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You Have 3 Weeks To Help A Queer Filmmaker Realize Her Vision Of Love, Loss And Identity

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I was on my way to class when I got the email. It was a normal day like any other: near the end of senior year, and I was itching to finish up the next two weeks of college and graduate. My BA! The future! The whole world was open to me. So, when I got the email from our Dean of Students, I promptly deleted it. You see, it had become practice at my (relatively small, liberal arts) school to receive an email from the DoS if a student passed away during the year. There were really no other reasons why that particular email would show up in my inbox. And I wasn’t interested, in this, the second-to-last week of classes, in reading some sob story about a girl I hadn’t known passing away. I just wanted to get on with my day.

So I don’t know what prompted me to retrieve the email from my trash and read it before leaving. Maybe it was curiosity — if a friend of a friend had passed, I’d likely hear about it. I couldn’t have possibly expected that it would be about a friend of mine. But, it was. A good friend. One whom I’d – almost, briefly – been more than friends with.

What struck me about her aside from her constantly upbeat attitude, was her need to create social change. Everywhere she went, she was interacting with the top of feminist scholarship – Steinem, Hillary Clinton, and more were regularly interacting with her, and she strove to make a difference with everything she did.

However, sadly, she didn’t feel she had a personal voice — she never felt completely comfortable coming out. It is the memory of this dear friend that inspired me to approach my friend and collaborator, C.C. Webster, to write a script that reflects both her struggle with identity and my own grief of having lost such an endearing individual.

The resulting script, “Gone,” is a touching and contemplative character piece that resonates with anyone who has lost a loved one. With this film, I’m striving to leave not just a personal memorial, but a legacy – that of being honest, of being open, and of being genuine with those around you.

In “Gone,” we meet Pen, played by Sandha Khin, who is a young woman trying to park her car on the way to a meeting that has her nervous. She receives a phone call from her mom, who reassures her that everything will be fine. Pen parks and heads over to a lemonade stand, where she meets Marcus, a young graphic designer who works in the area. They engage in some small talk before revealing their shared history: both Marcus and Pen at one time had dated Jimmy, a young man who has recently died in a car accident.

Pen still hasn’t dealt with her personal issues over Jimmy coming out as gay, nor has she recovered fully from his recent passing. Marcus, too, struggles with how to deal with Jimmy’s death, understanding that Pen still hasn’t fully recovered from losing her past love. Marcus gives Pen a keepsake left behind by Jimmy, which, in some small sense, brings her closure.

As a member of the LGBT community, some of the things I’ve struggled with aren’t just about the lack of representation of queer characters in film and television, but the fact that, when we do look at those representations, it’s not always written, directed, or acted with honesty.

This statement isn’t made with the intent of casting aspersions. I know the community is one big glass house, and I hope to work alongside others to keep it standing. What matters with this project is, rather, the idea that queer people are three-dimensional individuals — that the LGBT community is not defined entirely by our sexuality. (Marcus is, after all, a graphic designer, drives a Prius, and grieves over a lost love.)

On Set: Producer and Director Miranda Sajdak (left)

A major goal with this film is to reach audiences beyond just the standard queer-filmmaker and queer-film-watcher audience. “Boys Don’t Cry” wouldn’t have rocketed Hilary Swank to fame had straight viewers not championed the film along with the LGBT community. In every civil rights movement, it’s been important to include the perspectives and the aid of allies of the community. Here, I seek to do the same.

Art can liberate peoples’ perspectives in ways that activism cannot. By depicting homosexuals dealing with universal problems, not just LGBT problems, “Gone” will bridge the humanity of two worlds while upholding the importance of being true to yourself and embracing your identity.

My last film, “Snapshot,” played at the Palm Springs Film Festival, Outfest, Melbourne Queer Film Festival, image+nation in Montreal, and I won second place at the Las Vegas Cinefest script competition.

With “Gone,” I aspire to attract the eyes of all cinephiles. I am hoping to bring this film to the bigger mainstream festivals so that our message of equality gets as much visibility as possible. In order for our message to be heard, and in order for that message to make a difference, the film must be produced to the standard that the script deserves. Too often with LGBT films, the budgetary constraints lead to unpolished productions which virtually disqualify them from being accepted in to influential film festivals. When they are only accepted in to LGBT niche festivals, the films only preach to the choir.

So we are turning to the LGBT community to help us raise the funds to make something with the production value to truly stand out. I really want this film to act as a universally accepting message that anyone, regardless of sexual orientation, can connect to. I believe “Gone” has the propensity to build bridges and attract positive artistic attention both within and outside the LGBT community.

Please watch our video and consider contributing to a film that wants to make a difference.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1994266099/gone-a-short-film-about-loss-identity-and-moving-o/widget/video.html

Included in our perks is the ability make a dedication to someone you love or have lost. “Gone” is ultimately a film about grief and finding the strength to move on and we hope you’ll find meaning in this option.

Also, follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Miranda Sajdak (Producer/Director)
Miranda Sajdak is a graduate of the Columbia University Film Studies program. She has worked for many years in productions in both New York and Los Angeles. Recent projects include work on ABC Family’s Huge as assistant to Winnie Holzman, work on Cloverfield, The Bourne Ultimatum, and as Assistant Director for the Elle: Make Better DVD series starring Brooklyn Decker. She recently won 2nd prize in the Las Vegas Cinefest screenwriting competition for her short film Santa Baby. Her last short, Snapshot, which she co-produced, wrote, and directed, played at both Outfest and Palm Springs, among other festivals throughout the world. See Miranda Sajdak’s full list of credits.

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OPINION

‘Have to Get Back to Law and Order’: Trump Declares at NYPD Officer’s Wake

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Donald Trump attended the wake of the slain New York City police officer who was shot and killed while conducting a traffic stop this week. The four-times indicted ex-president demanded America “get back to law and order,” barely days after a New York judge imposed a gag order in the case where the presumptive Republican presidential nominee faces 34 felony counts for “falsifying New York business records in order to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election,” according to the New York District Attorney.

That damaging information included hush money payments to several women including an adult film actress.

“We have to stop it,” Trump said Thursday, speaking before the cameras about crime as he stood under an umbrella in front of police officers. “We have to stop, we have to get back to law and order. We have to do a lot of things differently because this is not working. This is happening too often.”

“Police are the greatest people we have. There’s nothing and there’s nobody like them. And this should never happen,” Trump said as he lamented how repeat offenders “don’t learn because they don’t respect.”

READ MORE: Trump Campaign Says It Will Deploy ‘Soldiers’ to Polling Places

“We’ve got to toughen it up. We’ve got to strengthen it up. It should never be allowed things like they shouldn’t take place and to take place so often,” said Trump, who is out on bail and currently faces 88 felony charges after three were dropped.

The Trump campaign announced that the ex-president had been invited to attend the wake.

“President Trump is moved by the invitation to join NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller’s family and colleagues as they deal with his senseless and tragic death,” Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said, according to The Daily Beast.

The Associated Press added that “Trump has deplored crime in heavily Democratic cities, called for shoplifters to be shot immediately and wants to immunize police officers from lawsuits for potential misconduct. But he’s also demonized local prosecutors, the FBI and the Department of Justice over the criminal prosecutions he faces and the investigation while he was president into his first campaign’s interactions with Russia.”

“He has also embraced those imprisoned for their roles on the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, when a mob of his angry supporters overran police lines and Capitol and local police officers were attacked and beaten.”

Earlier on Thursday NBC News reported on Trump’s mischaracterizations of crime.

“Surging crime levels, out-of-control Democratic cities and ‘migrant crime,'” the network noted. “Former President Donald Trump regularly cites all three at his campaign rallies, in news releases and on Truth Social, often saying President Joe Biden and Democrats are to blame.”

READ MORE: ‘Hunger Games at NBC News’: New McDaniel Revelations Have ‘Enraged’ Staffers, Report Says

“But the crime picture Trump paints contrasts sharply with years of police and government data at both the local and national levels,” NBC added. “FBI statistics released this year suggested a steep drop in crime across the country last year. It’s a similar story across major cities, with violent crime down year over year in Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C.”

Watch Trump’s remarks below or at this link.

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OPINION

‘Hunger Games at NBC News’: New McDaniel Revelations Have ‘Enraged’ Staffers, Report Says

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The backlash from NBC News’ hiring of Ronna McDaniel is not over. New reporting from Puck, CNN, and The Washington Post reveals the considerable efforts from top NBC and MSNBC brass to recruit, hire, and support the former RNC chair who promoted false election claims, was allegedly involved in helping Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, and refused to say Joe Biden had been elected fairly.

Staffers at NBC News and MSNBC were outraged at McDaniel’s hiring, but new details about behind-the-scenes efforts reportedly have increased that outrage.

Some critics are either calling for resignations of NBC News and MSNBC  leadership, or questioning how long they can ride out the mess.

“What is Brian Roberts going to do?” CNN‘s Oliver Darcy asks. “The Comcast boss is watching an unceasing five-alarm fire rage at 30 Rock, scarring the reputation of NBC News and threatening to consume multiple parts of the Cesar Conde-run NBC Universal News Group.”

“Conde has lost control of his organization, prompting industry insiders to wonder how he continues to remain in his role as chairman of the NBC News Group. In the words of one veteran media executive I spoke to Wednesday, ‘It’s inconceivable that he should,'” Darcy writes, saying Conde’s actions and those of his top executives have “hosed gasoline” on the scandal.

READ MORE: Lawmaker Slammed for Claiming College Basketball Players Were Actually ‘Illegal Invaders’

That scandal involves these revelations from Puck’s Dylan Byers, who reports, “bringing McDaniel to 30 Rock had been part of a nearly two-month-long effort that was spearheaded by Budoff Brown and her boss, NBC News President Rebecca Blumenstein, with buy-in from Conde and his deputies at both NBC News and MSNBC.”

“Rashida Jones,” he adds, “the president of MSNBC, was very interested in having McDaniel appear as a contributor on her network, as well.”

But this bombshell has drawn a good deal of attention. Noting how Chuck Todd led off the very public pushback against the hiring of McDaniel, Byers reports, “On Sunday, Budoff Brown reached out to McDaniel’s aide and former chief of staff at the R.N.C., Richard Walters, to see if there were any friends or colleagues who could speak up on her behalf.”

“The two sides also discussed having these folks call attention to what they saw as a double standard—after all, this was the same network that was turning Psaki, a former Biden White House Press Secretary, into a Maddow-adjacent prime time star. Walters later assured Budoff Brown that they’d been able to advance conservative pushback on social media against Todd, specifically, and that this might give NBC News some cover, for which Budoff Brown thanked him.”

CNN, pointing to those details, adds, “staffers inside NBC News are enraged at the fact an executive would have engaged in such behavior.”

Former Chicago Tribune editor Mark Jacobs, who now writes about politics and the media, called for the firing of Jones, Blumenstein, and Budoff Brown.

Other critics are expressing concerns on multiple fronts.

READ MORE: Ronna McDaniel Is Just a ‘Normal’ Person Who ‘Never Denied the Election’ Says Hugh Hewitt

“It’s like the hunger games at @NBCNews. Every day new, horrible stories of journalism & corporate malpractice. Every single one of these managers must go,” observed Jennifer Schulze, a media critic who was a Chicago Sun-Times executive producer, WGN news director, and adjunct college professor of journalism.

She also highlights a Washington Post report that ropes NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt into the mess.

“Every @NBCNews exec who thought hiring a reputed liar & phony elector co-[conspirator] needs to resign or be fired,” Schulze says.

“The @NBCNews managers who recruited & signed an election denier should be out the door, too,” she adds. “Not only was it downright offensive to hire Ronna, it was journalism AND corporate malpractice.”

Pointing to his newsletter, former Obama senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer writes, “NBC’s ill-fated decision to hire Ronna McDaniel is a story of a media outlet unwilling to accept the ways Trump changed politics, but it’s also one of the best arguments for Dems need to build our media ecosystem ASAP.”

READ MORE: Comer Refuses to Investigate Trump Family Member Over ‘Influence Peddling’ Allegation

He calls McDaniel’s hiring “evidence” the media has “yet to accept the reality that this is not a normal election between a Republican and a Democrat.” And adds, “An [industry] that prizes objectivity above all else, is incapable of accurately covering an election where one candidate is a normal politician and the other is an insurrectionist. Many in the media would rather stumble into autocracy than take a side.”

Veteran journalist and Sirius XM host Michelangelo Signorile observes, “We couldn’t have asked for a better situation to shine a bright light on the corruption of the corporate media—and its impulse to legitimize MAGA extremism and lawbreakers for profit—than NBC’s hiring former RNC chair, election denier, and Trump enabler Ronna McDaniel.”

And he warns, “The forces that made the coup-plotting former RNC chair a paid contributor are still shaping news and information about this pivotal election.”

 

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News

Lawmaker Slammed for Claiming College Basketball Players Were Actually ‘Illegal Invaders’

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Michigan MAGA Republican state Rep. Matt Maddock is under fire after claiming three buses were “loaded up with illegal invaders.” The buses, according to multiple reports, were actually loaded with the Gonzaga University basketball team arriving for March Madness.

“Happening right now. Three busses just loaded up with illegal invaders at Detroit Metro. Anyone have any idea where they’re headed with their police escort?” Rep. Maddock wrote on social media Wednesday evening, tagging far-right former U.S. Congressman Pete Hoekstra, who served as U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands under Donald Trump and is now the state’s Republican Party chair.

Informed of his error on social media, Rep. Maddock doubled down, and attacked.

READ MORE: Ronna McDaniel Is Just a ‘Normal’ Person Who ‘Never Denied the Election’ Says Hugh Hewitt

“Probably teams for the NCAA Mens Sweet 16 playing at LCA on Friday and Sunday,” a user on X wrote.

“Sure kommie. Good talking point,” Maddock quickly shot back.

ABC affiliate WXYZ executive producer Maxwell White, responding to the Maddock’s original post wrote: “Just to be clear, this was the Gonzaga basketball team. Photos show Gonzaga getting on an Allegiant plane to Detroit for the Sweet 16, and Flight Radar shows a plane from GEG to DTW landed at 7:25 p.m., around the time this photo was posted.”

“This is a wild tweet,” White added, before adding more evidence.

Hoekstra, who was accused of using racism and xenophobia to win his campaign for a U.S. Senate seat (he lost), did not respond directly to Maddock but did repost the apparently false claim.

Michigan State Senate Democratic Majority Whip Mallory McMorrow denounced Maddock’s claim as “dangerous.”

Maddock’s remark also made the national stage when U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell responded.

READ MORE: Trump Campaign Says It Will Deploy ‘Soldiers’ to Polling Places

“Hey Einstein,” the California Democrat wrote, “your state is hosting the Sweet 16. Could it be a team bus? If it is, will you resign for your spectacular stupidity?”

In 2021 The Washington Post reported, “Michigan state Rep. Matt Maddock and his wife, Michigan Republican Party co-chair Meshawn Maddock, have repeatedly been called out by fact-checking journalists for promoting baseless claims of widespread voter fraud and falsely suggesting that covid-19 is comparable to the flu.”

See the social media posts above 0r at this link.

 

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