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Tag: Independent film

  • Haley Joel Osment Set To Open Portland Film Festival With ‘Sex Ed’

    If you’re wondering whatever happened to The Sixth Sense wonder child Haley Joel Osment, you’ll finally get your answer at the upcoming Portland Film Festival. The film Sex Ed stars Osment and is opening the festival on August 26, Tuesday.

    After his success starring in movies such as Forrest Gump, AI and Pay It Forward as a child, Osment’s film career petered out. His performance in Sex Ed signals a comeback that people who have seen the movie are starting to believe will actually happen. “It’s genuine, funny, and not the least bit precious about its material, which involves inner-city students and an indisputably adult Haley Joel Osment as their plucky sex ed teacher. This is exactly the sort of movie you want to stumble across on the festival circuit,” wrote Ben Coleman of The Portland Mercury.

    Sex Ed will open the Portland Film Festival at the Crystal Ballroom. Osment will make an appearance at the premiere with director Isaac Feder and several other cast members. In the film Osment plays a college graduate who wants to teach algebra but finds himself roped into becoming a sex education teacher while still being a virgin.

    This is the second year of the Portland Film Festival, which started last year and was considered to be a success. Independent filmmakers Joshua Leake and Jay Cornelius started the festival in order to screen new films during an event that is “by filmmakers and for filmmakers.” Independent films and documentaries are featured at the event.

    The Portland Film Festival closes on September 1 with a film directed by another celebrity, Jason Momoa of Conan The Barbarian (2011) and Game Of Thrones fame. His film, Road To Paloma, stars Wes Studi and Lisa Bonet. Momoa will also be conducting a workshop on using DSLR cameras with his director of photography, Brian Mendoza.

  • Greta Gerwig Is In Shock After Her Golden Globe Nomination

    Greta Gerwig has not been recognized for her work before, and is not the type of celebrity that is making headlines often, or appearing in big name movies. This year, the independent film Frances Ha earned her a Golden Globe nomination, and along with many other people, she was very surprised to find out that she was nominated.

    The Golden Globes released their full list of nominations on Thursday, and to Greta Gerwig’s huge surprise and delight, she was nominated for Best Performance By An Actress In A Motion Picture-Musical Or Comedy. Despite the fact that she has very tough competition, and may not win the award, it is a honor for her to be nominated along with the veterans such as Meryl Streep.

    In the category along with Greta Gerwig’s Frances Ha performance are Meryl Streep for August: Osage County, Julia Louis-Dreyfus for Enough Said, Julie Delpy for Before Midnight, and Amy Adams for American Hustle.

    American Hustle also leads all nominations with seven, along with 12 Years A Slave.

    The nomination is a surprise to most people including the actress herself particularly due to the small-scale of the film, and its release being in May. The majority of the other films that are nominated are currently in theaters, or have yet to hit major theaters. American Hustle, with the most nominations for example, does not come out until next week.

    Gerwig is really happy about the nomination, and could not have asked for a better outcome for a film that she did as a fun project with her romantic partner. In addition to starring in the film as the titular character Frances, Greta Gerwig co-wrote the screenplay with Noah Baumbach, and with Baumbach as the director, she could have had some input in there as well.

    She was very excited about the film, and described it by saying “I really wanted to make something that was an anthem for female friendship and the last part of youth. That moment right before you start living your life in way that’s going to be OK for the next 10 years.”

    Gerwig also described how much fun it is to create characters on a screen, and talked about the excitement of the Golden Globe ceremony. She has already seen the hilarious promos that Amy Poehler and Tina Fey released with NBC in anticipation of the big show.

    The comedic actress went on to describe her excitement the morning of the announcement when stating “I still can’t believe it. I keep thinking someone is going to call and say they made a mistake. I’m so honored. All the women in the category are so amazing. I’m overwhelmed. … I’m so honored and completely overwhelmed.”

    While it may be hard for Greta Gerwig to believe that she has been nominated, it is a deserved nomination for a creative type of film that often does not get attention during the time of the award shows. Frances Ha is now out on DVD, and currently available for streaming on Netflix.

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