Search results for: Steve James

Sundance deals are still being drafted, negotiated and signed a little over a week past the wrap up date, but in the case of Rupert Wyatt's The Escapist -- Sundance is a very distant memory.

It was a Slumdog Millionnaire kind of night and it was nice to see the totally unprepared Kate Winslet pick up matching statuettes -- but the behind the scenes players were also the big winners of the night. The first that comes to mind as an afterthought from the ones mentioned and underlined in some of those acceptance speeches is Peter Rice.

If you had to define the history of American Independent Film with a select few titles you’d want to mention Steven Soderbergh’s 1989 film. Sundance Institute announced today that Steven Soderbergh's sex, lies, and videotape (Sundance Film Festival Audience Award Winner) and Wendell B. Harris's Chameleon Street (1990 Sundance Film Festival Jury Prize Winner) have been selected for the Festival's From the Collection screenings.

Today’s announcement comes with little surprise, but I’m glad to see that Benjamin Button and Frost/Nixon are leveling the playing field sort of speak. While Doubt picked up 4 nominations it couldn’t crack the top 5 noms for Best Dramatic Feature and Milk was almost totally taken off the score card – only Sean Penn got a nod.

Does Pixar stand a chance at receiving an Academy Award Best Picture nomination this year? Kudos go to the Los Angeles Critics Assn. for picking Wall-E as the best film of the year and for backing Zhang-Ke Jia's Still Life – a picture that received a limited release in January and is being honored as Best Foreign and Best Cinematography by the group.