Barry Lee Levinson is an American filmmaker, comedian and actor. Levinson's best-known works are mid-budget comedy drama and drama films such as Diner (1982); The Natural (1984); Good Morning, Vietnam (1987); Bugsy (1991); and Wag the Dog (1997). He won the Academy Award for Best Director for Rain Man (1988). In 2021, he co-executive produced the Hulu miniseries Dopesick and directed the first two episodes.
Paul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and film critic. He first received widespread recognition through his screenplay for Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976). He later continued his collaboration with Scorsese, writing or co-writing Raging Bull (1980), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and Bringing Out the Dead (1999). Schrader has also directed 24 films, including Blue Collar (1978), Hardcore (1979), American Gigolo (1980), Cat People (1982), Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985), Light Sleeper (1992), Affliction (1997), and First Reformed (2017); the latter earned him his first Academy Award nomination. Schrader's work is known for its frequent depiction of alienated men struggling through existential crises, a premise known as "God’s lonely man."
Lou Taylor Pucci is an American actor who first appeared on film in Rebecca Miller's Personal Velocity: Three Portraits in 2002. Pucci had his breakthrough leading role in Thumbsucker (2005), for which he won a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the Berlin Film Festival. Pucci then starred in The Chumscrubber (2005), Fast Food Nation (2006), The Go-Getter (2007), Explicit Ills (2008), and Carriers (2009). Pucci had starring roles in the 2013 Evil Dead remake, as well as The Story of Luke (2013) and Spring (2014).
The American Black Film Festival is an independent film festival that focuses primarily on black film—works by Black members of the film industry. It is held to recognize achievements of film actors of African descent and to honor films that stand out in their portrayal of Black experience.
Selton Figueiredo Mello is a Brazilian actor and director. Since his childhood, he acted on TV shows. Now he works on TV, movies and theater. Throughout his career, he developed a strong and solid experience in cinema, producing and directing movies and videoclips, and being publicly and critically acclaimed for it. The actor hosted Tarja Preta, a TV show about culture and independent movies, from 2004 until 2008.
Anthony McCarten is a New Zealand writer and filmmaker. He is best known for writing big-budget biopics The Theory of Everything (2014), Darkest Hour (2017), Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), The Two Popes (2019), and Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022). McCarten has been nominated for four Academy Awards, including twice for Best Adapted Screenplay, for The Theory of Everything and The Two Popes.
This Is That Productions was one of the leading independent feature film production companies. Established in 2002, and based in New York City, the company was founded and fully owned by Ted Hope, Anne Carey, Anthony Bregman, and Diana Victor. The four partners previously worked together at the groundbreaking Good Machine, which Ted Hope co-founded in 1991.
Philippe Aractingi is a film director and producer. He was born in Beirut, Aractingi is Franco-Lebanese.
Silent Light is a 2007 film written and directed by Carlos Reygadas. Filmed in a Mennonite colony close to Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua State, Northern Mexico, Silent Light tells the story of a Mennonite married man who falls in love with another woman, threatening his place in the conservative community. The dialogue is in Plautdietsch, the Low German dialect of the Mennonites. The film was selected as the Mexican entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 80th Academy Awards, but it did not make the shortlist. The film was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 24th Independent Spirit Awards. It gained nine nominations, including all major categories, in the Ariel Awards, the Mexican national awards.
Mak ’Kusare is a Nigerian film director who won three awards for his first feature length film Ninety Degrees in 2006 at the Zuma Film Awards in Abuja, Nigeria. He wrote, directed and produced the film entirely on location in Jos, Nigeria. The film won Best Director, Best First Film/Video of a Director and Best Feature Film awards. ’Kusare has also produced for radio, television and video.
Jonathan David Stack is an American documentary filmmaker. He is also a co-founder of World Vasectomy Day.
Elliot Greenebaum is an American film writer and director, best known for his award-winning debut movie, Assisted Living. He also appeared in the role of Chip Wright in the 1990 Disney TV movie A Mom for Christmas.
Flora Gomes is a Bissau-Guinean film director. He was born in Cadique, Guinea-Bissau on 31 December 1949 and after high school in Cuba, he decided to study film at the Instituto Cubano del Arte y la Industria Cinematográficos in Havana.
Arsalan Nami better known as Arsi Nami, is a Swedish-Persian actor, music therapist, singer, songwriter, screenwriter and philanthropist living in Los Angeles, California. He won the Jury Prize award at the 2017 Cannes International Film Festival Entr'2 Marches for his leading role in motion picture Love is Blind, portraying the visually-impaired Italian American Giovanni. He earned himself the 14 Best Actor awards for portraying two characters in Aion, a film presented by FujiFilm, including the 2022 New York International Film Awards, Tokyo Film Awards, Chicago Indie Film Awards, Sweden Film Awards, Cannes Silk Road Film Awards and Brazil Visions Film Fest. Love is Blind also won an award for disability awareness and was screened at world famous Palais des Festival et des Congrès. Arsi Nami was also named as a Judge in the panel of the 2018, 2019 and 2020 Cannes Film Festival International Entr'2 Marches He was the lead actor in Children's Hospital Los Angeles production Healthcare in the Cloud, which premiered at the 2018 Society of Camera Operators Lifetime Achievement Awards, raising over $8 million for children's vision health. He portrayed as the manic depressed French-American painter named Vincent, in 2017 European Cinematography Award-winning drama motion picture Camelia. He also received another international claim via his outstanding and comedic role as Cadiz in the Just Cause 4 commercials for Square Enix, PlayStation and Xbox, as well as his lead role in the international hit music video "Hurt People" performed by international artists Aloe Blacc and Gryffin which reached over 1 million views on VEVO and YouTube. Arsi Nami has also been a guest-star on the Steve Harvey show on NBCUniversal, as well as The Late Late Show with James Corden on CBS. His commercial acting credits include giant brands such as Google, PlayStation, BMW, Puma, MGM Grand, Mercedes-Benz, Prada, Facebook, Hewlett Packard, KIA, Ford, Samsung, Disney, NBA and Guitar Center to name a few. He was also nominated for best lead male actor in the comedy film Villa, at 2017 Official Selection at Premio Tortoreto alla Cultura in Italy, AM Film Festival in Egypt and International Festival of Short Films on Culture & Tourism, India.
Beasts of the Southern Wild is a 2012 American fantasy-drama film directed, co-written, and co-scored by Benh Zeitlin. It was adapted by Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar from Alibar's one-act play Juicy and Delicious. The film stars Quvenzhané Wallis and Dwight Henry. After playing at film festivals, its limited theatrical release began in New York and Los Angeles on June 27, 2012, before expanding to additional markets.
The 64th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 6 to 16 February 2014. Wes Anderson's film The Grand Budapest Hotel opened the festival. British film director Ken Loach was presented with the Honorary Golden Bear. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Chinese film Black Coal, Thin Ice directed by Diao Yinan, which also served as closing film.
Goh Nakamura is a singer, songwriter, musician, composer and actor. His music has been featured in films directed by Ridley Scott such as A Good Year, American Gangster and Body of Lies. His track "Daylight Savings" also appears in the film Feast of Love. Nakamura made his acting debut in Dave Boyle's award-winning film, Surrogate Valentine, where he played a fictionalized version of himself. The film screened at a number of festivals including the SXSW Film Festival and Nakamura won a Special Jury Prize for Acting from the Dallas International Film Festival for his performance in it. Nakamura is of Japanese American descent.
Kamera Obskura is a 2012 Filipino drama film produced and directed by Raymond Red. It was co-written by Red and Pen Medina, who stars as the protagonist of a fictional lost film recovered by film archivists.
The Dark Side of the Heart is a 1992 Argentine surrealist romantic drama film written and directed by Eliseo Subiela. The film was selected as the Argentine entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 65th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee. It is currently considered a cult film.
Hafez Awards is an annual awards ceremony which is held honoring cinematic achievements in Iranian cinema. The awards, first presented in 1997, are presented by Picture World Magazine which makes it to be known also as Donyaye Tassvir Awards. It's the only non-governmental ceremony among the cinematic festivals and awards held in Iran. Mehran Modiri and Asghar Farhadi jointly with 9 statues of Hafez are the record holders of this award.
