ITV

Tag: Los Angeles

  • Melancholia is NCFC’s best film

    Melancholia is NCFC’s best film

    MUMBAI: The National Society of Film Critics (NCFC) has named apocalyptic psychological drama Melancholia as the year‘s best film.

    The Society has also chosen Kirsten Dunst as best actress and Brad Pitt as best actor for the baseball drama Moneyball as well as The Tree of Life.

    Though Lars von Trier lost out as the best director award for his work on Melancholia to Terrence Malick for The Tree of Life, his film‘s big win bolstered the offbeat film‘s chances for the upcoming Academy Awards that will announce nominees later this month.

    Set against the backdrop of a country wedding, the dark film explores the strained relationship of two sisters, one a bride played by Dunst, while a strange planet threatens to collide with Earth, wiping out all traces of human existence.

    Pitt, already a strong contender for the Oscars, was honoured for his roles as Oakland A‘s manager Billy Beane in Moneyball as well as a strict father in The Tree of Life.

    Critics‘ awards are important in helping build momentum heading toward the Academy Awards, or Oscars, which are the world‘s top film awards given out on the final Sunday in February by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

    The NSFC includes 58 members from major newspapers in Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Chicago and other cities as well as from Time, Newsweek and The New Yorker and newspapers The Village Voice and the Boston Phoenix.

    The Real Millionaire by Piyush Thakur will be screened in International Competition at 34th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.

    This is his story and that of his family and the villagers‘ journey towards realizing the actual meaning of the word “winning”, reads the synopsis of the film on the festival‘s website.

    The festival will be held from January 27-February 4,2012.

    The film is a story of a farmer Vishnu, who‘s life changes after he gets a call from the reality game show,KBC (Kaun Banega Crorepati). This is his story and that of his family and the villagers‘ journey towards realizing the actual meaning of the word winning.

  • Screen Actors Guild awards on January 29

    Screen Actors Guild awards on January 29

    MUMBAI: The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) is in the process of mailing out postcards to its members that instructs how to vote for the 18th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards scheduled to be held on January 29.

    Encouraging green practices, members are being encouraged to vote outline in the five film and eight television categories covered by the awards.

    The results will be announced at the awards show at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center on the appointed day broadcast simultaneously by TNT and TBS.

  • Academy plans outdoor amphitheatre

    Academy plans outdoor amphitheatre

    MUMBAI: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is mulling with the idea to open a 17,000-square-foot amphitheater next May as a venue to show classic films, it is said.


    Incidentally, the Academy bought the land way back in 2005 with the intention to build a world-class film museum there but abandoned the idea after the economy crisis hit the world making it impossible to raise the funds needed to build a whole new facility.
     
    In October, the Academy announced plans to lease a former May Co. department store now owned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and put the movie museum there.

  • New Yorkite gets one year for piracy act

    New Yorkite gets one year for piracy act

    MUMBAI: A New Yorkite Gilberto Sanchez has been sentenced to a year in Los Angeles federal prison for illegally uploading and distributing a copy of X-Men Origins: Wolverine before the movie‘s premiere.


    Forty-nine-year-old Sanchez was sentenced on Monday by the court. The judge also imposed a year of supervised release and numerous computer restrictions.
     
    It is said that Sanchez pleaded guilty last March to one count of uploading a copyrighted work being prepared for commercial distribution.


    Prosecutors say that he admitted uploading a work print copy of the 2009 film about one month before it was released in theatres after which he publicised the upload on two websites.

  • McQueen’s Shame grosses $ .36 million on debut

    McQueen’s Shame grosses $ .36 million on debut

    MUMBAI: This week‘s release Steve McQueen‘s Shame was one of the top debuts ever for a film given a NC-17 rating. The film grossed $361,181 from 10 theaters for a location average of $36,118.


    Fox Searchlight, that is planning an aggressive awards campaign for the film has decided to first test the appetite for the film in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco.


    Searchlight, that acquired Shame from the Telluride Film Festival, believes that the film will play well throughout awards season, despite the challenges associated with the NC-17 rating.


    Two awards contenders landed on the top 10 box office chart. Martin Scorsese‘s Hugo expanded into an additional 500 theatres over the weekend. The 3D family friendly film-named best film of the year by the National Board of Review last week, garnered $7.6 million from 1,840 locations.


    In another victory for Searchlight, Alexander Payne‘s The Descendants climbed to No. 7 on the box office chart after grossing $5.2 million as it added 141 locations for a total theater count of 574.


    Descendants, starring George Clooney has now grossed $18.1 million and is the first limited release to ever cross $10 million in 12 days. And the film is already the No. 2 limited release of the year after Woody Allen‘s Midnight in Paris that has roped in a total $56 million.


    The tally of Midnight in Paris includes $274,518 million grossed over the weekend as Sony Pictures Classics made one last push before the DVD comes out on December 20 and re-released the film in nearly 300 theaters.

  • Disney/ABC in deal with Katie Couric for talk show

    Disney/ABC in deal with Katie Couric for talk show

    MUMBAI: US media conglomerate Disney/ABC Television Group (DATG) has signed a multi-year, multi-platform agreement with journalist and television personality Katie Couric to host and produce her own nationally syndicated talk show and to join the ABC News team.

    The programme will be distributed by Disney/ABC Domestic Television and will premiere in September 2012.  
         
      Couric, the former “Today” co-anchor who was most recently anchor and managing editor of the ‘CBS Evening News with Katie Couric’, a ‘60 Minutes’ correspondent and host of the weekly online interview series, @katiecouric, will be reunited with Jeff Zucker, who will be an executive producer on the yet-to-be-named syndicated series, which will be based in New York and produced in conjunction with Disney/ABC.

    In addition to hosting the new syndicated program, Couric will join the ABC News team, contributing to all programmes and platforms. Beginning this summer, Couric will anchor specials, contribute interviews, participate in special events coverage and bring her many talents to bear on some of the most important and interesting stories of the day.

    DATG president Anne Sweeney said, “Katie Couric is one of television’s iconic figures and we are thrilled to have forged such an exciting partnership with her. We look forward to having Katie join the best News team in the business, and to working with her to create a dynamic and successful talk show franchise.”

    Couric said, “I’m very happy to be returning to the network where I began my career as a desk assistant in 1979. It is tremendously exciting to have the creative freedom to develop my own show with Anne Sweeney, the Disney/ABC TV Group and Jeff, and to contribute to such a vibrant, innovative news division.”

    The eight ABC Owned stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, Raleigh/Durham and Fresno, which represent nearly 23 per cent of the nation’s TV households, have already cleared the new show in the 3 pm time slot.

    As part of the announcement, the network is set to return the last hour of its Daytime network block to affiliates no earlier than September 2012, but continues to support “General Hospital,” and the plans to launch “The Chew” in September of this year and “The Revolution” in January 2012.
     
     

  • CBS veteran newsman Harold Dow no more

    CBS veteran newsman Harold Dow no more

    MUMBAI: Award winning CBS correspondent Harold Dow, best known for his 1986 report “48 Hours on Crack Street,” has expired. He was 62.

    Winner of George Foster Peabody Award and five Emmy awards, Dow was one of the network’s most senior correspondents, and had appeared on ‘48 Hours’ since it was launched in 1990.

    Dow was also regularly seen on ‘CBS Sunday Morning’ and contributed reporting across the entire news channels of CBS.

    Dow used to serve as an co-anchor on ‘CBS News Nightwatch’ and was also a correspondent and reporter of the CBS News Los Angeles bureau.

    Dow also worked as a correspondent for the CBS News magazine ‘Street Stories’ (1992–93) and had reported for the ‘CBC Evening News’ and ‘CBS News Sunday Morning’ since the early 1970s.

    Dow started his career with CBS as a broadcast associate in 1972.

  • CNN to double newsgathering presence in US

    CNN to double newsgathering presence in US

    MUMBAI: CNN plans to double its domestic newsgathering presence with new operations in 10 US cities, resulting in an aggressive expansion of its newsgathering in the US. The announcment was made by CNN US senior VP newsgathering Nancy Lane.

    The new operations will be based in Columbus, Ohio; Denver; Houston; Las Vegas; Minneapolis, Minn.; Orlando, Fla.; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; and Seattle. This expansion will also allow CNN to build stronger partnerships with affiliates in new and existing locations across the country. CNN already has bureaus in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

    The newly expanded newsgathering operation will be staffed with a mix of traditional general assignment reporters with CNN’s current roster of “show-based correspondents” who are attached to many of CNN’s daytime and prime-time programs, and newly designated “all-platform journalists.” All-platform journalists will combine new technologies with traditional journalism skills to gather news from the heart of America for all CNN’s networks and services, especially CNN’s growing digital platforms.

    Lane said , “CNN’s rapid adoption of new technology over the years put us in the enviable position to be able to expand at a time when others are cutting back. Our technological innovations allow our reporters to be at the center of more breaking news events and developing stories across the United States, with greater independence and mobility than ever before. This expansion is a critical component of CNN Worldwide’s overall strategy for increased content ownership.”

    CNN’s most recent development of technology in newsgathering includes the use of lightweight kits that combine cameras, editing tools and advanced satellite and Internet communications technology into a laptop-based system. This suite of technologies enable CNN’s journalists to employ immediate live and video FTP submissions, real-time content monitoring, editing and voice communication from anywhere in the field.

  • CNN to launch new show ‘My City My Life’

    CNN to launch new show ‘My City My Life’

    MUMBAI: News broadcaster CNN will launch the show My City My Life on 3 May at 6:45 pm and 10:45 pm and on 4 May at 1:45 pm.

    Each month the show takes viewers on a unique journey into the heart and soul of one of the world’s greatest cities. Icons from the world of film, music and fashion reveal the hidden treasures within their chosen city.

    With celebrities as CNN’s tour guides, each programme will offer viewers an exclusive and personal insight into both their personality and the destination. Viewers will discover the locations that inspire them, where they like to go and what they love to do.

    The show gives the personalities creative input on how their city is portrayed as CNN cameras follow them for at least a day.

    Opening the series, the programme ventures to the heart of Florence in Italy, exploring the wonderful city through the eyes of Roberto Cavalli, world-renowned fashion designer. Cavalli, grandson of impressionist painter Giuseppe Rossi, grew up surrounded by art and fashion and Florence has always been of great significance to him, being the place he unveiled his first collection in 1972. Cavalli reveals the places in Florence he loves most and shares his inspirations.

    In June’s episode, French actor and director Mathieu Kassovitz, guides viewers through ‘his’ Paris, including the place where he was born; the differences between the north and south of the city and some of the locations that inspired his film, ‘La Haine’. The series will air on 7 June at 6.45 pm and 10.45 pm and 8 June at 1.45 pm.

    Each intimate portrayal will provide CNN viewers with the opportunity to travel across continents, off the beaten tourist track and under the skin of the world’s most cutting-edge destinations, which include Paris, London, New York, Seattle, Los Angeles and Las Vegas among others.

    CNN’s comprehensive website will allow access to all past episodes and special features via www.cnn.com/mycitymylife.

    Samsonite will sponsor the show. The sponsorship takes effect from 3 May 2008 and signals the premium travel brand’s first television advertising campaign in four years and is a significant evolution of Samsonite’s traditionally spot-driven association with CNN International.

    For Samsonite, its sponsorship of My City_My Life marks the next phase in its long term global communications campaign Life’s a Journey. The campaign is a compelling mix of brand and product advertising and will extend Samsonite’s brand footprint to connect with CNN International’s upscale audiences across Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. It will also reach audiences globally via CNN.com.

    CNN International senior VP ad sales Rani R. Raad comments, “CNN International delivers the upscale business traveller audience that Samsonite wants to reach with their luxury high end travel products. We are excited Samsonite has chosen to cement its advertising relationship with us on this bespoke, cross-platform initiative and we look forward to delivering a powerful brand solution for them.”

    Samsonite president and CEO Marcello Bottoli says, “We launched the ‘Life’s a Journey’ campaign in 2005 to add a much richer, more emotional depth to our communication; to showcase the new direction for Samsonite. Being associated with a travel feature like My City My Life is an exciting next step and brings our brand philosophy to life in front of a key audience.”

    In addition to branded billboards attached to ‘My City_My Life’ television and web programming, Samsonite will also exclusively sponsor the series’ online destination. The My City_My Life microsite will stream the programme on demand and include written profiles and image galleries of the personalities and guides to the cities in the show. A user-generated content component will invite users to submit their own hot tips for the cities visited in the show and cast ‘Quick Votes’ for each of the cities. A branded promotional campaign across TV and web will drive viewer tune-in to the show.

    Samsonite joins CNN’s roster of luxury goods clients including Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Omega and Breitling.

  • MySpace looking to double global presence

    MySpace looking to double global presence

    MUMBAI: News Corp’s social networking site, MySpace, plans to more than double the number of countries it will operate in by the end of the year.

    Media reports state that the goal is to have a presence in 11 countries. This includes China. The company has test-launched a service in Mexico.

    Meanwhile MySpace has sued an e-mail marketing executive for an unspecified amount of damages, saying that he and his company were behind millions of junk e-mail, or spam, messages sent to its customers’ accounts.

    MySpace filed the lawsuit against Scott Richter in US District Court in Los Angeles.