Former Rutgers student Dharun Ravi convicted in privacy case. Anthony Shadid's posthumous memoir. KPCC film critics Wade Major and Henry Sheehan join Larry to review the week’s new film releases, including 21 Jump Street; Casa de Mi Padre; Jeff, Who Lives at Home; Pray for Japan and more. TGI-FilmWeek! Screenwriting made painless.
Former Rutgers student Dharun Ravi convicted in privacy case
In a New Jersey courtroom ruling earlier today, former student Dharun Ravi, 20, was found guilty of invasion of privacy and bias intimidation for setting up a webcam in his dorm room to spy on his former roommate, Tyler Clementi.
Ravi had set up a webcam in his dorm room in September 2010 and captured images of Clementi kissing another man; he then tweeted that information to friends and tried again to capture more images two days later. Three days later, Clementi, who had come out as gay shortly before coming to Rutgers, committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge. Ravi’s lawyers argued that their client’s actions were not motivated by anti-gay or homophobic tendencies but rather were those of an immature “kid”. The defense also argued that the webcam was set up in order to keep an eye on the man Clementi was seen with as he was older and identified as “sketchy” by Ravi.
According to testimony, on September 19th, 2010 Clementi had asked Ravi to leave their room so he could have a guest. Ravi then posted on twitter “Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay.” Clementi had submitted a room-change request and talked to a Resident Assistant about what had happened. He also used his own lap-top to review Ravi’s twitter site a total of 38 times in the last two days leading to his suicide. Ravi was acquitted of some of the 15 charges, but found guilty of others and faces up to a 10 year sentence.
WEIGH IN
Was the verdict a fair outcome for Ravi? Do you see this as an egregious act of sexual bias, or a college prank that went too far? Were there other factors that could have contributed to Clementi’s suicide?
Guests:
Tina Susman, New York Bureau Chief for the Los Angeles Times
Hayley Gorenberg, Deputy legal director, Lambda Legal, a national organization whose mission is to advance the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender (LGBT) people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and policy work
Anthony Shadid's widow on his posthumous memoir 'House of Stone'
Anthony Shadid, Pulitzer Prize-winning Middle East correspondent for the New York Times, died on February 16 while on assignment in Syria. He left behind not only family, friends and many fans of his journalism, but also a memoir, "House of Stone."
Nada Bakri, Shadid’s widow and a New York Times correspondant herself, has been working to promote Shadid's memoir, which was published just after his untimely death.
"I am still in the process of grieving, but I am kind of delaying my grief because there's so much work to be done," said Bakri. "Because I loved Anthony so much and because this book meant so much for him, I found myself doing this, trying to get the book publicized as much as I can, but its very painful and I'm doing it with a lot of sadness and a lot of grief. It just never seems right."
In "House of Stone," Shadid chronicles his return to the small Lebanese town of Marjayoun in 2006 to renovate a house built by his great-grandfather after it was damaged by an Israeli rocket. His grandmother had lived in the house before emigrating to the United States. "I think in the back of his mind he always wanted to go back to Marjayoun," said Bakri. "He immediately felt a connection that he could not understand."
In the course of repairing the house, Shadid deals with crazed construction workers, town gossip and an unstable political situation but he pieces it all together with his own life decisions. During the process of restoring the house, mysteries of his family’s history are uncovered as well as the details about their flight from Lebanon and their resettlement in America.
Bakri explains that Shadid developed a special attachment to the house, which he had repaired piece by piece by hand. "As he was rebuilding it his love for the house grew stronger and stronger every day, and at the end he felt that this is something he had created," said Bakri. "He had created it from memory, from imagination, and he found himself in it."
Shadid had sought refuge in the house with Bakri their family after his kidnapping last year in Libya. Bakri says it was a place where Shadid could find peace and reconnect with himself. For Shadid, who had spent most of his life travelling and reporting, the house symbolized a sense of home and gave him a sense of belonging.
Bakri says losing her husband while he was reporting in Syria has made her re-think her own work as a journalist. "It does make me question my work in the field. Anthony was so committed to journalism," said Bakri. "I feel like, in life, when you're committed to something and when you give so much to it, it should treat you a little bit better. Life was not fair to Anthony or to me or our children."
As for what she has planned for the future, Bakri says she is uncertain and has no plans as of now.
"The thought of the future overwhelms me so much and scares me… I lost my husband… he was everything to me ... I don't know what I'll be doing."
GUESTS
Nada Bakri, widow of Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Anthony Shadid and New York Times correspondent
Rajiv Chandrasekeran, senior correspondent and associate editor of The Washington Post, where he has worked since 1994
FilmWeek: 21 Jump Street; Casa de Mi Padre; Jeff, Who Lives at Home and more
KPCC film critics Wade Major and Henry Sheehan join Larry to review the week’s new film releases, including 21 Jump Street; Casa de Mi Padre; Jeff, Who Lives at Home and more. TGI-FilmWeek!
Guests:
Wade Major, film critic for KPCC and boxoffice.com
Henry Sheehan, film critic for KPCC and henrysheehan.com
Trailer for 21 Jump Street:
Trailer for Casa de Mi Padre:
Trailer for Jeff, Who Lives at Home:
Films Reviewed:
21 Jump Street
Two young police officers go undercover at a high school.
Starring:: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson and Dave Franco
Written by:: Michael Bacall
Directed by:: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
R
Columbia Pictures/MGM
Casa de Mi Padre
A Mexican family becomes embroiled in a feud with a drug dealer.
Starring:: Will Ferrell, Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna and Genesis Rodriguez
Written by:: Andrew Steele
Directed by:: Matt Piedmont
R
Lionsgate
In Spanish with English subtitles.
Jeff, Who Lives at Home
A stay-at-home man-child goes on an adventure with his brother.
Starring:: Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Susan Sarandon and Judy Greer
Written and directed by:: Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass
R
Paramount Pictures
Seeking Justice
A husband enlists a vigilante group to exact revenge on his wife’s attacker.
Starring:: Nicolas Cage, January Jones, Jennifer Carpenter and Guy Pearce
Written by:: Robert Tannen
Directed by:: Roger Donaldson
R
Anchor Bay Films
The Snowtown Murders
One of the sons of a poor, single mother falls into a sadistic vigilante group.
Starring:: Lucas Pittaway, Daniel Henshall and Louise Harris
Written by:: Shaun Grant
Directed by:: Justin Kurzel
Not rated
IFC Midnight
The Kid With a Bike
After being abandoned by his father, a young boy searches for his missing bike.
Starring:: Cecile de France, Thomas Doret and Jeremie Renier
Written and directed by:: Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne
Not rated
Sundance Selects
Footnote
Father and son professors are torn apart personally and professionally.
Starring: Shlomo Bar Aba, Lior Ashkenazi and Alisa Rosen
Written and directed by: Joseph Cedar
PG
Sony Pictures Classics
In Hebrew with English subtitles.
Screenwriting made painless
Hollywood is full of people trying to write their first screen play but when Joseph McBride started teaching screenwriting he couldn’t find a manual worth using to teach aspiring writers their craft. In his new book “Writing in Pictures” veteran screenwriter and film historian Joseph McBride breaks down the daunting process of writing a first script.
Using a series of approachable tasks, McBride focuses initially on literary adaptation then goes on to illustrate the path from synopsis to treatment, from outline to screenplay. Finding your voice, getting to the heart of the story, learning the rules in order to break them are all elements of good screenwriting that McBride examines in his book and as professor of cinema at San Francisco State University.
How do you tell a story in film and how does one learn to think cinematically? McBride elucidates these questions using the knowledge and experience he has accumulated as was one of the screenwriters of the cult classic punk rock musical “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School” and co-writer of five American Film Institute Life Achievement Award specials for CBS TV.
GUEST
Joseph McBride, author of “Writing in Pictures: Screenwriting Made (Mostly) Painless” (Vintage Books).