Hollywood Week: Academy Correction, Critics Condemn Oscar Winner Arrest, Sundance Chooses Boulder, October 7 Doc, Adolescence

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Category: Entertainment News

Published on Saturday, 29 March 2025 09:37

Written by Janet Walker

U.S. film critics has denounced the actions perpetrated by Israeli settlers and soldiers against Academy Award winner Hamden Ballal, a Palestinian and co-director of "No Other Land" who was beaten, arrested and detained this week in the West Bank.

Sundance Moves to Boulder 2027

Sundance Film Festival, a long staple of the Park City, Utah the festival's home since its inception in 1978, has chosen Boulder, Colorado as its new home, beginning with the festival's 2027 season.

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"As change is inevitable, we must always evolve and grow, which has been at the core of our survival. This move will ensure that the festival continues its work of risk-taking, supporting innovative storytellers, fostering independence, and entertaining and enlightening audiences," Sundance Institute president and founder Robert Redford said in a statement. "I am grateful to the Boulder community for its support, and I look forward to seeing what the future holds for the festival there," reported The Hollywood Reporter.

Utah's right wing conservative politics has often made strange bedfellows with the liberal festival, which annually added more than $125million in revenue to the state's economy. Even with the additional revenue, at the time of the announcement Utah's governor Spencer Cox was debating whether to outlaw the Gay Right's Flag, once step closer to further restrictions on lifestyle choices.

The move to Boulder, Colorado, with a more liberal base is more in line with the inclusiveness of the festival, supporters and filmmakers which have made Sundance one of the premier film festivals in the world.

Sundance Boulder will hold its inaugural festival, of a ten year contract, in January 2027.

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Academy Fails to Condemn Attack on Palestine Oscar Winner

After failing to condemn the beating, arrest and detainment of "No Other Land" co-director Hamden Ballal, a Palestinian, in the West Bank, by Israeli soldiers, Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, President Janet Yang and CEO Bill Kramer issued a statement correcting the previous statement.

"On Wednesday, we sent a letter in response to reports of violence against Oscar winner Hamdan Ballal, co-director of No Other Land, connected to his artistic expression. We regret that we failed to directly acknowledge Mr. Ballal and the film by name. We sincerely apologize to Mr. Ballal and all artists who felt unsupported by our previous statement and want to make it clear that the Academy condemns violence of this kind anywhere in the world," they continued. "We abhor the suppression of free speech under any circumstances," reported The Hollywood Reporter.

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Critics Groups Unequivocally Condemn Arrest, Beating, Detainment

U.S. film critics sent the following statement: "We, the members of the National Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the Boston Society of Film Critics, express our support for the Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal and condemn, in the strongest terms, the brutal and unlawful attack he suffered this week at the hands of Israeli settlers, as well as his detainment by Israeli authorities. We are gravely concerned for Mr. Ballal's health and safety, as well as the safety of his loved ones, and now that he has been released, extend our hopes for his full recovery from his injuries."

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October 7 Doc Added to BH Film Festival

The Beverly Hills Film Festival has added the film "Dying to Live," an account of the October 7, 2023. Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. The film will also screen at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on Thursday, April 3rd at 1:15pm as an official selection of the Beverly Hills Film Festival. Click here for tickets.

"Dying To Live" follows human rights activist Majed El Shafie, founder of One Free World International, as he leads a powerful investigation into the Oct. 7 Massacre, a tragic event emblematic of the rising tide of anti-Semitism worldwide. Through the documentary journey viewers will meet first responders, forensic specialists, UN officials, doctors, police, intelligence officials and world leaders, as well as survivors of the massacre and families of hostages. Through interviews, archival footage, and on-the-ground reporting, the documentary explores Israel's quest for peace amidst escalating violence, highlighting the urgent need for solidarity and understanding in a world plagued by prejudice and hatred.

Mental Health: Nurture versus Nature - "Adolescence" and The Great Debate

Adolescence Enters Mainstream Conversation

"Adolescence," the Netflix family drama has scored huge ratings on the streamer with a record 66.3 million subscribers viewing the taunt, four-part, thriller that explores the dynamics of contemporary transition from boyhood to teenager, and with it all the challenges of the never-ending messaging children absorb.

The series, developed by Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne, has initiated a mainstream conversation with nearly every entertainment daily, media and news sites, even the traditional broadsheets (Democratic or Republican) dissecting the elements behind the actions of the freckled face boy murderer and how sexuality, love, esteem, societal structure, and technology, and constant cyber bullying becomes intolerable, and ostracize him.

Suicide is the second highest cause of death among adolescences, in the United States, between the ages of 10 and 19 and "Adolescence" takes this statistic and reverts it and we see a family destroyed, a boy, who seems unable, throughout the majority of the series to comes to grips, mentally, with his actions and what is truly chilling is murder seems to be an acceptable solution.

Even as the momentum on "Adolescence" continues to build, as mainstream media picks up on the elements that have audiences binging on the series, the conversation delves deeper as thinkers, leaders, and lawmakers, continue to consider the damages of technology and age old argument of nurture versus nature, which has also evolved with the advancement of technology.

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 is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.