The Mammoth Film Festival, which runs from 29 February to 4 March, will honour Drunk History presenter Derek Waters for his contributions to film and television. He will receive the Golden Mammoth Film Festival Award.
The Mammoth Film Festival aims to showcase world premieres from and with both new and established talent. Among the first selections for this year’s festival is Shaun Hart’s “The Fall”, produced by Lunar Door’s Chase Kuker and Natalie Kline and distributed by Buffalo 8. The film stars Thomas Cocquerel, Jeremy Sumpter, Cassie Scerbo, Jocelyn Hudon and Jim O’Heir. The festival will also feature the North American premiere of Inland, starring Mark Rylance, and the West Coast premiere of Asleep in My Palms, starring Tim Blake Nelson, written and directed by his son Henry Nelson and produced by Noor Ahmed of Strike Back Studios.
Alongside the film talks, panel discussions and red carpets, the festival will feature its Mammoth Film Summit Interactive Panels, led by Waters and Denis O’Sullivan of “Bohemian Rhapsody” fame. The Jury will include Lucy Hale, Farah White, Waters, Jaleel White, Hally Leadbetter, Max Adler and Lamorne Morris, and will be led by Competition Director Jarod Einsohn. In addition, the Mammoth Film Festival is partnering with the Los Angeles Film School for the 2024 event, offering participants access to educational and industry opportunities in collaboration with film school professionals.
Dominic Glynn, Rob Legato, Nancy Richardson, Deborah Scott, Tom Sito and Sharon Smith Holley have joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Science and Technology Council. The Science and Technology Council preserves the history of science and technology in motion pictures, evaluates industry standards, advises on content and provides channels for information exchange.
Glynn, a member of the Academy since 2023, is part of the Production and Technology branch. He helped introduce the first theatrical Dolby ATMOS release for Brave.
Legato is known for his Oscar-winning visual effects work on Titanic, Hugo and The Jungle Book. Richardson, a tenured professor at UCLA, has editing credits on films such as “Stand and Deliver,” “Selena” and “Twilight. She currently serves as the governor of the Film Editors Branch.
Scott’s costume work includes “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Back to the Future and Titanic, for which she won an Academy Award. She received the Costume Design Guild’s Career Achievement Award earlier this year.
Sito previously served as governor of the Short and Feature Animation Branch. “His credits include Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.
Academy Gold Mentor Smith Holley launched The Legacy Collection project in 2007 to preserve the history of film post-production.
Bill Baggelaar of the Production and Technology Branch and Visual Effects Branch Governor Paul Debevec are the newly appointed co-chairs of the Council.
