News

Sheila Nevins has announced she is stepping down from her role as president of HBO Documentary Films, a position she has held for the last 38 years. The 78-year-old has produced over 1,000 non-fiction films during her time at HBO, earning a record 32 Emmy Awards. Her projects have also earned 26 Oscars and 42 Peabody Awards. She was the recipient of the TV Academy’s lifetime achievement award in 2005.

Read More:Sheila Nevins’ 5 Rules for Getting Ahead in a Man’s World

“There’s something exciting about leaving a job,” Nevins told The New York Times about her departure. “I can’t explain it. I have deprived my life of a life. All I did was work. I was, like, born at HBO and I don’t have to die there. If I stayed any longer, I probably would have died at my desk. I just regret that there’s so little time left.

Awards

 

The News & Documentary Emmy Award nominees--lots of them--were announced yesterday from the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, with PBS and HBO leading the charge, as usual. Among the multiple nominees, Rebecca Camissa's Which Way Home earned four, Irene Taylor Brodsky's The Final Inch took three, and Tulia, Texas (Dirs./Prods.: Cassandra Herrman, Kelly Whalen), Trouble The Water (Dirs./Prods.: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin), In a Dream (Dir.: Zeremiah Zagar), The Reckoning (Dir.: Pamela Yates), War/Dance (Dirs.:: Sean Fine, Andrea Nix Fine) and Smile Pinki (Dir.: Megan Mylan) each earned two ...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 28th annual "Contemporay Documentaries" series will screen two films, “The Final Inch” and “The Forgotten Woman”, on Indian themes on April 7th.

Following American survivors and Indian vaccinators, “The Final Inch” tracks the massive mission to eradicate polio. The stories of those working in the poorest corners of our planet challenge our most basic assumptions about disease, poverty and health as a human right. Directed by Irene Taylor Brodsky and produced by Brodsky and Tom Grant, “The Final Inch” earned an Academy Award® nomination for Documentary Short Subject.

Directed by Dilip Mehta and produced by David Hamilton and Noemi Weis, “The Forgotten Woman” aims to bring about an understanding of the destitution and marginalization of many of the millions of widows in India today, who are forced by age-old traditions to live out their remaining years isolated and shunned from society at large.

Philippe Lioret’s “Welcome” received the $100,000 grand prize for best dramatic feature at the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis on Saturday.

Gabriel Noble’s “P-Star Rising” took the best documentary feature prize, while Dean Yamada’s “Bicycle” (Jitensha) earned the Vison Award for best short film.

Ed Catmull, president of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, was honored with the Pioneering Spirit Award.

Crystal Heart Awards were presented to Hilla Medalia’s "After the Storm”; "Bicycle" (Jitensha); Dag Hoel and Havard Bustnes’ "Big John"; Rene Bo Hanson's "The Eagle Hunter’s Son”; Gloria La Morte and Paola Mendoza's "Entre Nos"; Irene Taylor Brodsky's "The Final Inch”; Zvi Spielmann's "For My Father"; Melody George's "Marbles With Thoreau"; "P-Star Rising"; Debra Zimmerman's "Rough Aunties"; Greg Barker's "Sergio"; Omri Givon's "Seven Minutes in Heaven"; Christian Sonderby Jepsen's "Side by Side"; Jeremiah Crowell's "Small Collection"; and "Welcome.

List Source: Variety

Okay, so another year and now it's the final show of the awards season. I don't know why but I'm not that enthuastic about the Oscars this year. Maybe it was last year's underwhelming show or maybe it's because The Dark Knight isn't nominated this year, probably both, but never-the-less the show is done and I want to put up the post of how the show went. Time for the ultimate post-oscar show breakdown...

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Best Motion Picture Of The Year

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

"Frost/Nixon" (Universal)

"Milk" (Focus Features)

"The Reader" (The Weinstein Company)

Winner: "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

Best Picture was a major disappointment. Less said about The Dark Knight - the better. For me, Milk is the most deserving of best picture this year. It's issues are more relevant and more original than all films on the list this year.

Fox Searchlight Pictures' "Slumdog Millionaire" has almost completely swept the Oscars® with awards including Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Picture and both original song and score music categories. Other notable wins included: - Sean Penn who took home the Best Actor award, his second after 2004's "Mystic River."- Heath Ledger for his astounding performance in Warner Bros. Pictures' "The Dark Knight"- Kate Winslet - Once again for her work in "The Reader" after a two Golden Globe's earned for "Revolutionary Road" and "The Reader"- Penelope Cruz - In Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" comedy As announced, here are the winners (noted in bold) of the 2009 Academy Awards which were announced on Sunday, February 22nd. Performance by an actor in a leading role Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor” (Overture Films) Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” (Universal) Sean Penn in “Milk” (Focus Features) Brad Pitt in...

Did your favorite movies and stars win? Read on to find out! Performance by an actor in a leading role: Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” (Universal) Sean Penn in “Milk” (Focus Features) Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight) Performance by an actor in a supporting role: Josh Brolin in “Milk” (Focus Features) Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder” (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount) Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt” (Miramax) Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.) Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage) Performance by an actress in a leading role: Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married” (Sony Pictures Classics) Angelina Jolie in “Changeling” (Universal) Melissa Leo in “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics) Meryl Streep in “Doubt” (Miramax) Kate Winslet in “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company) Performance by an actress in a...

Looks like I predicted all the winners yesterday, except for “Best Foreign Language.” Maybe I should have seen one of those before guessing in that category. What did you think? Did they get it right? Who should have won? Post below!

Here are the winners from one of the best Academy Awards ceremonies I can remember:

Best Motion Picture

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Frost/Nixon

Milk

The Reader

Slumdog Millionaire

Performance by an actor in a leading role

Richard Jenkins in The Visitor

Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon

Sean Penn in Milk

Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

Performance by an actress in a leading role

Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married

Angelina Jolie in Changeling

Melissa Leo in Frozen River

Meryl Streep in Doubt

Kate Winslet in The Reader

Achievement in directing

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, David Fincher

Frost/Nixon,...

Click here for the 2009 Academy Award winners! This year I opted not to break down every category and discuss the merits of each individual nominee. Mostly because it takes a ridiculous amount of time, but also because there doesn’t seem to be as much excitement as in previous years. Maybe it’s the fact that the populist picks of the year (Dark Knight, for example) were snubbed in the major categories and replaced with little seen films like The Reader. Or maybe because many of the categories are foregone conclusions.

Either way, I wanted to post my favorites/predictions and hopefully get some discussion going on what you think will win and why. I’m posting my picks here, but included the full list of nominations below.

Best Picture

Slumdog Millionaire - It’s clearly the favorite going into the ballot counting having swept every major awards ceremony leading up to the Oscars.

It’s Oscar Nominations 2009 Day!

The Oscar nominations were released this morning for the 81st Annual Academy Awards. Already, we’re seeing feedback and debates over this year’s picks, much of relating to the most popular movie of 2008: The Dark Knight.

The Dark Knight - the most talked about and hyped movie of the year… possibly even of the last decade - is noticeably absent from two important categories many felt it deserved being a part of. These are of course: Best Picture and Best Original Score. Also of note is that Christopher Nolan was not nominated for Best Director, but I never expected him to for this so we won’t discuss that.

Approaching the nominations seasons, Warner Brothers made a strong effort to market The Dark Knight for a big push at the Oscars – for 28 people in 15 different categories to be precise. While they were very successful in earning eight nominations,...

Nominations for the 81st Academy Awards were announced Thursday morning at Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (A.M.P.A.S.) in Beverly Hills by Sid Ganis and Forest Whitaker. Paramount Pictures' "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" edged ahead of competitors in the number of awards nominated for this years offering of films with a total of thirteen nominations. These included, among others Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. Other contenders in the Best Picture category included Focus Features’ “Milk,” Universal’s “Frost/Nixon,” the Weinstein Co.’s “The Reader” and Fox Searchlight’s “Slumdog Millionaire.” "Aint nothin' but a thang" - Robert Downey Jr. secured an Oscar® nomination for his hilarious supporting role in Ben Stiller's "Tropic Thunder." As announced by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, here are the nominees: Performance by an actor in a leading role Richard Jenkins...