Jolie questions decision to deny her film permit
By Aida Cerkez
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) – Angelina Jolie has questioned Bosnia’s decision to withdraw her film permit, saying Friday it was based on false rumors that her movie will be a love story about a Bosniak woman and a Serb man who raped her during the country’s war.
But the actress, and two members of her film crew in Sarajevo, declined to say what the plot of her directorial debut will be, and that could make it difficult to allay the concerns of the movie’s main opponents: Bosnia’s wartime rape victims.
Jolie said in a written statement Friday that it will be a shame if “unfair pressure based on wrong information” prevents her crew from shooting her film in Bosnia.” It’s working title is “Untitled Love Story.”
She offered to meet with wartime rape victims in Bosnia and to clarify misunderstandings that led Sarajevo’s culture minister, Gavrilo Grahovac, to deny the permit.
“My hope is that people will hold judgment until they have seen the film,” Jolie said.
The movie was supposed to be shot partly in Bosnia in November, but Grahovac revoked the permit this week under pressure from the Association of Women, Victims of War, which represents the several thousand mainly Muslim Bosniak women who were raped during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war.
Grahovac was not available for comment Friday.
Sarajevan Fedja Stukan, who plans to act in the movie, defended Jolie’s project, telling Bosnian media that “we are not making a movie about a crazy woman falling in love with her rapist. We are not sick and perverted.”
Jolie’s Sarajevo producer, Edin Sarkic, told The Associated Press on Friday that the rumor about the rape victim falling in love with a rapist is “insane.” But he also said his contract with Jolie prevents him from disclosing details about the script.
Instead, Sarkic said, he resubmitted the movie permit application to Grahovac on Wednesday, along with a full script, and expects the m inister to grant a new permit.
Bakira Hasecic, the leader of the Association of Women, Victims of War, told the AP that she has not read the script, but said: “From what I heard, it is about a victim in a rape camp falling in love with her rapist, and that’s not only impossible but the idea is insulting.”
She said, “We, the victims, do not want to be portrayed that way and we complained.”
In the immediate aftermath of the war, the issue of mass rape of women during the conflict was a taboo topic in Bosnia. But the victims then came forward and formed the association that fights for their rights in the courts and defends their dignity in public. The lobby has grown so strong that rarely any official in Bosnia dares to confront it.
In her statement, Jolie said: “The choice to make a film about this area and set in this time in history was also to remind people of what happened not so long ago and to give attention to the survivors of the war.”
The actress said she has great respect for the work of the Association of Women, Victims of War and would “like the opportunity to speak with them to personally clear up any misunderstandings about this project.”
Korea film fest honors defector, teen angst dramas
By Min Lee
South Korean dramas about a struggling defector and teenage angst won the top prizes Friday at Asia’s leading film festival.
Park Jung-bum’s “The Journals of Musan” and Yun Sung-hyun’s “Bleak Night” were named the New Currents Award winners at the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea, organizers announced. The annual prizes go to two young Asian filmmakers and carry a cash award of $30,000 each.
“The Journals of Musan” follows a North Korean defector to the south that struggles to fit in. “Bleak Night” is about a father who tries to unravel the relationship between his dead son and two fellow students at an all-boys high school.
“After watching 13 films, ‘The Journal of Musan’ stays in my head even ’til now. The end was especially impressive,” said Taiwanese actress Yang Kuei-mei, a member of the five-person jury headed by Oscar-winning costume designer Emi Wada.
Another juror, Korean-American actress Kim Yun-jin called it “a gripping story” with a unique ending.
The “Lost” actress gave “Bleak Night” high marks because “the plot weaves from past to present in a fluid, interesting way. This was every juror’s favorite.”
Wada said “the drama of the three guys is portrayed with well-structured cuts and skillful editing.”
The Flash Forward Award for new non-Asian filmmakers went to Swedish director Lisa Langseth’s “Pure,” the coming-of-age story of a 20-year-old woman.
In a statement, the five-person Flash Forward jury headed by Sundance Film Festival director John Cooper called the movie “bold, risky and high energy while featuring an amazing performance by a young actress that can carry a film with conviction and power.”
Langseth wins a cash prize of $20,000.
Polish filmmaker Marek Lechki’s father-son drama “Erratum” was given special mention.
NPD: September video game sales drop 8 percent
By Barbara Ortutay, Technology Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – In grim news for video game companies, market researcher NPD Group said U.S. retail sales of game hardware, software and accessories fell 8 percent in September to $1.2 billion.
Game hardware sales tumbled 19 percent to $383 million as fewer people bought Wii and PlayStation 3 consoles. Only the Xbox 360 sold more units during the month than it did the same time a year ago. Citing NPD figures, Microsoft said it sold 484,000 of the consoles, up 37 percent year-over-year.
Nintendo, meanwhile, sold 403,000 of its handheld DS systems in the U.S., and 254,000 Wii consoles. Sony would not disclose how many PlayStations it sold, and NPD stopped disclosing the sales figures for individual gaming systems this month.
Software sales were also down, dropping 6 percent to $614 million, though analysts were expecting a slight increase. Microsoft blockbuster “Halo: Reach” sold 3.3 million units, but it wasn’t enough to lift the category. Ot her top-selling games included “Madden NFL 11” from Electronic Arts Inc. and “Dead Rising 2” from Capcom USA.
Jesse Divnich, an analyst with Electronic Entertainment Design and Research, said he had expected software sales to grow 3 percent. Part of the decline could be attributed to “Halo.” The game is so popular that the rest of the industry was afraid to go up against it and did not launch big titles last month, he said.
NPD Analyst Anita Frazier said while retail sales showed a decline, “it’s important to remember that there is a growing volume of content being sold digitally, or otherwise outside the traditional retail channel.”
That means more people are downloading games and buying extra content online – though most video games are still sold in brick-and-mortar stores.
Game accessories were the only category to see an uptick, boosted by Sony Corp.’s new Move motion controller. The best-selling accessory was the Xbox Live 1600 point card, lets users pay for movies, games or extra game content through their Xbox 360 consoles. The Network Card for the PlayStation 3 came in second. Both cards cost $20.
GOP Fires Ad Biz Over Hick Flap in W.Va. Sen. Race
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – The Republican Senate campaign organization has fired an advertising company after revelations that it sought actors to portray West Virginians as hicks.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee said Thursday the firm, Jamestown Associates, misled it into earlier blaming an outside casting company for wanting a “hicky” look for the ad’s actors.
The outside firm, Kathy Wickline Casting, released an e-mail Thursday showing that the language came from Jamestown.
The NRSC responded by firing Jamestown, and apologized. Jamestown also apologized and said the language was meant as a private communication.
The GOP ad targeted Gov. Joe Manchin, the Democratic nominee. But his campaign and Democrats made the use of the phrase “‘Hicky’ Blue Collar look” an issue in the hard-fought race.
Academy Says No Big Change for 2012 Oscar Date
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said in a statement late Wednesday that its Board of Governors had determined the date of the 84th Academy Awards “will not be significantly earlier than the now-traditional last Sunday in February.”
But the statement left open the possibility of an earlier Oscar date in subsequent years, saying “the Academy’s staff and Board will continue to evaluate the advantages and challenges associated with such a change.”
The exact date of the 2012 Oscar ceremony has yet to be chosen. The 83rd annual Academy Awards ceremony is set for Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.
DreamWorks Trio Hosting Fundraiser for Brown
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – Hollywood moguls Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen are throwing a fundraiser for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown.
Brown spokesman Sterling Clifford says the $5,000-a-head reception will be Thursday at the Soho House in West Hollywood. Donors who give or raise $25,000, just below the maximum contribution, will attend a private reception.
Katzenberg, Spielberg and Geffen, the founders of the DreamWorks movie studio, have long supported Democratic candidates. They have thrown fundraisers for President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton.
Other co-chairs of the event include Hollywood celebrities J.J. Abrams, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, George Lucas and Rob Reiner.
The fundraiser comes a day before Clinton is scheduled to appear with Brown at a Los Angeles rally.
Officials: No fines in ‘Transformers 3’ Accident
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Indiana officials say they won’t fine Paramount Pictures or production crews over an accident during filming of “Transformers 3” that left a woman with brain damage.
Gabriela Cedillo was working as an extra when she was hit in the head by a piece of flying metal during the filming of a stunt sequence in Hammond, Ind.
Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration spokesman Marc Lotter says an investigation found the Sept. 1 accident occurred due to the failure of a weld connecting a car to a tow cable. He says the weld was made by a certified welder and all necessary safety precautions were in place.
Lotter says the mishap was “an unfortunate and unforeseeable accident.”
Analysts: 3-D TV Sales Not As high as Expected
Peter Svensson, Technology Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – Sales of 3-D TV sets have been weaker than expected this year, as 3-D content is lacking and overall TV sales in North America are slack, research firm DisplaySearch said.
DisplaySearch scaled back its worldwide 3-D TV sales forecast Wednesday to 3.2 million sets this year, down from a forecast of 3.4 million made less than three months ago. It reduced its North America sales forecast even more abruptly, to “just under” 1.6 million units from more than 2 million.
“Set makers have trained consumers to expect rapid price falls for new technology, and consumers seem happy to wait a little,” said Paul Gagnon, a DisplaySearch analyst.
In March, TV maker Samsung Electronics Co. said it expected all manufacturers to sell 3 million to 4 million 3-D capable sets combined in the U.S. this year.
In the first half of the year, overall LCD TV sales in North America were down 3 percent from last year, as the economy continued to be s low and TV prices stabilized after rapid price drops.
A 46-inch 3-D TV costs roughly $300 more than a similar non-3-D model.
DisplaySearch, which is part of NPD Group, is more bullish than ever on the long-term prospects for 3-D. It doubled its 2014 sales forecast on Wednesday to 90 million units worldwide, noting that manufacturers are committed to the technology. It doesn’t cost that much to include the capability to display 3-D in a high-end set.
Internet Radio Service Pandora to Offer Gift CardsNEW YORK (AP) – Pandora is permitting its fans to give gift subscriptions to its Internet radio site, allowing for perks including unlimited listening without advertising.
The Pandora One subscription service has been available for over a year but the company announced Thursday that fans will now be able to gift someone a subscription for the same price, $36.
Though Pandora is free, there’s a 40-hour cap per month on listening. Those with a subscription can listen to the service as much as they want, and get higher quality audio, among other benefits.
Positive HIV Test Halts Shoots at Porn Companies
Shaya Tayefe Mohajer
LOS ANGELES (AP) – More than half a dozen pornographers in California’s multibillion-dollar adult entertainment industry have halted production after an actor tested positive for HIV – and more shutdowns were expected.
Vivid Entertainment Group and Wicked Pictures were among the companies that announced production halts as a precaution.
“From Vivid’s perspective, there was no question that when we heard this, we immediately shut down production and said let’s get the facts and evaluate them before we move forward,” Steven Hirsch, the founder of Vivid, one of the largest makers of adult films, said Wednesday.
Actors in movies by Wicked Pictures use condoms. Still, company president Steve Orenstein said two shoots were on hold and production depends on further HIV test results from a c linic that serves the industry.
PinkVisual Productions is also slated to halt production for at least a few weeks. Adult Video News reported additional shutdowns at Hustler Video, Digital Playground, Jennaration X Studios, Girlfriends Films and Kick Ass Pictures.
The identity and gender of the HIV-positive actor have not been released by the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, the clinic where the case was discovered. The clinic was working to identify and test on-screen partners of the actor.
Since the 2004 outbreak, 25 cases of HIV have been discovered at the AIM clinic and at least 8 of those were adult film performers, said Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, the communicable disease director of the Los Angeles County Public Health Department.
County public health officials and state occupational health officials have said the widespread lack of condom use on porn sets puts performers at risk of contracting HIV and other diseases. Adult film producer s have said viewers find condoms to be a turnoff.
“We strongly feel that condom use should be required in this industry; just like a construction worker wouldn’t go into a construction site without a hard hat, an adult industry performer should not be having sexual acts unprotected without a condom,” said Kim-Farley.
In recent years, advocates and health officials have tussled with porn producers and free speech advocates over the use of condoms in adult films.
State workplace safety officials at Cal/OSHA are considering strengthening rules designed to prevent transmission of disease by requiring the use of condoms in the films.
In an average month, Vivid spends $250,000 to shoot four movies, which require a total of 12 to 15 days of shooting, Hirsch said.
The company currently has a stockpile of unreleased movies, and it would take months without any new production activity to affect Vivid’s release schedule, he added.
Mark Kernes, senior editor at Adult Video News, said he expects most production companies to shut down until it’s known who had contact with the person known to have HIV.
It’s unclear how the industry’s bottom line might be affected by halted production because many companies such as Vivid could sustain sales with backlogs of unreleased titles, Kernes said.
Like other entertainment industries, adult film makers have been hurt by the recession and the Internet, where pirating and free downloads often cut producers out of a profits.
Last year, in a tongue-in-cheek complaint about the sour economy, Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild chief executive Joe Francis called for a $5 billion federal bailout. They said adult DVD sales and rentals decreased 22 percent.
Producer: Li cast in 3-D kung fu epic
HONG KONG (AP) – Jet Li has been cast in Hong Kong director Tsui Hark’s new 3-D kung fu epic, “Flying Swords of Dragon Gate.”
Tsui’s wife, producer Nansun Shi, said in an e-mail that Li will star alongside China’s Zhou Xun and Chen Kun and Taiwan’s Kwai Lun-mei and Mavis Fan in the $35 million production scheduled for release in December 2011.
She said the story is inspired by Tsui’s 1992 martial arts film “Dragon Inn,” which revolves around the face-off between imperial agents and a warrior couple in a desert inn.
China’s Sina.com news website reported earlier the Hong Kong filmmaker started shooting on Sunday.
The project marks Tsui’s reunion with Li after the “Once Upon a Time in China” kung fu franchise in the 1990s. Li then moved onto a career in Hollywood. His most recent credits include “The Expendables” and the Chinese-language drama “Ocean Heaven.”
YouTube 2011 Orchestra Conducting Online Auditions
Verena Dobnik
NEW YORK (AP) – A cyberspace-based orchestra is conducting online auditions to find the best players to appear at a music summit in Australia that will be live-streamed on the Web.
The call for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 opened Tuesday.
YouTube launched its orchestra project last year with a sold-out Carnegie Hall concert featuring more than 90 musicians from 30 countries, including a surgeon-violinist and a professional poker player-cellist.
The announcement for this year’s auditions was to be made at 6 p.m. at Carnegie Hall – part publicity stunt by its producers, part vanity trip by its participants, part opportunity to attract a younger crowd to classical music.
“We’re exploring how classical music’s 1200-year-long tradition can enter the realm of high technology,” Grammy-award winning conductor Michael Tilson Thomas told The Associated Press.
Musicians must upload audition videos of designated pieces to demonstrate their musical and technical abilities. Any instrumentalist may also submit an improvisation based on a new piece called “Mothership” by composer Mason Bates for an opportunity to play a solo.
After the auditions end Nov. 28, an expert panel from leading orchestras will narrow entries. YouTube’s global community of hundreds of millions of viewers will then be invited to vote for the semifinalists, from Dec. 10 through Dec. 17. Winners are to be announced Jan. 11.
Starting March 13, the selected musicians will spend a week in rehearsals and master classes, both online and in person, taught by members of the London Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Sydney Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, the New York Philharmonic and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.
The summit peaks with a March 20 performance streamed live on YouTube, a subsidiary of Google Inc. that is based in San Bruno, Calif.
“We helped fundamentally challenge the norms of an en tire industry and provided a digital meeting place for classical musicians around the world,” said Ed Sanders, YouTube’s senior marketing manager.
Lions Gate Offers to Combine with MGMBarbara Ortutay, Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – Lions Gate is offering to combine its business with MGM in a deal supported by billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who owns stakes in both studios.
Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. said Tuesday it has sent a proposal for a combination with financially troubled Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.
Lions Gate said the combined company would be owned by its shareholders and by MGM’s creditors. These include Icahn.
Terms weren’t disclosed, though a report in the Los Angeles Times said the deal would give MGM’s lenders a 55 percent in the combined company. Lions Gate and MGM declined to comment.
Icahn said the deal is better than a current proposal to combine MGM with privately held production company Spyglass Entertainment.
Icahn has been trying to buy Lions Gate for more than a year but has been rebuffed by the boutique film studio. Icahn’s tender offer for Lions Gate worth $7.50 per share expires Oct. 22.
It is only valid if the extra shares that the company recently issued to Lions Gate director Mark Rachesky are rescinded or converted into nonvoting stock. In July, Lions Gate issued 16.2 million new common shares to Rachesky, boosting his stake to 28.9 percent, while diluting Icahn’s stake to 33.5 percent from 37.9 percent.
In its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Lions Gate said it believes that Icahn, along with MHR Fund Management and Capital Research Global Investors – its three largest shareholders – all support the transaction. Rachesky, Icahn’s former investment adviser, controls MHR. Combined, the top three investors own 71 percent of Lions Gate, according to Capital IQ.
MHR Fund spokesman Ed Trissel and Capital Research spokesman Chuck Freadhoff declined to comment.
Lions Gate is based in Vancouver, Canada, though it operates out of Santa Monica, Calif. Its recent film releases include “The Expendables” and “The Last Exorcism.”
MGM, which has more than $4 billion in debt and has asked creditors to vote on its plan to file for bankruptcy, owns rights to the James Bond movie franchise and is planning to make a two-part movie with Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros., based on “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien.
The offer from Lions Gate comes after MGM rejected a $2 billion cash offer from Indian conglomerate Sahara India Pariwar and a $1.5 billion cash offer from Time Warner.
AP Business Writer Ryan Nakashima in Los Angeles contributed to this story.
Warner Bros.: New ‘Harry Potter’ flick will be 2-D
LOS ANGELES (AP) – The new “Harry Potter” film won’t be as dimensional as it was supposed to be.
Warner Bros. Studios says the seventh installment in the popular boy-wizard franchise will be released only in standard 2-D, not 3-D as planned.
The studio said in a statement Friday that it was unable to complete the 3-D conversion of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” in time for its scheduled Nov. 19 release date, and it didn’t want to keep fans waiting.
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” will be released in both 2-D and 3-D on July 15, 2011.
