Applications for 4th Locarno Summer Academy
The Locarno Summer Academy assists emerging filmmakers, professionals, students and film critics. Eighty “young talents” from around the world are selected to participate in the four programs. Locarno's Filmmakers Academy (August 12 – 17) gives 25 emerging filmmakers a chance to interact with veterans in that space (application here). Critics Academy (August 7 – 17) is a training program held in conjunction with Indiewire, Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Swiss Association of Film Journalists (application here). The Documentary Summer School (August 12 – 17) allows 20 university students to familiarize themselves with various aspects of documentary filmmaking (application here). Cinema&GioventĂş (August 6 – 17) is aimed at 32 high school and university students, or those coming from a vocational training school, in Switzerland and Northern Italy. Over 11 days, the young participants (17 – 21 years old) will participate in the Festival as jury members and as privileged spectators (information here). The 66th Locarno Film Festival takes place in August.
Roger Ebert Laid to Rest in Chicago
The Pulitzer Prize-winning critic's funeral took place Monday at Holy Name Cathedral. “He didn't just dominate his profession, he defined it,” said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel at the mass. Speakers took turns talking about Ebert's career and the health problems that left him unable to speak during the 90 minute mass. His widow, Chaz Ebert, received a standing ovation and noted: “It didn't matter to him your race, creed, colour—he had a big enough heart to accept and love all.” BBC reports.
Sundance London Unveils Talks and Music Slate
Sundance Institute announced the talks and music performances that will take place at its Festival Hub at the 2nd Sundance London Film and Music Festival, taking place April 25 – 28 at The O2. Talks include meeting Sundance organizers, the Art of Music Video, a conversation with doc filmmakers Barbara Kopple, Roger Ross Williams (God Loves Uganda) and Gabriela Cowperthwaite (Blackfish), as well as a discussion with crowd-sourcing site Kickstarter, a discussion on micro-budget films, and more. Among the musical acts slated for Sundance London are Canadian indie Lesley Pike, Iman, Charles Bruno, Luls, Mary Epworth, Wolf Alice, Alex Burey and more. “We created The Hub as a hangout for our invited artists and London audiences to discuss their love of film and music,” noted Sundance's John Cooper. “These talks and musical performances, open to all Sundance London pass and ticket holders, add to the experience of the festival in exciting ways.” For more information, visit the Sundance London website.
Meryl Streep Praises Margaret Thatcher as “Figure of Awe”
Streep received an Oscar for her portrayal of the late Baroness Thatcher, who was the longest serving Prime Minister of the UK in the 20th century. Streep said in a statement after Thatcher's death at 87 on Monday that she had been a pioneer “willingly or unwillingly” for the “role of women in politics, allowing females from across the globe to dare to dream of leadership… It is hard to imagine a part of our current history that has not been affected by measures she put forward in the UK at the end of the 20th century,” wrote Streep. “To me she was a figure of awe for her personal strength and grit. To have come up, legitimately, through the ranks of the British political system, class-bound and gender-phobic as it was, in the time that she did and the way that she did, was a formidable achievement.” The Guardian reports.
Justin Lin Set for CinemaCon Honors
Lin will receive the CinemaCon Director of the Year Award. The event is one of the largest and most prominent conventions for the motion picture theater industry, taking place April 15 – 18 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Lin will be presented with this special honor at the “CinemaCon Big Screen Achievement Awards” ceremony to take place on Thursday evening, April 18. Lin’s next film will be Fast & Furious 6, slated for May 24 by Universal Pictures.
