sacramento - Blog 2.0 - California Film Foundation2024-03-29T12:41:18Zhttps://californiafilm.net/profiles/news/feed/tag/sacramentoRize of the Collapse- 48 hour challenge California + Sac Gems on 8/19/23!https://californiafilm.net/profiles/news/rize-of-the-collapse-48-hour-challenge-california-sac-gems-on-8-12023-08-07T18:33:27.000Z2023-08-07T18:33:27.000ZTroy Lehttps://californiafilm.net/members/TroyLe<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12178432477?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>Experience the apocalypse at the Sacramento International Film Festival 48 hour challenge California + Sac Gems on 8/19/23! At the railroad museum at 11 am!</p><p>Tickets are at</p><p><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/48-hours-california-sac-gems-tickets-680384246597">https://www.eventbrite.com/e/48-hours-california-sac-gems-tickets-680384246597</a></p><p>The website to RSVP for the event is</p><p><a href="https://californiafilm.net/event/48-Hour-Films-2023-Plus-Sac-Gems">https://californiafilm.net/event/48-Hour-Films-2023-Plus-Sac-Gems</a></p><p>Membership for California film foundation is free!</p><p>: #SacFilmFest #SacramentoFilmFestival #48HoursCalifornia.</p></div>UNFIX (2023)https://californiafilm.net/profiles/news/unfix-20232023-08-06T18:53:16.000Z2023-08-06T18:53:16.000ZKaitlin Johnsonhttps://californiafilm.net/members/KaitlinJohnson<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12177966056?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">This year's premiere, <em>Unfix</em>, discusses the repercussions of conversion therapy while engaging elements of the pandemic to stress the motives of discovering one's self-worth. Graham Glen Streeter's filmography often plays to the experience of humanity while allowing the viewer to learn something about themselves. Unix<em> (2023) </em>is no different. From personal experience, I have had multiple friends who stayed (and are currently) in the closet to deny who they are to please their family, all while damaging their perception of who they are and who they can become, it is absolutely heartbreaking when it feels like we are in a wholly acceptable society, yet your best friend has to suppress who they are for the people who claim to love them unconditionally. <em>Unfix (2023) </em>speaks to this issue and incorporates the madness of quarantine to solidify the excitement and drama of the film; <em>Unfix</em> plays to powerful commentary and entertaining cinema! </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">Buy tickets before they sell out! <a href="https://californiafilm.net/event/SFF-PREMIERE-FEATURE-UNFIX" target="_blank">https://californiafilm.net/event/SFF-PREMIERE-FEATURE-UNFIX</a></span></p></div>New Threat to California Film & TV Jobshttps://californiafilm.net/profiles/news/threat-to-california-film-tv-jobs2022-10-21T20:41:06.000Z2022-10-21T20:41:06.000ZJohn Bordeauhttps://californiafilm.net/members/JohnBordeau<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10847060093?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>NOTE: The following is an editorial. CFF takes no position on the author's assertions.</p>
<p>Enjoying the Golden Age of film and TV franchises? Legislation rapidly moving in Sacramento could bring it all to a crashing halt. Film, television, and streaming have never given us so much content to love. In 2021 alone, nearly 950 films entered production and 560 original scripted series were released to U.S. audiences – an all-time high. Many were created here in California.</p>
<p>But those projects are only possible when complex production schedules involving hundreds – or at times even thousands – of people can be synced up to the talent’s availability. If producers can’t solve that scheduling Rubik’s Cube, audiences will lose out on captivating and continuous stories, putting California’s creative economy (which supports nearly 570,000 jobs each year) at risk.</p>
<p>And that’s exactly what a proposal being rushed through the legislature, AB 437 by Assemblymember Ash Kalra, would do. By virtually banning the exclusive employment agreements used today as the foundation of film, television and streaming productions, this bill would jeopardize countless productions in this state. And while it is being sold as a “pro-artist” labor reform, in practice AB 437 would tie the hands of performers and studios as they work to negotiate creative deals that move exciting new projects forward.</p>
<p><img src="https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/CultureditWWD241864Finals-1.jpg?w=681&h=383&crop=1" alt="The Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles, California on February 12, 2021." /></p>
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<p>Exclusivity agreements for performers provide the certainty necessary for producers to finance, insure, plan for and complete major feature film, television and streaming projects, particularly those involving long-term story arcs. They assure writers and showrunners that characters developed in one season can be brought back for subsequent storylines. When fans, talent and crew all clamor for a second or third season, the tailored exclusivity agreements customary for lead actors allow everyone working on or watching a production to benefit from a continued run. In other words, they provide the foundation on which large scale and long-term productions are built – laying down the economic bedrock for everyone from screenwriters to stagehands.</p>
<p>Today, exclusivity agreements are meticulously negotiated, and producers pay handsomely for them – not just for top talent but for supporting actors and character roles. And while the term “exclusivity” suggests actors can’t take on other projects, that’s not the case. Under the carefully constructed and hard-fought exclusivity deals used in today’s productions, actors can take on a great deal of additional work and are not held off the market. Actors working on a streaming show, for example, can still appear in feature films, commercials, live theater, voice-over work, animation projects and even make guest appearances on other shows.</p>
<p>Banning these agreements would ripple through the industry, putting the livelihoods of thousands of creative professionals at risk (including those with good-paying, high-quality union jobs supported by productions) whose earnings depend upon the certainty provided by these agreements. Without assurances that talent will be available, producers will not risk investing in and creating characters or storylines that span several seasons. Many series might not go beyond a first season. Additionally, under AB 437, there is no amount of compensation that a producer could pay, and a performer could accept, in exchange for exclusive services. This proposal would needlessly tie the hands of actors and performers and prevent them from negotiating deals that serve their own interests while putting thousands of jobs and California’s cultural and creative leadership at risk.<img src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7b/43/3a/7b433aa84bc3a041d16ebe0983268294.jpg" alt="Pin on Audio Visual" /></p>
<p>The studios are being a good partner. In fact, through the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), they are negotiating right now solely on this issue, almost a year before the current collective bargaining agreement expires. This bill is a totally unnecessary invasion of negotiations and bargaining between performers and studios, including the agreements the bill would override.</p>
<p>Two earlier versions of this legislation have already failed to advance through California’s Assembly over the past two years. Now bill sponsors are seeking to take another swing in the Senate, but three strikes surely should bring this bad idea to an end for good. It simply puts too much at risk.</p>
<p>Film, television and streaming boost California’s economy, providing thousands of high-skill, high-wage jobs across the state, and cementing our cultural and creative leadership worldwide.The California Senate should reject this effort to erode the foundations of that great success.</p>
<p>By Charles Rivkin for <a href="https://variety.com/">https://variety.com/</a></p></div>Cinemark Opens Theater in Roseville Galleriahttps://californiafilm.net/profiles/news/cinemark-opens-theater-in-roseville-galleria2022-10-13T21:55:51.000Z2022-10-13T21:55:51.000ZJohn Bordeauhttps://californiafilm.net/members/JohnBordeau<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10841354897?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p class="content__segment combx paywall__content">A new movie theater has opened in an anchor location that has been vacant at the Westfield Galleria at Roseville for several years.</p><p class="content__segment combx paywall__content">Cinemark Roseville Galleria Mall and XD opened to the public last week. Caitlin Piper, senior manager of public relations and corporate relations for Cinemark Holdings Inc., said the project has been years in the making.</p><div id="cxense_in_content_link"> </div><p class="content__segment combx paywall__content">"From a construction standpoint, we've been working for almost five years now on this theater. Obviously, there was a little bit of a delay with Covid but this agreement was signed a good bit back knowing we wanted to be in this space," Piper said. "The Westfield Galleria Mall is a really iconic place in Roseville, with tons of really great foot traffic, so this offers an opportunity to see a movie and then go out and get some shopping done."</p><p class="content__segment combx paywall__content">The theater is on the second floor of where Sears used to be located. In 2018, the Business Journal reported that Seritage Growth Properties (NYSE: SRG) planned to redevelop the space with a project that included a movie theater. City records filed in 2019 stated the theater would be 64,666 square feet. The building's roof was also raised approximately 35 feet to accommodate a movie theater. Round One Entertainment Inc. will fill the ground floor of the space. </p><p class="content__segment combx paywall__content"><img src="https://citycenteratoysterpoint.com/images/theater_seating.jpg" alt="Cinemark City Center 12 at Oyster Point in Newport News, Virginia" /></p><p class="content__segment combx paywall__content">Cinemark (NYSE: CNK) did not disclose how much renovation work cost for the project. Details as to the construction firm that carried out the work were unavailable on Friday.</p><p class="content__segment combx paywall__content">The Cinemark location at Westfield Galleria has just under 90 employees, Piper said. The site includes 14 theaters that vary in size, with the Cinemark XD auditorium being the largest. Each theater utilizes Barco laser projectors, and some come equipped with D-BOX seats that have motion control synchronization with what is happening on screen.</p><p class="content__segment combx paywall__content">By Jake Abbott for <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/">https://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/</a></p></div>City of Sacramento offering grants for film and TV productionshttps://californiafilm.net/profiles/news/city-of-sacramento-offering-grants-for-film-and-tv-productions2021-11-02T22:32:59.000Z2021-11-02T22:32:59.000ZPrecious Bautistahttps://californiafilm.net/members/PreciousBautista<div><p><img src="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1606188476311-f943475a7e1f?ixid=MnwxMjA3fDB8MHxzZWFyY2h8MXx8c2FjcmFtZW50b3xlbnwwfHwwfHw%3D&ixlib=rb-1.2.1&w=1000&q=80" alt="Sacramento Pictures | Download Free Images on Unsplash" width="829" height="553" /></p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>Two grants will be made to applicants with budgets over $100,000.<br /> Two grants will be made to applicants with budgets $100,000 or below. <br /> One additional grant of $2,500 will be awarded per round for 75% of post-production done locally.<br /> The application window is open now for round one and applications are due by midnight Nov. 30.</p><p>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. </p><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9761860654,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9761860654,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9761860654?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="504" height="401" /></a></p><p>"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." </p><p>Below is the deadline for rounds two and three:</p><p>Round 2: Dec. 1, 2021 through Feb. 15, 2022.<br /> Round 3: Feb. 16 through May 15, 2022.<br /> Applicants are asked to submit for projects that will begin physical production within 180 days from the award date.</p><p>Funds for the grants come from the City’s Measure U fund. </p><p> </p><p>Article by <a href="https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento-grants-film-tv-productions/103-ea8651ea-42e3-474b-b2e5-3d13e87a0265" target="_blank">Gilbert Cordova</a> for ABC10</p></div>Promising New Hire for the Sacramento Film Officehttps://californiafilm.net/profiles/news/promising-new-hire-for-the-sacramento-film-office2021-09-28T09:36:08.000Z2021-09-28T09:36:08.000ZGarrett Wilsonhttps://californiafilm.net/members/GarrettWilson<div><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">Jennifer West, a former televisi<a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9615695877,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9615695877,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9615695877?profile=RESIZE_400x" width="200" /></a>on production manager for New Line Cinema, is the first manager of the new Sacramento Film Office.</p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">The city has launched the office after studying the idea for nearly a year with an eye toward expanding, Sacramento’s role for commercial film and media production.</p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">The idea for the office was fostered by the attention Sacramento received from being the location and setting for the 2017 film “Lady Bird,” which earned five Academy Award nominations.</p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">West started this week, and she is currently assessing what is available locally in terms of crew, production facilities and talent.</p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">She said Sacramento has a chameleon ability to portray most cities in the country, and it has great backdrops of rivers, bridges, the historic district and other filming locations.</p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">“It can be any city in America,” West said, adding that the city needs to reintroduce itself to the rest of the country. “The Sacramento of today isn’t the same Sacramento it was 10, five or even two years ago.”</p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">The film office for Sacramento previously had been an office of the nonprofit Visit Sacramento, the region’s visitors and convention bureau.</p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">Lucy Steffins, the previous Sacramento County film commissioner, retired at the end of September, but Steffens is helping transition the Visit Sacramento film commissioner's office to the new city office.</p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">Under the visitors bureau, the role of the film commission was to attract as large of a crew as possible to film locally so that they would all stay in local hotels. Under the city, the t</p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">op priority will be to support local crews and talent, West said.</p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">At this point, the office doesn’t have any budget to offer incentives to filmmakers, but West said she is interested in creating incentives to subsidize the use of local crews on film locations. The city will also issue film permits with no fee, she said.</p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">West grew up in Lodi, but moved to Los Angeles to work in the film industry. She started doing freelance production finance and then moved to production accounting. She worked on films including “Batman Forever,” “My Best Friend’s Wedding” and “The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle” before moving on to work on television animated features for New Line Cinema.</p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">She moved to Sacramento to raise her family and help launch her husband’s chiropractic practice. She also served in the office of City Councilmember Jeff Harris.</p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">This story was reported by Mark Anderson of the Sacramento Business Journal. </p></div>Sacramento names new creative economy managerhttps://californiafilm.net/profiles/news/sacramento-names-new-creative-economy-manager2021-09-27T23:29:38.000Z2021-09-27T23:29:38.000ZPrecious Bautistahttps://californiafilm.net/members/PreciousBautista<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9614598866,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9614598866,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="9614598866?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">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.</p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">The city announced that it hired Van Voorhis on Tuesday afternoon. Her employment with the city is expected to start by mid-September.</p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">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.</p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">“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.”</p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">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.</p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">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.</p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">“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.”</p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">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.</p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">“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.” </p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content"> </p><p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">Article by <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2020/08/11/sacramento-names-new-creative-economy-manager.html" target="_blank">Felicia Alvarez</a> for Sacramento Business Journal</p></div>Sac Horror Film Fest Founder : Tim Meunierhttps://californiafilm.net/profiles/news/sacramento-horror-film-festival-s-founder-tim-meunier2021-06-02T00:04:10.000Z2021-06-02T00:04:10.000ZJosephine M Stummerhttps://californiafilm.net/members/JosephinemStummer<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9053587667,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9053587667,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="355" height="192" alt="9053587667?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a>In 2007, Tim Meunier founded the Sacramento Horror Film Festival with the goal of providing educational workshops and a platform to reach audiences for filmmakers, and a unique film-going experience for audiences. Not only does the festival screen more films per day than any other horror film festival, but it also features live music, performance art, costume contests, comedy and more. As an intern for the Sacramento International Film Festival, I had the opportunity to hear more about the festival from Tim Meunier himself. </p>
<p>Meunier began his career in the entertainment industry in 2002, as a promoter for concerts, raves, and nightclub events. A few years later, he went back to school to take media classes where he began learning the basics of camerawork. Soon, he fell in love with video production and started doing videos and crew work for the Sacramento Film and Music Festival. Tim also found work directing music videos, but realized his true passion lay within the film festival experience. For him, it was electrifying to see so many artists in the same room networking, and building that special sense of community that few events can do as well as film festivals. What he loved about the horror and cult genre, in particular, is the sense of fellowship that comes with that community. As Meunier began going to other horror festivals, he started to have the idea for horror festivals with a more celebratory atmosphere – almost like a Halloween party. Crucial to his success were the filmmakers he spoke with who were very transparent about the details of putting on a film festival. Greg Ropp, from the Erie Horror Film Festival, is one such person Meunier cited as helping him find his way to becoming a successful film festival director. </p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9021733299,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9021733299,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9021733299?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="647" height="432" /></a>The festival has a close-knit family of staff and volunteers, with anywhere from twenty to one hundred volunteers per event. Meunier and his team have held events from Rocky Horror Picture Shows, to conventions, to horror short festivals. In the future, Tim would love to bring an erotic film festival to Sacramento. While he has backed off of film production, Meunier still helps cinematographers make choices when shooting their films, and has a few scripts on his production bucket list. </p>
<p>One highlight of Meunier’s career is when the Sacramento Horror Film Festival screened “A Serbian Film”, directed by Srđan Spasojević. “A Serbian Film” has a controversial reputation, but Meunier was actually able to get Spasojević to come to the screening. Tim found Spasojević’s wife through Facebook, extended the invite, and then found out that Spasojević was actually moving to Los Angeles right before the Sacramento Horror Film Festival. Tim remembers receiving so many emails and social media messages about the film – the controversial nature of the film sparked a heated discussion. Another highlight for Meunier was directing the first ever shadow cast of “Trolls 2”. </p>
<p>“It’s been a crazy dream,” says Meunier of adding so many different aspects of the entertainment industry into his life, and being a part of the horror and cult genre family. For those who are interested in the film festival industry, Meunier advises them to be organic, trust their choices, and never take “no” for an answer. He also insists that to produce a festival, you have to go to festivals, and you have to talk to the staff of other festivals. </p>
<p>The Sacramento Horror Film Festival will be celebrating its fifteenth anniversary this year. Historically, it has been held at The Colonial Theatre in Sacramento, California. In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic forced the festival to take place online, and Meunier is currently unsure of the status of the 2021 festival. Whether online or in-person, the Sacramento Horror Film Festival will be taking place on September 25, 2021. For more information about the Sacramento Horror Film Festival, visit their website at <a href="http://www.sachorrorfilmfest.com/">www.sachorrorfilmfest.com</a> or follow @sachorrorfest on Twitter. </p>
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<p> Article and interview by Josie Stummer, for the Sacramento International Film Festival </p>
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<p>The Sacramento Horror Film Festival features local actors in live performances every year.</p>
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<p>Chadwick Boseman was best known to audiences for his work onscreen, playing iconic figures like Jackie Robinson, James Brown, Thurgood Marshall and the Black Panther. But offscreen, he was known as a proud Howard Bison.</p>
<p>Howard University announced today that the newly re-established college of fine arts, led by Dean Phylicia Rashad, will be named the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts, in honor of the late actor and distinguished alumnus.</p>
<p>Boseman died in August 2020 at age 43, after he was diagnosed with colon cancer.</p>
<p>In a statement celebrating the announcement, Boseman’s family shared their gratitude for Howard President Wayne A. I. Fredrick and the Board of Trustees for honoring their beloved Chad with the renaming of the institution.</p>
<p>“Chad fought to preserve the College of Fine Arts during his matriculation at Howard and remained dedicated to the fight throughout his career, and he would be overjoyed by this development,” the Boseman family said.</p>
<p>“His time at Howard University helped shape both the man and the artist that he became, committed to truth, integrity and a determination to transform the world through the power of storytelling,” the statement continued. “We are confident that under the dynamic leadership of his former professor and mentor the indomitable Phylicia Rashad that the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts will inspire artistic scholars for many generations.”</p>
<p>Boseman’s wife, Simone Ledward-Boseman, also shared her support for the move.</p>
<p>“I am extremely pleased that Howard University has chosen to honor my husband in this way and elated that Ms. Rashad has accepted the role as Dean,” she said. “Chad was a very proud Bison — both Howard and Ms. Rashad played integral roles in his journey as an artist. The re-establishment of the College of Fine Arts brings this part of his story full-circle and ensures that his legacy will continue to inspire young storytellers for years to come.”</p>
<p>Though Boseman’s full tenure at Howard was formative, the actor was particularly impacted by his time and training with Rashad, whose appointment as dean was announced earlier this month.</p>
<p>When discussing the announcement with <em>Variety</em>, Rashad shared that, in a touching gesture, some of her former students vouched for her to take on the position. “I was asked not to discuss this, but somehow some former students were aware of the fact that I was in process of being interviewed and they quietly voiced their support.”</p>
<p>Boseman had been very public about the way Rashad’s mentorship prepared him and was in support of her taking on the role, after having been such a significant part of his own journey.</p>
<p>In a statement about renaming the college in honor of her beloved student, Rashad said, “Unrelenting in his pursuit of excellence, Chadwick was possessed with a passion for inquiry and a determination to tell stories — through acting, writing, and directing — that revealed the beauty and complexity of our human spirit.”</p>
<p>The reestablishment of the independent fine arts college was a long-held dream of Boseman’s, who graduated in 2000 with a BFA in directing. While he was a student, Boseman led a protest against the College of Fine Arts’ absorption into the College of Arts & Sciences, which he referenced during his powerful commencement address in 2018, where he spoke about challenging the powers that be and finding your purpose.</p>
<p>“A Howard University education is not just about what happens in the classroom, students,” Boseman said, addressing the class of 2018. “In some ways, what you were able to do exemplifies some of the skills you learned in the classroom. It takes the education out of the realm of theory and into utility and practice.”</p>
<p>Famed author Ta-Nehisi Coates was a fellow student during those years, working as a reporter for the Hilltop newspaper.</p>
<p>“One of my outstanding memories of him as a public figure is of him being one of the leaders of the protest to preserve the College of Fine Arts, which we knew even at that time, had turned out so many alumni like Donny Hathaway, Roberta Flack, Phylicia Rashad and Debbie Allen,” Coates tells <em>Variety</em>. “That was very present to us. We were all mourning when they shut it down.”</p>
<p>For Coates, looking back on that protest in 1997, as Boseman and his fellow students led a three-day sit-in at the administration building, not only represents Boseman’s leadership skills, but his long term dedication to Howard’s students past and present. And renaming the college of fine arts for Boseman continues that legacy.</p>
<p>“For him to go out into the world, to take the knowledge that he had acquired at Howard University, and become the artist that he became — obviously we all mourn his passing much, much, much too early — but I know how important that college was to him,” Coates says. “And given everything that he gave, I don’t know who else it could be named after. It feels totally appropriate for who he was.”</p>
<p>He adds: “The message that this really sends to me — especially for young people who think things are not going the way they think they should go at some point — is you just never know how it’s gonna come back, so, stick with it. Some fights are long and this was a near-25 year fight. I salute Chad and I salute President Fredrick for doing this.”</p>
<p>In addition to renaming the college for Boseman, The Walt Disney Company’s executive chairman Bob Iger will lead fundraising efforts to build a new facility for the college and an endowment in the “Black Panther” star’s name.</p>
<p>“Chadwick Boseman was an extraordinarily gifted, charismatic and kind-hearted person whose incredible talent and generous spirit were clearly reflected in his iconic performances, including as King T’Challa in ‘Black Panther,’ and in his tireless commitment to helping others,” Iger said. “Through his tremendous example he inspired millions to overcome adversity, dream big and reach beyond the status quo, and this College named in his honor at his beloved Howard University will provide opportunities for future generations of artists to follow in his footsteps and pursue their dreams.”</p>
<p>The building will also house the Cathy Hughes School of Communications and the University’s television and radio stations, WHUT-TV and WHUR 96.3 FM, creating a dynamic, one-stop complex for the arts and journalism combined.</p>
<p>“When Chadwick Boseman returned to campus in 2018 to serve as our commencement speaker, he called Howard a magical place,” said Howard University president Wayne A. I. Fredrick. “During his visit, I announced our plans to reestablish the College of Fine Arts and he was filled with ideas and plans to support the effort in a powerful way.”</p>
<p>“Chadwick’s love for Howard University was sincere,” Fredrick continued. “Although he did not live to see those plans through to fruition, it is my honor to ensure his legacy lives on.”</p>
<p>After the news was announced, a post on the actor’s social media accounts welcomed future students to the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts. The tweet also highlighted the full-circle nature of the moment, complete with the Hilltop newspaper clipping about the protest and a photo of Boseman at commencement, summing up the sentiment from all who knew the man — and those who admired him from afar — perfectly.</p>
<p>“Chad, you exemplify Howard’s core values of excellence, leadership, service, and truth,” the post read. “There is no one more deserving of such an honor. We are so proud of you, we love you, and we miss you every day.”</p>
<p>To donate, please visit <a href="https://giving.howard.edu/BosemanCollegeOfFineArts" target="_blank">https://giving.howard.edu/BosemanCollegeOfFineArts</a>.</p>
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<div class="article-tags // a-children-icon-bullet lrv-u-font-family-primary u-letter-spacing-012 lrv-u-line-height-large lrv-u-color-brand-primary">Article by: <a href="https://variety.com/2021/film/news/chadwick-boseman-howard-university-college-fine-arts-1234982110/" target="_blank">Angelique Jackson</a> for Variety</div>
<div id="adm-inline-article-ad-1" class="admz"> </div></div>Chloé Zhao on Making Oscars Historyhttps://californiafilm.net/profiles/news/chloe-zhao-on-making-oscars-history2021-04-28T20:48:26.000Z2021-04-28T20:48:26.000ZSarai Arguetahttps://californiafilm.net/members/SaraiArgueta<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8863442479,RESIZE_1200x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8863442479,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="8863442479?profile=RESIZE_400x" width="400" /></a></p>
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<p> On Monday morning, the day after making history with her two Oscar wins, Chloé Zhao is beaming. Her happiness is detectable even over Zoom. “It was just so, so beautiful to be in the room with people, and to be able to actually talk to them and to celebrate with my peers,” she says.</p>
<p>Not everything went as planned at the 93rd Academy Awards on Sunday night; witness the show not ending with the usual best picture category, instead unexpectedly honoring an actor, Anthony Hopkins, who wasn’t even there, as its climax. But at least one thing went very right: Zhao landed the trophy for best director for “Nomadland” and also received the top prize for picture. She’s only the second woman to win an Oscar for director — after Kathryn Bigelow (for 2009’s “The Hurt Locker”) — and Zhao, who was born in Beijing, is the first woman of color to receive the prize. “Nomadland,” released by Searchlight Pictures, led all films with three Oscars, including actress for Frances McDormand.</p>
<p>Zhao went into the night with four nominations: In addition to producing and directing, she was up for adapted screenplay and editing. And after doing countless virtual panels, particularly with her fellow directors, she was at last together in person with the other nominees on Sunday night. Describing meeting nominee Emerald Fennell — both Zhao and the “Promising Young Woman” director wore sneakers — Zhao says she was able to “finally give a hug.”</p>
<p>“I think there’s a picture somewhere out there of the two of us with our sneakers together,” she says with a laugh.</p>
<p>Zhao’s “Nomadland” journey began in 2017 after McDormand sneaked out of her “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” promotional duties at the Toronto International Film Festival to see Zhao’s second film, “The Rider.” McDormand and producer Peter Spears had the rights to Jessica Bruder’s nonfiction book “Nomadland,” which chronicles the post-Great Recession stories of older Americans who’d been forced out of their homes and into their vehicles, traveling the country in search of work. After buying a van, Bruder immersed herself in the nomads’ world — as Zhao had done for both “The Rider” and her first movie, 2015’s “Songs My Brother Taught Me.” To McDormand, “Nomadland” seemed like perfect material for Zhao.</p>
<p>And it was. “Nomadland” premiered to raves at the September film festivals, where it began racking up awards. Critics prizes, Golden Globes, and Producers Guild, Directors Guild, and Independent Spirit awards followed, making “Nomadland” the most-awarded film in modern history. The movie captured the anxious, melancholy mood of the pandemic year: The isolation of Fern (McDormand) as she travels from place to place — sometimes connecting with fellow nomads, other times choosing solitude — felt authentic to this moment in history. As did the movie’s longing for a better future.</p>
<p>Linda May is one of the real-life nomads in the movie, and accompanied zhao— the “Nomadland” cinematographer and Zhao’s partner — to the Oscars Sunday night. In an interview, May recounts working closely with Zhao to craft her character, as well as the film’s portrayal of the nomad community. “No one could have done better than she did,” May says.</p>
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<p>It wasn’t only that Zhao had to understand the story of “Nomadland” and its characters on a cellular level. Producer Dan Janvey describes the immense technical challenges of the shoot, which Zhao spread over fall 2018 and winter 2019 — with a rare hiatus in between — so that the movie could appear to capture a full year in Fern’s life.</p>
<p>Zhao was so good at each of her roles on the movie — writer, director, producer, editor — that it was as if different specialists were doing each of them, Janvey says: “And what’s crazy about it is the degree she harmonizes those different skills into one person. That’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.”</p>
<p>A woman filmmaker with a singular point of view? It hasn’t always been seen as a good thing, as Barbra Streisand reminds <em>Variety</em>. “When I began shooting ‘Yentl’ in 1982, I had a clear vision of the film I wanted to make, so I ended up directing, acting, producing and writing,” Streisand says. “A lot of people were upset that I was assuming all those roles, and I remember getting attacked for wanting to have control over my work.</p>
<p>“So it’s wonderful to see Chloé Zhao be in full control of her movie by doing multiple jobs — which ensures the final cut is completely what she envisioned. I’m very happy for her and for the state of women filmmakers today. We’ve come a long way.”</p>
<p>And at 39, Zhao is just starting. Next up is her massively ambitious Marvel movie “Eternals,” based on Jack Kirby’s comic series, with a large ensemble cast featuring Gemma Chan, Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek and Kumail Nanjiani. It’s a huge leap from her first three films, and after several COVID-19 delays, “Eternals” will hit theaters in November.</p>
<p>Zhao — a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the comics from which it originates — approached the company herself. She was originally considered for “Black Widow,” according to Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios, but took herself off the list. Eventually, Zhao and Marvel executive Nate Moore began working together on an “Eternals” pitch, which Feige calls “spectacular.” It was, he says, “a very bold and very ambitious, sprawling 7,000-year story of humanity and our place in the cosmos.”</p>
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<p>In a movie that would be full of visual effects and greenscreen — as all Marvel movies are — Feige says Zhao “was really fighting for practical locations” in accordance with her vision for it. At one point, they cut a sample reel of “Eternals” for Disney higher-ups to watch.</p>
<p>“And I had to keep saying, ‘This is right out of a camera; there’s no VFX work to this at all!’” Feige says. “Because it was a beautiful sunset, with perfect waves and mist coming up from the shore on this giant cliffside — really impressive stuff.” Later, watching “Nomadland,” he saw similar shots. “Oh! That is not just what she wanted to bring to Marvel,” he remembers thinking. “This is a signature style.”</p>
<p>Just hours after the ceremony ended, Zhao met with <em>Variety</em> for a photo shoot and a Zoom interview about her historic journey to the 93rd annual (semi-socially distanced) Academy Awards.</p>
<p><strong>In your speech for best director, you quoted a saying from the Chinese text “Three Character Classic”: “People at birth are inherently good.” How did you decide what you wanted to say?</strong></p>
<p>Just at 2 in the morning in my room alone. We had a really fortunate [awards] season, and I got to thank a lot of people along the way. I thought if I was fortunate enough to win, I wanted to think about where it all started. It’s definitely a sentiment that was very important to me, had an impact on me when I was a kid, and I carry that with me.</p>
<p><strong>On a more trivial matter, people were obsessed with your choice of footwear.</strong></p>
<p>I take a lot of inspiration from Frances McDormand, and I learned a lot from her through this journey. It’s a long night, a lot of walking — and I don’t have the courage to be in heels.</p>
<p><strong>What was your creative partnership like with her?</strong></p>
<p>I think we have a lot in common, Fran and I. We both like comfortable footwear, and also really like to work. Not a lot of words, more like a lot of doing. And through that process, I just learned so much from her. As a mentor, as a person — how she carries herself in the industry.</p>
<p><strong>Linda May told me that money from nomdadland— which is amazing, but it shouldn’t be that way for a 70-year-old who’s worked her whole life. Can you talk about how the real stories of the nomads illustrated the points you wanted the movie to make?</strong></p>
<p>When I read Jessica Bruder’s book — beautiful, beautiful work — there’s so much that she touched on. Almost behind every page, I felt this very universal emotion she captured, which is this collective feeling of loss, a loss of a way of life. And that’s what I wanted to focus on. Having made three films the way we did, by just telling human stories, the audience is going to take away the things that they need to take away. And they could have conversations and discussions like the one you just talked about, which is one that’s very dear to me: how we treat our elders in our society. When we go into each scene, that’s not what I think about. But I think by humanizing these characters, and making their stories universal, it will hopefully make the audience relate with them first, emotionally. And then ask the question you did: Why are they in that situation? You don’t just intellectually think about it, but you’re emotionally invested in it. And, obviously, in a capitalist economy, if you don’t contribute to the survival of the economy, you are disposable.</p>
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<p><strong>What’s been your takeaway from the conversation about how Amazon is por- trayed in the movie?</strong></p>
<p>I love that people are talking about it. I love movies that don’t necessarily tell me how I should feel or how I should think but give me this canvas that I can go away and have a conversation with myself and people around me. And I think we tried to do that with “Nomadland.” And the fact that people are having conversation is a good thing.</p>
<p><strong>Kevin Feige said your original plan was that you were actually going to finish “Eternals” and it was even going to come out before you edited “Nomadland.” But because of COVID, you finished “Nomadland” so that was ready first. Is that right?</strong></p>
<p>Yeah, I think so. I mean they were really back-to-back, those two movies.</p>
<p><strong>That would have changed the course of history! Is it wild to think that if COVID hadn’t hit, “Nomadland” wouldn’t have come out this year?</strong></p>
<p>I have gone through ups and downs in my relatively short career. And one thing I’ve learned is a bit of a cliché, but everything does happen for a reason. We never expected “Nomadland” to resonate the way it did. But everything worked out.</p>
<p><strong>“Nomadland” seems like the kind of experience that would stick with you. Did making it change your life?</strong></p>
<p>I have a whole new group of friends, people who are going to be in my life forever. Swankie is going to go kayaking, and Josh is going to go with her to Channel Islands this week. But also, I have never made a film about people who are elders. And just being around them, and just getting the wisdom from them about life and about mortality, about what’s important — it was life-changing.</p>
<p><strong>This was your first major Oscar campaign. How was it for you?</strong></p>
<p>It was longer than I thought. Look, we’re alone in our homes. We can’t see our family; we can’t see our friends. And being on Zoom, even though we all make fun of it, just seeing Emerald’s face, David [Fincher], Lee [Isaac Chung], Thomas [Vinterberg], and Aaron [Sorkin], doing all these panels with everyone, and seeing their homes, seeing their dogs and their families — it did make me feel less alone in this process, in this whole situation. So I’m grateful for this award season. I’m grateful for the people that came along.</p>
<p><strong>How has it felt to navigate Hollywood as an Asian woman? Have you experienced any obstacles?</strong></p>
<p>I’m sure I have. I know I have. The one thing that I learned really early on is that you’ve got to surround yourself with the right people. Because you can’t change how people think — you can’t control how they’re going to think, how they’re going to behave. But what you can do is make sure the people that are around you not only protect you but want to be with you because of who you are as an individual. I’ve been lucky in my whole career so far. Every single film we’ve made, I’m surrounded by people like that.</p>
<p>So even though I can sense things, and I’ve heard, obviously, people, my peers, experiencing these unfortunate situations, I have been very lucky that I’ve been protected.</p>
<p><strong>What has this year of anti-Asian violence and hate crimes directed toward Asian people been like for you?</strong></p>
<p>We’ve got to check in with each other. And I was very grateful for the phone calls, the messages, the Zoom calls I received. I think Tyler Perry said it really well last night. Sometimes it’s hard to have these conversations, but just by reaching out and to ask, “Are you OK? What can I do?” It means so much. Walk down the street and smile at a stranger — that might just make your day. So I think we have to start with ourselves — the small community and circle that we’re in. And if we all do that, I think we can make a change.</p>
<p><strong>“Eternals” will have Marvel’s first gay superhero, a deaf character, a huge international cast. Did Marvel say yes to all those things?</strong></p>
<p>It’s just been such an incredible experience working with the team at Marvel. I want to be careful saying “my vision,” even though I do want people to know they did support what I wanted to do. I want people to know that. But I also want to make sure they know that I got the support of this incredibly talented team, some of the most talented artists in the world. And it really is a village to make this film, but they did let me lead. Yes.</p>
<p><strong>I know you’ve worked with small, tightly knit crews on your other movies. How different was “Eternals”?</strong></p>
<p>Props to Marvel — from early on, they knew the way I wanted to make this film, how I wanted to shoot. It can’t be hundreds of people standing around. So they very much adapted how to run the set the way that I wanted to work. I’m still surrounded by 25 people. They just have armies, and each of them knew they needed to keep the army away.</p>
<p><strong>During a conversation you had with Barry Jenkins when you were talking about “Eternals,” you said, “Can I put a spin on it while still being true to the essence of it?” How did you do that?</strong></p>
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<p>Jack Kirby and his imagination, his incredible work, is really the foundation of it. On top of that, there is what Marvel Studios has built, this incredible journey they have going on. And then on top of that is me as a fan of the MCU. And then, me as a fan of the genre, but also growing up with sci-fi and manga and fantasy films. And how can we have this big melting pot and cook up something that may just taste a little bit different? It was just an exciting thing; all of us went in wanting to do that. We’ll see.</p>
<p><strong>You’ve said you’re getting a writing credit on it, and I know you’re in post-production now. Are you editing it too?</strong></p>
<p>No. I’m working with two incredible editors, Craig Wood and Dylan Tichenor. And they’ve taught me so much. They were very patient with me, because they know it’s the first time that I’ve collaborated with editors that way. They’ve really helped me find the language to be able to communicate with them in a way that I hadn’t had to do to this extent.</p>
<p><strong>Where are you with “Eternals” right now?</strong></p>
<p>Final stretch. Just like sculpturing, you never want it to end. You just want to keep going until they tell you you can’t keep going anymore.</p>
<p><strong>What can you tell me about your Dracula project for Universal that has been described as a “futuristic sci-fi Western”?</strong></p>
<p>I love that you have the question mark at the end — a “sci-fi Western”?</p>
<p><strong>Those things don’t necessarily go together!</strong></p>
<p>No, I like that. It’s just like looking at Jessica Bruder’s book, and to really see behind the pages, to discover the meanings behind each page and the essence of it. I’m a huge fan of the book. And I wanted to see what essence I can find [in “Dracula”], and then be able to reimagine this really beloved character I love so much.</p>
<p><strong>“Beloved character”? Interesting.</strong></p>
<p>I like complicated characters.</p>
<p><strong>So you love the book “Dracula”?</strong></p>
<p>That was a very important book for me. Immortality is something that I started exploring on “Eternals,” but is something I want to question and understand.</p>
<p><strong>And that’s the next thing that you’re going to do after “Eternals,” right? Or is there something in between?</strong></p>
<p>I don’t know. I think right now I want to go back to my chickens and dogs. Hopefully they still remember me. And then I will see.</p>
<p><strong>You’ve obviously forged your own path. But are there directors whose careers you look at in terms of their scope, and you think, that’s what I want to do?</strong></p>
<p>When you’re talking about the scope of films, Alfonso Cuarón and Ang Lee, what they have been able to do, making intimate films, smaller films, but also films on a bigger scale — but you can see that they were able to bring themselves and those two worlds kind of together in a way that still keeps them true to the type of film they are. But you see a throughline. I love that, and I hope I can do that.</p>
<p><strong>When I asked Dan Janvey what I should ask you, he said: “How quickly are you going back to work, and is that today?”</strong></p>
<p>I think everyone in my life close to me knows that I’m maybe working a little too much. Yes! This afternoon I’m going back to Disney to work on “Eternals.” Right after this interview. I’m probably late.</p>
<p><em>This interview has been edited and condensed.</em></p>
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<p><em>Article by: <a href="https://variety.com/2021/film/directors/chloe-zhao-oscars-nomadland-marvel-eternals-dracula-1234961719/" target="_blank">Kate Arthur</a> for Variety</em></p></div>The Worst Films of 2020https://californiafilm.net/profiles/news/the-worst-films-of-20202020-12-19T00:30:07.000Z2020-12-19T00:30:07.000ZElla Christiansenhttps://californiafilm.net/members/EllaChristiansen<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8305432671,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8305432671,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="450" alt="8305432671?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></a></p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>How do you choose the biggest movie misfires of the year? In a way, it’s easy. A movie that’s bad enough to earn a place on this scroll is, like a great movie, not one you really choose. It’s one that chooses you. It looks like a judgment, and a harsh one at that, but it’s really a feeling — that the film in question is so misconceived, so undramatic or unfunny or convoluted or just plain boring, that to watch it is enough to cause pain. In this pandemic year, there were fewer studio bombs to choose from, yet we made no special attempt to go big or go small, to go Hollywood or go indie. We didn’t have to. We just went with the worst.</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1></h1><p> </p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>1. Dolittle</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Drug dealers used to have the mantra “Don’t get high on your own supply.” Maybe movie stars should live by the credo “Dolittle — just don’t do it.” The 1998 reboot was merely another middling Eddie Murphy comedy, but this Robert Downey Jr. remake achieves the staggering feat of being much, much worse than the fabled, creaky-boned 1967 Hollywood musical debacle. Is the problem the charmless critters? The ungodly mess of a story? Or the mechanical whimsy of Downey, who barely talks to the animals because he’s so busy talking to himself? All of the above. “Dolittle” is a movie that’s more excruciating than the sum of its frenetic yet lifeless kiddie-blockbuster parts.</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1></h1><p> </p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>2. The Last Thing He Wanted</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>The first mistake made by the gifted filmmaker Dee Rees (“Mudbound,” “Pariah”) was deciding to adapt one of Joan Didion’s worst forays into fiction: her 1996 tale of a Washington Post reporter who becomes an arms dealer for the U.S. government. The second mistake was to bold-face every only-in-a-Didion-novel twist and contrivance, and to have Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck, and Willem Dafoe chew on the turgidly incoherent espionage dialogue as if they were acting in some breathless political noir. The result is a movie that gets so lost in the thickets of its pretension that you need a machete to cut through it.</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1></h1><p> </p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>3. I’m Thinking of Ending Things</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Charlie Kaufman used to create lyrically spiky head trips that teased your brain and heart at the same time. Now he makes sodden puzzles that don’t quite add up because they’re too busy telegraphing their cantankerous oddity. His latest trip down the rabbit hole of scrubby dream logic centers on a morose geek (Jesse Plemons) who’s too gnarled to connect to anyone, from his girlfriend (Jessie Buckley) to his Samuel Beckett sitcom parents (David Thewlis and Toni Collette) to the audience. But the spirit of disconnection is mother’s milk to Kaufman, and “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” is a depressive half-baked Twilight Zone — it’s all about the janitor! yeah, keep telling yourself that — that unravels before your eyes.</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1></h1><p> </p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>4. Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>There are bad movies everyone hates and bad movies some people like (like “Ishtar” or “Xanadu”), and there’s no question that Will Ferrell’s I’m-an-idiot Nordic songfest burlesque has its cult of fans, who view it as an ironic expression of pop sincerity. Yet what about the jokes — as in, all of them — that just lie flat and sit there, like something on a plate of warm herring? Or the way that the movie can’t decide if Ferrell and Rachel McAdams, as an Icelandic duo who stumble into the Eurovision Song Contest, are bad singers, so-bad-they’re-good-singers, or good singers? The movie doesn’t satirize the annual Europop competition so much as it presents it, as if its very existence were funny. It’s not.</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1></h1><p> </p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>5. Guest of Honour</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Atom Egoyan keeps masticating his old tropes — noodgy inspectors and disreputable bus drivers, secrets within mysteries within flashbacks, sexual indiscretion with a minor — in this jaw-droppingly convoluted and unconvincing family melodrama, which is centered around a restaurant that serves fried bunny-rabbit ears. Both the dish and the movie are supremely unappetizing, yet Egoyan, whose best films (“The Sweet Hereafter,” “Felicia’s Journey,” “Chloe”) now seem a world away, is increasingly content to play in Egoyan World, a jungle gym of ludicrous contrivance.</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1></h1><p> </p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Peter Debruge's 5 Worst Films</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1></h1><p> </p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>1. The Painted Bird</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Jerzy Kosinski’s 1965 novel was plenty controversial in its time, billed as an autobiographical account of the horrors he witnessed during World War II, then later recast as fiction. Czech director Václav Marhoul clearly saw the material as an opportunity to make a capital-I “Important” art film, recruiting respected actors (Stellan Skarsgard, Harvey Keitel, Udo Kier) and putting them through the motions of human cruelty the book describes. It’s literally too much to watch, and I walked out after Nazi soldiers shot a Jewish woman and her infant with the same bullet. It works for some, but don’t force yourself.</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1></h1><p> </p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>2. 365 Days/After We Collided</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>As if fanfic phenoms “Twilight” and “Fifty Shades of Grey” weren’t hard enough on lovers of literature, other writers are piling on with tawdry erotic homages of their own. The original “After” (a sleeper hit back in early 2019) was kinda fun, as in-flight viewing goes, but this flaccid sequel is like the big-screen equivalent of an amateur high school theater production, only kinkier. “365 Days,” which shot up the charts on Netflix, is a risible Polish softcore thriller in which a successful exec is kidnapped by a brutish Italian mafioso until love or Stockholm syndrome sets in — the movie’s premise being that she secretly wants to be taken, building to an inexplicably “tragic” non-ending. American movies are far too prudish, but one of these fantasies set us back decades, while the other had me thinking of ending things (to reference Charlie Kaufman’s miserable idea of a date movie).</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1></h1><p> </p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>3. Artemis Fowl</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>This derivative Disney eyesore was meant to be the studio’s shot at “Harry Potter”-style success. Instead, like so many other craven grabs at franchise gold (e.g. “The Golden Compass,” “Ender’s Game,” et al.), it’s one and done for this clumsy adaptation of Eoin Colfer’s YA book series. The over-designed but under-thought-out monstrosity centers on a criminal mastermind who’s not yet old enough to shave, although Disney seems to have decided that they should turn the precocious antihero into a fairy-chasing Richie Rich. Just as well that they dumped it on Disney Plus, disguising what surely would’ve been a box-office disaster.</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1></h1><p> </p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>4. The Roads Not Taken</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>When it comes to losing a loved one to dementia, French playwright Florian Zeller approached the subject with artful empathy in “The Father,” putting audiences in the same position as Anthony Hopkin’s character, unable to distinguish between delusion and reality. By contrast, director Sally Potter is still too close to the subject, having lost her brother to the cruel condition several years back. A fully committed Javier Bardem gives his most gratuitously unpleasant performance since “Biutiful,” while Elle Fanning’s raw reaction makes it even harder to bear in a movie Potter clearly had to make, but no one needs to see.</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1></h1><p> </p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>5. Capone</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Close but no cigar: “Fantastic Four” director Josh Trank emerged from movie jail to make his “Scarface, Coda: The Death of Al Capone,” a film about the mobster’s final days, after he was released from Alcatraz to die of syphilis at home. Trouble is, it’s the least compelling chapter in the aging gangster’s life, doubly unpleasant as we see this incontinent antihero rant and rage and soil his sheets. Hardy’s one hell of an actor, but he’s straining way too hard here, making it impossible to get past the performance and connect with a monster who’s rotti</strong>ng inside and out.</span></h1><p></p><h1></h1><p> </p><h1><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>Article by: <a href="https://variety.com/lists/worst-films-movies-2020/" target="_blank">Owen Gleiberman, Peter Debruge</a> for Variety.</strong></span></h1><p></p><h1></h1><p> </p><p> </p></div>Female Directors Win Big at NYFCC Awards. What Does It Mean for the Oscars?https://californiafilm.net/profiles/news/female-directors-win-big-at-nyfcc-awards-what-does-it-mean-for-th2020-12-19T00:26:34.000Z2020-12-19T00:26:34.000ZElla Christiansenhttps://californiafilm.net/members/EllaChristiansen<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8305431472,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8305431472,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="450" alt="8305431472?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></a></p><h1>A24’s “First Cow” was the big winner at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, taking home best film. In predicting the Academy Awards, the top prize from NYFCC has an astounding correlation to the Oscars. Since 1935, the NYFCC winner for best film has never failed to receive at least one Oscar nomination. More importantly, every film that has won the top prize from NYFCC has been nominated in a major Oscar category including picture, director, acting and screenplay.</h1><p></p><h1></h1><p> </p><h1>A slower burn for the average cinema-goer, “First Cow” has Oscar potential in categories like best adapted screenplay, which director Kelly Reichardt co-wrote with author Jonathan Raymond. Reichardt herself, a runner-up at Boston Film Critics last weekend, could be vying for one of the five spots for best director, which may present an interesting scenario down the line. Could we be in store for a directing lineup where the women outnumber the men? With Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”), Regina King (“One Night in Miami”) and Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”), who also won at NYFCC, the “year of the female director” is a growing award season narrative, despite many women-directed films being postponed due to the pandemic. Only five women have been nominated for best director in the 92-year history of AMPAS.</h1><p></p><h1></h1><p> </p><h1>The best director lineup could also have one or two filmmakers of color. Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods” won honors for Delroy Lindo in best actor and the late Chadwick Boseman in supporting actor. Lee was honored with a special award for his short film “New York New York.” “Da 5 Bloods” could be getting a second wind from its June release, resulting in Lee becoming the first Black director to be nominated a second time at the Oscars. To date, only six Black men (and no Black women) have been nominated for best director, none of which have been selected again following their first nod.</h1><p></p><h1></h1><p> </p><h1>Then there’s “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” from Focus Features, which is building momentum for its debut star Sidney Flanigan. Also a winner at Boston, Flanigan could become a critical darling, but the question is, how far does that take her? For two consecutive years, the NYFCC winner for best actress has not received an Oscar nomination (Lupita Nyong’o for “Us” and Regina Hall for “Support the Girls”). With the film also winning screenplay earlier on Friday, this indie drama can only add to the female filmmaker’s narrative.</h1><p></p><h1></h1><p> </p><h1>Maria Bakalova’s win for “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” is just what her awards campaign needed, in a category that has been very friendly to comedic performances (examples: Marisa Tomei in “My Cousin Vinny” and Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids”). The supporting actress is wide open at the moment with no established frontrunner.</h1><p></p><h1></h1><p> </p><h1>In this unconventional awards year, will the group have the same impact? NYFCC along with the National Board of Review and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, which announces on Sunday, typically have the most influence of the critics’ groups. Normally, Oscar voters would be grabbing DVDs from their screener pile and packing them up for their holiday binge. This year, not as many physical copies have gone out, though many are available on the Academy streaming platform.</h1><p></p><h1></h1><p> </p><h1></h1><p> </p><h1>Article by: <a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/awards/nyfcc-winners-first-cow-oscars-1234866516/" target="_blank">Clayton Davis</a> for Variety.</h1><p></p><p> </p></div>Los Angeles Restricts After-Hours Filming Amid COVID-19 Spikehttps://californiafilm.net/profiles/news/los-angeles-restricts-after-hours-filming-amid-covid-19-spike2020-11-25T22:10:25.000Z2020-11-25T22:10:25.000ZElla Christiansenhttps://californiafilm.net/members/EllaChristiansen<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8215464059,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8215464059,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="8215464059?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p><p>The limits, which follow California's limited Stay at Home Order, mandate that it's "taillights at ten."</p><p>Los Angeles is tightening the reins on filming as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise.</p><p>Officials from the City and County of Los Angeles have told FilmLA, one of the main organizations that doles out film permits in the region, that there will be new restrictions on when exactly filming can take place.</p><p>The limits prohibit after-hours on-location filming in accordance with California’s current limited Stay at Home Order. Last week, Governor Newsom announced that nonessential businesses and personal gatherings are prohibited between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. for the next few weeks.</p><p>So beginning today, permissible on-location filming hours will be from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. in residential areas and 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. in commercial areas. Isolated areas of unincorporated Los Angeles County with no population may be exempted.</p><p>The local officials noted in their conversation with FilmLA that no production setup activity may begin earlier than the permissible time and that at the end of the day, activity must wrap to ensure it is “taillights at ten.”</p><p>Any permission to film after-hours for permits that have already been handed out is rescinded. The limits will apply for at least the duration of the California’s limited Stay at Home Order, which currently expires on December 21.</p><p> </p><p>Article by: <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/los-angeles-restricts-after-hours-filming-amid-covid-19-spike" target="_blank">Bryn Sandberg</a> for the Hollywood Reporter.</p></div>Sacramento Actress Josie Totah Is Living Everybody's High School Dream in 'Saved By the Bell'https://californiafilm.net/profiles/news/sacramento-actress-josie-totah-is-living-everybody-s-high-school-2020-11-25T22:07:33.000Z2020-11-25T22:07:33.000ZElla Christiansenhttps://californiafilm.net/members/EllaChristiansen<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8215461881,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8215461881,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="8215461881?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p><p>The original Saved by the Bell featured tanned California high schoolers learning life lessons every Saturday morning — cheating is bad, don't get addicted to caffeine pills, you can still win homecoming queen even with a zit on your face. Peacock's streaming Saved by the Bell reboot takes a tongue-in-cheek approach to the same subject matter, but still touches on plenty of important issues. But instead of "be nice to nerds," those issues include economic inequality, school closures and LGBTQ representation.</p><p>It also features 2020 takes on the age-old high school character archetypes, which means that in this version, the school's bitchy popular girl is Lexi, a sharp-tongued cheerleader who is trans. Creator Tracey Wigfield wrote the role for actress Josie Totah, who had worked with Wigfield's pals Mindy Kaling and Charlie Grandy on Champions, after she'd seen Totah at a table read for NBC's short-lived sitcom.</p><p>"You need six, hilarious, beautiful, really skilled teenagers. Oh, that seems easy to find," Wigfield remembered telling herself while discussing the show on The Hollywood Reporter's TV's Top 5 podcast. It was a daunting prospect, but she had one comforting thought: "At least I knew Josie."</p><p>Totah tells THR that she met with Wigfield and was immediately sold on her pitch: "She wanted to make it into this more topical, edgier, smarter world that she was planning on creating, and I was just fell in love with that idea." After some back-and-forth about the character that Totah would play, the duo decided that they wanted to reflect some of Totah's real-life experience by making the character trans.</p><p>"It was important to us that I serve as a producer on the show in order to tell the story as authentically as possible," says the 19-year-old.</p><p>She'd already shared some of her experience coming out as trans in an essay for Time, but in helping shape Lexi from the ground up, she'd be able to have a direct hand in trans representation on screen.</p><p>While acting is such an internal craft, there's an inherently public component built in when the finished product is going to be broadcast to millions of people around the world. Whether she liked it or not, Totah knew that she was going to have to talk about being trans and playing a trans character while some of her castmates got to chat about ancient cell phones or working with the original cast.</p><p>"I think that's something that all people who have a marginalized identity deal with," she says. "It's definitely a conversation that I have with Alycia Pascual-Pena, who is on the show with me and lives with me and is my best friend. We have that conversation every day about what this role not only means to us, but so many people and that no matter how it affects us we need to understand that it's going to affect a large amount of people in ways that we might not even be able to predict. But it's super humbling and I think we're both really, really honored to be in the position that we are. And we're happy that somebody's doing it, because it's definitely something that we both have never seen on screen for both of us, and for me in particular."</p><p>Another selling point: The show is an ensemble comedy — it's not about Lexi being trans; it's not even only about Lexi.</p><p>"This is not the story of a trans person's experience. This show is not my story, or my telling of my journey. It's a show that existed in the past, and that we're bringing back, and it's funny, it's amusing, but it happens to have a character that's trans in it," says Totah. "And I think when we come at it from that angle it's a lot less daunting, because the show isn't only about my character being transgender, or even just about only my character. It's about this group of diverse kids that are together and are going through life and learning things about each other, and it's super exciting to get to be a part of a show that's like that. I didn't have any fears or hesitations only because I knew going into it that this wasn't going to be the time where I tell my story. That would come later on in my career."</p><p>Lexi's story is much more in line with the high school queen bees of teen projects past — a bit of Mean Girls, a bit of Heathers, a bit of wish fulfillment. Lexi wears heels and cocktail dresses to school and isn't really bothered with authority figures. Basically, Totah channeled "every single human being's dream in school," she says with a laugh. "I just wanted people to feel like they could live through me in the way that I lived through all of these characters growing up — the Regina George, the sort of Heathers vibe, the Cher from Clueless. I wanted to create that character, but make her more nuanced and layered, and not playing that on-the-nose archetype that we know all too well."</p><p>Saved By the Bell was the first scripted series to resume filming on the Universal lot this summer, but before that Totah spent her quarantine time the same way everyone else did: by bingeing television. "I had been watching so much Spanish television for five months," Totah says. "I was in such a deep hole watching Elite and Money Heist on Netflix. Like so many hours of me just staring at a screen — I needed to do something that wasn't just watching people get in fights and make love. Which was which was a great quarantine experience. But I was excited to actually get to do stuff."</p><p>She also started a new semester at film school, and is working on essays between interviews — while trying to carve out time to watch The Queen's Gambit and the rest of the shows on her Netflix queue. And she's excited for people to be able to watch Saved By the Bell and the newest, more diverse group of all-American teens attending Bayside High.</p><p>"I'm just really, really excited for people to feel like they can finally see themselves and that they're not alone in this world," she says. "And I love that as a cast, even our white, cis, straight cast members recognize what we're doing with this show and they're so excited about it too. So as a family, as a whole, it's a team effort. We know what we're bringing to the table and we're all super, super excited about it."</p><p> </p><p>Article by: <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/josie-totah-is-living-everybodys-high-school-dream-in-saved-by-the-bell" target="_blank">Jean Bentley</a> for the Hollywood Reporter.</p></div>France’s Movie Theaters to Reopen on Dec. 15; Lockdown to Be Lifted in Three Stageshttps://californiafilm.net/profiles/news/france-s-movie-theaters-to-reopen-on-dec-15-lockdown-to-be-lifted2020-11-24T22:30:48.000Z2020-11-24T22:30:48.000ZElla Christiansenhttps://californiafilm.net/members/EllaChristiansen<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8212500657,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8212500657,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="450" alt="8212500657?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></a></p><p>France, which has been on lockdown since Oct. 30 to curb the second wave of the pandemic, will see its cinemas, theaters and museum reopen on Dec. 15. French president Emmanuel Macron unveiled some gradual measures to ease the lockdown on Tuesday during a televised address.</p><p>“The peak of the second wave of the pandemic has passed. Our efforts, your efforts have paid off,” said Macron. So far, 50,000 people have died from COVID-19 in France.</p><p>Starting on Nov. 28, small shops and religious sites will be allowed to reopen. On Dec. 15, theaters, cinemas and museums will reopen but a 9 p.m.-7 a.m. curfew will be restored. A 9 p.m. curfew was previously put in place in mid-October, before the country went into lockdown.</p><p>The lockdown is expected to be loosened even more around Jan. 20. “If the number of cases remains below 5,000 cases per day, gyms and restaurants will be allowed to reopen and the curfew will be pushed,” said Macron. Universities, meanwhile, will stay closed until at least Feb. 4. Until then, all classes will be held virtually.</p><p>A number of big French movie releases were expected to bow in theaters during the last quarter of 2020 and have now been pushed to 2021. One of the anticipated releases is Valerie Lemercier’s “Aline,” which is inspired by the life of Celine Dion. Gaumont has pushed the release to March.</p><p> </p><p>Article by: <a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/global/france-movie-theaters-reopen-december-15-1234839269/" target="_blank">Elsa Keslassy</a> for Variety.</p></div>Sound Community Steps Up Effort to Urge End Credit Revisionshttps://californiafilm.net/profiles/news/sound-community-steps-up-effort-to-urge-end-credit-revisions2020-10-26T21:34:07.000Z2020-10-26T21:34:07.000ZElla Christiansenhttps://californiafilm.net/members/EllaChristiansen<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8080869878,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8080869878,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="8080869878?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="600" /></a></p><p>It wants key members of the sound department to have the same representation as department heads such as DPs.</p><p>The Cinema Audio Society, Motion Picture Sound Editors and Association of Motion Picture Sound have stepped up their combined Sound Credit Initiative, launching a website urging members of the sound community, filmmakers, studio representatives and others to sign up in support of this effort.</p><p>Last August, the three organizations teamed up to release an open letter urging Hollywood to allow key members of the sound department the same representation in end credits as it does department heads such as the director of photography and film editor. Specifically, the letter suggested that the production sound mixer, supervising sound editors and rerecording mixers share a single card "and be appropriately positioned within the same proximity of the other key roles, such as director of photography, film editor, production designer, costume designer, unit production manager and 1st assistant director."</p><p>"We're building a community," CAS president Karol Urban says of the new initiative, explaining that the group hopes to empower individuals to ask for the credit, while urging filmmakers and studios to help make this happen. "From production through postproduction, sound professionals contribute to creative storytelling and the elevation of the audience's experience. This initiative allows filmmakers and studios to recognize their sound department's importance in a film's overall success."</p><p>Supervising sound editors, production sound mixers and rerecording mixers are eligible for Oscars, BAFTAs, Emmys and other major awards. (At the Oscars, these roles were previously recognized in the sound editing and mixing categories; beginning in 2021 they will be honored in a single category). “Sound teams create 50 percent of a movie and win awards for their creative contribution, but they are positioned far down the list of credits. This initiative is a move towards representative credits," says AMPS chair Rob Walker.</p><p>“Sound is visceral," adds MPSE president Mark Lanza. "It tells the audience where we are, focuses the audience on what we want them to feel and leads them through an elaborate illusion. The people creating these works are amazing artists and should be addressed as such.”</p><p> </p><p>Article by: <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/sound-community-steps-up-effort-to-urge-end-credit-revisions" target="_blank">Carolyn Giardina</a> for the Hollywood Reporter.</p></div>Dance to Express (Wide Open Walls)https://californiafilm.net/profiles/news/dance-to-express-wide-open-walls2019-08-24T21:11:35.000Z2019-08-24T21:11:35.000ZEdward Arcillahttps://californiafilm.net/members/EdwardArcilla<div><p><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/355272990" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p><p><a href="https://vimeo.com/355272990">Dance to Express (Wide Open Walls)</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/houseofintent">Eddie Arcilla</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p><p>Hey guys, this is my first post and latest work. A short film exploring and highlighting some of the art around Sacramento with dance. I was experimenting on different camera movements on this one. I hope you enjoy :)</p><p>A Film by Eddie Arcilla<br />(IG: @houseofintent)</p><p>Featuring Christina Hua<br />(IG: @lalaitzchristie)</p><p>Music:<br />Monster Bass by Tsunami</p><p>House of Intent Productions<br />houseofintent.com</p><p>Art Collective:<br />Wide Open Walls<br />wideopenwalls.com<br />(@wideopenwalls)</p><p>---</p><p>Channals:</p><p>Vimeo.com/houseofintent<br />YouTube.com/houseofintent<br />Instagram.com/houseofintent<br />500px.com/houseofintent <br />Facebook.com/houseofintent</p><p>#houseofintent #sacramento #wideopenwalls</p></div>