News Briefs

Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore won't be around for a Michigan film festival that he founded but the show will go on.

Moore has announced the lineup for the 13th annual Traverse City Film Festival, which runs from July 25-30. It will include 117 feature films and other events.

Moore usually makes personal appearances at the festival. But this year, he'll be in New York for his one-man Broadway show called "The Terms of My Surrender."

The Traverse City fest will have plenty of movies with political themes.

The "Travel Ban Sidebar" will consist of what Moore calls seven "daring and beautiful stories that celebrate our connected world," an apparent reference to the Trump administration's policies on travel to the U.S. by people from predominantly Muslim nations.

For the complete schedule, click here.

Cannes Lions announced the creation of an advisory committee to help shape the future of the Festival and ensure it continues to respond to the needs of the industry. Comprised of major advertisers, partners, agency networks and the Mayor of Cannes, the committee will be a platform for stakeholders in the event to share their views and recommendations around all aspects of the Cannes Lions experience.

Commitments have already been received from Marc Pritchard, chief brand officer of Procter & Gamble, Keith Weed, chief marketing and communications officer, Unilever, Fernando Machado, head of brand marketing, Burger King, Fiona Carter, chief brand officer, AT&T, and Jan Derck van Karnebeek, chief commercial officer at Heineken, with more members to be announced soon.

“As well as clients who have offered to help shape the future of the Festival, we will – as usual – consult with all global creative leaders, heads of holding companies and other major partners,” said Philip Thomas, CEO of Ascential Events, organizers of Cannes Lions. “There have been a lot of discussions this week about the structure of the Festival, and we want to create the right Cannes Lions experience for all participants. The thing that unites them all is their belief in creativity as a powerful force in the world, and this is at the heart of everything we do.”

Pritchard added, “We attend Cannes Lions to focus on creativity to drive growth. It’s the right time to step back and take a look at the best way forward for Cannes Lions to provide the best possible platform for creativity in our industry, and P&G is ready and willing to help.”

“Cannes Lions has always been a force for good in promoting creativity as a core driver of our businesses”, said Derck van Karnebeek. “We are committed to assist where we can in charting the right way forward.”

Speaking on the timeline of committee activity, Thomas added, “The full list of members will be announced soon and the first meeting will take place shortly after the Festival. We look forward to sharing the committee’s recommendations with the global creative community, and we’re excited to see the ideas produced by this deeper collaboration.”

Focus Features has acquired worldwide rights to Boy Erased, the coming-of-age and coming-out drama from writer/director Joel Edgerton based on Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identity, Faith, and Family by Garrard Conley. Academy Award nominee Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea) will star opposite Academy Award winners Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman. The movie will be produced by Anonymous Content and will begin production this fall for a 2018 theatrical release. Focus chairman Peter Kujawski made the announcement.
 
The film will tell the story of Jared (to be portrayed by Hedges), the son of a Baptist pastor in a small American town, who is outed to his parents (Kidman and Crowe) at age 19. Jared is quickly pressured into attending a gay conversion therapy program--or else be shunned by his family, friends, and church. It is within the program that Jared comes into conflict with its head therapist (Mr. Edgerton).
 
“I’m excited to work with an ensemble of actors, seasoned and new, to bring Garrard’s story to the screen. I think Focus is the perfect partner on this, and I will always thank Garrard for trusting my passion for his life story. I can’t think of a better reason to get behind the camera again,” said Edgerton. 
 
Boy Erased is being produced by Edgerton and Anonymous Content’s Kerry Kohansky-Roberts and Steve Golin, an Academy Award-winning producer of Best Picture Oscar winner Spotlight. Executive producing the film are Rebecca Yeldham, Ann Ruark, and Anonymous Content’s Kim Hodgert and Tony Lipp. Josh McLaughlin, recently promoted to Focus president of production, will supervise the project for the company.
 
Conley’s book was first published last year by Penguin Random House, and was issued earlier this year in paperback. Edgerton has written the screenplay adaptation; Boy Erased will be his second feature as director following the sleeper hit The Gift (also produced by Yeldham), which earned him a Directors Guild of America Award nomination. He was recently a Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Award nominee for his performance in Focus’ Loving.
 
Focus Features was honored in 2012 by Point Foundation, the nation’s largest scholarship-granting organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students of merit, with its Point Inspiration Award, given to a company or organization that champions respect and inclusion of the LGBT community and operates with the vision that investing in today’s potential will produce a brighter tomorrow.
 
Celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2017, Focus Features has made and released Academy Award-winning LGBT-themed films including Beginners, Dallas Buyers Club, The Danish Girl, Milk, and Brokeback Mountain, the company’s all-time top-grosser.
 
Kujawski commented, “Garrard’s story is both timely and timeless, both personal and universal. It is a story which will not only deeply move people, but one that we hope will change outlooks. We are thrilled to work once again with Joel, and with the Anonymous Content team.  These filmmakers’ passion for this heart-rending project speaks to all of us at Focus, and to why we make the movies we do.” 

As part of its mission to attract younger fans, the International Olympic Committee announced a sponsorship deal Wednesday with Intel, which will bring virtual reality and 360-degree viewing to mobile devices and TVs as soon as next year's Winter Games.

The IOC has been aggressive in introducing new sports and disciplines to the Olympics: snowboarding and freestyle skiing on the winter side, with surfing, skateboarding and 3-on-3 basketball coming to summer.

Now, it's a matter of getting kids to watch it all. Olympic viewership has been trending toward an older audience for more than a decade, and IOC president Thomas Bach said "I got really concerned, because then, you have to ask yourself, 'Why?'"

"We could see from about 2012 on that it was very much a question about the platform," Bach said in an interview with The Associated Press. "The youth just weren't watching as much TV as they used to in the past."

The deal covers next year's Olympics through 2024.

Intel, which has been partnering with sports organizations to show the potential of its technology, plans to provide real-time virtual reality viewing for the Pyeongchang Olympics, and will also offer drone technology to give viewers before unseen views of events and opening and closing ceremony.

Intel will also bring 5G wireless technology to the games "because we have go get the feed off the mountain, or off the drone, or whatever it is, and down to the broadcaster," CEO Brian Krzanich said.

"You don't have the other (technologies) without the 5G," Krzanich said.

The Intel announcement comes a week after the IOC severed its sponsorship deal with McDonald's, even though the deal had three years left.

IOC managing director of television and marketing services Timo Lumme said the committee is still analyzing whether it wants to stay in the so-called retail food market.

Clearly, the Intel deal made the McDonald's decision an easier one for the IOC, which is signing new sponsors to its top-tier sponsorship program at around $200 million for four years — double the value of the old ones.

"With McDonald's, it's very easy," Bach said. "They are changing and we are changing and this is why we agreed on going different ways."

He called it "a mutual agreement at the right time."

"With Intel, here today, this is a novel step, and it's a milestone in achieving our goals" of bringing more young people to the Olympics, Bach said.