Winter Film Awards International Film Festival Announces 2020 Edition

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

NEW YORK, January 3 2020 – Winter Film Awards International Film Festival (WFA-IFF), a New York City competitive Festival with a special emphasis on showcasing the work of women and under-represented filmmakers, has announced selections for its 2020 edition. WFA-IFF received more than 650 submissions and has selected 79 films from 27 countries to be screened in February. The films include the following genres: Narrative Feature, Narrative Short, Documentary, Horror, Animation, Music Video, and Web Series.

The Festival will run from February 20 through February 29 at its main venue Cinema Village (22 East 12th Street) in Greenwich Village. In addition to screenings and filmmaker Q&A sessions, WFA-IFF will present an opening night film and entertainment industry networking event on February 20th, a series of educational sessions geared towards emerging filmmakers, including Shooting Difficult Scenes / Sex & Violence for Filmmakers, Distribution 101, All About Music for Filmmakers, Crafting an Amazing Opening Scene with Annette Insdorf, The Art of the Pitch with Seed&Spark, Camera Hacks for the Frugal Filmmaker and more. The Festival comes to a glittering close on February 29th with a Gala Award Ceremony Red Carpet event at a leading NYC nightclub. Details, schedule and additional events can be found on https://winterfilmawards.com/wfa2020/.

WFAIFF’s Executive Director Steffanie L Finn said of the 2020 edition, “Emerging filmmakers with low budgets and no connections are so often ignored in favor of the standard big budget generic action films. Diverse, exciting low budget films are created all over the world; it is critical for film festivals to showcase them. Indie film festivals are often the sole means for the community to share personal stories from around the world, and WFA’s location in the center of the action provides our filmmakers with a dazzling chance to begin their careers in the film industry.”

WFA-IFF’s list of sponsors and partners for 2020 includes the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, NYC & Company Foundation, Jungle Software, Magix Software, NYU Women’s Initiative, Final Draft, Rosco Laboratories, Elvid Cinema and Accenture. Several of the Festival’s networking events will be organized in collaboration with Liberty Coca-Cola, Boxed Water and other beverages.

WFA-IFF ensures that each submission receives a fair, complete and bias-free consideration. Festival submissions are viewed and scored by a team of 75 film industry professionals from around the world. Each submission is viewed by 4-6 screeners and scored in 8 technical categories and an overall star rating. Final selections are chosen based upon average score.

WFA-IFF’s awards jury consists of a fresh set of 40 film and festival professionals from around the world. The awards jury will select award winners in thirteen categories: Best Picture, Best Short Film, Outstanding Women Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Animated Film, Best Director, Best Documentary, Best Horror Film, Best Music Video, Best Student Film, Best Web Series, and the New York Perspectives Award for outstanding depiction of New York City.

About WFA-IFF
A group of filmmakers and enthusiasts have been organizing independent competitive international film events since 2011. WFA-IFF’s mission is to promote diversity, bridge the opportunity divide and provide a platform for under-represented artists and a variety of genres, viewpoints and approaches. We believe that only by seeing others’ stories can we understand each other and only via an open door can the underrepresented artist enter the room. WFA-IFF is 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

For more information about the Festival, please visit: http://winterfilmawards.com/

FREEFORM’s TCA 2020 Session to feature “Motherland: Fort Salem,” “Everything’s Gonna Be Okay” and “Party of Five”

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

The Television Critic’s Association is only a few more weeks away and FreeForm has announced their plans for the winter 2020 event as three of their television series will be showcased along with panels with the cast and producers for each television show.

Motherland: Fort Salem – Premieres Spring 2020 – 

Set in an alternate America where witches ended their persecution over 300 years ago by cutting a deal with the government to fight for their country, “Motherland: Fort Salem” follows three young women from basic training in combat magic into early deployment. In this world, the traditional roles of gender and power are flipped, with the more dominant women on the front lines fighting looming terrorist threats that are familiar to our world—but with supernatural tactics and weapons.

Panelists: 

Taylor Hickson (Raelle)

Ashley Nicole Williams (Abigail)

Jessica Sutton (Tally)

Amalia Holm (Scylla)

Demetria McKinney (Anacostia)

Lyne Renee (General Alder)

Eliot Laurence (Writer, Creator, Executive Producer)

Kevin Messick (Executive Producer)

Everything’s Gonna Be Okay – Premieres January 16, 2020

Critically acclaimed for his series, “Please Like Me,” Josh Thomas once again takes on a multi-faceted role as creator, writer, executive producer and star of the 30-minute comedy. “Everything’s Gonna Be Okay” introduces Nicholas (Thomas), a neurotic twenty-something-year-old visiting his dad and teenage half-sisters (Kayla Cromer and Maeve Press), one of whom is on the autism spectrum. When Nicholas’ trip is extended due to his father’s untimely death, the siblings are left to cope with not only a devastating loss, but also the realization that Nicholas is the one who will have to rise to the occasion, move in, and hold it all together. Navigating autism, budding sexuality, consent, parenthood, adolescence, family and grief, the heartfelt comedy will follow this imperfect family as they discover the importance of finding happiness in the middle of really difficult moments, one awkward conversation at a time.

Neurodiverse actress and activist Kayla Cromer stars as Matilda, a high school senior who is driven to succeed and on the autism spectrum. She is Nicholas’s bright and outgoing half-sister who is curious and contemplative, and if she doesn’t initially understand something she’ll put in the work to figure it out. 17-year-old stand-up comedienne Maeve Press as Genevieve, Nicholas’ other half-sister who has a unique comedic sensibility and is clever, dramatic and definitely a little weird. At school she’s at odds with her authentic self, hanging around a group of girls who sharply contrast her kind-hearted family and she struggles with finding her place in the world. Newcomer Adam Faison rounds out the cast of series regulars as Alex, a romantic interest of Nicholas’ introduced in the first episode.

Stephanie Swedlove and Kevin Whyte also serve as executive producers, with David Martin, Jon Thoday, and Richard Allen-Turner executive producing for Avalon Television.

Panelists:

Josh Thomas (Nicholas) / Creator, Writer, Executive Producer

Kayla Cromer (Matilda)

Maeve Press (Genevieve)

Adam Faison (Alex)

Party of Five – Premieres January 8, 2020 

The reimagining of beloved series “Party of Five” will follow the five Acosta children as they navigate daily life struggles to survive as a family unit after their parents are suddenly deported back to Mexico. In a new iteration by original series creators Amy Lippman and Christopher Keyser, this beloved story of a young family bound by adversity will be retold through the lens of current-day themes and cultural conversations.

Panelists:

Brandon Larracuente (Emilio Acosta)

Emily Tosta (Lucia Acosta)

Niko Guardado (Beto Acosta)

Elle Paris Legaspi (Valentina Acosta)

Amy Lippman (Co-Creator, Executive Producer/Writer)

Gabe Llanas (Co-Executive Producer/Writer)

Sega genesis mini review

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Sega Genesis Mini: How nostalgia and classic gaming will always be relevant!
Sega reached out to us to review the Sega Genesis mini for the upcoming holiday season.
I want to be as transparent as possible in saying that I grew up and sided with Sega from the Master System until they stopped making hardware with the Dreamcast.

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My gut will always love Sega, but as a 42 year old collector and parent, is the Sega Genesis Mini all what it is cracked up to be? At first, I was floored with the packaging presentation. It looked like the Genesis packaging and hit me in all the nostalgia feels. It all permeated into my brain, pulling out memories of Christmas’
past when I first got the Genesis system!
Opening the box and pulling out this tiny little replica of an actual Sega Genesis completely blew me away. This system is 55% smaller than the OG (For obvious reasons, it should be smaller. It is called the Mini for a reason.)
The set up is super easy, HDMI and USB power supply: and with that you are ready to go.
The two controllers are full size so they feel and play as if it they were original Sega controllers. It’s almost too good to be true. The controllers also have very long cords, which is absolutely necessary in this day and age.

The boot up is fast and sleek, and with that you have access to 42 pre-installed games. Some games are classics like Altered Beast, Strider, Streets of Rage 2, Sonic the Hedgehog and many others. What is really cool, and you have to dig around a bit to find it, is that certain games have multiple regional variations that can be played by changing the system’s language. Games like Contra: Hard Corps becomes Probotector when played with a PAL-region language and on Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine going into the Japanese setting will change it to Puyo Puyo (this was the original game before the Western localized name of Robotnik). The games have a saved state feature to pause and resume progress and can be played in either the original 4:3 ratio or stretched 16:9 widescreen with HUD elements modified to fit onto the screen.
When you are in the game screen option, you get amazing artwork for the North American games with the ability to switch to the side to see spine artwork (that extra bit just adds so much more). And, once again, if you switch the language you will get the Japanese box art as well.
So, you may say to yourself, “Now, I have a new Sega Genesis mini with games I remember, what else does it have?” Well let me tell you, it also has two bonus games, Darius and Tetris, And yes, you would be correct in saying that Tetris was never on the original Sega Genesis console. Well, to be honest, it wasn’t not an official title. Tetris was teased to come out for it, but was pulled before being released. Darius is a game that never got a console release either, so I am happy it was added to the Mini.
I’ve been a fan of the Sega since 1987 and I am more than happy to tell you guys. this game system is done right and you shouldn’t think about NOT buying it. Get it, ask a loved one to buy it, or quickly get Santa to bring it for Christmas.
Genesis does what it always has done and that’s be fun and entertaining.
We want to thank Sega for the review copy and hope you guys all have a fantastic holiday season filled with so much video game history.

New Master Rules of Yu-Gi-Oh Slightly Sets it Back to the Original Playstyle.

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

Back in 2017 when Master Rule 4 was announced, we got to learn about Link Summoning and Link Monsters. This controversial rule change sparked a debate of whether if it was a good change, or a bad change since it limited the number of how many Fusion, Synchro, and XYZ Monsters you can summon from the Extra Deck. Now with this new rule, it will revive some of the old school Yu-Gi-Oh mechanics.

On the official Yu-Gi-Oh YouTube Channel during the Jump Festa Livestream, the announcement came and that means, As of April 1st, Fusion, Synchro and Xyz monsters will be summonable to the Main Monster Zone in addition to the Extra Monster Zone. The rules for Pendulum and Link Monsters will remain the same. You are not limited to 1 of each anymore.

This means that you do not need to have a Link Monster on the Extra Zone to point to the direction of where you can Fusion, Synchro, or XYZ Summon a monster from the Extra Deck anymore as you can now freely summon from the Extra Deck to your Main Zone or your Extra Zone as much as you want now. However, the method of using the Link Monsters’s direction points can still be used, but it is optional now. This will also be interesting to see what will happen to the next few Forbidden, Limited, and Semi-Limited card lists since this new Master Rule could bring back more veteran players now than it did when Link Summoning has been introduced. The reason the previous Master Rule was put in place due to the fact that many of those type of monsters could be summoned very quickly.

You can see the official announcement below on the official Yu-Gi-Oh YouTube Channel!

UPDATE 1/02/2019: I reached out to a representative of Konami to comment on the Master Rule 5 change to see if it will also affect the video games (Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution, Duel Links) and the representative confirmed to me that only the physical card game will have the change and not the video games.

What do you think of the new Master Rule change? Do you think that your deck would get affected greatly by this? Or are you used to the previous Master Rule and you do not want to see it change anytime soon?

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content. Contact me at julian@alternativemindz.com

Interview: Kris Statlander on her Journey as a Professional Wrestler

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

Kris Statlander is the newest member of the All Elite Wrestling (AEW) roster and she made her debut not too long ago on AEW Dynamite as Brandi Rhodes wanted to recruit her to her stable The Nightmare Collective. As she is there now, we look to her brief past on her time training at Create A Pro, traveling the road, and her tryout match on WWE Smackdown in this exclusive interview!

You are the first female graduate of Create A Pro. How does it feel to have that honor of being the very first of many females to graduate from the class of wrestlers over there?

KS: “Well honestly, there have been a few girls that have been training there before I have. But I was actually the first one to completely get through the training and it’s a very proud title for me to have for myself. I’m hoping I was able to set some sort of standard for the female and male trainees that come through the school.”

I must say, you and the rest setting the standard opens the door for future women that will go to the school. What was your first few months like over there and do you have any funny stories with Brian Myers? (Curt Hawkins)

KS: “I wish I had some funny stories, he got resigned with WWE shortly before I had debuted so I never got to go on the road with him like some of the other students have. But he’s been like a wrestling dad to me, as have everyone else at CAP. The first few months were incredibly challenging as have the rest of wrestling is. Wrestling itself is like the hardest thing ever. But everyone was beyond supportive and basically made sure I wouldn’t give up or quit because they all believed in me so much. It really became a family for me very quickly. “

 I have seen you wrestle at places such as Beyond Wrestling, Chaotic, and Limitless Wrestling. How far in your training did you adjust to the travel schedule in the northeast for these promotions?

KS: “There’s no really way to adjust, at least there wasn’t really for me. I just started saying yes to everybody and kind of had to just deal with it and figure it out as I go. There’s nothing to prepare you for all of the driving and travel you have to do, it’s just sort of part of the job if you want to make it in my opinion.”

You also appeared on Smackdown Live a few months ago going against The IIconics. What was it like for you to finally be seen on television that is watched by millions and did you tell anyone that you were going to appear on Smackdown before the match happened? Or did everyone found out as they watched?

KS: “I was told the match would happen shortly before they opened doors to that episode of Smackdown. I didn’t tell anybody at home or anything I don’t think because I wanted it to be a surprise. I knew my family would be watching anyways. It was amazing to be on TV, although going into it I wasn’t really focused on that and I was focused and making sure I did my part to make sure the math went as well as it could have. It was also amazing to see how many people online knew who I was even though I wasn’t in my alien form haha.”

Outside of the ring, what do you like to do on your spare time? and how has life for you changed since you started your journey as a professional wrestler?

KS: “My life is always changing and I’m always adding new things in my life. The major change in it, is the amount of traveling I’ve been doing, which is exciting but also very tiring. I just like my time at home to be just time at home. With my dog and my loved ones. Get some good workouts in and just relax during some time off the road.”

Who do you see yourself having a match with in the future since you are now in AEW? And what are some locations around the world that you would love to wrestle at?

KS: “I just want to wrestle anyone and everyone everywhere, I love meeting new people and I love getting to create something new with somebody new. But Rhio is the Women’s Champion and she would be a great opponent!”