Twelve years ago I wrote a short entry about this movie: that it fascinated me. I never understood exactly why. I’ll try to do it in this new blog post.
It’s an American movie starring Paul Giamatti and Bryce Dallas Howard, and the music was composed by James Newton Howard. It was written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, known for directing The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and The Village, among other award-winning and well-known movies. However, Lady is not one of them. Being a financial disappointment, it received negative reviews from critics for many factors. However, one of them surprised me: some considered it a comedy rather than a drama. I recently found an interview to Shyamalan after the 10th anniversary of the movie. Asked the obvious question, he said not only that he loves it, but also that if his house was burning down and he had to grab a few movies, Lady would be one of them.
Continue reading Lady in the Water


Rob Jansen is an award winning actor, director, playwright and theater educator based in Washington, D.C. He is an Assistant Professor of Practice in Theater and Performance Studies at Georgetown University where he teaches “The Art of Communication and Public Speaking” a course utilizing performance training to enhance leadership and presentation skills. He is the founder of Presencia a communication and public speaking program using performance techniques to help business executives, scientists, leadership teams, and professionals harness presence and confidence to connect more deeply with an audience, create collaborative workplaces and convey complex ideas in clear, compelling ways. He has taught public speaking training for FedTech, MITRE, Booz Allen Hamilton, EDENS, StartUp UMD, the Seed Foundation, University of Maryland at College Park, American University, Georgetown University and with Lead Scientists at NASA. As an actor he has performed in professional theaters across the US including as a resident artist at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company where he acted in 26 productions of classic plays. He is a member of the Actors Equity Association and the Lincoln Center Directors Lab in New York City. Internationally he has worked in India, China, Canada, Poland, Ireland, Turkey, and across the U.K. He has an MFA in Performance from the University of Maryland, College Park.


Before you make your first short film, you will want to be familiar with the basic rules of composition. These rules are incredibly useful for student filmmakers, as they are rules that both students and professionals alike follow when they are composing effective and balanced shots for their films.
Before you begin to design your film, take the time to explore the three pages below, all of which will help you learn about specific aspects of composition. Of course, these rules are only guidelines for filmmakers – they are the most common ways of composing effective shots. At times, you might have an artistic reason to deliberately break one of these rules and design a shot or a sequence in a less orthodox fashion. Understanding the rules first, though, is the first step of understanding composition.
Rule of Thirds and Central Framing
Once you have understood the content of these three pages, revisit some sequences from one of your favourite films and see how the director has utilised these rules to enhance the film’s composition. Grab 5-10 screenshots from the film and annotate them, showing how the filmmakers have used each of the above rules effectively.


Matthew Lewis, best known for his role as Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter films, has joined the cast of Bluestone 42, the critically-acclaimed BBC Three comedy drama which follows a fictional bomb disposal detachment in Afghanistan.
Lewis plays ammunition technician Gordon House, nicknamed Towerblock, a smart and affable butcher’s son from Leeds with a penchant for danger.
Bluestone 42, the critically acclaimed BBC Three comedy drama series about a bomb disposal unit in Afghanistan currently enjoying large audiences on the channel, has been re-commissioned for a further series, Zai Bennett, Controller of BBC Three, announced today
Written by Richard Hurst (Secret Diary Of A Call Girl) and James Cary (Miranda), Bluestone 42 follows the fortunes of a bomb disposal unit in Afghanistan – the camaraderie, bonds and banter they share as they go about their high-risk jobs. The series was carefully researched and informed by serving and former


Escape rooms with a keen sense of fun
Set up by an international team, Lock-Clock offers three wildly different escape rooms in the very centre of Barcelona.
Room 1: Mission Gaudi
Those looking for a puzzle tied to the Catalan capital’s identity should travel back in time to 1936 to take on “Mission Gaudi”. In this scenario anarchists have set fire to La Sagrada Familia, and your job – as students of the master architect – is to rescue his final plans from his studio in the crypt before the basilica goes up in flames. Unfortunately the enigmatic genius locked his designs behind several mind-boggling conundrums to ensure their safekeeping – meaning things are about to get hot!
Room 2: Aztec Treasure
A somewhat easier challenge awaits in the form of the “Aztec Treasure” room, designed for families with children and also suitable for beginners. You find yourself in the officer’s cabin of a rapidly-sinking Spanish galleon with the skeleton of Captain Pablo de Sangria, who chose to guard the boat’s treasure with a series of head-scratching puzzles. Can you outsmart the dead sailor or will you join him in a watery grave?
Room 3: After Party
Finally, there’s “After Party”. In this – all too plausible – storyline, you are rudely awoken in the pitch black of a stranger’s locked apartment. You have one hour to figure out what happened last night and escape with your dignity before the police arrive to give you a whopping fine. Hopefully you’re not too hungover to get out in time!
All of Lock-Clocks’ scripts and puzzles were written by an award-winning film director, and a wicked sense of humour underpins the challenges, making these some of Barcelona’s most entertaining escape rooms.


|(Poster art by Judi Calhoun)|
It was my pleasure to sit down with Jonathan, a talented scribe from my wonderful Berlin Writers' Group who pens poetry, short fiction, and memoir in addition to writing phenomenal plays (he's also hard at work on a murder mystery for the local dinner theater circuit), about Arthurian, which invites the audience meet a young Arthur, positing the details that created one of history's most beloved legends.
Talk me through the play's genesis.
With a low-budget theater company, I was looking for something that we could do with very inexpensive rights -- or for free. And I thought that something written locally would be the best way to go. I had difficulty finding the right project to work on, so I decided why not try writing something myself? Since I was a kid, I've been fascinated with King Arthur legends, in all the various forms -- books, movies, cartoons. And I realized that classic literature is free to adapt, and because there are so many different interpretations that contradict, I could just about do anything I wanted with the story. But I tried to keep as true as possible to the classic fantasy of Sir Thomas Malory. Sir Thomas took all these legends and myths passed down through oral tradition and put them to paper. They got nabbed and rewritten -- still under his name, but making it very Christian and religious. The church pulled a lot of the mysticism, paganism, sex, and magic out of it. And now we're putting this show on in a church!
|(Arthurian Playwright/Director Jonathan Dubey)|
When I was a teenager, I was involved in a couple of shows in Middle School, High School, and the local community theater, Theatre North. I then took fifteen years off to grow up, get married, have a career, and buy a house, but returned to community theater five years ago. I found it to be an organization with goodhearted people but not enough of them, and cursed by the burden of serious financial problems. That theater organization recently disbanded and Arthurian is our attempt to bring something positive out of the ashes -- and to keep the spirit of Theatre North alive as something new.
Local theater in Northern New Hampshire has something of a storied history. Why is it so important to keep the spirit and magic alive?
It's important to know about local community theater in this area in that there isn't any here anymore. One can travel over an hour to see community theater or summer stock, but art and culture is desperately lacking in this and other economically-depressed regions. There are artists here, and good ones. There are writers and other talented people in Berlin and the surrounding communities, and the public needs to know they're here and to celebrate with us.
|(Mario Molina as Sir Pellinore in Arthurian)|
It's a real 'King Arthur Begins' bent, an origin story, starting with Arthur's heritage when his blood father, Uther Pendragon, and Merlin set in motion the events leading to the boy's destiny. Mostly, it details the difficulties of growing up where he's so different from his adoptive family. We, the audience, steal a glimpse into the workings within the walls of Sir Ector's estate, and come to understand these legendary characters in an intimate and unexpected manner. Arthur is tempted to make the same mistakes as his blood father, but ultimately makes the correct though difficult choices that eventually shape his fate.
|(Arthurian's cast and crew)|
We have a varied yet talented cast: young Tanner Cote, in his first performance as "Kay"; June Desmond as "Mim", the Head of the Household -- she runs the house, really! -- has over twenty-five years of stage experience; Zachary Boucher as Arthur has some theater experience, but this is his first lead role; after performing the titular role in The Diary of Anne Frank, Samantha Kilbride changes it up as "Sir Ector"; Tyler Fowler and Miranda Braziere play multiple roles, most notably the devious "Scrounger" and the sinister "Larcena"; Mario Molina commands the stage as "Sir Pellinore"; Corey Shaink brings us a quirky and mercurial new take on "Merlin"; and Mary Champlin as the ingenue "Andrivete". Ramona Dube handles the props as well as the small but important role as "Taubitha", a servant. Amelia Kendall deftly handles the lights and sounds, and first time Assistant Director Danielle Robichaud also serves as Stage Manager. The entire cast and crew are local, all living within twenty miles of retrofitted church venue.


Dani sits in her almost empty apartment with a bottle of vodka. The calendar on the wall has one of the dates circled in red. Today's date. Suddenly, there’s a knock at the door...
This bittersweet play asks - how would you live your life if you knew your own expiration date?
This light-hearted whimsical comedy takes you down a path filled with quirky characters who are as endearing as they are challenging.
First produced by Saint John Theatre Company in 2017, through their Script Happens program.
The Yellow Wallpaper
Jane’s husband is certain that the summer home they’ve rented will help her recuperate from her ‘temporary nervous depression’, but the more time Jane spends in the upstairs room the more obsessed she becomes with the pattern and colour of the wallpaper.
A one-woman show adapted from the short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
A Terrible Misstep
In this morbid comedy of manners, a British woman confesses to her friend about murdering her husband in a shockingly cavalier manner.
First produced by Taboo Theatre for An Evening of Grand Guignol IV: The Evils of Envy (2014), and brought back for the Halifax Fringe Festival (2015).
War Crimes and Punishment
In this twisted tale, a man accused of terrible deeds during war undergoes a harsh interrogation.
First produced by Taboo Theatre for An Evening of Grand Guignol IV: The Evils of Envy (2014).


29 February, 2016
the Actor * Lights 1982Posted in : Без категории on by : admin
Foxfire Light ( 1982 ) cast and crew credits, including actors , actresses, directors, writers and more.
Guiding Light cast members.
This is a list of actors and actresses who have had roles on the soap opera Guiding Light .
1982 –84, 1986–91, 1996–2004,.
Knight Rider ( 1982 TV series).
the lead character and actor were recycled for a short-lived 1985-1986 series titled Code of.


Sign In Register Help Cart. Cart items. Toggle navigation. This copy of Thelma and Louise.
Thelma and Louise By Sturken, Marita. Ships with Tracking Number!
Buy with confidence, excellent customer service! May not contain Access Codes or Supplements. May be ex-library.
Thelma and Louise () sparked a remarkable public discussion about feminism, violence, and the representation of women in cinema. Subject to vilification. Sturken's "Thelma & Louise" is an excellent addition to BFI's Modern Classics book series. This analysis of the popular and conroversial film covers several.
British Film Institute, Excellent customer service. Prompt Customer Service. London: BFI Publishing, Critical study and analysis of the popular yet controversial road movie about the friendship of two women and the many obstacles they face.
The film won an Oscar for best original screenplay and it's stars Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis both were nominated for best actress Oscars. Illustrated with many color stills and photos.
Skip to main content. Back cover copy Thelma and Louise sparked a remarkable public discussion about feminism, violence, and the representation of women in cinema. City Lights Charlie Chaplin, This is a national film tradition that has influenced film-making worldwide, so we felt it was important, also, to get a global perspective on American film: the critics we polled live and work all over the world, from the United Kingdom and continental Europe to South America, Australia, India and the Middle East — and of course the United States as well. Ed Guerrero.
A highlight of 90's American movies. ISBN: First Printing.
Schmidt on Oct 30, Sturken includes quotes from several articles and interviews. By Pxmidnight on Aug 04, This is a book about the impact of the movie, and the meaning of it.
I actually liked it in the end. Very good for what it was It encouraged me to want to see the Movie again! By Chris on Dec 16, Great book for some context behind the film's socio-historical readings, as well as some critical theory. Add a Book Review.
Author: Marita Sturken. Publish Date: Aug 26, Length: 7. Product Description.


The Huntly Carter Collection provides a rich photographic
resource on Soviet theatre in the 1920s-30s. The collection consists
of around 360 artefacts. Just over 300 are theatre related: theatrical
production stills (the majority), photo-portraits of leading figures
in the Soviet theatre (some autographed) and snapshots of Huntly
Carter with Soviet actors and directors. The production stills
cover a wide range of theatres in Moscow and Leningrad, two thirds
are from the 1920s, the rest from the 1930s. They include many
well-known productions, among others Meyerhold's The Magnificent
Cuckold (1922), The Mandate (1925) and The Bed
Bug (1929); Tairov's Machinal and Optimistic
Tragedy (1933) for the Kamerny Theatre; Granovsky's Uriel
Acosta and The Witch (1922) for the Moscow State
Jewish Theatre; Eisenstein's Enough Stupidity in Every Wise
Man (1923) and Pletnev's Lena (1921), both for the
Proletkult Theatre. The remaining items in the collection are
mainly snapshots of street scenes and new architecture in Soviet
Russia. The collection is of interest to researchers, theatre
practitioners and publishers.
Huntly Carter (1860s-1942) was a British theatre critic, journalist
and lecturer who travelled extensively in the Soviet Union in
the 1920s-30s. A passionate believer in the transformative role
of theatre in society, he was struck by the 'new spirit' that
developed in Russian theatre after the October Revolution of 1917
and became strongly sympathetic to the Soviet project that had
enabled such a cultural transformation. In the UK, Carter was
an energetic advocate of the Soviet avant-garde theatre, presenting
it as a template for a similar revolution in the British theatre.
Today there is renewed interest in Huntly Carter's life and work.
Carter's interest in avant-garde Russian theatre pre-dates the
Revolution: his 1913 book The New Spirit in Drama and Art
includes a chapter on Moscow, based on a visit in 1911. However,
during the 1920s-30s he travelled regularly to the USSR, meeting
the leading theatre directors, actors and stage designers of the
day, attending the annual theatre festivals, and collecting a
mass of photographs, theatrical ephemera and documentary material.
He was in constant correspondence with Soviet theatre practitioners,
individual theatres and cultural institutions. This all became
the source material for Carter's prolific output as a writer and
lecturer. His travels to Soviet Russia in the 1920s resulted in
two key books: The New Theatre and Cinema of Soviet Russia
(1924) and The New Spirit in the Russian Theatre (1929).
These books provide an exciting sense of the revolutionary spirit
of that time in the theatre, they record his meetings with actors,
directors and designers, describe in detail the theatrical productions
he saw, and define different stages and approaches in the development
of the new Soviet theatre.
Carter was a founding member of our Society (then known as the
Society for Cultural Relations with the USSR, or SCR), which was
established in July 1924. He remained a member until his death
in 1942, when part of his personal collection relating to the
USSR (mainly photographs) was bequeathed to the Society. This
bequest forms the Huntly Carter Collection in the SCRSS Photo
Library. The collection is fully digitised but not yet catalogued
online. In 2023 the Society will continue its review of our existing
captions list against the original artefacts, and in due course
plans to make this available in our online library catalogue.
For more information, see feature article Huntly Carter and
the 'New Spirit' in Soviet Theatre, SCRSS
Digest, Summer 2022 (Issue SD-26), pages 8-13.


Looking for something to watch this weekend? This week I discovered my parents have Disney+, so naturally I seized the opportunity to catch up on old DCOMs, Pixar movies I have yet to watch, and classic Disney shows. Here are a few picks I’ve been watching this week. Grab the popcorn, a bowl of ice cream and check them out.
A cultural lesson on Día de Muertos, young Miguel is on a mission to keep music alive in his life while trying to stay alive himself. Super cute and highly recommend.
I’ve seen this one before, and did not like it then, so I decided to give it another shot. Moana’s family is in charge of the island, so when they start running out of resources, she sets out to break the curse of an old tale and help the island thrive again. I made it about half way through before I turned it off this time. Sorry Moana fans.
I’ll admit I had to restart this one over a few times to really understand what was going on. Lesson of the film: love and appreciate your family, but know that traditions are meant to be broken and revamped. Not sure if there’s a connection between Scotland and bears, but I’d love to know if there was a cultural significance, or if Merida’s dad just likes bears.
To help power their city, monsters collect the screams of children. Kind of sick when you think about it. The one rule is to never let the kids touch you. When one ends up in the factory in Monstropolis, the two main characters have to figure out how to get her back, while uncovering some shady operations at the energy plant. If you like number one, check out Monster’s University for a flashback.
Working at summer camp when this movie first came out was a major turn off in my desire to want to ever watch it, but I gave it a shot. Basically the Ice Queen can’t control her powers, freezes the whole town and runs away. Her sister runs after her but is on the verge of freezing to death, while an angry mob of men hunts after her in an attempt to get her to thaw it out. Huge twist at the end of this one I didn’t see coming so I might give the sequel a chance.
The story of Rapunzel. An evil lady kidnaps the newborn princess who has magical hair due to an enchanted flower. If you cut the hair, it loses its power, so the evil lady keeps Rapunzel locked away in a tower, who of course, wants to go out and explore. Will she make it out? Will she keep her hair? Watch and find out.
The Princess Diaries
Just a shy teenage girl who finds out her dad was actually the prince of a European country. Naturally, she’s next in line to rule. Will the help of her grandmother and some princess lessons help her fulfill her duty as princess of Genovia? Again, watch and find out.
Beauty and the Beast
I ended up watching the live action version and honestly it could not keep my attention. Maybe knowing the story line didn’t help, but I really just went for the songs. Cool special effects though!
The Lizzie McGuire Movie
Awkward Lizzie takes a post-graduation school trip to Rome, where people mistake her for an Italian pop star, Isabella, that she happens to look exactly like. Her singing partner, Paolo, takes her on an unchaperoned adventure through the streets. Lizzie agrees to pose as Isabella, who is MIA, at an upcoming award show so the record company won’t sue Isabella. Will she get the routine down before the curtain rises, or does something else keep the show from going as planned?
That’s So Raven
A hilarious show about a high school girl who can see the future. She tries to prevent things from happening, but we all know that she’ll be taking us on a wild adventure before closing out the show with a heartwarming lesson. If you need to laugh, this is a MUST.
A bickering mom and daughter switch places after cracking open a magical fortune cookie. They’ll have to see what it’s like to really live as the other as they try to figure out how to switch back before the mother’s wedding day. As a Lindsay Lohan fan, this one will always be a classic.
I’ll be back breaking down a few DCOMs soon!
Until next time…


Over the Fall season there were lots of references to Margot Tanenbaum from the movie The Royal Tanenbaums 2001. Her wardrobe or style was a jumping off point for many of the Pre-Fall and Fall 2015 collections. It wasn’t the content of her wardrobe as much as Margot’s style and look.
If I had to choose a movie wardrobe for content, I would pick Renee Russo’s wardrobe from The Thomas Crown Affair 1999 where she played Catherine Banning an art insurance investigator. Her entire wardrobe would still be relevant today. It is still classic and elegant almost 20 years after they were selected from Celine’s 1997 collection. That collection was designed by Michael Kors and has a lot of his signature style cues in it.
The wardrobe in this film was what Catherine took with her from Switzerland to New York. It leaves me wondering what her full wardrobe was like…
Catherine Banning wears a lot of shift dresses in the film. She has dinner with Thomas Crown several times and wears a different dress each time. She also has several of wool coats that match the dresses or suits. I chose this pale blue printed paper because I just completed the Resort Report and wanted to carry the feeling into something new. I also created a white coat to go over the dress.
What movie wardrobe would you choose? Are you Margot or Catherine?


Vegan Rum and Eggnog Cupcakes!
Well the holiday break has officially commenced!!! To seal the end of the semester, a few of my sorority sisters and I went to the midnight premiere of the second Hobbit film. Oh it was fantastic! Before heading to the theatre we enjoyed a lovely potluck together and watched the first film since a few of the girls still hadn't seen it. My favorite person in the world Valentina (also known as the lovely BakingFairy!) brought vegan eggnog cookies to the dinner. They were DIVINE as are all of her delicious creations! However, even after making the cookies, Valentina still had a little vegan eggnog left over which she decided to give to me!
Now I had vegan eggnog... and these wonderful cupcakes came about as a result!
You can find the recipe here at the wonderful blog of Got No Milk!


writer – producer – director
Valentine was born on Valentine’s Day in 1957 and raised on a Virginia farm near the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah River. He skipped eleventh grade, then graduated from the University of Virginia in 3 years. He ran precinct operations for a US Senate and US Congressional campaign, roughnecked in the Texas oil fields, modeled in New York with Elite doing TV commercials and dabbling in acting. When the AIDS scare hit, Valentine traveled the world modeling, doing TV commercials, studying governments, and writing songs, singing once with the Singapore orchestra. He returned to the US, studied music in Las Vegas at UNLV, and wrote the music and stories for the 50 songs he had created while abroad.
In 1987 at age 30 Valentine moved to West Hollywood where he studied screenwriting and producing at UCLA but never pursued acting because he didn’t like any of the roles or any of the movies Hollywood was producing. Instead he wrote 3 musicals and 50 dramatic feature screenplays over 12 years, made some money consulting and ghost writing but sold only one script.
In 1989 Valentine financed and starred in a motion picture entitled THE DISCONTENTED, using the old crew of legendary low-budget indie writer-producer-director-actor John Cassavetes and co-starring the talented daughter. Everyone involved called in many favors and freebies to get the picture made for $25,000. The black and white, super-16mm movie served as Valentine’s personal film school. John Daly at Hemdale wanted to get in during post production but Valentine’s director and co-producer partners stupidly outvoted Valentine to decline, and later regret it, since the film never found distribution.
In 1991 he wrote, produced, directed, financed ($25,000) and starred in NAILED, shot on video tape in one location in one weekend, and clandestinely edited it on a linear machine at a TV commercial production company which his employee friend snuck him into, having to lock him in each night for two weeks. He found no distributors and received only minor interest from a little direct-to-video producer named Cassian Elwes who offered him $100,000 to make one of Valentine’s scripts into a movie, but Valentine declined since Elwes wanted it on super 16 film at that budget, wanted immediate ownership of Valentine’s script, and wanted it too sexual for Valentine’s tastes. He sold the NAILED screenplay for $25,000 to a production company which spent $1 million to remake it as CAPTURED for the home video/cable market.
In 1992 he moved to South Beach to find a TV commercial production company willing to make a movie on the side, but instead was redirected by a Fininvest exec to move back to LA to make movies. Valentine did him the favor of renegotiating Fininvest’s cable deals with Playboy and Warner Brothers, got stiffed his fee, and never heard from the exec again! Valentine then sublet rooms in a huge house on the cliffs of Redondo Beach where he studied government for seven long 90-hour-week years and wrote 12 amendments to the US Constitution and writing the odd screenplay to break things up.
In 2000 he finally moved to South Beach where he rented an apartment next door to the offices shared by Independent Film Project and the local Audio Visual nonprofit, and became as active as possible in the sparse local film scene.
From 2002 to 2004 he wrote, produced, directed, edited and starred in the self-financed the PG-13 ROMANTIC SCHEMER, a 90 min, PG-13 romantic comedy shot on super 16mm color film. Romantic Schemer has the rare if not unique distinction of having only two actors/characters in the entire movie. The ingenious idea is so cleverly crafted that this severe limitation goes unnoticed. What’s more, Valentine used a leading lady (Diane Sorrentino) who’d never acted before, and a crew who’d never made a movie before. The well acted, written and produced feat came in on budget at $125,000. But there was no interest from Hollywood, or Elwes who by then had become a force in indie film distribution, so Valentine returned to his political studies taking PhD taxation classes at the University of Miami.
From 2004 to 2006 Valentine wrote, produced, directed, edited and starred in the self-financed the PG-13 ‘4/11’. Once again 90% of the cast had never acted before, including the leading lady (Jennifer Copeland) who again carries the picture well. And again the crew had never made a movie before, except the DP from Romantic Schemer. The movie has a cast of 30 and is beautifully shot on numerous locations in a Valentine to Miami. It came in on budget at $250,000, but Elwes and the rest of Hollywood had no interest in this movie either so Valentine left it in post hell opting instead to return to creating his new constitution.
In 2007 recorded 7 test songs in Nashville, then was drawn back to his political work by the financial crisis. From 2010 to 2012 Valentine moved to Nashville and recorded 40 more songs, including 12 political songs, and made numerous political videos and music videos. From 2013 to 2015 Valentine returned to Miami to do post production on the songs, videos, music videos, and ‘4/11’ and Romantic Schemer, which had never been fully post produced. From 2015 to July 2016 he made an unsuccessful attempt to get his constitution to the press and an unsuccessful run for President. He’s spent most of 2017 getting his life back in order, is a Presidential candidate for President in 2020, and is soon to make a push for the ratification of The Valentine Constitution.
Both Romantic Schemer and ‘4/11’ are available on VIMEO.
Neb Chupin was born on 15 October 1964 in Zagreb and grew up on his family farm on the Dalmatian coast where his grandfather grew olives and figs. Chupin spent many peaceful summers helping his grandfather while learning to grow figs and olives and make tapenade and fig spread. A big, strong, healthy kid, Neb made the Croatian Olympic Rowing Team for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles where he felt the lure of Hollywood and decided to pursue acting.
Those plans were interrupted, however, by the Croatia-Bosnian-Serbian war which spread their horrors throughout the region Neb called home. Later, at the insistence of his father who fought in the war, Chupin moved to America to ply the family trade. His eventual success came from getting QVC and later Whole Foods to carry the fig jam and tapenade spread his grandfather had taught him to make as a boy. At the same time Chupin’s restaurant Il Fico pioneered the foodie renaissance in Miami.
With the family business stable, Chupin was then finally able to semi-retire and pursue his true love, acting and storytelling. He studied acting for only one year before landing a co-starring role in Valentine’s “4/11”, a color feature shot on film which deals with the next terrorist threat after 9/11. Opposite the gorgeous Jennifer Copeland, Chupin plays an Interpol agent who goes undercover in Dalmatia to infiltrate an Al Qaeda terrorist cell that sends him to Miami to join two other cells in striking the cruise ships in the Port of Miami and the commercial jetliners at the Miami International Airport. In a pivotal scene Chupin delivers a critical monologue, connecting passionately with his real life past as he emotionally recalls Bosnian soldiers coming to drag his father away.
Just as acting offers started coming in, Chupin was again dragged back into business when one of Chupin’s staffers was discovered stealing the family recipes for his own business! Eventually he managed enough time off to play a soldier who corresponds by post with General Gotovina in the 2009 “Gotovina, Letters From Hague”. Exposing how profiteers took over after the Croatian war, the beguiling role enabled Chupin to further his philanthropic work to stop genocidal and wartime atrocities. Likewise he co-produced “What Anne Frank Means Today”, a 2014 feature shot in the Arabic language to inform Arabs of the atrocities against Jews during WWII, something the vast majority of Arabs are unaware of. Chupin also performed in the 2014 “In Between Engagements”.
Playing a horrified father whose daughter was a victim of human trafficking in the 2016 short film “Final Stop” landed Chupin several roles in 2017. He plays a soldier who saves survivors from zombie attacks in the popular TV series “Feel The Dead”. He plays a mafia boss in the Scottish film “Isolani”, which already has Oscar buzz for best foreign film. And he has a part in the upcoming YouTube movie “Uploading”.
Still in love with food and people, the social Chupin has finally stabilized his life with marriage, a son and a daughter, and is once again able to practice his favorite pastime, acting.


As some of you may know, I’m a complete sucker for romance and love triangles. It makes me so happy when I find a book or movie that’s not only epic but truly truly spectacular in that it has good romance as well. Examples of love triangles I absolutely love? Think Pearl Harbor’s Rafe-Evelyn-Danny and The Infernal Devices’ Will-Tessa-Jem. Triangles that literally have you torn and ones that don’t necessarily have a clear winner.
So for my first love triangle smack down, I’d love to analyze (or vent) on television’s most current and beloved love triangle: The Vampire Diaries’ Stefan, Elena and Damon.
The Vampire Diaries (TV Series)
THE VAMPIRE DIARIES is the story of two vampire brothers, obsessed with the same girl, in a small town where supernatural beings live in secret amongst its residents – CWTV.com
- Main Attraction: Elena Gilbert is our lovely heroine who’s torn between two brothers, Stefan and Damon Salvatore, while trying to survive the hell-hole that is Mystic Falls, Virginia.
- Love Interest #1: Stefan Salvatore is the younger of the two Salvatore brothers and is essentially the “good” love interest.
- Love Interest #2: Damon Salvatore is our resident bad boy vampire who falls in love with his brother’s gal, Elena Gilbert.
The Vampire Diaries’ love triangle between Elena, Stefan and Damon is a frustrating piece of work. There are many flaws and many things that both writers and viewers overlook when it comes to the bittersweet history behind all three characters.
There’s no doubt that Damon is winning the popular vote among fans of the show. He’s the dark and mysterious bad boy who doesn’t like to talk about feelings and says and does whatever he wants even if it means killing innocent people. It’s understandable – we see it in the books we read – and like Kevjumba says, “Nice guys finish last.” There’s just something about bad boys we all love and Damon Salvatore is the definition of a bad boy.
Unfortunately, while I am a Damon fan, I am not a Delena fan. In fact, I am rooting for Stefan and Elena for a happy ending (though I doubt that’s going to happen). Why is this? Because at the end of the day, no matter how much Elena and Damon might deserve each other, Damon and Stefan are still brothers who supposedly care about each other. So if Damon is really trying to break the barriers of being a bad guy — if his character is truly growing — then why is he trying to steal his brother’s girl for the second time?
That’s the thing. It’s already happened before with Katherine so how in the world did Elena, Damon and Stefan let that happen again? Maybe if Stefan and Damon weren’t brothers or best friends, then I would be rooting for Damon (because I do love his character). But after reading the sacrifices and love between characters like Jem and Will from the Infernal Devices, the whole Damon and Elena together thing in season four just makes me angry. How could they do that to Stefan? Stefan who has saved his brother’s life multiple times, sacrificed himself to keep the girl he loves safe and happy, and still manages to maintain himself when his brother has stolen his girl. We all knew it was bound to happen sooner or later, and when it did, I was reeling at how selfish both Elena and Damon were about it all.
Delena fans are overlooking the fact that what Damon is doing is pretty sleazy. Sure…they’re in love. And that’s fine with me if that’s the direction the writers and producers want to take. But where’s the respect towards Stefan? It’s cruel and a turn off for me, especially if Damon is supposed to be the lead guy. No matter how good-looking and witty the guy is, it’s a douche move to do that to someone who cares about you—especially your brother. Nothing can be more hurtful than your own blood betraying you.
I’m not implying that Damon hasn’t done his fair share of sacrifices when it comes to keeping Stefan and Elena safe. But it is what it is – Stefan was with her first. And the whole Damon meeting Elena first? It doesn’t change a thing. Just because I meet someone first doesn’t meant I get dibs. It doesn’t change the fact that Elena and Stefan fell in love and had meaningful relationship…because seeing and experiencing are two different things. Even if Stefan and Elena’s relationship didn’t work out for other reasons, Damon should have stayed away from it…that’s the noble thing to do because they are brothers. True love or not.
Instead, it seems as if the writers are scrambling to give Damon justice amidst all of the shenanigans. Trying to make viewers sympathize with him. Trying to make everyone be like, “Awwe! that’s so sweet…Damon DOES care for Stefan!” and then forget that Damon Salvatore pretty much sabotaged the only thing that kept his brother happy. However, it will be interesting to see how things work out moving forward. I mean, I think what we loved most about Damon and Elena together was the whole concept of “forbidden love.” It made all the little moments between them more worthwhile.
Nevertheless, Damon and Elena will probably end up together in the end. I’m pretty sure that Stefan has just been an obstacle for Elena and Damon all along. Even now, with Elena supposedly sired to Damon, the writers are still trying to find a way to keep the two apart as if they were truly meant for each other. I just hope that they give Stefan a good end. I want him to leave Mystic Falls with his head held high and not end up with sloppy seconds or worse…watching his brother live happily ever after with the girl he loves.
So Damon or Stefan? I love them both…I truly do. But for this particular storyline – and it might have been the way certain things were set up by the writers—I’m just going to have to say that I prefer Stefan. I guess it’s safe to say that in the end, there’s no one I can blame but Elena for putting the two brothers in that position. For our sweet and innocent girl, she sure knows how to stir things up for our TVD cast!
So tell me, what’s your take on the Vampire Diaries love triangle?
Photo: Photo as seen on Fanpop


Gerald Dickens’ internationally-renowned performance brings his great-great grandfather’s tale alive
Gerald Dickens returns to The Leeds Library with his masterful one-man performance of A Christmas Carol. The internationally-renowned show features more than 30 different characters and Gerald inhabits each one as his great great grandfather did over a hundred years ago. From the first line to the last, audiences become part of this magical tale.’
‘Our applause seemed such an inadequate response’
‘Dickens is an endearing performer, an understated, energetic master of this story!’
‘The audience was rapt, as it was in Charles’s day’
Image credit: John Leech. Image in public domain in UK.


" She loves being involved in the entire creative audio process from conception to the final product, crafting the world of film and television for your ears."
Alison Stevens is a supervising sound effects editor at Sound Surfers. She joined the team in 2013 after graduating with Honours from the South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance. She has since become a vital member of the companies operations team and knows no bounds when it comes to work load.
Alison has worked on many international projects collaborating with the likes of BAFTA award nominee and film legend “John Irvin”, Emmy Award winner “Jasper James” together with many local award winning film producers and directors.
She is a key player in the Sound Surfers award winning success formula and as a result shares 2 South African Film and Television Award wins amongst many other nominations.


GAY FILM REVIEWS BY MICHAEL D. KLEMM
Flight of the Cardinal
Waterbearer Films, 2010
Unrated, 87 minutes
"Life cannot go on without the mutual devouring of organisms"
The above quote from noted anthropologist Ernest Becker raises the curtain on Flight Of The Cardinal, a rather nifty thriller written and directed by Robert Gaston (OpenCam, 2 Minutes Later). The setting is a lodge in the middle of nowhere. A group of friends are stuck there because of an impending storm. They find themselves at the mercy of a charismatic sociopath who plays them against each other while he secretly plans to take over the proprietor's identity.
|Grady Wilson (Ross Beschler) is a failed actor who, in an attempt to re-invent himself, has purchased the Blue Waters Mountain Lodge in North Carolina’s Smokey Mountains. Grady is bipolar and taking prescription meds to combat his depression. Living out in the sticks has made him very lonely and he is looking forward to a weekend with his old friends.|
The guests arrive, feeling trepidation. Karen (Clare Bowerman) was Grady's agent and Rye (Jeremy Marr Williams) is her beau. Matthew Montgomery, perhaps the hardest working actor in queer film, plays Andy, the host's estranged boyfriend. Each had to live through Grady's failed suicide attempt and they look for signs that he might be losing it again. Matters aren't helped when Grady realizes that Andy hasn't come to visit; he's there to break up with him. His fragile health will be compromised by a basketload of baggage and betrayals that will explode over the course of the weekend.
|This tension is exploited by a young, homeless drifter named Beetle Hobbs (David J. Bonner). Grady buys pot from the kid. Beetle asks if he can work in the lodge over the weekend in exchange for a day's pay with room & board. Grady feels sorry for him and agrees. Big mistake. Beetle has his own agenda. Flight of the Cardinal opens with a bravura sequence in which a first person camera (representing Beetle's point of view) prowls through the lodge. A split screen shows Beetle's invasion while Grady is jogging. The intrusion seems playful at first: a hand inserts a piece on an unfinished jigsaw puzzle and scatters the balls on a billiard table. But then his actions become more malicious. Beetle pries into personal files on Grady's computer and reads the profiles of the upcoming guests. And then, just so we know this kid is not to be trusted, we watch him switch Grady's depression medicine with different pills, identical in color. This act of pure evil actually creeped me out.|
|Beetle wheedles his way into everyone's good graces and no one suspects his motives. "With your Southern charm," Karen tells him, "and your looks, I'll bet you're a handful." Truer words were never spoken. As tensions in the lodge escalate, Beetle is always around a corner listening to everything that is said and then using it to his advantage later. As Grady unknowingly suffers withdrawal from his antidepressants, he becomes irritable, paranoid and finally violent. Beetle, like Shakespeare's Iago, whispers poison into his, and everybody else's, ears. He tells the guests that they are being watched on the surveillance cameras that are all over the lodge. The previous maid quit for that very reason, he "reluctantly" confesses, and then adds that he has suspected for some time now that Grady might be losing his mind.|
|Flight of the Cardinal is actually a quite satisfying thriller. This one is psychological and doesn't go for cheap shocks or thrills. The suspense builds slowly; it is subtle… like a film by Hitchcock or Polanski. There is humor at the right moments too. Beetle plays the tease with Andy (hell, he walks out of his room stark naked in front of him). Moments later, he invites Andy into his room to smoke a joint, pumps him for information about Grady and then backs off when Andy touches his leg. It is a funny scene but, the next day, Beetle tells Grady that Andy tried to rape him. This leads to a confrontation scene that is almost comical ("Oh please, he practically waved it in my face!") until Grady tries to strangle his ex. Humor and suspense blend when Grady finally figures out what is going on and plays a few of the same mind games on his tormenter.|
|The acting by all is exceptional. Before he really shows his true colors at the end, Bonner nicely underplays Beetle as the kind of villain you love to hate. He's cute in a dorky sort of way, and socially inept, and everyone buys his act. The cinematography is superb and the cabin's surveillance cameras are used to good effect as well. The moving camera will recall Kubrick's The Shining, as will the lodge setting (though perhaps not on quite as grand a scale). Distorted voices on the soundtrack and off-kilter camera angles are used sparingly to illustrate Grady's downward spiral as the meds leave his system. The soundtrack is understated, consisting mostly of chimes and percussion to create mood, while jazz-tinged for the lighter moments. The conclusion is a little clumsy compared to what came before but, to the movie's credit, it doesn't descend into cheesy horror flick violence and pointless gratuitous gore. While it might not end with a bang, at least there is no Jason or Freddy that keeps coming back for more. Unlike similar genre films, there is surprisingly not much in the way of a sex for a change.|
|I've written favorably about Robert Gaston's previous feature films - both guilty pleasures - OpenCam and 2 Minutes Later. Each are slickly directed light thrillers, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, but this one is a quantum leap forward for the writer/director. Part of the fun of reviewing is watching how filmmakers develop over the years. In Open Cam (2005), a serial killer murders young men on an internet chatroom's webcam and a hunky young artist's boyfriends and tricks keep turning up dead. It was often amusing and featured lots of sex with a few dramatic peaks thrown in for good measure. 2 Minutes Later (2007) featured a lesbian private eye and femme fatale extraordinaire who investigated the disappearance of a famous photographer while, meanwhile, his twin brother has assumed his identity.|
|While reviewing 2 Minutes Later, I assumed that it wasn't meant to be taken seriously. As evidence I cited the horribly choreographed shoot-out, scored to music that sounded almost like a bad techno version of Shaft, with the shooters running aimlessly out in the open and, of course, missing every shot. But I was also very impressed by the flashbacks of the murdered photographer at work. One scene in particular has stuck with me and that was when the photographer humiliated a scruffy model by cutting off his long hair to get the angry shots he wanted. I thought there was another film, hidden in this one, wanting to come out.|
|In Flight Of The Cardinal, scenes like that one dominate the film. I'm not saying that the movie is flawless but Gaston's writing and directing has matured at amazing levels. I watched this film with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. The mind games recall the old 1944 classic, Gaslight with Ingrid Bergman, except this time the plot to drive the protagonist mad involves pharmaceuticals. (More precisely, the deprivation of said prescription drugs.) It is a very plausible premise which makes the film all the creepier. Flight Of The Cardinal is actually a thinking person's thriller.|
There was a line of dialogue around the middle of the film that echoed the quote that began it. Beetle has asked Karen how she got to be such a successful agent and she tells him that "To win big, someone has to lose big." If one line could sum up the film, that one was it. Each character has their own personal baggage, each has something to hide, and that adds good meat to the script's bones. This one's a keeper.
Liz Douglas also appears in:


Producer/Director: Laura Bialis
Laura’s work as producer and director has ranged from documentaries about human rights and global conflict, to commercial projects. REFUSENIK, Laura’s critically-acclaimed documentary about international human rights campaign to free Soviet Jewry, was theatrically released in 15 cities across the United States, and in over 50 community screenings internationally. It has been broadcast in Israel on IBA Channel 1, and Yes Doco. VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE: Stories from Kosovo, premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival and was broadcast on television in a number of European markets. The film was used by the European Union and NATO to train its staff working to rebuild Kosovo. TAK FOR ALT – Survival of a Human Spirit, the story of Holocaust survivor turned civil rights activist Judy Meisel, first brought Laura’s filmmaking to the attention of viewers across the United States. The film aired on PBS and was honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as “one of the outstanding films of 1999.” Hundreds of thousands of high school students have viewed the film as part of Holocaust education programs along with an accompanying curriculum guide. To this day, the film continues to screen yearly in schools across the United States. Laura holds a B.A. in History from Stanford University, and an M.F.A. in Production from the USC School of Cinema-Television.
Co-Producer: Korelan Matteson
Korelan has worked as a writer, director and producer of non-fiction television and documentary films for over a decade. Her television network credits include Discovery, Science Channel, Spike, TLC, ABC, FX, ESPN, Travel Channel, E! and A&E. She has produced content for numerous independent documentary filmmakers, including Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), Brian Knappenberger (The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz) and she has been a long-time collaborator with director Laura Bialis, producing on location in Israel for the feature documentary, Refusenik.
Supervising Editor: Kate Amend, A.C.E.
Kate is the editor of the Academy Award-winning documentary features The Long Way Home (1998) and Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (2001) for which she received the American Cinema Editors’ Eddie award. She teaches at the USC School of Cinema Arts. Amend edited the 2001 Oscar-nominated documentary short On Tiptoe: Gentle Steps to Freedom and the Peabody Award winner Beah: A Black Woman Speaks. She is a frequent advisor at the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Lab. Other acclaimed works edited by Amend include: The Case Against 8, First Position, Steal a Pencil for Me, Pandemic: Facing Aids, Dylan’s Run, The World According to Sesame Street, and Thin among many others. Amend serves on the Board of Directors of the American Cinema Editors and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. In 2005, she received the inaugural Outstanding Documentary Editing Award from the International Documentary Association.
Editor: Azin Samari
Azin Samari has been a documentary editor for over a decade. She edited Rory Kennedy’s highly acclaimed, Emmy nominated documentary, ETHEL. She’s collaborated extensively with RJ Cutler, and in 2009, she edited his award winning documentary, The September Issue. Azin has also worked with Morgan Spurlock, Marjan Tehrani, and photographer Todd Selby. Currently, Azin is working with Liz Garbus on a new documentary for Moxie Firecracker Films.
Story Consultant/Writer: Stuart Schoffman
Stuart Schoffman, a native of Brooklyn, New York, is a graduate of Harvard and Yale. Before moving to Israel in 1988, he worked as a reporter for Fortune magazine, a staff writer for Time, and a screenwriter for Hollywood studios and producers. He has taught American history at the University of Texas, and film at the University of Southern California, Tel Aviv University, and the Sam Spiegel School in Jerusalem. From 1990 to 2007, he worked as a columnist and book critic at The Jerusalem Report, and his essays on Jewish and Israeli history, culture and politics have appeared in many other publications. His translations from Hebrew include books by the Israeli authors A.B. Yehoshua, David Grossman and Meir Shalev.
Co-Producer: Elana Horwich
Elana Horwich is the executive producer of Andrea Pallaoro’s first feature, Medeas†, which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, won best film at the Palm Springs International Film Festival New Voices, New Visions, and was awarded best director by Martin Scorsese at the Marrakech International Film Festival. Elana is a chef and the founder of Meal and a Spiel, a boutique cooking school for the “careergirl” generation based in Beverly Hills and New York City.
Co-Producer: Ravit Markus
Ravit’s critically acclaimed documentary Yiddish Theater: A Love Story became a phenomenon when it commercially played in theaters in New York, Los Angeles and Tel Aviv for months and months. Ravit is a graduate of the Film and TV Department at Tel Aviv University and her final thesis film was bought and aired on the Israeli Cinema Channel. In her mandatory army service in Israel she was selected to a prestigious film unit. Since moving to Los Angeles, Ravit has worked on various international co-productions, including a documentary for Channel 4 UK, which aired on TV networks around the world and the Sundance Channel in the US. She’s currently completing a documentary, in partnership with Willie Nelson’s Luck Films, on the political campaign to legalize marijuana in California.
Editor: Helen Kearns
Helen Kearns is a documentary editor living in Los Angeles. Most recently, Helen edited Morgan Neville’s documentary feature, The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo-Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, which premiered this year at the Toronto International Film Festival. Helen’s other editing work includes Good Ol’ Fredda, directed by Ryan White, on which she was also co-producer. It premiered at SXSW in 2013 and won the Cinema Eye Honors Award in 2014. Helen went on to work with White again as associate editor to Kate Amend on the Emmy-nominated feature documentary, The Case Against 8, which premiered at Sundance in 2014. Her other work includes the documentary feature Rock in the Red Zone, directed by Laura Bialis and the documentary short Judy Chicago: A Butterfly for Brooklyn, directed by Joan Churchill and Alan Barker. Helen is currently editing a feature.
Story Consultant/Writer: Mark Jonathan Harris
Professor Mark Jonathan Harris is an Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, journalist and novelist. Among the many documentaries he has written, produced and/or directed are The Redwoods, a documentary made for the Sierra Club to help establish a redwood National Park, which won an Oscar for Best Short Documentary, in 1968. The Long Way Home (1997), a film made for the Simon Wiesenthal Center about the period immediately following the Holocaust won the Academy Award for Best Feature Length Documentary (1997). Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport was produced for Warner Bros. and won an Academy Award for Best Feature Length Documentary, in 2000. In 2007, he produced Darfur Now, which was nominated by The National Board of Review and the Broadcast Film Critics Association for best documentary of the year. Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders, a film he executive produced, premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was shortlisted for the 2011 Oscar for Best Feature Documentary.
Story Consultant/Writer: Sophie Sartain
Sophie Sartain’s credits include the 2014 documentary Above and Beyond (writer), winner of the audience award at more than 20 film festivals; the 2012 documentary Hava Nagila (The Movie)(writer/producer), the opening or closing night film at more than 40 film festivals; and the Emmy-nominated 2008 film Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh (writer/co-producer). Sartain’s past positions include Executive Director of Editorial Services for MGM Home Entertainment and Managing Editor of Sony Online Entertainment. She has contributed as a writer and story consultant on several documentary projects, including Rock in the Red Zone (2015), Hotel Everest (projected 2016), and In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee (2010, PBS). As a freelance writer, her clients have included Los Angeles Magazine, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Studios, New Line Home Entertainment, CBS Sports Radio and ABC Radio Networks. Sartain is a Morehead Scholar graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill with a MFA in film from UT-Austin. She began her career as a reporter for The Houston Post.


The ASKANIA AWARD has been a highlight among the many outstanding events in Berlin for 14 years now.
In 2022, the AWARD ceremony took place at the Capital Club of the Hilton Hotel Berlin. On June 18, numerous prominent representatives from the worlds of film, television, business and politics came together once again to select the winners for the year 2022.
Building on the great times of German film in the 1920s and the cinematic tradition of ASKANIA, the ASKANIA AWARD was launched in 2008, distinguishing the achievements of German film each year ever since.
During the opening week of the Berlinale, ASKANIA has been honoring personalities from the film industry with the ASKANIA AWARD, and the ASKANIA Shooting Star AWARD ever since 2008. Furthermore, since 2016, the ASKANIA Lifetime Achievement AWARD has been awarded and additionally, the Special Award in the field of film music has been awarded since 2020.
The Winners 2022
Suzanne von Borsody
This year’s award winner comes from an artist family. She is the daughter of the actor-couple Hans von Borsody and Rosemarie Fendel, who both died in 2013. The parents separated when she was four years old. She grew up with her mother. Her grandfather, Eduard von Borsody, was a film director, her great-uncle, Julius von Borsody, was a film architect and set designer at Wien-Film, the Babelsberg Film Studio and Bavaria Film. Her half-sister Cosima von Borsody is also an actress.
From 1990 to 1999 she was in a relationship with her colleague actor Heino Ferch, with whom she performed in several film projects. Since April 2014, she has been married to her long-term partner Jens Schniedenharn. The couple lives in Munich and Berlin.
She had her first TV appearance in 1964, in Der Fahrplan episode of the TV series Das Kriminalmuseum alongside her mother Rosemarie Fendel. Her first major television role was in 1978, in Hartmut Griesmayr’s television film Adoptionen. In 1979 she received the Golden Camera for the role of Beate S. in the TV series of the same title, and an honorable mention at the Adolf Grimme Award in 1981. In 1980 she was awarded the German Actor’s Award for her role in Axel Corti’s Das eine Glück und das andere. In 1999, she was hired by the director Margarethe von Trotta to perform in the four-part TV film Jahrestage, based on Uwe Johnson’s novel of the same title, in which she played the leading role of Gesine Cresspahl.
During this time she also played other roles in Margarethe von Trotta’s films, such as the role of the alcoholic Angela in Dunkle Tage (1999), the role of Marga Nielsen in Die Morderin (1999), and the role of the brave prison director Ella Jansen, who lets herself be exchanged for a hostage in Die Geisel (2003). She also acted in international productions, such as in the role of Anita Zorzi de Lucca in Todliches Geld (Deadly Money, 1995) alongside Michel Piccoli or alongside Richard Chamberlain in Die verlorene Tochter (The Lost Daughter ,1997).
She also performs as a voice actress, and received the German Synchronization Award in 2007 for her synchronization of the voice of Joan Allen in Sally Potter’s British-American film drama Yes.
We are pleased to honor Suzanne von Borsody this year at the ASKANIA AWARD 2022.
Honored with TEGEL
He belongs to a stage family. His father was the director Karlheinz Liefers (1941–2006), his mother is the actress Brigitte Liefers-Waehner, and his grandfather, Heinz Liefers, was also an actor. Liefers grew up in Dresden. Occasionally, he lived with his grandmother in Erfurt.
He made his cinema debut in 1989, in the joint production of ZDF and DEFA – Die Besteigung des Chimborazo by Rainer Simon, in which he played the young explorer Alexander von Humboldt. In the period from 1995 to1996, alongside Ann-Kathrin Kramer, he played the Düsseldorf private detective Philip Casdorff in the twenty-sixth TV crime series Die Partner. In the same year he succeeded in making his breakthrough with Rossini: oder die mörderische Frage, wer mit wem schlief. He received the Bavarian Film Award for Young Actors for the role of Bodo Kriegnitz. In 1997, the German road movie Knocking’ on Heaven’s Door was released in which, alongside Til Schweiger, he played the role of Rudi Wurlitzer, who was diagnosed with bone cancer. The film was a great success and had an audience of over three million viewers. In 2000, he was awarded the German Academy of Performing Arts TV Film Award for his role of the guitar player Johnny in the tragicomedy Halt mich fest!, alongside his future wife Anna Loos.
Since 2002, he has been in front of the camera twice a year with Axel Prahl for the WDR Tatort series in the role of the forensic expert Karl-Friedrich Boerne in Muenster.
In addition to his works on stage and in front of the camera, he also managed to build a successful career as a musician.
We are pleased to honor Jan-Joseph Liefers this year at the ASKANIA AWARD 2022.
Honored with AVUS
He grew up in Hamburg and completed his acting training at the HFF Potsdam in the period between October 2014 and 2018. In the 2015/16 season, he performed at the Hans Otto Theater in Potsdam as Erich in the Fassbinder play Katzelmacher.
He has been in front of the camera since 2014, and made his film debut in Bodo Fuerneisen’s short film Talfallzug. He played episode roles in the TV series Der Kriminalist and Die Pfefferkörner. Furthermore, he appeared in Christian Schwochow’s drama NSU: Die Täter – Heute ist nicht alle Tage.
In June 2017, he acted in a supporting role in Tatort Berlin: Amour Fou; where he played the role of Duran Bolic, a Croatian adolescent coming from a difficult social background in a hotspot district in Berlin-Neukölln, who is now about to graduate from high school after previous criminal career, and is supported by a homosexual couple.
In the 15th season of the ZDF-series Notruf Hafenkante, he took one of the episode’s leading roles as a suspect and previously convicted ex-business student who runs a flower shop together with his mother and younger brother.
We are pleased to honor Justus Johanssen this year at the ASKANIA AWARD 2022.
Honored with TAIFUN
Photo Gallery ASKANIA Award 2022
Pictures: ©Agentur Baganz and ©Freundesgut Verlag & Marketing GmbH
ASKANIA AWARD 2012–2020
- Ralph Herforth,
- Gudrun Landgrebe,
- Jannis Niewöhner,
- Thomas Thieme,
- Günther Fischer
- Gesine Cukrowski,
- Michael Mendl,
- Fritz Wepper,
- Luise Befort,
- Jens Weißflog
- Heiner Lauterbach,
- Katharina Wackernagel,
- Tim Oliver Schultz,
- Henry Hübchen,
- Robert Harting
- Heino Ferch,
- Veronica Ferres,
- Louis Hofmann,
- Claus Theo Gärtner
- Hannelore Elsner,
- Jannik Schühmann,
- CCC Film
- Katharina Thalbach,
- Emilia Schüle
- Armin Mueller-Stahl,
- Jella Haase
- Ben Becker,
- Aylin Tezel
- Armin Rohde,
- Rosalie Thomass


Friday, July 10, 2015
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Affiliate Links may be included in posts to help maintain site. See Full Disclosure.


When I saw the title of this week’s Sunday Post challenge by Jake Sprinter I immediately thought of Harry Potter before I’d even seen his own post.
Living in London, Harry Potter is the obvious choice as so many of London’s landmarks can be seen in the film series. I have been past two locations which I’ve been told were the real-life Diagon Alley (not sure which one actually is or if they are more the inspiration for Diagon Alley), Australia House on the Strand is apparently the outside of Gringott’s Bank and I’ve walked over the Millennium Bridge which was pulled apart by the Deatheaters at the beginning of one of the Harry Potter films. There are probably loads of others that I don’t know about yet, perhaps this summer I’ll have a chance to go on one of the walking tours.
I can’t remember exactly which film it was but there is one scene when Harry and his best friend’s father, Arthur Weasley, take the London Underground to go to the Ministry of Magic. Again, I don’t know where it was actually filmed but the ticket barriers at Canary Wharf underground station always remind me of that scene.
To get through the ticket barriers and onto the train platform most commuters have an electronic travel card, which you need to touch on the yellow card-readers in order for the gate to open. I giggled during the movie because Arthur, not being used to the muggle (non-wizard person’s) way of doing things thinks that all you have to do is tap on the card-reader for it to work and he does this a few times before being corrected by Harry, who grew up in the muggle world.


Scarlett Johansson responded to social media activists and busybodies after an online mob accused her of cultural appropriation. According to reports, Johansson is scheduled to portray a transgender person in an upcoming movie.
After several publications revealed the actress was set to embody a transgender character in the movie, Rub & Tug, critics online took to Twitter to disapprove of her new project.
While some were negative, many others defended her choice to take it on. In a statement released by Scarlett to the news outlet, Bustle, Johansson said that instead of criticising her, they should direct their concerns to the representatives of entertainers like Jared Leto, Jeffrey Tambor, and Felicity Huffman.
The statement was a clear reference to other performers who received glowing critical praise for their portrayals of transgender figures.
However, Scarlett evidently missed Hillary Swank, who performed as a transgender man in Boy’s Don’t Cry, perhaps one of the first movies to address transgenderism. The movie has since become a cult classic and was far ahead of its time.
Back in 2000, Hillary won the Academy Award for her role. The movie paved the way for Felicity Huffman, who played a transgender man in the film, Transamerica.
Dear #ScarlettJohansson, the way you can use your privilege as a white cis woman is to amplify the voices of underrepresented communities, not speak for them.
— Elise Bauman (@baumanelise) July 4, 2018
Additionally, Jared Leto won the Oscar for his role in Dallas Buyers Club along with Matthew McConaughey. As fans of the actress know, Scarlett has received criticism for her roles before.
Back in 2015, Johansson took on an Asian character in Ghost In The Shell. Fans online created a petition to recast an Asian woman instead. Scarlett was very diplomatic in her response to all of the criticism, addressing their concerns directly in a conversation with a magazine.
In an interview with Marie Claire back in 2017, Scarlett said she would never “presume to play another race of a person.” Scarlett explained that getting the chance to play a female protagonist is what she chose instead.


Monthly Archives: March 2017
Last Thursday, March 23, the new Alamo Drafthouse NYC in Brooklyn hosted a special screening of the well-received first film by Osgood Perkins, The Blackcoat’s Daughter. The Blackcoat’s Daughter is a psychological horror film set in a girls’ boarding school … Continue reading
It breaks my heart to have to give this film a bad review. I love the Phantasm film series. The first one is a freaky trip, and the second one is a campy, action-packed blast – and both do an … Continue reading
An obscurity from the Shaw Brothers’ libraries, this film is definitely staffed with the Shaw B-team but still manages to be an energy-filled take on King Hu’s classic Dragon Inn.
I never thought he carried poliziotteschi films as well as Maurizio Merli, but he had some superb spaghetti western roles, particularly in Sergio Corbucci’s Companeros.
If this steaming pile of garbage could get nominated for Best Picture, I guess that is definitive proof that Mel “Sugar Tits” Gibson has been forgiven by the Hollywood community. Hacksaw Ridge commits the worst sin of war movies – … Continue reading
Well, that was more entertaining than I expected. Don’t get me wrong, this remake of the Roger Corman/Paul Bartel 1975 trash classic Death Race 2000 is total garbage, mostly stupid and low budget as hell. But compared to the other … Continue reading
To date, the only film adaptation of George MacDonald Fraser‘s highly entertaining Flashman novels, which follow a Victorian-era British officer’s globetrotting misadventures as he snivels and connives his way to women, wine and safety, while maintaining the appearance of a … Continue reading
I have had a deep affection for Whit Stillman since his Barcelona helped open my eyes to indie cinema in the 90s, and I also love me some Jane Austen (though generally the books far than the movie adaptations). So … Continue reading
This big budget, somewhat highbrow science-fiction picture ultimately glossed over potentially interesting scientific and technical material in favor of an emotional angle on the material, and also forced me to watch the pile of anti-charisma that is Jeremy Renner.


MIAMI BEACH FLORIDA - Sweet Tea Production, Inc. The independent film Red Dirt will World Premiere at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. The 2000 festival will mark the sixth year for the LAIFF which this year recieved over 1700 entries will present 79 of those films.
Red Dirt is a story of a young man at a crossroads in his life. It follows the blood bonds we make with our families, the people we love and the place we call home. Set in rural Mississippi, the film stars Karen Black(Five Easy Pieces, Easy Rider, The Player), Walton Goggins(The Apostle), Aleska Palladino(Many and Lo, The Adventures of Sebastian Cole) and Dan Montgomery(Last Man, Wasteland.)
Red Dirt is the first feature film for writer/director Tag Purvis. Purvis has completed four short films to date, including his most recent, America the Beautifull, which has been screened at over forty festivals internationally and broascast by CANAL+ in three of their principal markets. In addition to traditional filmmaking, Purvis has been recognized for his work as an installation artist and has exhibited in numerous venues throughout the U.S.
Born and raised in Meridian, Mississippi, Purvis chose to return to his birthplace with his right hand man Pablo Antonio Mirabal to shoot the film. Bearing a strong artistic background, production designer Mirabal drew inspiration for Red Dirt from a diverse group of artist spanning the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Artist such as Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Welty all had a hand in shaping the style that culminated in the creation of the film.
The music score was recorded at Capital studios under the leadership of Nathan Barr Barr, a classically trained cellist from New York, saw to it that the lush nature and emotion caputerd in the production was continued in the sound track as well.
Red Dirt is a Sweet Tea Prodution, and is being produced by Cyril Bijaoui. Bijaoui, holding a finance degree from New York University, carries on the business operations of the company and serves as a vital member of the collaborative group of filmamkers.
Red Dirt will screen Saturday, April 15th at 8pm at the Harmony Gold at 7655 Sunset Boulevard. An additional screening will be held on Monday, April 17th at 10:30am at the Directors Guild of America at 7920 Sunset Boulevard.
For tickets please call 1-888-ETM-TIXS and for additional information please contact us directly at 305.534.0208
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NAME: Brittany Hanson
PLAN DUE DATE: 15 March, 2018
DP: Aaron Fisher
FILM 5: SCRIPTED ONE TAKE
This statement of intent is designed to train your mind, eye and heart to shoot purposefully. Prepare it well before shooting. Briefly—but thoughtfully and specifically—answer the following questions.
- Fill out the Director’s Schedule Worksheet and attach it.
- What film or TV show is this from?When Harry Met Sally
- Have you ever watched this film?No
- Do you have the actual script of the film—not a transcript?Yes
- The world of the story (If the answers aren’t clear in the script, you must make the specific decisions!):
- Where does this story take place?The story mostly takes place in New York City. However, the scene I am shooting takes place at the University of Chicago campus.
- In what year does this story take place—be as specific as possibleThe story (and my scene) happens in 1977 as Harry and Sally graduate from college. However, the film takes place over a span of 11 years.
- In what month or season does this story take place?This scene takes place in/around June (late spring, early summer) – graduation time. The whole story spans 11 years and takes place in various months/seasons.
- Briefly describe the world—its rules, social dynamics, historical context (if it takes place in the real world, include some major world events of the time), anything else that might be relevant to telling this story. Do a bit of research if necessary.Harry and Sally graduate on the brink of a massive decade for pop culture entertainment: 1977 alone is memorable for Star Wars, the release of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors, Annie Hall, the evolution of punk and the rise of new wave music. Social dynamics were also evolving rapidly: The Equal Credit Opportunity Act was only three years old, the ban some states still had against females serving jury duty had only been lifted two years prior, and females still wouldn’t have the opportunity to become an astronaut for two more years. From sports to careers to personal finances, women were just barely being recognized by law as true citizens – and of course, wider acceptance on a day-today basis with the individuals one interacts with often takes much longer, since people’s beliefs don’t often change overnight, even if laws do. These real-world social dynamics are especially interesting to note in a film that explores whether men and women can be just friends.
- For each of the major characters in the story (if the characters in your scene are not major characters, you should also include them below):
- What is their full name?
- How old are they?
- Give a brief descriptive biography of these characters (what they look like—if it’s not in the script, what you think they look like, what is their personality, what is their inner life, what are some insights about their growing up, etc.):
|FULL NAME||AGE||DESCRIPTIVE BIOGRAPHY (see above)|
|Sally Albright||21||“Very pretty, but not necessarily in an obvious way.” A dignified, precise, want-to-be journalist who yearns for something interesting and worthwhile to happen in her life: That’s why she’s moving to New York.|
|Harry Burns||26||“Jeans and a sweatshirt” law school graduate. He’s smart but prefers to act casually and spontaneously. He’s a bit of a rascal.|
|Amanda||20||“Long straight hair that she irons” – one of those naïve young college women who romanticize troubled men and fall passionately in love with the idea of love.|
- After reading the entire script, in 3-5 sentences, what is the story—the beginning, middle and ending—of the entire film?Harry and Sally meet when Sally picks him up as a favor to her friend, to drive to New York to start their post-college lives (separately). They argue about whether men and women can just be friends. Over the next eleven years, they meet through chance again multiple times, and eventually attempt friendship while pursuing other relationships – but in the end, they fall in love.
- After reading the entire script, what is the theme or message of this film? (The theme is what the story means, it has a point of view. It is not a single word. It takes a position.)Men and women really do need each other after all – they fill gaps in their lives beyond a casual friendship type of relationship. (I’m going to be honest, I haven’t read the entire script from beginning to end yet, but I’m getting through it).
- In 3-4 sentences, what happened in the story immediately before your selected scene?
An elderly couple sit on a couch. They discuss how they met, and how long they have been together (50 years). It is part of documentary footage.
- In 3-4 sentences, what is the story—the beginning, middle, and end—of this scene? In other words, what happens as the scene starts, as the action rises, and as it ends?Amanda and Harry kiss melodramatically. Sally pulls up in a car, waits for the kiss to end, and finally honks the horn to break up the couple. Harry is introduced to Sally, packs his things into the car, and the couple begin their never-ending goodbyes until Sally has to honk again to break them up. Harry and Sally drive off, the couple still waving their goodbyes.
- How does this scene develop or advance the plot?
We are introduced to the two main characters for the first time. We see that Sally is the sort of person who won’t put up with things she doesn’t have the patience for. She can stand on her own two feet. We learn that Harry was in a relationship with a much younger college student – and while he seemed to enjoy it, he was still willing to leave.
- Briefly describe each character’s journey in the scene and how this scene impacts them. Specifically: How are they at the beginning of the scene? What do they do in the scene? What happens to them in the scene? How are they at the end of the scene? Why?
|CHARACTER||HOW ARE THEY AT THE BEGINNING?||WHAT DO THEY DO IN THE SCENE?||WHAT HAPPENS TO THEM IN THE SCENE?||HOW ARE THEY AT THE END? WHY?|
|Sally||Ready to get on the road.||Breaks up a kiss by honking the car horn: Twice.
Offers Harry the first driving shift, shakes his hand.
|Is forced to wait while the couple go through melodramatic goodbyes, is introduced to Harry.||Impatient: This random guy has held up her road trip twice to kiss Amanda, and it’s annoying. She’s beginning to dread and maybe regret agreeing to drive her friend’s boyfriend to New York.|
|Harry||Completely involved with kissing Amanda.||Exchanges kisses and “I love you’s” with Amanda, shakes Sally’s hand, suggests she takes the first driving shift since she’s already in the driver’s seat, packs up his things, promises to call Amanda.||Has his goodbyes interrupted twice with a car horn, is introduced to Sally, is asked to call Amanda.||Melodramatic/sappy to Amanda, but fairly carefree for having just said goodbye to someone he was in a relationship with.|
|Amanda||Completely involved with kissing Harry.||Kisses Harry, exchanges “I love you’s”, introduces Harry to Sally, begs Harry to call her even before he gets to New York.||Has her goodbyes interrupted twice with a car horn, is left behind by the guy she’s madly in love with.||Already issing Harry like crazy, eager to hear any word from him as soon as possible.|
- Describe the specific story details and/or character insights that must be clear to the audience in this scene in order to understand, remain oriented and engaged in the scene (as well as in the rest of the film). Describe the specific moments/details that you must be sure to shoot in order to communicate each piece of information? (Assume the audience will have seen the film up to this point, therefore, these are details the audience must see and that you must shoot in this scene in order for the scene to effectively serve its purpose.)
|WHAT THE AUDIENCE MUST UNDERSTAND||WHAT YOU MUST SHOOT TO COMMUNICATE THAT|
|Harry is leaving his university with Sally.||Packed car with boxes of possessions: records, a TV, boxes of books, suit cases, duffel bags. Harry loads his own stuff into the car.|
|Harry and Sally just met each other for the first time: Their mutual friend is Amanda.||Harry and Sally shake hands; “nice to meet you”; it’s Amanda who makes the introduction.|
|Harry’s relationship with Amanda isn’t all that serious; she’s just some melodramatic madly-in-love young college student: Their goodbyes should come across as funny rather than heartbreaking.||Harry and Amanda’s goodbyes are pretty one-note: Just kisses and goodbyes that come across as entertainingly melodramatic, not genuinely emotional. Their behavior should suggest that they are starry-eyed about each other, but that there are no signs of deeper feelings on Harry’s part. No overwhelming sense of melancholy in his behavior, no tears. He’s able to act pretty matter-of-fact about this big change in his life in between his kisses with Amanda.|
|Harry and Amanda were college students –Harry is leaving a university.||Recognizable university building/sign; maybe Amanda wears a university t-shirt, maybe Harry’s things contain random college paraphernalia. One of his boxes of books could contain law textbooks.|
- Reread what you wrote above for the theme of this story. Keeping that in mind, how does this scene explore the theme of the film? Be specific.Harry is immediately introduced in a relationship – so when he leaves his girlfriend in Chicago, there’s a gap in his life. It implies that Sally, the girl who is forced to sit next to him/get to know him on the long drive to New York could potentially fill that gap – and the major question of the film is “Can men and women just be friends?” especially when they aren’t in relationships and that gap isn’t filled.
- What is the tension of this scene? This is the question that the audience is asking themselves as the scene begins and makes them participate in the story by anticipating what may or may not happen. The scene’s tension must be specific to this It should begin with “Will _____?” “Will Moss be ready for Chighur’s ambush?”)Will Sally ever get on the road (and get Harry to separate himself from Amanda?)
- A good scene is an emotional journey. What progression of emotions do you want the audience to experience during this scene? Why? What, specifically, will you shoot to do this?
|EMOTION & WHY||WHAT WILL YOU SHOOT TO EVOKE THIS EMOTION|
|Blech – college student PDA, melodramatic/cheesy “I love you’s”||Evidence of college campus (sign/building): Focus on the couple totally unaware of anything else but each other – hold the focus on them for a few beats, just long enough to feel how ridiculous this looks.|
|Empathy…. then “Hahaha, yes!”||Focus on Sally when she drives up – watch her watch the couple (she’s the stand-in for the audience at this point as an outsider watching this uncomfortably long public display of affection.) Dolly in close to watch her lean her elbow on the horn to “accidentally-on-purpose” honk the horn.|
|Understanding/curiosity – figuring out that Harry is leaving with Sally even though he doesn’t know her, wondering where they’re going, who these people are.||Harry’s stuff being loaded into the car– Harry’s law textbooks in a box that hasn’t been folded, maybe a sloppily-packed, partially unzipped duffel bag|
|Back to “blech” – we empathize with Sally, who is feeling impatient.||Starry-eyed Amanda and Harry’s longing looks, Sally’s expression watching them|
|Amusement/relief||The couple breaks apart at the sound of the car horn. Have Sally start the car almost before Harry’s fully closed the door.|
- First and last images and why:
|DESCRIBE THE IMAGE||WHY CHOOSE THIS IMAGE?|
|First||A university sign||Introduce the setting: College campus.|
|Last||Car driving away||Focus on the beginning of a journey, not the ending of one. (Not looking back at Amanda.) Also show Sally’s urgency to get on the road.|
- Why is this scene personal to you? What specific personal experience(s) in your own life does it remind you of?I honestly think PDA is the most annoying thing – not because I’m anti-romance, but boy are people unintentionally obnoxious when they’re in love! I’m reminded of the times in high school when I was in a rush to get to my locker in between classes only to find two lovebirds directly in the way, leaning against my locker kissing sloppily. I remember having to be that impatient person who really doesn’t care at the moment how in love someone is and who really just wants to get a move on. It’s no fun in the moment, but it’s pretty funny to witness in a film. I would have loved to have a car horn to honk like Sally at some of those people who were too infatuated to hear a polite “excuse me” or a quiet clearing of the throat. Go Sally!
- Use evocative language to describe the lighting in this scene.
a) How should it feel? (Include specific terms: Hard, Soft, High Key, Low Key, High Contrast, Low Contrast, Graduated Tonality, Top, Under, Side)High key rom-com.b) Reread what you wrote above for both the theme and the tension of this scene. How does your choice of lighting reflect, strengthen and/or emphasize the theme and tension?
It renders the behavior amusing; lack of shadows and darkness avoids suggestion of melancholy or heartbreak. This isn’t a heartbreaking conclusion to the film’s question, it’s just the beginning, the prerequisite to posing it.
c) Technically, what equipment might you need to achieve this look and feel?
I’d like to use the natural softer light of morning since the scene takes place outdoors – have flags and bounces to shape the light.
d) Include a couple of sample image(s). (Not from the actual film!)
Harry wears jeans and a sweatshirt. Every aspect of him is chill/casual.
Sally wears 80s-style blazers and pants – more casual and not matching in color/fabric because it’s a road-trip, not a business meeting, but she still expresses a certain dignity – she takes herself and her appearance seriously, in contrast to Harry.
- Select the two specific visual elements* you will use to purposefully communicate the emotion of the scene. (You will be graded on your execution of this plan.) How will you utilize the principles of contrast and infinity of these components to help build intensity in your purposeful telling of this story?
|VISUAL ELEMENT*||HOW WILL YOU USE IT?||HOW WILL CONTRAST & AFFINITY BE USED?|
|Shape||Sally = triangle. Dynamic, sharp, maybe a little rigid. Straight, dignified posture, triangles on neatly pressed blazer lapels
Harry = kinda slouchy oval, not necessarily in body type, but in dress. His sweatshirt and jeans are baggy rather than fitted.
|Sally’s and Harry’s styles should contrast – one evokes dignity/precision/ practicality and the other evokes a more casual/carefree/spontaneous personality.|
|Space|| I want to try some flat space when I’m trying to evoke Harry’s mentality the second time they start kissing – he isn’t seeing Sally, her desire to get on the road, or anything else besides Amanda, and the flat space created by a shallow depth of field will help create that.
Deep space when the car drives off: The start of a journey/a long road ahead.
|Contrast: When looking at the couple from Sally’s perspective, the space should be less flat – to her, it’s just an obnoxious public display of affection that looks ridiculous from the outside, and it’s impeding the start of her journey.|
*The specific visual elements are: line, shape, space, tone, color, rhythm, movement
- Describe three or four potential obstacles you may face in creating a successful scene. Describe how can you be prepared to overcome these? Be specific!
|POTENTIAL OBSTACLE||PLAN OF ACTION|
|Actors comfortable with acting like a melodramatic, passionate couple.||Try to find a real-life couple to cast, send out casting call ASAP.|
|A place on campus a car can drive up to and stop multiple times without blocking traffic.||Shoot on a Friday or Saturday when campus is less busy, get permission, start location scouting this weekend.|
|Car that works for the scene that the actor playing Sally is comfortable with driving/owner capable of lending if necessary||Talk to whoever I cast as Sally to make sure she’s comfortable driving whatever vehicle we end up using. If the actor’s car won’t work for the part, find out ASAP so that I can borrow one that will.|


29 Aug 2014
I always get disproportionately unsettled when I end a good book or film. I tend to take a long time to read, but when I’m really enjoying a book I tend to slow my reading down because I’m scared of getting to the end! Anyway, I’ve finished Self Help.
Talking of endings. I’ve been watching a lot of films recently. There are a number of reasons for this. There are a lot of films that have been out and I have really wanted to see but haven’t found time for yet. Anyhow, in the past I would get really annoyed when a film ended badly. It would frustrate me if the ending wasn’t unrealistically happy and positive. I suspect most children are like this, since practically all children’s films have such endings. But now I feel quite the opposite. One of my favourite films ends in the destruction of the earth.


The Mentalist Season 6
- Warner Bros
The series follows Patrick Jane, an independent consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Sacramento, California. Although not a regular police officer, he uses his skills from his former career as a successful, yet admittedly fraudulent, psychic medium to help a team of CBI agents solve murders. The real reason for Patrick Jane’s involvement with law enforcement is to track down the serial killer known as Red John, who was responsible for the brutal murders of his wife and his daughter.


The Netflix film, “The Pale Blue Eye”, starring actor Christian Bale was shot primarily in the Pittsburgh area, including some very recognizable spots if you’re familiar with the region.
In the film, western Pennsylvania stands in for West Point and the Hudson Valley circa 1830 as Augustus Landor (played by Bale), investigates a series of crimes on the campus. He is assisted by a young Edgar Allan Poe.
Below, I share those and a few others that you can visit on your own if you want to see the filming locations for “The Pale Blue Eye” in Pennsylvania. (Note that this article contains no spoilers that weren’t reported prior to the movie’s premier.)
Compass Inn Museum
The Compass Inn Museum in Westmoreland County, PA was the first filming location used for the movie, with filming for the entire movie starting there on November 29, 2021.
The Compass Inn Museum’s blacksmith shop stands in for an 1830 tavern, which is a perfect fit because the Compass Inn was at its peak as a stagecoach stop and tavern in the 1830s.
Also recognizable in at least one scene in the tavern are Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman and his wife Gisele, who were extras during at least one scene shot here. Bale said of Fetterman, “John’s got this fantastic face, hulking figure…That’s a face that fits the 1830s.”
Visitors looking to visit this filming location can tour the museum, including the blacksmith shop, to learn what life was like in the early 1800s, and how taverns like this one helped in the settlement of both the region and the western United States.
McConnells Mill State Park
When I first watch the preview for “The Pale Blue Eye”, McConnells Mill State Park in Lawrence County stood out to me instantly from my many visits to this scenic area.
The park actually features quite prominently in the trailer with at least 4 of the scenes being shot there (and likely more). This includes the historic mill in the park, which is the most recognizable of the features.
This mill was constructed in 1868, making it a bit too modern for the film, but it still is a fitting setting and looks quite striking as it towers above Slippery Rock Creek. It also sits adjacent to the beautiful McConnell’s Mill Covered Bridge, one of my favorite covered bridges in PA.
There is another shot in the trailer that looks like it may be from just below Kildoo Falls, but it’s a little hard to tell for sure.
McConnells Mill is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful state parks in Pennsylvania, and there are miles of hiking trails and many great waterfalls for visitors to enjoy while looking for the filming locations for “The Pale Blue Eye”.
Westminster College in New Wilmington is another filming location for “The Pale Blue Eye” in Pennsylvania.
This Lawrence County liberal arts school stands in for West Point because of its Collegiate Gothic-style buildings, even though the school didn’t open until more than 20 years after the film is set.
The college’s Quad, which consists of Old Main, Browne and Ferguson Halls, and the McGill Library, is featured prominently in the film and can even be seen in the trailer above.
While this isn’t an official tourist attraction, visitors can certainly visit the campus and walk through these beautiful grounds.
Moraine State Park
Located just a few miles from McConnell’s Mill State Park, Moraine State Park is another filming location from the movie.
Interestingly, Lake Arthur in the park was filmed in such a way that it stood in for the Hudson River at various points throughout the film. While using a lake for this purpose seems strange, the forested shores of a lake are a nice match for what the Hudson Valley looked like 200 years ago.
Visitors today can enjoy Moraine State Park’s lake, many miles of hiking and biking trails, and, in the summertime, several great beaches.
Penguin Court (as well as the adjacent Thomas Road Farm) is an 1,100-acre section of preserved land in Westmoreland County that is owned by the Brandywine Conservancy. The area got its unusual name due to the 10 penguins that used to roam the land when this was private property.
Penguin Court’s land is mostly forest and meadow, which provide a variety of locations for the outdoor shots used in the film. The property is also home to a historic barn, remnants of a mansion, and a very large greenhouse and conservancy.
Penguin Court isn’t open to the public on a daily basis, but visitors are allowed to check out the area during regularly-occurring events.
Old Economy Village
Old Economy Village is located in Beaver County and is another location used in the filming of “The Pale Blue Eye”.
This village was constructed beginning in the 1820s and was the home of the Harmony Society, a religious sect that has since died out (in no small part due to their vow of celibacy). Several of their historic buildings, including the Feast Hall and the Granary, are said to have been used to shoot various scenes in the film.
Visitors wanting to explore this site can take tours of the village, which are offered from May through December.
Allegheny Cemetery is located in the Lawrenceville neighborhood in Pittsburgh and is one of Pennsylvania’s most historic cemeteries.
The cemetery opened in 1844 and is one of the oldest rural cemeteries in the country. The cemetery is 300 acres in size and is said to be the final resting place of more than 100,000 people, including many famous Pittsburghers and even soldiers who died in the French and Indian War (who were reinterred here).
While the cemetery is a few decades more recent than the film’s timeline, it’s still a beautiful and historic spot, and it’s definitely not a stretch for it to stand in for scenes in a movie set in the early 19th century.
Today, visitors can drive or walk through the cemetery grounds to both enjoy the beautiful setting and to pay their respects to the people buried there. Some of the most notable graves can be found on this map.
Have you seen the film or been to any of these filming locations for “The Pale Blue Eye” in PA? Let us know in the comments below.


By Kelly Mahan Jaramillo, Dec.2, 2008
I just received word yesterday that Eileen Nelson, Director of “American Dumpling” has entered it into three more festivals – the Los Angeles Film Festival, the London International Documentary Film Festival, and the AFI Dallas International Film Festival.
So, we are entered in numerous festivals, but again, will not know which ones have accepted “Dumpling” until some time in January, so until then, there is not a lot to be done on “Dumpling” besides wait, and on our end, start the process of the cue sheets, and the contract. I realize that getting the contract out after the score is finished is a little backwards, but since we have known Eileen for over a decade, we felt quite comfortable not working by the usual rules. Besides, Tomas was ready to jump right into writing, and when that happens, one does not want to interrupt the flow with legal paperwork.
To keep his creative spirit going while buried in paperwork, Tomas is going to be putting together a small trailer of “Dumpling” and it will be up on his web site. Until then, we are looking at Director David Eblen’s film “Ravana’s Game” – very promising! We only had the first two reels, and it was intriguing enough to request the rest of the film, which just arrived. We will be watching it tonight.
A young Indie filmmaker wrote an inquiry to Tomas last week concerning scoring his film.
Tomas also was approached by whohub for an interview for the movies and T.V. section – fun! Until you see the amount of questions, lol. Still fun, a little bit daunting with all of the other work to be done, though. Where to start?
Thank God “The Black Shield” is still in the final screenwriting stage, otherwise I would have to take Tomas down to the basement and start the cloning process.
Happy Holidays, everyone!