[Mpls] This Week in The Minneapolis Observer

[Craig Cox]

T H E M I N N E A P O L I S O B S E R V E R
A Weekly Digest of All Things Minneapolitan
Vol. 1, No. 32
March 25, 2002

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THIS WEEK IN THE OBSERVER:
* 'Minnesota Oscars' Need a Makeover
* Local Money Manager in Hot Water over Enron
* Recycling Art
* Beyond 'Eat Street'
* Women-Friendly Minneapolis
* A Case of Mistaken Identity
Plus: The price of good police work, Budweiser for breakfast, Mary Tyler Moore gets the thumb, and ballpark frankness.

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LOCAL FILMMAKERS VENT OVER 'MINNESOTA OSCAR' AWARDS
The D.L. Mabery Awards, presented to the top local filmmakers on Oscar night, is creating more of a buzz around its process than the films it seeks to honor.
As Peter Ritter reports in City Pages (www.citypages.com), angry auteurs are calling the awards, which were christened seven years ago by the Minnesota Film Board in honor of the late editor of Skyway News, a "travesty" that is based more on p.r. campaigns than quality filmmaking. According to one local filmmaker, who asked not to be identified, the eligibility criteria, nomination ballots, and voting practices have made the Maberys "absolutely meaningless to filmmakers and an embarrassment to all involved in the facilitating and judging of these awards."
Ben Nelson, who administers the awards process for the film board, says the nomination process, like that of the Academy Awards, has no system to prevent ballot-box stuffing. Though the ballots must be signed to be counted, there's nothing stopping ambitious filmmakers from embarking on an aggressive get-out-the-vote campaign. "People are obviously encouraged to advocate for their projects," Nelson says. "Of course, it can be manipulated the same way politicians can manipulate the vote."
The nomination process also features considerable confusion over eligibility, some critics claim. A film that was released in 2000, for instance, is a finalist for the 2001 awards, and two other finalists announced in a recent press release apparently weren't actually in contention.
"There's a seeming lack of knowledge of what's going on in the film community," one director told Ritter. "If they're going to do these, they should have some grasp of what's going on. What it all boils down to is that if they're not willing to do what it takes to facilitate the award properly, maybe the task should be given to someone more committed to honoring local filmmakers."

LOCAL MONEY MANAGER UNDER INVESTIGATION IN ENRON DEBACLE
Florida officials are investigating a Minneapolis-based money manager whose Enron stock trading cost the state pension fund millions.

RECYCLING ART
Loring Park neighborhood activists have claimed a piece of the gradually disappearing Allianz life insurance building on Hennepin Ave.


SORRY ABOUT THAT--REALLY
Nearly three years after the FBI and the Minneapolis Police Department mistakenly identified Darien Williams as a member of an interstate prostitution ring, the City Council has made it right.

BEYOND 'EAT STREET'
Neighborhood groups have joined with local business leaders to extend Nicollet Avenue's "Eat Street" concept to a much larger development dream.

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Craig Cox
Editor
The Minneapolis Observer: a weekly digest of all things Minneapolitan
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Minneapolis, MN 55406
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