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Jeffrey Blitz
Jeffrey Blitz is an American film director, screenwriter and producer best known for the documentary '' Spellbound'' (2003), ''The Office'' (2007 - 2010), the fiction film '' Rocket Science'' (2007) and ''Comedy Central’s'' ''Review'' (2014 - 2017). Blitz is a two-time Emmy Award winner, the winner of the Directing Prize at Sundance and an Academy Award nominee. Personal life Blitz grew up in New York City and then New Jersey to an Argentinian mother and an American father. He is brother to comedian Andy Blitz and constitutional law scholar Marc Blitz. While a student at Ridgewood High School in Ridgewood, New Jersey, Blitz worked to overcome his debilitating stutter by joining the speech and debate teams. He went on to win the New Jersey state championship in policy debate as well as multiple public speaking events. He has since become an outspoken advocate within the stuttering community. Blitz attended Johns Hopkins as an undergrad and graduate student where he s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rocket Science (film)
''Rocket Science'' is a 2007 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Jeffrey Blitz and starring Reece Thompson, Anna Kendrick, Nicholas D'Agosto, Vincent Piazza, and Aaron Yoo. It tells the story of Hal Hefner, a fifteen-year-old stutterer who decides to join his school's debate team when he develops a crush on its star member, and addresses the themes of coming of age, sexuality, and finding one's voice. Blitz conceived a rough storyline for the film while making '' Spellbound'', a documentary about 1999's Scripps National Spelling Bee, but an HBO Films executive persuaded him to write the film based on his own adolescence when he told her about his experiences as a stutterer. The film's producers visited several cities in the United States and Canada; Thompson was cast based on a tape which his agent had sent and a follow-up audition after the first actor cast in the lead was forced to pull out. The film was shot over 30 days in Baltimore, Maryland and Trenton, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consistently ranks among the most prestigious universities in the United States and the world. The university was named for its first benefactor, the American entrepreneur and Quaker philanthropist Johns Hopkins. Hopkins' $7 million bequest to establish the university was the largest philanthropic gift in U.S. history up to that time. Daniel Coit Gilman, who was inaugurated as Johns Hopkins's first president on February 22, 1876, led the university to revolutionize higher education in the U.S. by integrating teaching and research. In 1900, Johns Hopkins became a founding member of the American Association of Universities. The university has led all U.S. universities in annual research expenditures over the past three decades. Johns Hopkin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
USC School Of Cinematic Arts
The University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) houses seven academic divisions: Film & Television Production; Cinema & Media Studies; John C. Hench Division of Animation + Digital Arts; John Wells Division of Writing for Screen & Television; Interactive Media & Games; Media Arts + Practice; Peter Stark Producing Program. The USC School of Cinematic Arts is led by dean Elizabeth Monk Daley, who holds the Steven J. Ross/Time Warner Chair and is the longest-serving dean at the University of Southern California, having led the cinema school since 1991. History When Douglas Fairbanks became the first president of the nascent Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927, one of the more innovative items on his agenda was that the academy should have a “training school”. As Fairbanks and his enablers reasoned that training in the cinematic arts should be seen as a legitimate academic discipline at major universities, given the same degree considerati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Austin Chronicle
''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demographic. The newspaper reported a weekly readership of 545,500. It is part of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia and it emulates the typical publications of the 1960s counterculture movement. History The ''Chronicle'' was co-founded in 1981 by Nick Barbaro and Louis Black, with assistance from others who largely met through the graduate film studies program at the University of Texas at Austin. Barbaro and Black are also co-founders of the South by Southwest Festival, although the festival operates as a separate company. The paper initially was published bi-weekly, and later weekly. Its precursor in style and format was the ''Austin Sun The ''Austin Sun'' was a biweekly counterculture newspaper, similar in nature to ''Rolling Ston ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang. Although the name "Rotten Tomatoes" connects to the practice of audiences throwing rotten tomatoes in disapproval of a poor stage performance, the original inspiration comes from a scene featuring tomatoes in the Canadian film ''Léolo'' (1992). Since January 2010, Rotten Tomatoes has been owned by Flixster, which was in turn acquired by Warner Bros in 2011. In February 2016, Rotten Tomatoes and its parent site Flixster were sold to Comcast's Fandango. Warner Bros. retained a minority stake in the merged entities, including Fandango. History Rotten Tomatoes was launched on August 12, 1998, as a spare-time project by Senh Duong. His objective in creating Rotten Tomatoes was "to create a site where people can get access to reviews fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Documentary Association
International Documentary Association (IDA), founded in 1982, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) that promotes nonfiction filmmakers, and is dedicated to increasing public awareness for the documentary genre. Their major program areas are: Advocacy, Filmmaker Services, Education, and Public Programs and Events. Based in Los Angeles, the IDA has approximately 2,000 members in 53 countries, providing a forum for supporters and suppliers of documentary filmmaking. Advocacy The IDA advocates for, protects and advances the legal rights of documentary filmmakers. IDA has a long history of making the case for documentary filmmaking as a vital art form, and seeking ways to ensure that the artists who make documentaries receive appropriate funding. Most recently, IDA has been vocal in confronting the non-fiction film industry, to include promoting net neutrality efforts, lobbying for the development of strong public policies for the arts, lobbying for the appropriation of increased public funding ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Documentary Association Top 25 Documentaries
The International Documentary Association produced in 2007 a list of the top 25 documentary films as voted by members. List # ''Hoop Dreams'' (1994) # '' The Thin Blue Line'' (1988) # ''Bowling for Columbine'' (2002) # '' Spellbound'' (2002) # '' Harlan County, U.S.A.'' (1976) # ''An Inconvenient Truth'' (2006) # '' Crumb'' (1994) # ''Gimme Shelter'' (1970) # '' The Fog of War'' (2003) # ''Roger & Me'' (1989) # ''Super Size Me'' (2004) # ''Dont Look Back'' (1967) # ''Salesman'' (1968) # ''Koyaanisqatsi'' (1983) # '' Sherman's March'' (1986) # ''Grey Gardens'' (1976) # '' Capturing the Friedmans'' (2003) # ''Born into Brothels'' (2004) # ''Titicut Follies'' (1967) # ''Buena Vista Social Club (1999) # '' Fahrenheit 9/11'' (2004) # ''Winged Migration'' (2002) # ''Grizzly Man'' (2005) # ''Night and Fog'' (1955) # ''Woodstock'' (1970) Statistics ''Night and Fog'' is the oldest and shortest entry on the list while ''An Inconvenient Truth'' is the most recent as of 2022. Six Academy Awa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital media, digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as ''The Daily (podcast), The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones (publisher), George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won List of Pulitzer Prizes awarded to The New York Times, 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national "newspaper of record". For print it is ranked List of newspapers by circulation, 18th in the world by circulation and List of newspapers in the United States, 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is Public company, publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 189 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States. The publication has won more than 40 Pulitzer Prizes. It is owned by Patrick Soon-Shiong and published by the Times Mirror Company. The newspaper’s coverage emphasizes California and especially Southern California stories. In the 19th century, the paper developed a reputation for civic boosterism and opposition to labor unions, the latter of which led to the bombing of its headquarters in 1910. The paper's profile grew substantially in the 1960s under publisher Otis Chandler, who adopted a more national focus. In recent decades the paper's readership has declined, and it has been beset by a series of ownership changes, staff reductions, and other controversies. In January 2018, the paper's staff voted to unionize and fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan (; born October 27, 1946) is an American retired film critic, author, and lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. He was a film critic for the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1991 until 2020 and was described by ''The Hollywood Reporter'' as "arguably the most widely read film critic in the town most associated with the making of movies". Early life Turan was raised in an observant Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. He received a bachelor's degree from Swarthmore College and a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. At Swarthmore, he was roommates with the mathematician and science fiction author Rudy Rucker. Career Before becoming a film critic, Turan was a staff writer for ''The Washington Post''. Turan was a film critic for '' The Progressive'', a magazine published in Madison, Wisconsin, and in 1991 he became a film critic for ''The Los Angeles Times''. In 1993, he was named the director of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Film Forum
Film Forum is a nonprofit movie theater at 209 West Houston Street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. It began in 1970 as an alternative screening space for independent films, with 50 folding chairs, one projector and a $19,000 annual budget. Karen Cooper became director in 1972. Its current Greenwich Village cinema (on Houston Street, west of Sixth Avenue) was built in 1990. Film Forum is a 4-screen cinema open 365 days a year, with 280,000 annual admissions, nearly 500 seats, 60 employees, 4500 members and an operating budget of $5 million. Film Forum is the only autonomous nonprofit cinema in New York City and one of the few in the United States of America. In 1994, Film Forum was honored with a Village Award by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, even though it is technically in Soho. In 2018, Film Forum had a major renovation, adding new seats (and in turn, more leg room) and a fourth theater. Programming Film Forum presents two distinct film programs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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