Monthly Archives: September 2020

COUNTRY MUSIC SINGER JASON OWEN PUTS 30 REGIONAL GIGS ON HOLD AMIDST CANCELLED WEDDING PLANS

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This year has been challenging for people in various industries including entertainment. Country music recording artist Jason Owen says he has had to cancel 30 planned gigs throughout 2020, mostly in regional towns.

The former X Factor finalist was in the middle of his Superstars of Country Music tour alongside fellow country singer Hayley Jensen when COVID struck in March, with the remainder of shows put on hold until hopefully next year. He was also forced to cancel his upcoming August tour Jason Owen sings John Denver tour which has now rescheduled it for August 2021.

Elsewhere most major country music events have been axed including the 2021 Tamworth Country Music Festival. The recently announced cancellation of the premier event, which on average brings in around $50 million to the town each year, will have major economic ramifications.

“It’s been a challenging time for all country artists and devastating to hear about Tamworth,” said Owen, who has performed at the iconic festival multiple times. “It’s understandable but disappointing for rural Australia that my tours and others had to be cancelled, particularly for towns where artists don’t often visit. People on the land, who are under stress need a night out occasionally to let their hair down. Hopefully we’ll be able to resume touring next year.”

The 26-year-old who is originally from the town of Albert, NSW, which has a population of just 12, has been keeping himself as busy as possible having just released his latest single – power ballad Before I Let You Go – out September 18. He’s also just finished shooting the latest series of his online show How Ya Goin With Jason Owen which this season features chats with farmers and rural community workers.

However, with extra time on his hands, Owen also took a job as a Menulog driver delivering take away food to a 15km radius around his home in the Central Coast. “I needed to fill in my time and keep active from a mental health point of view as I was getting really restless in my apartment all day. Lots of entertainers have been in this position. It’s been a bit of a surreal experience, some people recognize me at their front door and have asked for pictures and autographs.”

Jason was also recently forced to postpone his upcoming November wedding to fiancé Beccy due to COVID restricting the number of guests. “We’d invited 200 people and did not want to exclude anyone so made the tough decision to postpone it. There was also no dancefloor allowed which would have been difficult to forgo as I’m from a musical family and my relatives were planning to be the band.”

The wedding which was fully planned to go ahead in Albert in the church Jason’s great grandmother established, on the date of Jason’s grandfather’s 92nd birthday as a special nod, has tentatively been rescheduled for mid-next year.

In the meantime, Jason has continued to raise money the charity he established – Doin it for Rural Aussie Kids which helps kids affected by drought, bushfires and COVID. Last year Jason raised thousands of dollars through his bushfire appeal and delivered school stationary packs and toys to rural schools.

Before I let you go is available to pre order at: https://ABCMusic.lnk.to/BeforeILetYouGo

Iranian film festival dedicated to honor healthcare workers amidst COVID-19 pandemic

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Every year the organization committee of the Resistance International Film Festival (RIFF) questions and explores different aspects of social responsibility and adds new categories to the competition program. This year its definition is expanded to include dealing with the invisible threats such as viruses. A new section called “Defenders of Health” is added to the festival’s program to document and show health workers fighting the COVID-19 and thus sacrificing their lives on the path of protecting society’s health.

This festival for now is the only cinema event dedicating the biggest part of its program to this pandemic, and the organizers hope that it would help to gather different experiences in one place, and also to promote a further documentation of the recent events as it would become crucial evidence for the future generations.

Organizers of the festival announced that filmmakers from the United States, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Britain, France, India, Turkey, Iraq have already submitted more than 300 films to compete in this section of the festival and thus to express their gratitude to the health defenders from all around the world.

Of course, artists with their films covering and narrating any other forms of resistance, for example exploring current situation in Yemen, Myanmar, Palestine, Kashmir, India, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Bahrain, Bosnia and other places, opposing colonialism, dealing with the outcomes of capitalism, standing against imperialism and questioning dominant representations in public media, etc. are also more than welcome to participate in the competition.

Iranian cinema is highly held among the professionals of this field and all admit that it constitutes an important part of the world’s cinema. International film festivals held in Iran help to bring together different cinematic traditions and provide an opportunity to get to know them and to learn from them.

RIFF’s carefully curated program as well has earned this festival recognition from viewers and industry professionals alike. American filmmakers such as Michael Moore, Oliver Stone as well as many other artists from more than 100 different countries have participated with their documentaries and films in this festival. Also, many renowned international guests and exceptional filmmakers have come directly to present their films and interact with viewers, including, David Barsamian, Scott Frank, Rafael Lara, Darnell Stephen Summers, Yvonne Anne Ridley, Jasmin Durakovic, Robert Hofferer, Diana Kamal-al Din, Rashed Radwan, Yousef Wehbi, Ahmed Boulane, Basil al-Khatib, Saddam Wahidi Melika, Zairi Alper Akdeniz, Thomas Hayes, Daz Chandler and many others.

This year the deadline for submissions is October 21, 2020 and the event date is scheduled for November 21-27, 2020. Independent filmmakers around the world are welcome to submit documentaries, short and feature, as well as animated films relevant to the festival topics, that will be evaluated by the competitive jury and the best ones will be awarded. Workshops and professional panels related to the topics of the festival will be also organized probably online.