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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The first of three rounds is now open for those interested in receiving a grant for a film or television production project in the city of Sacramento.

Sacramento Film + Media will award four $5,000 grants during each of three grant rounds between the period of Oct. 15, 2021 through May 15, 2022.

Two grants will be made to applicants with budgets over $100,000.
Two grants will be made to applicants with budgets $100,000 or below.
One additional grant of $2,500 will be awarded per round for 75% of post-production done locally.
The application window is open now for round one and applications are due by midnight Nov. 30.

Eligible productions that could receive a grant through the program include feature length films, short films, episodic television, television pilots, television movies/miniseries, documentaries, docuseries, commercials, music videos, and unscripted television. 

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"The program is open to productions filming at least 50% of the project in the Sacramento region with at least two locations in the City of Sacramento," a press release about the program reads. "It is also open to productions where 75% of post-production is done locally." 

Below is the deadline for rounds two and three:

Round 2: Dec. 1, 2021 through Feb. 15, 2022.
Round 3: Feb. 16 through May 15, 2022.
Applicants are asked to submit for projects that will begin physical production within 180 days from the award date.

Funds for the grants come from the City’s Measure U fund. 

 

Article by Gilbert Cordova for ABC10

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Justin Zhu (right) of Stand with Asian Americans helped organize the free screening of "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" in Emeryville. 

Hundreds of Bay Area residents, many of them kids and their families, were expected to watch free screenings of “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” this weekend as part of a community-led effort to promote visibility and representation of Asian Americans.

The screenings, hosted in partnership with local nonprofit organizations Stand with Asian Americans and Leaders Forum, were scheduled to show “Shang-Chi” — Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first film to feature an Asian superhero lead character with a predominantly Asian cast — at two AMC theaters in Daly City and Emeryville.

 San Francisco resident Daniel Whan, 41, told The Chronicle he conceived the idea to host free screenings targeted toward youths and families to try to bring the community together and provide an opportunity to give a “touch-point” to the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. 

Whan, a longtime comic book fan and martial arts aficionado, said he grew up without seeing Asian American role models or superheroes whom young Asian American kids could aspire to be like one day. 

“I think it does mean a lot to our community to have something like ‘Shang-Chi’ at this moment in time, especially against the backdrop of COVID and a lot of the ugly things that have come out of that recently,” Whan said, referring to the surge of anti-Asian hate crimes and violence in the Bay Area and the United States since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Visibility and representation are all important things for our community because you see the consequences of when someone becomes ‘the other,’” he said.

Justin Zhu, a San Francisco resident who works with of Stand with Asian Americans, one of the screenings’ organizers, told The Chronicle that there are few “mythological examples” of Asian American “heroes and sheroes.” 

He said that seeing Chinese Canadian actor Simu Liu as superhero Shang-Chi, and performing in an epic fight scene aboard a Muni-like bus barreling through San Francisco, holds special significance for the Asian American community.

“That could be you,” Zhu said. “We have new heroes and sheroes emerge.” 

Four-year-old Jalisa Love waits with others to watch a free screening of "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" in Emeryville. 

Organizers reached out to local grassroots, youth and cultural organizations across the Bay Area and invited members to attend the screenings, including Cameron House and Wu Yee Children’s Services in San Francisco, Guardian Gym in Oakland and others, Whan said.

“The great thing about ‘Shang-Chi’ specifically is you have people that are very strong and fighting for what you believe in, and standing up to evil,” Whan said. “Kids are incredibly perceptive and I think to have these types of strong role models to kind of imagine themselves into, is incredibly impactful against the backdrop of the AAPI violence.”

Zhu — who co-founded Stand with Asian Americans in the aftermath of the fatal mass shooting of eight people, six of whom were Asian women, at three Atlanta spas in March — said it’s “easy with everything you see happening locally and nationally, that the world is just getting more divisive.”

“The word ‘crisis’ I think in Western context typically is a negative word. But if you take the word in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is two characters: The first character means ‘danger,’ and the second character means ‘opportunity,’” Zhu said.

“That’s what we want people to see — Let’s get through the danger, but there are opportunities being created through all of these crises.”

Zhu said the screenings are a good example of how nonprofits, community activists and businesses can come together toward a common goal.

The screenings are also a setting to dispel stereotypes and shatter misconceptions related to Asian people, said Lorna Ho Randlett, the CEO and co-founder of Leaders Forum, a nonpartisan network of business leaders. She said the point is to “show on the screen” that there are positive role models of Asian people, and to challenge the false stereotypes that Asian people “are not leaders, meek and weak,” she said.

“We want to be able to say we are very much a part of the world ... and a positive narrative about who our people are,” Randlett said. “This type of thing is expressly important for young Asians and for their fellow classmates to start thinking about a different narrative about who Asians are, and that we are also Americans.”

Whan said “Shang-Chi” felt like a “love letter to what we call ABCs, American born Chinese.”

“There is a line in it where (actor Ronny Chieng) says, ‘No worries, I speak ABC,’” Whan recalled. “It felt like a warm hug from Marvel. I can’t speak to what it might feel for a non-Chinese Asian person, or even a non-Asian person period, but it meant a lot to me personally, and I wanted to share it with as many people who would like to enjoy it as possible.” 

 

Article by Lauren Hernandez for SF Chronicle

 
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Brandon Lee 

The family of Brandon Lee has been overcome with sadness and frustration in learning that another accidental fatal shooting occurred on a film set.

On Thursday, Halyna Hutchins, 42, was killed when a gun handled by Alec Baldwin misfired on the set of his Western film, Rust. Director Joel Souza was also wounded. The incident remains under investigation.

Brandon Lee’s sister, Shannon, told The Hollywood Reporter on Friday that her heart was broken for all involved in the Rust tragedy and that her family was once again processing their own pain. 

“I have been in contact with my mom and with my brother’s fiancee,” Shannon Lee told THR upon hearing the news. “A lot of people have been reaching it. It’s stirring up a lot of emotions — and frustration.” 

In March 1993, Brandon Lee, son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, was fatally wounded by a prop gun while filming The Crow. He was 28.

Acknowledging that details are unclear over what went wrong on Rust, Lee said there is no excuse for another deadly shooting accident.

“There are rules that are supposed to be followed,” she said. “I am certainly not pointing fingers at anyone because that would be the wrong thing to do. But, there is no reason for something like this to happen. My heart goes out to Alec Baldwin. I feel for the work he is going to have to do to process this and try to find some measure of peace around it. And even more so for the family of Halyna Hutchins. It’s having your whole world flip upside down. There should be compassion for all the pain everyone is going through.”

Baldwin on Friday said he was filled with “shock and sadness” over the incident. He noted he was working with authorities to determine what went wrong.

Following the Thursday shooting, a number of those involved in the industry, both in front and behind the camera, said on social media that real guns need to be banned from Hollywood sets. Lee agrees. 

18 Fascinating Facts About 'The Crow' | Mental Floss

“I think that in this day and age with all the special effects that are possible and all of the technology, there is no reason to have a prop gun or a gun on a set that can fire a projectile of any sort,” she said. “It is not necessary, and I would love to see some changes made industry-wide. My brother’s fiancee and I have been talking about it. I think we wish we had thought to do more 28 years ago, and we would love to do that now.” 

Noting that her family would wholeheartedly support an initiative banning real guns from sets, Lee stressed rules in place now must be followed.

“There were rules in place on The Crow. Unfortunately, there was negligence of the rules,” she said. “I don’t want to speak to the incident on Rust, but in Brandon’s accident, there were many rules that were not followed and corners that were cut, which lead to the tragedy on that set. It did not have to happen.”

Fans of The Crow star took to social media upon learning of the Rust tragedy, remembering the late actor and sharing how much he meant. Shannon Lee called the moment bittersweet.

“It is unfortunate that it is something like this that is bringing it back up to the forefront,” she said. “But at the same time, for him to be remembered, to see that outpouring of love for him — it is beautiful. Hopefully one of the things that come out of this is it does lead to meaningful change.” 

 

Article by Ryan Parker for The Hollywood Reporter

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Lissette Feliciano felt like a failure.

The San Francisco-born actress, writer and director had been trying to make it in the industry for years, but it didn’t seem like her career was going anywhere. She worried, too, that she’d failed one of her biggest supporters: her mother. It was time to quit, she thought.

 

“I told her, ‘I’m sorry we’ve spent all our money and time trying to go after this dream,” Feliciano told The Chronicle in a recent video interview.

But her mother didn’t agree. Instead, she shared her own story of struggles — and resilience — trying to succeed in a patriarchal society.

 

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“She told me everything that happened to her in the ’60s and ’70s,” Feliciano said. “She’d made peace with it, but I was livid.” 

The conversation sparked a new creative energy in Feliciano, inspiring the emotional blueprint for her independent film, “Women Is Losers,” which premieres Monday, Oct. 25, on HBO Max after screening at this year’s Mill Valley Film Festival.

The film, shot in San Francisco, follows the story of Celina (Lorenza Izzo), a promising Catholic schoolgirl whose life takes a devastatingly dramatic turn when, in 1967, she and her best friend, Marty (Chrissie Fit) both find themselves pregnant. It’s six years before Roe vs. Wade would protect a woman’s right to an abortion without overreaching government restriction, and both girls face a life-altering decision.

After a shocking trip to a back-alley abortion doctor, Celina becomes a single mother and confronts a world that treats her as a lesser citizen. Whether it’s being denied birth control, struggling to find child care, or learning that the bank won’t sign off on a home loan unless she’s married, she struggles to break free from the confines of poverty and misogyny.

The film also stars Bryan Craig as Mateo, the father of Celina’s child; Steven Bauer as her abusive father; and “Shang-Chi” actor Simu Liu and Liza Weil as her bosses, Gilbert and Minerva.

Feliciano says she knew she wanted Izzo in the main role after watching the actress “let the artifice drop” in her role as a con artist in the 2015 Keanu Reeves thriller, “Knock, Knock.”

For Izzo, the role resonated in deeply personal ways.

“I grew up in a very matriarchal family, raised by very strong, powerful women,” the Chile-born actress told The Chronicle in the video interview. “This is my mom’s story; this is my story as well.”

“Women Is Losers” isn’t just intergenerational, it’s also loose with time and genre, tackling its underlying themes of bodily autonomy and equality with a keen aesthetic and sharp wit. Characters break the fourth wall to offer cheeky or reflective asides, and there’s a deliberate blurring of time lines. Donna Summer’s ’80s hit “She Works Hard for the Money” dovetails seamlessly with tracks from Snow Patrol and a vintage-inspired dance number set to Tito Puente’s 1962 cha-cha-chá Cuban classic, “Oye Como Va.” 

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The fluidity is intentional, Feliciano said.

“It feels natural because what’s happening (now) is what also happened in 1973 and 1976 and 1967,” she added.

San Francisco also plays an important role in the film. Feliciano, who grew up in the Mission District, said she wanted to show a part of the city not usually represented in popular culture.

“I was really tired of seeing movies (set) in San Francisco that had cable cars and the Golden Gate Bridge, because if you are poor and you live in San Francisco, you maybe go there on a field trip,” she says.

For a city to be such a melting pot of communities, reducing it to cliche tourist-themed concepts seemed disingenuous.

“It was important to show a side of San Francisco that real people live in,” she said.

For the film’s title, however, Feliciano borrowed from one of San Francisco’s most famous musical daughters, Janis Joplin. The singer was born in Texas, but the bay arguably shaped her career.

Although Feliciano had never listened to Joplin much, when she heard “Women Is Losers” she knew she had landed on something important.

MERa9c26c68c4242aa0cf0ad5c217f52_women1017-1024x429.jpg"I heard this pain and humor in her calling out why (women) are second-class citizens,” Feliciano said. “She’s making a point, but she’s not educating or coming from a place of superiority.” 

Now, with “Women Is Losers” set to premiere on HBO Max, Feliciano says she’s gratified that she was able to keep the song title as the name for her film.

“It floors me that we’re going to make our HBO Max debut and we still have the title,” she says. “I think Janis was up there pulling some strings.”

She’s also grateful to see the movie reach a wider audience after its premiere on the film festival circuit.

“I’ve always said I want my movies to be for everybody,” Feliciano says. “If the lady at Sears or Walmart knows about my movie, I’ve succeeded.”

“Women Is Losers” (PG-13) streams on HBO Max starting Monday, Oct. 25. 

Article by Rachel Leibrock for Datebook

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Freemont native makes first feature

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Fremont native Kate Tsang creates some special feel-good magic in her debut feature “Marvelous and the Black Hole,” available through Sunday for online viewing as part of the Mill Valley Film Festival and also as an in-person screening experience this Saturday.

In the edgy YA feature, angry and bitter 13-year-old Sammy (Miya Cech, a Davis native) learns sleight-of-hand tricks along with invaluable lessons on leading a less disgruntled life from kids’ magician Margot (“Cheers” star Rhea Perlman), a spitfire who sees through Sammy’s rebellious nature.

Tsang’s background of being a child of divorced parents inspired this comedy-drama that’s focused on a true odd couple, both of whom are nursing emotional wounds from tragedies in their family lives. 

Speaking via Zoom, Tsang says the magical presence in her life was a kind grandfather who helped guide her through a rough patch when she was divided between two homes: one in Hong Kong (where her dad lived) and the other in Fremont (where her mom did).

“I felt pretty isolated and alone, moving back and forth. I also had a language barrier,” she recalls.

When her grandfather relocated to the East Bay from Hong Kong, he became even more of an important force and confidante.

“He didn’t judge me,” she recalls. “He just validated me and became the best friend I needed in that moment, and that was the seed of Sammy’s and Margot’s relationship — and how much he changed my life.”

Another influence for the writer and director were the films she loved watching: coming-of-age fantasy and horror movies such as “Edward Scissorhands” and “E.T.” But there was a glaring omission in those films.

“I never saw anybody who looked like me,” she says. “So this film also was something that I wanted to make for my younger self, something I wish I had growing up.” 

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Tsang says progress has been made on better representation, but there are many more gains to be made.

Getting “Marvelous and the Black Hole” up on the big screen for everyone to see took a circuitous route.

Tsang received a huge boost in getting her idea from paper to screen in 2019 when she received a $1 million grant from AT&T Presents: Untold Stories. She and producer Carolyn Mao committed to debuting the film at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival since the fest’s Institute backed the grant. Tsang started filming in the fall of 2019.

“We were really gunning through post to make it for our February deadline for Tribeca,” Tsang says.

Then COVID-19 happened and the 2020 festival was postponed, and a shorter version emerged later.

“We didn’t even know if we were going to be able to finish the film because everything was shut down,” she recalls. “We ended up waiting and just biding our time and had a lot more time in post than we thought we would ever have.”

Then the 2021 Sundance online festival came calling and “Marvelous and the Black Hole” soon had a new place for its world premiere. The film received an enthusiastic reception from critics and audiences.

“Getting into Sundance was really this unexpected and amazing blessing,” Tsang says.

Another blessing came in the form of finding the two leads.

After looking through probably hundreds of audition tapes for the role of Sammy, the film’s casting director came up with 10 possible actors for a role that required a talent who could carry every scene.

“There were a lot of great actors who came in,” Tsang recalls. “Miya was the last audition of the day, and she just blew us away.”

Casting Margot came about from a friend who worked with Perlman and put the two together.

“With Margot, I knew we needed someone with grit. Sammy is a little tough so you need someone who is also tough to get through her that way,” Tsang says. 

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Fittingly, it was magic that brought Cech and Perlman together. Or rather a magic show.

“We all got to watch a show together and see how they reacted to the show and see each other’s delight,” Tsang says.

The actors also took magic classes together while Tsang separately visited the Magic Castle and took classes at that Los Angeles-based hub for magicians.

“I ended up liking it so much that a teaching assistant said, ‘Hey, maybe you should keep going,’” Tsang says.

While she might do that on the side, Tsang’s currently busy on various projects. Her previous work includes serving as a writer on the animated series Cartoon Network’s “Steven Universe” (for which she received an Emmy nomination) and HBO Max’s “Adventure Time: Distant Lands.” She also received numerous awards — including from the San Francisco International Film Festival — for her 2014 short “So You’ve Grown Attached.” Currently, she’s working on a feature about shape-shifting monsters, and awaiting hopeful news about “Marvelous” receiving distribution.

Tsang is enjoying seeing her film go through the festival circuit because she sees a need to embrace magic in our lives.

“My philosophy is I always try to find some wonder or light in the dark times, and that’s how I’ve gotten through things,” Tsang says.

Tsang, Cech and producer Carolyn Mao will be attending the 3 p.m. Saturday screening at the Smith Rafael Film Center. For tickets to that or to watch the film online, visit mvff.com/marvelous-and-the-black-hole/. 

Article by Randy Myers for Local News Matters

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Romal Mitr, a Dublin high school junior, will give cash prizes to Bay Area youth 13 and younger who take the top slots at her environmental film festival. 

BAY AREA, CA — An East Bay high school student who recently began accepting submissions for a new youth environmental film festival was tapped to give a TEDx Talk about the power of film to fight climate change.

Quarry Lane School junior and filmmaker Romal Mitr's speech, "Reviving Earth's Heartbeat Before It Flatlines," was published last month as part of a Humboldt State University collaboration with TEDx, which features local speakers addressing a range of topics to regional audiences. The Humboldt State event centered on climate change.

"With the power of film, we can accelerate the spread of our environmental messages and actions at the speed of sight," she said. 

She pointed to an experiment in which a group of adults was given crayons and a piece of paper and told to draw a picture. They were told that any crayons they did not use would be given to the next group to draw their pictures.

The adults' drawings were bright with vivid colors, but the children who came in after them created pictures that were bleak and dark, with little color. 

The "truth is, feeling some discomfort is actually needed to inspire change," she said.

Mitr, who was named last year as an EarthX "Planet Hero," is currently accepting submissions for her new film festival, "Earth Unfiltered: Bay Area's Environmental Youth Film Festival," as part of her Reimagining Earth initiative.

The festival is open to children 13 or younger who produce films about environmental subjects. Submit yours for a chance to win $200, $100 or $50 prizes. 

 

Article by Courtney Teague for Patch

 

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Cary Joji Fukunaga admits he’s a little exhausted as he appears on a video chat during the U.S. press day for the latest James Bond film, “No Time to Die.”

The Bond circus can do that to people. He talked from New York, where he purchased his first piece of property, a Manhattan apartment, in 2018. “I bought the place right before I got the (Bond) job in London,” the 44-year-old Fukunaga said. “So I haven’t even really lived in it yet. I’m going to try to stay there tonight.”

But Fukunaga brightens up when he finds out he is talking to a reporter from the Bay Area, where he was born (Oakland) and raised (Oakland, plus Berkeley, Albany, Vallejo, Benicia and Sebastopol, where he attended Analy High School).

“I was last there in January,” Fukunaga said. “At that point I hadn’t seen my family in almost three years.” 

It’s been a whirlwind for Fukunaga, the first American-born director to helm an official entry in the British superspy franchise, and the first of Asian descent (he is half Japanese American). Directing a Bond film, with its massive budgets, complicated production and high expectations from a global fan base, is always a taxing challenge, but the pressure this time is even more intense: It’s the final Bond for Daniel Craig, the man many consider to be the best to strap on 007’s shoulder holster, and its box office performance is being closely watched after a 20-month pandemic delay.

The early signs are promising. “No Time to Die,” a $245 million film, has earned more than $120 million in 54 markets, a pandemic international box office record for a film that has not yet opened in the U.S., where it debuts Friday, Oct. 8, or China (Oct. 29).

“I’ll probably know in a couple of months how I feel,” Fukunaga chuckled. 

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In hindsight, despite the fact that he doesn’t hail from the British empire, the usual pedigree of a Bond director (the last two were helmed by England’s Sam Mendes), Fukunaga was the perfect choice to bring the five-film Craig saga to a close. He’s a complete filmmaker, and that’s what was needed.

Fukunaga trained and worked as a cinematographer, which is what he studied at New York University film school; he and “No Time to Die” director of photography Linus Sandgren pushed producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson to shoot with Imax cameras, a first for a Bond film. He’s also an accomplished writer and is the only Bond director to receive screenplay credit, along with Bond veterans Neil Purvis and Robert Wade and Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

And he is a a huge history buff. It’s what he studied at UC Santa Cruz, and it informs all of his work, from his low-budget Sundance darling “Sin Nombre,” about illegal immigration, to a 2011 adaptation of “Jane Eyre,” to the first-ever Netflix film, “Beasts of No Nation,” about child soldiers in an African conflict, to TV series such as HBO’s “True Detective” (for which Fukunaga won an Emmy) and Netflix’s “Maniac.”

To end the Daniel Craig era, the onetime Civil War re-enactor felt he needed to approach it with a proper epic sweep to mark the passage of time.

“You don’t really understand the unprecedented nature of where things are headed, whether it’s humanity or politics or geopolitics, and how we might be moving towards conflict again,” explained Fukunaga, whose college thesis concerned contemporary history and colonialism. “I think it’s interesting to really play upon the breaking down of foundations, and what that does. There are things you see in (‘No Time to Die’) that look at the sort of end of a status quo. Change is always frightening.” 

Unique among the 26 James Bond movies, the Craig films have their own self-contained story arc. He begins in 2006’s “Casino Royale” (directed by Martin Campbell) as a raw secret service agent who has yet to earn his Double-0 status; “Quantum of Solace” (2008, Marc Forster) was the first direct sequel of a Bond; and the character deepened with “Skyfall” (2012) and “Spectre” (2015), both directed by Mendes.

Fukunaga credited Campbell for bringing “grittiness” and “brutality” back to the series, and for reimagining the franchise not once but twice. (Campbell also directed the first Pierce Brosnan Bond movie, “GoldenEye.”)

“I also look at ‘GoldenEye’ as sort of a sea change for the Bond world when you have Dame Judy Dench brought in as M, her sitting Pierce Brosnan down and calling him a misogynistic dinosaur and a relic of the Cold War,” Fukunaga said. “That was a reckoning if there ever was one.

“I think Martin did it again with Vesper Lynn (Eva Green’s character) in ‘Casino.’ Arguably, of the four other (Craig) films prior to mine, she is the strongest female character there. There’s something about the boldness of those shifts we all benefit from.”

To that end, and mindful of of this being the first Bond of the #MeToo era, French actress Léa Seydoux (“Blue Is the Warmest Color”) became the first “Bond girl” to be asked to return to play the same role — her Madeleine Swann goes off with a seemingly retired Bond at the end of “Spectre” — and two agents, played by Lashana Lynch (“Captain Marvel”) and Ana de Armas (Craig’s co-star in “Knives Out”) match wits and skills with Bond.

Later in the writing process, Craig suggested that “Fleabag” and “Killing Eve” creator Waller-Bridge be brought in to polish the script. 

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The results show. Sedoux’s Madeleine in “Spectre” was, as she put it in a separate video interview with The Chronicle, “not very developed. She was the good girl. It’s always hard to play a good girl, because I don’t have any material to explore the depth of the character.”

In “No Time to Die,” Sedoux found she had to play a much more complex character. She first met Fukunaga over drinks in London, where they discussed the role and felt a level of immediate trust, something that carried over onto the set.

“He’s sensitive. He was very patient with me,” Sedoux said. “I have to say it was not easy. I struggled a bit, to be honest, on the film because it was very emotional for me. I was in a place where I had doubts about myself. I didn’t feel capable sometimes. He really helped me, and this is something I’m very grateful about.” 

Since Bond, Fukunaga has returned to series work, spending months directing “Masters of the Air,” a World War II miniseries executive-produced by Steven Spielberg and fellow East Bay native Tom Hanks.

He is also working on a food documentary, again putting his enthusiasm for history to work and satisfying his desire to work with budgets both big and small.

“Right now I’m working on an ingredients documentary with (chef) René Redzepi and (food writer) Matt Goulding, and salt is one of the subjects we’re studying. Just the history of salt is fascinating. I could just go on about salt,” Fukunaga said with a laugh.

But with Campbell, Mendes and several other directors having made more than one Bond, would Fukunaga do another?

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve really enjoyed the process, but it was hard. The 20 months I was on that project, no one saw me. I was working seven days a week and long, long hours. Definitely by the end, I could feel my life force being squeezed as I delivered the last I could to make sure it was everything it could be.

“Would I do it again? I think I could do it again. I would probably prepare differently. But I also have to question, with the finite time that I have left to tell stories, is that how I want to spend my time, or would I want to do something else?”

“No Time to Die” opens Friday, Oct. 8, in Bay Area theaters. 

 

Article byG. Allen Johnson for Datebook

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A new report of actors expressing anti-vaccination views on sets states that Letitia Wright is supporting said beliefs on the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever set. Plot details regarding the second installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise are currently being kept under wraps, with co-writer/director Ryan Coogler having taken the past year to readjust the story following Chadwick Boseman's passing from colon cancer. The film will see the returns of Black Panther stars Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Wright, Winston Duke and Angela Bassett.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will also mark the MCU debut of Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, a genius inventor who will create a suit of armor rivaling Iron Man's and eventually lead her own Disney+ series Ironheart. Production on the sequel finally got underway in Atlanta in June following COVID-19-related delays. Filming saw a brief hiccup as Wright was temporarily hospitalized with injuries sustained during a stunt in Boston, though new word states that may not be the end of it for the actress. 

The Hollywood Reporter has shared a new report regarding a number of actors who continue to defend their anti-vaccination beliefs on social media and on sets, including Letitia Wright on the set of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. A source from the film's set has stated she is expressing views against the COVID-19 pandemics on the Atlanta production, though no word was specified as to whether she received a form of the vaccination for the shoot. The report also reveals that Wright and her U.S. team of representatives parted ways following her posting of a controversial anti-vaccine video on social media in December. 

9655290279?profile=RESIZE_710x Wright's comments are an unfortunate trend in society following the roll-outs of COVID-19 vaccines around the globe, with Hollywood proving no exemption to the debate over them, with Paramount+'s The Offer having to shut down production in July after star Miles Teller contracted the disease after refusing to be vaccinated. Her comments also won't come as a surprise to some following her sharing of the controversial anti-vax and transphobic ministry video, which lead to her subsequently deleting her social media after attempting to issue an apology. THR's report does state that Disney will begin mandating proof of COVID-19 vaccinations for productions to better maintain safety, though with the note that anything currently filming will not be covered by said system, that leaves Wright in the clear for the remainder of the reported six-month production schedule. 

Following Boseman's passing last year, much attention was turned to Wright and her character of Shuri for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as many fell in love with T'Challa's younger sister and expressed their interest to see her don the titular mantle moving forward. However, her continued controversial anti-vaccination statements are sure to come as a disappointment to many who rallied for such a character evolution and put them off from the idea moving forward. Only time will tell what the future holds for Wright in the MCU when Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theaters on July 8, 2022. 

 

Article by Grant Hermanns for ScreenRant

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Ben Fong-Torres’ office bears all the markings of his life as a walking, talking rock ‘n’ roll encyclopedia. A wall of CDs stacked top to bottom, arranged alphabetically, stands adjacent to a wall of books. Scattered around are rock ephemera: vintage radio microphones, musical instruments, lanyards, framed records.

His corner work area opens up to a postcard-perfect view of San Francisco, from a high perch between Noe Valley and the Castro, but it’s the artifacts in his office that are truly impressive. Each reveals a link to the Bay Area. There’s framed Tower of Power album art with the famous Oakland Tribune tower (Fong-Torres was a Tribune paperboy). On another wall is a painting of the 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival, created by Grace Slick. Mingling with artists like Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead and the Who is a long-haired Ben Fong-Torres. He didn’t attend, he insists, but appreciates that Slick included him anyway. 

It’s clear his legacy as an author, radio DJ, journalist (including a stint as a Chronicle contributing writer and radio columnist) and Lunar New Year Parade host is set. But he’s resigned to the fact that he will forever be linked to “Almost Famous,” Cameron Crowe’s semi-autobiographical film. In it, Fong-Torres, played by actor Terry Chen, is a Rolling Stone music editor who mentors a 15-year-old journalist riding shotgun with a band on tour.

In the 2000 movie, Chen affects a groovy demeanor with loud polyester shirts and helmet-head haircut and punctuates thoughts with “craaazy” (something Fong-Torres contends he occasionally did, but not as much as the film depicts). His full name is uttered multiple times in the film, ensuring moviegoers knew the weight and importance of a call from “BEN. FONG. TORRES.” 

“It is so strange that this one movie that was not a commercial success just continues on, because it still gets played on various cable channels and on airplanes,” Fong-Torres said.

But he has a chance to reclaim his true persona now that he’s the subject of a new documentary, “Like a Rolling Stone: The Life and Times of Ben Fong-Torres.” The film peels back the layers of a man who grew up in his parents’ restaurants in Oakland’s Chinatown and Hayward (and Texas, where his dad dragged him to open a restaurant in Amarillo) before heading across the Bay Bridge to attend San Francisco State University. He became city editor of the college newspaper, the Gater, and fell into the student countercultural movement before landing at Rolling Stone as its first music editor.

The film is directed, written and produced by Bay Area filmmaker and journalist Suzanne Kai, and will make its Northern California debut on Oct. 10 at the Mill Valley Film Festival. 

 

9649093855?profile=RESIZE_400xKai knew Fong-Torres back in the early 1970s. As a reporter at KRON-TV, she was part of a burgeoning Asian American media contingent that included David Louie, Gordon Lew, Christopher Chow and Fong-Torres. Later, she saw him hosting Q&As and community benefits, and speaking as an authority on music panels and in documentaries.

“I said, ‘Ben you’re in everyone else’s rock ‘n’ roll documentary; why don’t you have one?’ ” recalled Kai. “And he said, ‘Why don’t you do it?’ ”

More than a standard rock ‘n’ roll biopic, “Like a Rolling Stone” serves as an Asian American immigration story. It follows Fong-Torres’ path from Oakland to San Francisco State to KSAN radio, where he worked the weekend DJ shift. It documents his journey to a series of small publications before landing at Rolling Stone, Parade magazine, radio trade publication Gavin, and his five-time Emmy-winning gig co-hosting KTVU’s Chinese New Year parade. It’s a story of a man finding and asserting his voice and identity through a unique intersection of radio, community, family and rock ‘n’ roll.

Fong-Torres was on the Rolling Stone payroll for just 11 years, but his landmark interviews with artists like the Grateful Dead, Ray Charles, the Doors, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Diane Keaton, Steve Martin, Elton John and others captured them at the precipice (and often in the crucible) of fame. He was in the right place at the right time and was a keen observer as much as an interviewer. He coaxed out his subjects’ vulnerabilities, helping to propel the publication to must-read status during the late 1960s and ’70s.

Fong-Torres credits his Chinese heritage and unique surname with helping break the ice with high-caliber artists, believing they felt a kinship when he appeared at the door, recorder in hand. 

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“When I met these people, we were suddenly bound by the fact that we were different,” he said. “They were performers, artists or a traveling band. So with me walking in, and the fact that I’m Asian, just adds to that otherness. I felt like there was definitely a bond due to my being what I am.”

Fong-Torres recalled the time Gaye offered him a joint. “I said, ‘Marvin, had I been from Time or Life magazine, would you have offered me a joint?’ He said, ‘No, I’d offer you a gimlet.’ ”

On the subject of drugs, Fong-Torres admits that during the mid-’60s he and his roommates smoked pot, especially when a new Beatles album came out. He tried acid once, he said. But despite easy access to mind-altering substances (remember that Hunter S. Thompson was a colleague), Fong-Torres wasn’t interested. He was focused on the editorial task at hand, and his colleagues, including Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, vouch for this as much in the film.

“When they said they were going to hang out at Jann and Jane’s, I knew what that meant,” Fong-Torres said, referring to after-work soirees. “I might go and hang out, but that didn’t mean I had to do much more than that.” 

Being sober at concerts and interviews meant he was a reliable witness to rock history in the making. And if a performer had an off night or the audience was losing interest, as the documentary shows happened with George Harrison, he’d call it out.

But his honesty and earnestness earned him respect. As Rolling Stone ascended to the status of a music industry bible, Fong-Torres’ words carried the weight of a prophet’s.

“Ben seems to have a good handle on all kinds of music. If he trashed us, we probably had it coming,” said Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir, in the film. 

Fong-Torres’ interview style germinated when he was a youth. As a Chinese American boy in glasses who moonlighted as a restaurant worker, he found it easier to let others talk rather than talk about himself. It’s a skill that he honed along the way as student body president at Oakland’s Westlake Junior High, and newspaper reporter/columnist and commissioner of assemblies at Oakland High School. He developed hard and soft skills that would lead to the newsroom and radio station positions he landed throughout his career. 9649094854?profile=RESIZE_400x

“I blame my parents for everything, because my siblings and I were not really given the chance to be sociable — go to parties, hang out with other kids, do after-school activities, hobbies,” Fong-Torres said. “When I was able to be at a party, I found myself consciously asking questions because I felt I had nothing. What am I going to talk about, wrapping wontons? Dealing with a bad customer? Working late? I became the guy who kept the conversation going by asking the other person what they were thinking.”

Kai’s long, strange trip to document Fong-Torres’ life took 12 years. She followed him around wherever he went, keeping tape rolling in cars, at his home with his wife, Dianne, walking with him on errands, at events that he emceed, and at reunions with his rock star contemporaries.

Fong-Torres also allowed Kai access to his treasure trove of media — hours of cassette tape interviews, radio air checks and interview notepads.

In total, 120 interviews and meet-ups were conducted with Fong-Torres and some of his biggest fans: Ray Manzarek, Annie Leibowitz, Carlos Santana, Quincy Jones, Annie Sampson, David Freiberg and many more. Their interactions reveal just how much of an influence his byline was and continues to be.

“Many artists only wanted to be interviewed by Ben,” his former editorial assistant, Cynthia Bowman, says in the film. “That’s what gave us the access that we needed to make that magazine what it was. Jann was the boss, but Ben was the heart and soul of it.”

Fong-Torres speaks with a professorial tone, his timbre and timing guided by the radio DJs who kept him company at home and during long hours in the kitchen. His words come out in complete thoughts, neatly presented, with witty sidebar repartee and blink-and-you’ll-miss-it parentheticals.

Getting past her subject’s burnished, professional exterior was a challenge that Kai accepted. 

“You can ask him questions and he will have the perfect answer,” said Kai. “But I wanted the Ben underneath the perfect answer. That’s why we had different ways of interviewing him, so I could catch him in a more relaxed way, so he’s not only in his professional voice. He allowed me to do that.”

As his writing and radio hours increased, so did interest in his surname. He has a framed collection of name misspellings (“Ben Fongue-Torres,” “Mr. Fang Doris”) pulled from envelopes, packages and letters. One inquiry in particular, sent from Lansing, Mich., stands out:

Please tell me frankly. Is Ben Fong-Torres

Filipino?
Chinese?
Spanish?
Mexican?
A combination of any of the above 

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The Fong-Torres origin story itself is almost famous.

When his father, Fong Kwak Shang, came to America from China in 1927, he circumvented the Chinese Exclusion Act by way of the Philippines, buying a birth certificate with the name “Ricardo Torres” for $1,200. His mother, Soo Hoo Tui-Wing (Americanized into Connie Fong-Torres) came through Angel Island. Following an arranged marriage, five Fong-Torres children were born between 1941 and 1949, including his older siblings Barry and Sarah and younger siblings Shirley and Burton.

As he grew older, his ambitions clashed with those of his parents. Fong-Torres remembers two incidents: one, his father berating him for the length of his hair; the other, his mother’s reaction after he was given two hours of coveted Sunday airtime on KSFO. She wanted to know if his restaurant shift was covered. He threatened to leave and not come back, but never could, due to filial piety.

“I just stopped talking to them about my ambitions and what I was actually doing in school, or with jobs that I had by that time,” he said. 

Today, at 76, he is the only surviving member of his family. He points out the most prized item in his office: a simple handmade collage of the family and extended relations taped to the window that faces the San Francisco skyline.

In the film, Fong-Torres gets emotional talking about his eldest brother, Barry, who worked with at-risk youths for a San Francisco nonprofit. In 1972, he was killed in an alleged gang-related murder that remains unsolved.

As a reporter back then for KRON-TV, Kai remembers the impact that Barry’s death had at the time. People were intimidated and afraid to speak out.

“It devastated his family and our community,” Kai said. “Barry was an innocent person trying to help kids. That tragedy shut down the Asian American movement for the time period.”

In an interview with The Chronicle, Fong-Torres pauses when the subject of his older brother comes up. His face stiffens, his mouth quivers, and tears well up.

“I don’t know why it still happens 50 years later,” he said, with an air of frustration. “It makes me think of families losing their people. Whenever I see a story — whether it’s Afghanistan or Stockton — it hits me like a tragedy. I’ve gone through that loss and I expect to go through it for the rest of my life, so when it’s brought up, even though I’m trying to be distant and detached, you don’t get over it.”

The moment passes and he composes himself.

“Considering that I’m seen as a guy with a good sense of humor and I enjoy generating laughter as much as anybody, whenever certain subjects come up, then the faucet comes on,” Fong-Torres said. “There’s no explaining it. … There probably should be no need to explain it to anybody who has suffered a major loss.” 

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Along with his long-standing work in the Chinese American community, Fong-Torres remains best known as an ambassador of rock ‘n’ roll history, with firsthand knowledge of its most famous and notorious subjects.

Upcoming events around “Like a Rolling Stone” reflect his twin relationships with rock ‘n’ roll and Chinatown. After the Mill Valley Film Festival screening on Oct. 10, he plans to host a concert at Sweetwater Music Hall, featuring friends and acquaintances playing classic songs of his choosing with the Austin DeLone House Band. (The documentary is one of four films paired with concerts during the North Bay festival.)

On Oct. 30, the documentary gets another screening, this time for the Decibels Music Festival at the Great Star Theater, the last remaining movie theater in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

But before Fong-Torres can get too comfortable with any personal rebranding that the documentary might bring, a musical version of “Almost Famous” is on the horizon for Broadway, ensuring that another generation will equate Fong-Torres’ name with loud shirts and the “craaazy” catchphrase. 

In the meantime, he’s OK with his current civilian status. He recalls a Super Bowl Sunday when Chen, the actor who played him in “Almost Famous,” paid him a visit. They went out for tacos on Valencia Street when suddenly they heard shrieking. Two women — one wearing a T-shirt with the fictional “Almost Famous” band Stillwater on it — came up to them gushing about the movie.

Turns out they were more enthusiastic about taking pictures with the fictional Ben Fong-Torres than the real one.

“I just went on with my tacos,” Fong-Torres said.

“Like a Rolling Stone: The Life and Times of Ben Fong-Torres”: Mill Valley Film Festival. 5 p.m. Oct. 10. CineArts Sequoia, Mill Valley. $14-$16.50. Post-screening music show at Sweetwater Music Hall, 19 Corte Madera Ave, Mill Valley. $25-$30. www.mvff.com; Decibels Music Film Festival. 3 p.m. Oct. 30. $14 in advance; $15 at the door. Great Star Theater, 636 Jackson St., S.F.

 

Article by Todd Inoue for Datebook

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In 1977, when Anne Huang was 12 years old, her family fled the threat of martial law in Taiwan and moved to San Francisco. Here she became a star student, double-majoring in chemistry and biology at UCSF, where she graduated in the class of 1990 and went on to become a dentist.

Then one day when she was walking home through the Mission District, she happened onto an Afro-Haitian dance class led by a Bay Area legend, Blanche Brown.

“It was my first time studying dance with live drumming,” Huang remembers. “And there were bodies of all shapes, not only dancing but singing, becoming the music. There was a spiritual dimension. That’s what surprised me, that many of us felt it was a spiritual experience.” 

9649085101?profile=RESIZE_400xFlash forward 30 years, and Huang is now the first immigrant artist and first former festival performer to serve as executive director of World Arts West, presenter of the annual San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival. She took the reins in 2019, just months before pandemic shutdowns scuttled the festival’s 2020 performances. But this year, the event, a celebration of diversity known to feature hundreds of performers and selling out venues as large as the War Memorial Opera House, is flourishing in new ways.

When coronavirus-related closures could have shut down World Arts West’s activities altogether, Huang gathered her board and the festival’s artistic directors and launched “Living Traditions,” an in-depth YouTube/Facebook interview series with master dance teachers now three seasons and 14 episodes strong. With the persistence of the pandemic making a live 2021 festival too risky, the festival is embracing yet another new opportunity: film.

The result is the organization’s first San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival Film, scheduled to premiere Thursday, Oct. 7, in a live online event, with screenings at the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland and San Francisco’s AMC Kabuki 8 to follow. 

In scale, the film promises to be a radically different experience than the live festival. Whereas the live festival would typically feature two dozen dance groups delivering everything from Japanese taiko drumming to Cajun clogging, the film spotlights just eight performances. And whereas a hula or folkloric ensemble at the in-person performance might flood the stage with up to 100 performers at once, for COVID safety reasons the film features ensembles no larger than 13.

But the intimacy of film has advantages, according to this season’s artistic directors, Latanya d. Tigner and Mahealani Uchiyama. For instance, with Miriam Peretz’s Sufi devotional whirling, “the camera literally had to dance with her,” Tigner explained. “You can be right inside that circle, inside the dance.”

Another highlight: San Jose’s Mythili Kumar, leader of San Jose’s Abhinaya Dance Company, delivering a Bharatanatyam solo.

“In so much Indian dance the facial expressions are as important as the rest of the body, or 50/50,” Tigner said. “And personally I’ve never had the opportunity to be up so close where I could see all those details.”

Then there was the opportunity to film these dances in locations that honored their authentic contexts, rather than transplanting them to the Western proscenium stage. Halau o Keikialii’s song and dance describes the specific summer fog of a beach in Pacifica, and the film captures the hula ensemble performing amid that actual fog. African American stepping and body percussion ensemble Molodi, making its festival debut, chose to be filmed at Oakland’s Franklin Elementary School, in front of a spectacular new mural honoring youth activists. 

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As this film premieres, Tigner and Uchiyama are also excited by the changes behind the scenes. With new members like Blanche Brown joining the board, World Arts West is headed by a primarily non-white leadership for the first time in the festival’s 43 seasons.

Incorporating online programming has allowed the festival to feature master teachers in these dance form’s native countries, artists who might not be able to travel to the San Francisco event in person. The pandemic has also inspired the whole organization to think about how they can serve the hundreds of dance artists and musicians they draw together not only in a once-per-year presentation, but through year-round support.

“It is really a new era for us,” said Huang, who once led the Oakland Asian Cultural Center and also serves as board chair of Dance/USA. “It’s the era of our story, our voice. I want to keep asking the question (the late Oakland East Bay Symphony music director) Michael Morgan always asked: Who’s missing? What else can we do for them?”

San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival Film: Online interactive premiere 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 7. $25. Also screens 3 and 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 9, at the Grand Lake Theatre, 3200 Grand Lake Ave., Oakland; 3 and 7 p.m. Oct. 16 at the AMC Kabuki 8, 1881 Post St., S.F. $12-$15. Film available to stream on demand Oct. 17-31. $15. 415-392-4400. 

 

Article by Rachel Howard for Datebook

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There are Bay Area movies and then there are Bay Area movies.

Plenty of iconic movies have been shot here, from “Vertigo” to “Bullitt” to, in part, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” But then there are the movies that only could have been made here, that reveal or celebrate something that is uniquely Bay Area.

The Mill Valley Film Festival always includes a sampling from the vibrant Bay Area film scene, but as the 44th edition moves back into theaters for the 11-day festival that begins Thursday, Oct. 7, there is an especially strong lineup of stories. They include elevating a late underground cartoonist to his rightful place as a groundbreaking San Francisco artist, and the yearslong quest of a former Catholic school principal in Berkeley to establish a medical marijuana dispensary for seniors.

“There aren’t many places in the United States that are so friendly to a counterculture,” said Susan Stern, who profiles her late husband in “Bad Attitude: The Art of Spain Rodriguez,” which makes its California premiere Oct. 14 at the CinéArts Sequoia in Mill Valley, and also will be available to stream online.

“(Rodriguez) fit in with Latino culture. He fit in with the low-rider scene, and the car culture of California. He had a 1950 Buick with leopard seats when I first knew him. And, of course, he fit in with the alternative culture of San Francisco.”

Rodriguez, who died in 2012, was from New York, but he finally felt at home in San Francisco, where his artwork for Zap Comix and characters such as Trashman helped make him an underground name. He was also a key contributor to the Latino art movement. 

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As for Sue Taylor, one of six women featured in Chris J. Russo’s inspiring documentary “Lady Buds,” about cannabis cultivation, distribution and female empowerment, she’s giving seniors a healthier alternative to opiates.

Believed to be the first Black woman in the Bay Area to run a cannabis dispensary, she had to persevere through years of red tape to open Farmacy Berkeley. Though marijuana is now legal for recreational use, governments are struggling with how best to regulate businesses.

“It’s huge in many different levels,” said Taylor of Farmacy Berkeley. “For one, there is a need to bring health and wellness to our elders. Cannabis plays a big part in helping them get off those pharmaceutical drugs.

“I made a decision a while back that I was going to make this world a better place. That’s why I didn’t quit. I didn’t choose it — it chose me.”

Much of “Lady Buds,” which makes its U.S. premiere on Saturday, Oct. 9, at CinéArts Sequoia and will be available online, takes place in the so-called Emerald Triangle of Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity counties, the largest cannabis-producing region in the U.S.

But Russo, who lives in Los Angeles, became interested in her subject when she learned the Bay Area history of the movement.

“I was drawn to the queer history of cannabis in San Francisco that I uncovered while doing my research. I’m ashamed that I didn’t know the history about my queer brothers and sisters, who were AIDS activists in the ’90s who laid the groundwork for the industry we have today,” she said. “The folks that wrote the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 were the ones that were able to legalize marijuana.” 

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As for “Bad Attitude,” Stern, a former journalist and an Emmy-nominated filmmaker, considers it to be as much a portrait of the times, in which “there was just a lot of wildness,” as about her husband.

“There was so much (that was) important going on in San Francisco in the ’70s,” Stern said. “I was co-editor of the feminist magazine at UC Berkeley, I was a part of a feminist separatist household in San Francisco. … I was part of the Neo-Pagan movement, which we called ‘The Craft,’ and we were burning the man on the beaches of San Francisco before there was Burning Man.”

Stern is still looking for distribution, and as with other local films, Mill Valley’s high-profile festival can help.

Rodriguez was friends and contemporaries with R. Crumb — he was a part of Terry Zwigoff’s classic 1994 documentary “Crumb” — as well as other legendary artists such as Art Spiegelman and Mission District groundbreaker Yolanda López, who died last month. East Bay novelist, playwright and critic Ishmael Reed also attests to Rodriguez’s importance in “Bad Attitude.”

“Spain is credited in the film as painting the first mural in the Mission District,” Stern said. “His work was very much anti-rich, and critical of the police. … This film and I hope more volumes of his work will bring him to greater attention. ”

Among the many other films with local connections are:

  • “American Gadfly,” about former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel’s final presidential run in 2019 at age 89 (Gravel spent his later years in Seaside, where he died in June) 

  • “Born in Chicago” details the interaction between white blues musicians and their Black heroes in the 1960s in the Windy City, but was made by a heavily Bay Area crew, including co-director
  • Bob Sarles, who lives in Richmond, and producer-writer Joel Selvin, a former Chronicle critic

  • “Center Divide,” the latest improvised indie from Bay Area treasure Rob Nilsson

  • “Marvelous and the Black Hole,” the completely charming film directed by Fremont’s Kate Tsang that premiered at Sundance and stars Davis’ Miya Cech

  • Two environmental documentaries, the Mill Valley Film Group’s “The New Environmentalists — from Accra to Eleuthera Island,” and Sebastopol director Emmett Brennan’s “Reflection: A Walk With Water”

  • “Women Is Losers,” Mission District director Lissette Feliciano’s film about a bright and talented Catholic school girl (Lorenza Izzo) growing up in 1960s San Francisco, a film that features “Shang-Chi” star Simu Liu. 


Mill Valley Film Festival: Oct. 7-17. Individual screenings $8-$16.50; festival passes start at $119. CineArts Sequoia, 25 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley; Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 Fourth St., San Rafael; and the Berkeley Art Museum’s Pacific Film Archive, 2155 Center St., Berkeley. Select films will also be available online. 

Article by G. Allen Johnson for Datebook & The SF Chronicle

 

 

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Late actor Chadwick Boseman crouches in the arch of a wall inset 

Chadwick Boseman’s legacy will continue to loom large: Howard University and Netflix have established a $5.4 million scholarship in the name of the late actor and awarded it to four students at his alma mater.

The university and the streaming giant said Monday that the four-year Chadwick A. Boseman Memorial Scholarship will cover the full cost of tuition at Howard’s College of Fine Arts, which was renamed after the “Black Panther” star earlier this year.

Netflix is the inaugural donor of the endowed scholarship, which was established with the help of the actor’s widow, Simone Ledward-Boseman. Ledward-Boseman has become the de facto gatekeeper of Boseman’s legacy and champion “of all present and future Boseman Scholars” at the Washington, D.C., university.

Boseman, a trailblazing actor, director, writer and producer, died in August 2020 at age 43 after a private battle with colon cancer. He was also nominated for a posthumous Oscar for his work in Netflix’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” 

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“Many exemplary artists are not afforded the opportunity to pursue higher learning. We hope to support as many students as possible by removing the financial barrier to education. This endowment represents Chad’s devotion to the craft, his compassion for others and his desire to support future storytellers,” Ledward-Boseman said in a statement, adding, “I’m overwhelmed with gratitude and amazed at the love and dedication shown by so many continuing to honor my husband’s work. I know he’d be proud.”

The inaugural class of awardees includes Sarah Long, a freshman in musical theater; Shawn Smith, a sophomore studying acting; Janee’ Ferguson, a junior in theater arts administration; and senior Deirdre Dunkin, who studies dance. Preference for the scholarship, the university said, is given to students in the dramatic arts “who exemplify Boseman’s values” and have demonstrated a drive for excellence, leadership, respect, empathy and passion. 

“This scholarship embodies Chadwick’s love for Howard, his passion for storytelling, and his willingness to support future generations of Howard students,” Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick, president of Howard University, said in a statement.

“While he was taken from us too soon, his spirit is with us always in his work and the good that he has inspired,” added Ted Sarandos, Netflix co-CEO and chief content officer. “He always spoke of his time at Howard and the positive way it shaped his life and career. Now, we will have the opportunity to give many future superheroes a chance to experience the same.” 

 

Article by Nardine Saad for LA Times

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Ten years ago, Philip Wang and Cathy Nguyen shot a breakup scene on a park bench in South Pasadena for “Strangers, Again,” a short film by Wang’s production company and YouTube channel, Wong Fu Productions.

The 16-minute story about how a relationship falls apart in seemingly inevitable phases has since garnered more than 20 million views on YouTube and remains the most popular video on the Wong Fu channel, which is home to hundreds of other short films, sketches and miniseries highlighting Asian and Asian American stories.

Wang, who grew up in Walnut Creek and gave himself the nickname “Wong Fu” while he was a student making home camcorder projects at Northgate High School, told The Chronicle during a video chat from his company’s Los Angeles office that even a decade later, fans still post about “Strangers, Again” on social media.

“I see personal stories of, ‘Oh man, this short helped me get over a huge breakup, it’s literally what I needed to hear,’ ” he recalled. “Or, ‘I watched this when I was 16 … I thought I was gonna be single forever. And now I’m a mom and I’m holding my kid as I watch this.’

“That’s so cool, to know that our work and our brand has evolved with people.”

Since “Strangers,” Wong Fu has developed a reputation as a springboard for Asian and Asian American talent. Fans sometimes refer to actors who have appeared in the company’s videos as part of the “Wong Fu universe,” in a nod to its many connections to superhero shows and films. For instance, Wong Fu is part of the origin stories of stars like Randall Park (“WandaVision”), Justin Min (“The Umbrella Academy”), Anna Akana (“Jupiter’s Legacy,” “Ant-Man”), Brittany Ishibashi (“Marvel’s Runaways”) and Simu Liu (“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”). 

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Today a scrappy team made up of eight Asian Americans, Wong Fu’s roots trace back to UC San Diego, where Wang met and created a video-sharing website with co-founders Wesley Chan, a Millbrae native, and Ted Fu, who grew up in South Africa and Taiwan. In 2006, one of the trio’s short films attracted so much online traffic that they had to shut down the site and ask for help paying a $1,300 bill for exceeding bandwidth.

Donations from around the world showed them they had supporters, and after graduating later that year, they decided to move to Los Angeles and launch a formal production company. When they found studio executives resistant to stories with Asian leads, Wong Fu decided to focus on building a following on YouTube, where it now has more than 3 million subscribers.

“They were some of the most prominent Asian Americans in the media sphere for so many years throughout my adolescence and early adulthood,” recalled Liu, the Chinese Canadian actor who makes his debut as the first Asian lead in Marvel’s film franchise on Friday, Sept. 3. “As a struggling actor, I always kind of looked at their example as proof that it was possible to make it, possible to build an audience speaking about Asian issues and our lives.” 

So when Liu landed his first season of the sitcom “Kim’s Convenience” and decided he might “give this whole Hollywood thing a go,” he set up a meeting with Wang and expressed an interest in getting involved, even if only as a background extra. He’s since appeared in Wong Fu projects like “Asian Bachelorette,” a 2017 parody sketch of the ABC dating show, and “Yappie,” a 2018 miniseries that touches on topics like the “model minority” myth and interracial dating.

Liu described a “real entrepreneurial spirit” at the company, pointing to an ability to create quickly on a minimal budget without compromising a vision to satisfy outside investors or studio execs.

“Oftentimes, being an actor can feel very powerless and derivative,” Liu said, noting that much of the profession is predicated on the work of screenwriters or casting directors. “What I really got from Wong Fu and certainly what inspired me to go and write and produce my own short film (‘Meeting Mommy,’ 2018) is what I learned from them — which is a sense of, ‘Look, if a door is not opening for you, you need to go and make your own door.’ ” MERc14cd71454bd4be1461479b7bf7ca_wongfu0829-1024x680.jpg 

Victoria Park, who plays Kamilla Hwang on CW’s “The Flash,” also highlighted the encouraging atmosphere at Wong Fu, which gave her one of her first acting jobs.

“For people like us who are underrepresented, sometimes we can kind of come into this industry with a little bit of a chip on our shoulder, like, ‘Oh, I don’t know if they want me,’ ” the Korean American actor said. But trying things out at Wong Fu, where Park was given her first major lead role, helped her “realize I belong here and I deserve to be here,” giving her the confidence to pursue bigger gigs.

Wang said he hopes his company can continue to “thrive as an “incubator” that finds and supports Asian talent both on- and offscreen, noting that experiential and pay gaps in the industry stem from a lack of equitable opportunities to gain practice and experience.

“My intention is to continue to create this environment that can refill,” he said. “That’s what Hollywood is — that’s what they’ve done for generations. … Asians have not yet been able to create (that) on our own, so I actually feel like we’re building a brand-new system.” 

That’s not to say Wong Fu doesn’t also want to apply pressure on the traditional system. The company’s first feature film, “Everything Before Us,” began streaming on Netflix in 2016 (it’s now available free on YouTube). That same year, its miniseries, “Single by 30,” was chosen to be part of the launch of paywalled shows on YouTube. The latter production paired Wong Fu with industry professionals for the first time, with YouTube supplying a writers’ room and bigger sets.

The experience was an exercise in giving up creative control: YouTube didn’t move forward with a pitch for a second season, and without full ownership of the rights, Wong Fu couldn’t continue the story. Yet discovering that he could collaborate on that level allayed Wang’s fear that the company’s YouTube background made it inherently inferior to Hollywood creatives.

Now, Wang says he feels he has taken Wong Fu’s YouTube channel as far as he can. “I know that in order for me to grow as an artist, and also to help Wong Fu, we need to start going fishing and playing in this other system,” he said. 

He credits the 2018 release of “Crazy Rich Asians” — which includes appearances from two Wong Fu alums, “Glee” actor Harry Shum Jr. and singer Kina Grannis — with paving the way for a more “robust” landscape of Asian creatives.

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Wong Fu is looking ahead at pursuing projects like feature films and TV series, he said, adding that he is pitching and developing with different Hollywood producers.

“It’s all stuff that is happening right now, so maybe in a few years you’ll see the final product of that,” Wang said. “But what’s great is that Wong Fu doesn’t have to stop and wait for that.”

While the company works on slower-moving projects, it can still engage with its fans on YouTube and elsewhere online. For three years now, the company has shared content with monthly contributors on Patreon, a membership platform that allows fans to pay for exclusive perks such as access to pilot programs or behind-the-scenes looks at a creative team’s day-to-day life. In May, Wong Fu launched a clothing and art brand of Asian American-inspired designs.

And this month, Wang and Nguyen reprised their roles as fictional exes in “Strangers Never Again,” a three-part YouTube miniseries that continues the beloved story line from 2011 that helped put Wong Fu Productions on the map. Though the production value was higher this time around, the hour-long sequel was still made with a fraction of a studio or TV network’s budget, Wang said. The company recouped its costs during a 10-day window when fans could purchase early access starting at $15.

“It is a two-lane street right now,” Wang said, referring to mainstream and independent productions. “We’re on different roads that ultimately are going to the same place, which is more Asian representation, more Asian stories.”

“Strangers Never Again”: Romance-drama. Written by Philip Wang. Directed by Taylor Chan and Philip Wang. Starring Philip Wang, Cathy Nguyen, Dia Frampton, Yoshi Sudarso and David Choi. Three approximately 20-minute episodes. All episodes streaming on YouTube. 

 

Article by Jennifer Zhan for Datebook & The SF Chronicle

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Friday the 13th screenwriter Victor Miller has won the rights to the original film in a massive lawsuit. Miller wrote the original Friday the 13th back in 1980 and the film became a massive hit and spawned a multimedia franchise. The 12 Friday the 13th films have grossed a combined worldwide box-office total of $468.24 million dollars and even more off merchandise over the years. Despite all that, a massive lawsuit has held up the rights to the film franchise for the last five years.

In 2016, Victor Miller filed a lawsuit against Friday the 13th producer Sean S. Cunningham for the rights to the franchise. Cunningham tried to get the lawsuit dismissed as he claimed Miller wrote the script on a work-for-hire basis and had no rights to the property, but in 2018 the courts ruled in favor of Miller. Cunningham appealed the ruling and the case has been ongoing ever since, which has stalled development on any future Friday the 13th projects from games to movies, making it the longest gap between entries in the franchise since 2009's Platinum Dunes reboot. 

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According to THR, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Miller and rejected the claim that he was an independent contractor on a work for hire job when he wrote the script and is therefore entitled to authorship. Miller will reclaim the domestic rights to the franchise. However, Sean S. Cunningham still retains the foreign rights to the franchise as well as intellectual property derived from Friday the 13th sequels including possibly the adult form of Jason, who didn't appear until Friday the 13th: Part 2, and the iconic hockey mask associated, with him which didn't appear until Part 3

This leaves the future of the Friday the 13th franchise up in the air. Even before the lawsuit, the producers had a hard time getting a new film off the ground despite the box-office success of the 2009 reboot. The last word on a film was that LeBron James was in talks to produce a new entry in the franchise. However, with the lawsuit now possibly splitting the rights up, it could mean a much longer time until any new film in the franchise is released. 

The lawsuit is also a major win for attorney Marc Toberoff, who is currently representing the five estate members in a lawsuit with Marvel over the rights to various characters in a similar copyright dispute over what is deemed work for hire. That case will be a much larger battle for Toberoff given Disney's massive pockets. The Friday the 13th lawsuit could set a precedent for a similar film case, though, like the lawsuit from the writers of the 1987 Predator movie suing Disney for the rights to the character. 

 

Article by Richard Fink for ScreenRant

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ACTORS, FILMMAKERS, WRITERS!!! COME MAKE A SHORT FILM WITH US!!!

Compete In Film Teams! Everyone Welcome! **Must Register in ADVANCE.

-FILMS MADE ON THIS EVENT WILL BE Screened at a local Theater in the Bay Area within a few months and Voted on. 

- Saturday October 23rd, 2021 10:00 AM – 6:30 PM PDT

Everyone attending this event will receive IMDB credits for the films they are in or work on.

Winners for the month have a chance to win Best of MMTB and screen during BASH, plus receive a trophy and have a chance to win $1,000 towards a new short film.

MUST ARRIVE ON TIME> NEW PEOPLE PLEASE PLAN TO COME 1 hour Early to Get Signed Up...

**Must be vaccinated to attend - Vaccine Cards / State Issued Clearance Before event required to attend.

Food, drinks, and snacks will be provided. -Please arrive having eaten a big breakfast already (DUE TO COVID, NO POTLUCK SORRY)

- Arrive ON TIME (1 hour early for new people)- possible covid test and/or vaccine check

- Paperwork/ ID Check In

- Teams Assigned/ Chosen Random

- Apprx 6 Hours To Collab, Write, Film

- Films Edited & Due Apprx 1.5 Months from Shoot Date (On the 1st of the following month)

- Screened in Theater/Online (covid pending) and Voted On

ABOUT LOCATION-

MMTB Production Studios, Theater and Lounge

13 Pacific ave Rodeo Ca, 94572

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PLEASE ARRIVE ON TIME- if you come too late, there is no guarantee that you will get on a film team. NEW PEOPLE EXPECT TO ARRIVE UP TO 1 Hour Early.

MMTB Directors are welcome to ask about location in advance to plan for shoot and see some pix.

These events are held around the Bay Area all year in various locations visit our annual calendar for more.

MMTB is a Non-Profit Organization, any Donations are appreciated.

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-Under 18?- Parent or Guardian Must Accompany at all times. Child must have a current entertainment work permit copy along with them to leave with us.

 

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CARPOOL - We have a carpool page for MMTB Members, you MUST be registered before you can be accepted in the group. There is no guarantee to find ride, especially if you are new, however, the earlier you register and start posting to the carpool page, the more likely you will catch a ride

 

 

Written by the MMTB for Eventbrite

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Film festivals in the North Bay are few and far between, exempt from the multiple film festivals held year-round with the California Film Foundation and the Sacramento Film Festival. However, Vallejo has stepped up its arts and entertainment events in recent years, especially within the film department. Just recently Adrian Burrell, an Oakland/Vallejo local graduated from Stanford with an MFA in documentary filmmaking. Additionally, on September 26th, 2021, Vallejo held its third annual Sprouts Film Festival at the Empress Theatre - Vallejo's oldest cultural entertainment center at over 100 years to date.

However, don't be alarmed if you have missed the event! Vallejo is now holding an Independent Film Festival every Thursday this fall at 7pm. Starting September 30th, 2021 the sliding scale donation fee is $10. The event is organized and ran by the Vallejo Project, a local non profit youth and community space.

The first of these filmd to be premiered is Mall City; a documentary going back as far as 1982 to bring audiences into the mall culture of the eighties. There you may meet the director, and even play some vintage arcade games from your childhood for free when coming to the event! 

With more events to come, keep a lookout for Vallejo's talent this fall. If you miss one Thursday, there's always the next! Catch the film festival at 250 Georgia Street in Vallejo, CA 94591. 

 

Article written by Precious Bautista

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Jean Hale, who tussled with James Coburn’s character in the spy spoof In Like Flint and portrayed the hatcheck-girl accomplice of David Wayne’s Mad Hatter on TV’s Batman, has died. She was 82.

Hale died Aug. 3 of natural causes in Santa Monica, her family announced Monday.

She was married to Emmy winner Dabney Coleman — the two met while studying acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York — from 1961 until their 1984 divorce.

The glamourous Salt Lake City native appeared in other films including Taggart (1964), The Oscar (1966) and The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967) and on television on Perry Mason, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Bonanza, The Fugitive, Hawaii Five-O, McHale’s Navy, My Favorite Martian, Hogan’s Heroes, The Wild Wild West and Mod Squad. 

In the Fox CinemaScope film In Like Flint (1967), Hale’s Lisa Norton works for an organization made up of female business executives who brainwash women (through the use of salon hairdryers that transmit subliminal messages!) into trying to overthrow the male-dominated world. Coburn’s superspy Derek Flint attempts to stop them.

Also in 1967, Hale showed up as the moll Polly, who helps the evil Mad Hatter in his effort to steal Batman’s cowl for his collection, in the season-two two-parter “The Contaminated Cowl” and “The Mad Hatter Runs Afoul” on ABC’s Batman.

Hale was born in Salt Lake City on Dec. 27, 1938, and raised in Darien, Connecticut. Her father, Stanton G. Hale, was a major corporate leader of Mormon heritage, and great-grandfather Solomon Hale owned a ranch with Brigham Young.

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Hale modeled for the Conover Agency and the Huntington Hartford Agency and studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse, where she learned from Sydney Pollack and Martha Graham alongside such fellow students as Coleman, James Caan, Jerry Weintraub, Jessica Walter, Christopher Lloyd and Brenda Vaccaro.

She attended the University of Utah, where she majored in ballet, and then Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York.

In the early ’60s, Hale was spotted by Sandra Dee’s agent Len Luskin walking down Fifth Avenue in New York, and that led her to sign a seven-figure contract at 20th Century-Fox. She made her film debut in the 1963 horror film Violent Midnight.

In 1984, then known as Jean Hale Coleman, she started the production company Coleman-Tanasescu Entertainment with Gino Tanasescu before branching out on her own in 2000. That year, she acquired film rights to the 1999 book Two Toes — The Coyote Legend of Green River, written by her uncle Preston Q. Hale and based on his experience as a young trapper during the Depression in Utah.

 At the time of her death, Hale was working on a script called “Being Jeannie” based on the true story of a woman who impersonated her in the 1960s, married 10 men across Texas and Oklahoma and stole their money.

Survivors include her three children with Coleman, Kelly, Randy and Quincy.

 

Article by Mike Barnes for The Hollywood Reporter

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Saying that “a strike would effectively shut down California state film and television production,” IATSE has told California lawmakers that “it is both outrageous and immoral that the studios oppose basic worker rights, an opposition that may lead to a highly successful industry’s shutdown.”

The union sent a nearly identical letter on Friday to legislators in New York, saying that “a strike would effectively shut down a majority of New York state’s film and television production industry.”

In a letter to state legislators, the California IATSE Council said that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers “is refusing union proposals to provide safe working conditions, including meal and rest periods for our members. Given their position, IATSE is compelled to call for strike authorization vote.” 

“Given your longstanding support for the California Film & Television Tax Credit Program, for which we are deeply appreciative, and which has had such a large impact on production and jobs in our state, we believe it is important for California’s State policymakers to know the facts,” the union told legislators in a letter dated September 23.

DGA, SAG-AFTRA, WGA East & Teamsters “Stand In Solidarity” With IATSE

On that same day, IATSE president Matthew Loeb told his members: “We are at a stage where the employers have made this struggle about power, not reason. Therefore we are initiating a strike vote to authorize me to call one if necessary.”

The letter to the legislators was signed by Thom Davis, president of the California IATSE Council and business manager of IATSE Grips Local 80, and the Council’s legislative co-chairs Rebecca Rhine, national executive director of the International Cinematographers Guild, IATSE Local 600; Scott Bernard, business rep of IATSE Sound Local 695; and Jim Beaumonte, business rep of San Francisco IATSE Local 16.

Here the full letter:

Dear Legislator: The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the union that represents 52,000 skilled crew and craftspeople living and working in California write to inform you of a collective bargaining contract impasse over dangerous work practices that have become intolerable to our members in this State and across the country. Given your longstanding support for the California Film & Television Tax Credit Program, for which we are deeply appreciative, and which has had such a large impact on production and jobs in our state, we believe it is important for California’s State policymakers to know the facts.

IATSE is currently in collective bargaining with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents media mega corporations collectively worth trillions of dollars. The AMPTP is refusing union proposals to provide safe working conditions, including meal and rest periods for our members. Given their position, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees is compelled to call for strike authorization vote. A strike would effectively shut down California State film and television production. 9614601474?profile=RESIZE_710x

The most grievous workplace conditions we are trying to improve include:
● Excessively unsafe and harmful working hours including Fridays that often last well into Saturday (aka “Fraturdays”).
● Wages for the lowest paid crafts that cannot sustain a decent living. ● Incredibly long workdays without any break for a meal, to put down equipment, to unmask and get fresh air or just to sit down.
● Consistent failure to provide reasonable rest between workdays, and on weekends.
● Substandard rates for the same work on “new media” streaming projects even on productions with budgets that rival or exceed those of traditionally released blockbusters. This “relief” is being provided to the most profitable companies on the planet including Apple and Amazon.

Despite booming business, the studios have rejected these IATSE positions that would address the most egregious health and safety provisions in contract negotiations. Management does not appear to even recognize our core issues as problems that exist in the first place. These are working conditions the studios already afford our members’ counterparts in other countries, including Canada and in Europe. The AMPTP’s refusal to budge has created a deadlock, leading to the strike vote. They keep characterizing these issues as being about “money” but really, they are primarily about equity, health, safety and planning. The unions impacted include all 13 IATSE Hollywood Locals, as well as Locals in San Francisco, San Diego, Orange County and across the State. Together they represent 52,000 working women and men who live in our State.

As representatives of these Unionized, skilled film and television workers, we again want to say that we greatly appreciate your long-term support of our industry. California’s film and television industry has prospered greatly since the California Film & Television Tax Credit Program was passed by the Legislature in 2014. The program has revitalized an almost dead film and television production community, with over 52,000 workers and billions of dollars in economic activity every year. Moreover, post pandemic, film & television production is approaching pre-pandemic levels while many other industries are still struggling. This is largely due to the fact that our members returned to work a year ago at great personal risk to ensure our industry a swift recovery. With all this success, it is both outrageous and immoral that the studios oppose basic worker rights, an opposition that may lead to a highly successful industry’s shutdown. 

 

Article by David Rob for Deadline 

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Sacramento names new creative economy manager

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Sacramento has a new lead for its public arts and film efforts, with the recent hiring of Megan Van Voorhis as the city's first culture and creative economy manager.

The city announced that it hired Van Voorhis on Tuesday afternoon. Her employment with the city is expected to start by mid-September.

Van Voorhis will oversee the city's Office of Arts and Culture, which offers grants for artists, arts organizations and creative businesses. Her responsibilities will also include the Sacramento Film Office, which launched in January to lure more film and media companies to the city, and to promote movie production as a potential source of tourism. Van Voorhis will also oversee the city's arts education, equity and arts programs for youth and its public art program.

“Megan's understanding of the arts and how creative ecosystems improve our city’s quality of life make her uniquely qualified for this position," said Assistant City Manager Michael Jasso, in a prepared statement. “With her experience and skills, I know that Megan will help our creative businesses to flourish and grow to strengthen Sacramento’s creative sector.”

Van Voorhis is currently the CEO of Arts Cleveland, a nonprofit in Ohio. During her 17-year career at Arts Cleveland, she launched several arts and culture initiatives, established a collaborative marketing database for major arts and cultural organizations and helped create a dedicated local public-sector revenue stream to support arts and culture, according to the city of Sacramento.

Van Voorhis holds a bachelor's of fine arts in dance from Ohio State University and a master's in business administration from Case Western Reserve University, where she received the Holmes Fellowship in Regional Economic Development.

“Megan will provide a great new perspective for the Sacramento arts and culture scene,” said city Convention & Cultural Services Director Jody Ulich, in a written statement. “Her extensive experience in developing and executing art, culture and creative economy programs with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion will help further develop the cultural and creative life of our city.”

The creative economy manager arrives as Sacramento's arts organizations have been hit hard by the pandemic. Last month the city began taking applications for $7.5 million in relief grants for creative economy organizations, and other relief efforts from both the city and local nonprofits have been aimed at helping artists, theaters and musicians who are not able to work due to the cancellation of events.

“The Office of Arts & Culture plays a critical role in supporting, promoting and advancing the arts throughout Sacramento,” Van Voorhis said, in a written statement. “I look forward to working with staff and the creative community to further the arts and culture goals of the city.” 

 

Article by Felicia Alvarez for Sacramento Business Journal

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Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” capped off Labor Day weekend at the box office with a bang. The superhero action-adventure, starring Canadian actor Simu Liu, had an even bigger debut than expected, collecting $94.4 million in its first four days of release and setting a new high watermark for the holiday weekend.

Disney on Sunday had projected that “Shang-Chi” would finish the extended weekend with $90 million from 4,300 theaters, but the film sold more tickets than anticipated on Monday, boosting its overall tally to just shy of the $100 million mark. In normal times, that wouldn’t be much of a feat for an installment in the commercially beloved Marvel Cinematic Universe. But during the pandemic, it’s on track to become one of the highest-grossing movies of the year. 

Since Labor Day is traditionally a slow weekend at the box office, the film’s three day total of $75.5 million blew past previous the record set by 2007’s “Halloween” and its $30.6 million start. Despite concerns the delta variant would keep audiences at home, “Shang-Chi” notched the second-biggest opening weekend of the pandemic, behind only “Black Widow” with $80 million. Impressively, it ranked ahead of Universal’s “Fast & Furious” sequel “F9” ($70 million) and Paramount’s “A Quiet Place Part II” ($48 million), both of which opened earlier in summer at time when COVID-19 looked like it might eventually abate.

At the international box office, “Shang-Chi” amassed $56.2 million in key markets such as France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Japan. The film doesn’t have a release date in China, which is an important territory for Marvel movies. Globally, “Shang-Chi” has made $146.2 million so far.

“‘Black Widow’ showed what a Marvel movie can do in pandemic conditions, and that release had the additional burden of a streaming option,” says David A. Gross. “For Marvel, ‘Shang-Chi’ is a creative departure, and at a cost of over $150 million, the results are very good.”

Unlike “Black Widow,” which debuted simultaneously on Disney Plus, “Shang-Chi” is playing only in theaters for its first 45 days of release before it lands on-demand. 

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Disney CEO Bob Chapek called its theatrical-only release an “interesting experiment” and indicated its ticket sales would influence plans for future releases, such as “Eternals,” which is scheduled for Nov. 5.

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, “Shang-Chi” takes place after the events of “Avengers: Endgame” and centers on a skilled martial artist who is forced to confront his past when he is targeted by the covert Ten Rings organization. In a landmark moment for representation, it’s the first installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the biggest film franchise, to feature an Asian star and predominately Asian cast. Moviegoers and critics were impressed with the final product; it has a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and an “A” CinemaScore from audiences.

Last weekend’s champ, Universal’s thriller “Candyman,” slid to second place, collecting $10.5 million over the weekend and an impressive $13 million through Monday. The horror film, which is playing only in theaters, has made $41 million to date, a strong result given its $25 million production budget. 

In third place, Disney and 20th Century’s sci-fi comedy “Free Guy” finished Monday with $11.2 million (including $8.7 million from Friday to Sunday), bringing ticket sales to $94.3 million.

Paramount’s animated adventure “PAW Patrol” and Disney’s family friendly film “Jungle Cruise” tied the No. 4 spot with each taking in $4 million over the three-day weekend and $5.2 million through Monday. “PAW Patrol,” based on the popular children’s TV program, has generated $31 million to date, while “Jungle Cruise” recently crossed $100 million at the domestic box office, with its tally currently at $106.8 million.

 

Article by Rebecca Rubin for Variety

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