Latest news with #AboveandBeyond
Irish Independent
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Tralee man James bags himself Toastmasters International's highest award
'The DTM award signifies James has demonstrated outstanding service and accomplishment in leadership and communication skills and has used these skills to help others in their self development efforts.' noted Toastmasters International Chief Executive Officer Daniel Rex in the official citation of this award. James completed two separate education programs in Motivational Strategies and Leadership Development as well as fulfilled important leadership roles at local, regional and across the UK and Ireland. During this time he also received two District 71 (UK and Ireland) personal awards for Vice President Public Relations of the Year in 2021 and 'Above and Beyond' for distinguished services to the District in 2024. James is well known locally for his commitment to volunteering at numerous Festivals, charitable fundraising, artistic performances and local promotional events which was recognised by a Tralee Municipal District and Kerry County Council Civic Award last year. He, together with fellow Curator Bryan Carr, are currently working towards their fourth TEDxTralee Conference to be held in Siamsa Tire, Tralee on Saturday October 18 2025. These talks, promoting Tralee and its partners, have now been watched by a worldwide online audience of well over three and a quarter million views at 'I have always seen my Toastmaster Education, my voluntary activities and professional experiences to be mutually beneficial and complimentary. Nothing of importance is ever achieved in isolation, and I am fortunate beyond words to be supported by family, friends and colleagues in all aspects of my various interests and activities' said James To celebrate his DTM, James is doing a fundraising abseil 140 feet down Croke Park on Friday June 27 in aid of Debra Ireland – the Butterfly Skin charity, for whom he has raised awareness and much needed funds for the past number of years. Donations can be made on James Facebook Page or at the link here: 'I wanted to mark this award with a bang, albeit a controlled one. I can think of no more worthwhile cause than Debra Ireland, who help those affected by EB, their families and also support research into causes and potential treatments. All donations are gratefully received,' said James.
Time Out
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
London's most spectacular free festival has just announced its 2025 line-up
Whether you consider yourself a theatre fan or not, Greenwich + Docklands International Festival is always a highlight of the annual London calendar, bringing together spectacular, essentially unclassifiable outdoor entertainment to the open spaces of Thames-side London. In recent years shows have included a recreation of the Northern Lights, a bevy of glowing swans, and a performance on a melting artificial iceberg. Now it's back for 2025, and the first tranche of announcements for this year's festival are upon on. First things first: we have dates! The festival will run in its traditional late summer slot, this year August 22 to September 6. There's basically too much stuff to list in full, but I'll pick out a few highlights and you can catch up with the full bill here. You can always rely on GDIF for a spectacular opener, and this year it comes from hench French parkour troupe Lézards Bleus, who will get things underway with Above and Beyond (Aug 22, pictured top), a dazzling opener in which eight performers will astound gathered crowds as they leap over the roofs of central Woolwich. Great news for families: the beloved Greenwich Fair (Aug 23 and 24) will return to central Greenwich after skipping last year. It brings family friendly games and street performance to the heart of the borough; there's stuff on all day with highlights within the programme including all-female Belgian circus company Cie Des Chaussons Rouges's high wire show Epiphytes in Greenwich Park. Down on Greenwich Peninsula there will be another sub festival entitled Turning Worlds (Aug 30 and 31) that will include four collaborations between the world of technology, engineering and performance, including the delightfully named Robopole, a human/robot acrobatic act from German company ULIK. Perhaps the most spectacular show of the rest of the bunch is Dutch company Panama Pictures's performance The Weight of the Water (Sep 5 and 6), a physical theatre piece on the subject of climate change that will take place of a seesawing platform in the middle of Birchmere Lake in Thamesmead. Loads of other stuff has also been announced and more will be announced in the future. As everything at GDIF is free and none of it is bookable there's not a whole lot you need to do for now other than pay attention to further announcements and remember the dates.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tom Cruise to Be Celebrated at MoMI with ‘Above and Beyond' Retrospective Festival
Patron saint of theaters Tom Cruise will be at the center of a well-deserved retrospective at the Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI). IndieWire can announce that starting June 20, 22 of Cruise's most iconic films will screen at the museum. Titled 'Tom Cruise, Above and Beyond,' the retrospective festival will 'capture the full range of Cruise's charismatic star performances from the 1980s to present,' as the description teases. 'Tom Cruise has been so central to our conception of Hollywood for so many decades that he's more than a movie star — he encourages us to ask: what is it that makes a movie star? Cruise's entire captivating career speaks to his legacy as a singular movie star, and all the contradictions— of mystery and emotional transparency, of relatability and untouchability, of strength and vulnerability— that entails.' From '80s classics such as 'Risky Business,' 'Top Gun,' 'Cocktail,' and 'The Color of Money' to '90s genre benders like 'The Firm,' 'Jerry Maguire,' and 'Interview with the Vampire,' and auteur works 'Eyes Wide Shut' and 'Magnolia' — not to mention Cruise's Oscar-nominated turn in 'Born on the Fourth of July' — Cruise's career is legendary. Festival highlights further include Ridley Scott's 'Legend,' Francis Ford Coppola's 'The Outsiders,' Barry Levinson's 'Rain Man,' Michael Mann's 'Collateral,' and Rob Reiner's 'A Few Good Men.' Both 'Top Gun' and 'Top Gun: Maverick' will screen, as well as 'Tropic Thunder;' Cruise has teased more respective franchise installments for both. More from IndieWire Cannes 2025 Films Sold So Far: Janus Films Acquires Hlynur Pálmason's 'The Love That Remains' Ana de Armas 'Hated' Singing in Ron Howard's 'Eden': 'I Would Rather Do 100 Stunts' The 'Tom Cruise, Above and Beyond' festival concludes August 17. But that's not all the Cruise programming this summer: The king of blockbusters will be back on the MoMI big screen for the annual 'See It Big: 70mm!' festival at the museum. Both 'Edge of Tomorrow' and 'Top Gun: Maverick' will be presented in 70mm. The weekly 'Summer Saturdays with Dolby Atmos,' presented by MUBI, additionally will showcase 'Top Gun.' Cruise's 'Mission: Impossible' franchise will also be celebrated with the 'Mission: Impossible — Story and Spectacle' exhibition; Cruise is both the producer and star of the film franchise, which concludes with 'Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.' While Cruise's 'Mission: Impossible' career may be over (or, at least for now), the actor turned stuntman told The Hollywood Reporter that he has no plans to ever retire. 'I will never stop. I will never stop doing action, I will never stop doing drama, comedy films — I'm excited,' Cruise said when asked about his former statement that like Harrison Ford, he will keep acting into his 80s. Cruise also had one amendment: 'I actually said I'm going to make movies into my 80s; actually, I'm going to make them into my 100s.' He added, 'There's been so many levels of reward with the filmmakers that I've collaborated with, the crews, the people, the cultures that we've worked in. Everything that I've learned and continue to learn about storytelling, about life, about leadership, about character and every aspect of filmmaking. It's been exceptional, it really is exceptional. I feel very fortunate to be able to make the films that I make and I love it. I love just making movies.' Best of IndieWire Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See 'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie The 55 Best LGBTQ Movies and TV Shows Streaming on Netflix Right Now
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bella Ramsey Wants ‘The Last of Us' Fans to Watch Upcoming Indie Films Like They're ‘Game of Thrones'
'The Last of Us' Season 2 went out with a bang, but star Bella Ramsey wants fans thinking about their upcoming indie film projects as much as the eventual return of HBO's zombie apocalypse. Ramsey spoke positively to IndieWire about seeing themselves grow up on screen at the prestige network, having broken out at 13 years old playing the steely Lyanna Mormont for 'Game of Thrones.' Now, age 21, Ramsey is a globally recognized superstar who is ready to use their clout in other corners of the industry. 'I really hope that people will stick with me throughout stuff with 'The Last of Us' and beyond with all the little indie films I'm going to be doing as well,' Ramsey said. 'I hope that those will get as much love as amazing shows and franchises like 'The Last of Us' and 'Game of Thrones.' I feel very grateful for the support that I've had.' All in various stages of production, Ramsey has announced four upcoming film projects. More from IndieWire Tom Cruise to Be Celebrated at MoMI with 'Above and Beyond' Retrospective Festival Cannes 2025 Films Sold So Far: Janus Films Acquires Hlynur Pálmason's 'The Love That Remains' Currently, Ramsey is in Scotland shooting the coming-of-age comedy, 'Sunny Dancer' with Jessica Gunning, James Norton, and Neil Patrick Harris. Writer/director George Jacques' sophomore effort (following 2023's 'Black Dog') takes place at a summer camp for children impacted by cancer. It casts Ramsey as Ivy, an unwilling participant in remission, alongside a younger cast with Ruby Stokes, Quinn-Toye, Earl Cave, Conrad Khan, and Jasmine Elcock. Meanwhile, Carrie Coon and Lily James have joined Ramsey and co-star Odessa Young on the upcoming thriller, 'Harmonia.' Directed by Guy Nattiv, the production from Bleecker Street is expected to release in U.S. theaters sometimes in 2026. Set in the 1980s, the script was co-written by Nattiv and Noa Berman-Herzberg. The story follows sisters Ella (Ramsey) and Jo (Young) as they attempt to rescue their mother (Coon) from a mesmeric cult leader (James). This time last year, Ramsey was attached to star as the real Samantha Lewthwaite in 'The White Widow' from writer/director Bruce Goodison. Lewthwaite is the widow of the terrorist behind the 2005 London bombings, believed to be responsible for hundreds of deaths. BFI backed the film's development. In 2023, another fiction based in fact found Ramsey when filmmaker Romola Garai ('Atonement') tapped them to play Barbara Field in 'Monstrous Beauty.' The 17th-century period piece follows a playwright in the court of King Charles II, whose rare medical conditions leaves her covered in hair. Dominic West, Ruth Negga, and Fiona Shaw were also announced. Ramsey has repeatedly voiced their desire to be 'challenged' by new roles and is expected to return for 'The Last of Us' Season 3. 'The Last of Us' is now streaming Season 1 and 2 on HBO. Best of IndieWire Nightmare Film Shoots: The 38 Most Grueling Films Ever Made, from 'Deliverance' to 'The Wages of Fear' Quentin Tarantino's Favorite Movies: 65 Films the Director Wants You to See The 19 Best Thrillers Streaming on Netflix in May, from 'Fair Play' to 'Emily the Criminal'
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Mary Van Heukelom goes ‘Above and Beyond' to help cancer survivors
DES MOINES, Iowa – Mary Van Heukelom believes everyone has a calling in life, and hers is all about helping cancer survivors thrive. When exercising with Van Heukelom, get ready to work up a sweat. Members in this total training class can handle it. Because even though they've survived the worst, they're being taught by the best. 'Everyone that's touched by cancer, if you say Mary Van Heukelom they know who you're talking about,' survivor Lynn Sandoval said. 'She just opened a whole of classes, a whole of opportunities for me to really feel like I could get back in shape and feel better about myself after treatment,' another survivor, Martha Gelhaus, said. Van Heukelom has been working with cancer survivors for the past decade. Before that, she was a public school teacher. 'I consider myself still a teacher, still an educator,' Van Heukelom said. 'Now the topic is different and my audience is different.' Iowa mom's remarkable impact on parents of kids with Down syndrome An audience that completely changed her career path and life, all because of a transformational journey. Back in 2011, Van Heukelom helped lead the original team of cancer survivors that went to Mount Everest Base Camp through Above and Beyond Cancer. 'I think the shift was the first time, the very first class I was able to teach and work with a group of cancer survivors,' Van Heukelom said. 'It was from day one, life-changing for me. There was a different element of energy and authenticity in that space that I had never experienced before in my life.' After the trip, she was offered to be the program director at Above and Beyond; helping people after they survive cancer by connecting them to free fitness, nutrition, and wellness programs. She leads some of the classes, but never expected what she did for work would become what she had to face in life. 'And it was in 2021, right after my 50th birthday, that I had my first cancer diagnosis and then a year later, my second cancer diagnosis,' Van Heukelom said. 'So, with both of those, a colon cancer and a breast cancer diagnosis, I felt that this has continue to enhance my understanding, of course, firsthand of the journey of a cancer survivor, which in turn I believe has allowed me to expand and deepen my compassion and my service to cancer survivors and the community.' A community that's sometimes tough to be a part of, but one that's more bearable because of people like Mary Van Heukelom. 'She inspires me,' Gelhaus said. 'She makes me feel that I can do it, that I can push myself and I can achieve more than I thought I could.' 'She is my favorite person in the world. She literally saved my life,' Sandoval said. 'She's so inspirational. She's like my mom. I'm older than her and she's like my mom. She keeps me going and she's just so positive.' Irma Ariza, a fashionista volunteer helping women Dress for Success every day 'We have our blood family and then we have our community of family, and I really believe in every person I've met as a part of my family and there are even people in this world that I haven't that that are part of the family of humanity,' Van Heukelom said. 'And so, if there's anything I can do in this space to make humanity better. That is my job.' A job done by a mom, wife, and friend that many would say is remarkable. 'I want people to know that that I care about them,' Van Heukelom said. 'How we greet somebody matters. How we how we communicate with somebody matters. Again, it doesn't have to come with a title, a position, a role. It's about humanity and how we interact with the people around us. All matters.' For Van Heukelom, it's just a way of living life. A gift she knows not to take for granted. 'I find it remarkable that I get to be here today. I find it remarkable that I have opportunities, and I know that I have been given opportunities that other people don't. And so that's where the remarkable is.' Van Heukelom will head off on another transformational journey next month to Patagonia, Chile, with a team of 29 survivors and caregivers. If you want to learn more about Above and Beyond Cancer, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
