indieWIRE > Buzz / Rumors (People)

iW NEWS | Falco Mourns Loss of Co-founder, Gary Hill

Gary Hill, a founding partner of film pr firm Falco Ink, passed away last week after a battle with kidney disease. A twenty-five year veteran of the entertainment industry, Hill left Falco two years ago to co-found the Berkshire International Film Festival. Hill began his career as an assistant to Brian DePalma, working on "Scarface," "Blow Out" and "Dressed To Kill" and moved into PR in the 80s. In 1999, he left PR firm Clein + White with a group of partners to form Falco Ink. Hill retired from PR in 2005 to head to the Berkshires. "Serving on the BIFF board was a natural use of his love of film," Falco said in a statement. "Hill had a deep knowledge of film and genuine love of film: from Alfred Hitchcock to Robert Altman, Billy Wilder to Tim Burton." [Eugene Hernandez]

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September 27, 2008

NYT | Paul Newman Dies at 83

"Paul Newman achieved what most of his peers could not: remaining a major star into charismatic old age," wrote the New York Times today, after the death of Paul Newman. "If Marlon Brando and James Dean defined the defiant American male as a sullen rebel, Paul Newman recreated him as a likable renegade, a strikingly handsome figure of animal high spirits and blue-eyed candor whose magnetism was almost impossible to resist, whether the character was Hud, Cool Hand Luke or Butch Cassidy."

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September 14, 2008

NYT | Bridging Generations and Hemispheres

"The industry can really box you in, so you try to break the patterns," filmmaker Wayne Wang tells Denis Lim in today's New York Times. "Course-correcting yet again, Mr. Wang now returns to his first principles, even as he tries out some new tricks, with two of his most intimate films, "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers" and "The Princess of Nebraska," both based on stories by the Chinese-born author Yiyun Li (like Mr. Wang, a Bay Area resident)."

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September 4, 2008

iW NEWS | Moore to Offer a "Slacker Uprising" Free Online

Michael Moore's film, "Slacker Uprising" will be available for download free of charge as a thank you to "his many fans." The free download will take place on the Internet in lieu of a theatrical release or DVD release (for now) and prior to other outlets such as television or streaming video, according to a release. "Slacker Uprising" traces Michael Moore’s 62-city tour of the swing states during the 2004 U.S. Presidential election and "records the thrilling -- and frightening -- response he received across the country." The high resolution 97 minute film is free download to any North American resident beginning on September 23. "Slacker Uprising" first appeared at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival as "Captain Mike Across America." [Brian Brooks]

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September 2, 2008

CNN | "In a world" voiceover master dies at 68

Don LaFontaine, the voiceover king whose "In a world ..." phrase on movie trailers was much copied -- and much parodied -- has died, according to media reports. He was 68. CNN reports.

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AFP | Rare Marilyn Monroe footage surfaces in Australia

Rare behind-the-scenes footage of screen goddess Marilyn Monroe, taken while she was filming her iconic 1959 hit "Some Like it Hot," has been found in Australia, an auction house said Tuesday. AFP reports.

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August 19, 2008

SF360 | Manny Farber (1917-2008): "The Geography of Gesture"

Film critic Manny Farber died in California yesterday at the age of 91, reports SF360. "I can only say that Manny was a dear friend and one of my heroes, a great writer and a great painter," Telluride Film Festival co-director Tom Luddy told the site. Reprinting an article about the critic from 2003, SF360 added, "One of America's greatest film critics, Farber leaves behind many other admirers and friends in the Bay Area, including the San Francisco Film Society, who enjoyed Farber's presence when he received the Mel Novikoff Award during the 2003 Festival.

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August 11, 2008

NYT | Brooklyn to Hollywood: That's Some Subway Ride

As strange a scene as it was that day in a neighborhood more accustomed to real-life drama, even more extraordinary is the story of how Mr. Martin, a 28-year-old former subway worker from East New York, Brooklyn, came to write "Brooklyn's Finest," a gritty thriller starring Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke and Richard Gere as police officers in a housing project. Trymaine Lee reports.

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August 7, 2008

AP | Federal investigators drop Ledger drug inquiry

DEA investigators suspect the painkillers found in Ledger's system, oxycodone and hydrocodone, were obtained with phony prescriptions or other illegal means. Oxycodone is sold as OxyContin and hydrocodone as Vicodin. Tom Hays reports.

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July 30, 2008

NYT | A Lord of Dogtown Re-emerges

The X Games are scheduled to begin in Los Angeles on Thursday, and Jay Adams, whose skateboarding career has been the subject of two major films, wants to attend. Matt Higgins reports.

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July 29, 2008

AFP | Legendary Egyptian filmmaker Chahine dies

Veteran Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine, Arab cinema's most celebrated director, died on Sunday aged 82 after several weeks in a coma. Riad Abou Awad reports.

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July 22, 2008

FILMMAKER | '08 Edition: 25 New Faces of Independent Film

The tenth annual list of 25 New Faces of Independent Film has been unveiled by Filmmaker Magazine. On the list for 2008 are: Ryan Bilsborrow-Koo and Zachary Lieberman (online series: "The West Side"), E.E. Cassidy ("We Are the Mods"), Encyclopedia Pictura (Bjork's "Wanderlust" video), Jesse Epstein ("Wet Dreams & False Images"), Shana Feste ("The Greatest"), Barry Jenkins ("Medicine for Melancholy"), Myna Joseph (short film: "Man"), Eric Latek ("Sweet Dreams"), Julia Leigh (screenwriter, "The Witness"), Andrew Okpeaha MacLean (short film: "Sikumi"), John Magary ("Blood Abundance"), Aasif Mandvi ("7 to the Palace," and The Daily Show), Bent-Jorgen Permutt ("Lumo"), Oren Peli ("Paranormal Activity"), Jennifer Phang ("Half-Life"), Tom Quinn ("The New Year Parade"), Dee Rees (short film, "Pariah"), Daniel Robin (short film, "my olympic summer"), Mark Russell (visual effects: "Sleep Dealer," "Synecdoche, New York"), Joshua Safdie ("The Pleasure of Being Robbed"), Tariq Tapa's ("Zero Bridge"), Matt Wolf ("Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell"), Christina Voros (short film: "The Ladies"), Benh Zeitlin's (short film: "Glory at Sea"), David and Nathan Zellner ("Goliath"). "The people on Filmmaker's '25 New Faces' list are not only innovators we believe will be impacting tomorrow's film scene, but they're also artists engaged in a vital re-think of what it means to be independent today," said film producer and Filmmaker's editor in chief Scott Macaulay, in a statement. A full list of the 265 people on the list over the years is available on the Filmmaker Magazine site. [Eugene Hernandez]

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July 11, 2008

Reuters: Oscar buzz mounts for late Heath Ledger

Actor Heath Ledger won rave reviews from Australian critics on Friday for his final performance as the Joker in the new Batman movie, fuelling speculation of a rare posthumous Oscar. Belinda Goldsmith reports.

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June 16, 2008

Stan Winston Dies

Visual effects guru Stan Winston died yesterday in Los Angeles, according to multiple news reports this afternoon. "The Oscar-winning visual effects artist died at his home Sunday evening surrounded by family after a seven-year struggle with multiple myeloma, according to a representative from Stan Winston Studio," Variety reported. And the LA Times reported, "Winston won four visual effects Oscars and earned multiple nominations. His first Oscar was for James Cameron's 'Aliens' (1986). Winston later won two Oscars for 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day' (1992) (visual effects and makeup) and 1993's 'Jurassic Park'." For more on Winston and his work, visit the Stan Winston Studio website.

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June 11, 2008

AP | Australian film organization creates Ledger scholarship

Heath Ledger was known for giving aspiring Australian actors a hand in Hollywood. Now, an Australian film organization has established a scholarship fund in the late actor's name to continue those efforts. AP reports.

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June 5, 2008

Reuters: Polanski victim wants case closed but no prison

Oscar-winning movie director Roman Polanski should not have to serve time in prison for unlawfully having sex with a 13-year-old girl 30 years ago, the victim now says. Michelle Nichols reports.

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May 26, 2008

NYT: Sydney Pollack, Film Director, Dies at 73

Sydney Pollack, a Hollywood mainstay as director, producer and sometime actor whose star-laden movies like "The Way We Were," "Tootsie" and "Out of Africa" were among the most successful of the 1970s and '80s, died on Monday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 73. The cause was cancer, said a representative of the family. Michael Cielpy reports.

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