HFPA PARTY IN STYLE AT TORONTO
One of the social highlights of the Toronto film festival is the annual party thrown by InStyle magazine and the Hollywood
Foreign Press Association for filmmakers, actors and VIP guests at the Windsor Arms Hotel.
This year the star-studded guest list included Jennifer Garner, Jessica Chastain, Katie Couric. Olivia Wilde, Geoffrey Rush, Kim Cattrall, Jason Reitman, Adam Brody, Abbie Cornish, Andrea Riseborough, Annaleigh Tipton, Harvey Weinstein, Piper Perabo and the cast of the television shows Suits and Covert Affairs.
HFPA president Dr. Aida Takla-O’Reilly (left) presented the chairman of the Toronto Film Festival, Piers Handling, with a plaque to commemorate the occasion as Cyd Wilson of InStyle magazine looks on.
HFPA GIVES $350,000 FOR FILM PRESERVATION
“Movies touch our hearts and awaken our vision, and change the way we see things. They take us to other places, they open doors and minds. Movies are the memories of our life time, we need to keep them alive.”
—Martin Scorsese
With a donation of $350,000 to the Film Foundation, which was accepted at the HFPA’s Installation and Grants lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel by Leonardo DiCaprio, the Association continues its mission to help restore some of the greatest cinema classics of our time.
When you consider that half the American films made before 1950 and 90% of films made before 1929 have been lost forever, film preservation has never had a more urgent need.
The Film Foundation, which director Martin Scorsese founded in 1990, has been at the forefront of film preservation. The nonprofit organization provides substantial annual support for restoration and preservation at the nation’s leading film archives. Instrumental in raising awareness of the urgent need to preserve films it has helped, with generous donors such as the Hollywood Foreign Press, to save more than 545 films. This “hands-on” preservation ensures that these great films which are not only works of art but historical records and essential representations of our culture will survive for future generations.
Since first contributing to The Film Foundation fifteen years ago, the Hollywood Foreign Press has become a major supporter, donating more than 3 million dollars which have contributed to the preservation of more than 75 motion pictures by such noted directors as Stanley Kubrick, John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, Jean Renoir and John Cassavetes.
“It means a great deal to us,” says Jennifer Ahn, the Managing Director of The Film Foundation. “The HFPA is so instrumental in preservation of film history. They put an enormous amount of effort and funds to this mission and it is a huge part of what The Film Foundation does. We highly value and praise the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for this invaluable public service”.
Donations from the HFPA in 2004 helped restore one of 1939’s Best Picture nominees, Lewis Milestone’s “Of Mice and Men”, as well as Jean Renoir’s 1951 classic, “The River.” HFPA grants also contributed to the restoration of Orson Welles brooding 1948 version of “Macbeth”, the 1948 classic The Red Shoes, Nicholas Ray’s “Born to be Bad” from 1950, Otto Preminger’s 1955 searing indictment of drug addiction in his 1955 film, “The Man with the Golden Arm,” Melvin van Peebles controversial blaxploitation 70’s film ,”Sweet Sweetback’s Baad Asssss Song,” and Robert Altman‘s Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean.
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Jessica Chastain at the Installation Luncheon
Jessica Chastain arriving at the Grant and Installation luncheon.
The rising young actress is here to announce the 2011 HFPA grants for National Association of Latino Independent, Pablove and Film Independent.
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HFPA’S SHOWBIZ GIFTS
- Mark Wahlberg at the Grants and Installation Luncheon
- Mark Wahlberg at the Grants and Installation Luncheon
On the day of the HFPA Grants and Installation luncheon Daily Variety published the following comprehensive round-up of how the association’s donations are put to good use by the recipients.
Five that thrive with org coin
HFPA supports many industry causes and orgs. Here’s a sampling of five that benefit from its generosity:
American Film Institute
“All the HFPA funds donated to the American Film Institute go to offset the cost of filmmaker’s tuition and expenses for studying at the conservatory,” says AFI senior VP Tom West. “We’re asking people to take two years out of their lives to work with master filmmakers and make movies. They’ll come out of our program with a minimum of four projects, three shorts and a thesis film.”
Students have to raise money to make their movies so every bit of financial help makes a big difference.
The Film Foundation
Restoring “The Red Shoes,” helmers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 1948 classic took three years, cost a whopping $625,000 and enlisted an army of 35 specialists.
“It was one of most complicated restorations we’ve ever done. But it was also one of our greatest achievements,” says Jennifer Ahn, the Film Foundation’s managing director. “It was a digital restoration and took years to complete because the original camera negative had deteriorated so badly.”
Over the past 15 years, HFPA has given $3.3 million to the Film Foundation, assisting in the restoration of over 75 titles. This year’s $350,000 donation will be used to restore Italo helmer-scribe Elio Petri’s “Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion” (1970), Powell and Pressburger’s “The Tales of Hoffman” (!951) and Laslo Benedek’s film version of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” (1951).
Film Independent
Los Angeles-based Film Independent encourages minority filmmakers through its free nine-month training and mentorships with such industry players as Spike Jonze, Alexander Payne and Rodrigo Garcia.
“Each year 30 to 40 African-Americans, Asians, Native Americans and Latinos sign up for the free programs for writers producers and directors,” says the org’s director of diversity, Michael Lopez.
Recent grads include filmmaker Javier Fuentes-Leon whose 2009 “Undertow” premiered at Sundance then went on to be Peru’s submission in the foreign-language film category at the Academy Awards.
FilmAid
Refugees in African camps love Looney Toons, “The Wizard of Oz” and Charlie Chaplin.
“We initially started just driving a truck into the camps and projecting films onto its side,” says FilmAid Intl.’s executive director, Liz Manne. Now the org offers filmmaking training programs in two refugee camps in Kenya, one bordering Somalia, and one bordering South Sudan.
“The current number is over 410,000 refugees in these camps,” explains Manne. “We run screening programs where we show some Hollywood fare and films of inspiration that offer hope, diversion and healing to people who are psychologically traumatized.
“Movies offer us a universal experience. Even if you’re a 5-year-old Somali refugee looking at Tweety Bird under stars, your experience is going to be the same as a kid in a mall theater in the Valley.”
Inner-City Filmmakers
Scoring jobs for disadvantaged kids with heavyweights James Cameron and Francis Ford Coppola are just a couple of the many success stories of Inner-City Filmmakers.
“Jon Turteltaub hired our kids for almost every film he’s made in the last five years,” says Inner-City founder Fred Heinrich. “What’s most notable is that not only did he give the kids a chance at entry level jobs but that they have risen up through the ranks, have become union members and are constantly employed.”
Created in 1993, the org offers free year-round hands-on training and job placement for urban kids with no financial wherewithal. To date the program boasts 493 alumni.
SUNDAY MORNING, 5 AM …
The Beverly Hilton. Sunday, January 16, 5 am.
The stars and their guests have been assigned their seats. The kitchen is in overdrive. An army of security has been briefed. The stage has been completed and the International Ballroom has never looked as glamorous. In addition to three hotel locations, three enormous tents have been built to host after parties.
All food has been prepared and over 1500 bottles of Moet & Chandon champagne will be delivered and cooled shortly.
One of the world’s busiest streets, Santa Monica Boulevard has been closed off and is now partly occupied by a caravan of 40 production and satellite trucks.
The red carpet is almost complete and will be the largest ever rolled out. It’s not just limited to the arrivals area, but even surrounding Merv Griffin Way – a street.
The few people present at this hour, security personal, hotel workers etc, all seem the share the same belief.
Today’s Golden Globe Awards will not only be the biggest in it’s 68 year history but probably be the largest celebration of film and television ever held.
MEETING THE STARS
Actor Blair Underwood graciously signs autographs and poses for photos with fans that lined up the hallway of the Beverly Hilton Hotel during rehearsals of the 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards. Blair Underwood will be one of the many presenters.
