Kudos:

Congrats to Nicki Minaj and Diane Martel. Nicki is making Billboard history after being announced as the first female rapper to have 7 entries on the “Hot 100.”. Diane just directed the music video "Right Thru Me". You can watch it here
Erin Way is hilarious in the new Mootopia campaign. Congrats!
Kai Lennox can be seen in the upcoming episodes of both "Men of A Certain Age" and "Justified". Fantastic news Kai!

Films in Post Production:

Congrats to Jason Lew and Bryce Dallas Howard, whose Gus Van Sant project "Restless" just wrapped. Watch the trailere here.
Kudos to director/writer Don Handfield, whose feature "Touchback" just went into post.
Anne Renton's feature "Perfect Family" with Kathleen Turner, Emily Deschanel and Jason Ritter is now in post. Congrats Anne and Jason.

Films in Production:

Alex Hyde-White's feature "Three Days" is currently filming. We look forward to seeing it on the big screen!
Congratulations to Ellie Kanner-Zuckerman who has begun production on "For the Love of Money". Two of our fantastic actors, Luis Aldana and Carlo Corbellini, make great appearances.

Trailer Roundup:
Congratulations to all of our fantastic filmmakers! Here are some trailers to whet your appetite.

Welcome To the Rileys
dir. Jake Scott
(Trailer)

Never Let Me Go
dir. Mark Romanek
(Trailer)

Henry's Crime
dir. Malcolm Venville
writer Sacha Gervasi
(Sneak Peek)

Beginners
dir. Mike Mills
executive producer Joan Scheckel
(Interview with Mike)

Kudos:
Focus Features has acquired distribution rights to Mike Mills's "Beginners", executive produced by Joan Scheckel and starring Ewan McGregor. Congratulations to the entire cast and crew!

Awards Watch:

The Vintner’s Luck just received 6 nominations at the New Zealand Film Awards. Congratulations to Niki Caro (director/ co-writer), Joan Scheckel (co-writer), and stars Jeremie Renier, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Gaspard Ulliel and Vera Farmiga.

The nominations include:

Best Lead Actress in a Feature Film: Vera Farmiga
Best Supporting Actress in a Feature Film: Keisha Castle-Hughes
Best Cinematography in a Feature Film: Denis Lenoir
Best Production Design in a Feature Film: Grant Major
Best Visual Effects in a Feature Film: George Ritchie

Director, Ellen Kuras, and producer, Flora Fernandez-Marengo, have won the 2010 Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking Emmy for their riveting documentary Nerakhoon (The Betrayal). Congratulations!!!

Richard Press’, director of Bill Cunningham New York, has just won the audience award for Best Documentary at the Melbourne International Film Festival.

Additional awards include:

Sydney International Film Festival: Audience Award for Best Documentary
Nantucket Film Festival: Best Storytelling for Documentaries Award

 
Festival Roundup:

Congratulations to all the filmmakers and actors in our community with films screening at the
Toronto International Film Festival

Congratulations to director Mike Mills whose film “Beginners”, executive produced by Joan Scheckel, premieres in Toronto’s Special Presentation category. This fantastic project stars Christopher Plummer, Ewan McGregor and our own fav Kai Lennox.

Malcolm Venville’s “Henry’s Crime” has been chosen to screen in the TIFF Special Presentations category. Congrats to Malcolm, writer Sacha Gervasi, and stars Keanu Reeves and Vera Farmiga.

Director Mark Romanek’s “ Never Let Me Go,”  starring Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley has also been selected to screen in this year’s TIFF Special Presentations. Congratulations!

Screening times and details here.

Jake Scott’s “Welcome to the Rileys” will be in competition at the 36th Deauville American Film Festival. Congrats Jake!

 
Films in Post Production:

Flora Fernandez-Marengo wrapped on her directorial debut “The Invitation”, starring Erin Way and Carlo Corbellini. The short was shot by Lisa Leone and Ellen Kuras.  Kudos all around!

Filmmaker, artist and writer, Miranda July, just wrapped principal photography on her second feature, “The Future”. Congrats.

Gaspard Ulliel, co-star in The Vintner’s Luck, can be 
seen in the much talked about Bleu de Chanel commercial, directed by Martin
Scorsese. Great work Gaspard! Watch the video here.

Josh Close just finished acting in both “Isolation” and “Thorne: Sleepyhead”. Congrats!

Films In Production:

Orlando Bloom has just started filming his next project, Paul Anderson’s “The Three Musketeers”, written by Andrew Davies. The long roster of talented co-stars include Milla Jovovich, Logan Lerman, Christoph Waltz, Matthew Macfayden, Mads Mikkelsen and Ray Stevenson. Good wishes to all of you.

Don Handfield is currently in Michigan directing “Touchback” with Brian Presley and Kurt Russell. Yay!

Luis Aldana and Miguel Caballero are currently filming “On The Run”, a feature they act in, produce and wrote. Kudos!

Films in Pre-Production:

Director Haifaa Al Mansour will soon begin filming “Wajda”, last year’s Abu Dhabi Film Commission Shasha Grant winner. Best wishes to you!

Ellie Kanner-Zuckerman is prepping to direct her newest film “For The Love of Money” by Jenna Mattison and featuring Luis Aldana. Congrats to all!

Katja von Garnier’s new feature, “Hector and the Search for Happiness” is now location scouting. Congratulations.

Kudos:

Niki Caro’s latest film The Vintner’s Luck (co-written with Joan Scheckel) opens in Japan this October. Congrats!

Want to keep up with Marianna Palka's daily tweets and recent news about the film "Good Dick"...now you can. Click Here.

Diane Martel finished directing the newest Harley Davidson commercial. Kudos, kudos.

Congratulations to Chris Milk on his groundbreaking new music video for Arcade Fire. What a beautiful way of bringing technology, music and content together. Check it out at: http://thewildernessdowntown.com. The video is best seen in Google Chrome or Safari.