Yahoo News Film News Roundup: Lionsgate Executive Corii Berg Named to USC Board of Trustees
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In today’s film news roundup, Lionsgate executive Corii Berg joins the USC Board of Trustees, Night Fox Entertainment unveils a trilogy and Newark-based documentary “Why Is We Americans” gets a premiere.
NEW TRUSTEE
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The University of Southern California Board of Trustees has elected Lionsgate executive vice president and general counsel Corii Berg as its newest member.
Berg, who was awarded two undergraduate degrees from USC in 1989, was recently president of the USC Alumni Association Board of Governors.
“Corii Berg is a passionate and inclusive leader whose strategic communication and management skills make him a valuable addition to our board,” USC President Carol L. Folt said. “He is also a first-generation college student and longtime USC supporter who understands the strength of education to lift up and empower people from all backgrounds.”
Berg, who grew up in Hawaii, said he plans to emphasize diversity and access throughout the university, adding, “It’s really important to be open and inclusive and ensure we make all opportunities available to our very qualified students to contribute their experiences and knowledge to all our programs.”
Prior to Lionsgate, Berg spent 20 years with Sony Pictures, rising through the ranks to become senior executive vice president and head of worldwide business affairs for Sony Pictures Television.
PROJECT LAUNCH
Night Fox Entertainment is launching development of the action-thriller “What Remains,” based on novels by A. Lawrence Haskins, to the big screen.
The film will be the first of three based on characters created in Haskins’ “The Whisper of Serpents” and “What Remains: A Short Story Trilogy. The films will chronicle the rise, fall and redemption of Detective Kathryn O’Rourke and her quest to bring down the shadowy criminal organization that has ruthlessly haunted her family’s steps for generations and is hell-bent on the destruction of democracy.
Night Fox was a production company on the 2015 sci-fi drama “Z is for Zachariah,” starring Margot Robbie, Chris Pine and Chiwetel Ejiofor and “Wildling,” starring Liv Tyler and Bel Powley.
FILM FESTIVAL
The Lighthouse International Film Festival in New Jersey will host the world premiere of the documentary “Why Is We Americans?”
The film has been added to the event’s lineup, which recently announced it had become the world’s first film festival to segue into a fully drive-in format in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The festival will run from June 16 through June 20 at a variety of locations around Long Beach Island.
“Why Is We Americans?” was directed by Udi Aloni with Newark-based filmmaker Ayana Stafford-Morris co-directing. The story focuses on Newark’s Baraka family and its involvement in social activism, poetry, music, art and politics. It includes on-camera interviews with Lauryn Hill and archival footage of the poet Amiri Baraka, his wife Amina and their son Ras, the current mayor of Newark.
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