Pain and Glory

Now with the global pandemic being a new reality, film festivals are increasingly going online. SXSW, for instance, went virtual within weeks and even partnered with Amazon Prime for an online Film Festival.

Digital solutions are the way forward for many other film festivals, as otherwise, they lose millions in and revenue while scrambling for viewers and distributors for their projects.

Digital platforms and technological solutions make the content more accessible, sustainable and democratic. The streamed screenings and online question and answer sessions bring in unexpected benefits coupled with a vaster reach, due to the elimination of physical constraints and logistical issues associated with big events. 

Case in Point: Disabled audiences were earlier unable to access or be part of the event, and were now optimistic about the technological elements deployed, which helped them tremendously.

As the content is based on an existing book, TV show, movie, video game, or something they already love, the participants have a genuine interest and personal identification with the topic.

Websites specializing in fan-fiction are using the existing bodies of work, playing and tinkering with it, while providing feedback to each other. In this process, the participants are learning and teaching each other to write well. The continuous, constructive feedback helps make fanfiction writing a collective effort, which is sometimes better than the original, in which only one mind was involved.

This kind of vast, community-based learning is called distributed mentorship.

The theory is that if everyone has high self-esteem, then everyone will be successful and live a happy life. If a society was inoculated with high self-esteem, it would end poverty, crime, and violence.

But, one should take into account that high self-esteem could be the result of success, not necessarily the cause. Also, thinking that only one thing can explain how to be successful, is probably naive.

There’s actually very little correlation between self-esteem and success.  Research on self-esteem strongly correlates with how good people feel, in general. 

Self-esteem is complex and can be a good or a bad thing, depending on what is measured. 

Retro video games and 80’s /90’s music are a popular choice even with thousands of new and ultra-realistic video games and so many options in music being available, as they provide a sense of comfort in a world that is increasingly precarious and unstable.

The overabundance of content makes people feel overwhelmed and confused. Add to it the fact that today’s pop culture options often reflect the current dystopian world, when most of us are wanting to escape from it, and have limited time. 

.. is a deliberate act of revisiting old cultural favorites, as a form of self-discovery and self-identity. When people rewatch something, they watch it more intensely and can find out creative details and hidden meanings that were lost in the first viewing, appreciating the fine work of art even more.

Example: The Most Popular Sitcom in the UK in 2019 was the 90s sitcom Friends, which was in the Top 10 most-watched show list on Netflix the same year.

Much can be learned from how you each deal with conflict, and avoiding it keeps you from that knowledge. 

An inability to resolve conflict is a major reason why in-love feelings fade away.

Ask the important questions -- about values, money, children, religion/spirituality, past relationships.

If you are afraid to be forthright in your questions, then the fear itself is letting you know that your fear of rejection may be in charge -- which means you have more inner work to do.

Accents are part of the broader debate about representation in film and TV. Film and television are now available for screen-grabs and sound clips that allow us to reflect over performances for embarrassing mistakes.

The days when English-speaking actors put on accents and told the world they were Russian or German are over. The idea of an accent that is just a 'funny voice' is increasingly unacceptable, particularly one of a different nationality to the actor.

Recently, an option seems to be ignoring authenticity completely and have actors perform in their native intonation. The hope is that the focus on the accent will fade away and cause viewers to stop caring about it.

The focus is more about being authentic to the essence of the story, rather than every tiny detail.

• The Time’s Up movement is making strides to eliminate gender-based discrimination at every stage of the film-making process.
• It has established a mentorship programme for aspiring producers from socio-economically disadvantaged households.
• The 4 Percent Challenge, encourages industry figures to work with a female director every 18 months.
• Grants have been made available to journalists covering film festivals.
• Standards of behaviour on set are changing. There is a push for more female directors and equal pay to ensure sustainable cultural change.

Streaming services following in the footsteps of Netflix, have revolutionized the way we consume visual media.

• Despite the boycotts by major cinema chains, they also succeeded in democratizing the movie business, because they can take more risks. They release more films and are free from box-office pressures.
• Mid-budget movies is another welcome side-effect.

Studio Ghibli films never hide the difficulties of life. Instead, the character battles with the hardships and the inner character struggles.

It is the characters' relationships to adversity that reveal their identity and spirit. It shows their ability to overcome or rise above and their determination and resilience.

“Always believe in yourself. Do this and no matter where you are, you will have nothing to fear.”

Frightening fiction provides a safe way to learn how to deal with fear and anxiety.

Anything that is feared, can be tackled with knowledge. Fear during a global crisis generally arises due to lack of knowledge on how to deal with the situation. Helplessness and uncertainty give rise to the feelings of doom and gloom. The way to tackle this is to be completely informed about the situation, and be ‘apocalypse ready’.

Napoleon Hill was said to be an advisor to two presidents: Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
In fact, there’s no evidence whatsoever outside of Hill’s own writings that Hill met President Wilson or President Roosevelt, let alone acted as a trusted advisor to both.

Napoleon Hill’s most infamous claim was that he met and interviewed at length the industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1908.

Andrew Carnegie's biographer David Nasaw found no evidence of any sort that Carnegie and Hill ever met.