Category: media

British Columbia has been luring Hollywood films to shoot in the province for years. Now the Canadians are going after Bollywood movies. The attraction? Same as for Hollywood. Great tax breaks and beautiful scenery. One of the first films is directed at Indian audiences, and probably not suited to the tastes of mainstream Western moviegoers. “This is not really a satire of Indians living abroad. I wanted there to be a certain reality to the film, which will set it apart from many Bollywood films. But I didn’t want it to be an ethnic comedy in the same way that ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ or ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ are.”

“The notion that the American film industry is a hotbed of left-wing propaganda is a venerable one, and some determined demagogues will cling to it no matter what the studios do. But the studios themselves, especially after the stunning success of Mel Gibson’s independently financed “The Passion of the Christ,” have tried to strengthen their connection with religious and social conservatives, who represent not only a political constituency but a large and powerful segment of the market.”

Movie directors used to shun TV as a lesser art form. But many are now taking on projects for the small screen. “In what has become an annual rite of migration over the last few years, feature filmmakers flock to a once-scorned realm to direct (and often executive produce) TV series. This fall, the transfusion of feature film talent continues unabated with a new crop of drama pilots shaped by movie directors.”

Is community asccess TV in America endangered? “Congress is looking at legislation which, while opening cable to competition and greater options, may erode the main revenue stream for CCTV and many of its sibling stations across the country.”

Hollywood studios are marketing their movies to big religious groups, giving them sneak presevies. “The Walt Disney Co. is marketing “The Greatest Game Ever Played” to faith-based groups even though the film, about Francis Ouimet’s improbable win in the 1913 U.S. Open, isn’t overtly religious. ‘Its themes are about family, about not giving up on your dreams, courage. They are very secular virtues, but they also could potentially be Christian virtues’.”

A test of broadcasting live TV to mobile phones is being conducted in the UK. “Sixteen channels will be available to the triallists, including BBC One and Two, ITV 1 and 2, and Channel 4. TV is touted as the next phase of mobile entertainment.”

“Among the functions included in TiVo’s latest software upgrade is the ability to allow broadcasters to erase material recorded by TiVo’s 3.6 million users after a certain date. That ability was demonstrated recently when some TiVo customers complained on TiVo community sites that episodes of The Simpsons and King of the Hill they recorded were ‘red-flagged’ for deletion by the copyright holder.” The company insists that the deletions were a glitch, and that there are currently no plans to allow studios to remotely delete programs from TiVo hard drives. Of course, that kind of denial begs the question: why install the technology for something you don’t plan to use?

For a festival that was supposed to put Montreal back on the international filmfest map, the New Montreal FilmFest has so far been a consummate disaster. “Fears about a high degree of festival fatigue in Montreal appear to have been founded, given the poor attendance reported at many of the venues. Several screenings have had as few as 30 people in attendance — one film even reportedly showed to just nine festivalgoers.” In addition, an embarrassingly public spat has broken out between the fest’s director and its corporate backers, and several high-profile screenings have been cancelled without explanation.

Journalist Daniel Schorr is 89, still producing daily segments for National Public Radio and unapologetically infuriating the American right wing. He insists he isn’t worried about the future of public broadcasting, but he has serious concerns about the Bush administration’s appproach to dealing with the national press. “Nixon hated the media and didn’t know what to do about it. This administration is much cleverer. They know what to do about it. They’re smart people.”

Britain’s ITV channel, the country’s first commercial broadcaster, turns 50 this week, but not many in the UK view the milestone as worth celebrating. ITV’s ratings have plummeted in recent years, and so has the channel’s commitment to public service programming. “The days seem long gone when, in return for ‘a licence to print money’, it was made to produce an ambitious range of drama, documentaries, current affairs, religion, arts and children’s programmes.”