title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: After Russia invaded its neighboring Ukraine, Tokayev and Kazakh Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi condemned the invasion and refused to recognize the Russian puppet states of Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic. He said that "we recognize neither Taiwan, nor Kosovo, nor South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In all likelihood, this principle will be applied to quasi-state entities, which, in our opinion, are Luhansk and Donetsk." As a result, he refused to accept the Order of Alexander Nevsky from Putin.


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: Tokayev paid a two-day state visit to China in September 2019. There, he met with President Xi Jinping in Beijing of which both leaders agreed to form a permanent comprehensive strategic partnership. Tokayev vowed to triple wheat exports to China to 2 million tonnes possibly including salt, dairy products, meat and poultry as well. During a visit to the Peking University, he met with his long-term intern language teacher Liu Shiqing as well as Kazakhstani students. Shiqing described Tokayev as "sociable, active, quick" who became fluent in Chinese and as "one of the best students."


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: On 14 April 2019, Tokayev visited neighboring Uzbekistan for talks with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. On 16–17 May, Tokayev hosted foreign leaders such as Armen Sarkissian and Mamuka Bakhtadze in the capital for the 12th annual Astana Economic Forum, the first to be hosted by its pioneer, President Nazarbayev. He also hosted the regional leaders of Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Tajikistan, Armenia and Moldova for the Eurasian Economic Union and Supreme Eurasian Economic Council summit on 29 May.


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: During a visit to Kyrgyzstan in late 2019, he visited the House-Museum of Kyrgyz writer Chingiz Aitmatov in Bishkek, where he met with the late writer's wife and reminisced about his first encounters with Aitmatov in Beijing in 1989.


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: Following the breakout of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, Tokayev called on Armenia to withdraw from the disputed territory, citing the United Nations Security Council accordance to which he claimed that the Armenian government failed to fulfill for its past 30 years.


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: As a Foreign Minister, Tokayev visited Berlin, Germany on 3–4 October 2006, where he addressed the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee on 3 October in an attempt to gain support amongst members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe for Kazakhstan's bid to lead the organisation in 2009. In his address he discussed the "fierce" competition between the European Union, China, and India to secure energy sources, saying that Kazakhstan is "one of the very few countries capable of boosting its oil production and thus becoming an important alternative energy supplier to global and European markets." He expressed interest in the Burgas-Alexandroupoli and Odessa-Brody-Gdansk pipeline projects, asking the EU for $80 billion in investment from 2006 to 2021. Tokayev criticised Lithuania for opposing a Russian offer for its Mažeikių oil refinery. He also reaffirmed Kazakhstan's desire to join the European Neighbourhood Policy. Tokayev also rejected the proposed construction of the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline to Azerbaijan, in which the EU officials desired due to the likelihood of opposition from other nations bordering the Caspian Sea. Gernot Erler, an official in the German Federal Foreign Office, announced his support for Kazakhstan leading the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) for 2009. Portuguese Socialist MP Ana Gomes said to Tokayev, "Minister, you're bidding for the presidency of the OSCE. Yet, the OSCE gave a report on your last elections, on the observation of the elections, which said they failed to meet international standards for genuine elections in many important points. And we hear about political dissent being crushed, we hear even about religious groups being crushed." Tokayev replied that political opposition forces in Kazakhstan "cannot challenge the government" because of their own weaknesses, and that Kazakhstanis need to be "educated" about democracy because the concept is foreign, and the government considers religious tolerance a priority. He criticized the OSCE's election report for "technical irregularities" and biased targeting while calling for more of a "mutual understanding." He further stated that his government believes it would "contribute a lot as a representative, as a country which is located in Central Asia. The geographical dimension of the OSCE has changed [since Kazakhstan joined], this is a unique Eurasian, as well as Pan-American organization. So, the leadership, the presidency of this organization also must reflect this unique character, [this] unique dimension of the organization." He cited efforts to reform Kazakhstan's election process that included a "special program" to modernize the system and establishing "party dominance" in the Parliament so that "parties [that] win the parliamentary elections, obtain [a] majority in the parliament" and "will be able to establish their own governments." He called creating a multi-party system in Kazakhstan a "huge step forward in the process of democratization."


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: On 4 December 2019, on the eve of a state visit to Germany, he gave an interview to "Deutsche Welle", in which he called Germany a "key European partner for Kazakhstan". In that same interview, he drew controversy by saying that he did not believe that the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation was an invasion while also saying that he believed in the "wisdom of the Russian leadership", drawing condemnation from the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who issued a demarche in response.


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: Tokayev met with United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Barry Lowenkron, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights, on 25 September 2006 in Rice's suite at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel. According to Anne Gearan, a diplomatic writer for the "Associated Press", the U.S. wanted to improve its relations with Kazakhstan despite, according to some analysts, a worsening state of political oppression. Kazakh oil output was expected to significantly increase, along with other Central Asian countries whom were "more authoritarian, too unstable, too poor, or a combination of all three." Prior to her meeting with Tokayev, when Rice was asked whether human rights or energy "would top the agenda" for the meeting with Tokayev, she refused to answer. The United States State Department released a statement saying the diplomats discussed Kazakhstan's cooperation in Afghanistan and Iraq and expressed hope for "a multidimensional relationship with Kazakhstan, which includes U.S. encouragement for continuing reforms."


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: After becoming president, Tokayev maintained strong relations with Kazakhstan's strategic allies, including the United States. On 2 February 2020, he met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his visit to Nur-Sultan where both sides expressed the importance of deepening bilateral ties across the entire spectrum of cooperation, including trade, investment, IT technologies, promoting democratic values and combating international terrorism. Pompeo wished for Tokayev in his success in implementing political reforms with an open skies agreement being signed which created a legal basis for launching direct regular flights between Kazakhstan and U.S. According to some analysists, Pompeo's visit to Kazakhstan was seen as an attempt to counter China's influence within the country as he had met with ethnic Kazakh families of whom were victims of the Xinjiang internment camps and urged for Tokayev to pressure China over its persecution of ethnic Uyghur and Kazakhs.


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: In June 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump congratulated President Tokayev on his one-year anniversary of presidency. In his congratulatory letter, Trump expressed his support for the reforms that had been undertaken in Kazakhstan, and reaffirmed his intention to further develop strategic partnership between the two countries.


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: Tokayev is described as a "moderate conservative" with years of political experience domestically and internationally. Nevertheless, in an interview with "The Wall Street Journal", Tokayev referred himself as a "reformer", stressing that without political reforms, there wouldn't be progress in economic reforms.


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: According to "The Diplomat", Tokayev's political capital was seen to not extend beyond the support by Nazarbayev, which enabled him to garner support and trust from business elites, civil servants, and political institutions. Because of that, Tokayev has been described as "Nazarbayev's political birthchild", while his opponents and critics referred him as "furniture" (Russian: мебель, "mebel"), a ridicule term first coined by exiled Kazakh businessman Mukhtar Ablyazov in 2019.


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: Tokayev expressed his point of view on the political system of Kazakhstan in which he favoured a "strong President, authoritative Parliament, accountable Government."


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: In 2005, at the business conference of the Asian Society held in Almaty, Tokayev clashed with George Soros after his remarks about Kazakhstan sliding towards authoritarianism, calling it "unreasonable to demand from a country that recently celebrated its 13th anniversary to achieve the democratic values inherent in states with centuries-old traditions of building a free society."


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: Tokayev expressed support for the tackling of climate change, calling it "urgent and existential." At the Climate Ambitions Summit in which was held remotely on 12 December 2020, Tokayev pledged for Kazakhstan to reach carbon neutrality by 2060 with a development and adoption of a long-term development strategy to lower emissions and de-carbonisation of the economy. He said that Kazakhstan is "highly vulnerable to climate change as a landlocked and developing state" with a heavy reliant on fossil fuels and proposed for the planting for two billion trees within the country in order increase carbon absorption and curb looming desertification problems.


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: Tokayev described his vision regarding corruption, calling it a "direct damage to national security" and advocated for the need of accountability for implementation of state programs and the use of budget funds by äkıms. On 28 November 2019, he signed the "On Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Civil Service and Anti-Corruption Issues" law into place, which obliged government ministers and äkıms to resign if the top officials within institutions are found guilty of corruption.


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: In the aftermath of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting event, Tokayev proclaimed the incident as a "signature dish", calling it "another manifestation of Islamic radicalism."


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: At the Forum of Muslim Scientists of Eurasia which was held in Astana in March 2018, Tokayev addressed the audience the need for the country to have "enlightened Islam" by strengthening science and cultural traditions in the Islamic civilization.


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: As president, Tokayev encouraged the Kazakhstani public to learn Kazakh, calling it a "duty of every citizen of Kazakhstan". At the same time, he believed that strengthening the role of the Kazakh language shouldn't infringe on the Russian language, warning that improper handling of the issue would lead to "irreparable consequences" in which he compared to Ukraine that faced interethnic conflicts.


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: During the 2021 State of the Nation Address, Tokayev noted that Russian is an official language within Kazakhstan, adding that its use can't be hindered in accordance to the law and from there, he obliged to punish to any person taking part in discriminating on the basis of "linguistic and national grounds", a move that was viewed to have occurred in result of a backlash by Russian officials after a viral incident on YouTube showing Kostanay native Quat Ahmetov visiting places and forcing employees to speak Kazakh which led to a series of criminal cases by security agencies and Ahmetov fleeing the country.


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: In a written article for "The Astana Times", Tokayev warned nationalism becoming "a resurgent and dominant global phenomenon", upon which he cited Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 United States presidential election, suggesting it would result in strong impact on world politics, as well as on domestic situation in many nations including European nations.


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: Tokayev expressed a negative attitude towards nationalism which he claimed to have gained traction in midst of COVID-19 pandemic, criticising the ideology for provoking conflict between nations that would result in economic losses for Kazakhstan.


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: Now divorced, Tokayev was married to Nadezhda Tokayeva, with whom he had one son. His son Timur (born in 1984) is an oil entrepreneur who currently resides in Geneva, Switzerland. His brother-in-law Temirtai Izbastin (married to Tokayev's sister Karlyga Izbastina) is currently Kazakhstan's Ambassador to Bulgaria. Tokayev is a polyglot, fluent in Kazakh, Russian, English, Chinese and French.


title: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

text: He was President of the Table Tennis Federation of Kazakhstan for 13 years. He has made it a point not to mark his birthday with celebrations, with his press secretary saying in 2020 that he "does not like to celebrate this day because his family has never celebrated the birthdays of either the children or parents".


title: The Haunting of Hill House

text: The Haunting of Hill House is a 1959 gothic horror novel by American author Shirley Jackson. A finalist for the National Book Award and considered one of the best literary ghost stories published during the 20th century, it has been made into two feature films and a play, and is the basis of a Netflix series. Jackson's novel relies on terror rather than horror to elicit emotion in the reader, using complex relationships between the mysterious events in the house and the characters' psyches.


title: The Haunting of Hill House

text: The author decided to write "a ghost story" after reading about a group of nineteenth century "psychic researchers" who studied a house and somberly reported their supposedly scientific findings to the Society for Psychic Research. What Jackson discovered in their "dry reports was not the story of a haunted house, it was the story of several earnest, I believe misguided, certainly determined people, with their differing motivations and background." Excited by the prospect of creating her own haunted house and the characters to explore it, she launched into research. She later claimed to have found a picture in a magazine of a California house she believed was suitably haunted-looking. She asked her mother, who lived in California, to help find information about the dwelling. According to Jackson, her mother identified the house as one the author's own great-great-grandfather, an architect who had designed some of San Francisco's oldest buildings, had built. Jackson also read volume upon volume of traditional ghost stories while preparing to write her own, "No one can get into a novel about a haunted house without hitting the subject of reality head-on; either I have to believe in ghosts, which I do, or I have to write another kind of novel altogether."<br>- Paula Guran


title: The Haunting of Hill House

text: As part of her process, Jackson sketched floor plans of the downstairs and upstairs of Hill House and a rendering of the exterior.


title: The Haunting of Hill House

text: Hill House is a mansion in a location that is never specified but is between many hills. The story concerns four main characters: Dr. John Montague, an investigator of the supernatural; Eleanor Vance, a shy young woman who resents caring for her demanding, disabled mother; Theodora, a bohemian artist implied to be a lesbian; and Luke Sanderson, the young heir to Hill House, who is host to the others.


title: The Haunting of Hill House

text: Montague hopes to find scientific evidence of the existence of the supernatural. He rents Hill House for a summer and invites as his guests several people whom he has chosen because of their experiences with paranormal events. Of these, only Eleanor and Theodora accept. Eleanor travels to the house, where she and Theodora will live in isolation with Montague and Luke.


title: The Haunting of Hill House

text: Hill House has two caretakers, Mr. and Mrs. Dudley, who refuse to stay near the house at night. The four overnight visitors begin to form friendships as Montague explains the building's history, which encompasses suicide and other violent deaths.


title: The Haunting of Hill House

text: All four of the inhabitants begin to experience strange events while in the house, including unseen noises and ghosts roaming the halls at night, strange writing on the walls, and other unexplained events. Eleanor tends to experience phenomena to which the others are oblivious. At the same time, Eleanor may be losing touch with reality, and the narrative implies that at least some of what Eleanor witnesses may be products of her imagination. Another implied possibility is that Eleanor possesses a subconscious telekinetic ability that is itself the cause of many of the disturbances experienced by her and other members of the investigative team (which might indicate there is no ghost in the house at all). This possibility is suggested especially by references early in the novel to Eleanor's childhood memories about episodes of a poltergeist-like entity that seemed to involve mainly her.


title: The Haunting of Hill House

text: Later in the novel, the haughty Mrs. Montague and her companion Arthur Parker, the headmaster of a boys’ school, arrive to spend a weekend at Hill House and to help investigate it. They, too, are interested in the supernatural, including séances and spirit writing. Unlike the other four characters, they do not experience anything supernatural, although some of Mrs. Montague's alleged spirit writings seem to communicate with Eleanor.


title: The Haunting of Hill House

text: Much of the supernatural phenomena that occur are described only vaguely, or else are partly hidden from the characters themselves. Eleanor and Theodora are in a bedroom with an unseen force trying the door, and Eleanor believes after the fact that the hand she was holding in the darkness was not Theodora's. In one episode, as Theodora and Eleanor walk outside Hill House at night, they see a ghostly family picnic that seems to be taking place in daylight. Theodora screams in fear for Eleanor to run, warning her not to look back, though the book never explains what Theodora sees.


title: The Haunting of Hill House

text: By this point in the book, it is becoming clear to the characters that the house is beginning to possess Eleanor. Fearing for her safety, Montague and Luke declare that she must leave. Eleanor, however, regards the house as her home and resists. Montague and Luke force her into her car; she bids them farewell and drives off, but before leaving the property grounds she propels the car into a large oak tree to her implied death.


title: The Haunting of Hill House

text: In a "New York Times" review in 1959, Edmund Fuller wrote, "With her 'conceit' of Hill House, whether pretty be the name for it or not, Shirley Jackson proves again that she is the finest master currently practicing in the genre of the cryptic, haunted tale."


title: The Haunting of Hill House

text: Stephen King, in his book "Danse Macabre" (1981), a non-fiction review of the horror genre, lists "The Haunting of Hill House" as one of the finest horror novels of the late 20th century and provides a lengthy review. In his review column for "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction", Damon Knight selected the novel as one of the 10 best genre books of 1959, declaring it "in a class by itself."


title: The Haunting of Hill House

text: Reappraising the book in "The Guardian" in 2010, Sophie Missing wrote, "Jackson treats her material – which could be reduced to penny dreadful stuff in less deft hands – with great skill and subtlety. […] The horror inherent in the novel does not lie in Hill House (monstrous though it is) or the events that take place within it, but in the unexplored recesses of its characters' – and its readers' – minds. This is perhaps why it remains the definitive haunted house story".


title: The Haunting of Hill House

text: In 2018, "The New York Times" polled 13 writers to choose the scariest book of fiction they have ever read, and Carmen Maria Machado and Neil Gaiman both chose "The Haunting of Hill House".


title: The Haunting of Hill House

text: Carmen Maria Machado wrote in "The Atlantic" about her experience discovering "The Haunting of Hill House". She was at a writer's retreat while working on her short story "The Resident," and was told her story reminded readers of Shirley Jackson. Having read little of Jackson, Machado decided to read "Hill House": "When I went back home to Philly, I picked up a copy. And I just devoured it. I read it in one sitting. I started reading one night, and when my girlfriend (now wife) went to bed I just kept reading. It scared the shit out of me. Even though the events that appear to be supernatural activity are few and far between, those scenes are so chillingly written—as if Jackson was describing a phenomenon she’d seen before and really understood. The book’s particular brand of surreality felt, to me, like that experience of walking home from a party a little bit drunk, when the world somehow seems sharper and clearer and weirder."


title: The Haunting of Hill House

text: Sara Century, writing for SyFy, pointed out the queer themes of the book, specifically calling out the example of Theo as a queer character who goes against the "bury your gays" trope: "Theo stands out for being an imperfect, fallible queer woman consistently being subjected to life-threatening situations yet still walking away from them, evolving rather than fading away."


title: The Haunting of Hill House

text: The novel has been adapted to film twice, in 1963 and again in 1999, both times under the title "The Haunting." The 1963 version is a relatively faithful adaptation and received critical praise. The 1999 version, considerably different from the novel and widely panned by critics, is an overt fantasy horror in which all the main characters are terrorized and two are killed by explicitly supernatural deaths. It was also parodied in "Scary Movie 2" (2001).


title: The Haunting of Hill House

text: The plot of "The Legend of Hell House" and the book on which it is based, "Hell House", both written by Richard Matheson, have several details in common with Jackson’s novel (and the 1963 movie adaptation "The Haunting") in which a party of four (some psychic, some skeptical, some British, some Americans) stay in an extremely haunted Gothic mansion with a terrible history, for the purposes of scientific study; all are plagued by unseen terrors.


title: The Haunting of Hill House

text: It was first adapted for the stage in 1964 by F. Andrew Leslie. In 2015, Anthony Neilson prepared a new stage adaptation for Sonia Friedman and Hammer for production at the Liverpool Playhouse.


title: The Haunting of Hill House

text: In 1997, "The Haunting of Hill House" was abridged for radio by Alison Joseph and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in eight 15-minute episodes, read by Emma Fielding.


title: The Haunting of Hill House

text: A loose television adaptation was released in 2018 to critical acclaim. It changed many elements from the novel, keeping mainly its Hill House setting, Mr and Mrs Dudley, and a few character names, but shifted the focus to members of a singular haunted "Crain family." It was directed by Mike Flanagan and was produced for Netflix. Varying from the novel, the series depicted the married couple and their five children being terrorized by the house for decades of their lives.


title: Clifford the Big Red Dog (film)

text: Clifford the Big Red Dog is a 2021 adventure comedy film directed by Walt Becker and based on the children's book series of the same name by Norman Bridwell starring Jack Whitehall, Darby Camp, Tony Hale, Sienna Guillory, David Alan Grier, Russell Wong, Kenan Thompson and John Cleese.


title: Clifford the Big Red Dog (film)

text: The film was screened unannounced on August 26, 2021, during the 2021 CinemaCon event in Los Angeles. It was initially scheduled to premiere at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival in September 2021, to be followed by a theatrical release in the United States on September 17 after being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic by Paramount Pictures, but was ultimately pulled from the festival and had its release date removed from Paramount's schedule due to the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant. Ultimately, the film was simultaneously released theatrically and digitally on Paramount+ on November 10, 2021, in the United States. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $107 million worldwide on a $64 million budget. A sequel is in development.


title: Clifford the Big Red Dog (film)

text: In New York City, Emily Elizabeth Howard, a 12-year-old middle school student who lives with her mother, Maggie, is regularly bullied by a popular girl at school named Florence, but finds comfort in her only new friend Owen Yu. Maggie leaves her in the care of her van-dwelling and irresponsible uncle Casey before going to Chicago for a business trip.


title: Clifford the Big Red Dog (film)

text: Mr. Bridwell, who runs an animal rescue tent at a park, introduces Emily to a small red puppy whose family had been taken by dogcatchers. He tells her that the puppy will grow based on how much love he receives. Casey rejects the adoption due to dogs not being allowed in the apartment building. When Emily gets home from school, she finds the puppy in her backpack and names him Clifford. Casey allows her to keep Clifford only for one night.


title: Clifford the Big Red Dog (film)

text: The next morning, Clifford has grown to giant proportions. Emily and Casey attempt to hide him from the building's superintendent, Mr. Packard. They try taking Clifford to a veterinarian, but he chases and plays with a man in an inflatable bubble. Word of his existence quickly spreads online. After learning from the vet's secretary of Bridwell's past miracles with animals and their owners, the Howards plan to get information on his whereabouts. As Emily is getting lunch for Clifford from the cafeteria, Clifford escapes from Casey's truck and humiliates Florence, giving Emily the friends she always wanted.


title: Clifford the Big Red Dog (film)

text: Zac Tieran, the owner of biotechnology company Lyfegro, discovers Clifford on social media. He lies to the police that Clifford is his dog and has them search for him. After being evicted from their apartment and chased by the police and Lyfegro guards, Emily and Casey take shelter in Owen's lavish apartment. Casey tells Emily she can keep Clifford if they find Bridwell and take his advice. If he cannot help, Clifford must be sent to China, where Owen's father has a sanctuary. They race to the hospital, only to find Bridwell's empty bed and a patient who tells them Bridwell has died. Clifford is thus sent away by a boat arranged by Mr. Yu as Emily tearfully says goodbye.


title: Clifford the Big Red Dog (film)

text: The next day, Clifford is captured on the ship by Lyfegro personnel and sent to Lyfegro. Emily soon learns Bridwell did not die, so she and Casey try to save Clifford from being operated on at Lyfegro, aided by friends from their neighborhood. They break into Lyfegro's headquarters and rescue Clifford, who then flees through the city with Emily riding on him.


title: Clifford the Big Red Dog (film)

text: At Manhattan Bridge Park, a large crowd gathers as Emily desperately asks Bridwell to help, and he tells her that she must stand up for herself and for Clifford and that being different is a gift. Emily explains to everyone the importance of love, regardless of differences. However, Tieran orders the police chief to see who Clifford's owner is by checking an ID chip he had implanted. When the chip identifies Emily as Clifford's rightful owner, the police arrest Tieran and inform him that he will be fined for lying to them. Emily, Casey, and Maggie are welcomed back into their apartment; Casey gets a job at Scholastic Corporation and moves out of his van.


title: Clifford the Big Red Dog (film)

text: In May 2012, it was reported that Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment would produce a live-action/animated film based on the book. Matt Lopez was hired to write the script while Chris Meledandri and Deborah Forte were to produce, but in July 2013, it was reported that Illumination cancelled the project. On September 13, 2013, it was reported that the film was still in development at Universal Pictures with David Bowers in talks to direct the film. Like the 2011 film "Hop", the titular dog character will be animated while the other characters will be live-action. In 2016, Paramount Pictures had purchased the rights to develop a live-action and animated hybrid film. On September 25, 2017, it was reported that Walt Becker had been hired to direct from a script being re-written by Ellen Rapoport, and from the original written by Justin Malen, which would be produced by Forte through her Silvertongue Films banner. On June 20, 2019, Paramount closed a deal with Entertainment One to co-finance the film. Under the deal, Entertainment One Films would distribute the film in Canada and the United Kingdom excluding TV broadcast rights for the latter country, while Paramount would distribute in all other territories including the United States. On December 25, 2019, a photo from the film was leaked, revealing the computer-generated form of Clifford in the live-action scenery. In May 2019, Camp and Whitehall signed on to star in the film. In June 2019, Cleese, Guillory, Wang, Grier, Rosie Perez, Keith Ewell, Bear Allen-Blaine and Lynn Cohen joined the cast. Principal photography began on June 10, 2019, in New York City and wrapped on August 23, 2019, after 55 days of shooting. The visual effects were made by Moving Picture Company. On November 18, 2020, it was announced that John Debney would compose the film's score. The song "Room for You" performed by Madison Beer, was released on November 5, 2021.


title: Clifford the Big Red Dog (film)

text: "Clifford the Big Red Dog" was simultaneously released in theaters in Dolby Cinema and streaming on Paramount+ on November 10, 2021, in the United States. It was initially scheduled to have its world premiere at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival in September, followed by a theatrical release on September 17 by Paramount Pictures, but the festival premiere was cancelled and the studio removed the film from its release schedule due to the rise of the Delta variant of COVID-19. It was originally scheduled to be released November 13, 2020, before being delayed to November 5, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to that, Universal Pictures initially slated the then-unproduced film for April 8, 2016 and then pushed back to December 31, 2016. The film had a surprise unannounced screening on August 26, 2021, during the 2021 CinemaCon event in Los Angeles. The film was then released in the UK on December 10, 2021, by Entertainment One. The film was also dedicated to Richard Robinson, the former CEO of Scholastic Corporation, who passed away on June 5, 2021.


title: Clifford the Big Red Dog (film)

text: "Clifford the Big Red Dog" was released on digital download by Paramount Home Entertainment on December 14, 2021, which features deleted scenes and special features including a behind-the-scenes look with interviews from the cast, and how Clifford's adventures began from the book series to the big screen. It was also released on February 1, 2022, on Blu-ray and DVD.


title: Clifford the Big Red Dog (film)

text: "Clifford the Big Red Dog" grossed $49 millionin the United States and Canada and $58.4million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $107.4million against a $64 million budget. In the United States and Canada, "Clifford the Big Red Dog" was projected to gross $15–17 million from 3,695 theaters over its first five days. The film made $2.3 million on its first day and $3.3 million on its second. It went on to debut to $16.4 million (and a total of $22 million over the five days), finishing second behind holdover "Eternals". In its second weekend the film fell 51% to $8.1 million, finishing third. The film made $725,000 on Thanksgiving and then $5 million in its third weekend, placing sixth. The film went on to make $1.9 million in its fourth weekend, $1.3 million in its fifth, and $404,068 in its sixth.


title: Clifford the Big Red Dog (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads: "It may get younger viewers to sit and stay, but "Clifford the Big Red Dog" is nowhere near as charming as its classic source material." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars.


title: Clifford the Big Red Dog (film)

text: Owen Gleiberman of "Variety" wrote: ""Clifford the Big Red Dog" becomes a rowdy chase film-- as agreeable as Clifford himself, as simultaneously cute and in-your-face and as genially random in its ability to create chaos." Angie Han of "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote: "It's not reinventing the wheel or breaking new ground; [and] it's unlikely to wow audiences with its bold artistic vision or profound emotional depths. But there's a place for sturdy and familiar entertainment that delivers exactly what it intends, and "Clifford the Big Red Dog" is just that."


title: Clifford the Big Red Dog (film)

text: Comic writer Georgia Ball and illustrator Chi Ngo adapted the film into a graphic novel entitled "Clifford the Big Red Dog: The Movie Graphic Novel," which was originally scheduled to be published on August 23, 2021, but was pushed back to December 7, 2021, one month after the film's release.


title: Clifford the Big Red Dog (film)

text: In November 2021, it was reported that Paramount Pictures and Entertainment One are developing a sequel to the film.


title: Toby Kebbell

text: Tobias Alistair Patrick Kebbell (born 9 July 1982) is an English film, television and stage actor. He is known for his roles in films such as "Dead Man's Shoes" (2004), "Control" (2007), "RocknRolla" (2008), "" (2010), "War Horse" (2011), "Wrath of the Titans" (2012), "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" (2014), "Fantastic Four" (2015), "Warcraft" (2016), "A Monster Calls" (2016), "Ben-Hur" (2016), and "Gold" (2016). He is also known for his work in the "Black Mirror" episode "The Entire History of You" (2011) and starred in the second film of the MonsterVerse film series, "" (2017) and the Apple TV+ series "Servant" (2019–present).


title: Toby Kebbell

text: Kebbell, the fourth of five children, was born in Pontefract, Yorkshire, but grew up in Nottinghamshire where he attended The Grove School (now the Newark Academy) in Balderton. He was brought up by his mother, Michelle (née Mathers), a cook and landscape gardener and his father, Robert Kebbell, an engineer from Zimbabwe. He was raised Catholic, and went to a Catholic primary school.


title: Toby Kebbell

text: Kebbell trained in acting at the Central Junior Television Workshop in Nottingham along with Andrew Shim and Vicky McClure.


title: Toby Kebbell

text: Kebbell's first movie appearance was as Anthony, a young man with a learning difficulty, in the Shane Meadows directed "Dead Man's Shoes". He was nominated for Most Promising Newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards 2004 The same year, Kebbell appeared in Oliver Stone's "Alexander" and Woody Allen's "Match Point".


title: Toby Kebbell

text: In 2007, Kebbell played Rob Gretton, the manager of Joy Division in Anton Corbijn's award-winning biopic of Ian Curtis, "Control", for which his performance won the Best Supporting Actor Award at the British Independent Film Awards 2007. He was also nominated for the London Film Critics Circle Awards 2007 Best Supporting British Actor Award.


title: Toby Kebbell

text: In December 2007, Kebbell took the lead in an episode of season 2 of Jimmy McGovern's BBC series "The Street", which subsequently won the BAFTA for Best Drama series. His other work for the BBC included a modern retelling of "Macbeth" alongside James McAvoy, while his theatre roles included spells at the Almeida Theatre in David Hare's reworking of Maxim Gorky's "Enemies" and at the Playhouse in R.C. Sherriff's classic, "Journey's End".


title: Toby Kebbell

text: In September 2008, Kebbell was featured in the Empire Award for Best British Film "RocknRolla", written and directed by Guy Ritchie, alongside actors Tom Wilkinson, Gerard Butler and Thandiwe Newton. Kebbell played a heroin-addicted musician, Johnny Quid, for which he was nominated for BAFTA Orange Rising Star Award of the 2009 BAFTA Awards, an award voted for by the public. Kebbell was also nominated for the Empire Award for Best Newcomer, but lost out to his friend Gemma Arterton. Kebbell appeared in the 2009 film "Cheri", directed by Stephen Frears, in which he took a small role alongside Michelle Pfeiffer. He filmed in Morocco and London with Jake Gyllenhaal for "".


title: Toby Kebbell

text: In 2011, Kebbell played a leading role in "The Entire History of You", the finale of the first series of Charlie Brooker's anthology series "Black Mirror", which was written by Jesse Armstrong. Robert Downey Jr. has since bought the rights to adapt the script for a forthcoming film.


title: Toby Kebbell

text: Kebbell played the Marvel antagonist, Doctor Doom, in the 2015 "Fantastic Four" film, and an orc, Durotan, in the 2016 "Warcraft". He played Jack Chapman in the fantasy action film "" (2017), while also providing guidance for Kong's motion capture sequences.


title: Men Going Their Own Way

text: Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW ) is an anti-feminist, misogynistic, mostly-online community advocating for men to separate themselves from women and from a society which they believe has been corrupted by feminism. The community is a part of the "manosphere", a collection of anti-feminist websites and online communities that also includes the men's rights movement, incels, and pickup artists.


title: Men Going Their Own Way

text: Like other manosphere communities, MGTOW overlaps with the alt-right and white supremacist movements, and it has been implicated in online harassment of women. The Southern Poverty Law Center categorizes MGTOW as a part of the male supremacist ideology.


title: Men Going Their Own Way

text: While it is not clear where the MGTOW ideology originated, it is believed to have emerged in the early 2000s. A blog called "No Ma'am" was one of the first sites dedicated to the ideology, publishing a "MGTOW Manifesto" in 2001. Earlier members of MGTOW were largely libertarian. There is a divide between early and contemporary members of MGTOW, with some earlier members expressing derision for the present-day MGTOW community. Online MGTOW forums have included the subreddit r/MGTOW, created in 2011, smaller auxiliary subreddits, and the "MGTOW Forum", an independent website that emerged in 2014. Following Reddit's 2017 ban of a large incel subreddit, r/MGTOW was briefly the largest and most active manosphere forum on the site.


title: Men Going Their Own Way

text: MGTOW and other manosphere communities overlap with various white supremacist, authoritarian, and populist movements worldwide, such as the alt-right which came to prominence around 2015. MGTOW and the alt-right overlap both in membership and in ideology; both believe that feminism has destroyed Western society. Far-right commentator and polemicist Milo Yiannopoulos is credited with helping to popularize MGTOW with a 2014 "Breitbart" article titled "The Sexodus", in which he described men who were eschewing women, love, sex, and marriage because of feminism.


title: Men Going Their Own Way

text: Researchers have implicated MGTOW communities in online harassment of women. In January 2020, a group of computer scientists published a preprint of a paper titled "The Evolution of the Manosphere Across the Web"; r/MGTOW and the "MGTOW Forum" were among the online communities which the authors said "have been growing in size and in their involvement in online harassment and real-world violence." The paper was described in "MIT Technology Review" as "the most complete picture yet of the misogynistic groups that fuel the incel movement online" and in "Der Spiegel" as "the most comprehensive attempt yet to analyze the manosphere online". Shortly after publication, Reddit quarantined r/MGTOW, a restriction the platform applies to subreddits determined to be "extremely offensive or upsetting to the average redditor" which prevents them from earning advertising revenue and requires visitors to agree to seeing potentially offensive content before entering. r/MGTOW was banned in August 2021 for breaking the site's policies against promotion of violence and hate.


title: Men Going Their Own Way

text: On October 6 2022, Global News reported that there were hidden tags labeled "#mgtow" in videos uploaded by the team-managed YouTube channel of Canadian Conservative Party and Official Opposition leader, Pierre Poilievre, since March 2018. Poilievre said he immediately had his team remove the tags as soon as he was made aware of them, when questioned about MGTOW Poilievre stated "I condemn this organization" and "we on this side reject all misogyny and all acts of extremism, and that is how we will always conduct ourselves over here".


title: Men Going Their Own Way

text: Members of MGTOW communities are primarily heterosexual, white, middle-class men from North America and Europe. Unlike some other manosphere groups, MGTOW is exclusively male. MGTOW often disavow hierarchies and claim to be leaderless; some deny that MGTOW is a group or movement at all, instead emphasizing each member's individuality and independence within a collective. Researcher Callum Jones and colleagues write in "New Media & Society" that "while the precise number of MGTOW followers is unclear, it appears to be a popular and growing group within the Manosphere: the subreddit r/MGTOW has grown from 54,000 members in early 2018 to 104,000 members in early 2019 and there are 32,859 members listed on one MGTOW forum." Author Donna Zuckerberg described MGTOW in her 2018 book "Not All Dead White Men" as smaller than the men's human rights movement and the seduction (pickup artistry) communities, with the "MGTOW Forum" having over 25,000 subscribers and r/MGTOW having over 35,000.


title: Men Going Their Own Way

text: At the center of MGTOW ideology is the notion of male separatism and the belief that society has been corrupted by feminism. MGTOW groups are misogynist and anti-feminist, believing that feminism has made women dangerous to men, and that male self-preservation requires dissociating completely from women. They believe there is systemic gynocentric bias against men, including double standards in gender roles and bias against men in family courts. MGTOW groups share a belief common among other manosphere groups that women follow a similar pattern in dating and marriage: young and attractive women are promiscuous and engage in "hypergamy", having sex with numerous men and abandoning a man if a "higher-value" man shows interest. They believe women gravitate towards "alpha men" who are attractive but mistreat them, reinforcing the ideology of feminism. According to MGTOW, as women begin to age, they settle down with "beta males" who provide for them financially, but to whom they deny sex, sometimes engaging in extramarital sex with more attractive men; these relationships ultimately lead to divorce, in which the women will be favored by the courts due to what MGTOW call female privilege.


title: Men Going Their Own Way

text: Scott Wright and colleagues at Monash University write that "MGTOW propagate extensive and wide-ranging passive or undirected harassment and misogyny on Twitter." Fellows at the Institute for Research on Male Supremacism publishing with the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism have said that members of MGTOW "openly disdain women, and normalize it through online harassment." The Southern Poverty Law Center categorizes MGTOW as a part of the male supremacist ideology, a category they began tracking on their hate group tracking project, Hate Map, in 2018.


title: Men Going Their Own Way

text: Men in the MGTOW community use jargon shared by the broader manosphere, including the red pill and blue pill metaphor borrowed from the film "The Matrix." Those in the manosphere who have been awakened from feminist "delusion" to the supposed reality that society is fundamentally misandrist and dominated by feminist values are said to be "redpilled" or have "taken the red pill"; those who do not accept that ideology are referred to as "bluepilled". Other jargon includes pejorative terms for other men such as "beta", "cuck", "soy boy", and "white knight".


title: Men Going Their Own Way

text: Members of MGTOW communities track their engagement with the ideology on a series of four levels. At the first level, men believe they are used and manipulated by women (called "situational awareness" or the "red pill") but still believe in the value of marriage; they are sometimes described as "purple pilled". At the second level, men reject long-term relationships, cohabitation, and marriage, but will still participate in shorter term relationships and sexual encounters. At the third level, men reject short-term relationships and limit their interactions with women. At the fourth level, men minimize their engagement with the state and society, including employment; this is called "going ghost".


title: Men Going Their Own Way

text: The MGTOW community is a part of the manosphere, a heterogeneous group of websites, blogs, and online forums promoting some forms of masculinity, hostility towards women, strong opposition to feminism, and exaggerated misogyny. In addition to MGTOW, the men's rights movement, incels, pick-up artists, and father's rights movements also make up the manosphere.


title: Men Going Their Own Way

text: Although some consider MGTOW to be a part of the men's rights movement, others have cited MGTOW's separatist ideology as distinguishing them from the men's rights movement, which engages in activism to try to drive societal change. According to Donna Zuckerberg, early MGTOW groups were primarily libertarian and opposed to "big government"; this led to a rift with the men's rights movements who wished to lobby for governmental change, particularly with regards to custody and divorce law.


title: Men Going Their Own Way

text: The MGTOW community has a reciprocal disdain for pickup artists (PUAs) due to their differing opinions towards women. Whereas MGTOW focuses on separating entirely from women, pickup artists focus on developing techniques to have sex with women. PUA communities have mocked MGTOW as "Virgins Going Their Own Way". MGTOW communities deride PUAs as being entirely dependent on women's approval, and because they place so much value in attaining sexual success with women, MGTOW says PUA communities contribute to what they see as overvaluing of women in gynocentric society.


title: Rubin Carter

text: Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (May 6, 1937 – April 20, 2014) was an American-Canadian middleweight boxer, wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for murder, until released following a petition of habeas corpus after almost 20 years in prison.


title: Rubin Carter

text: In 1966, Carter, and his co-accused, John Artis, were arrested for a triple homicide which was committed at the Lafayette Bar and Grill in Paterson, New Jersey, United States. Shortly after the killings at 2:30 am, a car, carrying Carter, Artis, and a third man, was stopped by police outside the bar while its occupants were on their way home from a nearby nightclub. They were allowed to go on their way but, after dropping off the third man, Carter and Artis were stopped and arrested while they were passing the bar a second time, 45 minutes later.


title: Rubin Carter

text: Carter and Artis were interrogated for 17 hours, released, then re-arrested weeks later. In 1967, they were convicted of all three murders, and given life sentences, to be served in Rahway State Prison; a retrial in 1976 upheld their sentences, but they were overturned in 1985. Prosecutors appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but declined to try the case a third time after the appeal failed.


title: Rubin Carter

text: Carter's autobiography, titled "The Sixteenth Round", written while he was in prison, was published in 1974 by Viking Press. The story inspired the 1975 Bob Dylan song "Hurricane" and the 1999 film "The Hurricane", starring Denzel Washington as Carter. From 1993 to 2005, Carter served as executive director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (later rebranded as Innocence Canada).


title: Rubin Carter

text: In 2019, the case was the focus of a 13-part BBC podcast series, "The Hurricane Tapes". The series was based on interviews which were conducted with survivors, case notes which were taken during the original investigations, and 40 hours of recorded interviews of Carter by the author Ken Klonsky, who cited them in his 2011 book "The Eye of the Hurricane".


title: Rubin Carter

text: Carter was born in Clifton, New Jersey in 1937, the fourth of seven children. He later admitted to a troubled relationship with his father, a strict disciplinarian; at the age of eleven, he was sentenced to a juvenile reformatory for assault, having stabbed a man who he alleged had tried to sexually assault him. Carter escaped from the reformatory in 1954 and joined the United States Army. A few months after completing basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, he was sent to West Germany. While in Germany, Carter began to box for the Army. He was discharged in 1956 as unfit for service, after four courts-martial. Shortly after his discharge, he returned home to New Jersey, was convicted of two muggings and sent to prison.


title: Rubin Carter

text: After his release from prison in September 1961, Carter became a professional boxer. At , Carter was shorter than the average middleweight, but he fought all of his professional career at 155–160 lb (70–72.6 kg). His aggressive style and punching power (resulting in many early-round knockouts) drew attention, establishing him as a crowd favorite and earning him the nickname "Hurricane". After he defeated a number of middleweight contenders—such as Florentino Fernandez, Holley Mims, Gomeo Brennan, and George Benton—the boxing world took notice. "The Ring" first listed him as one of its "Top 10" middleweight contenders in July 1963. At the end of 1965, they ranked him as the number five middleweight.


title: Rubin Carter

text: He fought six times in 1963, winning four bouts and losing two. He remained ranked in the lower part of the top 10 until December 20, when he surprised the boxing world by flooring past and future world champion Emile Griffith twice in the first round and scoring a technical knockout. That win resulted in "The Ring"s ranking of Carter as the number three contender for Joey Giardello's world middleweight title. Carter won two more fights (one a decision over future heavyweight champion Jimmy Ellis) in 1964, before meeting Giardello in Philadelphia for a 15-round championship match on December 14. Carter landed a few solid rights to the head in the fourth round that left Giardello staggering, but was unable to follow them up, and Giardello took control of the fight in the fifth round. The judges decided unanimously in favor of Giardello.


title: Rubin Carter

text: After that fight, Carter's ranking in "The Ring" began to decline. He fought nine times in 1965, winning five but losing three of four against contenders Luis Manuel Rodríguez, Dick Tiger, and Harry Scott. Tiger, in particular, floored Carter three times in their match. "It was", Carter said, "the worst beating that I took in my life—inside or outside the ring". During his visit to London to fight Scott, Carter was involved in an incident in which a shot was fired in his hotel room.


title: Rubin Carter

text: Carter's career record in boxing was 27 wins with 19 total knockouts (8 KOs and 11 TKOs), 12 losses, and one draw in 40 fights. He received an honorary championship title belt from the World Boxing Council in 1993 (as did Joey Giardello at the same banquet) and was later inducted into the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame.


title: Rubin Carter

text: At approximately 2:30 AM on June 17, 1966, two men entered the Lafayette Bar and Grill in Paterson, New Jersey, and began shooting. The bartender, James Oliver, and a customer, Fred Nauyoks, were killed immediately. Hazel Tanis died in a hospital a month later, having suffered multiple wounds from shotgun pellets; a third customer, Willie Marins, survived the attack, despite a head wound that cost him the sight in one eye. When questioned, both told police the shooters had been black males, but neither identified Carter or John Artis.


title: Rubin Carter

text: Ten minutes after the murders, around 2:40 AM, a police cruiser stopped Carter and Artis in a rental car, returning from a night out at the Nite Spot, a nearby bar; Carter was in the back, with Artis driving, and a third man, John Royster, in the passenger seat. The police recognised Carter, a well-known and controversial local figure, but let him go. Minutes later, the same officers solicited a description of the getaway car from two eyewitnesses outside the bar, Patricia "Patty" Valentine and Alfred Bello.


title: Rubin Carter

text: Bello later admitted he was in the area acting as a lookout while an accomplice, Arthur Bradley, broke into a nearby warehouse. At the time, he claimed to have discovered the bodies when he entered the bar to buy cigarettes; it also transpired that he took the opportunity to empty the cash register, and ran into the police as he came out. At the trial, he testified he was approaching the Lafayette when two black males, one with a shotgun, the other a pistol, came around the corner. He ran from them, and they got into a white car that was double-parked near the Lafayette.


title: Rubin Carter

text: Valentine lived above the bar, and heard the shots; like Bello, she reported seeing two black men leave the bar, then get into a white car. They reportedly described it as white, with "a geometric design, sort of a butterfly type design in the back of the car", and New York state license plates, with blue background and orange lettering. Another neighbor, Ronald Ruggiero, also heard the shots, and said that, from his window, he saw Alfred Bello running west on Lafayette Street toward 16th Street. He then heard the screech of tires and saw a white car shoot past, heading west, with two black males in the front seat.


title: Rubin Carter

text: Valentine initially stated the car had rear lights which lit up completely like butterflies; at the retrial in 1976, she changed this to an accurate description of Carter's car, which had conventional tail-lights with aluminum decoration in a butterfly shape. This aligned with that provided by Bello; the prosecution later suggested the confusion was the result of a misreading of a court transcript by the defense.


title: Rubin Carter

text: Having dropped off Royster, Carter was now being driven home by Artis; they were stopped again at 3:00 AM, and ordered to follow the police to the station, where they were arrested. However, variances in descriptions given by Valentine and Bello, the physical characteristics of the attackers provided by the two survivors, lack of forensic evidence, and the timeline provided by the police were key factors in the conviction being overturned in 1985.


title: Rubin Carter

text: Forensics later established the victims were shot by a .32-caliber pistol and a 12-gauge shotgun, although the weapons themselves were never found. There was no forensic evidence linking Carter or Artis to the murders; while gun residue tests were commonly used, DeSimone, the lead detective, later claimed he had no time to bring in an expert to carry out the tests. He did arrange for an expert to conduct lie detector tests, which they passed; in 1976, a second report was discovered, claiming they failed. After 17 hours of interrogation, they were released. Carter and Artis voluntarily appeared before a grand jury, which found there was no case to answer.


title: Rubin Carter

text: However, several months later, Bello changed his story, after the police discovered why he was in the area, and his theft from the cash register. He positively identified Artis as one of the attackers, while Bradley now came forward to claim Carter was the other; based on this, the two were arrested and indicted. Bello later claimed that in return he was promised the U$10,500 reward offered for catching the killers, though it was never paid.


title: Rubin Carter

text: The rental car had been impounded when Carter and Artis were arrested, and retained by police; five days after their release a detective reported that on searching it again he discovered two unfired rounds, one .32 caliber, the other 12-gauge. Neither matched those retrieved from the victims; the .32 round was brass, rather than copper, while the shotgun shell was an older model, with a different wad and color.


title: Rubin Carter

text: Asked to account for these differences at the trial, the prosecution produced a second report, allegedly lodged 75 minutes after the murders which recorded the two rounds. They were unable to explain why, having that evidence, the police released the men, or why standard 'bag and tag' procedure was not followed. They also argued that, since the expended rounds retrieved at the scene were also a mixture, the fact that the two rounds did not match was meaningless; what did matter was they were the same caliber as those used in the shootings.


title: Rubin Carter

text: The defense, led by Raymond A. Brown, focused on inconsistencies in the evidence given by eyewitnesses Marins and Bello. He also produced witnesses who confirmed Carter and Artis were still in the Nite Spot at the time of the shootings. The all-white jury convicted both men of first-degree murder, with a recommendation of mercy, so that they were not sentenced to death. Judge Samuel Larner imposed one concurrent and two consecutive life sentences on Carter, and three concurrent life sentences on Artis.


title: Rubin Carter

text: In 1974, Bello and Bradley withdrew their identifications of Carter and Artis, and these recantations were used as the basis for a motion for a new trial. Judge Samuel Larner denied the motion on December 11, saying they "lacked the ring of truth".


title: Rubin Carter

text: Despite Larner's ruling, Madison Avenue advertising executive George Lois organized a campaign on Carter's behalf, which led to increasing public support for a retrial or pardon. Boxer Muhammad Ali lent his support to the campaign (including publicly wishing Carter good luck on his appeal during the airing of "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson on September 7, 1973). Bob Dylan co-wrote (with Jacques Levy) and performed a song called "Hurricane" (1975), which declared that Carter was innocent. On December 7, 1975, Dylan performed the song at a concert at Trenton State Prison, where Carter was temporarily an inmate.


title: Rubin Carter

text: However, during the hearing on the recantations, defense attorneys also argued that Bello and Bradley had lied during the 1967 trial, telling the jurors that they had made only certain narrow, limited deals with prosecutors in exchange for their trial testimony. A detective taped one interrogation of Bello in 1966, and when it was played during the recantation hearing, defense attorneys argued that the tape revealed promises beyond what Bello had testified to. If so, prosecutors had either had a Brady obligation to disclose this additional exculpatory evidence, or a duty to disclose that their witnesses had lied on the stand.


title: Rubin Carter

text: Larner denied this second argument as well, but the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously held that the evidence of various deals made between the prosecution and witnesses Bello and Bradley should have been disclosed to the defense before or during the 1967 trial as this could have "affected the jury's evaluation of the credibility" of the eyewitnesses. "The defendants' right to a fair trial was substantially prejudiced", said Justice Mark Sullivan. The court set aside the original convictions and granted Carter and Artis a new trial.


title: Rubin Carter

text: Despite the difficulties of prosecuting a ten-year-old case, Prosecutor Burrell Ives Humphreys decided to try Carter and Artis again. To ensure, as best he could, that he did not use perjured testimony to obtain a conviction, Humphreys had Bello polygraphed—once by Leonard H. Harrelson and a second time by Richard Arther, both well-known and respected experts in the field. Both men concluded that Bello was telling the truth when he said that he had seen Carter outside the Lafayette immediately after the murders.


title: Rubin Carter

text: However, Harrelson also reported orally that Bello had been inside the bar shortly before and at the time of the shooting, a conclusion that contradicted Bello's 1967 trial testimony wherein he had said that he had been on the street at the time of the shooting. Despite this oral report, Harrelson's subsequent written report stated that Bello's 1967 testimony had been truthful.


title: Rubin Carter

text: During the new trial in 1976, Alfred Bello repeated his 1967 testimony, identifying Carter and Artis as the two armed men he had seen outside the Lafayette Grill. Bradley refused to cooperate with prosecutors, and neither prosecution nor defense called him as a witness.


title: Rubin Carter

text: The defense responded with testimony from multiple witnesses who identified Carter at the locations he claimed to be at when the murders took place. Investigator Fred Hogan, whose efforts had led to the recantations of Bello and Bradley, appeared as a defense witness. Hogan was asked on cross examinations whether any bribes or inducements were offered to Bello to secure his recantation, which Hogan denied. His original handwritten notes on his conversations with Bello were entered into evidence. The defense also pointed out the inconsistencies in the testimony of Patricia Valentine, and read the 1967 testimony of William Marins, who had died in 1973, noting that his descriptions of the shooters were drastically different from Artis and Carter's actual appearances.


title: Rubin Carter

text: The court also heard testimony from a Carter associate that Passaic County prosecutors had tried to pressure her into testifying against Carter. Prosecutors denied the charge. After deliberating for almost nine hours, the jury again found Carter and Artis guilty of the murders. Judge Leopizzi re-imposed the same sentences on both men: a double life sentence for Carter, a single life sentence for Artis.


title: Rubin Carter

text: Artis was released on parole in 1981. Carter's attorneys continued to appeal. In 1982, the Supreme Court of New Jersey affirmed his convictions (4–3). Although the justices felt that the prosecutors should have disclosed Harrelson's oral opinion (about Bello's location at the time of the murders) to the defense, only a minority thought this was material. The majority thus concluded that the prosecution had not withheld information the Brady disclosure law required them to provide to the defense.


title: Rubin Carter

text: According to bail bondswoman Carolyn Kelley, in 1975–1976 she helped raise funds to win a second trial for Carter, which resulted in his release on bail in March 1976. On a fund-raising trip the following month, Kelley said the boxer beat her severely over a disputed hotel bill. The "Philadelphia Daily News" reported the alleged beating in a front-page story several weeks later, and celebrity support for Carter quickly eroded, though Carter denied the accusation and there was insufficient evidence for legal prosecution. Mae Thelma Basket, whom Carter had married in 1963, divorced him after their second child was born, because she found out that he had been unfaithful to her.


title: Rubin Carter

text: In 1985, Carter's attorneys filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in federal court. Later that year, Judge Haddon Lee Sarokin of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey granted the writ, noting that the prosecution had been "predicated upon an appeal to racism rather than reason, and concealment rather than disclosure", and set aside the convictions. Carter, 48 years old, was freed without bail in November 1985.


title: Rubin Carter

text: Prosecutors appealed Sarokin's ruling to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and filed a motion with the court to return Carter to prison pending the outcome of the appeal. The court denied this motion and eventually upheld Sarokin's opinion, affirming his Brady analysis without commenting on his other rationale.


title: Rubin Carter

text: Prosecutors therefore could have tried Carter (and Artis) a third time, but decided not to, and filed a motion to dismiss the original indictments. "It is just not legally feasible to sustain a prosecution, and not practical after almost 22 years to be trying anyone", said New Jersey Attorney General W. Cary Edwards. Acting Passaic County Prosecutor John P. Goceljak said several factors made a retrial impossible, including Bello's "current unreliability" as a witness and the unavailability of other witnesses. Goceljak also doubted whether the prosecution could reintroduce the racially motivated crime theory due to the federal court rulings. A judge granted the motion to dismiss, bringing an end to the legal proceedings.


title: Rubin Carter

text: Carter lived in Toronto, Ontario, where he became a Canadian citizen, and was executive director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC) from 1993 until 2005. Carter resigned when the AIDWYC declined to support Carter's protest of the appointment (to a judgeship) of Susan MacLean, who was the prosecutor of Canadian Guy Paul Morin, who served over eighteen months in prison for rape and murder until exonerated by DNA evidence.


title: Rubin Carter

text: In 1996, Carter, then 59, was arrested when Toronto police mistakenly identified him as a suspect in his thirties believed to have sold drugs to an undercover officer. He was released after the police realized their error.


title: Rubin Carter

text: Carter often served as a motivational speaker. On October 14, 2005, he received two honorary Doctorates of Law, one from York University (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) and one from Griffith University (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), in recognition of his work with AIDWYC and the Innocence Project. Carter received the Abolition Award from Death Penalty Focus in 1996.


title: Rubin Carter

text: In March 2012, while attending the International Justice Conference in Burswood, Western Australia, Carter revealed that he had terminal prostate cancer. At the time, doctors gave him between three and six months to live. Beginning shortly after that time, John Artis lived with and cared for Carter, and on April 20, 2014, he confirmed that Carter, at the age of 76, had succumbed to his illness. He was afterwards cremated and his ashes were scattered in part over Cape Cod and in part at a horse farm in Kentucky.


title: Rubin Carter

text: In the months leading up to his death, Carter worked for the exoneration of David McCallum, a Brooklyn man who had been incarcerated since 1985 on charges of murder. Two months before his death, Carter published "Hurricane Carter's Dying Wish", an opinion piece in the "New York Daily News", in which he asked for an independent review of McCallum's conviction. "I request only that McCallum be granted a full hearing by the Brooklyn conviction integrity unit, now under the auspices of the new district attorney, Ken Thompson. Knowing what I do, I am certain that when the facts are brought to light, Thompson will recommend his immediate release ... Just as my own verdict 'was predicated on racism rather than reason and on concealment rather than disclosure', as Sarokin wrote, so too was McCallum's", Carter wrote. On October 15, 2014, McCallum was exonerated.


title: Jim Sturgess

text: James Anthony Sturgess (born 16 May 1978) is an English actor and singer-songwriter. His first major role was as Jude in the musical romance drama film "Across the Universe" (2007). In 2008, he played the male lead role of Ben Campbell in "21". In 2009, he played Gavin Kossef in the crime drama "Crossing Over", appearing with Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta, and Ashley Judd. In 2010, Sturgess starred in the film "The Way Back", directed by Peter Weir. Sturgess co-starred in the 2012 epic science fiction film "Cloud Atlas".


title: Jim Sturgess

text: Sturgess was born in Wandsworth, London, but grew up in Farnham, Surrey, where he attended Frensham Heights School. He spent most of his youth skateboarding in local car parks and started his first band when he was about 15 years old. The band played gigs in and around his local area. Sturgess's first acting experience came when a local theatre group came to his school looking for children to audition for a play. Sturgess went along to the audition and landed one of the parts in the play.


title: Jim Sturgess

text: Sturgess moved to Manchester to attend the University of Salford in the hope that it would enable him to continue his music and take part in the Manchester music scene. In Greater Manchester, he fell in with a group of aspiring actors and film makers, and his acting efforts began to become productive. He started to write and perform his own short films and plays. While performing a one-man show 'BUZZIN', based on his performance poetry, Jim was discovered by an acting agent. He graduated from the University of Salford in 1999 with an HND in Media and Performance.


title: Jim Sturgess

text: In 2007, he was cast in Julie Taymor's musical "Across the Universe", portraying Jude Feeny, a young man who travels to the US amid the raging throes of the late 1960s and falls in love with a sheltered American teenager, Lucy, played by Evan Rachel Wood.


title: Jim Sturgess

text: In 2008, he appeared in the historical drama "The Other Boleyn Girl" in the supporting role of George Boleyn opposite Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, and Eric Bana. He also played the male lead role of Ben Campbell in "21", a film about five MIT students who, by counting cards, take Las Vegas casinos for millions. Sturgess's co-stars in "21" include Kevin Spacey and Laurence Fishburne.


title: Jim Sturgess

text: In 2009, he played Gavin Kossef in "Crossing Over", appearing with Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta, and Ashley Judd. Set in Los Angeles, the story revolves around immigrants from different countries and backgrounds who share a common bond: they are all desperately trying to gain legal-immigrant status. Also in 2009, he starred in Kari Skogland's critically acclaimed "Fifty Dead Men Walking", loosely based on the true story related in a best-selling book by Martin McGartland, of a young Northern Irishman who is recruited by the British police to infiltrate and spy on the Irish Republican Army, and who in the process ends up saving about 50 innocent lives.


title: Jim Sturgess

text: "Heartless", a film directed by Philip Ridley, premiered on 31 August 2009 at the London FrightFest Film Festival, a popular horror film festival. Sturgess appears as Jamie Morgan, a young man whose life has always been blighted by the large, heart-shaped port wine birthmark on his face and sells his soul to the devil. Jim Sturgess won the Best Actor Award at the 2010 Fantasporto Film Festival for his role. The film also won the Best Film Award and the Best Director Award for Philip Ridley.


title: Jim Sturgess

text: In 2010, Sturgess starred in the film "The Way Back", directed by Peter Weir and based on a true story. The character Sturgess plays is based on Sławomir Rawicz, a young Polish officer who escaped from a Russian gulag during World War II. Also in 2010, he did voice-over work for director Zack Snyder's 3-D animated feature film "", based on the children's book series "Guardians of Ga'Hoole" by Kathryn Lasky, in which he voiced Soren, the main protagonist of the film. He was originally set to voice Soren's brother Kludd, one of the main antagonists, but the part went to Ryan Kwanten.


title: Jim Sturgess

text: In May 2010, Sturgess signed on to appear in "One Day" (based on the novel of the same title by David Nicholls) with Anne Hathaway. The novel, about two students who meet on 15 July 1988, follows them on every 15 July for the next 20 years. Directed by Lone Scherfig, filming was completed on 17 September 2010 and had its theatrical release in August 2011.


title: Jim Sturgess

text: Also during 2010, he filmed "Upside Down". Filming was completed in May 2010 in Montreal, and as of early 2013 a limited international release was planned. Described as a "sci-fi romance", the film is the second full-length feature from writer and director Juan Solanas. It was originally slated for release in 2011, but delays pushed back the release date.


title: Jim Sturgess

text: A third film project in 2010 was "Promised Land", to be directed by Michael Winterbottom and, according to "Variety", would "recount the lead up to the 1948 partition of Palestine and the subsequent creation of the state of Israel". Sturgess was to star as a British officer hunting down the extremist Jewish factions. The film was later put on hiatus because funding could not be secured.


title: Jim Sturgess

text: In March and April 2011, filming took place for "Ashes", a film directed by Mat Whitecross. The picture has been described as a contemporary film noir thriller starring Ray Winstone and Lesley Manville along with Sturgess. Filmed in the Isle of Man, the production was partially funded by the band Coldplay, university friends of the director. Sturgess co-starred in "Cloud Atlas", which began filming in September 2011 and was released in October 2012.


title: Jim Sturgess

text: Sturgess worked on two films during 2012. Giuseppe Tornatore's "The Best Offer" (original title 'La Migliore Offerta') was filmed during the spring in Prague, Vienna, and several cities in Italy. Co-starring Geoffrey Rush and Sylvia Hoeks, the film went on to win the David di Donatello Award for Best Film. In the autumn, Sturgess went to Los Angeles to film "Electric Slide", directed by Tristan Patterson and co-starring Isabel Lucas and Chloe Sevigny. An official selection of the Tribeca Film Festival, it premiered there in 2014 as part of the Viewpoint selections.


title: Jim Sturgess

text: In the last half of 2013, Sturgess worked in three films. The first was "Stonehearst Asylum", co-starring Kate Beckinsale and directed by Brad Anderson, in the summer. Loosely based on the short story "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" by Edgar Allan Poe, Sturgess stars as a medical school graduate who visits an asylum for the insane. The film was released in October 2014. "London Fields", based on the novel by Martin Amis, was next, filmed in London and co-starring Amber Heard and Billy Bob Thornton. The picture is the first feature film directed by Mathew Cullen. After that, "Kidnapping Freddy Heineken" was filmed in Belgium and New Orleans. Directed by Daniel Alfredson and co-starring Sam Worthington and Anthony Hopkins, filming finished before the end of the year. It was released in 2015. Sturgess portrayed Dutch criminal Cor van Hout.


title: Jim Sturgess

text: Sturgess has been writing and performing his own music since the age of 15. He has appeared in the London music scene for many years in bands such as Saint Faith and Dilated Spies. He has also written music for some of his films, including two tracks that he wrote and performed for "Crossing Over", and he collaborated with director Philip Ridley on three tracks that appeared in the film "Heartless". Mickey O'Brien, his ex girlfriend, was the composer of the trailer track "Panic And Magic" and Jim provided the vocals.


title: Jim Sturgess

text: In 2016, he released five exclusive demos with his band Tragic Toys, to raise funds for a friend with an aggressive form of multiple sclerosis. The music for these demos were written by ex-girlfriend and La Roux member Mickey O'Brien and Jim provided the vocals.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: The Battle at Lake Changjin II, also known as Water Gate Bridge, is a 2022 Chinese war film and the sequel to "The Battle at Lake Changjin" (2021). It was directed and produced by Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark, and Dante Lam and stars Wu Jing, Jackson Yee, and Duan Yihong. The film commemorates the 100th Anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party and is based on the historical fighting at Funchilin Pass () during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: The film was released on 1 February 2022 (Chinese New Year) and grossed $626 million in China, making it the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2022.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: The file opens with a recap of scenes from The Battle at Lake Changjin, introducing the main characters from that film and their earlier actions. After fighting at Sinhung-ni, the Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA)'s 7th Company arrives at a location 12km from Hagaru-ri where it meets elements of the 20th Corps and the artillery battalion commanded by Commander Yang, preparing to attack the airfield and American 1st Marine Division supply base at Hagaru-ri. The PVA units drive captured American vehicles and use captured equipment.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: The film jumps to the Sea of Japan where Douglas A-1 Skyraiders launch from U.S. aircraft carriers to attack PVA units advancing on Hagaru-ri from nine directions. The 7th Company is then strafed by United States Navy Vought F4U Corsairs, but they move on to a different target inflicting no casualties. 7th Company commander Wu Qianli realises the planes intend to attack the artillery battalion and moves his men forward. The scene then shifts to the artillery battalion column advancing in captured U.S. trucks towing artillery pieces which is then attacked by the Corsairs inflicting "maximum damage" on the column, destroying all the guns. The 7th Company arrives on the scene, Yang tells Qianli that all his captured guns have been destroyed, Qianli hands Yang a pistol and tells the 7th Company to go capture more guns 1.5km away. Yang then rallies his men to also go capture more guns.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: The scene then shifts to the U.S. perimeter at Hagaru-ri which is besieged by PVA forces. PVA soldiers thrown themselves onto a barbed wire fence so that their comrades can run over their backs to attack U.S. positions. PVA forces, including the 7th Company and the artillery battalion overrun the U.S. defenders, killing many of them. Ping He uses a Bazooka to destroy a U.S. machine gun position and the U.S. flag is blown into the sky. The artillery battalion then turns the captured artillery around to begin shelling the Hagaru-ri airfield. Qianli reclaims his pistol from Yang and then moves his unit forward to attack the airfield.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: The PVA attacks Hagaru-ri. 1st Marine Division commander Major general Oliver P. Smith is informed that that PVA are everywhere and coming in fast. The artillery battalion fires a creeping barrage ahead of the 7th Company. The Americans evacuate their hospital while Smith demands that the runway is kept open and he is put in contact with Tokyo. The scene then shifts to Tokyo where General Douglas MacArthur is attending a celebration. MacArthur receives a phone call from Smith who advises him that Hagaru-ri airfield is the rear line, that he lacks troops to hold the line and requests reinforcements to cover their withdrawal. MacArthur shouts "Smith this is war! Retreating is treason" and orders Smith to stop his retreat. The scene returns to Hagaru-ri where PVA artillery is now hitting the airfield and the rest of the base. A C-47 Skytrain is destroyed by artillery fire and Smith orders aircraft to use the road instead. Smith orders reinforcement of the Sumun Bridge and then orders a retreat from Hagaru-ri. Yang is wounded by U.S. artillery fire mangling his hand but alone manages to load and fire an artillery piece destroying an American gun. The Americans retreat under artillery fire as the PVA infantry overrun Hagaru-ri.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: The scene shifts to the PVA 9th Corps headquarters at Chengfang-dong. Song Shilun is informed that the Marines are retreating and that the only route is across the Sumun Bridge. Peng orders the 7th Company to disengage from the fighting at Hagaru-ri to block the U.S. retreat at Sumun Bridge. At Hagaru-ri the 7th Company is mopping up. Wu Wanli who was injured in the attack gives his blanket to a badly wounded American in the hospital. The PVA troops rest and recuperate while the commanders meet and count their casualties, Qianli receives the identity tags of the 78 men who have been killed and then leaves a lit cigarette as an offering in the snow.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: Qianli receives the order to advance to the Sumun Bridge and destroy it. Qianli's radio operator points out a destroyed U.S. helicopter and says that in the future China will have their own better planes and Qianli responds that it is just a matter of time. Qianli orders the 7th Company to get ready to move out.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: The scene shifts to The White House where President Harry S. Truman receives a telegram from MacArthur requesting use of atomic bombs to win the war. A voiceover from a 30 November press conference has Truman avoiding saying whether or not atomic bombs would be used.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: The 7th Company advances towards the Sumun Bridge in blizzard conditions that freeze their compass. The 7th Company arrives at the bridge to find the 9th Company attacking the U.S. forces and they join the attack, rescuing the 9th Company survivors but are forced to withdraw. The 7th and 9th Company soldiers tend their wounded and eat frozen canned food, while Qianli counts the dead. U.S. bombers attack the area with minimal effect. A 9th Company soldier recounts their attack on the bridge which caused slight damage. The U.S. forces repair the bridge and their defensive positions. The 7th and 9th Companies plan a new attack, the 9th Company commander says that they must destroy the bridge and then dies from an earlier wound.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: U.S. forces at the bridge inventory their weapons while armored reinforcements proceed toward the bridge. The U.S. commander, a Captain plans to draw the PVA onto the south end of the bridge and then destroy them. Qianli briefs both companies on the plan to attack the bridge from four different directions. Qianli tells Wanli to run free showing that he has earned his trust. The companies salute the sun looking north towards China and recite "Long live the People's Republic of China" before splitting up for the attack.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: The four groups deploy unseen in the dark. A U.S. sniper shoots a PVA messenger and in turn is shot by a PVA sniper who also shoots out a searchlight on the north end of the bridge. Wanli throws a grenade which blows up the U.S. communications bunker starting the attack. A U.S. watchtower on the south end of the bridge is destroyed by a bazooka shot. The U.S. defenders go on full alert, but still plan to trap the PVA attackers. PVA forces blow a hole in a water pipe below the bridge and then fire a bazooka up the pipe causing an explosion at the pump house behind the bridge. Three PVA soldiers run up the pipe and take over the pump house, setting off explosions that kill U.S. soldiers who arrive to investigate. More PVA soldiers run up inside the pipe and more U.S soldiers enter the pump house, one of the U.S. soldiers throws a grenade down the pipe and a PVA soldier jumps on it and absorbs the blast. Another bazooka round is fired up the pipe killing more U.S. soldiers. A PVA soldier shoots out the lights in the pump house and more Americans are killed then more PVA soldiers emerge from the pipe. North of the bridge Qianli launches a solo attack, when the Americans try to shoot him with a recoilless rifle they hit their headquarters bunker. The Americans leave the HQ bunker after setting a demolition charges, Qianli stops more than ten unarmed U.S. troops, the demolition charge detonates and the Americans scatter while Qianli searches the bunker to try to capture the U.S. commander. PVA and U.S. soldiers fight for control of the pump house while PVA mortars destroy the U.S. ammunition storage areas. PVA forces overrun the U.S. positions on the north end of the bridge, while on the south end they spring their trap on the PVA attackers. Wanli blows up a machine gun position with a grenade, Yu Congrong pushes him out of the way of a sniper who shoots Yu, apparently killing him. The U.S. armored column approaches the north end of the bridge and a tank fires on the PVA who respond with mortar fire and an uphill infantry attack. Wanli, having moved through the U.S. trenches, tries to grenade a U.S. position but is stopped by the U.S. commander, they wrestle and the captain prevails until Qianli arrives and puts a gun to the captain's head, Wanli then puts the primed grenade inside the captain's jacket and it explodes killing him. The U.S. defenders at the north end of the bridge fire on the PVA with flamethrowers, killing several soldiers one of whom keeps firing until he burns to death. The PVA use mortars as bazookas and shoot a gas can causing petrol to spread on the ground, when the flamethrowers fire again they ignite the petrol killing many U.S. soldiers. The PVA soldiers in the pump house kill American soldiers on the roof. Wanli and Qianli rescue Yu who was concussed. A U.S. tanks advances across the bridge, the PVA troops at the south end try to destroy it with a captured recoilless rifle. Qianli launches a solo attack on the U.S. troops on and around the pump house, tackling a U.S. soldier on the roof and then falling inside. A PVA soldier runs from the pump house towards the tank carrying a satchel charge, he is repeatedly shot and the charge explodes disintegrating him. Inside the pump house Ping He is attacked by a U.S. soldier who impales him on a metal beam, but Qianli then garrots the American but is entangled in wreckage. Ping He takes another satchel charge and dives underneath the tank, his arm is crushed and he is dragged under the tank, he tells Qianli to fire and he does so igniting the satchel charge, destroying the tank and blowing a hole in the bridge. The PVA units advance on the bridge destroying the final U.S. positions, while Qianli is trapped in the pump house wreckage. Renewed tank fire disintegrates a PVA soldier as the vanguard of the 1st Marine Division approaches the north end of the bridge and then proceed to bombard the area. Qianli uses a signal whistle to order a retreat and the PVA withdraw. Wanli tries to rescue Qianli who tells him to leave, but he and another soldier extract Qianli and they escape down the pipe.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: The next morning some surviving 7th and 9th Company soldiers sleep in a valley near the bridge. Yu climbs a hill for a better radio signal when a flight of F4U Corsairs approaches the valley. The Corsairs drops napalm which falls short as Yu has fired on the planes drawing their attention to him, the planes follow Yu dropping more napalm and he is set alight and disintegrates in the fire. The planes return and strafe the valley pulverising several PVA soldiers and wounding many others, including Wanli. At the bridge the Marines repair the bridge and their fighting positions as they prepare to hold the bridge for three days to allow their forces to retreat across it. Below the bridge more PVA survivors strip the destroyed U.S. tank for supplies. The scene then ships to the Sea of Japan where a voiceover says that the 1st Marine Division is facing a major test. The scene then shifts to MacArthur in Tokyo who is informed of the damage to the Sumun Bridge, MacArthur says that he told Smith not to retreat, he is told that his atomic bomb plan caused controversy in the UN and he orders the Sumun Bridge be repaired.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: The PVA then put a captured U.S. M3 half-track back into service, while in a voiceover Qianli pledges to attack the bridge no matter how many times the U.S. repairs it. The wounded Mei Sheng is seen in a flashback with his wife where she tells him to come back alive. Qianli gives his commander's whistle to Wanli. Night falls and the U.S. forces at the bridge scan the area. In a voiceover Qianli orders Wanli to blow the whistle every three hours from either end of the bridge to distract the defenders. Qianli wraps himself in a parachute and approaches the bridge from the north. Meanwhile the U.S. commander orders that music is played over the bridge loudspeakers causing the defenders to relax. The 9th Company then attacks the bridge while above the bridge Mei sets the cargo in the half-track alight and drives it down towards the bridge as Qianli slides down the hill. Wanli tries to enter the pipe but finds it barricaded with barbed wire. The U.S. defenders fire on the half-track killing Mei but it explodes on the bridge. Qianli slides over U.S. positions and lands on the pump house roof, he slides off the roof and onto the bridge where he is surrounded by many U.S. soldiers who take no action because it would be "more exciting." Qianli tries to shoot an artillery shell he was carrying, but his pistol misfires, the Americans open fire, Qianli is hit numerous times and falls off the bridge but manages to shoot the shell's fuse causing a massive explosion that blows a hole in the bridge. Wanli recovers Qianli who dies in front of him. Wanli recalls Qianli's instruction to him to run free.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: At dawn Wanli is frozen to Qianli's body. The Americans patrol the area around the bridge, seeing Qianli's head they fire a flamethrower and his body is consumed in flames causing his body and Wanli to slide down the hill. The flamethrower operator reports that there are no more PVA below the bridge and the U.S. commander says its time to go home. Wanli regains consciousness from the heat of Qianli's burning body. Wanli looks up to see U.S. helicopters flying in bridge spans while a voiceover narrates how U.S. aircraft flew in spans to repair the bridge. The U.S. troops lay the bridge spans and vehicles begin crossing over the bridge. Smith crosses the bridge in a jeeep and sees a red scarf in a tree which he takes as a sign that the U.S. doesn't have much time to pull out. Truman is shown looking pensive in the Oval office. The scene then shifts to the evacuation of Hungnam on 24 December where U.S. forces described as the "10th Army" prepare to destroy rail lines and supplies that cannot be evacuated. A U.S. soldier is shown putting a bottle of whisky into the body bag of a dead soldier. Captions state: "The Battle of the Sumun Bridge was a typical penetrating attack into the depths of the U.S. defense. It had significant importance in cutting off the enemy's retreat, crashing the enemy's morale, and accelerating the course of the battle. This battle demonstrated our army's indomitable spirit in battle and the powerful will of Chinese people to defend Chinese nation's dignity!" Smith is shown paying his respects at a huge graveyard overlooking Hungnam.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: The PVA are shown quick marching past the bridge towards Hungnam, Wanli fires his carbine to draw their attention and is recognised as being from the 7th Company. At Hungnam demolition charges explode across the city as glum and wounded American troops look on from ships as they sail away. The PVA, including Wanli, are shown triumphantly running into the ruins of Hungnam on 25 December, reaching the beach where they wave red flags and cheer. Four jeeps containing PVA officers stop on a mountaintop. Song looks out over Lake Changjin, removes his cap and bows while other officers salute. Wanli takes a handful of dirt and wraps it in fabric. In a rear area PVA company commanders report their losses, among the artillery battalion only 107 out of 221 report for duty, while Wanli reports that of the 157 soldiers in the 7th Company only one reports for duty. Song stops and stares solemnly at Wanli and orders that a flag be brought. Song asks Wanli if he wishes for anything, Wanli replies that he wants to restore the 7th Company. Song presents Wanli with a flag and salutes him. The flag is then shown flying as Wanli holds an urn containing Qianli's ashes. Wanli imagines Qianli asking him about skipping stones across water. Wanli returns to his family village as the scene fades and the credits begin.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: "The Battle at Lake Changjin II" was filmed back-to-back with the preceding film "The Battle at Lake Changjin" in early 2021. According to Bona Film Group president and producer Yu Dong, the film would "complete the story of the 7th Company and make people see why they are called the 'steel 7th Company. The production was led by the film office of the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Most of the film was shot in early 2021 with two crews, who shot for a combined total of 210 days. Some scenes were reshot at Hengdian World Studios in late 2021.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: The film uses extensive special effects, including millions of RMB worth of white sand that was transported to Hengdian for use as fake snow. Actors also wore special makeup to simulate frostbite on the characters' faces.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: On 13 January 2022, it was announced that the film would be released on 1 February (Chinese New Year) as a Chinese New Year film.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: It was released in IMAX theaters and formed part of IMAX's second-highest-grossing Chinese New Year after 2021.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: Yu Dong suggested in an interview that the production company might release a six-hour director's cut combining material from both "The Battle at Lake Changjin" and its sequel.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: The movie had a ¥641 million ($100.7 million) debut day, for the second-biggest Chinese New Year opening day ever, approximately 35% below the record set by "Detective Chinatown 3". The film earned a 3 day total of $241 million and a 5 day total of $351 million, beating the original film in both respects. in the first week of the Chinese New Year holidays, the movie ended up grossing $398 million, with ¥981 million ($154 million) from its opening weekend. On its first two days in theaters, its average ticket price was between $9.00 and $10.00, lower than the average ticket price for rival films "Snipers" and "Dunk for Future", possibly because "The Battle at Lake Changjin II" was more widely shown in lower-tier cities with lower ticket prices. Grosses began to drop after the first weekend, from ¥288 million ($45 million) on Sunday to ¥189 million ($29.7 million) on its first Monday.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: The film has been rated with a 7.2 out of 10 and a 9.6 out of 10 on Chinese aggregator sites Douban and Maoyan respectively, compared to 7.4 and 9.5 for its predecessor.


title: The Battle at Lake Changjin II

text: Scott Mendelson of "Forbes" called the film a just action' flick" and said it was patriotic but "not quite nationalistic or terribly jingoistic".


title: Macy Gray

text: Natalie Renée McIntyre (born September 6, 1967), known by her stage name Macy Gray, is an American R&B and soul singer and actress. She is known for her distinctive raspy voice and a singing style heavily influenced by Billie Holiday.


title: Macy Gray

text: Gray has released ten studio albums, and received five Grammy Award nominations, winning one. She has appeared in a number of films, including "Training Day", "Spider-Man", "Scary Movie 3", "Lackawanna Blues", "Idlewild", "For Colored Girls", and "The Paperboy". Gray is best known for her international hit single "I Try", taken from her multi-platinum debut album "On How Life Is".


title: Macy Gray

text: Natalie McIntyre was born in Canton, Ohio, the daughter of Laura McIntyre, a math schoolteacher, and Otis Jones . Her stepfather was a steelworker, and her sister is a biology teacher. She has a younger brother, Nate, who owns a gym in West Philadelphia and was featured on the season five finale of "Queer Eye". She began piano lessons at age seven. A childhood bicycle mishap resulted in her noticing a mailbox of a man named Macy Gray; she used the name in stories she wrote and later decided to use it as her stage name. She was late developing and did not learn to hold conversation until just before her tenth birthday.


title: Macy Gray

text: Gray attended school with Brian Warner (later known as musician Marilyn Manson) although they did not know each other. She attended more than one high school, including a boarding school which asked her to leave due to her behavior.


title: Macy Gray

text: While attending the University of Southern California, she agreed to write songs for a friend. A demo session was scheduled for the songs to be recorded by another singer, but the vocalist failed to appear, so Gray recorded them herself.