Steve Pond's Blog, page 2012
January 14, 2020
‘Hunters’ Creator Says We’re Currently Facing ‘an Epidemic of Anti-Semitism’ Not ‘Seen in Decades’
“Hunters” may be set in 1970s New York City, but the message of the upcoming Amazon Nazi-hunting series is about as timely as it gets.
“We’re facing an epidemic of anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia — the likes of which we haven’t seen in decades,” creator David Weil said Tuesday at the Television Critics Association press tour. “So this show is really a question. It’s: ‘What do you do?'”
“For this show about a group of vigilantes who try and reclaim the power, the question the show poses is: ‘If you hunt monsters, do you risk becoming a monster yourself?'” Weil continued. “I think that’s very timely, I think it’s a question we should all be asking ourselves in this day and age.”
Also Read: Former 'AGT' Judge Heidi Klum Weighs in on Flap Over Gabrielle Union Ouster
“Hunters” follows a diverse band of Nazi hunters living in 1977 New York City. The Hunters, as they’re known, have discovered that hundreds of high-ranking Nazi officials are living among us and conspiring to create a Fourth Reich in the U.S. The eclectic team of Hunters will set out on a bloody quest to bring the Nazis to justice and thwart their new genocidal plans.
Weil, whose grandmother was a Holocaust survivor, says he came up with the series as a sort of comic book-inspired superhero revenge fantasy.
Watch the “Hunters” trailer here.
Also Read: How 'Project Runway' Stars Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum Decided to 'Jump Ship' to Amazon Together
“Hunters” stars Al Pacino, Logan Lerman, Jerrika Hinton, Josh Radnor, Kate Mulvany, Tiffany Boone, Greg Austin, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Carol Kane, Saul Rubinek, Dylan Baker and Lena Olin.
The series is produced by Amazon Studios, Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions and Sonar Entertainment. Weil is co-showrunner alongside Nikki Toscano. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon directed the pilot and is another executive producer. The streaming show is also executive produced by Peele and Win Rosenfeld from Monkeypaw Productions, as well as Nelson McCormick and Tom Lesinski.
“Hunters” premieres Feb. 21 on Amazon Prime Video.
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Former ‘AGT’ Judge Heidi Klum Weighs in on Flap Over Gabrielle Union Ouster
Former “America’s Got Talent” judge Heidi Klum weighed in on the controversy surrounding the NBC competition show following Gabrielle Union’s departure, saying she “only had an amazing experience” during her six years on the show.
“I’ve only had an amazing experience,” she told reporters following Tuesday at the Television Critics Association press tour. Klum was on hand in Pasadena for her new Amazon series with Tim Gunn, “Making the Cut.”
“I can’t speak for her,” the model turned host said. “I didn’t experience the same thing. To me, everyone treats you with utmost respect.” Klum departed “AGT” following Season 13. Union joined in Season 14.
Also Read: NBC Boss Expects Results of Gabrielle Union-'AGT' Investigation by End of January
News first broke on Nov. 22 that Union and Julianne Hough would not return for the show’s 15th season next year. It was later reported that Union’s contract was not renewed, with multiple reports detailing behind-the-scenes clashes between Union and the show’s producers over what was described as a “toxic” workplace culture.
Many rushed to Union’s defense after reports about her complaints began to surface, including former “AGT” judges Howard Stern and Sharon Osbourne. Both spoke out against the “boys’ club” environment on the show, which they said was facilitated by executive producer-turned-judge Simon Cowell.
On Dec. 1, NBC and “America’s Got Talent” producers Fremantle and Syco said in a statement that they planned to meet with Union to hear her “concerns” about the “workplace culture” on the show following her dismissal and subsequent criticism of the environment she left behind. On Dec. 4, Union tweeted about the sitdown, which she described as a “productive” five-hour meeting about her “desire and hope for real change.” On Saturday, NBC Entertainment chairman Paul Telegdy said the results from NBC’s investigation into the matter would be available by the end of January.
On Tuesday, Klum added that she never saw or experienced anything racist or “boys club-y,” and that producers never interfered with how she dressed.
Also Read: Julianne Hough Commends Gabrielle Union for 'Speaking Her Truth' on 'AGT' Culture (Video)
“I loved it. Of course, there’s always this cat and dog fight. But just fun. You kind of say something silly. Also, it’s like, you got to relax a little bit,” she said. “I want to entertain people. I want to have a good time. I want people to go away from their life for a few hours and just have fun and enjoy.”
Klum then described how Cowell would “meow” to mimic a catfight if she didn’t like a particular act from a female contestant, as a way to show how he had a sense of humor.
“For example, Simon would do something, like, if there was a girl on stage and she’s a beautiful girl, but I didn’t like her act, for example. And I said: ‘I didn’t love the act so much, I think you’re gorgeous,’ and this and that, and he would be like [catfight noise], he’s meowing. I think that’s funny because I understand the joke,” she said. “But like, relax, it’s a joke.”
Klum is currently a judge on “America’s Got Talent: The Champions,” which currently airs Mondays on NBC.
Related stories from TheWrap:
Ratings: 'AGT: Champions,' Pilot Peter's 'Bachelor' Descend vs College Football Championship Game
Gabrielle Union to Meet With NBC in Person to Discuss 'AGT' Exit
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How ‘Project Runway’ Stars Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum Decided to ‘Jump Ship’ to Amazon Together
Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn opened up about their decision to “jump ship” from “Project Runway” after 16 seasons together.
The Emmy-winning duo talked about continuing their hosting duties on Amazon’s new fashion design competition series, “Making the Cut,” during the streamer’s Television Critics Association panel on Wednesday.
“When everything kind of fell apart and the show was going to a different owner, for me, it was like, okay, we’re either going to just go back there and it’s gonna be the same old same old — or now it’s this opportunity to jump ship,” said Klum.
“I called Tim and I said, I’m jumping this ship. Are you with me? I don’t know where we’re gonna go, but I’m really eager to see what we can do. “
Also Read: Amazon Inks Overall Television Deal With Brad Pitt's Production Company, Plan B
“We jumped together,” Gunn added.
The two explained the limiting factors of “Project Runway” that lead to their decision to leave the show and start “Making the Cut” with executive producer Sara Rea.
“Our hands were tied,” said Klum. “Because our imagination was bigger than what we were about to do or couldn’t do, because there’s a certain look to a show that also sometimes you don’t want to change.”
Also Read: 'Lord of the Rings' on Amazon Casts 13 Series Regulars
“When you do a show, someone always has to pay for it, and other people want you to do certain things, so you can’t have the creative freedom, that when you don’t have [when someone is like], okay you’re designing for this water company, so you have to make something out of these water bottles and lids, for example,” she said. “So that’s what we then had to do for that episode. And there’s nothing wrong with that.”
“In general, we always were a show that never had the biggest budget. When you have a bigger budget — thank you Amazon — you get to go to Paris and Tokyo and show these designers different things that injects so much creativity into their clothes.”
Gunn added that he felt “Project Runway” was limited by its rigid format.
Also Read: Amazon Adds John Leguizamo, 6 More to Cast of Feminist Sci-Fi Series 'The Power'
“Who knew when we were taping Season 1 of ‘Project Runway’ that it would be a success? I didn’t,” Gunn said. “I thought this would be good cocktail party talk. This’ll never happen again. So when we returned for season 2, we were in a lockstep in a way, in a formula that had been determined in Season 1. And it perpetuated further into Season 3, and then eventually into Seasons 10 through 16, and we couldn’t break out of it,” he said. “There was a fear, not among us — we’re the ones who were thinking creatively and innovatively about what we wanted to do — but from the viewpoint of where the show sat, there was a fear of leaving that formula.”
The winning look from each episode of “Making the Cut” will be available for purchase on Amazon, and the winner will receive one million dollars and their own Amazon fashion line.
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How to Watch and Stream the First Democratic Debate of 2020
The first Democratic debate of 2020 — and seventh overall — will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 14. The two-hour debate begins at 9 p.m. EST and is hosted by the Des Moines Register and CNN.
It will be broadcast live on CNN, CNN en Espanol and CNN International. Cord-cutters can stream the debate on CNN.com and DesMoinesRegister.com.
The field will be the smallest to date, with only six candidates on stage at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa: Former Vice President Joe Biden, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, billionaire Tom Steyer and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Also Read: Democratic Challengers on Trump's Impeachment: 'No One Is Above the Law'
Businessman Andrew Yang, who appeared in the December debate, reached the donor requirement for the January debate but not the polling threshold (5 percent in at least four national or early-state surveys approved, or 7 percent in two early-state polls).
The debate will be held one day after New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker suspended his bid. Booker failed to qualify for the December debate.
President Trump’s ongoing impeachment trial will surely be a topic of discussion, as Klobuchar, Sanders, and Warren will vote in the Senate trial. Foreign policy is also expected to be covered, as tensions with Iran escalating after Trump ordered the assassination of military leader Qassem Soleimani.
More importantly, it will be the last debate before Iowa caucuses, the first nominating contest in the Democratic presidential primary process in 2020. The caucus takes place Monday, Feb. 3.
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Starz Drops Trailers for ‘Outlander’ Season 5, ‘Wrong Man’ Season 2 (Videos)
Starz released the trailers for Season 5 of “Outlander” and Season 2 of docuseries “Wrong Man,” as well as a teaser for its upcoming scripted drama series “Hightown.”
“Outlander,” which returns Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, is based on material from Diana Gabaldon’s best-selling series of the same name.
Here is the official description for Season 5:
“Season Five of “Outlander” finds the Frasers fighting for their family and the home they have forged on Fraser’s Ridge. Jamie must find a way to defend all that he has created in America, and to protect those who look to him for leadership and protection – while hiding his personal relationship with Murtagh Fitzgibbons, the man whom Governor William Tryon has ordered him to hunt down and kill. With her family together at last, Claire Fraser must use her modern medical knowledge and foresight to prevent them from being ripped apart once again. However, while focusing on protecting others, she risks losing sight of what it means to protect herself. Meanwhile, Brianna Fraser and Roger MacKenzie have been reunited, but the spectre of Stephen Bonnet still haunts them. Roger strives to find his place – as well as Jamie’s respect – in this new and dangerous time. The Frasers must come together, navigating the many perils that they foresee – and those they can’t.”
Watch the long-form trailer for “Outlander” above.
“The Wrong Man” returns for its second season on Feb. 9 at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT.
From filmmaker Joe Berlinger (“Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes”), the series “examines the cases of three different inmates who are serving life sentences on murder convictions but who claim innocence,” according to Starz. “Renowned civil rights attorney Ron Kuby, former prosecutor Sue-Ann Robinson, retired NCIS investigator Joe Kennedy, and Ira Todd of Detroit’s elite Homicide Task Force return to take viewers on riveting real-time investigations to uncover new evidence, track down key witnesses, consult forensic experts and interrogate the incarcerated.”
Watch the trailer for “Wrong Man” below.
Also Read: 'Outlander' Author Responds to Starz Exec's 'Eye Candy' Comments About the Show's Appeal to Women
“Hightown” set to premiere this spring, is set in Cape Cod, Mass., and “follows one woman’s journey to sobriety, overshadowed by an unfolding murder investigation.”
According to Starz, Jackie Quiñones (Monica Raymund, “The Good Wife”), plays a hard-partying National Marine Fisheries Service agent, and has her free-wheeling life thrown into disarray when she discovers a body on the beach – another casualty of Cape Cod’s opioid epidemic. To deal with the trauma, Jackie takes the first steps toward sobriety– until she becomes convinced it’s up to her to solve the murder. Now at odds with sergeant Ray Abruzzo (James Badge Dale, “Only The Brave”), an abrasive but effective member of the Cape Cod Interagency Narcotics Unit, Jackie starts to spiral. And she’s not alone – Ray himself crosses more lines than he can count in the name of the investigation. The two of them, along with everyone else connected to the murder, all circle each other, and as their lives crash together, we’re reminded just how complicated – and deadly – our addictions can be.
Other stars include Riley Voelkel (“Roswell, New Mexico”) Shane Harper (“Code Black,” “Happyland”), Amaury Nolasco (“Prison Break,” “Deception” ) and Atkins Estimond (“The Resident,” “Lodge 49”).
Watch the teaser for “Hightown” below.
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Oscar Voter Stephen King Says He’d ‘Never Consider Diversity in Matters of Art’
Stephen King was the latest in Hollywood to weigh in on the conversation over diversity at the Oscars, and the horror author argued Tuesday that he would “never consider” factoring in diversity when it comes to evaluating art or voting on awards.
King said as a member of the Academy’s writers branch, he was only able to vote on Best Picture and the two screenplay categories, so he wouldn’t have had a say in influencing the lack of racial diversity in the acting categories (which only produced one black acting nominee, Cynthia Erivo) or the lack of women in the directors’ race (five men were nominated for the second year in a row).
“For me, the diversity issue–as it applies to individual actors and directors, anyway–did not come up,” King wrote on Twitter. “That said, I would never consider diversity in matters of art. Only quality. It seems to me that to do otherwise would be wrong.”
Also Read: Oscars 2020: Fewer Movies (and Nonwhite Actors) Get More Nominations, and That's No Joke
King’s position of only voting on merit met with some push back online by other writers, feminists and filmmakers who said that King’s take ignores the implicit bias of what’s seen as important or good in the industry and the idea that diversity and quality are separate entities.
“As a fan, this is painful to read from you. It implies that diversity and quality cannot be synonymous. They are not separate things,” writer Roxane Gay said in response. “Quality is everywhere but most industries only believe in quality from one demographic. And now, here you are.”
“Me when the privilege protectors get exhausted with mansplaining and whitesplaining @StephenKing‘s tweets to me and decide to move away from my timeline and get a life,” director Ava DuVernay said in a tweet along with a video of “Parasite” director Bong Joon-Ho discovering he got his Oscar nomination.
Also Read: Oscars 2020: Women Scored Record 31% of Nominations Overall Despite Female Director Snub
King later said the real problem is in making sure everyone has a “fair shot” to be nominated and represented in the industry.
“The most important thing we can do as artists and creative people is make sure everyone has the same fair shot, regardless of sex, color, or orientation. Right now such people are badly under-represented, and not only in the arts,” King wrote. “You can’t win awards if you’re shut out of the game.”
For the second year in a row, no women were nominated in the Best Director category when the Oscar nominees were announced Monday morning, with the Academy snubbing filmmakers like Alma Har’el, Lulu Wang, Melina Matsoukas, Lorene Scafaria and most notably Greta Gerwig, whose film “Little Women” received six nominations but not for Best Director.
Also Read: Dear Academy: Was 'Harriet' Really the Best of Black Cinema Last Year? (Guest Blog)
However, a count of the nominees by TheWrap showed that a record 31% of all the nominees in the field were women, a noticeable increase from last year when just under 28% of the overall nominees were women.
See King’s tweets below along with some responses below:
As a writer, I am allowed to nominate in just 3 categories: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Screenplay. For me, the diversity issue–as it applies to individual actors and directors, anyway–did not come up. That said…
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) January 14, 2020
…I would never consider diversity in matters of art. Only quality. It seems to me that to do otherwise would be wrong.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) January 14, 2020
The most important thing we can do as artists and creative people is make sure everyone has the same fair shot, regardless of sex, color, or orientation. Right now such people are badly under-represented, and not only in the arts.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) January 14, 2020
You can't win awards if you're shut out of the game.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) January 14, 2020
As a fan, this is painful to read from you. It implies that diversity and quality cannot be synonymous. They are not separate things. Quality is everywhere but most industries only believe in quality from one demographic. And now, here you are.
— roxane gay (@rgay) January 14, 2020
Me when the privilege protectors get exhausted with mansplaining and whitesplaining @StephenKing’s tweets to me and decide to move away from my timeline and get a life. pic.twitter.com/tmfK0nBLGU
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) January 14, 2020
"never considering diversity" is, in fact, making a choice to privilege certain works of art over others. WOMEN CRIME WRITERS, a collection I know you have read, would not exist without the specific goal of diversity, in the form of reviving neglected/overlooked writers.
— Sarah Weinman (@sarahw) January 14, 2020
They are too, the problem is the perception of quality is warped.
Trust me, I have had a career presenting as two sexes and you can produce exactly the same quality work, be praised as a man and be dismissed as woman.
Meritocracy does not work when merit is not perceived equally https://t.co/8013sqZwiv
— Delaney King????️???? (@delaneykingrox) January 14, 2020
I am second to no one in my admiration for Stephen King, but no one's art is being produced in a vacuum.
— Laura Lippman (@LauraMLippman) January 14, 2020
I greatly respect you, but this is a really bad take. It presumes a level playing field, which isn't the case. And it completely ignores the issue of bias.
— Ali Trotta (@alwayscoffee) January 14, 2020
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Adrien Brody to Star in Stephen King Adaptation 'Jerusalem's Lot' at Epix
Alex Ross Perry to Direct Adaptation of Stephen King's 'The Dark Half' for MGM
Ethan Hawke, Dee Rees, Emily Mortimer Among Sundance 2020 Jury Members
Ethan Hawke, “Mudbound” director-screenwriter Dee Rees and Emily Mortimer are among the jury members selected for the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, the Sundance Institute announced on Tuesday.
Twenty-five experts were selected to award feature films and short films shown at the upcoming festival, which will take place from Jan. 23 to Feb. 2 in Park City, Utah. Thirty-one prizes will be announced at a ceremony on Feb. 1, while the Short Film Awards will be announced at a separate ceremony on Jan. 28.
The juried Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize was awarded to “Tesla,” which stars Hawke, Jim Gaffigan, Kyle MacLachlan and Lucy Walters.
Also Read: Taylor Swift, Viggo Mortensen and Tessa Thompson Lead Diverse 2020 Sundance Lineup
See the jury members below.
U.S. DRAMATIC JURY
Rodrigo Garcia
Rodrigo Garcia’s films include the award-winning Nine Lives, Albert Nobbs, Mother and Child, and Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her. His television credits include the pilots of In Treatment, Carnivàle, Big Love, Bull, and the upcoming Party of Five series reboot. García is co-CEO of the digital studio Indigenous Media, which produced the series Five Points, Lauren, and Blue.
Ethan Hawke
Ethan Hawke has starred in over 60 films, including Training Day, Before Sunrise (1995 Sundance Film Festival), and Boyhood (2014 Sundance Film Festival), which garnered Hawke one of his four Academy Award nominations. Recently, he won a Gotham Award, an Independent Spirit Award, and over 20 film critics’ awards for his performance in First Reformed. Besides an on-screen actor, he is a director, an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, a Tony Award-nominated stage actor, and a novelist.
Dee Rees
Writer/director Dee Rees is the first Black woman nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Adapted Screenplay category, for her highly acclaimed film Mudbound (2018). Her previous credits include the multiple-Emmy-winning film Bessie (2014) and her Film Independent Spirit Award- and Gotham Award-winning debut feature, Pariah (2011). Her latest film, The Last Thing He Wanted, is an adaptation of the Joan Didion novel and stars Anne Hathaway as veteran DC journalist Elena McMahon.
Isabella Rossellini
Isabella Rossellini has appeared in numerous films, including Il prato (The Meadow), Blue Velvet, Cousins, Death Becomes Her, and Joy. Her award-winning series of shorts–Green Porno, Seduce Me, and Mammas–offer comical and scientifically insightful studies of animal behavior. She recently toured with her latest theatrical show, Link Link Circus. Rossellini also works to preserve the films of her father and mother, Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman, and runs an organic farm in Brookhaven.
Wash Westmoreland
Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer’s feature Quinceañera premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, winning both the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize. Their feature Still Alice won a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe and earned Julianne Moore her first Academy Award. After Glatzer’s passing, Westmoreland directed the acclaimed Colette (2018 Sundance Film Festival) and the psychological drama Earthquake Bird. Originally from Leeds, England, Westmoreland currently lives in Los Angeles, California.
U.S. DOCUMENTARY JURY
Kimberly Reed
Kimberly Reed’s Dark Money (2018 Sundance Film Festival) was named one of Vogue‘s “66 best documentaries of all time,” nominated for four Critics’ Choice Awards and the IDA Documentary Award for Best Documentary, awarded the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, and shortlisted for an Academy Award. Prodigal Sons, the first documentary by a transgender filmmaker to be theatrically released, won 14 international awards. Reed is also one of Filmmaker magazine’s “25 new faces of independent film.”
Rachel Rosen
Rachel Rosen is the director of programming for SFFILM, which presents the annual San Francisco International Film Festival, where she also served as the associate director of programming. She spent eight years as the director of programming for Film Independent and the LA Film Festival and has worked in various capacities for the New York Film Festival, New York’s Film Forum, and TriStar Pictures. She holds an MA in communications from the documentary film program at Stanford University.
Courtney Sexton
Courtney Sexton is senior vice president for CNN Films. Sexton works day to day with filmmakers to supervise the production of documentary films for theatrical exhibition and distribution across CNN’s platforms. Since Sexton joined CNN Films, the team has acquired or commissioned more than 45 original feature and short films. Sexton’s recent work includes Apollo 11, RBG, Three Identical Strangers, Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, Halston, and Scandalous.
E. Chai Vasarhelyi
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi is an Academy Award-winning filmmaker, known for Free Solo, which earned a BAFTA Award, the 2018 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, and seven Emmys. Her other films include Meru (shortlisted for a 2016 Academy Award ; won the U.S. Documentary Audience Award at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival), Incorruptible, A Normal Life, and Touba. She has received grants from Sundance Institute, the Ford Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Noland Walker
Noland Walker is vice president of content at ITVS and oversees the cultivation of independent documentary films for the award-winning public media series Independent Lens, POV, American Masters, America ReFramed, and others. He also steers ITVS’s content partnerships and field-relations strategies. Walker’s documentary credits include award-winning films such as Africans in America, Citizen King, Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, and Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story.
WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC JURY
Haifaa Al Mansour
Haifaa Al Mansour finished her bachelor’s degree in literature at the American University in Cairo and a master’s degree in directing and film studies from the University of Sydney. She is considered the first female Saudi Arabian filmmaker, and her feature film Wadjda was the first international film ever to be shot in Saudi Arabia. Invited to over 40 festivals worldwide, Wadjda garnered numerous awards, including in Venice, Rotterdam, and Dubai.
Wagner Moura
Wagner Moura is a Brazilian stage, film, and television star. His performance in Elite Squad (2007) put him on the world stage when the film won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. He recently starred as Pablo Escobar in Netflix’s critically acclaimed series Narcos, garnering both the show and him Golden Globe nominations. He made his directorial debut in 2019 with Marighella. He currently works with the UN to end forced labor.
Alba Rohrwacher
Born in Florence, Italy, Alba Rohrwacher studied acting at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome and gained recognition for her award-winning collaborations with Luca Guadagnino (I Am Love); Marco Bellocchio (Dormant Beauty, Blood of My Blood); Laura Bispuri (Daughter of Mine); Saverio Costanzo (Hungry Hearts, The Solitude of Prime Numbers); and her sister, Alice Rohrwacher (Happy as Lazzaro). Her awards for best actress include the Volpi Cup, two Nastri d’Argento, and two David di Donatello Awards.
WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY JURY
Eric Hynes
Eric Hynes is curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York, where he oversees the annual First Look Festival. He is also a longtime critic and journalist and writes a column on the art of nonfiction for Film Comment magazine. Other outlets have included the New York Times, the Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Slate, New York magazine, Sight & Sound, the Village Voice, and Reverse Shot, where he has been a staff writer since 2003.
Rima Mismar
Rima Mismar is the executive director of the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC), a grant-making organization that supports artists across the Arab region. She completed her studies at the Lebanese American University (LAU) in Beirut, before pursuing a career as a film critic. During the last decade, she has participated in festivals as a juror or a member of the selection committee, moderated panels, and written and contributed to critiques on Arab cinema.
Nanfu Wang
Nanfu Wang is a Chinese filmmaker based in New York City. She directs, produces, films, and edits feature documentaries, including Hooligan Sparrow (2016 Sundance Film Festival; shortlisted for the 2017 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature), I Am Another You (2017 SXSW Film Festival, Special Jury Award for Excellence in Documentary Storytelling), and One Child Nation (2019 Sundance Film Festival, U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize).
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Gregg Araki
Gregg Araki earned an MFA in film production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts and a BA in film studies from UC Santa Barbara. Araki has made eleven acclaimed independent features, including Kaboom (2011), Smiley Face (2007), Mysterious Skin (2005), and Totally F***ed Up (1994). Araki most recently directed 10 episodes of Now Apocalypse (2019 Sundance Film Festival) for Starz–a series he created, co-wrote, and executive produced with Steven Soderbergh and Gregory Jacobs.
SHORT FILM JURY
Sian Clifford
Sian Clifford is an Emmy Award and Critics’ Choice Award nominated actress for her role as Claire in the global phenomenon and multi-award-winning series Fleabag. She will star in AMC’s hotly anticipated Quiz, directed by Stephen Frears, later this year, as well as in Sky’s Two Weeks To Live, alongside Maisie Williams. She will also guest feature in Hitmen, again for Sky, and in the second series of psychological thriller Liar from Fleabag producers Two Brothers Pictures, for ITV.
Marcus Hu
Marcus Hu is copresident and cofounder of Strand Releasing, which has distributed the works of such international filmmakers as Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Gregg Araki, Catherine Breillat, Lucrecia Martel, and many others. Strand Releasing celebrates its 30th anniversary with a national tour of original films created by filmmakers and friends shot on iPhones and shown at museums around the country. Hu serves as chair of international inclusion for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
Cindy Sherman
Cindy Sherman has been the subject of one-person exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery in London (2019) and the Museum of Modern Art in New York (2012). Her work has also been included in five iterations of the Whitney Biennial, two Biennales of Sydney, and the 1983 documenta exhibition. She has received such awards and honors as the Praemium Imperiale, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.
ALFRED P. SLOAN FEATURE FILM PRIZE JURY
Ruth Angus
Dr. Ruth Angus obtained her PhD in astrophysics from the University of Oxford and is an assistant curator at the American Museum of Natural History, an associate research scientist at the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Astrophysics, and an adjunct professor of astrophysics at Columbia University. She studies the evolution of stars and planetary systems in the Milky Way using data from NASA’s Kepler and TESS space telescopes.
Emily Mortimer
Emily Mortimer is an actress recently seen in Mary Poppins Returns. She won a Film Independent Spirit Award for Nicole Holofcener’s Lovely and Amazing and earned nominations at the Empire Awards and the Critics’ Circle Film Awards for David Mackenzie’s Young Adam. She currently runs the production company King Bee Productions with her husband, Alessandro Nivola. She produced the Film Independent Spirit Award-nominated feature To Dust and is currently writing an adaptation of Nancy Mitford’s novel The Pursuit of Love.
Jessica Oreck
Jessica Oreck makes projects across mediums in an effort to re-inspire a sense of wonder about the world of the everyday. She’s made several feature films that focus on ethnobiology–the way that cultures interact with the natural world–including Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo (2009), Aatsinki: The Story of Arctic Cowboys (2013), The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga (2014), and One Man Dies a Million Times (2019). Jessica also works in paper-based animation, creating educational content for TED and several series for forthcoming outlets.
Ainissa Ramirez
Ainissa Ramirez, PhD, is a materials scientist and science communicator who is passionate about getting the general public excited about science. She has worked as a research scientist at Bell Labs and held academic positions at Yale University and MIT. Ramirez has written for Forbes, Time, Science, and Scientific American and has explained science headlines on CBS, CNN, NPR, and PBS’s SciTech Now. Her book The Alchemy of Us uncovers how tech shaped us and will be published in April 2020.
Michael Tyburski
Michael Tyburski is a director and screenwriter. His work has been featured by the New Yorker, Film Comment, IndieWire, and Filmmaker magazine. His short film Palimpsest won a Special Jury Prize at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. He received both a grant and lab support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, is a recipient of the SFFILM Dolby Institute Fellowship, and was selected for Sundance Institute’s Film Music and Sound Design Lab. His debut feature, The Sound of Silence, premiered at the 2019 Festival.
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Amazon Inks Overall Television Deal With Brad Pitt’s Production Company, Plan B
Amazon has signed an overall television deal with Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B, Amazon Studios boss Jennifer Salke announced Tuesday.
As part of the deal, Pitt and partners will be among the executive producers on upcoming series “Outer Range” from writer Brian Watkins. The thriller centers on a rancher fighting for his land and family, who discovers an unfathomable mystery at the edge of Wyoming’s wilderness.
Plan B is currently producing Amazon’s adaptation of the Colson Whitehead novel “Underground Railroad,” which is set to premiere later this year. The company is also working with Amazon and Legendary Television, to develop “Paper Girls,” an adaptation of the Brian K. Vaughan graphic novel.
Also Read: Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna Sign First-Look Deal at Amazon
On the film side, Plan B most recently inked a three-year agreement with Annapurna Pictures in 2017.
“Amazon has become a home for such ambitious talent in our industry, pushing cutting-edge storytelling and intellectual property to increasingly exciting, global places,” said Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, co-presidents of Plan B Entertainment. “We have loved working with Jen and the Amazon Studios team and can’t wait to keep going.”
“We are hugely excited to extend our relationship with Brad, Jeremy and Dede and the Plan B team. Their incredible eye for groundbreaking creative material and their track record of success speaks for itself,” Salke said. “We’re already working together on tremendously exciting series like The Underground Railroad, and the new drama Outer Range, and we’re looking forward to seeing the new projects we can create together for our Prime Video customers around the world.”
Also Read: Priyanka Chopra, Richard Madden to Star on Russo Brothers' Amazon Series 'Citadel'
The new development deal between Amazon and Plan B was one of several announced on Tuesday. The company also revealed that it had signed a first-look agreement with actors Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal via their Mexico-based production company La Corriente del Golfo, as well as an overall deal with “Widows” director Steve McQueen.
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January 13, 2020
Trevor Noah Looks at the Extremely Racist Coverage of Meghan Markle in British Media (Video)
On Monday’s “The Daily Show,” Trevor Noah took another look at the unfolding British royal family drama, this time focusing on the startling racism directed at Meghan Markle by the British press and even some members of the royal family.
Noah kicked things off by noting that earlier in the day, Queen Elizabeth called an “emergency meeting” to deal with Markle and Prince Harry’s surprise announcement that they’re pulling away from the royal family and intend to become “financially independent.” Princes Charles, William and Harry attended the meeting in person, while Markle called in from Canada, and Noah said he couldn’t blame her for skipping.
“Because nothing good happens when white people invite you to the countryside,” Noah joked. “We’ve all seen ‘Get Out,’ we know how this s— ends.”
Also Read: Prince Harry Pitched Meghan Markle's Voice Acting to Bob Iger at 'Lion King' Premiere
That’s when he got into the racism directed at Markle since she started dating Harry in 2016. Noah noted a Daily Mail headline that referenced NWA, a BBC host who compared Meghan and Harry’s infant son to a monkey, and even a member of the Royal family who wore a jewelry with a racist design the first time she met Meghan.
“I wonder if this woman has a cabinet full of racist broaches for different occasions,” Noah joked about that. Then he turned his attention to a comparison of British newspaper headlines about Kate Middleton and those about Markle. One particularly galling example was the Daily Mail’s fawning coverage of the time Middleton was reported to have eaten avocados, only to quite literally accuse Markle of being complicit in human rights crimes for doing the same thing.
Noah also talked about the recent report that Markle might have landed a voice over job for Disney. Watch the whole thing above.
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Black Widow Fights Other Black Widows in New ‘Black Widow’ Trailer (Video)
Fans got a closer look at Marvel Studios’ “Black Widow” Monday night, courtesy of a new trailer in which Natasha Romanoff squared off against the villain Taskmaster — and a small army of other Black Widows. Watch the clip above.
The new trailer begins similarly to the one that came out in December. We see Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) reuniting for her former comrades in the Soviet Union-era assassin training program that made her who she is. That includes lovable Red Guardian (David Harbour), who might be out of shape but, at least in one quick glimpse, appears to still have quite a kick left in him.
After that, more scenes of general action and mayhem as Natasha fights her way through “new enemies” — which includes the aforementioned squad of other Black Widows (not literally other Natashas, just people trained to fight and dress like her). We also get a slightly closer look at Taskmaster, who gives off a serious Winter Soldier vibe while also demonstrating his comic book superpower: The ability to mimic the physical movement of anyone he observes.
Also Read: Will 'Morbius' Be a Part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
“Black Widow” is a prequel set immediately after the events of “Captain America: Civil War.” But to mess with your heads just a little bit more, while that means it’s set approximately four years ago for you, the reader, thanks to the 5-year timeskip in “Avengers: Endgame” that Marvel has decided to make permanent, “Black Widow” takes place nearly a decade before “Spider-Man: Far From Home.”
Along with Johansson and Harbour, “Black Widow” also stars Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova (a.k.a. the Super Adaptoid in Marvel Comics), “The Handmaid’s Tale” star O-T Fagbenle as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Rick Mason, Ray Winstoneas an as-yet unknown character, Rachel Weisz also as an as-yet unknow character, and Olivier Richters also as a still-unannounced character.
About those last two roles: The actor behind Taskmaster’s taskmastering mask still hasn’t been announced. But we’re going to place a bet that the film’s big reveal is that it’s either Weisz or Richters. We’ll pay $50 or the equivalent in rubles if we lose.
Directed by Cate Shortland (“Berlin Syndrome”) and written by Jac Schaeffer and Ned Benson, “Black Widow” hits theaters May 1, 2020. And just so you all know how smart we are, we’ll note that release date falls on May Day. Get it? GET IT?
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