by Paula Berstein via Indiewire 

photo: NALIP

IFP has announced its 2014 slate of 133 new films in development and works in progress selected for its Project Forum at Independent Film Week.

"This one-of-a-kind event brings the international film and media community to New York City to advance new projects by nurturing the work of both emerging and established independent artists and filmmakers," IFP explained in the press release.

Under the curatorial leadership of Deputy Director/Head of Programming Amy Dotson & Senior Director of Programming Milton Tabbot, the Project Forum takes place September 14-18, 2014 at Lincoln Center.

"As we set to embark on our 36th Independent Film Week, we are impressed by the outstanding slate of both U.S. and international projects selected for this year’s Project Forum," said Joana Vicente, Executive Director of IFP. "We know that the industry will be as excited as we are with the accomplished storytellers and their diverse and boundary pushing films."

Featured works at the 2014 Independent Film Week include filmmakers and content creators from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. From documentarians Tony Gerber ("Full Battle Rattle"), Pamela Yates ("Granito: How To Nail A Dictator"), and Penny Lane ("Our Nixon") to Michelangelo Frammartino ("Quattro Volte") and Alexis Dos Santos ("Unmade Beds"), as well as new work from critically acclaimed artists and directors Aurora Guerrero ("Mosquita y Mari"), Barry Jenkins ("Medicine for Melancholy"), Travis Matthews ("Interior. Leather. Bar") and Yen Tan ("Pit Stop").

In recent years, Independent Film Week has helped to launch the first films of directors including Rama Burshtein ("Fill The Void"), Derek Cianfrance ("Blue Valentine"), Marshall Curry ("If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth LIberation Front"), Laura Poitras ("The Oath"), Denis Villeneuve ("Incendies") and Benh Zeitlin ("Beasts of the Southern Wild"). 

For the full 2014 Project Forum slate visit IFP's announcement here.

There are some changes to the program this year. For the first time this year, IFP is including web series in its programming, as well as spotlighting Latin & Central American artists and content with 15 projects featured across all programs in the Forum.

IFP and Durga Entertainment have partnered on a new $20,000 filmmaker grant for an alumnus of IFP. The grant is intended  for active, working filmmakers who are also balancing a filmmaking career with parenting. The grant provides a $20,000 unrestricted prize to encourage the recipient to continue on her or his career path of making quality independent films. American directors or screenwriters working in narrative film who have participated in the IFP Filmmaker Labs or IFP Independent Film Week"s Emerging Storytellers or No-Borders International Co-Production market are encouraged to apply by the deadline of August 8, 2014.

Narrative Feature Highlights

Narrative features and webseries in RBC’s Emerging Storytellers and No Borders International Co-Production Market sections highlight new work from top emerging and established creative visionaries on the U.S. and international independent scene. 

This year’s slate includes new feature scripts featuring directors Dev Benegal ("Road, Movie"), Alexis Dos Santos ("Unmade Beds"), Jason Cortlund and Julia Halperin ("Now, Forager"), Michelangelo Frammartino ("Le Quattro Volte"), Terry George ("Hotel Rwanda"), Rashaad Ernesto Green ("Gun Hill Road"), Aurora Guerrero ("Mosquita Y Mari"), Barry Jenkins ("Medicine for Melancholy"), Alison Klayman ("Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry"), Travis Mathews ("Interior. Leather Bar"), Stacie Passon ("Concussion"), Yen Tan ("Pit Stop"), as well as up-an-coming actor/directors Karrie Crouse ("Land Ho!") and Peter Vack ("Fort Tilden," "I Believe in Unicorns").

Web Storytellers Highlights

For the first time this year, IFP presents a dedicated spotlight within the RBC’s Emerging Storytellers program for creators developing episodic content for digital platforms. The inaugural slate for the Web Storytellers spotlight includes new works from filmmakers Desiree Akhavan ("Appropriate Behavior," HBO’s "Girls"), Calvin Reeder ("The Rambler"), and Gregory Bayne ("Person of Interest"), as well as producers Elisabeth Holm ("Obvious Child"), Susan Leber ("Down to the Bone"), and Amanda Warman ("The Outs," "Whatever This Is"). Two of the series participating are currently in post-production, and will be making their online debut in the coming months – Rachel Morgan’s "Middle Americans," starring Scott Thompson, Carlen Altman and Alex Rennie, and Daniel Zimbler and Elisabeth Gray’s "Understudies," starring Richard Kind and David Rasche.

Spotlight on Documentaries Highlights

The documentary selection includes new work from seasoned non-fiction directors such as Emmy winners Robert Bahar and Almudena Carracedo ("Made in LA"), Pamela Yates ("Granito: How to Nail a Dictator"), Ramona Diaz ("Imelda; Don’t Stop Believin’") Gini Reticker ("Pray the Devil Back to Hell") Tony Gerber ("Full Battle Rattle"); from producers such as Court 13’s Benh Zeitlin and Dan Janvey ("Beasts of the Southern Wild"), Liran Atzmor ("The Law in These Parts"), Tim Williams ("Once In A Lifetime") and Hilla Medalia ("Web Junkie"), and follow-up second features from recent doc world "breakouts" Steve Hoover ("Blood Brother") Penny Lane ("Our Nixon"), Michael Collins ("Give Up Tomorrow") and Michael Nichols and Christopher Walker ("Flex is Kings").

In addition, there will be new work from debut documentary directors previously known for fiction films including the late Alex Sichel ("All over Me") with her personal doc "The Movie about Anna," Lisa Cortés (producer, "Precious") with "Mothership: The Untold Story of Women and Hip Hop," and Daniel Patrick Carbone ("Hide Your Smiling Faces") with "Phantom Cowboys."

Read the full list of projects here.

by Nick Holdsworth via Hollywood Reporter

photo: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/GettyImages

Oscar-winning director Davis Tavonic and designer and filmmaker Agnes B. will receive Heart of Sarajevo honors at the festival's 20th edition next month.

Listen to Andy Garcia's inspiring acceptance as he was honored with the NALIP Lifetime Achievement Award at the NALIP Media Summit 2014 Gala Awards!

2013 NALIP Lupe Award Winner Gina Rodriguez

via Variety and photo Just Jared Jr.

This fall, Gina Rodriguez makes history as the first Latina lead on the CW with her very own show, “Jane The Virgin,” a heartwarming new comedy about a 23-year-old girl with big dreams who gets pregnant after being artificially inseminated – accidentally!

We will be honoring Gina with the first-ever Variety Latino Rising Star of the Year Award at this Sunday’s Young Hollywood Awards, aka “the Oscars of Young Hollywood,” which celebrates the brightest trailblazing starts in music, TV, and film.

“We are so excited about the work Gina Rodriguez is doing in Hollywood and want to recognize that with this honor,” says Variety Latino editor Angie Romero. “She is smart, driven, uplifting, and empowering, and so are the characters she plays on the big and small screen, sending a clear message to Latina girls everywhere that they, too, are represented, and their stories are worth telling, too. Her being the first Latina lead on the CW with “Jane The Virgin” is groundbreaking, but it’s only the beginning. She is someone we’ll be talking about for years to come.”

Variety Latino recently sat down with the Chicago-born Puerto Rican beauty to talk about the show, premiering October 13; her red-hot career in Hollywood; and what she learned from the late Jenni Rivera, her co-star from the 2012 indie film “Filly Brown.”

by Afroxander via REMEZCLA

Lionel Messi. The name alone elicits a number of highly emotional reactions. Is he the best player in the world? Is he overrated? Most everyone has an opinion about his well-known footballing skills on the pitch. But how did a child diagnosed with a growth deficiency grow up to become the only four-time Ballon D’Or winner to date? Spanish director Álex De La Iglesia's biography-documentary Messi answers some of the questions about the athlete many refer to as “el mejor del mundo.”

Jorge Valdano, who won the 1986 World Cup alongside Diego Maradona, narrates the film which mixes real-life footage of Messi from age four to the modern day together with reenactments. Also included are interviews featuring a who’s who of the soccer world including Maradona, Johann Cruyff, Andres Iniesta, Gerard “Shakiro” Pique, and many others.

The film is a departure for Iglesia who is beloved by his cult following as a Basque version of Guillermo Del Toro. He debuted the film in Rio De Janeiro during the World Cup and the film will close out the Venice Days section of the Venice Film Fest later this summer.

There’s no word yet on whether the creators have inked a distribution deal but it’s probably only a matter of time before it makes its way to U.S theaters.

Are you all excited about the movie? 

Click Here for Trailer