News

Documentarian Roger Ross Williams seized a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with “Life, Animated,” capturing the remarkable story of Owen Suskind, a young man living with autism who learned to connect with the world around him by watching Disney animated films. Based on the book by Owen’s father, Roger Suskind, the film reveals the literal healing power of story. Owen not only learned to read by watching the credits of Disney films, but he also began communicating with his own family members by inhabiting the world of Disney’s animated characters.

“Owen is someone who was raised on myth and fable,” Williams said during our Awards Spotlight conversation. “These classic Disney animated films are really classic myths and fables that they’ve updated, and so Owen becomes really wise in the world on what it means to be human and to connect with other people.”

The book and the film have moved MIT,...

The game of he said/he said may be over on Deadliest Catch now that Capt. Derrick Ray is no longer skipper of the Cornelia Marie, but it’s ongoing on land where Ray and Josh Harris continue to express different opinions about why their king crab season ended abruptly. Last week, fans watched as the crew of the Cornelia Marie – which Josh and his fellow deckhand brother Jake are now part owners of — told Ray they were done fishing for the elusive blue crab that he couldn’t seem to find. On Tuesday’s episode, they saw Ray, who...

After the death of beloved Capt. Phil Harris of the F/V Cornelia Marie last winter, fans of Discovery's Tuesday-night reality hit "Deadliest Catch," took his twentysomething sons, deckhands Josh and Jake Harris, to their hearts.

In "Thick as Thieves," the episode airing Tuesday, May 24, some of those hearts could be broken.

Everyone -- Discovery, Original Productions, Phil Harris' friends and the brothers themselves -- wanted to get the Cornelia Marie back in Alaska's Bering Sea for the start of king-crab season last fall.

As fans saw when the new season of the show premiered on April 12, the boat was there, under Capt. Derrick Ray, a longtime friend of Capt. Harris', who took over the boat for the last half of opilio-crab season after a stroke felled Harris.

Now co-owners of the boat with their father's partner, Cornelia Marie Devlin, the Harris brothers were also on board, working as deckhands.

Discovery's "Deadliest Catch" action is centered squarely on the late Captain Phil Harris' ship, the Cornelia Marie, as the first three episodes have revealed the bad blood that is aboard Phil's boat, as his sons navigate new skipper Derrick. The hunt for the elusive blue crab last episode near St. Matthew Island was a struggle, and now that Josh and Jake Harris have a piece of the boat, it's more of an issue than ever. Josh Harris last week is heard saying, "this is my money going down the drain." The crew of the Wizard and Captain Keith took a chance this season by going to Black Canyon. The canyon is equally a boondoggle for net results...

If you thought Jake Harris taking the wheel of the Cornelia Marie for a string of pots was the turning point in an otherwise gloomy season of Deadliest Catch, you must not have watched the end of last night’s episode. Jake went up to the wheelhouse to take a second turn, and Capt. Derrick calmly sent him back down to the deck. After the crew sorted their best pot of the season — 33 blue crab — we found out why: ”I could smell frickin’ weed on Jake when I came up next to him,” Derrick told the camera. “You give the...

Discovery Channel

By now, audiences know not to expect any sugarcoating or hand-holding from the “Deadliest Catch” crew. But during last night’s premiere of season seven, producers chose to kick things off gently with a burial service for Captain Phil Harris, who died of a stroke last season.

All seven boats, two of them new additions to the fleet, gathered in a circle and in a memorial worthy of Scyld Scefing, sent his ashes out to sea, following with fireworks and pistol shots.

In preparation for the new season of Deadliest Catch that begins April 12 on Discovery, EW went on board the Cornelia Marie to talk exclusively to Derrick Ray, a longtime friend of the late Phil Harris who agreed to skipper the boat for the show’s seventh season. Now that Josh and Jake Harris have incurred debt by assuming part ownership of the boat (Washington-based Cornelia Marie Devlin owns the rest), the young men and Ray have decided to go after the elusive but incredibly lucrative blue crab found off remote St. Matthews Island.

EW Are blue crabs hard to get?...

Thom Beers, exec producer of Deadliest Catch, Ice Road Truckers, and Ax Men, is known for being the king of the dangerous job genre of reality TV. Without that reputation for delivering quality, guilt-free Testosterone TV (something he’ll speak about at next month’s Nab Show in Las Vegas), his latest docu-series, Spike Coal’s, premiering March 30, may never have happened. It took Beers four years to find the right coal mine to turn his cameras on: He needed a company willing to trust that he would show what working underground is really like (that’s where his credits...

The Bering Sea has always been a character on Deadliest Catch, but last night’s episode took it to another level as we watched it work through the five stages of grief. Unaware of Phil Harris’ final fight, the other captains continued to battle a 1,000 square-mile arctic storm. The Northwestern plowed through 45-ft. waves and 60-mph wind and suddenly looked like a toy in a bathtub. “That’s an angry sea, my friend,” deckhand Nick Mavar, Jr. said. Wind blew in every direction around The Wizard. “We got just this confused sea going on right now,” Capt. Keith said. The...

Intrepid San Francisco film and food writer Meredith Brody will be filing daily reports from the Berlin International Film Festival (as will indieWIRE, which picks 20 films to watch). Here's diary number one: The coldest, snowiest, iciest, slushiest winter in decades hasn’t slowed down the festivities of the 60th anniversary celebration of the Berlinale, which began in 1951 with funds from America. More than 400 films are scheduled (and scores more in the European Film Market). The competition’s jury, is headed by longtime expat Werner Herzog, and includes director Francesca Comencini of Italy, German actress Cornelia Froboess, Chinese actress Yu Nan, Spanish producer and distributor Jose Maria Morales, Somalian author Nurrudin Farah, and actress Renee Zellwegger. The jampacked traditional programs including Shorts, Specials, Panorama, Forum, German ...

Berlin -- Werner Herzog admits he doesn't have any magic formula for judging the competition films of the 60th Berlin International Film Festival but "if a really great film emerges, we'll recognize it," the president of this year's international jury said at a press conference Thursday. "Of course, we don't know yet how good this year's vintage will be." 

Herzog and the other members of the jury -- actresses Renee Zellweger, Yu Nan and Cornelia Froboess, Spanish producer Jose Maria Morales, Italian director Francesca Comencini and Somalian writer Nuruddie Farah -- were careful not to tip their hands by expressing any preference ahead of the Berlinale, which kicked off Thursday night with the competition bow of Wang Quan'an's "Apart Together." 

Herzog, however, did stress the importance of the Berlinale as a "platform for young filmmakers"  noting the Golden Bear last year for "The Milk of Sorrow"  from Peruvian first-timer Claudia Llosa...

Oscar-winning actress Renee Zellweger will join the jury for the 60th Berlin film festival next month that will pick the winner of the coveted Golden Bear top prize, organisers said Tuesday. The star of the Bridget Jones franchise will sit on a seven-member panel chaired by Academy Award-nominated German director Werner Herzog at the February 11-21 event, the festival said in a statement. Also judging the competition will be Chinese actress Yu Nan, Italian director Francesca Comencini, Somali novelist Nuruddin Farah, German actress Cornelia Froboess and Spanish producer Jose Maria Morales. The jury is to hand out the prizes ...

The Berlin Film Festival has announced the jury members for its 2010 edition. They are: German filmmaker Werner Herzog, the jury president; Chinese actress Yu Nan; Italian writer-director Francesca Comencini; Spanish producer Jose Maria Morales; Somali-born writer Nuruddin Farah; American Oscar-winning actress Renee Zellweger; and German actress Cornelia Froboess. The 67-year-old Herzog has been making movies since 1962. Among his best-known efforts are The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1976), Woyzeck (1979), Nosferatu (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982), Grizzly Man (2005), and the recent The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans (2009). Renee Zellweger won a best supporting Oscar for Cold Mountain (2003), in which she co-starred with Nicole Kidman; Zellweger was nominated for two other Academy Awards: for Bridge Jones’ Diary (2001) [...]...

Berlin – The Berlin Film Festival says Oscar-winning actress Renee Zellweger has joined the jury for this year's competition.The festival announced Tuesday that Zellweger, who won a best supporting actress Oscar for "Cold Mountain" in 2004, will be part of the seven-member panel under veteran German-born filmmaker Werner Herzog.They will be joined by Chinese actress Yu Nan; Italian writer-director Francesca Comencini; Spanish producer Jose Maria Morales; Somali-born writer Nuruddin Farah; and German actress Cornelia Froboess.The festival runs from Feb. 11-21. The jury will announce the winners of the top Golden Bear honor and other awards on Feb. 20.___Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Cologne, Germany -- Oscar-winner Renee Zellweger, Chinese actress Yu Nan ("Tuya's Marriage") and acclaimed Spanish producer Jose Maria Morales ("The Milk of Sorrow," "Lost Embrace") have joined the jury of the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival, headed by jury president, director Werner Herzog.

Also on this year's Golden Bear jury is Italian director Francesca Comencini -- whose most recent drama, "White Space," bowed in competition last year in Venice; German actress Cornelia Froboess -- famous for her role in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "Veronika Voss"; and Somalian writer Nuruddie Farah, winner of Germany's Neustadt international prize for literature.

With the exception of writer Farah, everyone in the 2010 jury is a Berlin Festival veteran. "The Milk of Sorrow," (2009) "Tuya's Marriage" (2006) and "Veonika Voss" (1982), were all Golden Bear winners. Zellweger came to Berlin for the 2003 festival opener "Chicago" as well as 2004's curtain raiser "Cold Mountain," for the role that later won her an Academy Award.