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Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw, Universal, TIFF Set ‘No Drama’ Filmmakers

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Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw, Universal, TIFF Set ‘No Drama’ Filmmakers

Jordan Peele‘s Monkeypaw Productions, the Toronto International Film Festival and Universal Filmed Entertainment Group have announced the inaugural class of emerging filmmakers for their “No Drama” initiative.

Born from the mind of Peele (as well as the “Get Out,” “Us” and “Nope” director’s long-term deal at Universal), “No Drama” asks the artists to reflect on this question: “What’s your biggest fear? What monsters lurk in the deepest corners of your inner thoughts?”

Five filmmakers have been selected to create proof of concept or short films that explore horror across cultures, time, environments and society. Chandler Crump, Charlie Dennis, Helena Hawkes, Jared Leaf and Ariel Zenogotita will each receive a $50,000 grant from TIFF to produce their projects during the one-year, non exclusive program.

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“I couldn’t be more excited to welcome the first class of ‘No Drama’ filmmakers to the Monkeypaw family. Chandler, Charlie, Helena, Ariel and Jared each bring a unique instinct to genre storytelling. I’m inspired and chilled by their approaches to examining fear,” said Peele, announcing the participants. “With generous support from Universal and TIFF, Monkeypaw and I are excited to empower and elevate talent that will define the next generation of great filmmakers. I cannot wait for audiences to experience the monsters they’re cooking up.”

The program kicked off last month with a four-day intensive on the Universal Studios lot. TIFF, Monkeypaw and Universal’s Filmmaker & Content Strategies team have developed a year-long curriculum where the selected filmmakers will participate in roundtables and workshops focused on “enhancing their creative processes and increasing their knowledge of the studio system” while they produce their proof of concept and short films.

“With ‘No Drama,’ we are setting up the filmmakers for success by providing them with studio resources that enable them to create impactful content with strong production values, and an incredible creative partnership with Jordan and team at Monkeypaw,” said Universal Pictures president Peter Cramer. “The bar was raised by adding TIFF’s prestigious brand and release platform to the initiative. I can’t wait to see what these five talented filmmakers bring to the table.”

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The program concludes next fall when the filmmakers will have the opportunity to screen their projects during TIFF (outside of official selection) and to participate in TIFF Industry market screenings organized by the festival. UFEG and Monkeypaw will have the exclusive option to purchase their projects after the initiative ends.

“Congratulations to these five impressive filmmakers as they channel their own wild visions through genre. We can’t wait to unleash their work on the global film industry gathered in Toronto next September for our 50th edition,” said TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey.

About partnering with Universal, Peele and Monkeypaw on the program, which celebrates “the next wave of visionary storytelling,” Bailey added: “This collaboration marks a significant step in TIFF’s commitment to fostering bold and diverse voices in cinema, and we look forward to witnessing the impact these films will have on audiences worldwide.”

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[Pictured above: TIFF’s Cameron Bailey, Universal’s Peter Cramer, Helena Hawkes, Jared Leaf, Janine Jones-Clark, Monkeypaw’s Jordan Peele, Charlie Dennis, Ariel Zengotita and Chandler Crump.]

Bios for the selected filmmakers are below:

Chandler Crump received her BFA in film and television at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Crump’s debut short film “Color Him Son” made its world premiere at the Afrikana Film Festival, screened at the New York International Shorts Film Festival and won best undergraduate narrative film at the Fusion Film Festival. She has picture-locked her second short, “There’s Someone at the Door,” a one-room feminist horror film. Crump’s resume also includes serving as a junior executive in television development at Billy Porter’s production company. Born and raised in San Francisco, she is currently based in New York City.

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Charlie Dennis is writer-director from the West Midlands in the United Kingdom, who strives to improve accessibility within film and TV aims to ensure that even the most exciting stories stay profoundly human. His Deaf-led BBC short film “Silent World” was subsequently picked up as a TV series after winning the National Lottery Arts Project of the Year, as well as nominations from BAFTA, Academy Award and BIFA-qualifying film festivals.Dennis recently directed splinter units for an upcoming Sky TV series starring Kenneth Branagh. He has also been long- and shortlisted at Cannes Lions and 1.4 Awards.

Helena Hawkes is a New Mexico native and the middle child to a mixed Hispanic family of ten children. Hawkes set foot on her first film set in the sixth grade and, since then, the screenwriter, director, painter and occasional poet honed her genre skills as an intern at Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions. Hawkes also worked as an apprentice to horror screenwriter and director, Leigh Whannell, while developing her own projects. As a writer, Hawkes explores female-driven tales that deal with family dynamics, identity, transformation and self-image all of which are told through a genre and sometimes surrealist lens.

Jared Leaf is an award-winning writer, director and producer (via his Ninety Third Story banner) based in Portland, OR. Leaf’s directorial approach is influenced by his background as both a classically trained actor and former college linebacker at San Jose State. He has written and directed numerous projects for Nike, including documentaries for Serena Williams and the Serena Williams Design Crew, as well as “Decolonizing Design,” a five-part docuseries on cultural appropriation in design. Since 2018, Leaf has directed eight short films across genres, including romantic comedy, noir mystery, action, comedy and horror. His feature directorial debut, a documentary on the Black Seminoles of Florida and their fight for freedom amidst 19th-century US expansion, is currently in production and set to wrap in early 2025.

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Ariel Zenogotita is an award-winning Puerto Rican filmmaker based in Los Angeles. His work tends to explore the space between psychological horror and dark comedy. His films have been selected at festivals including SXSW and Palm Springs International ShortFest and featured on websites like Short of the Week, Director’s Notes and Vimeo Staff Picks. Zenogotita has also been featured on Latinx Directors, the first-ever database dedicated to showcasing prominent Latino directors based in the United States.


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‘No Different Land’, the movie in regards to the career of the West Financial institution, wins the Oscar for Best possible Documentary | Oscar awards | Cinema

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No longer Different Landthe movie the place the Palestinian Basel Adra and the Israeli Yuval Abraham painting the career within the West Financial institution, has received the Oscar for the most productive documentary. In the USA, the movie has now not completed distributor, forcing the administrators to mission it in only a few rooms within the nation, even if he had received the prize for the most productive documentary on the Berlin Pageant of 2024. Because of the recordings in their authors (held till October 2023), reside murders are noticed by means of army and settlers; concreteras stuffed with cement that quilt water wells; excavators that wreck a humble college with a unmarried flooring; tears of babies within the face of violence and hatred of the ones in entrance. “I’m hoping my daughter does now not must reside the similar existence that I’m residing, all the time below surveillance, with invasions, displacements and an career. This movie displays the uncooked fact by which we’ve got been residing a long time. We ask for movements to finish this injustice and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian folks, ”Adra stated upon receiving the prize.

The Palestinian director lives in Masafer Yata, the world of ​​the south of the West Financial institution by which greater than 1000 citizens will also be legally expelled at any time (the Very best Israeli showed it in 2021 as a taking pictures zone), the military ends wells and demonstrates colleges, homes and electric posts, and masses of its population have diminished their hands and undone the village to settle in every other phase. The Palestinian met the Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, who suffered demise threats after the triumph of his movie within the Berlinale of 2024, turned into buddies and recorded whilst his folks had been regularly destroyed by means of settlers supported by means of the Israeli military.

Already in his speech within the Berlinale, Abraham stated: “I reside in a civil and basel regime in an army one. We are living half-hour on each and every different, however I’ve the precise to vote and basel, no. I will be able to transfer freely across the nation, however Basel, like thousands and thousands of Palestinians, is stuck within the West Financial institution. This apartheid state of affairs between the 2, this inequality, has to finish. ” And that had been repeated once they received the most productive documentary movie within the Eu cinema, and that used to be accomplished once more on the Oscar gala. “Palestinians and Israeli we make our voices more potent. The atrocious destruction of Gaza and its folks have to finish, Israeli hostages in Gaza should be launched. Once I see Basel, I see my brother, however we don’t seem to be the similar. We are living in a regime the place I’m unfastened below civil legislation, whilst Basel will have to reside below army legislation that destroys his existence, ”stated the Israeli director. And he ended up pointing to the USA govt: “We want a political answer with out ethnic supremacy. The international coverage of this nation is helping to dam this trail, do not you spot that we’re intertwined? My folks can handiest make sure that if the Palestinians are actually unfastened. There is not any different strategy to do it, there is not any different way of life. ”

His speech used to be the primary to explicitly talk of the war within the strip and in relating to the USA govt and used to be gained with cheers within the theater. The movie will also be noticed in Spain in Filmin and Movistar Plus+.

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Karla Sofía Gascón, after the Oscars: “There were occasions when ache has been so overwhelming that I pondered the unthinkable” | Tradition

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“As Albert Camus mentioned, ‘there’s just a really severe philosophical downside, and it’s suicide,” as a result of we are facing the very which means of life. I don’t quote those phrases to insinuate the rest or level to myself, however for the ones others who may just no longer endure what I simply persisted. ” This is a part of the in depth letter that actress Karla Sofía Gascón (Madrid, 52 years previous) has despatched to the American atmosphere The Hollywood Reporter. That is the primary statements of the interpreter after attending the Oscar gala, hung on March 2 in Los Angeles. Gascón was once a candidate for absolute best actress for Emilia Pérez and was once provide on the Dolby Theater after the talk over historical tweets racist and offensive.

Within the remark, and not using a probability of rejecting, the actress apologizes: “Simply as I’ve been the objective of destructive phrases, I’ve additionally mentioned hurtful issues all over my lifestyles that experience made others really feel angry. Issues made and mentioned from worry, from my very own lack of knowledge, from my very own ache, from outdoor that chilly and demanding protect. ” Later he proposes to open a debate on psychological well being: “For my daughter and for long run generations, I wish to open a good dialogue and mirrored image on psychological well being. During other phases of my lifestyles I’ve handed via darkish moments, episodes by which melancholy led me to surprising puts. ”

Despite the fact that Emilia Pérez gained 13 Oscar nominations, gained handiest two awards, for Very best Music, and Very best Allotted Actress, Zoe Saldaña. Gascón informs in her letter that false accounts attributed to her had been opened on social networks “so as to add ache and confusion.” “I used to be launched absurd and delusional accusations that deeply harm my spirit. Issues climbed to some degree, and so speedy, that I could not even breathe. In the course of this surprising and devastating typhoon, there were occasions when ache has been so overwhelming that I pondered the unthinkable. ”

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Karla Sofia Gascon Posa, on February 28, at the César Awards.
Karla Sofia Gascon Posa, on February 28, on the César Awards.Thomas Padilla (AP)

In some other a part of the temporary, the actress denounces a marketing campaign of loss of life threats and explains what has made transparent from a level of her lifestyles that qualifies as “the worst”: “Now that the typhoon is being relax somewhat, and the worst already came about (or I am hoping), I start to see obviously what I’ve realized. I’ve realized that detest, like fireplace, can’t be grew to become off with extra hate. The offenses can’t be erased with extra offenses, and mistakes can not blank different mistakes, particularly when lies and falsehood proliferate in all places and when the one factor they ship me again is natural anger, shameless harassment, vexation, contempt or even loss of life threats. ” “Thankfully, I’ve stored my apex of sanity to peer the sunshine on the finish of this hate tunnel and keep in mind that I will have to be and do higher, and proper my previous faults, with out getting desirous about extra darkness,” he says.

The actress’s remark ends like this: “Most effective via working out, compassion, forgiveness and empathy we will be able to construct an international the place the variation isn’t synonymous with condemnation, however of wealth. A global the place we will be able to be told and develop as we advance. A global the place we will be able to all set aside our shields and be ourselves. Thank you from the again of my middle. ”


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Penelope Cruz, white within the Oscars: its favourite colour to step at the pink carpet

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The Spanish actress has dressed once more in Blanco-Nochia to visit a very powerful rite of the 12 months. It’s not the primary time that he trusts the colour, his favourite to shuttle pink carpets for greater than 25 years

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