Warner Bros. President and COO Alan Horn has announced the closure of studio specialty divisions Picturehouse and Warner Independent Pictures today. The striking news follows the recent move to severely scale back New Line Cinema and incorporate it into the WB studio apparatus, cutting hundreds of jobs at the company. "With New Line now a key part of Warner Bros., we're able to handle films across the entire spectrum of genres and budgets without overlapping production, marketing and distribution infrastructures," Horn said, continuing, "We're confident that the spirit of independent filmmaking and the opportunity to find and give a voice to new talent will continue to have a presence at Warner Bros." [Eugene Hernandez]

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The complete press release is available below:

A number of familiar names are set to compete at the 61st Festival de Cannes, organizers announced today in Paris. While the fest has yet to announce its opening and closing films, nineteen features are set to vie for the Palme d'Or. Among the films in competition are new work by The Dardenne Brothers, Arnaud Desplechin, Atom Egoyan, Clint Eastwood, Lucrecia Martel, Walter Salles, Steven Soderbergh, and Wim Wenders. The fest's opening and closing films were not designated in this morning's announcement.

Get the full story at indieWIRE.com.

Janet Pierson has been named the new producer of the SXSW Film Festival and Conference, the organization has just announced. Matt Dentler, who has served as producer of the fest since 2004, has accepted a position in New York City to head the marketing and programming operations of Cinetic Media's new digital rights management unit, the festival said in an announcement.

iW posted a full story on the announcements this evening at indieWIRE.com.

Citing "a March malaise," Variety reports today on the post-strike vibe in Hollywood, noting, "There are significantly fewer TV pilots, budgets for series are being cut back, feature films are being put on hold in fear of a SAG walkout, and the shifts in the TV and film skeds have meant either accelerated workloads or prolonged unemployment. And all this is occurring as everyone is feeling the pinch of an overall economy that’s in or heading into recession."

Announced on Monday, the list of premieres debuting at New York's Film Forum from early May through late August, 2008.

(complete press release available below)

The complete list of 2008 Tribeca All Access projects and participants was announced today by the The Tribeca Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Institute:

The SXSW Film Festival, annual meeting place for that infamous interconnected movement of new American filmmakers known as Mumblecore, has yielded a deal for the new film from prolific DIY director Joe Swanberg. In a pact brokered in recent days, IFC Entertainment quickly acquired worldwide rights to Swanberg and Greta Gerwig's "Nights and Weekends," announcing the deal as the film had its world premiere tonight (Sunday) here in Austin, TX. and less than a year after distributing Swanberg's "Hannah Takes The Stairs," which debuted here last March.

Get the full story at indieWIRE.com.

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis said late Tuesday night in a statement, "I am relieved that the men and women of the entertainment industry are going back to work and I am ecstatic that the 80th Academy Awards presentation can now proceed full steam ahead with talented writers working on the show, a fantastic array of presenters and performers and, most importantly, the ability for all of our honored nominees to attend without hesitation or discomfort." A press conference is set for Thursday to talk about the details of the upcoming Oscar show.

In announcement today, Vanity Fair announced the cancelation of their annual post-Oscars party. In a brief statement, they said, "After much consideration, and in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike, we have decided that this is not the appropriate year to hold our annual Oscar party. We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year."

Some 113 feature films are set to screen at the 15th South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference & Festival in Austin, TX. Running, March 7 - 15, 2008, the event's showcases are the documentary and narrative feature competitions. The complete competition lineups are available now at indieWIRE.com.

Get the latest at indieWIRE.com.

The complete SXSW lineup is available below.