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This September, the Big Bear Film Institute will host its first film festival in the mountains of the beautiful California city.

The Big Bear Film Festival will run from Sept. 24 to 29, featuring a celebration of storytelling across film, music, gaming, audio, animation and AI, hosted at venues like The Village North Theatre, Destination Big Bear Conference Center, the brand new Sunnybrook Estate, the newly renovated lakeside Marina Riviera and Sessions Retreat & Hotel.

Bbfi CEO Damien S. Navarro, the former Outfest CEO, said Bbff “isn’t just any other film festival,” describing the event as “a creator-first movement — where stories are incubated, IP is discovered and the future of film isn’t just screened, it’s shaped.”

The inaugural film fest’s programming includes Peak Pitch, a curated marketplace for creators to showcase their projects for distributors, buyers, and studios; Music Village & Audio Pavilion, a lakeside retreat that blends sound, performance...

Historical epics defined U.S. cinema of the 1990s with films like Amistad, Saving Private Ryan, and Schindler's List. Dances with Wolves kicked off the decade followed by The Last of the Mohicans, Michael Mann's sweeping war drama.

Hulu streams The Last of the Mohicans starting on Mar. 14.Michael Mann's historical drama is one of the 1990s best offerings; the film was a box office hit, earning $143 million against its $40 million budget. The decade saw the revival of historical epics like Titanic, Apollo 13, and Braveheart; released on the heels of Dances with Wolves, The Last of the Mohicans was the decade's frontrunner for the genre, depicting the Native American's resistance to French colonization. Mann co-wrote the screenplay for The Last of the Mohicans, based on James Fenimore Cooper's novel and the 1936 movie adaptation.

Related10 Best Historical Drama Epics From the '90s, Ranked

The period epics and...

From Isla Sorna to Boston, Massachusettes, Pete Postlethwaite appeared all over the map in his long and celebrated movie career. Born in Lancashire, England to a working-class family, Postlethwaite started his career on the stage, but quickly made his way into movies beginning in the middle of the 1970s. At first working under his full name, Peter Postlethwaite, Postlethwaite eventually shortened his credited name to "Pete Postlethwaite" after appearing in Ridley Scott's debut, The Duellists and Waterland.

With a face that looks like it was carved out of stone, flinty eyes that seem to glow in the dark, and a rough but crystal clear voice, Postlethwaite provides a screen presence few others have ever been able to match or mimic. He can play a frightening villain as well as he can a loving father. He's appeared in tiny independent films, large franchise fare, and plenty of odd, but fantastic movies in between.

Exclusive: Oscar Honorary Award winner Wes Studi (Last of the Mohicans), Owen Crow Shoe (Horizon franchise) and Tanaya Beatty (Yellowstone) are among the ensemble cast of modern western Timber Lands, which is currently filming in southern Oregon.

Set against the backdrop of Oregon’s vast timber industry, the Yellowstone-esque story follows two families with a deep-seated generational hatred for each other which comes to a head after the tragic death of one of the families’ celebrated bronc riders. At the center of it all, Russ (Studi), a man with deep ties to his native land, seeks to have the final word and bring about justice to a rivalry threatening to consume all they have left.

Also starring are Baylee Toney (Disciples in the Moonlight), Myles Clohessy (The Pendragon Cycle), Irene Bedard (Smoke Signals), Robert Clohessy (Blue Bloods), Kim Jackson Davis (Zatima), Thomas Parnell (Stressed to Kill), Kenneth Ruthardt (Longmire...

Growing up in Mill Valley, Monica Barbaro played piano, flute, violin, guitar and ukulele. But not for very long — and not particularly well. “I started piano five times and tried to teach myself some guitar and some ukulele,” says Barbaro, who plays Joan Baez in “A Complete Unknown.” “I always wanted to play cello, but in school, when I said that, my friend laughed at me, and she was doing violin so, like the scared little kid I was, I took violin. And I hated it, the sound of those high-pitched notes right up in my ear.”

In other words, Barbaro was essentially starting from scratch when it came to playing a professional musician on screen.

She’s not alone. Ryan Destiny had “zero” boxing experience before playing two-time Olympic champion Claressa Shields in “The Fire Inside.” In fact, while Destiny is an actor, a singer and a dancer, one...

An actor coming out of retirement for one last movie? Now that’ll be the day. A world class, three-time Oscar winning actor coming out of retirement for one last movie, though? Well that'll be the Day-Lewis. Daniel Day-Lewis, to be precise. Yes, you read that right folks — the My Left Foot, Lincoln, and There Will Be Blood star is officially getting ready to make his first film appearance since 2017’s Phantom Thread. Per Variety's reporting, the actor — who formally announced he was hanging up his acting boots seven years ago — will be playing the lead in his son Ronan Day-Lewis’ feature directorial debut, Anemone.

Co-written by the father-son Day-Lewis duo, Anemone's plot specifics are currently being kept under wraps, but the film has been described as an exploration of "the dynamics of familial bonds", with fathers, sons, and brothers' relationships all set to be placed under the microscope in the movie.

Quick Links The Last of the Mohicans Is a Breathtaking Romantic Adventure Daniel Day-Lewis Risked His Mental and Physical Health to Star in The Last of the Mohicans The Last of the Mohicans Is Michael Mann's Most Overlooked Masterpiece

In addition to being arguably the greatest actor of his generation, Daniel Day-Lewis, who announced his retirement from acting in 2017, was the foremost practitioner of Method acting and gained a fearsome reputation for being willing to go to the most extreme lengths to convincingly portray a character.

For his Oscar-winning performance as Christy Brown, an Irish man who was limited by cerebral palsy to the use of his left foot, in the 1989 biographical comedy-drama film My Left Foot, Day-Lewis remained in a wheelchair throughout the filming, forcing crew members to carry him around and feed him. However, the actor arguably never immersed himself more deeply within a role as he...

Jon Landau, the Oscar-winning producer behind the likes of Avatar, Titanic, and Alita: Battle Angel, has died. He passed away on Friday in Los Angeles after a 16 month long battle with cancer.

In a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Landau's sister Tina confirmed her brother's passing and shared the following: "The best brother a girl could ever dream of — my brother Jon — has passed away. My heart is broken but also bursting with pride and gratitude for his most extraordinary life, and the love and gifts he gave me — and all who knew him or his films."

And it truly was an extraordinary life. Born in New York on 23 July, 1960 to film and TV producer parents Edythe and Ely Landau, whose credits include Sidney Lumet's Long Day's Journey Into Night and John Frankenheimer's The Iceman Cometh, Jon Landau it seems was always destined to...

Indie musical “Heart Strings” will have its Los Angeles premiere June 30 at American Cinematheque’s Loz Feliz Theater. Director Ate de Jong (“Drop Dead Fred”) co-wrote the film with Steven Gaydos, Variety executive VP, Global Content, who is also co-producing.

“It’s a great honor to screen at the American Cinematheque. And especially to play the film at their Los Feliz location where ‘Heart Strings’ first began as a screenplay decades ago when I lived there after working on a Roger Corman film in Georgia,” Gaydos said. “Fans of 1970s American indie cinema might be surprised to find that Ate de Jong has just made an audience-engaging film with the subversive spirit and maverick attitude of that time. It only took 50 years to get the job done, which I hope makes Francis Coppola feel better about ‘Megalopolis!’”

“Heart Strings” follows phony lovebirds Lucky (Sam Varga) and Billie (Maggie Koerner) who...

Ferrari ranks the eighth most popular movie on streaming for the week of May 23 29. The Michael Mann movie was a box office disappointment, earning only $42.3 million. Ferrari stars Adam Driver and earned mostly positive reviews from critics.

Ferrari finds new success on streaming after an underwhelming theatrical run. Directed by Michael Mann, Ferrari stars Adam Driver as the real-life Enzo Ferrari, chronicling the car manufacturer's life in 1957 as his team trains for the tragic Mille Miglia race. The film, which earned mostly positive reviews, was a box office disappointment, earning only $42.3 million worldwide.

Now, Reelgood reveals that Ferrari ranks as the eighth most popular movie on streaming for the week of May 23 29. The movie, which is available to watch on Hulu, ranks above Oppenheimer and Dune: Part One, but is beat out by the likes of The Iron Claw and Madame Web. Dune: Part Two takes the number one spot.

Actor Wes Studi heard that director Michael Mann was putting together a little bank robbery picture called Heat. According to Wes Studi himself, he proactively called Michael Mann’s office to land the role of Detective Sammy Casals. His passion for the character and project led to his Last of the Mohicans director casting him again in another great role that allowed him to show off some range. This allowed Wes Studi to go beyond the “leather and feathers of period dramas” even though he excels in those too. He stole the show in Best Picture Dances with Wolves and his character didn’t even have a real name, the credits call him “Toughest Pawnee”. And he is probably the only actor who can get away with asking Daniel Day-Lewis to sign his autograph… with his left foot.

He has worked alongside some of the most talented artists in the...

Ryan Gosling has revealed a sequel to 'The Fall Guy' has already been written.The 43-year-old actor stars opposite 'Oppenheimer' actress Emily Blunt, 41, in the new comedy as seasoned movie stuntman Colt Seavers, and he has confirmed the cast and crew were desperate to find out what happens to the pair so there is another script, but the first movie's success will determine if the second will ever see the light of day.In a recent interview with Fast Company, Gosling said: "The sequel sort of wrote itself.“We already know [the story] intimately. We’re just hoping that people like this movie enough that we get to keep telling the story of these characters. We love them so much, and we love this world, and I feel confident that we can do it.”He continued: “We already—I mean, we love these characters so much that we wanted to know,...

Ryan Gosling recounts the hilarious yet terrifying day he had to save Emily Blunt from drowning during a monsoon on The Fall Guy set. Blunt missed the memo about the flooding while meditating, leading to a wild rescue by Gosling. The off-screen chemistry and banter between Gosling and Blunt helped create viral moments and a successful film despite underwhelming early box office numbers.

Ryan Gosling reveals how he saved co-star Emily Blunt from drowning while filming The Fall Guy. The new movie stars Gosling as Colt Seavers, a stuntman forced to locate missing movie star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and repair his relationship with the love of his life, director Jody Moreno, played by Blunt. The Fall Guy celebrates the stunt community, featuring impressive action sequences set in Australia. However, filming on-location proved to sometimes be difficult due to the continent's infamous inclement weather.

During a new interview with Entertainment Weekly,...

Pop-up soundstage specialist Volume Global has teamed with White Owl Film Studios, an Indigenous-owned multimedia company representing Canada’s First Nation community, on a new production facility in Wahnapitae First Nation territory.

The 20,000-square-foot soundstage features 35-foot-high clear span. Earlier this year, a Volume Global soundstage supported by air columns opened at Lionsgate Studios Yonkers, a new facility just outside New York City that was developed by Robert Halmi’s Great Point Studios. Halmi said Volume Global’s designs would “significantly enhance our production capabilities and expand our overall studio presence.”

John Lynch, the former head of global production at Amazon Studios and Paramount+ TV and a member of Volume Global’s board of advisors said the company’s pop-up stages use “leading-edge” technology. They give content producers “an expedited solution to their production space constraints, with a remarkable turnaround time of just 120 days.”

The newest space is designed to...

"It was time for me to get back to work," said Wes Studi. That may seem like an odd thing to hear coming from a man with over 100 credits to his name, who regularly appears in four or five titles a year, but like everyone, the pandemic shook things up. What better way to go back to work than heading to the mountainous and river-strewn locale of Montana to do some fly-fishing with Brian Cox?

Studi plays Cox's friend and fellow Vietnam War veteran in Joshua Caldwell's film, Mending the Line, which follows a veteran (Sinqua Walls) returning home from the Middle East for therapy and discovering some healing through fly-fishing. It's an immensely peaceful film that seems to heal the audience nearly as much as its characters, and Studi is a study presence, calm and reassuring. It's a great little performance from the Indigenous actor famous for Dance with Wolves,...

Paramount+ is not just the home of the Taylor Sheridan universe, it has also quietly assembled one of the best film libraries of any of the streaming services. Look no further than the list of what’s new on Paramount+ in March, which includes prestige dramas like “12 Years a Slave” and “Last of the Mohicans,” iconic thrillers like “The Sixth Sense,” “The Rock” and “Crimson Tide,” delightful rom-coms like “Kate & Leopold” and “Bridget Jones’ Diary” and other classics like “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Sunset Boulevard” and “Galaxy Quest.”

And that’s not to mention the new originals premiering in March: Kiefer Sutherland plays a corporate espionage operative framed for murder in “Rabbit Hole,” while “School Spirits” follows a high school teen who suddenly discovers she’s dead and still haunting her school.

Check out the full list of what’s new on Paramount+ in March 2023 below.

Also Read:...

"Kill your tears," silence your fears, and get ready to follow "The Woman King" into battle. In theaters this weekend, "The Woman King" stars Academy Award winner Viola Davis as General Nanisca, leader of the Agojie, described in the film's official trailer synopsis as an "all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with skills and a fierceness unlike anything the world has ever seen."

You might say General Nanisca has a "Braveheart" and is something of a "Gladiator," and apparently, the woman behind "The Woman King," director Gina Prince-Bythewood, looked to those movies for inspiration.

In an interview with A.frame, the digital magazine of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Prince-Bythewood discussed bringing the battle scenes to life in "The Woman King," and how she and her crew referenced what worked — and what didn't — in other historical epics:

"Our Dp, Polly Morgan,...

The “made for television movie” began in the 1960s. In fact, one of the most famous TV movies Don Siegel’s 1964 version of “The Killers” featuring Ronald Reagan in his last film role as a ruthless villain, ended up being released theatrically because it was considered too violent for television.

But the genre came of age in the 1970s.

Some of these movies that aired on the three broadcast networks were sheer shlock and others were pilots for prospective TV series. But it was also an embarrassment of riches. Who could forget the beloved 1971 ABC biopic “Brian’s Song,” starring James Caan and Billy Dee Williams, which was nominated for 11 Emmys and won five including outstanding single program (drama or comedy). The four-hankie weepie was so popular it was released theatrically.

Also briefly released theatrically was Steven Spielberg’s pulsating 1971 classic “Duel” starring Dennis Weaver which aired on ABC. Considered one...

Prey, the latest film in the Hollywood series, breaks new ground in its authentic portrayal of Indigenous Americans, thanks to its Comanche producer and Sioux lead

Would you be surprised to learn that Native Americans used toothbrushes? Or would you be more surprised to learn this from a Predator film? At the same time as giving us the usual invisible alien-inflicted butchery, Prey, the fifth and latest instalment of the franchise, delivers its first history lesson.

This lithe, primitivist reinvention takes place in 1719, when a band of Comanche find themselves becoming quarry for one of the intergalactic trophy-hunters who has turned up a few centuries too early to run into Arnold Schwarzenegger. Packed with authentic period detail (such as the Indigenous oral hygiene), it’s probably the first big-budget film about Native Americans since 1992’s Last of the Mohicans.

New Academy president David Rubin told would-be Oscar contenders packing Ray Dolby Ballroom that they were in the “anxiety-free zone.” It’s a soothing concept, but the truth is the Governors Awards are the well-mannered, black-tie starting gun to what will be a competitive race. This year’s selection reflects the Academy’s current emphasis on diversity, as the first Oscar-nominated woman director, Lina Wertmüller (“Seven Beauties”) and Native American actor Wes Studi (“The Last of the Mohicans”) joined long-overdue director David Lynch to accept honorary Oscars.

Supporting Actress frontrunner Laura Dern (“Marriage Story”) and her “Blue Velvet” costars Isabella Rossellini and Kyle MacLachlan lauded their director Lynch. “You have to let his quiet guide you,” said Rossellini. “He tries to capture the mysteries of our emotions, passions, and our lives.” Dern recalled first meeting with MacLachlan and Lynch, who doodled cartoons in ketchup at Bob’s Big Boy, and...

New Academy president David Rubin told would-be Oscar contenders packing Ray Dolby Ballroom that they were in the “anxiety-free zone.” It’s a soothing concept, but the truth is the Governors Awards are the well-mannered, black-tie starting gun to what will be a competitive race. This year’s selection reflects the Academy’s current emphasis on diversity, as the first Oscar-nominated woman director, Lina Wertmüller (“Seven Beauties”) and Native American actor Wes Studi (“The Last of the Mohicans”) joined long-overdue director David Lynch to accept honorary Oscars.

Supporting Actress frontrunner Laura Dern (“Marriage Story”) and her “Blue Velvet” costars Isabella Rossellini and Kyle MacLachlan lauded their director Lynch. “You have to let his quiet guide you,” said Rossellini. “He tries to capture the mysteries of our emotions, passions, and our lives.” Dern recalled first meeting with MacLachlan and Lynch, who doodled cartoons in ketchup at Bob’s Big Boy, and...

by Nathaniel R

Just this weekend we loved you all anew for that robust conversation about worthy Honorary Oscar recipients. News broke yesterday that the Board of Governors has named the four 2019 recipients. Honorary Oscars will go to the actor Wes Studi, and two previously nominated directors, David Lynch (who we've been campaigning for) and Lina Wertmüller who was famously the first woman ever nominated for the directing Oscar for her total masterpiece Seven Beauties. In addition to those three artists, the actress Geena Davis will receive this year's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. That's a special subdivision of the Honorary that's not actually about the movies but your "outstanding contributions to humanitarian causes"...

In another show of increasing diversity for all things Oscar, actors Wes Studi and Geena Davis and directors David Lynch and Lina Wertmuller are the winners of the 11th Annual Governors Awards. The honors, as voted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Board of Governors in a special Saturday session, were announced today.

Native American actor Studi, four time Oscar nominee Lynch, and two time Oscar nominee Wertmuller will receive Honorary Oscars for career achievements, while Davis, a past Oscar winner for Supporting Actress in 1988’s The Accidental Tourist as well as a 1991 Best Actress nominee for Thelma And Louise, will receive The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. The board met three months earlier than usual to choose the Governors Awards recipients, as I exclusively reported on Friday, and the ceremony itself will be three weeks earlier than its usual mid-November date at the Roy Dolby Ballroom.

by Nathaniel R

This past week we asked the team to pick some favourite screen kisses for Valentine's and we must thank them for reminding us of the sexy canoodling in Notorious, Last of the Mohicans, Love Simon, Spider-Man, and The Notebook. This weekend we're bringing it back to the now or at least the very recent with the 2018 Film Bitch Nominations for our three lustiest categories: Best Kiss, Best Love/Sex Scene and Sexpot of the Year. 

Best Kiss

"Esti, do you think I should go back early?"

"No... No... No, I don't you should leave at all."...

"The Last of the Mohicans" written/directed by Michael "Miami Vice" Mann in 1992, is a historical feature set in 1757 during the French and Indian War, based on author James Fenimore Cooper's classic novel.

Cast includes Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe, with Russell Means, Wes Studi, Eric Schweig and Jodhi May.

The soundtrack, featuring music by Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman, featured the haunting song "I Will Find You" by Clannad.

"Last Of The Mohicans" won an Academy Award for Best Sound.

Mann's film, like the novel is a romance, set against a turbulent era, with authentic wardobe and weaponry of the period.

"Last Of The Mohicans" opened in North America, September 25, 1992. By the end of its domestic run, the film earned $75,505,856.

Sneak Peek "Last Of The Mohicans"...