Click HERE to download 2/2/09 invitation as a pdf file.
Filmmaker Pamela Tanner Boll is in Chicago this week to show her new doc WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS? at the Gene Siskel Film Center on State Street (right across the street from the famous Chicago Theatre).
WITASWAN has arranged a “meet the filmmaker” reception right after Monday night’s 6 PM screening (beginning approximately 8 PM). For complete details, download flyer above. Cost is $15 per person for dessert & coffee/tea. (Additional food &/or beverages will also be available at cost from the bar.)
To RSVP, please send me an e-mail message: TheHotPinkPen@msn.com.
HOPE TO SEE SOME OF YOU THERE!!!
NOTE: Tickets for the 6 PM screening itself must be purchased directly from the Gene Siskel Film Center.
31.Jan.09 
Events: Metro Chicago Only, Events: WITASWAN & SWAN Day 
Read more 
Comments (0)
Jan Lisa Huttner, the Chicago film critic who is the co-founder of International SWAN Day and WITASWAN, has created an international stir about the directing credits for the film, Slumdog Millionaire…
When the Golden Globes nominated Boyle for “Best Director” but failed to mention Tandan, Huttner started a letter writing campaign asking the Golden Globes leaders to explain why they had not included Tandan with Boyle. Many of our readers joined the letter writing campaign, often adding touching stories of their own about not being recognized for their creative work.
The people at the Golden Globes never responded, but journalists in the U.S. and Great Britain picked up on the story including John Jurgensen of the Wall Street Journal, Prairie Miller of WBAI, Ramin Setoodeh of Newsweek, Melissa Silverstein of the Huffington Post, Amar Singh of London’s Evening Standard, Anita Singh of the UK Telegraph, Sasha Stone of Awards Daily, and World Entertainment News Network published on IMDb News. The Oscar nominations came out this week, and once again Danny Boyle was nominated for Best Director of “Slumdog Millionaire,” and Loveleen Tandan was not mentioned.
Tandan is trying to distance herself from the controversy. We will never know if it is because she truly does not think she deserves the credit or because she is worried about being labeled as a “difficult” woman. The “co-director” title is ambiguous, and the situation is complicated by race as well as gender issues. The reporter for Newsweek pointed out that the faces in the movie are brown, but the ones on stage accepting Golden Globe Awards were all white.
30.Jan.09 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (0)
Rebekah Spicuglia just released a new post on the Women’s
Media
Center website called “Changing the World, One Blog at a Time.” It’s a terrific article with a mini-case study & a “how to” list.
How incredibly timely, as if she’s read my mind!!! We do NOT have to sit back & let “the powers that” be hide behind their self-serving rules anymore. We CAN ask questions, as I am doing with “my SLUMDOG brouhaha.”
This is the way the world works now. When you see something you think is wrong, you can either sit back & kvetch, or you can act. My choice is to act. That’s who I am. That’s how I was raised. As Rebekah’s post makes clear, the tools are now available to all, so all it takes it determination!
Bravo, Rebekah J
29.Jan.09 Raving/Ranting about Critics/Journalists Read more Comment (1)
In response to people who have asked what THEY should do if concerned about “my SLUMDOG Brouhaha.” Please send a letter to Bruce Davis (the Executive Director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences) asking why Loveleen Tandan, the credited co-director of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, is not a co-nominee for Best Director? It’s a very simple question & at this point, I sincerely believe an answer is required. But we won’t get one unless we ask.
Logistically, my suggestion is that you send a fax with e-mail back-up as follows: Bruce Davis, Executive Director, AMPAS
cc: Martha Coolidge, Curtis Hanson, & Paul Mazursky (AMPAS Directors Branch) c/o Academy Communications Department
8949 Wilshire Boulevard
Beverly Hills, California
90211-1972
Phone: 310.247.3090
Fax: 310.271.3395 publicity@oscars.org
http://www.oscars.org/press/
26.Jan.09 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comment (1)
Message from Jan: I know some of you think that I’m exagerating the significance of this or even making things up whole cloth, but believe me, it’s all here for anyone who chooses to look:
From Tues Jan. 13 interview with Loveleen Tandan: “I am happy that the film has won four awards at the Golden Globe. Also, I am a little sad as I was the only one who was not present at the event. I am hoping that we get many nominations at the Oscars. Maybe, I could go there and share the pride of being a part of the great movie we made. Watch out Oscars, here we come.”Read complete interview by Prithwish Ganguly.
25.Jan.09 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (2)
“Shocking as it may sound, Loveleen Tandon, the co-director for Slumdog Millionaire was not invited to be part of the triumphant Slumdog team at the Golden Globe ceremonies. ‘No, I wasn’t invited,’ the softspoken co-director confesses reluctantly. ‘But please don’t create a controversy over it.’
But there’re lots of raised eyebrows as to why the film’s co-director should be missing from such an important step-forward in the project’s destiny. ‘That only the producers can answer,’ says Loveleen, ‘I’ve had the time of my life shooting for Slumdog. No one can take that away from me.’”
Click HERE to read complete article by Subhash K. Jha.
23.Jan.09 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments Off
Let me start this rant by reminding everyone that I love SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. It sits at #5 on my Top Ten list for 2008, & it’s also one of our FF2 ‘08 Twozies. So it’s certainly NOT my intention to do anything to either damage box office prospects for this wonderful film, or negatively impact the flow of international awards & accolades. That said, I’m still stunned & shocked that Loveleen Tandan was not co-nominated for a Best Director Oscar yesterday.
I’m a resolutely optimistic, “glass-half-full” kinda gal, so I truly believed the zeitgeist would prevail. But alas, while people all around the world cheered Barack Obama’s Inauguration on Tuesday, on Thursday it was back to business as usual in Hollywood: for the 78th time in 81 years, five guys became contenders for the ’09 Best Director Oscar. Say it isn’t so!!!
Try as she might to deflect attention now, Loveleen Tandan has been very honest about her contributions to SLUMDOG. And when asked face-to-face, Danny Boyle himself told me: “It would’ve been such a different, poorer film if she hadn’t been involved, and I take credit for that, of course! As I was casting with her, I realized, because I’m not a fool, that I needed her there every day.” So I’m asking you all to open your eyes & see what’s happening here: knowing that Loveleen Tandan was a critical part of SLUMDOG’s filmmaking & marketing phases, how can we all sit by & watch while she is totally ignored in the award phase?
Kudos to the journalists who have already followed up on this including John Jurgensen of the Wall Street Journal, Prairie Miller of WBAI, Ramin Setoodeh of Newsweek, Melissa Silverstein of the Huffington Post, Amar Singh of London’s Evening Standard, Anita Singh of the UK Telegraph, & Sasha Stone of Awards Daily. I really, really think this is an important issue, & I genuinely believe that the more you know about this, the more you will agree!
23.Jan.09 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (3)
Members of the Hyde Park SWANs watch Inauguration @ the Hyde Park Arts Center, mere blocks away from the Obama’s Chicago residence! Kudos to program coordinators Alexis Reese & Bernadette Jones. The Hyde Park SWANs meet monthly as a special interest group organized by Chicago Branch AAUW (the American Association of University Women). Click here to see more of my PrObama Nation items celebrating “the Land of Lincoln” (sold at cost on Cafe Press). Remember: UNITED we stand; divided we fall!!!
21.Jan.09 Events: Metro Chicago Only, Events: WITASWAN & SWAN Day Read more Comments (3)
Kudos AGAIN to Ramin Setoodeh of Newsweek for his terrific article “The Oscar Doesn’t Go To …”
“…But if SLUMDOG wins big, this global Cinderella story could get an awkward dose of reality. Onscreen, SLUMDOG is filled with brown faces—but onstage at the Oscars, virtually all of the people collecting trophies for it will have white ones… Boyle has said that his casting director, Loveleen Tandan, was so indispensable to the complex Mumbai shoot that he gave her a “codirector” credit. But only Boyle’s name appears on the Oscar ballot, because AMPAS & the DGC don’t recognize such titles. Guess she’ll have to settle for a thank-you.”
12.Jan.09 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comments (0)
Many years back, a wonderful friend gave me gave me a very funny coffee mug. Side one was a cartoon figure of a woebegone cow. Side two said: “You’re outstanding in the field!” Alas, the mug has long since disappeared, but if I still had it, I’d mail it to Mumbai today. I understand that Loveleen Tandan needs to lay low so she’s not misconstrued as “a troublemaker,” but that doesn’t mean WE don’t see what’s happening here.
According to last Friday’s Wall Street Journal article, FOUR people holed themselves up some months back & emerged with the game plan for a new film. Three of them were middle-aged, British white guys. One of them was an Indian woman. Months pass. The film is released, it becomes a big hit, & the Hollywood Foreign Press Assoc nominates it for multiple awards. On Sunday January 11th, the HFPA assembles in LA to give awards in every top category to the three middle-aged, British white guys, but the Indian woman is nowhere to be seen, & the contributions she made are barely acknowledged…
If YOU think there’s something very wrong with this picture, then please send a message to the HFPA &/or Fox Searchlight (SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE’s distributor) ASAP. If YOU don’t tell them, then they won’t know!
Click here to read all of last night’s Golden Globe results. Click here to order balloon.
12.Jan.09 Rants: Oscars & Other Awards Read more Comment (1)
