- ‘CODA’ Filmmaker Siân Heder to Direct Paramount’s ‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow’ Hollywood Reporter
- ‘Coda’ Director Siân Heder Signs on to Adaptation of Bestseller ‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow’ Variety
- ‘CODA’ Director Siân Heder Boards Paramount’s Adaptation Of New York Times Best-Seller ‘Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow’ Deadline
- ‘CODA’ Filmmaker Siân Heder Sets Her Next Film — World of Reel Jordan Ruimy
- Siân Heder to Adapt Bestseller ‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow’ IndieWire
Tag Archives: filmmaker
Israeli Filmmaker Slams German Politicians for Branding Berlin Award Acceptance Speech “Antisemitic” – Hollywood Reporter
- Israeli Filmmaker Slams German Politicians for Branding Berlin Award Acceptance Speech “Antisemitic” Hollywood Reporter
- Israeli director receives death threats after calling for ceasefire at Berlin film festival CNN
- Israeli director receives death threats after officials call Berlin film festival ‘antisemitic’ The Guardian
- Criticism of Israel at Berlin Film Festival Stirs Antisemitism Debate The New York Times
- Israeli journalist rails at West Bank ‘apartheid’ in Berlinale acceptance speech The Times of Israel
‘Monster Inside’ Filmmaker Responds to McKamey Manor Probe (Exclusive) – Hollywood Reporter
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- Tennessee AG Investigating Attraction Featured In Hulu Doc “Monster Inside: Most Extreme Haunted House” Deadline
- McKamey Manor Faces Probe From State Attorney General Nashville Scene
- Tennessee AG’s office investigating ‘extreme haunted attraction’ in Summertown WSMV 4
- Tennessee Attorney General Announces Investigation Into McKamey Manor, The Haunted House That’s Basically A Torture Chamber Whiskey Riff
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‘The Exorcist: Believer’ Filmmaker David Gordon Green Talks Taylor Swift, Tea Time with Ellen Burstyn and What He’s Directing Next – Hollywood Reporter
- ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ Filmmaker David Gordon Green Talks Taylor Swift, Tea Time with Ellen Burstyn and What He’s Directing Next Hollywood Reporter
- The Exorcist: Believer | Exclusive Interviews | David Gordon Green, Jason Blum Moviefone
- David Gordon Green takes on ‘Exorcist’ in a reboot of the 50-year-old horror classic The Dallas Morning News
- David Gordon Green Addresses Star Wars Rumors: ‘I Would Be Very Curious’ Superherohype.com
- How The Exorcist: Believer Director David Gordon Green Shifted Horror Gears After Halloween [Exclusive] /Film
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Daytime Emmy-Nominated Filmmaker Was 59
Catherine Cyran, the Daytime Emmy-nominated director of more than 20 features, died on Christmas Eve, according to multiple Facebook posts from those close to her. While a cause of death has not yet been reported, she was 59.
“Today we lost a beautiful soul, Catherine Cyran..This Chriatmas Eve You slipped through my fingers peacefully,” wrote Gary B Bigger Jr. on December 24. “My mentor & director who truly loved me…I never thought angels existed till now.”
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The Brooklyn-born Cyran was a graduate of both Harvard and Stanford Business School who also regularly worked as a writer and producer, over the course of her more than 30-year career. Her introduction to the world of filmmaking came as the writer-producer for assorted low-budget films from Roger Corman — first among them, such titles as A Cry in the Wild, Slumber Party Massacre III and Bloodfist II.
Cyran’s breakthrough as a director came in 1993 with White Wolves: A Cry in the Wild II — a family adventure pic, for which she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy, in the category of Outstanding Directing in a Children’s Special. Additional directing credits for the multi-hyphenate included the river-rafting pic Dangerous Waters; the Showtime horror Sawbones; the actioner True Heart with Kirsten Dunst; three of four installments in the Prince & Me series of rom-coms; and the holiday comedy Christmas Do-Over with Jay Mohr, to name just a few. Cyran’s final film was one of many holiday-themed titles she made for TV over the years — a rom-com titled Our Italian Christmas Memories, with three-time Emmy winner Beau Bridges, which bowed on Hallmark in November.
A member of the Writers Guild of America, as well as the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the Directors Guild of Canada, Cyran also notably penned a YA novel titled Island of the Last Great Auk, which was based on her own award-winning screenplay, The Last Story.
Memorial plans have not yet been disclosed.
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Norwegian filmmaker faces up to 3 years in prison for saying men cannot be lesbians
A woman in Norway is facing up to 3 years in prison on criminal hate-speech charges after saying that a man cannot become a lesbian.
Tonje Gjevjon, a lesbian filmmaker and actress, was informed on November 17 that she was under investigation for speaking out against prominent Norwegian activist Christine Jentoft on Facebook. Jentoft is a transgender female that often refers to herself as a lesbian mother.
Jentoft previously accused another woman, Christina Ellingsen, of transphobia for a similar claim. Ellingsen is also under investigation and faces three years in jail if found guilty.
The post on Gjevjon’s Facebook page under investigation read “It’s just as impossible for men to become a lesbian as it is for men to become pregnant. Men are men regardless of their sexual fetishes.”
DETRANSITIONER, EXPERTS ISSUE WARNING OVER AMERICAN GIRL PUSHING GENDER TRANSITIONS: ‘PROTECT YOUR DAUGHTERS’
Norwegian filmmaker and actress Tonje Gjevjon faces up to three years in prison for refuting the idea that a man can be a lesbian on Facebook.
(Tonje Gjevjon)
She has said that she intentionally posted her Facebook message to draw attention to Norway’s hate speech laws.
Gjevjon’s comments appear to be under investigation for falling under a 2020 amendment to the country’s penal code that added “gender identity and gender expression” under protected categories from hate speech. People found guilty of hate speech face a fine or up to one year in prison for private remarks, and a maximum of three years for public comments.
Women’s rights activists, including the Women’s Declaration International Norway, which Ellingsen is a representative of, have claimed that the amendment undermined free speech and expression in the country.
This is not the first time that Gjevjon has spoken out on controversial topics surrounding gender and women’s rights.
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Tonje Gjevjon said she intentionally posted her Facebook message to draw attention to Norway’s hate speech statute.
(Subjekt.no)
Last year, Gjevjon confronted Anette Trettebergstuen, Norway’s minister of culture and reality, claiming that misconstruing gender identity and biological sex has “harmful” and “discriminatory” implications for women, especially lesbians.
“Will the equality minister take action to ensure that lesbian women’s human rights are safeguarded, by making it clear that there are no lesbians with penises, that males cannot be lesbians regardless of their gender identity, and by tidying up the mess of the harmful gender policies left behind by the previous government?” Gjevjon asked.
“I do not share an understanding of reality where the only two biological sexes are to be understood as sex. Gender identity is also important,” Trettebergstuen replied.
The first discrimination charge in Norway that centered on gender identity was filed in 2018. The case centered on a transgender woman who complained that she was asked not to shower in the woman’s locker room of a sports center, according to female-led news organization Reduxx.
LAWMAKER ON TRIAL IN EUROPE FOR RELIGIOUS VIEWS A ‘CAUTIONARY TALE’ FOR THE US, SAYS LAWYER
MP of the Finland’s Christian Democrats Paivi Rasanen arrives to attend a court session at the Helsinki District Court in Helsinki, Finland on January 24, 2022. Rasanen was acquitted of four charges of incitement against a minority group.
((Photo by ANTTI AIMO-KOIVISTO/Lehtikuva/AFP via Getty Images))
Similar cases have cropped up across Europe, including Finland, where a religious freedom case saw tensions rise between free speech and LGBTQ advocates.
In March, Finnish Member of Parliament Päivi Räsänen and Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola were acquitted of all charges in their case. Räsänen faced three charges of ethnic agitation for a 2004 pamphlet, for taking part in a discussion on a radio show in 2019, and most recently, for tweeting a picture of the Bible.
In a 2019 tweet, Räsänen questioned her church’s sponsorship of an LGBTQ Pride event and linked to an Instagram post with a picture of Romans 1:24-27, which calls same-sex intercourse “shameful.”
Pohjola faced one count of ethnic agitation for hosting a pamphlet written by Räsänen on his church’s website similarly critical of gay men and women.
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Norway is considered one of the most liberal countries in Europe for LGBTQ individuals, even allowing people to legally change their gender without the need for a medical diagnosis.
Filmmaker Paul Haggis ordered to pay total of $10M in rape lawsuit
Oscar-winning screenwriter Paul Haggis was ordered on Monday to fork over an additional $2.5 million in damages in a rape lawsuit, bringing the total amount he must pay to $10 million.
He is accused of sexually assaulting Haleigh Breest nearly a decade ago.
Breest’s lawyers lauded the verdict, but Haggis insisted that he was falsely accused and hurt financially by fighting the civil case, and has vowed to appeal.
“I can’t live with lies like this. I will die clearing my name,” he said as he left the court.
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Oscar-winning screenwriter Paul Haggis was ordered on Monday to fork over an additional $2.5 million in damages in a rape lawsuit, bringing the total amount he must pay to $10 million.
(Julia Nikhinson)
Breest said Haggis raped her and forced her to perform oral sex on him in his New York apartment on Jan. 31, 2013. The filmmaker claims the sexual encounter was consensual.
Last week, the jury delivered a verdict in Breest’s favor and awarded her $7.5 million in compensatory damages for suffering. The jury also decided that she was owed punitive damages.
Jurors returned to court on Monday to hear testimony about Haggis’ finances and to determine how much more he would be forced to pay.
Haggis was questioned about his earnings on films such as Oscar best picture winners “Crash” and “Million Dollar Baby,” as well as the James Bond films “Casino Royale” and “Quantum of Solace.”
He explained to jurors the complexities of screenwriting compensation and estimated that he has made as much as $25 million before taxes, agents’ and other representatives’ fees and asset splits with his two ex-wives.
Haggis has worked in film for more than 40 years.
Last week, the jury delivered a verdict in Haleigh Breest’s favor and awarded her $7.5 million in compensatory damages for suffering. The jury also decided that she was owed punitive damages.
(AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
The filmmaker said he had suffered various financial losses throughout his career, including a poorly insured home being destroyed in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. But, he said, Breest’s lawsuit wiped him out, and his legal bills surpassed $2.6 million.
“I’ve spent all the money I have at my disposal. I’ve gutted my pension plan, I’ve lived on loans, in order to pay for this case in a very naive belief in justice,” he said outside the court.
Breest’s legal questioned the validity of Haggis’ claims regarding his financial situation.
“Nothing Paul Haggis says can be trusted,” attorney Ilann Maazel said.
Maazel said after the verdict that the jury “did the right thing.”
JENNIFER SIEBEL NEWSOM IDENTIFIES HARVEY WEINSTEIN AS ALLEGED RAPIST IN EMOTIONAL SEXUAL ASSAULT TESTIMONY
Paul Haggis is accused of sexually assaulting Haleigh Breest nearly a decade ago.
(AP)
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Breest said she suffered both professional and psychological harm from the incident at Haggis’ apartment. She had accepted an invitation for a drink at his place after a movie premiere.
She filed a lawsuit for unspecified damages. Haggis was not criminally charged.
In a statement after the initial verdict on Thursday, Breest said she appreciated “the opportunity to seek justice and accountability in court — and that the jury chose to follow the facts — and believed me.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
New ‘American Pie’ Movie in Works From Universal, Filmmaker Sujata Day – The Hollywood Reporter
Another American Pie is in the works, this one to be penned by Insecure actor and Definition Please filmmaker Sujata Day.
The multihyphenate is set to develop and write a new installment of the long-running sex comedy franchise for Universal 1440 Entertainment, a production arm of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group. Plot details have yet to be revealed, but the story is based on her original pitch and is being described as a fresh take.
The original 1999 film, written by Adam Herz and directed by Paul Weitz, grossed more than $235 million worldwide and spawned three sequels with the core cast, as well as spinoff franchise American Pie Presents (five films so far) from Universal’s home entertainment division.
Day’s career originated in front of the camera, and she is best known onscreen for her recurring role as We Got Y’all staffer Sarah on HBO’s Insecure (she previously co-starred on Issa Rae’s webseries The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl). Her feature directorial debut Definition Please, in which she starred as a former spelling bee champion reconnecting with her estranged family, won the grand jury award for best narrative feature at San Francisco CAAM Fest, best feature at the Indian Film Festival of Cincinnati, outstanding directorial debut at the South Asian Film Festival of America and a special jury award for Fresh Narrative Voice at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, as well as best narrative feature at the Next Generation Indie Film Awards. It was acquired by Ava DuVernay’s Array and is now available on Netflix.
Day, who also previously directed the LeVar Burton-narrated YouTube series This is My Story, has served as a Sundance Lab fellow, Sundance Film Festival influencer and HBO Visionaries ambassador. She was the inaugural recipient of Women’s Voices Now’s inaugural Women Making Waves award and was profiled on NBCUniversal News Group’s Inspiring America series for Definition Please’s exploration of race and mental illness on film.
She is represented by WME, Mosaic and Myman Greenspan.
‘Kaali’: Filmmaker Leena Manimekalai faces death threats over controversial Hindu goddess poster
A Toronto-based filmmaker says she has received a deluge of death threats and abuse from Hindu nationalists in India after she depicted the goddess Kali smoking a cigarette.
The image, which featured on a poster for her independent film “Kaali”, has sparked nationwide debate in India, with politicians, diplomats and local police reportedly among those accusing director Leena Manimekalai of offending religious sentiments.
The film, which uses an alternative English spelling of the goddesses’ name, was among 18 works intended to explore multiculturalism at the Toronto Metropolitan University’s “Under the Tent” showcase at the Aga Khan Museum.
Described as a “performance documentary,” it imagines the Hindu goddess “descending onto a queer female filmmaker” and viewing Canada — and its diverse people — through her eyes, Manimekalai explained.
“She is a free spirit. She spits at patriarchy. She dismantles Hindutva (an ideology that seeks to transform secular India into a Hindu nation). She destroys capitalism. She embraces everyone with a thousand hands.”
Kali “chooses love” and accepts a cigarette from “working-class street dwellers,” Manimekalai added in an email.
A promotional poster, which features the director dressed as Kali, shows the Hindu goddess smoking and holding aloft a rainbow flag, a symbol of the LGBTQ community.
Manimekalai, who is from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is currently a graduate fellow at Toronto’s York University, shared the poster to Twitter on Saturday. It soon went viral, eliciting furious responses from some Indian social media users — many of whom called for her arrest. Within days, tens of thousands of tweets had appeared with the hashtag #ArrestLeenaManimekalai.
In a statement published Monday, the Indian High Commission in Canada’s capital, Ottawa, urged the country’s authorities to “take action” against what it called a “disrespectful depiction.” The Aga Khan Museum — having screened an excerpt of the film over the weekend — then announced that Manimekalai’s work was “no longer being shown.”
“The Museum deeply regrets that one of the 18 short videos from ‘Under the Tent’ and its accompanying social media post have inadvertently caused offense to members of the Hindu and other faith communities,” the museum said in a statement Tuesday.
Toronto Metropolitan University also distanced itself from the film, expressing “regret” at having “caused offense”.
In a statement, the school added: “We are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion while at the same time respecting the diversity of beliefs and points of view in our society.”
Manimekalai expressed her disappointment with the two institutions, accusing them of having “traded off academic freedom and artistic freedom to save their skin.”
“It is sad to see these institutions operating in a sovereign country like Canada bowing down to the international enforcement of Hindutva’s totalizing narrative and relentless quashing of free expression.”
The controversy played through the week on TV debates, where critics argued that Manimekalai’s portrayal had disparaged a sacred figure. Parliamentarians in India have also weighed in, with Vinit Goenka, a spokesperson for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) calling the image an “insult to all Indians.” Indian-born Canadian politician Chandra Arya also expressed concern, writing on Twitter that seeing the poster had been “painful.”
Police in both Delhi and the state of Uttar Pradesh have filed formal complaints against the director, according to CNN affiliate CNN-News18, though Manimekalai said she has not been served any official notices.
Torrent of abuse
The director blames the angry online response on what she called a “mercenary troll army” of BJP supporters and right-wing nationalists. She said that members of her film crew have been doxed, while family and friends have also received online abuse.
Manimekalai claims that she has been subjected to “hatemongering” from thousands of social media accounts. Dozens of screenshots, shared with CNN by the director, appear to show threats of violence, including direct death threats.
In Uttar Pradesh state, Hindu religious leader Mahant Raju Das published a video in which he threatens the filmmaker with beheading. The Times of India meanwhile reported Thursday that police in Tamil Nadu had arrested a woman over another video containing threats against the director.
The controversy is one of a growing number of instances in which depictions of Hindu gods have attracted accusations of religious insensitivity — from Nestlé withdrawing KitKat chocolate bars wrappers featuring various deities to Rihanna facing backlash for posing topless with a pendant of the god Ganesha.
Kali, the Hindu goddess of death, time and doomsday, is worshipped throughout India. The wife of Shiva, she is often portrayed as blue or black, with a long tongue and multiple arms.
Giant statue of the Hindu Goddess Kail at a Hindu temple in Kadaloor, Tamil Nadu, India. Credit: Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto/Getty Images
Manimekalai maintains that her depiction of the goddess is consistent with her own religious interpretation.
“In rural Tamil Nadu, the state I come from… she eats meat cooked in goat’s blood, drinks (the alcoholic beverage) arrack, smokes beedi and dances wild(ly),” she said, adding that this is the version of Kali that “I grew up with and … have embodied in the film.”
Manimekalai plans to complete a director’s cut of “Kaali”, with a view to screening it at a film festival.
“I will continue to make art,” she said.
Top image caption: A photo of the filmmaker.
Trump’s allies claim they were assured editorial input before filmmaker was subpoenaed
Multiple people said they had been told the documentary was focused on Trump’s legacy and would be a flattering portrayal.
But 17 months later, that filmmaker, Alex Holder, has been subpoenaed by the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol Hill insurrection, and turned over hours of his footage. That has made some in the former President’s orbit nervous, they told CNN, mainly because several don’t recall the full extent of their comments.
An attorney for Holder denies that the Trumps were granted editorial control over the final product.
”The Trumps did not request, and were not granted, any editorial control over the series. To the contrary, Alex Holder said at the outset that he would have full editorial control. The Trumps also did not request any contractual right of control, or even review, so there is none,” Russell Smith said in a statement provided to CNN.
Holder’s “Unprecedented” three-part docuseries about the 2020 election will be released on Discovery Plus, which is owned by CNN’s parent company, later this summer. The documentary includes never-before-seen footage of the Trump family on the campaign trail and their reactions to the outcome of the election.
The then-President’s children sat for multiple interviews with the British filmmaker, who was there in the final weeks of Trump’s time in office. Ivanka Trump did three interviews, her husband, Jared Kushner, was interviewed twice and Eric Trump was interviewed twice, Holder told CNN. Donald Trump Jr. was interviewed once for an hour, but an attempt at a second interview with him did not come to fruition.
Several of the interviews, including with Ivanka Trump, were conducted after Trump had lost the election but as he was still contesting it. Most of Ivanka Trump’s interview focused on her relationship with her father, in addition to a public comment about the ongoing legal challenges over the election. Trump Jr. sat down with Holder about three weeks before the election, another source said.
Now there is some concern among certain figures about what was said on camera given hours of footage have been turned over. One former aide downplayed the likelihood anything relevant to the committee was said.
A person familiar with the matter said the interviews were orchestrated by Jason Greenblatt, Trump’s Middle East peace envoy who left the administration in 2019 but remained in close touch with top officials. Greenblatt has not responded to CNN’s request for comment.
Holder sat for a deposition with the committee Thursday morning behind closed doors.