“This proposal would eliminate cultural diversity, which stems from freedom — which means artists are not kept on a political leash,” Budapest mayor Gergely Karacsony said. The Hungarian Theatre Society also issued a statement saying the plan would curtail artistic freedoms in an unacceptable way. – Reuters
Tag: 12.06.19
Film About Gay Romance In Georgia Pulled From Tbilisi Film Festival After Violent Protests
“Ana Subeliani arrived at the film premiere for And Then We Danced by foot, but left in an ambulance, blood running down her face. … Before screenings in November, far-right protesters and members of the Georgian Orthodox Church, some holding religious icons aloft, tried to stop moviegoers entering theaters” screening the film, which depicts a romance between two male members of the country’s national dance troupe. – The New York Times
Teenager Who Threw Six-Year-Old From Tate Modern Balcony Pleads Guilty To Attempted Murder
“Jonty Bravery, who turned 18 in October, … told the police he had to prove a point ‘to every idiot’ who said he had no mental health problems … As well as having an autistic spectrum disorder, Bravery has an obsessive compulsive disorder and is likely to have a personality disorder.” – The Guardian
Here’s Something For Our Era: A ‘Digital Dance Company’ In North Texas
There’s dance, but then there are podcasts, and then there’s the international dance film festival as well. – Dallas Morning News
How Should Writers Create Literary Community For (And With) Parents?
Pen Parentis has lasted for more than a decade in a literary world that is decidedly unfriendly to working parents. “‘The way you hear it is in the people who don’t have kids and when you say, ‘We run this thing for parents,’ they say, ‘I’m too dedicated to my career; I could never have kids.’ … And that, to me, as a parent, makes me feel like someone who’s not as dedicated to my career because I decided to have kids, which is wrong.” – Literary Hub
This Author Did Eight Years Of Research On A ‘Quiet Little Book’ That Became An Immediate Sensation
Lisa Taddeo thinks her success is partially luck, and partially that she really digs into the nuances of women’s desire, and their relationships with men, at least before the Weinstein scandal broke. – The Guardian (UK)
Why Hollywood Is Obsessed With De-Aging Its Stars
This isn’t the why, but a result: “Guy Williams and his fellow visual-effects artists have spent so much time staring at Will Smith’s face, they’ve practically memorized his every pore. ‘We joke sometimes that we probably know his face better than his wife does,’ Williams told me in September, laughing. ‘I can tell you exactly how he forms a smile. I can even tell you the 12 different flavors of Will Smith’s smile and the subtleties of each one. It gets pretty obnoxious.'” Indeed. – The Atlantic
Geffen Gaffes
Talking NY Phil: “I’d wish for less attention and money to be squandered on overhauling the hall and more on improving the mix of musicians (guest soloists and visiting conductors) and on reimagining the programing, to make it more innovative and eclectic.” – Lee Rosenbaum
Ron Leibman, Star Of Screen But Especially Stage, Has Died At 82
Leibman won a Tony Award for his portrayal of Roy Cohn in the 1993 Broadway production of Angels in America. At that point, he had Drama Desk Awards and an Emmy, but it was as Cohn that his reputation grew. “So striking was Mr. Leibman’s portrayal that no less an actor than F. Murray Abraham, an Oscar winner, found him a hard act to follow when he took over as Cohn in 1994.” – The New York Times
Hugh Grant, Not Actually The Prime Minister, Arrives At Britons’ Front Doors In Election Campaign
Grant said in one candidate’s video, “I, for the first time in my life, am getting active politically, because I think that the country is on the edge of a true abyss.” He’s campaigning strategically, to block Boris Johnson’s majority. “He described what he said would be ‘the catastrophe of a no-deal Brexit’ under Mr. Johnson.” – The New York Times