'Gone Baby Gone' keeps you guessing

When a little girl vanishes from her bedroom in one of Boston’s poorest neighbourhoods, her distraught mother (Amy Ryan) makes a television appeal for her safe return.

Live Earth back with solar aim

INDIA is to host a Live Earth concert later this year, featuring stars from the world of music, film and television, to raise funds for solar energy.

NATAS circles grow

Film News: Donahue, Bergen, Williams honored -- The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Pacific Southwest chapter, has inducted six new members into its prestigious gold and silver circles.

TVNZ VOD pacts for ABC shows

Business News: Disney-owned channel pacts with Ondemand -- The Asia Pacific arm of Disney-ABC Intl. Television has inked a deal with Kiwi pubcaster TVNZ to provide its skeins on its fledgling online delivery service TVNZ Ondemand.

Canadian unions seek strike mandate

Business News: Current deal expired on June 30 -- After 17 months of negotiations with reps of the ad business, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) is seeking a strike mandate from its membership.

Candian unions seek strike mandate

Business News: Current deal expired on June 30 -- After 17 months of negotiations with reps of the ad business, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) is seeking a strike mandate from its membership.

Tiger Wishes Team Well, But Won't Attend Ryder Cup

The closest Tiger Woods will get to the Ryder Cup is in front of his television.

Hansen unhappy with alleged filming incident

New Zealand assistant coach Steve Hansen has accused an Australian television station of supplying footage to the Wallabies ahead of the Tri-Nations decider last Saturday.

Weather disrupts Ryder preparations

A television tower and a number of trees were sent crashing by 60mph gusts at Valhalla yesterday on the eve of the European and American teams’ arrival for the Ryder Cup starting on Friday.

Football fans 'being turned off by costs'

Premier League clubs may be courting Arab trillionaires but it is a different story for their supporters, the majority of whom are being priced out of watching live football on television, according to a new survey.

Casting directors pact with AMPTP

Business News: Tentative labor deal reached for new contract -- Casting directors have reached a tentative deal for a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers. The AMPTP made the announcement Friday morning, following three days of negotiations with reps for Intl.  Brotherhood of Teamsters.
 

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Film News: Design creatures worthy of its bigger budget -- Having won an Oscar for their work on "Pan's Labyrinth, " professional partners David Marti and Montse Ribe had more time and money for "Hellboy II." They also had more collaborators and less work to do.

Frost/ Nixon

Film News: Persuade Langella to use wig and makeup -- "Finding a happy middle ground was probably one of the most difficult things, " says star Frank Langella's makeup artist, David Anderson.

The Duchess

Film News: Be faithful to an 18th-century fashion icon -- Regency aristocrat Georgiana Cavendish, subject of Saul Dibb's period drama "The Duchess, " is widely recognized as one of the first true influencers of fashion, her giant plumed wigs and sprayed-on gowns sparking copycat trends across 18th-century Britain.

Defiance

Film News: Find the right forest for its trees -- In "Defiance, " the Bielski brothers fight the Nazis from the Belarusian forests. Helmer Edward Zwick wanted the forest to be a central character in the film, since it's of paramount importance to the survival of the resistance fighters.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Film News: Blur the line between practical makeup and CGI -- To present Brad Pitt as a 6-year-old pipsqueak with the wrinkled skin of a septuagenarian, age makeups creator Greg Cannom and his team sculpted a series of head casts from young to old, which were then scanned for digital rendering.

Cloverfield

Film News: Simulate mass destruction on an intimate scale -- "Cloverfield" updated the monster movie with CG effects and a DIY sensibility, but when production designer Martin Whist had to design a destroyed apartment for a climactic scene, he found no substitute for old-fashioned demolition.

Changeling

Film News: Dress Jolie without sacrificing historical accuracy -- Working on roughly 3, 000 background costumes for "Changeling, " costume designer Deborah Hopper relied on historical photographs and a strong network of costume houses and vintage stores to provide her with suitable raiments.

Local pros reduce real-life risks

Film News: Problematic locations confront foreign filmmakers -- As filmmakers embrace compelling, globally themed stories, productions must penetrate parts of the world where "film friendly" is a novel concept.

Films merge old hammers, new pixels

Film News: Art directors collaborate with vfx supervisors -- Ten years ago, digital visual effects meant that a film could have an imaginary but almost realistic-looking creature dancing down the middle of the street. Today, the street itself may very well be computer-generated and nobody would know the difference.

Hollywood swag on the decline

Film News: Golden Globes to host a lighter gift of grab -- The economy is a real drag on swag. It's definitely the time of year for freebies, with at least six Golden Globes gifting suites scheduled over the weekend.