Category: media

“On Thursday, Tunisian courts will hand down a verdict in the public prosecution of Nabil Karoui, chief of popular Tunisian broadcaster Nessma TV, for airing [Marjane Satrapi’s film Persepolis]. The verdict will say a lot about the future of freedom of expression in the very country whose citizens kicked off the Arab Spring a year and a half ago.”

“TV shooting last week slid 28% to 257 days, down 100 days from the same frame a year ago. It was the second-slowest week of the year for TV — only 31 days more than the first week of the year, which saw the fewest TV shoots of 2012. Largest drop came in TV reality, down to 130 days from 180 last year.”

“Because of the cutbacks to CBC and National Film Board, we are witnessing the beginning of maybe the disappearance of Canadian documentary.”

“Established in 1979, the Canadian academy is the non-profit industry group that administers the Genies, Canada’s annual film award honouring both French- and English-language productions. The academy also hosts the Gemini Awards and Prix Gémeaux — which honour English- and French-language TV and digital programming, respectively.”

“The relationship between IFTA and MPAA is a telling example not only of how lobbying gets done in Washington but also of how perceptions are formed.”

“For all the talk of a box-office renaissance, the truth is that most of the gains of the past decade have come from rising ticket prices, not more people seeing movies.”

“The China Film Group functions as the Chinese government’s guardian of a film market that recently shot past Japan’s to become the world’s second-largest in box-office receipts behind the United States. On a broad array of business dealings — censorship, distribution and co-productions, among others — it is the conduit for foreign moviemakers hoping to make or distribute films in China.”

“The Academy announced last April that after a more than yearlong review, it had decided to trim its categories by 31, in part to make the awards more competitive. That meant eliminating categories by sex, so men and women compete in the same vocal categories.
But it also eliminated other niche categories and created broader ones. For example, instead of a best Latin jazz album, those musicians competed against a larger group of artists in the best jazz instrumental category.”

With streaming up almost 550 percent in the first quarter of 2012 and people still buying packaged DVDs, the industry is smiling – but bricks and mortar stores are dying.

“Founded by Benito Mussolini in 1937 to film propaganda, Cinecittà was the site of 300 films in its first six years. During World War II, the Germans looted the studios, and from 1945 to 1947, Cinecittà was a displaced persons camp, but in the 1950s, American production companies in need of a cheap studio turned to southeast Rome. Hits such as La Dolce Vita, Ben Hur, Roman Holiday and War and Peace were filmed there. When the production of Cleopatra ran over budget in London, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the enormous cast finished the film at Cinecittà.”