1.
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 then 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, Lio, Claudie Ossard, Bettina Rheims and Mathilde Seigner. 2005, Alain Corneau, Enki Bilal, Dominique Blanc, Romane Bohringer, Rachida Brakni, Christophe, 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
2.
Newark, New Jersey
–
Newark is the most populous city in the U. S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County. For 2015, the Census Bureaus Population Estimates Program calculated a population of 281,944, Newark is the second largest city in the New York metropolitan area, located approximately 8 miles west of lower Manhattan. Settled in 1666 by Puritans from New Haven Colony, Newark is one of the oldest European cities in the United States and its location at the mouth of the Passaic River, has made the citys waterfront an integral part of the Port of New York and New Jersey. Today, Port Newark-Elizabeth is the container shipping terminal of the busiest seaport on the American East Coast. In addition, Newark Liberty International Airport was the first municipal airport in the United States. Several leading companies have their headquarters in Newark, including Prudential, PSEG, Panasonic Corporation of North America, Audible. com, IDT Corporation, the U. S. District Court for the District of New Jersey sits in the city as well. Local cultural venues include the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark Symphony Hall, The Prudential Center and the Newark Museum. Newark is divided into five wards, the East, West, South, North and Central wards. Newarks Branch Brook Park is the oldest county park in the United States and is home to the nations largest collection of cherry blossom trees, Newark was settled in 1666 by Connecticut Puritans led by Robert Treat from the New Haven Colony. It was conceived as an assembly of the faithful, though this did not last for long as new settlers came with different ideas. On October 31,1693 it was organized as a New Jersey township based on the Newark Tract, Newark was granted a Royal charter on April 27,1713. It was incorporated on February 21,1798 by the New Jersey Legislatures Township Act of 1798, during its time as a township, portions were taken to form Springfield Township, Caldwell Township, Orange Township, Bloomfield Township and Clinton Township. Newark was reincorporated as a city on April 11,1836, replacing Newark Township, the previously independent Vailsburg borough was annexed by Newark on January 1,1905. In 1926, South Orange Township changed its name to Maplewood, as a result of this, a portion of Maplewood known as Ivy Hill was re-annexed to Newarks Vailsburg. During the American Revolutionary War British troops made several raids into the town, the city has experienced revitalization since the 1990s. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city had an area of 26.107 square miles. It has the third-smallest land area among the 100 most populous cities in the U. S. behind neighboring Jersey City and Hialeah, the citys altitude ranges from 0 in the east to approximately 230 feet above sea level in the western section of the city. Newark is essentially a large basin sloping towards the Passaic River, historically, Newarks high places have been its wealthier neighborhoods
3.
Manhattan
–
Manhattan is the most densely populated borough of New York City, its economic and administrative center, and the citys historical birthplace. The borough is coextensive with New York County, founded on November 1,1683, Manhattan is often described as the cultural and financial capital of the world and hosts the United Nations Headquarters. Many multinational media conglomerates are based in the borough and it is historically documented to have been purchased by Dutch colonists from Native Americans in 1626 for 60 guilders which equals US$1062 today. New York County is the United States second-smallest county by land area, on business days, the influx of commuters increases that number to over 3.9 million, or more than 170,000 people per square mile. Manhattan has the third-largest population of New York Citys five boroughs, after Brooklyn and Queens, the City of New York was founded at the southern tip of Manhattan, and the borough houses New York City Hall, the seat of the citys government. The name Manhattan derives from the word Manna-hata, as written in the 1609 logbook of Robert Juet, a 1610 map depicts the name as Manna-hata, twice, on both the west and east sides of the Mauritius River. The word Manhattan has been translated as island of hills from the Lenape language. The United States Postal Service prefers that mail addressed to Manhattan use New York, NY rather than Manhattan, the area that is now Manhattan was long inhabited by the Lenape Native Americans. In 1524, Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano – sailing in service of King Francis I of France – was the first European to visit the area that would become New York City. It was not until the voyage of Henry Hudson, an Englishman who worked for the Dutch East India Company, a permanent European presence in New Netherland began in 1624 with the founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement on Governors Island. In 1625, construction was started on the citadel of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island, later called New Amsterdam, the 1625 establishment of Fort Amsterdam at the southern tip of Manhattan Island is recognized as the birth of New York City. In 1846, New York historian John Romeyn Brodhead converted the figure of Fl 60 to US$23, variable-rate myth being a contradiction in terms, the purchase price remains forever frozen at twenty-four dollars, as Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace remarked in their history of New York. Sixty guilders in 1626 was valued at approximately $1,000 in 2006, based on the price of silver, Straight Dope author Cecil Adams calculated an equivalent of $72 in 1992. In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant was appointed as the last Dutch Director General of the colony, New Amsterdam was formally incorporated as a city on February 2,1653. In 1664, the English conquered New Netherland and renamed it New York after the English Duke of York and Albany, the Dutch Republic regained it in August 1673 with a fleet of 21 ships, renaming the city New Orange. Manhattan was at the heart of the New York Campaign, a series of battles in the early American Revolutionary War. The Continental Army was forced to abandon Manhattan after the Battle of Fort Washington on November 16,1776. The city, greatly damaged by the Great Fire of New York during the campaign, became the British political, British occupation lasted until November 25,1783, when George Washington returned to Manhattan, as the last British forces left the city
4.
Nancy Allen (actress)
–
Nancy Anne Allen is an American actress and cancer activist best known for her roles in the films Carrie, RoboCop, and Dressed to Kill, the latter of which earned her a Golden Globe nomination. A pivotal supporting role in Carrie brought her recognition, and after marrying the director Brian De Palma, she appeared in several of his films, including Dressed to Kill and Blow Out. Her subsequent films include Strange Invaders, The Philadelphia Experiment, Poltergeist III, Limit Up, Out of Sight, Nancy Anne Allen was born on Saturday, June 24,1950, in New York City, the youngest of three children of Eugene and Florence Allen. Her father was a lieutenant in Yonkers, where she was raised. Allen was very shy as a child, so her mother enrolled her in dance classes when she was four and she attended the High School of Performing Arts, where she trained for a dancing career, and then attended Jose Quintanos School for Young Professionals. Allens first major role was very small, playing Nancy, Jack Nicholsons nervous date. This inspired her to move to Los Angeles and try for larger parts, Allen next appeared in the role of Pam Mitchell in Steven Spielbergs production of I Wanna Hold Your Hand, which was director Robert Zemeckiss first feature film. She then played Donna Stratton in another Spielberg film, the high-profile comedy 1941 opposite Tim Matheson, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and she married Brian De Palma on January 12,1979, and for the next few years appeared in his films. She starred as Kristina in Home Movies with Kirk Douglas, as Liz Blake in Dressed to Kill with Michael Caine, in filming the latter, she had to overcome a lifelong fear of being trapped in a submerged car filling with water. In 1983, Allen starred as supermarket tabloid reporter Betty Walker in Strange Invaders, written by Bill Condon and co-starring Paul LeMat and she and De Palma divorced in 1984. That same year, two of Allens films were released, The Buddy System opposite Richard Dreyfuss and Susan Sarandon, for her role in the latter, Allen was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actress. She also hosted the documentary Terror in the Aisles, which clips from various horror features, including Dressed to Kill. Paul Bartels Not for Publication and Sweet Revenge, an action caper about white slavery with Gina Gershon and Martin Landau, Allen played police officer Anne Lewis in the science fiction/action classic RoboCop opposite Peter Weller in the title role. The film, which was the Hollywood debut of Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, Allen was nominated for another Saturn Award for Best Actress. Allen reprised her role as Officer Lewis in RoboCop 2 alongside Weller, to make her character tougher and more involved in the physical action, she studied martial arts and participated in police training. That same year, Allen top-lined Richard Martinis Limit Up, as commodities trader Casey Falls, Allen showcased her comedic abilities. The lighthearted romp also featured Danitra Vance and blues icon Ray Charles, in 1990, Allen also had the distinction of starring in the first ever original film made for the Lifetime television network, the highly rated Memories of Murder. She married comedian Craig Shoemaker on September 6,1992, Allen played Officer Lewis a third time in RoboCop 3 and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
5.
Gale Anne Hurd
–
Gale Anne Hurd is an American film producer. She is currently the secretary for the Producers Guild of America. She is also the founder of Valhalla Entertainment, Hurd was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of Lolita and Frank E. Hurd, an investor. Her father was Jewish and her mother was Roman Catholic and she grew up in Palm Springs, California and graduated from Stanford University with a BA in economics and communications, and a minor in political science, in 1977. She joined New World Pictures as executive assistant to Roger Corman and she worked her way up through various administrative positions and eventually became involved in production. She formed her own company, Pacific Western Productions, in 1982 and went on to produce a number of box-office hits including The Terminator, Aliens. In 1991, Hurd produced the film Cast a Deadly Spell, in 2003, she was awarded the Telluride Tech Festival Award of Technology at Telluride, Colorado, along with Sir Arthur C. In 2010, the series she produced, The Walking Dead. In 2011, Hurd became a governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts, on October 3,2012, she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2013, Hurd was awarded the Laura Ziskin Lifetime Achievement Award from the Athena Film Festival, the award honors her as a woman in the film industry whose leadership demonstrates vision and courage and sets a standard for other women to emulate. Hurd has been awarded the Fangoria Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017, for her body of work in the horror, Hurd was married to James Cameron from 1985 to 1989. She later married director Brian De Palma from 1991 to 1993, with whom she had one daughter, Lolita de Palma, Hurd is currently wed to screenwriter/director Jonathan Hensleigh, whom she married in 1995. Hurd is a supporter of Arsenal F. C
6.
Suspense
–
Suspense is a feeling of pleasurable fascination and excitement mixed with apprehension, tension, and anxiety developed from an unpredictable, mysterious, and rousing source of entertainment. The term most often refers to an audiences perceptions in a dramatic work, Suspense is not exclusive to fiction. It may operate whenever there is a perceived suspended drama or a chain of cause is left in doubt, films having a lot of suspense belong in the thriller genre. In terms of expectations, it may be contrasted with mystery or curiosity. Suspense could however be some small event in a life, such as a child anticipating an answer to a request theyve made, such as. Therefore, suspense may be experienced to different degrees, according to the Greek philosopher Aristotle in his book Poetics, suspense is an important building block of literature. In very broad terms, it consists of having some real danger looming, if there is no hope, the audience will feel despair. The two common outcomes are, the hitting, whereby the audience will feel sorrowful the hopes being realised, whereby the audience will first feel joy. In thrillers, suspense is the key element authors use to leave the reader or viewer hanging, trying to figure out what will happen next, the effect is specially strong when the work ends without actually revealing what happens next in the storyline. Suspense is what gives a person the on-edge feeling, Suspense builds in order to make those final moments, no matter how short, the most memorable. The suspense in a story just keeps the person hooked into reading or watching more until the climax is reached, the tension doesnt have to be in the form of the bad guy stalking the hero. It can be simpler, much less dramatic, but still make the person keep reading or watching. Suspense is about conflict, about the obstacles between the hero and their goal, anxiety Terror Cliffhanger Mystery Plot twist Red herring Adrenaline Baroni, R. Poétique de la discordance narrative, Paris, Seuil, the Nature of Narrative Suspense and the Problem of Rereading, in Suspense. Conceptualizations, Theoretical Analyses, and Empirical Explorations, Mahwah, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Reading for the Plot, Design and Intention in Narrative, Cambridge, Harvard University Press. Gerrig, R. Suspense in the Absence of Uncertainty, Journal of Memory and Language, n°28, production de lintérêt romanesque, Paris & The Hague, Mouton. The Effect of Directed Forgetting on Completed and Interrupted Tasks, presented at the 2nd Annual Student-Faculty Research Celebration at Winona State University, Winona MN. Studies in the retention of interrupted learning activities, Journal of Comparative Psychology, vol n°19, phelan, J. Reading People, Reading Plots, Character, Progression, and the Interpretation of Narrative, Chicago, University of Chicago Press
7.
Crime film
–
Crime films are a genre of film that focus on crime. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, films dealing with crime and its detection are often based on plays rather than novels. Agatha Christies stage play Witness for the Prosecution was adapted for the big screen by director Billy Wilder in 1957, the film starred Marlene Dietrich and Charles Laughton and is a classic example of a courtroom drama. In a courtroom drama, a charge is brought against one of the main characters, another major part is played by the lawyer representing the defendant in court and battling with the public prosecutor. He or she may enlist the services of an investigator to find out what really happened. However, in most cases it is not clear at all whether the accused is guilty of the crime or not—this is how suspense is created. Often, the private investigator storms into the courtroom at the very last minute in order to bring a new and this type of literature lends itself to the literary genre of drama focused more on dialogue and little or no necessity for a shift in scenery. The auditorium of the theatre becomes an extension of the courtroom, in Witness for the Prosecution, Leonard Vole, a young American living in England, is accused of murdering a middle-aged lady he met in the street while shopping. His wife hires the best lawyer available because she is convinced, or rather she knows, another classic courtroom drama is U. S. playwright Reginald Roses Twelve Angry Men, which is set in the jury deliberation room of a New York Court of Law. Eleven members of the jury, aiming at a verdict of guilty. The popularity of TV brought about the emergence of TV series featuring detectives, investigators, special agents, lawyers, in Britain, The Avengers about the adventures of gentleman agent John Steed and his partner, Emma Peel, achieved cult status. In Germany, Derrick became a household word, breaking Bad character Walter White is a methamphetamine drug manufacturer, this offered a different approach whereby the protagonist is the criminal instead of being the detective. Crime films may fall under several different subgenres and these include, Crime comedy - A hybrid of crime and comedy films. Mafia comedy looks at organized crime from a comical standpoint, humor comes from the incompetence of the criminals and/or black comedy. Examples include Analyze This, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, In Bruges, tower Heist and Pain & Gain. Crime drama - A combination of crime and dramatic films, examples include such films as Straight Time and Badlands. Crime thriller - A thriller in which the characters are involved in crime, either in its investigation, as the perpetrator or, less commonly. While some action films could be labelled as such for merely having criminality and thrills, the emphasis in this genre is the drama, examples include Untraceable, Silence of the Lambs, Heat, Seven, Witness, Memories of Murder, The Call, and Running Scared
8.
Carrie (1976 film)
–
Carrie is a 1976 American supernatural horror film based on Stephen Kings 1974 epistolary novel of the same name. The film was directed by Brian De Palma and produced by Paul Monash, the film received two Academy Award nominations, one for Sissy Spacek in the title role and one for Piper Laurie as her abusive mother. The film featured numerous young actors – including Nancy Allen, William Katt, Amy Irving and it also relaunched the screen and television career of Laurie, who had not been active in show business since 1961. Carrie was the first of more than 100 film and television productions adapted from, or based on, shy, bullied high school student Carrie White experiences her first period as she showers with other girls after gym class. Unaware of what is happening to her, she panics and pleads for help, the other girls respond by pelting her with tampons, laughing and chanting Plug it up. Gym teacher Miss Collins breaks up the commotion and attempts to console Carrie, a light bulb mysteriously breaks as Carrie reaches the height of her panic. Later, the school principal seems uncomfortable as Miss Collins expresses bewilderment that Carrie is so uninformed, on her way home, a young boy teases Carrie, and she makes him fall off his bicycle with just a look. At home, Carrie is abused by her religious mother, Margaret. Carrie is locked in a closet and forced to pray for forgiveness. When she is allowed to return to her room, she gazes into her reflection. Carries classmate Sue feels guilty, so she arranges for her boyfriend, handsome and popular Tommy, reluctant at first, Carrie accepts after encouragement from Miss Collins. Another classmate, Chris, throws a tantrum and skips her detention for bullying Carrie, swearing vengeance, she recruits her delinquent boyfriend Billy to play a prank on Carrie. They slaughter pigs from a farm and place a bucket of their blood above the stage at the school’s gymnasium. Margaret discovers Carries prom plans and attempts to abuse her again, having researched her telekinesis, Carrie asserts her power and stands up to her mother. Margaret responds by accusing Carrie of being a satanic witch, at the prom, Carrie finds acceptance among her peers and shares a kiss with Tommy. Chriss bubbly best friend Norma rigs the election and Carrie is crowned Prom Queen, Carrie’s joy is cut short when Chris pulls a rope to dump the pigs blood on her. Chris and Billy escape through a door, while the bucket falls on Tommys head. The blood-soaked Carrie hallucinates that everyone in the gymnasium is laughing at her and soon unleashes telekinetic fury upon the crowd, guilty, the doors slam shut, a high-pressure water hose assaults many people, the principal is electrocuted, and Miss Collins is crushed to death
9.
The Fury (1978 film)
–
The Fury is a 1978 supernatural horror film directed by Brian De Palma. The film was written by John Farris, based on his novel of the same name and it stars Kirk Douglas, John Cassavetes, Carrie Snodgress, Amy Irving, Charles Durning and Andrew Stevens. This organization kidnaps psychics to turn them into weapons in the service of the United States government, to control the psychics better for that purpose, they also kill their families. Childress gained the trust of Peter and Robin to apply this on both of them and she volunteers to attend the Paragon Institute, which had been attended by Robin, and whose director, Dr. James McKeever also works for Ben Childress. During her training it is discovered that she has a link with Robin. Upon learning this, Childress begins to plan her kidnapping and the assassination of her family, Peter finds out about Gillian through his girlfriend Hester, who works at the clinic. He manages to warn her through Hester and manages to break her out, in which Hester, together they track Robin to Chicago, where Childress ruthless experiments have finally rendered him insane. Robin delights in torturing and killing his teacher who seduced him into having a relationship with her in order to manipulate him for the experiments. Robin, in his insanity, also plans to torture Peter, Childress made sure of that in order to get rid of both of them. The two have a confrontation because of it in the bedroom of a mansion, during which they are thrown out of a window. As he dies, Robin has some form of contact with Gillian, in which he transfers his powers to her with the implied message to save herself from Childress. Parts of this feature were filmed at Old Chicago of Bolingbrook, Illinois, the scene in which Kirk Douglas escapes the agents at the hotel were filmed at the now defunct Plymouth Hotel, the same hotel and room used in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. Then a quick edit is done replacing Cassavetes with a lifesized rigged dummy exploding shot at different angles. In an interview with The Talks, De Palma said that he had 8 or 9 high-speed cameras to film Cassavetes exploding, the first time we did it, it didnt work. The body parts didnt go towards the right cameras and this set was covered with blood. And it took us almost a week to get back to do take 2, the film received positive reviews from critics and audiences, earning an 80% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Rick Baker and William J. Tuttle both won Best Make-up at the 6th Saturn Awards, the film features the debut performances of Dennis Franz, Daryl Hannah and Laura Innes. Franz plays a cop driving a car hijacked by Douglas character and gets about ten minutes of screen time, Hannah plays a student at a school attended by Irvings character and gets about five minutes of screen time and almost no lines
10.
Dressed to Kill (1980 film)
–
Dressed to Kill is a 1980 American erotic thriller film written and directed by Brian De Palma and starring Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, and Keith Gordon. It centers on the murder of a housewife and an involving a young prostitute who witnessed the murder, the victim’s teenaged son. The original music score is composed by Pino Donaggio, Kate Miller is a sexually frustrated housewife who is in therapy with New York City psychiatrist Dr. Robert Elliott. During an appointment, Kate attempts to him, but Elliott rejects her advances. Kate goes to the Metropolitan Museum where she has a flirtation with a mysterious stranger. Kate and the stranger stalk each other through the museum until they wind up outside. They begin to have sex and continue at his apartment, hours later, Kate awakens and decides to discreetly leave while the man, Warren Lockman, is asleep. Kate sits at his desk to leave him a note and finds a document indicating that Warren has contracted a sexually transmitted disease, in her haste, she has left her wedding ring on the nightstand, so she returns to retrieve it. The elevator doors open on the figure of a tall, blond woman in dark sunglasses wielding a straight razor, Kate is violently slashed to death in the elevator. A high-priced call girl, Liz Blake, happens upon the body and she catches a glimpse of the killer, therefore becoming both the prime suspect and the killers next target. Dr. Elliott receives a message on his answering machine from Bobbi. Bobbi taunts the psychiatrist for breaking off their therapy sessions, apparently because Elliott refuses to sign the papers for Bobbi to get a sex change operation. Elliott tries to convince Dr. Levy, the new doctor. Police Detective Marino is skeptical about Lizs story, partly because of her profession, Peter, an inventor, uses a series of homemade listening devices and time-lapse cameras to track patients leaving Elliotts office. They catch Bobbi on camera, and soon Liz is being stalked by a blonde in sunglasses. Several attempts are made on Lizs life. One, in the New York City Subway, is thwarted by Peter, Liz and Peter scheme to learn Bobbis real name by getting inside Dr. Elliotts office. Liz baits the therapist by stripping to lingerie and coming on to him, distracting him enough to make a brief exit
11.
Scarface (1983 film)
–
Scarface is a 1983 American crime film directed by Brian De Palma and written by Oliver Stone, a remake of the 1932 film of the same name. The film tells the story of Cuban refugee Tony Montana who arrives in 1980s Miami with nothing, the cast also features Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Steven Bauer, and Michelle Pfeiffer. Scarface was released on December 9,1983 and was a box office success, initial critical reception was mixed, with criticism over excessive violence and profanity and graphic drug usage. Some Cuban expatriates in Miami objected to the portrayal of Cubans as criminals. In the years followed, the film has received reappraisal from critics, considered by some to be one of the best mob films ever made. Screenwriters and directors such as Martin Scorsese have praised the film, which has been referenced extensively in rap music, comic books, and video games. In 1980, Cuban refugee Antonio Tony Montana arrives in Miami, Florida, the four are released from the camp in exchange for assassinating a former Cuban government official at the request of wealthy drug dealer Frank Lopez, and they are given green cards. They become dishwashers in a diner, Franks henchman Omar Suarez gives the group the opportunity to purchase cocaine from Colombian dealers, but the deal collapses. Angel is dismembered with a chainsaw, while Manny and Chi-Chi rescue Tony, suspecting that Omar betrayed them, Tony and Manny insist on personally delivering the recovered drugs and money to Frank. During their meeting, Tony is attracted to Franks girlfriend Elvira Hancock and he and Manny are hired to work for Frank. Months later, Tony visits his mother Georgina and younger sister Gina, disgusted by his life of crime, Georgina throws Tony out. Manny comments on Ginas beauty before being warned by Tony to stay away from her, Frank sends Tony and Omar to Bolivia to meet with cocaine kingpin Alejandro Sosa. Tony negotiates a deal without Franks approval, angering Omar, who leaves to contact Frank, Sosa claims that Omar is a police informant and then has Tony witness as a beaten Omar is hanged from a helicopter. Tony vouches for Franks organization, so Sosa agrees to the deal, back in Miami, Frank is infuriated by Omars demise and the unauthorized deal struck by Tony, prompting Tony to establish his own organization. At a nightclub, corrupt detective Mel Bernstein attempts to extort money from Tony in return for protection and information. Tony angers Frank further by openly pursuing Elvira in the club, Gina is also there, and Tony notices her dancing and being groped by a man. Hit men attempt to assassinate Tony, but he escapes from the club, Tony, Manny, and Chi-Chi go to Franks office, certain that his former boss sent both Bernstein and the assassins. At gunpoint, Frank confesses to his involvement and begs for his life, Tony marries Elvira and becomes the dealer of Sosas supplies
12.
The Untouchables (film)
–
The Untouchables is a 1987 American gangster film directed by Brian De Palma, produced by Art Linson, written by David Mamet, and based on the book The Untouchables. The film stars Kevin Costner, Charles Martin Smith, Andy Garcia, Robert De Niro, Ness forms the Untouchables team to bring Capone to justice during Prohibition. The Grammy Award-winning score was composed by Ennio Morricone and features some music by Duke Ellington. The Untouchables premiered on June 2,1987 in New York City, the film grossed $106.2 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews from critics. It was nominated for four Academy Awards, Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, a prequel, The Untouchables, Capone Rising, starring Gerard Butler, was in development before being shelved. During Prohibition in 1930, Al Capone has nearly the whole city of Chicago under his control, bureau of Prohibition agent Eliot Ness is assigned to stop Capone, but his first attempt at a liquor raid fails due to corrupt policemen tipping Capone off. They recruit Italian-American trainee George Stone for his marksmanship and intelligence. Capone later kills the henchman in charge of the cache as a warning to his other men, an alderman offers Ness a bribe to drop his investigation, but Ness angrily refuses it and throws him out of the office. When Capone gunman Frank Nitti threatens Ness family, Ness has his wife, Malone then shoots a gangster through the mouth to scare George into agreeing to testify against Capone. Wallace prepares to escort George from the Chicago police station to a house, but they are shot and killed by Nitti. Ness confronts Capone and his men over the deaths, but Malone intervenes to save him from being killed, realizing that police chief Mike Dorsett sold out Wallace and George, Malone forces him to reveal the whereabouts of Walter Payne, Capones chief bookkeeper. That night, a knife-wielding thug sneaks into Malones apartment, Malone chases him out with a shotgun, Ness and Stone arrive at the apartment, before dying, Malone tells them which train Payne will take out of town. At Union Station, Ness and Stone find Payne guarded by several gangsters, a gunfight breaks out on the lobby steps, resulting in all the gangsters being killed and Payne being taken alive. As Payne testifies at Capones trial, explaining the untaxed cash flows throughout the syndicate, Ness notices that Capone seems unusually relaxed and also spots Nitti carrying a gun under his jacket. Ness has the bailiff remove Nitti and searches him outside the courtroom, Nitti shoots the bailiff and flees to the courthouse roof. Ness has the opportunity to kill Nitti at one point but chooses not to, Stone gives Ness a list, taken from Nittis jacket, that shows bribes paid to the jurors. When the judge refuses to consider it as evidence of jury tampering, the judge subsequently orders that the jury be switched with one in another courtroom, prompting Capones lawyer to enter a guilty plea on his behalf. Capone is later sentenced to 11 years in prison, Ness closes up his office and gives Malones St. Jude medallion and callbox key to Stone as a farewell gift
13.
Mission: Impossible (film)
–
Mission, Impossible is a 1996 American action spy film directed by Brian De Palma, produced by and starring Tom Cruise. Based on the series of the same name, the plot follows Ethan Hunt. Work on the script had begun early with filmmaker Sydney Pollack on board, before De Palma, Steven Zaillian, David Koepp, Mission, Impossible went into pre-production without a shooting script. De Palma came up with action sequences, but Koepp. U2 band members Larry Mullen, Jr. and Adam Clayton produced a dance version of the original theme music. The tune went into the lists of music charts around the world and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. The film was a critical and commercial success, eventually becoming the third highest-grossing film of 1996, the films success spawned four sequels, Mission, Impossible II, Mission, Impossible III, Mission, Impossible – Ghost Protocol, and Mission, Impossible – Rogue Nation. Years after the events of the series, Jim Phelps and his team and their mission fails, Phelps is shot, his wife Claire dies in a car bombing, and the rest of the team except Ethan Hunt are eliminated by unknown assassins. As Hunt is the only left, Kittridge suspects him of being the mole. Returning to the Prague safe house, Hunt realizes Job 314 refers to Bible verse Job 3,14, Claire arrives at the safe house, explaining she escaped the bomb after Phelps aborted the mission. Hunt arranges a meeting with Max, and warns her that the list she possesses has a tracking device and he promises to deliver the real list in return for $10 million and Jobs identity. Hunt, Max, and her agents escape just as a CIA team arrives, Hunt recruits two disavowed IMF agents, computer expert Luther Stickell and pilot Franz Krieger. They infiltrate CIA headquarters in Langley, steal the real list, Kittridge, detecting the theft, has Hunts mother and uncle falsely arrested for drug trafficking. He provides media coverage of the arrest, forcing Hunt to contact him from Liverpool Street Station, Hunt allows the CIA to trace him to London before hanging up, but is surprised to find Phelps nearby. Phelps recounts surviving the shooting, naming Kittridge as the mole, Hunt realizes Phelps is the mole, having discovered that Phelps stole a Bible from a Chicago hotel. He also suspects Krieger as the one who killed the other IMF members on the Prague job, Hunt arranges with Max to exchange the list aboard the TGV train to Paris the next day. On the train, Hunt remotely directs Max to the list, Max verifies it and gives Hunt the code to a briefcase containing the payment along with Job in the baggage car. Ethan calls Claire and tells her to him there
14.
Cult film
–
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase, a subculture that engage in repeated viewings, quoting dialogue. Inclusive definitions allow for major productions, especially box office bombs, while exclusive definitions focus more on obscure. The difficulty in defining the term and subjectivity of what qualifies as a cult film mirror classificatory disputes about art, Cult films trace their origin back to controversial and suppressed films kept alive by dedicated fans. In some cases, reclaimed or rediscovered films have acquired cult followings decades after their original release, Other cult films have since become well-respected or reassessed as classics, there is debate as to whether these popular and accepted films are still cult films. After failing in the cinema, some films have become regular fixtures on cable television or profitable sellers on home video. Others have inspired their own film festivals, Cult films can both appeal to specific subcultures and form their own subcultures. Other media that reference cult films can easily identify which demographics they desire to attract, Cult films frequently break cultural taboos, and many feature excessive displays of violence, gore, sexuality, profanity, or combinations thereof. This can lead to controversy, censorship, and outright bans, films that fail to attract requisite amounts of controversy may face resistance when labeled as cult films. Fans who like the films for the reasons, such as perceived elements that represent mainstream appeal and marketing. Likewise, fans who stray from accepted subcultural scripts may experience similar rejection, since the late 1970s, cult films have become increasingly popular. Films that once would have limited to obscure cult followings are now capable of breaking into the mainstream. Films are frequently stated to be an instant cult classic now, fickle fans on the Internet have latched on to unreleased films only to abandon them later on release. At the same time, other films have acquired massive, quick cult followings, easy access to cult films via video on demand and peer-to-peer file sharing has led some critics to pronounce the death of cult films. A cult film is any film that has a following, although the term is not easily defined. Cult films are defined by audience reaction as much as they are content and this may take the form of elaborate and ritualized audience participation, film festivals, or cosplay. Over time, the definition has become more vague and inclusive as it drifts away from earlier, stricter views, academic Mark Shiel has criticized the term itself as being a weak concept, reliant on subjectivity, different groups can interpret films in their own terms. Academic Mike Chopra‑Gant says that cult films become decontextualized when studied as a group, in 2008, Cineaste asked a range of academics for their definition of a cult film
15.
Sisters (1973 film)
–
Sisters is a 1973 American psychological horror film directed by Brian De Palma and starring Margot Kidder, Jennifer Salt and Charles Durning. The plot focuses on a French Canadian model whose separated Siamese twin is suspected of a murder witnessed by a newspaper reporter in Staten Island. Largely influenced by the films of Alfred Hitchcock, the script for the film was written by De Palma and Louisa Rose, Sisters was the first thriller for De Palma, who followed this film with other shocking, graphic thrillers. Advertising salesman Philip Woode is the victim of a prank on a Candid Camera-style television show and he takes with him Danielle Breton, a naive young Canadian model and aspiring actress who was hired as part of the prank. At dinner, they are interrupted by Danielles controlling ex-husband Emil, the next morning, Danielle wakes and feels unwell. Philip overhears an argument between her and her sister in the bedroom, and accidentally knocks Danielles pills down a drain. Danielle explains to Philip that her twin sister Dominique had arrived to visit because it is their birthday and he does so, and also buys a birthday cake for the two. When he returns, he is stabbed to death by Dominique. The murder is witnessed by Grace Collier, a reporter who lives in an apartment across the way, Emil knocks on Danielles door and finds the scene, then helps her clean up the blood and hide Philips body in the retractable couch. Two detectives arrive but are unhelpful and resentful toward Grace because of an article she had written about police brutality. Grace is convinced that Danielle is hiding the murderer, and convinces her editor to let her investigate the story and he agrees, but forces her to take along Joseph Larch, a private investigator. Larch follows the truck, while Grace discovers that Danielle and Dominique Blanchion were Canadas first conjoined twins. She is also told that Dominique died during the operation, Grace then tails Emil and Danielle to a mental hospital and witnesses him subdue and sedate her, but is caught. Emil, a doctor at the hospital, convinces the staff that Grace is a new patient and has her locked in a room where he hypnotises her, Grace wakes from a bizarre dream to find Emil confronting Danielle. It is revealed that after Dominiques death, Danielle began to suffer split personality disorder, Danielle slashes him with a scalpel, and the two fall back on Grace, who awakens and screams as Emil dies of blood loss. The police arrest Danielle, who denies that she has committed murder or that she has a sister. Later, Grace is interviewed by a detective about the death of Philip Woode, the final scene shows Larch, watching the sofa at a derelict train station in Canada while perched on a telephone pole. De Palma was inspired by reading an article about the Soviet Siamese twins Masha and Dasha Krivoshlyapova, the film is heavily influenced by the films of Alfred Hitchcock, and De Palma even persuaded Hitchcocks semi-retired composer, Bernard Herrmann, to write the score
16.
Body Double
–
Body Double is a 1984 American erotic thriller-horror film co-written and directed by Brian De Palma and starring Craig Wasson, Gregg Henry, Melanie Griffith, and Deborah Shelton. The original musical score was composed by Pino Donaggio, the film was a direct homage to the films of Alfred Hitchcock, specifically Rear Window and Vertigo, taking plot lines and themes from both of them. Jake Scully is an actor who has lost his role as a vampire in a low-budget horror movie after his claustrophobia thwarts shooting. After returning home to discover his cheating on him, he is left without a place to stay. At a method acting class he meets Sam who closely monitors Scullys revelation of his fears and they go to a bar where Scully is offered a place to stay, Sams friend has left town temporarily and needs a house-sitter for his ultra-modern home in the Hollywood Hills. During the tour of the house with Scully, Sam is especially ecstatic about one feature, a neighbor, Gloria Revelle. Sam has even set up a telescope which Scully cannot resist using voyeuristically to watch her, one night he sees Gloria being abused by a boyfriend. When she goes shopping the day, Scully decides to follow her. Gloria makes calls to an unknown person promising to meet them, Scully also notices a disfigured Indian, a man he had noticed watching Gloria a few days prior. Scully follows her to a motel where apparently Gloria has been stood up by the person she was there to meet. On the beach the Indian suddenly snatches her purse, Scully tries to pursue him but in a nearby tunnel his claustrophobia restrains him and Gloria walks him out of it. They begin to impulsively and passionately kiss before she retreats and that night Scully is again watching through the telescope when the Indian returns. The man is breaking into Glorias home. Scully races to save her but is attacked by Glorias vicious dog, Gloria is brutally murdered by the Indian with a huge handheld drill. Scully is then left to alert the police, who assume it was simply a fumbled robbery, detective McLean, however, becomes suspicious of him after finding a pair of Glorias panties in his pocket. Although McLean doesnt arrest him, he coldly tells Scully that due to his voyeuristic behavior, as well as not alerting the police sooner, is what helped caused Glorias murder. Unable to sleep, Scully watches a pornography channel on television when he observes that the actress on screen, Holly Body, now suspicious of Holly, he pretends to be a porn producer hiring for a new film so that he can meet Holly. In the process, he ends up acting in a hardcore film himself
17.
Carlito's Way
–
Carlitos Way is a 1993 American crime film directed by Brian De Palma, based on the novels Carlitos Way and After Hours by Judge Edwin Torres. The film adaptation was scripted by David Koepp and it stars Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Penelope Ann Miller, Luis Guzman, John Leguizamo, Jorge Porcel, Joseph Siravo and Viggo Mortensen. Carlito Brigante, a fictional Puerto Rican criminal vows to go straight, however, his past will not let him, and he unwittingly ends up being dragged into the same criminal activities that got him imprisoned in the first place. Carlitos Way received a response from critics, with a similar lukewarm result at the box office. Both Sean Penn and Penelope Ann Miller received Golden Globe nominations for their performances, a prequel titled Carlitos Way, Rise to Power, based on the first novel, was filmed and released direct-to-video in 2005. In 1975, after serving 5 years of a 30 year prison sentence, Carlito Brigante is freed on a legal technicality exploited by his friend and lawyer. Carlito vows to be through with his activities but is persuaded to accompany his young cousin Guajiro to a drug deal held at a bar. Guajiro is betrayed and killed by his suppliers and Carlito is forced to shoot his way out, as nightclub co-owner, Carlito declines several offers for a business partnership with an ambitious, albeit obnoxious, young gangster from the Bronx named Benny Blanco. Carlito also rekindles his romance with his former girlfriend Gail, a dancer who moonlights as a stripper. Kleinfeld develops a love interest with Bennys girlfriend, Steffie, a waitress at Carlitos nightclub, Bennys frustration with Carlitos constant rejections boils over and he confronts Carlito one night at his table. Carlito publicly humiliates Benny, who reacts by manhandling Steffie, fueled by his now extensive use of alcohol and cocaine, Kleinfeld brazenly pulls out a gun and threatens to kill Benny, but Carlito intervenes. Despite being personally threatened by Benny himself, Carlito lets Benny go unharmed, Kleinfeld begs for Carlitos assistance in the prison break, and Carlito reluctantly agrees. Under cover of night, Carlito, Kleinfeld, and Tony Ts son, Frankie, as they pull Tony T aboard, Kleinfeld unexpectedly bludgeons him to death then slits Frankies throat and dumps both of their bodies in the East River. Carlito immediately severs his ties with Kleinfeld and decides to leave town with Gail, the next day, Kleinfeld barely survives a retaliatory assassination attempt when hes stabbed in the chest at his office by two mobsters. Carlito is apprehended by police and taken to the office of District Attorney Norwalk, Norwalk advises that he is aware of Carlito as an accomplice to the Taglialucci murders in an attempt to leverage him into betraying Kleinfeld to save himself, but Carlito refuses. Carlito visits Kleinfeld under police protection in the hospital, where Kleinfeld confesses to selling him out, having noticed a suspicious man dressed in a police uniform waiting in the lobby, Carlito deftly unloads Kleinfelds revolver and parts ways with him. The man turns out to be Tony Ts other son, Vinnie, Vinnie sneaks into Kleinfelds room and executes him without incident because of Kleinfelds empty gun. Carlito then buys train tickets to Miami for himself and Gail, when he stops by his club to get the stashed money, Carlito is met by a group of Italian mobsters led by Vinnie
18.
Femme Fatale (2002 film)
–
Femme Fatale is a 2002 French erotic thriller/mystery film directed by Brian De Palma. The film stars Rebecca Romijn and Antonio Banderas and it was screened out of competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. Mercenary thief Laure Ash participates in a diamond heist in Cannes, however, Laure instead double-crosses her accomplices and escapes to Paris with the diamonds. In Paris, a series of events causes Laure to be mistaken for her own doppelgänger, seven years later, Laure resurfaces in Paris as the wife of Bruce Watts, the new American ambassador to France. After arriving in France, a Spanish paparazzo named Nicolas Bardo takes her picture, with Laure exposed to her vengeful ex-accomplices, she decides to frame Bardo for her own kidnapping. Bardo is further manipulated by Laure into following through with the kidnapping, the pair eventually meet with Bruce for a ransom exchange, however, Bardo has a crisis of conscience at the last moment and sabotages the scheme. In retaliation, Laure executes both Bruce and Bardo, only to be surprised by her ex-accomplices afterwards who promptly throw her off a bridge to her seeming death. In an extended twist ending, the entirety of the events after Laure enters the tub in Lilys home are revealed to be a dream. Laure spies Lily entering the home as before, but this stops her from committing suicide. Seven years later, Laure and Veronica, who is revealed to have been Laures partner all along, black Tie and Racine arrive seeking revenge, but they are killed by the same truck that killed Veronica in Laures dream. Bardo, witnessing all these events, introduces himself to Laure, swearing that he has met her before, the film has since developed a cult status amongst cinephiles. Femme Fatale currently holds a 48% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 134 reviews, the film was a box office bomb, taking in less than its production costs worldwide. Official website Femme Fatale at the Internet Movie Database Femme Fatale at AllMovie Femme Fatale at Box Office Mojo Femme Fatale at Rotten Tomatoes Femme Fatale at Metacritic
19.
Redacted (film)
–
Redacted is a 2007 American war film written and directed by Brian De Palma. It is a dramatization, loosely based on the 2006 Mahmudiyah killings in Mahmoudiyah, Iraq. This film, which is a companion to a film by De Palma. Redacted premiered at the 2007 Venice Film Festival, where it earned a Silver Lion best director award and it was also shown at the Toronto International Film Festival, the New York Film Festival and the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema. The film opened in Spain, and in fifteen theaters in limited release in the United States on November 16,2007, the film received mixed reactions from critics and a poor financial response in its limited U. S. release. Meanwhile, a French documentary crew is shooting a documentary called Barrage while they are embedded with Salazars platoon, the French documentary crew films the soldiers performing their routine duties as they man a random checkpoint as part of their deployment in Iraq, to help curtail insurgent logistics. Using mirrors and bomb-sniffing dogs, the soldiers spend their days searching cars at the checkpoint, a pregnant woman who was a passenger in the car, is shot and is rushed to the hospital by her husband, and later dies. Back at Camp Carolina, Salazar, camcorder in hand, asks Flake how he felt about killing a pregnant woman, and he replies that he felt nothing, and that it was like gutting catfish. Sergeant Jim Vazquez defuses the situation before it out of hand, stating that, under the rules of engagement. While on a patrol, one of the more experienced soldiers, Master Sergeant Sweet, is killed after stepping on an IED. Flake and his friend SPC B. B. Rush are enraged by Sweets death, during a poker game, Flake and Rush announce their plan to go to the house of an Iraqi family with the goal of raping a 15-year-old girl who is one of the family members. McCoy tries to stop the pair, but he is ordered out of the house at gunpoint, Flake and Rush rape the girl as Salazar films the events using a hidden helmet-mounted video-camera. Afterwards, the girl and her family are killed and the girl is burned. McCoy tries to tell Blix about the rape, when Rush confronts the two, Rush grabs McCoy, putting him in a choke-hold at knife-point, demanding he not to report the rape. Afterwards, McCoy is deeply disturbed by the rape and murders and his father, citing the Abu Ghraib incident, urges him not to report the incident, fearing the publicity generated by it would diminish the reputation of the U. S. in the eyes of the world. Regardless, McCoy ignores his fathers objections and reports the rape, going to the Criminal Investigation Division to make them aware of the crimes, Salazar too is disturbed by the scenes he recorded, and he meets with an army psychologist to discuss his deteriorating mental state. While busy making a video for his mother during a foot patrol, Rush notices Salazar missing and his camera, which was left behind during the kidnapping. Later, Salazar is beheaded alive by the insurgents and a video of his murder uploaded onto the internet, before beheading him, the insurgents claim that his beheading was retribution for Farahs rape
20.
Alfred Hitchcock
–
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE was an English film director and producer, at times referred to as The Master of Suspense. He pioneered many elements of the suspense and psychological thriller genres and he had a successful career in British cinema with both silent films and early talkies and became renowned as Englands best director. Hitchcock moved to Hollywood in 1939, and became a US citizen in 1955 and he also fashioned for himself a recognisable directorial style. Hitchcocks stylistic trademarks include the use of movement that mimics a persons gaze. In addition, he framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy and his work often features fugitives on the run alongside icy blonde female characters. Prior to 1980, there had long been talk of Hitchcock being knighted for his contribution to film, Hitchcock later received his knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in the 1980 New Year Honours. Hitchcock directed more than fifty films in a career spanning six decades and is often regarded as one of the most influential directors in cinematic history. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else, Hitchcocks first thriller, The Lodger, A Story of the London Fog, helped shape the thriller genre in film. His 1929 film, Blackmail, is cited as the first British sound feature film, while Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest. Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on 13 August 1899 in Leytonstone and he was the second son and the youngest of three children of William Hitchcock, a greengrocer and poulterer, and Emma Jane Hitchcock. He was named after his fathers brother, Hitchcock was raised as a Roman Catholic, and sent to Salesian College, Battersea, and the Jesuit grammar school St Ignatius College in Stamford Hill, London. His parents were both of half-English and half-Irish ancestry and he often described a lonely and sheltered childhood that was worsened by his obesity. Around age five, Hitchcock recalled that to him for behaving badly. This incident implanted a lifelong fear of policemen in Hitchcock, and such harsh treatment, sources vary on Hitchcocks performance in school. Gene Adair reports that by most accounts, Alfred was only an average, or slightly above-average, however, McGilligan writes that Hitchcock certainly excelled academically. When Hitchcock was 15, his father died, in that same year, he left St. Ignatius to study at the London County Council School of Engineering and Navigation in Poplar, London. After leaving, he became a draftsman and advertising designer with a company called Henleys. Hitchcock joined a regiment of the Royal Engineers in 1917
21.
Jean-Luc Godard
–
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement La Nouvelle Vague, as a result of such argument, he and like-minded critics started to make their own films. Many of Godards films challenge the conventions of traditional Hollywood in addition to French cinema, along with showing knowledge of film history through homages and references, several of his films expressed his political views, he was an avid reader of existential and Marxist philosophy. Since the New Wave, his politics have been less radical and his recent films are about representation and human conflict from a humanist. In a 2002 Sight & Sound poll, Godard ranked third in the critics top-ten directors of all time and he is said to have created one of the largest bodies of critical analysis of any filmmaker since the mid-twentieth century. He and his work have been central to narrative theory and have challenged both commercial narrative cinema norms and film criticisms vocabulary, in 2010, Godard was awarded an Academy Honorary Award, but did not attend the award ceremony. Jean-Luc Godard was born on 3 December 1930 in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, the son of Odile and Paul Godard and his wealthy parents came from Protestant families of Franco–Swiss descent, and his mother was the daughter of Julien Monod, a founder of the Banque Paribas. She was the great-granddaughter of theologian Adolphe Monod, relatives on his mothers side include also composer Jacques-Louis Monod, naturalist Théodore Monod and pastor Frédéric Monod. Four years after Jean-Lucs birth, his father moved the family to Switzerland, at the outbreak of the Second World War, Godard was in France and returned to Switzerland with difficulty. He spent most of the war in Switzerland, although his family made trips to his grandfathers estate on the French side of Lake Geneva. Godard attended school in Nyon, Switzerland, in 1946, he went to study at the Lycée Buffon in Paris and, through family connections, mixed with members of its cultural elite. He lodged with the writer Jean Schlumberger, having failed his baccalaureate exam in 1948 he returned to Switzerland. He studied in Lausanne and lived with his parents, whose marriage was breaking up and he spent time in Geneva also with a group that included another film fanatic, Roland Tolmatchoff, and the extreme rightist philosopher Jean Parvulesco. His older sister Rachel encouraged him to paint, which he did, after time spent at a boarding school in Thonon to prepare for the retest, which he passed, he returned to Paris in 1949. He registered for a certificate in anthropology at the University of Paris and he got involved with the young group of film critics at the ciné-clubs that started the New Wave. Godard originally held only French citizenship, then in 1953, he became a citizen of Gland, canton of Vaud, Switzerland, in Paris, in the Latin Quarter just prior to 1950, ciné-clubs were gaining prominence. Godard began attending these clubs - the Cinémathèque, the CCQL, Work and Culture ciné Club, at these clubs he met fellow film enthusiasts including Jacques Rivette, Claude Chabrol, and François Truffaut. Godard was part of a generation for whom cinema took on a special importance and he has said, In the 1950s cinema was as important as bread—but it isnt the case any more
22.
Roger Ebert
–
Roger Joseph Ebert was an American film critic and historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, the two verbally sparred and traded humorous barbs while discussing films. They created and trademarked the phrase Two Thumbs Up, used when both hosts gave the film a positive review. After Siskel died in 1999, Ebert continued hosting the show with various co-hosts and then, starting in 2000, Ebert lived with cancer of the thyroid and salivary glands from 2002. This required treatments necessitating the removal of his jaw, which cost him the ability to speak or eat normally. His ability to write remained unimpaired, however, and he continued to publish frequently both online and in print until his death on April 4,2013. Roger Joseph Ebert was born in Urbana, Illinois, the child of Annabel, a bookkeeper, and Walter Harry Ebert. He was raised Roman Catholic, attending St. Marys elementary school and his paternal grandparents were German immigrants and his maternal ancestry was Irish and Dutch. In his senior year, he was president and editor-in-chief of his high school newspaper. In 1958, he won the Illinois High School Association state speech championship in radio speaking, regarding his early influences in film criticism, Ebert wrote in the 1998 parody collection Mad About the Movies, I learned to be a movie critic by reading Mad magazine. Mads parodies made me aware of the machine inside the skin – of the way a movie might look original on the outside, I did not read the magazine, I plundered it for clues to the universe. Pauline Kael lost it at the movies, I lost it at Mad magazine, Ebert began taking classes at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an early-entrance student, completing his high-school courses while also taking his first university class. After graduating from Urbana High School in 1960, Ebert then attended and received his degree in 1964. As an undergraduate, he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, One of the first movie reviews he ever wrote was a review of La Dolce Vita, published in The Daily Illini in October 1961. Ebert spent a semester as a student in the department of English there before attending the University of Cape Town on a Rotary fellowship for a year. He returned from Cape Town to his studies at Illinois for two more semesters and then, after being accepted as a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago. Instead Kogan referred Ebert to the city editor at the Chicago Sun-Times, Jim Hoge and he attended doctoral classes at the University of Chicago while working as a general reporter at the Sun-Times for a year
23.
Pauline Kael
–
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Kael was known for her witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused reviews and she is regarded as one of the most influential American film critics of her day. She left an impression on many other prominent film critics, including Armond White. You couldnt apply her approach to a film, with her it was all personal. Owen Gleiberman said she was more than a great critic and she re-invented the form, and pioneered an entire aesthetic of writing. Kael was born on a farm in Petaluma, California, to Isaac Paul Kael and Judith Kael. Her parents lost their farm when Kael was eight, and the moved to San Francisco. In 1936 she matriculated at the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied philosophy, literature, nevertheless, Kael intended to go on to law school but fell in with a group of artists and moved to New York City with the poet Robert Horan. Three years later, Kael returned to San Francisco and led a life, writing plays. In 1948, Kael and filmmaker James Broughton had a daughter, Gina, in 1953, the editor of City Lights magazine overheard Kael arguing about films in a coffeeshop with a friend and asked her to review Charlie Chaplins Limelight. Kael dubbed the film Slimelight and began publishing film criticism regularly in magazines, Kael later explained her writing style, I worked to loosen my style—to get away from the term-paper pomposity that we learn at college. I wanted the sentences to breathe, to have the sound of a human voice, Kael disparaged the supposed critics ideal of objectivity, referring to it as saphead objectivity, and incorporated aspects of autobiography into her criticism. I came out of the theater, tears streaming, and overheard the petulant voice of a college girl complaining to her boyfriend, for if people cannot feel Shoeshine, what can they feel. Later I learned that the man with whom I had quarreled had gone the same night and had emerged in tears. Yet our tears for each other, and for Shoeshine did not bring us together, Life, as Shoeshine demonstrates, is too complex for facile endings. Kael broadcast many of her early reviews on the public radio station KPFA, in Berkeley. As manager of a theater, Kael programmed the films that were shown. She also wrote pungent capsule reviews of the films, which her patrons began collecting, Kael continued to juggle writing with other work until she received an offer to publish a book of her criticism
24.
Philadelphia
–
In 1682, William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia was one of the capitals in the Revolutionary War. In the 19th century, Philadelphia became an industrial center. It became a destination for African-Americans in the Great Migration. The areas many universities and colleges make Philadelphia a top international study destination, as the city has evolved into an educational, with a gross domestic product of $388 billion, Philadelphia ranks ninth among world cities and fourth in the nation. Philadelphia is the center of activity in Pennsylvania and is home to seven Fortune 1000 companies. The Philadelphia skyline is growing, with a market of almost 81,900 commercial properties in 2016 including several prominent skyscrapers. The city is known for its arts, culture, and rich history, Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city. Fairmount Park, when combined with the adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the watershed, is one of the largest contiguous urban park areas in the United States. The 67 National Historic Landmarks in the city helped account for the $10 billion generated by tourism, Philadelphia is the only World Heritage City in the United States. Before Europeans arrived, the Philadelphia area was home to the Lenape Indians in the village of Shackamaxon, the Lenape are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government. They are also called Delaware Indians and their territory was along the Delaware River watershed, western Long Island. Most Lenape were pushed out of their Delaware homeland during the 18th century by expanding European colonies, Lenape communities were weakened by newly introduced diseases, mainly smallpox, and violent conflict with Europeans. Iroquois people occasionally fought the Lenape, surviving Lenape moved west into the upper Ohio River basin. The American Revolutionary War and United States independence pushed them further west, in the 1860s, the United States government sent most Lenape remaining in the eastern United States to the Indian Territory under the Indian removal policy. In the 21st century, most Lenape now reside in the US state of Oklahoma, with communities living also in Wisconsin, Ontario. The Dutch considered the entire Delaware River valley to be part of their New Netherland colony, in 1638, Swedish settlers led by renegade Dutch established the colony of New Sweden at Fort Christina and quickly spread out in the valley. In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their defeat of the English colony of Maryland
25.
New Hampshire
–
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, New Hampshire is the 5th smallest by land area and the 9th least populous of the 50 United States. Concord is the capital, while Manchester is the largest city in the state and in northern New England, including Vermont. It has no sales tax, nor is personal income taxed at either the state or local level. The New Hampshire primary is the first primary in the U. S. presidential election cycle and its license plates carry the state motto, Live Free or Die. The states nickname, The Granite State, refers to its extensive granite formations, the state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire by Captain John Mason. New Hampshire is part of the New England region and it is bounded by Quebec, Canada, to the north and northwest, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Massachusetts to the south, and Vermont to the west. New Hampshires major regions are the Great North Woods, the White Mountains, the Lakes Region, the Seacoast, the Merrimack Valley, the Monadnock Region, and the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee area. New Hampshire has the shortest ocean coastline of any U. S. coastal state, New Hampshire was home to the rock formation called the Old Man of the Mountain, a face-like profile in Franconia Notch, until the formation disintegrated in May 2003. Major rivers include the 110-mile Merrimack River, which bisects the lower half of the state north–south and ends up in Newburyport and its tributaries include the Contoocook River, Pemigewasset River, and Winnipesaukee River. The 410-mile Connecticut River, which starts at New Hampshires Connecticut Lakes and flows south to Connecticut, only one town – Pittsburg – shares a land border with the state of Vermont. The northwesternmost headwaters of the Connecticut also define the Canada–U. S, the Piscataqua River and its several tributaries form the states only significant ocean port where they flow into the Atlantic at Portsmouth. The Salmon Falls River and the Piscataqua define the southern portion of the border with Maine, the U. S. Supreme Court dismissed the case in 2002, leaving ownership of the island with Maine. New Hampshire still claims sovereignty of the base, however, the largest of New Hampshires lakes is Lake Winnipesaukee, which covers 71 square miles in the east-central part of New Hampshire. Umbagog Lake along the Maine border, approximately 12.3 square miles, is a distant second, Squam Lake is the second largest lake entirely in New Hampshire. New Hampshire has the shortest ocean coastline of any state in the United States, Hampton Beach is a popular local summer destination. It is the state with the highest percentage of area in the country. New Hampshire is in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome, much of the state, in particular the White Mountains, is covered by the conifers and northern hardwoods of the New England-Acadian forests
26.
Protestantism
–
Protestantism is a form of Christianity which originated with the Reformation, a movement against what its followers considered to be errors in the Roman Catholic Church. It is one of the three divisions of Christendom, together with Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy. The term derives from the letter of protestation from German Lutheran princes in 1529 against an edict of the Diet of Speyer condemning the teachings of Martin Luther as heretical. Although there were earlier breaks from or attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church—notably by Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, Protestants reject the notion of papal supremacy and deny the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, but disagree among themselves regarding the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The Five solae summarize the reformers basic differences in theological beliefs, in the 16th century, Lutheranism spread from Germany into Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Baltic states, and Iceland. Reformed churches were founded in Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland and France by such reformers as John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, the political separation of the Church of England from Rome under King Henry VIII brought England and Wales into this broad Reformation movement. Protestants developed their own culture, which made major contributions in education, the humanities and sciences, the political and social order, the economy and the arts, some Protestant denominations do have a worldwide scope and distribution of membership, while others are confined to a single country. A majority of Protestants are members of a handful of families, Adventism, Anglicanism, Baptist churches, Reformed churches, Lutheranism, Methodism. Nondenominational, evangelical, charismatic, independent and other churches are on the rise, and constitute a significant part of Protestant Christianity. Six princes of the Holy Roman Empire and rulers of fourteen Imperial Free Cities, the edict reversed concessions made to the Lutherans with the approval of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V three years earlier. During the Reformation, the term was used outside of the German politics. The word evangelical, which refers to the gospel, was more widely used for those involved in the religious movement. Nowadays, this word is still preferred among some of the historical Protestant denominations in the Lutheran and Calvinist traditions in Europe, above all the term is used by Protestant bodies in the German-speaking area, such as the EKD. In continental Europe, an Evangelical is either a Lutheran or a Calvinist, the German word evangelisch means Protestant, and is different from the German evangelikal, which refers to churches shaped by Evangelicalism. The English word evangelical usually refers to Evangelical Protestant churches, and it traces its roots back to the Puritans in England, where Evangelicalism originated, and then was brought to the United States. Protestantism as a term is now used in contradistinction to the other major Christian traditions, i. e. Roman Catholicism. Initially, Protestant became a term to mean any adherent to the Reformation movement in Germany and was taken up by Lutherans. Even though Martin Luther himself insisted on Christian or Evangelical as the only acceptable names for individuals who professed Christ, French and Swiss Protestants preferred the word reformed, which became a popular, neutral and alternative name for Calvinists
27.
Quakers
–
Quakers are members of a historically Christian group of religious movements generally known as the Religious Society of Friends. They include those with evangelical, holiness, liberal, and traditional Quaker understandings of Christianity, to differing extents, the different movements that make up the Religious Society of Friends/Friends Church avoid creeds and hierarchical structures. In 2007, there were about 359,000 adult Quakers, in 2012, there were 377,055 adult Quakers. Some meetings of both types have Recorded Ministers in their meetings—Friends recognised for their gift of vocal ministry, the first Quakers lived in mid-17th century England. The movement arose from the Legatine-Arians and other dissenting Protestant groups, some of these early Quaker ministers were women. They emphasized a personal and direct experience of Christ, acquired through both direct religious experience and the reading and studying of the Bible. Quakers focused their private life on developing behaviour and speech reflecting emotional purity, in the past, Quakers were known for their use of thee as an ordinary pronoun, refusal to participate in war, plain dress, refusal to swear oaths, opposition to slavery, and teetotalism. & J. Clark and the big three British confectionery makers Cadbury, Rowntree and Frys, and philanthropic efforts, including abolition of slavery, prison reform, during and after the English Civil War many dissenting Christian groups emerged, including the Seekers and others. A young man named George Fox was dissatisfied with the teachings of the Church of England and he had a vision on Pendle Hill in Lancashire, England, in which he believed that the Lord let me see in what places he had a great people to be gathered. Following this he travelled around England, the Netherlands, and Barbados preaching and teaching with the aim of converting new adherents to his faith, the central theme of his Gospel message was that Christ has come to teach his people himself. His followers considered themselves to be the restoration of the true Christian church, in 1650, Fox was brought before the magistrates Gervase Bennet and Nathaniel Barton, on a charge of religious blasphemy. According to George Foxs autobiography, Bennet was the first that called us Quakers and it is thought that George Fox was referring to Isaiah 66,2 or Ezra 9,4. Thus, the name Quaker began as a way of ridiculing George Foxs admonition, Quakerism gained a considerable following in England and Wales, and the numbers increased to a peak of 60,000 in England and Wales by 1680. This was relaxed after the Declaration of Indulgence and stopped under the Act of Toleration 1689, with the restructuring of the family and household came new roles for women, Fox and Fell viewed the Quaker mother as essential to developing holy conversation in her children and husband. Quaker women were responsible for the spirituality of the larger community, coming together in meetings that regulated marriage. The persecution of Quakers in North America began in 1656 when English Quaker missionaries Mary Fisher and they were considered heretics because of their insistence on individual obedience to the Inner Light. They were imprisoned and banished by the Massachusetts Bay Colony and their books were burned, and most of their property was confiscated. They were imprisoned in terrible conditions, then deported, in 1660, English Quaker Mary Dyer was hanged on Boston Common for repeatedly defying a Puritan law banning Quakers from the colony
28.
Friends' Central School
–
Friends Central School has been consistently ranked among the best-performing academic, athletic, and artistic college-preparatory schools in Greater Philadelphia. It is a Quaker school which students from Nursery through Grade 12 and is located in Wynnewood. The school was founded in 1845 in Philadelphia, near the current location of the United States Mint, informally known as Friends Central, the school encompasses three divisions, Lower School, Middle School and Upper School. The Middle and Upper Schools share their campus, and the Lower School occupies its own site, the school is widely known for the quality of its education, consistently as one of the top schools in the Philadelphia area. Friends Central School was founded in 1845 in Philadelphia at 4th Street and Cherry Street, in 1857, the school moved to 15th and Race Street, remaining at this location until 1925, when it then moved to its current campus on City Avenue. The main house of the estate, constructed in 1862, remains, in 1988, due to the growth of the student body, Friends Central acquired the Montgomery Schools property and relocated the lower school there. Recent expansion includes construction of the Shimada Athletic Center and the Fannie Cox Center for Science, Math, in 2011, David Felsen retired after 23 years of service as headmaster, beginning in the 2012 school year, Craig Sellers was named Head of School. Quaker values such as community, service, equality and integrity are all incorporated into student life, all students attend a weekly Meeting for Worship on Wednesdays for 40 minutes, sharing messages when moved to speak. The community convenes in one room in silence and individuals stand when expressing thoughts to the community, students are also required to perform off-campus service for a set of mandatory hours. 11th and 12th graders may take additional study in the origin, the scores were 649 in Math,669 in Verbal, and 666 in Writing. Fourteen students enrolled at Ivy League institutions, Friends Central has strong basketball and wrestling programs. From 2009-2012 Friends Central won four consecutive Pennsylvania Independent Schools Boys Basketball Championships, the Japanese Language School of Philadelphia, a supplementary Japanese school, holds its classes at FCS. Hilda Doolittle - Noted poet and novelist, due to an injury Amile Jefferson had to play for Duke for an extra year. Frederick Taylor Pusey - Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, mildred Scott Olmsted, peace activist List of Friends Schools Official website
29.
Analog computer
–
An analog computer is a form of computer that uses the continuously changeable aspects of physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities to model the problem being solved. In contrast, digital computers represent varying quantities symbolically, as their values change. As an analog computer does not use values, but rather continuous values, processes cannot be reliably repeated with exact equivalence. Unlike digital signal processing, analog computers do not suffer from the quantization noise, Analog computers were widely used in scientific and industrial applications where digital computers of the time lacked sufficient performance. Analog computers can have a wide range of complexity. Slide rules and nomographs are the simplest, while naval gunfire control computers, systems for process control and protective relays used analog computation to perform control and protective functions. More complex applications, such as synthetic aperture radar, remained the domain of analog computing well into the 1980s, setting up an analog computer required scale factors to be chosen, along with initial conditions—that is, starting values. Another essential was creating the network of interconnections between computing elements. Sometimes it was necessary to re-think the structure of the problem so that the computer would function satisfactorily, no variables could be allowed to exceed the computers limits, and differentiation was to be avoided, typically by rearranging the network of interconnects, using integrators in a different sense. Running an electronic computer, assuming a satisfactory setup, started with the computer held with some variables fixed at their initial values. Moving a switch released the holds and permitted the problem to run, in some instances, the computer could, after a certain running time interval, repeatedly return to the initial-conditions state to reset the problem, and run it again. This is a list of examples of early computation devices which are considered to be precursors of the modern computers, some of them may even have been dubbed as computers by the press, although they may fail to fit the modern definitions. The south-pointing chariot can be considered the earliest analog computer and it was a mechanical-geared wheeled vehicle used for to discern the southern cardinal direction. The Antikythera mechanism was an orrery and is claimed to be the earliest known mechanical analog computer. It was designed to calculate astronomical positions and it was discovered in 1901 in the Antikythera wreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, between Kythera and Crete, and has been dated to circa 100 BC. Devices of a level of complexity comparable to that of the Antikythera mechanism would not reappear until a thousand years later, many mechanical aids to calculation and measurement were constructed for astronomical and navigation use. The planisphere was a star chart invented by Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī in the early 11th century, the astrolabe was invented in the Hellenistic world in either the 1st or 2nd centuries BC and is often attributed to Hipparchus. A combination of the planisphere and dioptra, the astrolabe was effectively an analog computer capable of working out different kinds of problems in spherical astronomy
30.
Columbia University
–
Columbia University is a private Ivy League research university in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It was established in 1754 as Kings College by royal charter of George II of Great Britain, after the American Revolutionary War, Kings College briefly became a state entity, and was renamed Columbia College in 1784. Columbia is one of the fourteen founding members of the Association of American Universities and was the first school in the United States to grant the M. D. degree. The university also has global research outposts in Amman, Beijing, Istanbul, Paris, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, Asunción, Columbia administers annually the Pulitzer Prize. Additionally,100 Nobel laureates have been affiliated with Columbia as students, researchers, faculty, Columbia is second only to Harvard University in the number of Nobel Prize-winning affiliates, with over 100 recipients of the award as of 2016. In 1746 an act was passed by the assembly of New York to raise funds for the foundation of a new college. Classes were initially held in July 1754 and were presided over by the colleges first president, Dr. Johnson was the only instructor of the colleges first class, which consisted of a mere eight students. Instruction was held in a new schoolhouse adjoining Trinity Church, located on what is now lower Broadway in Manhattan, in 1763, Dr. Johnson was succeeded in the presidency by Myles Cooper, a graduate of The Queens College, Oxford, and an ardent Tory. In the charged political climate of the American Revolution, his opponent in discussions at the college was an undergraduate of the class of 1777. The suspension continued through the occupation of New York City by British troops until their departure in 1783. The colleges library was looted and its sole building requisitioned for use as a hospital first by American. Loyalists were forced to abandon their Kings College in New York, the Loyalists, led by Bishop Charles Inglis fled to Windsor, Nova Scotia, where they founded Kings Collegiate School. After the Revolution, the college turned to the State of New York in order to restore its vitality, the Legislature agreed to assist the college, and on May 1,1784, it passed an Act for granting certain privileges to the College heretofore called Kings College. The Regents finally became aware of the colleges defective constitution in February 1787 and appointed a revision committee, in April of that same year, a new charter was adopted for the college, still in use today, granting power to a private board of 24 Trustees. On May 21,1787, William Samuel Johnson, the son of Dr. Samuel Johnson, was unanimously elected President of Columbia College, prior to serving at the university, Johnson had participated in the First Continental Congress and been chosen as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. The colleges enrollment, structure, and academics stagnated for the majority of the 19th century, with many of the college presidents doing little to change the way that the college functioned. In 1857, the college moved from the Kings College campus at Park Place to a primarily Gothic Revival campus on 49th Street and Madison Avenue, during the last half of the 19th century, under the leadership of President F. A. P. Barnard, the institution assumed the shape of a modern university
31.
Citizen Kane
–
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American mystery drama film by Orson Welles, its producer, co-screenwriter, director and star. The picture was Welless first feature film, nominated for Academy Awards in nine categories, it won an Academy Award for Best Writing by Herman J. Mankiewicz and Welles. It topped the American Film Institutes 100 Years,100 Movies list in 1998, as well as its 2007 update. Citizen Kane is particularly praised for its cinematography, music, and narrative structure, upon its release, Hearst prohibited mention of the film in any of his newspapers. Kanes career in the world is born of idealistic social service. Narrated principally through flashbacks, the story is told through the research of a reporter seeking to solve the mystery of the newspaper magnates dying word. After the Broadway successes of Welless Mercury Theatre and the controversial 1938 radio broadcast The War of the Worlds on The Mercury Theatre on the Air and he signed a contract with RKO Pictures in 1939. Unusually for a director, he was given the freedom to develop his own story, to use his own cast and crew. Following two abortive attempts to get a project off the ground, he wrote the screenplay for Citizen Kane, principal photography took place in 1940 and the film received its American release in 1941. While a critical success, Citizen Kane failed to recoup its costs at the box office, the film faded from view after its release but was subsequently returned to the publics attention when it was praised by such French critics as André Bazin and given an American revival in 1956. The film was released on Blu-ray on September 13,2011, in a mansion in Xanadu, a vast palatial estate in Florida, the elderly Charles Foster Kane is on his deathbed. Holding a snow globe, he utters a word, Rosebud, and dies, a newsreel obituary tells the life story of Kane, an enormously wealthy newspaper publisher. Kanes death becomes sensational news around the world, and the newsreels producer tasks reporter Jerry Thompson with discovering the meaning of Rosebud, Thompson sets out to interview Kanes friends and associates. He approaches Kanes second wife, Susan Alexander Kane, now an alcoholic who runs her own nightclub, Thompson goes to the private archive of the late banker Walter Parks Thatcher. Through Thatchers written memoirs, Thompson learns that Kanes childhood began in poverty in Colorado, in 1871, after a gold mine was discovered on her property, Kanes mother Mary Kane sends Charles away to live with Thatcher so that he would be properly educated. While Thatcher and Charles parents discuss arrangements inside, the young Kane plays happily with a sled in the snow outside his parents boarding-house and protests being sent to live with Thatcher. Years later, after gaining control over his trust fund at the age of 25, Kane enters the newspaper business. He takes control of the New York Inquirer and starts publishing scandalous articles that attack Thatchers business interests, after the stock market crash in 1929, Kane is forced to sell controlling interest of his newspaper empire to Thatcher
32.
Vertigo (film)
–
Vertigo is a 1958 American film noir psychological thriller film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock. The story was based on the 1954 novel Dentre les morts by Boileau-Narcejac, the screenplay was written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor. The film stars James Stewart as former police detective John Scottie Ferguson, Scottie is forced into early retirement because an incident in the line of duty has caused him to develop acrophobia and vertigo. Scottie is hired by an acquaintance, Gavin Elster, as an investigator to follow Gavins wife Madeleine. The film was shot on location in San Francisco, California and it is the first film to use the dolly zoom, an in-camera effect that distorts perspective to create disorientation, to convey Scotties acrophobia. As a result of its use in film, the effect is often referred to as the Vertigo effect. Vertigo received mixed reviews upon release, but is now often cited as a classic Hitchcock film. Attracting significant scholarly criticism, it replaced Citizen Kane as the best film made in the 2012 British Film Institutes Sight & Sound critics poll. In 1996, the film underwent a restoration to create a new 70mm print. It has appeared repeatedly in polls of the best films by the American Film Institute, after a rooftop chase, where his fear of heights and vertigo result in the death of a policeman, San Francisco detective John Scottie Ferguson retires. Scottie tries to conquer his fear, but his friend and ex-fiancée Midge Wood says that another severe emotional shock may be the only cure. An acquaintance from college, Gavin Elster, asks Scottie to follow his wife, Madeleine and he watches her enter the McKittrick Hotel, but on investigation she does not seem to be there. Gavin reveals that Carlotta is Madeleines great-grandmother, although Madeleine has no knowledge of this, Scottie tails Madeleine to Fort Point and, when she leaps into the bay, he rescues her. The next day Scottie follows Madeleine, they meet and spend the day together and they travel to Muir Woods and Cypress Point on 17-Mile Drive, where Madeleine runs down towards the ocean. Scottie grabs her and they embrace, Madeleine recounts a nightmare and Scottie identifies its setting as Mission San Juan Bautista, childhood home of Carlotta. He drives her there and they express their love for each other, Madeleine suddenly runs into the church and up the bell tower. Scottie, halted on the steps by his acrophobia, sees Madeleine plunge to her death, the death is declared a suicide. Gavin does not fault Scottie, but Scottie breaks down, becomes depressed and is in a sanatorium
33.
Sarah Lawrence College
–
Sarah Lawrence College is a private liberal arts college in the United States. It is located in southern Westchester County, New York, in the city of Yonkers,15 miles north of Manhattan, the college is known for low student-to-faculty ratio, and highly individualized course of study. The school models its approach to education after the Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials, Sarah Lawrence emphasizes scholarship, particularly in the humanities, performing arts, and writing, and places high value on independent study. Sarah Lawrence College is ranked 59th in the National Liberal Arts Colleges category in 2017 by U. S. News & World Report, Sarah Lawrence was also named the higher education institution with the best classroom experience in all of America by Princeton Review in 2013. Sarah Lawrence College was established by real-estate mogul William Van Duzer Lawrence on the grounds of his estate in Westchester County and was named in honor of his wife, the College was originally intended to provide instruction in the arts and humanities for women. In addition to founding Sarah Lawrence College, William Lawrence played a role in the development of the neighboring community of Bronxville. Harold Taylor, President of Sarah Lawrence College from 1945 to 1959, Taylor, elected president at age 30, maintained a friendship with educational philosopher John Dewey, and worked to employ the Dewey method at Sarah Lawrence. Sarah Lawrence became an institution in 1968. Prior to this transition, there were discussions about relocating the school and merging with Princeton University, at the undergraduate level, Sarah Lawrence offers an alternative to traditional majors. Students pursue a variety of courses in four different curricular distributions, the Creative Arts, history and the social sciences, the humanities. Classes are structured around a system through which students learn in small, highly interactive seminars. Each student is assigned to a faculty advisor, known as a don, to plan a course of study and provide ongoing academic guidance. Most courses, apart from those in the arts, consist of two parts, the seminar, limited to 15 students, and the conference, a meeting with a seminar professor. In these conferences, students develop projects that extend the course material. Sarah Lawrence has no required courses and traditional examinations have largely replaced with research papers. Additionally, grades are recorded only for transcript purposes—narrative evaluations are given in lieu of grades, the College sponsors international programs in Florence, at Wadham College, Oxford, at Reid Hall in Paris, and at the British American Drama Academy in London. Sarah Lawrence is one of the only American colleges operating an international program in Cuba, Sarah Lawrence offers a program for people wishing to seek a B. A. or a Masters and have been out of school for any period of time. Eugene Lang College Exchange Program, In 1996 the college began its program with Eugene Lang College
34.
Albert and David Maysles
–
Albert and his brother David Maysles were an American documentary filmmaking team known for their work in the direct cinema style. Their best-known films include Salesman, Gimme Shelter and Grey Gardens, the brothers were born in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, living there until the family moved to Brookline, Massachusetts when Albert was 13. The family originally settled in Dorchester to be relatives who had moved there earlier. Albert originally pursued a career as a professor and researcher. After serving in World War II, Albert obtained a BA from Syracuse University and he taught psychology at Boston University for three years, also working as a research assistant at a mental hospital and as head of a research project at Massachusetts General Hospital. Although CBS did not air the film, it was televised on NBC, on the broadcasting station WGBH-TV in Boston. David also studied psychology at Boston University, receiving a BA and he served in the U. S. Army in West Germany. In the mid-1950s, he worked as a Hollywood production assistant on the Marilyn Monroe films Bus Stop and The Prince, David later stated that he grew disenchanted with conventional filming. The glamour had faded and the filming of take after take had become tedious, by 1957 he had teamed up with Albert to shoot two documentaries behind the Iron Curtain, Russian Close-Up and Youth in Poland, the latter of which was broadcast on NBC. By 1960, the Maysles brothers had joined Drew Associates, the film company founded by photojournalist Robert Drew which also included Richard Leacock. Albert would film, while David would handle sound, during this time, the brothers worked on Drew Associates films such as Primary and Adventures on the New Frontier. In 1962, Albert and David left Drew Associates to form their own company, Maysles Films. The Maysles brothers made over 30 films together and they are best known for three documentaries made in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Salesman, Gimme Shelter, and Grey Gardens. Salesman documents the work of a group of door-to-door Bible salesmen in New England, Gimme Shelter, a film about The Rolling Stones 1969 U. S. Film footage shows Hunter drawing and pointing a revolver just before being stabbed by Passaro, Grey Gardens depicts the lives of a reclusive upper-class mother and daughter, Big Edie and Little Edie Beale, residing in a derelict mansion in East Hampton, New York. In order to finance these films and others, the Maysles also made commercials for such as IBM, Shell Oil. The Maysles films are considered examples of the known as direct cinema. However, the brothers also received criticism from those who thought that they had planned or otherwise influenced scenes
35.
Michelangelo Antonioni
–
Michelangelo Antonioni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI, was an Italian film director, screenwriter, editor, and short story writer. He produced enigmatic and intricate pieces and rejected action in favor of contemplation, focusing on image and design over character. His films defined a cinema of possibilities and he is one of three directors to have won the Palme dOr, the Golden Lion and the Golden Bear, and the only director to have won these three and the Golden Leopard. Antonioni was born into a family of landowners in Ferrara, Emilia Romagna. He was the son of Elisabetta and Ismaele Antonioni, the director explained to Italian film critic Aldo Tassone, My childhood was a happy one. Was a warm and intelligent woman who had been a laborer in her youth and my father also was a good man. Born into a family, he succeeded in obtaining a comfortable position through evening courses. My parents gave me free rein to do what I wanted, with my brother, curiously enough, our friends were invariably proletarian, and poor. The poor still existed at that time, you recognized them by their clothes, but even in the way they wore their clothes, there was a fantasy, a frankness that made me prefer them to boys of bourgeois families. I always had sympathy for women of working-class families, even later when I attended university, they were more authentic. While still a child, Antonioni was fond of drawing and music, a precocious violinist, he gave his first concert at the age of nine. Although he abandoned the violin with the discovery of cinema in his teens, I have never drawn, even as a child, either puppets or silhouettes but rather facades of houses and gates. One of my favorite games consisted of organizing towns, ignorant in architecture, I constructed buildings and streets crammed with little figures. These childhood happenings - I was eleven years old - were like little films, upon graduation from the University of Bologna with a degree in economics, he started writing for the local Ferrara newspaper Il Corriere Padano in 1935 as a film journalist. In 1940, Antonioni moved to Rome, where he worked for Cinema, however, Antonioni was fired a few months afterward. Later that year he enrolled at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia to study film technique and he was drafted into the army afterwards. During the war Antonioni survived being condemned to death for his membership in the resistance, in 1942, Antonioni co-wrote A Pilot Returns with Roberto Rossellini and worked as assistant director on Enrico Fulchignonis I due Foscari. In 1943, he travelled to France to assist Marcel Carné on Les visiteurs du soir and then began a series of films with Gente del Po
36.
Andy Warhol
–
Andy Warhol was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Warhol initially pursued a career as a commercial illustrator. After exhibiting his work in galleries in the late 1950s. He promoted a collection of known as Warhol superstars, and is credited with coining the widely used expression 15 minutes of fame. In the late 1960s, he managed and produced the rock band The Velvet Underground. He authored numerous books, including The Philosophy of Andy Warhol and Popism and he is also notable as a gay man who lived openly as such before the gay liberation movement. Warhol has been the subject of retrospective exhibitions, books. The Andy Warhol Museum in his city of Pittsburgh, which holds an extensive permanent collection of art. Many of his creations are very collectible and highly valuable, the highest price ever paid for a Warhol painting is US$105 million for a 1963 canvas titled Silver Car Crash, his works include some of the most expensive paintings ever sold. A2009 article in The Economist described Warhol as the bellwether of the art market, Warhol was born on August 6,1928 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was the child of Ondrej Warhola and Julia, whose first child was born in their homeland. His parents were working-class Lemko emigrants from Mikó, located in todays northeastern Slovakia, Warhols father emigrated to the United States in 1914, and his mother joined him in 1921, after the death of Warhols grandparents. Warhols father worked in a coal mine, the family lived at 55 Beelen Street and later at 3252 Dawson Street in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The family was Byzantine Catholic and attended St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic Church, Andy Warhol had two older brothers—Pavol, the oldest, was born before the family emigrated, Ján was born in Pittsburgh. Pavols son, James Warhola, became a childrens book illustrator. He became a hypochondriac, developing a fear of hospitals and doctors, often bedridden as a child, he became an outcast at school and bonded with his mother. At times when he was confined to bed, he drew, listened to the radio, Warhol later described this period as very important in the development of his personality, skill-set and preferences. When Warhol was 13, his father died in an accident, as a teenager, Warhol graduated from Schenley High School in 1945
37.
Robert De Niro
–
Robert Anthony De Niro is an American actor, producer and director who has both Italian and American citizenship. He was cast as the young Vito Corleone in the 1974 film The Godfather Part II and his longtime collaboration with director Martin Scorsese earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Jake La Motta in the 1980 film Raging Bull. He received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2003, the Golden Globe Cecil B, deMille Award in 2010, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2016. De Niros first major roles were in the sports drama, Bang the Drum Slowly. He earned Academy Award nominations for the psychological thrillers Taxi Driver and Cape Fear, De Niro received additional nominations for Michael Ciminos Vietnam war drama, The Deer Hunter, Penny Marshalls drama Awakenings, and David O. Russells romantic comedy-drama, Silver Linings Playbook. His portrayal of gangster Jimmy Conway in Scorseses crime film, Goodfellas, other notable performances include roles in Once Upon a Time in America, Brazil, The Untouchables, Heat, and Casino. He has directed and starred in such as the crime drama A Bronx Tale. Robert Anthony De Niro was born in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan, New York, the son of Virginia Admiral and Robert De Niro Sr. Both of his parents were painters, his father was of half Italian and half Irish descent, while his mother was of half German ancestry, with her other roots being French, English and Dutch. De Niros parents, who had met at the classes of Hans Hofmann in Provincetown, Massachusetts. De Niro was raised by his mother in the Greenwich Village and his father lived within walking distance and De Niro spent much time with him as he grew up. His mother was raised Presbyterian but became an atheist as an adult, against his parents wishes, his grandparents had him secretly baptized into the Catholic Church while he was staying with them during his parents divorce. De Niro attended PS41, an elementary school in Manhattan. He then went to Elisabeth Irwin High School, the upper school of the Little Red School House. He was accepted into the High School of Music and Art for the ninth grade, De Niro began high school at the private McBurney School and later attended the private Rhodes Preparatory School, although he never graduated from either. Nicknamed Bobby Milk for his pallor, De Niro hung out with a group of kids as a youth in Little Italy. The direction of his future had already been foreshadowed by his debut at age 10. Along with finding relief from shyness through performing, he was also fixated by cinema and he studied acting at the Stella Adler Conservatory, as well as Lee Strasbergs Actors Studio
38.
Greenwich Village
–
Greenwich Village, often referred to by locals as simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan, New York City. Greenwich Village has been known as a haven, the Bohemian capital, the cradle of the modern LGBT movement. Groenwijck, one of the Dutch names for the village, was Anglicized to Greenwich, two of New Yorks private colleges, New York University and the New School, are located in Greenwich Village. The neighborhoods surrounding it are the East Village and NoHo to the east, SoHo to the south, the East Village was formerly considered part of the Lower East Side and never associated with Greenwich Village. The western part of Greenwich Village is known as the West Village, some believe it starts at Seventh Avenue and its southern extension, a border to the west of which the neighborhood changes substantially in character and becomes heavily residential. The Far West Village is another sub-neighborhood of Greenwich Village that is bordered on its west by the Hudson River and on its east by Hudson Street. Greenwich Village is located in New Yorks 10th congressional district, New Yorks 25th State Senate district, New Yorks 66th State Assembly district, encyclopaedia Britannicas 1956 article on New York states that the southern border of the Village is Spring Street, reflecting an earlier understanding. The newer district of SoHo has since encroached on the Villages historic border, many of the neighborhoods streets are narrow and some curve at odd angles. This is generally regarded as adding to both the character and charm of the neighborhood. In addition, as the meandering Greenwich Street used to be on the Hudson River shoreline, much of the neighborhood west of Greenwich Street is on landfill, but still follows the older street grid. When Sixth and Seventh Avenues were built in the early 20th century, they were built diagonally to the street plan. Unlike the streets of most of Manhattan above Houston Street, streets in the Village typically are named rather than numbered, while some of the formerly named streets are now numbered, they still do not always conform to the usual grid pattern when they enter the neighborhood. The Districts convoluted borders run no farther south than 4th Street or St. Lukes Place, redevelopment in that area is severely restricted, and developers must preserve the main façade and aesthetics of the buildings during renovation. In the 16th century, Native Americans referred to its farthest northwest corner, by the cove on the Hudson River at present-day Gansevoort Street, the land was cleared and turned into pasture by Dutch and freed African settlers in the 1630s, who named their settlement Noortwyck. In the 1630s, Governor Wouter van Twiller farmed tobacco on 200 acres here at his Farm in the Woods, sir Peter Warren began accumulating land in 1731 and built a frame house capacious enough to hold a sitting of the Assembly when smallpox rendered the city dangerous in 1739. The building was designed by Joseph-François Mangin, who would later co-design New York City Hall, by 1821, the prison, designed for 432 inmates, held 817 instead, a number made possible only by the frequent release of prisoners, sometimes as many as 50 a day. The oldest house remaining in Greenwich Village is the Isaacs-Hendricks House, when the Church of St. Luke in the Fields was founded in 1820 it stood in fields south of the road that led from Greenwich Lane down to a landing on the North River. In 1822, a fever epidemic in New York encouraged residents to flee to the healthier air of Greenwich Village
39.
Jump cut
–
A jump cut is a cut in film editing in which two sequential shots of the same subject are taken from camera positions that vary only slightly if at all. This type of edit gives the effect of jumping forwards in time and it is a manipulation of temporal space using the duration of a single shot, and fracturing the duration to move the audience ahead. Jump cuts, in contrast, draw attention to the nature of the film. Continuity editing uses a guideline called the 30 degree rule to avoid jump cuts, the 30 degree rule advises that for consecutive shots to appear seamless, the camera position must vary at least 30 degrees from its previous position. Some schools would call for a change in framing as well, although jump cuts can be created through the editing together of two shots filmed non-continuously, they can also be created by removing a middle section of one continuously filmed shot. Jump cuts can add a sense of speed to the sequence of events, dziga Vertofs avant-garde Russian film Man With a Movie Camera is almost entirely composed of jump cuts. Contemporary use of the cut stems from its appearance in the work of Jean-Luc Godard. In the screen shots to the right, the first image comes from the end of one shot. Recently the jump cut has been used in films like Snatch, by Guy Ritchie and it is frequently used in TV editing, in documentaries produced by Discovery Channel and National Geographic Channel, for example. It is noticeable in Universal Monsters films and music videos, the jump cut has sometimes served a political use in film. It was also used in Alexander Dovzhenkos Arsenal, where a shot of a characters face cuts closer and closer a total of nine times. In television, Rowan & Martins Laugh-In editor Arthur Schneider won an Emmy Award in 1968 for his use of the jump cut. Jump cutting remained an uncommon TV technique until shows like Homicide, the well-remembered music video for Everybody Have Fun Tonight has a jump cut for virtually every frame. British comedian Russell Kane has produced a series of comic, satirical videos, named Kaneings and these make extensive use of jump cut-style editing. Vernacular use of the jump cut can be used to describe any abrupt or noticeable edit in a film. However, technically many such over-broad usages are incorrect, in particular, a cut between two different subjects is not a true jump cut, no matter how jarring. A match cut may also be abrupt, but the viewer is meant to see the similarity between two scenes with disparate subjects rather than experience the discontinuity between the two shots. A well-known example is found at the end of the Dawn of Man sequence in the film 2001, a primitive hominid discovers the use of a bone as a weapon and throws it into the air
40.
NAACP
–
Du Bois, Mary White Ovington and Moorfield Storey. Its mission in the 21st century is to ensure the political, educational, social and their national initiatives included political lobbying, publicity efforts, and litigation strategies developed by their legal team. The group enlarged its mission in the late 20th century by considering issues such as police misconduct, the status of foreign refugees. Its name, retained in accordance with tradition, uses the common term colored people. The NAACP bestows annual awards to people of color in two categories, Image Awards are for achievement in the arts and entertainment, and Spingarn Medals are for outstanding achievement of any kind and its headquarters is in Baltimore, Maryland. The NAACP is headquartered in Baltimore, with regional offices in New York, Michigan, Georgia, Maryland, Texas, Colorado. Each regional office is responsible for coordinating the efforts of state conferences in that region, local, youth, and college chapters organize activities for individual members. In the U. S. the NAACP is administered by a 64-member board, julian Bond, Civil Rights Movement activist and former Georgia State Senator, was chairman until replaced in February 2010 by health-care administrator Roslyn Brock. For decades in the first half of the 20th century, the organization was led by its executive secretary. James Weldon Johnson and Walter F. White, who served in that role successively from 1920 to 1958, were more widely known as NAACP leaders than were presidents during those years. Departments within the NAACP govern areas of action, local chapters are supported by the Branch and Field Services department and the Youth and College department. The Legal department focuses on cases of broad application to minorities, such as systematic discrimination in employment, government. The Washington, D. C. bureau is responsible for lobbying the U. S. government, the goal of the Health Division is to advance health care for minorities through public policy initiatives and education. As of 2007, the NAACP had approximately 425,000 paying and non-paying members, the NAACPs non-current records are housed at the Library of Congress, which has served as the organizations official repository since 1964. The records held there comprise approximately five million items spanning the NAACPs history from the time of its founding until 2003, in 1905, a group of thirty-two prominent African-American leaders met to discuss the challenges facing people of color and possible strategies and solutions. They were particularly concerned by the Southern states disenfranchisement of blacks starting with Mississippis passage of a new constitution in 1890, through 1908, southern legislatures dominated by white Democrats ratified new constitutions and laws creating barriers to voter registration and more complex election rules. In practice, this caused the exclusion of most blacks and many whites from the political system in southern states. Black voter registration and turnout dropped markedly in the South as a result of such legislation, men who had been voting for thirty years in the South were told they did not qualify to register
41.
United States Department of the Treasury
–
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue, the Department is administered by the Secretary of the Treasury, who is a member of the Cabinet. On February 13,2017, the Senate confirmed Steven Mnuchin as Secretary of the Treasury, the first Secretary of the Treasury was Alexander Hamilton, who was sworn into office on September 11,1789. Hamilton was asked by President George Washington to serve after first having asked Robert Morris, Hamilton almost single-handedly worked out the nations early financial system, and for several years was a major presence in Washingtons administration as well. His portrait is on the obverse of the U. S. ten-dollar bill while the Treasury Department building is shown on the reverse. Besides the Secretary, one of the best-known Treasury officials is the Treasurer of the United States whose signature, along with the Treasury Secretarys, the Treasury prints and mints all paper currency and coins in circulation through the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the United States Mint. The Department also collects all federal taxes through the Internal Revenue Service, the Congress had no power to levy and collect taxes, nor was there a tangible basis for securing funds from foreign investors or governments. The delegates resolved to issue paper money in the form of bills of credit, the Congress stipulated that each of the colonies contribute to the Continental governments funds. With the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4,1776, despite the infusion of foreign and domestic loans to pay for a war of independence, the United Colonies were unable to establish a well-organized agency for financial administration. Michael Hillegas was first called Treasurer of the United States on May 14,1777, the Treasury Office was reorganized three times between 1778 and 1781. The $241.5 million of paper Continental Dollars devalued rapidly, by May 1781, the dollar collapsed at a rate of from 500 to 1000 to 1 against hard currency. Protests against the worthless money swept the colonies and angry Americans coined the expression not worth a Continental, Robert Morris was designated Superintendent of Finance in 1781 and restored stability to the nations finances. Morris, a colonial merchant, was nicknamed the Financier because of his reputation for procuring funds or goods on a moments notice. His staff included a Comptroller, a Treasurer, a Register, and auditors, who managed the finances through 1784. The Treasury Board of three Commissioners continued to oversee the finances of the confederation of former colonies until September 1789, the First Congress of the United States was called to convene in New York on March 4,1789, marking the beginning of government under the Constitution. Alexander Hamilton took the oath of office as the first Secretary of the Treasury on September 11,1789, Hamilton had served as George Washingtons aide-de-camp during the Revolution, and was of great importance in the ratification of the Constitution. Because of his financial and managerial acumen, Hamilton was a choice for solving the problem of the new nations heavy war debt. Hamiltons first official act was to submit a report to Congress in which he laid the foundation for the financial health
42.
Op art
–
Op art, short for optical art, is a style of visual art that uses optical illusions. Op art works are abstract, with better known pieces created in black. Typically, they give the viewer the impression of movement, hidden images, flashing and vibrating patterns, the antecedents of Op art, in terms of graphic and color effects, can be traced back to Neo-impressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism and Dada. Time Magazine coined the term op art in 1964, in response to Julian Stanczaks show Optical Paintings at the Martha Jackson Gallery, works now described as op art had been produced for several years before Times 1964 article. For instance, Victor Vasarelys painting Zebras is made up entirely of curvilinear black, consequently, the stripes appear to both meld into and burst forth from the surrounding background. Martin Gardner featured Op Art and its relation to mathematics in his July 1965 Mathematical Games column in Scientific American, in Italy, Franco Grignani, who originally trained as an architect, became a leading force of graphic design where Op Art or Kenetic Art was central. His Woolmark Logo is probably the most famous of all his designs, Op art perhaps more closely derives from the constructivist practices of the Bauhaus. This German school, founded by Walter Gropius, stressed the relationship of form and function within a framework of analysis, students learned to focus on the overall design or entire composition to present unified works. Op art also stems from Trompe-lœil and Anamorphosis, links with psychological research have also been made, particularly with Gestalt theory and Psychophysiology. When the Bauhaus was forced to close in 1933, many of its instructors fled to the United States, there, the movement took root in Chicago and eventually at the Black Mountain College in Asheville, North Carolina, where Anni and Josef Albers eventually taught. The expression Kinetic art in modern form first appeared at the Museum für Gestaltung of Zürich in 1960. Some members of the group Nouvelle tendance in Europe also were engaged in Op art as Almir Mavignier and Gerhard von Graevenitz, the term Op irritated many of the artists labeled under it, specifically including Albers and Stanczak. They had discussed upon the birth of the term a better label, from 1964, Arnold Schmidt had several solo exhibitions of his large, black and white shaped optical paintings exhibited at the Terrain Gallery in New York. The exhibition focused on the aspects of art, which result both from the illusion of movement and the interaction of color relationships. The exhibition was enormously popular with the public, though less so with the critics. Critics dismissed op art as portraying nothing more than trompe-lœil, or tricks that fool the eye, regardless, op arts popularity with the public increased, and op art images were used in a number of commercial contexts. One of Brian de Palmas early works was a film on the exhibition. Riley tried to sue an American company, without success, for using one of her paintings as the basis of a fabric design, Op art is a perceptual experience related to how vision functions
