As reported in last week’s >e.dition, the rush was on for high-tech companies–including visual effects and CG studios–to apply for H-1B visas covering the next fiscal year, Oct. 1, 2007-Sept. 30, ’08. Many U.S. firms contend that, due to a shortage of qualified homegrown talent, they need the visas to access skilled foreign artisans. At press time, word was that in the first day that the application process opened, U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services received more than 150,000 H-1B petitions for 65,000 available visas. The tally from the second day isn’t yet known….Director Jim Jenkins and his executive producer Ralph Laucella have teamed to form [o posi+ive] Films in New York. The launch marks the end of the director’s successful tenure at bicoastal/international Hungry Man where his last job was a three-spot Geek Squad campaign for Crispin Porter+Bogusky, Miami. At press time, Jenkins was already set to embark on a couple of projects for Droga5, New York. Among Jenkins’ accomplishments at Hungry Man was being nominated for the Director Guild of America Award as best commercial director of 2004…..Effective July 1, Gary Shenk, president of Seattle-based Corbis, will assume the role of CEO, succeeding Steve Davis who is transitioning out of day-to-day responsibilities to pursue new opportunities in public service and philanthropy…French editor Evelyne Ranaivoarivony-Ogou, a.k.a. “Nini,” has come aboard New York house wild(child) for exclusive U.S. representation. Her credits include campaigns for Nissan, Lancome, Dior, Evian and Bailey’s Irish Creme, among others…..
“Atropia” and “Twinless” Win Marquee Prizes At Sundance Film Festival
The war satire “Atropia,” about actors in a military role-playing facility, won the grand jury prize in the Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. dramatic competition, while the Dylan O’Brien movie “Twinless” got the coveted audience award.
Juries and programmers for the 41st edition of the independent film festival announced the major prizewinners Friday in Park City, Utah.
Other grand jury winners included the documentaries “Seeds,” about farmers in rural Georgia and “Cutting Through the Rocks,” about the first elected councilwoman in an Iranian village. The Indian drama “Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears),” about a city dweller mourning his father in the western Indian countryside, won the top prize in the world cinema competition.
“It’s for my dad,” said writer and director Rohan Parashuram Kanawade. His late father, he said, was the one who encouraged him to pursue filmmaking.
Audiences also get to vote on their own awards, where James Sweeney’s “Twinless,” about the bromance between two men who meet in a twin bereavement support group, triumphed in the U.S. dramatic category. O’Brien also won a special jury award for his acting.
The U.S. documentary audience award went to “André is an Idiot,” a life-affirming film about dying of colon cancer. Other audience picks were “Prime Minister,” about former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and “DJ Ahmet,” a coming-of-age film about a 15-year-old boy in North Macedonia.
Mstyslav Chernov, the Oscar-winning Associated Press journalist, won the world cinema documentary directing award for his latest dispatch from Ukraine, “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” a joint production between the AP and PBS Frontline.
“Here’s to all... Read More