Public Enemy is an American hip hop group formed by Chuck D and Flavor Flav in Roosevelt, New York, in 1985. The group rose to prominence for their political messages including subjects such as American racism and the American media. Their debut album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show, was released in 1987 to critical acclaim, and their second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988), was the first hip hop album to top The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll. Their next three albums, Fear of a Black Planet (1990), Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black (1991) and Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age (1994), were also well received. The group has since released twelve more studio albums, including the soundtrack to the 1998 sports-drama film He Got Game and a collaborative album with Paris, Rebirth of a Nation (2006).
Terrence Frederick Malick is an American filmmaker. His films include Badlands (1973); Days of Heaven (1978); The Thin Red Line (1998), for which he received Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award nominations and won the Golden Bear at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival; The New World (2005); The Tree of Life (2011), which garnered him another Best Director Oscar nomination and the Palme d'Or at the 64th Cannes Film Festival; and A Hidden Life (2019).
Brigitte Nielsen is a Danish actress, model, and singer. She began her career modelling for Greg Gorman and Helmut Newton. She subsequently acted in the 1985 films Red Sonja and Rocky IV, later returning to the Rocky series in Creed II (2018). Nielsen starred in the 1986 film Cobra alongside her then-husband Sylvester Stallone. She played a villain in Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) and starred as the Black Witch in the 1990s Italian film series Fantaghirò. She later built a career starring in B-movies, hosting TV shows, and appearing on reality shows.
Nichelle Strong, known by her stage name Nikki D is an American rapper.
Abel Ferrara is an American filmmaker, actor, musician, and songwriter. He is best known for the provocative and often controversial content in his movies and his use and redefinition of neo-noir imagery. A long-time independent filmmaker, some of his best known movies include the New York-set, gritty crime thrillers The Driller Killer (1979), Ms .45 (1981), King of New York (1990), Bad Lieutenant (1992), and The Funeral (1996), chronicling violent crime in urban settings with spiritual overtones.
Terrence Vaughan Mann is an American actor and baritone singer. He is best known for his appearances on the Broadway stage, which include Lyman in Barnum, The Rum Tum Tugger in Cats, Inspector Javert in Les Misérables, The Beast in Beauty and the Beast, Chauvelin in The Scarlet Pimpernel, Frank N. Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, Charlemagne in Pippin, Mal Beineke in The Addams Family, Charles Frohman / Captain James Hook in Finding Neverland, The Man in the Yellow Suit in Tuck Everlasting, and Meyer Wolfsheim in The Great Gatsby. He has received three Tony Award nominations, an Emmy Award nomination, and an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical.
The 62nd annual Venice International Film Festival opened on 31 August 2005 with Tsui Hark's Seven Swords and closed on 10 September 2005 with a screening of Peter Ho-sun Chan's musical Perhaps Love. The lineups were announced by the festival director Marco Müller on 28 July 2005 in Rome. The digital films competed in all categories for the first time of the festival history.
Tiffany Pollard is an American television personality. She became a leading figure for starring on the first two seasons of VH1's Flavor of Love (2006–2007), where she was given the nickname "New York" by rapper Flavor Flav. Following her major success on the show, Pollard began starring in numerous spin-off series including most notably I Love New York (2007-2008).
"Weapon of Choice" is a song by English big beat musician Fatboy Slim from his third studio album, Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars. It features vocals by American funk musician Bootsy Collins. It was released as a double A-side single with "Star 69" on 23 April 2001, as well as a standalone single release, and a 2010 re-release with remixes. The single peaked at No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart.
William Jonathan Drayton Jr., known by his stage name Flavor Flav, is an American hip hop artist. Known for his yells of "Yeah, boyeeeeee!" when performing, he is a founding member, alongside Chuck D, of Public Enemy, a rap group that has earned six Grammy Award nominations, and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
"911 Is a Joke" is a 1990 song by American hip hop group Public Enemy, from their third album, Fear of a Black Planet. Solely performed by Flavor Flav, the track became a hit in April 1990 upon its release as a single, reaching number 15 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, and number one on the Hot Rap Singles chart, becoming their second number-one rap chart hit after "Fight the Power". It also reached number one on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. This was due largely to its sales, which were unusually high for the level of mainstream airplay it received; Billboard reported that only one of the stations on its Top 40 panel was playing it.
The first season of the VH1 reality television series Flavor of Love brings female contestants into the mansion of Flavor Flav to compete for his love. It aired weekly from January 1, 2006, to April 2, 2006, with a total of ten episodes. This show brought to fame one of the most controversial contestants in reality TV history, Tiffany Pollard, known on the show as "New York".
The second season of the VH1 reality television series Flavor of Love brings female contestants into the mansion of Flavor Flav to compete for his love. The second season first aired weekly from August 6, 2006 to October 29, 2006, with a total of twelve episodes.
A Single Man is a 2009 American period romantic drama film based on the 1964 novel by Christopher Isherwood. The directorial debut of fashion designer Tom Ford, the film stars Colin Firth, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of George Falconer, a depressed gay British university professor living in Southern California in 1962.
Maverick Entertainment Group is a low-budget American independent motion picture and DVD distribution company founded by Doug Schwab and based in South Florida.
Deon Taylor is an American filmmaker, known for his work in horror and thriller films. He is the founder of Hidden Empire Film Group.
Abel Cain, also known as Sons of El Topo or The Son of El Topo, is a stalled film project written and directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky and the sequel to Jodorowsky's classic acid Western film El Topo (1970). It was to be produced and financed by Parallel Media. The original working-title, The Sons of El Topo, was changed sometime between 1996 and 2002 to Abel Cain. In a 2010 interview, Jodorowsky said that the film had "dragged a long time" and suggested that Abel Cain will not feature any "stars", adding that he would cast his son Axel Jodorowsky in the lead role just as he did in his 1989 cult classic film Santa Sangre.
To the Wonder is a 2012 American experimental romantic drama film written and directed by Terrence Malick and starring Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel McAdams, and Javier Bardem. Filmed in Oklahoma and Paris, the film chronicles a couple who, after falling in love in Paris, struggle to keep their relationship from falling apart after moving to the United States. The film premiered in competition at the 2012 Venice Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Golden Lion Award. It received mixed reactions at its premiere in Venice but was awarded the SIGNIS Award at the same festival. The film continued to polarize critics upon its theatrical release, with many praising Malick's direction and Lubezki's cinematography, though finding the narrative emotionally unsatisfying.
Mikijirō Hira was a Japanese actor. Starting as a stage actor in the 1950s, he also worked in film and television and was active until the time of his death. From the 1970s he starred in several of Yukio Ninagawa's productions, including an acclaimed role as Macbeth. Described as "Japan's best Shakespearean actor", Hira received several awards throughout his career, including an excellence award at the 2011 National Arts Festival hosted by the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs.
