Latest news with #L.A.TimesStudios
Los Angeles Times
21-05-2025
- Los Angeles Times
L.A. Times Studios Releases Podcast Series ‘L.A. Crimes'
L.A. Times Studios today released 'L.A. Crimes,' a video podcast delving into the biggest cases and long-running investigations in Los Angeles. The series is hosted by Madison McGhee, true crime podcast creator and host of 'Ice Cold Case.' The first episode is available now on all podcast platforms. The weekly podcast will feature conversations with Los Angeles Times reporters sharing a rare behind-the-scenes look at their reporting process, plus crime experts and pop culture personalities sharing their insights on some of the most consequential crime cases shaping L.A. today, from scams and celebrity stories to notorious criminal cases. 'We're thrilled to continue expanding our podcast offerings with the launch of our latest series, 'L.A. Crimes,'' said Anna Magzanyan, president of L.A. Times Studios. 'With host Madison McGhee leading conversations alongside esteemed Los Angeles Times reporters and special guests, each episode unpacks notable crime cases through compelling storytelling and new perspectives that will captivate listeners.' The debut episode features Times Staff Writer Richard Winton and journalist Josh Mankiewicz discussing the notorious Menendez brothers case, including the latest legal updates for Lyle and Erik, who have served more than 35 years in prison. Upcoming episodes include Times Staff Writer Harriet Ryan detailing the case of Tom Girardi defrauding clients and The Times' Clara Harter on the suspected homicide deaths in California prisons this year. 'Boiling Point,' 'Crimes of The Times,' 'The Envelope' and 'Dodgers Debate' round out the L.A. Times and L.A. Times Studios collection of podcasts available to download now. Additional podcast series are in development with launch dates to be announced. The first episode of 'L.A. Crimes' is available now to download or stream, with new episodes released weekly. Exclusive bonus content is available to L.A. Times Studios Podcasts+ subscribers.
Los Angeles Times
14-03-2025
- Automotive
- Los Angeles Times
He bought his Tesla 12 years before Elon Musk ‘went crazy'
From L.A. Times Studios: Times reader Daniel Bateman has no regrets about buying his Tesla — in fact, he loves the car. It's Elon Musk he has a problem with. Click here to read Bateman's letter to the editor. For more 'Hear Me Out' videos, visit
Los Angeles Times
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
A relocated Slamdance Film Festival launches its first edition in Los Angeles
This year's edition of the Slamdance Film Festival launches Thursday night, taking place for the first time in Los Angeles. The festival has long had its offices here, but the event itself had taken place in Park City, Utah, concurrent with the Sundance Film Festival. 'On one hand, it's business as usual with the discovery of new filmmakers, launching careers and new ideas in filmmaking,' said Peter Baxter, Slamdance president and co-founder, of the relocation, announced last April. 'But then on the other hand, it's a chance for our organization to grow in other ways, to fulfill on that potential, the idea here of a rising tide can float all boats in the world of independent filmmaking.' Originally started in 1995 by a group of filmmakers rejected by Sundance, Slamdance established its own identity as a community of artists pulling together for themselves. The programming for the festival is done by alumni of the event. Among filmmakers who had their early work shown at the festival are Christopher Nolan, Sean Baker, Rian Johnson, Lynn Shelton, Lena Dunham, Joe and Anthony Russo, Bong Joon Ho and Gina Prince-Bythewood. 'There's that saying that it's not the place — it's the people,' said Taylor Miller, festival director, in an interview alongside Baxter earlier this week. Referring to the recent Los Angeles wildfires, Miller added, 'There's a need right now for this in a way that feels much more critical. And I couldn't think of a better place for people to be together right now.' The festival's opening-night selection, screening at Hollywood's Egyptian Theatre, is 'Out of Plain Sight,' directed by Daniel Straub and Rosanna Xia. Co-produced by L.A. Times Studios, the documentary is based on Xia's reporting for The Times about the dumping of DDT waste in the waters off the coast of Southern California — reporting for which she was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist. The film recently won the audience award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. (L.A. Times Studios, an affiliate of the Los Angeles Times, is also a sponsor of Slamdance.) Other L.A.-themed docs in the program include Sue Carpenter's '40 Watts From Nowhere,' about a pirate radio station, and Matthew Siretta's 'DeBarge,' about the post-fame life of the family of musicians who rose toward the top of the charts in the '80s with 'Rhythm of the Night.' Ben Hethcoat and Keita Ideno's 'Coroner to the Stars' focuses on famed L.A. County Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Noguchi, while David Markey's 'The Secret Lives of Bill Bartell' is a portrait of a notorious, enigmatic star of the local punk scene. 'Premiering this documentary at Slamdance feels fitting, given the festival's bold, independent spirit — so much like Dr. Noguchi's,' said Hethcoat via email. 'And the situational irony of the 'Coroner to the Stars' attending his own Hollywood premiere, complete with a red carpet, is not lost on me.' Slamdance will run in person through Feb. 26, while a virtual program will be accessible to streaming viewers from Feb. 24 through March 7 at Aside from the Egyptian, some events will take place at the Directors Guild Theater Complex and Landmark Sunset, while the bulk of the festival's screenings and events will be at Quixote Studios in West Hollywood. From the time the festival's move was announced last year, the idea of bringing the festival to Los Angeles has been met with a welcoming response from the Slamdance community. 'Just every single response was embracing and like, let's go,' said Miller. 'And the amazing other part of this is so many people were like, 'I've never been able to go and now I'm going to go.'' Regarding every issue of putting on a festival — from the pricing of admission to the programming and venues — Slamdance's organizers attempt to give intentional consideration on issues of accessibility. Slamdance places particular emphasis on its Unstoppable program, a showcase for films made by filmmakers with visible and nonvisible disabilities. Among the Unstoppable films in this year's program are Phil Moniz and Kevin Claydon's sports comedy 'Racewalkers,' Andrew Abrahams' pediatric healthcare doc 'Complicated,' Cameron S. Mitchell's historical investigative doc 'Disposable Humanity' and Alexander Freeman's 'My Own Normal,' a portrait of his own life with cerebral palsy. Other highlights from the program at large include Rory Mitchell's 'The Tent,' showing as part of the festival's Digital, Interactive and Gaming Program (known as DIG), Woody Bess' horror story 'Portal to Hell' and Richard Hunter's dark comedy 'Foul Evil Deeds.' Madeleine Farley's doc 'Fist Bump' explores disability and social justice initiatives. Elijah Sullivan's doc 'The Hole Story' explores the implications of a 60-foot hole that appears on Mt. Shasta. Erica Xia-Hou's fiction feature 'Banr' is about an elderly couple facing one partner's struggles with Alzheimer's. Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine's 'Memories of Love Returned,' a documentary on Ugandan photographer Kibaate Aloysius Ssalongo, features longtime Slamdance supporter Steven Soderbergh among its producers. Edson Jean's 'Know Me' stars the filmmaker in the story of a man trying to clear his brother's name. The festival's move to a new home also comes at a time when the industry itself seems to be undergoing seismic change. 'There's all kinds of plate-shifting going on in the entertainment industry right now and in the media industry,' said Baxter, 'but if we look at the Slamdance submissions and the interest and feedback that we're getting, the sense of creativity here from the grassroots of filmmaking, especially here in L.A., it's palpable. 'We'll see what happens in the next few days,' he added. 'Taylor and I were laughing about it — would we have an audience of one? I think we have worked hard to really bring this L.A. film community together. And not only did we get this huge amount of enthusiasm from filmmakers, but as importantly, we just got this huge amount of interest from when we reached out to community partners and to sponsors who wanted to be a part of what we're doing, because they saw in us a way to also express what they're doing.' 'We do not take any of it for granted,' said Miller. 'We've never had a film festival in this city and we have to bring it on every single level. And our dedication must never be confused. It's for the community, by the community.' With their new location and venues, as well as a renewed sense of purpose, the organizers of the Slamdance Film Festival are continuing to look ahead to the future of both their event and independent filmmaking more broadly. 'Usually the direction of a festival, understandably, is that it's focusing on the films and the filmmakers,' said Baxter. 'But for us, it's also looking at how we can nurture, how we can make stronger the ecosystem for others in the next generation to come. That is our responsibility, not just during the festival here in L.A. but also now year-round in Los Angeles.'
Los Angeles Times
08-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Dear Los Angeles, we love you. Signed, the world
From L.A. Times Studios: When the fires started raging, readers from across the world began telling us how much Los Angeles means to them . Letters editor Paul Thornton reads a selection of those pieces — some soaring tributes to this city, others simple notes of more videos in our 'Hear Me Out' series, visit
Los Angeles Times
28-01-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
With shocking secret footage, prison doc ‘The Alabama Solution' should outrage the nation
PARK CITY, Utah — I've been recommending 'The Alabama Solution' to everyone I meet since I landed at the Sundance Film Festival last week — but only under my breath. That's because Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman's bombshell investigation of the Alabama prison system, which premiered here Tuesday, was screened in advance for press under strict embargo. Understandable, once you realize that the film's key sources are inmates themselves. Much of 'The Alabama Solution,' which reports on inhumane living conditions, forced labor and widespread violence against the state's incarcerated population, is comprised largely of footage captured by inmates using contraband cellphones, offering one of the most shocking, visceral depictions of our carceral state ever put to film. The result, in which brave inmate activists Melvin Ray and Robert Earl Council leak vital information, and the filmmakers chase down leads with shoe-leather doggedness, should outrage the nation. And encourage us to reexamine our own backyards: As co-producer Alex Duran reminded me, California voters recently rejected a ballot measure that would have banned forced prison labor, and incarcerated firefighters were instrumental to the battle against the recent L.A. wildfires. Jarecki and Kaufman sat down with me at the L.A. Times Studios at Sundance to discuss the risks their sources face with the film's release, what they'd like to ask Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and more. The following has been edited and condensed. Before we talk about the genesis of the film, I wanted to start with your interest in the subject matter of the film: mass incarceration, the criminal justice system, prison conditions. What was your level of interest in that topic before 'The Alabama Solution'? Andrew Jarecki: I remember going to see Jesse Friedman at Dannemora Correctional Facility when I was making 'Capturing the Friedmans,' and the experience of going into a maximum-security facility in upstate New York was such a surprise to me — just the level of lockdown, the level of closure to the outside world and certainly to journalists. So it always intrigued me. And then I'd made films about various aspects of the justice system. So when I went down to Alabama in 2019, just to sort of go to Montgomery and see what I would see, I met this prison chaplain and I realized that they went into the prisons and did barbecues and revival meetings. I thought. 'Maybe there's an opportunity to go there and learn something.' And I don't think I thought about it as a film up front. I just was curious. But then when it became clear that there was a possibility for us to film, Charlotte and I got together and and went down there and we had this really extraordinary chance to go into a place that is normally absolutely closed to the media and to the public. Charlotte, I wonder if you could talk about the story of that day at the barbecue. I'm curious, did you have a kind of vision of what you thought you were doing before you arrived that day? Obviously, once the prisoners start coming up to you and and saying, 'There's a story here that they're not showing you,' that changed it, but did you have a different vision going in? Charlotte Kaufman: I think we went in with open minds. You rarely get the opportunity to go into a prison facility in Alabama, and I think we saw this as a great opportunity to be able to speak with some of the men, to just observe what we could around the facility, to learn what we could. But very quickly it became clear that there were only certain conversations that we were allowed to have and that we weren't allowed to speak to the men alone. And I think that lack of access sort of compelled us to keep investigating. After the first scene in the film, there's a title card that explains that after your visit, you started getting outreach from inmates within the prison on contraband cellphones. And the footage from those calls that they're sending you is at the core of the film, and it's part of what makes it so shocking and outrageous. Take me back to the first outreach that you got. What was your reaction? Jarecki: I mean, we were surprised when we went in there at the proliferation of cellphones. The fact that Alabama's prisons are so extraordinarily understaffed and under-resourced means that the prisons are often operating with [a] skeleton crew of people. So you could have a 1,400-bed facility and that normally would be staffed with a few hundred officers. And maybe on a weekend there are 20 officers there. So that indicates that there's a very low level of understanding even by correctional officers. There are large areas of the prison that they don't spend any time in. So the ability to speak to these men on these cellphones, which are, in my view, largely brought in by the officers — there's a big trade in cellphones — that was just a surprise to us. As much as I think it has been people seeing the film and saying, how is that even possible that they have these phones? One of the things that watching it like really disturbed, upset me were just what they would show you about what the living conditions were like. Flooded floors, overflowing toilets, rats everywhere. Were you that shocked? Was that your response when you started seeing those images coming from your sources on the inside? Kaufman: The Department of Justice had put out a very in-depth report about their own investigation into Alabama's prison system. But it's a very different experience reading the facts and reading the findings, versus actually seeing it. There is something that makes you really understand what it's like to live in that environment when you can actually see it. And I think that's why prisons are so secret. That's why we're not allowed to see in. And we can only read papers about what's actually happening. Because when you do see it, it becomes a lot less tolerable.0Over the course of this six-year process, you formed relationships with your main sources inside the facilities. Now, with the film coming out — and as the film explores — they are at risk of reprisal from correctional officers and higher up. What were your ethical concerns about revealing their specific identities, and what were your conversations like with them about the risks and their ultimate willingness to undertake those risks? Jarecki: We thought a lot about that issue, because obviously the more you get to know people that are in that situation, the more you recognize their vulnerability and the more you feel connected to them. There's no avoiding that. And it was kind of a beautiful thing about the film that you get to see the humanity in these people who are often seen by society through a very different lens. So we always thought about it and spoke extensively to them about it. These are men who had been working on their own for many years to get the word out on the crisis in this prison system. So when we first started talking, they were very clear — we were part of their agenda, in a way. It was very important for them to do this work. And so we were kind of there to ride along. So it was a symbiotic process. They're very well known to the authorities inside and they have been retaliated against in the past. So we're concerned. We continue to be concerned about it. And there's been an organization that's created a defense committee to help them if that does come to pass. I wanted to talk a little bit about your qualitative experiences as filmmakers with this unique process where your sources are separated from you by the divide of the prison walls, but you're talking to them regularly. This struck me during the narrative about the prison strike and then the breaking of the strike: You're both at one level getting more information than the general public is getting through the news media, but you're also not close enough to it to really feel like there's any kind of control that you can exert. What is that like for you emotionally or creatively as filmmakers? Kaufman: It's a very intense experience to follow along and watch this incredibly inspiring and moving movement of the strike but then also watch how the state responds. It's a privilege to be able to have these extended conversations with all of our participants. But at the same time, that's why the film is so urgent, because they're at risk and they're doing their activism regardless of this film. And that's also what puts them at risk. They've been retaliated against for their activism for like two decades now. Jarecki: These are men who have been the victims of violence in the system and often violence by people who are allegedly supposed to look out for their safety. And so the ability to have that kind of up-close contact with them and recognize the bravery that they're showing in being able to share this, it's such a high level of trust that had to be established for them to allow us to sort of ride along and see this incredibly unique kind of protest. But it's really important to recognize, despite the violence that they have been subjected to, all of their work is nonviolent. They're extremely thoughtful about the importance of nonviolent action. And the fact that the state, which has all the machinery of government and all kinds of special military equipment, can't find a way to respond to them except through violence is really an example of how the system is pretty topsy-turvy. The title of the film comes from an oft-used phrase by Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, who is an interviewed in the film. If you got the chance to get her on the record on camera, what would you ask her? Jarecki: The first question I would ask her is whether she visits the prisons. And I'm quite sure that she would say, 'Well, on one occasion...,' something like that. We probably would both be eager to have that conversation. But my first question would be to try to really understand how insulated she must be from what's happening to her own citizens of her own state, for her to just keep proposing solutions that are not solutions. Kaufman: I would ask her to give us access. We were able to make this film because we had some really brave individuals who took great risks to have conversations with us, to share material with us. But I would ask her, 'What would it take for you to actually allow transparency and for the media to be able to come in and talk to the men freely and to bring cameras in freely?' Jarecki: There's a fact that we've sort of been talking about how to convey. It's sort of an extraordinary statistic that I'm pretty sure that governor doesn't know. Of many statistics I think the governor's not familiar with. But when you learn about the work programs, essentially forced labor that happens inside the system, of the 20,000 men who are in that system, many of them are caused to work inside the prisons, outside the prisons, on road crews around the state and even at McDonald's and many other companies. The state is putting them to work and the corrections department is gathering the money for that work and the men are getting a tiny sliver of that. What's extraordinary is that the people who are allowed to work and who are considered safe enough to be in the community interacting — you see some of them in the film walking around the state fair, walking around the governor's mansion — those people are less likely, statistically, to be paroled than the people who are at the next highest level of concern for safety. People who are considered safer are less likely to be let out, arguably because they are more valuable as people who can be put to work. ... I don't think anybody's doing that math because I don't think it's of great concern to them, partly because they too are isolated from being able to see what's happening in their own system.
