Some are here to learn, some are here to share. Everyone is here in the name of film. Each have different experiences, backgrounds, and levels of expertise. As I sat in one panel about film financing Saturday I looked back at the packed auditorium and thought to myself, "Damn. Each of these people are here just because they want to make movies." They don't have money to make it happen, but they are here because they believe in what they want to do enough that they believe they can make...

  BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer) Black Swan BEST DIRECTOR Darren Aronfosky, "Black Swan" BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer) Get Low JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer) Daddy Longlegs BEST SCREENPLAY "The Kids Are All Right" BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY "Tiny Furniture" BEST FEMALE LEAD Natalie Por...

  The Writers Guild of America, the most prestigious membership organization for television and film writers, announced its nominations this week for top scribes of the year. The nominees, an indicator of the Oscar nods due later this month, are not without controversy. Several of the year's most celebrated films have had their scripts disqualified due to the WGA's convoluted "minimum basic agreement" rules. The injunctions are rather hard to explain but disqualify film scrip...

  With the Sundance Film Festival in almost its third decade, it is no surprise that there are certain filmmakers who have become Park City regulars and veterans of the American indie scene. One of the most successful of the women directors that Sundance has nurtured is Nicole Holofcener, who is back at the Festival with her latest film PLEASE GIVE. The writer/director was first at Sundance with her 1996 romantic drama WALKING AND TALKING. Like that earlier film, PLEASE GIVE also...