Palm Springs Film Festival Canceled As Covid Surge Intensifies; Was Set To Start January 7

LOS ANGELES -- “This Is Us,” “black-ish” and “Better Call Saul” are among the shows to be saluted at the Paley Center for Media’s annual TV festival, returning to live events after two years of pandemic-caused virtual editions.The trio of shows, all set to end this year, will be among 13 others whose casts and creators will be showcased at the 39th annual PaleyFest LA, running from April 2-10 in Los Angeles. A total of 10 events are planned.“We are so excited to be returning in person to the Dolby Theatre," said Maureen J.

In what may be the first sign of the beginning of the end of the Omicron surge in Los Angeles, the 7-day average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus has fallen dramatically in the past week. Test positivity is considered a better measure of the rate of spread than raw case counts because it is a percentage that is averaged over a week’s time.

Gilles Meunier, the international television distribution and programming executive who worked at France’s TF1 and Canal+ and was a mainstay at festivals and conferences from NATPE to Mipcom and the Los Angeles Screenings, has died.

Los Angeles Public Health officials reported a total of 39 deaths today, the highest number of Covid-related new deaths since September 22nd. The deaths are likely the result of the rise in case and hospitalization numbers in December, according to officials. Deaths related to the impact of the more recent record number of cases in the county will not show up for weeks, given that it is a lagging indicator.

With infections still surging, Los Angeles County’s cumulative number of Covid cases throughout the pandemic surpassed the 2 million mark today, with 43,582 new cases confirmed. Those new cases lifted the county’s cumulative case total to 2,010,964 since the pandemic began. Daily cases in the county set an all-time high on Sunday at 45,584.

Jane Alsobrook, a marketing and publicity specialist who coordinated the U.S. campaigns for numerous successful independent and foreign films in the 1970s and 1980s, has died. She was 78.

This is the terrifying moment a pilot was rescued from a light aircraft that crash landed on a railway line - just seconds before a train smashed through the wreckage.

The adulation for Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” continues. After winning Best Film from both the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the New York Film Critics Circle, Japan’s submission for the International Film Oscar dominated the winner’s list from the National Society of Critics.

California Governor Gavin Newsom today announced he has activated the California National Guard to support local communities with additional testing facilities and capacity amid the surge in Covid cases driven by the Omicron variant.

While the red carpet premiere for the fifth film in the Scream franchise was scheduled to take place next Tuesday, January 11, it has been canceled due to Covid safety concerns, Deadline has confirmed.

HBO Max has canceled the January 8 red carpet Los Angeles premiere of James Gunn’s anticipated HBO Max series Peacemaker amid a surge of the Omicron variant. We hear the decision was made before the holidays out of an abundance of caution as Covid cases skyrocketed.

The Delta and Omicron variants were driving a “dual surge” in Covid-related infections in Los Angeles today, according to health officials. That led to the county reporting 16,510 new cases in the past 24 hours, up 91% over the course of one week. It’s the highest daily case count since January 6 of this year, according to county data and one also of the highest daily case counts of the entire pandemic.

Los Angeles County reported 7,425 new cases of Covid and nine additional deaths on Monday. But those numbers were artificially low due to reporting delays from the holiday weekend.

Joey King has the most festive nails, right in time for Christmas!

Slamdance Film Festival is going completely virtual in 2022. The start of the festival will be delayed by a week and now run from January 27 till February 6.W Magazine’s Best Performances party was postponed.