Industry

It is January 22nd, 1954 at the Club del Mar in Santa Monica and Marilyn Monroe, radiant in a tight gown with plunging neckline, is all smiles as she holds her cumbersome Henrietta Award statuette (named after the then-president Henry Gris). She has been voted the World Film Favorite at the 11th Golden Globes.

The Studio System has its last hurrah; social and cultural turmoil shakes the US and Europe, and a massive generation - the post-war Baby Boomers - demand new everything: cinema, music, fashion, customs. The Golden Globes shuttle between the Cocoanut Grove of the Ambassador Hotel and the Beverly Hilton, both hot spots of LA nightlife; the brand new Century Plaza is added to the circuit in the 1970s.

1943… 1944… In a classic Hollywood film, maybe one of those juicy melodramas starring Joan Crawford, for example, a calendar would appear on the screen, its pages slowly turning from one year to the other…Let’s stop for a moment and rewind, back to the days of World War II. After having been fiercely isolationist, just like Rick Blaine in Casablanca, the United States saw most of its movie stars play “real roles” in helping the war effort.

In order to fight against the rise of streaming platforms, the premium French television channel Canal+ has just formed an agreement that gradually promises to revolutionize the French and European audiovisual landscape. In a historic agreement, the parent company, Vivendi, has contracted with the world of cinema to keep streaming platforms at bay.

Launched in February of 1944 with an informal luncheon at 20th Century Fox Studios ( the winners received a scroll), the Golden Globes began finding their true style in the 1950s, hopping from Hollywood to Beverly Hills, then on to the Cocoanut Grove of the famous Ambassador Hotel, Casa del Mar in Santa Monica and Ciro's on the Sunset Strip. War was over, Hollywood was spreading its wings around the world and the Globes quickly began the best party of the year in a city that absolutely loves parties - Los Angeles.

Kenneth Branagh’s wistful homage to his childhood in Northern Ireland arrives on the big screen in the form of the semi-autobiographical movie, Belfast. Written and directed by Branagh, the story chronicles the life of a working-class family in the late 1960s in a narrative set against the backdrop of social tumult during the Northern Ireland Conflict.

Women made up 39% of directors in 2020. While that number reflects gender gains in the field when placed in the perspective of the fact that women make up 51% of the general population – not so much.

14 months ago, during the unprecedentedly difficult, pandemic-ravaged Venice Film Festival, a movie had its world premiere without the usual fanfare, with no receptions and a sad and empty red carpet where no fans cheered from the bleachers. The film was called The Duke and it deserved better.

Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur opened Reykjavik Studios (RVK) in 2018 in a building that used to be a fertilizer plant. The studio, which is roughly 86,000 square feet is one of Europe’s largest and as Iceland is already a popular shooting location for international projects, Kormákur hopes to attract foreign productions to shoot here.

Considered one of America’s greatest contemporary songwriters, Burt Bacharach has written songs that have been recorded by over 1,000 artists, including B. J.