Category: Issues and Actions

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Tell Iran To Free Jafar Panahi

Post author By Ted Hope
Post date March 10, 2010
1 Comment on Tell Iran To Free Jafar Panahi

On March 2nd it was reported that the director of THE WHITE BALLOON had been imprisoned by the Government of Iran. He is still being detained. I came across this petition and signed it. I am sure that there is more that can be done, but this is a start.

Screen points out:

Panahi, who won the Camera d’Or award at Cannes for his debut feature The White Balloon and took the Golden Lion prize at Venice for The Circle, was a vocal supporter of the opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in last year’s disputed presidentaial election in Iran.

Tags Jafar Panahi, petitions

Issues and Actions

Petition Against Florida’s Ban On Films With Gay Characters

Post author By Ted Hope
Post date March 10, 2010
1 Comment on Petition Against Florida’s Ban On Films With Gay Characters

Perhaps you’ve heard of the plan to deny films (like all the oscar nominated movies this year) that don’t promote “family values” which to some mean gay characters.

Luckily some people are doing something about it. For a start you can sign this petition started by R. Michael McWhorter (thank him by following him on Twitter) :

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/no_florida_film_censorship/

Continue reading “Petition Against Florida’s Ban On Films With Gay Characters”

Tags censorship, Florida, tax credits

Issues and Actions

Inside The New NEA

Post author By Ted Hope
Post date February 15, 2010

Everyone knows that America’s public support of the arts is minimal and embarrassing. Rocco Landesman has promised to shake things up. Newsweek thinks he is and it’s a bit inspiring to see a mainstream journal cover his goings on. When he was appointed, Tony Kushner said it was: “potentially the best news the arts community in the United States has had since the birth of Walt Whitman.”

Read Newsweek’s peak into his first steps.

Now comes the test. It would be great to have easy access to what the NEA is up to and how we all could be more involved.

Tags Government Funding, NEA, Newsweek, Rocco Landesman, Tony Kushner

Issues and Actions

Privacy 101: Has Google Buzz Broken The Rules?

Post author By Ted Hope
Post date February 13, 2010

I am hoping to cover the issues & actions that affect media, particularly Indie & Truly Free Film, a little bit more fully this year. We’ll see…

Privacy is certainly the battlefield of the next few years.

The NY Times today published: “Critics Say Google Invades Privacy With New Service” . It starts off:

When Google introduced Buzz — its answer toFacebook and Twitter — it hoped to get the service off to a fast start. New users of Buzz, which was added to Gmail on Tuesday, found themselves with a ready-made network of friends automatically selected by the company based on the people that each user communicated with most frequently through Google’s e-mail and chat services.

Read the whole article here.

Issues and Actions