
One Winter Night: 'Trying to raise awareness'
Feb. 7—Brody Keith's steady participation in C-U at Home's One Winter Night dates nearly a decade.
There have been occasions when he spent his wedding anniversary — Feb. 3 — in a box in downtown Champaign "having a root beer and a sandwich from the Canteen Run instead of a nice dinner," he said. "I'm just trying to raise awareness for a very good cause. It's important to me."
Keith and close to 100 others will sleep in tents, boxes and cars outside The Venue CU tonight as part of One Winter Night. Facility operations coordinator at Ubben Basketball Complex on the University of Illinois campus, the 44-year-old from Philo said a trip he took with his wife, Aleta, to New Orleans — "where there were homeless everywhere" — convinced the couple to get involved.
One Winter Night, introduced in 2012, remains a major source of C-U at Home's budget.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
The Assault on Good-for-You TV: C-SPAN and PBS Teeter as Trump Attacks
When money flowed more freely in television, public-service programming was seen as a means of giving back. From educational TV and supporting public broadcasting to cable operators providing C-SPAN, spaces existed where ratings weren't the yardstick — instead, this was TV intended to be good for you. On Thursday, Congress took a major step toward undermining all of that, as the House narrowly approved a rescission bill that would claw back $1.1 billion in funding to the Corp. for Public Broadcasting, which helps support PBS stations, in addition to cuts to other programs. The bill passed by the slimmest of margins, 214 to 212, with a few GOP legislators switching their votes to get it through. The funding was part of a larger $9.4 billion allocation that lawmakers had already approved for foreign aid and public broadcasting. Senate still has to weigh in on the matter, and has five weeks to decide. With PBS and NPR besieged by the political right, with C-SPAN's funding via cable and satellite fees strafed by cord cutting, higher-minded alternatives have been hit by hard times. The whole point of PBS and National Public Radio was that they would be unfettered by commercial demands, allowing them to offer programming — from children's programming like Mr. Rogers and 'Sesame Street,' devoid of toy commercials, to lower-key news, documentaries and public affairs — that didn't have to justify its existence on a balance sheet. Ditto for C-SPAN, which cable operators carried for a small licensing fee simply because of the perceived value in allowing subscribers to see what their elected representatives were doing and saying, unfiltered and unedited. Public broadcasting has found itself swept up in the Trump administration's war against the media, with the perception that any unflattering reporting about the president — whether from PBS' 'NewsHour' or 'Frontline' or NPR's 'All Things Considered' — reveals 'invidious' bias and a liberal agenda, to use FCC chairman Brendan Carr's favorite word. Conservatives have long argued that public broadcasting represents an unnecessary expense given the abundance of choices available to most consumers. But in its latest incarnation, 'Defund PBS' overtly translates into being less about fiscal responsibility than leveraging the government's underwriting role to silence otherwise-independent media voices by labeling them progressive propaganda. On the left, the response was unambiguous. The Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) condemned the House vote as 'a radical right-wing ideology that aims to destroy a non-partisan public service despite all evidence of its wide benefits.' The group quickly turned its attention to pleading with the Senate, which holds a GOP majority but has exhibited a bit more restraint than the House in prosecuting the MAGA agenda. The CEO of PBS, Paula Kerger, remained silent in the wake of Thursday's vote, but she has been lobbying intensively to save PBS, warning that Trump's push to defund public broadcasters would spell the end for a number of local stations, and the service they provide to their communities. In a recent interview with Katie Couric, Kerger contemplated the end of public funding for the network, which only relies on the government for a portion of its funds. 'I think we'll figure out a way, through digital, to make sure there is some PBS content,' she said. 'But there won't be anyone in the community creating local content. There won't be a place for people to come together.' Kerger was referring to the fact that the campaign against PBS and NPR disproportionally harms smaller and more rural communities that voted for Trump (even if many listeners and viewers didn't), which lack the same menu of local-media options as major markets. In a sense, Sesame Workshop — the entity behind 'Sesame Street' — has provided an unlikely poster child for the financial pressures on public TV, having undergone layoffs before losing its streaming deal with Warner Bros. Discovery's Max. Netflix has since stepped into the breach, joining with PBS Kids in providing access Elmo and his pals. As for C-SPAN, its challenges stem primarily from evolving technology, which has dramatically undercut the financial model upon which the network was founded in 1979. With viewers shifting to streaming and dropping cable and satellite subscriptions, the number of homes receiving C-SPAN has sharply dropped to a little over 50 million, meaning the nonprofit enterprise — which costs operators just $7.25 a month, a fraction of what they pay for channels like Fox News and CNN — is running at a significant deficit. One proposed solution would be for entities with streaming subscribers, like YouTube or Hulu's live-TV package, to carry C-SPAN. Indeed, YouTube's 8 to 10 million subscribers alone would provide enough income to offset most of the shortfall in its roughly $60 million annual operating expenses. Thus far, however, those companies have balked, prompting a rare bipartisan push in the Senate on C-SPAN's behalf, with Republican Chuck Grassley and Democrat Amy Klobuchar among those joining in a resolution calling upon streaming services to carry the network. 'For tens of millions of Americans who have cut the cord and get their content from streaming services, they should not be cut off from the civic content made available by C-SPAN,' the senators stated. It's a welcome development for C-SPAN CEO Sam Feist, who joined the network a little over a year ago from CNN. Feist noted that 'cord cutting' doesn't accurately characterize what's transpired — since old cable subscribers have generally moved to new delivery systems — meaning the case for carrying the network remains as simple as the public-service ideal that inspired its launch. 'We're the only network that provides what we provide, which is this unfiltered view of American government,' Feist told TheWrap, adding in regard to the streamers, 'It is good for the country for their customers to have access to our product.' The campaign regarding C-SPAN carriage has seemingly gained some momentum over the last year, with former Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler and the Washington Post's Karen Tumulty among those joining the aforementioned senators in taking up the cause. Wheeler called YouTube's decision not to carry C-SPAN 'baffling and anti-democratic,' writing in The Hill that the company is depriving viewers of 'an unfiltered window into the goings-on in Congress, the White House and other parts of the government.' As Sen. Ron Wyden told Tumulty, carrying the network would only cost YouTube about $6 million a year — 'crumbs,' he suggested, for a streamer that rakes in billions in ad revenue. YouTube has stated that its subscribers 'have not shown sufficient interest in adding C-SPAN to the YouTube TV lineup to justify the increased cost' to their monthly bills, although as Wyden noted, that would amount to a relative pittance of 87 cents a year per household. The two situations aren't completely analogous, especially with the fate of PBS and NPR having become embroiled in politics, as opposed to corporate stubbornness. More fundamentally, though, both situations speak to the question of civic responsibility, and whether the government and private interests acknowledge such obligations. Because even if C-SPAN and PBS reach smaller audiences in a fragmented world, certain things are worth keeping around not because everybody watches them, but rather for what they offer, symbolically as well as tangibly, thanks to the staid sobriety they provide by being available to the people that do. The post The Assault on Good-for-You TV: C-SPAN and PBS Teeter as Trump Attacks appeared first on TheWrap.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Gkids Acquires Multiple Territories For Japanese Action Sci-Fi Animated Feature ‘All You Need Is Kill'
EXCLUSIVE: Gkids has acquired multiple territories for Japanese animated action sci-fi drama All You Need Is Kill, including for North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. The movie is based on the eponymous best-selling novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka which also inspired Doug Liman's 2014 live-action adaptation Edge of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. More from Deadline Laika Signs 'Corpse Bride' & 'Frankenweenie' Screenwriter John August To Write Stop-Motion Teen Missing Mother Drama For Pete Candeland 'The Cat In The Hat' Team Defend Warners' Decision To Shelve 'Coyote Vs. Acme': "We Are Lucky To Do Art In Our Profession But We Can't Lock Ourselves In A Basement" 'Arcane' Showrunner Christian Linke On Exploring Character Relationships & Artistic "Extremes" For Season 2 The directorial debut of Kenichiro Akimoto, with a script written by Yuichiro Kido, the new animated adaptation world premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival earlier this week in the Midnight Specials section. All You Need Is Kill is produced by Warner Bros. Japan with animation production by celebrated Japanese animation house Studio 4°C (Tekkonkinkreet, Mind Game). Studio 4°C, which is also at Annecy this year with Yasuhiro Aoki's drama ChaO in the main competition, will be hosting a studio presentation at the festival on Friday, in the presence of the directors and producers for both titles. Set in the near future, All You Need Is Kill follows the story of Rita, a resourceful but isolated young woman volunteering to help rebuild Japan after the mysterious appearance of a massive alien flower known as 'Darol.' When Darol unexpectedly erupts in a deadly event, unleashing monstrous creatures that decimate the population, Rita is caught in the destruction—and killed. But then she wakes up again. And again. Caught in an endless time loop, Rita must navigate the trauma and repetition of death until she crosses paths with Keiji, a shy young man trapped in the same cycle. Together, they fight to break free from the loop and find meaning in the chaos around them. 'With All You Need Is Kill, I wanted to convey that even in the endless loop of life, we can still make discoveries and grow, depending on how we perceive the situation,' said Akimoto. 'All You Need Is Kill is a standout work that explores time, identity, and survival with breathtaking animation and a powerful emotional core,' said Gkids President Dave Jesteadt. 'The story has remained so meaningful for years because it captures something essential about the human condition, and the need to keep moving forward. Director Akimoto has created a brilliant new take that we are sure fans will love.' Gkids and Studio 4°C have previously collaborated on releases for Mind Game, Children of the Sea, while Gkids also recently acquired ChaO, and several other celebrated titles. Further details on the release will be announced at a later date. The deal was negotiated between GKIDS' Director of Acquisitions and Development Rodney Uhler, and Warner Bros. Japan. Best of Deadline List Of Hollywood & Media Layoffs From Paramount To Warner Bros Discovery To CNN & More Sean 'Diddy' Combs Sex-Trafficking Trial Updates: Cassie Ventura's Testimony, $10M Hotel Settlement, Drugs, Violence, & The Feds A Full Timeline Of Blake Lively & Justin Baldoni's 'It Ends With Us' Feud In Court, Online & In The Media
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Japan Cuts to Open With Yasuhiro Aoki's ‘ChaO,' Festival's 2025 Lineup Unveiled
The upcoming 18th edition of Japan Cuts, North America's largest festival of contemporary Japanese cinema, will kick off with a special screening of ChaO, the hotly anticipated animated feature debut from director Yasuhiro Aoki. Produced by Studio 4°C, the avant-garde animation house behind Mind Game and Tekkonkinkreet, ChaO reimagines a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale through a cyberpunk lens, transporting audiences to a near-future Shanghai where humans and mermen coexist. The story follows an ordinary salaryman who is unexpectedly thrust into a diplomatic marriage with a mermaid princess, triggering a whirlwind of political absurdity and emotional discovery. With over 100,000 hand-drawn frames created over the course of seven years, Aoki's film is described as a visually extravagant and emotionally idiosyncratic passion project. Japan Cuts is hosting its U.S. premiere ahead of its theatrical release in Japan in August. Gkids has acquired the domestic rights to the film. More from The Hollywood Reporter Canadian Industry Rebuffs Trump's DEI Rollback Sony Music Publishing Acquires Hipgnosis Songs Group Trump's Trade War Will Loom Large Over the Banff World Media Fest Running July 10–20 at the Japan Society's headquarters in New York City, Japan Cuts is co-organized by Japan Society's Peter Tatara and Alexander Fee, and this year features three world premieres, nine North American premieres, and a host of special guests, receptions and live Q&As. 'We're deeply proud to celebrate Japanese film in the heart of New York City,' said Tatara. 'Each year, Japan Cuts presents a look into the contemporary Japanese cinema scene, spotlighting both major award-winners as well as rising stars, and we hope this festival helps build bridges between film lovers in New York and filmmakers in Japan — and more broadly between our two countries — with film a tremendous snapshot into modern Japan's culture, values and soul.' Among this year's marquee guests is prolific director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who will receive the 2025 Cut Above Award for outstanding achievement in film. Kurosawa will attend the New York premiere of his latest thriller Cloud as well as a screening of Serpent's Path, his 2024 French-language remake of his own 1998 V-Cinema title. Both films will be presented alongside Q&As with Kurosawa. Japan Cuts will also screen 4K restorations of the original Serpent's Path and his rarely seen 1998 feature License to Live on 35mm film. Award-winning actress Yuumi Kawai, this year's best actress honoree at the Japan Academy Film Prize, will also make an appearance. Kawai will present the North American premiere of Yu Irie's A Girl Named Ann, in which she stars as a young woman navigating life on the margins of Japanese society, as well as the U.S. premiere of She Taught Me Serendipity, directed by Akiko Ohku. Kawai also delivers a standout performance in Teki Cometh, Daihachi Yoshida's genre-bending black-and-white thriller that swept the Tokyo International Film Festival and will get its New York premiere at the festival. Further highlights include The Real You, Yuya Ishii's dark techno-mystery adapted from a novel by Keiichiro Hirano, with a live introduction and book signing from the author; A Samurai in Time, a breakout indie hit about a time-traveling Edo-era warrior; and Kowloon Generic Romance, a dreamy manga adaptation set in a romanticized version of the Kowloon Walled City. Shunji Iwai's beloved 1995 classic Love Letter will also return to the big screen in a newly restored 4K version, marking the film's 30th anniversary. The Next Generation section, the festival's sole juried category, will present a curated selection of indie features from emerging directors, with one film receiving the Obayashi Prize, named in honor of the late cult filmmaker Nobuhiko Obayashi. Japan Cuts will close on July 20 with the world premiere of The Spirit of Japan, a documentary by Joseph Overbey about a Japanese family's centuries-old shochu distillery in Kagoshima. The screening will be followed by a reception featuring shochu from the Yamatozakura Distillery and a Q&A with Overbey. The full 2025 Japan Cuts selection is below. Feature Slate Blazing Fists – Dir. Takashi Miike (U.S. Premiere)ChaO – Dir. Yasuhiro Aoki (Special Screening / Opening Night)Cloud – Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa (New York Premiere)The Gesuidouz – Dir. Kenichi Ugana (U.S. Premiere)A Girl Named Ann – Dir. Yu Irie (North American Premiere)Gridman Universe – Dir. Akira Amemiya (North American Theatrical Premiere)Kaiju Guy! – Dir. Junichiro Yagi (North American Premiere)Kowloon Generic Romance – Dir. Chihiro Ikeda (World Premiere)My Sunshine – Dir. Hiroshi Okuyama (New York Premiere)The Real You – Dir. Yuya Ishii (North American Premiere)A Samurai in Time – Dir. Junichi Yasuda (New York Premiere)Serpent's Path (2024) – Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa (East Coast Premiere)She Taught Me Serendipity – Dir. Akiko Ohku (U.S. Premiere)Teki Cometh – Dir. Daihachi Yoshida (New York Premiere)Yasuko, Songs of Days Past – Dir. Kichitaro Negishi (North American Premiere) Next Generation Michiyuki – Voices of Time – Dir. Hiromichi Nakao (World Premiere of Final Version)See You Tomorrow – Dir. Saki Michimoto (North American Premiere)Promised Land – Dir. Masashi Iijima (New York Theatrical Premiere)So Beautiful, Wonderful and Lovely – Dir. Megumi Okawara (North American Premiere) Classics License to Live – Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Archival 35mm Screening)Love Letter – Dir. Shunji Iwai (International Premiere of 4K Restoration)Serpent's Path (1998) – Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa (North American Premiere of 4K Restoration) Short Cuts End of Dinosaurs – Dir. Kako Annika Esashi (U.S. Premiere)Flow – Dir. Shoko Tamai (New York Premiere)I Am Not Invisible – Dir. Yuki York (U.S. Premiere)Tree of Sinners – Dir. Rii Ishihara & Hiroyuki Onogawa (North American Premiere) Documentary Japanese Avant-Garde Pioneers – Dir. Amélie Ravalec (New York Premiere)The Spirit of Japan – Dir. Joseph Overbey (World Premiere / Closing Night)What Should We Have Done? – Dir. Tomoaki Fujino (New York Premiere) Best of The Hollywood Reporter 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now