Month: September 2020

Two stars at the Venice Film Festival, Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton, have praised the decision by the Berlin festival to award gender-neutral prizes, with Swinton predicting other award ceremonies will follow suit.
Organizers of the Berlin International Film Festival announced last month that they would stop awarding separate acting prizes to men and women starting next year. The best actor and actress Silver Bear prizes will now be replaced by best leading performance and best supporting performance awards.
Swinton, who received a Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement award at the Venice festival’s opening ceremony, said divisions by gender were a “waste of life.”
“And so I’m really happy to hear that about Berlin,” she told reporters Thursday. “And I think it’s pretty much inevitable that everybody will follow, because it’s just obvious to me.”
Blanchett, president of the Venice jury this year, said she instinctively calls herself an “actor.” She said it’s hard enough “to sit in judgment of other people’s work” and then even harder to break it down further along gender lines.
“I’m of a generation where the word “actress” was used always in a pejorative sense. So I think I claim the other space,” she said. “I think good performances are good performances, no matter the sexual orientation of the performers who are making them.”
The Venice festival has long been criticized for the lack of female directors in its in-competition films, with only four films made by women in the 62 films competing for the Golden Lion award between 2017 and 2019.
This year, the gender parity has improved, with 44% of the in-competition films directed by women.
Swinton was also in Venice to present a short film directed by Pedro Almodovar, “The Human Voice,” about a woman’s emotional response to being left by her lover over the phone.
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More than a dozen “60 Minutes” interviews with former President Barack Obama, beginning when he was a U.S. Senator, have been compiled into an audio release.
Simon & Schuster Audio announced Thursday that “Barack Obama: The 60 Minutes Interviews” will come out Oct. 13. The audiobook features CBS News journalist Steve Kroft, who first met with Obama in January 2007 and spoke with him throughout his presidency, culminating in a discussion shortly before Obama left office in 2017.
“Over the span of just a few years, Barack Obama evolved from inexperienced freshman senator into one of the most powerful people in the world,” Kroft said in a statement. “This audiobook collection allows listeners to hear that remarkable transformation in Obama’s own voice and words, as it is unfolding.”
The audiobook also includes joint interviews with Obama and his wife, Michelle, and former Vice President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
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A law firm with ties to prominent Democrats has filed a lawsuit attempting to keep rapper Kanye West off presidential ballots in Virginia.
Attorneys for Perkins Coie filed a lawsuit in Richmond on Tuesday on behalf of two people who say they were tricked into signing an “Elector Oath” backing West’s candidacy. Under state law, a candidate must have 13 electors pledge their support for a candidate as part of the criteria to appear on the ballot.
The lawsuit alleges that 11 of West’s 13 electors may be invalid and asks the court to block West’s name from appearing on ballots, which are set to be printed soon. Virginia will begin mailing absentee ballots later this month.
Lawyers for the West campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
West supported President Donald Trump for reelection until announcing his own presidential bid in July.
Democrats claim Republicans are pushing West’s candidacy in swing states to siphon Black votes from Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
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International rights groups and officials of the Tibetan government in exile say Chinese President Xi Jinping’s latest calls to “Sinicize” Tibetan Buddhism are a threat to Tibetan identity and culture.   FILE – Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the closing session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, May 28, 2020.Xi’s comments came at a recent senior Communist Party meeting on Tibet’s future governance, where the president said Beijing must build an “impregnable fortress” to maintain stability in Tibetan areas in Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces, which have strong Tibetan ties. He also called for enhancing China’s national security by educating the masses in the struggle against “splittism,” or deviating from the party’s official policies.   China has long viewed Tibetan Buddhism as a source of “separatist power,” which Beijing has targeted with “reeducational patriotism” campaigns that force Tibetan monks to denounce Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.   FILE – Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama greets devotees as he arrives to give a religious talk at the Tibetan Children’s Village School in Dharmsala, India, May 27, 2015.In the past decade or so, the Communist Party of China (CCP) officials have been posted in major TAR monasteries and communities closer to China, such as Larung Gar in Sichuan province, one of the world’s foremost centers of Tibetan Buddhist study.   Xi’s vow to build a “new modern socialist Tibet that is united, prosperous, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful” would be achieved primarily via secondary school reforms that “plant the seeds of loving China deep in the heart of every youth.” And by “actively [guiding] Tibetan Buddhism to adapt to the socialist society and promote the Sinicization of Tibetan Buddhism,” Xi said.   Disrespecting the faith Broadly defined, Sinicization is a campaign to reform or mold the belief systems and doctrine of any religious faith into compliance with CPC values.   In 2015, Xi discussed a plan to Sinicize the beliefs of the five largest religious groups in China: Buddhism, Daoism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Islam.   Human Rights Watch China Director Sophie Richardson told VOA’s Tibetan Service that Xi’s latest remarks on faith are a red flag for rights observers.   “Xi’s campaign of Sinicization is a model of anti-rights policies, especially as far as religious freedom is concerned,” Richardson said. “Individuals are free to believe what they like and worship as they like; these are not rights states can give, take away or otherwise dictate.   “No one is fooled by his claims that these policies respect Tibetans or Buddhism,” she said.   Dharamshala-based Karma Choeying, spokesperson for the Tibetan government in exile, said Xi’s remarks are just the latest in a decadeslong campaign to control not just Tibetan Buddhism, but Tibetan culture itself.   “This is to Sinicize Tibet,” he told VOA, speaking in Tibetan.   “They’ve been trying to do this for the past 60 years and now President Xi Jinping is saying that they need to put more effort on it,” Choeying said. “This is to Sinicize Tibetan identity, religion and culture.”   China seized control over Tibet in 1950 in what it described as a “peaceful liberation” that helped the remote Himalayan region throw off its “feudalist” past. But critics, led by the Dalai Lama, say Beijing’s rule amounts to “cultural genocide.”   FILE – Balloons are released during the celebration event at the Potala Palace marking the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Tibet Autonomous Region, in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, Sept. 8, 2015.“Xi Jinping’s plan to further tighten his grip over occupied Tibet is yet another desperate attempt to continue China’s decadeslong colonial exploitation,” Dorjee Tseten, executive director of the New York-based Students for a Free Tibet, said.   “China’s plan to further Sinicize Tibetan Buddhism threatens the existence of Tibetans’ unique identity and culture,” Tseten told VOA. “This plan will never be accepted by Tibetans and will lead to stronger resistance.”   Matteo Mecacci, director of the U.S.-based International Campaign for Tibet, recently told Reuters that Xi’s remarks are an indication of China’s failure to integrate Tibet into Chinese society.   “If Tibetans really benefited as much from Chinese leadership as Xi and other officials claim, then China wouldn’t have to fear separatism and wouldn’t need to subject Tibetans to political reeducation,” he said in an email, according to Reuters.   Remarks follow clashes China’s stepped-up efforts to integrate the TAR, which borders India and Bhutan, coincide with a recent spate of deadly border skirmishes with Indian troops. A clash in late June along a stretch of unmarked border in the Galwan Valley left 20 Indian troops dead and an undisclosed number of Chinese casualties.   FILE – Supporters of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, or World Hindu Council, hold posters showing coffins of Indian army soldiers killed in clashes with China, during a protest in Ahmedabad, India, June 20, 2020.Military and diplomatic efforts to resolve the situation have so far proven fruitless.   China’s strategies to integrate Tibet have also targeted other cultural institutions, such as marriage. In 2014, Chen Quanguo, then-CPC secretary of TAR, said “the government must actively promote intermarriages,” between Tibetans and Chinese in order to promote “ethnic unity.”    Suppression ‘completely correct’ China has also used forced reeducation, detention, torture and intimidation as tools to achieve “stability.”  In 2019, VOA obtained a leaked journal of a Tibetan detainee from one of the “reform through re-education” camps that shows the use of torture in the camps is a regular practice. Beijing has employed similar tactics on Muslim Uighurs who are prisoners in Xinjiang. FILE – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gives a news conference in Washington, June 24, 2020.In July, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States would restrict visas for some Chinese officials involved in blocking diplomatic access to Tibet and engaging in “human rights abuses,” adding that Washington supported “meaningful autonomy” for Tibet. State Department sanctions targeting China also touched on documented human rights abuses in Hong Kong and against predominantly ethnic Uyghurs in Xinjiang.   In a retaliatory move, China said it would impose visa restrictions on U.S. citizens who have engaged in what it called “egregious” behavior over Tibet.   This story originated in VOA’s Tibetan Service. Some information is from Reuters.
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Masks, sanitizers, and the most shocking of all – no crowds. After almost six months of closure and strict lockdown, New York City museums are finally reopening. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA and Whitney Museum – among others – are welcoming visitors again, but with a few COVID-related restrictions in place. Nina Vishneva has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.
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In their driveways or in their bedrooms, using little cardboard boxes or piles of backyard dirt, young fans of “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman paid their respects with lots of Wakanda salutes and mock funerals attended by action figures.
Soon after the shocking news of Boseman’s death Friday at age 43, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles began posting photos of funerals staged by kids for King T’Challa, the actor’s lead character from the Marvel blockbuster. Some of those posts have been shared thousands of times amid an outpouring of grief from admirers of all ages who were unaware he had been battling colon cancer for four years.
Other young fans mourned in more private ways, watching “Black Panther” and “42” for the umpteenth time with their families in Boseman’s honor.
To many kids, his passing was a life event, driven by the change-makers he portrayed but also by his heartfelt comments in awards speeches and interviews about the need for more opportunities for people of color.
Boseman’s King T’Challa, ruler of the fictional African nation of Wakanda, was introduced in 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War.” His “Wakanda Forever” salute reverberated around the world after the release of “Black Panther” two years ago. The actor’s turn as baseball great Jackie Robinson in “42” came out in 2013 and is now being discovered by younger fans.
Nick Cummings, 11, of Louisville, Kentucky, loves both films. He stumbled on word of Boseman’s death on TikTok, before his mother had broken the news.
“At first when I heard it I didn’t believe it,” he said Monday. “I felt like a part of me got erased.”
A little too old for action figure funerals, Nick, who is Black, donned his baseball jersey emblazoned with Robinson’s “42” and had no plans to take it off any time soon.
Twins Lenny and Bobby Homes in Mesa, Arizona, are 10. Their mom, Annalie, had no intention of telling the boys, who are Filipino American, about Boseman’s death, but they found out on their own Sunday on YouTube. They went the funeral route, using a black car seat for their prone Black Panther.
Dad David Homes is a big Marvel enthusiast. He began schooling his sons in both the comics and films when they were little. How many times have they seen “Black Panther”?
“A lot!” the two chimed in unison.
Of Boseman’s death, Lenny said: “We were really sad. He was one of our favorite actors. When we heard, we were like, the Panther needs a funeral. He was a good king. He was very nice and kind, and he followed the rules.”
Annalie said she wanted to shield the boys from the news because they lost a grandfather less than a month ago.
The twins have more than 100 action figures and their own YouTube channel. They gathered up 13 of their favorite characters for the funeral Sunday, including Thor, Black Widow, Rocket Raccoon, Hulk and Spider-Man. The toys’ arms can’t bend into the Wakanda salute, so the boys arranged them with arms extended, reaching out to T’Challa.
Djoser Burruss, 12, of San Diego took the news hard. One of his grandmothers died of the same type of cancer. Djoser, who is African American, posted a tribute to Boseman on Instagram: “R.I.P. Chadwick Boseman, the one and only Black Panther. We mourn your passing but you will forever live in our hearts. Thank you for showing us what KINGs do.”
In an interview Tuesday, Djoser added: “I saw it on my phone and I was devastated. We kind of owe it to ourselves to be better every day because not every day is guaranteed, just like Chadwick, but he did so much in those four years.”
His mother, Christina, said the family rewatched “Black Panther” last weekend, along with videos of Boseman speaking out on behalf of Black people to “soak up all of his energy and his wisdom.”
Gavyn Batiste, 7, in Lafayette, Louisiana, has seen “Black Panther” a half dozen times. He invited Captain America, Thor and Hulk, among other Avengers, to the funeral he held. He also wrote a song for T’Challa that goes like this:
“Black Panther is gone. I don’t know what to say. I never thought this would happen in my day. This is sad. I am mad. I don’t know how to feel. It still feels unreal. Wakanda Forever!”
Sonya Antoine, Gavyn’s mom, said the film offers Black children a “sense of hope, a sense of dreaming, and to just embrace who you are in your culture and what that culture can mean to you and your family.”
Nick’s mother, Deedee Cummings, writes children’s books with diverse characters and knows how rare it is to find afrocentric fare for children like the futuristic world in “Black Panther.” She recalled how happy her son was to see the film in a theater with a neighbor when it first came out. Both wore Wakanda gear.
The family watched the movie again on TV after Boseman’s death. Nick sat solemnly this time around.
“He never sits still,” Deedee said. “This time he did.”
Deedee thinks parents shouldn’t keep the news of Boseman’s death from their young kids.
“It’s so important to acknowledge this loss to children, especially Black children,” she said.
Susan Nicholas in Atlanta also writes for children. Her book, “The Death of Cupcake,” is out in November and focuses on grief among kids. Boseman’s death, she said, may be difficult for parents to discuss because they’re reluctant to burst the larger-than-life bubble created in movies.
“But kids actually have insights that are quite profound,” she said. “We can all elevate our perspectives around death to really heal from that. At the end of the day, those are human beings in those costumes and they succumb to death, too, even if Hollywood doesn’t allow them to die.”
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With the coronavirus outbreak, people worldwide have become preoccupied with a threat so physically small that it can’t be seen. The invisible world of viruses has long fascinated multi-media artist Laura Splan, who is artist in residence at a biotech lab researching Covid-19. Matt Dibble takes a closer look.
Camera, Producer: Matt Dibble
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American singer Akon says he is moving ahead with plans to break ground on a $6 billion futuristic self-named city in Senegal next year. On Monday, Akon traveled with government officials to the site of the planned project in the rural community of Mbodienne, well outside the capital, Dakar. Akon, whose real name is Aliuane Thiam, said he sees Akon city becoming the beginning of Africa’s future, with the latest technologies, cryptocurrencies. Akon, the son of Senegalese parents who spent his early childhood in the West African nation, also hopes the project will provide much needed jobs for Senegalese and be a refuge for Black Americans and others facing racial prejudice. Akon’s project, which was first announced two years ago, has won him favor with Senegalese authorities who praise him for investing in Africa at a time of uncertainty in global tourism. Akon said his idea for the city precedes the blockbuster movie “Black Panther,” but he likened his city as a “real-life Wakanda,” the technologically advanced fictional African place portrayed in the movie. 
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