1.
Olivier Dahan
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Olivier Dahan is a French film director and screenwriter. His third directed film, La Vie en rose, was one of the only French cinema films ever to win two Academy Awards, including the first acting Oscar in the French language. In 1991, Olivier Dahan received a diploma in art at the Art school of Marseille, then shot several short subjects, in the beginning of 2004, he decided to shoot a film on the life of the French singer Édith Piaf. The film was a success and the actress Marion Cotillard won the Academy Award for Best Actress, upon accepting the award, she credited Olivier Dahan, for changing her life in whole and as an actress. In the afterwards of the Academy Award ceremony, Olivier Dahan started to work on an English-language road movie named My Own Love Song released on April 7,2010
2.
Uday Chopra
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Uday Chopra is a Bollywood actor, producer, screenwriter and assistant director. He is the son of the late Yash Chopra and brother of Aditya Chopra and his sister-in-law is the actress Rani Mukerji. Uday Chopra worked as an assistant director on a number of his fathers and brothers films under the Yash Raj Films banner. Chopra is the owner-manager of YRF Entertainment and manager of Yash Raj Films along with his mother Pamela Chopra and his brother Aditya Chopra, who owns the company. In July 2012, Chopra founded his own company, Yomics, in 1994 Chopra produced Yeh Dillagi starring Akshay Kumar, Kajol and Saif Ali Khan. He made his debut in the movie Mohabbatein. Chopra has mostly done films under his fathers production house and he starred in 2004 in the action thriller Dhoom and in its sequel Dhoom 2, released in 2006. He also starred in Dhoom 3, the sequel to Dhoom next to Aamir Khan in 2013. He is currently in Los Angeles learning film making at UCLA, in 2014 Chopra produced two films. Grace of Monaco was the film about Grace Kelly starring Nicole Kidman in the leading role. He produced the Hollywood film The Longest Week, a comedy-drama starring Olivia Wilde and it is the first project of Yash Raj Films subsidiary Hollywood production house YRF Entertainment. Official website Uday Chopra at the Internet Movie Database Uday Chopra news at DNA India
3.
Nicole Kidman
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Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an Australian actress and film producer. Kidmans breakthrough roles were in the 1989 feature film thriller Dead Calm, other successful films followed in the late 1990s. Her performance in the musical Moulin Rouge, earned her a second Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical and her first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her performances in the drama Birth and the thriller The Paperboy earned her Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress and her performance in the 2010 drama Rabbit Hole, which she also produced, earned Kidman further accolades, including a third nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 2012, she earned her first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for her role in the biopic Hemingway & Gellhorn. Kidmans performance in Lion earned her a fourth Academy Award nomination, Kidman has been a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF since 1994 and for UNIFEM since 2006. In 2006, Kidman was made a Companion in the Order of Australia, as a result of being born to Australian parents in Hawaii, Kidman has dual citizenship in Australia and the United States. Kidman founded and owns the production company Blossom Films, Kidman was born 20 June 1967 in Honolulu, Hawaii, while her Australian parents were temporarily in the United States on educational visas. Her father was Antony Kidman, a biochemist, clinical psychologist and author and her mother, Janelle Ann, is a nursing instructor who edited her husbands books and was a member of the Womens Electoral Lobby. Kidmans ancestry includes Irish, Scottish, and English heritage, being born in Hawaii, she was given the Hawaiian name Hōkūlani. The inspiration for the name came from a baby elephant born around the time at the Honolulu Zoo but the name is also a commonly used Hawaiian name for girls. At the time of Kidmans birth, her father was a student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He became a fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health of the United States. Opposed to the war in Vietnam, Kidmans parents participated in anti-war protests while living in Washington, the family returned to Australia when Kidman was four and her mother now lives on Sydneys North Shore. Kidman has a sister, Antonia Kidman, a journalist. Kidman attended Lane Cove Public School and North Sydney Girls High School and she was enrolled in ballet at three and showed her natural talent for acting in her primary and high school years. She says that she was first inspired to become an actress upon seeing Margaret Hamiltons performance as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. Kidman has revealed that she was timid as a child, saying, I am very shy – really shy – I even had a stutter as a kid, which I slowly got over, but I still regress into that shyness
4.
Tim Roth
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Timothy Simon Tim Roth is an English actor and director. He made his role in the 1982 television film Made in Britain. He garnered critical acclaim for his role as Myron in the 1984 film The Hit, Roth gained more attention for his performances in The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, Vincent & Theo and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. He later earned international recognition for appearing in Quentin Tarantinos films, such as Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms and The Hateful Eight. For the historical drama Rob Roy, Roth won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and he made his directorial debut with The War Zone, for which he received numerous accolades. Roth attended the Strand School in Tulse Hill, as a young man, he wanted to be a sculptor and studied at Londons Camberwell College of Art. Roth made his acting début at the age of 21, playing a white power skinhead named Trevor in a 1982 TV film titled Made in Britain. He played an East End character in King of the Ghetto and he played a shy young man in the 1984 Mike Leigh film Meantime. In 1985, he appeared in the television film Murder with Mirrors and he played an apprentice hitman in Stephen Frears The Hit, earning an Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer. In 1989 he had a role as the buffoonish lackey Mitchell in Peter Greenaways The Cook. In 1990, he starred as Vincent van Gogh in Robert Altmans Vincent & Theo, Roth and other young British actors of the time, such as Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Daniel Day-Lewis, Bruce Payne, and Paul McGann, were dubbed the Brit Pack. Roth was cast as Mr. Orange in Quentin Tarantinos 1992 film Reservoir Dogs, in 1994, Tarantino cast him as a robber in Pulp Fiction. They also collaborated in the 1995 film Four Rooms, where he played Ted and his role as Archibald Cunningham in Rob Roy earned him the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, a Golden Globe nomination. In 1996, he starred in Woody Allens musical comedy Everyone Says I Love You and he also starred as Danny Boodman T. D. Lemon 1900 in The Legend of 1900, and in the same year and he made his directorial debut in 1999 with The War Zone, a film version of Alexander Stuarts novel. In 2001, he portrayed General Thade in Tim Burtons Planet of the Apes, Roth was the original choice for the role of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series, but he turned it down for Planet of the Apes. He was considered for the part of Hannibal Lecter in the 2001 film Hannibal before Anthony Hopkins returned to reclaim the role and he appeared in Francis Ford Coppolas Youth Without Youth and Michael Hanekes Funny Games, then starred as Emil Blonsky / Abomination in The Incredible Hulk. From 2009 to 2011, he starred in a series on Fox called Lie To Me and he played Dr. Cal Lightman, an expert on body language who assists local and federal law organisations in the investigations of crimes
5.
Frank Langella
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Frank A. Langella, Jr. is an American stage and film actor. Additionally, Langella has won two Obie Awards and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in the production of Frost/Nixon. Langella, an Italian American, was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, Langella attended Washington Elementary School and Bayonne High School in Bayonne. He remains a brother of the Alpha Chi Rho fraternity, Langella appeared off-Broadway before he made his first foray on a Broadway stage in New York in Federico García Lorcas Yerma at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, Lincoln Center, on December 8,1966. Despite his initial misgivings about continuing to play the role, he was persuaded to star opposite Laurence Olivier in the subsequent film directed by John Badham. But Langella would continue to film and television with his stage work. He repeated the role on Broadway in 1987 in Charles Marowitzs play Sherlocks Last Case and that same year, Langella would also portray the villain Skeletor in Masters of the Universe, which he has described as one of his favorite roles. In 1988, Langella co-starred in the film And God Created Woman, in 1993, he made a three-episode appearance on Star Trek, Deep Space Nine as the devious Jaro Essa. He also appeared as Al Baker in Dominance, a 2003 episode of Law & Order, on film, he played Clare Quilty in Adrian Lynes adaptation of Lolita and appeared as a villainous pirate in the summer 1995 release Cutthroat Island. His film work includes roles in George Clooneys Good Night. Langella received critical acclaim as well as the Boston Society of Film Critics Award in 2007 for his portrayal of an elderly novelist in Starting Out in the Evening. He was cast as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgans Frost/Nixon, which received enthusiastic reviews during a run at the Donmar Warehouse, jacobs Theater in April 2007, culminating in Langellas third Tony Award. He reprised the role of Nixon in the 2008 Oscar nominated Best Picture film Frost/Nixon and he received Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and BAFTA nominations for Best Actor for his performance. He was also nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Actor category for the role, in 2000, he played the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in a musical version of A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden. He starred as Sir Thomas More in the 2008 Broadway revival of A Man for All Seasons, in late 2009, he starred alongside Cameron Diaz and re-united with Superman Returns co-star James Marsden in the Richard Kelly film The Box. Langella starred in the drama thriller Unknown, which was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, in October and November 2013, Langella played King Lear at the Minerva, Chichester Festival Theatre in Chichester, UK. It travelled to the Harvey Theater at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York in 2014, in 2016, he played the title role in Doug Hughes production of the US premiere of Florian Zellers play The Father at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on Broadway. Langella was married to Ruth Weil from June 14,1977 to their divorce in 1996 and he also then lived with actress/comedian Whoopi Goldberg, whom he had met on the set of Eddie
6.
Parker Posey
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Parker Christian Posey is an American actress and musician. She later played roles in Christopher Guest mockumentaries, including Best in Show, A Mighty Wind. Her other film appearances include Youve Got Mail, Scream 3, Superman Returns, on television, Posey has guest-starred in series such as Will & Grace, Boston Legal, The Good Wife, Louie, Parks and Recreation, and Search Party. Posey was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Lynda, a chef and she has a twin brother, Christopher. Poseys first name was a tribute by her father to 1950s model Suzy Parker, after Poseys birth, her family lived in Monroe, Louisiana for 11 years. They later moved to Laurel, Mississippi, where her mother worked as a chef and culinary instructor for the Viking Range Corporation in Greenwood, Posey was raised as a Catholic. Posey attended the State University of New York at Purchase, where she studied drama and roomed with actresses Sherry Stringfield, Posey got her first break in television with the role of Tess Shelby on the daytime soap opera As the World Turns. Poseys first major role in a film was in Dazed and Confused with Ben Affleck, Matthew McConaughey. The film received reviews from critics and has been identified as a cult classic. In 1994, she appeared in Hal Hartleys short film Opera No, throughout the late 1990s, Posey co-starred in 32 independent films and was nicknamed Queen of the Indies. In an interview in January 2012, Parker said that the title has sometimes been a hindrance, Im trying to work in studio movies. I get feedback from my agent saying, Shes too much of an indie queen, and then on the other side, my name doesnt get the financing to do a movie over $1 million. And Im called the indie queen, so its really a challenging path because I know so much about the indie side of the business. And this stuff gets projected onto me, people are like, Youre here every year, you do so many indie movies. And Im like, No, I did Broken English five years ago and she has co-starred in Christopher Guests films, including five of his mock documentaries, the first being Waiting for Guffman in 1996. In 1998, Posey appeared in Hartleys film Henry Fool, in 2000, she starred in Guests third mock documentary Best in Show, and in the big budget horror film Scream 3. Critical reaction to Poseys performance in the film was highly positive. However, she lost to Adam Sandler, who won it for his performance in Big Daddy, the next year she played the antagonist in Josie and the Pussycats
7.
Milo Ventimiglia
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Milo Anthony Ventimiglia is an American actor. He starred as Peter Petrelli on NBCs Heroes from 2006 to 2010, for which he received nominations for Teen Choice, Saturn, Ventimiglia also appeared as Ian Mitchell on the Crackle original series Chosen as well as Sean Bennigan on The Whispers. He reprised his role as Jess Mariano on Netflixs reunion miniseries, Gilmore Girls, A Year in the Life, Ventimiglia was born in Anaheim, California, the son of Carol and Peter Ventimiglia, a Vietnam veteran. His father is of Sicilian descent and his mother is of English and Scottish ancestry, the youngest of three children, he has two older sisters, Leslie and Laurel. Ventimiglia attended El Modena High School in Orange, California, where he wrestled, acted in drama productions, at eighteen years of age, Ventimiglia studied at the American Conservatory Theater for their summer program. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles as a theatre major At 18 years of age, Ventimiglia started auditioning, booking jobs, and working his way up. His first starring role was as a gay teenager in Must Be the Music, from there, Ventimiglia studied at UCLA before landing a role on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. He has guest starred on television series as CSI, Crime Scene Investigation, Sabrina. He had the part of the character, Jed Perry, in the short-lived FOX TV series. From 2001 to 2004, Ventimiglia played brooding teen Jess Mariano on Gilmore Girls, in season four he dropped down to a guest star/recurring cast member, and he came back for two episodes in season six. He signed on for a spin-off of Gilmore Girls called Windward Circle which was to be focused on the relationship between Jess and his father, but the proposed series never made it to air. In the third and final season of American Dreams, Ventimiglia played Chris Pierce, Pierce and his single mother, Shelly, a Playboy bunny, move into the house next to the Pryors. Pierce evades the draft, fearing he will be forced to fight in the Vietnam War, in 2005, he starred in the mid-season replacement series The Bedford Diaries, for which he did not have to audition. The producers had only Ventimiglia in mind but the show lasted eight episodes and was one of several shows not picked up by the newly formed network The CW. Most recently, he played Robert Rocky Jr. Balboa, the son of Rocky Balboa and he starred as Peter Petrelli in the NBC program Heroes, a show about ordinary people discovering they have superpowers. Alongside his work in Heroes, Ventimiglia has also taken on other projects, in mid-2007 he starred as the love interest of pop/R&B singer Fergie in the music video for Big Girls Dont Cry. In 2008, he starred in the horror film Pathology, the movie co-starred Charmed actress Alyssa Milano and was directed by Marc Schoelermann for MGM. After working with writers Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor on Pathology, Ventimiglia appeared in the next film
8.
Derek Jacobi
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Sir Derek George Jacobi CBE is an English actor and stage director. A forceful, commanding presence, Jacobi has enjoyed a successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya. He has twice awarded a Laurence Olivier Award, first for his performance of the eponymous hero in Cyrano de Bergerac in 1983. He also received a Tony Award for his performance in Much Ado About Nothing in 1984 and his stage work includes playing Octavius Caesar, Edward II, Richard III and Thomas Becket. He holds a knighthood and has appointed a Knight First Class of the Order of the Dannebrog. His paternal great-grandfather had emigrated from Germany to England during the 19th century, Jacobi describes his childhood as happy. In his teens he went to the Leyton Sixth Form College and became a part of the drama club. While in the sixth-form, he starred in a production of Hamlet, at 18 he won a scholarship to the University of Cambridge, where he read history at St Johns College and earned his degree. Younger members of the university at the time included Ian McKellen, during his studies at Cambridge, Jacobi played many parts including Hamlet, which was taken on a tour to Switzerland, where he met Richard Burton. As a result of his performance of Edward II at Cambridge and he played Laertes in the National Theatres inaugural production of Hamlet opposite Peter OToole in 1963. Olivier cast him as Cassio in the successful National Theatre stage production of Othello and he played Andrei in the NT production and film of Three Sisters, both featuring Olivier. On 27 July 1965, Jacobi played Brindsley Miller in the first production of Peter Shaffers Black Comedy and it was presented by the National Theatre at Chichester and subsequently in London. After eight years at the National Theatre, Jacobi left in 1971 to pursue different roles, in 1972, he starred in the BBC serial Man of Straw an adaptation of Heinrich Manns book Der Untertan, directed by Herbert Wise. Jacobi was increasingly busy with stage and screen acting, but his big breakthrough came in 1976 when he played the role in the BBCs series I. He cemented his reputation with his performance as the stammering, twitching Emperor Claudius, in 1979, thanks to his international popularity, he took Hamlet on a theatrical world tour through England, Egypt, Greece, Sweden, Australia, Japan and China, playing Prince Hamlet. He was invited to perform the role at Kronborg Castle, Denmark, known as Elsinore Castle, in 1978 he appeared in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of Richard II, with Sir John Gielgud and Dame Wendy Hiller. In 1980, Jacobi took the role in the BBCs Hamlet, made his Broadway debut in The Suicide. In 1986, he made his West End debut in Breaking the Code by Hugh Whitemore, starring in the role of Alan Turing, the play was taken to Broadway
9.
Paz Vega
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María Paz Campos Trigo, better known as Paz Vega, is a Spanish actress. Vega was born in Seville to a mother and a retired bullfighter father. Vegas younger sister has performed as a flamenco dancer, Vega has described her family as traditional and Catholic. She took her name from her grandmother. She decided to become an actress after attending a performance of Federico García Lorcas La casa de Bernarda Alba when she was 16, after completing compulsory education at 16, she was accepted at the Centro Andaluz de Teatro stage school. After two years at the school and two more years studying journalism, Vega moved to Madrid. Vega made her debut in the Spanish TV series, Menudo es mi padre. After appearing in two series in 1997—Más que amigos and teen drama Compañeros—she went on to the silver screen in 1999 in Zapping. The same year she also had a role in the David Menkes movie I Will Survive alongside Emma Suárez, Juan Diego Botto. Vega found success in 1999s 7 Vidas, the series was billed as a Spanish Friends and went on to become one of the countrys best-loved domestic sitcoms. Vega played Laura, a perky Andalusian girl who had come to stay with David, the series was broadcast on Telecinco and finished on 12 April 2006, albeit without Vega. In 2001, she starred in Julio Médems film Sex and Lucia and she appeared in a supporting role in the 2004 James L. Brooks film Spanglish opposite Adam Sandler. In 2006, she co-starred with Morgan Freeman in the independent film 10 Items or Less, in 2008, she co-starred with Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, and Scarlett Johansson in The Spirit. In 2011, Vega had a role in Michele Placidos film Vallanzasca –The Angels of Evil, Vega also works as a model, she is signed to 1/One Management in New York City. On May 2011, Vega replaced Penélope Cruz as the face for LOreal Spain, Vega and her Venezuelan husband, Orson Salazar, had their first child, son Orson, on 2 May 2007. Her second child, daughter Ava, was born on 17 July 2009 and their third child, son Lenon, was born on 13 August 2010
10.
Christopher Gunning
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Christopher Gunning is an English composer of concert works and music for films and television. Gunning was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire and he studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where his tutors included Edmund Rubbra and Richard Rodney Bennett. He also has won three Ivor Novello Awards, for the TV miniseries Rebecca, and the scores for Under Suspicion. His other film scores include Goodbye Gemini, Hands of the Ripper, Ooh. You Are Awful, the version of Man About the House, In Celebration, Rogue Male, Charlie Muffin, Rise and Fall of Idi Amin, When the Whales Came, Lighthouse Hill. In the 1970s and 1980s, Gunning collaborated with rock musician Colin Blunstone and was responsible for the string arrangement on Blunstones 1972 hit Say You Dont Mind. He also provided the string arrangements on Wont Somebody Dance With Me. Gunning composed the music for all of the Poirot TV films starring David Suchet. In addition to performances of his television and film scores, Gunnings Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra and this has been released by Chandos Records. Gunning has now completed eight symphonies, christopher Gunning at the Internet Movie Database Chandos Records
11.
Canal+
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Canal+ is a French premium cable television channel launched in 1984. It is 100% owned by the Canal+ Group, which in turn is owned by Vivendi SA, the channel broadcasts several kinds of programming, mostly encrypted. Unencrypted programming can be viewed free of charge on Canal+ and on satellite on Canal+ Clair, after the announcement about the launch of the fourth French television channel, Canal+ started broadcasting on 4 November 1984. In 1986, the channel had one million subscribers and it has produced numerous films of auteurs, including David Lynchs The Straight Story, Mulholland Dr. and Inland Empire. With the launch of the satellite channel CanalSatellite on 27 April 1996. A fourth channel, called Canal+ Vert came along on 31 August 1998, the channels changed their names to Canal+ Confort, Canal+ Cinéma and Canal+ Sport in 1 November 2003. In September 2005, Canal+, Canal+ Cinéma and Canal+ Sport started broadcasting in the French digital terrestrial television network, the free-to-air parts of Canal+ had already been broadcasting for a few months by then. In August 2008, Canal+ started broadcasting the encrypted parts of its channel in high-definition in the terrestrial network. Canal+ announced plans to turn off the analogue signals by 2010. In February 2013, for €29 million per year, Canal+ bought the TV rights for the FIA Formula One World Championship, the same year, the group bought the rights of the English Premier League, the most watched football league in the world. In July 2014, the launch of a new pan-African TV channel - A+ - was announced, based in Abidjan, it aims to become the leading television company in French-speaking Africa. American animated TV Shows, American Dad, drawn Together, Family Guy, South Park and The Tom and Jerry Show. American reality TV Shows, The Simple Life, japanese animated TV Shows, Fullmetal Alchemist, Monster, Noir and Samurai Champloo. British TV Shows, Skins, Merlin, Wire in the Blood, The Office, canadian TV shows, Flashpoint, Little Mosque on the Prairie, Life with Derek, Naturally Sadie, Total Drama, Revenge of the Island. Canadian/French TV Shows, Donkey Kong Country French erotic TV series, X Femmes South Korean TV Series, prior to 2008 it was called Canal+ Le Bouquet. As Canal+ was launched in new markets the brand has used in several countries. When launching additional channels the channels were usually given colour-coded names, such as Canal+ Blue, Canal+ Green, many of these subsidiaries have been sold and as of 2007, only the Spanish and Polish Canal+ were partially owned by French Canal+. Canal+ Spain, launched in 1990 in Spain by Sogecable as a pay channel
12.
Gaumont Film Company
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The Gaumont Film Company is a French mini-major film studio founded by the engineer-turned-inventor Léon Gaumont, in 1895. It is the first and oldest film company in the world, founded before other studios such as Pathé, Titanus, Nordisk Film, Universal, Gaumont predominantly produces, co-produces, and distributes films, and in 2011, 95% of Gaumonts consolidated revenues came from the film division. The company is becoming a TV series producer with its new American subsidiary Gaumont International Television as well as its existing French production features. Originally dealing in photographic apparatus, the company began producing films in 1897 to promote its make of camera-projector. Léon Gaumonts secretary Alice Guy-Blaché became the motion picture industry’s first female director, from 1905 to 1914, its Cité Elgé studios at La Villette, France, were the largest in the world. The company manufactured its own equipment and mass-produced films until 1907, when World War I broke out, he was replaced by Léonce Perret, who continued his career in the United States a few years later. The company headquarters are in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Gaumont opened foreign offices and acquired theatre chains Gaumont British, which later notably produced several films directed by Alfred Hitchcock such as The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes. Along with its competitor Pathé Frères, Gaumont dominated the industry in Europe until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Following the World War I, Gaumont suffered economic losses due to increased competition from American Hollywood productions, in 1925, the studios output had decreased to only 3 films. In addition, Gaumont was unable to pace with the cost of technological changes. Struck by mounting debts in the early 1930s and the effects of the Great Depression, in 1937, the studio ceased production and operated only as a theater and distribution company. The company was purchased by the French corporation Havas in 1938, renamed Société Nouvelle des Etablissements Gaumont, during the later years of World War II, Gaumont was effected by the financial ruin of Frances economy as well as the physical destruction of its facilities. The company ceased production until 1947, the period was to see the return to prominence of Gaumont Studios. On February 2,2000, Philippe Binant, technical manager of Digital Cinema Project at Gaumont, from 1993 to early 2004, Gaumount and Disney made a partnership for producing films for theater distribution. In 2001, Gaumont spun off the division into a joint-venture with Pathé since known as Les Cinémas Gaumont Pathé. Gaumont owns a 34% stake in the entity, which controls a large network in France, Switzerland. As of 2011, this stake is worth €214 million, in 2004, Gaumont continued its development with Pathé to set up another joint-venture, Gaumont-Pathé Archives. Gaumont owns 57. 5% of this entity, which contains newsreels, documentaries, from early 2004 to 2007, the company had a partnership with Sony for producing films and for theater and DVD distribution worldwide
13.
TF1
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TF1 is a private national French TV channel, controlled by TF1 Group, whose major share-holder is Bouygues. TF1s average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network and its also considered to be the most viewed television channel in Europe. Flagship series include CSI, The Voice and House M. D, the channel is part of the TF1 Group of mass media companies, which also includes the news channel LCI and a 49% stake in pan-European sports network Eurosport. Together with France Télévisions, TF1 co-managed the international French news channel France 24 but has sold its share. TF1 had possessed the satellite-network TPS, which have sold to the Canal+ Group. Radio-PTT Vision began operations on 26 April 1935 as the first television station in France, using a 30-line mechanical television system based on the Nipkow disk. On 4 January 1937 the broadcasting hours were changed such that television programmes were aired from 5 pm until 10 pm Wednesdays to Fridays, however, broadcasts using the Nipkow disk system continued alongside the new electronic system until 10 April 1938. In July 1938, a decree of the French PTT agency fixed the French broadcast television standard as transmitting on 455 lines VHF, the adoption of the electronic standard marked the end of mechanical television in France, and the advent of electronic television to obtain much better image quality. RN Télévision abruptly stopped broadcasts on 3 September 1939 following the entry of France into the Second World War, television broadcasts resumed in occupied France on 7 May 1943 as Fernsehsender Paris, under the control of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht. It was on air in German and French four days a week from 10 am to noon, Fernsehsender Paris stopped broadcasts on 12 August 1944, one week before the liberation of Paris. On 20 November 1948, the Secretary of State for Information, François Mitterrand decreed the adoption of the 819-line high-definition VHF standard, radiodiffusion française was renamed as Radiodiffusion-télévision française on 9 February 1949, and thus began the growth of television as an accepted mass medium in France. On 29 May 1949 the first news programme aired on RTF TV and this period marked the introduction of commercial advertising on Première chaîne de lORTF which began on 1 October 1968. On 8 January 1969, the ORTF created a company called Régie française de publicité to handle all advertising on the ORTF channels. TF1, was created on 1 January 1975 when law no 74-6967 August 1974 came into effect, commissaire Cordier, R. I. S Police scientifique, Les Cordier, juge et flic, Extrême limite, La Vie devant nous, Joséphine, ange gardien. Some commentators accuse TF1 of being an excessively populist, commercialised channel, certainly, a large proportion of the schedule consists of gameshows, sensational documentaries and dubbed versions of TV series. The channels news service is perceived as consisting of more celebrity news, on 16 April 2009, the employee responsible for the Web innovation department was fired for criticizing the HADOPI law in a private email sent to a Member of Parliament. The management of TF1 was notified about the e-mail by the Ministry for Culture and Communication, what we sell to Coca-Cola is available human brain time. Nothing is more difficult than obtaining this availability and this is where permanent change is located
14.
UMedia
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Nadia Khamlichi, Adrian Politowski and Jeremy Burdek created Motion Investment Group in 2004. After 109 million euros were raised via the Tax Shelter in Belgium and 78 films cofinanced up till 2009, they decided to expand their cinematographic activities, Umedia is the parent company of the following businesses, fundraising, production, international sales, VFX, distribution. Formerly called Motion Investment Group, uFund, the arm of Umedia, is responsible for fundraising via the mechanism of the Tax Shelter. Raising over 50 million euros a year, uFund finances between 30 and 40 projects every year and is one of the sources of audiovisual financing in Belgium in 2014. Umedia International is the latest addition to the group and it manages international sales and financing for the group. The company sells movies produced by third parties as well as uMedia’s own in-house productions and coproductions, Umedia VFX is a visual effects studio in Brussels and London which is involved in budgeting, previz, design, on-set and 2D and 3D VFX
15.
The Weinstein Company
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The Weinstein Company is a mini-major film studio, founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 2005. The studio originated after the Weinsteins had left Miramax Films, which they had co-founded in 1979 and they retained ownership of Dimension Films. TWC is one of the largest mini-major film studios in North America, in February 2006, TWC announced a distribution pact with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. MGM distributed the product domestically in theatres, while TWC will retain ownership of their product. On July 13,2006, the Weinsteins and Robert L. Johnson announced the creation of a joint venture studio titled Our Stories Films, in late August 2006, it was announced that TWC and co-investors Hubbard Media Group purchased Ovation TV, an arts-focused cable channel. In November 2006, TWC announced a deal with Blockbuster Video to give the video renting company exclusive rights for rentals starting on January 1,2007. However, under the First Sale Doctrine of United States copyright law, the company is the co-producer, along with Miramax, of the Lifetime reality series Project Runway, which for its first five seasons aired on Bravo. The series won a Peabody Award in 2007, on May 23,2007, the Weinstein Company announced the launch of three new direct-to-video labels, The Miriam Collection, Kaleidoscope TWC, and Dimension Extreme. On February 8,2008, TWC launched a distributor called Third Rail Releasing that released films aimed mainly at the video market. On September 25,2008, TWC ended its three-year distribution pact with MGM three months before the December 31 end date and this happened in part because TWC had struck a television output deal with Showtime, though not through MGMs output deal with them. During the span of their pact, TWC paid for marketing and prints, in 2009, TWC might have lost the rights to the movie Sin City 2. The first film cost only 40 million dollars to make and brought in almost 159 million in box office alone, Weinstein Company lawyer Bert Fields quickly denied this report saying TWCs rights to produce sequels to Sin City remain intact as they always have been. Any suggestion to the contrary is complete hogwash, in June 2009, the Weinstein Company announced the hiring of a financial adviser to restructure the finances of the company. Since July 2009, many occurred at TWC, and the release dates of some films were pushed back. On September 14,2009, TWC sold its stake in Genius Products, Genius however, had announced to exit the home video distribution business and the DVD rights that were distributed by Genius were sold to Vivendi Entertainment. TWC also struck a deal with Vivendi, the same year, it won a Peabody Award for The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency. In January 2010, TWC announced more layoffs at the company after the box office failure of Nine, on February 21,2010, The Weinstein Company made a deal with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment releasing the DVDs through Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group. Bob and Harvey Weinstein attempted to buy back Miramax from Disney in 2010, an ownership interest in TWCs library at that point, consisting of 200 titles, was sold off to Goldman Sachs and Assured Guaranty in 2010
16.
2014 Cannes Film Festival
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The 67th annual Cannes Film Festival was held from 14 to 25 May 2014. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the competition section. The Palme dOr was awarded to the Turkish film Winter Sleep directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, the festival opened with the long delayed Grace of Monaco, directed by Olivier Dahan and starring Nicole Kidman as Grace Kelly, which played out of competition. The restored 4K version of Sergio Leones 1964 western A Fistful of Dollars, served as the closing night film. Due to European Parliament elections taking place on 25 May 2014, the winner of the Palme dOr was announced on 24 May, the Official Selection of films for the 2014 festival, including the line-up for the Main Competition, was announced on 17 April 2014. French actor Lambert Wilson hosted the opening and closing ceremonies, the films announced to compete for the Palme dOr were named at the Cannes press conference on 17 April 2014. Party Girl, directed by Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger and Samuel Theis, was selected as the film in the Un Certain Regard section. Italian film A passo duomo by Giovanni Aloi was removed from the selection because Aloi broke the regulations for the selection, the Cinéfondation section focuses on films made by students at film schools. The following 16 entries were selected, out of more than 1,631 submissions from 320 different schools, half of the films selected have been directed by women. The line-up for the International Critics Week was announced on 21 April at the sections website, FLA, directed by Djinn Carrénard, and Hippocrate, directed by Thomas Lilti, were selected as the opening and closing films of the Semaine de la Critique section. Feature films Special Screenings Shorts selection The line-up for the Directors Fortnight was announced on 22 April, girlhood, directed by Céline Sciamma, and Pride, directed by Matthew Warchus, were selected as the opening and closing films of the Directors Fortnight section. Feature films Special screenings Shorts selection The line-up for the Cannes Classics section was announced on 4 April 2014, italian actress Sophia Loren was announced as the guest of honour. Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan called the win a surprise for me and dedicated the win to the youth of Turkey as the country undergoes political turmoil. Prior to the start of Cannes, Winter Sleep was considered the favorite to win the Palme dOr, some found it to be too long and difficult to finish, while others called it a great revelation. The jury, however, loved the film, Jury president Jane Campion said If I had the guts to be as honest about his characters as this director is, Id be very proud of myself. Winter Sleep is the story of Mr. Aydin, an actor who now runs mountaintop hotel. Aydin sees himself as the regions kind ruler, intervening in the business of the people below the mountain. In reality, almost everyone, including his wife, dislikes Aydin and he has a pompous column in the local newspaper and is writing a book on history of the Turkish theatre
17.
Biographical film
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A biographical film, or biopic, is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a person and the central characters real name is used. Because the figures portrayed are actual people, whose actions and characteristics are known to the public, biopic roles are considered some of the most demanding of actors and actresses. Biopic scholars include George F. Custen of the College of Staten Island, Custen, in Bio/Pics, How Hollywood Constructed Public History, regards the genre as having died with the Hollywood studio era, and in particular, Darryl F. Zanuck. On the other hand, Binghams 2010 study Whose Lives Are They Anyway, ellen Cheshires Bio-Pics, a life in pictures examines UK/US films from the 1990s and 2000s. Each chapter reviews key films linked by profession and concludes with further viewing list, christopher Robé has also written on the gender norms that underlie the biopic in his article, Taking Hollywood Back in the 2009 issue of Cinema Journal. The Hurricane is not a documentary but a parable, some biopics purposely stretch the truth. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind was based on game show host Chuck Barris widely debunked yet popular memoir of the same name, Kafka incorporated both the life of author Franz Kafka and the surreal aspects of his fiction. The Errol Flynn film They Died with Their Boots On tells the story of Custer but is highly romanticized, casting can be controversial for biographical films. Casting is often a balance between similarity in looks and ability to portray the characteristics of the person, anthony Hopkins felt that he should not have played Richard Nixon in Nixon because of a lack of resemblance between the two. The casting of John Wayne as Genghis Khan in The Conqueror was objected to because of the American Wayne being cast as the Mongol warlord. Egyptian critics criticized the casting of Louis Gossett, Jr. an African American actor, also, some objected to the casting of Jennifer Lopez in Selena because she is a New York City native of Puerto Rican descent while Selena was Mexican-American. Biographical novel Biography in literature List of biographical films
18.
Grace Kelly
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Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who became Princess of Monaco after marrying Prince Rainier III, in April 1956. In October 1953, she gained stardom from her performance in the film Mogambo, which won her a Golden Globe Award, subsequently, she had leading roles in five films, including The Country Girl, for which her deglamorized performance earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress. Kelly retired from acting at the age of 26 to marry Rainier and they had three children, Caroline, Albert II, and Stéphanie. Kelly retained her American roots, maintaining dual U. S. and she died on September 14,1982, a day after suffering a stroke while driving her car, which caused a crash. Kelly was born on November 12,1929, at Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to an affluent and influential family. Her father, Irish-American John B. Kelly Sr. had won three Olympic gold medals for sculling and owned a successful brickwork contracting company that was well-known on the East Coast. A registered Democrat, he was nominated to be mayor of Philadelphia for the 1935 election, in later years, he served on the Fairmount Park Commission and, during World War II, was appointed by President Roosevelt as National Director of Physical Fitness. Kellys mother was Philadelphia native Margaret Katherine Majer, the daughter of German immigrants, Margaret had taught physical education at the University of Pennsylvania and had been the first woman to coach womens athletics at the institution. She was noted for her beauty and modeled for a time in her youth, after marrying John B. Kelly in 1924, Margaret focused on being a housewife until all her children were of school age, following which she began actively participating in various civic organizations. Kelly had two siblings, Margaret and John Jr. and a younger sister, Elizabeth. The children were raised in the Roman Catholic faith, while attending Ravenhill Academy, a prestigious Catholic girls school, Kelly modeled fashions at local social events with her mother and sisters. In 1942, at the age of 12, she played the lead in Dont Feed the Animals, before graduating in May 1947 from Stevens School, a socially prominent private institution on Walnut Lane in the Northwest Philadelphia neighborhood of Germantown, she acted and danced. Her graduation yearbook listed her favorite actress as Ingrid Bergman and her favorite actor as Joseph Cotten, written in the Stevens Prophecy section was, Miss Grace P. Kelly – a famous star of stage and screen. Owing to her low mathematics scores, Kelly was rejected by Bennington College in July 1947, despite her parents initial disapproval, Kelly decided to pursue her dreams of being an actress. John was particularly displeased with her decision, he viewed acting as a cut above streetwalker. To start her career, she auditioned for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, although the school had already met its semester quota, she obtained an interview with the admission officer, Emile Diestel, and was admitted through the influence of George. She began her first term the following October, while at school, she lived in Manhattans Barbizon Hotel for Women, a prestigious establishment which barred men from entering after 10 pm, and she worked as a model to support her studies. Kelly worked diligently and practiced her speech by using a tape recorder and her early acting pursuits led her to the stage, most notably a Broadway debut in Strindbergs The Father alongside Raymond Massey
19.
Lifetime (TV network)
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The channel features programming that is geared toward women or features women in lead roles. As of July 2015, approximately 95,020,000 American households receive Lifetime, Daytime, originally called BETA, was launched in March 1982 by Hearst-ABC Video Services. The cable service operated four hours per day on weekdays, the service was focused on alternative womens programming. Cable Health Network was launched as a channel in June 1982 with a range of health-related programming. In November 1983, Cable Health Network adopted a new name, Lifetime Medical Television, Lifetime was established on February 1,1984 as the result of a merger of Hearst/ABCs Daytime and Viacoms Lifetime Medical Television. A board for the new network was formed with representation from Hearst, ABC and Viacom. It was not a success, reportedly losing $36 million in its first two years of operation, and did not become profitable until 1986. The channel suffered from low viewership, with a poll finding that some TV viewers erroneously believed it carried religious content. In 1985, Lifetime started branding itself as Talk Television with a lineup of talk shows and call-in programs hosted by people like Regis Philbin. In the process, the dropped the apple from their logo. In 1988, Lifetime hired Patricia Fili as its head of programming, in the first three years of her tenure, she changed 60 percent of Lifetimes programming, by her own estimate. A. The network also showed movies from the portfolios of its owners, Hearst, ABC, under Filis direction, Lifetime has gone a long way toward shedding its low-rent image. Lifetime began airing a limited amount of sports coverage, including the WNBA. Lifetime also adopted a new tagline, meanwhile, the channels original programming was aimed not just at women aged 24–44, but these womens spouses, who research showed watched the network in the evenings with their wives. This was done by making the characters in Lifetimes original programming – such as the film series Spencer for Hire – more appealing to men by making them more masculine. These roles were more stereotypical than previous Lifetime movies, which featured women protagonists on their own. This helped Lifetime take advantage of a bias in the Nielsen ranking system that favored upscale couples who shared a television set. By January 1995, Lifetime was the sixth most-highly rated cable network by Nielsen, according to Lifetime executives, the network stood to lose up to one million subscribers due to TCIs move
20.
Rainier III, Prince of Monaco
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Rainier III ruled the Principality of Monaco for almost 56 years, making him one of the longest ruling monarchs in European history. Gambling accounts for approximately three percent of the nations annual revenue today, when Rainier ascended the throne in 1949. As of 2017, he was the last European monarch to have died on the throne. Rainier was born at Princes Palace in Monaco, the son of Prince Pierre of Monaco, Duke of Valentinois and his wife. Rainier was the first native-born hereditary prince of Monaco since Honore IV in 1758, Rainiers father was a half-French, half-Mexican who adopted his wifes surname, Grimaldi, upon marriage and was made a prince of Monaco by Prince Louis, his father-in-law. Rainier had one sibling, Princess Antoinette, Baroness of Massy, Rainiers early education was conducted in England, at the prestigious public schools of Summerfields in St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, and later at Stowe, in Buckinghamshire. In 1944, upon his 21st birthday, Rainiers mother renounced her right to the Monegasque throne and Rainier became Prince Louiss direct heir. In World War II Rainier joined the Free French Army in September 1944, and serving under General de Monsabert as a second lieutenant and he received the French Croix de Guerre with bronze star and was given the rank of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor in 1947. Following his decommission from the French Army, he was promoted by the French government as a captain in April 1949, Rainiers sister, Princess Antoinette, wishing her own son to ascend the throne, spread rumours that Pascal was infertile. The rumours combined with a snobbery over Pascals family origins ultimately ended the relationship, Rainier became the Sovereign Prince of Monaco on the death of Louis II on 9 May 1949. After ascending the throne, Rainier worked assiduously to recoup Monacos lustre, according to numerous obituaries, the prince was faced upon his ascension with a treasury that was practically empty. The small nations traditional gambling clientele, largely European aristocrats, found themselves with reduced funds after World War II, other gambling centers had opened to compete with Monaco, many of them successfully. To compensate for loss of income, Rainier decided to promote Monaco as a tax haven, commercial center, real-estate development opportunity. Prince Rainier regained control of SBM in 1964, effectively ensuring that his vision of Monaco would be implemented, as Prince of Monaco, Rainier was also responsible for the principalitys new constitution in 1962 which significantly reduced the power of the sovereign. The changes ended autocratic rule, placing power with the prince, at the time of his death, he was the worlds second longest-serving living head of state, ranking just below the King of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej. After a year-long courtship described as containing a good deal of rational appraisal on both sides, Prince Rainier married Oscar-winning American actress Grace Kelly in 1956, the ceremonies in Monaco were on 18 April 1956 and 19 April 1956. In 1979, Prince Rainier made his debut alongside his wife Grace in a 33-minute independent film called Rearranged, produced in Monaco. According to co-star Edward Meeks, after premiering it in Monaco, Grace showed it to ABC TV executives in New York in 1982, however, Grace died in a car crash caused by a stroke in 1982, making it impossible to expand the film for American release
21.
Charles de Gaulle
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Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman. He was the leader of Free France and the head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic, in 1958, he founded the Fifth Republic and was elected as the 18th President of France, a position he held until his resignation in 1969. He was the dominant figure of France during the Cold War era, born in Lille, he graduated from Saint-Cyr in 1912. He was an officer of the First World War, wounded several times. During the interwar period, he advocated mobile armoured divisions, during the German invasion of May 1940, he led an armoured division which counterattacked the invaders, he was then appointed Under-Secretary for War. Refusing to accept his governments armistice with Nazi Germany, de Gaulle exhorted the French population to resist occupation and he led a government in exile and the Free French Forces against the Axis. Despite frosty relations with Britain and especially the United States, he emerged as the leader of the French resistance. He became Head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic in June 1944, frustrated by the return of petty partisanship in the new Fourth Republic, he resigned in early 1946 but continued to be politically active as founder of the RPF party. He retired in the early 1950s and wrote his War Memoirs, when the Algerian War was ripping apart the unstable Fourth Republic, the National Assembly brought him back to power during the May 1958 crisis. De Gaulle founded the Fifth Republic with a presidency. He granted independence to Algeria and progressively to other French colonies and he restored cordial Franco-German relations to create a European counterweight between the Anglo-American and Soviet spheres of influence. However, he opposed any development of a supranational Europe, favouring a Europe of sovereign nations, De Gaulle openly criticised the US intervention in Vietnam and the exorbitant privilege of the US dollar. In his later years, his support for an independent Quebec, De Gaulle resigned in 1969 after losing a referendum in which he proposed more decentralization. He died a year later at his residence in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, leaving his Presidential memoirs unfinished, many French political parties and figures claim the Gaullist legacy. De Gaulle was ranked as Le Plus Grand Français de tous les temps, De Gaulle was born in the industrial region of Lille in the Nord departement, the third of five children. He was raised in a devoutly Catholic and traditional family and his father, Henri de Gaulle, was a professor of history and literature at a Jesuit college who eventually founded his own school. Henri de Gaulle came from a line of parliamentary gentry from Normandy and Burgundy. De Gaulles mother, Jeanne, descended from a family of entrepreneurs from Lille
22.
Alfred Hitchcock
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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
23.
Marnie (film)
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Marnie is a 1964 American psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The screenplay by Jay Presson Allen was based on the 1961 novel of the name by Winston Graham. The film stars Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery, the music was composed by Bernard Herrmann, his last of seven critically acclaimed film scores for Hitchcock. Marnie also marked the end of Hitchcocks collaborations with cinematographer Robert Burks, margaret Marnie Edgar steals $10,000 from her employers company safe and flees. She had used her charms on Sidney Strutt, a tax consultant, though Bernice seems to care more for a young neighbor named Jessie than she ever did to her own daughter, Marnie shows love for her and gives her money. When Mark Rutland, a widower who owns a publishing company in Philadelphia, sees Strutt on business. He recalls Marnie from a previous visit, unaware of this, Marnie applies for a job at Marks company, intrigued, he hires her as a typist, and they see each other socially. When Marnie has an attack during a thunderstorm, he hugs her. Marnie also has bad dreams and a phobia of the color red, Marnie repeats her crime at Mark’s company, stealing a large sum of money and fleeing. Mark tracks her down at the stable where she keeps Forio. Shockingly, he blackmails her into marrying him and they marry, much to the chagrin of Marks former sister-in-law, Lil, who has had an eye on him ever since her sisters death. Lil learns that he is spending extravagantly on Marnie and becomes suspicious, on her honeymoon cruise, Marnie admits to Mark that she cannot stand to be touched by a man. Mark begins by respecting her wishes, but later, after days of frustration, the next morning, she attempts suicide by drowning herself in the ships pool, but Mark manages to save her in time. Upon their return home, Mark discovers that Marnies mother is still alive, meanwhile, Lil overhears that Mark has paid off Strutt on Marnies behalf, so she mischievously invites Strutt to a party at Marks house. There, a furious Strutt recognizes Marnie, but does not expose her after Mark threatens to take his business elsewhere, when Marnie later admits to additional robberies, Mark offers to pay back all her victims to keep the police away. Invited to ride in a fox hunt, Marnie enjoys herself, when another rider wearing a traditional scarlet coat comes into view, her phobia kicks in and she bolts on her horse Forio. After a wild gallop, the falls and suffers a catastrophic injury. Crazed with grief, Marnie goes to Marks office to rob his safe again, Mark surprises her and eggs her on to take the money, but still she cannot
24.
Maria Callas
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Maria Callas, Commendatore OMRI, was a Greek-American soprano, and one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised her bel canto technique, wide-ranging voice and dramatic interpretations and her musical and dramatic talents led to her being hailed as La Divina. Born in New York City and raised by a mother, she received her musical education in Greece. Forced to deal with the exigencies of wartime poverty and with myopia that left her nearly blind onstage, she endured struggles and scandal over the course of her career. She turned herself from a woman into a svelte and glamorous one after a mid-career weight loss, which might have contributed to her vocal decline. The press exulted in publicizing Callass temperamental behavior, her rivalry with Renata Tebaldi. Callass father had shortened the surname Kalogeropoulos first to Kalos and subsequently to Callas in order to make it more manageable, If you marry this man, I will never be able to help you. Evangelia had ignored his warning, but soon realized that her father was right, the situation was aggravated by Georges philandering and was improved neither by the birth of a daughter, named Yakinthi, in 1917 nor the birth of a son, named Vassilis, in 1920. Vassiliss death from meningitis in the summer of 1922 dealt another blow to the marriage, the family left for New York in July 1923, moving first into an apartment in Astoria, Queens. Evangelia was convinced that her child would be a boy. Maria was christened three years later at the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in 1926, when Maria was 4, George Callas opened his own pharmacy, settling the family in Manhattan on 192nd Street in Washington Heights where Callas grew up. Around the age of three, Marias musical talent began to manifest itself, and after Evangelia discovered that her youngest daughter also had a voice, Callas later recalled, I was made to sing when I was only five, and I hated it. George was unhappy with his wife favoring their elder daughter, as well as the put upon young Mary to sing. The marriage continued to deteriorate and in 1937 Evangelia decided to return to Athens with her two daughters, I was the ugly duckling, fat and clumsy and unpopular. It is a thing to make a child feel ugly. Ill never forgive her for taking my childhood away, during all the years I should have been playing and growing up, I was singing or making money. Everything I did for them was good and everything they did to me was mostly bad. In 1957, she told Norman Ross, Children should have a wonderful childhood, I have not had it – I wish I had
25.
Aristotle Onassis
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Onassis was born in Smyrna and fled the city with his family to Greece in 1922 in the wake of the Greco-Turkish War. He moved to Argentina in 1923 and established himself as a trader and later a shipping owner during the Second World War. In the 1960s Onassis attempted to establish an investment contract, Project Omega, with the Greek military junta. Onassis was greatly affected by the death of his 24-year-old son, Alexander, in a crash in 1973. Onassis was born in Karataş, a suburb of the city of Smyrna in Anatolia to Socrates. Onassis had one full-sister, Artemis, and two half-sisters, Kalliroi and Merope, by his fathers second marriage following Penelopes death, Onassis became a successful shipping entrepreneur and was able to send his children to prestigious schools. When Aristotle Onassis graduated from the local Evangelical Greek School at the age of 16, he spoke four languages, Greek, Turkish, Spanish, and English. Smyrna was briefly administered by Greece in the aftermath of the Allied victory in World War I, the Onassis familys substantial property holdings were lost, causing them to become refugees fleeing to Greece after the Great Fire of Smyrna in 1922. He went into business for himself and made a fortune importing tobacco to Argentina and he obtained the Argentine citizenship in 1929. Eventually he relocated to New York where he built up his shipping businesses, Onassis built up a fleet of freighters and tankers that eventually exceeded seventy vessels. Onassiss fleet had Panamanian flags and sailed tax-free while operating at low cost, because of this, Onassis could turn a profit in every transaction, even though he charged one of the lowest prices in the merchant navy market. Onassis moved his headquarters into the Old Sporting Club on Monacos Avenue dOstende shortly after taking control of the SBM. The SBM was a significant owner of property in Monaco, its assets included the Monte Carlo Casino, the Monaco Yacht Club, the Hôtel de Paris, Onassis and Rainier had differing visions for Monaco. Onassis wished the country to remain a resort for an exclusive clientele, Monaco had become less attractive as a tax haven in the wake of Frances actions, and Rainier urged Onassis to invest in the construction of hotels. Onassis was reluctant to invest in hotels without a guarantee from Rainier that no other competing hotel development would be permitted, but promised to build two hotels and an apartment block. Unwilling to give Onassis his guarantee, Rainier used his veto to cancel the entire hotel project, in the Supreme Court of Monaco the share creation was challenged by Onassis who claimed that it was unconstitutional, but the court found against him in March 1967. Following the ruling Onassis sold his holdings in SBM to the state of Monaco for $9.5 million, according to Frank Brady in Onassis, An Extravagant Life, Onassiss words about the issue were, We were gypped. During the oil boom of the 1950s Onassis was in discussions with the King of Saudi Arabia for securing a tanker transport deal
26.
Jeanne Balibar
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Jeanne Balibar is a French actress and singer. She began her career on the stage, in Don Juan at the Festival dAvignon. Her first film role was in Arnaud Desplechins 1992 film The Sentinel and she continues to perform in both spheres. Recently she starred in Ne change rien directed by Pedro Costa and she is the daughter of Étienne Balibar, French Marxist philosopher and physicist Françoise Balibar
27.
Robert McNamara
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Robert Strange McNamara was an American business executive and the eighth Secretary of Defense, serving from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, during which time he played a role in escalating the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. Following that, he served as President of the World Bank from 1968 to 1981, McNamara was responsible for the institution of systems analysis in public policy, which developed into the discipline known today as policy analysis. McNamara consolidated intelligence and logistics functions of the Pentagon into two centralized agencies, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Defense Supply Agency. Prior to his service, McNamara was one of the Whiz Kids who helped rebuild Ford Motor Company after World War II. A group of advisors he brought to the Pentagon inherited the Whiz Kids moniker, McNamara remains the longest serving Secretary of Defense, having remained in office over seven years. Robert McNamara was born in San Francisco, California and his father was Robert James McNamara, sales manager of a wholesale shoe company, and his mother was Clara Nell McNamara. His fathers family was Irish and in about 1850, following the Great Irish Famine, had emigrated to the U. S. first to Massachusetts and later to California. He graduated from Piedmont High School in Piedmont in 1933, where he was president of the Rigma Lions boys club, McNamara attended the University of California, Berkeley and graduated in 1937 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics with minors in mathematics and philosophy. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa his sophomore year, and earned a varsity letter in crew. McNamara was also a member of the UC Berkeleys Order of the Golden Bear which was a fellowship of students and he then attended Harvard Business School and earned an MBA in 1939. One major responsibility was the analysis of U. S. bombers efficiency and effectiveness, especially the B-29 forces commanded by Major General Curtis LeMay in India, China, and the Mariana Islands. McNamara established a control unit for XX Bomber Command and devised schedules for B-29s doubling as transports for carrying fuel. He left active duty in 1946 with the rank of lieutenant colonel, in 1946, Charles Tex Thornton, a colonel under whom McNamara had served, put together a group of officers from his AAF Statistical Control operation to go into business together. Thornton had seen an article in Life magazine portraying Ford as being in dire need of reform, henry Ford II, himself a World War II veteran from the Navy, hired the entire group of 10, including McNamara. The Whiz Kids, as came to be known, helped the money-losing company reform its chaotic administration through modern planning, organization. Whiz Kids origins, Because of their youth, combined with asking lots of questions, Ford employees initially and disparagingly, the Quiz Kids rebranded themselves as the Whiz Kids. Starting as manager of planning and financial analysis, he advanced rapidly through a series of management positions
28.
Cinema of the United States
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The cinema of the United States, often metonymously referred to as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. The dominant style of American cinema is Classical Hollywood Cinema, which developed from 1917-1960, while the French Lumière Brothers are generally credited with the birth of modern cinema, it is American cinema that soon became the most dominant force in an emerging industry. Since the 1920s, the American film industry has grossed more money every year than that of any other country, in 1878, Eadweard Muybridge demonstrated the power of photography to capture motion. In 1894, the worlds first commercial motion picture exhibition was given in New York City, the United States was in the forefront of sound film development in the following decades. Since the early 20th century, the U. S. film industry has largely been based in and around Hollywood, Los Angeles, director D. W. Griffith was central to the development of film grammar. Orson Welless Citizen Kane is frequently cited in critics polls as the greatest film of all time. T, the Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Titanic, Avatar, The Avengers, Furious 7, Jurassic World, and Star Wars, The Force Awakens. Today, American film studios collectively generate several hundred movies every year, muybridges accomplishment led inventors everywhere to attempt to make similar devices that would capture such motion. In the United States, Thomas Edison was among the first to produce such a device, the history of cinema in the United States can trace its roots to the East Coast where, at one time, Fort Lee, New Jersey was the motion picture capital of America. The industry got its start at the end of the 19th century with the construction of Thomas Edisons Black Maria, in 1909, a forerunner of Universal Studios, the Champion Film Company, built the first studio. They were quickly followed by others who either built new studios or who leased facilities in Fort Lee, such notables as Mary Pickford got their start at Biograph Studios. In New York, the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, was built during the silent film era, was used by the Marx Brothers, the Edison Studios were located in the Bronx. Chelsea, Manhattan was also frequently used, other major centers of film production also included Chicago, Florida, Texas, California, and Cuba. The film patents wars of the early 20th century led to the spread of film companies across the U. S and they started filming on a vacant lot near Georgia Street in downtown Los Angeles. While there, the decided to explore new territories, traveling several miles north to Hollywood. Griffith then filmed the first movie shot in Hollywood, In Old California, a Biograph melodrama about California in the 19th century. Griffith stayed there for months and made several films before returning to New York, after hearing about Griffiths success in Hollywood, in 1913, many movie-makers headed west to avoid the fees imposed by Thomas Edison, who owned patents on the movie-making process. Nestor Studios of Bayonne, New Jersey, built the first studio in Hollywood in 1911, Californias more hospitable and cost-effective climate led to the eventual shift of virtually all filmmaking to the West Coast by the 1930s. In Los Angeles, the studios and Hollywood grew, before World War I, movies were made in several U. S. cities, but filmmakers gravitated to southern California as the industry developed
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Black List (survey)
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The Black List is an annual survey of the most liked motion picture screenplays not yet produced. The website states that these are not necessarily the best screenplays, the produced films have all together grossed well over $25.54 billion, and have been nominated for 241 Academy Awards and 205 Golden Globe Awards, winning 48 and 40, respectively. As of the 88th Academy Awards, four of the last eight best picture Oscars went to scripts featured on a previous Black List, and while, as a rule, they have not yet been produced, many of them are already in production. The first Black List was compiled in 2005 by Franklin Leonard, at the working as a development executive for Leonardo DiCaprios production company. He emailed about 90 fellow development executives and asked them to name the 10 best unproduced screenplays they read that year, to thank them for participating, he compiled the list and sent it to the respondents. The name The Black List was a nod to his heritage as an African American man, the Black List tallies the number of likes various screenplays have been given by development executives. Screenplays are ranked based on how many likes each of them get, the most likes received by a single screenplay is The Imitation Game, with 133 upon topping the 2011 list, it went on to win the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. More than 300 screenplays have been put into production after appearing on The Black List. C. O. D
30.
Principal photography
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Principal photography is the phase of film production in which the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production. Its start generally marks a point of no return for the financiers, feature films usually have insurance in place by the time principal photography begins. The death of a star before completing all planned takes. For example, sets are notoriously flammable, and most older studios feature water towers for that reason, furthermore, professional-quality movie cameras are normally rented as needed, and most camera houses will not allow rentals of their equipment without proof of insurance. Once a film concludes principal photography, it is said to have wrapped, in these circumstances, additional material may have to be shot. If the material has already been shot once, or is substantial, the process is referred to as a re-shoot, learning materials related to Filmmaking at Wikiversity Media related to Filmmaking at Wikimedia Commons
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Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
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Menton
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Menton is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur region in southeastern France. Situated on the French Riviera, along the Franco-Italian border, it is nicknamed perle de la France. The Menton area has been inhabited since the era, and is the site of the original Grimaldi Man find of early modern humans, as well as remains of Neanderthals. In Roman times, the Via Julia Augusta, a road connecting Placentia with Arelates passed through Menton, running along the Rue Longue in the old town. The first major settlement occurred during the 11th century CE, when the Count of Ventimiglia constructed the Château de Puypin on the Pépin hill, north, Menton was thus incorporated into the Republic of Genoa. The first mention of Menton dates from 21 July 1262, in the treaty between Charles of Anjou and Genoa. Its position on the border between the Angevin-ruled Provence and the Republic of Genoa, which at the time claimed Monaco as its western limit, acquired in 1346 by Charles Grimaldi, Lord of Monaco, Menton was ruled by the Princes of Monaco until the French Revolution. Annexed during the Revolution, Menton remained part of France through the First Empire and it belonged to the district of Sanremo in the department of Alpes-Maritimes, which at the time included Monaco and Sanremo. In 1814, Menton was included in a reconstituted principality of Monaco which, after Napoleons Hundred Days in 1815, the Princes of Monaco were obliged to do homage to the King for Menton, although not for Monaco itself. In 1848, Menton, along with its neighbour Roquebrune, seceded from Monaco, due at least in part to a tax imposed on lemon exports. The county of Nice was thus annexed to France that June, and Napoleon III paid 4 million francs in compensation to the prince of Monaco, by the end of the 19th century, tourism was an important factor in Mentons growth. The town was popular with English and Russian aristocrats who built many of the hotels, villas. Many of these hotels and palaces were pressed into service as hospitals during World War I to allow injured troops to recuperate in a pleasant climate, Menton was the only sizable settlement captured by Italy during its invasion of France in June 1940. Following the armistice of June 22,1940, two-thirds of the territory of the commune was annexed by Italy as terra irredenta, the annexation lasted until 8 September 1943. Although officially returned to Vichy France, Menton was in fact occupied by Nazi Germany until its liberation by American and Canadian troops of the First Special Service Force on 8 September 1944. Menton, nicknamed the Pearl of France, is located on the Mediterranean Sea at the Franco-Italian border, the fishing industry was devastated in the 1980s and 1990s when a combination of overfishing and hypoxia in the bay. At the time, the devastation was attributed to the dubiously nicknamed killer algae Caulerpa taxifolia spread throughout the coastal sea floor. Menton has got a hot-summer Mediterranean climate, frosts are extremely rare but occasionally occur every few year
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Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
34.
Ventimiglia
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Ventimiglia is a city and comune in Liguria, northern Italy, in the province of Imperia. Ventimiglias urban area has a population of 55,000, Ventimiglia is the ancient Albium Intemelium, the capital of the Intemelii, a Ligurian tribe which long resisted the Romans, until in 115 BC it was forced to submit to Marcus Aemilius Scaurus. Albintimilium became a municipium in 89 BC, in AD69 the city was sacked by the army of Otho and Vitellius, but recovered to remain prosperous into the 5th century, surrounded by walls with cylindrical towers built at each change of direction. In the Gothic Wars it was besieged by the Byzantines and the Goths, and later suffered from the raids of Rothari, King of the Lombards, in the 10th century it was attacked by the Saracens of Fraxinet. After a period as an independent commune, it was ruled by the Counts of Ventimiglia, in 1139 the Genoese attacked it by land and sea and forced it to surrender, the count continued to hold the city and countship as a vassal of the victors. The city rebelled more than once against the Genoese and sided with their enemies, in 1271 in a war with Genoa its podestà Luca Grimaldi was captured. Ventimiglia was thus held by the dukes of Savoy and King Ladislaus of Naples. In 1505 it was annexed to the Genoese Republic, sharing its history until the early 19th century, in 1269 the Count of Ventimiglia, Gugliemo Pietro I Balbo married Eudossia Laskaris, daughter of Emperor Theodore II Laskaris. From them started the dynasty of the Lascaris of Tenda and they maintained the sovereign County of Tenda until 1501 when the last of them, Anne Lascaris, married Renato of Savoy and transferred the County to his cadet branch of Savoy dynasty. The most famous exponent of this branch of Lascaris was Beatrice of Tenda, the ruins of the ancient Albintimilium are situated in the plain of Nervia, c.2 kilometres to the east of the modern town. The caves of the Balzi Rossi have proved rich in remains of the Quaternary period. Remains of a family of Cro-Magnon people were discovered, with skeletons of men, women and children. Very important architecturally and historically is the ancient medieval city centre, the Church of San Michele Arcangelo was erected in the 10th century by the Counts of Ventimiglia on the foundations of a pagan temple. Later it was entrusted to the Benedictines of Lirins, in the 11th-12th centuries it was rebuilt in Romanesque style. In 1628 it lost the aisles after an earthquake and it houses milestones from the old Via Iulia Augusta, two of which are used as stoups and one supports the crypts vault. The present Romanesque Cathedral, with an 11th-century baptistery, is built on the ruins of an earlier Lombard church, the municipal library has the second largest collection of 17th-century manuscripts and books in Italy. Near Ventimiglia are the Genoese fortresses of Castel dAppio, Forte San Paolo, Ventimiglia is a popular summer destination for tourists on the French Riviera. Particularly popular all year with visitors from France is the street market, along the seafront of the new town
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Villa Hanbury
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The Giardini Botanici Hanbury, also known as Villa Hanbury, are major botanical gardens operated by the University of Genoa. They are located at Corso Montecarlo 43, Mortola Inferiore, several km west of Ventimiglia, the gardens were established by Sir Thomas Hanbury on a small, steep peninsula jutting southwards from an altitude of 103 meters down into the Mediterranean Sea. In 1912 the Hortus Mortolensis, the catalogue of the garden, contained 5800 species, Hanbury died in 1907, but energetic plantings and improvements resumed after World War I under the direction of his daughter-in-law Lady Dorothy Hanbury. Restoration The gardens were severely damaged in World War II, when they became a no-mans land, initially its care was entrusted to the International Institute of Ligurian Studies but when they withdrew for lack of adequate funds in 1983 responsibility was passed to the University of Genoa. Restoration has been proceeding since 1987 and it was declared a nature preserve in 2000. On 1 June 2006 the Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali submitted a proposal for the inclusion of the gardens on the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites, today 9 of the gardens 18 hectares are under cultivation, and contain about 2500 taxa. Many of the species are plants of Mediterranean climates from the six Mediterranean climate zones of the world, major collections include agaves, aloes, and salvia, as well as fine old specimens of Araucaria cunninghamii, Casimiroa edulis, olive trees, Olmediella betschleriana, and Pinus canariensis. An orchard of rare fruits includes Actinidia, Carica, Diospyros, Eugenia, Feijoa, Fortunella, Macadamia, Mespilus germanica, additional collections feature palms, succulents, Australian trees, citrus, and cultivated flowers. The first index seminum or seed list of the gardens was published in 1883, the seed lists were distributed to other botanical gardens, which could request seeds. In 1908 more than 13,000 packets of seed were despatched, the first catalogues of the gardens, one alphabetical and one systematic, were published by Gustav Cronemeyer in 1889, and contained about 3600 species. A second edition was published by Kurt Dinter in 1897, the third edition, published in 1912 by Alwin Berger with the title Hortus Mortolensis, contained almost 6000 species. The wild flowers of the gardens were separately catalogued by Berger in 1907, the principal publications of the gardens are, Gustav Cronemeyer. Alphabetical Catalogue of plants growing in the air in the garden of Thomas Hanbury, Palazzo Orengo, La Mortola near Ventimiglia. Systematic catalogue of plants growing in the air in the garden of Thomas Hanbury F. L. S. Knight of the Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus, Alphabetical Catalogue of plants growing in the open air in the garden of Thomas Hanbury, Palazzo Orengo, La Mortola near Ventimiglia, Italy. An enumeration of the growing wild at La Mortola. Hortus Mortolensis, enumeratio plantarum in horto Mortolensi cultarum, Alphabetical catalogue of plants growin in the garden of the late Sir T. Hanbury at La Mortola, Ventimiglia, the Villa loggia terrace and the landscaped gardens may be visited by the public. Under the porch, at the entrance, there is a mosaic representing Marco Polo, the Villa itself is not open to the public
36.
Monte Carlo Casino
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Officially named Casino de Monte-Carlo, the Monte Carlo Casino is a gambling and entertainment complex located in Monaco. It includes a casino, the Grand Théâtre de Monte Carlo, the Casino de Monte-Carlo is owned and operated by the Société des bains de mer de Monaco, a public company in which the Monaco government and the ruling family have a majority interest. The company also owns the principal hotels, sports clubs, foodservice establishments, the idea of opening a gambling casino in Monaco belongs to Princess Caroline, a shrewd, business-minded spouse of Prince Florestan I. Revenues from the venture were supposed to save the House of Grimaldi from bankruptcy. Granted the concession of 30 years to operate a bathing establishment and gaming tables, Aubert, intended to be only a temporary location, the building was a modest mansion in La Condamine. In the late 1850s, Monaco was a place for a resort to succeed. Unable to raise the capital needed to operate the enterprise, Aubert and Langlois ceded their rights to Frossard de Lilbonne. During this initial period, the casino had been moved several times, construction at this site began on 13 May 1858 to designs of the Parisian architect Gobineau de la Bretonnerie and was completed in 1863. Gobineau de la Bretonnerie also designed the neighboring Hôtel de Paris, although the casino began to make a profit in 1859, Daval was not up to the task. Just like his predecessors, he was incompetent and lacked the ability to bring the gambling enterprise to the scale envisioned by Princess Caroline. Frustrated, she dispatched her private secretary M. Eyneaud to Germany, hoping to recruit François Blanc and it took a lot of time and persuasion on the part of Princess Caroline to convince the Blancs to move to Monaco. Princess Caroline even appealed to Madame Blanc, whom she befriended during her first visit to Bad Homburg, finally, in 1863 François Blanc agreed to take over the Monacos casino business. To manage the new venture, a company—the Societe des Bains de Mer et du Cercle des Etrangers—was formed with capital of 15 million francs, among the prominent investors were Charles-Bonaventure-François Theuret, Bishop of Monaco, and Cardinal Pecci, the future Pope Leo XIII. Blanc became the majority stockholder in the company and received a 50-year concession. Blanc used his connections to quickly raise the capital. On Blancs insistence, the Spelugues area where the complex was located was renamed to make it sound more attractive to casino visitors. A few suggestions were considered, and the name Monte Carlo was chosen in Prince Charles honor. In 1878–79, the building was transformed and expanded to designs of Jules Dutrou and Charles Garnier
