Austin, TX, March 14, 2006–SXSW announces the winners of the 2006 edition in half a dozen categories, including Reel, Animated, Experimental, and Music Video Shorts.

April 20, 2006–The Festival de Cannes will kick off this year with a distinctly Gallic flavor. Announced earlier, the opening night, May 17, is Ron Howard's The Da Vinci Code, which stars Tom Hanks and is set in the Louvre Museum. The anthology film, “Paris, je t'aime” (Paris, I Love You) will open the Un Certain Regard series on May 18.

Many movies at this year's Tribeca Film Festival, which kicks off April 25, won't be playing in TriBeCa. For the first time, the festival, which began five years ago to help downtown businesses in the wake of 9/11, will be holding two-thirds of its paid screenings outside TriBeCa.

It's a sad but factual reality that women are still vastly underrepresented in American film, both mainstream and indie. Nonetheless, this year, there were more films written and directed by women than the usual, which may signal a positive change.

Sundance Film Festival, January 28, 2006–“Quinceanera” and “God Grew Tired of Us” each win Jury & Audience Prizes at Sundance Festival. For the first time in the history of the event, a pair of new American independent films swept both jury and audience awards at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival this year. Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer's “Quinceanera” and Christopher Quinn's “God Grew Tired of Us” were among the big winners tonight as the Sundance Film Festival
presented prizes at the conclusion of its 2006 event in Park City, Utah.