By Thomas Adamson
PARIS (AP) --Cannes Film Festival organizers have announced that flamboyant Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar will be jury president at this year's festival as it celebrates its 70th anniversary.
Pierre Lescure and Thierry Fremaux said Tuesday that "Cannes is delighted to welcome a unique and hugely popular artist. His works have already carved out an eternal niche in the history of film."
The director has a 35-year filmography including the breakout, Oscar-nominated film "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" in 1988.
Actors that have starred in his unique universe of black humor, pop culture and sex include Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Antonio Banderas.
The 67-year-old said he will devote his "body and soul" to the task and is "grateful, honored and a bit overwhelmed."
The festival runs May 17-28.
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XRโs offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role heโs held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossanoโs expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the companyโs creative talent network. Rossanoโs career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that companyโs inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More