European Film Awards - Winners

Clearly feeling gloomier than the Americans this year, the European Film Academy choose Melancholia over The Artist as the Best European Film of 2011. In a reverse-Cannes move, they also select Tilda Swinton over Kirsten Dunst for Best Actress.

Best European Film

Melancholia

Best European Director

Susan Bier - Haeven (In a Better World)

Best European Actress

Tilda Swinton - We Need to Talk About Kevin

Best European Actor

Colin Firth - The King's Speech

Best European Screenwriter

Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne - Le Gamin au Velo (The Kid with a Bike)

Best European Cinematographer

Manuel Alberto Carlo - Melancholia

Best European Editor

Tariq Anwar - The King's Speech (really?!)

Best European Production Designer

Jette Lehmann - Melancholia

Best European Composer

Ludovic Bource - The Artist

European Discovery

Adem (Oxygen) by Hans van Nuffel (Belgium / The Netherlands)

Best European Documentary

Wim Wenders - Pina

Best European Animated Feature

Chico & Rita

Best European Short Film

The Wholly Family

European Achievement in World Cinema

Mads Mikkelson (Denmark)

Lifetime Achievement Award

Stephen Frears (UK)

People's Choice Award

The King's Speech

Margaret - Trailer

via impawards.com 

Smart brits, like In Contention's Guy Lodge, are raving about Margaret. It's been pending release for a few years now (you can tell by how young Matt Damon is), so I'm glad to see it seems to have been worth the wait. Quite a cast, led by Anna Paquin, who is somewhat due a proper big screen comeback.

Margin Call - Trailer

Great cast, awful poster

Awarded Best Debut Director by the National Board of Review, and celebrated all round as a taut, lean piece of cinema, Wall Street crash drama, Margin Call:

Extremely Loud an Incredibly Close - New Trailer

New trailer for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I like it more now. I lost the book on a flight from Chicago to Boston. Need to find a new one and finish it.

A Separation - Trailer

Iran's Submission for Best Foreign Language Film & a raved hit on the independent circuit, A Separation painfully details the combustible dynamics when an Iranian couple has to choose between emigrating to secure a better life for their child, or staying in Iran to take care of a sick parent.

National Board of Review Winners

The oldest film awards body in the world - a spin-off of the censorship board - announces their classy set of nominees and winners for 2011.

Best Picture Top 10

The Artist

The Descendants

Drive

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Hugo 

The Ides of March

J Edgar

The Tree of Life

War Horse

Best Director

Martin Scorsese - Hugo

Best Actor

George Clooney - The Descendants

Best Actress

Tilda Swinton - We Need to Talk About Kevin

Best Supporting Actor

Christopher Plummer - Beginners

Best Supporting Actress

Shailene Woodley - The Descendants

Best Animated Feature

Rango

Best Ensemble

The Help

Best Independent Films

50/50

Another Earth

Beginners

A Better Life

Cedar Rapids

Margin Call

Shame

Take Shelter

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Win Win

Screenplay, Foreign Language Film, Documentary & Breakthrough Awards after the cut:

John Carter of Mars - Trailer

New Trailer for Pixar legend Andrew Stanton's first live action adventure. It's Disney family holiday fun, so we'll see how it turns out, but Stanton's had sharp, nuanced sensibilities so far. I wouldn't give it a fair chance if Stanton hadn't directed two of my favourite movies.

Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Awards season is now in full swing. The Indie Spirit Awards focus exclusively on films made for under $20 million, which fortunately includes some of the year's big hitters. Here are their nominees (they shafted George Clooney & Glenn Close!) :

Best Feature:

50/50

The Artist

Beginners

The Descendants

Drive

Take Shelter

Best Director:

Michael Hazanavicius - The Artist 

Jeff Nichols - Take Shelter

Nicolas Winding Refn - Drive

Alexander Payne - The Descendants

Mike Mills - Beginners

Best International Film:

Tyrannosaur

The Kid with a Bike

Shame

Melancholia

A Separation

Best First Feature:

Patrick Wang - In the Family

Robbie Pickering - Natural Selection

Sean Durkin - Martha Marcy May Marlene

J.C. Chandor - Margin Call

Mike Cahill - Another Earth

Best Female Lead:

Elizabeth Olsen - Martha Marcy May Marlene

Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn

Lauren Ambrose - Think of Me

Rachael Harris - Natural Selection

Adepero Oduye - Pariah

Best Male Lead:

Demian Bichir - A Better Life

Jean Dujardin - The Artist

Michael Shannon - Take Shelter

Ryan Gosling - Drive

Woody Harrelson - Rampart

Best Supporting Female:

Shailene Woodley - The Descendants

Jessica Chastain - Take Shelter

Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs

Harmony Santana - Gun Hill Road

Anjelica Huston - 50/50

Best Supporting Male:

Albert Brooks - Drive

Christopher Plummer - Beginners

Corey Stoll - Midnight in Paris

John C Reilly - Cedar Rapids

John Hawkes - Martha Marcy May Marlene

Best Screenplay:

Tom McCarthy - Win Win

Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash - The Descendants

Michael Hazanavicius - The Artist

Joseph Cedar - Footnote

Mike Mills - Beginners

Best First Screenplay:

Will Reiser - 50/50

Mike Cahill & Brit Marling - Another Earth

Phil Johnston - Cedar Rapids

J.C. Chandor - Margin Call

Patrick DeWitt - Terri

John Cassavettes Award for films made on a shoestring budget:

Bellflower

Circumstance

Hello Lonesome

Pariah

The Dynamiter

Someone to Watch Award:

Mark Jackson - Without

Nicholas Ozeki - Mamitas

Simon Arthur - Silver Tongues

Truer Than Fiction Award:

Alma Har'el - Bombay Beach

Danfung Dennis - Hell and Back Again

Heather Courtney - Where Soldiers Come From

NY Film Critics love The Artist, Moneyball and Meryl Streep

After postponing voting to screen Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the New York Film Critics Circle have named their favourites of 2011:

- French silent film The Artist picks up Best Picture and Best Director for Michel Hazanavicius
- Meryl Streep wins Best Actress, again, this time for The Iron Lady. Her fifth win off the NY Film Critics
- Brad Pitt wins Best Actor for his turns in both Moneyball and Tree of Life
- Pitt's co-star, and the year's biggest breakout star by far, Jessica Chastain wins Best Supporting Actress for Tree of the Life, The Help and Take Shelter. 
- Drive's Albert Brooks deservedly wins Best Supporting Actor for his gangster turn.
- And Aaron Sorkin continue his winning streak (after last year's The Social Network) by winning Best Screenplay for Moneyball, together with co-writer Steve Zallian.

Gotham Award Winners

The Gotham Awards focus on awarding low budget, independent cinema (with a seemingly higher financial threshold than the Independent Spirit Awards) as well as breakthrough actors and directors.

This is the first year that sees a tie for Best Feature - The Tree of Life and Beginners, which beat expected winner The Descendants. 

Last year's winner, Winter's Bone, went on to contend for Best Picture at the Oscars, together with two other Gotham nominees; The Kids Are All Right & Black Swan, which bodes well for the position of independent cinema. This year, Tree of Life and Descendants are already Oscar contenders. 

Winners via Gold Derby

.Best Feature

Beginners

The Descendants

Meek's Cutoff

Take Shelter

The Tree of Life

Best Ensemble

Beginners

The Descendants

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Margin Call

Take Shelter

Breakthrough Actor

Felicity Jones - Like Crazy

Elizabeth Olsen - Martha Marcy May Marlene

Harmony Santana - Gun Hill Road

Shailene Woodley - The Descendants

Jacob Wysocki - Terri

Breakthrough Director

Mike Cahill - Another Earth

Sean Durkin - Martha Marcy May Marlene

Vera Farmiga - Higher Ground

Evan Glodell - Bellflower

Dee Rees - Pariah

Best Documentary

Better This World

Bill Cunningham, New York

Hell and Back Again

The Interrupters

The Woodmans

Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You

Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same

Green

The Redemption of General Butt Naked

Scenes of a Crime

Without

Support Crowd Funding - A Shot at the Big Time

Janet Van Eeden is making a film about her brother, the border wars which damaged the psyches of a whole generation of South African men, and the cold senselessness of conscription.

She is seeking crowd funding via IndiGoGo, which is an exciting & daunting endeavour. Check out her page on IndieGoGo, spread the word and contribute as you wish. All contributors get co-producing credits.  

Ed Burns' Newlyweds - Trailer

Edward Burns was cool once upon a time, but I think I prefer it when Julie Delpy tries to be Woody Allen.

We Bought a Zoo - Trailer

Cameron Crowe's latest looks as sentimental as Elizabethtown, but with Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson as hosts, it should be a fairly more enjoyable ride. Amazingly, this is a true story, based on Benjamin Mee's personal novel. Glad to see Scarlett, presumably, actually acting again, but I wish Crowe would revisit his fantastic earlier career. Still sweet, just less schmaltz.

Scarlett Johansson directing Capote adaptation

Scarlett Johansson has signed on to direct an adaptation of Truman Capote's first novella, Summer Crossing, about a 17-year-old Manhattan socialite who breaks away from her family and has an affair with a working class parking lot attendant in the summer of 1945. Produced by Barry Deer Hunter Spikings, it certainly holds promise.


After making a name for herself with Lost in Translation and Girl with a Pearl Earring in 
2003, Scarlett made a few good movies before settling into simply pouting and looking sexy for most of 2005 - 2009; marrying and divorcing Ryan Reynolds; releasing an album of heavily produced songs, to mild response; winning a Tony for her supporting role in Broadway play A View from the Bridge, and now this. An interesting move, to say the least, and a worthy project. 


Johansson joins the handful of actresses turned directors:


Barbra Streisand - Oscar winner for her debut, Funny Girl, in 1969 (and the only ever "tied" win, with Kate Hepburn for The Lion in Winter), and a prolific actress since, she turned to directing in 1983 with cross-dressing Jewish musical, Yentl, followed by 1991 Best Picture & Best Actor (Nick Nolte) contender, The Prince of Tides. After this she only made  charming grown up Rom Com The Mirror Has Two Faces in 1996 and a series of TV Specials about her own Concerts.


Penny Marshall - Technically, she has more acting than directing credits, but she is best known as the director of Jumpin' Jack Flash, Big, Best Picture nominated Awakenings, A League of their Own and Riding in Cars with Boys (there are two good Best Actor Oscar nominations in there) & as an actress for 70s TV sitcom Laverne & Shirley.


Jodie Foster - Oscar nominated child actor turned double Oscar winning grown up actress, Foster is also director of a trio of decent indie family dramas - Little Man Tate (1991), Home for the Holidays (1995) and, more recently, The Beaver.


Diane Keaton - 70's legend and Oscar winner for one of cinema (& fashion)'s most iconic characters, Annie Hall, Keaton has also directed a few TV movies, an episode of Twin Peaks (!!) and two feature films: Oscar Nominated (for Thomas Newman's score) Unstrung Heroes (1995) and sister dramedy Hanging Up (2000), most notable for being the great Walter Matthau's final film (in which he fittingly has a touching death bed scene). 


Sofia Coppolla - Believe it or not, Sofia has 16 acting titles to her name, but is rightly known for directing The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette and Somewhere instead. Her most notable acting credit is her dubious turn in her father's Godfather Part III (although she featured as babies in Parts I & II as well).


Drew Barrymore - Adorable ET star turned classic first Scream victim turned cutesy Rom Com star turned very deserving Golden Globe winner for Grey Gardens, Barrymore recently directed her very enjoyable and substantial debut feature, Whip It, with Ellen Page as a disenchanted young woman who falls in love with roller derby.


Vera Farmiga - Powerhouse character Actress, recently entering the Oscar crowd with Up in the Air and this year taking the helm of acclaimed indie drama Higher Ground, about a woman's lifelong struggle with her faith. She directs herself in a knockout performance to boot.

Photos from the Great Gatsby set

First Photos from the set of Baz Luhrmann's Great Gatsby. (& stylish book covers just because they're cool).