News

The heart of Paris beats for film industry in June. Industry Week is the professional part of the Champs-Elysées Film Festival.

The submissions for Us in Progress are now open till August 15th here.

This label includes the Us in Progress (USiP) and Les Arc Film Fesstival’s team presenting the Paris Coproduction Village and La Residence de la Cinefondation which welcomes a dozen young directors who come to Paris to work on their first or second fiction feature project for 4 and 1/2 months. All together, they offer 24 film projects at different stages, from development to post production. More than 200 professionals from the industry, producers, international sellers, distributors, etc. are welcomed.

This year Us in Progress broke out. It has become a top event for discovering American independent cinema not only for the Europeans invited to attend, but for Americans who find themselves in Paris for the event or who even...

Wild Nights With Emily, about an illicit romance, scoops €50,000 top prize.

Us playwright and director Madeleine Olnek’s Wild Nights With Emily, inspired by the secret love life of Us poet Emily Dickinson, has won the sixth edition of Us in Progress in Paris.

Taking place June 20-22 as part of the industry wing of the Champs-Elysées Film Festival, the event showcased five independent Us feature productions at the rough-cut stage.

It is a joint initiative between the festival and the American Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland.

Wild Nights With Emily revolves around Dickinson’s hushed-up affair with her brother’s wife Susan Dickinson,...

Wild Nights With Emily, about an illicit romance, scoops €50,000 top prize.

Us playwright and director Madeleine Olnek’s Wild Nights With Emily, inspired by the secret love life of Us poet Emily Dickinson, has won the sixth edition of Us in Progress in Paris.

Taking place June 20-22 as part of the industry wing of the Champs-Elysées Film Festival, the event showcased five independent Us feature productions at the rough-cut stage.

It is a joint initiative between the festival and the American Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland.

Wild Nights With Emily revolves around Dickinson’s hushed-up affair with her brother’s wife Susan Dickinson,...

What the trades tell us and what is fact are not mutually exclusive. 11th hour film submissions at the Sundance Film Festival do occur — the unfinished form are indeed a rarity, but I’ve seen it happen with fine down to the wire examples in the realm of Alex Ross Perry’s Listen Up Philip, Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash and Kris Swanberg’s Unexpected. Could this shot in NYC and Los Angeles nouveau Emily Dickinson depiction follow suit? Madeleine Olnek has mades ripples and waves at the festival first with 2011’s Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same followed up a weird double showing and vote of confidence (preeming at the 2013’s Sundance Next Weekend and then again at Sundance in 2014) for The Foxy Merkins. An auteur described by our Nicholas Bell as “a refreshing voice to behold in an era of repetitive storytelling and mediocre beats within the realm of independent film,...

The world’s oldest profession proves stressful and arduous in The Foxy Merkins, director Madeleine Olnek’s follow-up to her zany “fish out of water” black-and-white debut Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same. By having much of her work featured at the Sundance Film Festival throughout the past 10 years, Olnek has developed a prominent voice in the queer filmmaking community, and The Foxy Merkins finds her once again working with some familiar faces (Dennis Davis, Alex Karpovsky, Lisa Haas and Jackie Monahan) and locations. The film is a buddy comedy for an underserved audience, observing the misadventures of Margaret (Haas) and Jo (Monahan), two New York-based lesbian hustlers often found hopelessly hooking […]...

The world’s oldest profession proves stressful and arduous in The Foxy Merkins, director Madeleine Olnek’s follow-up to her zany “fish out of water” black-and-white debut Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same. By having much of her work featured at the Sundance Film Festival throughout the past 10 years, Olnek has developed a prominent voice in the queer filmmaking community, and The Foxy Merkins finds her once again working with some familiar faces (Dennis Davis, Alex Karpovsky, Lisa Haas and Jackie Monahan) and locations. The film is a buddy comedy for an underserved audience, observing the misadventures of Margaret (Haas) and Jo (Monahan), two New York-based lesbian hustlers often found hopelessly hooking […]...

American Gigola: Olnek’s Hilarious Sophomore Film Reinvents the Masculine Realm of Hustler Bonding

Few filmmakers are able to successfully create a distinctly unique universe of off-kilter comedy both consistent in tone and unwavering quality, especially if it also happens to be cobbled together from a mixture of limited resources. But you can add director Madeleine Olnek to a shortlist of such names with her sophomore film, The Foxy Merkins, an inspired ode to male-hustler buddy films from the vintage 1970s, transposed to modern day and removed from the arena of the heteronormative. Perhaps scrappy and episodic, which only adds to its infectious charm, this is an unfailingly funny film, proving Olnek to be a refreshing voice to behold in an era of repetitive storytelling and mediocre beats within the realm of independent film.

In what appears to be a bid to reconnect with her mother, Margaret (Lisa Haas) takes off to New York City,...

Patton Oswalt, Amy Poehler, Sarah Silverman, Adrian Grenier, and Werner Herzog are among the more than 80 actors, directors, and academic and civic leaders who are collaborating on the digital series We the Economy: 20 Short Films You Can't Afford to Miss. Paul G. Allen’s Vulcan Productions and Morgan Spurlock’s Cinelan will produce the series of informative and entertaining films that tackle serious economic issues. “At its core, the vision of this project is to fuse artistry and storytelling with economic expertise to engage the public in a truly informed dialogue about the U.S. economy," says Carole Tomko, general...

If you still have an affinity for books, there can be few more choice summer reads than Edmund White's 2005 autobiography, My Lives. Divided into nonlinear sections devoted to his relationships with his parents, his hustlers, and his female entanglements, there's also a chapter entitled "My Europe." Herein White notes how while in the Paris of the 1980s, he became aware that petite green beans are tastier than their larger cousins. He also recounts how the social theorist Michel Foucault, a pal of his, noted that while "'gay philosophy' and 'gay paintings' were meaningless notions...writing gay fiction was legitimate since it enabled us to imagine how gay men should live together."

Foucault apparently "felt that relationships between gay men were tenuous, undefined, still to be invented, and that gay fiction was the place where a vision of association could be worked out in concrete detail."

The same could be said of Lgbt cinema,...

“Oh, it’s a merkin salesman!” “What’s a merkin?” “It’s a toupée for your vagina.” Writer/director Madeleine Olnek has a gift for titles. The Foxy Merkins is her newest, a moniker just as ridiculous but more succinct than that of her last film, Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same. It’s a buddy comedy about lesbian hookers in New York, starring Lisa Haas and Jackie Monahan, who also co-wrote the film. The synopsis invokes “bargain-hunting housewives” and “double-dealing conservative women” among their clients, both of which promise a certain degree of hilarity. Jo (Monahan) is the more experienced of the two, and resolutely identifies as heterosexual. Margaret (Haas) is the newbie, down on her luck and looking for cash. If this sounds a bit like Midnight Cowboy, that’s because it’s likely a satire, at least in part. Space Alien, which also starred both Monahan and Haas, was...

In 2011, Madeleine Olnek’s debut feature, "Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, premiered at Sundance to positive (if ultimately limited) reception. Made on a shoestring budget, (think space ships made out of tin foil), the warm and witty spoof on sci-fi B-movies firmly established the writer-director’s singular comedic sensibility. In her follow-up, “The Foxy Merkins,” Olnek turns the male hustler genre on its head to imagine what a lesbian prostitution ring in might look like. Re-casting the previous movie's charmingly deadpan duo Lisa Haas and Jackie Monahan, on paper, "The Foxy Merkins" has all the right ingredients to please Olnek's niche audience. Unfortunately, after a truly hilarious and fresh first act, the film can no longer sustain its premise as superfluous subplots and extraneous episodes slow the overall momentum almost to a halt. Lisa Haas plays Margaret, a down-and-out gay woman who's not quite cutting it on the streets.

In 2011, Madeleine Olnek's debut feature, "Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same," premiered at Sundance to positive (if ultimately limited) reception. Made on a shoestring budget (think space ships made out of tin foil), the warm and witty spoof on sci-fi B-movies firmly established the writer-director's singular comedic sensibility. In her follow-up, "The Foxy Merkins," Olnek turns the male hustler genre on its head to imagine what a lesbian prostitution ring in might look like. Re-casting "Space Alien's" charmingly deadpan duo Lisa Haas and Jackie Monahan, on paper, "The Foxy Merkins" has all the right ingredients to please Olnek's niche audience. Unfortunately, after what is truly a hilarious and fresh first act, the film can no longer sustain its premise as superfluous subplots and extraneous episodes slow the overall momentum almost to a halt. Lisa Haas plays Margaret, a down-and-out gay woman who's not quite cutting it on the streets.

While the guys are doing their best to bring you news and reviews from Sundance 2013, even they can't see everything. In an effort to help broaden the film festival's coverage, today's Indie Spotlight will take a look at a humorous adventure comedy centering on two lesbian hookers. Dubbed The Foxy Merkins, director Madeleine Olnek's buddy comedy starring Jackie Monahan and Lisa Haas, from Olnek's Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, pays homage to iconic male hustler films. The picture is currently scheduled for screenings at Sundance, but the production still needs your help securing distribution. Hit the jump for more on the film and to see how you can donate. Check out The Foxy Merkins' Kickstarter page here for a list of incentives and more information on the production. Here's an introductory video from Olnek that shares a few glimpses of the film: Synopsis: Margaret is a down-on-her-luck,...

Here's your daily dose of an indie film in progress; at the end of the week, you'll have the chance to vote for your favorite. In the meantime: Is this a movie you’d want to see? Tell us in the comments. "The Foxy Merkins" Tweetable Logline: The filmmakers behind the indie hit Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same are making a new comedy about lesbian hookers! Elevator Pitch: "The Foxy Merkins" is Madeleine Olnek’s second feature (her first feature length film was the Sundance cult hit Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same). The film follows two lesbian hookers who wind their way through a world of bargain-hunting housewives and double-dealing conservative women – a subversive buddy comedy that is simultaneously an homage to and riff on iconic male hustler films. Production Team:Director: Madeleine Olnek Starring: Lisa Haas, Jackie Monahan, Susan Ziegler, Alex Karpovsky, Sally Sockwell Writers: Lisa Haas, Jackie Monahan & Madeleine Olnek Editor: Curtis.

Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same

Stars: Lisa Haas, Susan Ziegler, Jackie Monahan, Cynthia Kaplan, Dennis Davis, Alex Karpovsky, Rae C. Wright, Clay Drinko, Julian Brand | Written and Directed by Madeleine Olnek

Ever wondered what would happen if a bald-headed alien landed in Manhattan and struck up a romance with a neurotic store clerk in order to avert planetary disaster? No? What if they were lesbians? There you go.

Madeleine Olnek’s debut feature Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same may not exactly roll off the tongue or sound the kind of thing you might be into, but it’s just charmingly shabby enough to work. This ’50s B-movie spoof follows the adventures of three ridiculously named intergalactic sisters who are on a quest to save their home planet from being destroyed by ‘big feelings’ that are, er, threatening the ozone layer…or something…by having their hearts broken and...

It’s Monday, so we all know what that means! Yes, it’s time for another rundown of DVDs and Blu-ray’s hitting stores online and offline this week. It’s a jam-packed week, with plenty of movies waiting to take you money, so let us breakdown the new releases and highlight what you should – and shouldn’t – be buying from today, November 26th 2012.

Pick Of The Week

Ted (DVD/Blu-ray)

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane brings his boundary-pushing brand of humour to the big screen for the first time as writer, director and voice star of Ted. In the live action/CG-animated comedy, he tells the story of John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg), a grown man who must deal with the cherished teddy bear who came to life as the result of a childhood wish… and has refused to leave his side ever since. Ted Review

And the rest…

The Amazing Spider-Man...

Making their digital premieres today, through the Sundance Institute's Artist Services Program, are "Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same" and "Delta Boys." You can watch them on iTunes (Us and Canada), Amazon Instant Video, Microsoft Xbox, Sony Entertainment Network, SundanceNOW, Vudu and YouTube. For more available titles check out Sundance's Now Playing page. Ten other films debuted in July. Read about these two new films below. Indiewire interviews "Codependent" director Madeleine Olnek here. "Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same" (Director and screenwriter: Madeleine Olnek) — Three aliens are sent to Earth to rid themselves of romantic tendencies. Two unwittingly fall in a forbidden love with each other while the third falls for Jane, a mild-mannered Earthling. Meanwhile, two undercover government agents closely track their romance. (2011 Sundance Film Festival) "Delta Boys" (Director: Andrew...

Hands down one of the funniest films I have seen all year, writer-director Madeleine Olnek‘s Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same is a micro-budget nonsensical screwball farce about three bald lesbian aliens who are exiled to Earth in order to discover heart break thus saving their home planet’s ozone layer. You see, the leaders of Zots have determined that the "big feelings" of romantic emotions is destroying their world's ozone layer; thus the more romantically inclined inhabitants of Zots are transported in flimsy flying saucers to Earth, where shattering hearts seems to be the norm among humans.

London Film Festival

It's Britain's biggest film festival, but not as you knew it: new festival director Clare Stewart has rung a few changes. There are all the usual premieres, gala screenings, new British films and special events, but they're arranged in a different way. There are now three sections dealing with the awards contenders: Official Competition, including Michael Winterbottom's Everyday, Jacques Audiard's Rust And Bone and Martin McDonagh's Seven Psychopaths; First Feature, including Sundance-winner Beasts Of The Southern Wild and Wadjda, the first movie directed by a Saudi Arabian woman; and Documentary, with subjects including Ginger Baker, Ralph Steadman and Catholic church paedophilia. The broader selection has also been reclassified, according to new themes such as "Love", "Debate", "Cult" and "Sonic". That means you might have to do some cross checking to find films by director or country. But there are new titles to be found by Michael Haneke,...

Tags: Morning BrewThe Real L WordJillian MichaelsRachel MaddowAli AdlerMary PortasJackie Monahan2:54IMDb

Good morning!

Jillian Michaels is on the cover of Shape magazine this month. (Her second time as the fitness rag's cover girl.)

She discusses motherhood in this video and shares her favorite workout playlist in the new issue.

Ali Adler talked about The New Normal with The Huffington Post, saying the show is not just about the gay couple at its center.

If you just look at my cast as representative, they all have a new normal. And maybe America does too -- married, divorced, gay, straight, we're brought together by the word family, or love, or anything as treacly as that. It's really true.

She also shares what she likes to watch on TV, which ranges from Real Housewives to Homeland.

Mary Portas's baby-mama-to-be broke her ankle a day before her due date. Yikes!

Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same...

Tags: Wanda SykesLogoPiper PeraboOlivia WildeVanessa CarltonLindsay LohanIMDbNEWNOWNEXT Vote with Wanda Sykes

Good afternoon!

Happy birthday to Rumer Willis, Vanessa Carlton, Angela Bassett and Madonna!

Vanessa Carlton performing on the Today Show

Photo by NBC NewsWire/Getty Images

Politically-minded out comedian Wanda Sykes will host two election specials for Logo, Newnownext Vote with Wanda Sykes. Sykes's specials will educate, activate and entertain viewers while shining a spotlight on the state of national politics through an Lgbt lens. Taped in front of a live studio audience in Times Square in New York City, the specials will feature a rapid-fire, roundtable format with notable panelists from both sides of the political aisle. The first of two, one-hour specials will air four days after the Democratic National Convention (Monday, September 10 at 10Pm Et/Pt) followed by the second special on election-eve (Monday, November 5, time Tba) on Logo.

Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images

Happy...

This review originally ran here at We Are Movie Geeks last November when Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same played at the St. Louis International Film Festival.

As the title suggests Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same ( Clsass ) is a whimsical examination of the lesbian singles scene told with a science fiction angle. With that angle the film carries on in the tradition of Alien Nation and District 9 in using otherworldly settings and characters to comment on aspects of modern society. Like the classic alien visitor epic The Day The Earth Stood Still this film is in stark black and white and mainly takes place in an American metropolis. The film begins when Jane, a schulby twenty-something retail clerk, tells her therapist about an unusual encounter. Next we zip through the stars to a far distant planet and pick up a report from their version of CNN. Seems that...

QFest continues today in St. Louis. QFest, the annual Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is celebrating it’s fifth year with a terrific line-up of films spotlighting Gay and Lesbian filmmakers and themes. QFest is a Cinema St. Louis event and this year is presented by Tla Releasing, a Us film distribution company whose primary output is Lgbt-related films from all over the world. All films will be shown at the Tivoli Theatre (6350 Delmar Blvd. in the University City Loop district). Individual tickets are $12 general admission or $10 for students and Cinema St. Louis members with valid and current photo IDs. Advance tickets are available through the Tivoli Theatre box office or online at Landmark Theatres’ web site

Here’s the line-up for the QFest films playing today and tonight:

Wednesday, April 25th at 5:00pm Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same (U.S., 2011, 76 min) Directed by Madeleine Olnek Three female...

QFest, the annual Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is celebrating it’s fifth year with a terrific line-up of films spotlighting Gay and Lesbian filmmakers and themes. QFest is a Cinema St. Louis event and this year is presented by Tla Releasing, a Us film distribution company whose primary output is Lgbt-related films from all over the world.

QFest begins this Sunday, April 22nd and runs through Thursday, April 26, 2012, at the Tivoli Theatre (6350 Delmar Blvd. in the University City Loop district). QFest uses the art of contemporary gay cinema to spotlight the diversity and inherent complexities of living an alternative lifestyle in today’s society. This year’s event features an eclectic slate of contemporary Lgbtq-themed feature films, documentaries, and shorts.

Here’s the line-up for this year’s QFest:

Sunday, April 22nd at 1:30pm.

Cloudburst- (Canada, 2011, 93 min.) Directed Thom Fitzgerald

In this moving comedy, Oscar®-winning actresses...

Yesterday Ifp’s Script to Screen conference took place at the 92YTribeca in New York City, and I was lucky enough to be there. During the “Writers’ Roundtable” panel, which featured the writer-directors Leslye Headland (Bachelorette), Liza Johnson (Return), Madeleine Olnek (Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same), and Ry Russo Young (You Won’t Miss Me; Nobody Walks), I took copious notes. I was also busily typing away as novelist and Bored to Death creator Jonathan Ames, The Believer‘s writer-director Henry Bean, and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon writer Jen Statsky discussed screenwriting after playing the “Exquisite Corpse” writing game. Many sage words of screenwriting advice were shared yesterday, and here are the 10 most essential.

1. Try out different styles. Said Liza Johnson, “Writing is free. Just to keep working and finding out what kind of styles fit for you is very beneficial. Making a feature film is a long project,...

The Ifp’s popular conference for writers and writer/directors, Script to Screen, returns to the 92nd St. Y Tribeca on Saturday, March 17 with a program that promises to mix practical advice with freewheeling programs intended to generate creative sparks.

The day’s program features a keynote presentation by Bennett Miller, the Oscar-nominated director of Moneyball and Capote, and a Screenwriter’s Roundtable featuring up-and-coming auteurs Ry Russo-Young (Nobody Walks), Leslye Headland (Bachelorette), Madeline Olnek (Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same) and Liza Johnson (Return).

As a promising change of pace from traditional panels, Script to Screen also features a pair of interactive events. Opening day will be a creative writing game led by comedians Ethan T. Berlin and Eric Bryant, the creators of IFC’s new comedy game show Bunk. Later, novelist and Bored to Death creator Jonathan Ames will stage a version of the Surrealist “Exquisite Corpse” game.

Why She's On Our Radar: Her debut feature, the hilarious black-and-white sci-fi romantic comedy "Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same," charmed the pants off critics and audiences at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year where it world premiered. It opens this Friday, January 6 at Brooklyn's reRun Gastropub Theater. [Editor's Note: This interview was originally published last July before the film played at Outfest and Newfest.] More About Her: Olnek is no stranger to Sundance. Two of her short films ("Hold Up" and "Countertransference") played at the festival and while in Park City in 2009, she was awarded with the L.A. 'Women in Film' grant for outstanding direction. "Coutertranference" has since gone to to win Grand Jury prizes at both Outfest and Newfest. Olnek, who's also an established playwright, holds an Mfa in film from Columbia University, where she was given the Adrienne Shelly Award for...

(Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same world-premiered in the “Park City At Midnight” section at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. It opens for a one-week theatrical run at the reRun Gastropub in New York City on Friday, January 6, 2012. Visit the film’s official website to learn more.)

“I have to make it clear that I hate all dramas,” Madeleine Olnek told me in an interview the other day. “I think making dramas is immoral, if you are capable of making a comedy.”

Olnek is a New Yorker who writes and directs comedy films. Plays too. As she’s predominantly worked in the short film arena up to this point, her cinematic talents have been under-appreciated. Her Sundance-vetted shorts, Hold Up and Countertransference, are replete with an original sense of humor and the kinds of completely unpredictable, fully New York, totally pathological characters who inadvertently impose their insanity on everyone around them.

If there’s a theme to 2011’s crop of films featuring lesbian/bi women, it’s that this was a very good year for emerging voices. First time and younger filmmakers made a mark in huge ways this year, providing everything from spellbinding documentaries (No Look Pass), heart-wrenching drama (Pariah, Break My Fall, Circumstance), and fresh comedy (Jamie and Jessie are Not Together, Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same). Pair that with the quality coming from established filmmakers like Celine Sciamma (Tomboy), and you have a year marked by the presence of strong, unique voices.

Hard Hitters

Nowhere is that strength of vision more prominent than in the year’s dramas. Well-meaning (but tired) melodramas were drowned out by clear-eyed, nuanced filmmaking, most evident in Pariah, the story of a young African-American woman struggling with her identity, and Circumstance, which features the romance between two teenaged girls in Iran.

As AfterEllen.

"The Tree of Life" and "Beginners" emerged as the big winners for the 21st Gotham Independent Film Awards. "The Descendants" and "Martha Marcy May Marlene" led the pack with three nominations each but in the end, Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" and Mike Mills' "Beginners" ruled the night.

Related Posts:

Ewan McGregor interview for "Beginners" right here

Mike Mills interview for "Beginners right here

The Gotham Independent Film Awards officially kicks off the 2011-12 award season which of course, leads to the granddaddy of the awards season, the Academy Awards!

Hosted by Edie Falco and Oliver Platt, the Gotham Awards also gave career tributes to Charlize Theron, Gary Oldman, David Cronenberg and Tom Rothman.

"Beginners" also took home the Best Ensemble Performance Award, "Better This World" won Best Documentary, Dee Rees who gave us the wonderful "Pariah" won Breakthrough Director, Felicity Jones for "Like Crazy" won Breakthrough Actor,...

What an odd way to open this year's awards season: Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life and Mike Mills's Beginners have tied for Best Feature at Monday night's Gotham Independent Film Awards, though I suppose one could say that Beginners came out of the evening with a slight edge in that it's also taken the Best Ensemble prize. The other films nominated for Best Feature were Jeff Nichols's Take Shelter, Alexander Payne's The Descendants and Kelly Reichardt's Meek's Cutoff.

Best Ensemble Performance: Beginners (Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Mélanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic, Kai Lennox, Mary Page Keller, Keegan Boos). Also nominated: The Descendants (George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Beau Bridges, Robert Forster, Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard, Nick Krause, Amara Miller, Mary Birdsong, Rob Huebel), Margin Call (Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci, Aasif Mandvi), Martha Marcy May Marlene (Elizabeth Olsen,...

It's never too early to start your Christmas shopping -- or to start the Hollywood awards season!

The 21st Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards were held tonight in New York City at the Cipriani Wall Street. Oliver Platt and Edie Falco hosted the ceremony that celebrates independent film and marks the beginning of the movie awards season that will continue going strong through the Oscars at the end of February.

In a surprise tie, "Beginners," which stars Ewan McGregor as a young man thrown for a loop when his terminally ill father (Christopher Plummer) reveals he's gay, and Terrence Malick's experimental fantasia, "The Tree of Life," both took home the Best Feature award. "Beginners" also won Best Ensemble for the work of a cast that also includes Melanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic, Kai Lennox and Mary Page Keller.

Dee Rees took home the Breakthrough Director award for her work on "Pariah,...

The 21st Gotham Awards ended with a hung jury: Mike Mills' “Beginners” and Terrence Malick's “The Tree of Life” are both crowned with Best Feature film beating out fellow noms “The Descendants”, “Meek’s Cutoff” and “Take Shelter”. Best Doc went to (a film which I don't even remember having had a theatrical release) in Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega's “Better This World”. It beat “Bill Cunningham New York” by Richard Press, “Hell and Back Again” by Danfung Dennis, “The Interrupters” by Steve James and “The Woodmans” by C Scott Willis. In the Best Ensemble Performance, it was Mike Mills' Beginners crew of Ewan McGregor, Mélanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic, Kai Lennox, Mary Page Keller, Keegan Boos and Christopher Plummer, the veteran actor who should get ready for Best Supporting Actor speeches for the Indie Spirits and Oscars. Beginners beat out several films that had stornger one,...

Brad Pitt in Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life Alexander Payne, Terrence Malick In; Woody Allen Out: Gotham Awards 2011 Best Feature (tie) * Beginners Mike Mills, director; Leslie Urdang, Dean Vanech, Miranda de Pencier, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, producers (Focus Features) The Descendants Alexander Payne, director; Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures) Meek’s Cutoff Kelly Reichardt, director; Neil Kopp, Anish Savjani, Elizabeth Cuthrell, David Urrutia, producers (Oscilloscope Laboratories) Take Shelter Jeff Nichols, director; Tyler Davidson, Sophia Lin, producers (Sony Pictures Classics) * The Tree of Life Terrence Malick, director; Sarah Green, Bill Pohlad, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Grant Hill, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures) Best Documentary * Better This World Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega, directors; Katie Galloway, Kelly Duane de la Vega, Mike Nicholson, producers (Loteria Films, Picturebox, Motto Pictures and Passion Pictures; Itvs in association with American Documentary | Pov) Bill Cunningham New York Richard Press,...

By Sean O’Connell

hollywoodnews.com: Awards Alley is gearing up for an abnormally busy week.

Several groups will begin handing out their year-end distinctions (even though we still have a month to go before 2011 wraps), while two or three of the last remaining unknown films (from David Fincher’s “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” to Angeline Jolie’s “In the Land of Blood and Honey”) reportedly will begin screening for long-lede consideration.

Up first will be Monday evening’s Gotham Independent Film Awards, which will be choosing its Best Feature from a pool that includes “Beginners,” “The Descendants,” “Meek’s Cutoff,” “Take Shelter” and “The Tree of Life.”

Before the Gotham’s can announce their picks. I figured I’d go out on a limb and guess which films the membership might go with Monday evening. Here are the 2011 nominees. My selections have been bolded.

Best Feature

Beginners...

In a galaxy far, far away the planet Zots is in great danger. Amorous citizens of Zot are emanating intense beams of love, which rise through the atmosphere, causing the ozone layer to melt. These "big feelings" are threatening to destroy the planet, and something must be done — quickly!

An emergency government program is created to send especially emotional Zotsians to the planet Earth, a nasty little planet where hearts are broken by cold-hearted and selfish daters on a regular basis. The goal of the program is to make participants so dead inside that they are no longer able to love anymore, thereby rendering them safe for the environment.

Three Zotsian women are served on the lady loving ladies of Earth via a spaceship that literally looks like a cafeteria takeout box, but most of the Earthlings don't bite. This could be that the Zotsians were sent to the most ruthless dating pool on Earth,...

Beginning tomorrow night and running until Monday evening at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City is the screening series of the films nominated for this year’s Gotham Independent Film Awards‘ Best Film Not Playing At A Theater Near You.

One of our favorite events leading up to the Gothams, as the nominees are chosen by the editors of the magazine (as well as MoMA’s associate curator Joshua Siegel), these five films currently do not have theatrical distribution but have received a lot of attention on the festival circuit this year. The hope with this award is that these films get the notice they deserve. The the winner, which will be announced on awards night Nov. 28, will receive a one week run at Cinema Village, ad support in the New York Times and a $15,000 grant.

The nominees this year are (see trailers below):

Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same

Dir.

As the title suggests Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same ( Clsass ) is a whimsical examination of the lesbian singles scene told with a science fiction angle. With that angle the film carries on in the tradition of Alien Nation and District 9 in using otherworldly settings and characters to comment on aspects of modern society. Like the classic alien visitor epic The Day The Earth Stood Still this film is in stark black and white and mainly takes place in an American metropolis. The film begins when Jane, a schulby twenty-something retail clerk, tells her therapist about an unusual encounter. Next we zip through the stars to a far distant planet and pick up a report from their version of CNN. Seems that the release of big emotions are causing some sort of hole in the planet’s ozone layer. To offset this, some of the inhabitants are being sent...

Sure, The Oscars are what everyone pays attention to, but over the past few years, the awards known as The Gotham Awards have become more and more influential, and more and more intriguing.

With last year’s winner Winter’s Bone becoming the indie darling of last year’s awards season, it remains to be seen as to what this year’s award darling will be, but we know who it may very well end up being. The nominees for this year’s awards have been revealed, and they are not only interesting, but even have a big time Criterion connection amongst them.

Obviously the biggest winners here are the films The Descendants and Martha Marcy May Marlene, both of which walk away with the most nods respectively. Terrence Malick’s Tree Of Life is up for Best Feature, as is one of this writer’s other favorite 2011 releases, Steve James’ The Interrupters.

Like it or not, here comes awards season. It kicked off in earnest this morning with the announcement of the 21st annual Gotham Awards, where "Martha Marcy May Marlene" and "The Descendants" each scored three nominations. That doesn't sound like much, but at an awards show with just six categories total -- including two they were ineligible for -- it's pretty damn good.

"The Descendants," the new film from "Sideways" director Alexander Payne, is up for Best Feature, Best Ensemble Performance, and Best Breakthrough Actor (Shailene Woodley), while "Martha Marcy May Marlene," earned nominations for Best Ensemble Performance, Breakthrough Director (Sean Durkin -- my interview with him goes up later this afternoon), and Breakthrough Actor (Elizabeth Olsen -- read our interview with her here).

I was personally pleased to see two of my favorite movies of the year so far -- "Take Shelter" and "Beginners" -- up for Best Feature...

By Sean O’Connell

Hollywoodnews.com: Nominees for the 21st Gotham Independent Film Awards were revealed this morning, and Fox Searchlight’s bound to be pleased.

Two films the studio will be pushing through the awards season – Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants” and Sean Durkin’s “Martha March May Marlene” – lead the pack with three nominations apiece, including Best Feature (for “Descendants”) and Best Ensemble Performance (for both films).

The studio’s “The Tree of Life,” director Terrence Malick’s rumination on creation and destruction, also scored a Best Feature nomination. All told, Searchlight nabbed eight Gotham nominations. The closest competitor was Focus Features and Sony Pictures Classics, each with three nominations to their names.

The remaining Best Feature nominees were Mike Mills’ “Beginners,” Jeff Nichols’ “Take Shelter” and Kelly Reichardt’s “Meek’s Cutoff.”

The Gotham Awards’ ceremony will be held on Nov. 28 … the same day the New York...

Continuing with their policy of spreading the joy in across all categories, the Gotham independent film award nominations has Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene and Alexander Payne’s The Descendantsleading the pack with three noms each, but mysteriously it is Durkin's gem that is pushed aside in a Best Feature category that includes Payne's film and Tree of Life, the other best indie film of the year in Jeff Nichols's Take Shelter, and a pair of films that many of us associate to 2010 in Meek's Cutoff and Beginners. The 21st gala will take place in late November. It would be a huge surprise if Martha Marcy May Marlene doesn't take home Breakthrough Actor (Elizabeth Olsen) and Breakthrough Director (the category see Durkin measure himself up against four other Sundance Film Festival newbies - he claimed the Best Directing prize at the festival), but in the Best Ensemble...

The heavy awards onslaught is gearing up and it is a good year to be Fox Searchlight. The 21st Gotham Independent Film Award Nominations have been announced and two of the studio’s films happen to lead the pack. Alexander Payne‘s The Descendants picked up nominations for Best Feature, Best Ensemble Performance and Best Breakthrough Actor. Their Sundance hit (and one of my personal favorites of the year) Martha Marcy May Marlene picked up Ensemble, Breakthrough Actor and Breakthrough Director for Sean Durkin.

That latter award is a great pack including Mike Cahill for Another Earth, Vera Farmiga for Higher Ground, Evan Glodell for Bellflower and Dee Rees for Pariah. It is also great to see my frontrunner for #1 film of 2011, Terrence Malick‘s The Tree of Life get a Best Feature nomination. Check out the noms below via indieWIRE.

New York, NY (October 20, 2011) – The Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp...

Madeleine Olnek is an indie filmmaker based in New York. She has directed a number of award winning short films and now she is making her feature film debut with Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same. Previous films of hers, including Hold Up and Countertransference were chosen as official selections of the Sundance film festival in past years. At this year's Sundance Film Festival, Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, will make its debut on January 24th. In honour of the film, we thought we would take some time to talk to Madeleine and ask her about the movie.

Let's hope Dustin catches this one.

With a bit of an Earth Girls Are Easy (Whatever happened to Geena Davis?) vibe, Madeleine Olnek's feature debut Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same looks like it will be filled with delicious, campy cheese. The film is premiering at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and tells the story of Jane (Lisa Haas), a shy, greeting card store worker who falls in love with lesbian alien, Zoinx (Susan Ziegler) -- not realizing that Zoinx (Der, totally an alien name.) is not of her own planet. The ladies are followed and observed by a couple of Men in Black type government agents (Dennis Davis, Alex Karpovsky) and presumably, hilarity ensues. The film promises to "...embrace the intrinsic hilarity of lesbian life and Diy filmmaking to tell a story about love that transcends galaxies."

Here's the Ed Wood-ish trailer which doesn't show much content but...

In this case, the name pretty much says it all. Madeleine Olnek’s nod to the sci-fi films of the 50′s is powered by a seriously original and thoroughly peculiar plot, though I suspect it will no be everyone’s cup of tea. That having been said, Olnek’s upcoming sci-fi opus “Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same” — which is an official selection at this year’s Sundance Film Festival — appears to be something that I would willingly waste my time watching. I’m sure this comes as no surprise to anyone, especially if you were privy to my excitement for “Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives”. In my humble opinion, so-called “alternative cinema” is a lot more daring and creative than anything else currently taking shape here in the good ol’ Us of A. Believe it. As always, a plot synopsis: hree lesbian aliens are sent to Earth. Their mission? To...

We've been sent the poster for All Flowers in Time, the new film from Tarnation director Jonathan Caouette (Tarnation). The film, which is playing at this year's Sundance Film Festival, stars Caouette and Chloë Sevigny (Big Love). Here's the bizarre synopsis: “I am not from this place” declares a French cowboy. An old toothless man asks, “Do you know why you’re here?”. These shape shifting personalities infect young children with an evil signal in the form of a Dutch TV show. The red eyed girls and boys believe they can now become other people and monsters much to their delight. Hit the jump to check out the creepy poster. The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 20th – 30th. Click on the poster to see it embiggened. And here are links to the first images from other films playing at Sundance: Another Earth (starring William Mapother, Brit Marling, and Jordan Baker...

Sundance Film Festival

Sundance Institute announced that 12 short films from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, as well as eight classic short films from Institute alumni and earlier Festivals will be available in the You Tube Screening Room. The first launch date is January 6, 2011 and will continue to release through February 3, 2011.

Each YouTube Screening Room series is scheduled to run for a span of six weeks.

”We are thrilled to be able to share a selection of short films free online on the YouTube Screening Room with the broader public,” said Trevor Groth, Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming. “The Screening Room will offer just a sample of the diversity and originality of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival Shorts Program, as well as a taste of Institute history.”

The YouTube Screening room (www.youtube.com/ytscreeningroom) is a curated wing of YouTube that focuses on independent films.

Short Films from Directors with Feature...

This morning, we have new images from Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same and Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel. Both films will be playing at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival as part of the Park City at Midnight program. Codependent is about a greeting card store employee who falls for a lesbian space alien while Corman's World is a documentary about legendary low-budget movie director Roger Corman. Hit the jump to check out the images along with a brief synopsis for each film. The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 20 – 30th. Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same (We know that the pixel aspect ratio is slightly off on these images and we'll try to update these images with higher-quality version as soon as possible). U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Madeleine Olnek) — A shy greeting card store employee unknowingly falls for a lesbian space alien while two government agents closely track their romance.

Sundance's lineup of films selected to screen at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival (January 20-30 in Park City, Utah) are not sucky this year as they include two awesome docs about women in media, one lesbian space alien adventure directed by Madeliene Olnek, a dark western by Kelly Reichardt, and two thrillers by chicks (I can say 'chicks' because of third wave feminism, apparently) plus some of our favorite male genre directors defy gender stereotypes and film convention with their brave new films.

Sundance, the super-over-hyped and most pretentious of all film festivals in the United States, occasionally has a moment of clarity and recognizes the value of some of the brand new movies made by intelligent, funny, and interesting women. As we previously ranted about Miss Representation, we're excited about the USA premiere of !Women Art Revolution by Lynn Hershman Leeson, One part of a transmedia project that includes the...