The line up for the 2007 Sundance Film Festival has been announced and we are pleased that seven of our clients have had their films selected:
Writer/Director Craig Brewer whose film “Hustle & Flow” was a big hit at Sundance two years ago, returns with “Black Snake Moan” starring Samuel Jackson, Justin Timberlake and Christina Ricci. Desire is a burning sickness for Rae, while making her the white-trash sexual target of every man and boy in her small Tennessee town. When her true love leaves for military service, Rae plunges into wild excess. Beaten and left for dead, she is taken in by a reformed bluesman, a private self-contained black man who nurses a deep anger of his own and who is fiercely committed to his task of keeping her alive. World Premiere.
“The Ten” produced by Jon Stern is comprised of ten stories, each inspired by one of The Ten Commandments, that illustrate the perils of modern life via extreme comedy. World Premiere.
“Padre Nuestro” produced by Ben Odell will be shown in Dramatic Competition. Fleeing a criminal past, Juan hops a truck transporting illegal immigrants from Mexico to New York City, where he meets Pedro, who is seeking his rich father. World Premiere.
“Expired” / U.S.A. by Director and Screenwriter Cecilia Miniucchi and producer Anthony Stutz: When a lonely, gentle meter maid meets a troubled fellow parking officer, their love affair becomes an awkward dance of attraction and antagonism. World Premiere.
“Fido” / Canada by Producers Blake Corbett and Mary Anne Waterhouse will be shown in the Park City at Midnight section. This zombie dog movie is about a six-foot tall zombie named Fido who eats the next-door neighbor. It is a boy-and-his-dog movie for grown ups.The film will be distributed by Lion’s Gate. Park City at Midnight . U.S Premiere.
THE TONIGHT SHOW” INTERVIEW WITH GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER DOES NOT VIOLATE EQUAL TIME PROVISIONS.
According to the FCC, the Jay Leno's interview with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on the "Tonight Show" was exempt from the equal time rule because it was a bona fide news segment. A FCC complaint was filed by the Angelides for Governor Campaign on behalf of Phil Angelides, the Democratic candidate for Governor of California, against eleven television stations. The Angelides campaign alleged that he was entitled to equal opportunities from the stations pursuant to Section 315 of the Communications Act of 1934. If a station allows a legally qualified candidate for public office to use a broadcast station, it must afford equal opportunities to other such candidates for that office to use its facilities. But there is an exception to this rule: appearances by legally qualified candidates on bona fide news programs.
While the Tonight Show is clearly more of an entertainment oriented program, than a typical newscast, it often airs newsworthy interviews. When adopting these exemptions, Congress indicated that, to qualify as a bona fide news interview program, a program must be regularly scheduled; the content, format, and participants must be determined by the licensee; and the determination that programming is a bona fide news interview must have been made by the station “in the exercise of its bona fide news judgment and not for the political advantage of the candidate for political office.”
Although Congress did not define “news” when adopting these exemptions, the Commission has found that interviews with elected officials and candidates for elected office are newsworthy subject matter. The FCC concluded that the interview segments of “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” qualify for the bona fide news interview exemption and are therefore exempt from equal opportunities. In the Matter of Equal Opportunities Complaint Filed by Angelides for Governor Campaign, Federal Communications Commission Order (Oct. 26, 2006) http://www.fcc.gov/mb/
