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The 230-page unpublished memoir will reflect the horrors suffered by ordinary Japanese citizens in a feature-length drama

A major feature film on Hiroshima is going into production, inspired in part by an unpublished memoir of a Japanese man who witnessed the devastation of the city after the atomic bomb was dropped in 1945.

Scriptwriter Elisabeth Bentley was taken aback by the personal recollections of Kiyoshi Tanimoto in a 230-page memoir that she unearthed in a US archive.

The 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards were handed out Saturday in recognition of the best in indie films from 2019.

Willem Dafoe won the first award, Best Supporting Male, for his role in “The Lighthouse.” “Uncut Gems” won Best Editing, while the Best Documentary award went to “American Factory.” Best Cinematography went to Jarin Blaschke for “The Lighthouse.”

Kelly Reichardt was awarded The Bonnie Award, which recognizes a mid-career female director with a $50,000 unrestricted grant. The John Cassavetes Award, given to the best feature made for under $500,000, was given to “Give Me Liberty.”

Also Read: Independent Spirit Awards 2020: Aubrey Plaza's Best Jokes (So Far)

“Parasite” won Best International Film. Zhao Shuzhen won Best Supporting Female for her role in “The Farewell.” “Marriage Story” won Best Screenplay. Adam Sandler won Best Male Lead for his performance in “Uncut Gems” and Renée Zellweger received the Best Female Lead for her role in “Judy.

Moments ago, the Film Independent Spirit Award nominations for 2019 were announced. Though pulling from a very different crop than the Academy Awards do, the Spirit Awards do have some cross over each year. While success here assures a title of little, making moves with this group never hurts while wooing the Academy. Today, we saw several Oscar hopefuls try and score some love, while a few received damaging snubs. Mostly, though, the status quo remains, as movies jockey for position heading into the holiday season. Go figure, this isn’t going to be an easy year to predict. Leading the way were The Lighthouse and Uncut Gems, each with five nominations apiece. The former from Robert Eggers definitely over performed, relative to expectations here, while the latter from the Safdie Brothers solidified its status as a player on the indie precursor stage. More likely Oscar fare such as Clemency, The Farewell,...

Two dark and unruly films released by A24, Robert Eggers’ “The Lighthouse” and the Safdie brothers’ “Uncut Gems,” led all films in nominations for the 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards, Film Independent announced on Thursday.

In the Best Feature category, “Uncut Gems” was joined by Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell,” Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life,” Chinonye Chukwu’s “Clemency” and Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story.”

“Uncut Gems” was the only film nominated in both the Best Feature and Best Director categories, though “Marriage Story” was nominated in the former category and was also voted the special John Cassavetes Award, which goes to a film’s director, cast and casting director.

Also Read: 'Marriage Story,' 'The Farewell,' 'Uncut Gems' Top Gotham Award Nominations

“Honey Boy” and “Give Me Liberty” received four nominations each, while “Hustlers,” “Clemency” and “Luce” received three.

As usual, the Spirit Awards’ system of...

As the stars of Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life,” August Diehl and Valerie Pachner, walked the red carpet at the film’s world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, the famously reclusive writer-director was nowhere to be seen.

Nor did he appear in video footage of the six-minute standing ovation that his film received that night.

But it turns out that the 75-year-old auteur was there in the audience, watching the movie from a seat in the back of the theater, out of the spotlight.

That’s classic Malick, who’s nothing if not consistent. He’s one filmmaker you won’t see pounding the pavement for awards attention despite any buzz around “A Hidden Life,” which tells the true story of Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian farmer who was imprisoned and sentenced to death for refusing to fight for the Nazis after Hitler invaded Austria. Unlike most of Malick’s other works,...

Fox Searchlight has released the first trailer for A Hidden Life. This is the latest from acclaimed filmmaker Terrence Malick, who has had something of a cold streak in recent years. However, based on the early word coming out of Cannes earlier this year, this could be a return to greatness for the director behind movies such as Badlands and The Tree of Life. Based on this initial footage, this World War II epic seems like a surefire awards season contender and Oscar hopeful.

The trailer kicks off with some truly stunning landscape shots. It sets up the relationship at the center of this tale, going over the courtship and bond these two people share before they were ripped apart by the horrors of war. While WWII movies have been done many, many times in every imaginable way over the years, this looks rather unique, as we're presented with a...

Fox Searchlight’s first Cannes acquisition under parent Disney, Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life, will open on Dec. 13.

The pic, which Searchlight snapped up for $12M-$14M, tells the story of Austrian farmer-turned-wwii conscientious objector Franz Jägerstätter, who refused to fight for the Nazis. The production, which cost in the high single digits, is reportedly the director’s longest production ever at three years from pre-production to final cut.

Searchlight released Malick’s Tree of Life, which starred Brad Pitt and a then fresh-face Jessica Chastain, on the heat of its Cannes Palme d’Or win in the summer of 2011 making $13.3M and ultimately notching three Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Malick as director and Emmanuel Lubezki’s Dp work.

Coming out of Cannes, A Hidden Life landed a 74% fresh Rotten Tomatoes rating from 42 reviews. The pic stars August Diehl as Jägerstätter, Valerie Pachner as his wife, and the...

Exclusive: Terrence Malick’s Cannes Film Festival competition drama A Hidden Life has been hailed as an impressive return to form for the U.S. writer-director. Buyers immediately began circling after the film’s debut here yesterday, and Fox Searchlight has come out on top for U.S and a number of international markets in a highly competitive situation.

According to sources, deal is pegged at $12 million-$14 million and was hatched overnight with CAA Media Finance and Mister Smith. Paramount, Focus, A24, Netflix and others were among buyers hot on the trail. The deal is one of the biggest ever at a market for a movie shot in Germany.

The English- and German-language film charts the moving true story of Austrian Franz Jägerstätter (played by August Diel), a conscientious objector who refused to fight for the Nazis during World War II. Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Nyqvist, Valerie Pachner, Jurgen Prochnow, Alexander Fehling...

The initiative is spearheaded by filmmakers Daphne Schmon, Emily Carlton and Elpida Stathatou.

Canadian director Shelley Thompson, Philippines filmmaker Maritte Go and UK-based documentarian Emily James were among the participants at the second edition of female-focused financing event Breaking Through The Lens in Cannes over the weekend.

The initiative - spearheaded by filmmakers Daphne Schmon, Emily Carlton and Elpida Stathatou - is aimed at connecting female directors and their producers with financiers and other partners on upcoming projects.

Carlton explains they launched the platform to address the challenges female directors face when looking to finance their projects.

“There’s clearly...

David Garrett’s Mister Smith boards period drama, currently in post-production.

David Garrett’s Mister Smith Entertainment has boarded international sales to Terrence Malick’s upcoming Second World War drama Radegund.

Sales are set to commence at the upcoming European Film Market in Berlin.

Radegund will follow the true story of Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector who refused to fight for the Nazis and was executed by them in 1943.

The film marks Malick’s return to the Second World War period following acclaimed 1998 drama The Thin Red Line.

From Malick’s screenplay, the film stars August Diehl as Franz Jägerstätter, Valerie Pachner as his wife Fani, Matthias Schoenaerts as Captain Herder and Bruno Ganz as Judge Lueben alongside Martin Wuttke, Maria Simon, Karin Neuhäuser and Alexander Fehling.

Malick’s production partner Grant Hill is producing together with Dario Bergesio, Marcus Loges, Josh Jeter and Elisabeth Bentley.

Studio Babelsberg are co-producing. Adam Morgan, [link...

• A lingering strike haven't kept the Writers Gild of America from naming the noms for the Best Original, Adapted Screenplays and Best Documentary screenplays of the year. A quick overview of the noms below shows that studio-based indie division delivered in quantity and quality. Here are the noms below for those who create narratives on paper. Winners are announced on February 9th.           Original Screenplay"Juno" - Written by Diablo Cody, Fox Searchlight"Michael Clayton" - Written by Tony Gilroy, Warner Bros. Pictures"The Savages" - Written by Tamara Jenkins, Fox Searchlight"Knocked Up" - Written by Judd Apatow, Universal Pictures"Lars and the Real Girl" - Written by Nancy Oliver, MGM                 Adapted Screenplay"No Country For Old Men" - Screenplay by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen, Based on the Novel by Cormac McCarthy, Miramax"There Will Be Blood" - Screenplay by Paul Thomas Anderson, Based on the Novel Oil by Upton Sinclair,

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