“Censorship of wilful new movies by Iran cast a cloud over the Venice Film Festival after one director was blocked from leaving the Islamic republic and another had his film seized… In [Babak Payami’s] latest movie, a Taliban soldier is ordered to have sex with a woman who is sentenced to death because she is still a virgin, and according to the Taliban interpretation of Islam, a virgin would automatically get into paradise.” Organizers in Venice had made a deliberate attempt to include Middle Eastern voices in this year’s festival, despite the inherent risk involved for participating directors from restricted societies like Iran.
Tag: 09.03.03
Fringe No More
With the increasing popularity of film festivals and indie flicks across North America, the movies being screened at the Toronto International Film Festival have taken on a new significance for Hollywood. In a culture so fragmented as ours, where there seems to be a TV channel for every subdivision of humanity, the entertainment industry has learned the value of niche marketing, and even Hollywood’s biggest studios take notice of the more successful entries in festivals like Toronto’s.
The Blackboard Jungle
Teaching is a profession which is constantly made to sound more glamorous and fulfilling than it ever is in reality. Inspiring young people to learn Great Things seems like a noble vocation, but in practice, too many teachers are left battling the double demons of boredom and disdain in their students. “In time I would learn that language and literature wouldst sucketh forever and that life at home (wherever that was this week) sucked like a veritable vortex… I wanted to engage them in critical thinking, but surely nothing could suck more than that, and this was a shame, because I’d gone back to school as an old bag just to get a credential to teach it.”
A Rush To The Bargaining Table?
The Philadelphia Orchestra’s contract with its musicians doesn’t expire for another year, but the orchestra’s board chairman wants to reopen negotiations immediately, and to get a new labor deal in place before the start of the season later this month. According to chairman Richard Smoot, the orchestra is pursuing some massive financial gifts, but donors are only willing to lay their money on the line if the organization can bring its financial situation under control. Among the management proposals being floated are plans to reduce the size of the orchestra through attrition, to replace unionized substitute players with students, and to delay scheduled raises for the musicians by a year.
Blog Nation: Millions Of Writers With Nothing To Say
Lost in all the breathless coverage of the “blog” phenomenon is the inescapable fact that most blogs are little more than daily lists of mundane personal activities, of interest to no one but the author and the author’s immediate circle of friends, if that. So what’s the point? Maybe that very lack of wide appeal is the point. “The Web is a high-tech gossip network: an entirely public notice board with very private functions. There is something about publishing, even self-publishing, even Web posting, that lends an air of gravity to one’s personal relations; when written, they come to seem more literary, more important.”
Now That’s Education Reform!
Deep Springs College is not your typical outpost of higher education. The all-male school is part college, part working cattle ranch, and, in a unique twist on the usual power dynamic, the 26 students more or less run the whole operation. “From the slaughtering of cows to the hiring of faculty, the day-to-day operations of the school are borne on the backs of 18- and 19-year-olds.”
A Fight Over A Bequest
A battle is brewing over a $1.7 million bequest made to the Victoria State Opera, which was taken over by Opera Australia in 1996. Opera Australia believes it is entitled to the money, but others believe the bequest ought to b e divided among other small Australian opera companies.
Guns Don’t Kill People, Short Stories Do
“The case of an Oklahoma teen who was charged with a felony for writing a violent short story about attacking his school has been dismissed by a judge who ruled that prosecutors failed to prove the teen actually intended to commit the act… Now, after tens of thousands of dollars spent fighting the charge, Brian Robertson is free, but the accusation that he broke the law will stay with him. Under Oklahoma law, if a case carries on for more than a year, a felony charge remains on the defendant’s record, even if the case is dismissed. The felony gets expunged from the record only if the defendant is acquitted following a trial.”
Pirates Fighting Back
When the recording industry began going after individuals for the practice of illegal online ‘song-swapping,’ many predicted that the pirates would not be cowed. At least one target of the industry’s lawsuits is indeed fighting back: a US woman known as “nycfashiongirl” has filed suit against her pursuers, claiming that the industry’s tracking of her internet usage violates her right to privacy.
Cabaret’s Special Place On Broadway
Broadway’s revival production of “Cabaret” will have run for 5 1/2 years when it closes in November. “Beyond the show itself, this Roundabout production and its historically significant run — it is the third-longest-running revival ever on Broadway, after “Chicago” and “Oh! Calcutta!” — has quietly enriched the world of the stage (and to some degree the screen) in ways that not many shows can claim.”