Aspen Film announced the members serving on the international competition jury for Aspen Shortsfest 2010, April 6-11. These noted film professionals will attend the festival to award cash and other prizes in several categories to films screening in the 10 competition programs, including the Oscar-qualifying categories of Best Animation, Best Comedy, Best Drama, and Best Short. Judges’ decisions will be announced at an awards ceremony on Sunday, April 11. The jury includes:
o Actress Meg Ryan whose range encompasses both the comic (When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail) and dramatic (Courage Under Fire, Promised Land, When a Man Loves a Woman).
o Producer Sarah Siegel-Magness, managing partner and co-founder (with husband Gary Magness) of Smokewood Entertainment. Their most recent production, Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire, was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and received Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
o Feature screenwriter David Arata (Brokedown Palace, Spy Game, with Robert Redford and Brad Pitt), who received an Oscar nomination for Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men, starring Clive Owen.
o Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker Daniel Junge (Chiefs, They Killed Sister Dorothy, The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner). Junge’s short documentary Come Back to Sudan shared the Shortsfest 2008 Audience Award.
Creative consultations
In addition to its best of category awards, Aspen Shortsfest will introduce Creative Consultations, professional opportunities for a selection of winning Shortsfest finalists who demonstrate artistic distinction in writing-directing, documentary, editing, and cinematography.
These filmmakers will have access to accomplished film industry professionals in their field, including one of Escape Artists’ producing principals (Jason Blumenthal, Todd Black, Steve Tisch), cinematographer John Bailey ASC, editor Carol Littleton ACE, and documentary filmmaker Greg Barker (Sergio). Additionally, one finalist will have the opportunity to create a development deal with producer Daniel Dubecki (Up in the Air, the upcoming Passion Play, with Mickey Rourke.)
“At this juncture in their careers, short filmmakers seek direct contact with professionals at the top of their game,” said Aspen Film executive director Laura Thielen. “By connecting them to the industry in a meaningful way, we enhance Aspen Shortsfest’s mission to foster the creative development of new film voices.”
In addition to the international competition jury awards, outstanding Shortsfest films will also be recognized with the Los Angeles chapter of BAFTA’s (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) annual Award for Excellence, as well as the Ellen Award and Youth Jury Prize, both determined by local juries.
Established in 1979, Aspen Film is one of Colorado’s most active film arts organizations, presenting more than 200 programs and featuring dozens of guest speakers throughout the year.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More