Well, it’s been a week. And once again I find myself sitting on the park bench in Vevey, Switzerland next to the statue of Charlie Chaplin, with whom I share the panorama of shimmering Lake Geneva and the pristine snowcapped Alps in the distance.
To cineastes, Chaplin is more than the man who created the iconic Little Tramp, but one of the greatest filmmakers of all-time. Legendary film critic and father of American auteurism, Andrew Sarris, places Chaplin in his pantheon of the 14 most influential American film directors in his still ground breaking book, "The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929–1968."
A gala reception kicked off the recent opening night of the 23rd edition of COLCOA* French Film festival held at the Directors Guild. Featured this year were selections from its Film Noir Series, French New Wave 2.0, After 10, World Cinema, Documentaries, and Classics.
Ron Howard was born into a show biz family making his acting debut at the ripe old age of 18 months. He made his screen debut at when he turned four and has spent his entire life in Hollywood with his breakout role as Opie Taylor on the “The Andy Griffith Show” shining a national spotlight on this adorable little kid from Duncan, Oklahoma.
Currently studying Social Work at Azusa Pacific University outside of Los Angeles, Annie has always had a passion to learn about other cultures and live outside of the United States. Her dream came true with the opportunity to spend 6 weeks of her summer in Quito, Ecuador through a spiritual formation program.
Since her first move to Quito, she has had the opportunity to come back two different times with a semester abroad program called Living and Learning International. Her semester abroad consisted of intense Spanish classes, adventures all around the country including the Galapagos, and a month with a homestay family. Currently, she is working as a summer Resident Coordinator by assisting student interns in daily living, planning weekly chapels, and co-leading weekend activities.
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Lady Beverly Cohn has been a journalist for the past 20 years and is an award-winning travel writer. She is Editor-at-Large of the Mirror Media Group, Editor-at-Large Worldwide for SPLASH Magazines, Entertainment Editor,Traveling Boy.com, Contributing Writer to the Community Media Group, Special Contributor to LAWEST.com, and SFV Media.com, and Contributing Editor,TravMedia.com. Her features cover a broad spectrum of subjects including travel, film and theatre reviews, as well as high-profile celebrity interviews.
Before becoming a journalist, Beverly was President & CEO of Nadel & Cohn Worldwide, a company that developed generic products for birthdays and anniversaries. Those products are FLIKBAKS (CD’s) and the 20-book series WHAT A YEAR! IT WAS! co-written with her daughter Laurie Rosenthal.
Beverly is a vintage and ballroom dancer and a member of three singing groups – The Santa Monica College Emeritus College Gospel Chorale, The Merits, and the Inner City Youth Orchestra & Chorale of Los Angeles. She is a member of BAFTA LA and the International Press Academy where she serves on the Foreign Film Committee. She is single and lives in Santa Monica, California.
