“Life of Pi” Cinematographer Miranda Wins BAFTA Award…

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Claudio Miranda may have to look for another place to display his growing stash of awards…

The Chilean cinematographer, a favorite to win at this year’s Oscars, won the Best Cinematography gong at Sunday night’s BAFTA Awards, sponsored by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Miranda, who wasn’t present to pick up his award at London’s Royal Opera House, claimed the award for his work on Ang Lee’s Life of Pi.

It’s Miranda’s latest win this awards season, following his Critics’ Choice Award and New York Film Critics Online, among others.

Meanwhile, Malik Bendjelloul’s Searching for Sugar Man, the critically acclaimed documentary about Mexican American musician Sixto Rodriguez, won the BAFTA Award.

Earlier this month, Searching for Sugar Man picked up the DGA Award from the Directors Guild of America.

“Searching for Sugar Man” Earns Directors Guild Award

Posted on February 3, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

It looks like Searching for Sugar Man has the momentum heading into the final Oscar stretch…

The critically acclaimed documentary about Mexican American musician Sixto Rodriguez, who has been dubbed “the greatest rock star who never was,” earned the film’s helmer Malik Bendjelloul his first DGA Award from the Directors Guild of America.

Bendjelloul picked up the award during the 65th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards dinner on Saturday night at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles.

It’s the latest award for Searching for Sugar Man, which is looking like an Oscar front-runner in its category. The film had previously won a Critics Choice award and Producers Guild of America award.

In addition, the film has resulted in what’s shaping up to be the comeback of the century, with the film’s subject Rodriguez now in high demand. He’s slated to perform at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and other music festivals this year.

Cuesta Wins Producers Guild Award for Showtime’s “Homeland”

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Michael Cuesta has another award to add to his mantle…

The 49-year-old Latino film & television director picked up a Producers Guild Award (PGA Award) on Saturday night in the Television Drama category.

Cuesta earned the award for producing Showtime’s Homeland, along with fellow producers Henry Bromell, Alexander Cary, Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Chip Johannessen, Michael Klick and Meredith Stiehm.

It’s the director’s first PGA Award. Cuesta, was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for directing Homeland’s pilot episode, had previously been nominated for a PGA Award in the Television Producer of the Year Award in Episodic category in 2008 for Showtime’s Dexter.

Meanwhile, Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn’s Searching for Sugar Man, about Mexican-American indie singer Rodriguez, earned the PGA Award in the Documentary category.

Rodriguez to Perform on the Festival Circuit

Posted on January 19, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Call it the second coming of Sixto Rodríguez…

The 70-year-old Mexican-American singer/songwriter, the man at the center of Malik Bendjelloul‘s Oscar-nominated documentary Searching for Sugar Man, has lined up festival dates lined up at Coachella, Glastonbury and Primavera in Spain that will follow tours of South Africa and Australia.

The new dates are part of Rodriguez’s astonishing rediscovery after releasing two albums for Clarence Avant‘s Sussex label in the early 1970s that didn’t sell anywhere except in South Africa where his legend grew along with his record sales.

Bendjelloul’s documentary, which will be released on DVD on January 22, chronicles the myths and realities of Rodriguez’s story and his 1998 concerts in South Africa.

“It’s a different level that we’re at now,” Rodriguez said during a recent visit to Los Angeles to perform on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. “I can’t imagine it getting much busier. This is pretty busy. You gotta stay balanced and normalized, pace yourself. At this late date I have a new perspective on things because of the success of the music now.”

The demand for Rodriguez has picked up dramatically in the last year for Rodriguez, who had done a few club performances per year since 2008 when Light in the Attic re-released his two albums, Cold Facts and Coming From Reality. Rodriguez appeared at film festivals like Sundance and SXSW in early 2012 and performed solo at most of his shows. He has been using various bands to back him since moving up to larger clubs and small theaters in the fall.

“We did 13 dates in the UK, all 3,000-seaters, and when we go back it will be Royal Albert Hall,” Rodriguez says.

60 Minutes, which did a piece on Rodriguez prior to the film opening, has contacted him again about possibly chronicling his tour of South Africa in February.

Besides the Oscar nomination, Searching for Sugar Man is up for BAFTA, Producers Guild and WGA awards. It won the International Documentary Association‘s best feature and best music awards and the National Board of Review named it the best documentary of the season.

Delgado Earns First Academy Award Nomination…

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Paco Delgado has a date with Oscar…

The Spanish costume designer has earned his first Academy Award nomination in the Best Costume Design category for his impressive work in Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper‘s film adaptation of the Broadway musical Les Misérables.

Delgado, considered a favorite to earn an Oscar nod all season, oversaw the creation of more than 2,200 outfits for the cast of the epic film. He recently opened up about his designs in an online featurette.

Meanwhile, Chilean cinematographer Claudio Miranda has picked up his second Oscar nomination for his work Ang Lee’s adventure drama Life of Pi. He’d previously earned a nod for 2008’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Pablo Larraín earned his firstAcademy Awardnomination in the Best Foreign Language Film categoryfor directingthe Spanish-language drama No, starring Gael García Bernal as an in-demand advertising executive who develops a campaign that helps overthrow Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet’s regime.

Mexican sound mixer José Antonio García, who earned critical acclaim for his sound mixing Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Babel, earned his first Academy Award nomination in the Best Sound Mixing category for his work on Ben Affleck’s Argo.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has nominated Malik Bendjelloul’s Searching for Sugar Man – the critically acclaimed film which tells the story of Mexican-American singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez – in the Best Documentary Film category.

Click here for a complete look at this year’s nominees.

The 85th Academy Awards will be broadcast live on February 24 on ABC.

Bardem Receives BAFTA Award Nomination

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Skyfall’s Javier Bardem is a hit in England…

The 43-year-old Spanish actor, who masterfully plays the villain in the latest James Bond film has followed up his London Film Critics’ Circle nod with a BAFTA Award nomination.

Bardem was revealed as a candidate in the Best Supporting Actor category during the announcement of nominees by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Bardem, who previously won a BAFTA Award in 2007 for his performance in No Country for Old Men, will face off against Argo’s Alan Arkin, Django Unchained’s Christoph Waltz, The Master’s Philip Seymour Hoffman and Lincoln’s Tommy Lee Jones.

Bardem’s nomination is one of eight nominations for Skyfall, which is now the highest-grossing film in United Kingdom history.

Meanwhile, Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn’s Searching for Sugar Man, the documentary about Mexican-American musician Rodriguez was nominated in the Best Documentary category.

Chilean cinematographer Claudio Miranda earned a BAFTA Award nomination, the second of his career, for his work on Ang Lee’s Life of Pi.

Spanish costume designer Paco Delgado earned his first BAFTA Award nomination for his costume design work on the film adaptation of Broadway’s Les Misérables.

The BAFTA Awards ceremony will take place on February 10.

Here’s a look at the Latino nominees and their competition:

DOCUMENTARY
THE IMPOSTER Bart Layton, Dimitri Doganis
MARLEY Kevin Macdonald, Steve Bing, Charles Steel
McCULLIN David Morris, Jacqui Morris
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn
WEST OF MEMPHIS Amy Berg

SUPPORTING ACTOR
ALAN ARKIN Argo
CHRISTOPH WALTZ Django Unchained
JAVIER BARDEM Skyfall
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN The Master
TOMMY LEE JONES Lincoln

CINEMATOGRAPHY
ANNA KARENINA Seamus McGarvey
LES MISÉRABLES Danny Cohen
LIFE OF PI Claudio Miranda
LINCOLN Janusz Kaminski
SKYFALL Roger Deakins

COSTUME DESIGN
ANNA KARENINA Jacqueline Durran
GREAT EXPECTATIONS Beatrix Aruna Pasztor
LES MISÉRABLES Paco Delgado
LINCOLN Joanna Johnston
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN Colleen Atwood

“Searching for Sugar Man” Lauded by Vancouver Film Critics Circle

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Rodriguez isn’t just a hit in South Africa and the United States…

The 70-year-old Mexican American singer, or at least the film about him, has been heralded by one film critics group in Canada.

The Vancouver Film Critics Circle has just announced the nominees for its 13th annual awards; and the group has nominated Searching for Sugar Man for Best Documentary.

The critically acclaimed film, directed by Malik Bendjelloul, will face off against Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry and How to Survive a Plague.

Meanwhile, the French fantasy drama film Holy Motors, starring Eva Mendes, was nominated in the Best Foreign Film category, along with Amour and The Intouchables.

The Vancouver Film Critics Circle awards ceremony will be held on January 7, 2013.

Rodriguez’s “Searching for Sugar Man” Earns PGA Award Nomination

Posted on November 30, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

The documentary about ’70s singer/songwriter Rodríguez continues to garner praise this awards season…

Following its best documentary feature nod from the International Documentary Association, the Producers Guild of America has selected Searching for Sugar Man as a nominee for its Documentary Motion Picture Award.

Directed by Malik Bendjelloul, the documentary tells the story of Sixto Díaz Rodríguez, the now 70-year-old Mexican American folk musician who became a huge star in South Africa while remaining a virtual unknown in the United States or even his hometown of Detroit.

CBS‘ 60 Minutes recently featured a special news report on Rodriguez and the critically acclaimed documentary.

Searching for Sugar Man will face off against Aaron Yeger‘s A People Uncounted, Dror Moreh‘s The Gatekeepers, Jon Shenk‘s The Island President and Marius A. Markevicius‘ The Other Dream Team.

The PGA Awards will be held January 26 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

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