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Exclusive: Alec Baldwin (30 Rock), Michael Boatman (The Good Fight), and Karen Allen (Indiana Jones franchise) are set to topline The Cutting Room Floor, the first feature from writer-director Victoria DeMartin.

Entering production this summer, the indie follows an aspiring film editor who receives the opportunity of a lifetime but sees her world begin to spiral out of control when the film starts to mirror her own life, blurring the lines between fiction and reality. DeMartin’s script recently won First Place in the Golden Script Fellowship, an extension of the international Golden Script Competition.

Damian Young (Ozark), Jennifer Sklias-Gahan (FBI: Most Wanted), Kuhoo Verma (Murder Mystery 2), and Michael Benz (Joker) were tapped for supporting roles by casting directors Lina Todd and Byron Beane. Simon TaufiQue and Danielle Eva Schwob will produce, with the latter also set to pen the score. Ben Leong is also producing.

An Oscar nominee,...

“Belfast,” “Coda,” “King Richard,” “House of Gucci,” “West Side Story” and “The Power of the Dog” are among the films nominated for the 37th Annual Artios Awards, presented by the Casting Society of America.

The awards honor casting directors’ contribution to film, television and theatre. Winners will be revealed on March 17 via a virtual ceremony.

Among the animated features nominated are “Encanto,” “Luca,” “The Mitchells Vs. The Machines,” “Raya and the Last Dragon” and “Vivo.”

Lucy Bevan, Avy Kaufman, Carmen Cuba, Nina Gold and Cindy Tolan are just some of the casting directors who landed nominations. While the Academy has had a casting branch for the past eight years, it has yet to establish an Oscar for casting.

View the nominations in full below:

Animation

“Encanto” – Jamie Sparer Roberts, Grace C. Kim (Associate)

“Luca” – Kevin Reher, Natalie Lyon, Kate Hansen-birnbaum (Associate)

“The Mitchells Vs The Machines” – Tamara Hunter

“Raya And The Last Dragon...

The 2021 auditions are over, and the Casting Society of America has unveiled the feature nominees for its 37th annual Artios Awards.

Music plays a huge role in several of this year’s hopefuls in the marquee categories including the musicals West Side Story and In the Heights, along with making-of-a-musical pic tick, tick…Boom! Also in the Artios mix are tune-filled toons Luca, Encanto and Vivo.

Winners will be announced during a virtual ceremony on March 17. See the full list of Artios Awards nominations below, and check out the TV, theater and short-film nominees here.

The casting crews for House of Gucci, King Richard, The Power of the Dog, Tick, Tick…Boom! and West Side Story will vie in the marquee Big Budget – Drama category. In the running for Big Budget – Comedy are Cruella, Don’t Look Up, The French Dispatch, In the Heights and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the...

The casting branch of the academy is only eight years old and doesn’t have an Oscar category of its own. However, the Casting Society of America has been handing out the Artios Awards for 37 years (“Artios” is from the ancient Greek meaning “perfectly fitted.”).

Nominees for feature films were announced on February 1 (the last day of Oscar nominations voting). Many of the leading Academy Awards contenders reaped bids across the various categories according to production cost. Winners will be revealed a virtual ceremony on March 17, which is the first day of final Oscar voting.

Last year’s big budget winners were the comedy “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” and the drama “The Trial of the Chicago 7 ” while “The Forty-Year-Old Version” and “One Night in Miami” took the equivalent prizes in the independent division. “Minari” won the low budget and “The Surrogate” the micro budget prizes while “Soul” claimed the animation award.

The Casting Society of America has nominated 100 casting directors for 39 different films for the 37th annual Artios Awards, which honor the work of casting directors in eight different feature categories.

“Don’t Look Up” and “The French Dispatch” were among the nominees in the Big Budget Comedy category, “King Richard” and “The Power of the Dog” for Big Budget Drama, “”The Tender Bar,” “Belfast” and “Coda” in the Studio or Independent categories and “The Humans” and “Shiva Baby” in Low Budget and Micro Budget.

With categories covering every genre and budget level, most of the top contenders for this year’s film awards were included, with the exception of “Dune,” “Licorice Pizza,” “Nightmare Alley,” “Being the Ricardos” and “The Tragedy of Macbeth.”

Winners will be announced on March 17, though the planned in-person ceremony has been canceled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The nominees:

Animation

Encanto - Jamie Sparer Roberts, Grace C. Kim...

The Stars’ programme will focus on navigating a career in an online world.

Estonia’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) has unveiled the eight Black Nights Stars, its industry showcase of rising actors from the Baltic Sea region.

In additon to the six actors from the Baltcis, this year, this year it has added two from Russia as part of the festival’s Russia In Focus programme.

The eight actors are:

Aaron Hilmer (Germany)

Credits include: The Last Word, The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, The Peppercorns;

Antoni Sałaj (Poland)

Credits include: Legion, The Crown Of The Kings,...

The Piazza Grande was subject to an arson attack; Switzerland has selected its 2017 Oscar candidate; The Doc Alliance Selection winner has been revealed; Nyon festival changes afoot.

Arson attack on Locarno’s Piazza Grande screen

Locarno’s world-famous open-air venue on the Piazza Grande was the victim of an arson attack at the weekend.

The fire was quickly brought under control by Locarno’s fire service. Subsequent screenings were not disrupted although there was some damage to bottom of the screen.

A 37-year-old local man was arrested by the police at in the early hours of Saturday morning after Friday night’s screening of Jason Bourne.

The man, who was under the influence of alcohol at the time of his arrest, is apparently known to the police for previous arson attacks in the region, including other parts of the festival infrastructure in the past.

Following recent events in Europe, security measures had been stepped for this year...

The 2009 Hamptons International Film Festival, which runs from Oct. 8-12, will honor Sharon Stone with its Outstanding Achievement in Acting Award.

The actress will also participate in the festival's Breakthrough Performers Program, pairing the Rising Stars Program, spotlighting performers from North America, with the Shooting Stars initiative, focusing on actors from Europe.

Emmy Rossum, Zach Gilford, Emma Stone and Rooney Mara will represent North America, while Samuli Vauramo, Cyron Melville and Alba Rohrwacher will be the flag-bearers for Europe.

Stone will guide the actors through a mentoring brunch as well as accompany them to the Breakthrough Performers Gala Reception, a public symposium and a program called "A Conversation With ...."

"We are honored to have [the] talented, award-winning actress Sharon Stone as part of the festival this year. Her tremendous contribution to the world o f film has captivated and entertained us throughout the years," said Lina Todd, Breakthrough Performers program director.