Seattle’s Intiman Theatre May Be Pulling Itself Away From The Edge Of The Cliff

“Shortly after a fundraising gala-brunch on Saturday, Nov. 2, Intiman announced it had raised $130,000 in one month (including the brunch), putting the theater close to its year-end goal of $200,000. Meeting that goal would leave the organization, which has operated with a roughly $1 million budget in recent years, with $150,000 cash on hand going into 2020.” – The Seattle Times

Another Movie About Nigerians Disqualified From Oscars’ Best International Feature Category

Last week, controversy broke out when Nigeria’s first-ever submission for what used to be called the Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar was ruled out because a large majority of the dialogue is in English. Now Austria’s submission, a story of Nigerian sex workers in Vienna titled Joy, has been rejected for the same reason: two-thirds of the dialogue is in English. – The Hollywood Reporter

UK Publishers, Booksellers Wrestle With Selling Right Wing Books

With a divisive election looming and rising rates of hate crime, the question of how best to engage with opposing views is, says David Shelley of the publishing giant Hachette, hotly debated in acquisitions meetings. “It’s important to uphold free speech, but social justice is also a big part of our mission,” he says. He is proud that Hachette publishes authors from across the political spectrum, from Labour’s Jess Phillips to the controversial rightwing commentator Rod Liddle. “But we wouldn’t want to publish any book that played a part in oppressing minorities, or went against our inclusive ethos.” – The Guardian

Last Year Archaeologists Dated Cave Paintings In Spain Back To The Neanderthals. Were They Wrong?

Published in the Journal of Human Evolution, the critique, led by New York University archaeologist Randall White and co-authored by 44 international researchers, suggests that the dating technique used in the earlier report might not be reliable. “There is still no convincing archaeological evidence that Neanderthals created [southwestern European] cave art,” the document states. – Artnet