Soho Brown

Soho Brown

CMA Music Festival, Tony Awards, Los Angeles Film Festival, Sexy International Paris Film Festival, JazzAscona

As the Aruba International Film Festival gets underway June 4, opening night will be "Island Chic" themed with a relaxed, lounge and chic ambiance on the beach surrounded by fire pits and torches, food stations, open bar and live entertainment that will include a screening of Hachiko, A Dog's Tale, starring Richard Gere, who will also take part in the Festival's "In Conversations With" series. Running until June 11, the festival will also include a Latin Night and a Bollywood Night, where the ballroom of the Aruba Marriott Resort in Santa Cruz will be converted in a Bollywood venue, decorated with draped ceilings, lounges and colorful mandalas, with an exotic menu served " family style", open bar with a noted Bombay DJ, and live performance drawn from Oscar winning ‘Slumdog Millionaire', directed by the film's choreographer. International Animated Film Festival is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year during the festival which runs June 7-12 in Annecy. The International Animation Film Market (Mifa) runs alongside the Festival and opens with a cocktail sip at Brasserie du Parc de l'Impérial Palace. And at a DreamWorks master class, followed by a DreamWorks Animation recruitment session, Sion Otto and Kristof Serrand bring you behind the scenes of a atypical DreamWorks film.

The IFP Independent Filmmaker Narrative Lab is a program in Brooklyn, from June 7-11, supporting first-time feature directors with low-budget, independently produced films at the crucial rough cut/post production stage. The Labs are an intensive, free mentorship program providing professional and creative guidance to directors. CONNECTIONS: The Digital Living Conference and Showcase is an executive event taking place in Santa Clara, June 8-10, focused on the market developments and growth factors for advanced digital lifestyle solutions, offering recommendations for new business models and opportunities in digital media/content, connected consumer electronics, broadband and value-added services, and home systems. SCENEPR is hosting a panel for Internet Week New York to explore Social Media's influence on both on Film and Television, and how social media is used to launch films, build social communities around TV series and films. Following "The Socialization of Film," the program of which is a panel/Q&A moderated by Brian Reich, a free (RSVP needed) after-party follows until midnight at SoHo restaurant/lounge, Delicatessen. The Billboard Country Music Summit opens June 7-8 in Nashville, and is co-presented by the Country Music Association. In a key event, Grammy Award-winning Kansas native Martina McBride takes part in a Keynote Q&A interview with Wade Jessen, Senior Chart Manager, Billboard, discussing her career, her take on the current state of the music business, and her personal observations about career longevity.

The Country Music Association actually begins it's own CMA Music Festival a couple days later, opening June 10-13, also in Nashville. The festival is broken into activity zones with a lot to do, including the Greased Lightning Fan Fair Hall where fans can connect with the country music artists they admire. Taylor Swift will be hosting "Taylor Swift's 13-Hour Meet & Greet" at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena during the Festival. Half of the proceeds from CMA Music Festival  have been earmarked as support for public school education, but the remaining 50% will aid flood victims from the recent flooding. The American Theatre Wing's 2010 Tony Awards® honoring exemplary feats of the stage will be held in New York on June 13. The Black-Tie only ceremony will have a live telecast over the CBS Network starting at 8 pm ET, and Sean Hayes, the star of  Promises, Promises, and Will & Grace, will host the Awards. At the Banff World Television Awards, opening June 13-16 in Alberta, the Drama categories at this year's Rockies Awards will now expand to include Soap Operas, and three Francophone categories will be added to the roster. And this year at Banff's Canwest Showrunner Training Program, up to five experienced series writers will be chosen to participate in the program which provides further insight into the demands of producing series television.

Manhattan Repertory Theatre in New York launches its SUMMERFEST 2010, where over 350 plays and over 1700 theatre artists have participated. Among selected playwrights offerings, Curveball, by Brendan Burke, is a one act play about a young couple, one of them a former star baseball player, coming to terms with the end of their youth amid the recent banking crisis. Another production of the play will be presented at the Strawberry One Act Festival at nearby St. Clements Church in August. There is an "Opening Twilight Reception" at Hotel Wallea, a "Starry Night MoonDance following at Tommy Bahama Tropical Cafe, and Zac Efron, the star of Disney's "High School Musical" will accept the Maui Film festival's Shining Star Award to open the Maui Film Festival in Kahului, June 16-20. As before, the Emerald Golf Course will be available to golfers, and one-on-one or small group private Maui surf lessons and adventures created especially for festival goers will be available. North by Northeast is celebrating its 16th year as an annual Toronto showcase and showcase for the best new music and music-related films — screening music movies, from concert classics to the latest indie docs. "FM USA" – The NXNE Music Meeting will offer insight into the inner workings of some of America's most influential radio programs, and in "SOCAN – The Mountains and Revenue Streams", a panel of experts will discuss their experiences in both writing songs, and making money from them.

Los Angeles Film Festival, organized by the non-profit Film Independent organization, runs June 17-27, and fields 200 features, shorts, and music videos, from more than 40 countries, including the Pat Tillman documentary, The Tillman Story, Focus Feature's The Kids Are All Right, and Revolución,, a collaboration by ten renowned Mexican filmmakers. LAFF also carries over its usual offerings of the Filmmaker Retreat, Ford Amphitheater Outdoor Screenings, Poolside Chats. Eighth Film Palace Festival happens this year June 19-26, in the Black Sea town and resort of Balchik in Southern Dobruja, within the former summer residence of the Romanian queen Marie Alexandra Victoria of Edinburgh. Film Palace puts an emphasis on aiding the professional contacts between showcasing filmmakers and producers through workshops and Film Market: where submitters show their films to buyers and programmers via the Market Video Library. The Sexy International Paris Film Festival's (SIPFF) opens in Paris, from June 20-27, and its goals are to discover, promote and screen the best independent films from around the world that explore the themes of "Sexy" — sexuality, love, marriage, divorce, lust, romance, seduction, relationships and the erotic — by both jury panel and audience voting. To be sure, The festival follows a code of ethic, with the festival being porn-free and smut-free.

Spike Lee will be on hand at this year's American Black Film Festival in Miami, June 23-26, to discuss various aspects of developing a film from the vantage point of his 25+ years of experience as a writer/director. The Opening Night Party sponsored by BET Networks happens at Klutch Nightclub, a Film Life Tenth Anniversary Party occurs June 24  at the Fontainbleau Hotel, and there is a closing ABFF Honors Award After Party. As in years past, BET and HBO will have a strong presence at this year's ABFF program. The JazzAscona New Orleans & Classics festival, devoted to classical and mainstream jazz, transforms the area of the Ascona lakefront with its Mediterranean climate into a European New Orleans, providing ten days of great jazz, running June 24 to July 4, with sprinkles of blues, R&B, soul, Latin rhythms, funk, played by 40 bands of 250 musicians from all over the world and especially from New Orleans. Noted bass player Gordon Edwards will debut at JazzAscona, joining with his New York-based band, "Stuff", singer Roy Bennett, and introducing tenor saxophonist EZra Brown, performing R&B and soul music of the 1960s and 1970s.

The above events are only a sample of what is fully listed. Complete details are on the "Media, Entertainment and Performing Arts Industry News and Events" page. Video and podcast versions of this news summary are also available at popular video sites around the Web like MySpace, YouTube, Daily Motion, as well as on The Actor's Checklist podcast blog. Follow the posting of the news summary on Twitter at. Streaming video can now be played directly into your Real Media Player, as well as your Windows Media Player. Past video from the monthly video news summary is archived on the Free Home Video Showcase which now serves as an archive for all past video presentations but without the audio news narration.

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