Latest news with #Chaplin
The Age
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
The US says this Australian writer was expelled because of a drug lie. He's not the first
A years-long legal battle followed. In 1975, Lennon triumphed. While the government had attributed its attempt to expel Lennon to his cannabis conviction, documents submitted to the court suggested the Nixon administration had been motivated by a fear Lennon could promote opposition to the president. Judge Irving Kaufman would have none of it. 'The courts will not condone selective deportation based upon secret political grounds,' he ruled. Chaplin's exile was on flimsy grounds, too. Scott Eyman, who wrote a book on Chaplin's stoush with the US government, told NPR that authorities had no legal grounds to revoke the actor's entry permit because he had not committed a crime. 'What was not stated and what Chaplin did not know was that if he had turned around and come back and demanded a hearing to get back his re-entry permit, they would have had to give it to him,' Eyman said. 'So they actually had no legal justification for excluding him from coming back to the country.' But times – and visa rules – have changed. ANU international law professor Donald Rothwell told the ABC that US border officials have complete discretion over whether to allow someone into the country, whether or not they hold a valid visa or visa waiver. Loading 'They don't have to give a reason, and there is very little ability for an Australian traveller to challenge that,' Rothwell said. Along the way, they can search phones and luggage and detain people without providing access to a lawyer. The system is not new, or particularly different to Australia's border regime, but the way in which it is being used has shifted. Cases of Australians being denied entry to the US are getting coverage they have never had before. There was the man who told this masthead's Traveller in April he had been sent home from New York for taking a circuitous route to the US (which he said he did because it was cheaper). And a former NSW police officer travelling to Hawaii to visit her American husband was expelled in May for taking three suitcases, which the Daily Mail reported made officers suspicious she would stay longer than allowed in the country. Whether these deportations were caused by the Trump administration's aggressive new approach to screening remains unclear. What is obvious is that its rhetoric has shifted. The US Department of Homeland Security issued a statement on social media questioning the circumstances of the marriage of the former police officer who had travelled to Hawaii, Nikki Saroukos. The department said Saroukos met her husband the same day her former partner left her, and that they had married one month later. 'I never want to return back to the United States,' Saroukos said, even before the statement was issued. Loading It has barely dented other travellers' appetite to go stateside. Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows 56,770 Australians travelled to the US in April 2025, down from 60,520 in April 2024. Kitchen, the writer who was denied entry, says the US government has immense discretion that it uses to keep out people it doesn't like. 'The question [on the visa waiver application] asks if you've consumed illicit drugs in the past,' Kitchen said. 'If every Australian flying into Los Angeles International Airport answered honestly, the lines would get very short, very quickly.' Chaplin's exile deeply hurt the star, who never returned to the heights of success he had enjoyed in America. He would not go back to the country for 20 years, but was greeted as a hero with a 12-minute standing ovation at the 1972 Academy Awards. Loading Lennon stayed in America and was slain five years later. Kitchen is back with his family in Castlemaine, north-west of Melbourne, and has achieved a dream of many young writers: The New Yorker published his account of his deportation.
Sydney Morning Herald
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
The US says this Australian writer was expelled because of a drug lie. He's not the first
A years-long legal battle followed. In 1975, Lennon triumphed. While the government had attributed its attempt to expel Lennon to his cannabis conviction, documents submitted to the court suggested the Nixon administration had been motivated by a fear Lennon could promote opposition to the president. Judge Irving Kaufman would have none of it. 'The courts will not condone selective deportation based upon secret political grounds,' he ruled. Chaplin's exile was on flimsy grounds, too. Scott Eyman, who wrote a book on Chaplin's stoush with the US government, told NPR that authorities had no legal grounds to revoke the actor's entry permit because he had not committed a crime. 'What was not stated and what Chaplin did not know was that if he had turned around and come back and demanded a hearing to get back his re-entry permit, they would have had to give it to him,' Eyman said. 'So they actually had no legal justification for excluding him from coming back to the country.' But times – and visa rules – have changed. ANU international law professor Donald Rothwell told the ABC that US border officials have complete discretion over whether to allow someone into the country, whether or not they hold a valid visa or visa waiver. Loading 'They don't have to give a reason, and there is very little ability for an Australian traveller to challenge that,' Rothwell said. Along the way, they can search phones and luggage and detain people without providing access to a lawyer. The system is not new, or particularly different to Australia's border regime, but the way in which it is being used has shifted. Cases of Australians being denied entry to the US are getting coverage they have never had before. There was the man who told this masthead's Traveller in April he had been sent home from New York for taking a circuitous route to the US (which he said he did because it was cheaper). And a former NSW police officer travelling to Hawaii to visit her American husband was expelled in May for taking three suitcases, which the Daily Mail reported made officers suspicious she would stay longer than allowed in the country. Whether these deportations were caused by the Trump administration's aggressive new approach to screening remains unclear. What is obvious is that its rhetoric has shifted. The US Department of Homeland Security issued a statement on social media questioning the circumstances of the marriage of the former police officer who had travelled to Hawaii, Nikki Saroukos. The department said Saroukos met her husband the same day her former partner left her, and that they had married one month later. 'I never want to return back to the United States,' Saroukos said, even before the statement was issued. Loading It has barely dented other travellers' appetite to go stateside. Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows 56,770 Australians travelled to the US in April 2025, down from 60,520 in April 2024. Kitchen, the writer who was denied entry, says the US government has immense discretion that it uses to keep out people it doesn't like. 'The question [on the visa waiver application] asks if you've consumed illicit drugs in the past,' Kitchen said. 'If every Australian flying into Los Angeles International Airport answered honestly, the lines would get very short, very quickly.' Chaplin's exile deeply hurt the star, who never returned to the heights of success he had enjoyed in America. He would not go back to the country for 20 years, but was greeted as a hero with a 12-minute standing ovation at the 1972 Academy Awards. Loading Lennon stayed in America and was slain five years later. Kitchen is back with his family in Castlemaine, north-west of Melbourne, and has achieved a dream of many young writers: The New Yorker published his account of his deportation.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kid Koala Talks Processing Grief Through ‘Space Cadet' as His Debut Feature Sells Wide: ‘People Keep Telling Me it Made Them Cry' (EXCLUSIVE)
'Space Cadet' is ready for launch. The animated feature – screening in Annecy's Contrechamp section – has shot for the stars in multiple territories for Urban Sales, selling to BAC Films (France), Filmin and Vercine (Spain) Benelux – Periscoop (The Netherlands), JEF (Belgium), Eksystent (Germany), Filmladen (Austria), Folkets Bio (Sweden), Angel Films (Denmark), Fivia (Ex Yugoslavia), Alfazbet (Japan), Hope Content (Taiwan) and Aeon Entertainment (Vietnam). More from Variety Miyu Backs Bittersweet Coming-of-Age Tale 'We Are Aliens' From Music Video Maestro Kohei Kadowaki (EXCLUSIVE) 'Odd Taxi's' Baku Kinoshita on His Melancholic Feature Debut 'The Last Blossom,' Premiering in Annecy Sentient Acorns, Badass Grandmas and Underwater Knights Feature Among MIFA's 2025 Feature Pitches 'People keep telling me it made them cry,' admitted director Eric San, better known as Canadian scratch DJ Kid Koala. The story is based on his own graphic novel, which he wrote back in 2009, following his grandmother's passing. 'She enjoyed Charlie Chaplin films. That's one of my fondest childhood memories: watching Chaplin with her. She would come visit us in Canada and didn't speak a word of English. These were the only movies we could share together.' At the time of her death, he was also expecting the arrival of his first daughter. 'My brain literally went in two different directions. I kept reminiscing about the times I'd spent with my grandparents and my parents, these special moments that really shaped my personality and my outlook on the world. Then I was also thinking about my daughter and the things I could share with her,' he recalled. 'When people talk to me about the movie, they mention sadness, but I feel it's more bittersweet. I value that I got to spend all that time with my grandmother and all the profound things she taught me.' Funnily enough, in a film dedicated to 'our grandparents,' they are nowhere to be found. Instead, little Celeste spends her days with a kind guardian robot. Her mum is an astronaut, away on dangerous missions. When Celeste grows up, she also decides to reach for the moon, but her old robot needs to stay on Earth. 'Watching Chaplin with my grandmother inspired me to learn about film production and art, but it also made her laugh, and I'd never seen that before. She was quite stoic, or maybe just a little shy. Even at six years old, I remember thinking: 'When I grow up, I want to create this kind of energy in a room.' My career has taken different courses, but at its heart, there's this idea of sharing fun and emotion, and creativity, and bringing people together.' As Kid Koala, he has toured with Radiohead, the Beastie Boys and Arcade Fire, he's contributed to soundtracks for 'The Great Gatsby' and 'Baby Driver' and composed music for Cartoon Network, Sesame Street and Adult Swim. Music is also important in his dialogue-free film. 'It deals with cycles of generations, and there are flashbacks allowing you to understand the special bond between Celeste and her guardian robot. I wanted them to feel nostalgic. I went back to my first instrument, which was piano.' In the past, he accompanied the original graphic novel with an album as well. 'My daughter had just been born, and her crib was just six feet away from my piano. I recorded it with headphones: these were essentially lullabies. I remember writing it with my right hand and holding her in my left, trying to soothe her. A lot of these musical cues were brought into the film.' He felt the songs in 'Space Cadet' needed to be 'comforting moments,' and came up with new versions of some established classics. He also had some help. 'I reached out to literally my shortlist of favorite singers on the planet. Karen O, Emiliana Torrini, Trixie Whitley, Martha Wainwright, Meaghan Smith and Ladybug Mecca from Digable Planets.' Celebrating life's little moments was a priority in the story. 'My older daughter just graduated from high school this week, and I was so glad I could be there for that. It was a big milestone. But looking back on my childhood, it was some of these days that my parents don't even remember that really stand out.' He added: 'The idea of every moment being a gift is something I've always tried to remember, but the operative word was 'space.' I'm a scratch DJ – it's easy for me to fill every second with noise. But I needed to give space to the story and music, and space to the viewers for them to think about their own childhood.' The film marks a 'full circle' moment for San. After graduating from high school, he applied to NYU, thinking about pursuing animation. That dream had to wait. 'I was accepted, but it was very expensive for us at the time. I chose not to pursue it. Instead, I studied to become an elementary school teacher. Later, even when I signed my first record deal, I would still draw my album covers and create comic books.' Ginette Petit, who produced 'Space Cadet' for Les Films Outsiders with Nathalie Bissonnette – with Mylène Chollet writing the script – came to his tour and bought the book. 'Two weeks later, she reached out, saying: 'I want to turn it into a movie.' I never expected it to happen.' San is currently showing the film at Annecy, where 'all these sensitive, introverted animators finally get to cut loose, yelling and throwing paper airplanes at the screen.' But it might not be a one-off experience. 'I would like to maybe follow a different character within the same universe. So many of my stories seem quite fantastic – a mosquito plays clarinet, moves to the big city and tries to join the orchestra – but I was also thinking about 'Space Cadet's' delivery bot. It delivers parcels every day and gets an insight into so many lives.' Before that happens, he hopes his film, and the story it tells, will help people process grief. Just like it helped him. 'When I was teaching, our class pet bunny had passed away, and the whole class was just wrecked. Everybody was crying. We decided to write, or draw, what that bunny meant to us. The kids were able to grieve through this project. That's in the DNA of the film,' he noted. 'My daughter had a fish once, and at one point, it started to swim strangely. I basically told her: 'I don't think it's gonna be with us for much longer.' She grabbed her little digital camera and started taking pictures of this sick fish. She said: 'I need to remember. '' 'Kids have high emotional intelligence: when it comes to things like death, they understand it. It's the adults who get nervous, because they don't want to rain on the parade of childhood. But death is a part of life.' 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CTV News
09-06-2025
- CTV News
Man killed in single-vehicle rollover north of Chaplin, Sask.
An RCMP cruiser can be seen in this file photo. The Saskatchewan RCMP says a man was killed early Saturday morning in a single-vehicle rollover north of Chaplin, Sask. Emergency crews were called to a rural road around 1:15 a.m. Saturday, an RCMP news release said. The sole occupant of the vehicle, a man who is not from Canada, was pronounced dead at the scene, the release said. RCMP said the man's family has been notified and that no additional details about him will be released. The incident remains under investigation. Chaplin, Sask. is about 154 kilometres west of Regina.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
School district 11 voters reject second budget at referendum
Voters in regional school district 11 defeated a second budget proposal for 2025-2026. The budget of $7,330,553 was rejected by a vote of 281 in opposition to 257 in favor. The regional budget includes the operation of the Parish Hill Middle/High School and tuition and transportation for outsourced programming. One town in the district actually had a majority in favor of the budget, but not a significant enough number to offset the defeat in both of the other two towns. Scotland residents supported the budget by a 51 in favor to 44 against. Chaplin, however, turned down the budget down with 144 voters opposed to it, and 114 accepting it. Hampton very narrowly defeated the budget, by a vote of 93 against to 92 for it. This second budget represented an increase of 2.88% over the 2024-2025 approved budget of $7,125,171. The original budget proposal for 2025-2026, with a bottom line of $7,386,184, was rejected by voters at a district-wide referendum held on May 6. Chaplin voters denied passage by 349 to 217; Hampton shot it down by 162 to 104; and Scotland residents narrowly defeated it by 47 to 37. Before sending the revised bottom line to voters at the second vote, regional school district 11 school board members changed the administrative structure to streamline the budget and eliminated under-enrolled sports programs. 'We are frustrated the budget did not pass, especially in that any budget failure harms children and families,' regional school district 11 Superintendent Andrew Skarzynski said. 'We have already put forth a very conservative budget that is significantly lower than the state average, including the elimination of a school administrator position.' The board of education will now draft a third budget proposal for another referendum vote this summer. 'We will attempt to identify any further cost savings, including those areas not previously reduced, and produce another budget,' Skarzynski said.
