Movie Festivals Before Today

• 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.

The 2010s was the decade African stars got globally recognized, and ‘Afrobeats’ went mainstream, with artists like Davido, Wizkid, Mr Eazi, and Burna Boy.

American pop icons like Kanye West and Beyonce took inspiration from African talents, with many collaborations and fusion albums.

Korean Pop kicked off a global fan frenzy in the 2010s. The 2012 megahit ‘Gangnam Style’ kickstarting the rage.

This pop-culture milestone was followed by a string of slick K-Pop hits with glossy and doll-like stars whose dance moves and catchy music gives stiff competition to the ‘mainstream’ music scene in the west.

Use everyone's environment to fill the lack of context of virtual gatherings.

A room and location often set the context for the group. And virtual gatherings lack the context to set up the room. To solve this, invite people to help co-create the space. To add warmth, have them sit and place their cameras in front of places that have meaning for them.

Regardless of the size of the gathering, know who's in charge.

A good host knows how to use the mute button, can orient her guests to the gathering's purpose, and will connect and protect her guests.

Social connection makes hope possible. This is the message in the film based on the life of 13-year-old William Kamkwamba. The story plays off in Malawi during a famine caused by a series of natural disasters.

William's family cannot afford for him to continue with school, and William is forbidden to return. But William sneaks back into school and gets permission to continue using the school's library. He develops strong ties with his science teacher, librarian, family, friends, and fellow villagers.

He ultimately discovers how wind energy can bring water to his village and save them from perishing.

The Farewell is about a first-generation Chinese immigrant, Billi. She wants to visit her dying grandmother, Nai-Nai, in China, to say goodbye.

Nai-Nai is unaware of the seriousness of her illness while the family believes it is kinder to keep her illness a secret and make her happy. Conflict ensues as Billi wants to tell Nai-Nai the truth. This is a tale of how people express love differently and the quiet wisdom and positive outlook of Nai-Nai.

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.”

• The pandemic is influencing and changing the way we define a community, with people across the world gathering every day on balconies to applaud medical workers, perform music and even run marathons.
• Millions of single people stuck indoors have turned to the internet to go on virtual yoga dates, attend karaoke parties or blow out candles at WhatsApp birthday get-togethers.

Lockdowns around the globe are giving rise to a new togetherness for some and amplifying friction and conflict for others.
The external global context makes you realize that life is short. So if someone is in a bad relationship, they're probably going to decide to leave while they still can. Or the total opposite, decide that they might as well get married and have kids.

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

 - Gone with the Wind (1939)

"Here's looking at you, kid."

 - Casablanca (1942)

• Centers on the customer process or journey and supports a clear business target.
• Involves employees from all relevant areas to find different ways of working a problem. 
• Challenge participants to reimagine an existing method to try to find the most efficient way to improve the customer experience.
• Sessions start with ideas but end with a working prototype.
• Output includes a clear development path that highlights all the steps needed to accelerate production and implementation.
• The hackathon concludes with a presentation to senior leaders, including a real-life demonstration of the new prototype and a roadmap of IT and other capabilities needed to bring the final version to market.
• Once the teams agree on what to do, those responsible for execution create a virtual model that the group vets, refines and re-releases in continual cycles until the new process or app meets the desired experience criteria.
• Management prevents the dissipation of enthusiasm and energy created on the hackathon by placing new processes to sustain it. 

• On May 13, 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honor of all Christian martyrs and the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day was established. Pope Gregory III later expanded the festival and moved the observance from May 13 to November 1.
• The influence of Christianity spread into Celtic lands, where it gradually blended with and supplanted older Celtic rites. In 1000 A.D., the church made November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead. It was probably done to replace the Celtic festival.
• All Souls’ Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints’ Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas, and eventually, Halloween.

The celebration of Halloween was limited in colonial New England, but as the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups and the American Indians meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with Irish immigrants, fleeing the Irish Potato Famine. This helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally.

The rise of astrology is explained as a result of the decline of organized religion and the insecurity of the economy and politics. 

People want some stability in a world of chaos where they wonder what is going on in their lives.

At the center of astrology is the pattern of a person’s life that corresponds to the planetary pattern at the moment of his birth.

Astrology has helped people decide when to plant crops or go to war. It is used to predict a person's life and interpret his character. For some, astrology can explain everything, from earthquakes to the rise of social media.