22 May Film News Roundup: City of Los Angeles Names June 16 Buster Keaton Day
HONOR
The City of Los Angeles has declared that June 16 will be Buster Keaton Day in honor of the pioneering comedian and filmmaker.
A bronze plaque commemorating the location of a movie studio where both Keaton and Charlie Chaplin created their timeless comedies in the early part of the 20th Century will be dedicated at 4 p.m. on June 16 at 1021 Lillian Ave., near the intersection of Eleanor Avenue and Lillian Way in Los Angeles. The dedication and and several other events have been organized by the International Buster Keaton Society to remedy the incorrect placement of a similar plaque in 1988.
Scheduled guests include Los Angeles councilmember Mitch O’Farrell, film historian Leonard Maltin, and members of Keaton’s family, including his granddaughter, Melissa Talmadge Cox, and his great-granddaughter, actress Keaton Talmadge.
The funding of the new plaque, as well as a smaller plaque explaining the mix-up, came from $18,107 donated by contributors to an international Indiegogo campaign. The remaining costs were covered by the International Buster Keaton Society Inc.
Keaton made 19 silent short films and 10 silent features between 1920 and 1928, using this production studio for nearly all of them. Prior to Keaton’s tenure, Chaplin used the same studio between 1916 and 1917 to produce 12 of his greatest short films.
Six of Keaton’s films have been included in the National Film Registry, making him one of the most honored filmmakers on the list: “One Week” (1920), “Cops” (1922), “Sherlock Jr.” (1924), “The General” (1926), “Steamboat Bill, Jr.,” and “The Cameraman” (both 1928).
ACQUISITIONS
Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios, Freestyle Digital Media has acquired digital worldwide rights for rock music documentary “The Life, Blood and Rhythm of Randy Castillo,” Variety has learned exclusively.
The film will be available to rent and own on digital HD on June 15, 2018. Castillo worked as Ozzy Osbourne’s drummer during the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, and later as drummer for Mötley Crüe, from 1999 to his death in 2002.
The film was written and directed by Wynn Ponder and produced by Michael Bell. Narrated by Lita Ford, it features appearances and interviews with Slash, Lemmy, Zakk Wylde, Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil, Martha Davis, and Bill Ward.
“Randy Castillo’s biggest contribution to live rock and roll was to make the rock drummer visible on stage behind that huge drum set, to give a performance that demanded attention,” said Ponder. “Thousands of fans have waited a long time for the movie to be released and we are incredibly fortunate to have Freestyle Digital Media as our distributor.”