News

Andrea Fay Friedman, an actor with Down Syndrome who appeared in drama television series “Life Goes On” and Joseph Travolta’s family drama “Carol of the Bells,” died Sunday in Santa Monica from complications due to Alzheimer’s. She was 53.

Friedman contributed to much-needed representation for individuals with Down Syndrome in the world of entertainment. One of her well-known roles was in “Life Goes On” as Amanda Swanson, the girlfriend of Charles “Corky” Thacher (Chris Burke), who later become Corky’s wife on the show. Throughout her life, the actor also appeared in several television series, including “Baywatch,” “Chicago Hope,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “ER,” “The Division” and “Saving Grace,” establishing her presence in an industry where inclusion was often rare. She was also the subject of the 2009 documentary “A Possible Dream: The Andrea Friedman Story.”

In 2010, Friedman showed her ability to tackle controversy with grace after voicing a character with Down syndrome,...

Tonya Mantooth, CEO and artistic director of the San Diego International Film Festival, is keenly aware that film is a uniquely immersive medium with the power to connect people — even strangers. And that power will be evident at Sdiff’s 22nd edition, which will run in person Oct.18-22, with screenings at various venues in the San Diego area. The event will also feature panels, Q and A’s, filmmaker happy hours and more special programming.

The fest will open with Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers” (pictured above), a comedy-drama starring Paul Giamatti, Domonic Sessa and Da’Vine Joy Randolph as an unlikely trio bonding at a New England prep school over winter break.

“Alexander Payne really peels back the layers of the characters,” Mantooth says. “As each one unfolds, he does it in such a way that you laugh – it touches your heart, it makes you cry. But what...

RespectAbility will have a heavy presence at Sundance this year, with a lineup of virtual panels and discussions, all on digital Main Street.

The disability advocacy group is presenting five conversations under the umbrella title the Accessibility & Inclusion Lab; two of the events are in collaboration with Film Independent.

A goal is to encourage authentic representation of disabled people on screen, and to help change how audiences view people with disabilities. Another goal is to give filmmakers the tools to make films more accessible, both for disabled crew members and for audiences.

According to Nielsen, the disability market influences more than a trillion dollars in disposable income. However, with one-in-five people in the U.S. having a disability, there is a startling lack of representation – just 2.3% of characters in the 100 top-grossing films of 2019 and 8% in family films.

“What we see and hear on screen influences how we act in real life,...

Stars: Joe Estevez, Don Swayze, Joey Travolta, Burt Ward, Jackie Stallone, Linnea Quigley, Sarah Bellomo, Tamara Landry, Nicole Posey, Michael Todd Davis, Ken Steadman, Michael Roddy, Albert Andrukaitis | Written by Alexander Sachs | Directed by Ellen Cabot

Directed by Ellen Cabot (aka David DeCoteau), Beach Babes From Beyond is technically not a Full Moon film, as it is in fact one of the earliest releases from Charles Band’s 1993 created Torchlight label which specialised in genre-tinged softcore porn comedies. The imprint only ever produced three films between 1993 and 1998, including this film, its direct sequel, and a softcore vampire flick entitled Blonde Heaven, all of which were directed by David DeCoteau under his “Ellen Cabot” pseudonym.

A ridiculous blend of 60s beach party flick and direct to video porn, the official synopsis for Beach Babes From Beyond. goes like this: “An intergalactic babe borrows her dad’s T-bird ship to do a...

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to alter people’s holiday celebrations, many people are finding that watching holiday films is one tradition that can continue. While there has been no meaningful change in the percentage of speaking characters with disabilities in these top-grossing films in the past five years with just 2.3 percent of the 4,451 characters analyzed in the 100 top-grossing films of 2019 by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism having a disability, several holiday films are bucking this trend. And for the one-in-four people in the U.S. who have a disability, that means there are more opportunities to see ourselves reflected on screen.

“Christmas Ever After”

A recent premiere on Lifetime, it stars Tony award winner Ali Stroker in the lead role of Izzi Simmons – becoming the network’s first lead actor with a disability. A writer, Simmons is having a severe case of writer’s block when...

Amazon Women on the Moon

Blu ray

Kino Lorber

1987 / 85 Min. / 1:85

Starring Lots of Actors

Cinematography by Daniel Pearl

Directed by Joe Dante, Carl Gottlieb, Peter Horton, John Landis, Robert K. Weiss

Mark Twain said “If you don’t like the weather in New England now, just wait a few minutes.” That applies just as well to 1987’s Amazon Women on the Moon, John Landis’s unofficial sequel to Kentucky Fried Movie and the bastard child of Joe Dante and Jon Davison’s The Movie Orgy. Like those back-handed tributes to the disreputable entertainments of our youth, Amazon Women is a smorgasbord of comedy skits, some served up just right and others pretty half-baked—but a judicious use of the remote control and patience rewards; overall the result is a good-natured vacation for the mind with three or four laugh-out-loud vaudeville sequences and a couple of bona-fide short-form classics. The...

This Changes Everything — Tom Donahue’s documentary about redressing gender imbalance in Hollywood — will kick off Geena Davis' Bentonville Film Festival.

The feature, which was exec produced by Davis, will be accompanied by the fest's annual program Geena and Friends, featuring Davis along with an all-star group of female actors who reimagine memorable dialogue from all-male movie scenes through an all-female lens.

Joey Travolta’s 'Carol of the Bells' and Haroula Rose’s Once 'Upon a River' will make their world premieres at the fest, as Centerpiece Screening Selections.

Bff’s competition selections, including narrative ...

This Changes Everything — Tom Donahue’s documentary about redressing gender imbalance in Hollywood — will kick off Geena Davis' Bentonville Film Festival.

The feature, which was exec produced by Davis, will be accompanied by the fest's annual program Geena and Friends, featuring Davis along with an all-star group of female actors who reimagine memorable dialogue from all-male movie scenes through an all-female lens.

Joey Travolta’s 'Carol of the Bells' and Haroula Rose’s Once 'Upon a River' will make their world premieres at the fest, as Centerpiece Screening Selections.

Bff’s competition selections, including narrative ...

The Bentonville Film Festival announced their lineup of gala selections and competition films which includes the world premieres of Joey Travolta’s Carol of the Bells, Haroula Rose’s Once Upon a River. Co-founded by Geena Davis will kick off with a screening of Tom Donahue’s documentary This Changes Everything and a special presentation of the festival’s signature event, Geena and Friends. The fest takes place May 7-11 in Bentonville, Ark.

The fest champions more diversity and inclusiveness in the film industry and beyond. This year’s competition selections includes 15 narrative films, 14 documentaries, and 9 episodic projects. Of the lineup, 81% are female directed and 68% of the selections include a Poc director and/or cast/subject in the forefront.

“This year’s lineup of films truly exemplifies our mission and we are thrilled to highlight the work of female filmmakers, people of color, Lgbtq+, filmmakers, talent with disabilities and more — in other words,...

In today’s film news roundup, J.K. Simmons’ “I’m Not Here” and French animated movie “Dilili in Paris” get releases and Andrea Friedman nabs a film role.

Acquisitions

Gravitas Ventures has acquired worldwide rights to the J.K. Simmons drama “I’m Not Here” for a March 8 release, Variety has learned exclusively.

The film also stars Sebastian Stan, Maika Monroe, Mandy Moore, and Max Greenfield. It’s directed by Michelle Schumacher, who wrote the film alongside Tony Cummings.

Simmons portrays a man haunted by his past as every object in his home, every sound he hears, reminds him of a specific event in his life as he attempts to move past the pain and forgive his trespassers, and more importantly, forgive himself.

Schumacher said, “Tony and I wanted to explore the idea of understanding one’s life by connecting the dots of meaningful events and viewing them through the lens of quantum mechanics.

Gossip Girl alum Ed Westwick will star in Enemy Lines, a World War II action drama based on a 1943 true story that took place behind enemy lines into occupied Poland where an elite team of allied soldiers are sent to extract a rocket scientist from the hands of the Nazis. Anders Banke is directing the film, which is his first English-language feature. John Hannah (The Mummy), Tom Wisdom (300), Corey Johnson (Captain Phillips), Pawel Delag (Schindler’s List), Vladimir Epifantsev (Alive), and Kirill Pletnev (Viking) co-star. UK based producers Andy Thompson and Tom George are producing the pic along with Nadzeya Huselnikava.

Actor David Gyasi has been tapped to star in Wes Miller’s Hell on the Border, joining Ron Perlman and Frank Grillo in the biopic based on the true story of Bass Reeves (Gyasi), the first black Deputy U.S. Marshal west of the Mississippi River. Curtis Nichouls,...

Hollywood, aiming for more diversity, hopes inclusion riders will help broaden the composition of behind-the-camera crews. But so far, people with disabilities — who comprise nearly 20% of the population — have been left out of the conversation.

David Shore, creator of Sony TV-ABC’s “The Good Doctor,” is one of the few execs who has been scrupulous about giving opportunities to people with disabilities behind the scenes. “These people are incredibly underrepresented in films and TV,” he says. “It’s important to have characters like this on-screen, but it would be hypocritical to put them in front of the camera and not behind. They’re capable of so much, and we should make it possible.”

Though statistics on below-the-line hiring are shockingly low, some individuals are proving that the practice is successful.

James Cude has been working as an editor for 18 years, on series including MTV’s “Suspect” and Syfy’s “Cosplay Melee” and “Haunted Highway,...

In the grand tradition of Deliverance (1972), Rituals (‘77), and Up the Creek (1984) comes Hunter’s Blood (’86), a backwoods hicksploitation actioner that more than gets by with a cast handpicked by the B movie gods and a script wittier than it has to be. Who says the outdoors hold no charm? (Well, normally that would be me.)

Based on the novel by Jere Cunningham (who later wrote the story for Judgment Night, which is just the urban version of the same tale), Hunter’s Blood was released by Palace Pictures in the U.K. in September, and picked up by Roger Corman’s Concorde Pictures for release stateside in January of ’87, where soon after it was destined to languish on home video shelves, with store clerks puzzled as to where it should be stocked. (By the by, I always saw it in the Horror section, where I think it rightfully belonged.) Hard...

Adult Swim has announced the second season of the Decker TV show -- Decker: Unsealed -- will premiere on "Sunday, June 4th, at Midnight E/P on Adult Swim." I'm quoting verbatim from the press release. Now, while it seems they mean one minute past 11:59pm on Sunday, check your local listings to be sure, because every (administrative) thing this show does drives me out of my order-thirsty mind.Decker ran for three seasons as an online series. Last year, it premiered on TV, in Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block as season one of Decker: Unclassified. Tim Heidecker and Gregg Turkington created and star in the series as Jack Decker Jr. and Jonathan Kington. Joe Estevez also stars as President Davidson Jr. Guest stars in Decker, season two, include: Joey Travolta, Alfonso Freeman, Jimmy McNichol, Kellee Maize, Steve Railsback, and Denny Laine.Read More…...

Stars: Joe Estevez, Don Swayze, Joey Travolta, Burt Ward, Jackie Stallone, Linnea Quigley, Sarah Bellomo, Tamara Landry, Nicole Posey, Michael Todd Davis, Ken Steadman, Michael Roddy, Albert Andrukaitis | Written by Alexander Sachs | Directed by Ellen Cabot

Directed by Ellen Cabot (aka David DeCoteau), Beach Babes From Beyond is technically not a Full Moon film, as it is in fact one of the earliest releases from Charles Band’s 1993 created Torchlight label which specialised in genre-tinged softcore porn comedies. The imprint only ever produced three films between 1993 and 1998, including this film, its direct sequel, and a softcore vampire flick entitled Blonde Heaven, all of which were directed by David DeCoteau under his “Ellen Cabot” pseudonym.

Ridiculous blend of 60s beach party flick and direct to video porn (which is more evident in the deleted scenes), Beach Babes From Beyond suffers from a complete lack of plot and inordinately long musical numbers features extras dancing,...

The following is a list of Los Angeles-area stage and film acting schools, teachers, and acoaches organized by category and alphabetically.Each of the entries contains the following information, if applicable: name of teacher or school; address; phone and fax numbers; email address and/or website; average number of students per class; whether beginning, intermediate, or advanced students are taught; whether auditing is permitted; whether classes are ongoing or by sessions; any special emphasis used in classes or coaching; whether a work/study program is offered. Descriptions of the class, schoool, or coaching are provided by the instructor or institutions and edited by Back Stage.Schools or teachers who have been omitted may contact, in writing, Listings, c/o Back Stage, 5055 Wilshire Blvd., 6th floor, Los Angeles, CA 90036, so that we may include you in our next list.Acting Technique/Scene StudyAARON McPherson STUDIOWest Hollywood, CA [email protected].

Hollywood actor John Travolta is so fed up with the lack of family movies available, he's set up his own production company to correct the problem. The Pulp Fiction star has teamed up with four of his siblings to form Los Angeles-based Travolta Family Films, which he hopes will restore the tradition of families watching movies together. The actor's brother Joey Travolta says, "We felt like there's a serious need for more movies that the whole family can go out and see together. John's the figurehead, but he's not going to be producing or acting in any of the projects. Right now, we have three or four in development - with a remake of Black Beauty in preproduction." The company is also responsible for the independent comedy Enemies Of Laughter, starring David Paymer, Judge Reinhold, Peter Falk and Bea Arthur, which has started a limited run in Los Angeles.