‘Axe’ doc shows Katrina victims’ continued struggle
Talia Whyte
Local filmmakers Ed Pincus and Lucia Small felt the same way many others did in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: outraged by the lack of government response to victims of the horrific storm.
In late 2005, the pair embarked on a 60-day road trip from New England to New Orleans to see what was really happening to Katrina victims. Along the way, they met with evacuees who shared stories of pain, conflict and hope that transcended traditional divisions of race, class and gender.
Those stories leap off the screen in their new documentary, “The Axe in the Attic,” which opened this year’s Human Rights Watch International Film Festival at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) last Wednesday.
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Supporters raising money to restore Apollo Theater
Samantha Gross
NEW YORK — Back in the Apollo Theater’s heyday, audience members walked through an ornate, spacious lobby. Inside the theater, hand-painted detailing decorated the walls. And on the stage, stars were born.
Supporters have long tried to restore the Harlem landmark to those golden days of the 1930s and ’40s, when unknown teenagers Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan launched their careers at the theater’s “Amateur Night.”
Now, after years of struggling to finance an expansion and restoration, theater officials are beginning a national fundraising effort for what they are calling the “final phase” of the renovation. Full story
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Oprah getting her ‘OWN’ TV network
David Bauder
NEW YORK — Oprah Winfrey is getting her own TV network.
OWN, for Oprah Winfrey Network, will debut next year in nearly 70 million homes with cable and satellite, part of a deal announced last Tuesday with Discovery Communications. It will replace the Discovery Health network.
The announcement builds a media empire that already includes the top-rated TV talk show, a magazine, a satellite radio network, a Web site and TV movies made under her banner.
“This is an evolution of what I’ve been able to do every day,” Winfrey said. “I will now have the opportunity to do this 24 hours a day on a platform that goes on forever.”
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