Jessica Koslow

Some would call experimental filmmaker and Venice historian Gerry Fialka a renaissance man. He has presented at 17 salons about the history and culture of Venice at the Venice Heritage Museum and organizes a handful of local annual events, including PXL THIS, a fest featuring films made with the Fisher-Price PXL2000 toy camcorder. 

“The PXL2000 is a really cool obsolete failed kids’ toy that is enabling people to be creative,” said Fialka, who then quoted musician, actor and filmmaker Frank Zappa, who he worked for in the ’80s and ’90s. “Zappa said, ‘Progress is not possible without deviation.’ In this case, the camcorder is enabling people to expand experimenting with a medium.”

Fialka then referred to James Joyce, who is the subject of a reading club he has run for 30 years, who commented on the value and delight of finding an epiphany, or the extraordinary, in everydayness. . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.

Michelle Danner knows that her film, “The Italians,” resonates with everyone. The actor, producer, and director recently completed a festival circuit, including the Los Angeles Italia Film Festival, Cinequest in San Jose, the Big Apple Film Festival, and several festivals in Europe and Italy, showcasing the film to packed audiences.

“People came up to me after the screening from all different nationalities, and they said, ‘I know this is an Italian family, but it could have been my family,’” Danner said. “There is something universal about it.”

The story, written by Lisa Visca, revolves around the Italian-American Vitali family, focusing on the fiery matriarch Angelina, portrayed by Danner. This role was all-too-familiar for Danner; it fit her like a glove.
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Read the entire article at The Argonaut.

Just before Sachi Cunningham ’94.5 entered her sophomore year at Brown, she was given a bipolar 1 diagnosis and put in a rubber-walled room. It wouldn’t be her last time in a psychiatric hospital. When her mom died of ovarian cancer during her junior year, she fell into a deep depression and landed there again. But Cunningham, a competitive athlete who was on Brown’s varsity swim and water polo teams, went on to land at the top of the dangerous, male-dominated field of surf photography. She says that’s not a coincidence. 

“Learning how to survive when a wave detonates on or in front of you has become an incredibly valuable practice of resilience and survival,” she says. “Every time I swim in the surf I am reinforcing how to feel comfortable in a situation that is entirely out of my control, and how to surrender to whatever comes my way and make the most of it.” The highs and lows of her bipolar disorder are as inevitable as the continued pounding of the waves, she says. “The lessons that this practice instills has helped to keep me functional.” . . .

Read the full article at Brown Alumni Magazine.

Actress Lori Petty was born in doublewide trailer in Chattanooga, Tennessee. But for the last 28 years, she’s called Venice home.

“I moved to Venice in 1990, when Abbot Kinney was called West Washington and you could ride your bike in middle of the street and there were no cars,” says Petty.

At the time, the “Orange Is the New Black” star was filming “Point Break,” living in Hollywood and driving to the beach every day to surf with Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. After a week of commuting, Petty thought, “Why don’t I live in Venice? This place is awesome,” and put down roots.

“The ocean, the people — it felt like home,” she says. “It felt comfortable. They say ‘find your tribe,’ and Venice feels like being a part of something.”

It’s the little things that make Petty appreciate her beachside community. She loves that you don’t need any money to walk out of your house and stir up some fun for the day. She rejoices that you can buy cut flowers almost any day of the week. She revels in the panoramic views of the sand, sea and sunsets.

Read the full article in The Argonaut.

Tony Kushner (far left chair) on the set of Lincoln with director Steven Spielberg (far right) / David James © 2012 DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Tony Kushner isn’t shy about politics. He’s opinionated, and he stirs up controversy. In his own words, he’s a “man of the left.”

His 1992 Tony Award-winning play Angels in America tackled AIDS at the height of its epidemic. In 2005, he co-wrote Steven Spielberg’s Munich, which took heat for its portrayal of Israelis and Palestinians. The latest Kushner-Spielberg project, Lincoln, arrives in L.A. on Nov. 9, three days after the Presidential election.

The film chronicles the final months of Lincoln’s life in 1865 at the end of America’s Civil War. The 16th president was desperately trying to pass the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery. His principal challenge was getting a two-thirds majority vote in the divided House of Representatives.

“Is this a good connection?” Kushner asks via phone last week, on Halloween. He is stranded on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Luckily, he has power and dodged property damage. “It’s a nightmare,” he says. Kushner spent part of Tuesday driving downtown in his car to pick up friends in areas without electricity. His guests were treated to a hot shower and home-cooked meal.

The Village Halloween Parade has been canceled, …

Read full article at LAWeekly.com