Steven Spielberg to Receive 2009 Liberty Medal at the National Constitution Center

9 Sep 2009 14:00 Africa/Lagos

Steven Spielberg to Receive 2009 Liberty Medal at the National Constitution Center

WHO: Steven Spielberg


WHAT: Will receive the 2009 Liberty Medal in an outdoor ceremony at the National Constitution Center in Historic Philadelphia.


WHEN: Thursday, October 8
Media Check-In: 3:30 - 6:00 p.m.
Ceremony: 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: National Constitution Center
Front Lawn
525 Arch Street
Independence Mall
Philadelphia, PA 19106


DETAILS: The National Constitution Center's 2009 Liberty Medal will be awarded to filmmaker and humanitarian Steven Spielberg for his artistic and personal commitment to the preservation of human rights. Through his award-winning films, Spielberg has presented stories of the struggle and triumph of humanity over tyranny, informing and inspiring millions to better understand the abiding call of liberty. Spielberg has also dedicated himself to gathering and archiving testimonies of survivors and other witnesses of genocide through the Shoah Visual History Foundation, ensuring future generations will never forget the tragedy of liberty lost.


The Liberty Medal will be presented to Spielberg by President William J. Clinton, Chairman of the National Constitution Center. Governor Edward G. Rendell and Mayor Michael A. Nutter will also participate in the ceremony.


The Liberty Medal ceremony will air on 6abc on Sunday, October 11 at 7:00 p.m. The ceremony will be webcast live on www.constitutioncenter.org and www.6abc.com.


PLEASE NOTE:


Credentials are required for press entry to this event. The following credential application must be completed and returned to Ashley Berke by Friday, September 18.


REQUEST FOR PRESS CREDENTIALS
2009 LIBERTY MEDAL
National Constitution Center
525 Arch Street, Independence Mall
Philadelphia, PA 19106

***CREDENTIALS ARE REQUIRED FOR PRESS ENTRY TO THIS EVENT***
Return form no later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday, September 18, 2009

IMPORTANT: PLEASE SEND ONE FORM PER PERSON.
THERE WILL BE A MAXIMUM OF ONE REPORTER AND ONE PHOTOGRAPHER PER OUTLET
ADMITTED TO THE CEREMONY ON DAY OF EVENT.

Credential Pick-Up:
Thursday, October 8
3:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
At check-in point upon arrival
6th and Arch Streets


FULL NAME________________________________________________________
MEDIA AFFILIATION_________________________________________________
IF FREELANCE, NAME OF ASSIGNING MEDIA*___________________________
ADDRESS_________________________________________________________
CITY, STATE, ZIP___________________________________________________
TELEPHONE_________________________ FAX __________________________
E-MAIL____________________________________________________________
*All media must be filing a story to receive a credential.


YOU MAY MAKE COPIES OF THIS CREDENTIAL REQUEST FORM AND FAX TO ASHLEY BERKE AT 215-409-6650 OR E-MAIL TO ABERKE@CONSTITUTIONCENTER.ORG no later than Friday,


September 18, 2009.


You will receive confirmation of your approval via email by Friday, September


25, 2009. Please do not inquire about the status of your application prior to that date.


Thank you.


CONTACT: Ashley Berke, Senior Public Relations Manager of National Constitution Center, +1-215-409-6693, aberke@constitutioncenter.org


/PRNewswire-USNewswire -- Sept. 9/


Source: National Constitution Center

Web Site: http://www.constitutioncenter.org/
http://www.6abc.com/

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The Steven Spielberg Directed 3-D Motion Capture Film 'The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn' to Open in the U.S. on December 23, 2011

29 May 2009 02:12 Africa/Lagos


The Steven Spielberg Directed 3-D Motion Capture Film 'The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn' to Open in the U.S. on December 23, 2011



- Sony Pictures Releasing International and Paramount Pictures to Begin Overseas Playdates in Late October, 2011 -

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., May 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment today announced their release plans for the long awaited 3-D motion capture feature film "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn" directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by Spielberg, Peter Jackson, and Kathleen Kennedy. The highly anticipated film will be released by Paramount in the U.S. on December 23, 2011. The film will launch internationally in late October and early November, 2011 with Sony Pictures Releasing International handling Continental Europe, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and India, and Paramount distributing the film in Asia, Australia, UK and all other English speaking territories.



Steven Spielberg

Starring Jamie Bell ("Billy Elliot") as Tintin, the intrepid young reporter whose relentless pursuit of a good story thrusts him into a world of high adventure, and Daniel Craig ("Quantum of Solace,") as the nefarious Red Rackham, the international cast also includes Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Gad Elmaleh, Toby Jones and Mackenzie Crook.

"The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn," is a Paramount Pictures and Columbia Pictures production from a screenplay by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, and is produced by Spielberg, Peter Jackson and Kathleen Kennedy.

The film, which began production in late January 2009, is the first of a planned series of 3D motion capture films based on the iconic character created by Georges Remi, better known to the world by his pen name "Herge." Executive producers are Nick Rodwell, Stephane Sperry and Ken Kamins.

The second feature in the series is scheduled to be directed by Jackson, with a potential for a third film as well.

Eighty years ago, Herge introduced the world to a unique cast of characters who have been embraced by readers of all ages. The Adventures of Tintin - a series of 24 books, the final unfinished adventure was published after Herge's death, became Herge's life's work. The first adventure was published in 1929. Over 200 million copies have been sold worldwide. The popular series has been translated into 70 languages and still attracts thousands of new fans each year.

Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson will bring Herge's stories to life employing state-of-the-art performance capture technology developed by Jackson's Weta Digital.

About Paramount Pictures Corporation

Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE:VIA) (NYSE:VIA.B) , a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group and Worldwide Television Distribution.

About Sony Pictures Entertainment

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America (SCA), a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution; television production and distribution; digital content creation and distribution; worldwide channel investments; home entertainment acquisition and distribution, operation of studio facilities; development of new entertainment products, services and technologies; and distribution of filmed entertainment in 130 countries. Sony Pictures Entertainment can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.sonypictures.com/.

Source: Paramount Pictures

CONTACT: Katie Martin Kelley, EVP, Publicity of Paramount Pictures,
+1-323-956-2821, KMK@paramount.com; or Steve Elzer, SVP. Media Relations of
Sony Pictures Entertainment, +1-310-244-7142, Steve_Elzer@spe.sony.com, for
Paramount Pictures

Web Site: http://www.sonypictures.com/

A Page From A Writer's Diary

Saturday August 23, 2008.

I am online, because I work online. I have to report the news from the news agencies and I have to update my news websites and blogs and sell books. This is my life and I love it. It pays my bills and helps me to keep my obligations to our mission fields and charities who need every ounce of support they can get in spreading the word in the Age of Information, but where most people are still ignorant of the realities of our common humanity.

It is still baffling that most of my people in Nigeria are less bothered by the genocide in nearby Darfur, except for the great sacrifices of the brave Nigerian military officers who have been part of the African Union Peace Keeping operations in Darfur and dozens of them have lost their precious lives both in Sudan and even on their way back to their barracks in Nigeria. More people in New York know about the horrors of Darfur than the majority of Nigerian on the streets of Lagos and Abuja.

While I am worried about the plight of the refugees in Darfur, members of my family are more disturbed by the daily threats of the Niger Delta militants. Living on Bonny Island is now high-risk behaviour in these interesting times.

My youngest brother who cannot even locate Darfur on the map pf Africa is asking for petty cash, but does not even care if any of my books is selling or not. Is it not ironic that a young security officer at a bank on Bonny Island is more excited to sell one of my books than my brothers who are more excited about asking for more money and freebies without asking you how you are faring? I told one of my younger brothers, if you want money, go and collect copies of my book and sell them and keep 30% of every copy you sell, but I heard that he hissed at my offer, but he wants me to give him money?

Nigerians who are lazy to read books, but they waste millions of dollars weekly on making pleasure calls and keeping vigils to make free love calls and exchange text messages. Is this the new generation of Nigerian youths we should pin our hopes on?

If the great Nigerian writer and Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka called his own generation, a wasted generation, I wonder what we should call this present generation that is even worse than the wasted generation of Wole Soyinka? Wanderlust youths wasting their time on their vacuous ways of life in romantic escapism. They are pathetic.

I have packed my essential things to return to Lagos. My assignment in the Niger Delta is completed and my long stay here has been very rewarding intellectually and financially. I will only come back to begin the shooting of one of the short documentaries from the researches on the Niger Delta crisis. Bisi Daniels said I should write a novel on the bloody crisis, but I prefer to shoot a short documentary first.

I was thinking how the five children of my younger sister would fare in my absence when I received the e-mail from Katie O’Callaghan, the Assistant Marketing Manager of Ballantine Books. She is informing me of Halima Bashir's war memoir, Tears of a Desert".

I read her mail silently.

"Tears of the Desert" is the first memoir ever written by a woman caught up in the war in Darfur . It is a survivor’s tale of a conflicted country, a resilient people, and the uncompromising spirit of a young woman who refused to be silenced.Born into the Zaghawa tribe in the Sudanese desert, Halima was doted on by her father, a cattle herder, and kept in line by her formidable grandmother. A politically astute man, Halima’s father saw to it that his daughter received a good education away from their rural surroundings. Halima excelled in her studies and exams, surpassing even the privileged Arab girls who looked down their noses at the black Africans. With her love of learning and her father’s support, Halima went on to study medicine, and at twenty-four became her village’s first formal doctor.Yet not even the symbol of good luck that dotted her eye could protect her from the encroaching conflict that would consume her land. Janjaweed Arab militias started savagely assaulting the Zaghawa, often with the backing of the Sudanese military.

Then, in early 2004, the Janjaweed attacked Bashir’s village and surrounding areas, raping forty-two schoolgirls and their teachers. Bashir, who treated the traumatized victims, some as young as eight years old, could no longer remain quiet. But breaking her silence ignited a horrifying turn of events.

Halima is calling the world to action with her story, and I’d like to help her. I’d love to share this book with you – if you’re interested in reading it, please let me know and I will send you a copy.

I replied her that I have read Daoud Hari's "The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur", and he is from the same Zaghawa tribe of Halima Bashir. I told her that words are not enough to describe the horrors and the terrors of Darfur and if I could convince Steven Spielberg to make a film on the genocide in Darfur it would be more illustrative of the catastrophe.

My darling called me and would love to see me in Aba on my way to Lagos. Then I called my younger brother on our financial agreement. He has to refund the petty cash I gave him. It was a loan and not a gift. I have a lot to do and I need more money to do so.

Djimon Hounsou and Kimora Lee Simmons From Hollywood With Love

Djimon Hounsou kissing Kimora Lee Simmons on the street while her daughter seems amused.



I am posting the latest news on the most prominent African actor in Hollywood, Djimon Hounsou and his beautiful leading lady Kimora Lee Simmons who reminds me of my own princess and queen.

The following interview and Djimon Hounsou's photographs are from Parade, and I added the photographs of Kimora Lee Simmons that even Parade cannot provide.



This is my weekend special for you. Enjoy it.
.................


The towering, 6-foot-2, handsome actor Djimon Hounsou (pronounced JY-mon HOWN-soo) has an extraordinary résumé of major films, including "Gladiator", "In America" and "Blood Diamond". So what is he doing in a new movie that suggests The Karate Kid?

“In many of my roles, I’ve been very physical,” he told me. “But you don’t want to do just the heavy stuff. It’s nice to laugh and have some fun.”

Due out this week, "Never Back Down" finds Hounsou playing a mixed martial-arts veteran mentoring a rebellious teen (Sean Farris). Next on the schedule: "Push", a futuristic adventure with the young actress Dakota Fanning.

Born in the small West African country of Benin, Djimon went to Paris at 13 to further his education. His striking good looks attracted fashion designer Thierry Mugler, who hired him to model. A couple of music videos led to small acting roles and, later, a starring role as the rebellious slave Cinque in Steven Spielberg’s 1997 historical drama, Amistad. Was he disappointed that Amistad didn’t become a huge hit?

“I think it was more a matter of timing and of marketing,” he said. “When the studio re-released it in 1998 around the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr., it did very well.”



Today, Hounsou lives in the hills above Los Angeles and is dating model and fashion designer Kimora Lee Simmons. He has siblings and other family in Benin and visits often, as President Bush did in February. Is his native country stable these days?





“Very progressive, very stable,” he said. “I also go back to France a lot, because it was where I really grew up.” How was learning French? “The younger you are, the easier it is,” he said. But now, at 43, Hounsou sports a neat beard flecked with gray. “Ah,” he said, laughing, “let’s say we’re not getting old, but we’re getting wiser.”
Continue reading more on Parade.