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With the 2018-2019 awards season barely out of the gate, Marvel Studios’ “Captain Marvel”, set for release in March, has already staked a claim in the 2019-2020 race by racking up a couple of trophies at the California On Location Awards. Additionally, Netflix’s “Bird Box,” in limited release and streaming starting Dec. 14, scored two prizes.

The victories were announced at a ceremony in the Beverly Hilton on Dec. 16. The COLAs recognize location managers, public employees and other pros who help expedite and guide on-location production in California.

Other projects scoring wins include HBO’s “Sharp Objects” and “Camping,” Ryan Murphy’s “9-1-1” on Fox, and ABC’s now-canceled series “The Mayor,”

“Captain Marvel,” which garnered prizes in the Studio Feature Film category for Location Manager of the Year (Ilt Jones) and Location Team of the Year, as well as a Teamsters Local 399 COLA for Assistant Location Manager of the Year (Lee David Lee), is the 21st film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Public officials acknowledged at the COLAs this year include John Blanco of the Federal Aviation Administration (Federal), Dena Bellman of California State Parks (State), Gary Smith of Los Angeles County (County), and Mark White of the City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works (City). California state assemblyman Ian Calderon handed out COLA’s public employee awards

Teamsters Local 399 also gave its inaugural Distinguished Service Award to Department of Defense Entertainment Liaison Philip Strub in recognition of his exceptional leadership and devoted service. Strub recently retired and was unable to attend. David Daitch, U.S. Navy film liaison, accepted the award on his behalf.

The COLA Awards, now in their 24th year, are produced by FLICS-Film California. Finalists were selected from nearly 150 film, TV and commercial submissions. Finalists and winners are determined via vote by members of FLICS, past California On Location Awards winners, and a steering committee of Teamsters Local 399 members. ... See MoreSee Less

5 hours ago

‘Captain Marvel’ and ‘Bird Box’ Score Multiple COLA Awards

variety.com

With the 2018-2019 awards season barely out of the gate, Marvel Studios’ “Captain Marvel” (pictured above), set for release in March, has alread...

A celebration of Kent’s place in movie history with a challenge to name 10 films from the location photos has stumped Thanet cinema buffs.

Vue cinema at Westwood Cross displayed photographs of the ten notable film locations across Kent but visitors who tested their knowledge were stuck on one particular image.

The most recent film in the collection was “King of Thieves”, directed by James Marsh. Earlier this year film crews filmed at the Stone Pier in Margate to capture scenes for the eagerly awaited heist movie. Sir Michael Caine fronts the star-studded cast which also features Jim Broadbent, Michael Gambon and Ray Winstone amongst others.

The film that cinema-goers could not pinpoint was Great Expectations at Oare Marshes.

Andrew Mullen, General Manager at Vue Thanet, commented: “It’s really important to highlight the cinematic success Kent has had. We’ve enjoyed welcoming people through our doors to demonstrate their knowledge of film by trying to guess the locations and film. It’s clear that lots of local people know their films!

“We’re looking forward to seeing more of our beloved county in film and what better place to see it than on the big screen at Vue Thanet. ... See MoreSee Less

1 day ago

Vue cinema’s film location challenge stumps movie-goers

theisleofthanetnews.com

A celebration of Kent’s place in movie history with a challenge to name 10 films from the location photos has stumped Thanet cinema buffs. Vue cinem...

Reputed British film location experts including the location manager for the famous television series Game of Thrones were in Sri Lanka scouring for the most scenic places for their next ventures.

The eight-member British team was part of a lucrative location familiarization tour of Sri Lanka organized and hosted by the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB). The tour comes on the heels of a successful networking event the Bureau took part in during the FOCUS 2017 in UK.

The location managers included, David Pinnington who was the supervising and location manager for Spiderman, Game of Thrones, Guardians of the Galaxy and X-men First Class to name a few and Camilia Stephens, who was the supervising and location manager for Hollywood blockbusters like Les Miserables, the King’s speech and Snowman.

Pinnington also took part in a B2B session where he and other location managers met with members of the local film fraternity to discuss ways in which Sri Lanka can be promoted as a prime film destination.

“As a film destination, Sri Lanka is very impressive and its locations are easily accessible. I thought that the locations were great. I was impressed with the ‘’Lion Rock’’. (Sigiriya) and the aerial view which was stunning,” said Pinnington.

Another member of the delegation was Mick Ratman who is a member of BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) and the past chair of the Guild of Location managers which he served for nearly 10 years. He lent his expertise to find the perfect set for movies such as The Flag, Welcome to Sarajevo and Shivaree.

Location managers often scout for not just the most scenic spots but also to familiarize themselves with the host country so that they maybe able to make the best use of the vista and its people in their ventures.

The film location managers arrived in the country on 14th November and departed on the 21st. They were taken on a tour of Colombo with glimpse into the urban life, lesser known attractions and mountainous ranges such as Knuckles range. They also toured Minneriya National Park, Sigiriya, Dutch Fort and will tour the southern coastal belt.

Most location managers were very much impressed upon their first visit to the country. It is plain to see why both David Lean and Steven Spielberg chose Sri Lanka for their respective award winning films. Lean’s 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai and Spielberg’s 1984 classic Indiana Jones made full use of this exotic island.

Released in 1984, Temple of Doom was supposed to be filmed in Rajasthan, but permission was eventually denied. So Spielberg relocated the set to Kandy. Today, the city is the gateway to the glorious Hill Country and continues to attract tourists daily.

By arranging such events, SLTPB will continue to boost and enhance film tourism as a niche segment of the Tourism sector, through encouraging more foreign film makers to visit Sri Lanka and promote breath taking attractions and depicting its true potential as an ideal destination for film locations. ... See MoreSee Less

2 days ago

Game of Thrones, X-men location manager impressed with Sri Lanka

colombogazette.com

Reputed British film location experts including the location manager for the famous television series Game of Thrones were in Sri Lanka scouring for t...

In Roma’s meditative opening scene, soapy water washes slowly across a tiled floor, periodically reflecting glimpses of the sky, a passing airplane. In two minutes—a lifetime in the fast-paced sensibility of Hollywood openers—the outside world of 2018 is scrubbed away. When the camera finally pulls back, it is to show a Mixtec woman named Cleo, played by first-time actress Yalitza Aparicio, the live-in nanny for a wealthy family in 1970s Mexico City.

If Roma is a love letter to the women who raised him, it is also one to the Mexico City of Alfonso Cuaron’s youth. The director, who has lived in London and Italy for nearly two decades, says that each trip back home reveals significant change. “It’s a city that grows so fast,” he says. “I see a corner and I cannot help to remember how it was.” He describes Roma as “looking to my past from the standpoint of the present,” a cinematic palimpsest that echoes the construction of Mexico City itself. “You have this cosmopolitan, modern city,” he says, “but it’s built over colonial stone buildings, and those were built over pyramids and temples, and those were built over a lake.”

Now the neighborhood of Roma is home to a thriving cultural scene, replete with galleries, restaurants, bookstores, and art-house cinemas—a far cry from the almost carnival atmosphere outside a theater in one of Roma’s pivotal scenes, where vendors peddle toys to the departing moviegoers. “That’s the way I used to go to the movies with my dad,” de Tavira says. “That doesn’t happen anymore. When I saw that scene I started crying.”

Recreating the exteriors of Mexico City streets was a challenge too as the city has radically changed since the ‘70s, especially after an earthquake in 1985. Production designer Eugenio Caballero and his team relied on research and photos to bring the yesteryear of Mexico City back to life — and his own memories, as he too grew up there.

"I reproduced every inch of my childhood home with 70 percent of the original furniture," Cuaron said. "We reproduced every single tile that existed in that house. We shot on the street of my childhood home. We shot in most of the places where those scenes took place." ... See MoreSee Less

3 days ago

Alfonso Cuarón on Roma and the Mexico City of His Youth

vanityfair.com

The much-anticipated film by the Oscar-winning director spotlights the city’s vibrancy and the internal lives of its female leads, played by Marina ...

Unlike most film productions on location shoots, True Stories was thoroughly open to local talent and prized eccentric personalities. Although fictional, the film today plays like a documentary of life in North Texas in the mid-’80s, exploring the region’s people, music and developing landscape in more detail than any other movie of the period.

Before filming began, Byrne contacted Fort Worth-based photographer, journalist and video producer Christina Patoski, who over the following months would scout locations, find natives to flesh out smaller roles, and work as a jack-of-all-trades on the set. She found filming sites from a now-destroyed office building on what is now the grounds of the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine to St. Stephen Missionary Baptist Church on Beckley Street in South Dallas.

Byrne especially loved the Kenwell Street bungalow near Love Field that Patoski scouted to be the home of the shaman played by R&B legend Pops Staples. The house belonged to Dallas folk artist Willard Watson, a.k.a. The Texas Kid, and had so much kitschy pop-cultural detritus out front that it barely needed to be touched up to appear on camera.

The six-week shoot began on Sept. 14, 1985, with the “Celebration of Specialness” parade sequence filmed on North Tennessee Street in McKinney. A Mexican Independence Parade had already been scheduled by the city that day, even if the cast and crew effectively overwhelmed it. “They piggybacked on an existing parade!” laughs Brave Combo’s Carl Finch, whose accordion army included every player he knew from the Lone Star State, plus a number of guests and friends (among them famed rock historians Ed Ward and John Morthland, both up from Austin) who didn’t play the instrument but could mime effectively. “It was very clever, since there was already a crowd assembled.”

Among the locations that played an important role in the shoot were the Lower Greenville Avenue club Redux (better known from its previous incarnation Tango), where a procession of actors and extras gathered to lip-sync “Wild Wild Life.” The club, now the site of a Taco Cabana, was owned by restaurant magnate Shannon Wynne and became the regular haunt of cast and crew after hours.

Whenever Byrne passes through the area these days while on tour, he never fails to contact Patoski, who shows him around the region’s galleries and keeps him up-to-date on how the locations of True Stories have evolved. ... See MoreSee Less

4 days ago

The inside story of the North Texas actors and locations in David Byrne's cult film 'True Stories'

dallasnews.com

Unlike most film productions on location shoots, True Stories was thoroughly open to local talent and prized eccentric personalities. Although...