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From the electric performances of the nominated songs to all the big stars, The 95th Academy Awards went off without a slap hitch.

The performance of Rrr's hit song Naatu Naatu brought the entire house to their feet, as did the wins for Ke Huy Quan and Michelle Yeoh.

So who came out on top?

Everything Everywhere All At Once led the nominations with 11 and led the winners with seven total trophies!

Find out the rest of the winners here!

Best Picture

Everything Everywhere All at Once *Winner*

All Quiet on the Western Front

Avatar: The Way of Water

The Banshees of Inisherin

Elvis

The Fabelmans

Tár

Top Gun: Maverick

Triangle of Sadness

Women Talking

Best Actress

Michelle Yeoh - Everything Everywhere All at Once *Winner*

Cate Blanchett - Tár

Ana de Armas - Blonde

Andrea Riseborough - To Leslie

Michelle Williams - The Fabelmans

Best Actor

Brendan Fraser -...

Oscars 2023In a big moment for India, Naatu Naatu from Rrr won the award for best original song, and The Elephant Whisperers directed by Kartiki Gonsalves won the best documentary short award.Twitter/RRRMovieThe 95th Academy Awards ceremony was held on Sunday, March 12, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Television host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel hosted the ceremony for the third time. Naatu Naatu from Rrr won the award for best original song. The Elephant Whisperers, directed by Kartiki Gonsalves and co-produced by Guneet Monga, won the best documentary short award. Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes, a film about two brothers in Delhi who care for injured black kites, was nominated for best documentary feature but lost to Navalny. Here’s the full list of Oscar nominees and winners: Best Picture Everything Everywhere All at Once — Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang, producers - Winner All Quiet on the Western Front...

The films in the running for the 2023 Best Visual Effects Oscar are “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “The Batman,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” and “Top Gun: Maverick.” Our odds currently indicate that “Avatar: The Way of Water” (31/10) is the frontrunner, followed in order by “Top Gun: Maverick” (39/10), “All Quiet on the Western Front” (9/2), “The Batman” (9/2), and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (9/2).

Included among the 20 individuals in this lineup are 12 past nominees, five of whom have triumphed at least once. The eight first-timers are Geoffrey Baumann (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”), “Top Gun: Maverick” trio Seth Hill, Bryan Litson, and Ryan Tudhope, and “All Quiet on the Western Front” quartet Markus Frank, Kamil Jaffar, Viktor Muller, and Frank Petzold.

The two returning contenders who have already won here multiple times each are Joe Letteri (“Avatar: The Way of Water”), who succeeded on four of his previous 10 bids,...

We will update all our Oscar predictions throughout the season, so keep checking IndieWire for the latest news from the 2023 Oscar race. The nomination round of voting will take place from January 12 –17, 2023, with the official Oscar nominations announced on January 24, 2023. The final voting is between March 2–7, 2023. Finally, the 95th Oscars telecast will be broadcast on Sunday, March 12, and air live on ABC at 8 p.m. Et/ 5 p.m. Pt.

See our initial thoughts for what to expect at the 95th Academy Awards here.

The State of the Race

James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” swept all nine categories in an unprecedented tsunami February 15 at the 21st annual Ves Awards (held at the Beverly Hilton). This beats the previous record of six prizes that the original “Avatar” earned in 2010. Although its dominance was unanticipated, the record 14 nominations for “The Way of Water” was an early sign, with the film...

James Cameron’s juggernaut Avatar: The Way of Water swept the awards in the feature competition at the 21st annual Visual Effects Society Awards on Wednesday night at the Beverly Hilton.

Its nine wins included one for the top category of outstanding VFX in a photoreal feature. The movie also collected trophies for animated character (for Kiri, played by Sigourney Weaver), practical effects (for the current machine and wave pool), compositing and lighting (water integration), effects simulations (water), model (the sea dragon), environments (the reef) and virtual cinematography. Additionally, its water toolset won the new Ves award for emerging technology. The movie entered the evening with a record 14 noms (it earned multiple nominations in some of the categories that it won).

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio was a big winner in the feature animation field, winning a trio of prizes including one for outstanding VFX in an animated feature. Meanwhile...

Director Joseph Kosinski and Dp Claudio Miranda employed high-flying live-action cinematography to create the sense of realism in Top Gun: Maverick, but extensive visual effects work was still required to bring the acrobatic stunts to the screen — everything from adding digitally augmented environments and backgrounds to fully CG aircrafts — reveals production VFX supervisor Ryan Tudhope, who is the guest in a new episode of THR’s Behind the Screen . With 2,400 VFX shots in total, that work was vital to the movie, which is nominated for six Oscars including best picture and visual effects.

“Hopefully, most of those visual effects shots, if not all of them, are completely hidden,” Tudhope says, emphasizing that Kosinski aimed to shoot as much practically as possible, including filming the actors in the cockpits while in flight. “We really wanted the shot design of these sequences to be based on real aerial photography, because that gave us this organic plate photography,...

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages are Davis’ assessment of the current standings of the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any film or performance. Like any organization or body that votes, each individual category is fluid and subject to change. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

Last Updated: Feb. 9, 2023

2023 Oscars Predictions: Best Visual Effects Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise, 2020. © Paramount Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

Category Commentary: James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” has led the box office for seven weeks in the U.K. and Ireland and has amassed over 2 billion globally. Does that make the movie too difficult to ignore for visual effects?

There’s still a...

The Oscar for Best Visual Effects is particularly tough to predict because of the complicated system by which the nominees are determined in three stages. The members of the executive committee of the branch cast preferential ballots to determine 20 films for further consideration. These are then winnowed down to 10 semi-finalists, which were announced on December 21, 2022. (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2023 Oscars Best Visual Effects predictions.)

All members of the branch are invited to a virtual screening of excerpts from these 10 films in January at which potential nominees may discuss their work. Ballots are counted using a system of re-weighted range voting to determine the five nominees, which will be revealed on January 24. The entire voting membership of the academy will then vote for the winners, which will be revealed during the 95th Academy Awards ceremony on March 12.

When it comes to picking the winner of Best Visual Effects, you...

Ryan Tudhope is ready to talk.

Now that the visual effects in “Top Gun: Maverick” have received an Oscar nomination and the team responsible for them is no longer embargoed from promoting their impressive work, VFX production supervisor Tudhope can finally reveal how his team achieved the essence of invisible effects but with a very substantial 2,400 CG shots.

As revealed during the VFX “bake-off” last month at the Academy Museum, artists from Method (now part of Framestore), Mpc, and Lola performed several tasks in support of the film’s practical ethos. They integrated VFX plates into the amazing aerial photography and stunt work featuring Tom Cruise flying in the cockpits of Navy fighter jets. Jets were re-skinned to match the real ones in the aerial photography. Navy pilots were comped out of the cockpits, where actors operated the six Sony Venices connected to Rialto Camera Extension System. The VFX also provided matte paintings,...

To the surprise of no one, James Cameron’s dazzling Avatar: The Way of Water dominated the 21st annual Visual Effects Society Award nominations, which were announced on Tuesday. The juggernaut earned 14 Ves noms, a record number for a feature film or any single project in the society’s awards history.

That includes a nomination in the top category for outstanding VFX in a photoreal feature. Alongside The Way of Water, the category nominees are Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Jurassic World: Dominion, The Batman and Top Gun: Maverick. Nominees in the category for supporting VFX are Death on the Nile, I Wanna Dance With Somebody, The Fabelmans, The Gray Man, The Pale Blue Eye and Thirteen Lives.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio leads the animated contenders, with six nominations including one for outstanding VFX in an animated feature. Meanwhile The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power...

“Avatar: The Way of Water” has made history once more.

As James Cameron’s long-gestating sequel continues its climb up the all-time box-office charts, “The Way of Water” set a new record for the most nominations for a single project from the Visual Effects Society Awards, announced this morning. The film’s 14 nods highlight achievements that range from VFX to character animation to emerging technology, where it accounts for three of the category’s five nominees. This tally surpasses the previous records set by the 11 nominations for the original “Avatar” in 2010 and the 13 nominations for “The Mandalorian” in 2021.

Joining “The Way of Water” on the Ves leaderboard are “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” which respectively top the animation and TV fields with six and seven nominations. The 21st annual Visual Effects Society Awards will take place February 15 at the Beverly Hilton,...

James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” leads the feature competition at the 21st Annual Ves Awards.

The film earned a total of 14 Ves Awards nominations, setting a new record for record nominations for a feature film. The original “Avatar” was the previous record holder when it received 11 nominations at the 8th Annual Ves Awards held in 2010.

“Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio” received six nominations in the animation category making it the top animated contender.

Ves members selected nominees in 25 categories at 27 in-person and virtual nomination events conducted worldwide. The winners will be announced on Feb. 15 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.

This year marks the presentation of the first Ves Emerging Technology Award, which celebrates the creators of the technology behind the visuals and honors the inventors of a novel and uniquely innovative tool, device, software or methodology of outstanding value to the art and science of visual effects,...

Suffice it to say that Avatar: The Way of Water commanded the Visual Effects Society’s attention. James Cameron box office-smash sequel scored a record 14 nominations for the 2023 Ves Awards, which were announced today.

Helped by three noms in the Emerging Technology category, Disney’s The Way of Water topped the single-year noms haul by Disney+’s The Mandalorian in 2021. It also shattered the old high-water mark for films, set by — no big surprise here — the original Avatar, which amassed 11 noms in 2010.

Related Story 2022-23 Awards Season Calendar – Dates For The Oscars, Grammys, Guilds & More Related Story Moviegoing Happens Over MLK: 'Avatar 2' Soars With 40M 4-day, 'M3GAN' Moves 21M+, 'Puss In Boots 2' Hits 112M, 'Otto' Bright At 15M+ – Update Related Story C'mon Voters: The Oscars Could Use A Little Sequel-itis

The hardware will be doled out at the 21st annual Ves Awards on Wednesday,...

Top Gun: Maverick, which grossed more at the box office last year than any other film, enjoyed an extensive press tour in which the film’s efforts to faithfully capture aerial combat were chronicled in news outlets around the world. One thing was hardly discussed: the visual effects that helped bring it all home, but which might undercut the idea that everything seen on the screen was real.

That changed at Saturday’s visual effects branch bakeoff for Oscar nomination voting, which offered a look inside the visual effects for Maverick.

Presenting to branch voters, Top Gun: Maverick‘s VFX team described how Tom Cruise’s hit movie was made with real flying and inventive cinematography by cinematographer Claudio Miranda, which was then augmented by visual effects in some 2,400 shots. (To give this number some context, 2022 VFX Oscar nominee Spider-Man: No Way Home included 2,500 VFX shots, though the type of...

“Avatar: The Way of Water” is too much of a juggernaut to lose the VFX Oscar — and senior VFX supervisor Joe Letteri from Wētā FX made a persuasive case for why it’s the frontrunner during Saturday’s “bake-off” at the Academy Museum, where Visual Effects Branch members watched presentations and Q&a sessions that will help determine the five nominees set to be announced January 24. Instead, the big question surrounding the category has been whether or not the high-flying “Top Gun: Maverick” has the right stuff to get nominated: Its VFX team, led by production supervisor Ryan Tudhope, was under a strict press blackout until the bake-off.

That’s because the marketing campaign (per actor-producer Tom Cruise and director Joseph Kosinski) has stayed on message about the amazing aerial photography and stunt work featuring Cruise flying in the cockpit of Navy fighter jets, with real g-force. The intention of...

According to VFX Voice, it appears that Top Gun: Maverick is not as practical as marketed, since it includes more than 2,000 VFX shots. Moreover, its excellent VFX artists have been grounded from promoting the film, since the Studios don’t want to impair the narrative of realism of the movie.

Top Gun Maverick – Timeline- Avid Media Composer

According to the VFX Voice, more than 2,000 VFX shots were applied to Top Gun: Maverick. And that is a lot for a ‘practical’ movie. Moreover, it appears that the VFX artists of Top Gun: Maverick were not allowed to promote the film.

Top Gun: Maverick – Not so realistic as marketed

We wrote tons of articles regarding the cinematography behind Top Gun: Maverick. Indeed, the Dp and mainly, Top Cruise, have invested extensive efforts to make the film as realistic as it can be. The actors were inside a flying fighter jet, and those G-forces are real.

With summer hits “Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount), “Nope” (Universal), and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24) being given Oscar pushes for Best Picture, it will definitely impact the craft races as well. So while we await the coming of the two fall behemoths — “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel/Disney) and “Avatar: The Way of Water” (2oth Century/Disney) — let’s assess where the summer trio of blockbusters have the best craft opportunities.

Joseph Kosinski’s high-octane “Top Gun: Maverick” became a global phenomenon, riding a wave of nostalgia to a 1.4 billion box office take and becoming the first must-see theatrical event since the start of the Covid-18 pandemic, thanks to the filmmakers putting us thrillingly inside the cockpits of the fighter jets with Tom Cruise’s Maverick. As a result of this amazing practical aerial work, the movie became an early frontrunner in cinematography, editing, and sound, and also has...

Framestore has tapped “Top Gun: Maverick” VFX supervisor Ryan Tudhope as one of its newest creative director.

Tudhope, who is a member of the Television Academy and AMPAS, co-founded VFX studio Atomic Fiction, where he was also CEO. The studio had over 350 employees across L.A. and Montreal, working on projects including “Deadpool,” “Rogue One” and “Game of Thrones.”

Tudhope’s experience spans two and a half decades, in which he has worked on over fifty feature film and episodic projects including “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” for Amazon Studios and “Spiderhead,” working as production-side VFX supervisor alongside director Joseph Kosinski. He was nominated for an Emmy for his work on “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.”

Among the projects Framestore has recently worked on or is currently working on are “The Little Mermaid,” “The Sandman” and “Thor: Love and Thunder.”

Ryan Tudhope courtesy of Framestore

“Anyone – and...

Deluxe has signed an agreement to acquire visual effects company Atomic Fiction, which has studios in Montreal and San Francisco.

The company will join Method Studios, Deluxe’s vfx brand, as part of a strategy to deepen the company’s talent base and capacity to take on the biggest and most challenging visual effects projects for features, episodic TV, advertising and brands.

Founded in 2010 by Kevin Baillie and Ryan Tudhope, Atomic Fiction has collaborated with director Robert Zemeckis on a number of projects, including “The Walk,” Allied” and the upcoming “Welcome to Marwen.”

The company also worked on the Oscar-winning effects of “Blade Runner 2049” (pictured); on Paramount’s “Star Trek Beyond”; Fox’s “Deadpool”; HBO’s “Games of Thrones”; and season 3 of Netflix’s “Stranger Things.”

“Throughout my career, I’ve always felt that it’s important to surround myself with the best of the best in their craft,...

The 4th annual Napa Valley Film Festival (Nvff), scheduled for November 12-16, 2014, announced its Narrative and Documentary feature film competition lineups as well as Jury members. The 2014 Festival will screen 22 feature films in competition. The full film program line-up, including out-of-competition special presentations, sneak previews of awards season contenders, and narrative, documentary and animated shorts, will be announced in September.

“Our thoughts are with everyone in the Napa Valley who have suffered losses from the recent earthquake,” said Co-Founder/Artistic Director Marc Lhormer. “We are proud to be part of a community that rallies in support of each other in such a generous and big hearted way. As they say in the business, the show must go on.”

“This is an exceptionally strong year for both the Narrative and Documentary competition programs,” said Program Director Herb Stratford. “These filmmakers have created new works that provoke, inspire, educate and entertain. They are the heart of our program each year, which includes more than 100 new independent films and advance studio screenings, and we are excited to announce their participation in the festival.”

Directors of the Narrative and Documentary films in competition participate in Nvff’s unique Artists-in-Residence Program presented in partnership with the incomparable Meadowood Napa Valley. Directors stay at the luxury resort for six nights during the festival and are treated to special events and workshops with their competition group and industry mentors. Serving as faculty for a set of Master Classes at Nvff 2014 are producer Ted Hope ( Adventureland, 21 Grams); writer/director Joshua Michael Stern (Jobs, Swing Vote) writer/director Joe Carnahan (The Blacklist; The Grey, Smokin’ Aces); producer Pam Koffler (Killer Films); and producer J. Todd Harris ( The Kids are All Right; Bottle Shock); Ryan Harrington (Tribeca Film Institute); producer Jason Berman (Struck by Lightning, Luv); producer Anne Carey (Archer Gray Productions); executives Tom Quinn (RADiUS) and David Glasser (The Weinstein Company). Meadowood Napa Valley will also award $10,000 to the winning filmmakers in both the Narrative and Documentary competition categories at the Closing Night Awards Ceremony on Sunday, November 16.

Narrative Competition Section

Films in the Narrative competition section feature actors Anne Hathaway, Billie Joe Armstrong, Elizabeth Banks, Tate Donovan, Rachael Harris, Zoe Kravitz, Stephen Lang, Leighton Meester, Debra Messing, Dev Patel, Kyra Sedgwick, Chloe Sevigny and Paul Wesley, among others. The 12 films selected include:

"Thank You A Lot"- Music agent and manager Jack Hand has a bad reputation and an even worse track record. He has only two clients left: an indie band on the verge of a breakup and a part-time hip-hop artist. Jack’s future hinges on signing the one person he is barely on speaking terms with — his estranged father, a respected and reclusive country singer/songwriter. "East Side Sushi"- Juana‘s work – preparing fruit for the family’s sidewalk cart – is steady, but hardly her life’s calling. Despite the objections and concerns of her family, Juana decides to pursue her dream of becoming an expert sushi chef, to go where her heart tells her, not where she is expected to be. "Fall To Rise" - Principal dancer Lauren Drake is beautiful, talented and famous. When Lauren is released from her company after being sidelined by an injury, she quickly becomes frustrated with her new domestic lifestyle. At a performance by another dance company, she meets and teams up with Des, a former dancer who is also eager to have a second chance in the dance world. "Little Accidents" (Isa: William Morris Endeavor Entertainment) - In a small West Virginia town reeling from a recent tragic accident in the local mine, a fresh unfortunate incident in the woods leaves a young boy dead. Meanwhile Owen, an injured miner struggling to adjust to his new life aboveground, joins the search for the first boy who is presumed lost in the woods. "Like Sunday, Like Rain" - Reggie Kipper is a sweet, awkward cello prodigy, a composer and overall genius. He’s about to graduate from high school and enroll at MIT — and he’s is only twelve years old. Eleanor Fallon is a 23-year old struggling musician who meets Reggie when she is hired to be his au pair, and the unlikely duo embarks on a summer adventure that neither of them ever expected. "Sun Belt Express"- Allen King, a man living on the Arizona/Mexico border, finds out what his breaking point is when his ex-wife demands money, and his job teaching at a college south of the border evaporates. Allen then finds a unique way to supplant his income by transporting illegal aliens in the trunk of his car. "Sam & Amira" (Isa: Preferred Entertainment) - Sam is an army veteran struggling to assimilate into normal life stateside. He works a variety of odd jobs, tries his hand at stand-up comedy, and is recruited by his cousin into some shady investment dealings. Sam’s already complicated life is made more so by Amira, an Iraqi woman dealing with her own issues who is the daughter of an old army colleague. "Song One" (Isa: Lotus Entertainment) - Estranged from her family, Franny returns home when an accident leaves her brother comatose. Retracing his life as an aspiring singer-songwriter, she tracks down his favorite musician, James Forester. Against the backdrop of Brooklyn’s music scene, Franny and James develop an unexpected relationship and face the realities of their lives. "The Road Within" (Isa: Panorama Media) - Vincent has Tourette Syndrome. When his mother dies, he becomes obsessed with scattering her ashes by the ocean. Too much for his father to handle, Vincent is sent to a residential treatment center in Nevada where he befriends two other “inmates” struggling with their own personal issues. "Kinderwald" - Pennsylvania wilderness, 1885. John Linden, a hard-working German immigrant, is making a go of homesteading with his brother’s widow and her two young sons. John’s visually and spiritually idyllic world is thrown into utter chaos when the two boys go missing while off playing in the woods. "Wildlike" (Isa: Panorama Media) - Mackenzie is a fourteen-year-old girl whose father died last year. When her struggling mother checks herself into a recovery center, Mackenzie is sent from their Seattle home to live with her uncle in Alaska. At first he seems a supportive caretaker, but when his infatuation crosses a sexual line, Mackenzie runs away. With no one else to turn to, she shadows a solitary backpacker, Bartlett, a widowed man with scars of his own, into the beauty and danger of America’s last frontier.

Documentary Competition Section

"American Native" - For years, the legend of the Jackson Whites tribe has been told, passed down from generation to generation of New Jersey suburbanites. While the garish stories and tall tales have never been hard to find, the truth behind them has. Accessing the community is not easy; few outsiders have been able to penetrate the insular walls formed from centuries of discrimination. "Botso" - Dr. Botso Korisheli, 91 and still teaching music along with his unique philosophy, has a fascinating and unforgettable life story. Born in the former Soviet State of Georgia, Botso witnessed his father imprisoned under orders from Josef Stalin while his home was taken over by the Kgb. Forced to dig ditches for the Soviet army, Botso was then captured by the Germans. "Flying The Feathered Edge" - Robert A. “Bob” Hoover, age 92, is considered by many to be our greatest living aviator. Nicknamed “The Pilot’s Pilot” by his peers, Bob is largely unknown outside aviation circles despite his staggering array of accomplishments. Following a storied career during WWII as a fighter pilot, Bob continued to serve for years as one of our best test pilots. Mr. Hoover will be in attendance for screenings and Q&As. "Happy Valley" (Isa: Submarine Entertainment) - Few sports dynasties in the modern era have had a larger and longer-lasting profile than college football’s Penn State and its legendary coach Joe Paterno. State College, Pennsylvania, is in the heart of an area known as Happy Valley, ground zero of a proud football tradition for decades. When the shocking sex abuse scandal of assistant coach Jerry Sandusky rocked that town and college in 2011, the impact was unprecedented. "Havana Curveball" - At age 13 and preparing for his Bar Mitzvah, Mica takes to heart his rabbi’s injunction to help “heal the world.” Mica imagines himself a hero for other kids, and hatches a grand plan to send baseballs, bats and gloves to Cuba. Mica knows only that Cubans are poor and love baseball, and that Cuba “saved” his grandpa’s life when he was escaping from Nazi Germany. "States of Grace" - Dr. Grace Dammann’s life was forever altered when a driver crashed head-on into her car on the Golden Gate Bridge. After a seven-week coma and numerous surgeries, Grace miraculously regained consciousness, with her cognitive abilities almost entirely intact, but her body left shattered and severely disabled. "Underwater Dreams" - The epic story of four teenage boys from the Arizona desert who dare to go up against college engineering students from MIT. Inspired by two energetic high school science teachers, the boys build a robot from hardware store parts and enter an underwater robotics competition sponsored by Nasa. "An Honest Liar" - For as long as there have been magicians and illusionists, there have been doubters and debunkers making sure that the general public doesn’t get taken for a ride. One of the greatest illusionists of his era was “The Amazing Randi,” who made the shift from magic and escape acts to exposing the frauds who prey on unsuspecting victims. "Compared to What: The Improbable Journey of Barney Frank" (Isa: Preferred Content) - Few members of the U.S. Congress have ever been as polarizing and revolutionary as Barney Frank has been over the past 40 years. Compared to What: The Improbable Journey of Barney Frank examines the career, passions and legacy of our first openly gay Congressman. This rare and intimate documentary is entertaining, enlightening and thought-provoking. "#chicagoGirl: The Social Network Takes On A Dictator" (Isa: Preferred Content) - In #chicagoGirl, we meet freedom fighters in the streets of Homs and Damascus along with the stateside collection of exiles working to return Syria to a stable and human rights-respecting country. Will 21st century tools of change stand up to guns and violence and terror in the streets? Narrative Features Jury

Christine Vachon , (Producer, "Boys Don’t Cry," "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," "Far From Heaven")

Peter Baxter ( Co-founder/Director Slamdance Film Festival)

Dierk Sinderman (Hollywood Foreign Press Association)

Lisa Truitt ( Producer, James Cameron’s "Deepsea Challenge 3D,""Mysteries of Egypt")

Don Lewis (Producer; Editor Film Threat)

Documentary Features and Shorts Jury

Morgan Neville ("Twenty Feet From Stardom")

Tiffany Shlain ("The Tribe; Connected: An Autobiography About Love," "Death & Technology")

Freida Lee Mock ("Anita. G-Dog,""Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision," "Return with Honor")

Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine ("Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden,""Ballets Russes").

Narrative Shorts Jury

Joshua Michael Stern ("Jobs,""Swing Vote," "Neverwas")

Ralph Macchio (Actor, "The Karate Kid;" Director, "Across Grace Alley")

Neil Berkeley ("Beauty in Embarrassing;" Founder Brkl)

Animated Shorts

Bill Plympton (The King of Indie Animation)

Adam Glick (Amazon Web Services)

Ryan Tudhope (Atomic Fiction)

About The Napa Valley Film Festival

The Napa Valley Film Festival (Nvff) is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in Napa, California. The ultimate celebration of film, food and wine, Nvff lights up the picturesque towns of Napa, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga at the most colorful time of year. Nvff features over 100 new independent films and studio sneak previews screening in 12 beautiful venues throughout four walkable villages, as 300 visiting filmmakers interact with audiences at screenings and intimate events. Attendees enjoy film panels & culinary demonstrations, wine tasting pavilions, the spectacular Festival Gala, Celebrity Tributes, Awards Ceremony, and an array of parties, VIP receptions and winemaker dinners and more. For information or to buy passes, visit NapaValleyFilmFest.org...

The Visual Effects Society has announced the nominees for their 11th Annual Ves Awards. From film to animation to television to commercials and video games, the Ves Awards honor the outstanding visual effects artistry.

"Life of Pi's" Ang Lee will be honored with the Visionary Award. Winners will be announced on Tuesday, February 5, at the Beverly Hilton.

Here's the complete list of nominees; for winners/nominees of other award-giving bodies, click here:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Joe Letteri

Eileen Moran

Eric Saindon

Kevin L. Sherwood

Prometheus

Paul Butterworth

Charley Henley

Allen Maris

Richard Stammers

Life of Pi

Thomas Fisher

Susan Macleod

Guillaume Rocheron

Bill Westenhofer

The Avengers

Susan Pickett

Janek Sirrs

Jeff White

Guy Williams

Battleship

Grady Cofer

Pablo Helman

Jeanie King

Glen Mcintosh

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture

Rust and Bone

Béatrice Bauwens...

Fuel VFX has received two award nominations from the Visual Effects Society.

The.peer-voted accolade for the company's work on Ridley Scott.s Prometheus follows the near-collapse of the VFX house, which was saved in October 2012 when Animal Logic acquired its assets.

Fuel co-founder Paul Butterworth was nominated for .Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture. for Prometheus (alongside non-Fuel nominations Charley Henley, Allen Maris and Richard Stammers).

The Fuel team of Xavier Bourque, Sam Cole, Simone Riginell and Denis Scolan - representing the hard work of all 16 compositors who worked on the film at the company - were nominated for Prometheus (Engineers & the Orrery) in the "Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture" category.

Fuel has also provided effects on a number of Marvel films including Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger. Fuel continues to run from its Newtown, Sydney-based offices where Animal Logic...

David O. Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook" danced atop the 17th Annual Satellite Awards winning Best Picture, Editing, Director, Actor (Bradley Cooper), and Actress (Jennifer Lawrence). In the supporting acting categories, Anne Hathaway took home the Best Supporting Actress award for "Les Miserables," while Javier Bardem won Best Supporting Actor for playing the big bad in "Skyfall."

Winners were announced Sunday, Dec. 16, at the InterContinental Hotel at Century City in Los Angeles.

Here's the complete winners (highlighted) and nominees of the 17th Annual Satellite Awards (for a complete list of Awards Season winners/nominees, click here):

Motion Picture

Argo .

*** Silver Linings Playbook

Beasts Of The Southern Wild

Les MISÉRABLES

Skyfall

Moonrise Kingdom

The Sessions

Lincoln Dreamworks/Touchstone

Life Of Pi

Zero Dark Thirty

Director

*** David O. Russell -- Silver Linings Playbook

Ben Affleck -- Argo

Kim Ki-duk -- Pieta Drafthouse Films

Ben Lewin -- The Sessions

Steven Spielberg --...

The International Press Academy has announced the nominees of the 17th Annual Satellite Awards. "Les Miserables" led the pack with 10 nominations including Best Picture.

Winners will be announced on Sunday, Dec. 16 at the InterContinental at Century City in Los Angeles.

17th Annual Satellite Awards Nominees:

Motion Picture

Argo .

Silver Linings Playbook

Beasts Of The Southern Wild

Les MISÉRABLES

Skyfall

Moonrise Kingdom

The Sessions

Lincoln Dreamworks/Touchstone

Life Of Pi

Zero Dark Thirty

Director

David O. Russell -- Silver Linings Playbook

Ben Affleck -- Argo

Kim Ki-duk -- Pieta Drafthouse Films

Ben Lewin -- The Sessions

Steven Spielberg -- Lincoln

Kathryn Bigelow -- Zero Dark Thirty

Actress in a Motion Picture Name

Jennifer Lawrence Silver Linings Playbook

Emilie Dequenne Our Children

Keira Knightley Anna Karenina

Emmanuelle Riva Amour

Laura Birn Purge

Laura Linney Hyde Park On Hudson

Jessica Chastain Zero Dark Thirty

Actor in a Motion Picture

John Hawkes The Sessions...