{"id":2715,"date":"2016-06-14T16:49:15","date_gmt":"2016-06-14T23:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=2715"},"modified":"2016-12-18T10:30:58","modified_gmt":"2016-12-18T18:30:58","slug":"remembering-robert-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2016\/film-2\/remembering-robert-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Robert Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"robert<\/a>

Robert Hall, featured on the right, played a detective<\/p><\/div>\n

Yesterday,\u00a0 I learned that Robert Hall was executed by a terrorist group in the Phillipines. They represent an evil I do not understand. They killed l a decent man whose only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.<\/p>\n

I first met Robert Hall, when he was cast as a detective in Cipher, a short film my grandson, Michael Stevantoni, directed and I produced over five years ago. He was a local amateur actor who responded to an ad we’d placed in the community. Though my grandson was only fourteen at the time, Robert Hall was courteous, responsible, and respectful to Michael.<\/p>\n

Robert showed talent and I recall encouraging him to pursue a professional path. \u00a0He contacted me a half year later to tell me he was in a low-budget feature shot in Alberta. After sending me the Facebook link for the film, I didn\u2019t hear from him again.<\/p>\n

So it was with great shock that I learned that Robert had been kidnapped last fall by terrorists in the Phillipines who were demanding a ransom for his release. Remembering a kind and gentle man, we both broke down and cried. Once we got more news from the media, we had quite a debate over whether we should write something about him or not. What could we do to show him our support? Wouldn\u2019t he want to know that people cared and were doing what they could to get his release?<\/p>\n

I knew our Canadian government\u2019s policy was not to negotiate with terrorists, but wasn’t there something that could be done? His family were advised not to talk about Robert\u2019s capture on social media. That talking about him in public would embolden the terrorists. They were told that whatever could be done was being done. I also asked about Amnesty International. Again, I was told that they were involved. I relayed this all back to my grandson who was not convinced that doing nothing was the answer.<\/p>\n

And so we waited and hoped that Robert could feel our support, even though there was no communication between us. I kept thinking no news is good news. At the time, I heard an interview with a terrorist specialist on CBC who said, that after the first Canadian had been decapitated, Robert was probably safe for the time being. I also thought that Robert, being neither rich, famous, nor powerful in any way, was someone that the captors would eventually let go. That they would realize that kidnapping doesn\u2019t pay and that given the sweet nature of the man they had in captivity, they\u2019d want to release him. I was so wrong. When you are dealing with men who are disturbed, there is no way you can expect a reasonable outcome.<\/p>\n

My thoughts and prayers are now with Robert\u2019s friends and family. I know my grandson feels the same.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday,\u00a0 I learned that Robert Hall was executed by a terrorist group in the Phillipines. They represent an evil I do not understand. They killed l a decent man whose… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[88,82],"tags":[889,49,78,34,104,888,887,890],"class_list":["post-2715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","category-film-2","tag-canadian","tag-cipher","tag-diana-stevan","tag-film","tag-michael-stevantoni","tag-phillipines","tag-robert-hall","tag-terrorist"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-HN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":388,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/cipher\/","url_meta":{"origin":2715,"position":0},"title":"CIPHER","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"6 \u0422\u0440\u0430\u0432\u043d\u044f, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"My 15 yr. old grandson, Michael Stevantoni, finished CIPHER, an 18 min. film he directed last summer. It's been a labor of love. He and I co-wrote an adaptation of a screenplay he found on the net (with the author's permission), and then produced it. It's been an amazing journey,\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/CIPHER-POSTER-THICK-211x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7009,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2025\/film-2\/death-letter-blues-a-thriller\/","url_meta":{"origin":2715,"position":1},"title":"Death Letter Blues: A Thriller","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"12 \u0421\u0435\u0440\u043f\u043d\u044f, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The premiere of\u00a0DEATH LETTER BLUES, a supernatural and psychological thriller, set in the Deep South went well. A great audience showed up on August 7th to view the film at the Glendale Laemmale theater in Glendale, California, along with directors and co-writers,\u00a0Michael Stevantoni (our grandson), and Strack Azar and actors\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"DEATH LETTER BLUES","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/thumbnail_1.-Death-Letter-Blues_Official-Poster_THEATRICAL-SIZE-1.png?fit=427%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":554,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/uncategorized\/cipher-at-tulsa-international-film-festival\/","url_meta":{"origin":2715,"position":2},"title":"Cipher at Tulsa International Film Festival","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"10 \u0421\u0435\u0440\u043f\u043d\u044f, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"CIPHER, a short film my grandson, Michael Stevantoni,\u00a0 directed, shot and edited has just been selected for the Tulsa International Film Festival Sept. 22-25, 2011. As a writer with aspirations of my own, it's been fascinating to watch Michael get to this point. He shot CIPHER last summer when he\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/CIPHER-POSTER-THICK-211x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1244,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2013\/writing\/the-brother-comes-to-town\/","url_meta":{"origin":2715,"position":3},"title":"THE BROTHER Comes To Town","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"21 \u0421\u0456\u0447\u043d\u044f, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"On Jan.24th, our 16 yr. old grandson, Michael Stevantoni, premiered his thirteenth film, THE BROTHER, in\u00a0 Campbell River, B.C. With Michael being in school, it\u2019s taken a year and a half to get this 25 min. film this far. Though he and I co-wrote the screenplay, it\u2019s his vision that\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"theBROTHERposter","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/theBROTHERposter.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":692,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/passion-the-driving-force\/","url_meta":{"origin":2715,"position":4},"title":"Passion: The Driving Force","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"16 \u0412\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0441\u043d\u044f, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I sometimes wonder what keeps me day after day, hour after hour, year after year sitting in front of a computer, working on stories. I struggle to find the right turn of phrase, the sparkling metaphor, and the witty dialogue that will make my work resonate with readers. Before devoting\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/P1100372-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2398,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2015\/film-2\/eduardo-in-kodak-film-challenge\/","url_meta":{"origin":2715,"position":5},"title":"Michael Stevantoni’s Eduardo in Kodak Film Challenge","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"22 \u0413\u0440\u0443\u0434\u043d\u044f, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Michael needs your vote for his film Eduardo in the Kodak Film Challenge. Our grandson, Michael Stevantoni, who's been making films since he was six, is now in second year university, at Dodge College, Chapman University, Orange CA. There,\u00a0he directed a short film, about five minutes long, called Eduardo. \u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"On the set of Eduardo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/IMG_5231-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2715\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}