Upon reading Cord Jefferson’s script for American Fiction (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios), editor Hilda Rasula said it was “clear from the get-go” that this was a film she deeply wanted to work on. “I believed in the story and his tone of writing, mixing comedy and drama. It was very cool and very special, a good fit for my skills.” Based on the 2001 novel “Erasure” by Percivil Everett, American Fiction confronts our culture’s obsession with reducing people to outrageous stereotypes... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- The field of feature film nominees for the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards spanning two categories is set. Nominated for the DGA honor for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for 2023 are Greta Gerwig for Barbie , Yorgos Lanthimos for Poor Things , Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer , Alexander Payne for The Holdovers , and Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon . “In a year full of so many extraordinary films, DGA members have nominated an incredible... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- The Directors Guild of America has unveiled the nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Television, Commercials and Documentary for 2023. The winners will be announced at the 76th Annual DGA Awards on Saturday, February 10, 2024. Succession accounted for four of the five nominations in the dramatic series category. The other nomination went to The Last of Us . Meanwhile Ted Lasso and The Bear --with two nods apiece--teamed to score four of the five comedy series nominations. The... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- This year’s field of nominees for the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award recognizing Outstanding Directorial Achievement for Commercials consists of four past winners of the honor and a helmer garnering his first career nomination. The latter is Seb Edwards of Park Pictures. As for the previous winners who once again now enter the DGA Award nominees’ circle, they are: Martin de Thurah of Epoch Films, Kim Gehrig of Somesuch, Craig Gillespie of MJZ, and Andreas Nilsson of Biscuit Filmworks... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) revealed its 2024 Outstanding Achievement Award nominees in feature film, documentary, television and music video categories. Winners will be announced during the 38th Annual ASC Awards ceremony on March 3 at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. Nominated in the marquee feature film category are: Ed Lachman, ASC, for El Conde ; Matthew Libatique, ASC, LPS for Maestro ; Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC for Killers of the Flower Moon ; Robbie Ryan,... Read More 

Christopher Nolan's blockbuster biopic "Oppenheimer" dominated the 81st Golden Globes, winning five awards including best drama, while Yorgos Lanthimos' Frankenstein riff "Poor Things" pulled off an upset victor over "Barbie" to triumph in the best comedy or musical category. If awards season has been building toward a second match-up of Barbenheimer, this round went to "Oppenheimer." The film also won best director for Nolan, best drama actor for Cillian Murphy, best supporting actor for... Read More 

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -- When Lily Gladstone took the stage Sunday night to accept her first Golden Globe, she spoke to the live TV audience in the Blackfeet language. "This is a historic win," she said, becoming the Globes' first Indigenous winner of best actress in a drama. "This is for every little rez kid, every little urban kid, every little Native kid out there who has a dream, who is seeing themselves represented and our stories told — by ourselves, in our own words — with tremendous allies and tremendous trust... Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) -- The 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards on Wednesday heaped nominations on "Oppenheimer," "Barbie" and "American Fiction," while snubbing Leonardo DiCaprio for best male actor. As they were at the Golden Globes, Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" and Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" were again the lead nominees. Each film picked up four nods including best ensemble. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling were nominated for their performances in "Barbie," while Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt... Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) -- Daniel Day-Lewis took a break from retirement to present Martin Scorsese the award for best director at the National Board of Review Awards in midtown Manhattan on Thursday night. Scorsese's Osage epic, " Killers of the Flower Moon," was the top honoree at the 95th NBR Awards. In awards announced earlier but handed out Thursday, "Killers of the Flower Moon" was the group's pick for best film, along with best director for Scorsese and best actress for Lily Gladstone. The night's biggest surprise... Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Mel Brooks received his second Oscar Tuesday night at a private dinner in the heart of Hollywood. The event, the 14th Governors Awards, was untelevised but the crowd was as starry as they come with the likes of Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio, Penélope Cruz, Natalie Portman, Bradley Cooper and Jon Batiste in the audience. "I promise not to sell this one," Brooks said. Hollywood's awards season can start to feel a little gratuitously self-congratulatory, but the Governors... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- The National Society of Film Critics has named wruter-director Celine Song's Past Lives the best picture of 2023. Past Lives marks Song's feature directorial debut. Finishing second and third in the best picture voting were The Zone of Interest and Oppenheimer, respectively. Jonathan Glazer earned best director distinction for The Zone of Interest . Second place went to Todd Haynes for May December ; third to Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer, Here's a category-by category rundown of winners... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- The Creative Arts Emmys wrapped on Sunday (1/7) with the second consecutive evening of awards in the Peacock Theater at LA Live. While night two focused largely on reality shows and other unscripted TV, there was still some major star power in the winners’ circle, and a profound kind of reality that broke through with Television Academy voters. On the former score, the marquee talent was headed by President Barack Obama and TV legend Carol Burnett. Obama was not on hand to accept his Emmy but... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- In warmup remarks for the opening night (Saturday, 1/6) of this weekend’s Creative Arts Emmy Awards, show executive producer Bill Bain affirmed to the audience, “Better late than never”--a reference to the fact that the proceedings were originally scheduled for last September. But that all got pushed back to the new year due to the writers’ and actors’ strikes. The postponement in part spurred on the feeling that in a sense the two-part celebration--which wraps Sunday--being held in the Peacock... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- Apple’s “The Greatest”--directed by Kim Gehrig of Somesuch--won the primetime commercial Emmy this evening (1/7) during the second of two Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremonies held this weekend in the Peacock Theater at LA Live. “The Greatest” features a cast of real people who are quite able even though they each have varied so-called “disabilities” impacting mobility, vision, hearing, cognition and so on. Thanks to different innovations from Apple, these people are able to deftly navigate... Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) -- The hundreds of television series on U.S. broadcast, cable and streaming platforms, and the executive producers creating them, are the subject of a new list — one that scores them for the diversity and inclusion of the people working both on screen and behind the scenes. The Inclusion List for episodic programming, being released Thursday by the University of Southern California's Annenberg Inclusion Initiative and the Adobe Foundation, ranks the 100 highest-scoring broadcast and cable series... Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) -- A new survey of the entertainment industry finds that the culture of Hollywood has shifted in the years since the downfall of Harvey Weinstein and the launch of the #MeToo movement, but many still don't trust that sexual harassers will be held accountable. The Hollywood Commission, chaired by Anita Hill, was founded in 2017 to help stop workplace harassment and discrimination in the entertainment industry. On Thursday, it released its second survey, pulled from interviews with more than 5,200... Read More 

BURBANK, Calif. -- ASIFA-Hollywood has announced the nominations for its 51st Annie Awards™ recognizing the year’s best in the field of animation. Scoring nominations in the marquee Best Animated Feature category were: Nimona - Annapurna Animation for Netflix; Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - Sony Pictures Animation; Suzume - CoMix Wave Films Inc. and STORY inc.; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem - Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies; and The Boy and the Heron - Studio Ghibli / Distributed by... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- The Art Directors Guild (ADG, IATSE Local 800) has unveiled the nominees for the 28th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards. Nominated in the period feature film category are Asteroid City, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Napoleon and Oppenheimer . Fantasy feature nominations went to Barbie, The Creator, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Poor Things and Wonka . Nominations for contemporary feature film span Beau is Afraid, John Wick: Chapter 4, The Killer, Mission Impossible - Dead... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- The Cinema Audio Society has unveiled its nominees in seven categories for the 60th Annual CAS Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing. The 60th CAS Awards will be held on Saturday, March 2, at the Beverly Hilton. Nominations in the live action motion picture category are Barbie, Ferrari, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro and Oppenheimer . One hour TV series nominations went to Succession, Ted Lasso, The Crown, The Last of Us and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel . As previously announced... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- Superprime Films has signed Molly Gordon for her first career commercial directorial representation. Superprime handles Gordon exclusively in the U.S. advertising market. Gordon, who first established herself as an actress, diversified into directing with the acclaimed musical comedy Theater Camp which debuted at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival where it won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Ensemble. Gordon and Nick Lieberman co-wrote and co-directed Theater Camp , in which she also starred... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- TBWA\Chiat\Day LA has promoted Courtney Nelson to president. She will collaborate closely with TBWA\Chiat\Day U.S. CEO Erin Riley and work in tandem with leadership in New York and Nashville. This elevation coincides with a period of remarkable momentum for the L.A. agency with multiple new business wins including Sephora, Jack in the Box and a soon-to-be-announced fashion brand. In addition to adding consumer facing brands, the agency also welcomed two new complex business brands into its... Read More 

Independent agency network Fred & Farid has launched Aimagination, a global artificial intelligence production studio designed for brands, CMOs and agencies. The new venture takes Fred & Farid’s involvement in AI to a new level. The agency’s past endeavors include producing two AI art exhibitions in Shanghai and Paris under the name “Aimagination,” and gathering a community of AI artists from around the world. The Aimagination studio is set to redefine the exploratory potential of AI... Read More 

CULVER CITY, Calif. -- Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has launched Torchlight, a groundbreaking advanced visualization facility located at Sony Pictures in Culver City. The space will feature the latest in proprietary technology from Sony Group companies in collaboration with Epic Games’ real-time 3D tool, Unreal Engine. Torchlight allows filmmakers to create digital scenes prior to principal photography, in a hands-on virtual environment using Unreal Engine and virtual cameras, including the Virtual Production... Read More 

NEW YORK -- Commercial and music video director and photographer Anton Tammi has joined Cadence Films’ roster of talent for U.S. representation. Cadence will handle Tammi for spots and music videos. Known for his cult-music videos racking up millions of views, Tammi has won Video of The Year at the MTV Music Video Awards 2020 for his work on The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights.” Tammi has also collaborated with the singer on music videos for his songs “Heartless,” “After Hours,” and “In Your Eyes,” as well as... Read More 

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- The SXSW Film & TV Festival will open with the premiere of “3 Body Problem,” the anticipated Netflix series from “Game of Thrones” creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and “True Blood” writer Alexander Woo. “3 Body Problem” will kick of the 31st edition of the Austin, Texas, festival on March 8. The series, based on Liu Cixin’s novel, is a dystopian story in which scientists are being targeted by a mysterious force. A detective story unravels a larger threat to humanity. “3 Body Problem... Read More 

Tiger Woods has gone from "Hello, world," to saying goodbye to Nike. Woods ended months of speculation by making it official Monday that the partnership between golf's biggest star and the powerful Swoosh brand is ending after 27 years, a move that raises questions about the future of both in the sport. Woods in a social media post thanked Nike co-founder Phil Knight for his "passion and vision" that brought them together when he turned pro. "Over 27 years ago, I was fortunate to start a... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- Two-time Academy Award®-nominated cinematographer Matthew Libatique, ASC will receive the American Film Institute’s Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal, which will be presented at the upcoming AFI Life Achievement Award Gala Tribute to Nicole Kidman on April 27, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The Schaffner Alumni Medal recognizes the extraordinary creative talents of AFI Conservatory alumni who embody the qualities of filmmaker Franklin J. Schaffner: talent, taste, dedication and... Read More 

The near-future is bleak for the working class of London in "The Kitchen," a well-executed film about a familiar kind of urban dystopian nightmare. It is, ironically, sunnier than the Los Angeles of "Blade Runner," but the mood is as dire. In this world, the have-nots are crammed together in hellish Brutalist high-rises, a slum-like development that its residents call "The Kitchen." With frequent police raids and constant monitoring, there is the whiff of rebellion in the air. But at least for... Read More 

Secret agents and murderous assassins seem to lurk in increasingly mundane places. Remember "The Accountant" with Ben Affleck? Or "The Tax Collector" with Shia LaBeouf? Or more recently, how about "The Bricklayer" with Adam Eckhardt? You probably don't — none of these films were exactly Oscar winners. But there's probably a notary public somewhere wondering when he's going to get his Liam Neeson treatment. "The Beekeeper," the new Jason Statham revenge thriller, may have them all beaten — or at... Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Timothée Chalamet and "Wonka" topped the box office charts for the third time in its four weekends in theaters. Warner Bros.' family-oriented musical added $14.4 million in ticket sales according to studio estimates Sunday, bringing its total domestic grosses to $164.7 million. "'Wonka' is following in the tradition of a film like 'The Greatest Showman,'" said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. That Hugh Jackman musical opened under $9 million in December 2017 and went... Read More 

A woman starts unpacking a bag of groceries bought by her husband/significant other. She stops in her tracks upon finding a box of vanilla ice cream bars dipped in chocolate--but it’s a nondescript generic brand pretending to look like Magnum premium ice cream bars. The fake treats start to get her wondering if her hubby/boyfriend is also a fake. She begins to investigate that possibility and finds on varied fronts that he is indeed a fraud. Her quest to uncover the fakery has a suspense... Read More 

LNER, the U.K. rail company, has unveiled a campaign featuring its first ever brand character, Eleanor. Called “Freedom all the way,” the campaign has as its centerpiece a :60 spot starring Eleanor, a puppet that captures the joy customers experience when traveling via LNER. We see Eleanor enthusiastically making her way through the carriage, in awe of what’s possible on an LNER train, whether that’s watching a film, catching up with friends, getting stuff done, or just relaxing. At the end,... Read More 

This spot, titled “Get Ready,” features footage of movie and TV characters donning headgear of one sort or another, be it goggles, a mask or whatever, to embark upon an adventure. It serves as a fitting intro to the last person shown--who puts on the Vision Pro headset, Apple’s first spatial computer. Vision Pro will become available to U.S, consumers starting on February 2, giving users digital experiences that leap off the screen and into their physical world. Heralding the dawn and the... Read More 

HP OMEN has rolled out this film to promote its latest product, the OMEN Transcend 14 gaming laptop. In partnership with Wieden+Kennedy Portland’s Motion, Studio, and JOINT teams, the group came together to create a fully animated 30-second spot that gives viewers an in-depth look at the capabilities of the machine by entering into the “OMEN-Verse.” Launching just in time for CES today (1/8), the film highlights OMEN’s flagship laptop model and aims to speak to gaming and creative audiences... Read More 

Grey London debuts a campaign to launch Vodafone Ireland’s premium TV offering, Vodafone TV PLAY, an all-in-one smart entertainment hub with built-in soundbar and access to leading TV channels, sports and streaming services, all in one place. It enables the whole family to access a premium and personalized entertainment experience. The campaign features two TV spots directed by Tom Green via production house Stink, including this one titled “Remote,” which shows a genre-hopping family fighting... Read More 

Slack’s new features come to life with song and dance in “The Big Meeting,” a comedic musical that charmingly illustrates how the popular workplace communications platform makes productivity easier. Brand New School developed the creative concept by working directly with the brand. In the film, directed and co-written by Brand New School’s Chris Dooley, a sales team uses Slack to prepare for a customer meeting, and a central character insists on making it a big production--literally--by... Read More 

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