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Irvine International Film Festival at Laguna Hills anticipates a festival running through January 16 where industry members can network and host a venue for the public to watch film and interact with film makers mostly through Q and A after the screenings. On January 11, "Karen Black: On Acting" will be a screening followed by a panel discussion with the director, Russell Brown that was given by the late actress who was an Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner. In 75 minutes, the in-depth interview from this very respected performer of her generation covers everything from perfecting regional accents to finding a character’s inner needs. There is a scheduled International Cinematographers Guild Panel Discussion on January 12, with the presentation of 10 short films honoring the best of ICGs emerging cinematographers.
Multi Emmy award-winning actor, Ed Asner, a former Mary Tyler Moore show regular and past president of SAG, is IIFF's 2014 recipient of the festival's "Lifetime Achievement Award" as an actor and will attend January 12 for a special screening and discussion. John G. Avildsen, Oscar winning Director of "Rocky" is the festival's 2014 recipient of the "Lfetime Achievement Aard" as director and will be in person on January 16. Festivities begin with an Opening Night Party and concludes with an Award Show at which Oscar nominations will be announced.
The London Short Film Festival is now in its 11th year in the City of Westminster district. During the nearly two week run from January 10-19, screenings are run out of a number of independent cinemas and venues in the area showcasing short films and interactive events. There are special event sessions that are planned as well. On January 13, the British Council stages an event appealing to both filmmakers and those interested in developing a career in the festival sector. On January 14, TorinoFilmLab, an international organization supporting young talents from all over the world through training, development and funding activities, and with a principle focus on first and second feature films, makes a presentation. Following this, Cinema Jam conducts a panel discussion outlining three perspectives on how people working in the short film format can build a viable career. On January 15, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art conducts a session specifically designed for directors on how best to work with actors. On January 16, ThinkSync offers a music supervision session for selecting the right track for a short film. Later on, a panel of industry experts from London Film Academy and the Institute for International Film Financing present the most recent insider knowledge and tips on how to secure film funding.
Other London Short Film Festival special event screenings will include: a programme of inventive shorts made on a shoe-string budget on January 10, a comedy selection in association with the British Film Institute’s Future Film for younger audiences on January 11, the first of three documentary programmes in this year's festival, screened January 12, an eclectic mix of animation, documentary and experimental footage offered in this year's Music and Video program, January 13, the BFI's Gothic season with a selection of disturbing and thought provoking shorts titled "The Gothic and the Grotesque" on January 14, and "Celluloid Traces" drawn together in a program of experimental work, on January 19. The London Short Film Festival is meant to be a mecca for the UK’s young creative talent combining independent shorts, plus live music, training, parties, art and fashion.
Celebrating its 30th year from Park City, The Sundance Film Festival showcases dramatic and documentary films from emerging and established artists, innovative short films, filmmaker forums and panels, live music performances and film composer events, while seeming to add to the program listing of events and activities year over year. In addition to discovering filmmaking's newest talent through the Festival's program of documentary, dramatic, and short films, Festivalgoers experience live music performances, panel discussions with leading filmmakers and industry figures, cutting-edge media installations, parties celebrating the Festival community, and more.
The 2014 Sundance Film Festival opens with screenings from the competition film line-up, as well as the opening of New Frontier. A planned fundraiser and kick-off for the 2014 Sundance Film Festival takes shape as an evening to celebrate independent artists and their work. This event includes cocktails with filmmakers, reserved seating at the Day One screening, dinner with artists and everything ending with a party at Legacy Lodge at Park City Mountain Resort. This year, Sundance Institute is honored to congratulate President and Founder Robert Redford on his Golden Globe Best Actor nomination for his role and performance in J.C. Chandor's film 'All Is Lost'. In addition, the Institue congratulates Julie Delpy on her nomination for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for her performance in Richard Linklater's 'Before Midnight'.
On the festival grounds, YouTube on Main Street will be hosting the filmmaking community to daily activity that include live Sundance Film Festival production, screenings, panels, happy hours, and much more. Canon U.S.A., Inc has planned a January 20 panel discussion and screening spotlighting the craft of cinematography in the field of Microcinema. Panelists will share valuable insights, anecdotes, and technical knowledge, as well as discuss their real-world experience with the Canon Cinema EOS line of professional digital cameras and lenses. To celebrate the U.S. premiere of Doug Aitken's project, The Source (evolving), the artist, with art collector, Maurice Marciano, will discuss how ideas begin and the future of creativity in the 21st century. The January 18 talk is to be an exploration across creative disciplines -- film, visual arts, music and architecture.
In April, Sundance offers its third Sundance London program, presenting a cross-section of films fresh from Sundance Film Festival – a mix of documentary and narrative features, made by first-time and established directors, and short films from around the globe. Sundance London is presented by Robert Redford, Sundance Institute, and AEG Europe. The closing night Awards Ceremony and Reception ends with the Awards Night Party at Basin Recreation Field House.
About 31 miles down the road (in a manner of speaking) from the Sundance Festival in Park City, Slamdance Film Festival has carried on its tradition serving as a showcase for the discovery of new and emerging talent and nurturing new independent artists and their cinematic vision for 20 years now. For its 20th anniversary, January 17-23, Slamdance has planned Special Screenings, Beyond and Shorts programs, the premiere of the DIY documentary that follows the historical development of the Do-It-Yourself indie film movement. An expanded short film programs include 62 American and International productions including 24 World, five North American and eight U.S. Premieres. The 2014 Shorts showcase includes Narrative, Documentary, Animation, Anarchy and a new Experimental Program.
The Slamdance Screenwriting and Teleplay Competition is a mainstay of the festival. The competition consists of four categories: feature, short, horror, original teleplay/webisode. Awards are given to the top three scripts in each category. In addition to that, JuntoBox Films and Slamdance will present the new Grand Prize for the best feature length screenplay. MixBit.com, and The Slamdance Film Festival have joined forces to launch a new trailer contest that gives emerging Slamdance directors a chance to create their best trailer for the 2014 Slamdance Film Festival. To compete, filmmakers whose films have been accepted into the 2014 Slamdance Film Festival will agree to upload their trailers to MixBit.com, where Slamdance attendees and the MixBit community can remix the high quality clips and repurpose the trailers in new and creative ways. The competition goes live December 6th, 2013 at www.MixBit.com/Slamdance and will close January 3rd, 2014.
Slamdance counts among its alumni many notable writers and directors who first gained notice at the festival, including Christopher Nolan, Marc Forster, Jared Hess, Benh Zeitlin, Lynn Shelton and Lena Dunham. Oren Peli’s PARANORMAL ACTIVITY originally acquired from Slamdance went on to gross over $190 million at the Box Office. In 2013, more than half of the Slamdance competition features were picked up for VOD distribution. Each year significant cash and service prizes are awarded to all Sparky Award recipients. Slamdance offers selected feature and short films theatrical showings during the following year through the Slamdance On The Road program.
NAMM is the anticipated music products industry trade event of the year based in Anaheim, that features the latest innovations and gear from more than 1,400 exhibitors and nearly 4,500 brands from around the world. From January 23-26, visitors get a close-up of the latest Pro audio sound technology, training, skills refinement in the Hands-On Training (H.O.T.) Zone and a stage where you can see it in action, refine your skills and improve the quality of your productions and attend the NAMM TEC Awards. To get the party started, there will be the NAMM Pre-Show Block Party, starting at 17:30 on January 22. The night features live music from Bernie Williams and Gil Parris, plus networking, food trucks and a beer garden at the NAMM GoPro Stage on the Grand Plaza.
Reflecting on a trend of a strong growth trajectory and the Electronic Dance Music and club-music craze attached to it, over 300 brands will debut in the area of DJ-related gear at the 2014 NAMM Show. EDM grabs center stage every night of the NAMM Show on The Venue Stage presented by Pioneer DJ. Located between the arena and the Hilton, the Venue stage will play club music from 17:00-20:00 Thursday and Friday nights. On Saturday night, DJs sponsored by Monster Products take the stage.
This year's NAMM experience will also include a group music-making experience at the show on three occasions: an "All-Industry Drum Circle" will be hosted by REMO Inc. on January 24; Conn-Selmer, Inc. will sponsor a "pBone Trombone Workshop" where elementary students with little to no music background can create a brass instrument musical experience, on January 26; the third annual Uke Circle with ukuleles provided by Kala Brand Music, is set for January 26.
The Grammy Awards are set for January 26 this year and will take place in Los Angeles. The show will be broadcast in high definition and 5.1 surround sound on the CBS Television Network from 20:00-23:30 (ET/PT). The show also will be carried on radio worldwide via Westwood One, and webcast online at GRAMMY.com and CBS.com, and on YouTube. The GRAMMYs are a peer-presented award honoring artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position. A GRAMMY is awarded by The Recording Academy's voting membership to acknowledge this excellence in the recording arts and sciences. Two-time GRAMMY winner LL COOL J returns as host of this year's GRAMMY Awards.
Some performers announced early for this 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards® telecast include: current GRAMMY® nominee Daft Punk; nominee Kendrick Lamar joined by nominees Imagine Dragons; nominees P!nk and Nate Ruess (of FUN.); and a special "GRAMMY Moment" featuring two-time GRAMMY winner Merle Haggard, three-time GRAMMY winner and 2014 Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Kris Kristofferson, seven-time GRAMMY winner Willie Nelson, and current nominee Blake Shelton. This will be Daft Punk's first television performance since they last performed on the 50th GRAMMY Awards telecast in 2008. Merle Haggard will be performing on the GRAMMY stage for the first time, and this will be P!nk's and Nate Ruess' first time performing together on network television.
Kendrick Lamar has seven nominations: Best New Artist, Album Of The Year and Best Rap Album for Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, Best R&B Performance for "How Many Drinks?" (with Miguel), Best Rap Performance for "Swimming Pools (Drank)," Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Now Or Never" (with Mary J. Blige), and Best Rap Song for "F***in' Problems" (with Tauheed Epps, Aubrey Graham, Rakim Mayers and Noah Shebib). Two-time GRAMMY-winning group Daft Punk are up for four awards: Album of The Year and Best Dance/Electronica Album for Random Access Memories and Record of The Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for "Get Lucky" (with Pharrell Williams). Imagine Dragons, three-time GRAMMY winner P!nk, two-time GRAMMY winner Nate Ruess, and Blake Shelton each have two nods.
The 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards are produced by AEG Ehrlich Ventures for The Recording Academy. Ken Ehrlich is executive producer, Louis J. Horvitz is director, and David Wild and Ken Ehrlich are the writers. Established in 1957, The Recording Academy is an organization of musicians, songwriters, producers, engineers and recording professionals that is dedicated to improving the cultural condition and quality of life for music and its makers. The Academy maintains a focus on its mission of recognizing musical excellence, advocating for the well-being of music makers and ensuring music will be a lasting part of this culture.
The above events are only a sample of what is fully listed. Complete details are on the "Media, Entertainment and Performing Arts Industry News and Events" page at: http://www.actorschecklist.com/news.html. The events blog also shows links to pages that are translated into ten of the most widely used international languages read over the Internet other than English. This month's picture placement reflects the upcoming 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards. If the photo does not appear in this post please click this link to view it. In a look ahead into next month's events, we have: MIDEM 2014, in Cannes; American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) hold their annual Outstanding Achievement Awards, in Hollywood; Westminister Media Forum: European media policy..., in London; European Film Market, in Berlin; The music industry - revenues, consolidation and the digital artist, in London; The American Model Awards, in Las Vegas; Country Radio Seminar, in Nashville.
