Apuda (Apuda de shouhou)

Produced by Feng Xiaoqiu. Directed, edited by He Yuan.With: Ni'erba Apuda, Father Ni'erba. (Naxi dialogue)A devoted son's virtually single-minded care for his slowly dying father is given similarly disciplined focus in He Yuan's gorgeous "Apuda." Much like Harvard-based filmmakers Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Elisa Barbash, who combine a highly sophisticated approach to filmmaking with scientific analysis, He is an ethnographic researcher at the Yunnan Academy of Sciences who also happens to be a documaker of considerable artistry. Pic's length and extreme slowness will make it a more exotic item for art-centric and docu fests, but this gem shouldn't be overlooked. Originally from Kunming, the capital of China's Yunnan province, He ventures north to embed himself in the Naxi-speaking hamlet of orchard farmer Ni'erba Apuda. Despite a mild mental disability, Apuda is able to keep up with his farm work until his father, a man of indeterminate age, struggles to get out of bed in the morning; when the father finally does rise, walk and even saunter outside, it feels almost miraculous. For anyone who's ever cared for an infirm loved one, the unvarnished reality of Apuda's day-to-day situation will seem painfully recognizable -- a reality that's typically compressed when depicted in a film, but played out here to extraordinary length. Indeed, to carp about "Apuda's" seemingly indulgent running time would ignore the film's essential purpose, which is to immerse the viewer in its subject's grueling life, including the long silences and slow dialogue that can ensue between caring child and dying parent. The director also intends to create, paradoxically, a world of beauty expressed in the gradually developing patterns of light that emerge and recede inside the family's hovel. The effect isn't to soften the grind of Apuda's days and nights with an aesthetic gloss, but to suggest that beauty can be found everywhere. He's interior cinematography creates a nearly mystical atmosphere, with shadows sometimes blanketing the image and nearly obscuring bodies; at points, only Apuda's exhausted voice and his father's feeble utterances can pinpoint where they are onscreen. It's as if He is making death visible. The relatively brief sections outdoors among the fruit groves where Apuda tries to work feel like escapes into paradise after the sepulchral home setting. Yet even here, Apuda has amusing run-ins with other farmers, after which he mutters to himself, a habit that He regularly documents.Camera (color, HD), He; sound (stereo), He. Reviewed on DVD, Vancouver, Oct. 5, 2011. (In Vancouver Film Festival -- Dragons and Tigers.) Running time: 145 MIN. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Ron Nelson estate sues Capitol Records

Singer-actor Ron Nelson's estate has prosecuted Capitol Records for millions in delinquent royalties, alleging common accounting sleight-of-hands. The experience, filed in California Superior Court in L.A. on March. 3, alleges fraud, breach of contract, along with other abuses, and seeks actual and punitive damages to become determined at trial. Nelson, who died inside a 1985 plane crash, grew to become a rock 'n' roll star after he was featured on "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," the most popular ABC sitcom starring his parents, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. He was signed to Imperial Records in 1957, and tallied up 39 chart singles, including two No. 1 smashes and 15 some of the best-10 hits, before exiting the label for Decca Records in 1963. Imperial was later offered to Liberty Records, which subsequently grew to become a part of Capitol, flagship label of EMI Music. EMI is presently up available by Citigroup, which required charge of the troubled company captured. Action states, "Today, Capitol is crippled and operated with a skeleton crew because it prepares itself to become offered off." Suit notes that in May 1992, Capitol informed its "legacy" artists from the '50s, '60s and '70s that the new, greater royalty rate, of 10% from the retail list cost for those full-cost albums, had been implemented. The Nelson estate audited Capitol's catalog account this season, and alleges the label was accounting incorrectly, declining to supply crucial specifics of Nelson's royalties and neglecting the '92 royalty increase. Action claims Capitol is owning $100 million-$250 million in "unmatched earnings" that can not be associated with any particular artist, and it has "stonewalled" tries to determine just how much the Nelson estate arrives from that cache. Echoing recent suits filed against Universal Group by its legacy functions regarding digital royalties, the Nelson action states that because the singer's agreement didn't anticipate digital distribution, it might be "grossly inequitable" to pay for the estate in line with the old rates. An EMI spokesperson didn't immediately react to a request comment. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Movieline's Week in Review: Boom!

Stand back! Brace yourself! Nothing can get you prepared for the rocking magnitude from the blast that's Movieline’s Week in Review. Continue reading its it, but careful! Don’t look into the light, and consider hiding the kids. And regardless be stay to visit a few days ago for box-office updates along with other fiery dispatches from the best Louis Virtel. Have a very good one! · Thank you for this week’s illustrious interviewees, including Mike Shepard, Pam Grier, Sugar Ray Leonard, Tom Six, Laurence R. Harvey and Verge designee Juno Temple. · Netflix’s 10 most leased movies will shock, delight and sadden you — maybe less than around Dirty Girl’s absolutely oversexed, temporarily underaged blog will, but nonetheless. · Tower Heist was priced at, oh, around $60. · We went here with this week’s Bad Movie We Like. · Avengers! Snow Whitened! This requires photos! · David Cronenberg and Michael Fassbender stopped by NYFF to to stump for any Harmful Method, but made it happen modify the Oscar Index?

Registration Open for Nickelodeon Casting Call at Actorfest NY

Nickelodeon Casting is looking to get talent age range 13 to 17 years only, ideally within four (4) hrs of NY City. Boys & Women, all sorts & nationalities. All talent must play junior high school through high-school age only. We're seeking comedy and out-going stars.A protector MUST sign up for your audition some time and show up in the audition and event. No talent is going to be seen with no protector present. Don't register if you're not open to attend. Time frames are limited.General admittance to Actorfest is free of charge. There's free to audition for Nickelodeon, but you'll want a pre-registered and confirmed time period. To join up and get a confirmed time period, visit actorfestnyc2011.eventbrite.com and judge an available free Nickelodeon Audition time period throughout the registration process. Space is restricted, so early registration is strongly suggested. Full audition particulars are in world wide web.actorfestny.com.To assist kickstart your job, Actorfest provides more than 24 exclusive Training courses Casting Calls Meet & Drops with Top Casting Company directors a Networking Caf as well as an enormous Exhibit Hall, where you'll be able to talk with acting instructors, coaches, schools, headshot photography enthusiasts, and much more suppliers who can help you flourish in your careActorfest NY is going to be Sunday, October 23, 2011 in the Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 W. 18th Street (between sixth and seventh Avenue), NY, NY 10011. To join up for Actorfest NY, check out actorfestnyc2011.eventbrite.com. To learn more, visit world wide web.ActorfestNY.com.Actorfest LA, that is introduced for you by Back Stage, the Actor's Resource, will occur on Saturday, November fifth in the California Market Center in downtown La.To join up for Actorfest LA, check out actorfestla2011.eventbrite.com. To learn more, visit world wide web.ActorfestLA.com.

Dancing's Maks: Hope Is Sex on a Stick in a Different Way

Maksim Chmerkovskiy Hey everyone!Hope you had a great week! Thanks for voting for us!I'll be honest, I wasn't that nervous being one of the last two couples standing there. Hope was really nervous, but I felt like we had a lot of fans and they're really loyal. I was really calm. I just made fun of Hope for being nervous! It was pretty hilarious. I love how she's cool as a cucumber during penalty kicks in the World Cup, but she's sweating bullets standing under a light on a reality show. We're proud and grateful to be here another week. I think Hope has a huge, exciting fan base with young girls, many of whom are athletic and want to be in sports. She feels like she's representing for them on their behalf - they're not one-dimensional, but they're tough, strong, athletic, feminine and sexy.I've stopped thinking about the results. You can't control them. Was it Kristin's time to go? Probably not. But we've had this type of result before where people who danced better get eliminated and people who didn't dance as well stay. It's the way the show is. There's nothing we can do about it, it's what makes it unpredictable. It's not just a dancing show. It's an interactive show where people vote to keep in their favorite and send others home. I was very pleased with our cha-cha. I thought Hope did a great job. The judges criticized her for her walk or lack thereof. Could she have done better? Yes, but that's not my complete focus this season. It's not about turning Hope into a dancer, but rather the challenge of proving to people, especially parents, that young girls should not fit into stereotypes. You can be a tomboy and a girly girl. Hope was having a hard time being sexy and feminine, but I think she's now embracing it. The cha-cha was quite revealing and seductive. It's definitely a far cry from what she's known for, but that's what's so great about it - she's proving that you can be both. She's an inspiration for girls everyone. I will admit though, she's not quite sex on a stick yet! Well, she's sex on a stick - in a different way! Just look at her ESPN magazine Body issue cover!Next week, we have the foxtrot. It's movie theme week. It's funny because we thought we'd get something serious since a lot of famous movie themes are dramatic. But nope! We got Toy Story! We're going to go all out as Woody and Jessie. We're going to fully embrace the characters and do the best we can. Rehearsals are going well. We're traveling again this week, so it's tough. But we're both responsible and just do as much work as we can with the time we have each day regardless of the circumstance. I'm not going to lie. It's really crazy to travel during the show. It takes a lot of energy. When you don't have to travel during the show, you get into the same routine, going to the same rehearsal space every day, dance for six, seven hours, go home and pass out. On the road, you can't have that pleasure. Her schedule has been insane. Her people are on her schedule down to the minute. I give her all the credit because as we all know, the window of a professional athlete is quite small and this is Hope's time to capitalize. This is her only time off because she's goes to Olympic training after this, so she's taking advantage of it. But when we're in the studio, she's all mine.But traveling means not seeing Sleep every day! He's loving L.A. He just loves people in general. I took him to a dog school and he did not have any of it. He doesn't really socialize with other dogs, other than Teddy's bulldog and my parents' boxer, who are both girls. He's around those two dogs all the time and they're friends, but he doesn't like contact with other dogs. He's like a person in a dog's body. He wasn't shy or uncomfortable. He just looked at everybody, sat in a corner until I picked him up. He's the best. He's also on Twitter now, so follow him at @SirSleep!If you didn't see it, I was also on H8R this week. Mario Lopez contacted me and I liked the concept. I'm interested in people's opinions. I just like to continue improving myself as a person and listening to other people's opinions about me is a huge part. When I was younger, I was hotheaded and didn't care. Nowadays, I find it interesting because pro dancers have become celebrities. I'm not a celebrity by any stretch of the imagination in my own mind, but I'm realizing that press is covering us more and therefore people form opinions about us like they do Brad and Angelina or Marc and Jennifer. When you don't know someone in person, you form opinions from magazines or TV or movies, and most of the time, those opinions are not true. It's an interesting social experiment. This girl was adamant about hating me and spiting me. It was interesting to hear why and to see if she thought any differently after meeting me. I recommend celebrities do something like this. If anything, it kind of brings us closer to the fans and general people who are watching us. There's so much hatred in the world, which is so unfortunate. We need to be happier. After the H8R experience, I'm really fortunate and grateful to have fans. We wouldn't be here without fans. My success on the show depends on what I do, but a lot of it has to do with fans' support. I'm truly thankful and appreciative for all of you guys.That's all for now!Maks

Miramax Boss on UltraViolet: We've No Choice

our editor recommendsUltraviolet Launches Certification Program Leading to Digital Locker inside the CloudConsortium of Art galleries, Producers Throws Weight Behind UltraViolet Management SystemCould Steve Jobs' Resignation Impact UltraViolet?Related Subjects•MIPCOM Failure to draw consumers' fascination with the cloud-based digital locker could spell disaster for your home theatre industry and movie production continue, mentioned Miramax Boss Mike Lang. In the Q&A session (ironically with sellthrough opponent Ted Sarandos, CCO of Netflix) at MIPCOM in Cannes, France, Lang mentioned consumer utilization of digital content remains confusing, with art galleries pushing sellthrough and rental, despite the fact that the separate business models deal with one another. Art galleries for instance Warner Home Video and also the new the new sony Pictures Home Theatre, among others, this fall are leaving initial home theatre sellthrough game game titles (on disc and electronically) capable of being saved virtually inside the UltraViolet cloud-based digital locker and playable on myriad compatible items. "Becoming an industry, we have to accept it,In . Lang mentioned. "We really don't have choice. Once the home theatre business to be sure today, if this involves the transaction business, vanishes, that's dangerous to anybody in this room." Lang mentioned failure to reinvigorate the sellthrough model could adversely affect studios' capacity to invest in movies continue. Sales of DVD/Blu-ray Disc/electronic sellthrough movies have previously affected whether a title was lucrative or else. The Boss mentioned he's found digital transaction model being poorly carried out. "It's very a difficulty around the customer to know that whenever they are purchasing a thing that it produces any device," Lang mentioned. "It's either tied into an Apple ecosystem or best wishes trying to really make it work." He mentioned the simplicity streaming on myriad items just like a Blu-ray player and gambling console is what makes Netflix extremely popular. "Clearly, once we can create a digital locker experience that's as basic for your consumer and interoperable, then no less than [it may be an chance," Lang mentioned. He mentioned there must be discussion among art galleries regarding prices of packed media, including the fact DVD prices presently are very high at retail, particularly for library product. Lang also mentioned art galleries should not advocate the transactional VOD rental model. "If you would like that film, you should obtain it and not rent," he mentioned. "It doesn't seem sensible whatsoever to rent it for 20-four several hours." The Boss mentioned Miramax is dealing with the problems - issues he mentioned that are complicated and difficult. "I am unsure the amount of people use photo talking about software, but that is ninety percent cloud-based," Lang mentioned. "90-five percent in the software industry in the world is becoming through cloud-based transactions. I'm hopeful the film business can get there." He mentioned art galleries need to partner with technology companies and retailers to look for the things they believe works after which it produce a natural plan continue. "Hopefully and make a purchase-transaction market," Lang mentioned. Related Subjects MIPCOM

Did Black Swan Interns Even Work For Fox?

Black Swan Unpaid Interns File Lawsuit Fox Filmed Entertainment today finally gave itsside of that lawsuit filed by two interns against Fox Searchlight over their work on the hit indieBlack Swan. The studio maintains that the interns were working for director Darren Aronofsky’s production companywell before Fox Searchlight ever became the distributor. Now that we have had a chance to review this suit, it is clear that these are completely meritless claims aimed solely at getting press coverage for the litigants and their attorneys. These interns were not even retained by Fox Searchlight and, in fact, were working for the production company that made Black Swan well before Fox Searchlight even acquired its rights in the film. These individuals were never employed as interns or retained in any capacity by Fox Searchlight, which has a proud history of supporting and fostering productive internships.We look forward to aggressively fighting these groundless, opportunistic accusations. The two former interns who worked on Black Swan are looking to end what they say is the studio’s improper use of unpaid interns. The plaintiffs, Alex Footman and Eric Glatt, claim the studio violated federal and state wage laws and are seeking back pay for work that they say should have been done by paid Searchlight employees. The U.S. Department of Labor requires companies that use unpaid interns to provide training similar to that of an educational institution, among other criteria. Footman said that as a production intern, he made coffee, cleaned, and took lunch orders for the staff. The plaintiffs are far from the only college graduates who took an unpaid internship to try to get a foot in the door in the film industry. Their lawsuit is seeking class action status on behalf of more than 100 unpaid interns on Fox Searchlight film productions.

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