CMF Press Release: Tyrannosaur

Starting February 3rd, Independent Spirit Award films to Tucson with the Southwest premiere of Tyrannosaur. The directorial debut of actor Paddy Considine is nominated for Best International Film at the Indie Spirit Awards and won several top prizes in the film’s home country at the British Independent Film Awards.

Tucson’s own independent film company, CoyoteMoon Films, is partnering with Reel Arts 6 for this first ever Film Fan Event Feb. 3rd. They will bring their team to talk about the script, the lighting, the directing, the acting, the music and the editing of Tyrannosaur before and after the movie, because Film Fan Events will take a fun look inside the making of a good movie. They will also create an insider preview to the movie at CoyoteMoonFilms.com for the audience.

Members of the local Tucson filmmaking community are especially invited to this screening to discuss the art of film in the lobby after the screening. Tyrannosaur stars, Peter Mullan and Olivia Colman, won a Special Jury Prize for acting in 2011 Sundance Film Festival and director Considine won Best Director in World Cinema Dramatic. Coleman won the Best British Actress award from the London Critics Circle Film Awards.

In the month of February, Reel Arts 6 is bringing two other films nominated for Independent Spirit Awards, which represents the best in independent film, ranging from commercial releases to first features. They created a category honoring the first features of directors in honor of the great John Cassavetes. These films are made for under $500,000 and represent the heart of independent film.

Two of these films will open at Reel Arts 6 in February. Hello Lonesome, written, produced, and directed by Adam Reid, will open on February 17th. Adam Reid is available for interview at any time about his film. The Dynamiter, directed by Matthew Gordon, will open on February 24th. There is hope that Matthew Gordon will attend a screening after the film opens.

Reel Arts 6 @ the Crossroads is the new venue for independent film in Tucson, and the goal is still to bring titles to Tucson that would never have theatrical release, or the opportunity to have a full week run at a theater in Tucson. With Tyrannosaur, Hello Lonesome, and The Dynamiter, three films will premiere in Tucson in the month of February that truly define what independent film means.

Roger Ebert on the Oscar Nominations

Over at the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert talks about the Oscar nominations and some of the actors and films he thought should have been nominated but weren't. He makes a good case for Vera Farmiga (instead of Glenn Close or Meryl Streep), but is glad that Demián Bichir and Melissa McCarthy were nominated. As always, Ebert is a good read.

Oscar Nominations

The nominations for the 84th Academy Awards were announced today. Hugo led all nominees with eleven, followed by The Artist with ten. Here are the nominees in the major categories:

BEST PICTURE
The Artist, Thomas Langmann, Producer
The Descendants, Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Scott Rudin, Producer
The Help, Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
Hugo, Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
Midnight in Paris, Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
Moneyball, Michael De Luca, Rachel Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
The Tree of Life, Nominees to be determined
War Horse, Stephen Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Demián Bichir, A Better Life
George Clooney, The Descendants
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Nick Nolte, Warrior
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
A Cat in Paris, Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
Chico & Rita, Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
Kung Fu Panda 2, Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Puss in Boots, Chris Miller
Rango, Gore Verbinski

DIRECTOR
The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants, Alexander Payne
Hugo, Martin Scorsese
Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen
The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Hell and Back Again, Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
Pina, Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
Undefeated, TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Bullhead, Belgium
Footnote, Israel
In Darkness, Poland
Monsieur Lazhar, Canada
A Separation, Iran

MUSIC (SCORE)
The Adventures of Tintin, John Williams
The Artist, Ludovic Bource
Hugo, Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Alberto Iglesias
War Horse, John Williams

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Descendants, Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
Hugo, John Logan
The Ides of March, George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
Moneyball, Steven Zallian and Aaron Sorkin, Story by Stan Chervin
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Artist, Michel Hazanvicius
Bridesmaids, Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
Margin Call, J.C. Chandler
Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen
A Separation, Asghar Farhadi

We're preparing a series of posts related to the Oscar nominees in these and other categories.

Oscars

Carl Bialik at The Wall Street Journal wrote an article about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' new nominating procedures. Among the changes: votes will be weighted by preference, so films with a small but passionate support have a better chance of getting nominated; and there will no longer be a set number of nominees in the Best Picture category--in order to be nominated, a film must have a certain amount of support, but the number of nominees will range from five to ten.

Read the article here.

Together We Heal

CoyoteMoon Films' Steve Bayless worked on a documentary for the Tucson/Southern Arizona PBS station about the January 8th shooting and its survivors. The program was called "Together We Heal," and it was narrated by the Today show's Savannah Guthrie, a Tucson native.

You can watch it here.

Robert Mac

To anyone who is in Tucson this Sunday, CoyoteMoon Films' friend Robert Mac will be performing at Laffs Comedy Cafe (2900 E. Broadway) on Sunday at 5pm. The show, which is called the Comedy-Magic-Comedy Benefit for Gooder Skools, will benefit the PTA of Lineweaver Elementary School.

Tickets are $10 each, so call Laffs at 32-FUNNY to reserve yours. There is also a two-item minimum.