Lex Sidon debuts first film at Palm Springs festival
twice a year, once in Wroclaw, Poland, in conjunction with the American Film Festival, and once in Paris at the Champs Elysees fest. Six or seven selected U.S. directors show their works in progress to the top foreign distributors and international sales reps. They get a first look, and winners are awarded post-production services and other funds to finish projects. I received production costs worth more than $80,000, which, of course, was a major assist.” Lex also met a talented editor in Poland and the film was eventually re-cut by remote, he in Warsaw and Lex in New York. “It was a long process, but it ultimately got to the film’s real emotional core. Slowly I crept to the finish line until I could start showing it, eventually getting selected for Palm Springs. We were the only American film in the New Voices-New Visions category and sold out all shows, as well as being picked as one of eight must-see films along with Selma and Still Alice.” Lex’s star, Charlotte Riley, 34, flew out from London for the desert event along with her fiancé, top actor Tom Hardy. The film’s other co-star, Tom Byam Shaw, is also British, although both roles call for them to be New Yorkers. Lex is already working on his next film project, Draggers, an atmospheric drama set aboard a New England fishing boat, which will also star Riley, who is also co-producing. Star-struck Santa Barbara International Film Festival director, Roger Durling, has done it again! Although actors and other film crew attending the popular fest are invited many months before the nominations season, an impressive 24 Academy Award nominees will be visiting our tony town for the 30th annual festival which kicks off next Tuesday, January 27. Local resident Michael Keaton, who is receiving the Modern Master Award, received his first nomination for Best Actor in Birdman. Also receiving their first nominations were Cinema Vanguard Award recipients Eddie Redmayne 22 – 29 January 2015
Michael Keaton and Eddie Redmayne among impressive roster of Oscar nominees attending the film festival
and Felicity Jones for their performances in The Theory of Everything. Outstanding Performer of the Year honoree, Steve Carell, is also lauded for his turn in Foxcatcher, and Virtuoso honorees JK Simmons for Whiplash and Rosamund Pike for Gone Girl. American Riviera Award honoree Patricia Arquette also received her first nomination, while her co-star Ethan Hawke received his fourth Oscar nod for their performances in Boyhood. Other Oscar nominees who will be feted in Santa Barbara include Artisan honorees Sandra Adair for editing, Bill Corso and Kathrine Gordon for hair and makeup for Foxcatcher, Suzie Davies for production designer on Mr. Turner, Shawn Patterson for his song “Everything is Awesome” from The Lego Movie, Richard King and Mark Weingarten for sound mixing and editing on Interstellar, and four-time Academy Award winner Joe Letteri for visual effects work for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. A bumper crop, indeed... Together Again Former Santa Barbara warbler Katy Perry and rocker John Mayer are further fueling rumors that they have rekindled their romance. Almost a year after they split, the dynamic duo have been spotted around Hollywood on romantic dates, including an openly passionate dinner at the oh-so-trendy Sunset Tower Hotel. The twosome ended their on-off relationship in February last year after first starting dating in 2012. They split briefly in March the following year. The pair were seen together at a friend’s home for dinner, but tried to keep a low profile, arriving and leaving separately. John, 37, and former Dos Pueblos High student Katy, 30, have also visited a therapist before giving romance another try for the fourth time, according to Us Weekly. Stay tuned... From East to West Ten talented fellows from the Music Academy of the West have returned
Music Academy of the West fellows with members of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in Manhattan
home after whirlwind 10-day visit to the Big Apple, part of the inaugural New York Philharmonic Global Academy Program, made up of concerts, rehearsals, and tutelage at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall. “It was a resounding success!” says academy president Scott Reed, seen in the photo with actor Alec Baldwin, an orchestra board member and Marge Cafarelli, new academy board chair. Patrick Posey, vice-president of artistic planning and educational programs, says the residency experience – part of an innovative four year partnership – was summed up by violist Matthew Cohen. “In response to the question ‘On a scale of one to ten, how do you feel about your time here?’ He gave the
answer ‘Twenty.’” The academy’s summer festival will feature the orchestra at the Santa Barbara Bowl on August 3. Bravo!.. Lucas Laments He created the iconic double trilogy of epic space films that have earned nearly $2 billion since they first burst on to the big screen in 1977. But George Lucas, who owns a beach house in Carpinteria, has admitted he initially wanted to direct Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which will kick off the third trilogy in the sci-fi franchise when it bows in December. One of the reasons the 70-year-old
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