaget Producers Award, the LensCrafters Truer Than Fiction Award, and the Kiehl’s Someone to Watch Award. The Film Independent Spirit Awards are sponsored by Premier Sponsors Piaget, The Lincoln Motor Company, Bank of America, Heineken and IFC. FIJI Water is the Official Water of the 2015 Spirit Awards. WireImage is the Official Photographer of Film Independent.

About Film Independent
Film Independent is a nonprofit arts organization that champions independent film and supports a community of artists who embody diversity, innovation and uniqueness of vision. Film Independent helps filmmakers make their movies, builds an audience for their projects and works to diversify the film industry. Film Independent’s Board of Directors, filmmakers, staff and constituents is comprised of an inclusive community of individuals across ability, age, ethnicity, gender, race and sexual orientation. Anyone passionate about film can become a Member, whether you are a filmmaker, industry professional or a film lover.
In addition to producing the Spirit Awards, Film Independent produces the Los Angeles Film Festival and Film Independent at LACMA Film Series, a year-round, weekly program that offers unique cinematic experiences for the Los Angeles creative community and the general public.

With over 250 annual screenings and events, Film Independent provides access to a network of like-minded artists who are driving creativity in the film industry. Film Independent’s Artist Development program offers free Labs for selected writers, directors, producers and documentary filmmakers and presents year- round networking opportunities. Project Involve is Film Independent’s signature program dedicated to fostering the careers of talented filmmakers from communities traditionally underrepresented in the film industry.
For more information or to become a Member, visit filmindependent.org/membership.

View the special Happy Birthday message from John Waters below:



XXX
Raymond Lo

AFIFest2014: World Premiere of "American Sniper"

The AFIFest has revealed that the secret screening they teased last week would be the world premiere of "American Sniper", Clint Eastwood's latest film starring Bradley Cooper. The screening is scheduled on November 11, 2014 at 9PM at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. Free tickets are still available at the AFIWebsite: http://afifest2.afi.com/sections/T3487

"American Sniper" is one of the few unseen films that are being considered by many as strong contenders at the Oscars this year. Angelina Jolie's "Unbroken" and the civil rights movement drama "Selma" starring Oprah Winfrey.

In the film, Bradley Cooper stars as Chris Kyle, the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history. But there is much more to him than his skill as a sharpshooter. U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle is sent to Iraq with only one mission: to protect his brothers-in-arms. His pinpoint accuracy saves countless lives on the battlefield and, as stories of his courageous exploits spread, he earns the nickname "Legend." However, his reputation is also growing behind enemy lines, putting a price on his head and making him a prime target of insurgents. He is also facing a different kind of battle on the home front: striving to be a good husband and father from halfway around the world. Despite the danger, as well as the toll on his family at home, Chris serves through four harrowing tours of duty in Iraq, personifying the spirit of the SEAL creed to "leave no one behind." But upon returning to his wife, Taya (Sienna Miller), and kids, Chris finds that it is the war he can't leave behind.

The movie will open in limited release on December 25, 2014.

Watch the explosive and intense trailer here:



See you at the festival!

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Raymond Lo

Oscars 2015: "Life in a Fishbowl"

There are three interlocking stories in Icelandic filmmaker Baldvin Zophoniasson’s “Life in a Fishbowl” that are by itself interesting and compelling but together feels contrived and implausible.

There’s the story of Mori, an alcoholic writer who is drowning himself in liquor over an incident some twenty years before. Another story is about Eik, a young single mother who is heavily in debt and who moonlights as a prostitute to support her daughter. The third story belongs to Solvi, a young and charismatic former soccer player who finds himself trapped in the cutthroat and sleazy business of capital financing.

Their lives will surprisingly intersect (with relative narrative ease!) and each one will somewhat influence the course of the other’s life. The storytelling is deliberately slow and the director takes a long time to setup what I expected would be an explosive finale only to pull back and return to his easy, comfortable narrative style just when the movie is almost ready to take off. A quiet and reasonable melodrama, there are secrets that will be revealed close to the end of the film that would have otherwise heightened the drama but only managed to stir a nod from this writer because it only confirmed what is already obvious.

When I watch a movie, I want to somewhat feel what the protagonists are feeling but sadly, in this movie, that did not happen – there are moments when you feel like you are ready to be taken by the story but find hindered ironically by the same storytelling style that the filmmaker thought would work. It is so frustrating to watch a movie that you know wants to provoke a sense of empathy from you but somehow you can feel that there’s a hidden barrier that the director neglected to remove and his characters are left trying helplessly to breach the imaginary wall and connect with the audience who remain steadfastly detached.

I am writing this review a few days after I’ve seen the film and as I look back now and try to understand the film more, I am somewhat struck, right at this very minute, by the irony in the title: The characters and the audience never got to build a cohesive relationship in the two hours that they were together inside the theater because the audience never got to go inside the proverbial fishbowl that these characters were sadly stuck in.

“Life in a Fishbowl” is the entry of Iceland to the Oscars. I watched the film at the screening organized by the European Film Promotion.

Rating: 3 ½ Stars

Oscars 2015: "Kauboji (Cowboys)"

"Cowboys"

There are movies that you fall instantly in love with after just a few minutes of watching it. Last week, I saw Croatia's entry to the Oscars this year, "Kauboji" ("Cowboys"), during a screening sponsored by the European Film Promotion and I loved it instantly!

It’s a funny and endearing film set in an industrial town in Croatia. It tells the story of Sasa Anlokovic and his troupe of wannabe actors as they try to mount a stage play in a town that has not seen one in over a decade.

Sasa is a successful theatre director who was lured back to his hometown to help revitalize the town’s arts and culture scene. And everything would have been perfect if only there were more actors who showed up during the audition process.

By some curious incident, only a handful of people showed interest in the production that Sasa was mounting and he was left with no choice but to take every single of one of them in as his actors. This group of wannabe actors is composed of a down-on-his-luck deodorant salesman, an unsmiling ex-convict, a confused young man, a handsome easy-go-lucky man, a woman and her mentally-challenged brother who speaks a dialect nobody could understand and one real actor whose dreams of headlining his own show is matched only by his pushy mother’s overbearing expectation of her son’s stardom.

"Cowboys" is a loving tribute to all the actors and directors who all struggle to realize their dream projects. For the director, the challenge was to mount a play because he needed to satisfy his commitment to his art. For the actors, they needed to ultimately prove to themselves that they could do and create something if they only set their hearts into it.

It is such a joy when the characters discover that even though they may not have the biggest talent for acting, each one sure has a talent suited for some specific part in the play. If we go deeper and examine the allegorical implication of this we can actually conclude that everyone is an actor just waiting for the right part to come along. That we all possess some form of creative talent that can be tapped anytime with just the right motivation.

The film’s biggest strength lies beyond the obvious comedy or the talented ensemble of actors whose performances I really enjoyed, and, although it may not be too apparent to casual moviegoers, there’s a powerful element in the film’s final act that highlights the lasting power of art: that no matter how dire things get, art, when it has taken form, will endure and continue to live on in the new set of talents it has taken roots in.

Why the movie is titled “Cowboys” is something that has been revealed in the press notes for the film but I would rather be vague about it and let the audience discover for themselves the reason behind the title because the scene that sets up the title – and the course of the story, for that matter, is a funny, if not poignant, homage to one of the universally-loved genre in movies.

I also wish to point out that director Tomislav Mrsic’s use of iconic songs from a different era and his decision to play them in their entirety to score key scenes is one of the main reasons why I so loved his film. I loved the nostalgia it evoked and how it made the film somewhat timeless.

Rating: 4 ½ Stars

Oscars 2015: "See You in Montevideo"

Milos Bikovic

World Cup soccer now rivals the Olympics in popularity. Some would even argue that the quadrennial competition of the sport many fans fondly call “The Beautiful Game” is the biggest sporting event in the world but I doubt if many of the present-day fans of the sport are aware of the game’s humble beginnings.

“See You in Montevideo”, directed by Serbian filmmaker Dragan Bjelogrlic, takes us back to 1930 to the first world cup competition held in the Uruguayan city of Montevideo. The film is based on the experiences of the Yugoslavian team as they compete against powerhouses Brazil and Uruguay.

But the movie is not just about soccer. It also tackles personal stories of some of the players on the team. One team member falls in love with a local woman. Another ambitious player chases after a notorious scout so he could play in America. There’s also the side story of the team’s star player who loses his love of the game when he encounters a group of children afflicted with leprosy. On top of the all these, the film also suggests that the first world cup was rigged in favor of the home team.

The film does not lack any entertainment value but one week after watching the movie it curiously does not invite much affectionate recollection from this writer. Sure, it offers a lot of scenes that are genuinely funny although some are bordering on slapstick thus rendering a few of the characters as mere caricatures. The subplot about Tirke and his girlfriend was hilarious and had moments of palpable tension but it, too, ultimately did not resonate much after.

The highlights of the film are the soccer matches and it is where I found the movie most wanting. The filmed sequences did not offer anything than just a mere retelling of what happened in real life. The camerawork and editing are not that memorable and no real suspense can be felt. For a movie that is supposed to celebrate the sport it depicts, it is rather expected that the matches be the best parts in the film.

The performances of the cast are admirable. The actors who portrayed the players looked their parts – I don’t know what I mean by this but they looked like they could play soccer. The production design and the costume seem authentic and are truly impressive.

"See You in Montevideo is the Serbian submission to the Oscars this year. The screening was organized by the European Film Promotion.

Rating: 3 ½ Stars