INSIDE WORD | "Full Grown Men" Wins $100,000 Undiscovered Gems Prize

The Gem of 2007... "You all know that distribution is in crisis," said Emerging Pictures' Ira Deutchman on Thursday afternoon in Manhattan, "And anything we can do to get all these films to some sort of audience is better than nothing." The remarks came moments before the company announced David Munro's "Full Grown Men" as the winner of the winner of the 2007 indieWIRE: Undiscovered Gems audience award, sponsored by Sundance Channel and presented by The New York Times and Emerging Pictures. The film will get theatrical distribution through Emerging Pictures, backed by $50,000 in P&A plus a $50,000 license fee for the exclusive broadcast on Sundance Channel. Accepting the prize, Munro told the luncheon guests, "I am sure we have a story like all the films in this seris, we were left for dead. We had a great festivasl run and a lot of people like our movie and a lot of buyers said they liked our movie. And yet, its stil our movie..." Get the latest in a recent iW Video Clip. [Eugene Hernandez]  
[permalink]   [ filed under Awards Watch, inside word ]

INSIDE WORD | Nugent at Hamptons Fest

New Hamptons Programmer... The Hamptons International Film Festival has hired the Newport fest's David Nugent as its new Director of Programming. Nugent, who was hired last month and has left Newport to join HIFF in the new year, worked with the Hamptons last year as a programming consultant following former artistic director Rajenda Roy's move to head the film department at MoMA. We invite readers to send anonymous news tips and buzz to indieWIRE: tips [@] indiewire [dot] com. Note: We have corrected David Nugent's title, which is Director of Programming. 
[permalink]   [ filed under New York, inside word ]

INSIDE WORD | BNAT Sneaks "Sweeney," "Wilson's," More

24 hour fest. Surprises... Still underway at the new Alamo Drafthouse Ritz in Austin, TX, Harry Knowles ninth annual 24-hour birthday film fest -- Butt-Numb-A-Thon (BNAT) -- is screening a number of new films for attendees. An attendee told indieWIRE that among the upcoming releases that have been previewed are Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd," Mike Nichol's "Charlie Wilson's War," and Sergei Bodrov's "Mongol." The event began at Noon, local time on Saturday and continues until noon today (Sunday). Knowles also noted that BNAT 9 will over a bonus film on Monday night at the Alamo South. We invite readers to send anonymous news tips and buzz to indieWIRE at the email address: tips [@] indiewire [dot] com.  
[permalink]   [ filed under inside word ]

INSIDE WORD | Apple Unveils Pro Lab

NYC venue for free training... Opening its largest store in Manhattan (and second largest retail outlet in the country), Apple unveiled a new program of service tonight. At the Apple Store West 14th Street, which officially opened its doors at 6 p.m., Apple launched Pro Labs, an onoing new program of free, in-depth and on-site training courses for applications including Final Cut Pro. Chatting with indieWIRE at a store preview on Thursday morning, some of the instructors said that the two-hour, small group sessions will continue weekly for four weeks per course. In addition to video editing classes, Apple wil offer labs in music production and digital photography. Meanwhile, further downtown, indieWIRE's regular series of filmmaker conversations will continue on Friday, January 11, 2008 featuring an hour-long Q & A with Michel Gondry, director of the upcoming Sundance 2008 feature, "Be Kind Rewind." 
[permalink]   [ filed under inside word ]

INSIDE WORD | TODAY: Sundance, Slamdance, NBR

Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND.

Lot's of news... The Slamdance Film Festival is unveiling the lineup for its upcoming festival. indieWIRE will have the news at 1 p.m. ET. Also today, the Sundance Film Festival will unveil the roster for its short film section. iW will have the news at 4 p.m. ET. Finally, the National Board of Review will name the best movies of the year later this afternoon. Get the latest today at indieWIRE.com. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Awards Watch, Park City, inside word ]

INSIDE WORD | Sundance, Gothams, Spirits... Coming Soon

Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND.

News on tap... A busy week is in the works, with the Film Independent Spirt Awards set to announce their nominations on Tuesday morning. Get the latest in indieWIRE's Awards Watch section around Noon, ET. And on Tuesday night, we'll have the winners of this year's IFP Gotham Awards (list of nominees). On Wednesday afternoon, check out indieWIRE's Park City section after 4 p.m. ET for the announcement of the competition lineups for the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Then, on Thursday at the same time, Sundance will unveil lineups for the Premieres, Spectrum, Midnight and Frontier sections. Stay tuned at indieWIRE.com.  
[permalink]   [ filed under Awards Watch, Park City, inside word ]

INSIDE WORD | A & E's Harrington Joining Doc Fund

Industry move... After he leaves A & E Indie Films at the end of the year, Ryan Harrington will be heading downtown to spearhead the recently announced Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund. The new initiative will award a grants totaling $80,000 to at least three filmmakers next year.  
[permalink]   [ filed under Documentary, inside word ]

INSIDE WORD | UPDATED: Oscar's Feature Doc Shortlist Nearly Complete

Doc insight... Word is out on many of the films that have made the shortlist in the feature documentary category for the Academy Awards. Reliable sources have confirmed for indieWIRE the inclusion of ten of the titles on the Academy list: Tricia Regan's "Autism: The Musical," Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro's "Body of War," Tony Kaye's "Lake of Fire," Bill Guttentag & Dan Sturman's "Nanking," Charles Ferguson's "No End in Sight," Richard Robbins' "Operation Homecoming - Writing the Wartime Experience," Wejun Chen's "Please Vote For Me,"Michael Moore's "Sicko," Alex Gibney's "Taxi to the Dark Side," and Sean Fine & Andrea Nix Fine's "War/Dance." AMPAS, which has been notifying filmmakers who are on the list, is expected to announce the complete feature documentary shortlist on Monday. The past two years, 15 films have made the Academy's doc shortlist each year (2006 list | 2005 list). We invite readers to send anonymous news tips and buzz to indieWIRE at the email address: tips [@] indiewire [dot] com. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Awards Watch, inside word ]

INSIDE WORD | IFC Closing in on Ferrara's "Go Go Tales"

Deal in the works... IFC Films is negotiating a pact for Abel Ferrara's "Go Go Tales," a 2007 Cannes Film Festival entry that also screened this fall at the New York Film Festival. Back in Cannes, indieWIRE called the film "a kind of seedy rendition of Altman's 'Prairie Home Companion'." It follows a cabaret owner (Willem Dafoe) facing the closure of his downtown New York City strip club, with a cast that includes Bob Hoskins, Sylvia Miles and Asia Argento. Reached Friday, a source declined to comment on the deal. We invite readers to send anonymous news tips and buzz to indieWIRE at the email address: tips [@] indiewire {dot] com. 
[permalink]   [ filed under inside word ]