1.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
2.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
–
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion pictures. The Academys corporate management and general policies are overseen by a Board of Governors, the roster of the Academys approximately 6,000 motion picture professionals is a closely guarded secret. While the great majority of its members are based in the United States, the Academy is known around the world for its annual Academy Awards, now officially known as The Oscars. The Academy plans to open the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles in 2017, the notion of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences began with Louis B. He said he wanted to create an organization that would mediate labor disputes without unions and he met with actor Conrad Nagel, director Fred Niblo, and the head of the Association of Motion Picture Producers, Fred Beetsonto to discuss these matters. The idea of this elite club having a banquet was discussed. They also established that membership into the organization would only be open to people involved in one of the five branches of the industry, actors, directors, writers, technicians, and producers. That evening Mayer presented to those guests what he called the International Academy of Motion Picture Arts, everyone in the room that evening became a founder of the Academy. Several organizational meetings were held prior to the first official meeting held on May 6,1927 and their first organizational meeting was held on May 11. At that meeting Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. was elected as the first president of the Academy, while Fred Niblo was the first vice-president and that night, the Academy also bestowed its first honorary membership, to Thomas Edison. Initially, the Academy was broken down into five groups, or branches. The original five were, Producers, Actors, Directors, Writers, the initial concerns of the group had to do with labor. However, as went on, the organization moved further away from involvement in labor-management arbitrations and negotiations. By July 1928 the board of directors had approved a list of 12 awards to be presented, during July the voting system for the Awards was established, and the nomination and selection process began. This award of merit for distinctive achievement is what we know now as the Academy Award, the initial location of the organization was 6912 Hollywood Boulevard. In May 1928, the Academy authorized the construction of a state of the art screening room, the screening room was not completed until April 1929. With the publication of Report on Incandescent Illumination in 1928, the Academy began a history of publishing books to assist its members. Another early initiative concerned training Army Signal Corps officers, in 1929 Academy members in a joint venture with the University of Southern California created Americas first film school to further the art and science of moving pictures
3.
Thelma Schoonmaker
–
Thelma Colbert Schoonmaker is a French-born American film editor who has worked with director Martin Scorsese for over forty years. She has edited all of Scorseses films since Raging Bull, first working with Scorsese on his feature film Whos That Knocking at My Door. Schoonmaker has received seven Academy Award nominations for Best Film Editing, Schoonmaker was born in Algiers, French Algeria, the daughter of American parents, Thelma and Bertram Schoonmaker. Bertram, descended from the New York Schoonmaker family, was employed as an agent of the Standard Oil Company, Thelma was raised in various countries, including on the Dutch-Caribbean island of Aruba. Schoonmaker did not live in the United States until she was a teenager, in 1955, Schoonmaker was interested in a career in international diplomacy and began attending Cornell University in 1957, where she studied political science and the Russian language. When she graduated from Cornell in 1961, she began taking State Department tests in order to apply for positions in the U. S. government, in reaction to this experience, Schoonmaker switched gears and began taking a course in primitive art. While doing graduate work at Columbia University, Thelma Schoonmaker answered an ad that offered training as an assistant film editor. She responded to the employment advertisement in The New York Times, the job entailed assisting an editor who was randomly cutting frames from classic European films, so that their length would conform to the running times of U. S. television broadcasts. Although she was revolted by the callousness of the methods, Schoonmaker nonetheless picked up important technical skills. A negative cutter had butchered his film, not leaving enough negative frames to allow for hot splicing, one of her film professors asked Schoonmaker to help Scorsese, a close working relationship with him unfolded over the next thirty-five years. Schoonmaker edited Scorseses first feature film, Whos That Knocking at My Door, at NYU Schoonmaker also met filmmaker Michael Wadleigh and later edited his influential music festival documentary, Woodstock on which Scorsese also worked. Consequently, there was a gap between her work on Scorseses student films and her Oscar-winning work on Raging Bull. “I would have loved to work with Marty, but I wasn’t in the union…. And then, finally, Marty called me about Raging Bull and the lawyers got me in the union. ”While Schoonmaker didnt officially work with Scorsese until Raging Bull, she did make an uncredited contribution to Taxi Driver. Scorsese had decided not to edit the picture Taxi Driver during proaction shooting, at one point, Steven Spielberg visited Scorsese and chipped in with some contributions towards the final edit. Schoonmaker helped to some film industry glass ceilings, and has amassed an extensive list of film editing credits. Varietys Eileen Kowalski notes that, Indeed, many of the greats have been women, Dede Allen, Verna Fields, Thelma Schoonmaker, Anne V. Coates. She appears in The Aviator as one of Howard Hughes editors during the filming of Hells Angels, Schoonmaker was married to film director Michael Powell from May 19,1984 until his death in 1990. Since his death, Schoonmaker has dedicated herself to preserving the films and honoring the legacy of her husband and she was introduced to Michael Powell by Martin Scorsese and London-based film producer Frixos Constantine
4.
Cannes Film Festival
–
Founded in 1946, the invitation-only festival is held annually at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès. On 1 July 2014, co-founder and former head of French pay-TV operator Canal+ Pierre Lescure took over as President of the festival, the Board of Directors also appointed Gilles Jacob as Honorary President of the festival. The 2016 Cannes Film Festival took place between 11 and 22 May 2016, australian film director George Miller was the President of the Jury. I, Daniel Blake, directed by British director Ken Loach, in 2017, The Festival de Cannes will celebrate its 70th anniversary edition from May 17 to 28. In 1947, the festival was held as the Festival du film de Cannes, at that time the principle of equality was introduced, with a jury made up of only one representative per country. The festival is now held at the Palais des Festivals, expressly constructed for the occasion, although for its 1949 inaugural the roof was unfinished, the festival was not held in 1948 and 1950 on account of budgetary problems. Although its origins may be attributed in part to the French desire to compete with Autumns Venice Film Festival, in 1955, the Palme dOr was created, replacing the Grand Prix du Festival which had been given until that year. In 1957, Dolores del Rio was the first female member of the jury as a Sélection officielle – Member, in 1959, the Marché du Film was founded, giving the festival a commercial character and facilitating exchanges between sellers and buyers in the film industry. Today it has become the first international platform for film commerce, in 1962, the International Critics Week was born, created by the French Union of Film Critics as the first parallel section of the Cannes Film Festival. Its goal was to showcase first and second works by directors all over the world. In 1965, an hommage was paid to Jean Cocteau after his death, the next year, Olivia de Havilland was named the first female president of the festival. The 1968 festival was halted on 19 May, some directors, such as Carlos Saura and Miloš Forman, had withdrawn their films from the competition. The filmmakers achieved the reinstatement of the President, and they founded the Film Directors Society that same year, during the 1970s, important changes occurred in the Festival. In 1972, Robert Favre Le Bret was named the new President and he immediately introduced an important change in the selection of the participating films. Until that date, the different countries chose which films would represent them in the festival, Bessy created one committee to select French films, and another for foreign films. In 1978, Gilles Jacob assumed the President position, introducing the Caméra dOr award, in 1983, a new, much bigger Palais des Festivals et des Congrès was built to host the Festival. It was nicknamed The Bunker and provoked many reactions against it, in 1984, Pierre Viot replaced Robert Favre Le Bret as President of the Festival. It was not until 1995 that Gilles Jacob created the last section of the Official Selection and its aim was to support the creation of works of cinema in the world and to contribute to the entry of the new scenario writers in the circle of the celebrities
5.
Michael Powell
–
Michael Latham Powell was an English film director, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. His later controversial 1960 film Peeping Tom, while considered a classic, was so vilified on first release that his career was seriously damaged. Many film-makers such as Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and George A. Romero have cited Powell as an influence, in 1981, he received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award along with his partner Pressburger, the highest honour the British Film Academy can give a filmmaker. Powell was the son and youngest child of Thomas William Powell, a hop farmer. Powell was born in Bekesbourne, Kent, and educated at The Kings School, Canterbury and he started work at the National Provincial Bank in 1922 but quickly realised he was not cut out to be a banker. Powell entered the industry in 1925 through working with director Rex Ingram at the Victorine Studios in Nice, France. He first started out as a studio hand, the proverbial gofer, sweeping the floor, making coffee. Soon he progressed to work such as stills photography, writing titles and many other jobs including a few acting roles. Powell made his film début as a comic English tourist in The Magician, returning to England in 1928, Powell worked at a diverse series of jobs for various filmmakers including as a stills photographer on Alfred Hitchcocks silent film Champagne. He also signed on in a role on Hitchcocks first talkie. In his autobiography, Powell claims he suggested the ending in the British Museum which was the first of Hitchcocks monumental climaxes to his films, Powell and Hitchcock remained friends for the remainder of Hitchcocks life. After scriptwriting on two productions, Powell entered into a partnership with American producer Jerry Jackson in 1931 to make quota quickies, Powell then began to direct hour-long films needed to satisfy a legal requirement that British cinemas screen a certain quota of British films. During this period, he developed his skills, sometimes making up to seven films a year. Although he had taken on some directing responsibilities in other films and this thriller was considered a modest success at the box office despite its limited budget. From 1931 to 1936, Powell was the director of 23 films, including the critically received Red Ensign, in 1937 Powell completed his first truly personal project, The Edge of the World. Powell gathered together a cast and crew who were willing to part in an expedition to what was then a very isolated part of the UK. They had to stay there for quite a few months and finished up with a film not only told the story he wanted. By 1939, Powell had been hired as a director by Alexander Korda on the strength of The Edge of the World
