A public broadcasting funder has stepped in to distribute a program PBS had rejected as unworthy. “The federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting helped find a new distributor for ‘Islam vs. Islamists: Voices From the Muslim Center’ after seven Republican members of Congress and one Democrat demanded that CPB ask PBS to air it or release it elsewhere.”
Tag: 05.25.07
A New Measure Of Movie Succss
“In these digital days, it seems anyone can direct. But with hundreds of microbudgeted movies made each year, demand for venues and audiences is way up. Many films don’t reach the festival circuit, let alone get a theatrical release or rack space at Blockbuster. Some go straight to DVD. Some find a specialized audience on the Internet. Some go nowhere. The measure of “success” has come to mean something other than a Spider-Man 3-sized opening weekend for indie filmmakers, who have become creative marketers to rally a fan base.”
The Art Of Cannes
When talking about American movies, the word ‘art” doesn’t often surface. But “one of the sustaining pleasures of Cannes is that it allows you to immerse yourself fully from early morning to evening in the kind of aesthetically adventurous, intellectually exhilarating cinematic practices that end up in the American art-house ghetto or being shut out of theaters completely.”
I Love/Hate American Idol
“Like many ‘American Idol’ devotees, I have a love-hate relationship with the show, which is often inspiring and infuriating at the same time. In Wednesday’s blowout it was apparent how tight its co-dependent grip has become on an increasingly desperate record industry. What other phenomenon has minted so many instant pop superstars? Its commercial impact recalls Elvis’s teenage-idol phase, Beatlemania and the heyday of Motown.”
Take It “From The Top”
The radio show has expanded this year. “The show’s efforts to challenge the stereotype of the ‘orchestra geek’ and to place inspiring young talent before a national audience are sorely needed. But a key element of the organization is what happens off the stage and screen. ‘From the Top’ provides scholarships and sends its young stars into about 50 schools a year to play for students who are clearly not headed to Juilliard.”
Are American Movies Losng Their International Appeal?
“Much of Hollywood’s globalization movement has focused on U.S. studios hiring foreign directors to make English-language movies, or American productions shooting in Morocco, Hungary, Romania — wherever the story works and the labor is cheap. But a different kind of international business is mushrooming, and its dividends are palpably visible at the 60th annual Cannes Film Festival.”
A Sol LeWitt Blooms In Brooklyn?
The painting looks like a LeWitt. But “LeWitt did a diagram for the painting? the reporter asked. Ms. Cho paused. Well, he did a diagram afterward, she explained. In fact, she continued, her husband came up with the idea for the painting himself and executed it. When LeWitt saw it, he liked it so much he decided to bless it as one of his own.”
Opera Australia’s 50th Was A Lucrative Year
“A record box office of $34.4 million and increased government grants resulted in a record surplus of $1.6 million for Opera Australia last year, in which it also celebrated its 50th anniversary. … Opera Australia’s chairman, Gordon Fell, says the return is an important milestone that puts the company in ‘an unambiguously strong position’ and allows it to create a fund to support new operas and more tours, with an initial contribution of $1 million.”