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James O'Brien (filmmaker)
James O'Brien is an American independent film director, screenwriter and producer. Early life and education Raised in Harrington Park, New Jersey, O’Brien attended Bergen Catholic High School, and was a captain of the cross country and track teams. He is a graduate of Providence College, and competed in his early collegiate years for Ray Treacy's Providence Friars. Midway through college, O'Brien shifted gears from athletics to English and Drama, directing a number of university-screened short films and documentaries and acting in the Blackfriars Theatre productions. After backpacking around Europe, and inspired by the DIY cinema of Jim Jarmusch, Spike Lee and Richard Linklater, O’Brien moved to Los Angeles, to make independent films. Early career The first film he made after moving to LA was ''Bastard,'' a B&W short about a schizophrenic hit man. It was selected by the American Cinematheque to open for Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampyre at a 1993 Directors Gui ...
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Western Religion (film)
''Western Religion'' is 2015 Western film directed and written by James O'Brien and starring Claude Duhamel, Peter Shinkoda, and Miles Szanto, among many others in a large international cast. Plot In Religion, Arizona, gunfighters from the far reaches of the globe come to compete in a poker tournament where their very souls are on the line. The film opens in Arizona Territory in the year 1879 with a number of scenes that intermingle to provide glimpses of a handful of the main characters and their backgrounds— Saint John (Gary Douglas Kohn) who is hanging from a noose like a dead man yet still very much alive; the gunslinger Anton Stice (Claude Duhamel) who kills four men over an insult; Chinaman Dan (Peter Shinkoda), a wanted bank robber; and the multifaceted dandy Salt Peter (Louie Sabatasso), a cardsharp looking for the next big game, in this case the tournament in the dusty tent city of Religion. Town entrepreneur Harvard Gold (James Anthony Cotton) hosts the “first ...
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Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog (; born 5 September 1942) is a German film director, screenwriter, author, actor, and opera director, regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema. His films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with unique talents in obscure fields, or individuals in conflict with nature. He is known for his unique filmmaking process, such as disregarding storyboards, emphasizing improvisation, and placing the cast and crew into similar situations as characters in his films. Herzog started work on his first film ''Herakles'' in 1961, when he was nineteen. Since then he has produced, written, and directed more than sixty feature films and documentaries, such as ''Aguirre, the Wrath of God'' (1972), ''The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser'' (1974), '' Heart of Glass'' (1976), '' Stroszek'' (1977), ''Nosferatu the Vampyre'' (1979), ''Fitzcarraldo'' (1982), ''Cobra Verde'' (1987), ''Lessons of Darkness'' (1992), ''Little Dieter Needs to Fly'' (1997), ''My Best Fiend ...
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Mind Control
Brainwashing (also known as mind control, menticide, coercive persuasion, thought control, thought reform, and forced re-education) is the concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques. Brainwashing is said to reduce its subjects' ability to think critically or independently, to allow the introduction of new, unwanted thoughts and ideas into their minds, as well as to change their attitudes, values and beliefs. The term "brainwashing" was first used in English by Edward Hunter in 1950 to describe how the Chinese government appeared to make people cooperate with them. Research into the concept also looked at Nazi Germany, at some criminal cases in the United States, and at the actions of human traffickers. In the late 1960s and 1970s, there was considerable scientific and legal debate, as well as media attention, about the possibility of brainwashing being a factor when Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was used, or in the convers ...
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Genetic Engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including the transfer of genes within and across species boundaries to produce improved or novel organisms. New DNA is obtained by either isolating and copying the genetic material of interest using recombinant DNA methods or by artificially synthesising the DNA. A construct is usually created and used to insert this DNA into the host organism. The first recombinant DNA molecule was made by Paul Berg in 1972 by combining DNA from the monkey virus SV40 with the lambda virus. As well as inserting genes, the process can be used to remove, or "knock out", genes. The new DNA can be inserted randomly, or targeted to a specific part of the genome. An organism that is generated through genetic engineering is considered to be genetically modified (GM) an ...
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Hyperfutura
''Hyperfutura'' is a 2012 science fiction film from American filmmaker James O'Brien, starring Eric Kopatz, Karen Corona, Gregory Kiem, Scott Donovan, Celine Brigitte, Alysse Cobb, Lionel Heredia, Gary Kohn, Edward Romero and William Moore. It draws elements from the mashup video movement, Ed Wood, time travel and transhumanism, and pays homage to such counterculture works as The Church of the SubGenius and the fictional experimental filmmaker James Orin Incandenza from the David Foster Wallace novel ''Infinite Jest''. Utilizing both stock footage and a live action narrative, it takes the viewer on a psychedelic voyage into the subconscious of a hybrid robot human sent back in time. The film is based on the epic poem "Hyperfutura" by Eric Kopatz. The screenplay is by James O'Brien. The film was edited by Brando McClure and Ron Soha, with cinematography by Ama MacDonald, visual effects by John Younger and sound design by Jesse Bilson. It has been compared to ''Spectres of the Sp ...
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Mashup (video)
A video mashup (also written as video mash-up) combines multiple pre-existing video sources with no discernible relation with each other into a unified video. These are derivative works as defined by the United States Copyright Act , and as such, may find protection from copycopyright claims under the doctrine of fair use. Examples of mashup videos include movie trailer remixes, Vidding, vids, YouTube Poop, and supercuts. Music videos * The first type is a derivative music video, which is the most common one, by recombining two or more pre–existing materials together into a new one. These materials usually are prevailing music videos, but also includes separate songs, videos, and still images. According to Navas, it can be a regressive type, for its promotional purpose. * The second type is slightly different from the first. It allows the users record their own track – either sung or played on an instrument – and then combine it with other tracks from internet together. T ...
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Indie Rights
Indie Rights, Inc. is an American distributor of independent films, based in Los Angeles, California. Indie Rights is a subsidiary of Nelson Madison Films and was incorporated in 2007 to act as distributor for other independent filmmakers. The corporation began as a private MySpace group where the makers of independent films could get information about the changing face of film distribution; founders Linda Nelson and Michael Madison created Indie Rights so that distribution contracts could be signed by a legal entity. The corporation distributes films largely through video on demand services, though more recently it has overseen such theatrical releases as '' We Are Kings'' and '' Fray'', both in 2014. Nelson Madison Films has produced three features: ''Bigger Than Live'' (2002), ''Shifted'' (2006) and ''Delivered'' (2011). History Background Linda Nelson is a former investment banker and computer systems analyst based in Los Angeles since 1980; Michael Madison moved there in 1 ...
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Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He named the area in honor of "God's merciful Providence" which he believed was responsible for revealing such a haven for him and his followers. The city developed as a busy port as it is situated at the mouth of the Providence River in Providence County, at the head of Narragansett Bay. Providence was one of the first cities in the country to industrialize and became noted for its textile manufacturing and subsequent machine tool, jewelry, and silverware industries. Today, the city of Providence is home to eight hospitals and List of colleges and universities in Rhode Island#Institutions, eight institutions of higher learning which have shifted the city's economy into service industries, though it still retains some manufacturin ...
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Laemmle Theatres
Laemmle Theatres ( ) is a group of family-run arthouse movie theaters in the Los Angeles area. It was established in 1938Richard Verrier A Hollywood opening for downton cinema October 24, 2009 Los Angeles Times and is owned and operated by Robert Laemmle and his son Greg Laemmle. Robert Laemmle's father Max and uncle Kurt, cousins of Universal Pictures founder Carl Laemmle, bought their first movie theater in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1938. There are eight locations: Claremont 5 in Claremont, Glendale 5 in Glendale, Monica 4-plex in Santa Monica, Playhouse 7 in Pasadena, Royal Theatre in West Los Angeles, Town Center 5 in Encino, NoHo 7 in North Hollywood, and Laemmle Theatres 7 in Santa Clarita. The Laemmle Grande 4-Plex on South Figueroa Street closed October 25, 2009 as L.A. Live's Regal Cinema complex was set to open. Construction of the Santa Clarita theater was completed in 2020, but its opening was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It opened ...
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Variety (magazine)
''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', based in Los Angeles, to cover the motion-picture industry. ''Variety.com'' features entertainment news, reviews, box office results, cover stories, videos, photo galleries and features, plus a credits database, production charts and calendar, with archive content dating back to 1905. History Foundation ''Variety'' has been published since December 16, 1905, when it was launched by Sime Silverman as a weekly periodical covering theater and vaudeville with its headquarters in New York City. Silverman had been fired by ''The Morning Telegraph'' in 1905 for panning an act which had taken out an advert for $50. As a result, he decided to start his own publication "that ouldnot be influenced by advertising." With a loan of $1,500 from his father- ...
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Orpheum Theatre (Los Angeles)
The Orpheum Theatre at 842 S. Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles opened on February 15, 1926, as the fourth and final Los Angeles venue for the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. After a $3 million renovation, started in 1989, it is the most restored of the historical movie palaces in the city. Three previous theatres also bore the name Orpheum before the one at 842 Broadway was the final one with that moniker. The Orpheum has a Beaux Arts facade designed by movie theater architect G. Albert Lansburgh and has a Mighty Wurlitzer organ, installed in 1928, that is one of three pipe organs remaining in Southern California. The Orpheum theatres are named for the Greek mythological figure, Orpheus. Orpheum venues in Los Angeles The first site for the Orpheum vaudeville circuit was the Grand Opera House, also known as the Grand Theater, 110 S. Main Street (built 1884, closed 1937). The second Orpheum venue was the Orpheum Theatre (previously known as the Los Angeles Theatre and later known ...
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Venice Beach
Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed by Los Angeles. Venice is known for its canals, a beach, and Ocean Front Walk, a pedestrian promenade that features performers, fortune-tellers, and vendors. History 19th century In 1839, a region called La Ballona that included the southern parts of Venice, was granted by the Mexican government to Ygnacio and Augustin Machado and Felipe and Tomas Talamantes, giving them title to Rancho La Ballona. Later this became part of Port Ballona. Founding Venice, originally called "Venice of America", was founded by wealthy developer Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a beach resort town, west of Los Angeles. He and his partner Francis Ryan had bought of ocean-front property south of Santa Monica in 1891. They built a resort town on the north end of th ...
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