The Failures Of ‘Oppenheimer’ And The Ascent Of The Foreign Film – 6 Essential Reads For The Oscars

BY NICK LEHR

Because movies are so subjective, with views on the same performances and direction veering wildly from one critic to the next, determining the best of anything – whether it’s acting, direction or sound design – can be fraught.

But that controversy also makes for good drama and suspense – fitting for a ceremony celebrating the ways in which actors, directors and cinematographers captivate, move and thrill audiences.

So before you tune into Hollywood’s biggest night of the year, here are five recent stories – and one betting tip – about the films, fashion and actors who will be featured at this year’s show.

1. Can you want an Oscar too much?

As Michael Schulman, author of “Oscar Wars,” has written, the Academy Awards are not exactly a “barometer of artistic merit or worth.”

For that reason, in the months leading up to the Oscars, there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes politicking as studios and producers make the case for why their writers, directors, cinematographers, costume designers and actors should win the top prize.

Sometimes the actors will make the case themselves. In recent years, more and more will promote the extent to which they prepared for their roles.

You may have heard that Cillian Murphy lost 20 pounds and took up smoking (fake) cigarettes to play nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, or that Bradley Cooper spent six years training in the art of conducting in order to film a key scene as Leonard Bernstein in “Maestro.”

The anecdotes are supposed to burnish their Oscar credentials.

Should they?

“Yes, the media loves these kinds of stories, and they can demonstrate a certain type of commitment,” writes Holy Cross theater professor Scott Malia. “But they can also paint actors as pampered and pretentious ‘artistes’ whose process is self-indulgent. A working actor struggling to pay the bills doesn’t have the luxury of, say, insisting that everyone address them by their character’s name.”

2. The anti-‘Oppenheimer’ crowd

Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” is the runaway favorite to be named best picture, according to Vegas Insider.

But if The Conversation’s coverage of the film is any indication, it doesn’t deserve the win.

Charles Thorpe – a sociologist at the University of California, San Diego – explores why J. Robert Oppenheimer, in particular, has become the focus of so much writing on the bomb.

On the one hand, it’s a lot easier to digest the complexities of science, politics and human suffering through an individual – “a human-scaled way to talk about an otherwise overwhelming topic,” as Thorpe puts it.

But on the other hand, Thorpe argues that American culture’s “fascination with the man behind the bomb often seems to eclipse the horrific reality of nuclear weapons themselves.”

3. Few new insights

Michigan State University historian Naoko Wake also takes issue with what she calls the “inward-looking” nature of “Oppenheimer.”

Like so many other films about the bomb, Nolan applies a distinctly Western lens that, in Wake’s view, has become cloudy and cracked from overuse.

In the end, the film’s tension hinges on decisions made by Americans, for Americans, offering “few, if any, new insights about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their repercussions.”

“Even if this film is seen purely through the lens of entertainment,” Wake adds, “Nolan could have chosen to recognize why the bombs are such a galvanizing subject to begin with: They have done much, much more than make white, middle-class Americans feel anxious or guilty.”

“Their blasts reverberated across the globe,” she continues, “tearing apart not only America’s wartime enemies but also colonized peoples and racial minorities.”

4. Foreign films take center stage

But for all the concern about American perspectives dominating interpretations of history, there’s been a striking shift in the film industry, which has taken a decidedly international turn over the past decade.

This year, three non-English language films – “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Past Lives” and “The Zone of Interest” – have been nominated for best picture.

Miami University film studies scholar Kerry Hegarty tells the story of how non-English cinema has been gradually folded in the ceremonies – boxed out at first, eventually given its own category and finally winning best picture in 2020, when “Parasite” won.

Hegarty explains how this didn’t happen naturally; it took work. State-sponsored programs supporting filmmakers in foreign countries played a big role, as did changes in the demographic makeup of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

“Streaming distribution has also democratized access to non-English language cinema,” she adds, “which was previously limited only to niche audiences in art house theaters in large cities.”

5. The guardians of glamour

In the early years of the Academy Awards, what people wore to the event received little attention. In fact, even after televisions landed in millions of living rooms across the U.S., movie fans couldn’t watch the Oscars on TV: The film industry resisted broadcasting the event on the medium it saw as its top competition.

That all changed once Hollywood ran into some financial trouble in the late 1940s and needed television networks to help pay for the annual event. All of a sudden, how movie stars appeared at the event mattered – and studios decided that this eccentric coterie needed some corralling.

Enter Edith Head, guardian of glamour.

University of Southern California fashion scholar Elizabeth Castaldo Lundén tells the story of how Head – and, later, Fred Hayman – maintained boundaries of decorum, while also encouraging stars to showcase the latest luxury trends and attire, turning the event into a dazzling fashion spectacle.

6. 92 years old, 54 nominations

When 92-year-old composer John Williams strolls up to Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre, he’ll be looking to secure his sixth gold statuette.

It’s been a while since Williams’ last win – exactly 30 years, when he won best original score for “Schindler’s List” in 1994. Nonetheless, Williams holds the record for most nominations for a living person, with 54.

Rice University music professor Arthur Gottschalk looks back on Williams’ illustrious career and explains how the composer’s suite for “E.T.” burnished his reputation.

Not only was it Williams’ first score to be embraced by concert orchestras, but it also changed the way director Steven Spielberg edited the film, “inverting the normal relationship between director and composer,” Gottschalk writes.

“The scoring of the finale,” he continues, “in which protagonist Elliott and his friends help the alien escape captivity, is so effective that Spielberg re-cut the end of the film to match Williams’ music.”

READ ORIGINAL STORY HERE

Film Academy Gifts A Replacement Of Hattie McDaniel’s Historic Oscar To Howard University

FILE - Actor Fay Bainter, right, appears with actor Hattie McDaniel the night McDaniel won best supporting actress for her role in the 1939 film “Gone With the Wind” in Los Angeles on Feb. 29, 1940. McDaniel received a plaque, not an Oscar statuette, as was the custom for supporting actor winners of that era. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has created a replacement of McDaniel’s Academy Award plaque that it is gifting to Howard University. (AP Photo, File)

BY JAKE COYLE

NEW YORK (AP) —Hattie McDaniel’s best supporting actress Oscar in 1939 for “Gone With the Wind” is one of the most important moments in Academy Award history. McDaniel was the first African American to win an Oscar, and it would be half a century before another Black woman again won an acting award. But the whereabouts of her award, itself, has long been unknown.

Now, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has created a replacement of McDaniel’s legendary Academy Award that it’s gifting to Howard University. Upon her death in 1952, McDaniel bequeathed her Oscar to Howard University where it was displayed at the drama department until the late ’60s.

The film academy, along with the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, announced Tuesday that the replacement award will reside at the university’s Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts. The Oscar will be presented in a ceremony titled “Hattie’s Come Home” on Oct. 1 on the Washington D.C. university campus.

“Hattie McDaniel was a groundbreaking artist who changed the course of cinema and impacted generations of performers who followed her. We are thrilled to present a replacement of Hattie McDaniel’s Academy Award to Howard University,” said Jacqueline Stewart, Academy Museum president, and Bill Kramer, chief executive of the academy, in a joint statement. “This momentous occasion will celebrate Hattie McDaniel’s remarkable craft and historic win.”

McDaniel’s award was a plaque, not a statuette, as all supporting acting winners received from 1936 to 1942. During the 12th Academy Awards, McDaniel was seated at a segregated table on the far side of the room at the Ambassador Hotel.

“I sincerely hope I shall always be a credit to my race and to the motion picture industry,” McDaniel said accepting the award. “My heart is too full to tell you just how I feel, and may I say thank you and God bless you.”

McDaniel died in 1952 of breast cancer at the age of 59.

Ruth E. Carter Becomes 1st Black Woman To Win 2 Oscars

Ruth E. Carter poses with the award for best costume design for "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" in the press room at the Oscars on Sunday, March 12, 2023, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

BY JONATHAN LANDRUM JR.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ruth E. Carter made history: The costume designer behind the “Black Panther” films became the first Black woman to win two Oscars.

Carter took home best costume design Sunday night at the 95th Academy Awards for the Marvel sequel “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Carter also won in 2018 for “Black Panther,” which made her the first African American to win in the category.

In her acceptance speech, Carter thanked the film’s director Ryan Coogler and asked if “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman could look after her mother, Mabel Carter, who she said died “this past week.” Boseman died in 2020 of cancer at 43.

“This is for my mother. She was 101,” Carter said. “This film prepared me for this moment. Chadwick, please take care of mom.”

Carter then paid tribute to her mother backstage.

“I had a great relationship with her in her final years. The same relationship I always had with her. I was her ride-or-die. I was her road dog. I was her sidekick,” she said. “I know she’s proud of me. I know that she wanted this for me as much as I wanted it for myself.”

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” grappled with the grief of losing Boseman, its superhero.

In her career, Carter has been behind-the-scenes in some of Hollywood’s biggest films. She’s received Oscar nominations for her work in Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X” and Steven Spielberg’s “Amistad” and received praise for her period ensembles in other projects such as Lee Daniels’ “The Butler,” Ava DuVernay’s “Selma” and the reboot of “ROOTS.” She’s created costumes for Oprah Winfrey, Denzel Washington, Eddie Murphy and even Jerry Seinfeld for the “Seinfeld” pilot.

Carter played an influential role as lead costume designer in making “Black Panther” a cultural phenomenon as she infused the pride of African diaspora into the character’s stylish and colorful garments to help bring Wakanda to life. She wanted to transform the presence of Queen Ramonda - played by Oscar nominee Angela Bassett — as a queen in the first film to being a ruler in the sequel.

“Angela always wanted to play a queen, so to amplify her, we added vibranium … we gave her the royal color of purple, and adorned her in gold as she wore the crown at the UN,” Carter said. “When she sits on the throne, she’s in a gray one shouldered dress. The exposed shoulder shows her strength — Angela, she got those guns, right?”

Carter said she was able to pull off the win against a “tough lineup.” She was up against designers from “Elvis,” “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” and “Babylon.”

She got her start in 1988 on Lee’s “School Daze,” the director’s second film. They’ve since collaborated on more than 10 films, including “Do the Right Thing” and “Jungle Fever.” She’s also worked with Robert Townsend on “The Five Heartbeats” and Keenen Ivory Wayans on “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka.”

“I pulled myself up from my bootstraps,” Carter said. “I started in a single parent household. I wanted to be a costume designer. I studied. I scraped. I struggled with adversity in an industry that sometimes didn’t look like me. And I endured.”

Through the Oscar-nominated “Malcolm X,” she reached new heights. That film, starring Denzel Washington, propelled her into the “Hollywood makeup,” offering her more opportunities to work with directors who had different points-of-views and scripts.

Carter’s wish is that her historic win Sunday will offer more opportunities to women of color.

“I hope this opens the door for others … that they can win an Oscar, too,” Carter said.

___ For more coverage of this year’s Oscars, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards

Michelle Yeoh Wins Best Actress Award, Making Oscar History

Michelle Yeoh poses with the award for best performance by an actress in a leading role for "Everything Everywhere All at Once" at the Governors Ball after the Oscars on Sunday, March 12, 2023, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/John Locher)

BY TERRY YANG

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michelle Yeoh has won the Academy Award for best actress and made history all at once.

The Malaysian-born actor became the first Asian woman to win the Academy Award for best actress on Sunday night for her multifaceted performance in the multiversal “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

“For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibility. This is proof that dreams dream big and dreams do come true,” she said. “And ladies, don’t let anyone ever tell you you’re past your prime.”

Yeoh’s victory comes almost 90 years after Luise Rainer, a white actor, won the same category for donning “yellowface” to play a Chinese villager in “The Good Earth.”

As a nominee, Yeoh was the first in the category who identified as Asian. Merle Oberon, who was nominated in 1935 for “The Dark Angel” but didn’t win, hid her South Asian heritage, according to birth records.

She joyously acknowledged the historical moment in front of reporters in the press room.

“I think this is something we have been working so hard towards for a very long time and tonight, we freaking broke that glass ceiling! I kung fu-ed it out and shattered it,” Yeoh said.

Yeoh beat out past Oscar winner Cate Blanchett (“Tár”), as well as Michelle Williams (“The Fabelmans”), Ana de Armas (“Blonde”) and Andrea Riseborough (“To Leslie”).

The category also received notice for who wasn’t nominated: In a year of strong performances from Black women like Viola Davis (“The Woman King”) and Danielle Deadwyler (“Till”), they were shut out. Meanwhile some criticized the grassroots campaigning by A-listers on social media for Riseborough.

Yeoh also used her speech to honor her 84-year-old mother.

“I have to dedicate this to my mom and all the moms in the world because they are really the superheroes and without them none of us would be here tonight,” she said.

Janet Yeoh got to watch her daughter’s win at a live Oscar watch party in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Yeoh added her mother has “has always instilled in me confidence, taught me about love, taught me about kindness and compassion.” She also heeded her mother’s last piece of advice.

“The recent thing she asked me to do is, ‘Don’t wear pants to the Oscars.’”

Yeoh appeared a lock after winning seemingly every award everywhere, including the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award, for her nuanced portrayal of Evelyn, an immigrant Chinese wife, mother and laundromat operator bracing for a tax audit.

Her win was one of seven Oscars for “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” including best picture and editing. Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan also won best supporting actor Oscars. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert won for best directors and original screenplay.

Yeoh got her start in the kung fu cinema world but rose to stardom in 1992 as Jackie Chan’s co-star in “Supercop.” American audiences got to know her even better over the next decade with hits like “Tomorrow Never Dies” and Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.”

When she first read the script for “Everything Everywhere,” Yeoh thought it was “an independent film on steroids.” She was ultimately swayed by the opportunity to give voice to immigrant mothers and grandmothers who go unnoticed. The multiverse movie was also a showcase across a bevy of genres — drama, comedy, sci-fi and fantasy.

At 60, Yeoh has been heavily in demand since her standout turn as a controlling matriarch in “Crazy Rich Asians.” From there, she has done everything from a “Star Trek” spinoff to Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.”

Yeoh will be seen later this year in the Disney+ series “American Born Chinese.” She is also preparing to reunite with “Crazy Rich Asians” director Jon M. Chu for the screen adaptation of the musical “Wicked.”

For more coverage of this year’s Academy Awards, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards

In 'Oscar Wars,' the Long History Of Hollywood Chronicled In Wins, Losses, Controversies And Stunning Gowns

 Author Michael Schulman writes about how the Academy Awards have grown from a small industry gathering to a glittering affair watched by millions—and how they always reflect our ever-changing culture

BY KATE TUTTLE

"Each Oscar year is a suspense tale, a choose-your-own-adventure story," writes Michael Schulman on the first page of Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears. Schulman, a staff writer at The New Yorker, has been attending the awards ceremony in person since 2017, but in researching the book he watched scores of old Oscar television broadcasts, seeing everything from the streaker who infamously ran across the stage in 1974 to the bizarre Snow White dance number in 1989 to last year's moment now known simply as The Slap.

Throughout its 90-plus years, no matter what else the Oscars demonstrate, the awards ceremony has demonstrated the ever-shifting culture in which it takes place. "In recent years," Schulman writes, "the Oscars have become a conflict zone for issues of race, gender, and representation," with an increasingly diverse roster of nominees and winners—a vast improvement from 1940, when Hattie McDaniel won for her role in Gone With the Wind, but was forced to sit at a segregated table, away from the White attendees. She was, Schulman writes, "not only the first Black Oscar nominee but also the first Black attendee who wasn't serving the guests."

Schulman talked with PEOPLE as he prepared to make the trip to Los Angeles to take in this year's event.

For people who don't know much about the history of the Oscars, how were the ceremonies different in the earliest years from the event we know now?

They started out as a banquet and it was members of the Academy in a hotel ballroom. The very first ceremony was the Academy's second anniversary dinner — there were various speeches about Academy business, and then the actual awards were handed out in something like 15 minutes at the end.

So it really wasn't a show the way we think of a show now. Eventually, these banquets got a little bigger and they added things that seem now very familiar, like the drama of opening the envelopes. In the '40s, they moved it into a theater and invited an audience. And then starting in 1953, they began televising it. And it hasn't changed terribly much since then.

Have you watched a ton of old Oscar ceremonies?

Oh my gosh, it's so much fun to do that! love the really over-the-top schlocky opening numbers of the '80s and in the '70s as well. I mean, during the era of variety television, they just reached a height of absolute ridiculousness.

One whole chapter of the book is about the Snow White stuff in 1989. Can you describe what happened and why was it such a disaster?

Oh my gosh. This was probably the most fun chapter to work on. So this ceremony went down in history as the worst Oscars ever because it opened with a completely over-the-top, amazingly campy and ridiculous 11-minute opening number that featured Rob Lowe singing Proud Mary with a woman dressed as Snow White in a replica of the Coconut Grove with dancing cocktail tables. It was such a trip. And this ceremony comes up every few years in some list of cringey Oscar moments, or worst Oscars ever, or something like that. And I really wanted to look a bit more deeply at what was behind this famous catastrophe.

And it really was the story of a man named Alan Carr, who was the producer that year. Alan Carr was known at the time for having produced Grease and La Cage aux Folles on Broadway. He was this flamboyantly gay man in a very homophobic era who wore an array of caftans and threw bacchanalian house parties at his place in Benedict Canyon. And he dreamt, his whole life, of producing the Oscars. And when he finally got a chance in 1989, he put his name absolutely everywhere, telling everyone this is going to be the Alan Carr Oscars, they're going to be bigger, glitzier, more glamorous. But then when it was a disaster and got completely ripped apart in the reviews, everyone knew where to point the finger because he had put his name everywhere.

And so Carr really got scapegoated and his career and really his life were ruined overnight. So to me, it was really a kind of tragedy. It was like an Icarus story of this man who flew too close to the Oscar sun and got seriously burned by it.

So 1989 was weird. What happened last year with the slap was weird. Where do you rank last year's slap among the weirdest or most outrageous things that have ever happened at the Oscars?

It's right up there with some of the wildest stuff! Part of what makes the Oscars great television is that there's always some room for spontaneity and raw emotion, just because we don't know who's going to win. So there's an element of surprise every year amid the pomp and formality. But then there's this echelon of wild and crazy things that happened that are on a different level, like the streaker of 1974, and Sacheen Littlefeather declining the award on behalf of Marlon Brando for The Godfather.

You write in the book about Citizen Kane, now seen as the apex of American cinema, getting all but shut out. What do you think were some of the biggest flubs in terms of the Academy voters just getting things wrong?

The Citizen Kane Loss is probably up at the top. The fact that Citizen Kane lost every category except for screenplay, It is just a scandal. Another one that came about 10 years later is when Cecil B DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth won best picture against High Noon. And a lot of that had to do with the blacklist politics of the time. DeMillewas not only an industry veteran, but he was an arch-conservative and a Red-baiter. And High Noon was not only a metaphor for the blacklist, but it was written by a blacklisted screenwriter, Carl Foreman. But that was also the year that Singin' in the Rain wasn't even nominated for Best Picture! That was the first year the Academy Awards were televised, and the world not only got to see how glamorous they were, but how wrong they could be.

You write about the Academy voters and how that has changed over the years. But some people feel that as a group they haven't changed enough.

It's interesting. After Oscars So White in 2015 and 2016, the Academy really made a proactive effort to dramatically change the membership. And I think they did over the course of the year, they brought in hundreds of new people who are much more reflective of the diversity of the population and of the industry. So you have a lot more people of color, women, younger people, and international members.It's so much more global now, and I think that's a good thing. And I think you do start to see that reflected in a win like Parasite or even the breakout of Everything Everywhere All at Once this year. It does not seem as stodgy.

The Academy is like a big ship, and it's hard to turn around very quickly. They've done quite a substantial job of bringing more voices in, but that doesn't mean that you're going to get an immaculately diverse set of nominees every year. And in fact, every year is a bit of a mixed bag.

Just look at this year: you have a breakthrough number of Asian nominees like Michelle Yeah and Hong Chau, and yet there is no Black woman nominated for best actress. There's no woman in the Best Director category, even though the last two years a woman has won. So it always feels like three steps forward, two steps back. It's a work in progress.

Most of us will only ever watch the Oscars on TV. What is it like when you're in the room — what's different?

Well, certain things are the same. For instance, people typically go to the bathroom during the sound category. I'm sorry to say that to the sound designers. Please forgive me, sound designers! Other things that are different? I mean, well, for instance, I don't think a lot of people realize that the Oscars are in a mall. When you walk in--

No. What?

They basically dress up this mall to look like a palace. And so you walk in and everything is swathed in gold curtains and red carpet, and then you peek through a little crack in the curtain and you'll see a Sunglass Hut or something, like a Sbarro, and you're like, "What? We're in a mall?" So as with a lot of things in Hollywood, the line between glamor and the banal is very thin. It's all smoke and mirrors.

Do you have any predictions for this year's awards?

Well, I feel like this picture's kind of an easy prediction this year, which is Everything Everywhere All at Once. I think if anything's going to steal it, it might be All Quiet on the Western Front. Best Director is really hard. I'm feeling the Daniels. A month ago I thought it was going to be Spielberg, but now I think it's just going to be the rising tide of Everything Everywhere.

Best Actress is really hard. I have no idea what's going to be Michelle Yeah or Cate Blanchett. I really don't know. I'm going to be excited to see that one. Best actor, I predict Austin Butler, just because you should never bet against the Academy awarding someone who plays a self-destructive music legend. That just seems to work.

READ ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE

Yes, #OscarsSoWhite – but there are still plenty of reasons to celebrate contemporary Black film

BY TIMEKA N. TOUNSEL

When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for its 95th Oscars and three of the most celebrated films of the season – “The Woman King,” “Till” and “Saint Omer” – received no nominations, a familiar refrain of frustration rang forth.

These films demonstrated typical dramatic and technical markers that tend to predict cinematic success – positive reviews, scripts inspired by true stories and adherence to dramatic formulas. So it was natural to wonder whether the fact that each featured a Black female director and Black female cast may have had something to do with the snubs.

Awards are certainly about more than pomp and circumstance. Gina Prince-Bythewood, who directed “The Woman King,” issued a heartfelt reflection on the significance of the Academy Awards for filmmakers from underrepresented groups.

They matter, Prince-Bythewood wrote, because directors can leverage those nominations and wins to make more films with larger budgets – the kinds of movies that only those with Oscars on their resumés will be in the running to direct.

As someone who studies, teaches and writes about Black popular culture, I understand how industry dynamics subject Black productions to greater scrutiny. Against this backdrop of skepticism, filmmakers have established a Black cinematic tradition that’s less anxious about capitulating to a system that has long marginalized Black stories.

So what other metrics, beyond recognition from the Academy, might be considered when gauging the state of Black cinema?

For me, two films from 2022 – “Master” and “Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul.” – demonstrate just how far filmmakers have progressed in redefining Blackness on the silver screen. They dig deep into the interior lives of a spectrum of Black characters, showcasing the ways in which filmmakers are pushing back against mainstream representations of Black womanhood.

A history of exclusion and controversy

The academy’s troubled relationship with Black filmmakers is as old as the association itself. After the inaugural banquet was held in 1929, it took 11 years for the first African American, Hattie McDaniel, to go home with an Oscar.

She won for her portrayal as Mammy in “Gone With The Wind,” but her Black peers didn’t uniformly celebrate her historic win: Mammy was a one-dimensional caricature based on the premise of Black subservience, so some of them saw McDaniel as contributing to the denigration of Black people on screen.

Oscar controversy continued into the 21st century. While the 2002 Oscar wins of Halle Berry and Denzel Washington signaled an acknowledgment of Black artistry in film after decades of dismissals, some critics pointed out that they won for roles that reflected degrading stereotypes of Black people.

Given this history of exclusion and degradation, Black filmmakers and institutions have long forged separate infrastructures for producing, distributing and honoring Black cinematic art. I have written elsewhere about how storyteller-entrepreneurs such as Oscar Michaeux and Eloyce Gist established a filmmaking tradition that skirted the commercial – often racist – logic that can govern Hollywood decision making.

Their desire to tell stories in a way that resonated with Black audiences compelled them to avoid mainstream industry gatekeepers. In “Within Our Gates” (1920), for example, Micheaux directly challenges racist stereotypes advanced in the infamous “Birth of a Nation” (1915).

Gist, who collaborated with her husband James, made films featuring explicit spiritual themes, such as “Hellbound Train” (1930).

Both filmmakers envisioned an African American audience for their work and took the mission of racial uplift seriously.

Progress beyond Hollywood benchmarks

While contemporary scholarship celebrates their legacy, Hollywood never embraced filmmakers like Gist and Micheaux. The racial hierarchy that determined whose stories made it to the big screen in the 1920s has mostly persisted over the past century.

However, over the past 12 years, streaming and web-based platforms have allowed today’s Black filmmakers to write new kinds of characters into being – and have liberated them from both traditional gatekeepers and the pressure of appealing to the masses.

As I explain in my study on Black women’s representations in popular culture, a new generation of storytellers have benefited from the efforts of media companies to stand out by targeting typically underrepresented audiences.

These filmmakers have found homes for their films on streaming services such as Amazon Prime and Peacock. These platforms afford them the opportunity to reach smaller niches without large production and promotion budgets.

Redefining Blackness on screen

In addition to showcasing lesser-known talents, a number of independent Black films released over the last year have also expanded the types of stories that get told about Black life and the types of characters that Black actors get to play.

Two, in particular, stood out to me.

In “Master” and “Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul.,” actress Regina Hall assumes roles that allow her to move beyond the archetypes that have defined her career.

In Mariama Diallo’s “Master,” Hall stars as Gail Bishop, a tenured professor who is the first Black “master,” or head of a residential college, at a prestigious university in the Northeast.

Audiences first encountered Hall in the 1999 film “The Best Man,” in which she plays a young woman paying her way through college as an exotic dancer.

In the years that followed, she starred in a number of Black romance films, a subgenre that surged in popularity in the late-20th and early-21st centuries. Many of these films reflected and reinforced an intraracial anxiety about declining marriage rates among African American women. The Black women characters that existed in these films, such as Hall’s starring role in “Think Like A Man” (2012), fetishized marriage: The characters tended to design their lives in pursuit of it.

However, in “Master,” Hall is catapulted away from the sunlight-filled spaces of romantic comedy and into the haunted corridors of a predominantly white university. Even Hall’s usually straight tresses have been exchanged for short, tightly coiled curls, reflecting an aesthetic common today among Black women professors.

Drawn from the Senegalese-American writer and director’s own experience of negotiating such an institution as a student, the film departs from the typical storytelling formula that suggests that Black people who get into college or are hired as faculty have “made it.” Instead, viewers gain access to the various terrors – often ignored by all except those subject to them – that lurk in every classroom, frat party and faculty meeting.

Hall’s Gail shatters the myth that those positioned higher on university organizational charts are better shielded from racial trauma than their students.

Showcasing Black women’s struggles

In “Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul.,” the debut feature film for sisters Adamma and Adanne Ebo, Hall offers yet another stereotype-defying portrayal as Trinitie Childs, the wife and professional partner of a disgraced megachurch pastor. Having offered financial settlements in exchange for his accusers’ silence, the film chronicles Pastor Childs’ attempt to redeem himself from a sexual misconduct scandal that led most of his congregants to leave the church.

Like many “first ladies” – the term commonly used to describe the leadership role of pastors’ wives in Protestant denominations – Trinitie has invested years of her own administrative talents into a ministry tethered to her husband’s image. For this reason, she’s reluctant to relinquish their position – and the affluent lifestyle it affords them – even in light of her husband’s transgressions.

“Honk For Jesus” complicates the image of respectable Black Christian womanhood, not by releasing Childs from the shackles of this standard, but by revealing the elaborate ruminations and compromises required to maintain it.

Yet the film contains translatable truths about the psychic burden of adhering to any sort of ideal. You don’t have to be the wife of a pastor to see, in Trinitie’s plight, the burdens of being a “good wife” or a “respectable Black citizen.”

In Hall’s portrayal of Childs, I see a thread to her previous, marriage-obsessed characters. Becoming a wife may be the end of one obstacle course, but it’s the beginning of another.

These two films might not headline the awards season, but they nonetheless attest to how Black filmmakers are continuing to produce their stories even without traditional Hollywood backing.

READ ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE

Will Smith Resigns From Film Academy Over Chris Rock Slap

Will Smith, right, hits presenter Chris Rock on stage while presenting the award for best documentary feature at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

BY LYNN ELBER

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Will Smith resigned Friday from the motion picture academy following his Oscars night slap of Chris Rock and said he would accept any further punishment the organization imposed.

Smith in a statement released Friday afternoon said he will “fully accept any and all consequences for my conduct. My actions at the 94th Academy Awards presentation were shocking, painful, and inexcusable.

Film academy president David Rubin said Smith’s resignation was accepted. “We will continue to move forward with our disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Smith for violations of the Academy’s Standards of Conduct, in advance of our next scheduled board meeting on April 18.”

“I betrayed the trust of the Academy. I deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated for their extraordinary work,” his statement said. “I am heartbroken. I want to put the focus back on those who deserve attention for their achievements and allow the Academy to get back to the incredible work it does to support creativity and artistry in film.

“Change takes time and I am committed to doing the work to ensure that I never again allow violence to overtake reason,” Smith concluded in the statement.

The resignation came two days after the academy’s leadership board met to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Smith for violations against the group’s standards of conduct.

On Sunday, Smith strode from his front-row Dolby Theatre seat on to the stage and smacked Rock, who had made a joke at the expense of Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Moments later, he went on to win the best actor award for his role in “King Richard.”

Rock, who was about to present Oscar for best documentary, declined to file charges when asked by police. He has only briefly addressed the attack publicly, saying at one comedy concert in Boston this week that he was still “kind of processing what happened.”

Smith shocked the theater crowd and viewers at home when he took the stage after Rock joked: “Jada, I love you. ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it.”

Pinkett Smith, who suffers from the hair loss condition alopecia, had a closely shaved head similar to that of Demi Moore in the original movie.

Baz Bamigboye: From Forster Care To Friends Of The Famous

Baz Bamigboye talks to Renee Zellweger after her career comeback after her Oscar win for Judy

BAZ BAMIGBOYE FOR DAILY MAIL

My mother never took me to the pictures or to see shows at the theatre. Nor did we ever have a single conversation about what was on the telly or who my favourite superhero was.

The fact is that we never had the opportunity. I have a vague image in my mind’s eye of visiting Mum at a cottage hospital somewhere on the Kew Road in Richmond when I was three years old.

She told me she was leaving me with ‘Auntie Vera’, a woman with three daughters of her own. My mother then sailed home to Nigeria. The reason I am recounting this is that when I decided to leave the Daily Mail after almost 38 years writing about the world of showbusiness, I thought back to my past to figure out what might have inspired me into this career.

My ‘Origin Story’ — to use the parlance of the blockbuster Marvel Universe movies — is not that unusual for those born in the late-1950s and early-1960s of Nigerian or other West African heritage. Trained as an accountant, my father, Bamidele, was a prestigious District Officer for the colonial office in Nigeria. My mother, Deborah, was a teacher and a devout Christian.

They had two children before leaving them with maternal grandparents, pillars of the Baptist church, to travel to England to gain further qualifications. Their intention was to return home after completing their studies.

However, my appearance sort of scuppered their plans.

As Dad hailed from a powerful ruling family (and was duly anointed king of his local Ibadan area of Nigeria in 1982), Mum had been treated as royalty in her home town and found London bewildering. Unable to care for me, I was left with Vera May Lynch in her Richmond foster home, while Dad lived the other side of London, down the road from Tottenham Hotspur football club (though my allegiance is to neighbouring Arsenal).

Vera’s neighbours were the Meek family: with four children — the youngest played funky beats and the eldest read film magazines.

Every Christmas, a glamorous social worker responsible for foster kids, called Mrs Hepworth, took us to pantos in Richmond and Wimbledon. On a couple of special occasions, it was to big cinematic presentations at the Dominion in Tottenham Court Road. When Dad visited every third Sunday, he’d also take me to see a film.

The biggest thrill, though, was when Vera’s youngest daughter Vicky — a stylish and rebellious teen who knew all the musicians who played on Eel Pie Island in Twickenham and in the old Railway Tavern in Richmond — snuck me into films I wasn’t allowed to see.

However, aged 11, my life suddenly began to unravel when my dad said he wanted me back so we could return to Nigeria. I was miserable. All my friends were in Richmond. And Vera was my mum.

Finally I agreed and began school in Tottenham while Dad completed his work. One day, though, I made a bold move. I counted my pocket money and packed a small suitcase — mostly stuffed with comic books — before leaving Dad’s house.

I took the bus and Tube to Richmond to get back to Vera’s.

Because of my intransigence, Dad remained in England for a further eight years. It took me decades before I understood what my refusal to remain with Dad had done to him but he never said anything. Nevertheless, he let me stay with Vera until I was 18.

It was thanks to her daughter Vicky that I got to see The Godfather. I was mesmerised. This was life and death. The crumbling corruption of the American Dream.

D esperate to know more about The Godfather and its director, Francis Ford Coppola, I devoured the pages of the Evening Standard newspaper that I was selling outside railway stations in Richmond and Twickenham.

Also, as my dad was a subscriber to Time magazine, I read an article about The Godfather and there was mention of a film critic for The New Yorker Magazine called Pauline Kael.

Suddenly, I had to get my hands on this Holy Grail. Since the local library didn’t stock The New Yorker, it was suggested I ordered it from a bookshop.

I duly did. The shop also had a copy of Kael’s collected reviews. In one essay, she wrote of always wanting to see every movie ever made and writing about them.

I was riveted. I wanted to do that, too. That was just a pipe dream.

One Christmas, the school music teacher, Mrs Tittershall, cast me as the Lion in a production of George Bernard Shaw’s play Androcles And The Lion. We performed at the Sybil Thorndike Theatre in Leatherhead.

Although I won a prize, I was not going to be the next Sidney Poitier. For me, it would be writing about productions, not acting in them.

Among our neighbours were the Taylors. Peter, the patriarch, worked in the print rooms at the Observer and the Financial Times, and I badgered him about how I could work for newspapers.

He spotted an advert for an office junior at Fleet Street News Agency. Having got the job, apart from the usual round of police calls, I snagged invites to watch screenings of new films. There were also Press conferences with actors and actresses. Ray Winstone was my first interview. Lucille Ball was next.

I quickly learnt that actors respond better if they know you’ve watched their films. This is where the Pauline Kael principle kicked in: see everything. Back then, there was easy access to stars — unlike today when they all have a Press agent and trot out the same trite lines over and over.

Often, I’d work with a cigar-chomping photographer called Jimmy Rayner, who went round fashionable night-spots taking pictures of the big stars — something I would later do with Alan Davidson.

Wanting a job closer to my home, I joined the Richmond Herald as a news reporter and covered for the theatre critic when she was away.

In those days, Richmond Theatre was a major stopping off point for plays headed for the West End. I saw Peggy Ashcroft, Alec Guinness, Ralph Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, John Gielgud and local stars such as Richard Attenborough and John Mills.

I paid as much attention to how an audience reacted as to what was happening on stage: which actors gave off heat, who shined even if the production was dreadful.

By watching small, independent films and grassroots theatre, I got to know how Kate Winslet, Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington, Cynthia Erivo, Lily James, Ewan McGregor, Taron Egerton and scores of others were going to be stars long before they became famous. A current example is Ariana DeBose who, on Sunday, won an Oscar for best supporting actress for her performance in Steven Spielberg’s version of West Side Story. By chance, I’d seen every one of her appearances on Broadway and noticed that on a chorus line where everyone else was dancing to the exact same choreography, she stood out.


DeBose is 31 now. She has said she would not have coped with the level of fame she has today if it had happened a decade ago. In other words, she worked for her success.

That is exactly the kind of psychology I react to.

After a stint with another local paper, I joined the Evening Standard, covering crime by day and anything showbiz at night. It was a golden age of Coronation Street, Morecambe And Wise and Dennis Potter plays.

Both my dad and Vera stressed that I would have to work ten times harder than any white person. Most importantly, I should always be a reporter, not a black reporter. There is a difference.

I cannot hide the fact that I am black and I can’t deny that, where necessary, I have used it to my advantage. Perhaps a star wouldn’t give me an interview because of what? Because I’m black?! Yes, I have successfully played that card once or twice.

After a stint at The Sun — being its man in New York — I moved to the Daily Mail in 1984. In my first week, I chased Paul McCartney to Tokyo. The next, I was following another star in the Caribbean.

Of course, I don’t get on with everyone. As I walked into Eddie Murphy’s suite at the Dorchester for an interview about his hit role in the first Beverly Hills Cop film, I immediately sensed an air of resentment. It was because he thought I’d been sent to speak to him because I was black. That wasn’t true. There we were, two cocky black men facing off. I told Murphy that I didn’t care whether the interview proceeded or not.

However, if it did, he’d have to be civil — and his entourage of ten would need to leave the room. Otherwise I would.

The interview went ahead. But we never became friends.

I met Spike Lee at the Cannes Film Festival and we got along fine.

By the next time we encountered each other, I was married. My wife’s been a lawyer, a journalist, a marketing executive, a university lecturer and once worked for Prince Charles. She’s funny. She’s tidy (I’m not). She happens to be white.

Spike asked about her. Learning that she’s white, he accused me of being a ‘colonial pussy’.

This all took place in a hotel lobby in Hollywood. As Spike Lee screamed at me, I screamed back. I concluded that he’d never give me an interview again.

However, when we met subsequently, he laughed and said he enjoyed my ‘no bulls**t spirit.’ Many others, though, don’t enjoy it. That said, I always try to combine that ‘no bulls**t spirit’ with good manners.

I’ve always insisted that I’m just a reporter. The fact is that no editor at the Daily Mail has ever assigned me to a ‘black story’.

It’s been my call to cover what I want (within reason), even to make a fool of myself — for example to dress up as an African prince (which of course, I actually am) to gatecrash a party in Cannes so I could dance with Madonna.

Likewise, I donned tribal regalia to get close to Michael Jackson. When that ruse failed, I rented a chimpanzee for the day because I thought the singer might be missing his own pet ape Bubbles.

I’ve been lucky enough to interview Barbra Streisand, while we both sat on her bed at the Dorchester. Paul Newman made me coffee when I interviewed his wife Joanne Woodward at their New York apartment overlooking Central Park. I was bitten all over by mosquitoes as I hid in the undergrowth in Mississippi while secretly watching Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt film Interview With The Vampire.

When Billy Connolly spotted me on the set of a movie he was shooting with Michael Caine on St Lucia, he said I was ‘lower than a snake’s navel’. Perhaps it was no coincidence that he was still mad at me for breaking the story of his relationship with Pamela Stephenson.

Over my years in showbusiness, I have witnessed the complete redefinition of what a bona fida star is. Once they were household names on a par with royalty. Today, a ‘celebrity’ is invariably someone you most certainly have never heard of. My rule of thumb is: would my Vera have known who they are? As the word ‘star’ suggests, Vera believed they were always out of reach — unattainable.

Thankfully, Elizabeth Taylor was attainable — as proved when I interviewed her on her 53rd birthday, as I recount above.

Taylor was a proper star but she also knew how to sink a pint — or three or four. Just like her on-off husband Richard Burton. Years earlier, I got an exclusive interview with Burton when I just happened to be there as he tripped entering the Dorchester. I helped him to his room, where he offered me a nightcap. He poured two large whiskies. I never touched mine but he had several refills. As he talked, I ran out of pages in my notebook so had to grab a bundle of old-style loo roll to write down his words as they poured out.

Like Burton, I’m impatient, sometimes difficult and demanding. I always want to see the next movie or the play now. I can never wait for Press previews or PR releases and don’t join group interviews. That’s my Nigerian side, I tell people. Whereas my English side could be on display the next day.

Talking of Nigeria, I travelled there for the first time, in 1989, for a story. Dad was living in Ibadan fulfilling kingly duties. Mum was deaconess at a church in Iresi, which I visited. As I walked into the church, I noticed a woman carrying a bundle of bibles.

Glancing up, she dropped the books and shouted my name.

I hadn’t seen Mum for 28 years. We had a lot to talk about.

How lucky can you get?

It’s been an honour.

We Should Talk About History-Making, Oscar-Nominated ‘Encanto’ Composer Germaine Franco

Germaine Franco attends the world premiere of “Encanto” at Hollywood’s El Capitan Theatre.

(Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images for Disney)

BY SUZY EXPOSIT

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Disney’s “Encanto” — a story about the Madrigals, a magical family fighting to save their equally enchanted home in the hills of Colombia — has bewitched viewers young and old. And while the animated film’s “Dos Oruguitas” is nominated for original song at Sunday’s Academy Awards, and the broadcast will feature the first-ever live performance of the soundtrack’s surprise No. 1 hit “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” there’s someone else we should be talking about this Oscars season: Germaine Franco, the award-winning Mexican American percussionist and composer of the spellbinding score behind “Encanto.”

Upon the movie’s November release, Franco became the first woman ever to score a Disney animated feature film. Shortly after, she became the first Latina to join the music branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; then by February, she was nominated for original score, the first Latina and woman of color to be nominated in the category.

“Latinos gotta represent when we can!” says Franco, beaming from inside her studio in Los Angeles. Before “Encanto,” she wrote songs for the beloved 2017 film “Coco” — “Who wouldn’t do a story about a Mexican musician trying to make it?” she asks — and assisted English composer John Powell in scoring features such as “Happy Feet,” “Bolt” and “Kung Fu Panda,” with Hans Zimmer.

Franco is already a decorated composer: She received the prestigious Shirley Walker Award at the 2018 ASCAP Awards, which honors those “whose achievements have contributed to the diversity of film and television music.” This particular honor comes to mind as we discuss this year’s Oscars, where she will be the lone woman contending with a murderers’ row of past Oscar nominees, including “Dune” composer Zimmer, who previously won for original score for 1994’s “The Lion King,” and Radiohead guitarist and composer Jonny Greenwood, who’s currently in the running for “The Power of the Dog.”

“I believe in the music, and I believe in myself,” says Franco. “But many people have helped me along the way. Many people wanted this film to happen.”

As intimidating as the competition may be, the enduring charm of the music behind “Encanto” could work in Franco’s favor. The soundtrack, featuring eight songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, charted at the top of the Billboard 200 for nine weeks.





“When Lin-Manuel calls you up, you go for it,” says Franco, who was recruited by Miranda following her work on “Coco.”

“Lin creates beautiful worlds in his songs, and since I came later, I wanted to do my best to stay in the world that he started with,” she adds. “There was a synthesis, an interconnectedness that opened up our creative vision.”

Franco was born in Oxnard and raised in El Paso, Texas. Her family, who migrated north from Chihuahua and Durango after the Mexican Revolution, settled in El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, which sit on opposite sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Franco fondly remembers passing mariachis and other street musicians in the plazas as she and her family crossed the border to hang out with family after church on Sundays. “Back then, it was just like going to Van Nuys,” she says with a chuckle.

The regional Mexican ballads her grandfather loved, in tandem with the contemporary American sounds of Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder and Herb Alpert, shaped the basis of Franco’s lifelong passion for music. By the fifth grade, she turned her enthusiasm for banging on pots and pans into a dedicated course of study, taking lessons in piano and percussion — the latter of which she performed with the El Paso Symphony Youth Orchestra.

“People tried to make me play violin or flute because that’s what girls play,” recounts Franco. “And I said, ‘No! I’m playing the drums!’”

After graduating at the age of 16, Franco followed her brother, the multimedia artist Michael Petry, to Rice University in Houston. While earning both a B.A. and M.A. from the Shepherd School of Music, she worked in the pit orchestra at the local theater and played lively college parties with a Latin jazz band.

“People went nuts,” she says, flashing a black-and-white photo from her teenage years in which she’s rocking out blithely with a marimba band in Mexico. “I noticed that they responded more to the Latin stuff than the straight jazz.”

Upon finishing her studies, Franco became a professional orchestra player in Europe: first in the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Italy, then in Berlin’s world orchestra. Still, she found herself yearning to delve into the sounds of Latin America.

“I was living a double life,” she says. “During the day, I played classical music with a group that spoke 40 different languages. Then at night, I jammed with the salsa bands … I wanted to play music that felt more free.”

“Germaine is Mexican, but she’s like a musical sponge — she absorbs every little thing she hears, sees and touches as information,” says Cuban percussionist Luis Conte. He had just recorded with Madonna on her album “Like a Prayer” when Franco first saw him at a conference in Los Angeles. She cold-called him, seeking an apprenticeship. Conte took Franco under his wing while recording his 1989 album, “Black Forest” — and more than 30 years later, she returned the favor by enlisting him to join the percussion ensemble that gave “Encanto” its tropical verve.

“She is rare,” Conte tells The Times. “A lot of composers don’t usually come out and play with the bands, but Germaine came out, picked up a xylophone and jammed with us.”

After scoring a few independent films and working as a music director for the Los Angeles Theatre Center, Franco adopted another crucial mentor, this time in the movie industry: an old colleague of her brother’s named John Powell. As his assistant, she helped him score and orchestrate 35 feature films over the course of 11 years, starting with 2003’s “The Italian Job” — but along the way, she discovered a special affinity for the dynamism of animated features. “I have a son, and I wanted him to be able to see some of the stuff I worked on,” she says.

Franco’s skill set, not to mention her unique perspective as a Latina composer, was growing in demand. She left her post with Powell and headed to Mexico, where she helped orchestrate what became the dazzling soundtrack to “Coco” — and, amid external pressures on Hollywood to diversify, she began thinking more critically about the role she was called to play in the industry.

“I wanted musicians who did banda, I wanted música romántica, but I also wanted more women,” recalls Franco. “We had two singers and one woman that played an accordion. One musician, who will remain unnamed, did not like the fact that I was a Latina telling him what to do. It turned out beautiful. But I was like, ‘Come on. Is it that bad?’”

Five years later, it was that same intrepid spirit that colored the making of “Encanto.” Even though Franco was familiar with the Colombian folk sounds of cumbia, vallenato and joropo, she had never been to the country herself and couldn’t travel there safely because of the pandemic.

“It’s not a documentary, so I didn’t need to be a purist,” she says. “But to tell a Colombian story, I had to bring a bit of Colombia into my space. So I had instruments sent to my house — cuatros, tamboras, the arpa llanera [a harp]. I also had a marimba de chonta made with a special wood from a palm tree.”

Franco held video conferences with members of the backing band for Colombian singer Carlos Vives, which included vocalist Isa Mosquera and flutist Mayté Montero, who specializes in playing a woodwind instrument known as the Colombian gaita. She also consulted Colombian sax and clarinet player Justo Almario, as well as a quartet of cantadoras, a group of female Afro-Colombian folk singers from the region of Palenque, to record via Zoom. (You can hear their voices soaring over the earth-quaking rumble of strings and percussion in a theme for the Madrigal family’s youngest boy, “Antonio’s Voice.”)

“‘Encanto’ has a female protagonist,” says Franco. “The story itself is so feminine. We needed [more] female voices. And to have support for that, to get the resources to do that from Disney, it really does lift everybody up.”

Suzy Exposito is a music reporter at the Los Angeles Times. She previously spearheaded the Latin music section at Rolling Stone, and has written for NPR, Pitchfork and Revolver.

Does The Academy Need To Reconsider How It Treats Global Film?

BY BRITTANY MARTIN

The Academy Awards will have a new prize in 2020: Best International Feature Film. It’s a new name for the “Best Foreign-Language Film” Oscar which has been given out as a “competitive Academy Award of merit” since 1956. But, other than the name, it appears not much has really changed when it comes to promoting the work of diverse global filmmakers.

“We have noted that the reference to ‘Foreign’ is outdated within the global filmmaking community,” Larry Karaszewski and Diane Weyermann, co-chairs of the International Feature Film Committee, wrote in a statement. “We believe that International Feature Film better represents this category, and promotes a positive and inclusive view of filmmaking, and the art of film as a universal experience.”

But, other than the name, nothing else changed–in particular, a controversial rule about the use of English dialogue. Academy rules dictate that, to qualify for the “International Feature” Oscar, more than 50 percent of the film must be in a non-English language.

That puts a film like this year’s acclaimed Lionheart at a disadvantage. The Nigerian film, available on Netflix, features some characters speaking Igbo occasionally, but the majority of the dialogue is conducted in Nigeria’s official language: English. As The Atlantic reported, the film was deemed ineligible for Oscar consideration.

If Nigerians aren’t allowed to submit films in their own official language, what of every other nation that was ever colonized by English-speaking people? That’s a lot of countries that find themselves excluded from Oscar consideration–specifically, a lot of countries outside of Europe.

Of the 66 Oscars that have been given out in the category, 57 have gone to European films. The last time–and only time–an African nation won was in 1969, when the award went to Algeria’s Z. That film was made in French, the language of the European power that colonized Algeria for a century.

Another of this year’s most lauded films, The Farewell, has seemingly confounded film-world institutions. It’s an American-made film about American characters, much more than 50 percent of the dialogue is in Chinese. Could it end up competing in the “International Film” category, rather than the general categories with other American-made films?

“This calls attention to the delineation of ‘foreign film’ vs ‘foreign-language film.’ Which makes more sense?” Farewell director Lulu Wang asked. “Can a ‘foreign film’ be in OUR language (i.e. English)? Can a domestic (i.e. American) film be in a foreign language? What does it mean to be foreign? And to be American?”

The Academy is going to have to answer those questions to keep up with a modern, global film industry–and that will mean recognizing outstanding achievement can come from places that the #OscarsSoWhite haven’t historically recognized.

SOURCE: LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE

Actor-Comedian Kevin Hart Will Host 2019 Oscars

In this Dec. 11, 2017 file photo, Kevin Hart arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" in Los Angeles. Hart will host the 2019 Academy Awards, fulfilling a lifelong dream for the actor-comedian. Hart announced Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2018, his selection in an Instagram statement and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences followed up with a tweet that welcomed him "to the family." (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

LO ANGELES (AP) — Kevin Hart has a new job — he will host the 2019 Academy Awards, a role the prolific actor-comedian says fulfills a longtime dream.

Hart announced his selection for the 91st Oscars in an Instagram statement Tuesday. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences followed up with a tweet that welcomed him “to the family.”

The announcement came hours after trade publication The Hollywood Reporter posted a story calling the Oscars host position “the least wanted job in Hollywood.”

Hart clearly doesn’t feel that way, writing on Instagram that it has been on his list of dream jobs for years. The 2019 Oscars will be broadcast Feb. 24 on ABC.

“I am blown away simply because this has been a goal on my list for a long time...To be able to join the legendary list of host that have graced this stage is unbelievable,” Hart wrote. “I know my mom is smiling from ear to ear right now.

“I will be sure to make sure this years Oscars are a special one,” Hart wrote.

Hart takes over hosting duties from Jimmy Kimmel, who presided over the last two ceremonies, including 2016′s flub that resulted in the wrong best picture winner being announced. Last year’s ceremony was an all-time ratings low, and the film academy has announced a series of changes to the upcoming show .

Those include shortening the broadcast to three hours, and also presenting certain categories during commercial breaks and broadcasting excerpts of those winners’ speeches later in the show.

The 39-year-old Hart has become a bankable star with films such as “Ride Along,” ″Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” and “Night School.”

Celebrities including Martin Lawrence and Chris Rock, who hosted the ceremony in 2005 and 2016, posted congratulatory messages about Hart’s selection Tuesday night.

“Damn I’ve lost another job to Kevin Hart,” Rock posted on Instagram, echoing a joke he told during his 2016 opening monologue . “They got the best person for the job.”

Kenya Makes The List In Academy Awards Foreign Language Category

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced a record setting seventy-one entries to its list of official foreign language category Monday, October 8, 2012 for the Oscars in 2013 with Kenya making the list for the first time.

"Nairobi Half Life," directed by David "Tosh" Gitonga and writers Serah Mwihaki, Charles “Potash” Matathia, Samuel Munene and Billy Kahora about a story of an aspiring actor who goes to the big city, Nairobi, in search of fame and future; lost his belongings becoming destitute and while struggling to get back on his feet with the help of dubious friends, he finds himself in a series of criminal activities.

Iran did not submit its entry in protest of "Innocence of Muslims" which sparked deadly riots all across the globe. The Oscar nominations will be announced on January 10, 2013 while the ceremony will be held on February 24, 2013.

Disco Diva Donna Summer Dead At 63

Paul Jabara, holding his Oscar for Best Original Song ("Let's Dance"), poses with singer Donna Summer, who sang the song at the Academy Awards show. Date: April 09, 1979. Location: Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles.

Donna Summer was an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She had a mezzo-soprano vocal range, and was a five-time Grammy Award winner. Summer was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach number one on the US Billboard chart, and she also charted four number-one singles in the United States within a 13-month period. Summer died on May 17, 2012. AP reports that she died in the morning at her home in Key West, Florida at age 63 following a battle with breast cancer and lung cancer.

Donna Summer's Walk of Fame Star on Hollywood Boulevard.

Oscarmania and Hollywood Buzz

Yeah, it's the final countdown to the 82nd Annual Academy Awards and Hollywood is already buzzing, and I can feel it due to the road closures which had motorists look for other options in their shortcuts. I for one have changed my schedules save for a few parties I will be attending tonight in Hollywood and thinking about other options on how to get there even though it's about a couple of miles away from me. It's all good and the party begins.

I have no particular pick in any category for the Oscar night moments but methink some of the picks might be coming through. We'll see when Alec Baldwin and cohost Steve Martin mounts the stage to announce the presenters of the award in each category. In Best Picture category, "Avatar" seems to be the favorite but do not understimate the other nominees - "The Blind Side," "District 9," "Up," "An Education," "The Hurt Locker," "Inglorious Bastards," "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Saphire," "A Serious Man," and "Up in the Air" - they are all good, and it's anybody's game. I like Lee Daniels directed "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Saphire. We'll see, though.

On the actor in a leading role, there's Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart," George Clooney in "Up in the Air," Colin Firth in "A Single Man," Morgan Freeman in "Invictus," and Jeremy Renner in "The Hurt Locker," and the Oscar should be going to Morgan Freeman in "Invictus." Now, I am not a soothsayer but we'll see; just hang on, it's a blast and Hollywood is buzzing, people.

On the actress in a leading role, there's Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side," Helen Mirren in "The Last Station," Crey Mulligan in "An Education," Gabourey Sidibe in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Saphire," and Meryl Streep in "Julia and Julia," and the Oscar should be going to Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Saphire. Now is there a question about that for this amazing Brookly-born wiz of a Senegalese father? Not at all but we'll see as Hollywood keeps buzzing with pre-Oscar parties all around town.

And the list goes on and on from director, original screenplay, supporting actor, supporting actress and so on and so forth - and I would like to see which documentary feature wins among the list of nominees in "Burma VJ," "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers," "The Cove," "Food Inc," and "Which Way Home." Watch out for "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers."

But anyways, methink the idea of "30 Rock" cast Baldwin and Martin hosting the Oscars this year is a little bit wacky - complicated charcters - and Baldwin tells us how he ended up as an Oscar co-host when he spoke to The Envelope:

"I had hosted the Women in Hollywood dinner, and Carol Burnett jokingly said when she got up to present an award to Julie Andrews, "don't you think Alec should host the Oscars?" And Adam Shankman, one of the producers of the Oscars, was in the audience to hear that - and a couple of weeks later they called."

You see how the connection works? That's Hollywood folks, and for sure, I will be having a blast.

Red Carpet Shots @ The Oscars

Last night, while hanging out at The Standard Hotel with some of my colleagues over some drinks in the grilling Downtown Los Angeles, the Oscar moments popped up and the entire gist happened to be who was wearing what and how the show came out. For sure, I don't like the Whoopi attire. I have no favorite but I like Alicia Keyes and Taraji P. Henson.

We even talked about how the Jews conquered Hollywood with the kind of movies they make which is inspiring. Movies like "Defiance," "The Unborn," "The Reader," "Valkyrie," "Blessed Is The Match," and many others -- all about the Holocaust. Now my folks see where I'm coming from.

Associated Press photographer Chris Pizzello captures Taraji P. Henson as she arrives for the 81st Academy Awards

Actress and singer Alicia Keyes arrives at the 81st Academy Awards. Those Armani Prive with a Zufi Alexander clutch and that Fred Leighton jewels speaks volumes. I like that style. Simply georgeous. Photo by Matt Sayles, AP

Halle Berry arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party which grooved all night. She is captured here by AP's Evan Agostini.

Actress/humanitarian/philanthropist Angelina Jolie is all glamour as she arrives at the 81st Academy Awards and the flashing lights never stopped snapping. Photo by Matt Sayles, AP

I'm not sure what Whoopi Goldberg was doing here in that dress. She was all smiles though. AP's Chris Carlson captured her here as she arrives at the 81st Academy Awards.

Actress Marion Cotillard pops up on the red carpet while AP's Chris Pizzello takes the shot.

Here you go Dubmaster. Kate Winslet here wears Yves Saint Laurent Atelier along with Yvette Saint Laurent shoes and Chopard jewelry as she arrives the Academy Awards.


I'm not sure if I like this outfit. Anyway, Queen Latifah here wears Georges Chakra gown with William Goldberg diamonds and Gucci shoes. She is captured here by AP's Matt Sayles.

Anne Hathaway is so excited for having a job and you bet she is going to get all that Hollywood wants. Here she wears white Armani Prive gown with Casadel shoes and Roger Vivier bag topping it off with Cartier jewels

The prediction was that white was going to be the flashing point this year on the red carpet and Henson did just that. She captured my eyes.