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The seemingly endless — but in actuality seven-week-long — Television Critics Association press tour finally concluded on Wednesday after a dizzying number of sessions. Once again virtual due to the pandemic, the press tour was so long that a new show hyped by ABC one week into the tour had already been pulled from its lineup by the time TCA ended.

The virtual tour was also marked by greater-than-usual access to executives, and had its share of technical glitches along with bittersweet goodbyes. Here, Variety breaks down some of the highs and lows of the tour.

Exec Sessions: Less Filling

Heading into TCA, journalists were pleasantly surprised to see more executive sessions on the schedule, since they allow media to pursue topics that network heads may not otherwise want to discuss. That kind of verbal sparring used to take place in a scrum following sessions, when reporters would approach execs with questions.

When The Automat director Lisa Hurwitz left her family’s home in Southern California to go to Evergreen State College in Olympia, Oregon, she found that the place where she was most comfortable was the school’s cafeteria, the Greenery. “I made new friends there every day and there was a different food every day,” she says. Hurwitz’s academic focus wasn’t film: “I took one documentary filmmaking course, just before I graduated.” But she also had a job projecting 35mm movies at Olympia’s Capitol Theater, aka the Picture Palace, which was operated by the Olympia Film Society and was the venue for the […]

The post A Restaurant’s Democratic Promise: Director Lisa Hurwitz and Her Doc, The Automat first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

When The Automat director Lisa Hurwitz left her family’s home in Southern California to go to Evergreen State College in Olympia, Oregon, she found that the place where she was most comfortable was the school’s cafeteria, the Greenery. “I made new friends there every day and there was a different food every day,” she says. Hurwitz’s academic focus wasn’t film: “I took one documentary filmmaking course, just before I graduated.” But she also had a job projecting 35mm movies at Olympia’s Capitol Theater, aka the Picture Palace, which was operated by the Olympia Film Society and was the venue for the […]

The post A Restaurant’s Democratic Promise: Director Lisa Hurwitz and Her Doc, The Automat first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Take a look at actress Claire Foy ("The Crown") posing for "Harper's Bazaar" (UK) magazine, photographed by Erik Madigan:

Foy studied acting at the Liverpool John Moores University and the Oxford School of Drama, making her screen debut in the pilot of the supernatural comedy series "Being Human" (2008).   Following her professional stage debut at the Royal National Theatre, she played the title role in the BBC One miniseries "Little Dorrit" (2008), and made her film debut in the American historical fantasy drama "Season of the Witch" (2011).   Following leading roles in the television series The "Promise" (2011) and "Crossbones" (2014), Foy portrayed 'Anne Boleyn' in the miniseries "Wolf Hall" (2015).

Foy gained international recognition for portraying young 'Queen Elizabeth II' in the first two seasons of the Netflix series "The Crown", winning a 'Primetime Emmy' award for 'Outstanding Lead Actress' in a Drama Series.

She then starred in Steven Soderbergh's psychological thriller...

As the weather turns cold and America turns to its TVs on chilly nights, the Hallmark Channel has host of holiday offerings, many of which star Danica McKellar or Candice Cameron Burè. The cabler very nearly has at least one new movie each and every day — and sometimes six.

See below for a listing of the channel’s holiday movie premieres through Christmas. And speaking of Christmas, you’ll notice that word that figures prominently in most of Hallmark’s holiday titles.

December 10

Christmas Cookies

The Christmas Cottage

The Christmas Cure

Christmas in Evergreen: Tidings of Joy

Christmas List

A Christmas Together With You

Coyote Creek Christmas

A Dickens of a Holiday!

A Kiss Before Christmas

A Shoe Addict’s Christmas

A Very Merry Bridesmaid

Welcome to Christmas

December 11

Christmas at Castle Heart

Christmas CEO

Christmas Under Wraps

Good Morning Christmas!

If Only I Had Christmas

Making Spirits Bright

The Mistletoe Promise

Next Stop,...

Take a look at new images of actress Claire Foy ("The Crown") in the January 2022 issue of "Harper's Bazaar" (UK), photographed by Erik Madigan:

Foy studied acting at the Liverpool John Moores University and the Oxford School of Drama, making her screen debut in the pilot of the supernatural comedy series "Being Human" (2008).   Following her professional stage debut at the Royal National Theatre, she played the title role in the BBC One miniseries "Little Dorrit" (2008), and made her film debut in the American historical fantasy drama "Season of the Witch" (2011).   Following leading roles in the television series The "Promise" (2011) and "Crossbones" (2014), Foy portrayed 'Anne Boleyn' in the miniseries "Wolf Hall" (2015).

Foy gained international recognition for portraying young 'Queen Elizabeth II' in the first two seasons of the Netflix series "The Crown", winning a 'Primetime Emmy' award for 'Outstanding Lead Actress' in a Drama Series.

She then starred in...

Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real performed three songs from their latest album A Few Stars Apart for CBS This Morning’s Saturday Sessions.

For the performance, the band showcased “Perennial Bloom (Back to You),” “More Than We Can Handle,” “Giving You Away” from their album, which Nelson and company wrote and recorded during the pandemic in 2020 and released this past June.

Nelson spoke to Rolling Stone in June about his goal of self-improvement during his quarantine, which helped fuel what we called Promise of the Real’s “best album yet.

Welcome to this week’s Ring Of Honor review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and disco is not dead! Disco is life! I’ve gotta take a crap, so let’s make sure not to linger here too long. You don’t want my dookie on your kitchen stookie. Schploingk! We’ve got a big ol’ fight between The Foundation and La Faccion Ingobernable, so shut the mouth and enjoy the matches. Wait. That was done too early. Did you know Mark Harmon is a psychopath? His dog is evil. I don’t know how Pam Dauber deals with it. He has a face made of wrinkled evil. Do you think she ever boinked Mork from Ork? I would plow his goofy ass ‘til next July. Wait…am I a man or woman? Let me check… I…can’t tell. Huh. Screw it. I’ll just go out with Jessica Biel.

Editors note: Oscar winner Laura Dern is executive producer of the Oscar-shortlisted animated short film If Anything Happens I Love You, which depicts a couple attempting to move through their daily lives in the aftermath of their daughter’s death in a school shooting — while devastating, the film also instills hope. Dern and Sandy Hook Promise co-founder Nicole Hockley penned a guest column for Deadline exploring our current moment in the face of the continued gun violence in America.

When there is a school shooting and children are killed, we mourn. We send thoughts and prayers. We come together in communal grief. We honor lives taken too soon and demand action. Then we quickly become more divided on how to create meaningful change that will prevent such senseless loss, whether it’s more mental health support or less access to guns.

And then, far too often, we simply move on.

Eb Research Partnership (Ebrp) announces Venture Into Cures, an inspiring virtual event led by Co-Founders Jill and Eddie Vedder airing November 18, 2020 at 8 p.m. Et.

The show will feature uplifting stories about individuals and families living with Epidermolysis Bullosa (Eb) alongside appearances and performances from celebrity friends to educate viewers about Eb and raise critical funds for research toward a cure for Eb and other rare diseases. Venture Into Cures will include memorable and moving moments, including the premiere of new songs by Eddie Vedder, inspired by Eb families: the debut of “Matter of Time” and a new version of “Say Hi”. Venture Into Cures, will stream globally for free at www.ventureintocures.org and others. A full list of streaming sites can be found further below.

The one hour show, produced by Door Knocker Media and Seed Entertainment, includes special appearances by Judd Apatow, Bradley Cooper, Laura Dern, Billie Eilish,...

Additional questions by Rhythm Zaveri

Born in Busan in 1980, Jero Yun went to study in France at the age of 21, where he studied at the Fine Arts School in Nancy and later in the video/photo section at the National Decorative Arts School in Paris. Since his very first work as a filmmaker, the documentary short “Promise”, Yun has been interested in the subject of North Koreans and defectors to the South, a subject that he has been working on inn a number of projects including his first feature-length documentary “Looking For North Koreans”, his first feature film “Beautiful Days” and his newest fictional feature “Fighter”.

On the occasion of “Fighter” screening at Busan International Film Festival, we talked to him on the subject of North Korean refugees and the South Korean public’s perception of them, his actors and more.

Both “Beautiful Days” and “Fighter” have premiered at Busan International Film Festival.

Sony Music has announced a six-lp vinyl set for Sade titled So Far, featuring remastered versions of all of the band’s studio albums to date: Diamond Life (1984), Promise (1985), Stronger Than Pride (1988), Love Deluxe (1992), Lovers Rock (2000) and Soldier Of Love (2010).

The vinyl set, which is now available for preorder here, is the first complete collection of Sade’s studio work ever released. Band members Sade, Stuart Matthewman, Andrew Hale and Paul Spencer Denman assisted in the albums’ remastering at Abbey Road Studios with engineer Miles Showell and the band’s long-time co-producer Mike Pela.

A rat making out with a cockroach was just the tip of the iceberg for Doom Patrol. The outlandish series, which drops the first three episodes of Season 2 on both DC Universe and HBO Max this Thursday, promises to be even more ridiculous the second time around — especially now that the titular crew is (temporarily) bite-sized.

“That was one of my favorite sets ever built,” April Bowlby (aka Rita) says of the now-tiny Doom Patrol’s new surroundings. “We basically live on Robotman’s race track, so they had to build a big version of that. It’s incredible. And Larry has to feed us,...

Monday, 19 March 2007, 10:39

C O N F I D E N T I A L Section 01 Of 07 Beijing 001840

Sipdis

Sipdis

State Also For Inr/B

Treasury For Oasia/Ina Haarsager, Winship, Cushman

Usdoc For Ita Das Kasoff

Usdoc For 4420 Ita/Mac/Ocea McQueen

Eo 12958 Decl: 03/19/2032

Tags Pgov, Econ, Efin, Scul, Elab, Soci, Ch

Subject: Zhejiang Party Secretary Touts Economic Successes

And Work Towards Rule Of Law At Ambassador's Dinner

Ref: A. Beijing 1672

B. Beijing 1760

Classified By: Ambassador Clark T. Randt, Jr., Reasons 1.4 B And D.

1. (C) Summary. Zhejiang Province Communist Party Secretary Xi Jinping, a contender to succeed President Hu Jintao in 2012/2013, describes Zhejiang as a driving force behind national economic growth. Zhejiang ranks high for income, low for income disparities, and makes substantial contributions to migrant worker employment and transfer payments of fiscal revenue to the Central Government. Xi dismissed concerns about overheating, noting that the faster his province grows,...

BEIJING - Director Zhang Yimou's Curse Of The Golden Flower earned 96 million yuan ($12.5 million) in its first four days on 826 screens breaking previous opening weekend records for a domestic film in China, producers said Monday.

China's pick for the 2007 Oscars, Curse stars Gong Li, the mainland's most respected veteran acrtress, opposite martial arts heartthrob Chow Yun-fat in addition to Taiwan pop star Jay Chou.

After its Dec. 14 opening in Chinese cinemas, Curse quickly overtook China's previous domestic film release opening weekend record, from 2005, when director Chen Kaige's The Promise opened on 600 prints and grossed 75 million yuan ($9.7 million), Curse producers at EDKO Films in Hong Kong said in a statement.

Tickets in China's major cities were sold for prices as high as 70 yuan ($8.75), twice the national average and well out of reach of the average Chinese (HR 12/14).

Sony Pictures Classics will release Curse, a story about an imperial family's slow decline, in North America on Thursday (12/21) in New York.

• [ This is part two of our continuing Tribeca Coverage. You can read about the competitive sections of the festival in part one. ] Another day, another major announcement by the Tribeca Film Festival (Tff). The selection of a few non-competitive sections has been announced. The 60 films in the â€.Spotlightâ€., â€.Discoveryâ€. and â€.NY Specialsâ€. have been announced and represent a wide selection of established and new filmmakers from 16 countries. The Spotlight section contains new works by Chen Kaige, Claude Chabrol, Guy Maddin, Chris Marker and Sydney Pollack!! * * * Spotlight The Spotlight category was created to present distinctive out-of-competition films with established and international talent. From revisiting the New York soccer craze of the 70â€.s, to a daughter's unique and heartfelt tribute to her father, to an overweight and under-loved actor in search of his soul mate, the Spotlight category reflects the full spectrum of human emotions in 18 films from eight countries. The Spotlight category includes narratives and documentaries by or with some of the worldâ€.s highest profile film talent such as Chen Kaige,

...

BEIJING -- Two films are spawning a raging debate in China about parody and poetic license, reflecting a rising public interest in discussing freedom of expression in the country's growing, and increasingly lucrative, entertainment industry. An online spoof of The Promise saw star director Chen Kaige threaten to sue its creator, an unemployed Shanghai Web hobbyist, and, in a David and Goliath twist, a Tianjin auto mechanic is mounting a case against the producers of the martial arts pic Fearless, in which Jet Li stars as the man's great-grandfather. Chen told reporters at the Berlin Film Festival last week that the offending Promise parody, "lost the most basic moral bottom line," and "exceeded the normal bounds of issuing commentary." The spoof is a 20-minute pastiche that edits Chen footage together with clips from Legal Report, an investigative program on China Central Television. In it, Promise scenes are re-narrated as a whodunit the host dubs "A Murder Sparked by a Steamed Bun."...

BERLIN -- Val Kilmer has joined the cast of Myriad Pictures' drama Dark Matter, alongside Meryl Streep and Chinese actress Liu Ye (The Promise), Myriad announced Wednesday ahead of Berlin's European Film Market. Produced by Myriad and New York-based Saltmill, Dark Matter is the story of a Chinese exchange student who takes revenge after her hopes for a Nobel Prize are wrecked by internal school politics. Australian cinematographer Christopher Doyle (Hero, 2046) is in negotiations to lens the film, which opera director Chen Shi-Zheng will helm in his feature film debut.

BERLIN -- Val Kilmer has joined the cast of Myriad Pictures' drama Dark Matter, alongside Meryl Streep and Chinese actress Liu Ye (The Promise), Myriad announced Wednesday ahead of Berlin's European Film Market. Produced by Myriad and New York-based Saltmill, Dark Matter is the story of a Chinese exchange student who takes revenge after her hopes for a Nobel Prize are wrecked by internal school politics. Australian cinematographer Christopher Doyle (Hero, 2046) is in negotiations to lens the film, which opera director Chen Shi-Zheng will helm in his feature film debut.

The four-day New Year's holiday weekend should look similar to the Christmas session just passed as nary a wide release will enter the marketplace. But one major difference this weekend is that New Year's Eve is not the theater-emptying holiday Christmas Eve is. So with a true four-day holiday frame ahead, the overall boxoffice total for all films should be higher than the $176.5 million recorded this past weekend. The only bows belong to limited runs of Woody Allen's Match Point, Richard Shepard's The Matador and Chen Kaige's The Promise. Once again, King Kong and Narnia will dominate. The films have been trading places in the top two positions for the past two weeks, with Narnia taking the lead during several midweek sessions and Kong capturing key weekend days. Together, they have provided much-needed relief at the beleaguered boxoffice.

The Weinstein Co., which acquired rights to Chen Kaige's The Promise in May at Cannes, has decided not to release the film, which is reverting to Moonstone Entertainment and the China Film Group. However, Promise, which is China's submission in the foreign language Academy Award category, still will open as scheduled Friday at the Laemmle Fairfax 3 in Los Angeles for a one-week Oscar-qualifying run so that it also will be eligible in other categories, producer Etchie Stroh said. Beyond that, Stroh said, he plans to meet with other distributors next week in hopes of securing a new North American distributor. Both sides said that the decision to part ways was amicable. "We have thoroughly enjoyed working together for the past seven months," said Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of the Weinstein Co. "We have tremendous respect for Chen Kaige, Etchie Stroh and (producer) Han Sanping and are all rooting for them as they go forward releasing this film."...

BEIJING -- China's costliest film to date, The Promise, had an illegal cable television debut just four days after its theatrical premiere, highlighting the rampant piracy that undermines the country's film industry, director Chen Kaige's assistant said Friday. The $35 million epic fantasy was edited into 16 parts that began airing Dec. 19 on a cable television channel run by state-owned Pingzhuang Coal Industry Group Co. in Chifeng, a city about 220 miles northeast of Beijing, said Chen's assistant, Huang Bin. The "episodes" of The Promise were offered to the cable TV channel's 30,000 subscribers in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region for 2 yuan ($0.25) each in what Huang called the worst case of piracy of the film so far.

BEIJING -- Director Chen Kaige's latest movie, The Promise, will be China's official submission to the Academy Awards as best foreign language film, a Film Bureau spokesman said Monday. The newest swordplay fantasy from the director of the 1994 Oscar-nominee Farewell My Concubine is the most expensive Chinese film made to date, with a reported budget of $35 million. Produced by state-run China Film Group, The Promise is due to be released worldwide in December. It beat out the independent film Kekexili for Beijing's Oscar run and comes as China's historically state-dominated film industry tries to become more commercially viable in the face of increasing foreign and domestic independent competition.

BEIJING -- Domestic audiovisual rights for Chinese director Chen Kaige's upcoming period epic The Promise, the biggest-budget Chinese film yet made, has sold for a significant fee of around $2 million to home entertainment firm Zoke Culture. A spokesman said Friday that the DVD release would be timed to maximize profits and minimize piracy. In a deal with China Film, the state-run production and distribution giant is set to release the $35 million movie theatrically nationwide in December. Zoke, China's No. 1 DVD seller, will share an undisclosed percentage of the boxoffice receipts as an incentive to delay its DVD release, a Zoke spokesman said. "This is a new attempt to tie the movie distribution with the DVD release to fight the effects of piracy," Wang Yu said in a telephone interview from Zoke headquarters in the southern Chinese boomtown of Guangzhou.

BEIJING -- Home entertainment firm Zoke Culture said Friday it has paid more than $2 million for domestic audio-visual rights to Chinese director Chen Kaige's upcoming $35 million period epic The Promise, the biggest-budget Chinese film yet made. A Zoke spokesman said the DVD release would be timed to maximize profits and minimize piracy. China Film, the state-run production and distribution giant, is set to release the movie theatrically nationwide in December. Zoke, China's top DVD producer, will share an undisclosed percentage of the theatrical boxoffice receipts as an incentive to delay its DVD release, the Zoke spokesman said. "This is a new attempt to tie the movie distribution with the DVD release to fight the effects of piracy," Wang Yu said in a telephone interview from Zoke headquarters in the southern Chinese boomtown of Guangzhou.