Film Independent Sets 2022 Emerging Filmmaker Grant Recipients

Carole Horst The 14th annual ReelAbilities Film Festival: New York kicks off April 7 and runs  through April 13 as a hybrid with both in-person and virtual events. ReelAbilities is dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expression of people with disabilities.The 2022 edition boasts a dozen features and more than 25 shorts, plus post-screening discussion, presented by Pfizer, and other events aimed at opening dialogue and discussion.“The Specials” (pictured above), starring Vincent Cassel, Reda Kateb, Helene Vincent and Brian Mialoudama opens the festival.

Matt Barr is set to star in Walker: Independence, the spinoff of The CW’s Walker.

Selome Hailu Matt Barr, who stars in the CW’s “Walker” as Hoyt Rawlins, is set to reprise the role in the upcoming pilot “Walker: Independence.”Described as a “good looking, slippery rogue,” Hoyt is a gambler and an outlaw who lays low in the town of Independence. Cocky, confident, brash and a bit foolhardy, he’s been having an on-again, off-again affair with rancher’s daughter Lucia Montero — but after meeting Abby, Hoyt’s wandering eye appears to have frozen in place.

EXCLUSIVE: How’s this for a strong lineage — Matt Barr, who played 2020s Hoyt Rawlins on the CW’s Walker, will also play 1800s Hoyt Rawlins in the network’s pilot Walker: Independence. Barr has been been tapped as the male lead in the project, executive produced by Walker‘s Jared Padalecki.

The WGA West on Monday revealed the 13 honorees of its 2022 TV Writer Access Project, a program designed to increase diversity and promote inclusiveness within the entertainment industry. Created in 2009, the project recognizes outstanding and diverse writing talent from within the guild’s ranks and provides access to their work to showrunners, producers, network and studio executives, agents and managers.

Naman Ramachandran Indian acting powerhouses Vidya Balan (“Kahaani”) and Shefali Shah (“Delhi Crime”) headline film “Jalsa,” which will bow on Amazon Prime Video.The film is a tale of conflict narrated through the life of a celebrated journalist and her cook. The cast also includes Manav Kaul (“The Fame Game”), Rohini Hattangadi (“Gandhi”), Iqbal Khan (“Crackdown”), Vidhatri Bandi (“Shiddat”), Srikant Mohan Yadav (“Inside Edge”), Shafeen Patel and Surya Kasibhatla.“Jalsa” is directed by Suresh Triveni who previously worked with Balan on the critically acclaimed “Tumhari Sulu” (2017).

EXCLUSIVE: Justin Johnson Cortez (911: Lone Star) is set as a series regular on CBS Studios’ CW pilot Walker: Independence, executive produced by Jared Padalecki. Walker: Independence, a prequel to the CW/CBS Studios series Walker, is set in the late 1800s and follows Abby Walker, an affluent Bostonian whose husband is murdered before her eyes while on their journey out West. On her quest for revenge, Abby crosses paths with Hoyt Rawlins, a lovable rogue in search of purpose. Abby and Hoyt’s journey takes them to Independence, Texas, where they encounter diverse, eclectic residents running from their own troubled pasts and chasing their dreams. Our newfound family will struggle with the changing world around them, while becoming agents of change themselves in a town where nothing is what it seems.

Gangs of New York), to choices that are more controversial (Hugh Grant in Love Actually? Yes, really!)And while you’re here, why not also sample the inverse of this strange occurrence – brilliant performances in otherwise terrible movies…Gyllenhaal is guilty of too much acting in Denis Villeneuve’s grimy child-abduction thriller. While the other A-listers that surround him (including Hugh Jackman and Viola Davis) bury themselves in grief and rage, Gyllenhaal seems to be in a different film entirely. He’s all twitches and facial tics, injecting off-putting weirdness in a movie that absolutely doesn’t need it.

Some news in the film world today regarding the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.

The Hong Kong Film Festival has been forced to alter plans for its 46th edition due to a spike in local Covid cases caused by the Omicron variant.

Netflix is joining forces with Creative UK, the independent network for the country’s creative industries, on an initiative that will develop and fund debut feature films.

Film Independent has set animator Javier Barboza, cinematographers Gemma Doll-Grossman, Phillip Jackson, Garland McLaurin, Lidia Nikonova, Michael Tanji and Akina Van de Velde, directors Hannah Bang, Jaime Castañeda, Logan Jackson and San-San Onglatco, editors Calvin Chin, Marcus Heleker, Christopher Ma, Ziyang “Lucia” Wang and Skylar Zhang, executives T’Essence Minnitee, Eboni Robinson and Danni Xin, producers Sarah Al-Qatou, C.A. Barrow, Ebony Elaine Hardin, Trent Nakamura, Jera Wang and Rui Xu, writers Danielle Ellen, Henry Alexander Kelly, Justin Omori and Tumelo Tladi, and writer-director Jesus Celaya as the filmmakers for the 2022 edition of Project Involve, a free nine-month program for creatives from diverse backgrounds.

Gangs of New York), to choices that are more controversial (Hugh Grant in Love Actually? Yes, really!)And while you’re here, why not also sample the inverse of this strange occurrence – brilliant performances in otherwise terrible movies…Gyllenhaal is guilty of too much acting in Denis Villeneuve’s grimy child-abduction thriller. While the other A-listers that surround him (including Hugh Jackman and Viola Davis) bury themselves in grief and rage, Gyllenhaal seems to be in a different film entirely. He’s all twitches and facial tics, injecting off-putting weirdness in a movie that absolutely doesn’t need it.

Angelique Jackson Disney Plus has announced the films and filmmakers for Disney Studios Content’s second season of “Launchpad,” a collection of live-action short films.Selected out of almost 2000 applicants, all from underrepresented backgrounds, the lineup of filmmakers features six writers (Jasmine Johnson, Kevin Park, W.A.W. Parker, Xavier Stiles and the married screenwriting team Joel Perez and Adrian Ferbeyre), five directors (Alexander Bocchieri, Erica Eng, Spencer Glover, Cashmere Jasmine and Gabriela Ortega), and one director/writer (Niki Ang).

The 22nd edition of the Mumbai Film Festival, due to be held March 12 – 22, is moving online in the face of enduring challenges first brought about by the pandemic.

Naman Ramachandran Acclaimed Bangladeshi director Rubaiyat Hossain, known for her powerful women-centric films, has a new project participating in the Berlinale Co-Production Market and is launching a female filmmaker grant.Her Berlinale co-production market project, “The Difficult Bride,” follows Novera, a bride-to-be in present-day Dhaka who is in love with the groom and the idea of a fairytale wedding, but secretly struggles with her body, which does not seem to comply with the wedding rituals. She makes continuous trips to the beauty salon and uses home remedies to “cure” her body.

The Oscars still haven’t announced their host (or hosts), but the Spirit Awards are all set. Film Independent’s venerable showcase is returning to the beach and to two new hosts.

The Santa Barbara Film Festival on Thursday revealed the lineup for its 37th edition, which is set to run March 2-12 in-person in its customary spot in the heat of Oscar season.

Selome Hailu Film Independent has named the winners of three unrestricted $25,000 Spirit Awards cash grants for emerging filmmakers: Alex Camilleri, Lizzie Shapiro and Jessica Beshir. The announcements were made by Ekwa Msangi (“Farewell Amor”), Gerry Kim (“I’m No Longer Here”) and Elegance Bratton (“Pier Kids”), who received the grants last year.Camilleri, director of “Luzzu,” received the Someone to Watch Award. The award is in its 28th year and recognizes talented filmmakers of singular vision who have not yet received appropriate recognition.

Jennifer Lopez, 52, wowed on Feb. 4 when she made an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in an eye-catching set of outfits. The singer performed her new song “Marry Me”, from the new film Marry Me, with Maluma, and wore a flattering white bikini top under a matching cropped blazer and a long skirt. Before she sang, she also wore a long bright red dress with spaghetti straps as she happily chatted with the show’s host, Jimmy Fallon.