Category: media

The surprise announcement landed via a press release on Wednesday, a little over a month after the completion of this year’s festival. That event, which concluded Sept. 28, was the first to occupy a fall calendar slot after a longtime home in the summer. The shift put the event into more direct competition with other festivals in an already crowded fall space, including the established AFI Fest in Los Angeles.

“Vittorio Castellani, also known as Chef Kumalé, says RAI told him in a telephone call last week that his role [on the program La Prova del Cuoco (The Chef’s Test)] had been temporarily put on hold because producers of the programme, hosted by Elena Isoardi, the girlfriend of Italy’s far-right deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, wanted to give more space to ‘multi-regional’ Italian rather than ‘multicultural’ food.”

“VR was supposed to be a revolution, with companies like Oculus pioneering a whole new way for gamers and non-gamers alike to be immersed in digital environments … But for all the hype we have very little consumer interest to show for it.”

“@lenadunham constantly talks about representation as crucial to enrich storytelling. Yet, in practice, she has shown a disregard for actually elevating those voices. Now, she’s been signed on to write a Syrian refugee’s story? Hollywood, was no female Arab writer available?” That was one typical response to the news that Spielberg and director J.J. Abrams had hired Dunham to pen the script for their film version of A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee’s Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival.

These films serve as a testament to the growing trend of “street casting”—using “normal” people, discovered in their natural habitats, rather than those found through casting agencies or the professional acting community. Some of the best independent films of the past few years—Sean Baker’s “The Florida Project,” Andrea Arnold’s “American Honey,” and Abdellatif Kechiche’s “Blue Is the Warmest Color”—were created this way, and they make the notion of professional acting seem altogether antiquated, particularly when the characters are part of a milieu that requires a heightened degree of specificity. Stories about subculture succeed when handled delicately, and with the willing guidance of those within it.

“As the poll exists to salute the extraordinary diversity and richness of films from all around the world, we wanted to ensure that its voters were from all around the world, too. The 209 critics who took part are from 43 different countries and speak a total of 41 languages – a range that sets our poll apart from any other. The result: 100 films from 67 different directors, from 24 countries, and in 19 languages.” (Interesting fact: the number-one film got no votes from any of the critics from its country of origin.)

There are more than 500 new scripted shows being produced in North America this year, a record number not including reality, sports or returning series. Many of those shows are filmed in Toronto; currently shooting in the city are Season 8 of Suits, and the second seasons of Star Trek: Discovery and American Gods.

Basically, unless a screenwriter wants to let all creative control go, the answer is to produce as well as write. And, Karla Williams says, there’s bigger issue in British media: “My work means too much to simply give it away, and with most TV commissioners, execs and producers being white, middle class men, I would be giving my baby to carers who were not best equipped to feed, love and nurture her.”