Monday, April 29, 2019

A Salute to Mark Medoff / First Teaser for Young Ahmed / One More Time for Apocalypse Now

Good Monday to everyone.

A SALUTE TO MARK MEDOFF


(Photo via Getty Images and The Wrap)


Mark Medoff-Oscar nominee and Tony Award winning writer died on Tuesday.  He was 79.

The disclaimer: to the best of my knowledge, Mr. Medoff had no connection to the Telluride Film Festival.

So why mention him here?

As many of you know, in real life I'm a high school speech/drama/debate/English teacher.  I've had students performing Mr.Medoff's work for a long, long time.  Sometimes as competition pieces individually or as duos.  Sometimes for play competitions (at least three times).  So, obviously, his work has made an impact in my life and the lives of my kids.

And he was a New Mexico guy.  He taught for many, many years in Las Cruces at New Mexico State University and though I'm not a New Mexico native, I've spent a lot of time there.  It's just down the road...you might say.

So, Mr. Medoff, a salute to you, sir.  Thanks for the sharing your gift with the world, my kids and me.

Here's The Wrap's story about Mr. Medoff's passing.


FIRST TEASER FOR YOUNG AHMED

High on my list of films from Cannes that I think are most likely to travel to Colorado for Labor Day weekend is the latest social drama from The Dardennes Brothers.  The Dardennes have had a rich history with both the Cannes Film Festival and TFF so, though it doesn't happen that their films do the Cannes/Telluride connection, it's occurred enough over the years that you'd be a little silly not to expect it to happen again.

The Dardennes film is Young Ahmed and its plot is described at IMDb as:  "A young Belgian hatches a plot to kill his teacher after embracing an extremist interpretation of the Quran."

Young Ahmed currently doesn't have U.S. distribution but prior to its screening at Cannes next month, the film's producers have released a teaser/trailer.

Here that is from YouTube:




Linked here is an accompanying story on the teaser's release from The Film Stage.

Young Ahmed's IMDb page is here.


ONE MORE TIME FOR APOCALYPSE NOW



Francis Ford Coppola screened what he is saying is the definitive version of his 1979 classic, Apocalypse Now, at the Tribeca Film Festival.  This latest version has been renamed Apocalypse Now: The Final Cut.  Coppola screened Apocalypse Now Redux as a part of TFF in 2014.

I am wondering if  Coppola might return again to TFF to screen the latest version.

The Wrap had this story about the Tribeca screening which includes the note that Coppola expects a theatrical release at some point later this year.  Depending on the timing for that and the interest level from the fest and Coppola...maybe.

I have linked the story from The Wrap here.



That's it for your MTFB on this Monday.  More for you on Thursday...


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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