Ben Affleck Eyes Focus; Marion Cotillard To Receive Gothams Tribute

Also in Tuesday afternoon's round-up of news briefs: Oscar-nominated filmmaker Frank Darabont will receive an upcoming festival tribute. South Korea's Oscar entry Pietà heads to U.S. theaters. And a sci-fi thriller will also make its way to U.S. audiences.

Marion Cotillard to Receive Tribute at 22nd Annual Gotham Awards
The Best Actress winner will be honored at the IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards on November 26th in New York City. Cotillard stars in French director Jacques Audiard's Rust and Bone alongside Matthias Schoenaerts, Bouli Lanners and Céline Sallette. The French actress joins previously announced Tributes Actor, Matt Damon; Director, David O. Russell and Philanthropist and Social Entrepreneur, Jeff Skoll.

Ben Affleck Eyes Warner Bros' Focus
Glenn Ficarra and John Requa wrote and will direct the project. "The story centers on a veteran con man who gets involved with a newcomer to the grifter business. They become  involved romantically but that becomes perilous in a business where they lie and cheat for a living. The complications of the encounter haunt them when they meet up again in the future," Deadline reports.

Austin Film Festival to Fete Frank Darabont
The three-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile director will receive the festival's "2012 Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award" October 20th. This year’s Conference at AFF includes over 80 panels, workshops and roundtable discussions led by more than 100 professionals in the television and film industries. The 19th Austin Film Festival takes place October 18 - 25.

Doc NYC Returns for 3rd Year
The opening night will feature Jared Leto presenting Artifact (dir. Bartholomew Cubbins) which follows his band Thirty Seconds to Mars as they battle a lawsuit against record label EMI. Also opening is Venus and Serena (dirs. Michelle Major and Maiken Baird), an intimate look at the lives of the tennis-conquering Williams sisters. The festival, taking place November 8 - 15, will feature 115 films and events. Expected guests include Rufus Wainwright, Pete Seeger, Andy Summers, Ice-T, Antony Hegarty, David Bromberg, Ken Burns, Alex Gibney, Rory Kennedy, Jonathan Demme, 
Barbara Kopple, Joe Berlinger, Radioman and more. For more details on the lineup, visit their website.

South Korean Oscar Entry Pietà heads to U.S. Theaters
Auteur Kim Ki-Duk's (3-Iron) latest was chosen by S. Korea as its entry for Best Foreign-Language Oscar consideration. Pietà tells the uncompromising story of a loan shark who is forced to reconsider his violent lifestyle after the arrival of a mysterious woman claiming to be his long-lost mother.  Drafthouse Films picked up North American rights to the film and plans a limited theatrical and multi-platform VOD release for Pietà in 2013.

Justin Dix's Crawlspace Heads to U.S. Theaters
The sci-fi thriller centers around a group of elite soldiers infiltrate Australia's top secret military compound. They quickly discover all is not as it seems and the facility is a testing ground for something far more sinister. IFC Midnight, which picked up North American rights to the film, will take Crawlspace to ScreamFest on October 18th.