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Last month’s Udine festival of all things East Asian was the launch pad for “Making Waves — Navigators of Hong Kong Cinema,” a collection of 13 films that will travel to a dozen cities in Europe and Asia. Billed as an “extravaganza,” mixing old and new talent, the event is pegged to the 25th anniversary celebrations of the return of Hong Kong to China after 150 years of British colonial rule.

But it is no longer clear to everyone that Hong Kong cinema has the energy, willpower or finance to face down its larger demons. Its problems range from the long-term drift of Hong Kong talent into the mainland Chinese industry to censorship and marginalization.

Last year began with Hong Kong cinemas under pressure from pro-Beijing media to change their releases, and raids on private screenings. These were followed by an amended law that introduces film censorship according to national security concerns...

Making Waves – Navigators of Hong Kong Cinema, a touring film programme to mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hksar), will kick off during the 24th Far East Film Festival in Udine later this month. This unique cinematic extravaganza is presented by Create Hong Kong in partnership with the Far East Film Festival (Feff) and supported by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Brussels. Running from 22 to 30 April at Udine’s Teatro Nuovo Giovanni da Udine and Visionario cinema, it showcases a specially curated 13-film screening programme, focusing on new and emerging talents, and a virtual photographic exhibition that showcases the works of four unit photographers, each telling a unique story of Hong Kong cinema in a new artistic dimension and fascination.

Schemes in Antiques

“We started Far East Film Festival with a zero edition completely dedicated to Hong Kong films...

Six acclaimed film producers will reveal details behind their projects when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with key 2021 guild and Oscar contenders this month. Each person will participate in two video discussions to be published on Wednesday, January 20, at 5:00 p.m. Pt; 8:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our senior editor Daniel Montgomery and a group chat with Daniel and all of them together.

RSVP today to this specific event by clicking here to book your reservation. Or click here to RSVP for our entire ongoing panel series. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.

This “Meet the Experts” panel welcomes the following 2021 guild and Oscar contenders:

“I’m Your Woman” (Amazon Prime): Rachel Brosnahan and Jordan Horowitz

Brosnahan is an Emmy winner and four-time nominee as an actress. Horowitz...

Updated with medalists: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed the gold, silver and bronze medalists for the 47th Student Academy Awards. The winning films were feted in a virtual ceremony that included presenters Shunsaku Hayashi, Glen Keane, Spike Lee, Dawn Porter and Lulu Wang and hosted by Eugenio Derbez.

The 18 students and their projects who were finalists for this year’s honors were announced last month. Here are the medalists announced today (watch them here).

Alternative/Experimental (Domestic and International Film Schools)

Gold: “Simulacra,” Curry Sicong Tian, USC

Animation (Domestic Film Schools)

Gold: “Ciervo,” Pilar Garcia-Fernandezsesma, Rhode Island School of Design

Silver: “Mime Your Manners,” Kate Namowicz and Skyler Porras, Ringling College of Art & Design

Bronze: “Hamsa,” Daniela Dwek, Maya Mendonca and Chrisy Baek, School of Visual Arts

Animation (International Film Schools)

Gold: “The Beauty,” Pascal Schelbli, Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg (Germany)

Documentary (Domestic Film Schools)

Gold: “Unfinished Lives,...

USC students won a pair of gold medals at the 2020 Student Academy Awards to lead all schools in the 47th annual event, the Academy announced on Wednesday.

At a virtual ceremony hosted by Eugenio Derbez, USC won gold medals in the Alternative category for Curry Sicong Tian’s “Simalacra,” and in the Documentary category for Yucong Chen’s “Unfinished Lives.” The other gold medalists among U.S. schools were Rhode Island School of Design with Pilar Garcia-Gernandezesma’s “Ciervo” in the Animation category, and NYU with Talia Smith’s “Umama” in the Narrative category.

International Student Oscars were won by Pascal Schelbli from Germany’s Filmakademie Baden-Wurttemberg for “The Beauty” in the Animation category; Maren Klakegg from Norway’s Westerdals Institute of Film and Media, Kristiania University College for “Dear Father … ” in the Documentary category; and German Golub from Estonia’s Tallinn University for “My Dear Corpses” in the Narrative category.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored 18 student winners from colleges and universities from around the world for the 47th Student Academy Awards ceremony. In a first-time virtual ceremony hosted by Eugenio Derbez, the gold, silver and bronze medalist winners were announced by a gathering of the industry’s most talented creatives. Showcasing another initiative by the Academy of embracing and nurturing the next generation of diverse talents, 13 out of the 18 winners are women, marking the most diverse class ever honored. The class is also encapsulated by multiple Asian, Latinx and Black artists.

Answering a question from Variety regarding if the group feels like the next generation of filmmakers, many had various perspectives. NYU graduate Karishma Dube, who grew up in India, says she “never really thought about it” while China-born Curry Sicong Tian wants to be accurately categorized as “more of a storyteller than a filmmaker.”

Access...

Rhode Island School of Design film senior Pilar Garcia-Fernandezsesma was nearly done with her animated short, “Ciervo,” when the pandemic struck in March. With less than a month before the school’s deadline, she had to be crafty.

“I had to go back to live with my parents. Luckily, I was done with the animation,” she said. “But I did have to switch sound programs completely. It came out fine… I ended up putting flute in my film when I probably wouldn’t have done it, because I had access to my middle-school flute lying in around in my bedroom.”

“Fine” is an understatement. Garcia-Fernandezsesma won a gold medal at the Student Academy Awards, one of 18 student winners at this year’s ceremony broadcast online Wednesday. Garcia-Fernandezsesma and her fellow winners spoke Tuesday during a virtual junket.

The winners were selected by Academy member votes from 1,474 entries, representing 207 domestic and 121 international colleges and universities.

Winning films eligible for 2020 Oscars in animated, live-action, documentary short categories.

The Academy has honoured filmmakers from Germany, Mexico, Norway and Estonia in the 47th Student Academy Awards, which took place at the event’s first virtual ceremony on Wednesday (October 21).

All winning films are eligible to compete for 2020 Oscars in the animated short film, live action short film or documentary short subject categories.

Past winners, who include Pixar head and Soul director Pete Docter, Cary Fukunaga, Spike Lee, Trey Parker, Patricia Riggen and Robert Zemeckis, have gone on to receive 64 Oscar nominations and have won or shared 13 awards.

Winners...

USC led all schools with four winners at the 47th Student Academy Awards, the Academy announced on Tuesday. NYU was second with three winners, while the Rhode Island School of Design, the School of Visual Arts and Ringling College of Art & Design each won one award.

The Academy will announce the level of each award — gold, silver or bronze — at a virtual ceremony on Oct. 21. All winning films, regardless of level, qualify for the Academy Award in the Best Live Action Short, Best Animated Short or Best Documentary Short category.

Among international schools, the winners came from Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Germany, Westerdals Institute of Film and Media in Norway, Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica in Mexico, Institut des Arts de Diffusion in Belgium and Baltic Film & Media School, Tallinn University in Estonia. It was the first Student Oscar win for the Belgian and Estonian schools.

The winners were chosen from among...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced the 47th Student Academy Award winners. The 15 winning films, representing 18 individual student directors or directing teams, were selected by Academy member votes from 1,474 entries, representing 207 domestic and 121 international colleges and universities.

The gold, silver, and bronze medal placements in the seven student award categories will be revealed in a virtual program highlighting the winners and their films on October 21.

Today’s wins also mean the students are eligible to compete in the Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, or Documentary Short Subject categories for the 2021 Oscars. Past student-award winners have received 64 Oscar nominations, and won or shared 13 awards.

Previous Student Academy Award winners include Spike Lee, who won in 1983 for his master’s thesis film (“Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads”), and “South Park” co-creator Trey Parker, who won in 1993 with “American History.” Other notable past winners include Patricia Cardoso,...

‘Point of No Return.’

Vincent Monton is understandably chuffed that Australians have the chance to discover – or rediscover – his telemovie Point of No Return 25 years after it premiered on Network 10.

Umbrella Entertainment released a digitally restored version of the drama written and directed by Monton, which starred Marcus Graham and Nikki Coghill, on DVD and VOD this month.

Graham played the dual roles of Grady, a former soldier who is traumatized by his experiences in war and prison, and his murdered brother Kristian.

Grady escapes from custody after attending Kristian’s funeral. Coghill is Kate, the girlfriend of the protagonist who later hooked up with his brother.

The producer, the late Phillip Emanuel, had raised the budget to make a telemovie about a prison break but was not happy with the script so he approached Monton. The offer was to write a screenplay in three weeks, which he could...

The Gsa BAFTA student film awards acknowledged achievements in animation, documentary and live-action with Uc Berkeley’s Lucas Guilkey taking the prize for doc “What Happened to Dujuan Armstrong?,” which follows a woman’s search for justice after her son dies in a Santa Rita jail.

The animation trophy went to “Sous la Glace” made by a team of from France and “Mum’s Hairpins” from Russia winning the live-action award.

A special prize was also voted on by a jury made up of actors Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Clarke Peters, directors Isabel Coixet and Reinaldo Marcus Green and filmmaker Waad Al-Kateab. The prize was awarded to “Making Waves,” a film following one woman’s work in marine wildlife conservation.

The BAFTA-gsa Grant Jury, which launched last year, also awarded $12,000 grants to filmmakers of two projects, “Witness” and “Premature.” The grants are issued to give creators a platform for encouraging awareness...

by Nathaniel R

Whistlers, the Romanian submissions for this past Oscar race opened in a few Us cinemas this past week (we reviewed it in November). It's a blackly comic noir that's been compared to the work of the Coens and it comes from one of the most celebrated Romanian New Wave auteurs, Corneliu Porombiou.

Romanian cinema was largely neglected and underfunded until after the fall of Communism in 1989. Things began to pick up after that. In the mid-Aughts the country's cinema became a critical cause with prize-winning films emerging with great frequency. The country's most acclaimed cinema is often categorized by gallows humor and incisive or satiric socioeconomic and political commentary.

For the second episode of this new season of "Posterized" and  "Making Waves" a retrospective of Romanian cinema currently playing a Us tour, we've selected the (arguably) 15 most famous and/or acclaimed films from the country over the past 30 years.

Disney’s Ford v Ferrari was the big winner tonight as the Cinema Audio Society handed out its 56th annual Cas Awards for outstanding achievement in sound mixing in Los Angeles. See the full winners list below.

Last year’s top Cas Award winner, Bohemian Rhapsody, went on the score the Best Achievement in Sound Editing Oscar for John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone. Ford v Ferrari will chase that checkered flag in two weeks against Ad Astra, Joker, 1917 and Once Up[on a Time in Hollywood.

Disney/Pixar’s billion-dollar sequel Toy Story 4 sporked away with the animated prize, and Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound unsurprisingly won the documentary award.

A pair of series that wrapped this past year took the top TV trophies: HBO’s Game of Thrones and Amazon’s Fleabag.

Tom Fleischman accepted the group’s top lifetime honor, the Cas Career Achievement Award, during the ceremony at the...