Tag Archives: Melonie Diaz

Isaacs Earns Spirit Award Nomination for His Role in “Inside Llewyn Davis”

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Oscar Isaacs’ awards season is off to a great start…

The 33-year-old Guatemalan and Cuban actor has earned a Spirit Award nomination for his critically acclaimed role in Inside Llewyn Davis, which was nominated for Best Feature.

Oscar Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis

Isaacs is up for Best Male Lead against Nebraska’s Bruce Dern, 12 Years a Slave’s Chiwetel Ejiofor, Fruitvale Station’s Michael B Jordan, Dallas Buyers Club’s Matthew McConaughey and All is Lost’s Robert Redford.

Melonie Diaz has earned a nod for Best Supporting Female for her role in Fruitvale Station.

Film Independent’s 29th Spirit Awards will be held on March 1 in Santa Monica with Patton Oswalt hosting.

Here’s the full list of 2014 nominees:

BEST FEATURE
12 Years A Slave
All Is Lost
Frances Ha
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska

BEST DIRECTOR
Shane Carruth, Upstream Color
J.C. Chandor, All Is Lost
Steve McQueen, 12 Years A Slave
Jeff Nichols, Mud
Alexander Payne, Nebraska

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Julie Delpy, Before Midnight
Gaby Hoffmann, Crystal Fairy
Brie Larson, Short Term 12
Shailene Woodley, The Spectacular Now

BEST MALE LEAD
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years A Slave
Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis
Michael B Jordan, Fruitvale Station
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Robert Redford, All Is Lost

BEST SCREENPLAY
Woody Allen, Blue Jasmine
Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke & Richard Linklater, Before Midnight
Nicole Holofcener, Enough Said
Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber, The Spectacular Now
John Ridley, 12 Years A Slave

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Melonie Diaz, Fruitvale Station
Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
Yolonda Ross, Go For Sisters
June Squibb, Nebraska

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
Will Forte, Nebraska
James Gandolfini, Enough Said
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Keith Stanfield, Short Term 12

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Lake Bell, In A World
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Don Jon
Bob Nelson, Nebraska
Jill Soloway, Afternoon Delight
Mike Starrbury, The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Sean Bobbitt, 12 Years A Slave
Benoit Debie, Spring Breakers
Bruno Delbonnel, Inside Llewyn Davis
Frank G. Demarco, All Is Lost
Matthias Grunsky, Computer Chess

BEST EDITING
Shane Carruth & David Lowery, Upstream Color
Jem Cohen & Marc Vives, Museum Hours
Frank G. Demarco,
All Is Lost
Matthias Grunsky, Computer Chess
Nat Sanders, Short Term 12

BEST DOCUMENTARY
20 Feet From Stardom, Director/Producer: Morgan Neville, Producers: Gil Friesen & Caitrin Rogers
After Tiller, Directors/Producers: Martha Shane & Lana Wilson
Gideon’s Army, Director/Producer: Dawn Porter, Producer: Julie Goldman
The Act of Killing, Director/Producer: Joshua Oppenheimer, Producers: Joram Ten Brink, Christine Cynn, Anne Köhncke, Signe Byrge Sørensen, Michael Uwemedimo
The Square, Director: Jehane Noujaim, Producer: Karim Amer

BEST INT’L FILM
A Touch of Sin (China)
Blue is the Warmest Color (France)
Gloria (Chile)
The Great Beauty (Italy)
The Hunt (Denmark)

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Blue Caprice, Director/Producer: Alexandre Moors; Producers: Kim Jackson, Brian O’Carroll, Isen Robbins, Will Rowbotham, Ron Simons, Aimee Schoof, Stephen Tedeschi
Concussion, Director: Stacie Passon, Producer: Rose Troche
Fruitvale Station, Director: Ryan Coogler; Producers: Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker
Una Noche, Director/Producer: Lucy Mulloy, Producers: Sandy Pérez Aguila, Maite Artieda, Daniel Mulloy, Yunior Santiago
Wadjda, Director: Haifaa Al Mansour, Producers: Gerhard Meixner, Roman Paul

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (best feature made for under $500,000)
Computer Chess, Writer/Director: Andrew Bujalski, Producers: Houston King & Alex Lipschultz
Crystal Fairy, Writer/Director: Sebastiàn Silva, Producers: Juan de Dios Larraín & Pablo Larraín
Museum Hours, Writer/Director: Jem Cohen, Producers: Paolo Calamita & Gabriele Kranzelbinder
Pit Stop, Writer/Director: Yen Tan, Writer: David Lowery, Producers: Jonathan Duffy, James M. Johnston, Eric Steele, Kelly Williams
This is Martin Bonner, Writer/Director: Chad Hartigan, Producer: Cherie Saulter

17th ANNUAL PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Toby Halbrooks & James M. Johnston
Jacob Jaffke
Andrea Roa
Frederick Thornton

20th ANNUAL SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
My Sister’s Quinceañera, Director: Aaron Douglas Johnston
Newlyweeds, Director: Shaka King
The Foxy Merkins, Director: Madeline Olnek

19th ANNUAL STELLA ARTOIS TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Kalyanee Mam, A River Changes Course
Jason Osder, Let the Fire Burn
Stephanie Spray & Pacho Velez, Manakamana

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
Mud, Director: Jeff Nichols, Casting Director: Francine Maisler, Ensemble Cast: Joe Don Baker, Jacob Lofland, Matthew McConaughey, Ray McKinnon, Sarah Paulson, Michael Shannon, Sam Shepard, Tye Sheridan, Paul Sparks, Bonnie Sturdivant, Reese Witherspoon

 

Trailer Released for Diaz’s Latest Film “Fruitvale Station”

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Sure, Melonie Diaz is a certified indie film star… But her latest project could put her on the Oscar track.

The Weinstein Co. has released the trailer for the 29-year-old Puerto Rican actress’ latest film Fruitvale Station.

Fruitvale Station

Starring Michael B. Jordan, the film tells the story of Oscar Grant, the 22-year-old San Francisco Bay Area man whose fatal 2009 shooting by Oakland BART police sparked outrage and protests against police brutality.

Diaz stars as Sophina, Grant’s girlfriend and the mother of his daughter.

The Weinstein Co. bought the film, the directorial debut by Ryan Coogler, at the Sundance Film Festival for $2 million even before it won the fest’s U.S. Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award.

Fruitvale Station is set for release on July 12.

The Name of Diaz’s Latest Film Changed to “Fruitvale Station”

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Melonie Diaz’s latest film is getting a name change…

The 28-year-old Puerto Rican actress’ latest project, Fruitvale, which won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for U.S. Dramatic film at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, is getting an extra word in its title.

Melonie Diaz

The Weinstein Company, which picked up the film about the 2009 fatal shooting of 22-year-old Oscar Grant on San Francisco’s BART by security guards for more than $2 million, changed the name of the film to Fruitvale Station

The Ryan Coogler-directed drama will still be released on July 26 as part of the company’s Oscar-season arsenal for its story about the final day of Grant’s life (as portrayed by Michael B. Jordan), a young man who has been in trouble with the law but is decent at heart and tries to straighten out his life to care for his girlfriend and young daughter.

The shooting galvanized protests against police brutality in Oakland.

Ferrera to Star in the Relationship Drama “X/Y”

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America Fererra didn’t have to go far to audition (and land) for her latest role…

The 28-year-old Honduran-American actress and former Ugly Betty star has landed a role in her husband Ryan Piers Williams’ latest film X/Y.

America Ferrera

The writer-filmmaker previously directed his wife in 2010’s The Dry Land, a film that earned Ferrera an Imagen Award nomination for best actress.

X/Y, which is being called a relationship drama, will take a look inside the lives and minds of an interconnected group of friends in New York City. The character-driven film explores the challenges people face in communicating and connecting.

In addition to starring Ferrera and Williams, the film stars Melonie Diaz, Jon Paul Phillips, Dree Hemingway, Adam Rapp, Ann Dowd and Common.

Production on the film has already begun in New York.

Ferrera will next be seen in Diego Luna’s Chavez, a biopic about labor leader and civil right advocate Cesar Chavez.

 

Diaz’s “Fruitvale” Earns Two Sundance Film Festival Prizes

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Melonie Diaz has become part of Sundance Film Festival history…

The 28-year-old Puerto Rican actress’ latest project, Fruitvale, has become the first Sundance film to win the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for U.S. Dramatic film since Precious in 2009.

Melonie Diaz II

First-time director Ryan Coogler was inspired to write the film after 22-year-old Oscar Grant was shot in the back and killed by Oakland transit police on New Year’s Day morning 2009. Fruitvale tells the story of Grant’s last 24 hours alive, as he attempts to become a better father, a better boyfriend and a better son and friend.

“It’s about human beings and how we treat each other,” said Coogler, “how we treat people that we love and how we treat people that we don’t know.”

Diaz portrays Sophina in the film, which sparked a bidding war after its premiere. Rights for the film were ultimately acquired by The Weinstein Company for approximately $2 million.

Meanwhile, Sebastián Silva’s earned the Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic for helming the Chilean film Crystal Fairy, which centers on two people who clash during a road trip to Chile.

Who is Dayani Cristal?, a film produced by Gael García Bernal and Marc Silver, won the Cinematography Award, World Cinema Documentary. The film, directed by Silver and featuring García in some dramatic reenactments, centers on an anonymous body found in the Arizona desert sparks the beginning of a real-life human drama. The search for its identity leads the audience across a continent to seek out the people left behind and the meaning of a mysterious tattoo.

Wilds to Star in Indie Drama “Fruitvale”

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Tristan Wilds and Melonie Diaz will be working with an Oscar-winning actress in the near future.

The 22-year-old part-Dominican American actor and 27-year-old Puerto Rican American actress have joined the cast of Fruitvale, an indie drama about a true-life police shooting being produced by Forest Whitaker.

Tristan Wilds

Ryan Coogler will make his feature debut writing and directing the film, which comes in the wake of the controversy surrounding the February 26 death of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager shot and killed by a local neighborhood watch officer in Florida.

Chronicle’s Michael B. Jordan and Octavia Spencer, who won Best Supporting Actress at this year’s Oscars for her role in The Help, are already on board for Fruitvale, which tells the story of Oscar Grant, a young black man detained on New Year’s Day 2009 by the Bay Area Rapid Transit police and shot in the back and killed. The event was captured by many cell phone cameras, with the ensuing trial and its verdict causing protests and riots.

Melonie Diaz

Wilds will play Grant’s best friend while Diaz will appear as the mother of his young child.

Wilds previously worked with Jordan on the George Lucas-produced World War II aerial war movie Red Tails. He’s also one of the stars of the CW’s 90210.

Diaz has guest-starred on several TV shows, including Person of Interest and CSI: Miami. She’s also appeared in the films Nothing Like the Holidays and Hamlet 2.