Big Picture: "PC Gaming Is Dead"

INTERMISSION: SHAMELESS PLUG FOR CATHOLIC MEDIA PROMOTION DAY

If by some odd chance you haven’t heard yet, March 15 (tomorrow) is Catholic Media Promotion Day. 

To help spread the word about all the excellent Catholic blogs, podcasts, and other media out there, The Willits from The Catholics Next Door have created a Facebook page over at Facebook.com/PromoteCatholicism and everyone who “likes” that page will be entered to win an iPad2.

Then, on March 15 (again, tomorrow), everyone with a blog, podcast, or Facebook page is encouraged to list their favorite 3 blogs, 3 podcasts, 3 other media, 3 random Catholic things online, and their own projects, and then post the link to their list on the Facebook page.

The nice folks over at Faith & Family Live also suggest the following:

• Go to iTunes and leave positive reviews for your three favorite Catholic podcasts and Catholic apps
  
• Email your family, friends, fellow parishioners and contacts with the good news about your favorite three blogs, podcasts, Catholic media outlets, and three other Catholic “gems” online
  
• Contact your local newspaper and tell them about Catholic Media Promotion Day, sharing the good news about media initiatives that are supporting the work of the Church
  
• As your local parish to list Catholic podcasts, blogs, apps, and other media initiatives, and offer a few great suggestions to help them get started - volunteer to be a “Catholic Media Liaison” for your parish by supplying this information in the bulletin on a regular basis
  
• Consider starting your own blog or podcast and share your faith using Facebook, Twitter and other new media technologies
  
• Pray for all of those involved in Catholic media, that the good news of the Gospel may be spread in new and exciting ways, reaching out to the ends of the earth

So get out there and promote your favorite Catholic media. And if your standards are low enough and you don’t mind people looking at you funny, you can even throw in a plug for this site as well.

15th Sofia International Film Festival Awards Winners

The main program of the fest ended on March 13th with a gala screening of Aleksei Uchitel’s КРАЙ (The Edge); to check films in the festival please go here.

International Competition

Grand Prix for Best Film: ПОДСЛОН Podslon (Shelter), Dragomir Sholev, Bulgaria
Jury Special Award: Kar Beyaz (White as Snow), Selim Güneş, Turkey

Best Director: João Nuno Pinto for America, Brazil, Spain, Portugal and Russia

FIPRESCI Award: Sound of Noise, Ola Simonsson and Johannes Stjärne Nilsson, Sweden, Denmark and France

To check winners in all categories go here.

2011 Miami International Film Festival Award Winners

From March 4 to 13 the fest was held in Miami and to check films in competition please go here. Yesterday they had the closing ceremony and here are some of the award winners.

Knight Foundation Ibero-American Competition Grand Jury Prize: Las Marimbas del Infierno (Marimbas From Hell), Julio Hernández Cordón, Guatemala, France and Mexico
Honorable Mention: La Mitad de Oscar (Half of Oscar), Manuel Martín Cuenca, Spain and Cuba

Knight Foundation World Competition Grand Jury Prize: Gang de qin (The Pinao in a Factory), Zhang Meng, China
Honorable Mention: If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, Marshall Curry, USA

To check all awards winners go here.

2010 German Film Critics Association Award Winners

A while back the association announced the winners and here they are in *BLUE; to check winners in all categories go here, available only in German.

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1/4/11
Yesterday the group announced the nominations and Feo Adalag’s fantastic Die Fremde (When We Leave) received seven nominations. These are the nominees.

Best Film
Boxhagener Platz, Matti Geschonneck
Das letzte Schweigen (The Silence), Baran bo Odar
*Die Fremde (When We Leave), Feo Aladag
Drei (Three), Tom Tykwer
Goethe!, Philipp Stölzl
Habermann, Juraj Herz
Vincent will meer (Vincent Wants to Sea), Ralf Huettner
Wir sind die Nacht (We Are the Night), Dennis Gansel

Best Debut Film
Die Entbehrlichen (The Dispensables), Andreas Arnstedt
*Die Fremde (When We Leave), Feo Aladag
Draußen am See (Loosing Balance aka What You Don’t See)), Feliz Fuchssteiner
Parkour, Marc Rensing
Schwekraft, Maximilian Erlenwein

Best Actress
Bernadette Heerwagen in Die kommenden Tage (The Coming Days), Lars Kraume
(tie)*Sibel Kekilli in Die Fremde (When We Leave), Feo Aladag
Julia Koschitz in Der letzte schöne Herbsttag, Ralf Westhoff
(tie)*Sophie Rois in Drei (Three), Tom Tykwer
Katrin Saß in Das letzte Schweigen (The Silence), Baran bo Odar

Best Actor
August Diehl in Die kommenden Tage (The Coming Days), Lars Kraume
Fabian Hinrichs in Schwerkraft, Maximilian Erlenwein
Andreas Lust in Der Räuber (The Robber), Benjamin Heisenberg
Sebastian Schipper in Drei (Three), Tom Tykwer
*Devid Striesow in Drei (Three), Tom Tykwer

To check nominees in other categories go here available only in German. Winners will be announced next month during the 2011 Berlinale.

There are some films that are known to the blog and definitively nominees are a good source for German films to watch as some stories are very interesting; hope I’ll be able to watch a few before the Berlinale.

14th Swiss Film Prize Quartz Award Winners

Two days ago they had the award ceremony and winners are in *BLUE; to check winners in all categories go here.

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1/29/11
A few days ago at the Solothurn Film Festival the nominations for Quartz 2011 were announced and here they are.

Best Fiction Film
Cosa voglio di più (What More Do I Want), Silvio Soldini
Der Sandmann (The Sandman), Peter Luisi
*La Petite Chambre (The Little Room), Stéphanie Chuat and Veronique Reymond
Sennentuntschi, Michael Steiner
Stationspiraten, Michael Schaerer

Best Actress
*Isabelle Caillat in All That Remains, Pierre-Adrian Irlé, Valentin Rotelli
Sabine Timoteo in Sommervögel (Little Paradise), Paul Riniker
Linda Olsansky in Zu Zweit (The Two Of Us), Barbara Kulcsar

Best Actor
Fabian Krüger in Der Sandmann (The Sandman), Peter Luisi
Andrea Zogg in Sennentuntschi, Michael Steiner
*Scherwin Amini in Stationspiraten, Michael Schaerer

Best Performance in a Supporting Role
*Carla Juri in 180°, Cihan Inan
Martin Hug in How About Love, Stefan Haupt
Stefan Kurt in Stationspiraten, Michael Schaerer

To read nominees in all categories and check info about each movie go here. Awards ceremony will be on March 12 in KKL Luzern.

31st Genie Awards Winners

Last week the Academy had their awards ceremony and winners are in *BLUE; to check winners in all categories go here.

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2/2/11
Today the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television announced the nominees for this year with Barney’s Version leading with 11 nods but following closely is Incendies with 10. These are the nominees in some categories.

Best Motion Picture
Les Amours Imaginaires (Heartbeats), Xavier Dolan
Barney’s Version, Richard J. Lewis
*Incendies, Denis Villeneuve
Splice, Vicenzo Natali

Achievement in Direction
Xavier Dolan for Les Amours Imaginaires (Heartbeats)
Richard J. Lewis for Barney’s Version
Podz for 10 ½
*Denis Villeneuve for Incendies

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
*Lubna Azabal in Incendies
Tatiana Maslany in Grown Up Movie Star
Molly Parker in Trigger
Rosamund Pike in Barney’s Version
Tracy Wright in Trigger

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Jay Baruche in The Trotsky
*Paul Giamatti in Barney’s Version
Robert Naylor in 10 ½
Timothy Olphant in High Life
Francois Papineau in Route 132

To check nominees in all categories go here. Award ceremony will be on Thursday, March 10. Haven’t seen movie yet but I bet that Incendies will get the top award.