Danny Trejo To Receive Santa Fe Film Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award

At the Far East Film Festival (FEFF) in Udine, Italy, Mitsuhiro Mihara’s Takano Tofu clinched the Golden Mulberry prize, the top honor at the festival’s audience awards.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Meryl Streep will receive the honorary Palme d’Or on the opening night of the 77th edition of Cannes Film Festival, Variety has learned. Luring the Oscar winner is yet another feat for this Cannes edition, which will bring together a flurry Hollywood legends. Notably, George Lucas will receive the honorary Palme d’Or during the closing ceremony; Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” and Paul Schrader’s “Oh, Canada” are playing in competition; and George Miller‘s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and Kevin Costner’s Western epic “Horizon, an American Saga” are playing out of competition.

There was a fleeting moment in the early and mid-00s when being selected for the Slamdance Film Festival could mean something for a filmmaker’s career. Sure, it wasn’t the same as being part of the more prestigious and larger Park City, Utah film festival, but the edgier offshoot event gave a voice to independent films that didn’t have an industry connection or agency influence to make the Sundance cut.

Ellise Shafer Mike Leigh, the veteran director of “Vera Drake,” “Another Year” and “Happy-Go-Lucky,” will be honored at Malta’s Mediterrane Film Festival with its Career Achievement Golden Bee Award. Leigh will also host a masterclass at the festival, the second edition of which is taking place June 22 to 30 in Malta’s capital city of Valletta.

Greta Gerwig has her jury. This evening, the Cannes Film Festival revealed the rest of the nine-member jury filled with festival veterans and Academy members.

“I think it was Andy Warhol who said, “Make art and let others decide whether it is good or bad. But while they are deciding, make some more”.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Hollywood legends gathered Saturday night to celebrate Nicole Kidman as she received the prestigious AFI Life Achievement Award, the highest honor bestowed by the American Film Institute. The annual tribute was held at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre, where some of Kidman’s closest friends and colleagues, including Oscar winners Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, Reese Witherspoon and Oscar nominee Naomi Watts, paid tribute to her illustrious career. Wearing a form-fitting gold sequin gown, Kidman entered the theater Saturday night to a standing ovation as a recording of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” played overhead.

Morgan Freeman was among the stars who paid tribute to Nicole Kidman when the actress received the AFI Life Achievement Award.

So many stars stepped out to celebrate Nicole Kidman at the 49th AFI Lifetime Achievement Award Gala Tribute on Saturday night (April 27) in Hollywood, Calif.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Nicole Kidman has been an international treasure going on four decades. Whether you’re tracking her many wigs (“The Undoing” is our favorite), admiring her textured and committed performances, or just standing up and saluting before every AMC Theatres showing, you’re probably honoring her in some way.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Monte-Carlo Television Festival will present its International Golden Nymph for Most Promising Talent to British actor Simone Ashley at its opening ceremony on June 14. The award recognizes the “exceptional rising talent of an actor who has elevated the bar of excellence to international acclaim.” Ashley is known for portraying Kate Sharma, the female lead of Season 2 of the Netflix series “Bridgerton.” She reprises her role in Season 3, which premieres next month.

Nicole Kidman will become the first Australian to receive the prestigious Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. To commemorate the occasion, Kidman shared a sweet post featuring a clip of her first movie role.

Jane Campion will be heading to Switzerland this summer to receive an honorary award at the 77th edition of the Locarno Film Festival, running from August 7 to 17.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Locarno Film Festival will honor Jane Campion with its Pardo d’onore Manor award. The prominent Swiss fest dedicated to indie cinema will celebrate the revered auteur from New Zealand on Aug.

Actor Mohammed Elshehri belongs to a generation of emerging Saudi talents who first cut their teeth on YouTube and are now making their names in film and TV.

The rumors are true. After 40 years, the Sundance Film Festival may (and an emphasis on “may”) be leaving the confines of Park City, Utah.

Seattle International Film Festival has revealed its lineup for the 50th edition, which takes place May 9–19 at venues across Seattle and followed by a week of select virtual screenings on the SIFF Channel May 20–27. The program includes 261 films representing 84 countries and regions, including 92 features, 47 documentaries, five archival features, two special tributes, two secret screenings and 115 short films. The festival will open with Josh Margolin’s action comedy “Thelma” from Magnolia Pictures, which will screen at the Paramount Theatre during SIFF’s opening night on May 9.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Studio Ghibli, the animation studio behind “My Neighbor Totoro” and the Oscar-winning animated feature “The Boy and the Heron,” is being awarded an Honorary Palme d’Or at the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival. It marks the first time that the award will be given to a group.

EXCLUSIVE: Wonder Street Entertainment’s Christine and Mark Holder have announced the creation of the Boise Film Festival, which will make its debut October 10-13. The film festival’s epicenter and all screenings will be held at Boise’s Egyptian Theater Screenings (700 West Main Street) and The Flix (646 West Fulton Street). The Call for Entries has begun with the Regular Deadline set for June 30.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent NBCUniversal Studio Group chair and chief content officer Donna Langley will be celebrated at the Cannes Film Festival, where she will receive the Women in Motion Award from Kering‘s chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault, Cannes president Iris Knobloch and director Thierry Fremaux. The awards ceremony will take place at a glamorous gala dinner hosted by Kering on May 19, which will bring together major talent and executives attending the festival.