Sunday, February 22, 2015

Oscars 2015

The winners of The Oscars 2015, or 87th Academy Awards, will be included in the next version of Filmster. The nominees for Best Picture are

  • Birdman, Alejandro González Iñárritu

The winners of the most important Awards are

  • Best Film:    Birdman, Alejandro González Iñárritu
  • Best Director:    Birdman, Alejandro González Iñárritu
  • Best Actress:    Julianne Moore -- Still Alice, Richard Glatzer
  • Best Screenplay:    Birdman, Alejandro González Iñárritu
  • Best Foreign Language Film:    Ida, Paweł Pawlikowski

Twelve years is a long time for a Best Supporting Actress Award, isn't it?
At least 12 Years a Slave got Best Picture...

Saturday, February 21, 2015

César Awards

A great addition to Filmster would be the films selected for the César Awards, the French equivalent of the Academy Awards in the United States.

The 40th César Awards ceremony took place on 20 February 2015 in Paris. The following films were nominated for Best Film:


The winners of the most important awards are

  • Best Film:    Timbuktu, Abderrahmane Sissako
  • Best Director:    Timbuktu, Abderrahmane Sissako
  • Best Actress:    Adèle Haenel -- Love at First Fight (Les Combattants), Thomas Cailley
  • Best Screenplay:    Timbuktu, Abderrahmane Sissako

Timbuktu also won Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Sound, and Best Music, totalising seven awards!

Congratulations to Adèle Haenel, who seems to have a remarkably original personality.
See also her interview at UniversCiné.

Pierre Niney gave a vibrant speech, stressing the necessity to have in France a "youth that dreams" ("une jeunesee qui rêve") thank to the "benevolence" of the established artists. At age 25, he is the youngest recipient of the César Award for Best Actor (since 2010, he is also the youngest member of the Comédie-Française). His performance in 20 Ans d'Ecart was splendid. But above all, I would warmly recommend Casting(s), the hilarious short tv series that he co-created. Episode 1.14 MC Clash: Biopic d'un rappeur is a masterpiece of ridiculousness. Watch also Avalanche with the very funny Laurent Lafitte.

Friday, February 20, 2015

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Press Release for Filmster 1.0

[prMac.com] Lausanne, Switzerland - Independent developer, Maxime Gabella today is proud to introduce Filmster for iOS devices. The app searches iTunes for films that were in competition at top international film festivals---Cannes, Venice, Berlin---and at the Oscars. It creates a list of available films specifying the awards that they won. All film enthusiasts can benefit from this quick and enlightened way to find gold on iTunes.

Looking for a good movie on iTunes can turn into a challenging experience. The homepage is flooded with movies sorted by release date or genre, but only very few of them are genuinely interesting. The "Bestsellers" are promoted blindly, regardless of their (dubious) quality. Even though it is not possible to use it in the search, some qualitative information is provided by the "Ratings." However, they are averaged over many contributors, which dilutes their critical relevance.

Filmster is designed to boost iTunes search engine. It relies on film festivals and award ceremonies, whose vocation is precisely to select the most exciting films in the world. The user can choose between four major events: Cannes, Venice, Berlin Film Festivals, and The Oscars. The search can be refined with the categories of awards and the years (1981-2014). Filmster then generates a list of films satisfying these criteria, and tapping on one of them redirects to the iTunes Store in the user's country (adjustable in the Parameters). Just like in gold panning, dull films spilled out and only the gold remains!

"Quantitative classifications by bestsellers, popularity, or average ratings do not accurately reflect the quality of the films they are promoting. It makes much more sense to trust specific cinema experts to select truly fascinating films," said Maxime Gabella, creator of Filmster.

Upcoming versions of Filmster will involve more festivals (Toronto, Sundance, Tribeca, and more) and more award ceremonies (BAFTA, Cesar), as well as top-film lists by celebrated directors.

Device Requirements:
* iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
* Requires iOS 8.1 or later
* Size: 1.0 MB

Pricing and Availability:
Filmster 1.0 is free and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Entertainment category. The app works best with iTunes Stores in English or other European languages. 

Independent developer, Maxime Gabella is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. All Material and Software (C) Copyright 2015 Maxime Gabella. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks and registered trademarks may be the property of their respective owners.


Press release at prMac.com