Embedded Files
October 28, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Editor’s Note: Photos available here.
KATHY BAKER, O’SHEA JACKSON JR., FREIDA PINTO AND JIMMY SMITS
TO PERFORM AT ACADEMY NICHOLL FELLOWSHIPS LIVE READ
Presenters Include Stephanie Allain, Billy Ray, Dana Stevens, Robin Swicord and Tyger Williams
LOS ANGELES, CA – Actors Kathy Baker, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Freida Pinto and Jimmy Smits will perform a live reading of selected scenes from the five winning scripts at the 2015 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Awards Presentation & Live Read on Wednesday, November 4, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. For the third consecutive year, the event will be directed and produced by Rodrigo Garcia and Julie Lynn, respectively, whose credits include the features “Albert Nobbs,” “Mother and Child,” “Nine Lives,” and the upcoming “Last Days in the Desert.”
Baker appeared in both the romantic drama “The Age of Adaline” and “Boulevard” opposite Robin Williams earlier this year. Her other feature credits include “Saving Mr. Banks,” “The Jane Austen Book Club,” “Cold Mountain,” “The Cider House Rules” and "Edward Scissorhands.” She has received numerous awards, including three Emmys®, for her role as Dr. Jill Brock in the television series “Picket Fences.”
Jackson made his feature acting debut this summer in the biopic “Straight Outta Compton.” The 24-year-old Los Angeles native portrayed his real-life father, who is better known as Ice Cube.
Pinto starred in the 2008 Best Picture Oscar® winner “Slumdog Millionaire.” Her other feature credits include “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” “Immortals,” “Miral” and “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.” In 2017 she will be seen in Andy Serkis’ “Jungle Book: Origins.”
Smits has appeared in such features as “Mother and Child,” “The Jane Austen Book Club,” “Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith” and “My Family, Mi Familia.” His extensive television work includes the series “Sons of Anarchy,” “The West Wing,” “NYPD Blue” and “L.A. Law.” He is currently filming “The Get Down,” a music-driven drama series debuting next year.
Presenters for the evening’s program include producer Stephanie Allain (“Beyond the Lights”), Oscar-nominated screenwriter Billy Ray (“Captain Phillips”), screenwriter Dana Stevens (“Safe Haven”), Oscar-nominated screenwriter and Nicholl Committee Chair Robin Swicord (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”), and screenwriter Tyger Williams (“The Perfect Guy”).
Last month five screenwriters were selected as winners of the 2015 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition out of 7,442 entries. The winners are (listed alphabetically by author):
Elizabeth Chomko, “What They Had”
Andrew Friedhof, “Great Falls”
Anthony Grieco, “Best Sellers”
Sam Regnier, “Free Agent”
Amy Tofte, “Addis Abeka”
Each of the winners will receive a $35,000 prize, the first installment of which will be distributed at the Live Read event. Since 1986, 142 Nicholl fellowships have been awarded. Fellowships are presented with the understanding that the recipients will each complete a feature-length screenplay during their fellowship year.
Tickets to the 2015 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Awards Presentation & Live Read are now available at Oscars.org/NichollLive.
# # #
FOLLOW THE ACADEMY
October 21, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CHRIS ROCK RETURNS TO HOST THE OSCARS®
LOS ANGELES, CA – Multi-hyphenate artist and filmmaker Chris Rock will return to host the Oscars® for a second time, producers David Hill and Reginald Hudlin announced today. The 88th Academy Awards® will be broadcast live on Oscar®Sunday, February 28, 2016, on the ABC Television Network. Rock previously hosted the 77th Oscars telecast in 2005.
“Chris Rock is truly the MVP of the entertainment industry,” said Hill and Hudlin. “Comedian, actor, writer, producer, director, documentarian – he’s done it all. He’s going to be a phenomenal Oscar host!”
“I'm so glad to be hosting the Oscars,” said Rock. “It's great to be back.”
“We share David and Reggie’s excitement in welcoming Chris, whose comedic voice has really defined a generation,” said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs. “He is certain to bring his amazing array of talents to this year’s show.”
“Chris may be best known as a stand-up comic, but we think of him as a creative innovator in many other ways. He is unafraid in his artistry,” said Academy CEO Dawn Hudson. “We couldn’t be happier to welcome him back to the Oscars.”
"Chris Rock is a comedic powerhouse who will bring tremendous energy to the event, and we’re honored to have him,” said Paul Lee, President ABC Entertainment Group.
With a career spanning more than three decades, Rock most recently directed the comedy special “Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo,” which premiered this month on HBO. In 2014 he wrote, directed and starred in the critically acclaimed feature “Top Five,” and in 2009 ventured into the documentary world as a writer, producer and star of “Good Hair.”
Rock has enjoyed ongoing success in both film and television as a comedian, actor, writer, producer and director. His feature acting credits include “I Think I Love My Wife,” which he also wrote and directed, “Head of State” (writer, producer and director), “Death at a Funeral” (also producer), and the first three films in the blockbuster “Madagascar” series, as the voice of Marty. His other acting credits include “The Longest Yard,” “Nurse Betty,” “2 Days in New York” and “Lethal Weapon 4.” In 2011 Rock made his Broadway debut starring in “The Motherfucker with the Hat,” which was nominated for six Tony Awards®, including Best Play. In television, Rock created, executive produced and narrated the series “Everybody Hates Chris,” which ran from 2005 to 2009 and was inspired by Rock’s childhood. He was a cast member on “Saturday Night Live” from 1990 to 1993.
Known internationally for his groundbreaking stand-up comedy, Rock has won four Emmy® Awards for his comedy series and specials, including “Chris Rock – Kill the Messenger,” “The Chris Rock Show” and “Chris Rock: Bring the Pain,” and has achieved record audience numbers around the world. He also has earned three Grammy® Awards for his comedy albums Never Scared, Bigger and Blacker and Roll with the New.
The 88th Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center®in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
# # #
October 23, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
124 DOCUMENTARY FEATURES SUBMITTED FOR 2015 OSCAR® RACE
LOS ANGELES, CA – One hundred twenty-four features have been submitted for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 88th Academy Awards®.
The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:
“Above and Beyond”
“All Things Must Pass”
“Amy”
“The Armor of Light”
“Ballet 422”
“Batkid Begins”
“Becoming Bulletproof”
“Being Evel”
“Beltracchi – The Art of Forgery”
“Best of Enemies”
“The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution”
“Bolshoi Babylon”
“Brand: A Second Coming”
“A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story”
“Call Me Lucky”
“Cartel Land”
“Censored Voices”
“Champs”
“CodeGirl”
“Coming Home”
“Dark Horse”
“Deli Man”
“Dior and I”
“The Diplomat”
“(Dis)Honesty – The Truth about Lies”
“Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll”
“Dreamcatcher”
“dream/killer”
“Drunk, Stoned, Brilliant, Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon”
“Eating Happiness”
“Every Last Child”
“Evidence of Harm”
“Farewell to Hollywood”
“Finders Keepers”
“The Forecaster”
“Frame by Frame”
“Gardeners of Eden”
“A Gay Girl in Damascus: The Amina Profile”
“Godspeed: The Story of Page Jones”
“Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief”
“He Named Me Malala”
“Heart of a Dog”
“Hitchcock/Truffaut”
“How to Change the World”
“Human”
“The Hunting Ground”
“I Am Chris Farley”
“In Jackson Heights”
“In My Father’s House”
“India’s Daughter”
“Ingrid Bergman – In Her Own Words”
“Iraqi Odyssey”
“Iris”
“Janis: Little Girl Blue”
“Karski & the Lords of Humanity”
“Killing Them Safely”
“Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck”
“Lambert & Stamp”
“A Lego Brickumentary”
“Listen to Me Marlon”
“Live from New York!”
“The Look of Silence”
“Meet the Patels”
“Meru”
“The Mind of Mark DeFriest”
“Misery Loves Comedy”
“Monkey Kingdom”
“A Murder in the Park”
“My Italian Secret”
“My Voice, My Life”
“1971”
“Of Men and War”
“One Cut, One Life”
“Only the Dead See the End of War”
“The Outrageous Sophie Tucker”
“Peace Officer”
“The Pearl Button”
“Pink & Blue: Colors of Hereditary Cancer”
“Poached”
“Polyfaces”
“The Prime Ministers: Soldiers and Peacemakers”
“Prophet’s Prey”
“Racing Extinction”
“The Resurrection of Jake the Snake”
“Ride the Thunder – A Vietnam War Story of Victory & Betrayal”
“Rosenwald”
“The Russian Woodpecker”
“Searching for Home: Coming Back from War”
“Seeds of Time”
“Sembene!”
“The Seven Five”
“Seymour: An Introduction”
“Sherpa”
“A Sinner in Mecca”
“Something Better to Come”
“Song from the Forest”
“Song of Lahore”
“Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine”
“Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans”
“Stray Dog”
“Sunshine Superman”
“Sweet Micky for President”
“Tab Hunter Confidential”
“The Tainted Veil”
“Tap World”
“(T)error”
“Thao’s Library”
“Those Who Feel the Fire Burning”
“3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets”
“The Touch of an Angel”
“TransFatty Lives”
“The True Cost”
“Twinsters”
“Very Semi-Serious: A Partially Thorough Portrait of New Yorker Cartoonists”
“The Wanted 18”
“We Are Many”
“We Come as Friends”
“We Were Not Just…Bicycle Thieves. Neorealism”
“Welcome to Leith”
“What Happened, Miss Simone?”
“What Our Fathers Did: A Nazi Legacy”
“Where to Invade Next”
“Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom”
“The Wolfpack”
Several of the films have not yet had their required Los Angeles and New York qualifying releases. Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and comply with all of the category’s other qualifying rules in order to advance in the voting process. A shortlist of 15 films will be announced in December.
Films submitted in the Documentary Feature category may also qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture, provided they meet the requirements for those categories.
The 88th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 14, 2016, at 5:30 a.m. PT at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
The 88th Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
# # #
October 15, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Academy Relaunches Grants Program
FilmWatch, FilmCraft and Academy Film Scholars Applications Available Now
LOS ANGELES, CA – The Academy announced today the relaunch of its grants program, which provides financial support to qualifying film festivals, educational institutions and film scholars. Online applications are now being accepted for the 2016 FilmWatch, FilmCraft and Academy Film Scholars programs.
FilmWatch grants support curated screening programs at North America-based film festivals, film societies and other film-related organizations. Targeted programs include those that create culturally diverse viewing experiences, promote motion pictures as an art form, provide a platform for underrepresented artists, and cultivate new and dedicated audiences for theatrical film. Grants typically range from $5,000 to $30,000. The application deadline is December 15, 2015. Click here for more information.
FilmCraft grants support high-quality educational programs that identify and empower future filmmakers from nontraditional backgrounds. Targeted programs include those that encourage an appreciation of film as both a vocation and an art form, and those that provide direct, hands-on opportunities for participants to gain the filmmaking skills they need to tell their stories. Grants typically range from $5,000 to $25,000. The application deadline to apply is December 15, 2015. Click here for more information.
Academy Film Scholars grants are awarded to previously published individuals who are pursuing significant new works of film scholarship. These grants fund research as well as academic and scholarly projects that elevate both filmmaking and film scholarship. Projects must address cultural, educational, historical, theoretical or scientific aspects of theatrical motion pictures. Those examining elements of the film industry that have been underrepresented in the canon of film scholarship will be given priority. Two $25,000 grants are awarded each year. The application deadline is January 31, 2016. Click here for more information.
The Academy Grants program supports the Academy’s overall mission: to recognize and uphold excellence in the motion picture arts and sciences, inspire imagination, and connect the world through the medium of motion pictures. Grant recipients will be announced in March and April 2016.
# # #
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse