The Whale (A24) added to the collaborative bond between cinematographer Matthew Libatique, ASC and director Darren Aronofsky spanning such films as Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, Noah, mother! and Black Swan . The latter earned Libatique his first Best Cinematography Oscar nomination in 2011. The DP’s second Academy Award nod came eight years later for Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut, A Star is Born . Black Swan and A Star is Born also garnered ASC Award nominations for Libatique... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- The field of feature film nominees for the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards is set. Nominated for the DGA honor for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for 2022 are: Todd Field for Tár ; Joseph Kosinski for Top Gun: Maverick ; Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (aka Daniels) for Everything Everywhere All at Once ; Martin McDonagh for The Banshees of Inisherin ; and Stephen Spielberg for The Fabelmans . The feature nominees for the DGA Award historically carry... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- The Directors Guild of America has unveiled the nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Television, Commercials and Documentary for 2022. The winners will be announced at the 75th Annual DGA Awards on Saturday, February 18, 2023 at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. Nominees in the marquee Dramatic Series category for select episodes are Jason Bateman for Ozark , Vince Gilligan for Better Call Saul , Sam Levinson for Euphoria , Aofie McArdle for Severance and Ben Stiller,... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced nominations in the Motion Pictures and Television categories for the 34th Annual Producers Guild Awards to be held on Saturday, February 25, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The biggest award of the night, the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures, has historically been considered a strong prognosticator for the Best Picture Oscar each year. Nominated in that marquee Producers Guild Award category are Avatar: The... Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) -- In nominations to its 29th annual awards, the Screen Actors Guild heaped honors on the casts of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “The Banshees of Inisherin,” while throwing some curve balls into the Oscar race. The awards, voted on by the Hollywood actors’ guild SAG-AFTRA, were announced Wednesday on Instagram Live by Haley Lu Richardson (“The White Lotus”) and Ashley Park (“Emily in Paris”). The nominees for the guild’s top award, best ensemble, are: “Babylon,” “The Banshees of... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- MJZ topped the production house tally with two directors scoring nominations today (1/10) for the DGA Award recognizing outstanding Directorial Achievement For Commercials in 2022--Juan Cabral and Craig Gillespie. This marks the sixth DGA spot nomination for Gillespie who won the honor in 2006. This is the second career DGA commercialmaking nomination for Cabral who first scored a nod in 2016. This time around, Cabral’s nomination came on the strength of John Lewis’ “For All Life’s Moments” out... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) has unveiled Outstanding Achievement Award nominees across the feature film, documentary and television categories. Winners will be announced during the 37th Annual ASC Awards ceremony on March 5, 2023, at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills. The event will be live streamed worldwide. Nominated in the marquee feature film category are: Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC for Empire of Light ; Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS for The Batman ; Darius Khondji, ASC, AFC for... Read More 

The Golden Globes returned to the air Tuesday with a red carpet flush with celebrities, comedian Jerrod Carmichael as a hesitant emcee and top awards for Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” and Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin,” as the beleaguered award show sought to rekindle its pre-pandemic and pre-scandal glamour. The top film awards went to “The Fabelmans,” winner of best film, drama, and “The Banshees of Inisherin,” winner of best film, comedy or musical. “Abbott Elementary,” “... Read More 

Tár earned Best Picture distinction today (1/7) from the National Society of Film Critics, also garnering best screenplay for writer-director Todd Field and Best Actress for Cate Blanchett. All The Beauty and The Bloodshed was named Best Nonfiction Film while EO topped the Best Film Not in the English Language category. · Charlotte Wells won for Best Director on the strength of Aftersun . Michal Dymek’s work on EO took the Best Cinematography honor. Colin Farrell won for Best Actor on the basis... Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) -- The prize for best film of the year at the National Board of Review Awards went to "Top Gun: Maverick." Martin McDonagh's "The Banshees of Inisherin" took home the most trophies. But the night belonged to its best-director honoree, Steven Spielberg, and the parade of tributes paid to the 76-year-old filmmaker. So effusive was the praise for Spielberg that Colin Farrell, there to accept the award for best actor for his performance in "The Banshees of Inisherin," said the experience of first... Read More 

Austin, Tex. -- The first wave has been unveiled for the 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival lineup. Selected as the opening night film is Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves , a raucous and engaing fantasy adventure directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley. That will kick off what Claudette Godfrey, SXSW’s VP film & TV, described as “an amazing collection of films, TV series and XR experiences that promise to inspire, entertain and challenge our audiences.” Still to come is the reveal of... Read More 

In 2016, French documentary filmmaker Alice Diop made an unusual decision. She decided to travel to a town in Northern France to watch the trial of a Senegalese woman, Fabienne Kabou, who one night in 2013 left her 15-month-old daughter on the beach to die. Diop didn't tell anyone she was going. She wasn't even quite sure herself. But what she witnessed over the course of those few days would inspire her first narrative film, " Saint Omer," which opens in U.S. theaters Friday. Quiet and... Read More 

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- The Art Directors Guild (ADG, IATSE Local 800) has unveiled nominations for the 27th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards in 14 categories including theatrical motion pictures, television, commercials, music videos and animation features. Among the nominated feature films were All Quiet on the Western Front, Babylon, Elvis, The Fabelmans, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Avatar: The Way of Water, Top Gun: Maverick and Everything Everywhere All at Once . TV nominations included The Crown... Read More 

LOS ANGELES & NEW YORK -- The Writers Guild of America West and Writers Guild of America East revealed the nominations for outstanding achievement in television, new media, news, radio/audio, and promotional writing during 2022. Topping the TV series tally were Better Call Saul, The Bear and Severance with three nominations apiece. Better Call Saul was nominated once in the Drama Series category and twice in the Episodic Drama category. The Bear scored in the Comedy Series, New Series and Episodic Comedy categories. And... Read More 

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposed 2023-24 state budget extends funding for California’s Film and TV Tax Credit Program an additional five years (through fiscal 2030-31) and proposes to make credits refundable for the first time since the state launched its incentive in 2009. The new budget provisions are part of Governor Newsom’s ongoing effort to retain and grow production activity across the Golden State. They call for replacing the current third iteration of the state’s tax credit program (... Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" earned 12 NAACP Image Awards nominations on Thursday, while "The Woman King" and "Abbott Elementary" will enter next month's ceremony as other top nominees. The "Black Panther" sequel — which found blockbuster success — led all film nominees. The Marvel film delved into the concept of Wakanda's grief in the wake of the death of T'Challa — a character played by Chadwick Boseman, who died in 2020. The film "The Woman King" starring Viola Davis and the ABC... Read More 

QUEENS, NY -- Shaunak Sen’s Cannes-winning feature All That Breathes , which follows two brothers who run a bird hospital dedicated to rescuing injured black kites, took the top prize at the 16th annual Cinema Eye Honors, winning the award for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Filmmaking as well as the award for Cinematography. Recognizing excellence in nonfiction filmmaking, the Cinema Eye Honors awards ceremony took place last night (1/12) at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, with... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- The Costume Designers Guild unveiled the official nominees list and honorees for the 25th CDGA (Costume Designers Guild Awards). Avatar: The Way of Water, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Hocus Pocus 2 and Thor: Love and Thunder are up for the award i the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film category. Nominated in the Contemporary Film category are Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Nope, Tár, Top Gun: Maverick and Women Talking . Period Film nominees are Babylon, Don’t Worry... Read More 

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- The Cinema Audio Society has set its nominees in seven categories for the 59th Annual CAS Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing 2022. Nominated in the live-action feature film category were All Quiet on the Western Front, Avatar: The Way of Water, Elvis, The Batman and Top Gun: Maverick . One-hour TV series nominations went to the audio teams behind episodes of Better Call Saul, Ozark, Severance, Stranger Things and The White Lotus . The 59th CAS Awards will be held on Saturday,... Read More 

STUDIO CITY, Calif. -- The Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) revealed the nominees for the 70th Annual MPSE Golden Reel Awards. Nominees represent the work of the world’s most talented sound artists and their contributions to the past year’s most outstanding feature film, television, animation, computer entertainment, and student productions. Among the nominees in the feature film categories were Tár, Elvis, Bardo, Everything Everywhere All at Once and The Banshees of Inisherin . TV nominations included Better Call... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- The Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild (MUAHS, IATSE Local 706) has unveiled nominations for the 2023 MUAHS Guild Awards. Topping the feature tally were Elvis and The Batman with three nods apiece. Elvis scored in the Best Period and/or Character Make-up, Best Special Make-up Effects and Best Period Hair Styling and/or Character Hair Styling categories. The Batman was nominated for Best Contemporary Make-up, Best Special Make-up Effects and Best Contemporary Hair Styling. Winners of the... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- Casting Society (CSA) has unveiled the film nominees for the 38th Artios Awards, which honor the contribution of casting professionals to film, television, theatre and commercials. The winners will be revealed on Thursday, March 9, 2023. The in-person celebration will be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Leading the way among casting directors in the nominations tally were Ellen Chenoweth, and the team of Mary Vernieu and Bret Howe with three nods apiece. Chenoweth’s trio of noms came for Deep... Read More 

NEW YORK -- AICP will kick off the new year with new faces in leadership roles at two of its largest chapters, as the Association reports on the membership of its National and Regional Boards. With results of its recent leadership elections finalized, the makeup of the National Board remains the same. Yvette Cobarrubias of Cosmo Street, Gloria Pitagorsky of Heard City, and Frank Scherma of RadicalMedia were all re-elected as general directors at large, while Margaret Capossela of NEED Financial was re-... Read More 

NEW YORK & LOS ANGELES -- Jake Plunkett, the director behind some of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ’s most iconic sketches, has landed his first commercialmaking home, joining the roster of bicoastal Good Company. The New Jersey native has spent the past six years at The Late Show , mostly losing Emmys to John Oliver, except for the one fluke year where he actually won. Plunkett’s backstory makes no sense and makes perfect sense. He was working as a dancing waiter at a Jimmy Buffet-themed restaurant in Wayne, NJ... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- SixTwentySix has added director Jonathan Salmon to its roster for commercial, music video, and long-form work. This marks the young filmmaker’s first formal representation in the U.S. Born and bred in Seattle, Salmon is a self-taught talent who discovered an affinity and gift for art and film in his early 20s during a project collaboration with a friend before ultimately relocating to Los Angeles to actively pursue his filmmaking career. Salmon has a shooting style that exhibits a passionate... Read More 

LOS ANGELES -- Cinematographer Owen Roizman, ASC--a five-time Academy Award nominee and an honorary Oscar winner--passed away last Friday (1/6) at the age of 86. Roizman’s Oscar nominations came for The French Connection in 1972, The Exorcist in ‘74, Network in ‘77, Tootsie in ‘83 and Wyatt Earp in 1995. On the occasion of its 100th anniversary in 2019, the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) selected the top 100 best shot films of all time. Ranked 10th was The French Connection . Of that ranking, the... Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Lisa Marie Presley, a singer, Elvis' only daughter and a dedicated keeper of her father's legacy, died Thursday after being hospitalized for a medical emergency. She was 54. Presley's death was confirmed by her mother, Priscilla. "It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us," Priscilla Presley said in a statement. "She was the most passionate, strong and loving woman I have ever known." Presley, the only child of Elvis and... Read More 

First, the real-life facts of the case, more shocking than you'll find in most fiction: In November 2013, a mother took a train from Paris to the northern French coast, along with her 15-month old daughter. She checked into a hotel, walked down to the water at night, fed the hungry child, and left her to drown at high tide. That mother, Fabienne Kabou, went on trial in 2016, where she acknowledged the killing and spoke of sorcery and witchcraft, but added: "Nothing makes sense in this story."... Read More 

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Is the metaverse closer than we think? It depends on who you ask at CES, where companies are showing off innovations that could immerse us deeper into virtual reality, otherwise known as VR. The metaverse — essentially a buzzword for three-dimensional virtual communities where people can meet, work and play — was a key theme during the four-day tech gathering in Las Vegas that ends Sunday. Taiwanese tech giant HTC unveiled a high-end VR headset that aims to compete with market leader Meta, and... Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Blumhouse evil-doll horror film "M3gan" got off to a killer start, debuting with $30.2 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates, while "Avatar: The Way of Water" continued its box-office reign in the top spot. Universal Pictures' "M3gan," about a robot companion built for a young girl after her parents are killed in a car accident, rode strong buzz and viral dancing memes to an above-expectations debut. In the low-budget slasher, starring Allison Williams, Blumhouse and... Read More 

This integrated campaign from Wieden+Kennedy in Portland, Ore., for Intuit TurboTax reminds people that they can come to TurboTax and not do their taxes. Part of the “Come To TurboTax” campaign, this anthem :60 celebrates the vast and surprising (but guaranteed to be better than taxes) world that Not Taxes has to offer. Because life happens in the Not Taxes. Additional :30 films take us into Not Taxes experiences. In one, we experience the great outdoors, from the comfort and safety of the... Read More 

London agency St Luke’s has rolled out its first work for credit app TotallyMoney. The TV and online campaign demonstrates how with the right guidance and support, people can climb higher and reach their goals. With a belief that customers’ data should work for them, not against them, TotallyMoney provides almost 5 million customers with a free, live credit report, personalized alerts to highlight what might be holding them back, and tailored tips to help improve their score. This brightly... Read More 

TBWA\Media Arts Lab Shanghai has turned out the sixth Chinese New Year film for Apple. Titled Through the Five Passes , the short centers around the Chinese Opera, one of the oldest dramatic art forms in the world. The title refers to a renowned Chinese Opera and is also an expression that means to overcome all odds. It embodies a powerful spirit of doing whatever needs to be done to overcome adversity. Directed by Venice Film Festival Award-winning ( Underground Fragrance ) director Peng Fei,... Read More 

Lucozade Sport rolls out this spot, “Statue,” which is designed to broaden the appeal of the sports drink by changing consumer perceptions that the product is only suitable for elite athletes or high intensity exercisers. Created by adam&eveDDB in London, the :30 opens on a woman out enjoying a park run with a bottle of Lucozade Sport. During her drink break, a nearby park statue becomes inspired by the woman’s movement and springs to life after a sneaky sip of Lucozade Sport. The statue... Read More 

A light, accommodating breeze makes its way through varied scenarios--helping people along the way--in this spot for Haven Holidays directed by Tom Tagholm via Various Films. London agency Platform created this campaign, including the “Breeze” :60, for U.K. caravan holiday provider Haven. Tagholm has an agency creative pedigree, having earlier served as creative director at 4Creative at Channel 4. He has since gone on to distinguish himself as a director with shorts, features and now... Read More 

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