Hollywood Week: TIFF, Kennedy Center Honors, Priscilla Presley, Kelly Clarkson, Texas Band Together, WGA

Details

Category: Entertainment News

Published on Saturday, 16 August 2025 10:56

Written by Janet Walker

The Toronto International Film Festival, embroiled in controversy over its handling of the polarizing film detailing the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, has relented and offered the documentary a place in the festival's line-up.

Toronto International Film Festival

The Toronto International Film Festival, scheduled to begin September 4 through September 14, has re-invited the film, "The Road Between Us: the Ultimate Rescue," to screen at the festival. The film, by filmmaker Barry Arvich, and presents the story told by a retired Israeli general who rescues his family in the height of the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023 and includes footage filmed by the Hamas attackers.

Hollywood Week: The New Paramount, NFL/Disney Deal, Fran Drescher/SAG, Trump/LA Olympics, Kelley Mack

"Earlier this week, TIFF withdrew its invitation to the film "The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue." The festival said the decision was based in part on legal clearance for footage used in the documentary. Deadline, which first reported the news, said a sticking point was the identification and legal clearance of Hamas militants' own livestreaming of the attack," APnews.com reported.

The decision already caused controversary, was pulled over concerns for the public and safety.  The decision was immediately met with criticism, and the festival was accused of antisemitism, and attempting to silence Jewish voices. More than 1000 individuals have signed a petition denouncing the festival's handling of the selection process.

The ongoing conflict, which has cascaded from a measured response to the starvation and systematic destruction of a people, has divided the global population and will, without doubt, not be silent during this event.

While the media have denounced the reversal as a "groveling" by the TIFF committee, public safety is a real issue as the anti-Islamophobia and pro-Palestinian groups have mobilized to respond to the attempts to target the entirety of the Palestine people as wholly responsible for the October 7, 2023 massacre.

"The Road Between Us: the Ultimate Rescue," is not the first film detailing current and ongoing wars to have selection issues at Toronto. Last year, a film which showed Russian soldiers in Ukraine, was not invited to screen, and in much the same manner, public protest caused the committee to reevaluate its decision, and the film screened during the festival yearly programming.

Hollywood Week: Skydance Takes Over, Shari Redstone, Sydney Sweeney, Wallis Annenberg

Hollywood Week: Paramount/Skydance, Taylor Swift Immortalized, Ozzy Osbourne, Hulk Hogan, Malcom Jamal-Warner

Kennedy Center Honors Announced

President Trump, this week, announced the annual Kennedy Center Honors for the Arts and chose as the 2025 recipients, King of Country Music George Strait; Michael Crawford, whose career spans film television, theater, and music; Heavy metal Band, Kiss (Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, Ace Frehley); Disco queen and two time Grammy award winning singer/songwriter Gloria Gaynor, and Oscar nominated actor, writer, and director Sylvester Stallone.

"For nearly half a century, this tradition has celebrated those whose voices and visions tell our nation's story and share it with the world," said Kennedy Center President Ambassador Richard Grenell. "This year's Honorees have left an indelible mark on our history, reminding us that the arts are for everyone."

Superstar Tom Cruise was also tapped by the President to receive a Kennedy Center Honor but declined due to scheduling conflicts.

The Kennedy Center Honors are scheduled for December 7, 2025 and will be aired on CBS and Paramount+.

Hollywood Week: Music World Loses Brian Wilson and Sly Stone, Frances Ford Coppola, Harvey Weinstein, Harris Yulin

Priscilla Presley Sued

The Great Wealth transfer, which will have more than $1 trillion in assets passed to surviving children, relatives, and charities, also brings with it the most fertile scam ground in history.

The recent death of Wallis Annenberg, whose estate is now embroiled in controversary and allegations or elder abuse and coercion, the attempted shake-down of record producer and billionaire David Geffen, who is fighting his former husband in divorce proceedings, and now, while not the eye-popping wealth of the others, Priscilla Presley, is another example of an attempt to swindle a senior citizen, through a variety of skills, romance, partnership, friendship, out of their fortunes, large or small.

Ms. Presley, who has had her share of travails, especially as she has had financial management issues, and was unable to reconcile her expenses to her budget, brought in two consultants, Bridgette Kruse, a Florida Auctioneer, and Kevin Fialko, a Tennessee entrepreneur. The pair, allegedly, began actively working to revitalize Ms. Presley's name, image, likeness and brand.

Jordan Matthews, Attorney for the Plaintiffs said, "that "Kruse and Fialko invested seven figures into rebuilding Priscilla's brand, stabilizing her finances, settling her lawsuits, cleaning up numerous private family ordeals and attempting to help Priscilla repair her relationship with her daughter. Priscilla has, in turn, smeared Kruse and Fialko with false lies and malicious campaigns," The New York Times reported.

Priscilla alleges elder financial abuse and coercion to name a few of the claims. In retaliation the plaintiffs allege the Priscilla "pulled the plug" on Lisa Marie within hours of her hospital admission, and did so before Lisa's daughter, the actress Reilly Keough arrived.  

Through a representative Ms. Keough has stated she supports her grandmother "100%."

This is a developing story.

Hollywood Week: Celebrities Aid Texas Flood Victims, Langer’s Deli Help Texas Day

Kelly Clarkson Cancels Appearance of Texas Hill Country Benefit

Singer Kelly Clarkson, who was scheduled to appear at the Band Together Texas benefit concert, supporting the Texas Hill Country community impacted by the July 4, floods, that killed 135, including 27 campers and counselors, from Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp, has cancelled her appearance due to the death of her former husband, Brandon Blackstock's death.

While the divorce was acrimonious, Clarkson's two children, daughter River Rose Blackstock and son Remington "Remy" Alexander Blackstock, are attempting to cope with the magnitude of the loss, and so she has cancelled all appearances, including her Las Vegas residency, to help her children as they grieve the death of their father.

The Band Together Texas concert is scheduled for Sunday, August 17, 2025 in Austin, Texas. Featured performers include Marinda Lambert, Parker McCollum, Cody Johnson, as well as Ronnie Dunn, Lyle Lovett, Lukas Nelson, and others. Actors Matthew McConaughey, and Dennis Quaid are scheduled to appear as well as Roger Clemons, Vince Young, and Emmanuel Acho. Donations are accepted here.

Janet Walker, Screenwriter, Author, and Publisher of Haute-Lifestyle.com, Announces Release of "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story"

WGA Seeks to Organize Creator Community

The Writer's Guild of America (West) is considering expanding their current parameters and seeking to unionize, and gather members, from outside the traditional ranks. So, what does that really mean?

With the explosion of verticals and writer generated content, through any number of sources, digital magazines, gaming, social media platforms, and influencers where content is generated, essentially written by a human, for the consumption of a global audience, including YouTube scripts (short writer generated skits) while not considered television, is certainly drawing in the big numbers and have jumpstarted many careers.

"Organizing efforts aimed at work produced for social media platforms in particular won't be easy. The creator workforce is diffuse and often isolated, not easy to wrangle under one common goal: For every star that produces scripted entertainment with the help of an entire staff — like Alan Chikin Chow and Dhar Mann (who both now have Burbank studio spaces)— scores of more minor internet personalities toil alone and/or for little profit. Ad dollars are limited, while the creator space is saturated," reported The Hollywood Reporter.

Individual content creators may not see the strength of the WGA as particularly beneficial to their needs. The power of the union is only as good as its people, a union of 50,000 has stronger bargaining power. For the WGA gathering 25,000 content creators to joining the 25,120 total WGA rank and file, will be reduced to what can the union do for the individual, who may not make a lot of money, but subjects the owner or creator to rules and regulations?

As the WGA continues to explore opportunities to increase their bargaining power and think outside the very rigid and well defined lines that dictate membership, they must do more than simply present themselves as the protector of the creator, and break down how membership benefits every content creator.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," and "Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," which can be purchased here. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.