Melvin Van Peebles
Melvin Block Van Peebles is an American actor, screenwriter, playwright and composer. He is most famous for creating the acclaimed film Sweet Sweetbacks Baadasssss Song and he is the father of actor and director Mario Van Peebles. He married the German actress and photographer, Maria Marx and they lived in Mexico for a brief period, where he painted portraits, before coming back to the United States, where he started driving cable cars in San Francisco. Melvin Van Peebles began writing about his experiences as a car driver. Van Peebles first book, The Big Heart, evolved from an article and series of photographs According to Van Peebles. Van Peebles shot his first short film, Pickup Men for Herrick in 1957, about these films, Van Peebles says, I thought they were features. Each one turned out to be eleven minutes long, I was trying to do features. As he learned more about the process, he found out that I could make a feature for five hundred dollars. That was the cost of ninety minutes of film, I didnt know a thing about shooting a film sixteen to one or ten to one or none of that shit.
Then I forgot you had to develop film, and I didnt know you needed a work print. All I can say is that after I did one thing he would say, arent you gonna put sound on it. After Peebles completed his first short films, he took them with him to Hollywood to try to find work, in New York City, he met a man who saw his films and wanted to screen them in France. In 1959 the family went to the Netherlands, where he worked for the Dutch National Theater, in the Netherlands, Peebles added the Van to his name. The marriage dissolved, his wife and children went back to America and he learned French, and was hired to translate Mad magazine into French. He began to write plays in French, utilizing the sprechgesang form of songwriting and this style carried over to Van Peebles debut album, Brer Soul. Van Peebles published four novels and one collection in French and made another short film. Van Peebles made his first feature-length film, The Story of a Three-Day Pass, Van Peebless first Hollywood film was the 1970 Columbia Pictures comedy Watermelon Man, written by Herman Raucher.
The movie tells the story of a casually racist white man who wakes up black and finds himself alienated from his friends, family
Lucy Mulloy
Lucy Mulloy is a New York-based screenwriter and film director. She was nominated for the Student Academy Award for her NYU short film This Morning, in 2010 Mulloy was awarded the Tribeca Film Festival Emerging Narrative Talent Award and in 2012 she won the Tribeca Film Festival as Best New Director. Her debut feature, Una Noche, won Best Cinematography and she went on to win many awards internationally and Mulloy was nominated for Best New First Feature at the 2014 Spirit Awards. Mulloy studied Politics and Economics at Oxford University and Film at Tisch School of the Arts and she is the daughter of acclaimed animator Phil Mulloy. Her first year short film, while studying at Tisch, This Morning received a Student Academy Award Nomination, Mulloy spent years in Havana researching for her first feature Una Noche. Whilst in Cuba Mulloys story developed as she searched for young untrained talent to take the lead roles, in April 2010, with Una Noche in production, Mulloy was awarded the Creative Promise Emerging Narrative Award at Tribeca Film Festival.
Mulloy is mentored by Spike Lee and in January 2010 won the Spike Lee Production Grant Award for Una Noche, Winner 2010 Adrienne Shelly Foundation /IFP Directors grant, Winner 2011 Euphoria Calvin Klein Spotlight on Women Filmmakers’ ‘Live The Dream’ post production grant at the Gotham Film Awards. Una Noche premiered at the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival and it went on to scoop the majority of awards at its US premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival including Best Director, Best Actor and Best Cinametography. The film was met with critical acclaim, Its safe to say that Lucy Mulloy was born to make films
Paul Dano
Paul Franklin Dano is an American actor, producer and musician. Dano started his career on Broadway before making his debut in The Newcomers. He won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance for his role in L. I. E. for his dual roles as Paul & Eli Sunday in There Will Be Blood, he was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. Dano has received accolades for roles such as John Tibeats in 12 Years a Slave and his acting portrayal of musician Brian Wilson in Love & Mercy, earned him a Golden Globe nomination in the category of Best Supporting Actor. Dano was born in New York City, New York, the son of Gladys and he has a younger sister named Sarah. Dano spent the first few years of his childhood in New York City and initially attended the Browning School, while he was a child, Danos family moved to New Canaan, finally settling in Wilton, Connecticut. Dano continued his education there at Wilton High School, graduating in 2002 and he was involved in community theater, and while performing in New Canaan, his parents were encouraged to take him to New York.
He appeared in an episode of the sitcom Smart Guy and a role in the 2000 family drama The Newcomers, as well playing the part of Patrick Whalen. Dano acted in his first major role when he was 16, playing the character of Howie Blitzer. He appeared in the TV movie Too Young to Be a Dad as a school student whose life is disrupted when his girlfriend becomes pregnant. In 2004 he played a role as young Martin Asher in Taking Lives with Angelina Jolie. In 2005, he played supporting roles in The King with Gael Garcia Bernal, Danos work with Daniel Day-Lewis led to a dual role opposite him in his next film, Paul Thomas Andersons There Will Be Blood, playing identical twin brothers Eli and Paul Sunday. And Peter Travers remarking All praise to the baby-faced Dano. for bringing sly cunning, rolling Stone magazine included Dano in its Hot List for 2007, calling his performance style Daniel Day-Lewis + Billy Crudup × Johnny Depp. In 2008, he starred in Gigantic, a film about a man seeking to adopt a Chinese baby.
He reunited with Brian Cox in 2009s Good Heart, a low-budget English-language Icelandic film and he provided the voice of one of the creatures in the film adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are. He played a genius inventor in 2010s Knight and Day, a thriller starring Tom Cruise. The same year he appeared in Meeks Cutoff, a historical drama. In 2011, he had a role in the big-budget science fiction film Cowboys
Paula Wagner
Paula Wagner is an American film producer and film executive. She currently sits on the National Board of Directors for the Producers Guild of America, Wagner was born Paula Sue Kauffman in Youngstown, Ohio. Her mother, Sue Anna, was an editor from Oklahoma. She attended college at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1993, she launched Cruise/Wagner Productions with her former CAA client Tom Cruise. For the next 13 years and she produced a range of films that earned numerous awards, widespread critical praise. C/W was responsible for the Mission, Impossible film trilogy, in all, films produced by C/W earned more than $3 billion in worldwide box office receipts. Wagner was co-owner of United Artists Pictures and she was the companys chief executive officer from 2006 to 2008. UA released the Robert Redford political thriller Lions for Lambs and the World War II thriller Valkyrie, directed by Bryan Singer and she continues to work as a film producer and studio executive. She develops films and television through her production company Chestnut Ridge Productions, one of its projects is the Broadway theatrical production of The Heiress starring Jessica Chastain and David Strathairn and directed by Moisés Kaufman, it opened in the fall of 2012.
She produced the Broadway premiere of Craig Wright’s acclaimed play Grace, directed by Dexter Bullard and starring Paul Rudd, Michael Shannon, Kate Arrington, the show opened October 4,2012, at the Cort Theatre. For television, she was a producer of the critically acclaimed. Prior to her career as an agent and producer, Wagner was an actress and she performed on Broadway and off-Broadway and was a member of the Yale Repertory Theatre. She is a playwright, co-authoring the play Out of Our Fathers House. Wagner is a member of the American Cinematheques Board of Directors, Wagner will teach a course at UCLA School of Theater and Television titled “Stage to Screen”. She is a professor at Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film. She was a commencement speaker for the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, Wagner was honored by Premiere magazine with the Women in Hollywood Icon Award in 2001. The following year she was featured in Bravos Women on Top, in 2004, Cruise and she were honored by Daily Variety as Billion-Dollar Producers.
That same year and Cruise received the UCLA/Producers Guild of America Vision Award, in 2006, Wagner received the Sherry Lansing Award from the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
Deauville American Film Festival
The Deauville American Film Festival is a yearly film festival devoted to American cinema, taking place since 1975 in Deauville, France. It was established by Lionel Chouchan, André Halimi, and Mayor of Deauville Michel dOrnano, although not competitive at its origin, the festival began to award prizes in 1995, for feature films, and 1998 for short films. This award was named Grand Prix spécial Deauville from 1995 to 2007,1989, Torch Song Trilogy by Paul Bogart 1990, Pump Up the Volume by Allan Moyle Tune in Tomorrow by Jon Amiel 1991, Trust by Hal Hartley Hangin with the Homeboys by Joseph B. It carries a grant of 3,000 euros for the awarded director-writer,3,000 euros for the films producer, and 10,000 euros for the French distributor to help promote the film. The award, which is named in honour of the former Mayor of Deauville and co-founder of the festival, thomas for Willy 1er The Revelation Prize is awarded by a Revelation jury composed of up-and-coming actors and filmmakers. 1996, Charlotte Rampling, Sabine Azéma, René Cleitman, Dominique Farrugia, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Chiara Mastroianni, Laura Morante, Ornella Muti, Melvil Poupaud and Alain Rocca.
1997, Sophie Marceau, Élodie Bouchez, Philippe Carcassonne, Étienne Chatiliez, Alain Finkielkraut, John Hurt, Michèle Laroque, Inés Sastre, Nathalie Quintane and Lambert Wilson. 1998, Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Michèle Halberstadt, Sandrine Kiberlain, Virginie Ledoyen, Russell Banks, Maurice Bernart, Alessandro Gassman, Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Éric Serra and Christian Vincent. 1999, Régis Wargnier, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Humbert Balsan, Richard Berry, Gabriel Byrne, Jean-Pierre Dionnet, Marie Gillain, Michel Houellebecq, Marie-France Pisier and Elsa Zylberstein. 2000, Neil Jordan, Guillaume Canet, Clotilde Courau, Tchéky Karyo, Philippe Labro, Samuel Le Bihan, François Ozon, Vincent Perez, Danièle Thompson and Marie Trintignant. 2001, Jean-Jacques Annaud, Sandrine Bonnaire, Marion Cotillard, Arielle Dombasle, Gérard Darmon, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Darius Khondji, Benoît Poelvoorde and Gabriel Yared. 2002, Pierre Lescure, Chantal Akerman, Richard Anconina, Jean-Marc Barr, Charles Berling, Amira Casar, Julie Gayet, Irène Jacob, Cédric Kahn and Bruno Wolkowitch.
2003, Roman Polanski, Claudia Cardinale, Pawel Edelman, Jacques Fieschi, Ben Kingsley, Anne Parillaud, Zbigniew Preisner, Ludivine Sagnier, Fernando Trueba and Tom Tykwer. 2004, Claude Lelouch, Anouk Aimée, Marie-Josée Croze, Danièle Heymann, Diane Kurys, Jeanne Labrune, Claudie Ossard, Bettina Rheims and Mathilde Seigner. 2005, Alain Corneau, Enki Bilal, Dominique Blanc, Romane Bohringer, Rachida Brakni, Dominik Moll, Melvil Poupaud and Brigitte Roüan. 2006, Nicole Garcia, Maurice Barthélémy, Guillaume Canet, Amira Casar, Emmanuelle Castro, Antoine de Caunes, Julien Clerc, Philippe Djian and Marthe Keller. 2007, André Téchiné, Odile Barski, Xavier Beauvois, Nicolas Cazalé, Charlélie Couture, Émilie Deleuze, Anouk Grinberg,2008, Carole Bouquet, Édouard Baer, Ronit Elkabetz, Diane Fleri, Pierre Jolivet, Cédric Kahn, Cristian Mungiu, Leonor Silveira and Dean Tavoularis. 2009, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Hiam Abbass, Dany Boon, Jean-Loup Dabadie, Émilie Dequenne, Déborah François, Sandrine Kiberlain, Patrice Leconte, Géraldine Pailhas and Bruno Podalydès
Liam Neeson
Liam John Neeson, OBE, is an actor from Northern Ireland. In 1976, he joined the Lyric Players Theatre in Belfast for two years and he acted in the Arthurian film, Excalibur. Between 1982 and 1987, Neeson starred in five films, most notably alongside Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins in The Bounty and Robert De Niro and he landed a leading role alongside Patrick Swayze in Next of Kin. He rose to prominence when he starred in the role in Steven Spielbergs 1993 Oscar winner Schindlers List. Empire magazine ranked Neeson among both the 100 Sexiest Stars in Film History and The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time. Neeson was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, the son of Katherine Kitty Neeson, a cook, and Bernard Barney Neeson and he was raised as a Roman Catholic and was named Liam after the local priest. He said growing up as a Catholic in a predominately Protestant town made him cautious, the third of four siblings, he has three sisters, Elizabeth and Rosaleen. At age nine, Neeson began boxing lessons at the All Saints Youth Club, Neeson first stepped on stage at age 11 after his English teacher offered him the lead role in a school play, which he accepted because the girl he was attracted to was starring in it.
He continued to act in school productions over the following years, Neesons interest in acting and decision to become an actor was influenced by minister Ian Paisley, into whose Free Presbyterian church Neeson would sneak. Neeson has said of Paisley, He had a magnificent presence and it was acting, but it was great acting and stirring too. In 1971, Neeson was enrolled as a physics and computer science student at Queens University Belfast, Northern Ireland, at Queens, he discovered a talent for football and was spotted by Seán Thomas at Bohemian F. C. There was a trial in Dublin and Neeson played one game as a substitute against Shamrock Rovers F. C. After leaving the university, Neeson returned to Ballymena where he worked in a variety of casual jobs and he attended teacher training college for two years in Newcastle upon Tyne, before again returning to his hometown. In 1976, Neeson joined the Lyric Players Theatre in Belfast where he performed for two years and he got his first film experience in 1977, playing Jesus Christ and Evangelist in the religious film Pilgrims Progress.
Neeson moved to Dublin in 1978 after he was offered a part in Ron Hutchinsons Says I, Says He and he acted in several other Project productions and joined the Abbey Theatre. In 1980, filmmaker John Boorman saw him on stage as Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men and offered him the role of Sir Gawain in the Arthurian film, Excalibur. After Excalibur, Neeson moved to London, where he continued working on stage, in small budget films and he lived with the actress Helen Mirren at this time, whom he met working on Excalibur. Between 1982 and 1987, Neeson starred in five films, most notably alongside Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins in 1984s The Bounty and Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons in 1986s The Mission
Alice Taglioni
Alice Taglioni is a French actress born in Ermont, Val-dOise. She was Miss Corsica in 1996, but refused to participate in the election of Miss France and she met Jocelyn Quivrin, a French actor, while they appeared in Grande école in 2004. Their son, was born March 2009, six months later, Quivrin died in a car accident. Alice Taglioni at the Internet Movie Database
Sami Bouajila
Sami Bouajila is a French-Tunisian actor. Bouajilas father emigrated from Tunisia to France in 1956, and worked as a building painter and his grandfather was a Berber born in Tripoli and immigrated to Tunisia. Sami was born and grew up in Échirolles, a suburb south of Grenoble,1991, La Thune as Kamel 1993, Les Histoires damour finissent mal. Sami Bouajila at the Internet Movie Database
Compliance (film)
Compliance is a 2012 American thriller film written and directed by Craig Zobel, and starring Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker, and Pat Healy. The plot focuses on a caller who, posing as a police officer, convinces the manager of a fast food restaurant to carry out intrusive. The film is based on the strip search prank call scam took place at a Mount Washington. Dowds performance as Sandra, the manager, won her the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress, Daniels claims that he is searching the suspects residence, but will remain on the phone while Sandra detains and searches the employee until the police can arrive. Sandra identifies Becky as the possible culprit based on the description. Becky denies the theft and, at the behest of the officer, enters the restaurant office where the front counter closed-circuit camera monitors, another employee is brought into the office. The caller directs that Beckys clothing pockets and purse be searched, Sandra is asked to strip-search Becky, being told that the alternative would be Becky going to jail while her home was searched.
While Sandra is out of the room, Daniels fishes for information about her which he can use in his directing of the investigation at the restaurant. On Sandras return the caller implies that searching of Beckys home is based on suspicion that her brother is involved in drugs, that Becky is possibly involved, eventually all of Beckys clothing is removed. Nothing is found, she is given an apron to cover herself, Sandra insists she must resume managing the restaurant as it is busy, so Daniels directs that a male employee for security reasons stay. Kevin is brought in, and after instructions from Daniels seriously questions the motives and leaves the room. Under further orders, Becky removes the apron and performs jumping jacks nude before Van under the pretense that contraband may be concealed in her body, Becky protests the treatment and Daniels directs Van to spank her for being disrespectful. Eventually, Becky is coerced into performing oral sex on Van, Van leaves with guilt and is replaced by the custodian, who is not fooled and becomes outraged by Daniels requests.
Harold heads out to tell Sandra about Daniels orders, and she calls the regional manager to find that he has been home ill all day and has no idea about an investigation. The police escort Becky off-site and investigate the incident, finding that an incident had happened elsewhere. Eventually, Daniels is identified by closed circuit recordings and is apprehended while at work, Becky meets with an attorney to sort out the best route for a lawsuit. Sandra is found to be unemployed and no longer seeing Van, the film received a limited release in the United States beginning August 17,2012. It was released by Soda Pictures in the UK and Ireland on March 22,2013, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 89% approval rating with an average rating of 7. 5/10 based on 131 reviews
Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry is a French independent film director and producer. He is noted for his visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. He won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one of the writers of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and he is well known for his music video collaborations with Radiohead, Björk, The Chemical Brothers and The White Stripes. He is the grandson of inventor Constant Martin, Gondrys vision and career began with his emphasis on emotion. Much of his inspiration, he says, came from the film Le voyage en ballon and he stated, When I watch this movie, I dream Im flying and I do stories where people are flying. His career as a filmmaker began with creating videos for the French rock band Oui Oui. The style of his videos for Oui Oui caught the attention of music artist Björk, the collaboration proved long-lasting, with Gondry directing a total of eight music videos for Björk. Other artists who have collaborated with Gondry on more than one occasion include Daft Punk, The White Stripes, The Chemical Brothers, The Vines, Steriogram and Beck.
Gondry’s video for Lucas Secons Lucas With The Lid Off was nominated in the Best Music Video category at the 37th Grammy Awards, along with directors Spike Jonze and David Fincher, is representative of the influx of music video directors into feature film. Gondry made his film debut in 2001 with Human Nature. His second film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, was released in 2004 and received favorable reviews. Eternal Sunshine utilizes many of the image manipulation techniques that Gondry had experimented with in his music videos, Gondry won an Academy Award alongside Kaufman and Pierre Bismuth for the screenplay of Eternal Sunshine. The style of Gondrys music videos often relies on videography and camera tricks which play with frames of reference and his following film, The Science of Sleep, hit theaters in September 2006. This film stars Mexican actor Gael García Bernal, and marked a return to the fantastical, surreal techniques he employed in Eternal Sunshine, according to the Guinness World Records 2004, Michel Gondrys Levis 501 Jeans Drugstore spot holds the record for Most awards won by a TV commercial.
The commercial was never aired in North America because of the suggestive content involving purchasing latex condoms. He was asked by French comic duet Éric and Ramzy to direct Seuls Two, in September 2006, Gondry made his debut as an installation artist at Deitch Projects in New York Citys SoHo gallery district. A leitmotif of the film is a Disastrology calendar, Gondry commissioned the painter Baptiste Ibar to draw harrowing images of natural and human disasters. His brother Olivier Twist Gondry is a commercial and music video director creating videos for bands such as The Stills, Hot Hot Heat, Daft Punk
