British Independent Film Awards

And now we have the nominees for the British Indy Film Awards for this year as well. Strong showings from several films, with the pack led by Shame, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Tyrannosaur, which all garnered 7 nominees. Strong showing by We Need to Talk about Kevin and Submarine as well. Here are the full nominees and winners.


BEST BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM
Senna
Shame
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Tyrannosaur
We Need to Talk about Kevin

BEST DIRECTOR
Tomas Alfredson -- "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Paddy Considine -- "Tyrannosaur"
Steve McQueen -- "Shame"
Lynne Ramsay -- "We Need to Talk about Kevin"
Ben Wheatley -- "Kill List"

BEST ACTOR
Michael Fassbender -- "Shame"
Brendan Gleeson -- "The Guard"
Neil Maskell -- "Kill List"
Peter Mullan -- "Tyrannosaur"
Gary Oldman -- "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"

BEST ACTRESS
MyAnna Buring -- "Kill List"
Olivia Colman -- "Tyrannosaur"
Rebecca Hall -- "The Awakening"
Tilda Swinton -- "We Need to Talk about Kevin"
Mia Wasikowska -- "Jane Eyre"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Benedict Cumberbatch -- "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Tom Hardy -- "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Eddie Marsan -- "Tyrannosaur"
Ezra Miller -- "We Need to Talk about Kevin"
Michael Smiley -- "Kill List"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Kathy Burke - "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Sally Hawkins -- "Submarine"
Felicity Jones -- "Albatross"
Carey Mulligan -- "Shame"
Vanessa Redgrave -- "Coriolanus"

BEST SCREENPLAY
The Guard -- John Michael McDonagh
Kill List -- Ben Wheatley & Amy Jump
Shame -- Abi Morgan & Steve McQueen
Submarine -- Richard Ayoade
We Need to Talk about Kevin -- Lynne Ramsay & Rory Kinnear

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Hell and Back Again
Life in a Day
Project Nim
Senna
TT3D: Closer to the Edge

BEST FOREIGN INDEPENDENT FILM
Animal Kingdom
Drive
Pina
A Separation
The Skin I Live In

BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR (DOUGLAS HICKOX AWARD)
Richard Ayoade -- "Submarine"
Paddy Considine -- "Tyrannosaur"
Joe Cornish -- "Attack the Block"
Ralph Fiennes -- "Coriolanus"
John Michael McDonagh -- "The Guard"

MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER
John Boyega -- "Attack the Block"
Tom Cullen -- "Weekend"
Jessica Brown Findlay -- "Albatross"
Yasmin Paige -- "Submarine"
Craig Roberts -- "Submarine"

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION
Kill List
Tyrannosaur
Weekend
Wild Bill
You Instead

BEST TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT
Sean Bobbitt -- Cinematography -- Shame
Maria Djurkovic -- Production Design -- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Chris King & Gregers Sall -- Film Editing -- Senna
Seamus McGarvey -- Cinematography -- We Need to Talk about Kevin
Joe Walker -- Film Editing -- Shame

BEST BRITISH SHORT
0507
Chalk
Love at First Sight
Rite
Rough Skin

THE RAINDANCE AWARD
Acts of Godfrey
Black Pond
Hollow
Leaving Baghdad
A Thousand Kisses Deep

2011 Gotham Awards

The nominees for this year's Gotham Awards have been announced. For those who do not know, the Gotham Awards are based in, voted on, and celebrate the independent film hub of New York. The group started giving out their awards in 1991, and in their past, have honored films such as Sideways, Half Nelson, Into the Wild, The Hurt Locker, and Winter's Bone, and bestowed honors upon filmmakers such as Darren Aronofsky, John Cameron Mitchell, and Ryan Fleck, among many others.

Here are this year's nominees...and now updated with winners!

BEST FEATURE
Beginners (tie)
The Descendants
Meek's Cutoff
Take Shelter
The Tree of Life (tie)

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Better This World
Bill Cummingham New York
Hell and Back Again
The Interrupters
The Woodmans

BEST BREAKTHROUGH DIRECTOR
Mike Cahill -- "Another Earth"
Sean Durkin -- "Martha Marcy May Marlene"
Vera Farmiga -- "Higher Ground"
Evan Glodell -- "Bellflower"
Dee Rees -- "Pariah"

BEST BREAKTHROUGH ACTOR
Felicity Jones -- "Like Crazy"
Elizabeth Olsen -- "Martha Marcy May Marlene"
Harmony Santana -- "Gun Hill Road"
Shailene Woodley -- "The Descendents"
Jacob Wysocki -- "Terri"

BEST ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
Beginners
The Descendents
Margin Call
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Take Shelter

BEST FILM NOT PLAYING AT A THEATER NEAR YOU
Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same
Green
The Redemption of General Butt Naked
Scenes of a Crime
Without

Review - Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)

It's somewhat difficult to be be completely objective when it comes to Ben Hur: A Tale Of The Christ (1925), mostly due to the fact that the updated version made almost 45 years later is so well known to the movie-viewing public. Comparisons are doing to be made, but this original film version definitely stands up to the test.

This version of the Judah Ben-Hur story, directed by Fred Niblo, and starring Ramon Novarro in the title role, is a wonderful silent film that to this day still holds up very well. The film remains wonderfully epic and shamelessly entertaining, albeit a bit drawn-out and lengthy in times, particularly in the first twenty minutes or so. But you can't deny the grandeur of it all, especially in the large action set pieces. The chariot race here is just as intense and enthralling as in the 1959 William Wyler version. The time spent down in the galleys of the Roman ship and sea battle afterwards is just as suffocating, and the heart-tugging moments of loss and reunion of family are just as touching. The crowd scenes are massive, the sets are impressive, and the scope of the entire project is huge for a film that was made over 85 years ago.

The orchestral score composed by Carl Davis for the restored version of the film is a wonderful companion to the images, hitting just the right emotions at just the right times.

The film is mostly in black and white, but does feature some color sequences as well. I have only a slight issue with that, as sometimes the color doesn't really add anything, and on rare occassions looks a little splotchy, but what can you expect for such an old film.

All in all, I would still put Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ on any shortlist of the best silent films of all time. The sheer scope alone makes it worth a viewing, even with the somewhat lengthy running time of 143 minutes. There's a reason why this film has a rating of 100% on rottentomatoes.com Because it's epic, it's moving, and it's an example of great filmmaking.

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) = A-

63 entries for Foreign Language Film

The official list of submissions for Best Foreign Language Film has been released. I still think this category needs some major overhauling. Too many wonderful foreign films are released every year but not submitted by their respective countries, and therefore are deemed ineligible. However, this year 63 total countries, including first-time entrant New Zealand, have submitted their films for consideration. Here's a list of all the entries.

• Albania - "Amnesty"


• Argentina - "Aballay"


• Austria - "Breathing"


• Belgium - "Bullhead"


• Bosnia and Herzegovina - "Belvedere"


• Brazil - "Elite Squad: The Enemy Within"


• Bulgaria - "Tilt"


• Canada - "Monsieur Lazhar"


• Chile - "Violeta Went to Heaven"


• China - "The Flower of War"


• Colombia - "The Colors of the Mountain"


• Croatia - "72 Days"


• Cuba - "Havanastation"


• Czech Republic - "Alois Nebel"


• Denmark - "Superclasico"


• Dominican Republic - "Love Child"


• Egypt - "Lust"


• Estonia - "Letters to Angel"


• Finland - "Le Havre"


• France - "Declaration of War"


• Georgia - "Chantrapas"


• Germany - "Pina"


• Greece - "Attenberg"


• Hong Kong - "A Simple Life"


• Hungary - "The Turin Horse"


• Iceland - "Volcano"


• India - "Abu, Son of Adam"


• Indonesia - "Under the Protection of Ka'Bah"


• Iran - "A Separation"


• Ireland - "As If I Am Not There"


• Israel - "Footnote"


• Italy - "Terraferma"


• Japan - "Postcard"


• Kazakhstan - "Returning to the 'A'"


• Lebanon - "Where Do We Go Now?"


• Lithuania - "Back to Your Arms"


• Macedonia - "Punk Is Not Dead"


• Mexico - "Miss Bala"


• Morocco - "Omar Killed Me"


• Netherlands - "Sonny Boy"


• New Zealand - "The Orator"


• Norway - "Happy, Happy"


• Peru - "October"


• Philippines - "The Woman in the Septic Tank"


• Poland - "In Darkness"


• Portugal - "Jose and Pilar"


• Romania - "Morgen"


• Russia - "Burnt by the Sun 2: The Citadel"


• Serbia - "Montevideo: Taste of a Dream"


• Singapore - "Tatsumi"


• Slovak Republic - "Gypsy"


• South Africa - "Beauty"


• South Korea - "The Front Line"


• Spain - "Black Bread"


• Sweden - "Beyond"


• Switzerland - "Summer Games"


• Taiwan - "Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale"


• Thailand - "Kon Khon"


• Turkey - "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia"


• United Kingdom - "Patagonia"


• Uruguay - "The Silent House"


• Venezuela - "Rumble of the Stones"


• Vietnam - "The Prince and the Pagoda Boy"