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Will Tizard on Muck Rack

Will Tizard

Czech Republic, United States
As seen in: Euronews, Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, Variety, IMDb, MSN, MSN Australia, MSN Malaysia, MSN Singapore, Yahoo Entertainment, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Yahoo Canada, Yahoo News Malaysia and
Covers:  News, current events, film, arts, travel and social issues
Founder, AskFilm, Central/Eastern Europe correspondent, Variety, Prague-based film prof. Views my own, great menus stolen.

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Will Tizard’s Biography

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I'm a former California crime reporter, based in Prague, where I produce news videos and studio projects for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Aside from editing multimedia reports from Iran and Ukraine, I cover arts, travel and current events for US and UK publications including Variety, The Telegraph and National Geographic Traveller. I also teach multimedia production for universities and foundations, produce corporate video, and books on Prague and the Czech Republic. I was managing editor a…

Will Tizard’s Journalist Portfolio

What Do Russia's Burning Refineries Mean For The War In Ukraine?

What Do Russia's Burning Refineries Mean For The War In Ukraine?

More than half of Russia's major oil refineries are going up in flames, hit by Ukrainian drone attacks. So co…

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74 Lashes For A Song: Iranian Artist Sentenced For Virtual Concert

74 Lashes For A Song: Iranian Artist Sentenced For Virtual Concert

Iranian authorities have sentenced singer Parastoo Ahmadi to a punishment of 74 lashes for performing in a Yo…

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Artist Segues From Stripping to Boxing to Battling Demons in 'Everything Works Out (in the End)'

Artist Segues From Stripping to Boxing to Battling Demons in 'Everything Works Out (in the End)'

Maximilien Dejoie explains how he followed an American artist from a career as a stripper to fighting off dem…

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Never Too Old To Fight, Say Ukraine's 'Steppe Wolves' Volunteers

Never Too Old To Fight, Say Ukraine's 'Steppe Wolves' Volunteers

Ukrainian volunteers older than 60 are fixing up malfunctioning rockets and using them against Russian units.…

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Helena Třeštíková on the Making of Her Miloš Forman Documentary

Helena Třeštíková on the Making of Her Miloš Forman Documentary

Czech documentarian Helena Třeštíková has won accolades worldwide for her decades-long chronicles of ordinary…

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Articles

‘Searching for SmarterChild’ Filmmakers Investigate Why We Insult Chatbots Original

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By Will Tizard
| Variety Verified
Home Film Global Nov 1, 2026 11:12am PT Courtesy of Ji.hlava Documentary Film Festival Why do humans tend to vent abuse at their AI bots – and should they think about apologizing? That question is central to “Searching for SmarterChild,” the project that won the New Visions Award for the most promising U.S. project at the Ji.hlava Documentary Film Festival this week. Zan Gillies is co-directing the U.S.-Canadian film with Lindsey Sitz, a Pulitzer-winning journalist.
Open in Who Shared View Duplicates (5) Issue with article?

How Soviet TV Audiences Fell Under the Spell of Mass Hypnosis Artist Anatoly Kashpirovskiy Original

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By Will Tizard
| Variety Verified
Home Film Global Nov 1, 2026 10:16am PT Courtesy of Ji.hlava Documentary Film Festival While Western TV audiences of the 80s surveying the Soviet world were following Mikhail Gorbachev, those inside the bloc were just as likely to be interested in a bizarre mass hypnosis artist by the name of Anatoly Kashpirovskiy, as Ji.hlava doc fest audiences have seen this week.
Open in Who Shared View Duplicates (6) Issue with article?

How ‘Up Again’ Director Captured the Rise of a Teenage Figure Skating Champion: ‘The Technical Conditions Were Extremely Challenging’

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By Will Tizard
| Variety Verified
Home Film Global Oct 30, 2026 6:17am PT Courtesy of Ji.hlava Film Festival The immersive Czech film “Up Again,” screening in its world premiere at the Ji.hlava docu fest, starts in darkness as the unmistakable sound of ice skates scraping at high speed fills the cinema.
Open in Who Shared View Duplicates (6) Issue with article?
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Interview

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What was your first job as a journalist?

A flimsy west-side San Francisco shopper - but I soon moved up to the dizzying heights of the Burlingame Boutique/Hillsborough Villager!

Have you ever used a typewriter?

I owe my entire career to my IBM Selectric summer course in high school.

How is social media changing news?

Generally, offering far more breadth but far less depth. The promise of deep data access to all has been elusive, to say the least.