Academy Doc Series Explores the Infinite

Beverly Hills, CA – The IMAX feature "Hubble 3D" will screen as the final installment in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 30th annual "Contemporary Documentaries" series on Wednesday, December 7, at 7 p.m. at the California Science Center IMAX Theater in Exposition Park. Admission to the screening is free; parking at the Science Center is $10 (cash only).

Directed and produced by Toni Myers, "Hubble 3D" explores the far reaches of the universe and brings audiences alongside space-walking astronauts as they repair the Hubble Space Telescope. Cinematographer James Neihouse will be present to take questions from the audience following the screening.

This screening concludes Part One of the 30th annual "Contemporary Documentaries" series, showcasing feature-length and short documentaries drawn from the 2010 Academy Award® nominations, including the winners, as well as other important and innovative films considered by the Academy that year. Part Two of the series will begin in March 2012.

The California Science Center is located in Exposition Park, at the corner of Figueroa Street and 39th Street in Los Angeles. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. All seating is unreserved. For additional information, visit www.oscars.org or call (310) 247-3600.

Official Screen Credits and Music Entry Forms Due December 1 for 2011 Oscar®

Beverly Hills, CA – Thursday, December 1, is the deadline to submit official screen credits (OSC) and music submission forms to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for 84th Academy Awards® consideration.

For a feature film to be considered for the 2011 Awards, the film’s distributor or producer must file an OSC form with the Academy by 5 p.m. PT on December 1. If a feature film is released in Los Angeles County in 2011 and the completed OSC form is not submitted by the deadline, the film will be ineligible for Academy Awards in any year.

OSC forms are available online only, at http://aiwosc.oscars.org/aiwosc/. Information about submission and feature film eligibility can be obtained by contacting Credits Coordinator Howard Loberfeld at (310) 247-3000, ext. 1113, or via e-mail at hloberfeld@oscars.org.

For an achievement to be considered in the Original Score or Original Song category, the principal music writer(s) for a feature film must submit an official music submission form and other materials by 5 p.m. PT on December 1.

To request music submission materials, contact Dave Hanson at (310) 247-3000, ext. 1151, or via e-mail at dhanson@oscars.org.

While the credits submission deadline is December 1, feature films have until midnight, December 31, to open in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days to be eligible for 2011 Oscar consideration.

Entries in the foreign language, animated feature, documentary, and short film categories are subject to special rules and must meet other qualifying criteria. The entry deadlines in these categories have already passed.

Complete 84th Academy Awards rules are available at http://www.oscars.org/rules/.

The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Academy Docs Offer Hope for Declining American Public School System

Beverly Hills, CA – "The Lottery" and "Waiting for 'Superman'" will screen as the next installment in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 30th annual "Contemporary Documentaries" series on Wednesday, November 30, at 7 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Admission to all screenings in the series is free.


With New York's public school system failing to educate many of its children and the teachers union blocking the termination of members with poor success records, "The Lottery" highlights the Harlem Success Academies as a beacon of hope for many students. But the schools have room for only 475 children, so the three thousand who apply each year must trust their fate to a lottery. The film was directed by Madeleine Sackler, who also produced with Blake Ashman-Kipervaser and James Lawler. Sackler will be present to take questions from the audience following the screening.


Directed by Davis Guggenheim and produced by Lesley Chilcott, "Waiting for 'Superman'" examines the decline of the American public school system, which leaves many children cheated out of the life-changing benefits of a good education. Gifted educators throughout the country, however, are transforming their troubled schools and offering hope to students in disadvantaged neighborhoods.


The 30th annual "Contemporary Documentaries" series continues through December 7, showcasing feature-length and short documentaries drawn from the 2010 Academy Award® nominations, including the winners, as well as other important and innovative films considered by the Academy that year.


All films will screen at the Linwood Dunn Theater at the Academy's Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study on Wednesdays at 7 p.m., except for the IMAX presentation on December 7. Doors open at 6 p.m. All seating is unreserved. The filmmakers will be present at screenings whenever possible.


The Linwood Dunn Theater is located at 1313 Vine Street in Hollywood. Free parking is available through the entrance on Homewood Avenue (one block north of Fountain Avenue). For additional information, visit www.oscars.org or call (310) 247-3600.

This Just "IN" : 15 Documentary Features Advance in 2011 Oscar® Race

Beverly Hills, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 15 films in the Documentary Feature category will advance in the voting process for the 84th Academy Awards®. One hundred twenty-four pictures had originally qualified in the category.

The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production company:

"Battle for Brooklyn" (RUMER Inc.)
"Bill Cunningham New York" (First Thought Films)
"Buck" (Cedar Creek Productions)
"Hell and Back Again" (Roast Beef Productions Limited)
"If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front" (Marshall Curry Productions, LLC)
"Jane's Journey" (NEOS Film GmbH & Co. KG)
"The Loving Story" (Augusta Films)
"Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory" (@radical.media)
"Pina" (Neue Road Movies GmbH)
"Project Nim" (Red Box Films)
"Semper Fi: Always Faithful" (Tied to the Tracks Films, Inc.)
"Sing Your Song" (S2BN Belafonte Productions, LLC)
"Undefeated" (Spitfire Pictures)
"Under Fire: Journalists in Combat" (JUF Pictures, Inc.)
"We Were Here" (Weissman Projects, LLC)

The Documentary Branch Screening Committee viewed all the eligible documentaries for the preliminary round of voting. Documentary Branch members will now select the five nominees from among the 15 titles on the shortlist.

The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

This just "IN" : Academy Awards $455,000 to U.S. Film Festivals in 2012

Beverly Hills, CA – The Academy Foundation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has awarded $455,000 to 25 U.S. film festivals for the 2012 calendar year.

The Cleveland International Film Festival will be the recipient of a multiyear grant for its Focus on Filmmakers program. It will receive a total of $150,000 over a three-year period. The Chicago International Film Festival is in its second year of a multiyear grant, receiving $150,000 in total for its World Cinema Spotlight program.

While the grants are awarded for a variety of festival programs, organizers are encouraged to submit proposals intended to make festival events more accessible to the general public, provide greater access to minority and less visible filmmakers, and help strengthen the connection between filmmakers and the general public.

The 2012 film festival grants allocations are as follows:

$50,000

• Chicago International Film Festival – World Cinema Spotlight program
• Cleveland International Film Festival – Focus on Filmmakers

$30,000

• Los Angeles Film Festival – Free Screenings program
• San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival – World Cinema Spotlight program

$20,000

• Ann Arbor Film Festival (MI) – 50th Anniversary Archival program
• Chicago International Children's Film Festival – Directors in the Schools, Educational
  Curriculum Development and free tickets
• Full Frame Documentary Film Festival (Durham, NC) – Thematic program
• Outfest: The Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival – "30 Years of Outfest" retrospective program
• Palm Springs International ShortFest – Filmmaker Forums
• Santa Barbara International Film Festival – Field Trip to the Movies program
• True/False Film Fest (Columbia, MO) – Visiting Filmmaker program; SWAMI Mentoring program; Film Academy Student Track; Outreach to Students and Minorities
• Virginia Film Festival (Charlottesville) – Community Outreach and Education program

$15,000

• RiverRun International Film Festival (Winston-Salem, NC) – 2010 Spotlight program: Landmark Science Fiction Films
• St. Louis International Film Festival – Women in Film Sidebar

$10,000

• Athens International Film and Video Festival (Ohio) – "Let's Talk About Water" screening and seminar program
• Berkshire International Film Festival (Great Barrington, MA) – Talent Campus
• Big Sky Documentary Film Festival (Missoula, MT) – Retrospective Programming and the
  Reel Sounds Sidebar
• Cucalorus Film Festival (Wilmington, NC) – Voices program
• Indie Memphis Film Festival – Visiting Filmmakers and Community Outreach
• Maryland Film Festival (Baltimore) – New Waves in World Cinema program
• Pan African Film Festival (Los Angeles) – StudentFest

$5,000

• New York Arab and South Asian Film Festival (New York City) – Retrospective Program
• South East European Film Festival (Los Angeles) – Audience Development
• Tallgrass Film Festival (Witchita, KS) – Filmmaker Hospitality

Since its establishment in 1999, the Academy's Festival Grants Program has distributed 277 grants totaling $4.85 million in funding. For more information on the grants program, visit http://www.oscars.org/education-outreach/grants/.

The Academy Foundation – the Academy's cultural and educational wing – annually distributes more than $1 million to film scholars, cultural organizations and film festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad. The Foundation also presents the Academy's rich assortment of screenings and other public programs each year.

This just "IN" : John Myhre Named Production Designer

Beverly Hills, CA – Academy Award®-winning production designer John Myhre will design the 84th Academy Awards®, telecast producers Brian Grazer and Don Mischer announced today. This will be the first time Myhre has served as production designer for the Oscars®.

"John is a prolific production designer, who has created some of the most intriguing sets that we've ever seen," said Grazer and Mischer. "His cinematic perspective will be a great contribution to our team dynamic and the show itself."

Myhre won Academy Awards in the Art Direction category in 2002 for "Chicago" and in 2005 for "Memoirs of a Geisha." He has three additional Oscar nominations for his work on "Elizabeth" (1998), "Dreamgirls" (2006) and "Nine" (2009). Myhre's other production design credits include "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," "Wanted," "Ali" and "X-Men."

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Billy Crystal to Return as Host for 84th Academy Awards®

It is nice to see that great talent is still being sought for the Academy Awards.  Finding a good host , let alone a great one, is an arduous task.  For those of us that have endured both the good and the bad, it is marvelous to see that this year’s Oscars sits on the shoulders of one of the greats! :)

Beverly Hills, CA (November 10, 2011) – The Academy has announced that Billy Crystal will serve as host for the 84th Academy Awards.  This will mark Crystal's ninth time as host.

"Some of the best moments of my career have happened on the Oscar stage. I am thrilled to be back there. Actually, I am doing this so that the young woman in my pharmacy will stop asking me my name when I pick up my prescriptions," said Crystal.

Brian Grazer to Produce 84th Academy Awards® with Don Mischer

Interesting development for the 84th Oscar Award Ceremony:  it was recently announced that Billy Crystal with Brian Grazer and Don Mischer have stepped in to replace Eddie Murphy and Brett Ratner.

This development, though interesting, is not surprising.  The Academy Awards knew that they had to get quality for quality...talent for talent.

Each of these individuals has a long and successful track record.  With an objective view, it is clear to see that there could not have been a better, lateral move.

In case you're not up to speed with the new production team, take a look at what we've gleaned from Academy Press Releases and the internet:

Beverly Hills, CA (November 9, 2011)

Academy President Tom Sherak announced today that Academy Award®-winner Brian Grazer will join Don Mischer as a producer of the 84th Academy Awards. This will be the first time Grazer has produced the Oscar® telecast.

Don Mischer has produced television programs since 1976, when he produced a special for Barbra Streisand. Other programs have included Kennedy Center Honors, the Emmy Awards, The Grand Opening of Euro Disney, the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics and the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1996 Summer Olympics, and programs for Bob Hope, Nell Carter, Christopher Reeve, the Pointer Sisters and Mikhail Baryshnikov. He also produced The Wayne Brady Show and the halftime shows for Super Bowl XXVIII, XXXIX, XL and XLI in 1993 and 2005 through 2008. In 2009, he produced We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial, the public concert in Washington, DC held two days prior to the inauguration of Barack Obama as 44th President of the United States.

Brian Grazer is a renowned filmmaker who over the past 25 years has produced a diverse and extraordinary body of work. Grazer has earned four Academy Award nominations. He won a Best Picture Oscar in 2001 for "A Beautiful Mind." In 1984, Grazer was nominated in the writing category for "Splash," and he received Best Picture nominations in 1995 and 2008 for "Apollo 13" and "Frost/Nixon," respectively. His other film credits include "Spies Like Us," "Kindergarten Cop," "The Nutty Professor," "Liar Liar," "8 Mile" and "Cinderella Man." His current projects include the about to be released "J. Edgar" and the just released "Tower Heist."