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Actors With Down Syndrome Are Finally Getting Mainstream Roles

Shows like Who Do You Think I Am have "this effect of normalizing disability and showing us that people with Down syndrome are part of our culture and part of our society and part of our stories." - CBC

Netflix Tries Its Hand At Original Short Films

The streamer is always on the hunt for new talent, so an emerging director showcase is logical. One director: "I jokingly say it’s like film school but . ... It gives you a sense of what that real film world is going to be like." - Los Angeles Times

What’s Going To Happen At The Oscars?

Only pundits know, and even they don't really know much. "The Academy declared 276 films from 2021 as Oscar-eligible, and much of the responsibility for spotlighting films falls on bloggers and columnists." But Film Twitter isn't real-life voting. - Variety

Regular Streaming Is Crowded, And Then There’s The Fight For Anime

On the good side, "you no longer have to shell out hundreds of dollars for a VHS set or rely on pirated versions of new episodes with subtitles made by fans who took liberties of their own in the translation." On the other side, wow, so many streamers. - Vulture

How Does A Film Studies Prof Teach Last Year’s Complex, Not Oscar-Nominated, Palme D’Or Winner?

Titane is not easy to parse. "Julia Ducournau is willing to explore the strange, to show us our own bodies, soft and hard, that surprise and fail us, that are the source of pain and pleasure, leak strange fluids, grow old or ugly." - Los Angeles Review of Books

There’s A Boom In Horror Right Now, Especially By Women Directors

What's that about? "There’s a great artistic freedom in horror that’s perhaps not available in other genres. Obviously, in a drama, you can’t have a worm growing out of someone’s nostril, or something else so bold or artistic. But horror has really incredible freedom." - The New York Times

The Painful Experience Of An In-Person Film Festival

In Berlin, during the many nasal swab tests, "I look up and to the right as the technician inserts the little wand, either affecting an air of nonchalance or pretending I’ve been struck by a highly original thought. I know others make idle chitchat." - The New York Times

Why Hollywood Won’t Quit Guns

In the most heavily armed country, the presence of guns isn’t considered out of the ordinary, especially in states with open-carry laws. That familiarity extends to Hollywood sets, where guns are often treated with nonchalance. - The Atlantic

Reimagining NPR To Serve Everyone

In his new book, Chávez uses media industry data and 50 interviews with public media workers to argue that NPR’s growth has come at the expense of serving Latinx audiences in the U.S. - NiemanLab

Why Is Joe Rogan’s Podcast Such A Big Deal? It’s Not Politics. It’s Demographics.

"Rogan is not just a purveyor of right-wing ideologies. He has built an empire by introducing these ideas — and a wide range of others — to listeners across the political spectrum. His unique skill is drawing from that spectrum a massive, young, largely male audience that advertisers highly covet." - Nieman Lab

How Brazil’s Version Of Joe Rogan Got Himself In Hot Water, Too

Bruno Aiub, who uses the nom de microphone Monark and who models his very popular podcast (titled Flow) on Rogan's, made an argument this week that, on free-speech grounds, Brazil's Nazi party should no longer be outlawed. And the merda hit the fan. - The New York Times

Harper Lee’s Executor Will Not Get To Take The “To Kill A Mockingbird” Film Rights Back From The People Lee Sold Them To

Those people being the heirs of star Gregory Peck and the producer and director of the 1962 film version. Executor Tonja Carter (as she's done in other cases) argued that the aged Lee was basically tricked into signing the earlier contract. The court disagreed. - The New York Times

Canadian Minister Of Culture Says Streaming Companies Need To Step Up Support Of Canadian Culture

In a debate Wednesday in the House of Commons about a bill to regulate online streaming, Rodriguez said updating the broadcasting law is long overdue and needs to cover commercial content on social media and streaming platforms. - CBC

The Simple Reason A Bunch Of Comedians Are Suing Pandora

"Let's say (Robin Williams is) singing the words 'reality, what a concept' — in that case … a royalty would have been generated and (Pandora) would be paying the license. But because he said the words 'reality, what a concept' … they didn't deal with it." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)

New Midwest Powerhouse? Iowa Public Radio To Take Over Licenses Of Six University Stations

IPR began managing broadcast operations at the stations in 2007 and now the Board of Regents of the universities will decide on a proposal that would have the group take ownership of the stations. - Inside Radio

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