In The News

Even as the pandemic slogs along, there’s no stopping the independent moviemaking spirit that puts hope in focus.

Welcome to 2022! Wait, don’t run away. 

While I acknowledge there’s been some, let’s call it “unfortunate carryover” from a truly abysmal 2020, there’s still one thing we can all look forward to, even in the darkest, most pandemic-clouded of days, and that’s the movies. Indie movies, specifically. 

“The Black Phone,” June 24

Maine’s own Joe Hill (son of Maine’s own Stephen King) wrote the short story inspiring this horror thriller, about a masked serial killer (Ethan Hawke), and the young boy trying to escape his clutches with the help of a mysterious telephone that lets him communicate with the dead. Specifically, the other kids Hawke’s psycho has killed. Leave it to Mainers to make things terrifying. 

Breanna Wing, the Auburn native who appeared next to Margot Robbie in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon A Time in . . . Hollywood,” has landed a part in the upcoming biopic, “Being the Ricardos.”

The film, directed by screenwriter/director Aaron Sorkin, follows the relationship between comedienne and sitcom star Lucille Ball and her then-husband, “I Love Lucy” co-star and bandleader Desi Arnaz, played by Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem, respectively. Wing has been cast as “Chorus Girl Angie,” who appears in a flashback scene when Lucy and Desi begin their romance.

‘Called To The Wild’ is airing on the National Geographic channel and streaming on its website.

“This is a Maine thing, but it’s really a story about how we find these things, and how it got to Maine.”

That’s Munjoy Hill resident and veteran TV producer Devon Platte of Film 45, who, along with Matt Reccow of Red Cow Productions, sent a cast of intrepid would-be survivalists (and their loyal canine best friends) into the Maine wilderness for the National Geographic reality series, “Called To The Wild,” the first six-episode season of which started airing this month. Filmed in and around rough-and-tumble Maine locations from Rangeley to Aroostook County, the NatGeo series pits these human-dog teams against the worst and wildest the Maine woods has to offer – at least thanks to Platte and Reccow.

Unions and guilds across 70 countries, including IATSE, want reduced working hours, more minimum standards and safe working hours and conditions worldwide.

Global unions and guilds have called for the film and TV production industry worldwide to end a “long hours culture” that has only worsened during the current post-COVID-vaccine surge in filming.

In a report titled “Demanding Dignity Behind The Scenes” released on Tuesday, UNI Global Union, which represents 20 million film, TV and arts workers worldwide, called for production wages and working hours to respect collective agreements, “or in their absence national legal standards.”

A small Maine ski company is going to get a lot busier after its owners were featured in the newest Warren Miller ski film that is being shown across the country.

“It’s a great honor. It’s great to be part of the film and share the beauty of Maine,” said Amalgam Skis co-owner Phil Taisey said.

“I’ve been watching Warren Miller movies since I was a kid,” co-owner Amy Taisey said.

For seven decades, millions of ski enthusiasts, such as the Taisey’s, have kicked off the ski season by watching a Warren Miller movie.

“It’s a long tradition in the industry, and there’s a ton of people within the sport that seek it out every year,” Taisey said.