Hollywood, U.S.A. — The 16th Annual Hollywood Film Awards, presented by the Los Angeles Times has announced that Dustin Hoffman will be the recipient of this year’s “Hollywood Breakthrough Director Award,” at this year’s awards gala.

“It is a great honor to recognize Dustin Hoffman for his directorial debut for the movie ‘Quartet.’ His exquisite work and directorial skills are remarkable,” said Carlos de Abreu, Founder and Executive Director of the Hollywood Film Awards.

The 2012 Hollywood Film Awards has also announced that it will honor actor Richard Gere with the “Hollywood Career Achievement Award”; Bradley Cooper with the “Hollywood Actor Award”; Academy Award-nominated writer/director Quentin Tarantino with the “Hollywood Screenwriter Award”; Ben Affleck,Alan Arkin, Bryan Cranston, and John Goodman with the “Hollywood Ensemble Acting Award” for “Argo”; director David O. Russell with the “Hollywood Director Award”; Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro with the “Hollywood Supporting Actor Award”; Academy Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard with the “Hollywood Actress Award”; three-time Academy Award-nominated actress Amy Adams with the “Hollywood Supporting Actress Award”; producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner with the “Hollywood Producers Award”; writer/director Judd Apatow with the “Hollywood Comedy Award”; actor John Hawkeswith the “Hollywood Breakout Performance Award” for “The Sessions”; and Quvenzhane Wallis with the “New Hollywood Award” for “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” Other honorees include cinematographer Wally Pfister, editor Dylan Tichenor, production designer Sarah Greenwood, and visual effects supervisor Jeff White. In addition, director Peter Ramsey’s “Rise of the Guardians” will be honored with the “Hollywood Animation Award,” along with additional honorees to be announced.

The Hollywood Film Awards Gala Ceremony will take place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills onOctober 22, 2012. The event honors cherished stars and up-and-coming talent, and traditionally kicks off the film awards season with the biggest stars and top industry executives in attendance.

“We are very proud to be the first stop of the awards season. In the last nine years, a total of 85 Oscar nominations and 32 Oscars were given to the honorees of the Hollywood Film Awards,” said de Abreu.

Last year’s awards show reached a total TV audience of more than 41 million media impressions, in addition to more than 300 million online and print readers’ impressions.

Aside from celebrating accomplishments on screen, the Hollywood Film Awards established the “Hollywood Gives Back” program to expand and continue highlighting and assisting important local and national charities to raise funds. Over the years, the Hollywood Film Awards has contributed to such charities as the following: The Art of Elysium, Artists For Human Rights, Artists for Peace and Justice, MatchingDonors.com, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the Enough Project, and Variety The Children’s Charity of So. CA, among others.

Further, the Hollywood Film Awards selects individuals to be recipients of their “Hollywood Humanitarian Awards” in recognition of their contribution to the betterment of their communities or society at large. Prior recipients include Nobel Peace Prize winner and ex-President of East Timor, Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta, Nobel Laureate Jody Williams, Father Rick Frechette, and actor and activist Sean Penn.

About Dustin Hoffman

Dustin Hoffman has long harbored a desire to direct a film, and having only ever done so on stage, he can officially call himself a Director this year with the release of his first feature film ‘Quartet’. Debuting at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, ‘Quartet’ stars Dame Maggie Smith, Sir Tom Courtenay, Pauline Collins, Billy Connolly, and Sir Michael Gambon.

Based on the play by Ronald Harwood, the film follows four retired opera singers as they attempt to put on a concert to save their beloved home — and celebrate Verdi’s birthday in the process. Of his experience with the first time director, Connolly explains, “Dustin’s a brilliant director because he’s such a brilliant actor, so he directs like an actor.” ‘Quartet’ is due out in limited release on December 28.

With a career spanning more than five decades in front of the camera, Dustin Hoffman is one of the world’s most accomplished and highly regarded actors. Garnering two Academy Awards (and seven nominations), five Golden Globes, four BAFTAs and an Emmy Hoffman’s impressive resume boasts such critically acclaimed and commercial hits as ‘The Graduate’, ‘All The President’s Men’, ‘Rainman’, ‘Midnight Cowboy’, ‘Kramer vs Kramer’, ‘Tootsie’, ‘Wag The Dog’, ‘Meet The Fockers’, and ‘Last Chance Harvey’.

Image Courtesy of  Joe Seer / Shutterstock.com

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Director and screenwriter Rodrigo Cortés blurs the thin line between perception and reality as two skeptical scientists seek to expose the trickery behind seemingly unexplainable events in his third feature film, ‘Red Lights’. In 2010, Cortés galvanized the film world with his unconventional thriller ‘Buried’, which became a surprise triumph at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to worldwide box-office success. The acclaim the Spanish-born writer and director received enabled him to start work almost immediately on ‘Red Lights’, a project he says had been gestating for some time.

“It gave me the chance to combine two concepts that might seem antithetical,” says Cortés. “This is a genre film with the soul of a political thriller. I was inspired in part by movies like ‘All the President’s Men’, but instead of journalists, we have scientific investigators. It starts with the idea of exposing these hoaxes, then starts to explore the mechanisms of perception in the human brain.”

Cortés was also influenced by what he calls the “subterranean logic” of the novels of the American author and screenwriter Richard Matheson. Perhaps best known for writing ‘The Incredible Shrinking Man’, ‘What Dreams May Come’ and ‘I Am Legend’, all of which have been made into feature films, Matheson is also responsible for the legendary “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” episode of “The Twilight Zone.”

“One of the most important things I wanted to capture was the idea that the human brain is not necessarily a tool we can trust,” the director says. “We see what we want to see. Our beliefs are determined by our hopes, needs, dreams and desires. In other words, we believe what we want to believe.”

Cortés’ heroes, Margaret Matheson, played by Sigourney Weaver, and Tom Buckley, played by Cillian Murphy, believe that the world is filled with hucksters and frauds who exploit the hopes and fears of their followers for personal notoriety and financial gain. The pair are experts in detecting the telltale “red lights”—signs of the stagecraft used to pull the wool over the eyes of gullible believers.

Cortés devoted more than a year and a half to the study of paranormal phenomena. “I looked at both sides of the discussion, the side of the scientists and skeptics, as well as the side of the believers and parapsychologists,” he says. “I went through tons of information, images and videos. I attended séances and channeling sessions and talked to many so-called paragnosts, or gifted psychics, who use scientific terms to legitimize their work. What I discovered was that in some ways the two sides are very similar: they each accept only the information that confirms their preconceived ideas and reject everything else. People are prone to believing what is convenient to believe. We start with our beliefs and create the architecture around them.”

Though the film is fictional, many of the characters and events are based on Cortés’ research. “The character of Silver, for example, is not based on any one specific psychic. I used things that I learned about renowned psychics, including Uri Geller, but I also studied politicians and healers and preachers. I also wanted the movie to feel very scientific. A lot of the high-tech equipment used in the film exists in real life.”

‘Red Lights’ stars Academy Award winner Robert De Niro (‘Limitless’, ‘Raging Bull’), Academy award nominee Sigourney Weaver (‘Avatar’, ‘Gorillas in the Mist’), Cillian Murphy (‘28 Days Later’, ‘The Dark Knight’), Elizabeth Olsen (‘Martha Marcy Mae Marlene’, ‘Silent House’), Toby Jones (‘The Hunger Games’, ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’) and Joely Richardson (‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’, “Nip Tuck”).

The film is produced by Cortés and Adrián Guerra (‘Apartment 143’).

Image Courtesy of  Red Lights

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When it came to casting the lead characters of ‘Buried’ director Rodrigo Cortés’ new ‘Red Lights’, Cortés set his sights high, envisioning Sigourney Weaver as the tenacious researcher Margaret Matheson and Robert De Niro in the role of Simon Silver, the elusive psychic superstar who returns to the limelight after three decades in exile.

“There is a great deal of emotion in the piece that is not verbalized,” Cortés’ observes. “It takes a highly skilled actor to communicate through silence. Sigourney and Robert each had immediate and strong reactions to the material. I met with both of them within a two-week period and they told me they really wanted to be involved.”

Cortés says that while he was developing the character of Matheson, he always pictured Weaver in the role. “The character felt very strong, but definitely not male,” he remembers. “She has this power and a very sarcastic sense of humor, as well as a sexy nature. You don’t see that in young women, because it has to do with experience and wisdom. You feel you can trust what this woman tells you. At the same time, she has something broken inside. It’s rare to find all of these elements in one actress, but we found them in Sigourney.

“I wrote every line with her in mind,” he continues. “It was like making the perfect dress for someone. If she had said no, it would have been a real problem. I would have had a perfect dress that wouldn’t fit most people.”

De Niro lends his own natural gravitas and superstar charisma to Silver. “I knew it would take a giant to play Silver the way I envisioned him,” says Cortés. “He is the greatest psychic ever, but I didn’t have a lot of time to establish that, so I needed a powerful presence. De Niro brings tremendous nuance to the character, speaking softly, but with a lot of power behind every word. And he does it in such an organic way.

“As an actor, he is never focused on getting to a goal. He’s just focused on being, so every emotion feels totally real. He works calmly, and then magic happens, and if you are fast enough, you steal it.”

Cortés cast Irish actor Cillian Murphy as Tom Buckley, Matheson’s protégé, because he saw a dichotomy in the actor that embodied Buckley’s journey. “At the beginning, Tom is like an innocent Boy Scout,” the director explains. “He lives comfortably in the shadow of Matheson, but then he has to inherit the film and his character becomes darker and more disturbing. We enter much more subjective and abstract territories. Cillian has a very intuitive approach to performance and had both sides that the character needed.”

Image Courtesy of  Red Lights

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A pair of top paranormal researchers face their greatest challenge when they set out to discredit a powerful and mysterious psychic in ‘Red Lights’, a taut and original psychological thriller from award-winning writer and director Rodrigo Cortés (‘Buried’).

Dr. Margaret Matheson (Sigourney Weaver) and her partner, Tom Buckley (Cillian Murphy) are the world’s foremost investigators of paranormal phenomena. Professional skeptics, they have debunked dozens of fraudulent mind readers, ghost hunters, faith healers and the like by detecting what Matheson calls “red lights,” subtle clues to the trickery behind each of these “supernatural” occurrences.

But when the legendary blind psychic Simon Silver (Robert De Niro) comes out of retirement after 30 years, his once-fearless adversary Matheson warns Buckley to back off. Suspecting that the charismatic, spoon-bending mind reader was involved in the mysterious death of his most vociferous critic three decades earlier, she considers him far too dangerous to confront.

Buckley remains determined to discredit the hugely popular and seemingly genuine Silver, however, believing that doing so would cement his reputation and guarantee funding for Matheson’s and his research for years to come. As he becomes increasingly obsessed with his mission, Buckley enlists the aid of his star student, Sally. Together, they employ a dazzling array of high-tech tools to unlock the secrets of Silver’s abilities. But the closer they get, the more formidable Silver becomes—and the more Buckley begins to question his core beliefs. Science and the supernatural collide to play on audience perceptions as the researchers’ quest for the truth builds to a mind-blowing conclusion.

Sally Owen, Buckley’s prize student, is played by rising star Elizabeth Olsen. Olsen has made her mark in Hollywood with remarkable speed, starring in three critically acclaimed films in 2011 (‘Martha Marcy Mae Marlene’, ‘Silent House’, and ‘Peace, Love and Misunderstanding’). But those films had not yet been released when Cortés cast her.

“I didn’t know anything about her or her work,” says the director. “I auditioned many actresses and she was just the best. Even though I wrote the lines, it seemed like she was inventing them as she went along. You cannot catch Elizabeth lying; she works from authentic emotions. She brought so much light to the character, which is needed as Tom’s mood grows darker and darker.”

Throughout ten and a half weeks of shooting in Barcelona and Toronto, Cortés maintained a breakneck schedule in order to achieve the complex visual montages that define the film. “‘Red Lights’ is stylized but sweaty,” he remarks. “The film is full of visual and emotional contrasts that make the growing threat both terrifying and absolutely authentic.”

The visual style deliberately underscores the idea of duality that drives the film, says Cortés. “It is about certainty and uncertainty. As you watch, the audience, like the characters in the film, will think they are standing on solid ground, and then suddenly the earth will open up under their feet. The characters are trapped in a complex and contradictory labyrinth in search of themselves as much as anything outside.”

Cortés says his intent is to place the viewers in the characters’ shoes so that they will call into question everything they see. “Filmmaking is in large part about managing point of view to make people feel and believe what you want them to,” he explains. “Reality doesn’t matter; real time doesn’t matter. You can stretch time or compress it. It doesn’t have to be real—it just has to feel real. You have to create a reality that works for the screen and the rules of real life don’t apply.”

For Cortés the trickery employed by the charlatans in the film is a perfect metaphor for filmmaking. “It’s about stage magicians playing with the same tools as filmmakers,” he says. “In creating movie reality, you make people swear they saw things they never saw. You misdirect them in order to surprise them. You make them look at your left hand so you can steal their wallet with your right.”

Image Courtesy of  Shelly Wall / Shutterstock.com

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The rapport between Robert De Niro and Paul Dano exceeded everyone’s expectations on the set of ‘Being Flynn’; there was an actor-to-actor connection, but it was one punctuated with interactions that mirrored the dissonance between their characters. Dano enthuses, “Working with him was inspiring.

The first day I was on the set, it did hit me – I’m in the ring with Robert De Niro! – and unfortunately it was with the camera rolling. I had to very quickly extinguish those feelings, because we both had our great parts to play.

“I wasn’t always sure what was going to come out of him, which is what you want from any actor you’re working with. There were a few moments where he’d pull a line out of nowhere, and I’d be processing it and trying to not smile because he had upped the ante. Luckily, it would mostly happen when I was not in the shot.”

Producer Andrew Miano recounts, “They were playing out one scene where Jonathan is arguing with his son, and I thought, ‘This is a moment I’ll remember forever; two terrific actors going at it with each other.’” Nick Flynn, author of the memoir behind the movie, marvels, “Their scenes together are so powerful; they have to battle each other emotionally, and also convey a love story.

“I would watch the actors do 10 takes and at least 5 completely different ones would seem perfect to me. Paul Weitz was open to trying things in many ways. I don’t know how he keeps it all balanced in his head, directing a movie and then working with the film editor.” As part of ensuring that the movie’s representation of the homeless was accurate, Nick arranged for filmmaker meetings at several non-profit organizations that he and his wife Lili Taylor are actively involved with.

The filmmakers visited the Bowery Mission in lower Manhattan as well as the AIDS Service Center (ASC). Cast and crew met people with empowering stories of rebounding from homelessness and addiction. Director Paul Weitz was so impressed that he moved to incorporate some of them – and some of their own stories – into the film.

Among the non-actors cast in speaking parts was Lorenzo Murphy. He remembers, “My sister told me, ‘Someone from your poetry group [at the ASC] is trying to get in touch with you.’ That was Nick Flynn. So I did a screen test, and got cast as a morphine addict. I didn’t know how that felt, so I did a little research.

“Doing the scene scared me because it was like being back in NA [Narcotics Anonymous] again. That’s how real it was; Paul Weitz nailed it. I feel that this movie will inspire people to listen to someone’s story and do better in their life.” Miano notes, “We take casting actors very seriously; it may be my favorite part of making a movie.

But having these non-actors in the movie lent us that much more authenticity, and these men’s experiences lent themselves so seamlessly to what we were looking to achieve. These may be brief moments in the movie, but they’re among the most real. Their faces are ones you remember.

“Through Nick and Jonathan’s experiences, in reconnecting with each other and their shared past, Being Flynn directly address a question that we all ask ourselves; ‘Are we destined to become our parents?’” Dano comments, “Nick has persevered, and one of the aspects of this story that I find so truthful is that it ends on a note of, ‘You are still going to struggle to deal with everything, though maybe not daily any more.’”

Having come a second time to the end of a journey to get his story told, Nick muses, “What I found in writing the book is that on one level it’s about me, my father, and my mother. But when you work on something like this long enough, at some point it transforms into something larger; hopefully, into something universal.

“In talking to actors, extras, and crew members on the shoot I found that people felt connected to the material; everyone has a complicated relationship with a loved one. It might be a parent, a sibling, or a child with whom they are trying to navigate their way through. I was lucky enough to do so.”

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On several occasions, during the initial development period of the upcoming drama ‘Being Flynn’, screenwriter and director Paul Weitz accompanied Nick Flynn, author of the memoir behind the movie, to meet with Jonathan Flynn, Nick’s father, who had maintained contact with his son and was living in Massachusetts. Their relationship is the turning point of the upcoming movie, set to premier on March 2.

Nick reveals, “The first time that Paul and I met with my father, we sat in this tiny apartment for seven hours. There were books everywhere, his writings everywhere, piles of things everywhere. I introduced Paul to him, saying ‘He’s going to be making a movie of the book that I wrote,’ which my father had read.

“My father was somewhat impressed, but he doesn’t get impressed too much – except with himself.” Nick feels that the journeys back, especially the meetings with the elder Flynn, made an indelible impression on Weitz, positively impacting the script. Nick says, “There are several moments from our visits with my father that ended up in the movie.

Reading the book is one thing, but I’m not sure that Paul would’ve gotten the intensity of my father – how he can say things that line up with a higher truth, how he shows he’s a tough guy by wielding weapons – if they hadn’t met, face to face. These things were very familiar to me from my times with him, but for Paul I think they were invaluable to his making the picture.”

As the father/son relationship has evolved, “we’ve had many years of knowing each other,” Nick points out. “Since Paul has met my father several times, he’s witnessed many things between us. Knowing the relationship that my father and I now have, he wanted to transfer some of that energy into specific scenes.”

After years of rewrites and polishes, Weitz would ultimately rework the script to be closer to the first draft that he had initially showed Nick when the process began. There had been, all concerned realized, a solid foundation which should be reaffirmed.

After that epiphany, the response to the final draft of Being Flynn was overwhelming. “The essence of what’s in the book was in every draft, but with this particular draft everything just clicked into place for both script and cast,” notes producer Andrew Miano. Four-time Academy Award nominee Julianne Moore joined the cast as Nick’s mother, Jody Flynn. She comments, “I’d been wanting to work with Paul for a while. He sent me this script and said, ‘This is a teeny part for you, but it’s lovely.’ I found it to be a quite touching piece, since Paul’s writing has literary sense and there is a lightness to the movies he makes.

“Paul’s screenplay of Nick’s story is a journey that takes you from childhood to adulthood. Nick experienced hardship and difficulty, and almost succumbed to it. Through Paul, we see how Nick found a way out of that by writing about it, and by talking about it, eloquently.”

Olivia Thirlby, cast as Denise, a worker at the shelter who is emotionally direct with Nick, marvels, “Paul Weitz captured the essence of the book so beautifully. He was able to distill a nonlinear 300-page memoir, an amazing life story, into a great screenplay. Reading it – before I had read the book – I could tell that Paul was passionate about the material and had a deep connection to the subject matter.

“A child making sense of what their parents made is a universal theme; we all have to see our parents as not just our parents but as individuals, and come to terms with that.”

Two-time Academy Award winner Robert De Niro had come aboard the project ahead of the other actors, with his Tribeca Productions producing. Weitz and De Niro had first collaborated on the acclaimed 2002 film ‘About a Boy’, which De Niro produced and which Weitz adapted and directed with his brother; and had teamed as director and star of the hit 2010 movie ‘Little Fockers.’

Miano offers, “Paul and Bob have now known each other for a long time, and their relationship has solidified. There is a trust between them. When it came time to finally make this movie, they had a ready shorthand. Their already being on the same page strengthened the creative process for everyone newly joining the project.”

Nick Flynn had quickly warmed to the idea of an iconic actor portraying his father. Nick muses, “My father possesses levels of self-confidence, lunacy, and menace while also evincing compassion and a certain nobility. The idea of Mr. De Niro playing the part was the best possible news, since all those qualities are evident in his movie work.”

Lili Taylor, Nick’s wife, adds, “When I heard that he was going to play Nick’s father, I breathed a sigh of relief because I know Jonathan and he is complicated. He’s also someone very easy for an actor to not play well; there are a lot of pitfalls and traps. If you go for the too-muchness, poignancy is lost.

“With Robert De Niro, you knew there was going to be an honesty; the role would come first, not the actor.” De Niro met extensively with the author. The actor also visited Boston and retraced many of the same steps that Weitz had made with Nick. He was able to walk through the shelter where Nick worked in anonymity, observing guests and staff alike.

Nick remarks, “Bob noticed many things, and saw something that I hadn’t; guests of the shelter walking about confidently. When he pointed it out to me, it rang true. Part of it is, they don’t want to look vulnerable and be a mark – maybe not inside the shelter but outside – and also, this shelter is a home for them, where they can be safe and equal and be themselves.”

Image Courtesy of  cinemafestival / Shutterstock.com

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Lionsgate have announced ‘The Big Wedding’, a Nu Image / Millennium Films production that Lionsgate will be distributing in the U.S. and the U.K. The announcement was made jointly by Joe Drake, President of Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group, Jason Constantine, Lionsgate’s President of Acquisitions and Co-Productions, and Avi Lerner, Founder and Co-Chairman of Nu Image, who is handling international sales of the film.

The film, which boasts an all star cast including Robert De Niro, Susan Sarandon, Diane Keaton, Katherine Heigl, Amanda Seyfried, Robin Williams, Ben Barnes and Topher Grace, is currently shooting in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Written and directed by Justin Zackham (‘The Bucket List’), the film centers around Don (De Niro) and Ellie (Keaton), a long divorced couple being forced to pretend that they are still happily married at their son’s wedding. Among all of their family and friends, the hoax snowballs into a poignant and raucously funny story about the ties that bind.

Nu Image’s Avi Lerner, Danny Dimbort and Trevor Short are executive producing, with Justin Zackham, Clay Pecorin, Richard Salvatore and Harry Ufland producing.

“The Big Wedding is a charming, rollicking movie that promises to be an instant intergenerational family comedy classic,” explains Drake of the film’s appeal to the studio.  “We are thrilled to be in business once again with Avi and Nu Image,” adds Constantine.  “After our success together with action genre films like ‘The Expendables’ and the upcoming ‘Conan The Barbarian’, this film presented a wonderful opportunity to expand our collaborative horizons into the realm of broad comedy.”

“Our relationship with Lionsgate has always been mutually beneficial and one of great respect. A film like The Big Wedding only reinforces that idea and takes our relationship to the next level,” says Lerner. “We know that Lionsgate’s faith in us to deliver on all of the potential of this comedy is well placed.”

Negotiations on behalf of Lionsgate were overseen by Constantine along with Lionsgate’s SVP of Acquisitions Eda Kowan and EVP of Business & Legal Affairs Wendy Jaffe.

About Lionsgate 

Lionsgate is a leading global entertainment company with a strong and diversified presence in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home entertainment, family entertainment, digital distribution and new channel platforms.

The Company has built a strong television presence in production of prime time cable and broadcast network series, distribution and syndication of programming through Debmar-Mercury and an array of channel assets.

Lionsgate currently has 15 shows on more than 10 networks spanning its prime time production, distribution and syndication businesses, including such critically-acclaimed hits as “Mad Men”, “Weeds” and “Nurse Jackie” along with  the comedy “Blue Mountain State, ” the upcoming drama “Boss” and the syndication successes “Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne”, its spinoff “Meet The Browns”,  the upcoming “For Better or Worse,” ”The Wendy Williams Show” and “Are We There Yet?”.

Image Courtesy of   cinemafestival / Shutterstock.com

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One of the most exciting films to be released in 2011 is a movie about a group of assassins known as the clinic. The clinic is a hit squad that has carried out a series of assassination on members of the British Air services. Sir Ralph Fiennes made these controversial claims in his 1991 novel The Feather Men. He claimed that a hit squad existed and a contract was placed on the heads of the members of B.A.S.

The government denied these allegations. The “Feather Men,” of the novel’s title is a group of vigilante Special Forces members who are hired to stop the clinic and to protect members of the regiment. The movie cost $66 million to produce and its set for release in September 2011. The movie is set to look like a huge success.

Film producer Michael Boughen who worked on various game shows during the nineties and the movie Tomorrow when the world began has been facing a battle fighting tax evasion charges so its not certain whether or not he will attend the films premier. Jason Statham, Clive Owen and Robert de Niro appear in this action packed movie titled Killer Elite, which is based on the true events that took place as depicted in Fiennes’ novel.

The movie is an adaption of the novel and it follows special operation agent Danny, who is played by Jason Statham. Danny is lured out of a self imposed exile to execute a feat of retribution and personal salvation. His former mentor played by Robert De Niro is in trouble. Danny reassembles his old team of operatives to help rescue his former mentor and to infiltrate the British Special  Forces.

The Feather Men are a group of ex Special Air Service soldiers, their leader Spike, played by Clive Owen, provides a deadly cloak of security around all the SAS members. Danny and his team of soldiers  must take down a a group of the most deadliest soldier assassins before their actions result in a global political meltdown.

A large portion of the movie was produced  in Port Melbourne. While other parts of the movie were  filmed in Paris, Wales, London, Dubai and Oman. The movie was produced at Dockland studios in Melbourne, in the Docklands. Jason Statham’s scenes were shot at the Brecon Beacons in Wales.

In May 2010 it was announced that Robert De Niro would join the cast playing an assassin in a minor role. De Niro’s  shoot took place in november 2010 and  went for 10 days, shooting in Melbourne’s spring street, which was used  a front for Paris in the 1970s.

A majority of the the other actors in the cast will be played by Australian actors, such as well known Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn who will appear in a supporting role. Mendelsohn has been recently working on other Hollywood projects including this place beyond and Joel Schumacher’s the Nicholas Cage, Nicole Kidman thriller Trespass.

Although the film is set for a September release date. It has not been announced when and where the premier will be taking place.

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Today marks the beginning of the Cannes International Film Festival at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, in the south of France. In the Danish newspaper Politiken’s online edition, film critic Kim Skotte took a look at this years selection of competing features and noted that Denmark still have what it takes to walk among titans.

For Danes, the oldest and most prestigious film festival in the world is often centered on the surprisingly consistent representation of Danish craftsmanship. You could say that after winning this years Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars, Denmark is not afraid to strut their feathers at the French Riviera. This year has Lars von Trier and his movie Melancholia as well as Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive competing while a third movie, Labrador, has been chosen for an exclusive screening in the official program.

However, the Danes do realize that the Cannes is not just about our own contributions.

If we look at the contenders for the Palme d’Or, this year sports an unusually strong mix of directors – that is, if we base our predictions on the accomplishments of these which is really all we can go on at this point. Of course, the pro can sometimes fail miserably while the virtually unknown can bring positive surprises. Guesswork aside, the battle for the golden palms is gonna be fought amongst established ‘old-timers’, upcoming talents and the odd jokers.

Besides Lars von Trier, who won the highest prize in 2000 with Dancer In The Dark, the selection holds several other winners and especially – nearly-winners.

Amazingly enough, the Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar has never won the Palms though he came close in 1999 with Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother). This year he has a new shot with La Piel Que Habito (The Skin I live In), based on the novel Tarantula by the French crime author Thierry Jonquets. The movie is said to be a new direction for the filmmaker with a twist of old. This is founded in the fact that the story has been described by Almodóvar to Cineuropa as “a horror story without screams or frights” and stars Antonio Banderas as the troubled plastic surgeon.

The jury, headed by veteran Robert De Niro this year, has the opportunity to fall for an array of other styles however. The Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have previously won two times already and their film Le Gamin au Velo could prove a third success.

From Italy, two strong contenders are present. Paolo Sorrentino first made an impression with his experimental Il Divo which won the Jury prize in 2008. This year is his fourth time at the French resort with his American excursion This Must Be The Place, starring Sean Penn. He is matched by Nanni Moretti, a seventh time contender who have also managed to win in 2001 with La Stanza Del Figlio (The Son’s Room)

Overall, the field is speckled with experienced people – Terrence Malik, director of The Thin Red Line, brings The Tree of Life while the Finish director Aki Kaurismäki makes his fourth appearance along with Japanese Naomi Kawase, the youngest winner of Caméra d’Or.

The scene is set for a battle of established names and talents and even though film is regarded an art form, the competition between May 11-21 could prove a fierce race, leaving us gasping for air. If you want to learn more, please visit the Festival site.

The article Festival De Cannes 2011: Could Be the Battle of Titans appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

It is the 10^th annual Tribeca Film Festival! And tonight we watch the Awards show online from Germany, to make a great coverage of what went on, for all our dear readers to grab a look. It just couldn’t get better, with tons of excitement, and the exposure and appreciation of diverse tastes, and talented directors of incredible films, bringing their views and insight to incredible stories and plots, of all types of varieties, and styles.

The Tribeca Film Festival was co-founded by Robert De Niro and has gained special interest and value to all the different directors out there who create independent films. It has become a medium to present their work. The collaboration and founding sponsor American Express, awarded many directors with great prizes.  Tonight’s ceremony was hosted in New York City, at the W. Union Square.

The night started with the awards host, Gideon Yago. He started the awards mentioning that tonight; it’s been the time to see and hear from the filmmakers, directors that brought their talent to the festival.

The evening counted with many festival juries. Chief Geoff Gilmore presented chief creative officer the first two awards of the night. The first award of the evening went to Rider and Shiloh Strong with Dungeon Master.

The best feature film went to Donner Unknown by Jerry Rosswell. The award contain a price of $25.000 by the founding partner American Express, and also an artistic award by Chanel, a piece valued in $35.000. As the awards went on the first jury award, was presented by Ahmed Ahmed Juror. He presented the Student visionary award: Whose prize consisted on a Mac pro Desktop donated by Apple, valued at $35,000. The film was admired by appreciating its detail. “Sometimes Less is more,” said Ahmmed Ahmmed, referring to the film Rooms, by Johanna Jurewicz.

One of the most outstanding films of the night that reflected the experienced trauma in time of war, where a man struggles for his legacy, was the film Incident in New Baghdad by James Spione. He went to the stage and thanked saying: “It is a small firm, which was made by only four people”. He gave special acknowledgements and appreciation to Ethan McCore referring to him as: “A man that went to Irak as one person, and came back as another, what amazed me was his incredible courage in coming back and telling what he experienced there.

The comedian Denis Leary Juror presented the best Narrative Short award. He mentioned that it was a difficult category. “ There were about 40 short films, and we were only able to pick 2 films, very difficult”, he said.  He tried to bring a little bit of the publics attention to the film by saying: “The opening scene in that movie involves a dad shooting his son and its a comedy, it is a terrific movie, terrific acting, and it is their first short film, and the winner is David Leon and Marcus McSweeney, with their film Man and Boy.

The Tribeca Film Festival introduced a new category to the documentary section, the juror, Lauren Hutton presented the Best New Documentary Director. She said, “First I like to give special jury mention, to a film, and honor the films makers of 6 years of hard work, that exposed how a society has collapsed, in the movie Giving Up tomorrow, by Michael Collins.”

The Best new documentary director award went to the film Like Water, by Pablo Croce by opening up a violent world. Croce received his award by saying “This is very Surreal, It was quite a journey, quite an experience personally. We found a treasure behind this whole world.”

A very interesting award category was, the best new narrative director: Which was awarded with 25.000 dollars in cash and 50,000 dollars donated by company 3. The movie was valuated by its extraordinary journey of an outcast. The movie was “emotionally erasing” and the award went to Park Jung-bum, The Journals of Musan.

Later on, Amir Bar-Lev Juror presented the best of the world documentary competition. The award consisted on the best editing, with a prize $5000. The award appreciated the emotional personal narrative exposed in the film, Semper Fi: Always Faithful by Tony Hardmon and Rachel Libert.

Lastly the night ended with several final awards, the final award for best documental feature, for its beauty and literacy the award was given to one of the most outstanding films of the festival Bombay Beach, directed by Alma Har’El. She received the award saying these words “ It was just overwhelming, to see how people just respond to the film” She gave special thanks to her team who were open to do something different, and ended up saying “Go visit Bombay Beach is really cool”.

By the end of the awards, there were other films mentioned and awarded by the precious experience, which take us to various journeys, which make these films special. The juror Rula Jebreal mentioned, the 1^st award best screenplay, which was an anonymously award given by the jury, to the film by Jannnicke Systad, Turn me on Godammit.

The night ended up mentioning and depicting the best cinematography in a narrative feature, for a vivid depiction of external and internal landscape, awarding one of the most noticeable films of the night, Artificial Paradises by Luisa Tillinger.

The night finished with emotion. Where many directors, and filmmakers felt content to have a place where their work can be rewarded and shown. The Tribeca Film Festival has become an open door for many directors out there, who are very talented and wait with an inner sigh hoping to have their work appreciated and valued.

The article Insight of 2011 Tribeca Film Festival Awards Show appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.