Month: July 2021

Priya Swaminathan is stepping down from her role as co-head of film and television at Higher Ground, the media company founded by President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. At the same time, the former president and First Lady announced several new additions to the company’s executive team, most notably hiring Joe Paulsen, an old Obama
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Starring Annie Parisse (“Law & Order,” “The Following”) and Gus Birney (“Dickinson”), Theodore Schaefer’s “Giving Birth to a Butterfly,” one of the buzz titles at August’s Fantasia Intl. Film Festival, has released a first clip ahead of the film’s world premiere in Fantasia Underground section on Aug. 9. Produced by Daryl Freimark (“A Bread Factory
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Logan Paul, a YouTuber and actor who’s made a name for himself as a boxer, has signed with WME. He previously had been with CAA since late 2015; prior to that, he was repped by UTA. Paul has more than 100 million followers across platforms, including more than 23 million for his YouTube channel. Last
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Sian Heder knew the sound department wasn’t going to be thrilled. About two-thirds into her movie, “CODA,” a touching melodrama about a teenage girl who is the only hearing member of her family, the writer-director wanted the audio to cut to complete silence. In the pivotal scene, 17-year-old Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones) belts out a
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Mena Suvari became a certified Hollywood star with her breakout work in “American Beauty” and “American Pie.” But as glamorous as her life may have appeared, Suvari was keeping a lot of secrets. Dark secrets. Now, she’s telling them all in her new memoir, “The Great Peace.” Suvari was raped when she was just 12
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Italian sales company True Colours has secured a seven-title slate of pics premiering in Venice across various sections, including Mario Martone’s competition entry “The King of Laughter” and high-profile doc “Django and Django: Sergio Corbucci Unchained,” in which Quentin Tarantino talks about the influential Spaghetti Westerns director. Martone (“Capri Revolution”), who is a Lido aficionado, will
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An extinction event has brought an end to Phil Tippett’s dinosaur days. The legendary “Star Wars” and “Jurassic Park” VFX artist who helped bring George Lucas’ galactic menagerie to life, who gave teeth to Steven Spielberg’s T. Rex, is preparing to unveil his greatest work, while leaving “Hollywood filmmaking” in the Mesozoic-view mirror. For the
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Music technology company VNUE has announced that it is acquiring livestreaming platform StageIt in a deal that it says will add over $9 million in revenue and access to thousands of performers and creators. The deal brings fans and technology to VNUE’s portfolio, in addition to boosting the company’s Soundstr platform with Music Recognition Technology.
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NBCUniversal’s Peacock streamer will begin its international rollout this year as a free addition on Sky’s satellite TV platform in Europe, giving it an internation base of 20 million households. Peacock has reached 54 million total signups since its debut in April 2020. The streamer’s most popular original series has been the drama “Dr. Death,”
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Nationalist users on Chinese social media platform Weibo have attacked foreign consulates in the southern capital of Guangzhou for seeking to “bring down China” with an LGBTQ film festival jointly hosted by 17 foreign governments. Such users say they have flooded the platform’s censors with reports that posts about the festival are politically problematic, seeking
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The Venice Film Festival has unveiled the lineup of its VR Expanded sidebar dedicated to virtual reality works. As many as 37 projects from 21 countries will be presented, including 23 titles in competition. The sidebar will also highlight 12 VR projects that launched within the last year in an out-of-competition section. The strand’s sixth
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Top Chinese social media platform Weibo has banned the official account of the German consulate in Guangzhou for “violating community standards” after it posted information about a LGBTQ film festival jointly hosted with 16 other foreign governments. The ban, which has now been in effect for more than two full days, was instated after nationalist
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