Traditional therapists couldn't reach Elaine Hall's autistic son, Neal. The appearance of Neal's autism, a brain development disorder that causes impairments in the areas of social interaction and communication, was a devastating irony for Hall, a performer and professional acting coach by trade.
Each year the Virginia Film Festival showcases talented actors, writers and directors in various venues around Charlottesville.
Film Symposium Starting tomorrow alongside the opening night of the Virginia Film Festival, Harry Chontier, NYU film professor and former VP of Twentieth Century Fox, will be leading a four-day course.
As if filmmaking wasn't hard enough already: Throw in a 72-hour time frame, unknown plot elements and the pressure of competition, and you have the makings of the Volvo Adrenaline Film Project. Adrenaline, which came to the Virginia Film Festival four years ago, is the brainchild of filmmakers and friends Beau Bauman and Jeff Wadlow.
This year's Virginia Film Festival theme is Kin Flicks, movies that share the theme of family. Keeping with the theme, Academy Award-winning director Ray McKinnon will be showing his award-winning, one-year-old film about "the family," Randy and The Mob, Saturday night at the Paramount Theater.
The Virginia Film Festival is revered and adored for its inclusion of films of all genres and varieties, and this year's Ghosts (2006) is surely one-of-a-kind. Directed by Nick Broomfield, Ghosts is a riveting and compelling dramatization of true events.
Over the last 20 years, Virginians have not had to travel to New York or Los Angeles to see the following -- Anthony Hopkins leaping up from an interview with Roger Ebert to act out Hannibal Lecter; the screenwriter of Dog Day Afternoon meeting the actual bank robber for the first time; Morgan Freeman, Robert Duvall and Liev Schreiber swapping their acting bug stories in front of captivated drama students. This weekend, the film industry will once again invade Charlottesville for the 20th annual Virginia Film Festival. When the University, private investors and the Commonwealth teamed up in 1988, their goal was to create a unique University-based film festival that would attract artists from all across the country.
Even if you don't recognize John Turturro's name, it's likely you'll recognize his face. His highly ranged and often offbeat performances have kept his services much sought after over the last 25 years.
We all have those bands: the ones we have been listening to since the beginning, the ones we have been rooting for against MTV commercialization and pop culture, the ones we defended when our friends told us "give it up, they suck." And, when our band comes out with a new album, we hurry to buy it, eager to cheer for their maturation and continual production in the face of today's deflating music industry. Jimmy Eat World is one my favorite bands to cheer for.
'Hedda Gabler' The drama department is bringing everyone's favorite modern woman to Culbreth. Conflicted, beautiful and conniving, Hedda's antics and final betrayal will captivate audiences.
As Family Weekend approaches, many students look forward to seeing their parents and family members again after a long absence.
Remember Ben Affleck's golden days? Good Will Hunting, Armageddon, Shakespeare in Love, Changing Lanes?
It is certainly a sign of the times that a sports movie spoof and a film about a NFL quarterback softened by a precocious little girl were both considerably more popular at the box office than the new political drama Rendition (even though it stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon and Meryl Streep). Allow me to advise you -- if you can only afford one $10 movie ticket, skip The Rock's stony performance, and please skip the 37-millionth spin-off of Scary Movie. "Rendition" comes from "extraordinary rendition" -- a term that was born during the Clinton administration.
Let me re-enact this scene for you. You are talking with one of your friends on AIM. He/she says something to the effect of, "Hey, hav u evr herd of that Assorted Indie Rock Band That I Know uv nvr Hurd Of?" Not wanting to sound like a jerk, you reply with something like, "I've heard of them, but I haven't heard any of their music." They say, "U gota chek them out, they r lyke sewww mazng, omg!" Curious, yet perturbed by their horrid grammar and spelling, you go to Limewire, YouTube or iTunes to listen to this three-fan indie band.
The Queen of Soul is back. But this time she's not singing the same songs we all know and love (and still haven't tired of). Thanks to the work of Jerry Wexler, James Austin and Patrick Milligan of Rhino Entertainment Company, we're now able to hear sides of Aretha Franklin that we haven't before in Rare & Unreleased Recordings from the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul.
Students can often be heard commenting about the competitive nature of extracurricular organizations at the University -- after all, one can't even go on Alternative Spring Break without going through an application process.
Not just the name of Lebanon's capital, Beirut is also the name of a band known for its Eastern-bloc brass and gypsy-like rhythms.
Hexes for Exes is the newest release from Moving Units, a Los Angeles-based group that would be an appropriate opening band for acts such as !!!, The Rapture or Daft Punk. As I was listening to Hexes, it struck me that dance punk is a lot like an infomercial -- both can either be background noise in a living room at, say, 4 a.m., or become something infectious.
Whether you subscribe to the church of Radiohead or not, you have to give the group credit for its earnest devotion to music.
There seem to be two camps on Wes Anderson: Those who think Wes Anderson represents the paragon of indie culture and those that think Wes Anderson represents the premier example of elitist, non-substantial filmmaking.
