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Closing Night Film and Awards
6:15 p.m. Sunday, Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St., Boulder: The night kicks off at 6:15 p.m. with music from Chella and The Charm, followed by the BIFF Awards Ceremony, where the best films of the fest will be honored with handcrafted Vielehr award sculptures. Following will be a screening of the U.S. feature documentary “Still Working 9 to 5” (see review this page). Filmmakers and brothers Gary Lane and Larry Lane will appear in person. The 2023 documentary “Judy Blume Forever” looks at the legacy of the adolescent and young adult author and her trailblazing books. It will screen at BIFF. (Courtesy photo)
Judy Blume Forever
U.S. feature documentary, 2022, 97 minutes: Generations of readers have found themselves reading a Judy Blume book. Her name alone launches a flood of memories for anyone who’s gripped one of her many paperbacks. For decades, Blume’s radical honesty has comforted and captivated readers — and landed her at the center of controversy for her frankness about puberty and sex. Now the beloved American author candidly shares her own coming-of-age story. Emmy-winning filmmakers Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok trace Blume’s journey from fearful, imaginative child to storytelling pioneer who elevated the physical and emotional lives of kids and teens, to banned writer who continues to fight back against censorship today. With humor, sensitivity, and a healthy dose of adolescent cringe, Judy Blume Forever tells the story of the woman whose trailblazing books changed the way millions of readers understand themselves, their sexuality, and what it means to grow up; 10 a.m. Sunday, Boulder Theater. “Jack Has a Plan” will screen at BIFF this weekend (Courtesy photo)
Jack Has a Plan
U.S. feature documentary, 2022, 73 minutes: Jack Tuller’s brain tumor has come back aggressive and inoperable, and now he has two choices: have a long, wasting and expensive death, or see a Serious-Illness Management Counselor who can make all the arrangements for Jack to end his life, hassle-free. With his date of death, going away party and funeral arrangements all set, Jack is now free to find and reconcile with his long-estranged mother. Buoyed by curiosity and his life-long love of absurdity, Jack heads back out on the streets to look for his long-imagined father and finds even more surprises. Through this film, get to know this smart, gentle and silly person, and we might even recall Jack’s adventures when we get closer to our own terminal breath; Director Bradley Berman will appear in person; 1 p.m. Sunday, Century Boulder, 1700 29th St., Boulder. It’s Only Life After All
U.S. feature documentary, 2023, 123 minutes: Forty years of making music as the iconic folk-rock band Indigo Girls, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have made their mark as musicians, songwriters and dedicated activists. The duo began their musical connection as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, eventually honing their skills in dive bars and clubs across the South. Their unexpected rise to fame with the 1989 hit “Closer to Fine” propelled the Indigo Girls to winning a Grammy Award and rapid popularity. Living out publicly as lesbians long before there was understanding or tolerance of queerness in the music industry, they represented radical self-acceptance to many — leading multiple generations of fans to say, “the Indigo Girls saved my life.” Still, Amy and Emily battled misogyny, homophobia, and a harsh cultural climate that chastised them for not fitting into a female pop-star mold. With joy, humor and heartwarming moments, “It’s Only Life After All” gives the duo the recognition they deserve as musicians, trailblazers and activists. Directed by Alexandria Bombach; 3 p.m. Sunday, Boulder Theater. -Robin Beeck, co-founder of Boulder International Film Festival

Sunday BIFF picks: Closing night party, docs on trailblazers Judy Blume, the Indigo Girls and more

Closing Night Film and Awards
6:15 p.m. Sunday, Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St., Boulder: The night kicks off at 6:15 p.m. with music from Chella and The Charm, followed by the BIFF Awards Ceremony, where the best films of the fest will be honored with handcrafted Vielehr award sculptures. Following will be a screening of the U.S. feature documentary “Still Working 9 to 5” (see review this page). Filmmakers and brothers Gary Lane and Larry Lane will appear in person. The 2023 documentary “Judy Blume Forever” looks at the legacy of the adolescent and young adult author and her trailblazing books. It will screen at BIFF. (Courtesy photo)
Judy Blume Forever
U.S. feature documentary, 2022, 97 minutes: Generations of readers have found themselves reading a Judy Blume book. Her name alone launches a flood of memories for anyone who’s gripped one of her many paperbacks. For decades, Blume’s radical honesty has comforted and captivated readers — and landed her at the center of controversy for her frankness about puberty and sex. Now the beloved American author candidly shares her own coming-of-age story. Emmy-winning filmmakers Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok trace Blume’s journey from fearful, imaginative child to storytelling pioneer who elevated the physical and emotional lives of kids and teens, to banned writer who continues to fight back against censorship today. With humor, sensitivity, and a healthy dose of adolescent cringe, Judy Blume Forever tells the story of the woman whose trailblazing books changed the way millions of readers understand themselves, their sexuality, and what it means to grow up; 10 a.m. Sunday, Boulder Theater. “Jack Has a Plan” will screen at BIFF this weekend (Courtesy photo)
Jack Has a Plan
U.S. feature documentary, 2022, 73 minutes: Jack Tuller’s brain tumor has come back aggressive and inoperable, and now he has two choices: have a long, wasting and expensive death, or see a Serious-Illness Management Counselor who can make all the arrangements for Jack to end his life, hassle-free. With his date of death, going away party and funeral arrangements all set, Jack is now free to find and reconcile with his long-estranged mother. Buoyed by curiosity and his life-long love of absurdity, Jack heads back out on the streets to look for his long-imagined father and finds even more surprises. Through this film, get to know this smart, gentle and silly person, and we might even recall Jack’s adventures when we get closer to our own terminal breath; Director Bradley Berman will appear in person; 1 p.m. Sunday, Century Boulder, 1700 29th St., Boulder. It’s Only Life After All
U.S. feature documentary, 2023, 123 minutes: Forty years of making music as the iconic folk-rock band Indigo Girls, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have made their mark as musicians, songwriters and dedicated activists. The duo began their musical connection as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, eventually honing their skills in dive bars and clubs across the South. Their unexpected rise to fame with the 1989 hit “Closer to Fine” propelled the Indigo Girls to winning a Grammy Award and rapid popularity. Living out publicly as lesbians long before there was understanding or tolerance of queerness in the music industry, they represented radical self-acceptance to many — leading multiple generations of fans to say, “the Indigo Girls saved my life.” Still, Amy and Emily battled misogyny, homophobia, and a harsh cultural climate that chastised them for not fitting into a female pop-star mold. With joy, humor and heartwarming moments, “It’s Only Life After All” gives the duo the recognition they deserve as musicians, trailblazers and activists. Directed by Alexandria Bombach; 3 p.m. Sunday, Boulder Theater. -Robin Beeck, co-founder of Boulder International Film Festival
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TribLIVE's Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox. On the first-year, nationally-syndicated series “WOW — Women of Wrestling,” wrestler Chantilly Chella is from Indio, Calif. In real life, the woman who plays Chella, Rachel Kelvington, is from Western Pennsylvania. But the rest of Chella’s backstory, as revealed in a November episode (supportive mom, alcoholic dad), syncs up with Kelvington’s real personal history. So why the change in where Chella is from? “Indio was added for the show because she’s really the queen of Coachella [music festival] and Coachella takes place in Indio, Calif.,” Kelvington explained. Chantilly Chella competes again in this week’s “WOW” episode (11:30 p.m. Saturday, WPCW-TV). Kelvington was back-and-forth from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles to film “WOW” episodes from May to October. “This was the craziest summer of my life,” said Kelvington, whose day job is cutting hair at Graham’s Barber Shop in Lawrenceville. “My clients would be like, ‘I’m getting married, I need a haircut!’ And I’m, like, ‘Sorry, I’m filming a TV show.’”
An Imperial native and 2007 West Allegheny High School grad, Kelvington, 34, played softball and did kickboxing in high school, but never imagined she’d get into professional wrestling. But at age 22, she worked as a bartender at Primanti Bros. in Crafton and she took note of how some customers came in weekly to watch wrestling. “I started watching it and I was like, this is actually entertaining,” Kelvington recalled. “It was something about the costumes and the bright lights and the fact that they traveled so much. I was like, what am I doing with my day job?”
Four months after her father passed away at age 50, Kelvington said she realized life is short. She packed up and moved to Louisville, Ky., to learn how to wrestle. She’s since traveled the world wrestling under a variety of names, including Ray Lyn, an identity she still uses for non-televised wrestling, including in an Enjoy Wrestling match Saturday at Mr. Smalls Theatre in Millvale. While living in Los Angeles for a few years beginning in 2016, Kelvington was asked to join “WOW” in its previous incarnation on cable network AXS. “My favorite thing about ‘WOW’ is they do a good job of giving all of our characters our own personal stories that we’re allowed to share. It’s very inspiring for women: You have women of all shapes and sizes, from all different backgrounds coming together,” said Kelvington, who is also a fan of the 2017-19 Netflix series “GLOW,” which put a spotlight on women wrestlers in the 1980s. Kelvington insists the matches on “WOW” are not scripted with predetermined outcomes for the sake of storylines. “We are 100% wrestling for real,” she said. “It’s very much the same as whenever I was in martial arts and kickboxing. You just train all the time. … In competition [winning] is always up for grabs, so you gotta fight your hardest every time you’re in the ring.”
How does Kelvington differentiate between Chantilly Chella and Ray Lyn? She sees Chantilly Chella as high-energy and a lot of fun, which borrows from Kelvington’s own personality. “I’m a very bubbly person,” she said. “I’m not a downer at all. And I do love music. The funny thing is they made Chantilly a festival girl, but I haven’t actually gotten to go to many festivals because I’ve been pursuing this wrestling dream for 10 years now. But I always go to concerts all the time.”
As for Ray Lyn, she has more of an edge. “Ray Lyn’s a little sassy,” Kelvington said. “She’s [got] that bartending personality whenever someone wasn’t being very nice.”
The toughest part of her multiple roles? Multiple social media accounts for Chantilly Chella and Ray Lyn. “It’s exhausting,” Kelvington said with a weary laugh. ‘Average Joe’ films elsewhere
Pittsburgh-set BET+ series “Average Joe,” about a Hill District plumber (Deon Cole) who discovers his father lived a double life, is currently filming its first season in Atlanta. The series is written and created by Robb Cullen, who was co-creator of FX’s 2003 dark comedy “Lucky,” Swissvale native Billy Gardell’s first TV series regular role. Cullen told me he originally developed the project with Gardell in mind, hence the Pittsburgh setting. Kept/canceled

TV Talk: WOW wrestling star Rachel Kelvington has roots in Western Pa.

The organizers behind Coachella are suing the founders of a Ghanaian music festival named Afrochella. (Screenshot: Youtube)
Goldenvoice, the organizers behind the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, are suing the founder of Afrochella, an African music festival based in Ghana. Rolling Stone reports that the lawsuit was filed Wednesday in a California District Court and comes three years after AEG (which owns Goldenvoice) issued a warning to Afrochella organizers about infringing on the festival’s trademark. “Regardless of the celebration or event, your use of Afrochella as the name of a music and arts festival is highly likely to create a likelihood of confusion and mistake as to the affiliation, connection, or association of you with AEG and with Coachella. In particular, the public is likely to believe that you are authorized by, or affiliated with, AEG or Coachella. In fact, you have even admitted that your event name and your event were inspired by Coachella. Similarly, comments to own your own Facebook page comment that your festival name is merely trading on the goodwill of the Coachella mark,” AEG wrote in 2019. According to the Afrochella website , the festival was designed to highlight Africa’s millennial talent through an interactive event that teaches, explains, and explores various cultures through a pioneering approach. Afrochella was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the festival took place in Ghana in 2021 and this year’s festival is set to take place December 28 and 29 at El Wak Stadium in Ghana. Additionally, Afrochella is set to expand to South Africa and organizers have begun hosting events in the U.S., which prompted the lawsuit by AEG. Coachella, meanwhile, held its first festival in 1999, which featured Rage Against The Machine, and was attended by 25,000 people. The festival took a year off in 2000 but came back as a one-day festival in 2001 and has been a multi-stage, two-day festival ever since. This isn’t the first time Coachella has sued a festival over the name “Chella.”  In 2016, the festival organizers sued the underground festival dubbed Hoodchella. In addition to the similar names, AEG claims in the suit that Afrochella organizers have attempted to patent both “Coachella” and “Chella” in Ghana, and Afrochella’s logo uses a nearly identical font as the Coachella festival. “Not simply content to imitate and attempt to trade on the goodwill of Chella and Coachella, Defendants even went so far as to apply in Ghana to register Coachella and Chella as their own trademarks, using the exact same stylization as Plaintiffs’ registered Coachella (stylized) mark,” the lawsuit states. In the suit, Goldenvoice also provided social media evidence showing users confusing the two concerts and tweets showing that Afrochella organizer Edward Elohim attended Coachella in 2018 and admitted that the festival inspired the Ghanaian music festival. The suit also noted that the Afrochella website is a North American-based domain, which helps it attract a U.S. audience. AEG is seeking more than $100,000 for claims of cybersquatting domain names, and an immediate restraining order on the Afrochella name.

Coachella Music Festival Files Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Organizers of Afrochella

NETFLIX BAGS TOURISM DEAL IN KENYA
Last year, Kenya’s tourism sector earned Ksh 146.51 billion ($1.2 billion), and Netflix has just bagged a deal that may see the sector earning more. What’s up? Last week, Netflix announced that it had signed a partnership with Kenya’s Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife. The partnership will see Netflix promote Kenya as a destination choice for travellers across the globe. This is not the first time Kenya will be inking a deal with a foreign media company to promote tourism. In May 2015, the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) signed a multi-million dollar deal with CNN that saw the creation of on-air and online campaigns. Side bar: The KTB’s agreement with CNN was briefly suspended in August 2015 after CNN aired a documentary that called Kenya a “hotbed of terror” days before a visit from then-US president Barack Obama. The deal was only reinstated after CNN’s global vice executive and managing director Tony Maddox visited president Uhuru Kenyatta to apologise. Following the deal, revenue in Kenya’s tourism industry grew from Ksh 85 billion in 2015 to Ksh 164 billion by 2019. Netflix’s deal
Netflix’s deal—the latest tourism deal for Kenya—comes at a critical time for the sector. The sector was hit by the pandemic with revenue declining from Ksh 164 billion in 2019, to Ksh 89 billion in 2020. In 2021, the sector recovered after lockdown protocols were lifted with Ksh 146.5 billion earned. With Kenya’s new deal with Netflix, the sector could earn more by 2023. This deal will see the creation of digital marketing campaigns where Netflix works with other agencies, including the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB)and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS). Netflix’s Director of Public Policy, Shola Sanni says: “Kenya is one of Africa’s most beautiful destinations, with compelling cultures, diverse landscapes and natural beauty to rival any in the world. We’re excited to collaborate with the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife to showcase Kenya to the world as a prime tourism destination.”
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If you read this title and thought both words sound like exotic cheeses, then you have good taste. Anyway, US-based music and arts festival Coachella is suing Ghana-based music festival Afrochella for copyright infringement. What’s Afrochella infringing on? A Chella lot. The “Chella” name. Coachella says that Afrochella is riding on the coattails of its success. According to its organisers Goldenvoice, Afrochella is “intentionally trading on the goodwill of well-known Coachella and Chella festivals and trademarks by actively promoting music events in the United States and in Ghana using the confusingly similar mark Afrochella.”
Let’s explain. Coachella is one of the biggest music festivals in the world; it draws in about 150,000 people per day for its annual music festival which spans over two weekends. The festival has grossed about $100 million since 2016, and headlines GRAMMY-winning artists like Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Arooj Aftab and Burna Boy. Music lovers know and love Coachella, and the festival believes that Afrochella is riding that wave. Side bar: If it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, walks like a duck, then it must be a duck. This saying isn’t just about hypocrites. You can commit legal offences if you create a business that sounds or looks like an already existing or successful business. Like developing a new soft drink and naming it Bubble Up , or creating a tech publication and giving it a white text on a red-field logo and then calling it “TechCable” or “TechieCabal”. If it’s easy for the everyday man to mistake two similar-sounding businesses, then there’s infringement going on. For Coachella, Afrochella is not only imitating Coachella by using the “Chella” name, it’s also doing graver acts by applying in Ghana to register “Coachella” as a trademark. “Despite repeated requests from Plaintiffs, Defendants have refused to adopt their own distinctive event name, and as a result, instances of actual confusion have already appeared on social media,” the suit dated October 5 reads. The lawsuit “seeks injunctive relief and damages for Defendants willful infringement in the United States and to protect the public here from confusion. GOOGLE CLOUD PARTNERS WITH SYFT ANALYTICS
Last week, Google Cloud announced a collaboration with Syft Analytics , a South Africa-based financial reporting application to help it scale beyond South Africa. The Syft Analytics tool processes significant volumes of financial data and provides insightful financial reports to accountants, financial analysts, and businesses. The platform also provides visualisations of financial data through reports that the company claims make information simple, understandable, and comprehensible to organisational staff. Founded in 2017 in Johannesburg, South Africa, Syft Analytics has grown its customer base to 120,000 businesses in the span of five years, across markets such as South Africa, New Zealand, USA, Australia, and the UK. Syft Analytics will leverage Google Cloud to run its online platform and application that reviews, analyses, and predicts financial data quickly. Zoom out: We may see many more African businesses partnering with Google Cloud in the future. Last week, at its Google for Africa hybrid event, the company announced that it would be building its first cloud data centre in South Africa which will see the creation of 40,000 jobs by 2030. SELL MORE WITH PAYSTACK
Increase your online sales with a Paystack Storefront – a free, beautiful seller page that helps you bring creative ideas to life. ???????? Learn more at paystack.com/storefront . TC INSIGHTS: BEYOND AGENCY BANKING
As of 2019, the global density of the agent network reached an average of 228 active mobile money agents per 100,000 adults, seven times more than ATMs and 20 times more than bank branches. In Africa, there are about 460 agents per 100,000 people compared to the 6 ATMs and 5 bank branches for every 100,000 adults. The number of agents increased by an average of 7% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) in five years, making digital financial services accessible to millions across the continent. As a result, more people now use agent networks for deposits than withdrawals. For every $3 cashed in, only $2 is cashed out. This is due to the increase in mobile phone usage on the continent. Most people log in cash via agent networks and then continue transactions via mobile money rails. While agents have doubled down on their primary aim of providing access to financial services to the underbanked, especially in rural areas, they must begin to provide more value for the last-mile users by creating robust customer profiles. Currently, there are no data pipelines that carry nuanced operations data upstream. Usually, when users perform transactions at agent touchpoints, there is zero data collected on the users. It would be effective to pull these data from the transaction database but a lot of transactions are done by third-party account owners. In the coming years, agency banking will be led by operators who have access to last-mile data and are able to provide customised financial services with it. Currently, most agents run other businesses on the side while providing last-mile financial services to people in their community. It is possible for them to deliver diverse digital services to the last mile. Non-fintech companies like Copia, Jumia, and IrokoTV use agents for offline distribution. Rwanda’s Irembo uses an agent network to bring government services closer to the people. Bundling these services into a network for last-mile delivery will unlock more value for agent networks. The future of agent networks goes beyond banking. Operators who are able to pivot while keeping an eye on the initial goal of financial inclusion will win. You can download all our reports here and watch videos from our events. Send your custom research requests here . GAME: GUESS THE WORD
IN OTHER NEWS FROM TECHCABAL
South Africa’s largest venture capital fund has a diversity problem .

👨🏿‍🚀 TechCabal Daily – A Chella lot

Impact Collective is a community-driven investment and acceleration firm for startups as impact makers focusing on opportunities in Asia.

Impact Collective

One way Chella is achieving this is through their partnership with IMPACT COLLECTIVE .

Chella Partners with IMPACT COLLECTIVE to be Carbon & Plastic Neutral.

Startups in the beauty & personal care space, including cosmetics brands, shaving startups, on-demand beauty services, salon management platforms, and more.

Beauty & Personal Care

Startups selling their own branded products directly to consumers through owned e-commerce channels, rather than relying on department stores or big online marketplaces.

Direct-To-Consumer Brands (Non-Food)

Mosaic Distributors is a developer and distributor of premium brands to premium retailers throughout the U.S. and Canada. Current Mosaic brands include Chella Skin Care. The company was founded in 2012 and is based in Santa Barbara, California.

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