SOURCE: Deadline.com | Dino-Ray Ramos
August 26, 2020
As the world perspective shifts and a reckoning continues to pulsate through the country when it comes to the social and economic issues facing Black and Brown communities, American Black Film Festival creators Jeff and Nicole Friday are launching the very first Social Justice Now Film Festival through their non-profit The Film Life Foundation. The event is set to take place October 21-25 with actor and producer Michael B. Jordan and Black Lives Matter Co-Founder Opal Tometi serving as co-ambassadors.
The Social Justice Now Film Festival is the first of its kind and will feature virtual screenings, community conversations and impact events that confront issues facing disenfranchised communities. Jordan’s Outlier Society is set as a partner for the event alongside Endeavor Content and One Community. Sony Pictures is the event’s Founding Sponsor.
Lou Ragland is featured in the upcoming documentary “Soul City Cleveland.” (Image courtesy Fanon Hill, “Soul City Cleveland”
SOURCE: Cleveland.com | Anne Nickoloff, cleveland.com
August 20, 2020
Lou Ragland. Vel Scott. Eddie Baccus Sr. Eugene Ross. “Crazy Marvin” Braxton.
These local music legends, and plenty more, will be the focus of “Soul City Cleveland,” an upcoming documentary that will shine a spotlight on Cleveland’s Black music scene, both past and present. The film is expected to release in 2021, but will put out teasers in the coming months.
The first teaser arrived on Wednesday, Aug. 19, featuring “Crazy Marvin” Braxton’s experience performing at the Apollo Theater in New York. Watch the clip below.
SOURCE: Crain’s Cleveland Business | Scott Suttell
August 19, 2020
The Chagrin Documentary Film Festival is scaling up its streaming offerings as it scales back plans for in-person screenings.
Mary Ann Ponce, director of the highly regarded festival, said all of the 101 documentary films that were selected (out of about 500 submissions) for this year’s event will be available for at-home streaming. The festival, which runs Oct. 6-11, is charging $10 per film, or it has packages that start at $100 for five-day unlimited access to the documentaries. The festival is partnering with Cleveland-based BoxCast, a video streaming company, to offer the service.
The major companies and Hollywood’s unions are close to finalizing terms for restarting film and TV production. “Return-to-work discussions are ongoing with the studios and the other unions and guilds,” Teamsters Local 399 said in the latest message to its members. “At this time we are still trying to finalize some of the remaining issues, however we are getting closer and hope to conclude soon.”
Source: Screenrant.com | Rachel Labonte
August 13, 2020
Tom Holland’s next movie with his Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo, Cherry, gets a fresh tease in this new behind the scenes picture. Holland has collaborated with the Russos multiple times through the MCU, dating back to 2016’s Captain America: Civil War. However, Cherry will mark the first time they’ve worked together on a non-comic book movie. Cherry follows Holland’s PTSD-ridden Army medic who turns to robbing banks in order to cope with his opioid addiction. The film is based on Nico Walker’s autobiographical book of the same name.
SOURCE: Deadline.com | Dino-Ray Ramos
August 12, 2020
DEADLINE EXCLUSIVE:
The documentary advocacy group Brown Girls Doc Mafia (BGDM) is bolstering representation behind the camera with a robust, searchable directory featuring over 200 of its members. The directory launches today and will offer access to women and non-binary people of color in the documentary space.
The platform is a destination for discovering talented women and non-binary filmmakers and executives of color. As part of the effort, the organization is calling upon the documentary industry to make a commitment to dismantling racism and sexism throughout the industry and increased hiring of BGDM members across all roles.
SOURCE: Stoffer Mortgage Facebook LIVE | Mike Stoffer
August 12, 2020
Presented by Stoffer Mortgage and hosted by Mike Stoffer, I Didn’t Know That! is an engaging Facebook Live discussion with interesting guests sharing information that may surprise you, inform you, and cause you to say “I didn’t know that!”
Mike talks Northeast Ohio TV & film production with Evan Miller & Mike Wendt of the Greater Cleveland Film Commission, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting a thriving and adaptive local media industry. Their mission is to promote increased media production in NE Ohio using effective strategies for attraction and workforce development including building an artistic infrastructure through film. They aggressively pursue media productions and businesses that can positively impact the local economy. Learn more about GCFC at https://www.clevelandfilm.com.
Film and television production “is finally getting ready to start back up,” IATSE Grips Local 80 business manager Thom Davis said in his latest update on the industry’s efforts for a safe return to work.
“The major lots have brought back people to get the departments ready for production,” he said, “and some of the Independents and Commercials have commenced with production.”
Various film commissioners discuss permitting, precautions, restrictions, concerns
SOURCE: ShootOnline.com | A Shoot Staff Report
August 7, 2020
“Location, location, location.” This proverbial mantra for buying real estate also applies to the state of filming during a pandemic. So much depends on where you are–and whether rates of COVID-19 infections are high, have flattened or even better are on a downward curve. Public health and safety guidelines should evolve accordingly–and so too does film permitting, the nature of projects that are feasible and thus allowed.
Source: Cleveland.com | Joey Morona, cleveland.com
August 07, 2020
The cast and crew of “Judas and the Black Messiah” spent parts of three months last fall shooting the upcoming film in Cleveland and Mansfield.
Director Shaka King debuted the first trailer for the movie, about the life and assassination of Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton, during a panel Thursday at the National Association of Black Journalists and National Association of Hispanic Journalists joint virtual convention.
