Filming wraps on movie ‘Winter Harvest’ as Iowans head next to Italy (AUDIO)

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

A filmmaker who was born in Italy and now calls Iowa home says shooting should wrap today in Oskaloosa on the first round of filming on his latest movie.
Max Leonida, the Film Artist-in-Residence at William Penn University, says after spending much of his life in his native country and then a decade in Los Angeles, he’s thrilled to be directing his latest work, “Winter Harvest,” in the Hawkeye State, what he calls a viable location for filmmakers.
“Working in such a beautiful community where everybody is so supportive,” Leonida says, “we realized that basically filming over here, even if there’s not a real tax incentive, and we can work on that in the future, we can go to the legislators and try to rebuild some kind of film commission and tax rebate so that we can attract other production here.”
A movie that costs $2-million to make in Iowa, he says, would’ve run $15- or $20-million in Hollywood. Some scenes were shot in Ottumwa, with others in Des Moines, including at the Iowa Capitol, though the majority of the three weeks of filming was in Oskaloosa.
The 54-year-old Leonida tells Radio Iowa they’ll be taking a break for the next few weeks, then will resume filming in Italy for another month or so. Many local Iowans and William Penn students and staff are being used in the film, as actors, extras and as members of the crew.
“Some of them were so committed, so passionate and overachieving on the set that we decided to bring some of them with us in Italy. How about that?” Leonida says. “How many universities can claim that they’re making a feature film and bringing the students overseas, not for an internship, for a real job? I think it’s pretty cool.”
Leonida is passionate about how he and his wife became U.S. citizens in Iowa in 2022. He says he intends to return to Oskaloosa with his team to begin editing and producing the film.
“Students will be exposed to some high level professionals working on the editing, and usually post-production, the whole process takes two or three months, so let’s say January, February, March,” Leonida says, “so by April, we should be done with the first good final cut.”
The film is set in the early 1980s and follows the true story of an American military general who’s kidnapped by an Italian terrorist group. Leonida has directed 28 previous films and says he got his start in the movies as a ten-year-old boy in Milan with a Super 8 camera.
“That was not even a movie, actually. It was like, that was my crappy stuff that I was doing because I was in love with the job, of course, and I was willing to be a storyteller,” Leonida says, laughing. “So I involved all my friends, my sister, and I was doing some very poor and bad stuff, but that’s my beginning actually.”
Leonida plans to enter “Winter Harvest” in a variety of international film festivals, including Cannes, and intends to have the world premiere in Iowa in mid-2025.
Hear Matt Kelley’s full interview with director Max Leonida below:

Woman says tourists are told ‘big lie’ about Lanzarote holidays

Travel

As the UK endures another bout of dreary weather, many are dreaming of escaping to sunnier climates.The temptation to jet off to a warmer destination is strong, especially when faced with the relentless British rain. One holidaymaker has just returned from Lanzarote with an important tip for those considering a winter getaway to the island.Tasha Penney, who goes by @tashapenney_ on TikTok, advises travellers not to put too much faith in weather apps when it comes to Lanzarote’s climate. In her revealing video, she said: “If you’re coming to Lanzarote, and you’ve been worried about the weather, because when you look up online about Lanzarote weather, it always says windy, cloudy, overcast.”It pretty much says the weather’s like not great most of the time. Don’t be worried, because it’s all a big lie.”We’ve been here for three days and, every day, it’s said it’s going to be like 24C, cloudy. It actually predicted rain yesterday. None of the times we’ve had any of that. It’s been clear blue skies, the clouds are like that.”Further dispelling doubts, Tasha mentions that the actual temperatures felt much higher than forecasted, reassuring potential visitors that they needn’t fret over the island’s weather. When it came to the weather, she couldn’t complain at all.Her video has since gone viral, racking up hundreds of views and prompting numerous comments from viewers, many of whom are contemplating a Lanzarote holiday later this year.Sunseekers have shared their love for Lanzarote, calling it the perfect year-round getaway. One enthusiast exclaimed: “Lanzarote is great all year around. My second home.”Echoing this sentiment, another said: “I was here for a week. It was roasting, overcast three days, sunny four. Probs it was highest 30.”Adding to the island’s praise, a third person mentioned: “I’m going with my best friend in December to break up the cold. Can’t wait.”A fourth holidaymaker chimed in from the island, writing: “Here now and it’s lush. It’s rained a little bit, usually late at night or for less than a minute, but it’s been so hot.”The allure of Lanzarote, nestled in the picturesque Canary Islands, isn’t surprising considering its reputation as a superb winter sun destination. The island typically boasts a pleasant average temperature of 20C in January, rarely dipping below a comfortable 16C.What’s more, trips there are pretty affordable. To save money, you can either book a package deal or find cheap flights and cater for yourself.

Ryanair issues urgent warning to everyone travelling from the UK today

Travel

Ryanair has warned those travelling to and from the UK today (October 18). The low-cost airline has shared a travel update from its website due to weather conditions.According to its website, heavy fog could cause “potential disruptions.” The Met Office has also issued a weather warning for those living in the East Midlands, East of England, London and South East, South West England, and West Midlands.Those travelling today have been advised to check travel conditions before leaving home and allow extra journey time.”Affected passengers will be notified, and any passengers travelling to/from the UK on Friday, October 18, should check their Ryanair app for the latest updates on their flight”, according to the airline’s website.Ryanair continued: “We regret any inconvenience caused to passengers by these weather conditions, which are outside of Ryanair’s control and affect all airlines operating to/from the UK on Friday, October 18.”However, this isn’t the only travel delay from Ryanair. The ongoing staff shortages across Europe are due to repeated air traffic control (ATC) disruptions.The airline has apologised to its customers, which is affecting all European airlines. According to Ryanair: “ATC services, which have had the benefit of no French ATC strike disruption this summer, continue to underperform (despite flight volumes being five percent behind 2019 levels) with repeated ‘staff shortages’.”On Friday, October 18, Ryanair’s first wave departures were again delayed due to ATC “staff shortages”. These repeated flight delays due to ATC mismanagement are unacceptable.”We apologise to our passengers for these repeated ATC flight delays which are deeply regrettable but beyond Ryanair’s control. We encourage passengers to visit atcruinedourholiday.com and demand that the EU Commission take urgent action to improve Europe’s ATC system.”Since last year, there have been several days of ATC strikes, making airlines cancel thousands of EU overflights.Ryanair said: “These French ATC strikes have delayed/cancelled the flights of over 1.2 million airline passengers.”

Tiny Bookshop is a relaxing escape for book lovers

Arts & Culture, Books

Haven’t we all dreamed about running away? Tossing all of your responsibilities into the bin, emptying your bank account, burning off your fingerprints and vanishing into the unknown? Maybe that’s just me. Still, whether it be a desire for adventure, longing for a more peaceful existence or the need to live in a place lacking security cameras, I’m sure the thought has crossed all of our minds at least once.
Tiny Bookshop

Developer: Neoludic Games
Publisher: Skystone Games
Release: 2025
Download the demo on: Steam

My personal ‘get away daydream’ usually revolves around returning to mid Wales (though, having discovered the joy of living near amenities, I doubt I ever will). I’m even really sure what I’d do when I go there. I’ve always wondered whether I’d be good at running a bookshop, but I’d definitely end up spending more time reading the books than selling them. Thankfully, Tiny Bookshop lets me live out this dream without having to change a single thing about my life. It even begins with you leaving your old life behind to sell pre-owned books out of a wagon in the town of Bookstonbury-by-the-sea. A win for nominative determinism if ever there was one.

Watch on YouTube
Selling books is serious business though; you can’t simply fill your shelves with fantasy novels and watch them fly off the shelves. There are seven different genres you can stock, and each book takes up one precious space on your shelves. In the beginning, you can stock 40 books and, while that may sound like a lot, deciding how much of each genre to place on your shelves soon becomes a careful balancing act. Due to this, you’ll need to invest in some book-selling strategy. At first it’s a good idea to stock your shelves evenly, but overtime you’ll become more specific with your choices, as the more you sell, the more you learn about which genres appeal to Bookstonbury’s residents.
Your customer’s tastes will differ depending on where you set up the shop. I found the beach to be the perfect place for selling fantasy and kids books (so much so I sold out), while the customers at the harbour preferred travel books. Their clothes are also a good indicator about what genres a customer will prefer; someone wearing a brown shirt and red shorts, for example, tells me they’re in the market for the classics and crime novels, as those are the colours assigned to those two genres. Managing your stock and figuring out which genres to sell where is a fun experience as it feels like you’re solving a little mystery with every new location you visit.

Image credit: Eurogamer/neoludic games

You’re not just sitting back and watching your customers purchase books, though. Every location in Bookstonbury comes with its own set of challenges – whether it’s selling a certain number of books specifically to sailors or transporting furniture to the flea market for a regular customer. Every so often a customer will also need help picking out a book; here you’ll be given a description of what they’re looking for, hinting at the specific genre and possibly a plot element, to help make your decision. It was through this that I discovered, rather than all being silly inventions, many of the books you sell in Tiny Bookshop are real world titles. It’s a lovely little touch and, if you’re an avid reader, may also help you when it comes to making a recommendation.
That said, the books don’t just need selling in Tiny Bookshop – they also need to balance. Financially. Each location has a parking fee and restocking your shelves is achieved through buying boxes of pre-owned books through the local newspaper. However, you won’t know how many books you’ll receive or even the genre in some cases, so one purchase can easily change your plans for the next day. If you found yourself inundated with fact books, for example, you may forgo buying more books to pay a higher parking fee at a location frequented by non-fiction lovers instead. There’s also a variety of decorations you can purchase for your wagon – from fairy lights to a raw fish for some reason… Some may even increase the likelihood of customers buying a specific genre, but be warned: these decorations can also negatively affect another genre and increase your parking fee.

Image credit: Eurogamer/neoludic games

I first played Tiny Bookshop back at EGX 2022 and am impressed to see how the game has developed since then. The act of book selling is far more engaging more thanks to its additional systems, and the ability to move around the locations you visit, finding objects or talking to characters, make the town of Bookstonbury feel far more alive. Tiny Bookshop promises to be a wonderfully relaxing escape for anyone who loves the written word or dreamed about opening a bookshop, especially since you don’t have to worry about real-world financial failure.

‘The Apprentice’ movie review: explosive or exploitative?

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

(Credits: Far Out / Scythia Films) Fri 18 October 2024 9:11, UK Ali Abbasi – ‘The Apprentice’ When I heard that Ali Abbasi was directing a Donald Trump biopic, I must admit, I was slightly conflicted. I hadn’t gotten along too well with his 2022 film Holy Spider and worried that The Apprentice might toe a similar line of using something politically relevant for entertainment value without really saying anything about the subject matter. But after Trump personally filed for a cease and desist on the film’s release, I wondered whether I could be wrong. The million-dollar question was: how would they portray the former and potential future president of the United States?The danger with making a film like this is that it could be too sympathetic to Trump, and when I first saw Sebastian Stan on screen, I worried that this could be the case. We first see him as an anxious and pathetic wannabe, desperate to sit with the cool kids in Manhattan’s exclusive clubs but throwing up in the back of a taxi after barely two drinks. His father is overbearing, he’s the butt of every joke, and, ultimately, the antithesis of all he aspires to be.However, after a chance meeting with ruthless New York attorney Roy Cohn (played by Jeremy Strong), Trump’s luck starts to change. And it is this relationship that the film most concerns itself with, observing the exchange of power between both men and the creation of evil as Trump evolves from a snivelling schoolboy to scum of the earth.Strong’s performance is beautifully contradictory; he is someone we first respect out of fear as we watch him proudly share his golden rules of tax evasion and dirty manipulation tactics. Cohn is a cut-throat killer; no method is off limits, and when we see his underground basement of illicitly obtained recordings of public officials admitting to personal affairs and bribery, we understand precisely the kind of lawyer he is. Upon seeing this room, Trump stammers, “But… isn’t that illegal?” Cohn throws his hands up in the air as if to say, “My dear boy, that is the point!” But we eventually grow to pity him so deeply as his pain becomes the only human aspect of the film, slowly watching a man whose humanity has been hollowed out by a world that sucked up his one gift, left with no one standing in his corner. But make no mistake, the man is still a monster, but a monster that we can better understand. We see his vulnerabilities laid out in the open as the public mercilessly picks apart and harasses him about his sexuality, back-tracking on the steely image he once had. Partial redemption is possible for some, but not for Trump.(Credits: Far Out / StudioCanal)As their friendship deepens, Cohn teaches Trump (my computer, somewhat appropriately, keeps auto-correcting his name to trauma) how to further climb the slippery ropes of Manhattan real estate and schmooze his way up the social ladder, marrying Ivanka at the beginning of his moral demise, we slowly begin to see the semblance of the Trump we know today. Stan is constantly evolving and workshopping his portrayal of Trump throughout the film, gradually building the strange collections of quirks and tics that we know him by today.As Trump conquers the grimy monopoly board of over-bearing New York sky-scrapers, we see the growth of his own narcissism and the dangerous mentality that has terrorised a nation of people: a man who is unable to see the truth and surrounds himself with delusion and people who won’t say no to his childish demands. His brother is an addict, and Trump turns him away when he begs for help. He cruelly tells his wife that he isn’t attracted to her anymore and then sexually assaults her. He dismisses Cohn and his friendship, believing himself to be above his company after discovering he has AIDS. And here is where the film began to play on my mind. While the behaviour on display of Trump is truly despicable, the movie aligns itself with him the whole time. There are moments where we see glimmers of Ivanka’s loneliness and the dehumanising treatment she’s subjected to, but Abbasi never lets us linger in the perspective of people who disliked or were critical of Trump, and without any comparison to people who openly objected to his behaviour, it doesn’t feel as though the film is biting enough to be mocking or critical enough to be constructive, we’re just meekly following him on this relentless power trip with an aggressively high-energy soundtrack.While the film is technically innovative, with the second half being shot on an entirely different camera that creates a grainy, VCR style as Trump becomes as cheap and empty as a reality TV show, I fear that the storytelling is not as punchy or innovativeAbbasi’s portrait of one of the most harmful people in the world ultimately felt hollow and a little spineless. Making a film about a politically charged and topical current issue doesn’t automatically add weight to the story, and in order to be genuinely subversive and controversial, it needed to say more than point out that Trump is a bad person. This isn’t breaking news; we’ve known it for a while. And considering how powerful Trump is and all the battles they faced to get the film made, it feels a shame not to make something bolder.While The Apprentice is certainly entertaining, at what cost does it entertain us? Using the monstrosities of this person for entertainment feels exploitative, and by not projecting any criticism onto the character, it feels like it is just that. It’s not mocking enough to be satirical and not honest enough to be explosive. By not commenting on the wider impact of his actions, it makes an otherwise forceful and dynamic film feel slightly weak and cowardly, creating a docile commentary of America’s most dangerous lunatic.[embedded content]Related TopicsSubscribe To The Far Out Newsletter

‘I’ve turned the world into my office.’ Meet the people working remotely while traveling the globe.

Travel

Rachel Coleman is a private college counselor, helping high school students with their applications for admission and financial aid.Her clients live across the United States. But Coleman, 31, a Maine native, works from all over the world.Before sitting down at her desk each day and communicating with her students, “I wake up in the morning and go on a hike or go to a museum,” said Coleman, who was in Xàbia, Spain, for two months between a three-month stint in China and her next destination: Budapest, where she planned to spend another three months.Coleman is part of the next evolution of working from home: working remotely while traveling the globe.“I want to be a good worker,” she said. “But I also want to live a life I find meaningful and valuable.”A new wave of adventurers is doing more than just extending work trips or living temporarily on the road. They’re leaving behind their full-time addresses altogether and clocking in remotely from short-term rentals, Airbnbs, or RVs.Some are bringing along their kids, home-schooling or enrolling them in online schools. An entire industry of services has popped up to support them, from virtual receptionists to work-from-hotel packages, specialized insurance, and international networks of coworking spaces. About 60 countries now offer long-term visas for visitors who want to work from them remotely.“It’s growing tremendously,” said Peter Murphy Lewis, a former CNN foreign affairs correspondent who now works as an entrepreneur and head of growth at the investment platform WebStreet while traveling with his wife and home-schooled 7-year-old son.“It always comes out as negative when you say you don’t want to be tied to something,” Lewis said from Paris, where he was preparing to head off to Brussels and then Glasgow before settling in for three months in Brazil. “But there is something about the freedom of not being tied down to a physical location that makes me feel more fulfilled.”Lewis spends six months a year working from the road, where he stays with relatives or friends or in Airbnbs or the occasional hotel, takes calls in cafés, airport lounges, cars, and quiet corners of public libraries, and once made a major presentation from a small-town ice cream parlor that had good wifi.“I’ve turned the world into my office,” Lewis said.Rachel Coleman has worked from all kinds of locations around the globe.Rachel ColemanHe traces his passion for travel to his time in a private boarding school where one-third of the students were international. But what really got him started was a nearly fatal brush with illness 14 years ago. “Faced with the terrifying unknown of a life-threatening diagnosis, I did what any sane person would do,” Lewis said: “I bought a motorcycle and decided to ride across America.”Ruminations on mortality like that push many workers out into the world.“We’ve had people in our lives who got sick and died before retirement,” said Jessica Schmidt, a full-time working traveler. Then the COVID-19 pandemic “made us realize that life is short and things can be taken away at the drop of a hat.”So Schmidt and her husband, Justin, quit their corporate jobs — she was a lawyer for Amazon and he was a business systems analyst — and set out on the road. They started their own travel advice company, Uprooted Traveler, which they run from an RV they’d just driven from Key West to McCarthy, Alaska.The Schmidts work normal work weeks, checking weather forecast to pick the best two days out of seven to take off and explore.Some people ask them how the couple could have given up well-paying careers for an itinerant existence, Schmidt said over an intermittent satellite connection from the wilderness.“I do get that question,” she said. “And on the other hand people will say, ‘You’re living the dream.’ In full transparency, we obviously make less than we did in our corporate jobs. But we live comfortably and we’ve had all these experiences we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to have.”Like Lewis and the Schmidts, these new wandering workers aren’t just people who are starting out and trying to find themselves. More senior executives are heading into the world.“Sometimes people with high net worth, even ultra-high net worth, begin to realize that what matters most is not material,” said Rebecca Fielding, CEO of the high-end London-based travel agency The Conte Club, which often handles the logistics for C-suite types who want to work while traveling for long periods or full time.She’s had working clients who went along when their daughter studied abroad, for instance, Fielding said.“We need to find the logistics that work for them. Sometimes it’s as simple as space or Wi-fi or a meeting room.”Luxury travel providers have also seen an uptick in long-duration business trips that overlap with big events such as Super Bowls, the Kentucky Derby and Taylor Swift concerts; the international Flight Centre Travel Group reports that business travel to Paris this summer that happened to coincide with the Olympics went up 88 percent over the same period last year.Rachel Coleman has worked from all kinds of locations around the globe.Rachel Coleman“It’s not just people who have nontraditional roles” who are working from the world, Schmidt said.Concierge services have cropped up that specialize in arranging logistics for these travelers; virtual receptionists such as those at Conversational take care of their administrative tasks and there’s new cross-border travel insurance for them, too, such as SafetyWing. PostFromUS forwards packages and other mail.The booking platform Selina lists accommodations with shared work areas in 110 destinations. Coworking offices including Regus and WeWork All Access offer subscriptions for customers to use locations anywhere they go. And hotels are offering new services for working guests and discounts for longer stays.“Flexibility and connectivity have become the most important factors,” said Silvia Lupone, owner of the four-unit Stingray Villa in Cozumel, which has added high-speed wifi, workspaces and check-in and check-out times that sync with work hours in different time zones.Some working travelers prefer to take their own homes with them. Many new RVs now come with workspaces and Wi-fi infrastructure. Nearly half of visitors to Kampgrounds of America campsites work while camping, the company found in a survey. “Wi-fi has become one of the most sought-after amenities our campers look for,” said Diane Eichler, senior vice president of marketing.The other impact COVID had was to speed up the adoption of technology that makes remote work possible from almost anywhere. Now more services are being made available to tailor that technology to working travelers, from online calendars that reschedule appointments if flights are delayed to meet-up apps like WiFi Tribe and Nomad List for workers on the road.Those communities can be a comfort to people who spend long stretches traveling, said Peter Murphy Lewis.“Finding like-minded people who just don’t fit into the social norms of having a house and buying a car,” he said, “gives us something to make us feel not so odd.”Jon Marcus can be reached at [email protected].