Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Véréna Paravel's Leviathan
Critics Awards Round-Up
This past weekend was chock full of awards season chatter with several critics groups around the country revealing their selections for the best of the year in cinema. Those tired of repetition may do better in not paying attention to these announcements, as Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty continued its winning streak. Two cities that loved Bigelow's film were Boston and New York. Both print and online critics in the cities awarded the film the top prize and many others, adding to a total of 13 awards for it among the four groups.
The only group that seemed to deviate from the now-expected path was the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. On the west coast, the Best Picture was awarded to Amour, Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or-winning film starring Emanuelle Riva and Jean-Lous Triginant. Another NYFF50 alum, Leviathan—Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Véréna Paravel's experiential documentary about the commercial fishing industry—won the Douglas Edwards Experimental/Independent Film/Video Award. See the full list of winners here.
British Independent Film Awards
Last night, Rufus Norris' Broken won the top prize at the British Independent Film Awards. Norris' debut feature stars the likes of Cillian Murphy and Tim Roth. Other big winners of the night included Bart Layton's mystery doc, The Imposter, and NYFF50 Midnight Movies selection Berberian Sound Studio.
Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom
AFI's Top Ten
Yesterday the American Film Institute revealed its top ten films of 2012. Unlike many of the critics poll's we've seen, the AFI's list is, expectedly, comprised solely of American films, thus leaving out the likes of Amour or Holy Motors. Among the titles included are Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom, Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained and Ang Lee's Life of Pi.
Oversimplification Finds Distribution and Special Exec Producer
Anyone that might've been worried about Terrence Nance's An Oversimplification of Her Beauty finding a wider audience can breathe a sigh of relief. Not only did Nance's ND/NF '12 film recently win the Gotham Award for Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You, which grants the film a week-long run at New York City's Village East Cinemas, the film has also been picked up by The Cinema Guild. The noted art-house distributor has taken home video, digital and non-theatrical distribution rights to the film. More notably, hip-hop legend/entrepreneur Jay-Z has come aboard as an executive producer!
Josh Pais and Rosemarie Dewitt in Lynn Shelton's Touchy Feely
Sundance Road Trip
Many of us might not be able to make it to Park City for the Sundance Film Festival. Luckily, the Sundance Institute has some of us covered. On Jaunary 31, 10 selections will have special one-off screenings at ten art-house cinemas across the country. Included in this Sundance road tour are Brooklyn, Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, and several other cities. Here in New York, audiences will have the chance to see John Krokidas' Kill Your Darlings, which follows “an untold story of murder that brought together a young Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs at Columbia University in 1944.” Those living in the Midwest have a chance to see one of the most anticipated film's at this year's festival: Lynn Shelton's Touchy Feely, which reunites the independent filmmaker with her Your Sister's Sister star Rosemarie Dewitt.
