Paul McCartney To Perform At 2012 MusiCares Person Of The Year Gala

Legendary singer/songwriter, 14-time GRAMMY winner and 2012 MusiCares Person of the Year honoree Paul McCartney is set to perform at the sold-out star-studded tribute concert, taking place in Los Angeles during GRAMMY Week on Feb.10.

JEFFREY KATZENBERG TO BE HONORED AS 2012 PIONEER OF THE YEAR AT CINEMACON IN LAS VEGAS

The Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation will present its 2012 "Pioneer of the Year" Award to Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. it was announced by Ted Cooper, President of the industry's foremost charitable organization. Katzenberg will be honored on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at CinemaCon, the industry's largest and most important gathering of cinema owners and operators from around the world. CinemaCon 2012 will be held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

2012 FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

$115,000 in grants to be awarded to filmmakers

Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, announced nominations for the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards. Anthony Mackie and Kate Beckinsale served as presenters. Nominees for Best Feature include 50/50, Beginners, Drive, Take Shelter and The Artist.Margin Call was selected to receive the annual Robert Altman Award, which is bestowed upon one film's director, casting director and ensemble cast.

Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, announced that Seth Rogen will serve as host for the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards.

Winners will be announced at the Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, February 25, 2012. The 27th annual awards ceremony will be held as a daytime luncheon in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica, and the premiere broadcast will air later that evening at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on IFC. Winners of the Spirit Awards Filmmaker Grants will be highlighted during the awards ceremony and announced at the Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominee Brunch on Saturday, January 14, 2012 at BOA Steakhouse in West Hollywood.

The Spirit Awards Nominating Committees selected nominees from 277 submissions this year and applied the following guidelines in determining the nominations: uniqueness of vision, original and provocative subject matter, economy of means (with particular attention paid to total production cost & individual compensation), and percentage of financing from independent sources. The Spirit Awards Nominating Committee was comprised of the following committees:

The American Narrative Nominating Committee was chaired by producer Gail Mutrux and included: film critic/journalist Robert Abele; writer Dustin Lance Black; producers Stuart Cornfeld, Barry Mendel; actors Dale Dickey, Andre Royo, Souleymane Sy Savane; cinematographers Paula Huidobro, Stephen Goldblatt; writer/directors Courtney Hunt, Robert D. Siegel; writer/director/producer Malcolm D. Lee; director Floria Sigismondi; casting director Margery Simkin; and writer Dan Waters.

The Documentary Feature Nominating Committee was chaired by CEO Landmark Theatres Ted Mundorff and included: producer Lesley Chilcott; KCET's Juan Devis; director Laura Gabbert; author/filmmaker Nelson George; filmmaker John Maringouin; San Francisco Film Society's Director of Programming Rachel Rosen; and Los Angeles Times and NPR's "Morning Edition" film critic Kenneth Turan.

The International Feature Nominating Committee was chaired by filmmaker Mary Sweeney and included: actors Shohreh Aghdashloo, Demian Bichir; Film Society of Lincoln Center's Director of Digital Strategy Eugene Hernandez; director Leon Ichaso; writer/director Larry Karaszewski; producer/director Hossein Keshavarz; cinematographer Ellen Kuras; composer Cliff Martinez; and producer Frida Torresblanco. The Piaget Producers Award Nominating Committee was chaired by producer Brian Udovich and included: producers Anish Savjani, Lynette Howell and Amy Kaufman. The Someone to Watch Award Nominating Committee was chaired by producer Alison Dickey and included: filmmaker Jay Duplass; Dallas Film Society Artistic Director James Faust; Denver Post film critic Lisa Kennedy; and writer/director Daniel Stamm. The Truer Than Fiction Award Nominating Committee was chaired by film critic Wesley Morris and included: filmmakers Ava DuVernay, Laura Poitras; filmmaker/cinematographer PJ Raval; and programmer Laura Thielen. As the first event to exclusively honor independent film, the Film Independent Spirit Awards has made a name for itself as the premier awards show for the independent film community. Artists who have received industry recognition first at the Spirit Awards include Joel & Ethan Coen, Spike Lee, Oliver Stone, Ashley Judd, Robert Rodriguez, David O. Russell, Edward Burns, Aaron Eckhart, Neil LaBute, Darren Aronofsky, Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman, Hilary Swank, Marc Forster, Todd Field, Christopher Nolan, Zach Braff, Amy Adams, Lena Dunham and many more.

The Film Independent Spirit Awards are sponsored by Premier Sponsors ELLE, Piaget and Jamesona Irish Whiskey. WireImage is the Official Photographer and PR Newswire is the Official Breaking News Service of Film Independent.

The 11th annual Tribeca Film Festival will take place in Lower Manhattan from April 18 - April 29, 2012. TFF celebrates artists of all kinds, not just filmmakers. For the 11th consecutive year, the Tribeca Film Festival Artists Awards Program, created by TFF co-founder Jane Rosenthal and sponsored by CHANEL, will celebrate New York artists by awarding works of art to filmmakers selected by the TFF jury as winners in their respective categories.

At the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), presented by American Express, 11 major contemporary artists will display and donate their paintings, photographs, etchings, prints or sculptures: Peter Dayton, Walton Ford, Stephen Hannock, JR, Kim Keever, Clifford Ross, Nathan Sawaya, Cindy Sherman, Hugo Tillman, Kara Walker, and Stanley Whitney. The artwork will be publicly exhibited at the New York Academy of Art, 111 Franklin Street, Manhattan. The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, will run for three weeks, from April 5-25, 2012, between the hours of 11am–7pm (closed on April 8 for Easter). New Yorkers and festival-goers alike are invited to view the works before they are presented at the Tribeca Film Festival Awards Ceremony on the evening of April 26, 2012.

The Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF) will celebrate its 13th anniversary with an action-packed line up of independent and studio films from around the globe. Celebrated as one of the leading lifestyle film festivals in the United States, the Festival seeks to bring to Orange County the best classic and contemporary filmmaking. Committed to enlightening the public with a first-class international film program, a forum for cultural understanding and enriching educational opportunities, the Festival will include feature-length narrative, documentary, short, animated and student films.