HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar—on the strength of Mudbound in 2018–brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), Read More 

NEW YORK The Gotham Film & Media Institute has unveiled the nominations for the 34th edition of The Gothams, singling out 39 feature films and 25 performances in nine award categories. The nominations were announced via social media. Nominated for Best Feature are Anora, Babygirl, Challengers, A Different Man, and Nickel Boys. Up for Best International Feature Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) It was a single photograph that started Oscar-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen on the journey to make “Blitz.” As a Londoner, the German bombing raids on the city during World War II are never all that far from his mind. Reminders of it are everywhere. But the spark of inspiration came from an image of a Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) Nicholas Hoult was certain someone had made a mistake. Clint Eastwood wanted to talk to him about starring his new film, a slow burn legal thriller about a normal guy faced with an extraordinary moral dilemma. Surely Eastwood meant someone else, he thought. But soon enough they were chatting on the phone about “Juror #2,” Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) Jesse Eisenberg did not know Kieran Culkin was about to drop out of his movie. It was just a few weeks before shooting was about to begin on “A Real Pain,” and Eisenberg and much of the crew were already in Poland preparing. The film, which opens in theaters Friday, is deeply personal for Eisenberg, Read More 

LOS ANGELES Francis Ford Coppola will be the 50th recipient of the American Film Institute (AFI) Life Achievement Award, America’s highest honor for a career in film. The award will be presented to Coppola at a Gala Tribute at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on April 26, 2025. “Francis Ford Coppola is a peerless artist–one who Read More 

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) A New Mexico judge has upheld her decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie. In a ruling Thursday, state District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer stood by her July decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin. Read More 

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Governor Gavin Newsom has proposed expanding California’s Film & Television Tax Credit Program from the current $330 million annual allocation to $750 million annually. The massive increase to the program, which is administered by the California Film Commission (CFC), would allow California to outpace other states offering tax credits, luring more entertainment industry projects back Read More 

LOS ANGELES The American Film Market® (AFM®) is set to raise the curtain on its 45th edition and first-ever show in Las Vegas next week with exhibition space sold out and buyer and attendee registrations running strong with participants confirmed from 80 countries. AFM24 will run over six days, Nov. 5–10, at Palms Casino Resort in Las Read More 

NEW YORK The Gotham Film & Media Institute has announced that Academy Award®-winner Angelina Jolie will receive the Performer Tribute for her performance as Maria Callas in Pablo Larrain’s upcoming film Maria, at the 34th edition of The Gothams, taking place on Monday, December 2, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. The tribute will honor Read More 

NEW YORK The cast of Sing Sing, directed by Greg Kwedar and co-written by Clint Bentley and Kwedar, will receive The 2024 Gotham Social Justice Tribute at the 34th edition of The Gothams, taking place on Monday, December 2, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. The Gotham Social Justice Tribute was created in order to Read More 

LOS ANGELES The American Film Institute (AFI) announced the Grand Jury Award winners and Special Mentions for AFI Fest 2024. The Grand Jury Award winners for Live Action Short, Documentary Short and Animated Short will be eligible for the 2024 Best Live Action Short, Best Documentary Short and Best Animated Short Academy Awards®. This year’s jury was Read More 

LOS ANGELES SKUNK has added the award-winning filmmaking duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead–aka Moorhead & Benson–for U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content. Benson and Moorhead are known for their boundary-pushing storytelling and do-it-yourself approach to filmmaking. The directorial duo’s critically acclaimed films include The Endless, a sci-fi cult classic, the horror-romance Spring, and Synchronic, Read More 

NEW YORK & LOS ANGELES Production company m ss ng p eces has added director Aramique to its roster for commercial representation in the U.S. Aramique is a master of large-scale immersive experiences, interactive installations, and experimental storytelling that brings a lyrical and human-centered approach to brands and technology. Aramique and m ss ng p eces now make their creative Read More 

LOS ANGELES Commercial production company Good Times has signed filmmaker Rob “Whitey” McConnaughy to its directorial roster. McConnaughy’s specialties include comedy, hidden camera/man-on-the-street, action, and celebrity-driven projects. He’s a multifaceted director whose skill set includes shooting, editing, and writing. “I’ve been happily independent for years, but I couldn’t resist the chance to get down with Good Times,” Read More 

LOS ANGELES & NEW YORK Production company Honor Society has added directors Melissa Bolton-Klinger and Sasie Sealy to its roster for U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content. Bolton-Klinger, a director and creative director, brings a diverse portfolio of commercial, TV and film work to her new roost. Her background in improv at L.A.’s The Groundlings informs her fast-paced, sharp, Read More 

NEW YORK The community, a global creative agency, has hired Peter Alsante as chief creative officer, New York. He will be working in close partnership with the community’s founder and CCO, Joaquin Molla. Within the New York Office, Alsante will help lead creative partnerships with clients such as Volkswagen, Perfect Bar, Bath & Body Work, and more. Read More 

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. Ralph Fiennes will receive the Outstanding Performer of the Year Award at the 40th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF). Fiennes will be honored on Thursday, February 6, 2025 for his acclaimed performance as Cardinal Lawrence in Focus Features’ Conclave. Fiennes delivers a captivating and nuanced performance in Conclave, bringing a depth to his Read More 

ROME (AP) With Pope Francis a few weeks away from his 88th birthday, the plotting for his successor is well underway at the Vatican. How timely, then, that just across town in Rome, “Conclave,” a thriller filled with back-stabbing, manipulative cardinals, quick to toss morality out of the window as they promote their candidate, is a top Read More 

LOS ANGELES American Cinema Editors (ACE) will honor Jon M. Chu with the ACE Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year Award, recognizing an artist who exemplifies distinguished achievement in the art and business of film. ACE will also bestow career achievement honors to film editors Maysie Hoy, ACE and Paul Hirsch, ACE for their outstanding career contributions Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) “Blitz,” set in London during World War II, might technically be Steve McQueen ‘s first war movie. But struggle and survival have long marked the filmmaker’s tough and tortured work. No matter the circumstance — slavery in “12 Years a Slave,” the 1960s-1980s London of West Indian immigrants in “Small Axe,” the Irish hunger strike Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) It’s part comedy, part tragedy. It’s part road-trip saga, part odd couple-buddy flick, and part Holocaust film. What could possibly have gone wrong? Yup – everything could have gone wrong. So the first miracle about “A Real Pain,” writer-director Jesse Eisenberg’s remarkably accomplished film about mismatched cousins on a somber trip through Poland, is how Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) Robert Zemeckis’ latest movie is insanely ambitious, starting with the dinosaurs and ending in present day with the Roomba. But it’s fixed on just one spot. “Here” reunites Zemeckis, screenwriter Eric Roth and actors Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, who collaborated on “Forrest Gump.” This time, they’re not telling the larger-than-life story of a man Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) Teri Garr, the quirky comedy actor who rose from background dancer in Elvis Presley movies to co-star of such favorites as “Young Frankenstein” and “Tootsie,” has died. She was 79. Garr died Tuesday of multiple sclerosis “surrounded by family and friends,” said publicist Heidi Schaeffer. Garr battled other health problems in recent years, underwent an Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) Hallmark Media executive vice president of programming Lisa Hamilton Daly instructed a former employee not to cast “old people” for Hallmark roles, saying that “our leading ladies are aging out,” according to a lawsuit filed against the network this month and obtained by The Associated Press. Penny Perry, a 79-year old casting director who filed Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) Film productions often wrestle with shifts in the weather, the threat of the crew going into overtime or the fading of a day’s light. Less common are concerns over the cast slipping off the top of a blimp. But that was one of the quirks of making “Grand Theft Hamlet,” a documentary about a pair Read More 

NEW YORK The One Club for Creativity has unveiled the diverse group of 33 talented young creative individuals and teams based in 10 countries who are the winners in the Young Guns 22 competition, celebrating global creative professionals age 30 or younger. Young Guns is the industry’s only global, cross-disciplinary, portfolio-based awards competition that identifies and celebrates Read More 

NEW YORK The One Club for Creativity has announced the creatives who have been selected to serve as jury presidents for the ADC 104th Annual Awards. Founded in 1920, the ADC Annual Awards is the world’s longest continuously running awards program to recognize global excellence in craft and innovation in all forms of advertising and design. Confirmed Read More 

NEW YORK With a focus on the advertising market, Silver Spoon has launched a virtual production hub in Secaucus, NJ, and hired Ryan Duggan as executive creative director. Duggan joins Silver Spoon from Ntropic, the motion graphic and visual effects studio, where he was creative director. A graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, he’s Read More 

WASHINGTON (AP) An actor known for his roles in the television comedies “Bob’s Burgers” and “Arrested Development” was sentenced on Monday to one year in prison for his part in a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol nearly four years ago. Jay Johnston, 56, of Los Angeles, joined other rioters in a “heave ho” push against police Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) “Venom: The Last Dance” showed less bite than expected at the box office, collecting $51 million in its opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, significantly down from the alien symbiote franchise’s previous entries. Projections for the third “Venom” film from Sony Pictures had been closer to $65 million. More concerning, though, was the drop Read More 

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