The Best Biopics & Musical Films for 2021

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The Best Biopics & Musical Films for 2021

There's a huge array to look forward to from the film world and after the delays of 2020, the backlog is now ready to be released. Below, is a short list of the best biopics and musical films for 2021, a mix of mainstream and online, in order of their release date.

Stardust

OUT: Jan 15
Not to be confused with the Neil Gaiman fantasy, this Stardust is a biopic focused on David Bowie in the year or so before (and leading up to) Ziggy Stardust. Johnny Flynn will play a 24-year-old Bowie, with Gabriel Range directing from Christopher Bell's screenplay. Marc Maron plays Bowie's beleaguered American publicist Ron Oberman.

One Night In Miami...

OUT: Jan 15
A fictional account of a night in 1964, as four icons of sports, music, and activism gather to celebrate one of the biggest upsets in boxing history: Cassius Clay's defeat of heavy weight champion Sonny Liston. Eli Goree is the soon-to-be Muhammed Ali, with Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcolm X, Leslie Odom Jr as Sam Cooke, and Aldis Hodge as Jim Brown. Soul co-director/co-writer Kemp Powers adapted the film from his own stage play, and it'll stream on Amazon Prime.

To Olivia

OUT: Feb 19
Biopic focused on the tempestuous marriage of Patricia Neal and Roald Dahl. An adaptation of Stephen Michael Shearer's biography of Neal, titled An Unquiet Life, it stars Keeley Hawes and Hugh Bonneville as the central couple, with support from Conleth Hill and, in his final screen performance, the late Geoffrey Palmer. John Hay is the director.

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

OUT: Feb 26
Jonathan Butterell helms an adaptation of his hit Brit musical. The based-on-a-true-story stage show centres on a teenager in Northern England (Sheffield in the story, Newcastle in real life) who is determined to attend his year 11 prom in drag, to the disapproval of the school.

The United States v Billie Holiday

OUT: March 12
Biopic following legendary soul singer Billie Holiday (Andra Day) during a difficult period of her career. Holiday was targeted during the 1940s by the Federal Department of Narcotics with an undercover sting operation led by Federal Agent Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes), with whom she'd previously had a tumultuous affair. Partially based on Johann Hari's book Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days Of The War On Drugs.

The Beatles plying live, on top of Apple Corps in London

The Beatles: Get Back sneak peek

OUT: August 27
Sticking with documentary following the success of They Shall Not Grow Old, Peter Jackson turns his attention to the final days of The Beatles. Get Back features never-before-seen footage of the band shot in 1969, with added material from their final live performance on top of the London Apple Corps offices. Ringo says it's a much truer portrait of the end of the Beatles than 1970's original Let It Be film.

Respect

OUT: October 8
Another musical biopic, in this case following Aretha Franklin's life from her early days singing in her father's church choir to her latterday status as civil rights activist and iconic soul superstar: the first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Franklin personally chose Jennifer Hudson to play her.

West Side Story

OUT: December 10
Steven Spielberg's first musical adapts Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein's classic stage show, itself an updated and relocated retelling of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The feuding families become warring gangs the Jets and the Sharks. Can Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria's (Rachel Zegler) love cross that great divide?

For detailed listing of all upcoming releases go to:

https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/best-movies-2021/

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10
Dec

Deadline for Kickstart Employment Opportunity set for December the 17th

The governmental Kickstart scheme was introduced by Rishi Sunak as a response to covid-19 and the difficulty it created in employment for young people. Since its implementation last September, the initiative has boosted the careers of over 100,000 young people in the UK (figure from November, 2021). This scheme has revolutionised the way young people find their passion, career and purpose in a time when they need it most. That's why Jeeni is so proud to be making good use of the Kickstart scheme to train, support and build the portfolios of people aged 16-24 and on universal credit. Available only on or before the 17th of December, 2021, here's why you can't afford not to take this opportunity. The Kickstart scheme is invaluable for both employers and employees, because companies can build a workforce at no cost to them, and young people get paid positions in the industry of their passion. The Government provides the grants to cover 100% of wages and national insurance contributions for well-qualified, pre-screened young workers on universal credit. The positions span across 6 months for up to 25 hours work a week and you receive a £1,500 cash injection into your business for each new person you take on with Kickstart. Find out more about universal credit here: https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit Although the governmental Kickstart scheme itself provides this crucial helping hand for companies and graduates, websites like Gradfuel are vital in guiding those graduates to the perfect Kickstart role for their careers. Gradfuel is a mediator between the Kickstart scheme and those it was designed to help. They provide an interpersonal and proactive connection to young people looking for a career path and “matches you with the perfect graduate jobs”. The pool of possibilities after education can seem endless and overwhelming, so a company like Gradfuel that takes you by the hand and leads you to a company that needs you as much as you need them is an extraordinarily valuable service. Gradfuel has a 97% success rate for Kickstart applications and each one will earn over £7,500 across their 6-month placement. They have over 65,000 young people in their database and have raised £18.3 million in grant funding. Happy customers such as friend-finding app, ‘Fethr’ have praised Gradfuel’s usefulness and outreach saying, “The learnings from Gradfuel and their expertise around the scheme, has saved us a lot of time, as they have thousands of candidates they’re engaged with and have really found their groove in attracting talent”. Dating app, ‘Thursday’ have also expressed their satisfaction with Gradfuel’s connection between the Kickstart scheme and young people, “Gradfuel are brilliant, they've helped us source all our young talent, from anything to data analysts to marketers, we've been very impressed.” Visit: https://grants.gradfuel.co/direct-applications/ to find out more about Gradfuel and to sign up. Remember, the registration deadline is on December the 17th, 2021. Jeeni can personally attest to the effectiveness and value of using the Kickstart scheme through Gradfuel. Zak Ahmed, Jeeni’s HR specialist had this to say about the opportunity, "The Kickstart Scheme has helped me gain the vital experience I need as a recent Masters graduate. I've found a very meaningful role here at Jeeni, where I'm progressing quicker than I could've imagined!". Ella Venvell used Gradfuel to find her Kickstart position as Jeeni’s Artist Liaison and Marketing Leader, “The kickstart scheme has given me an invaluable experience which has helped me learn about the professional world as well as given me the time to develop myself and my portfolio.” and with regards to Gradfuel, Ella said that it’s “helped me find a job doing what I love, and am hoping to do as my lifetime career." In many ways, the Kickstart scheme is the lifeblood of Jeeni; it’s the reason we can support up-and-coming artists, it’s the reason we can provide an invaluable service for viewers to discover new talent and it’s the reason you can read about it all, right now. Check out some of the Inside Stories carried out by Jeeni's own Kickstart employees: https://jeeni.com/?s=inside+story If this interests you either as a company or a potential employee, act fast as the registration deadline for the Kickstart scheme is on December the 17th. Follow: https://grants.gradfuel.co/direct-applications/ to sign up now or learn more about gradfuel and the Kickstart scheme.

22
Apr

INVITATION TO INVEST IN JEENI.COM

The online platform where creatives keep 100% of what they earn, and audiences are rewarded every step of the way. The Jeeni Additional Investment Period is now open to raise a further £100,000 via Instant Investment using the Seed Legals platform, with full EIS benefits. We have allocated this funding to extend our services in response to new market opportunities and conditions created by the pandemic. There has been an unprecedented demand from Jeeni members to provide bespoke user channels and direct marketing for online performances, goods and services. In addition, we are supporting our independent artists by matching them with music investors to finance studio time, video production, marketing and distribution of their original work, all as part of our Jeeni Pro service and social media systems. Due to the increased traffic, this is generating, we are migrating to the world-class AWS cloud platform. This £100,000 investment target is for 2.1% equity at the current pre-market valuation of £4.5million with a share price of £1.13p. Major strategic partnerships have been consolidated by our US Managing Director, Kelli Richards. Former A&R Executive at EMI Music, she was mentored by Steve Jobs at Apple, where she launched and managed their music and entertainment division, resulting in the birth of global music online now known as Apple Music. Kelli is VP of Business Development with our US partnersAmplifyX.com, where investors back music they believe in, and she is a consultant to our streaming service partnersMultiViewMedia.co.uk, where viewers take control of their own entertainment experience. Both companies have joined Jeeni to produce J.A.M. (Jeeni, AmplifyX, MultiView), our series of online festivals where Grammy Award-Winners share the stage with our own brand-new talent. Our most recent festival was live-streamed on April 10th, and brought in over 10,000 new fans for our artists. Catch up with the event at jeeni.com/jam-festival. We have three further announcements to make in this Investor Update. Firstly, in partnership with the Wings Tour Bus, artists voted most popular on Jeeni will appear on the Paul McCartney Stage when the most famous bus in the world goes on tour to mark the 50th anniversary of the original route. It has just been announced that the tour will follow a major publicity launch at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham UK this November. Secondly, we are pleased to announce that we have bypassed the global shortage of PC and laptop components, and the first range of Jeeni own-brand computers is on sale at jeeni.com/shop. And thirdly, we are proud to make this advance announcement that Jeeni has been selected for the world première of a major new opera set in contemporary New York. The subject matter is unique and the production is world-class. We will stream the event in partnership with MultiViewMedia and this marks a major milestone for our brand recognition. Investors will be given the opportunity to secure Virtual Green Room tickets and VIP access to the composer, the performers and the major celebrities behind the event, when the programme is officially announced next month. We are opening Jeeni to investors worldwide for the first time, and are happy to declare our track record and current status to anyone who cares to visit jeeni.com/invest-in-jeeni. Your investment can be processed in as little as 30 minutes in the following simple steps. 1. You tell us how much you want to invest. 2. We add your details to the Seed Legals system, which calculates the shares to be issued. 3. We email you the Investment Proposal, Instant Investment Agreement and bank details. 4. You sign and witness the Agreement and your investment is transferred. 5. We agree to a Board Resolution and Shareholders Resolution and send form SH01 to Companies House for the issue of your shares. 6. That’s it. If you are still interested in investing in Jeeni please let us know so that we can send you the appropriate investment documents.

03
Sep

7 Of The Best Music Sites and Blogs

We have scanned the internet and asked members what they think are the 7 of the best music sites and blogs. Basically, what's hot and what's not! Our choices may well differ from yours, so let's have the debate. Many things have changed in recent months and will change at an even greater pace now. With online streaming services we can enjoy our music for free or at a low cost. So let's get started with the ones we love. 1. Water and Music We love Water and Music which is an audio companion to the email newsletter of the same name, dedicated to unpacking the fine print behind big ideas in music and technology. The title comes from a conversation between Quincy Jones and Kendrick Lamar, in which the former declares: "The last things to leave this planet will be water and music." Host Cherie Hu is an award-winning freelance journalist and analyst focusing on the intersection of music, media and technology, with regular bylines in publications including Billboard, Forbes and Music Business Worldwide. 2. vampr We love Vampr. Vampr is an app that helps you discover, connect and collaborate with fellow musicians, the music industry and music lovers alike. Vampr stats show 33,798,736 swipes and 5,017,135 connections made in 198 countries worldwide. 3. Pitchfork We also love Pitchfork. Pitchfork has some awesome features such as best new music, and we really like the music reviews. The writers seem to be in the know and very much "thought leaders" in the music industry. They are continually updating the website with the latest information related to the music industry. In addition, Pitchfork hosts its own music festival which will be held in Chicago this year. 4. Hypebot We also love Hypebot. Hypebot is one of the most well-known online music sites in the industry, and there is good reason for that! The site is updated very regularly, so you know you are getting all the latest information possible. They also cover other areas such as “Music Tech”, “DIY” and “Charts”. You can also sign up to the Hypebot newsletter to get the daily lowdown on everything happening straight to your inbox! Hypebot covers a wide variety of topics in the music industry, so no matter what you are looking for, you’ll probably be able to find it here. They also have a charts section where you can filter by “emerging artists” or “established artists” as well as the country and city. And of course you can play artist tracks. 5. YourEDM Our next site is Your EDM, dedicated to Electronic Dance Music. Everything you need to stay up to date with the latest in electronic music can found here. This includes all the latest news as well as featured articles and sub-sections/ genres of EDM, like house and bass. On this site you even have the ability to download free songs, from a variety of different artists trying to make a name for themselves in the industry. All the different sub-genres are listed on the site, so even if your taste is really narrow in EDM, you can still find some great information. New info almost daily. Make sure you follow them on social media to get updates on the latest information. 6. All Music Next on our it's-gotta-be-hot list is All Music. All Music doesn’t really have as much news on the music industry as the others listed here, but their focus is mainly on providing information in new music and helping visitors discover their next obsession. They also provide recommendations if you create an account, and once you have rated albums, you will get recommendations on what to listen to next. Covering from all common genres including pop, rap, electronic, classical, blues, country and more. They provide an in-depth review of all the latest albums and give options on how to stream the tunes if you want to. There are three different ratings available to view, “All Music Rating”, “User Ratings” and “Your Rating” so you can have a more detailed view on what people think about a particular album. 7. JEENI Last but not least we love Jeeni, a new platform for Independent Musicians and Performers. JEENI is a multi-channel streaming service for original and unsigned talent. Jeeni provides a showcase for musicians and performers to put their talent in the spotlight, giving superfans the power to make them stars. The Jeeni promise is to treat their creative talent ethically, fairly, honestly and with respect. Additionally, Jeeni publishes its own blog, all about Jeeni and current industry news. Most importantly Jeeni commits to – No hype. No adverts. No rip-offs. No Fakes, and making sure that the artists get 100% of their direct sales. Find out more here That's all Folks!

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