Noticias

In 1991, Middletown High School teacher Fred Isseks started an elective class that every student wanted to take. “Electronic English” introduced teenagers to new media and emerging art forms, providing them access to camcorders, editing machines, and digital photography. Each day, students filmed music videos, shot horror movies, and hosted talk shows, developing their broadcast and rap skills in an environment that encouraged creativity and the kind of collaboration and critical thinking that other classes couldn’t.

But Isseks wasn’t just overseeing good times and teaching technical skills. Not long after learning about toxic waste spilling into a local landfill, Isseks convinced his students to embark on an environmental video project that would investigate the town’s unreported ecosystem of corruption and neglect. Over the next six years his classes produced four documentaries about the subject, the last one called Garbage, Gangsters, and Greed, a culmination of all their journalistic...

The upstate New York high schoolers at the heart of “Middletown” hint at what the Breakfast Club crew might have been had they shared a purpose beyond sulky rebellion.

In 1991, teacher Fred Isseks created a way for his students to channel both their curiosity and their rightly contrarian impulses in an elective called Electronic English. For the next several years, the students who opted for that class made videos, shot horror shorts and, most significantly, embarked on a project about the local landfill that would become a sharp and heralded piece of investigative journalism. Altogether, classes from 1991 to ’97 made four films. The final was the hour-long “Garbage, Gangsters and Greed.” Political malfeasance, press acquiescence, the Ford Motor Co. and the Genovese crime family among others play their roles in the student exposé of toxic waste dumped into the area landfills.

Filmmakers Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss know their way into...

Carrie Preston as Elsbeth Tascioni in ‘Elsbeth’ season 2 episode 6

SNL‘s Vanessa Bayer guest stars on a special Christmas-themed episode of CBS’s Elsbeth. Season two episode six, “Gold, Frankincense and Murder,” will air on Thursday, December 5, 2024 at 10pm Et/Pt.

Carrie Preston stars as Elsbeth Tascioni, Wendell Pierce stars as Captain C.W. Wagner, and Carra Patterson is back as Officer Kaya Blanke. Robert King, Michelle King, Liz Glotzer, and Jonathan Tolins serve as executive producers.

“Gold, Frankincense and Murder” Plot: Celebrity Christmas curators Dirk and DeeDee Dashers (Vanessa Bayer) go from tinsel to tragedy after Dirk is killed in a freak accident and Elsbeth begins to suspect his wife is behind the death. Meanwhile, Elsbeth gets a holiday surprise courtesy of Wagner and Kaya. Dan Bucatinsky guest stars as Kidder Hawes, super agent for the Dashers’ empire. Rachel Raimist directs from a script by Erica Larson.

Vanessa Bayer...

Exclusive: ScreenCraft has finalized the lineup for its annual Virtual Writers Summit.

The summit, which is expected to span the entire month of June this year, will feature creatives including Richard Linklater, Issa Lopez, Lulu Wang, Quinta Brunson, Nkechi Okoro Carroll, and Sean Wang.

Typically, the summit has occurred over one weekend. However, this year boasts the largest lineup ever, thus resulting in panels over the course of the month on June 8, 15, 22, and 29.

“This marks the fifth year we have organized our annual writers summit virtually and, undeniably, the strongest lineup we have ever put together,” Thomas Dever, VP of Business Development for Industry Arts, ScreenCraft’s parent company, said in a statement. “We are thrilled to hear from these incredible speakers and bring them together with our audience to educate and inspire.”

See the full schedule below.

June 8

Headline Speaker – Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary) Letting Authenticity Guide Your Story,...

The DGA’s Women’s Steering Committee (Wsc) has announced the 2023 class of its Wsc Squad Mentorship Program. The latest class, which began in September, pairs 13 mid-career directors with well-established director-mentors.

“It is always exciting to kick off another year of the Wsc Mentorship Program,” said Shaz Bennett, cochair of the DGA’s Women’s Steering Committee. “The Wsc remains inspired by our community of mentors and mentees who have come together, united by a shared purpose — to uplift and empower one another. By joining forces on this journey of guidance and encouragement, we can all accomplish more than any one of us could alone. I can’t wait to see how these talented women lift each other up.”

The Wsc Squad Mentorship Program is led by directors DeMane Davis, Ashley Eakin, Morenike Joela Evans, Marie Jamora, Jen McGowan, and Rachel Raimist. The Wsc is cochaired by directors Shaz Bennett and Valerie Weiss,...

Chris Williams as Ken, Paula Newsome as Maxine and Ariana Guerra as Detective Chavez in ‘CSI: Vegas’ season 2 episode 12

New details arrive on a cold case on CBS’s CSI: Vegas season two episode 12, “When the Dust Settles.” Directed by Rachel Raimist from a script by Jordana Lewis Jaffe, episode 12 will air on Thursday, February 2, 2023 at 10pm Et/Pt.

The second season stars Paula Newsome as Maxine Roby, Marg Helgenberger as Catherine Willows, Matt Lauria as Joshua Folsom, and Mandeep Dhillon as Allie Rajan. Ariana Guerra plays Detective Serena Chavez, Lex Medlin is Beau Finado, and Jay Lee is Chris Park.

“When the Dust Settles” Plot: Catherine’s day off with her granddaughter gets interrupted when a woman wakes up from a four-year coma and remembers details from the night her sister died.

Episode 12 guest stars include Joel Johnstone, Tiffany C. Adams, Shelli Boone, Nina Millin, Chris Williams, and Luis Avila.

Writer-producer Federica Belletti has been awarded the BAFTA-Yugo Short Film Commissioning Grant for her film “Arya.”

The annual prize, now in its fourth year, is awarded to a short film project focusing on wellbeing among 15 to 25-year-olds.

Third-year BAFTA Newcomer Belletti, who will receive a 12,000 grant, was selected by a jury comprised of film industry figures.

They included Abby Bentley (marketing director at Yugo), Constanza and Doménica Castro (founders of 271 Films), Bryan Dimas (producer and co-founder of LatinX in Animation), producer Marianne Gray, Film Mode Entertainment VP Lydia Ianni, last year’s grant-winner Mishal Mahmud, actors John Pirkis and Danny Ramirez, director Rachel Raimist and TV writer and creator Taneka Stotts

“We are committed to doing all we can to help remove the barriers that talented people from all walks of life face when entering and developing a career in our industry,” said BAFTA’s Matthew Wiseman, executive director and head of North America.

Bafta head of North America hails expansion of learning, inclusion and talent programmes.

Bafta has awarded the 12,000 BAFTA-Yugo Short Film Commissioning Grant to Italian writer-producer Federica Belletti for her film Arya.

The commissioning grant supports a short film project about the wellbeing of people aged 15-25 and rounds off a year in which the organisation says it expanded its learning, inclusion and talent programmes in North America.

“We are committed to doing all we can to help remove the barriers that talented people from all walks of life face when entering and developing a career in our industry,” said Matthew Wiseman,...

Bafta LA head hails expansion of learning, inclusion and talent programmes in North America.

Bafta LA has awarded the 12,000 BAFTA-Yugo Short Film Commissioning Grant to Italian writer-producer Federica Belletti for her film Arya.

The commissioning grant supports a short film project about the wellbeing of people aged 15-25 and rounds off a year in which the organisation says it expanded its learning, inclusion and talent programmes in North America.

“We are committed to doing all we can to help remove the barriers that talented people from all walks of life face when entering and developing a career in our industry,...

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My wood floor is barely visible. I’m organizing, which inevitably turns into sitting and thumbing through remnants from episodes of TV shows I’ve had the honor to direct. I have Post-Its in every size. Call sheets and shot lists that have made their way home in pockets and backpacks. (I’m still not fully down with Scriptation — don’t tell Rachel Raimist and Valerie Weiss!) And I have piles of scripts. The tallest stack is from Queen Sugar.

There is no way to quickly answer what Ava DuVernay’s decision to push for hiring female directors on Queen Sugar has done for my career other than to say I don’t think I would have a career directing for television if she didn’t. Ava making this decision, and Oprah Winfrey agreeing (the series airs on OWN), ushered an incredibly needed change into the industry.

The DGA’s Women’s Steering Committee (Wsc) has announced the 2022 class of its Wsc Squad Mentorship Program. The latest class, which began in September, pairs twelve mid-career directors with well-established director-mentors.

“The DGA’s Women’s Steering Committee is so proud of the amazing group of mentors and mentees announced for the 2022 class,” said Tara Miele, Wsc co-chair and one of the founders of the program. “The Wsc Squad believes peer-to-peer support is crucial, thus this program provides frank discussion around the unique issues that female directors face while giving guidance and support.”

This year’s mentors and mentees are:

Jennifer Arnold mentoring Pat SantanaNeema Barnette mentoring Shari Lynette CarpenterStacey K. Black mentoring Drew Ann RosenbergKelly Freeman Craig mentoring Ashley EakinHanelle Culpepper mentoring Jean E. LeeRoxann Dawson mentoring Tamika MillerTamra Davis mentoring Jeannette GodoyKaren Gaviola mentoring Bertha Bay-Sa PanRachel Lee Goldenberg mentoring Sara ZandiehMaggie Kiley mentoring Anne RentonGail Mancuso...

Exclusive: HBO Max has rounded out its cast of series regulars for comedy pilot Wild Life, which is fronted by Izabella Alvarez in the role of Ciara.

The cast includes Nadine Velazquez (Queens), Annie Funke (The Offer), Nabeel Muscatwalla (Good Trouble), Ava Lalezardeh (The Pursuit), Brielle Barbusca (Young Sheldon), Cyrus Arnold (Diary of a Wimpy Kid), Jessi Case (Mother’s Day), Chrystal Campbell, and Beau Minnier.

From writers and executive producers Jason Ubaldi, Chris Peterson, and Bryan Moore, Wild Life follows a diverse group of high school teens who are struggling with personal and social issues who spend their school hours working at the local animal rescue as part of an alternative educational program.

While comedy comes from their quirky offbeat personalities and the unique setting of “high school at the animal rescue,” the series also will have heart as working with animals helps them deal with their personal issues with friends and at home.

Exclusive: The single-camera teen comedy Wild Life from Imagine Kids+Family has received a pilot order at HBO Max with rising star Izabella Alvarez set as the show’s lead.

From writers and executive producers Jason Ubaldi, Chris Peterson, and Bryan Moore, Wild Life follows a diverse group of high school teens who are struggling with personal and social issues who spend their school hours working at the local animal rescue as part of an alternative educational program. While comedy comes from their quirky offbeat personalities and the unique setting of “high school at the animal rescue,” the series also will have heart as working with animals helps them deal with their personal issues with friends and at home.

2022 HBO Max Series & Pilot Orders

Executive producers also include Brian Grazer, Ron Howard,...

The Sonoma International Film Festival celebrates its 25th edition from March 23 to 27 in the Northern California wine country town. More than 120 independent and international films will be screening, including 79 premieres. The festival will open with Sandra Bullock’s “The Lost City” and close with French film “The Butcher’s Daughter.” Jacqueline Bisset will be honored with the Cinematic Excellence award, while Jacques Pepin will be feted with the Culinary Excellence Award at a five-course dinner.

Head to Sonoma Film Festival’s website for more info.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr. and Daveed Diggs Reunite to Open SAG Awards

“Hamilton” trio Daveed Diggs, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Leslie Odom Jr. will reunite to open the 28th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sun. Feb. 27.

Following the Tony-winning blockbuster stage show, Diggs, Miranda and Odom Jr. have gone on to other major projects. Diggs stars in “Snowpiercer” and, last year, earned a SAG...

The DGA Women’s Steering Committee (Wsc) announces the second cycle of the Wsc Squad mentorship program with its second class of mentees and filmmakers.

Led by Wsc Squad co-chairs Amy J. Aniobi, Maureen Bharoocha, Lena Khan and Amber Sealey, the program supports other working directors to achieve their goals by pairing 10 mid-career directors with well-established mentors. The Wsc Squad is made up of a diverse community with the goal of preparing directors for the next step up, as well as forging a ‘sisterhood’ to create genuine connection, collaboration, and camaraderie within the DGA.

The Wsc Squad’s aim is to support and prepare the DGA Women’s Steering Committee members as they seek to advance their directing careers by providing valuable tools and information to strengthen their craft.

The co-chairs of The Wsc Squad select up to ten participants from a pool of applicants. Each participant is paired with one specially-curated-for-them mentor,...

Latinx arts advocacy group Nosotros and NBC have selected Pierre Jean Gonzalez and Desiree Carcamo as the winners of the 2nd Annual Ya Tu Sabes Monologue Slam. The annual event, which streamed on December 9, showcased a diverse group of Latinx Writers and Actors with original well-rounded monologues and performances that covered a diverse range of subjects in their storytelling, providing different perspectives of the Latinx experience while using universally relatable themes such as love, loss, hope, language, family, and female empowerment.

Gonzalez was the winner of the Acting Competition for Monologue with Brown Billiards while Desiree Carcamo was announced as the winner of the Writing Competition for Monologue with Not All Tamales Look the Same.

The 2020 Nosotros Ya Tu Sabes Monologue Slam kicked off May 1 with its open call submissions in search of diverse Latino Writers both nationally and internationally. It continued in August with the open call submissions of...

The Aug. 8 episode of Own’s Queen Sugar marked the TV directing debut of Rachel Raimist. Now, after 20 years of being a college professor at University of Alabama and indie filmmaker, Raimist is looking to break into Hollywood and is asking for the public’s help.

In a GoFundMe post titled “It’s Never Too Late For Yr Dreams”, Raimist, a single mother of two, is looking to raise $15,000 to pay for her DGA initiation fee and relocation cost for her and her younger child from Alabama to California.

Queen Sugar is known for employing all-female directors, and it was the show’s creator, Ava DuVernay, who reached out to Raimist to invite her to helm an episode. “She brought me back into my light,” wrote Raimist who studied film at UCLA two decades ago but the death of her parents and an unexpected pregnancy at the time derailed her Hollywood dream.