Jon Favreau’s independent film Chef will be making its world premiere at the 2014 South By Southwest Film Festival. Chef has also earned the honor of being the festival’s Opening Night Film.
Favreau not only wrote and directed the comedy but also stars in the film alongside Scarlett Johansson, John Leguizamo, Sofia Vergara, Bobby Cannavale, Dustin Hoffman, and Robert Downey Jr. Per the official announcement, Chef finds Favreau playing Carl, “a chef who loses his job and decides to launch a food truck business while attempting to reunite his estranged family.”
And the much-anticipated film adaptation of the TV series Veronica Mars is set to have its world premiere at the festival. Written and directed by Rob Thomas, and co-written by Diane Ruggiero, Veronica Mars has Kristen Bell reprising her starring role from the TV series. The plot: “Years after walking away from her past as a teenage private eye, Veronica Mars gets pulled back to her hometown, an ex-boyfriend with baggage, and an unraveling murder mystery.” In addition to Bell, the cast includes Jason Dohring, Krysten Ritter, Francis Capra, Percy Daggs III, Ryan Hansen, Gaby Hoffman, Chris Lowell, Tina Majorino, and Jerry O’Connell.
Additional SXSW Film 2014 Premieres:
Break Point (World Premiere / SXsports screening)
Director: Jay Karas, Screenwriters: Gene Hong & Jeremy Sisto
Two estranged brothers reunite to make an improbable run at a grand slam tennis tournament. The mismatched pair, with some unlikely help from a precocious 11-year-old boy, re-discover their game and their brotherhood.
Cast: Jeremy Sisto, David Walton, Joshua Rush, J.K. Simmons, Amy Smart
Creep (World Premiere)
Director: Patrick Brice, Screenwriter: Patrick Brice & Mark Duplass
When a videographer answers a Craigslist ad for a one-day job in the outer-exurbs, he finds his client is not at all what he initially seems.
Cast: Mark Duplass, Patrick Brice
COSMOS: A SpaceTime Odyssey
Director: Brannon Braga
As with the legendary original series, FOX’s new COSMOS is the saga of how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time. The series is hosted by renowned astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson and brings to life never-before-told stories of the heroic quest for knowledge, transporting viewers to new worlds and across the universe for a vision of the cosmos on the grandest — and the smallest — scale. Executive Produced by Ann Druyan, Seth MacFarlane, Brannon Braga and Mitchell Cannold.
Doc of the Dead (World Premiere)
Director: Alexandre O. Philippe
The definitive zombie culture documentary, from the makers of The People vs. George Lucas. Doc of the Dead traces the rise and evolution of the zombie genre, its influence on pop culture, and investigates the possibility of an actual zombie outbreak.
Leave the World Behind (World Premiere)
Director: Christian Larson
A documentary following the final tour of the hugely successful band Swedish House Mafia. The film depicts the EDM scene at its peak as well as telling a story of friendship and success. (United Kingdom)
The cast of 'Are You The One' (Photo Courtesy of MTV)MTV’s going to be doing some matchmaking with the new series Are You the One? debuting on January 21, 2014 at 11pm ET/PT. The network describes the new series as a social experiment about modern love in which 10 men and 10 women will be put through an intense matchmaking process using a special “dating algorithm” that helps figure out compatibility.
“Our millennial audience has no trouble dating or hooking up but making a deeper commitment is more challenging for them,” said Susanne Daniels, President of Programming, MTV. “Are you the One? will provide clues to the contestants to help them find their perfect match. There’s unexpected emotional twists as they find it trickier than they imagined to break apart in the name and the game of finding true love.”
The Are You the One? Plot:
MTV will conduct a social experiment on modern love with the new series Are You the One? – helping 10 women and 10 men find their perfect match. These hopeful romantics participated in a rigorous matchmaking process using a unique dating algorithm created to help quantify compatibility. The result? Recommended matches for the 20 singles with the goal of meeting the perfect partner. Using this technology, 10 ideal pairs have been identified and will ultimately come face-to-face with their true match – the catch is that the results were kept a secret from the singles. Throughout the course of the season, each of the potential lovers must uncover the mystery of their “soul mates” identity.
Are You the One? will select 10 single women and 10 single men who have had no luck in finding lasting love and will first conduct a thorough assessment, using a team of professional matchmakers, psychologists, and the participant’s family, friends and exes, to determine their other half. The process will include in-depth interviews, questionnaires and compatibility testing to achieve the ultimate results. Produced on the picturesque island of Kauai, Hawaii, the 20 singles chosen will live together knowing that their perfect match may be in the room right next to them. Viewers will be able to follow the ups and downs as each person gets potentially one step closer to finding romantic bliss, and their reactions can be as surprising as their choices.
In addition to getting to know one another socially, the 20 singles will undergo weekly tests of physical attraction, personality traits, relationship history assessments and more. During the quest to pick their match, the singles discover that following their heart might feel right, but if the data does not make a match they have to start their search over, leaving budding relationships behind causing tension and despair. At the end of each week, the 20 potential lovers will scramble to find who they believe is their perfect match. If all 10 couples match up with their pre-determined partners within 10 attempts, they will share the largest cash reward MTV has ever offered and more importantly, will walk away with a prized romance.
Universal Pictures has released new behind-the-scenes featurettes in support of Lone Survivor‘s expanded release in theaters on January 10, 2014. The new videos focus on the advanced training the cast went through in order to prepare to play Navy SEALs in the dramatic action based on a true story.
Written and directed by Peter Berg, the cast is led by Mark Wahlberg and features Emile Hirsch, Taylor Kitsch, and Ben Foster.
The Plot: Based on The New York Times bestselling true story of heroism, courage and survival, Lone Survivor tells the incredible tale of four Navy SEALs on a covert mission to neutralize a high-level al-Qaeda operative who are ambushed by the enemy in the mountains of Afghanistan. Faced with an impossible moral decision, the small band is isolated from help and surrounded by a much larger force of Taliban ready for war. As they confront unthinkable odds together, the four men find reserves of strength and resilience as they stay in the fight to the finish.
Mark Wahlberg stars as Marcus Luttrell, the author of the first-person memoir Lone Survivor, whose book has become a motivational resource for its lessons on how the power of the human spirit is tested when we are pushed beyond our mental and physical limits. Starring alongside Wahlberg as the other members of the SEAL team are Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch and Ben Foster.
Steve Buscemi stars in 'Boardwalk Empire' (Photo: Macall B. Polay/HBO)All good things must come to an end and so we’ll soon be saying goodbye to Nucky Thompson and his cohorts. HBO will end the Emmy-winning dramatic series Boardwalk Empire after its upcoming fifth season, so says President of HBO Programming Michael Lombardo. “It has been an incredible honor to bring this powerful and groundbreaking series to our subscribers,” offered Lombardo in the official announcement of the show’s final season. “Terry Winter has created one for the ages.”
“We’re thrilled to get the go-ahead for a fifth season of Boardwalk Empire,” said Winter, co-creator of the series with Martin Scorsese. “After much discussion with my creative team and HBO, we’ve decided to wrap up the series after such a great run and look forward to bringing it to a powerful and exciting conclusion.”
Hopefully the show will be going out on a high note after picking up five Emmys in September 2013. It also received three 2014 Screen Actors Guild nominations (the series already has four SAG Awards from 2012 and 2011 wins). In 2012 the drama earned four Emmy Awards including one for outstanding directing, and in 2011 it pulled in eight Emmys.
Emilia Clarke in the season three finale of 'Game of Thrones' (Photo: Keith Bernstein / HBO)Winter is here but we have to wait until April 6, 2014 at 9pm ET/PT for season four of Game of Thrones to arrive. HBO just confirmed the April premiere date of the critically acclaimed, addictive, epic fantasy series based on the “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series by George R.R. Martin. HBO also revealed fans will be treated to the first official trailer for the upcoming season on January 12th at 9pm right before the series premiere of True Detective starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson.
Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Kit Harington, Natalie Dormer, Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner are back for the new season.
In addition, HBO says VEEP will kick off season three on April 6th immediately after Game of Thrones. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tony Hale, Anna Chlumsky, Matt Walsh, Reid Scott, Timothy C. Simons, Sufe Bradshaw and Kevin Dunn star in the Emmy nominated series.
April 6th is also the date of the premiere of the brand new comedy series Silicon Valley from Mike Judge, John Altschuler, and Dave Krinsky. Debuting at 10:30pm ET/PT, Silicon Valley “looks at the modern-day epicenter of the high-tech gold rush, where the people most qualified to succeed are the least capable of handling success.” The eight episode season one stars Thomas Middleditch, TJ Miller, Zach Woods, Kumail Nanjiani, Martin Starr, Josh Brener, Christopher Evan Welch, Matt Ross, and Amanda Crew.
Here’s the Silicon Valley plot, courtesy of HBO: “Richard (Middleditch) is an introverted computer programmer living in the Hacker Hostel start-up incubator along with his best friend, Big Head (Brener), pompous Gilfoyle (Starr) and dry-witted Dinesh (Nanjiani). These social misfits live under the watch of Erlich (Miller), a self-satisfied dotcom millionaire who lets them stay in his house for free – as long as he gets a ten percent stake in their projects.
After a failed pitch to billionaire venture capitalist Peter Gregory (Welch), Richard seems destined to remain at his job at the tech company Hooli, founded by the megalomaniacal Gavin Belson (Ross). When Monica (Crew), Gregory’s head of operations, and Jared (Woods), a Hooli executive, realize the value of the site’s search algorithm, a bidding war erupts between Belson and Gregory, with Richard caught in the middle.”
Meanwhile, the news magazine Vice has secured a Friday, March 14, 2014 premiere date for season two. The half-hour series Vice will air at 11pm with Vice Founder Shane Smith back as host.
Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul in 'Breaking Bad' (Photo Credit: Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC)
Directors Guild of America President Paris Barclay proudly announced the nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Television and Commercials today saying that we’ve surpassed the Golden Age and have now entered the Platinum Age of television. “These nominees in eight categories are rare in their beauty, and unlikely to tarnish over time. I’m proud to congratulate all the nominees for exceptional work,” said Barclay.
The DGA winners will be revealed at the 66th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on January 25, 2014 hosted by Jane Lynch.
Movies for Television and Mini-Series
STEPHEN FREARS Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight
(HBO)
Mr. Frears’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Managers: Scott Ferguson, Erica Kay
First Assistant Director: Michael Steele
Second Assistant Director: Nancy Herrmann
Second Second Assistant Director: Ellen Parnett
This is Mr. Frears’s third DGA Award nomination. He was previously nominated in this category for Fail Safe in 2000 and for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for The Queen in 2006.
DAVID MAMET Phil Spector
(HBO)
Mr. Mamet’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Lee R. Mayes
First Assistant Director: Michael Hausman
Second Assistant Director: Erica Fishman
Second Second Assistant Director: Catherine Feeny
Additional Second Second Assistant Director: Eddie Griffith
This is Mr. Mamet’s first DGA Award nomination.
BETH McCARTHY-MILLER (Directed By)
ROB ASHFORD (Theatrical Direction By) The Sound of Music Live!
(NBC)
Directorial Team:
Associate Directors: Stefani Cohen, Susan Kopensky
Stage Managers: Lynn Finkel, Howard Kolins, Jeff Markowitz, Jeffrey L. Pearl, Annette Powlis, Elise Reaves, Lauren Class Schneider, Karen Tasch Weiss, Tom Ucciferri
This is Ms. McCarthy-Miller’s tenth DGA Award nomination. She is also nominated this year for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series for the “Hogcock!/Last Lunch” episode of 30 Rock. She was previously nominated in the Comedy Series category for 30 Rock episodes “Live from Studio 6H” in 2012, “Live Show” in 2010, “The Reunion Episode #304” in 2008 and “Somebody to Love” in 2007. She won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Musical Variety twice, in 2001 for America: A Tribute to Heroes (co-directed with Joel Gallen) and in 2000 for the “Val Kilmer/U2” episode of Saturday Night Live. She was also twice nominated in that category for Saturday Night Live episodes “Christopher Walken & The Foo Fighters” in 2003 and the 25th Anniversary episode in 1999.
This is Mr. Ashford’s first DGA Award nomination.
NELSON McCORMICK Killing Kennedy
(National Geographic Channel)
Mr. McCormick’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Larry Rapaport
First Assistant Director: Michael “Jocco” Phillips
Second Assistant Director: Ruben Flores Rios
Second Second Assistant Director: Caroline Stephenson
This is Mr. McCormick’s first DGA Award nomination.
STEVEN SODERBERGH Behind the Candelabra
(HBO)
Mr. Soderbergh’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Michael Polaire
First Assistant Director: Gregory Jacobs
Second Assistant Director: Jody Spilkoman
Second Second Assistant Director: Lynn Struiksma
This is Mr. Soderbergh’s third DGA Award nomination. He was previously nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for Erin Brockovich and Traffic, both in 2000.
Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series
BRYAN CRANSTON Breaking Bad, “Blood Money”
(AMC)
Mr. Cranston’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Stewart A. Lyons
Assistant Unit Production Manager: James Paul Hapsas
First Assistant Director: Nina Jack
Second Assistant Director: Louis Lanni
Second Second Assistant Director: Anna Ramey
Additional Second Assistant Director: Marcia Woske
This is Mr. Cranston’s third DGA Award nomination. He is also nominated in the Comedy Series category this year for Modern Family’s “The Old Man & The Tree” episode. He was previously nominated for the “Election Day” episode of Modern Family last year.
DAVID FINCHER House of Cards, “Chapter 1”
(Netflix)
Mr. Fincher’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Managers: John Melfi, Karyn McCarthy
Assistant Unit Production Manager: Don Hug
First Assistant Director: H. H. Cooper
Second Assistant Director: Dale Pierce Nelson
Second Second Assistant Director: Jennifer Roberts
This is Mr. Fincher’s sixth DGA Award nomination. He was previously nominated three times for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), The Social Network (2010), and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011). He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials for Speed Chain (Nike), Gamebreakers (Nikegridiron.com), and Beauty for Sale (Xelebri Phones) in 2003 and was nominated in that category again in 2008.
VINCE GILLIGAN Breaking Bad, “Felina”
(AMC)
Mr. Gilligan’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Stewart A. Lyons
Assistant Unit Production Manager: James Paul Hapsas
First Assistant Director: Nina Jack
Second Assistant Directors: Anna Ramey, Louis Lanni
Second Second Assistant Director: Joann Connolly
Additional Second Assistant Director: Marcia Woske
This is Mr. Gilligan’s second DGA Award nomination. He was previously nominated in this category for the “Face Off” episode of Breaking Bad in 2011.
LESLI LINKA GLATTER Homeland, “The Star”
(Showtime)
Ms. Glatter’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Managers: Pavlina Hatoupis, J. David Brightbill
First Assistant Directors: Sunday Stevens, Susan Walter
Second Assistant Director: Kim Kennedy
This is Ms. Glatter’s fourth DGA Award nomination. She won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series in 2009 for the “Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency” episode of Mad Men and was also nominated in this category for “Episode 32006” of Twin Peaks in 1990 and for the “Q & A” episode of Homeland in 2012.
DAVID NUTTER Game of Thrones, “The Rains of Castamere”
(HBO)
This is Mr. Nutter’s fifth DGA Award nomination. He was previously nominated in this category in 2006 for the “Join the Club” episode of The Sopranos; in the Comedy Series category for Entourage episodes “The Resurrection” (2007) and “Lose Yourself” (2010); and in the Movies for Television and Mini-Series category for The Pacific “Basilone” in 2010.
Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series
MARK CENDROWSKI The Big Bang Theory, “The Hofstadter Insufficiency”
(CBS)
Mr. Cendrowski’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Jay O’Connell
First Assistant Director: Anthony Rich
Second Assistant Director: Nicole Lorre
This is Mr. Cendrowski’s second DGA Award nomination. He was previously nominated in this category for “The Date Night Variable” episode of The Big Bang Theory in 2012.
BRYAN CRANSTON Modern Family, “The Old Man & The Tree”
(ABC)
Mr. Cranston’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Sally Young
First Assistant Director: Jim Hensz
Second Assistant Director: Helena Lamb
This is Mr. Cranston’s third DGA Award nomination. He is also nominated in the Dramatic Series category this year for the “Blood Money” episode of Breaking Bad. He was previously nominated for the “Election Day” episode of Modern Family last year.
GAIL MANCUSO Modern Family, “My Hero”
(ABC)
Ms. Mancuso’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Sally Young
First Assistant Director: Alisa Statman
Second Assistant Director: Helena Lamb
This is Ms. Mancuso’s first DGA Award nomination.
BETH McCARTHY-MILLER 30 Rock, “Hogcock!/Last Lunch”
(NBC)
Ms. McCarthy-Miller’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Diana Schmidt
First Assistant Director: Stephen Lee Davis
Second Assistant Director: Vanessa Hoffman
Assistant UPM: Bill Sell
This is Ms. McCarthy-Miller’s tenth DGA Award nomination. She is also nominated this year, together with Rob Ashford, in the Movies for Television and Mini-Series category for The Sound of Music Live! She was previously nominated in this category for 30 Rock episodes “Live from Studio 6H” in 2012, “Live Show” in 2010, “The Reunion Episode #304” in 2008 and “Somebody to Love” in 2007. She won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Musical Variety twice, in 2001 for America: A Tribute to Heroes (co-directed with Joel Gallen) and in 2000 for the “Val Kilmer/U2” episode of Saturday Night Live. She was also twice nominated in that category for Saturday Night Live episodes “Christopher Walken & The Foo Fighters” in 2003 and the 25th Anniversary episode in 1999.
ANTHONY RICH The Big Bang Theory, “The Love Spell Potential”
(CBS)
Mr. Rich’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Kelly-Anne Lee
First Assistant Director: Chris Klausen
Second Assistant Director: Nicole Lorre
This is Mr. Rich’s first DGA Award nomination.
Directorial Achievement in Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Regularly Scheduled Programming
DAVE DIOMEDI Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, “#799”
(NBC)
Mr. Diomedi’s Directorial Team:
Associate Directors: Mark Jankeloff, Maureen Smith
Stage Managers: Nicka Tolmasoff, Mike Kilkenny
This is Mr. Diomedi’s first DGA Award nomination.
ANDY FISHER Jimmy Kimmel Live, “#13-1810”
(ABC)
Mr. Fisher’s Directorial Team:
Associate Directors: Kathleen Fortine, Jeri-Ann Wong, David Craig
Stage Managers: Alec Potter, Josh Wader, Eric Rhoden, Doug Smith, David Wader
This is Mr. Fisher’s first DGA Award nomination.
JIM HOSKINSON The Colbert Report, “#10004”
(Comedy Central)
Mr. Hoskinson’s Directorial Team:
Associate Director: Yvonne Demare
Stage Manager: Mark McKenna
This is Mr. Hoskinson’s second DGA Award nomination. He was previously nominated in 2007 for “Episode #3052” of The Colbert Report.
DON ROY KING Saturday Night Live, “Saturday Night Live with Host Justin Timberlake”
(NBC)
Mr. King’s Directorial Team:
Associate Directors: Michael Mancini, Michael Poole, Matt Yonks, Bob Caminiti
Stage Managers: Gena Rositano, Chris Kelly
This is Mr. King’s seventh DGA Award Nomination. He was previously nominated for Saturday Night Live episodes in 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.
CHUCK O’NEIL The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, “#19018”
(Comedy Central)
Mr. O’Neil’s Directorial Team:
Associate Director: Paul A.J. Pennolino
Stage Manager: Craig Spinney
This is Mr. O’Neil’s tenth DGA Award nomination. He was previously nominated in 2010 for Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear and in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2012, all for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Directorial Achievement in Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Specials
LOUIS C.K. Louis C.K.: Oh My God
(HBO)
Mr. C.K.’s Directorial Team:
Associate Director/ Stage Manager: M. Blair Breard
This is Mr. C.K.’s second DGA Award nomination. He was previously nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series last year for the “New Year’s Eve” episode of Louie.
JOEL GALLEN 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
(HBO)
Mr. Gallen’s Directorial Team:
Associate Directors: Robin Mishkin Abrams, Julie Gelfand
Stage Managers: Garry Hood, John Esposito, Jennifer Marquet, Vince Poxon, Rob Sellers, Doug Smith, Ari Woog
This is Mr. Gallen’s third DGA Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Musical Variety in 2001 for America: A Tribute to Heroes (co-directed with Beth McCarthy-Miller) and was again nominated in 2009 for 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concert.
LOUIS J. HORVITZ The 55th Annual Grammy Awards
(CBS)
Mr. Horvitz’s Directorial Team:
Associate Directors: Christine C. Bradley, Ron Andreassen, Kelly Hernacki, Booey Kober, Sara Niimi
Stage Managers: Garry Hood, Doug Smith, Denny Barry, Dave Cove, John Esposito, Valdez Flagg, Roy Friedland, Chris Hines, Alissa Levisohn, Roxanne Lozano, Jennifer Marquet, Dency Nelson, Ron Paul, Vince Poxon, Tammy Raab, Eric Rhoden, Rob Sellers, Jr., Murray Siegel, Jacqueline Stathis, Tshaka Stewart, Cheryl Teetzel-Moore, David Wader, Ari Woog
This is Mr. Horvitz’s seventeenth DGA Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Musical Variety in 1997 for The Kennedy Center Honors. He received his first nomination in 1985 for Live Aid Concert. He was also nominated for The Kennedy Center Honors in 1993, 2001, 2009 and 2011. He was nominated in 1995 for Sinatra: 80 Years My Way; and also received DGA Awards nominations for The 70th, 71st, 72nd, 74th, 75th, 76th, 77th, 79th and 80th Annual Academy Awards.
DON MISCHER The 85th Annual Academy Awards
(ABC)
Mr. Mischer’s Directorial Team:
Associate Directors: Jim Tanker, Tim Kettle, Lori Margules, Jennifer Mischer, Michael Polito
Stage Managers: Gary Natoli, Rita Cossette, Dave Cove, John Esposito, Valdez Flagg, Chris Hines, Alissa Levisohn, Arthur Lewis, Roxanne Lozano, Dency Nelson, Ron Paul, Vince Poxon, Tammy Raab, Jason Seligman, Doug Smith, David Wader, Debbie Williams
This is Mr. Mischer’s eighteenth DGA Award nomination. He has won the DGA Award ten times: in 1978, 1979 and 1980 for The Kennedy Center Honors, in 1982 for Shirley MacLaine – Illusions, in 1983 for Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, in 1984 for Baryshnikov by Tharp with American Ballet Theatre (co-directed with Twyla Tharp), in 1985 for Motown Returns to the Apollo, in 1989 for Gregory Hines: Tap Dance in America, in 1996 for Opening Ceremonies: Atlanta Olympic Games and in 2009 for We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial. He was also nominated in 1979 for The Third Barry Manilow Special, in 1980 for Goldie and Liza Together, in 1982 for The Kennedy Center Honors, in 1987 for Made in the USA with Mikhail Baryshnikov, in 2001 for Barbra Streisand “Timeless” (co-directed with Barbra Streisand), in 2011 for the 83rd Annual Academy Awards and in 2012 for the 84th Annual Academy Awards.
GLENN WEISS The 67th Annual Tony Awards
(CBS)
Mr. Weiss’s Directorial Team:
Associate Directors: Ken Diego, Robin Abrams, Stefani Cohen, Ricky Kirshner
Stage Managers: Garry Hood, Phyllis Digilio-Kent, Peter Epstein, Andrew Feigin, Lynn Finkel, Doug Fogel, Jeffry Gitter, Arthur Lewis, Jeffrey M. Markowitz, Joey Meade, Seth Mellman, Tony Mirante, Cyndi Owgang, Jeff Pearl, Elise Reaves, Lauren Class Schneider
This is Mr. Weiss’s tenth DGA Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Musical Variety in 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2012 for the 61st, 64th, 65th and 66th Annual Tony Awards. He was previously nominated in the same category in 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2008 for the 55th, 56th, 59th, 60th, and 62nd Annual Tony Awards.
Directorial Achievement in Reality Programs
MATTHEW BARTLEY The Biggest Loser, “1501”
(NBC)
Mr. Bartley’s Directorial Team:
Associate Director: Andy Nelson
Stage Managers: Dan Shepard, Tammy Oller
This is Mr. Bartley’s first DGA Award nomination.
NEIL P. DeGROOT 72 Hours, “The Lost Coast”
(TNT)
This is Mr. DeGroot’s second DGA Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Reality Programs in 2011 for “Episode 1115” of The Biggest Loser.
PAUL STARKMAN Top Chef, “Glacial Gourmand”
(Bravo)
Mr. Starkman’s Directorial Team:
First Assistant Director: Paul Hogan
Second Assistant Director: Belinda Bernardo
This is Mr. Starkman’s first DGA Award nomination.
J. RUPERT THOMPSON The Hero, “Teamwork”
(TNT)
Mr. Thompson’s Directorial Team:
Associate Director: Tommy Kuk
Stage Managers: Mo Motlagh, Bryan Boardley, Carlos Reza
This is Mr. Thompson’s sixth DGA Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Reality Programs in 2005 for Fear Factor – “Heist Fear Factor, Season 6 Premiere.” He was previously nominated in this category in 2012 for the “Amphibious Assault” episode of Stars Earn Stripes, in 2011 for the “Scorpion Tales” episode of Fear Factor 2.0, in 2008 for the “102, That Sinking Feeling” episode of Estate of Panic, and in 2006 for the “Military Fear Factor, Season Finale” episode of Fear Factor.
BERTRAM van MUNSTER The Amazing Race, “Beards in the Wind”
(CBS)
Mr. van Munster’s Directorial Team:
Associate Director: Dan Coffie
This is Mr. van Munster’s eighth DGA Award nomination and all for his direction of The Amazing Race. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Reality Programs in 2007 for The Amazing Race, “Episode #1110,” and was previously nominated in 2005 for “Episode #805,” in 2006 for “Episode #102,” in 2008 for “Episode #1303,” in 2009 for the episode “Don’t Let A Cheese Hit Me,” in 2010 for the episode “I Think We’re Fighting the Germans, Right?” and in 2011 for the episode “You Don’t Get Paid Unless You Win?”
Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs
STEPHEN HEREK Jinxed
(Nickelodeon)
Mr. Herek’s Directorial Team:
First Assistant Director: Shea Rowan
This is Mr. Herek’s first DGA Award nomination.
JEFFREY HORNADAY Teen Beach Movie
(Disney Channel)
Mr. Hornaday’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Carlos Anibal Vazquez
First Assistant Director: Jose Gilberto Molinari-Rosaly
Second Assistant Director: Colleen Comer
This is Mr. Hornaday’s second DGA Award nomination. He was previously nominated in this category in 2011 for Geek Charming.
JONATHAN JUDGE Swindle
(Nickelodeon)
Mr. Judge’s Directorial Team:
First Assistant Director: Shea Rowan
This is Mr. Judge’s second DGA Award nomination. He was previously nominated in this category last year for Camp Fred.
AMY SCHATZ An Apology to Elephants
(HBO)
This is Ms. Schatz’s eighth DGA Award nomination. She won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs four times for A Child’s Garden of Poetry in 2011, Classical Baby (I’m Grown Up Now) “The Poetry Show” in 2008, ‘Twas the Night in 2001 and Goodnight Moon & Other Sleepy Time Tales in 1999. She was also nominated an additional three times in this category for Don’t Divorce Me! Kids’ Rules for Parents on Divorce in 2012, Hard Times for an American Girl: The Great Depression in 2009 and Through a Child’s Eyes: September 11, 2001 in 2002.
ADAM WEISSMAN A.N.T. Farm, “influANTces”
(Disney Channel)
Mr. Weissman’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Vic Kaplan
First Assistant Director: Greg Zekowski
Second Assistant Director: Susie Balaban
Associate Director: Sam Orender
This is Mr. Weissman’s first DGA Award nomination.
Directorial Achievement in Commercials
FREDRIK BOND
MJZ/Sonny
Voyage, Heineken – Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam
From The Future, Johnny Walker – BBH London
This is Mr. Bond’s sixth DGA Award nomination. He was previously nominated in this category in 2012, 2011, 2008, 2007 and 2004.
JOHN X. CAREY
Tool/Paranoid
Real Beauty Sketches, Dove – Ogilvy & Mather/Sao Paulo
First Assistant Director: Michael Jordan
Second Assistant Director: Jason Halley
This is Mr. Carey’s first DGA Award nomination.
NOAM MURRO
Biscuit Filmworks
Basketball, Guinness – BBDO NY
First Assistant Director: Craig A. Pinckes
Second Assistant Director: Patrick Cunningham
Kids, DIRECTV – Grey NY
Unit Production Manager: James Powell Veal
First Assistant Director: Michael David Salven
Second Assistant Director: Robert E. Kay
Second Second Assistant Directors: Erv E. Gentry, Matt Wilson Ross
Mask, Volkswagen – Deutsch LA
Unit Production Manager: James Powell Veal
First Assistant Director: Craig A. Pinckes
Second Assistant Director: Patrick Cunningham
This is Mr. Murro’s seventh DGA Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials in 2004 for Carry (Adidas), Glen (Starbucks), and Toy Boat (eBay) and again in 2011 for Handlebar Moustache (Heineken Premium Light), Hot House (DirecTV), Pinata (Volkswagen Tiguan) and Is It Real? (EA Battlefield 3). He was also nominated in this category in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2007.
MARTIN de THURAH
Epoch Films
The Man Who Couldn’t Slow Down, Hennessy VS – Droga5
First Assistant Director: Shawn Thomas
Human Race, Acura MDX 2014 – Mullen
First Assistant Director: Jey Wada
Second Assistant Director: Dillon Neaman
Second Second Assistant Director: Erin Stern
This is Mr. de Thurah’s first DGA Award nomination.
MATTHIJS van HEIJNINGEN
MJZ
Perfect Day, Sony Playstation – BBH NY
First Assistant Director: William Booker
#Forty Eight, Verizon – McGarry Borren
First Assistant Director: David Dean
Second Assistant Director: Carl Jackson
Second Second Assistant Director: Yvonne Wang
This is Mr. van Heijningen’s first DGA Award nomination.
Bryan Singer (Photo Credit: Sundance Institute)The Sundance Institute has officially announced the names of those who’ll be sitting on the 2014 Sundance Film Festival juries judging U.S. documentary films, U.S. dramatic movies, world cinema documentaries, world cinema dramatic films, and short films, as well as the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize jury members. Among those named to take part as jury members this year are X-Men director Bryan Singer, singer/songwriter Tracy Chapman, and award-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville.
The 2014 Sundance Film Festival runs January 16 through 26 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance, Utah.
U.S. DOCUMENTARY JURY
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman is a Grammy Award–winning singer/songwriter and international recording artist. She has made eight studio albums since her multiplatinum debut in 1988, including Tracy Chapman, Crossroads, Matters of the Heart, New Beginning, Telling Stories, Let it Rain, Where You Live, and Our Bright Future. In 2008, Chapman made her theatre debut composing the music for a new production of Athol Fugard’s classic 1961 play Blood Knot, which opened at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre. She has toured extensively in the last 25 years in the United States and abroad and has appeared frequently to support social and humanitarian causes, including for the Amnesty International Human Rights Now! tour, the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute, and concerts for Tibetan Freedom, Farm Aid, the Special Olympics, and amfAR.
Charlotte Cook
Charlotte Cooke is the director of programming at Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary festival. She was previously head of film programming and training at the Frontline Club in London, an organization dedicated to championing independent journalism and freedom of expression. Cook has worked with the BBC’s Storyville, the Channel 4 BritDoc Foundation’s Puma Catalyst Awards, and the Edinburgh International Film Festival, where she curated the Conflict|Reportage program. She has also written extensively for a number of different publications and was the main photographic researcher for the launch of London’s The Times online archive project. In addition to her programming activities, Cook advises organizations on media literacy, specializes in investigative journalism on international conflict, and has an academic background in the role technology plays for the media.
Kahane Cooperman
Kahane Cooperman is the producer of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. She has been with the show since its inception in 1996, moving from field producer to senior producer, supervising producer and then coexecutive producer from 2005 to 2013. For her work, she has received ten Primetime Emmy Awards and two Peabodys. Cooperman began her career in documentaries at Maysles Films in New York City. She has produced and directed several documentaries, including the short Cool Water, which premiered at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival, and Making Dazed about Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, which was acquired by the Criterion Collection. Kahane also produced the feature doc Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam, directed by Nick Broomfield. Currently, Cooperman is producing two independent docs, Going Pro and Judee Sill and is on the advisory board of the Montclair Film Festival. She holds an MFA in film from Columbia University.
Morgan Neville
Morgan Neville is an award-winning filmmaker who has spent 20 years working as a cultural documentarian. Neville has been nominated for three Grammys for his music films: Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story, Muddy Waters Can’t Be Satisfied, and Johnny Cash’s America. His other films include Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues, The Cool School, and Troubadours, which screened at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Through his company, Tremolo Productions, Neville has also produced films such as The Rolling Stones’ Crossfire Hurricane, Pearl Jam Twenty, The Night James Brown Saved Boston, and Beauty Is Embarrassing. His most recent film is 20 Feet from Stardom, which premiered on Day One of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and went on to become the top-grossing documentary of the year.
Jonathan Oppenheim
Jonathan Oppenheim is a documentary film editor whose credits include the now-classic Paris Is Burning, cowinner of the 1991 Sundance Documentary Grand Jury Prize, an IDA Award, and awards from the New York and Los Angeles film critics. Other credits include Sister Helen, which won the Documentary Directing Award at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival; Arguing the World, which earned a Peabody Award; and Children Underground, which was nominated for an Academy Award. Oppenheim edited and coproduced The Oath, the second film in Laura Poitras’s post-9/11 trilogy, a winner of multiple awards, including a Gotham. Most recently, he was editor/coproducer of Andre Gregory: Before and After Dinner, and coeditor of William and the Windmill, winner of the 2013 Grand Jury Prize at SXSW. He has participated as both advisor and fellow at the Sundance Institute Documentary Edit and Story Lab.
U.S. DRAMATIC JURY
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is best known for his annual Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide and his 30-year run on television’s Entertainment Tonight. He teaches at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and appears on Reelz Channel. Maltin’s books include The 151 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons, The Disney Films, and The Art of the Cinematographer. He has served as president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, votes on selections for the National Film Registry, and sits on the Board of Directors of the National Film Preservation Foundation. He also hosted and coproduced the popular Walt Disney Treasures DVD series. Maltin has received awards from the American Society of Cinematographers, the Telluride Film Festival, the Anthology Film Archives, and San Diego’s Comic-Con International. He holds court at leonardmaltin.com and on his self-named YouTube channel.
Peter Saraf
Peter Saraf’s producing credits include The Kings of Summer, Safety Not Guaranteed, Our Idiot Brother, Jack Goes Boating, Sunshine Cleaning, Away We Go, Is Anybody There?, Little Miss Sunshine, Everything Is Illuminated, The Truth About Charlie, Adaptation, Ulee’s Gold, and the feature documentaries Mandela and The Agronomist. He recently completed work on Gods Behaving Badly and is in postproduction on Me Him Her. Saraf has been nominated for Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards and has won multiple other honors, including Independent Spirit, Gotham, and Producers Guild of America awards. He is the cofounder of Big Beach, a New York–based independent film-production and financing company. Saraf is also the current chair of the Producers Guild of America East.
Lone Scherfig
Lone Scherfig began her career directing award-winning commercials and television dramas in her native Denmark. Her first feature as director, The Birthday Trip, premiered at the 1991 Berlin International Film Festival, and her second feature, On Our Own, won the Grand Prize at the Montreal World Film Festival. Scherfig wrote and directed Denmark’s fifth Dogme film, Italian for Beginners, which won the Silver Bear, the FIPRESCI Prize, and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the 2001 Berlin International Film Festival. Her first English-language film, Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself, which she cowrote with Anders Thomas Jensen, received four British Independent Film Award nominations. Scherfig directed An Education, which won the World Cinema Audience Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and received Academy Award nominations for best picture, best adapted screenplay, and best actress. She is currently in postproduction on Posh.
Bryan Singer
Bryan Singer is an American filmmaker, writer, and producer who has been a tour de force for nearly 20 years. Singer’s first feature film, Public Access, was cowinner of the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival. Since then he’s assembled an award-winning and critically acclaimed resume with the 1995 crime-thriller classic, The Usual Suspects, which won Academy Awards for best original screenplay and best supporting actor, as well as the seminal comic-book films X-Men (2000) and X2 (2003). Singer executive-produced the Emmy Award-winning series House, as well as producing the 2011 hit X-Men: First Class. Currently, he is back at the helm of the franchise that he helped create, both directing and producing X-Men: Days of Future Past. Coming back to the Sundance Film Festival marks a return to his filmmaking roots at the festival that gave him his first major break.
Dana Stevens
Dana Stevens is the film critic at Slate.com. She is also cohost of the Slate Culture Gabfest podcast and the host of another podcast, the Slate Spoiler Special. Stevens is one of 12 contributors to the weekly “Bookends” column on the back page of the New York Times Book Review. A native of San Antonio, Texas, Stevens studied comparative literature at the University of California at Berkeley and got started writing about film in 2002 with a personal movie blog, “The High Sign.” She now feels very lucky to live in Brooklyn with a man, a child, and a dog, and to get to write and talk about movies, books, and culture for a living.
WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY JURY
Andrea Nix Fine
Andrea Nix Fine is an Academy Award- and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker who specializes in creating visually powerful and authentic portraits of characters who tell their own story. Crafted with her husband and directing partner, Sean, the Fines’ films have been hailed by critics as “unflinching,” “spirit raising,” and “visually ravishing.” Their short film Inocente won the 2013 Academy Award for best documentary short. The Fines’ feature documentary, Life According to Sam, debuted at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and aired on HBO. The film won awards at the Heartland, Nantucket, AFI, and Mountainfilm film festivals. The Fines’ film War/Dance won the documentary Directing Award at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival as well as Emmy Awards for best documentary and best cinematography and was nominated for an Academy Award. Colby College recently honored Nix with a doctorate of fine arts. The Fines have two sons and live in Washington, DC.
Sally Riley
A Wiradjuri woman, Sally Riley has been at the forefront of Indigenous filmmaking in Australia for more than 13 years. Currently the head of the Indigenous Department at ABC1 television, Riley’s mandate is to bring distinctive Indigenous content to a primetime audience for that national network. She was responsible for the award-winning TV drama series, Redfern Now. As manager of Screen Australia’s Indigenous Department, Riley initiated the production of a significant body of short films, documentaries, and feature films and fostered a new generation of Indigenous filmmakers, including Warwick Thornton (Samson and Delilah), and Wayne Blair (The Sapphires). A filmmaker herself, Riley’s film, Confessions of a Headhunter, won the AFI Award for best short film in 2000. In 2011, she was awarded the Cecil Holmes Award from the Australian Directors Guild.
Caspar Sonnen
Caspar Sonnen thinks big screens are the best but theorizes that Dziga Vertov would have loved the Internet. At the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), he created the online documentary channel IDFA.tv and founded the festival’s new media program, IDFA DocLab, which has become one of the world’s leading platforms for interactive documentary storytelling. Sonnen regularly travels with the program to film festivals like Cannes, Berlin, SXSW, and Tribeca. He has commissioned installations and organized events with the National Film Board of Canada and worked with artists like Ira Glass, Brent Hoff, and Jonathan Harris. Before joining IDFA, Sonnen worked in theatrical exhibition, distribution, and journalism. In 2003, he cofounded the Open Air Film Festival Amsterdam, one of Europe’s biggest outdoor events devoted to international art-house cinema. Sonnen is an advisor for SXSW Film, MIT’s Open Documentary Lab, and IFP’s New Media Center.
WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC JURY
Carlo Chatrian
Journalist, author, and programmer Carlo Chatrian graduated in literature and philosophy from Turin University with additional emphases in journalism and communications. From the early 1990s, he worked regularly as a film critic for the magazines Filmcritica, Duellanti, and Cineforum and is director of the magazine Panoramiques. Chatrian has published numerous essays and monographs on filmmakers ranging from Errol Morris to Wong Kar-Wai, Frederick Wiseman to Nicolas Philibert. As a programmer, he has worked with festivals and institutions such as Cinéma du Réel in Paris, the Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Turin, and the Courmayeur Noir Film Festival in Italy. Chatrian was deputy director of the Alba International Film Festival from 2001 to 2007 and started working with the Locarno International Film Festival in 2002, where he was named artistic director in 2012. At Locarno, he has curated retrospectives on Nanni Moretti, Manga Impact, Ernst Lubitsch, Vincente Minnelli, and Otto Preminger. In 2011, he became director of the Film Commission Vallée d’Aoste Foundation.
Sebastián Lelio
Sebastián Lelio is a Chilean director. In 2006, his first film, La sagrada familia, premiered at the San Sebastián Film Festival. The film received 28 awards and earned him international recognition. Lelio’s second film, Navidad, debuted in 2009 at the Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight. El año del tigre, his third feature, screened at the Locarno International Film Festival in 2011. Lelio’s fourth film, Gloria, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2013, where it was a critical and popular success. It won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and earned a Silver Bear for best actress for Paulina García. The National Board of Review named Gloria one of 2013’s top five foreign language films, and it is nominated for an Independent Spirit Award as one of the best foreign language films. Lelio is currently working on his fifth feature film.
Nansun Shi
Esteemed and prolific producer Nansun Shi has produced such blockbuster hits as Infernal Affairs (2002), Detective Dee: Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010), Late Autumn (2010), Flying Swords of Dragon Gate in 3-D (2011), and Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon (2013). Variety named Shi one of the 50 most influential independent filmmakers around the world, and CineAsia acclaimed her producer of the year in 2005. She was pivotal in the success of Cinema City and Film Workshop Co. Ltd., which she founded with internationally acclaimed producer/director Tsui Hark. Committed to the progress of Hong Kong cinema, Shi is a member of the Hong Kong Film Development Council. She has been a juror at both the Cannes Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival.
SHORT FILM JURY
Vernon Chatman
Vernon Chatman is a four-time Emmy Award-winning producer, writer, director, and voice actor. He cocreated the cult series Wonder Showzen, as well as Adult Swim’s Xavier: Renegade Angel and The Heart, She Holler. Chatman is currently a writer/producer on Louie on the FX network and has worked on South Park since its fourth season. Chatman has written for The Chris Rock Show, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and Adult Swim’s Delocated. He made the experimental film Final Flesh, which both Sight & Sound and Film Comment called “one of the best films of 2010.” Chatman cowrote the 2011 animated short The External World, which won more than 20 international awards. He is the author of the 2013 book Mindsploitation and producer of the 2013 Andy Kaufman comedy album Andy and His Grandmother.
Joshua Leonard
Filmmaker/actor Joshua Leonard first came to the Sundance Film Festival in 1999 with the cult-classic sensation The Blair Witch Project. His directorial debut, the short film The Youth in Us, premiered at the Festival in 2005. His narrative feature debut, The Lie, screened at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Leonard’s recent acting work includes Humpday, which won a Special Jury Prize at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival; HBO’s series True Detective; Vera Farmiga’s Higher Ground, which screened at the Festival in 2011; and MGM’s upcoming If I Stay, directed by acclaimed Festival veteran R.J. Cutler. Leonard has also directed music videos for popular acts such as Fitz and the Tantrums, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and Morcheeba, as well as teaching directing and acting at the New York Film Academy, University of California Irvine, and Academia Internacional de Cinema in São Paulo, Brazil.
Ania Trzebiatowska
Ania Trzebiatowska is the artistic director of the Off Plus Camera International Festival of Independent Cinema, based in Krakow, Poland. This annual celebration of independent film is one of the leading events of this kind in Europe. She has been with the festival for the last five years, and under her direction, it has grown significantly in stature with its competition for first- and second-time filmmakers offering financial support for new talent. Trzebiatowska hosts numerous guest events and designs parallel sidebars as well as the festival’s touring program. With her background in film studies and digital culture, she has worked in both the BBC’s documentary programs and the broadcast department of the British Museum as well as in the United Kingdom, around Europe, and in the United States. In 2012, she produced The Unspeakable Act, directed by Dan Sallitt, which played at festivals in Sarasota, Rotterdam, and Vienna.
ALFRED P. SLOAN FEATURE FILM PRIZE JURY (SCIENCE IN FILM)
Dr. Kevin Hand
Dr. Kevin Hand is deputy chief scientist for Solar System Exploration at NASA. His research focuses on the origin, evolution, and distribution of life in the solar system. His fieldwork involves exploring some of Earth’s most extreme environments from the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, to the depths of the Earth’s oceans, to the glaciers of Kilimanjaro.
Flora Lichtman
Flora Lichtman is a science journalist living in New York. She has worked as a video journalist for the New York Times and National Public Radio’s Science Friday and writes regularly for Popular Science magazine. She is the coauthor of Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us.
Max Mayer
Max Mayer is a founder and producing director of New York Stage and Film and has directed over 50 new plays by writers such as John Patrick Shanley, Lee Blessing, and Eric Overmyer. In addition to writing and directing Better Living and Adam, which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and won the Sloan Prize, Mayer has directed As Cool as I Am and episodes of The West Wing, Alias, and Family Law and written three produced plays.
Jon Spaihts
Jon Spaihts is the screenwriter of The Darkest Hour, Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, and the upcoming Passengers and The Mummy. The one-time physics student and science writer continues to specialize in science fiction.
Jill Tarter
Astronomer Jill Tarter, the Bernard M. Oliver Chair for the SETI Institute, has devoted her career to hunting for signs of sentient beings elsewhere. The lead for Project Phoenix, a decade-long SETI scrutiny of about 750 nearby star systems, she now leads SETI’s efforts to build and operate the Allen Telescope Array. A 2009 TED prize recipient, she is also the real-life researcher upon whom the Jodie Foster character in Contact is largely based.
Siri has access to all of your personal information and she’s not afraid to use that info if push comes to shove. That’s the premise of this new “no texting in movie theaters” public service announcement put together by Alamo Drafthouse. The real voice of Siri, Susan Bennett, is featured in the PSA which will run before screenings of Her at all Alamo locations.
And for those of you who haven’t tried it yet, be sure to ask Siri what she thinks of Her. Siri is definitely not a fan.
(Photo Credit: NASA)National Geographic Channel will be venturing into uncharted territory with its upcoming live special, Live from Space. The television event will be broadcast live from the International Space Station 250 miles above Earth and traveling at 4.9 miles a second as well as from Houston’s Mission Control.
“Everyday at NGC our team tries to reach for the stars,” said National Geographic Channel President Howard T. Owens. “Now we are literally able to do it! We are honored to have secured such amazing access to the station and the astronauts living there, and are exhilarated by the tremendous challenge to show Earth … live.”
“We’re thrilled to be making this unique event for NGC Worldwide,” stated Arrow Media’s creative director, Tom Brisley. “The technological and logistical challenges of broadcasting live from space may be enormous, but there’s no bigger buzz than creating mind-blowing content that works in micro gravity, on the world’s largest spacecraft!”
Here’s the details, courtesy of National Geographic:
With unique access to and footage from the ISS and Mission Control, we’ll go into orbit with astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Koichi Wakata from the ISS, while astronaut Mike Massimino (most notably known for fixing the Hubble Telescope) will keep us grounded live from Houston. Live from Space will air on NGC in 170 countries, and on Channel 4 in the U.K. It will also simulcast on NGC’s Spanish-language network in the U.S., Nat Geo MUNDO.
The ISS orbits Earth every 90 minutes, meaning NGC will quite literally take viewers on a trip around the world. We’ll see incredible shots of the planet, from sunset and sunrise, to city lights and green aurora, to lightning storms and shooting stars.
For those fascinated by the recent emergency spacewalks to replace a vital cooling system, Live from Space will show even more intimately what it takes to run this floating world. From space, Mastracchio and Wakata will give viewers a fully guided tour, showing us how they live for months in microgravity. In their own words, learn how they sleep upside down, stay fit, maintain personal hygiene and, of course, (that question everyone is always curious about), how they use the toilet. They’ll conduct never-before-broadcast experiments that demonstrate the real-world value of the science conducted on the floating laboratory. We’ll also show how science in space is benefiting people on Earth such as the ISS’s robotic systems, which are the inspiration for a neurosurgical robot that removes brain tumors. Astronauts, flight controllers and researchers will be featured in original segments from the ISS and NASA Mission Control during the course of the two-hour live event.
It won’t just be the astronauts doing the talking, either. Viewers will be able to chat via video with Mastracchio and Wakata and have their faces beamed into space to join the conversation. A first-of-its-kind second-screen experience will also allow viewers to track the space station while exploring the interests of people under its path. This “social-media telescope” will give viewers real-time insight into the collected cares of Earth’s inhabitants. (Further details on this to be announced shortly.)
Live from Space will premiere in March to coincide with COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY, a joint venture between Fox Broadcasting Company and National Geographic Channel. More than three decades after the debut of Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, Carl Sagan’s stunning and iconic exploration of the universe as revealed by science, COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY sets off on a new voyage for the stars. Sagan’s original creative collaborators – writer/executive producer Ann Druyan and astronomer Steven Soter – have teamed with Seth MacFarlane to conceive the 13-part series that will serve as a successor to the Emmy Award and Peabody Award-winning original series. Hosted by renowned astrophysicist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson, the series will explore how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time. It will bring to life never-before-told stories of the heroic quest for knowledge and transport viewers to new worlds and across the universe for a vision of the cosmos on the grandest scale.
After more than 50 years of manned space flights, Live from Space will launch cable television into orbit with an event that is not to be missed.
Young the Giant (Photo Credit: David Vincent Wolf / Supplied by Atlantic Records)
Young the Giant‘s latest single, “It’s About Time,” has made it to the #8 spot on the Alternative Radio chart. The lead single’s off of the Southern California band’s upcoming second album Mind Over Matter which they’ll be touring in support of beginning February 4, 2014 in Ventura, CA. The upcoming tour marks the group’s first major North American tour and they’ll be supported at select stops on the road by Cayucas and Vance Joy.
Mind Over Matter was produced by Grammy-nominee Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Beck, Nine Inch Nails, Paramore, M83).
Watch the “It’s About Time” video directed by David Vincent Wolf:
Young the Giant Tour 2014
*Supported by Cayucas
^Supported by Vance Joy
FEBRUARY
4 Ventura, CA The Majestic Ventura Theatre*
6 Oakland, CA Fox Theater*
7 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Palladium*
9 San Diego, CA SOMA*
11 Tucson, AZ Rialto Theatre*
12 Phoenix, AZ Comerica Theatre*
14 Dallas, TX South Side Ballroom*
15 Austin, TX Austin Music Hall*
16 Houston, TX Bayou Music Center*
18 St. Petersburg, FL Jannus Live*
19 Jacksonville, FL Maverick’s at The Landing*
21 Charlotte, NC The Fillmore Charlotte*
22 Atlanta, GA The Tabernacle*
23 Silver Spring, MD The Fillmore Silver Spring*
25 Baltimore, MD Rams Head Live*
26 Philadelphia, PA Tower Theater*
28 New York, NY Hammerstein Ballroom*
MARCH
1 New York, NY Hammerstein Ballroom^
2 Boston, MA House of Blues^
4 Wallingford, CT The Dome at Toyota Presents Oakdale Theatre^
6 Montreal, QC Metropolis^
7 Toronto, ON Kool Haus^
8 Detroit, MI The Fillmore Detroit^
10 Indianapolis, IN Egyptian Room at Old National Centre^
11 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium^
12 Cleveland, OH House of Blues^
17 Columbus, OH LC Pavilion^
19 Kansas City, MO The Midland^
21 St. Louis, MO The Pageant^
22 Chicago, IL Riviera Theatre^
23 Milwaukee, WI The Rave^
25 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue^
27 Winnipeg, MB Garrick Centre^
28 Saskatoon, SK Odeon Event Centre^
29 Calgary, AB MacEwan Hall^
31 Edmonton, AB Winspear Centre^
APRIL
2 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom^
3 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom^
5 Seattle, WA Showbox Market^
6 Seattle, WA Showbox Market^
8 Eugene, OR McDonald Theatre^
10 Salt Lake City, UT The Complex^
11 Las Vegas, NV Boulevard Pool at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
Jon Favreau’s independent film Chef will be making its world premiere at the 2014 South By Southwest Film Festival. Chef has also earned the honor of being the festival’s Opening Night Film.
Stumble It! 
