Director Lloyd Stein has joined bicoastal Headquarters. Stein comes over from bicoastal Epoch Films, where he spent the past year. Prior to that, he was at bicoastal/international Propaganda Films….Access Film, a bicoastal house headed by executive producers Jonathan Gilson and Alan Pierce, has signed director Mark Mainguy for U.S. representation. Mainguy is best known in Canada for his spotwork via Toronto-based Radke Films…. Director Alan Hunter—one of the original MTV veejays—has joined Atlanta-based VanDerKloot Film Studio for Southeast U.S. representation….A new Chicago-based commercial production company, Z Group Films, is being launched by Dan Zigulich, a former producer at Foote, Cone & Belding, Chicago…. Producer Nina Rappaport has joined San Francisco-based animation studio Wild Brain, where she will head up the company’s CG efforts. Among her credits is Bunny, which was directed by Chris Wedge of Blue Sky Studios, Harrison, N.Y., and went on to win the ’98 Academy Award for best animated short film…. Congrats to Blair Stribley, principal/executive producer at Chicago and Venice, Calif.-based Backyard Productions, on his marriage to Ellen Pistana, a non-pro; the two were wed on Thanksgiving Day…..
“Emilia Pérez” Wins Big At Césars, With Under-Fire Karla Sofia Gascón In Attendance
Oscar contender "Emilia Pérez" was named the best French film of the year at the Césars awards — France's equivalent of the Oscars — and under-fire Karla Sofia Gascón, the star of Jacques Audiard's Mexico-set melodrama, made a rare public appearance.
The musical is one of the most celebrated films of the year but has also been criticized for its depiction of Mexican culture and engulfed in controversy because of Gascón's previous social media posts disparaging Muslims, George Floyd and diversity at the Oscars.
Although Gascón, who was nominated in the best actress category along with her co-star Zoe Saldaña, did not win a César, the night in Paris was triumphal for "Emilia Pérez," which swept seven trophies.
Audiard, who previously condemned Gascón's comments, thanked his "marvelous team" and his female actors.
"When I say my team it's not in the sense of ownership, but a declaration of love," he said. "The same goes for the actresses. My darling Zoe, my darling Karla, Adriana (Paz) who is not here, Selena (Gomez) who is not here. I loved working with you, I love you."
Old posts from Gascon's X account resurfaced in January, some going as far back as 2016, that took aim at Muslims' dress, language and culture in her native Spain. She also suggested that Islam be banned. And less than a month after George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer in 2020, Gascón offered her assessment of Floyd — whose death prompted widespread reckoning with police brutality and racism — as a drug addict who "very few people ever cared" for.
Gascón, who stars as the titular transgender ex-cartel boss in "Emilia Pérez," has withdrawn from promoting the film, which has 13 Oscar nominations.... Read More