News

Agnes Varda and Jr’s documentary film Faces Places (Visages Villages) has taken the Golden Eye prize, which recognizes a documentary from across all sidebars.

The film screened out of competition in the official selection.

The prize was awarded by a jury of French actress Sandrine Bonnaire, Oscar-nominated The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom director Lucy Walker, Oscar-nominated The Gatekeepers director Dror Moreh, Toronto Film Festival programmer Thom Powers and film critic Lorenzo Codelli.

“Our jury has been deeply moved by Agnes and Jr’s decision to meet local people, aimed by this movie-tale about consideration for Human throughout Art. This combined...

Months after being pulled from the Sundance Film Festival, Lucy Walker’s Buena Vista Social Club documentary has both a title and a release date. “Buena Vista Social Club: Adios” is due in theaters on May 26 via Broad Green Pictures, the distributor confirmed.

Uncertainty and controversy have surrounded the film since the unexpected cancelation of its Park City premiere.

Read More: Broad Green Pictures Is Missing Release Dates and Angering Filmmakers. Here’s Why.

“We at Broad Green are disappointed that we will not be able to premiere this compelling documentary at this year’s Sundance Film Festival,” the company wrote in a statement at the time. “The film’s post production process has taken longer than expected and thus the decision was made to wait to introduce the film to audiences until it can be presented in its best possible iteration.”

IndieWire’s Anne Thompson and Graham Winfrey...

Sundance Film Festival just gave attendees 68 new reasons to look forward to the January event with the announcement of their short films program that features several titles for genre fans to keep an eye on, including the creature short feature Kaiju Bunraku, the suburban satanic cult-centric Fucking Bunnies, and the post-apocalyptic Dawn of the Deaf.

We have the official press release below with full details, and stay tuned to Daily Dead for our upcoming coverage of the festival.

Press Release: Park City, Ut — Sixty-eight short films, announced today, will complement the lineup of longer fare at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. The short film slate aligns thematically with other Festival categories, including Midnight and The New Climate, the Festival’s new programming strand highlighting climate change and the environment. The Festival hosts screenings in Park City, Salt Lake City and at Sundance Mountain Resort January 19-29.

The Institute’s support for...

Short film lovers, never fear, the Sundance Film Festival has not forgotten about you. After rolling out their various feature categories, the annual winter festival has now announced their full short film lineup, including narratives, documentaries, animated offerings and midnight chillers. The slate is packed with picks from such diverse filmmakers as Laura Poitras (who will screen her latest, “Project X,” co-directed with Henrik Moltke, at the festival) and Kristen Stewart (who will make her directorial debut with “Come Swim”), along with Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Zachary Zezima, E.G. Bailey and many, many more.

If you’re hoping to find the next big thing in independent filmmaking, start here. Among the shorts the festival has shown in recent years are “World of Tomorrow,” “Thunder Road,” “Whiplash,” “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” and “Gregory Go Boom.”

Read More: Sundance 2017 Announces Competition and Next Lineups, Including Returning Favorites and Major Contenders

Mike Plante,...

The dinosaurs still making films better embrace virtual reality, according to director Lucy Walker.

Her impressive roster of documentaries have earned her two Oscar nominations: One for her feature, “Waste Land,” and one for a short, “The Tsunami and The Cherry Blossom.” She was recently tapped to direct the followup to Wim Wenders’ “Buena Vista Social Club.” Filming “Buena Vista Social Club: Adios” sparked an interest in Cuban music and dance, which led Walker to make “A History of Cuban Dance,” a lively Vr short chronicling Cuban history through its many dance styles. The feature will also have an accompanying Vr film.

Walker is also currently a creator with Chris Milk’s Vr company, Within (formerly Vrse), a prolific production house making some of the most narratively compelling virtual reality films out there.

“I love using documentary films to take the viewer on a journey to a world they’re not physically in.

Sundance Institute has revealed over 70 short films to premiere at Sundance 2016 Film Festival, which begins on January 21st. Also: details on Double Take's free Ultimate Night of the Living Dead comic, the Mystery Science Theater 3000 livestream, Fright Rags' holiday horror sweaters, and Voices from the Grave release details.

Sundance 2016's Midnight Shorts: Press Release: "Park City, Ut — Sundance Institute announced today its full lineup of 72 short films that will leave a lasting impact on audiences long after the lights go up at their screenings at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, January 21-31 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Sundance and Ogden, Utah. Among the short films the Festival has shown in recent years are World of Tomorrow, Whiplash, The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom and Fishing Without Nets. This year’s short film lineup will include both a Midnight and a New Frontier section, tying into the Festival’s other programmatic strands.

As Cph:dox launches today, Screen previews this year’s industry programme.

Two time Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Lucy Walker (Waste Land, The Tsunami And The Cherry Blossom) will see her new project presented at the Cph:forum (Nov 11-12), the international financing and co-production event at Cph:dox (Nov 5-15) in Copenhagen.

The film, titled SlumGods [pictured], will follow a hip-hop crew in Dharavi, Mumbai, one of the world’s largest slums and the setting for Danny Boyle’s 2008 Oscar-winner Slumdog Millionarie.

Produced by Sonita Gale for Galeforce Films, the project is currently in pre-production and is looking to raise $2m (€1.8m) in financing at the Forum.

Other projects at this year’s Cph:forum include a new film from local The Act of Killingn and The Look Of Silence producer Signe Byrge Sørensen titled Ghost Wives, about a Chinese man accused of murdering six women to sell their bodies for an ancient tradition known as ‘ghost weddings’.

There are a total...

Wim Wenders has signed on as an Executive Producer of "Buena Vista Social Club: Adios," the follow-up documentary to the Academy Award-nominated documentary "Buena Vista Social Club," which he co-wrote and directed in 1999, that put Cuban music culture on the global stage, following Ry Cooder as he brought prominent Cuban musicians out of retirement. "Adios" is being directed by two-time Academy Award nominee Lucy Walker ("The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom," "Waste Land") and produced by Christine Cowin and Zak Kilberg. The film is currently in production. Read More: Watch: Wim Wenders Reveals Terrors While Scoring 'Every Thing Will Be Fine' With the band on their final and hugely ambitious world tour, the five original band members take us on a journey revealing their personal and professional highs and lows since 1999, while remembering the infamous band members they've lost. The tour will culminate in a series of homecoming.

Peripatetic L.A. filmmaker Lucy Walker likes to plant seeds of ideas to see if they grow into movies she might want to make. She's picky about what material is strong enough to support the time and energy it takes to shoot a must-see documentary. If a story does not warrant a feature, she may turn it into a short instead.   Her sky-high standards have yielded back-to-back Oscar nominations, for feature "Waste Land" (2010) and short "The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom" (2011). In a world packed with excellent documentaries, Walker's tend to rise to the top.  Read: 'Crash Reel' Documentarian Lucy Walker Knows Where She's Going  Her latest, the moving and shocking short "The Lion's Mouth Opens," debuted in 16-minute form at Sundance 2014, won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Short at Michael Moore's 2014 Traverse City Film Festival as well as Cinema Eye Honors for best doc short, was...

By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

This year’s Oscar race could make history with two possible best picture nominees directed by women — Ava DuVernay’s Selma and Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken. If both women are nominated for best director, that would also be a historical moment. But though these accomplishments in the narrative field are possible, more women directors are breaking into the documentary categories. Four of the 15 shortlisted documentaries feature women at the helm: Jennifer Grausman (co-directed with Sam Cullman and Mark Becker) with Art and Craft, Tia Lessin (co-directed with Carl Deal) with Citizen Koch, Laura Poitras with Citizenfour and Rory Kennedy with Last Days in Vietnam. Additionally, three of the eight shortlisted documentary shorts feature female directors: Ellen Goosenberg Kent with Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1, Aneta Kopacz with Joanna and Lucy Walker with The Lion’s Mouth Opens. More often than not, women directors tend to...

Best Documentary Short Films Oscar 2015: Illness and death are top subjects (photo: 'White Earth' by J. Christian Jensen) Eight films — most of them featuring illness and/or death as their focus — remain in the running for the 2015 Best Documentary Short Subject Oscar, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced. Of those eight semi-finalists, three to five titles will be shortlisted for the 87th Academy Awards. (Scroll down to vote in our Best Documentary Short Subject Oscar 2015 poll.) The remaining eight Oscar 2015 contenders are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their directors and, in parentheses, their production companies: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1, directed by Ellen Goosenberg Kent (Perry Films) Joanna, directed by Aneta Kopacz (Wajda Studio). Kehinde Wiley: An Economy of Grace, directed by Jeff Dupre (Show of Force) The Lion's Mouth Opens, directed by Lucy Walker (Tree Tree Tree) One Child,...

Three short years ago, a devastating earthquake shook Japan and a massive tsunami followed, wiping out all signs of civilization in its path. Lives were lost and property was destroyed. As with any natural disaster, the damage is immense and recovery is a long, slow and emotional process. The Tsunami And The Cherry Blossom, directed by the talented young non-fiction filmmaker Lucy Walker, chronicles the efforts by survivors of the tsunami to rebuild what was taken from them as it coincides with the beginning of the cherry blossom season.

The opening four minutes of The Tsunami And The The Cherry Blossom consists of one, continuous shot of the massive wave bulldozing over the land, moving in closer and closer to onlookers as they watch from atop a nearby high hill. This footage, presumably taken on someone’s camera phone, offers an unflinching depiction of the destruction, as well as an...

It’s a mediocre year for the Best Documentary – Short Subject category. It had been having a pretty good run, too. The Academy’s recent picks have included some remarkable little films, from simply told character profiles like Inocente and God Is the Bigger Elvis, to wise community portraits like Kings Point and Redemption, and formally intriguing works like The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom and Rabbit à la Berlin (a personal favorite). There’s a a bit of a stereotype that this category is always just an endless parade of blandly-directed films that exist only to tug at heartstrings, but it’s actually more complex than that. Unfortunately, the batch this time around has fallen short. The nominees for Best Documentary Short at the 86th Academy Awards include one decent film, two half-decent films, one mediocre film and one bad film. With that whining out of the way, here are the films and where they stand...

Los Angeles-based peripatetic filmmaker Lucy Walker plants seeds of ideas to see if they grow into movies she might want to make. She's picky about what material is strong enough to support the time and energy it takes to make a film. If a story does not warrant a feature, she may turn it into a short instead.   Her sky-high standards have yielded back-to-back Oscar nominations, for feature "Waste Land" (2010) and short "The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom" (2011). In a world packed with excellent documentaries, Walker's tend to rise to the top.  Her latest, the moving and shocking verite doc "The Crash Reel," which will play Doc NYC and follows snowboarder Kevin Pearce after he suffers a debilitating brain injury while training for the Olympics, screened well at Sundance, Berlin, SXSW, Laff and at the Academy. It opened July 5th for a one-week Oscar qualifying run at Laemmle's Monica Theatre...

Oscar-nominated documentary-maker Lucy Walker has made films about nuclear weapons, the Japanese tsunami – and now, a snowboarder horrifically injured in a half-pipe. She tells Emine Saner why non-fiction is winning the day

• The Crash Reel: first-look review

• Lucy Walker - Sheffield Doc/fest interview

There comes a dawning dread, part way through The Crash Reel, where you wonder if you are watching one long suicide. Lucy Walker, who filmed the pro-snowboarder Kevin Pearce's recovery from a head injury as he became determined to get back on a snowboard – something his doctors tell him would kill him were he to fall again – says she felt the same way as she was making it. "It was horrifying because he was so determined," she says.

After practising a cab double cork – a double backflip with a twist – at a 22ft halfpipe in Utah in December 2009, the American landed on his head...

The eligibility of documentaries for awardage from both that lusted after winged woman (Emmy) and the coveted naked man (Oscar) is a labyrinthine maze from which we would never exit were we to foolishly enter. In fact, someone needs to make a documentary about That to sort it all out. Documentaries leave strange crumbs all over both the big and small screens on their long walking journey through often complicated and extremely protacted "releases".

I bring this up because a portion of the Emmy nominations were announced today (like The Grammys there are hundreds of categories) in the non-fiction fields of news and documentary. I was surprised, for example, to see Semper Fi: Always Faithful, The Loving Story and We Were Here as nominees. You may recall they were all Oscar finalists (though not nominees) back in 2011 and now they're up for 2013 Emmys! Actual nominees from that Oscar year show up too,...

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences today announced the nominees for the 34th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards. Among the categories for breaking news coverage, investigative journalism, and broadcast news, this portion of the Emmy Awards also include many notable documentary films. While CBS dominated the overall field with 46 nominations, PBS and HBO came in second and third. HBO received multiple nods for "Marina Abramović The Artist is Present," "Project Nim," "Saving Face" and "The Tsunami and The Cherry Blossom," while PBS did the same with ""The American Experience: Jesse Owens," "The Interrupters" and "Nostalgia for the Light." The full list of nominees can be found here; the doc-related categories are below. Best Documentary HBO Documentary Films (HBO): "Project Nim" Executive Producers: John Battsek, Andrew Ruhemann, Jamie Laurenson, Nick Fraser, Hugo Grumbar, Sheila Nevins Senior Producer: Nancy Abraham Producer: Simon...

Usually a backdrop for ski/snowboarding, Park City and the fest could serve as an ideal venue to showcase Lucy Walker’s latest untitled film, a docu on Kevin Pearce and his horrible injury/accident which will show in an uncompleted form at the Idfa this year. Walker has so far brought 2002′s Devil’s Playground, 2010′s Waste Land and Countdown to Zero and last year’s Jury Prize Short, The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom to the fest. Also on slate for Walker are shorts films Crooked Lines and Secrets of the Mongolian Archers.

Gist: The dramatic story of one unforgettable character, Kevin Pearce. One eye-popping sport, snowboarding. And one explosive issue, Traumatic Brain Injury.

Production Co./Producers: Tree Tree Tree’s Lucy Walker and Julian Cautherley for Kevin Rides Again, LLC,

Prediction: U.S. Documentary Competition

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

prev next...

On June 26th, HBO gave a group of journalists binoculars and snacks and took them to Central Park for a birding walk through The Rambles with filmmaker Jeffrey Kimball, longtime birdwatching tour guide Starr Saphir and novelist Jonathan Franzen. Though it was charmingly oddball, It wasn't a random excursion -- Franzen, Saphir and fellow traveler Chris Cooper all appear in HBO's documentary "Birders: The Central Park Effect," making its broadcast premiere tonight at 9pm. Kimball is himself a passionate birder making his filmmaking debut with this doc, which premiered at SXSW earlier this year. The film, which at a brief hour runtime is being paired with Lucy Walker's Oscar-nominated doc short "The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom," is a mild-mannered love letter to Central Park and those who've found in its cityscape sanctuary a population that includes both humans and winged creatures. According to the film, more than 200 avian.

In the mid-afternoon of March 11, 2011, a small contingent stood on a Japanese hillside, watching in increasing despair as monstrous waves swept away every vestige of their city, turning everything before them into a brackish stew and washing away fellow residents before their eyes. The footage they shot makes up the chilling opening scenes of The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, the Oscar-nominated documentary from Lucy Walker that chronicles the Great East Japan Earthquake and makes its television debut Monday, July 16 on HBO. With a magnitude of 9.0 that triggered 133-foot waves, the quake was the most powerful ever [...]...

Chicago – Oscar-nominated this year for best documentary short subject, “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” shows how nature can be a rejuvenating and destructive force when it debuts on July 16, 2012 at 9 p.m. Cst exclusively on HBO.

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the Japan America Society of Chicago hosted a special premiere of the film on Wednesday in Chicago. HollywoodChicago.com attended the packed theatre where these short 39 minutes from filmmaker Lucy Walker left the crowd mostly silent.

A somber but informative panel with Lyric Hughes Hale (the founder of China Online), Robert Karr (executive vice president of the Japan America Society of Chicago) and Hironori Sawada (deputy consul general at the Consulate General of Japan at Chicago) followed the screening.

Lucy Walker (“Countdown to Zero,” “Waste Land,” “Blindsight” and “Devil’s Playground”) intended to film Japan’s passionate connection to its cherry blossom trees, but was derailed by Mother Nature.

Tune in alert for another excellent summer documentary on HBO. On March 11, 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake struck off the coast of Japan, leaving 15,372 people confirmed dead and 7,762 reported still missing. In the wake of the largest earthquake in the country.s history, some people drew the courage to revive and rebuild from cherry-blossom season, which began within weeks of the tragedy. From HBO Oscar-nominated this year for Best Documentary Short Subject, The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom shows how nature can be a rejuvenating . as well as a destructive . force when it debuts Mondayu, July 16 (10:00-10:40 p.m. Et/Pt), exclusively on HBO. Directed by Lucy Walker (the Oscar®-nominated documentary feature .Waste...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences brings you the Oscars (yep, that's why they're called Academy Awards), and on Friday, the organization announced that it was prepared to invite 176 new folks to its fold.

In a list posted on its website, the Academy deemed Matthew McConaughey, Jean Dujardin, Terrence Malick, Jonah Hill, Berenice Bejo, Jessica Chastain, Octavia Spencer and a host of other film luminaries worthy of inclusion in its nearly 6,000-member army.

The Academy has drawn the ire of critics who bemoan its overwhelmingly male, white population. A Los Angeles Times investigation found that of all Academy members, 94 percent are Caucasian and 77 percent are male. A mere 2 percent are black, with Latinos constituting an even smaller portion. Only 14 percent of members are under the age of 50.

Full members of the Academy select and vote on Oscars nominees. The organization was started in 1927 and is now governed by a 43-person board.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences extended their 2012 membership invitations today to 176 lucky actors, directors, cinematographers, and other members of the filmmaking industry.

Terrence Malick, who somehow wasn’t already a member, received an invitation, as did fellow directors Rodrigo Garcia and Asghar Farhadi.

For actors, Melissa McCarthy’s invitation continues her incredible post-Bridesmaids rise. In addition, actors Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey, Andy Serkis, Jessica Chastain, and Octavia Spencer were all invited to be members, among others.

Voting membership in the organization has now held steady at just under 6,000 members since 2003, according to the Academy’s website.

HollywoodNews.com: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 176 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures. Those who accept the invitation will be the only additions in 2012 to the Academy’s roster of members.

“These film professionals represent some of the most talented, most passionate contributors to our industry,” said Academy President Tom Sherak. “I’m glad to recognize that by calling each of them a fellow Academy member.”

Voting membership in the organization has now held steady at just under 6,000 members since 2003.

The 2012 invitees are:

Actors

Simon Baker – “Margin Call,” “L.A. Confidential”

Sean Bean – “Flightplan,” “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”

Bérénice Bejo – “The Artist,” “Oss 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies”

Tom Berenger – “Inception,” “Platoon”

Demián Bichir – “A Better Life,” “Che”

Jessica Chastain – “The Help,” “The Tree of Life”

Clifton Collins,...

Just sharing some news of stuff I was involved in at Sheffield Doc/Fest... The Awfj Eda Award for Best Female-Directed Film went to Going Up The Stairs, directed by Rokhsareh Gaeme Maghami. According to the Awfj Jury (comprised of Awfj members Linda Barnard, Nikki Baughan, MaryAnn Johanson, Karen Krizanovich and Jennifer Merin), the film is about a “most unlikely artist, a 50 year old illiterate Iranian woman who is consumed by her need to create, but has also embraced her role in a traditional marriage to an older man who controls her destiny. Her creativity bursts forth, as though it has a will of its own. and she simply can’t stop painting. Akram’s riotous, colourful, primative canvasses - and her endearing personality - reach out to the viewer and grab hold. We present this year’s Eda Award to Going Up The Stairs. Bravo to director Rokhsareh Ghaem...

If women have struggled to regularly breakthrough with the big narrative films that dominate the box office and turn directors into stars, the low-budget/small-crew environment of documentary filmmaking is one area where female directors have excelled. One of the most promising documentarians of the past decade, having been nominated for an Oscar the past two years, is British filmmaker Lucy Walker.

After some work in television, Walker made her entrance on the scene in 2002 with the documentary Devil’s Playground, a gritty and fascinating look at the Amish practice of rumspringa, where teenagers are given a chance to live outside the strict Amish rules in order to decide whether to commit themselves to the community. Equal parts shocking and predictable, the reaction to freedom from these strict constraints can be quite extreme.

Her second effort, 2006′s Blindsight, examines the work of the organization Braille Without Borders mentoring blind teenagers in Tibet.

Two-time Academy Award-nominee Lucy Walker was the first presenter at the 2012 Vimeo Awards at Nyu’s Skirball Center in New York City. “Filmmakers love and indeed need awards,” said the director of Waste Land and The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom to the audience in the crowded theater after she told the story of how taking home a trophy at a small film festival early in her career gave her (and those around her) the confidence that she should further pursue work behind the camera. The point was reiterated by the second presenter of the evening and 2010 Vimeo Award Winner for Best Narrative, Gabriel Bisset-Smith. “I still don’t know what I’m doing,” said the creator of Thrush (the short that won him a large, shiny, metallic “V” for Vimeo trophy two years ago), “but the Vimeo award has tricked others into thinking that I do.” Walker, Bisset-Smith and...

The Guardian has been taking the lead in coverage of the controversy surrounding the complete absence of work by female filmmakers in this year’s Cannes Competition section. Last week, it published the English translation of an open letter by the French feminist group La Barbe, and over the weekend interviewed Trudie Styler (who runs Maven, a production company specifically supporting women in film) and Lucy Walker, the Academy Award-nominated documentarian who was one of Filmmaker‘s 25 New Faces in 2002, about gender imbalance within cinema.

Here’s an extract from Walker and Styler’s conversation about the difficulties facing women in the industry:

Lw: If you look at this row at Cannes, I suspect the bigger problem is that there are not enough films being made by women. That has a lot to do with the fact that, when women have the great hits, they’re not rewarded concurrently with men.

The Tribeca Film Festival kicks off for the eleventh time starting Wednesday when "The Five-Year Engagement" premieres, and festival organizers have just announced the star-studded jury for this year's edition.

Thirty-nine celebrities -- of various levels of fame and awards kudos -- make up the six juries, with producer Irwin Winkler ("Goodfellas") serving a jury president.

Among those selected by Tribeca this year: Patricia Clarkson, Hugh Dancy, Rosario Dawson, Dakota Fanning, Kellan Lutz, Michael Moore and Olivia Wilde. Also on the list: Brett Ratner. The controversial big-budget director will serve on the Documentary and Student Short Film Competition jury along with Justin Bieber's manager Scooter Braun, Susan Sarandon and Shailene Woodley, among others.

“We are honored to have this accomplished group dedicate the time and care it takes to view and discuss the films in competition this year,” Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal said in a statement.

For...

It’s a star-studded list that includes some interesting, and surprising, names, which is just what you’d expect from the Tribeca Film Festival. The juries have been announced, and you could hardly got a more varied mix.

Juries Announced For 2012 Tribeca Film Festival And Tribeca Film Institute Programs

Academy Award-Winning Producer/Director Irwin Winkler To Serve as Jury President

Patricia Clarkson, Hugh Dancy, Rosario Dawson, Dakota Fanning, Whoopi Goldberg, Susannah Grant, Kellan Lutz, Michael Moore, Mike Newell, Brett Ratner, Susan Sarandon, Olivia Wilde, and Shailene Woodley are among the Jurors

The Tribeca Film Festival (Tff), presented by founding partner American Express, today announced its jurors – a diverse group of 39 individuals, including award-winning filmmakers, writers and producers, acclaimed actors, respected critics and global business leaders. Irwin Winkler has been named President of the Jury. The Jury will be divided among the six competitive Festival categories and will announce the winning films,...

Just one day before the glitz and glamor of the star-studded Oscar ceremony, the WGA Theater in Beverly Hills hosted DocuDay, the Ida's all-day event boasting back-to-back screenings of all documentaries nominated for Oscar – both the features and the shorts. The first screening, Shorts Program 1, started at 9am to a packed house. That's what we love about documentary film lovers—they don't mind driving across town to see the year's best non-fiction works, even at 9 in the morning!

From left to right: The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom: ...

The Artist tops off its triumphant run throughout this awards season with a big night at the Oscars. And the winners are... in bold:

Best Picture

The Artist

The Descendants

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

The Help

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

War Horse

Directing

The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius

The Descendants, Alexander Payne

Hugo, Martin Scorsese

Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen

The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick

Actor In A Leading Role

Demián Bichir in A Better Life

George Clooney in The Descendants

Jean Dujardin in The Artist

Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Brad Pitt in Moneyball

Actor In A Supporting Role

Kenneth Branagh in My Week with Marilyn

Jonah Hill in Moneyball

Nick Nolte in Warrior

Christopher Plummer in Beginners

Max von Sydow in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Actress In A Leading Role

Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis in The Help...

The 84th Annual Academy Awards ended up being one of the most entertaining Academy Award shows that I've seen in years, even though films I wanted to win didn't. I was rooting for Martin Scorsese and Hugo this year, but I knew that The Artist would end up taking home a majority of the big awards. In the end, each one of these films took home 5 Awards, Hugo took home the more technical ones though. I think it was a pretty easy year to predict the winners.

It was great to see Billy Crystal back up on stage; he really did a great job bringing light, fun entertainment that everyone could enjoy. Crystal was awesome and one of the best parts of the show. The guy is classic comedy. He helped bring back everything that the Oscars should be.

Here's the full list of nominees with the winners in bold.

The Artist and Hugo emerged as the big winners at the 84th Annual Academy Awards scoring five a piece with the silent film dominating the major awards including best picture, best director and best actor for Jean Dujardin, while Scorsese's 3D film took home the majority of technical field awards of cinematography, art direction, sound editing, sound mixing and visual effects.

The most important award of the night for Flicks News HQ was that Bret Mackenzie won the Oscar for best original song, which he did for Man or Muppet from the soundtrack to The Muppets. Disappointingly there was no musical performances at this years even so Bret and The Muppets did not get to perform the song.

Meryl Streep won best actress for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. Christopher Plummer became the oldest Oscar winner at 82 by taking the best supporting actor prize. The Help...

If, for some crazy reason, you weren't glued to your TV last night watching the Oscars, here's a quick rundown of what you missed: not much. As expected, The Artist ended up winning most of the major awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor, although Hugo managed to snag a lot of the technical awards. In the end, they finished in a tie with 5 wins a piece. The only real surprise of the night was Meryl Streep's Best Actress win over Viola Davis for her performance in The Iron Lady. Other than that, it was somewhat a yawn-inducing show, with Billy Crystal doing a serviceable but unremarkable job as host. I think the clear highlight of the night came on the red carpet where Sacha Baron Cohen "accidentally" spilled Kim Jong-Il's ashes on Ryan Seacrest. Were you happy with this year's Academy Award winners? What did you think of the show overall?...

By Sean O’Connell

hollywoodnews.com: Michel Hazanavicius’ “The Artist” lost a number of key technical categories to Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” but still prevailed in the top Oscar slot on Sunday night, claiming trophies for Best Picture, Director, and Actor (for Jean Dujardin).

It was a great night for Harvey Weinstein, who helped power Meryl Streep to an unexpected win over perceived frontrunner Viola Davis on the Best Actress race. Octavia Spencer (“The Help”) and Christopher Plummer (“Beginners”) rounded out last night’s acting categories.

I went 19 out of 24 in my picks, believing the Academy would spread a lot of its technical love around to films not named “Hugo.” All is all, a successful Oscar season. Here are the winners from the 84th Annual Academy Awards (bolded below):

Best Picture

“The Artist”

“The Descendants”

“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”

“Hugo”

“Midnight In Paris”

“The Help”

“Moneyball”

“War Horse...

Crowded House said it best in the lyrics “Hey now, hey now, don’t dream its over.” Yes, the awards season officialy came to an end tonight at the Hollywood and Highland Center in Hollywood, CA. Tears, jubilation, substance and style were all memorable moments at the 84th Academy Awards hosted by Billy Crystal. With Sacha Baron Cohen’s shenanigans earlier on the red carpet and no huge upsets, Cirque du Soleil’s performance was the highlight of the evening.

The Oscar for Best Motion Picture of the Year went to “The Artist” produced by Thomas Langmann and Michel Hazanavicius won for Achievement in Directing. The movie becomes the first silent film to take the gold since the original Oscar ceremony 83 years ago when Wings won.

Christopher Plummer was the winner for a Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for his role in “Beginners”; Octavia Spencer, was the...

Well the hoopla is over for another year as Hollywood relishes in its self congratulatory extravagance with a ceremony that celebrates all that is “good” about the industry (and a ceremony that seems to ignore Everything joe public thinks is good). As predicted The Artist walked away with the most awards whilst – thank god – The Muppets picked up the best original song award. It’s also nice to see Christopher Plummer pick up his First Academy Award for his role in Beginners – definitely long-overdue methinks.

Anyway, here are the winners in full:

Best Picture:

The Artist Moneyball The Descendants The Tree of Life Midnight in Paris The Help Hugo Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close War Horse

Actress:

Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady Viola Davis – The Help Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Actor:

Jean Dujardin – The Artist Gary Oldman...

Very few surprises at last night’s Academy Awards ceremony where The Artist clean sweeped the major awards, taking Best Picture, Best Director for Michael Hazanavicius and Best Actor for Jean Dujardin.

The black and white silent film masterpiece also took Best Original Score and Best Costume to win five awards in total.

Martin Scorsese’s love letter to cinema Hugo also racked up five wins, winning the technical categories including Best Cinematography for Robert Richardson.

As we suspected she might the moment the film was announced 18 months ago, Meryl Streep won her third Oscar for her portrayal of former British prime minister Maggie Thatcher in The Iron Lady. Completely dominant at the Oscars, this was Streep’s 17th nomination but her first win in almost twenty years.

In the supporting categories, Christopher Plummer took Best Supporting Actor becoming the oldest winner of an Oscar at 82. The Help’s Octavia Spencer won Best Supporting Actress.

2012 Oscars: Photos from the Show (111 images so far) | Live Blog | Oscar History The season has finally come to an end. The 2012 Oscars have come to a close and things went pretty much as expected with a few hitches in the technical awards and what some may look at as a surprise win for Meryl Streep for Best Actress over Viola Davis, but even if you had Davis there (as I did) you most likely had Streep as your number two so you weren't exactly blown away. Getting the expected out of the way, The Artist took home a total of five Oscars including Best Picture, Director (Michel Hazanavicius), Actor (Jean Dujardin), Original Score (Ludovic Bource) and Costumes (Mark Bridges), the latter of which is really the only "surprise" win. I had The Artist winning five Oscars but instead of Costumes, I expected that fifth Oscar to come for Film Editing,...

Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, The Artist Best picture * The Artist (The Weinstein Company) A La Petite Reine/Studio 37/La Classe Américaine/Jd Prod/France3 Cinéma/Jouror Productions/uFilm Production, Thomas Langmann, Producer The Descendants (Fox Searchlight) An Ad Hominem Enterprises Production, Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Warner Bros.) A Warner Bros. Pictures Production, Scott Rudin, Producer The Help (Touchstone) A DreamWorks Pictures Production, Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers Hugo (Paramount) A Paramount Pictures and Gk Films Production, Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers Midnight in Paris (Sony Pictures Classics) A Pontchartrain Production, Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers Moneyball (Sony Pictures Releasing) A Columbia Pictures Production, Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers The Tree of Life (Fox Searchlight) A River Road Entertainment Production, Nominees to be determined War Horse (Touchstone) A DreamWorks Pictures Production, Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy,...

Movies about movies were all the rage Sunday night at the 84th Academy Awards. The Artist, the French-made black-and-white homage to silent cinema, was the big winner with a total of five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Directing (by Michel Hazanavicius). The film’s charming star, Jean Dujardin, won Best Actor, while Meryl Streep accepted her first Oscar in 29 years — and her third overall — for playing former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.

At the age of 82, Christopher Plummer became the oldest person to receive an acting Oscar by winning Best Supporting Actor for Beginners. And...

The 84th Annual Academy Awards winners are here. Take a look below to see who took home the Oscars.

Best Picture:

The Artist

The Descendants

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

The Help

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

War Horse

Directing:

Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist

Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris

Terrence Malick - The Tree of Life

Alexander Payne - The Descendants

Martin Scorsese - Hugo

Actor In A Leading Role:

Jean Dujardin - The Artist

Demi&#225n Bichir - A Better Life

George Clooney - The Descendants

Brad Pitt - Moneyball

Gary Oldman - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Actress In A Leading Role:

Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady

Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis - The Help

Rooney Mara - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn

Actor In A Supporting Role:

Christopher Plummer - Beginners...

Hollywood's biggest night finally arrived on Sunday and we've got the full list of winners from the 84th Academy Awards!

Best Actor:

Demian Bichir for A Better Life

George Clooney for The Descendants

Gary Oldman for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Jean Dujardin for The Artist

Brad Pitt for Moneyball

Best Actress:

Glenn Close for Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis for The Help

Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady

Rooney Mara for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn

Best Supporting Actor:

Kenneth Branagh for My Week with Marilyn

Jonah Hill for Moneyball

Nick Nolte for Warrior

Christopher Plummer for Beginners

Max von Sydow for Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Best Supporting Actress:

Berenice Bejo for The Artist

Jessica Chastain for The Help

Melissa McCarthy for Bridesmaids

Janet McTeer for Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer for The Help

Best Director:

Michael Hazanivicus for The Artist

Alexander Payne for The Descendants

Martin Scorsese for Hugo

[link...

Hollywood's biggest night finally arrived on Sunday and we've got the full list of winners from the 84th Academy Awards!

Best Actor:

Demian Bichir for A Better Life

George Clooney for The Descendants

Gary Oldman for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Jean Dujardin for The Artist

Brad Pitt for Moneyball

Best Actress:

Glenn Close for Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis for The Help

Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady

Rooney Mara for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn

Best Supporting Actor:

Kenneth Branagh for My Week with Marilyn

Jonah Hill for Moneyball

Nick Nolte for Warrior

Christopher Plummer for Beginners

Max von Sydow for Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Best Supporting Actress:

Berenice Bejo for The Artist

Jessica Chastain for The Help

Melissa McCarthy for Bridesmaids

Janet McTeer for Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer for The Help

Best Director:

Michael Hazanivicus for The Artist

Alexander Payne for The Descendants

Martin Scorsese for Hugo

[link...

The 84th Annual Academy Awards became a rightful homage to French cinema! "The Artist," distributed by The Weinstein company but the creative team is composed mostly of French folks, took home the big prize, the Best Picture award! "The Artist" won a total of 5 Oscars including Jean Dujardin for Best Actor, Michel Hazanavicius for Best Director, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score.

But "Hugo" also won 5 Oscars, mostly technical and artistic merits, such as Best Art Direction, Cinematography, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects.

"Hugo," of course, was itself an homage to George Melies, the French illusionist who gave us the trippy "A Trip to the Moon."

Both "The Artist" and "Hugo" led the Oscar nominations with 10 and 11 nods respectively.

There was really no "oh gosh what a surprise" moment of the evening except for Meryl Streep taking home the Best Actress Oscar from the perceived surefire winner Viola Davis of "The Help.

Here you go — the complete list of the 84th annual Academy Awards winners. The winners are listed first in bold, with the rest of the nominees following.

Best Picture

Winner: "The Artist"

"The Descendants"

"The Help"

"Hugo"

"Midnight in Paris"

"Moneyball"

"The Tree of Life"

"War Horse"

"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"

Best Actress

Winner: Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"

Viola Davis, "The Help"

Glenn Close, "Albert Nobbs"

Rooney Mara, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"

Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn"

Best Actor

Winner: Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"

Demian Bichir, "A Better Life"

George Clooney, "The Descendants"

Brad Pitt, "Moneyball"

Gary Oldman, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"

Best Director

Winner: Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"

Alexander Payne, "The Descendants"

Martin Scorsese, "Hugo"

Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"

Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life"

Best Animated Short

"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore," William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg

"Dimanche/Sunday,...

So here they are, the winners of the 2012 Academy Awards ceremony which took place at the Hollywood and Highland Centre La and was attended by Hollywood’s finest. The Artist didn’t win as many awards as we thought it might but came away with five awards in total including three of the biggies – Best Film, Best Actor and Best Director. Hugo also took 5 awards which was more than we thought possible.

The Iron Lady came in with two awards and we were so pleased to see Meryl Streep bring in her third Oscar after being nominated an astonishing 17 times!

The full list of winners are below along with the tally of how many awards each movie one. Please let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Awards Tally

The Artist – 5 Hugo – 5 The Iron Lady – 2 A Separation – 1 The Help – 1 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – 1 Undefeated – 1 Rango – 1 Beginners – 1 The...

The Oscars took place on Sunday with "The Artist" ending up being the big winner of the night, taking home five awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. "Hugo," which was nominated for eleven Oscars, won many of the technical awards, five in total. Being nominated a whopping seventeen times, Meryl Streep won her third Oscar for "The Iron Lady" in the Best Actress category. Meanwhile, Christopher Plummer (Beginners) and Octavia Spencer (The Help) won for their supporting roles. Check out the full list of nominees and winners (marked in red) below. And let us know if you think the academy got it right. Best Picture: * The Artist * The Descendants * Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close * The Help * Hugo * Midnight in Paris * Moneyball * The Tree of Life * War Horse Directing: * Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) * Alexander Payne (The Descendants) * Martin Scorsese (Hugo) * Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris) * Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life...