Film Fund: Last News

EXCLUSIVE: The Sundance Institute and Sandbox Films have announced the 10 projects and filmmaking teams selected as the latest recipients of grants from the Sundance Institute | Sandbox Fund.

David Fincher To Receive Honorary Cesar AwardDavid Fincher is to receive an Honorary Award at this year’s Cesar Awards. The primary French awards show will fete the Gone Girl filmmaker at its 2023 ceremony on February 24 at the Olympia in Paris. The awards body described Fincher as an “outstanding technician” and “a true visionary.” Awarded since 1976, previous Honorary Cesar Award winners include Robert Redford, Penelope Cruz, and George Clooney. The nominees for the 48th César Awards will be announced on January 25.

Steve Alten, author of Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror and Meg: The Trench, has optioned an original football movie, Mr. Irrelevant, to producer David Rubenstein (1917), and his partners Ken Atchity and Scott Becher of Win-Win Partnerships (formerly producer/director NFL Films).

Christopher Vourlias Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, whose feature debut “Pamfir” premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight section, and director and former political prisoner Oleh Sentsov (“Rhino”) are among the Ukrainian filmmakers who say they’re “distraught” by the inclusion of a Russian film in the main competition at the Transilvania Film Festival.In a statement posted on Monday to the Facebook page for “Pamfir,” the filmmakers spoke out against the selection of Russian director Lado Kvataniya’s “The Execution” as one of 12 features competing for the Transilvania Trophy, criticizing the “illusion of cultural reconciliation” created by the festival’s decision and insisting that “art does not exist outside of politics.” The filmmakers noted that Kvataniya’s psychological thriller was produced with the support of the state-backed Russian Film Fund as well as Kinoprime, the $100 million film fund bankrolled by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who has been sanctioned by the U.K.

K.J. Yossman Alice Cabañas has been appointed the new head of the BFI Network.She will lead the network’s U.K.-wide talent development programme, overseeing management, funding, digital platforms and professional development programmes.Cabañas is joining as the BFI is developing a 10-year funding strategy in consultation with the industry and the public which will explore how best to use its funding to support new creatives in the screen sector.

The British Film Institute has appointed Mia Bays as director of the BFI Film Fund. Bays, currently director-at-large of the female-focused Birds' Eye View film charity and due to take the position in October, will fill the role left open by Ben Roberts when he was promoted to CEO in early 2020.

The BFI has announced Mia Bays as the new Director of BFI Film Fund for an initial three-year term.

The British Film Institute, the UK’s lead organization for film, has posted the advert for one of its top jobs: the Director of BFI Film Fund. Scroll down for the full ad.

Gravitas Ventures has obtained the rights to The Judge – Character. Cases. Courage., a documentary directed by Robert Griffith and narrated by Justin Theroux. The pic, which hails from the American Documentary Film Fund, will be released on TVOD/digital platforms on January 26. The doc follows Judge Robert R. Merhige, Jr. in his distinguished, momentous and tumultuous 31-year tenure on the Federal bench where he fought against the status quo to promote racial and gender equality, protect the environment, uphold the rule of law and the US Constitution. It features interviews from the likes of U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), U.S. Senator Mark Warner ((D-VA), Anne Holton, Judge Merhige’s former law clerk, among many others.