Written by Alison Willmore, the all-seeing Indie Eye blog reads the news so you don't have to. (Well, maybe just the A & E section).
Alison Willmore
is the editor of IFC.com's film coverage and one of the site's video hosts. Follow her at twitter.com/indie_eye
Email: ifcblog (at) ifc dot com
Awards
The 2009 Oscars: Liveblogged
By Alison Willmore on 02/22/2009
Filed under: Awards
The most sincere Oscars ever? Or, really, just the thriftiest? Here's a record of my liveblogging of the 81st Annual Academy Awards. Though I'm feeling as lacking in Oscar predictive mojo as I've ever in my life, let's go ahead and put these out there anyway: Best picture: "Slumdog Millionaire." Director: Danny Boyle. Lead actor: Mickey Rourke. Lead actress: Anne Hathaway. Supporting actor: Heath Ledger. Supporting actress: Penélope Cruz. Animated feature: "WALL-E," unless God is angry. Doc: "Man on Wire." Foreign language film: "The Class." Adapted screenplay: "Slumdog Millionaire." Original screenplay: "Milk."12:00: All in all, the ceremony was warm and... MORE »
-
- Comment
Spirit Awards 2009: Liveblogged
By Alison Willmore on 02/21/2009
Filed under: Awards
Last year I get the chance to go out to Santa Monica to act as one of the hosts of our Spirit Awards red carpet coverage, and, despite getting locked out on the patio of my hotel room and having to climb over the fence and head back into the Casa Del Mar lobby in my socks, it was great. But these are more wintry times, and accordingly I've stayed planted in New York this year, from which I'll be live-blogging the awards. Which will be starting shortly! In the meantime, FIND has gallantly shouldered the red carpet duties --... MORE »
The 2009 Cinema Eye Nominations
By Alison Willmore on 01/19/2009
Filed under: Awards
The Cinema Eye Honors are now in their second year of honoring the best in documentary filmmaking, looking as much at craft as subject matter, unlike the lingering tendencies among, say, the Oscars. The 2009 nominees were announced here in Park City this afternoon, with filmmaker and award co-chair AJ Schnack joined by "My Country, My Country"'s Laura Poitras and Joe Berlinger, whose latest film, "Crude," premiered at the festival yesterday. There are some exciting tugs at the boundaries of what's considered nonfiction film in the list below -- most notably Guy Maddin's docu-fantasia "My Winnipeg," which isn't even in... MORE »
Gloden Golbes noms.
By Alison Willmore on 12/11/2008
Filed under: Awards
The Golden Globe nominations went up this morning -- you can find the full list here. The GG divide between "Drama" and "Comedy/Musical" has always been a bit of an over-inclusive cop-out, and there are no surprises in the former category: Best Picture - Drama: THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON FROST/NIXON THE READER REVOLUTIONARY ROAD SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE Scratch that: one surprise. No "Milk"? Gus Van Sant's picture also gets one nod, and that's for Sean Penn. The lighter half is a weirder, with wilder picks like the meh "Burn After Reading" and the previously unmentioned in an awards context... MORE »
Steve Coogan = 2009 Spirit Awards host.
By Alison Willmore on 12/10/2008
Filed under: Awards
Just announced: Steve Coogan is set to host the upcoming Spirit Awards on February 21st. With Russell Brand having kicked things off by hosting the MTV Video Music Awards, we now only need Ricky Gervais as the Academy Award host to have the requisite three British comedians to make a trend piece! [Photo: Steve Coogan in "Hamlet 2," Focus Features, 2008] MORE »
New York and LA.
By Alison Willmore on 12/10/2008
Filed under: AwardsThe New York Film Critics Circle has announced its awards for the year: Best Actress: Sally Hawkins, "Happy-Go-Lucky" Best Screenplay: Jenny Lumet, "Rachel Getting Married" Best Cinematographer: Anthony Dod Mantle, "Slumdog Millionaire" Best Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin, "Milk" Best Animated Film: "WALL-E" Best Director: Mike Leigh, "Happy-Go-Lucky" MORE »
Yay! Awards!
By Alison Willmore on 12/04/2008
Filed under: AwardsCourtney Hunt's "Frozen River" may turn out to the year's big winner, at least in the indie film award ghetto -- it won Best Feature at the Gothams on Tuesday, with star Melissa Leo taking the Breakthrough Actor award, and it's been nominated for seven Spirit Awards. "Trouble the Water" took the Best Doc prize, Lance Hammer was deemed breakthrough director for "Ballast," and "Sita Sings the Blues" picked up the Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You prize. More at indieWIRE. Meanwhile, the National Board of Review, traditionally the first of the circles to hand out best... MORE »
Spirit Awards 2009.
By Alison Willmore on 12/02/2008
Filed under: AwardsThe 2009 Spirit Award nominations were just announced -- check out the full list here. Big winners? "Ballast," which is up for Best Feature, First Screenplay, Director and Cinematography, as well as acting awards for JimMyron Ross and Tarra Riggs, and "Frozen River," which is up for many of the same. "Rachel Getting Married" is also up there with six nominations, and Sean Baker managed two nominations for the John Cassavetes Award. Also, "The Take"?! Here are the nominees for Best Feature and Best First Feature: Best Feature "Ballast" Producers: Lance Hammer, Nina Parikh "Frozen River" Producers: Chip Hourihan, Heather... MORE »
The short list.
By Alison Willmore on 11/18/2008
Filed under: AwardsThe collection of 15 docs on the Oscar shortlist unveiled yesterday look, all things considered, pretty good to me. Traditionally the award that's caused the most hue and cry, with outrageous omissions and disqualifications, arcane rules and seemingly random (or at least radically out of touch) selections, the Best Documentary Feature prize could actually come down to a group of films that 1) are good and 2) more than a handful of people have at least heard of and had the opportunity to see. "Man on Wire," the most acclaimed documentary of the year, is probably also a favorite to... MORE »
The Gothams big heart "Ballast."
By Alison Willmore on 10/20/2008
Filed under: AwardsLance Hammer's self-distributed Sundance hit "Ballast" is the favorite amongst the Gotham Awards nominees, with the film's four nominations including Best Feature, Best Ensemble Performance, Best Breakthrough Director and Best Breakthrough Actor. The Gothams are now officially called the "Gotham Independent Film Awards," and while their criteria for which films can be nominated are not as stringent as those of the Spirit Awards, which give a budget cap, this year's awards have been limited to films that have received a "theatrical release through a specialty division of a studio, an independent distributor or via self-distribution" -- no more "The Departed."... MORE »
The First-Ever Cinema Eye Honors.
By Alison Willmore on 03/19/2008
Filed under: AwardsLooking over the many documentarians in the crowd gathered at the first-ever Cinema Eye Honors for nonfiction film last night, awards co-chair AJ Schnack (himself a filmmaker) proclaimed "I don't see journalists, I don't see activists — I see filmmakers and I see artists." Not that there's anything wrong with journalism or activism, but it's a fair point — subject matter so often comes first and foremost when people look at a documentary film, and everyone working behind the camera is relegated to the role of a chronicler. One of the common themes of the evening, and one of the... MORE »
Categories
Recent Comments
- “I am totally psyched for this movie; I'm currently reading the book, and I have high expectations. I...”
- John Ortega on Cannes 2009: "Taking Woodstock." - 05/15/2009
- “Hello, can you let me know if the Asian film "Three Times" will air again? If yes, when. Thank you! ...”
- Celeste Li on NYFF: "Three Times." - 10/04/2005
- “thanks مركز تحميل”
- مركز تحميل on Gloden Golbes noms. - 12/11/2008
- “could you please explain why, for devil's rejects, the credits were rejected in favor of an ad? or w...”
- clarence williams on David Lynch presents Jess. - 06/01/2009
- “Just wanted to voice my support for this film. I just sent an email to a friend, a Serbian who now l...”
- Randy L. Fox on This Blog Is Not Yet Rated. - 01/21/2006
