The moment Vivian Rubio arrived in the United States, she became an American – removed from her friends and family in Venezuela. But to Americans, especially those in the film and television casting industry, she will always be Venezuelan – or at least something other than the white American image she said the entertainment industry […]
Category Archives: Film & TV
Movie review: ‘Game of Aces’
A wounded German officer in the vast Arab desert says to himself repeatedly in German, “There is no pain,” as he takes out a splinter stuck in his thigh. The credits appear in a Tarantino-esque font and filter while a nondescript biker rides in front of a backdrop of the pyramids. The opening credits of […]
TFT professor explores cultural differences in film ‘August in Berlin’
A small coffeehouse in Berlin housed the fortuitous meeting of two strangers, a German man and a Canadian woman. Although the two were reluctant about each other at first, spending 48 hours together allowed them to overcome barriers crafted by their own assumptions about their cultures and romantic statuses. This is the central premise for […]
Movie review: ‘Sausage Party’
It takes a certain kind of twisted psyche to create an animated movie deserving of an R-rating. But leave it to Seth Rogen and his team of writers to produce a computer-generated story so unapologetically offensive that rated R is hardly an adequate warning. “Sausage Party” does not belong next to animated Disney flicks on store […]
Adult film star speaks to psychology class about sex, pornography
The Kinsey Pavilion 1200B chalkboard read “SEX” in big letters. Standing in front of the lecture hall full of students was adult film actress Jessica Drake, who said growing up in a conservative and religious family environment made her view sex negatively. “I had a lot of fear-based sex education,” Drake said. “All it did […]
Students, faculty experiment with multimedia to produce ‘Live Cinema’
Ruoxuan Li flipped through Francis Ford Coppola’s photo album and found the image she was looking for. Behind the protective sleeve was an aging photo of young twin boys from the 1920s. The School of Theater, Film and Television alumna stared at the picture and retreated into a warehouse full of clothing. Li returned to […]
“Game of Thrones” Live Concert Experience lets TV show’s music reign
Music is coming. Strings hummed and drums pounded on the Hollywood Palladium theater stage, drawing many excited cheers from audience members sporting shirts with House Targaryen sigils or “The North Remembers.” Immersive art, music and storytelling brings the suspenseful and often tragic show “Game of Thrones” to life. After seven years of helping shape the Westeros […]