Category: media

“Richard Raddon, the director of the Los Angeles Film Festival who has been at the center of controversy ever since it was revealed almost two weeks ago that he had contributed $1,500 to the campaign to ban gay marriage in California, resigned from his post over the weekend.”

“New York’s Tribeca Film Festival, founded by actor Robert De Niro after the September 11 attacks, plans to stage a new festival in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar next year. Created as a way to rejuvenate lower Manhattan after the 2001 al Qaeda attacks, Tribeca has become a showcase for international films with a political edge, and organizers said the Tribeca Film Festival Doha would do the same.”

“Does an economy in tatters slow down or speed up the shift to watching TV shows and movies on the Web and mobile devices? The entertainment industry doesn’t like the answer that is rapidly becoming clear: A global economic crisis almost certainly means a sharp acceleration in the move to new ways of consuming content, setting the stage for a new clash between consumers and studios.”

The business of reruns can generate “mega coin,” as The Hollywood Reporter might put it, but it’s unpredictable. “Success on the network doesn’t mean success in syndication.”

“The Screen Actors Guild said Saturday it will ask its members to authorize a strike after its first contract talks in four months with Hollywood studios failed despite the help of a federal mediator.”

“For many in Hollywood, the Proposition 8 backlash represents a troubling clash of free speech, religious beliefs and the right to fight intolerance. Many supporters of same-sex marriage view the state constitutional amendment as codified bigotry, a rollback of civil liberties for gays and lesbians.”

“What will happen, in the age of iPod, DVR, VOD, YouTube and BitTorrent, to the experience of moviegoing, to say nothing of the art of cinema? The answer does not seem to be that people will stop going to the movies.”

“From November 27, the channels can be viewed online via their respective sites on bbc.co.uk at the same time as they are broadcast on television. They will also be available to licence fee payers using the internet on portable devices such as mobile phones… The channels join BBC3, BBC4, CBBC, CBeebies and BBC News, which are already simulcast.”

“Europe’s heritage went digital Thursday when the European Union launched an online library putting famous works such as Dante’s “Divine Comedy” and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony just a mouse click away.” Naturally, the servers crashed shortly after launch, due to the 10 million people per hour attempting to access the service.

“A documentary, more than two years in the making, about President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign is gathering significant interest from international distributors just days after being picked up in the United States by HBO.”