and will be announced on October 10. The producers and scriptwriters of the chosen projects will then be invited to the festival to make presentations about their scripts and explain why their movie should win the $20,000 pot. Eurasia will also include an homage to recently passed directors Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni. The festival will honor the pair’s impressive contributions to the film canon by showcasing some of their most famous works. Redstone’s Own Drama Sumner Redstone’s family dramas could easily inspire one of his company’s films. After a muchpublicized feud with son Brent Redstone, the 84-year-old Viacom chief is exiling his daughter, Shari, whom many expected to take over the reins after Redstone retires. Last year, Brent Redstone sued his father, claiming he was being excluded from the business in favor of his sister, Shari. Two years ago Shari Redstone was promoted to vice chairman of Viacom and CBS, where she appeared to be in line for the chief position. Previously, Redstone soured on Tom Freston, one of MTV’s founders, and ousted him as head of Viacom. This came as a surprise as Redstone was often quoted in the media saying he regarded Freston like a son. For now it seems as though Phillipe Dauman — longtime Viacom board member, Freston replacement and Redstone’s personal lawyer and estate trustee — is most likely to succeed his boss when that time comes. However, while the elder Redstone doesn’t spend as much time in the office as he once did, it’s clear from his actions that he has no plans to leave anytime soon, and his grip on the business is as strong as ever. Letters to the Editor Regarding Ralph Baruch’s Book… In my opinion, your comments regarding the book were totally within your purview as publisher of VideoAge. You witnessed firsthand many of the events that Ralph wrote about and therefore have the right to comment on Ralph’s perspective and how effectively, or accurately, He recalled those events and the perspective in which he viewed those events. I was very moved by his recitation of past events. I know that, for me, Ralph put a lot of what happened into a fuller picture, and it represents an important document in the growth and history of the industry, the companies he was an important part of, [a testament to] his important role in so many factors of this business — worldwide. I thought your comments were yours to make and by and large I believe you gave Ralph’s book a favorable review (which, I too, felt it deserved). Your getting into the issue of Ralph’s advertising support of VideoAge, and you personally, I thought was misplaced. You have every right to make that point if you think publishing it is a prudent thing to do. However, within the context of reviewing Ralph’s book — a perspective of a man’s body of work and his significant contributions to our industry over his lifetime to date — in my view, is not the proper place to express your personal past issues. It would be [advantageous] for a newsman delivering the hard news to report it unbiased, and then, if he, or she wants, to give a personal “commentary”” — appropriately labeled — as his personal point of view. This way the reader, or the viewer, continues to trust the professional reporting of the newsperson, or the publisher, and separately gets to read, or hear, their personal point of view. Larry Gershman, Los Angeles I just read your article on Ralph Baruch... It was excellent!!! Seriously, you pulled no punches and were refreshingly honest and sincere. Anthony D. Friscia, Los Angeles OC T O B E R 2 0 0 7
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