Karina Silva had no trouble remembering her cues while filming musical numbers for “Beauty and the Beast.” She’s known the songs by heart since she was 5 years old. “When ‘Beauty and the Beast’ came out … I loved it,” Silva said. “And so to see it come to life and then to be a […]
Category Archives: Film & TV
Q&A: Professor reflects on role of documentaries in guarding civil rights
A UCLA professor’s documentary turned 30 years old this year, but its plot bears eerie parallels to the hate crimes of today. Renee Tajima-Peña, a professor of Asian American studies, helped direct “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” which documents the murder of Chin, a Chinese man beaten to death by two white autoworkers, Ronald Ebens and […]
Movie review: ‘Kong: Skull Island’
Even Tom Hiddleston’s brooding blue eyes can’t save “Kong: Skull Island.” The actor spends a surprising amount of screen time gazing off into the distance ponderously, despite the fact that it’s the latest action-packed film about the legendary King Kong. The film struggles to find a tone or make use of its A-list cast, dishing […]
Reel Representation: Marvel, DC struggle to produce diverse, inclusive superhero films
Diversity in film and television came into the spotlight in 2016 with #OscarsSoWhite. A USC study in 2016 found only about a quarter of speaking characters belonged to nonwhite racial groups. In “Reel Representation,” columnist Olivia Mazzucato discusses different issues of race and representation in media as they relate to new movies and TV shows. […]
UCLA, USC alumni face off in a battle of wits on gameshow ‘Idiotest’
Nada Jawad and Jodi Wofford brought their Bruin spirit to the stage of “Idiotest” as they tested their wits against two USC Trojans. “Finally being on the stage, and finally playing the game … was a real in-the-moment, in-the-zone thing,” Jawad said. The two 2016 UCLA alumnae participated in a college-rivalry edition of the gameshow […]
Alumnus films, shares real-life stories of people with disabilities
Nerris Nassiri walked the streets of Los Angeles from Koreatown to Little Ethiopia, collecting stories of the diverse communities for his senior thesis. Walking the crowded streets of Little India was a woman who had moved from India to Los Angeles with her three children. She spoke of family life, raising her children and opening […]
Alum, producer of ‘Vice World of Sports’ reinterprets rivalry in sports culture
Sports rivalries aren’t just another aspect of the game for Jeremy White. Rivalry has been his work – and his life – for almost a year. The film director and alumnus is the series producer of Viceland’s “Vice World of Sports,” a documentary series that covers both local and professional sports stories around the world. […]