Michael Haneke's Amour
European Film Award Nominees
In the first of three notable announcements of year-end film awards, on Saturday the nominees for European Film Awards were revealed. Vying for the top prize of Best Picture are Michael Haneke's Amour (which lead the field with six nominations overall), Christian Petzold's Barbara, Paolo & Vittorio Taviani's Ceasar Must Die, Olivier Nakache & Eric Toledano's The Intouchables, Steve McQueen's Shame, and Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt. Of the six films nominated, four screened in the Main Slate of the New York Film Festival (Shame was a NYFF '11 selection), while The Intouchables was the opening night film of our Rendez-Vous with French Cinema this past March. In fact, from the overall list of nominees, there were 26 nominations for films that have played here at the Film Society! The awards will be handed out December 1.
Peter Strickland's Berberian Sound Studio
British Indepedent Film Award Nominees
Also across the pond, the nominations were announced for the 15th edition of the Moët British Independent Film Awards yesterday. With seven nominations each, Peter Strickland's Berberian Sound Studio (NYFF Midnight Movies) and Ben Wheatley's Sightseers were the most heavily-praised films of this year's nominees. Also included are NYFF Main Slate selection Ginger and Rosa, which received three nods, and ND/NF Closing Night selection Beasts of the Southern Wild, which was nominated for Best International Independent Film.
Gotham Audience Award Nominees
After announcing the nominees for the Gotham Awards last month, yesterday IFP revealed the five finalists for this year's Audience Award, which were narrowed down by a public vote from a short list of 31 films. The select films are Bartholomew Cubbins' Artifact, Benh Zeitlin's Beasts of the Southern Wild (NDNF '12), Brenna Sanchez & Tom Putnam's Burn: One Year on the Front Lines of the Battle to Save Detroit, Kirby Dick's The Invisible War (HRW '12), and Jonathan Kalafer's Once in a Lullaby: The PS 22 Chorus Story. You can visit the Gotham Awards website to cast your vote.
George Cukor's Gaslight
George Cukor Retrospective at Locarno
Though it seems like it just ended, the Locarno International Film Festival announced that they will show a complete George Cukor retrospective at the 66th annual festival next August. Carlo Chatrian, the recently-appointed Artistic Director of the Swiss-based cinema celebration, said: “For some years now the Festival has undertaken a re-reading of classical American cinema, showing how much it still has to say to us today… Far more than a great director of actresses, in addition to his celebrated reputation for perfectly constructed dramas, George Cukor is the filmmaker who has best conveyed the essence of that cinema which, while seeming to dwell on the surface of things, succeeds in brilliantly illuminating the depths of our being, and who, while entertaining the viewer, also enhances their intelligence.
Silver Linings Playbook Release Bumped Up a Week
After having won the audience awards at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Austin Film Festival, and the Hamptons International Film Festival, cinephiles are clamoring to see David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook, a sneak preview of which recently screened for Film Society Patrons. Today, the long wait for the latest film from the director of The Fighter and I Heart Huckabees got a little bit shorter. One week shorter, to be exact. With such hugely positive response before the film's theatrical debut, The Weinstein Company has decided to unspool Silver Linings Playbook one week early (on November 16) in ten select cities around the country.
