Dhaka, Oct 11 (UNB) - Six people, including Impress Telefilm’s Managing Director Faridur Reza, escaped unhurt as a helicopter of Impress Aviation Ltd crashed in Godagari uapzila of Rajshahi on Thursday.
Channel I director Shykh Seraj told UNB that the accident occurred when a team was returning to Dhaka after shooting of a ‘Sarnakishori’ programme for the channel in the afternoon.
The helicopter crashed into the land due to inclement weather caused by Cyclone Titli, he said.
However, members of the team are now returning to Dhaka by a flight of Novoair, he added.
Albuquerque, Oct 9 (AP/UNB) — Netflix has chosen New Mexico as the site of a new U.S. production hub and is in final negotiations to buy an existing multimillion-dollar studio complex on the edge of the state's largest city, government and corporate leaders announced Monday.
It's the company's first purchase of such a property, and upcoming production work in Albuquerque and at other spots around New Mexico is forecast to result in $1 billion in spending over the next decade.
More than $14 million in state and local economic development funding is being tapped to bring Netflix to New Mexico. Republican Gov. Susana Martinez and Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller, a Democrat, touted the investment and said lengthy efforts to put New Mexico on the movie-making map are paying off.
"This is awesome," the governor told dozens of people gathered inside a cavernous sound stage at ABQ Studios. "This massive investment will have a huge impact of course on New Mexico and continue our efforts to grow and diversify the economy."
Martinez acknowledged the state's reliance on federal funding and oil and gas development, saying more needs to be done to encourage diverse ventures such as Netflix as the private sector is the backbone of the American economy.
Keller said the city has laid the groundwork to make sure the film industry is part of its economic development plan. He called landing Netflix a "transformative victory" for the city.
Netflix projects produced in New Mexico include the Emmy Award-winning limited series "Godless" and "Longmire." Company officials said previous experience working in the state inspired them to jump at the opportunity to establish a new production hub in Albuquerque.
Netflix earlier this year announced it was establishing its first European production hub in Spain. That operation is expected to help the online video entertainment platform expand its Spanish-language content.
It also has a production hub in Los Angeles and it's possible the company's footprint will continue to expand, given the amount of content the online entertainment provider is aiming to create.
"We will look at each place on its merits — the same kind of decision-making that went into the impending purchase of this studio," said Ty Warren, Netflix's vice president for physical production. "The combination of great crews, existing infrastructure, financial incentives — it was all part of it."
Netflix has about 130 million subscribers worldwide.
Officials did not release details about the sales price of the studio complex in New Mexico. The property includes several sound stages, production offices, mill space and a back lot.
Martinez, whose second and final term ends this year, initially talked about trying to rein in New Mexico's film incentive program and an annual $50 million cap was instituted.
As the state dug its way out of the recession, she said it was important to avoid cuts to critical programs such as education, health care and public infrastructure. She was criticized by many who thought the cap would stifle the growth of the film industry.
In 2013, she signed the "Breaking Bad bill," named after the Emmy-winning TV drama that filmed primarily in Albuquerque during its five seasons. The legislation enhanced incentives for television productions.
Martinez said the industry has since marked three consecutive record-breaking years in New Mexico and it is lining up to be another monumental year.
The industry has drawn more in-state direct spending from film and TV productions each year since 2014, topping out at $505 million last fiscal year, according to the state film office.
New York, Oct 7 (AP/UNB) — The Sony comic-book movie "Venom" has shrugged off bad reviews to shatter the October box-office record with an $80 million debut, while Bradley Cooper's "A Star Is Born" soared to $42.6 million.
According to estimates Sunday, the two very different films fueled an unusually robust October weekend at the North American box office. Despite a 32 percent "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the anti-hero "Spider-Man" spinoff "Venom" opened with $205.2 million globally.
The previous best October opening was $55.7 million for "Gravity" in 2013.
Cooper's "A Star Is Born" remake, also starring Lady Gaga, has been hailed by critics and pegged as an Oscar front-runner. It drew an audience that was 66 percent female and 68 percent older than 35.
Los Angeles, Oct 6 (AP/UNB) — Audrey Wells, who wrote the screenplay for the brand new feature film "The Hate U Give," died the day before the film was released after a five-year battle with cancer. She was 58.
A representative from United Talent Agency said Wells died Thursday.
Wells also wrote and directed the 2003 romantic comedy "Under the Tuscan Sun."
The San Francisco native had early jobs as a disc jockey at a local jazz station and in public radio before making the transition to film, armed with a Master of Fine Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles.
She wrote the screenplays for films like "The Truth About Cats and Dogs," a modern-day Cyrano de Bergerac tale starring Uma Thurman, and "Shall We Dance," with Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere. She made her directorial debut with the 1999 indie "Guinevere," starring Sarah Polley as a young woman who has a relationship with an older mentor.
Wells wrote the script for the critically acclaimed new film "The Hate U Give," an adaptation of Angie Thomas' young adult novel about a police shooting of a young black man. The film starring Amandla Stenberg is now playing in limited release before it expands nationwide Oct. 19.
Thomas tweeted Friday it was, "A joy to work with Audrey, and I'm forever grateful for what she gave us with The Hate U Give adaptation. She will truly be missed."
United Talent Agency co-President David Kramer said Wells was "truly special."
"The strong, independent female characters she shaped resonate today more than ever and will be a part of her legacy always," he said. "We will miss her amazing, spirit, creativity and the love she gave us."
Wells is survived by her husband, Brian Larky, and her daughter, Tatiana. Larky said Wells "fought valiantly against her illness" and died "surrounded by love."
The family asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Wells' favorite nonprofits, The Feminist Majority Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood.
London, Oct 5 (AP/UNB) — Filmmaker Danny Boyle is urging thousands of people to gather on British beaches and make silhouettes in the sand on Nov. 11 to mark 100 years since the end of World War I.
Sand artists will also create giant portraits of people killed in the war, which will be washed away by the incoming tide, Boyle announced Friday.
The beachside commemoration caps four years of British cultural activities marking the centenary of the 1914-18 conflict, in which 20 million people died.
Boyle said beaches "are truly public spaces, where nobody rules other than the tide."
"They seem the perfect place to gather and say a final goodbye and thank you to those whose lives were taken or forever changed by the First World War," he said.
The "Trainspotting" and "Slumdog Millionaire" director stepped down earlier this year from the helm of the next James Bond film over what producers said were creative differences. He has been replaced by Cary Fukunaga.
Boyle said giving up the 007 job had helped create more time to work on the World War I project.
"I was absolutely desperately keen to do this," said Boyle, who also directed the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony. "My involvement in it would have been slightly compromised by that workload.
"But I was still very, very keen to do it because it's a real, proper privilege to do something like this where you hope to connect with everybody in the country in some way, as much as you can, rather than through your normal channels, like the box office."