Smithsonian Film Festival Celebrates Cultural and Linguistic Diversity

Fifth Annual Mother Tongue Film Festival Runs Feb. 20–23

The Smithsonian’s Recovering Voices Initiative will host a film festival that showcases films from around the world. Centered around the United Nation’s International Mother Language Day Feb. 21, the fifth annual Mother Tongue Film Festival will offer visitors the opportunity to see 21 films featuring 28 languages from 22 regions and hear from filmmakers who explore the power of language to connect the past, present and future. The four-day festival runs Feb. 20–23.

Vai looks on at her daughter Mata, filmed in Kuki Airani, one of seven Pacific Nations featured in Vai (2019). Photo courtesy of MPI Media

Recovering Voices is an initiative of the Smithsonian founded in response to the global crisis of cultural knowledge and language loss. It works with communities and other institutions to address issues of Indigenous language and knowledge diversity and sustainability. Recovering Voices is a collaboration between staff at the National Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of the American Indian and the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

“The Mother Tongue Film Festival provides a forum for conversations about linguistic and cultural diversity,” said Joshua Bell, curator of globalization at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and director of the Smithsonian’s Recovering Voices Program. “It gives the public an opportunity to talk with directors, producers and scholars who devote their lives to documenting the human experience.”

Screenings will take place at multiple locations across the Smithsonian and Washington, D.C. A complete schedule of screenings, including times and locations, is available on the festival’s website. Doors will open approximately 30 minutes before each show. All screenings are free and open to the public, with weekend programming for families.

The festival kicks off with an opening reception Thursday, Feb. 20, at 6 p.m. at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Festival highlights include:

• A performance by Uptown Boyz, a local intertribal drum group, before the screening of Restless River Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. in the National Museum of the American Indian’s Potomac Atrium. The film is set at the end of World War II and follows a young Inuk woman as she comes to terms with motherhood after being assaulted by a soldier. It is based on Gabrielle Roy’s 1970 short novel Windflower (La Riviere Sans Repos). This film contains a scene of sexual violence that some viewers may find disturbing.
• The world premiere of Felicia: The Life of an Octopus Fisherwoman Feb. 21 at 11 a.m. in the National Museum of Natural History’s Q?rius Theater. Felicia is one of the thousands of Malagasy fishermen and women on the Velondriake archipelago whose way of life is increasingly threatened by poverty and political marginalization. As an orphan and later as a mother, she turns to the sea as a means for sustenance, even when migration and commercial trawling threaten small-scale fishing operations. Like many other women in Madagascar, she embodies a steadfast willingness to keep moving forward in the face of major challenges.
• The North American premiere of Ainu—Indigenous People of Japan Feb. 22 at noon in the National Museum of Natural History’s Baird Auditorium. The film tells the stories of four elders from the declining Ainu population in Japan. It sheds light on their traditions, both past and present, and the efforts to keep the culture and language alive in Japan. A Q&A with the director will follow the screening.
• Age-appropriate viewers can enjoy Québec beer courtesy of the Québec Governmental Office during a late-night screening of Blood Quantum Feb. 22 at 8 p.m. in New York University Washington, D.C.’s Abramson Family Auditorium. The dead come back to life outside the isolated Mi’gmaq reserve of Red Crow, except for its Indigenous inhabitants who are strangely immune to the zombie plague. The local tribal law enforcement officer must protect his son’s pregnant girlfriend, apocalyptic refugees and the drunken reserve riff raff from the hordes of walking corpses infesting the streets of Red Crow. This film contains strong bloody violence and may not be suitable for younger audiences.
• A screening of One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk Feb. 23 at 3 p.m. in Georgetown University’s ICC Auditorium. The film is set in April 1961 as the Cold War heats up in Berlin and nuclear bombers are deployed from bases in the Canadian Arctic. In Kapuivik, north of Baffin Island, Noah Piugattuk’s nomadic Inuit band live and hunt by dog team as his ancestors did. When an agent of the Canadian government arrives, what appears as a chance meeting soon opens the prospect of momentous change, revealing Inuit-settler relationships humorously and tragically lost in translation. The events playing out in this film are depicted at the same rate as the characters experienced them in real life.

Michael Kors Unveils Exclusive Partnership And Capsule Collection With The 007 Franchise

In a first for the brand, Michael Kors has announced its partnership with the 007 film franchise. To celebrate the release of the 25^th James Bond film, No Time To Die, Michael Kors will be debuting a limited-edition capsule collection featuring the coveted Michael Kors Collection Bancroft satchel. The three-piece capsule will be available to shop in select Michael Kors stores around the world, on MichaelKors.com and on the franchise’s official online store, 007Store.com, starting late March.

MKC x 007 Bond Capsule Collection

Crafted in Italy and created exclusively for No Time To Die, the MKC x 007 Bond Bancroft satchel, Bond Carryall and Bond Duffel all channel the sophistication that is synonymous with the James Bond films. The Bond Bancroft satchel, crafted in luxe calf leather, exudes everyday elegance with its refined silhouette and roomy interior. A polished MKC x 007 plaque on the interior lining highlights the special collaboration. In the film, the satchel is seen on pivotal character Moneypenny, played by British actress Naomie Harris, a BAFTA and Academy Award nominee. Rounding out the capsule collection, the Bond Carryall, rendered in calf leather, and Bond Duffel, in luggage-hued cotton canvas, were designed for traveling in style, and feature an exclusive MKC x 007 leather luggage tag.

“Jet set glamour, sophistication, speed, energy—these are all words that come to mind when you think about the world of James Bond,” says designer Michael Kors. “They’re also at the core of our brand DNA. This collaboration was really the perfect union of fashion and film.”

To celebrate the launch of No Time To Die and the unveiling of the MKC x 007 Bond Capsule Collection, Michael Kors will host a star-studded VIP party at its new Milan showroom, followed by a private dinner, during Milan Fashion Week in February.

Walker Art Center Presents Native-Directed Film Series INDIgenesis: Gen 3, Guest Curated by Missy Whiteman

INDIgenesis: GEN 3, A Showcase of Indigenous Filmmakers and Storytellers, March 19–28

Presented over two weeks, the series INDIgenesis: GEN 3, guest curated by Missy Whiteman (Northern Arapaho and Kickapoo Nations), opens with an evening of expanded cinema and includes several shorts programs in the Walker Cinema and Bentson Mediatheque, an afternoon of virtual reality, and a closing-night feature film.

The ongoing showcase of works by Native filmmakers and artists is rooted in Indigenous principles that consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations. GEN 3 connects perspectives and stories from the past, present, and future to convey Indigenous truths, teachings, and values.

“Indigenous artists use the creative process of filmmaking for revitalization and narrative sovereignty,” says Whiteman. “Our stories tell us where we came from, re-create our truths, affirm our languages and culture, and inspire us to imagine our Indigenous future. We come from the stars. How far will we take this medium?”

Throughout the program, join conversations with artists and community members centered on themes of Indigenous Futurism, revitalization, and artistic creation.

Opening Night: Remembering the Future
Expanded Cinema Screening/Performance
Thursday, March 19, 7:30 pm Free, Walker Cinema

Missy Whiteman’s The Coyote Way: Going Back Home, 2016. Photo courtesy the filmmaker.

Combining film, a live score, hoop dancing, hip-hop, and spoken word, a collective of Indigenous artists led by curator Missy Whiteman creates an immersive environment that transcends time and place. Guided by ancestral knowledge systems, traditional stories, and contemporary forms of expression, the expanded cinema program features performances by DJ AO (Hopi/Mdewakatonwan Dakota), Sacramento Knoxx (Ojibwe/Chicano), Lumhe “Micco” Sampson (Mvskoke Creek/Seneca), and Michael Wilson (Ojibwe). Archival found footage and Whiteman’s sci-fi docu-narrative The Coyote Way: Going Back Home (2016), filmed in the community of Little Earth in South Minneapolis, illuminate the space.

Missy Whiteman’s The Coyote Way: Going Back Home, 2016. Photo courtesy the filmmaker.

View The Coyote Way: Going Back Home trailer

Indigenous Lens: Our RealityShort films by multiple directors
Friday, March 20, 7 pm, $10 ($8 Walker members, students, and seniors), Walker Cinema

This evening of short films showcases a collection of contemporary stories about what it means to be Indigenous today, portraying identity and adaptability in a colonialist system. The program spans a spectrum of themes, including two-spirit transgender love, coming of age, reflections on friends and fathers, “indigenizing” pop art, and creative investigations into acts of repatriation. Digital video, 85 mins

Copresented with Hud Oberly (Comanche/Osage/Caddo), Indigenous Program at Sundance Institute (in attendance).

Lore
Directed by Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians)

Images of friends and landscapes are fragmented and reassembled as a voice tells stories, composing elements of nostalgia in terms of lore. 2019, 10 min. View excerpt.

Adam Khalil, Zack Khalil, Jackson Polys, and Bailey Sweitzer’s Culture Capture: Terminal Adddition, 2019. Photo courtesy the filmmakers.

Culture Capture: Terminal Adddition
Directed by New Red Order: Adam Khalil (Ojibway), Zack Khalil (Ojibway), Jackson Polys (Tlingit), Bayley Sweitzer

The latest video by the public secret society known as the New Red Order is an incendiary indictment of the norms of European settler colonialism. Examining institutionalized racism through a mix of 3D photographic scans and vivid dramatizations, this work questions the contemporary act of disposing historical artifacts as quick fixes, proposing the political potential of adding rather than removing. 2019, 7 min. View excerpt.

Shane McSauby’s Mino Bimaadiziwin, 2017. Photo courtesy the filmmaker.

Mino Bimaadiziwin
Directed by Shane McSauby (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians)

A trans Anishinaabe man meets a young Anishinaabe woman who pushes him to reconnect with their culture. 2017, 10 min. View excerpt.

The Moon and the Night
Directed by Erin Lau (Kanaka Maoli)

Erin Lau’s The Moon and the Night, 2017. Photo courtesy the filmmaker.

Set in rural Hawaii, a Native Hawaiian teenage girl must confront her father after he enters her beloved pet in a dogfight. 2018, 19 min. View excerpt.

Erin Lau’s The Moon and the Night, 2017. Photo courtesy the filmmaker.

Erin Lau. Photo courtesy the filmmaker. Photo By: Antonio Agosto

Shinaab II
Directed by Lyle Michell Corbine, Jr. (Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa Indians)

A young man seeks to honor the memory of his late father in a film that looks at Ojibwe ideas surrounding death and mourning. 2019, 6 min.

Daniel Flores’ Viva Diva, 2019. Image courtesy the artist.

Viva Diva
Directed by Daniel Flores (Yaqui)

This road trip movie follows Rozene and Diva as they make their way down to Guadalajara for their gender affirmation surgeries. 2017, 15 min. View excerpt.

Daniel Flores. Image courtesy the artist.

Dig It If You Can
Directed by Kyle Bell (Creek-Thlopthlocco Tribal Town)

An insightful portrait of the self-taught artist and designer Steven Paul Judd (Kiowa), whose satirical manipulations of pop culture for an Indigenous audience are gaining a passionate, mass following as he realizes his youthful dreams. 2016, 18 min. View excerpt.

Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominees Return for Walker Arts Center Members

Get into the award season spirit with three weeks of free films just for Walker Arts Center members. The annual presentation of the Film Independent Spirit Awards nominees showcases creativity and innovation in visual storytelling with the best of indie cinema. Now is the perfect time to buy a mewmbership to get ahead of films sure to heat up the awards race in the next few months. The 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards, hosted by actor Audrey Plaza, will be broadcast live exclusively on IFC cable channel at 2:00 pm PT / 5:00 pm ET on Saturday, February 8, 2020.

2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards
January 14–29, Walker Cinema, Free
Walker, Film Independent, & FilmNorth Members Only

Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart, 2019. Photo courtesy Annapurna Pictures.

Copresented with Film Independent and FilmNorth.

2020 Film Independent Spirit Award Nominees:

Lulu Wang’s The Farewell, 2019. L to R: “Jiang Yongbo, Aoi Mizuhara, Chen Han, Tzi Ma, Awkwafina, Li Xiang, Lu Hong, Zhao Shuzhen.” Courtesy of Big Beach. Photo courtesy A24.

Chinonye Chukwu’s Clemency, 2019. Photo courtesy NEON.

Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life, 2019. Photo courtesy Fox Searchlight.

Best Feature

Uncut Gems, Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie
A Hidden Life, Terrence Malick
The Farewell, Lulu Wang
Marriage Story, Noah Baumbach
Clemency, Chinonye Chukwu

Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie’s Uncut Gems, 2019. Photo courtesy A24.

Michael Angelo Covino’s The Climb, 2019. Photo courtesy Sony Picture Classics.

Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s The Mustang, 2019. Photo courtesy Focus Features.

Best First Feature

Booksmart, Olivia Wilde
Diane, Kent Jones
The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Joe Talbot
See You Yesterday, Stefon Bristol
The Climb, Michael Angelo Covino
The Mustang, Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre

Stefon Bristol’s See You Yesterday, 2019. Photo courtesy Netflix.

Best Documentary

Gabrielle Brady’s Island of the Hungry Ghosts, 2019. Photo courtesy Autlook Films.

Honeyland, Tamara Kotevska
Apollo 11, Todd Douglas Miller
American Factory, Julia Reichert
For Sama, Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts
Island of Hungry Ghosts, Gabrielle Brady

Todd Douglas Miller’s Apollo 11, 2019. Photo courtesy NEON.

Tamara Kotevska and Ljubo Stefanov’s Honeyland, 2019. Photo credit Ljubo Stefanov, courtesy NEON.

Walker Art Center Presents a Dialogue and Retrospective, Julia Reichert: 50 Years in Film

Independent documentary filmmaker Julia Reichert has been asking defining questions about workers’ rights, gender roles, taboos, and social change in America since the early 1970s. The pioneering Emmy Award–winner and three-time Academy Award–nominee comes to the Walker Arts Center for a retrospective of her distinguished body of work, Julia Reichert: 50 Years in Film, Feb 1–29, 2020 (at the Walker’s Bentson Mediatheque). Reichert will be on-site February 28 and 29, 2020 to discuss her career and her two recent, widely celebrated documentaries, American Factory and 9 to 5: The Story of a Movement.

Julia Reichert. Image courtesy the artist.

Indiewire on Julia Reichert
Women and Hollywood on Julia Reichert

Schedule of Events

Double Feature: Growing Up Female and Union Maids

Julia Reichert’s Growing Up Female, 1971. Image courtesy the artist.

Julia Reichert’s Growing Up Female, 1971. Image courtesy the artist.

Growing Up Female Directed by Julia Reichert and Jim Klein

Thursday, February 20, 7 pm Free

“I wish every high school kid in America could see this film.” —Susan Sontag on Growing Up Female

Growing Up Female is the very first feature-length film of the modern women’s movement. Considered controversial and exhilarating on its release, the film examines female socialization through a personal look into the lives of six women, ages four to 35, and the forces that shape them—teachers, counselors, advertisements, music, and the institution of marriage. A time capsule of a generation’s feminist issues, sometimes intersecting with race and class, the film illuminates a complex system of institutions upholding internal and external oppression. Selected to the National Film Registry in 2011. 1971, DCP, 52 min.

Julia Reichert’s Union Maids, 1976. Image courtesy the artist.

Julia Reichert’s Union Maids, 1976. Image courtesy the artist.

Union Maids, Directed by Julia Reichert, Jim Klein, and Miles Mogulescu

Reichert interviews three “Union Maids” on their experiences as organizing women of the Labor movement. Fighting for humanitarian rights, these radical workers reflect on their lives filled with purpose and struggle. Frustrated by the privileged class’ participation in the women’s movement and caught up in race and gender discrimination within class warfare, their voices echo and contextualize many social justice issues today. 1976, DCP, 48 min.

Julia Reichert at her film editing table in 1973. Image courtesy the artist.

Seeing Red: Stories of American Communists, Directed by Julia Reichert and Jim Klein

Julia Reichert’s Seeing Red, 1983. Image courtesy the artist.

Friday, February 21, 7 pm; $10 ($8 Walker members, students, and seniors)

Reichert brings to light the forgotten history of Americans who joined the Communist Party and the high price many of them paid for their beliefs. Boldly countering traditional myths, the film presents engaging interviews and personal accounts that take on a new resonance in today’s charged political climate. 1983, DCP, 100 min.

‘Just Mercy’ Announced As Closing Night At Austin Film Festival, Marking The Return Of AFF Screenwriting Winner Andrew Lanham

Meg And Lawrence Kasdan To Return To AFF Conference And Welcome The World Premiere Of Documentary , Last Week At Ed’s’

The 26th annual Austin Film Festival (AFF) (October 24 – 31, 2019), the premier film festival recognizing writers’ and filmmakers’ contributions to film, television, theatre and new media, will proudly present Just Mercy as its Closing Night film on October 31, 2019 at 9:15pm at The Paramount Theatre. Attending with the film is screenwriter Andrew Lanham, UT Michener Graduate and 2016 AFF Screenwriter to watch. Lanham has also been recognized by AFF previously as 2010’s Drama Screenplay Competition winner for The Jumper of Maine. (You can view the full sof films here.)

Directed and co-written by Destin Daniel Cretton, Just Mercy tells the true story of attorney Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan) and his fight to defend Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), a man wrongfully sentenced to death. The film made its World Premiere at Toronto International Film Festival in September and will be theatrically released by Warner Bros. Pictures, beginning December 25, 2019. Cast member Tim Blake Nelson will also attend with the screening, joining Lanham for a post-film Q&A.

“Authenticity is essential to capturing something so historic as this struggle for justice and humanity,” stated Casey Baron, Film Program Director. “It is an honor to welcome back a storyteller the Festival has watched grow and achieve over the past decade, with us to celebrate our Closing Night.”

Additionally, Lawrence Kasdan (The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Big Chill, The Force Awakens) is set to return to AFF’s Conference for a conversation about the necessities for writing a successful screenplay. He and Meg Kasdan (Grand Canyon, Darling Companion) will co-present the World Premiere of Last Night at Ed’s alongside Kasdan, documenting the personal story of a beloved Hollywood establishment’s final days. The film will screen Saturday October 26, 2019 at 2 pm at the State Theatre, and Kasdan’s Conversation will take place Saturday October 26, 2019 at 4:45pm at the Central Presbyterian Church.

AFF will also be presenting Scandalous, an investigation into the sordid and larger-than-life history of the National Enquirer. Under the direction of Texas filmmaker Mark Landsman, the film dives into the infamous tabloid’s sensational coverage that captivated readers for decades. Scandalous screens October 27, 2019 at 5:30 pm at the Alamo Drafthouse Village.

The 26th Annual Austin Film Festival To Open With The Us Premiere Of ‘The Obituary Of Tunde Johnson,’ And Announced Additional Titles Set To Screen At The Festival

Austin Film Festival banner

The 26th Annual Austin Film Festival (AFF), the premier film festival recognizing writers’ and filmmakers’ contributions to film, television, theatre and new media, announced its Opening Night feature, The Obituary of Tunde Johnson, taking place October 24, 2019. Director Ali LeRoi will present the film alongside screenwriter Stanley Kalu. The film is LeRoi’s feature directorial debut, and Kalu’s first produced feature screenplay. Kalu won The LAUNCH: Million Dollar Screenplay Competition in 2018, co-founded by Zachary Green and Jason Shuman. Along with receiving a $50,000 education grant and literary representation, Kalu’s film was produced by Green, Shuman and philanthropists Chuck and Marni Bond.

The Obituary of Tunde Johnson follows Tunde Johnson (portrayed by Steven Silver), a gay, black teenager trapped in a time loop that forces him to relive his own brutal murder at the hands of a police officer on duty. The film made its World Premiere at 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. LeRoi and Kalu will participate in a post-film Q&A following the screening and will also take part in programming as panelists at the AFF Writers Conference.

AFF also proudly announces an additional Marquee feature, Atlantics. Atlantics, a haunting romance set in Senegal, is the feature directorial debut of Mati Diop. The film was awarded the Sutherland Award at the BFI London Film Festival as well as the Grand Prix at Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. The film will screen Sunday October 27, 2019 at 2:30pm at the Alamo Drafthouse Village. Atlantics will premiere in theaters November 15, 2019 and on Netflix November 29, 2019.

The Festival’s shorts programming blocks include Wanted: Strong Woman, in which a woman finds a new passion, Black Goat, the story of a girl’s dark coming of age ritual, Robu, a young man’s journey through Japan to recover a special manga, and Digital Series Brothers from the Suburbs, a comedy centered on three black high schoolers. The Festival is also screening short films The Shabbos Goy, a comedy from Paul Feig, Laura Fischer’s Powderkeg Fuse incubator, Bye Bye Body, an introspective look at body positivity, and family drama Jane. Other mentionable shorts include the University of Texas filmmakers’ Femenina, which tells the story of a wrestler’s grappling with his own sexuality, and Super Sonic, a romance cultivated beyond one man’s hearing-impairment.

Ninth Annual Napa Valley Film Festival Announces Film Line-Up

Festival to open with “Just Mercy,” close with World Premiere of “Verticals”

The ninth annual Napa Valley Film Festival (NVFF) has announced its film line-up, including Opening and Closing Night screenings. NVFF returns this fall with its five-day festival showcasing the year’s best new independent films, November 13-17. Organizers will showcase Napa Valley’s finest food and wine at all special events, including the Festival Gala, VIP receptions and Vintner Circle dinners, and will feature a lively series of filmmaker-chef collaborative demonstrations at the Monogram Appliances Demonstration Kitchen at the Oxbow Commons in downtown Napa. The seven screening venues located throughout the Valley include the Archer Hotel Napa, the historic Cameo Cinema, the CIA at Copia, Charles Krug Winery, Lincoln Theater, Native Sons, and the Uptown Theatre.

Napa Valley Film Festival Logo

“We are excited to release another eclectic selection of highly-curated comedies and dramas from established and emerging filmmakers,” said Napa Valley Film Festival CEO Tom Tardio. “These films consist of inspiring and compelling stories that will thoroughly engage and entertain our festival-goers. At the intersections of film, food, and wine, the festival continues to deliver tremendously unique and exclusive experiences that only a world-class destination such as Napa Valley can provide and only that NVFF can deliver.”

Sneak Preview Night, Opening Night and Closing Night

NVFF will kick off with their Sneak Preview Night on Tuesday, November 12 with a special presentation of 20th Century Fox’s Ford v Ferrari. The film is inspired by the remarkable true story of visionary American car designer Carroll Shelby and the fearless British driver Ken Miles. Directed by James Mangold, the film stars Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Jon Bernthal, Caitriona Balfe, Tracy Letts, Josh Lucas, Noah Jupe, Remo Girone and Ray McKinnon.

The festival’s official Opening Night film on Wednesday, November 13 is Warner Bros.’ Just Mercy, a powerful and thought-provoking true story following young lawyer Bryan Stevenson and his history-making battle for justice. The film is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and stars Michael B. Jordan, Brie Larson and Jamie Foxx.

Closing the festival on Sunday, November 17 is SOMMTV’s world premiere of Verticals, a series that showcases Napa Valley winemakers and the human condition through a bottle of wine. This premiere is also the launch of SOMMTV, the first food and wine dedicated streaming platform. The series is directed by Jason Wise.

Award Season Contenders

• Clemency (Neon) – Years of carrying out death row executions have taken a toll on prison warden, Bernadine Williams. The emotional wedge in her marriage grows and memories of a recently botched execution plague her daily. As she prepares to end the life of another inmate, Bernadine must confront the psychological and emotional demons her job creates, ultimately connecting her to the man she is sanctioned to execute. Directed by Chinonye Chukwu and starring Alfre Woodard, Aldis Hodge, Wendell Price, Richard Schiff and Danielle Brooks.
• Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Neon) – In 1760 France, Marianne is commissioned to paint the wedding portrait of Héloïse, a young woman who has just left the convent. Marianne arrives under the guise of companionship with the reluctant bride-to-be, observing Héloïse by day and secretly painting her by firelight at night. As the two women orbit one another, intimacy and attraction grow as they share Héloïse’s first moments of freedom. Héloïse’s portrait soon becomes a collaborative act of and testament to their love. Directed by Céline Sciamma and starring Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel.
• To The Stars (Samuel Goldwyn Films) – Iris, a bespectacled and reclusive teen living in a god-fearing Oklahoma town in the 1960s, endures the booze-induced antics of her mother and daily doses of bullying from her classmates. She finds solace in Maggie, the charismatic and enigmatic new girl at school, who hones in on Iris’s untapped potential and coaxes her out of her shell. When Maggie’s mysterious past can no longer be suppressed, the small community is thrown into a state of panic, leaving Maggie to take potentially drastic measures and inciting Iris to stand up for her friend and herself. Directed by Martha Stephens and starring Kara Hayward, Liana Liberato, Malin Akerman, Tony Hale, Shea Whigham and Adelaide Clemens.
• Troop Zero (Amazon Studios) – In a tiny Georgia town in 1977, a motherless girl named Christmas Flint dreams of life beyond the confines of her trailer-park home and hopes to make contact with outer space. When Christmas learns that the winners of the annual Birdie Scout Jamboree talent contest will be included on a recording to be sent into space for posterity, she tries to join the local Scouts troop. When she is rejected by the snobbish group of girls and their uptight leader Miss Massey, Christmas rallies a group of elementary-school outliers to start their own chapter. Troop Zero is an endearing and magical tale of friendship and individuality. Directed by Bert & Bertie and starring Viola Davis, Mckenna Grace, Jim Gaffigan, Mike Epps, Charles Shotwell and Allison Janney.

Special Presentations

• Code & Response – 2018 was the worst year on record for natural disasters. Code & Response takes us into the heart of the aftermath of some of those disasters as we meet the first responders who are supported by innovative technology. Follow four coders from around the world (Japan, Puerto Rico, California, and Mexico) to learn about why they are getting involved, as well as how they are building technologies to help first responders save lives. Directed by Austin Peck.
• Elsewhere – Bruno is still mourning his wife’s passing when his in-laws evict him from the home he and wife built together. Unwilling to let his beloved home fall into disrepair, Bruno sneaks back to the house and meets the new owner of the home, Marie. Determined to be the only person to make any changes to the house he built, Bruno poses as a local handyman and Marie hires him for renovations. As the two begin work on the house, Bruno is forced to face the reality that his wife is gone, and he learns to move on from his grief. Directed by Hernán Jiménez and starring Aden Young, Parker Posey, Ken Jeong, Beau Bridges and Jacki Weaver. World Premiere
• From the Vine – Mark, a downtrodden CEO, is experiencing an ethical crisis at work. In an attempt to re-calibrate his moral compass, he travels back to his hometown in rural Italy. He finds newfound purpose by reviving his grandfather’s old vineyard, offering the small town of Acerenza a sustainable future and reconnecting with his family in the process. Combining magical realism and Italian neorealism, and set against the backdrop of Italian wine country, From the Vine is about returning to your roots and redefining your life when you’re at the bottom of the barrel. Directed by Sean Cisterna and starring Joe Pantoliano, Wendy Crewson, Marco Leonardi, Paula Brancati and Tony Cisterna.
• Gay Chorus Deep South – In response to a wave of discriminatory anti-LGBTQ laws in Southern states, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus embarks on a tour of the American Deep South. The tour brings a message of music, love, and acceptance to communities and individuals confronting intolerance. What emerges is a less divided America, where the lines that separate us in faith, politics, and sexual identity are erased through the soaring power of music, humanity, and a little drag. Directed by David Charles Rodrigues.
• I Want My MTV – A nostalgic and thrilling ride, I Want My MTV takes its audience back to the beginning, when the idea of a television channel devoted to only videos seemed destined for failure. The chronicling of this unique journey provides a peek into how a team of young executives were tasked with growing this seed of an idea, which would quickly flourish into a beloved and often controversial cultural juggernaut. Features commentary from Sting, Billy Idol, The Eurythmics, Jerry Cantrell, Pat Benatar, and more. Directed by Patrick Waldrop and Tyler Measom, and starring Sting, Billy Idol, Pat Benatar, Dee Snider, Norman Lear, The Eurythmics , Darryl McDaniel and Jerry Cantrell.
• It All Begins with a Song: The Story of the Nashville Songwriter – It All Begins with a Song: The Story of the Nashville Songwriter is a celebration of one of music’s most important yet underrated forces: the songwriter. These songwriters have penned melodies and lyrics for some of the biggest stars in the music industry, yet few know their names. Pull back the curtain to reveal the process of creating a successful song and learn more about the origins of some of the world’s most iconic hits. Directed by Anthony ‘Chusy’ Haney-Jardine.
• The Land of High Mountains – The Land of High Mountains is the inspiring true story of the only pediatric hospital in Haiti. In a country where one third of the population is under fourteen years of age and foreign NGOs consistently come and go, Saint Damien Pediatric Hospital has been providing life-saving healthcare to the most vulnerable families for over thirty years. This is a powerful account of the incredible people, both Haitian and foreign who, despite encountering every conceivable obstacle, are working together to create a brighter future for their patients and for Haiti. Directed by Will Agee and starring Liferne Forestal, Phadoul Amisial, Fr. Rick Frechette, Dr. Renee Alce, Dr. Jacqueline Gautier, Fr. Enzo Del Brocco, Veline , Gaelle , Lourdy , Pierre Nadine, Sainfleur Jean Israel, Marie Yolene, Vilaire Meralin and Christiana Liberis.
• Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound – Since the invention of sound in films, sound designers have been influencing the landscape of cinema. Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound shines a spotlight on the unsung heroes of sound design throughout cinematic history. Through interviews with legendary directors and some of the industry’s most-respected sound designers, we revisit film classics that helped shape the way we listen to and experience films today. Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound reveals the hidden impact of sound in cinema and how the auditory intake of a film holds so much power over an individual’s experience of storytelling. Directed by Midge Costin.
• Martha: A Picture Story – In the 1970s, Martha Cooper was one of a handful of photographers documenting the first vivid images of graffiti appearing on New York City’s subway carriages. 20 years later, she discovers that her book Subway Art has become one of the most stolen books of all time – inspiring the spread of graffiti around the globe and making Martha an unexpected icon of the street art world. Now, at age 75, Martha must navigate her way through the vastly changed culture of the modern world. Directed by Selina Miles.
• My Beautiful Stutter – After lifetimes of bullying, isolation, and failed fluency training, witness the incredible transformation of five kids who stutter when they enter a groundbreaking program through SAY, The Stuttering Association. Over the course of a year of events and workshops, these young people of wildly different backgrounds experience SAY’s revolutionary mantra: it’s okay to stutter. Directed by Ryan Gielen and starring Taro Alexander.
• RUTH – Justice Ginsburg in Her Own Words – How does a person with three strikes against her rise to the highest court in the land, the U.S. Supreme Court? RUTH – Justice Ginsburg in Her Own Words tells the improbable story of how Ruth Bader Ginsburg became an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. It also reveals both the public and private sides of a resilient, resourceful woman who has survived the hostility of the profoundly male universe of government and law to become a revered Justice and icon for gender equality and women’s rights. Directed by Freida Lee Mock and starring Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice Goodwin Liu, Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, Irin Carmon, Shana Knizhnik, Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy, M.E. Freeman, Lilly Ledbetter and Kathleen Peratis.
• The Three Drinkers Do Scotch Whisky – Packed full of humour, personality, and flavour, The Three Drinkers do Scotch Whisky is a drinks-focussed travelogue, where three friends embark on a road trip through Scotland. From Dufftown and Islay to Elgin and Jura, they journey through breath-taking landscapes, visiting iconic distilleries and touching on Scottish culture, tourism and traditional dishes you can’t even pronounce. This is whisky for a new, global audience, from twenty-one to ninety-one. Directed by David Agrawal. World Premiere

OTHER FILM HIGHLIGHTS

Core Competitions (previously announced)

Narrative Competition

• Bring Me an Avocado, Directed by Maria Mealla and starring Bernardo Peña, Sarah Burkhalter, Molly Ratermann, Candace Roberts.
• Here Awhile, Directed by Tim True and starring Anna Camp, Steven Strait, and Joe Lo Truglio. World Premiere
• Justine, Directed by Stephanie Turner and starring Glynn Turman, Darby Stanchfield, Josh Stamberg, Daisy Prescott, and Stephanie Turner.
• Lucky Grandma, Directed by Sasie Sealy and starring Tsai Chin, Corey Ha, Michael Tow, Woody Fu, Yan Xi, Wai Ching Ho, and Clem Cheung.
• The Nomads, Directed by Brandon Eric Kamin and starring Tika Sumpter and Tate Donovan.
• Run This Town, Directed by Ricky Tollman and starring Ben Platt, Mena Massoud, Nina Dobrev, Damian Lewis, Jennifer Ehle, and Scott Speedman.
• Standing Up, Falling Down, Directed by Matt Ratner and starring Billy Crystal, Ben Schwartz, Eloise Mumford, Grace Gummer, Caitlin McGee, David Castaneda, Debra Monk, and Jill Hennessy.
• Stealing School, Directed by Li Dong and starring Celine Tsai, Jonathan Keltz, Michelle Monteith, Mpho Koaho, Darrin Baker, Jonathan Malen, Matthew Edison, and Vas Saranga. World Premiere

Documentary Competition

• I Am Human, Directed by Taryn Southern and Elena Gaby.
• Latter Day Jew, Directed by Aliza Rosen.
• Motherload, Directed by Liz Canning.
• The Pollinators, Directed by Peter Nelson.
• The Remix: Hip Hop X Fashion, Directed by Lisa Cortes and Farah X.
• The Story of Plastic, Directed by Deia Schlosberg.
• This Is My Home, Directed by Karl Nickoley.
• Well Groomed, Directed by Rebecca Stern.

Verge

• Come As You Are, Directed by Richard Wong.
• Greener Grass, Directed by Dawn Luebbe and Jocelyn DeBoer.
• Hosea, Directed by Ryan Daniel Dobson. World Premiere
• Last Call, Directed by Gavin Michael Booth.
• Only, Directed by Takashi Doscher.
• Speed of Life, Directed by Liz Manashil.
• Treasure Trouble, Directed by Dan Erickson.
• The Way You Look Tonight, Directed by John Cerrito.

Culinary Cinema

• Breaking Bread, Directed by Beth Elise Hawk.
• Funke, Directed by Gab Taraboulsy.
• Nose to Tail, Directed by Jesse Zigelstein.
• Nothing Fancy: Diana Kennedy, Directed by Elizabeth Carroll.
• Stage: The Culinary Internship, Directed by Abby Ainsworth.
• A Taste of Sky, Directed by Michael Lei.

The festival will also feature Short Film Programs with:

• 17 Narrative Shorts
• 11 Documentary Shorts

The Napa Valley Film Festival (NVFF) is a five-day celebration that blends the art of film, food, and wine together. Discover the best new independent films of the year, savor exquisite cuisine paired with legendary wines, and create lasting memories found only in the Napa Valley. The Napa Valley Film Festival is presented by Cinema Napa Valley, a registered 501c3 non-profit organization headquartered in Napa, California. Cinema Napa Valley’s mission is to celebrate the cinematic arts and enrich the community by presenting an annual world-class festival and year-round education and outreach programs. The Napa Valley Film Festival takes place November 13-17, 2019. Visit napavalleyfilmfest.org for more information on passes and festival events.

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Presenting Sponsor: Rolls-Royce

Major Sponsor: Meadowood Napa Valley

Leading Sponsors: AVMS, Charles Krug Winery, Colorzone, DoNapa, Monogram, Raymond Vineyards, Viking Cruises, Westin Verasa Napa


Supporting Sponsors: Archer Hotel Napa, Blackbird Vineyards, Blanc Creatives, Cathay Pacific, De’Longhi, Estate Events by Meadowood, Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch, Materra | Cunat Family Vineyards, Peroni Italy, The Studio by Feast It Forward, Twin Dolphin Los Cabos, Whole Foods Market, Yountville Chamber of Commerce

Media Sponsors: Travel + Leisure, Variety, Wine Spectator

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Women’s Initiative Events In New York And London Support Emerging Female Filmmakers

Academy Partners With E! Entertainment For New York Event With Laura Dern, Greta Gerwig, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy And Amy Pascal

Swarovski Returns As Global Partner Of “Action: The Academy Women’s Initiative”

Photo Credit: Lars Niki / Getty Images / AMPAS

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in partnership with E! Entertainment and Swarovski, hosted a luncheon in New York today (October 2), beginning the second year of its global initiative to support emerging female filmmakers with the presentation of an Academy Gold Fellowship for Women.

The luncheon at the Rainbow Room brought together women from all facets of the filmmaking community, including Annabelle Attanasio, Cynthia Erivo, Julie Hagerty, Alma Har’el, Laura Karpman, Barbara Kopple, Jodi Long, Jennifer Nettles, Katherine Oliver, Laura Poitras, Andrea Riseborough, Jane Rosenthal, Meg Ryan, Mary Stuart Masterson and Constance Wu. The afternoon featured an onstage conversation with writer-director Greta Gerwig and producer Amy Pascal, moderated by actress Laura Dern. Oscar®-winning documentary filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, whose work highlights inequality and human rights abuses of women around the world, delivered the keynote presentation.

The Academy Gold Fellowship for Women, a $35,000 grant, was awarded to filmmaker Eliana Pipes. Pipes, an alumna of the inaugural class of the Academy Gold diversity internship enhancement program, is a graduate of Columbia University and has written her first feature film, a comedy entitled “Fauxricua.”

Constance Wu attends the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ Women’s Initiative New York luncheon, in partnership with E! Entertainment and with the support of Swarovski on October 02, 2019 in New York City. Credit: Lars Niki / Getty Images / AMPAS

The Academy Gold Fellowship for Women is a one-year fellowship designed for female filmmakers or executives. The fellowship combines direct financial support with personalized mentorship and networking opportunities, creating a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an emerging female filmmaker or industry executive. The US recipient is selected from the alumnae of one of the Academy Foundation’s key educational initiatives: Academy Gold Talent Development and Inclusion program, Student Academy Awards and the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. The fellowship in the UK is awarded to an emerging female talent working on either their first or second feature film or short film.

(L-R) Dawn Hudson, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Greta Gerwig and Laura Dern attend the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ Women’s Initiative New York luncheon, in partnership with E! Entertainment and with the support of Swarovski on October 02, 2019 in New York City.

The Academy will also hold a similar luncheon in London on October 4. The London event will mark the third year the Academy and Swarovski have hosted a gathering of female filmmakers in the UK. As a global multi-year partner of the initiative, Swarovski’s support extends across both the New York and London events, as well as a luncheon in Paris earlier this year, and makes possible the Gold Fellowship grants presented. Northern Ireland-based filmmaker Aislinn Clarke will receive the Academy Gold Fellowship for Women. Clarke wrote and directed her first feature, a horror film entitled “The Devil’s Doorway,” last year.

The fellowship program is a global effort, part of Action: The Academy Women’s Initiative, designed to create opportunities for female filmmakers and executives to connect, share their stories and celebrate inclusion. To date five fellowships have been awarded.

Cynthia Erivo attends the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ Women’s Initiative New York luncheon, in partnership with E! Entertainment and with the support of Swarovski on October 02, 2019 in New York City.

Action: The Academy Women’s Initiative is intended to make Hollywood a more inclusive place by empowering women in the film community. The initiative includes the Academy Gold Fellowship for Women, Academy Directory, and global events designed to connect women across all corners of the filmmaking industry and enable them to share their stories and celebrate inclusion.

“In just two years, the Academy Women’s Initiative has granted five fellowships to aspiring female filmmakers in NY, LA, London and Paris,” said Academy CEO Dawn Hudson. “With the support of our partners E! Entertainment and Swarovski, we will continue to expand this program globally, empowering more women in film, and creating a more inclusive industry.”

“E! is proud to once again partner with the Academy for this powerful initiative that brings women together, celebrates inclusion, and supports female filmmakers,” said Jen Neal, General Manager, E! News, Live Events and Lifestyle Digital, NBCUniversal. “It is exciting to join so many creative, inspiring and courageous women at today’s event as we unite in our commitment to driving positive change.”

Swarovski has a long history of partnership with the Academy, having illuminated the Academy Awards® stage with more than 45 million crystals over the past twelve years. As part of Swarovski’s drive to promote women’s empowerment, it is proud to support the Academy in celebrating women in film and encouraging gender equality across the industry. Swarovski has played a supporting role in the entertainment industry for nearly 100 years, having collaborated with Hollywood’s finest costume and set designers, most recently for Rocketman and The Greatest Showman..

Nadja Swarovski commented: “Swarovski is delighted to partner with the Academy on the 2019 Gold Fellowship for Women as part its Action: The Academy Women’s Initiative. As a company we are committed to empowering women and to providing emerging creative talent with the support it needs to develop and thrive, so we are pleased to congratulate Eliana Pipes and Aislinn Clarke and we look forward to watching all the young Academy Gold Fellowship award winners share their work with the world.”

Swarovski creates a more sparkling world and delivers a diverse portfolio of unmatched quality, craftsmanship, and creativity. Founded in 1895 in Austria, the company designs, manufactures and sells the world’s highest quality crystal, genuine gemstones, Swarovski Created Diamonds and zirconia, finished products such as jewelry and accessories, as well as interior design and lighting solutions. The Swarovski Crystal Business is run by the fifth generation of family members and has a global reach with approximately 3,000 stores in around 170 countries, more than 29,000 employees, and revenue of about 2.7 billion euros in 2018.

E! is the only global, multi-platform brand for all things pop culture. The network is currently available to 91 million cable and satellite subscribers in the U.S and 161 countries globally. E! programming includes popular series “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” “Very Cavallari,” “Total Divas,” “Total Bellas,” “Botched,” and “Dating #NoFilter;” topical series “Nightly Pop,” and the return of the “E! True Hollywood Story.” “E! News” airs nightly on the network and is the leading multi-platform publisher delivering breaking entertainment news and pop culture coverage 24/7 across EOnline.com and all digital and social media. The brand’s robust digital programming slate includes “E! News’ The Rundown,” “Face Forward” and “What The Fashion” on Snapchat. E!’s “Live from the Red Carpet” signature events keep fans connected to their favorite stars on pop culture’s biggest nights and E! is also home to the “E! People’s Choice Awards,” the only award show for the people, by the people. E! is a network of NBCUniversal Entertainment & Lifestyle Group, a division of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news and information to a global audience. For more corporate information, visit www.nbcuniversal.com.

Tom Hanks to be Recipient of the 2020 Cecil B. deMille Award at The 77th Golden Globes Awards

September 24, 2019– The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) announced that eight-time Golden Globe winner and 15-time nominee, Tom Hanks, will be honored with the coveted Cecil B. deMille Award at the 77^th Annual Golden Globe Awards. The highly-acclaimed star of such legendary films such as Big, Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, Cast Away, and the upcoming release of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood will accept the honor at Hollywood’s Party of the Year® on Sunday, January 5, 2020 airing LIVE coast-to-coast from 5-8 p.m. PT/8-11 p.m. ET on NBC.

Tom Hanks the star of Columbia Pictures’ “Captain Phillips.” Photo Credit: AUSTIN HARGRAVE

“The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is proud to bestow the 2020 Cecil B. deMille Award to Tom Hanks,” said HFPA President Lorenzo Soria. “For more than three decades, he’s captivated audiences with rich and playful characters that we’ve grown to love and admire. As compelling as he is on the silver screen, he’s equally so behind the camera as a writer, producer, and director. We’re honored to include Mr. Hanks with such luminaries as Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Martin Scorsese, and Barbra Streisand to name a few.”

Chosen by the HFPA Board of Directors, the Cecil B. deMille Award is given annually to a talented individual who has made a lasting impact on the film industry. Honorees over the decades include Jeff Bridges, Robert De Niro, Audrey Hepburn, Harrison Ford, Jodie Foster, Sophia Loren, Sidney Poitier, Steven Spielberg, Denzel Washington, Robin Williams, and many more.

Hanks’ complex and moving performances have earned him the honor of being one of only two actors in history to win back-to-back Best Actor Academy Awards®, he won his first Oscar® in 1994 for his moving portrayal of AIDS-stricken lawyer Andrew Beckett in Jonathan Demme’s Philadelphia. The following year, he took home his second Oscar for his unforgettable performance in the title role of Robert Zemeckis’ Forrest Gump. He also won the Golden Globe Award for both films, as well as a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award® for the latter.

In 2013, Hanks was seen starring in Golden Globe-nominated film Captain Phillips, for which he received Golden Globe, SAG, and BAFTA nominations as well as in AFI’s Movie of the Year Saving Mr. Banks with Emma Thompson. Hanks was most recently seen alongside Streep in Spielberg’s Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated film The Post, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe and won Best Actor with the National Board of Review. He will next be seen portraying Mr. Fred Rodgers in the upcoming biopic A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Additional upcoming projects include the WWII drama Greyhound, which he also wrote, the post-apocalyptic BIOS and Paul Greengrass’ pre-Civil War drama News of the World.

His other feature credits include the Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski film Cloud Atlas; Stephen Daldry’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close; the animated adventure The Polar Express, which he also executive produced and which reunited him with director Robert Zemeckis; the Coen brothers’ The Ladykillers; Spielberg’s The Terminal and Catch Me If You Can; Sam Mendes’ Road to Perdition; Frank Darabont’s The Green Mile; Nora Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle; Penny Marshall’s A League of Their Own; Ron Howard’s Apollo 13; The Da Vinci Code; Angels & Demons; Splash; Hologram for a King; Inferno;Sully; and the computer-animated blockbusters Cars, Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4.

In 1996, Hanks made his successful feature film writing and directing debut with That Thing You Do!, in which he also starred. More recently, he wrote, produced, directed and starred in Larry Crowne, with Julia Roberts. Hanks and Playtone produced 2002’s smash hit romantic comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding, with his wife Rita Wilson. Other producing credits include Where the Wild Things Are, The Polar Express, The Ant Bully, Charlie Wilson’s War, Mamma Mia!, The Great Buck Howard, Starter for 10, and the HBO series Big Love, Band of Brothers, The Pacific and From the Earth to the Moon.

In 2002, Hanks received the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award.

He was later honored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center with the Chaplin Award in 2009. In 2014, Hanks received a Kennedy Center Honor.

RH Unveils ‘RH New York, The Movie’ in Celebration of the Gallery’s First Anniversary

The Short Film Captures the Brand’s Quest to Create One of the World’s Most Innovative Retail Experiences

Marking the first anniversary of one of its most iconic spaces to date, RH announced the release of “RH New York, The Movie,” a short film documenting the creation of RH New York, The Gallery in the Historic Meatpacking District. This first-of-its-kind, 90,000-square-foot retail experience features a skylit six-story atrium with transparent glass elevator, Rooftop Restaurant, Barista Bar & Wine Terrace, Interior Design Firm, “New York Night,” a dramatic art installation by Alison Berger, and full floors dedicated to RH Interiors, RH Modern, RH Outdoor, RH Baby & Child, and RH TEEN.

RH Logo

RH NEW YORK, THE GALLERY IN THE HISTORIC MEATPACKING DISTRICT (Photo: Business Wire) (GIF)

“It took seven years of improvising, adapting and overcoming all of the obstacles until it became what it is today, which is arguably the most innovative new store in the world, in the most important city in the world,” Chairman and CEO Gary Friedman says in the film’s opening moments. “There’s not a better place to express truly what you believe in.”

To experience RH New York, The Movie, visit RH.com

BET Has Joined the 2019 Streaming Wars with The Launch of BET+

Be The First To Experience More Than 1,000 Hours Of Ad-Free Content From Acclaimed And Rising African American Creators, Sign Up Now At Bet.Com/Betplus

Watch A Selection Of Premium African American Tv, Movies And Specials Including New Bet+ Original Series “First Wives Club,” “Bigger,” As Well As Beloved Classics And Acquired Titles Including “Meet The Browns,” “The New Edition Story,” “Being Mary Jane,” “Love & Happiness: An Obama Celebration,” “College Hill,” “BET Awards,” “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta,” “Basketball Wives” And More.

BET+ is available now through Apple TV channels on the Apple TV App, and on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, Android™ devices, Android TV™ devices, Amazon Fire TV and Prime Video Channels

On September 14^th, BET+ was launched n the U.S. andis available on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, Android™ devices, Android TV™ devices, Amazon Fire TV and Prime Video Channels. Customers can also subscribe directly to BET+ through Apple TV channels and watch in the Apple TV app, on demand and ad-free, across their devices for online and offline viewing.

BET+ complements BET’s linear network, which continues to be the leading home of black culture. BET fans will not only have the freedom to access more than 1,000 hours of content on BET+, they will have additional access points to BET content on BET.com and the BET Now app for TV Everywhere users. In addition, BET’s recently launched channel on Pluto TV, the leading free streaming television service in the U.S., will continue to feature hundreds of hours of classic films and box office hits from the best of black Hollywood.

BET+ IS NOW STREAMING BLACK CULTURE. BE THE FIRST TO EXPERIENCE MORE THAN 1,000 HOURS OF AD-FREE CONTENT FROM ACCLAIMED AND RISING AFRICAN AMERICAN CREATORS, SIGN UP NOW AT BET.COM/BETPLUS (Photo: Business Wire)

The joint venture by BET Networks and Tyler Perry Studios launches with a deep and diverse lineup of content, aimed to super-serve lovers of Black stories. BET+ subscribers can immediately access more than 1,000 hours of ad-free premium content, including exclusive new original programming and a broad array of top African American-focused dramas, sitcoms, films, and specials from BET and sister networks within the Viacom portfolio.

Additionally, BET+ will offer subscribers an exclusive collection of Tyler Perry film, television, and stage plays. The service will also provide a host of content from leading African American creators, including Tracy Oliver, Will Packer, along with fresh new voices, on both sides of the camera. New titles will be added to the service regularly.

BET+ will offer subscribers an exclusive collection of Tyler Perry film, television, stage plays and new original series. Sign up now at BET.COM/BETPLUS (Photo: Business Wire)

Fans won’t have to wait long to begin their binge. For those ready to fall in love with a new show, all nine episodes of BET+ original series, “First Wives Club,” from acclaimed “Girls Trip” screenwriter Tracy Oliver starring Ryan Michelle Bathe, Michelle Buteau and Jill Scott, are now streaming. New weekly original series, “Bigger” – a ten-episode comedic series from hitmaker Will Packer (“Ride Along” and “Think Like a Man.”) — gives fans a taste of what’s to come by making the first three episodes of the series available now. The remaining episodes of “Bigger” will be released every Thursday, beginning September 26. In addition to its new original content, BET+ is also now streaming the comedy series “Martin.”

In the coming months, BET+ will proudly present Tyler Perry’s box office-topping theatrical films, including the “Madea” franchise; new original series; and a selection of Perry’s stage plays – “Meet the Browns,” “Daddy’s Little Girls,” “Family That Preys,” “I Can Do Bad All By Myself” and more.

BET+ LAUNCHES IN THE U.S. BET+ is available on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, Android™ devices, Android TV™ devices, Amazon Fire TV and Prime Video Channels. (Photo: Business Wire)

BET+ will stream a lineup of premier African American TV, movie and musical content including BET’s acclaimed library series, films, documentaries, and specials such as “The Bobby Brown Story,” “The New Edition Story,” “Real Husbands of Hollywood,” “The Quad,” “Being Mary Jane,” “Love & Happiness: An Obama Celebration, ” “College Hill,” “Comic View,” “Hell Date,” “Keyshia Cole: All In,” “Nellyville” “Reed Between The Lines,” “Ali: People’s Champ,” “Katrina: 10 Years Later,” “Killer Curves,” “BET Awards,” “Hip Hop Awards,” “Soul Train Awards,” “Black Girls Rock,” “Boomerang,” “Harlem Nights,” “Coach Carter,” “Losing Isaiah,” “Tina Turner Live In Holland,” and more!

Library shows from Viacom’s portfolio of networks, including VH1’s “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta,” “Basketball Wives,” “T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle,” Comedy Central’s “Why? With Hannibal Buress”, MTV’s “Todrick,” TV Land’s “Soul Man,” Nick @ Night’s “Instant Mom,” and more are available on the service.

In the coming weeks, BET+ will feature stand-up comedy specials from D.L. Hughley, Eddie Griffin, Nick Cannon, Sasheer Zamata (Saturday Night Live), Lil Rel (Get Out), Gina Yashere (The Daily Show), Sinbad and more.

BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. is the nation’s leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel is in nearly 85 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, sub-Saharan Africa and France. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions including BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; BET HER, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the African-American woman; BET Music Networks – BET Jams, BET Soul and BET Gospel; BET Home Entertainment; BET Live, BET’s growing festival business; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET Networks around the globe.

Tyler Perry Studios is a state-of-the art film and television production facility founded in 2006 by actor, producer, filmmaker, playwright and philanthropist Tyler Perry. Located in Atlanta, Georgia on the historic grounds of the former Fort McPherson army base, the new 330-acre campus is one of the largest production studios in the country. It boasts a variety of shooting locations including 40 buildings on the national register of historic places, 11 purpose-built sound stages, 200 acres of green space and an expansive backlot.

To download BET+ via:

Apple TV channels on the Apple TV App, please visit:
https://tv.apple.com/us/channel/tvs.sbd.1000299

App Store for iPhone and iPad, please visit:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1456618978
iOS 12.3 or later is required.

Android™ devices, Android TV™ devices, please visit:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.viacom.betplus&hl=en_US

Amazon Fire TV, please visit:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07V7Z2Y4W

Prime Video Channels, please visit:
www.amazon.com/channels/betplus

Publishing Giant Condé Nast Announces New Global Leadership Structure

U.S./New York-based Condé Nast and London-based Condé Nast International Are Integrated as One Global Team. New Consumer Marketing Function to Bring Focus on Direct-to-Consumer Efforts With Unified Commercial Team to Better Serve Global Clients’ Holistic Needs

New Leadership Structure is Expected to Help Further Turn the Financial Ship Around As Company Moves Beyond Closing and Selling Off Magazine Titles, Layoffs and Consolidation of Workforce Across All Titles

Long expected, Condé Nast yesterday appointed a new global leadership team designed to accelerate the company’s evolution into a 21st-century media company. The new organizational structure, which combines Condé Nast and Condé Nast International into a unified global team, was created with several guiding principles in mind, including the preservation of local editorial voice and authority, an enhanced focus on the consumer, unification of the company’s ad and commercial sales functions to reflect clients’ local and global needs and the development of new ways to share capabilities and best practices across the company.

Condé Nast is a global media company, home to iconic brands including Vogue, The New Yorker, GQ, Glamour, AD, Vanity Fair, and Wired, among many others. The company’s award-winning content reaches 84 million consumers in print, 367 million in digital and 379 million across social platforms, and generates more than 1 billion video views each month. The company is headquartered in London and New York and operates in 32 markets worldwide including China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico & Latin America, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, the U.K., and the U.S., with local license partners across the globe. Launched in 2011, Condé Nast Entertainment is an award-winning production and distribution studio that creates programming across film, television, social and digital video and virtual reality.

“One of my top priorities has been to define our organizational structure so that we can take full advantage of our unique growth opportunities and exceptional content around the world,” said the recently-appointed CEO of Condé Nast, RogerLynch “I’m confident that our new global structure will better enable us to collaborate across teams and markets and, ultimately, deliver unparalleled experiences for our consumers and clients.“

The new structure is as follows:

Global Content Functions:: Anna Wintour, U.S. Artistic Director, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue U.S. and (newly-appointed) Global Content Advisor, will continue in her role as U.S. Artistic Director and Editor-in-Chief of Vogue U.S., and will add Global Content Advisor and oversight of Vogue International to her responsibilities. In her expanded role, Wintour will advise the executive leadership team on global content opportunities and act as a resource to editors-in-chief and editorial talent worldwide.

Oren Katzeff, President of Condé Nast Entertainment (CNE), will expand the company’s digital video, film and television operations to create best-in-class video content experiences for audiences worldwide. The company has been increasing its focus on video content and currently generates 1.1 billion video views per month. Under Oren’s leadership, CNE will now be the core of our global network of video teams, supporting the growth of our video businesses in all markets.

David Remnick, Editor-in-Chief of The New Yorker, will also continue to report directly to Lynch.

Global Operations Organization: Wolfgang Blau, President, International & Chief Operating Officer will oversee all non-U.S. markets, as well as selected global strategic functions, including Product & Technology, Data, Licensing, Global Editorial Operations, Business Development, and Delivery & Business Transformation. This organization will ensure day-to-day operational excellence and capability sharing across the business.

Global Commercial Organization: Pamela Drucker Mann, Global Chief Revenue Officer & President, U.S. Revenue, will lead a new global revenue organization that brings together the company’s U.S. and international ad sales, creative and agency, B2B marketing and client service capabilities. Jamie Jouning, promoted to Chief Client Officer, will report to Drucker Mann and oversee key global accounts, multi-market deals, and central digital ad operations. Drucker Mann will define ad sales and ad product strategies globally, and work closely with Jamie and the central team and commercial leads in the company’s worldwide markets to drive overall ad, agency, and B2B revenue and share best practices.

Consumer Marketing Organization: Condé Nast is creating a new consumer marketing organization that will be led by a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and will bring added focus to the company’s direct-to-consumer efforts. As the company expands its consumer offerings, this team will be charged with developing best-in-class capabilities and consistency across consumer experiences on every platform. The team will also be responsible for consumer revenue, with a core focus on subscriptions and memberships. In addition, the team will have responsibility for global brand management, consumer research, and insights and global audience development, ensuring a data-driven approach to the company’s efforts. The search for a CMO to lead this new organization will begin immediately.

Corporate Functions: The company is also globalizing its three corporate functions to leverage skills, expertise and standardize processes and best practices: People, Finance and Communications. The company will begin an immediate search and selection process for these and other open roles. Until new leaders are identified, teams will maintain their existing reporting lines and responsibilities.

“We’re bringing added focus to our direct-to-consumer efforts and will build a new consumer marketing function that will be charged with developing best-in-class subscription and membership capabilities, and maintaining the authenticity of our iconic global brands,” Lynch continued. “And by transforming our sales organization into a unified global team, Condé Nast will be better positioned to serve the holistic needs of our clients around the world and make it easier for them to do business with us.“

The new structure and appointments take effect immediately.

The Whitney To Present The First Andy Warhol Retrospective Organized by a U.S. Institution Since 1989

Andy Warhol—From A To B And Back Again, The First Major Reexamination Of Warhol’s Art In A Generation, To Open At The Whitney On November 12

Andy Warhol—From A to B and Back Again—the first Andy Warhol retrospective organized in the U.S. since 1989, and the largest in terms of its scope of ideas and range of works—will be an occasion to experience and reconsider the work of one of the most inventive, influential, and important American artists. With more than 350 works of art, many assembled together for the first time, this landmark exhibition, organized by The Whitney Museum of American Art, will unite all aspects, media, and periods of Warhol’s forty-year career. Curated by Warhol authority Donna De Salvo, Deputy Director for International Initiatives and Senior Curator, with Christie Mitchell, curatorial assistant, and Mark Loiacono, curatorial research associate, the survey debuts at the Whitney on November 12, 2018, where it will run through March 31, 2019.

 

While Warhol’s Pop images of the 1960s are recognizable worldwide, what remains far less known is the work he produced in the 1970s and 80s. This exhibition positions Warhol’s career as a continuum, demonstrating that he didn’t slow down after surviving the assassination attempt that nearly took his life in 1968, but entered into a period of intense experimentation, continuing to use the techniques he’d developed early on and expanding upon his previous work. Taking the 1950s and his experience as a commercial illustrator as foundational, and including numerous masterpieces from the 1960s, Andy Warhol—From A to B and Back Again tracks and reappraises the later work of the 1970s and 80s through to Warhol’s untimely death in 1987.

Andy Warhol (1928–1987), Self-Portrait, 1964. Acrylic, metallic paint, and silkscreen ink on linen, 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm). The Art Institute of Chicago; gift of Edlis/Neeson Collection. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York

(Following its premiere at the Whitney, the exhibition will travel to two other major American art museums, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and The Art Institute of Chicago. Bank of America is the National Tour Sponsor)

“Perhaps more than any artist before or since, Andy Warhol understood America’s defining twin desires for innovation and conformity, public visibility and absolute privacy,” noted De Salvo. “He transformed these contradictory impulses into a completely original art that, I believe, has profoundly influenced how we see and think about the world now. Warhol produced images that are now so familiar, it’s easy to forget just how unsettling and even shocking they were when they debuted. He pioneered the use of an industrial silkscreen process as a painterly brush to repeat images ‘identically’, creating seemingly endless variations that call the very value of our cultural icons into question. His repetitions, distortions, camouflaging, incongruous color, and recycling of his own imagery anticipated the most profound effects and issues of our current digital age when we no longer know which images to trust. From the 1950s until his death, Warhol challenged our fundamental beliefs, particularly our faith in images, even while he sought to believe in those images himself. Looking in this exhibition at the full sweep of his career makes it clear that Warhol was not just a twentieth-century titan but a seer of the twenty-first century as well.”

Occupying the entirety of the Whitney’s fifth-floor Neil Bluhm Family Galleries, the adjacent Kaufman Gallery, the John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation Lobby Gallery, the Susan and John Hess Family Gallery and Theater, Andy Warhol—From A to B and Back Again will be the largest exhibition devoted to a single artist yet to be presented in the Whitney’s downtown location. Tickets will be available on the Whitney’s website beginning in August.

Through his carefully cultivated persona and willingness to experiment with non-traditional art-making techniques, Andy Warhol (1928–1987) understood the growing power of images in contemporary life and helped to expand the role of the artist in society, making him one of the most distinct and internationally recognized American artists of the twentieth century. This exhibition sets out to prove that there remains far more to Warhol and his work than is commonly known. While the majority of exhibitions, books, articles, and films devoted to Warhol’s art have focused on a single medium, subject, series, or period, Andy Warhol—From A to B and Back Again will employ a chronological and thematic methodology that illuminates the breadth, depth, and interconnectedness of the artist’s production: from his beginnings as a commercial illustrator in the 1950s, to his iconic Pop masterpieces of the early 1960s, to the experimental work in film and other mediums from the 1960s and 70s, to his innovative use of readymade abstraction and the painterly sublime in the 1980s. The show’s title is taken from Warhol’s 1975 book, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again), an aphoristic memoir in which the artist gathered his thoughts on fame, love, beauty, class, money, and other key themes.

Building on a wealth of new materials, research and scholarship that has emerged since the artist’s untimely death in 1987, as well as De Salvo’s own expertise and original research conducted by the Whitney’s curatorial team, the checklist of works has been carefully selected from amongst the thousands of paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, films, videos, and photographs that Warhol produced during his lifetime.

Adam D. Weinberg, the Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney, commented: “This exhibition takes a fresh focus, while continuing the Whitney’s decades-long engagement with Warhol’s work which we presented in 1971 in a traveling retrospective and in Andy Warhol: Portraits of the 70s, organized by the Whitney in 1979–80. Few have had the opportunity to see an in-depth presentation of his career, and account for the scale, vibrant color, and material richness of the objects themselves. This exhibition, to be presented in three cities, will allow visitors to experience the work of one of America’s greatest cultural figures firsthand, and to better comprehend Warhol’s artistic genius and fearless experimentation.”

Early Work

The exhibition covers the entirety of Warhol’s career, beginning with a concentrated focus on the commercial and private work he made between 1948 and 1960. Arriving in New York from his native Pittsburgh in the summer of 1949, Warhol began his career in an advertising world that was increasingly technological, and, concurrently, an art world obsessed with originality and the authenticity of the hand-made mark. The 1950s were a foundational period for the artist, a young gay man, beginning to find his way in the city. Though far less known than his later work, the commercial art that Warhol produced during his first decade in New York lays the groundwork for many of the themes and aesthetic devices that he would develop throughout the length of his career.

David Wojnarowicz Retrospective At The Whitney Explores The Enduring Resonance Of An Artist Who Merged The Personal And The Political

This summer, the most complete presentation to date of the work of artist, writer, and activist David Wojnarowicz will be on view in a full-scale retrospective organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art. David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night is the first major re-evaluation since 1999 of one of the most fervent and essential voices of his generation.

David Wojnarowicz with Tom Warren, Self-Portrait of David Wojnarowicz, 1983–84. Acrylic and collaged paper on gelatin silver print, 60 × 40 in. (152.4 × 101.6 cm). Collection of Brooke Garber Neidich and Daniel Neidich, Photograph by Ron Amstutz. (The exhibition is organized by David Breslin, DeMartini Family Curator and Director of the Collection, and David Kiehl, Curator Emeritus, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.)

Opening at the Whitney on July 13 and running through September 30, David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night features more than a hundred works by the artist and is organized by two Whitney curators, David Breslin, DeMartini Family Curator and Director of the Collection, and David Kiehl, Curator Emeritus. The exhibition, which will be installed in the Museum’s fifth floor Neil Bluhm Family Galleries through September 30, draws upon the scholarly resources of the Fales Library and Special Collections (NYU), the repository of Wojnarowicz’s archive, and is also built on the foundation of the Whitney’s extensive holdings of Wojnarowicz’s work, including thirty works from the Museum’s collection. It will travel to the Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid, in May 2019, and to Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg City, in November 2019.

Scott Rothkopf, Deputy Director for Programs and Nancy and Steve Crown Family Chief Curator, remarked, “Since his death more than twenty-five years ago, David Wojnarowicz has become an almost mythic figure, haunting, inspiring, and calling to arms subsequent generations through his inseparable artistic and political examples. This retrospective will enable so many to confront for the first time, or anew, the groundbreaking multidisciplinary body of work on which his legacy actually stands.”

Beginning in the late 1970s, David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992) created a body of work that spanned photography, painting, music, film, sculpture, writing, performance, and activism. Joining a lineage of iconoclasts, Wojnarowicz (pronounced Voyna-ROW-vich) saw the outsider as his true subject. His mature period began with a series of photographs and collages that honored—and placed himself among—consummate countercultural figures like Arthur Rimbaud, William Burroughs, and Jean Genet. Even as he became well-known in the East Village art scene for his mythological paintings, Wojnarowicz remained committed to writing personal essays. Queer and HIV-positive, Wojnarowicz became an impassioned advocate for people with AIDS at a time when an inconceivable number of friends, lovers, and strangers—disproportionately gay men—were dying from the disease and from government inaction.

After hitchhiking across the U.S. and living for several months in San Francisco, and then in Paris, David Wojnarowicz settled in New York in 1978 and soon after began to exhibit his work in East Village galleries. Largely self-taught, Wojnarowicz came to prominence in New York in the 1980s, a period marked by great creative energy and profound cultural changes. Intersecting movements—graffiti, new and no wave music, conceptual photography, performance, neo-expressionist painting—made New York a laboratory for innovation. Unlike many artists, Wojnarowicz refused a signature style, adopting a wide variety of techniques with an attitude of radical possibility. Distrustful of inherited structures, a feeling amplified by the resurgence of conservative politics, Wojnarowicz varied his repertoire to better infiltrate the culture.

His essay for the catalog accompanying the exhibition Witnesses: Against Our Vanishing (curated by Nan Goldin at Artists Space in 1989–90) came under fire for its vitriolic attack on politicians and leaders who were preventing AIDS treatment and awareness. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) threatened to defund the exhibition, and Wojnarowicz fought against this and for the first amendment rights of artists.

Campari Announces Campari Red Diaries (2018) – The Legend of Red Hand

Zoe Saldana Announced as the Star of the Short Movie Directed by Stefano Sollima

Following the international success of the 2017 edition, Campari, the iconic Italian aperitif, announces the return of Campari Red Diaries 2018 with an all-star short movie steeped in intrigue, leading viewers in the journey of a pursuit of the perfect cocktail. Evolving Campari’s ethos that ‘every cocktail tells a story‘, this year’s film is a celebration of bartenders’ talent around the world and most importantly, the Red Hands, masters of the world’s best cocktails.

Lead protagonist Mia Parc, played by Zoe Saldana, enjoying the perfect Campari cocktail. Credit: Matteo Bottin (PRNewsfoto/Campari)

Launched in 2017, Campari Red Diaries is the evolution of the Campari Calendar. A 360o holistic campaign, with a short movie at the heart, Campari Red Diaries brings to life Campari’s ethos that “every cocktail tells a story”. Campari Red Diaries is launched digitally, with the short movie hosted on Campari’s official YouTube page.

Davide, played by Adriano Giannini in The Legend of Red Hand short movie for Campari Red Diaries. Credit: Matteo Bottin (PRNewsfoto/Campari)

The short movie acts as the centerpiece of this year’s campaign, starring globally renowned actress Zoe Saldana – star of blockbuster film franchises Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy – Italian actor Adriano Giannini and directed by the famous Italian director Stefano Sollima, known for his work on Gomorrah and upcoming movie, Soldado.

Leading Italian director, Stefano Sollima is behind this year’s Campari Red Diaries short movie, The Legend of Red Hand. Credit: Matteo Bottin

Saldana comments: “The Campari Red Diaries campaign has a great legacy, so I was delighted to play the role of Mia Parc in The Legend of Red Hand. Mia’s character was a fascinating one to play, to portray her sheer determination to reach perfection and bringing this to life in Milan as the birthplace of Campari, the iconic Italian aperitif was very special.”

Entitled ‘The Legend of Red Hand‘, the story is a thrilling mystery that tells the journey of Mia Parc, played by an intrigued Saldana, in the pursuit of the perfect cocktail starting in Milan, the birthplace of Campari.

Zoe Saldana announced as the star of The Legend of Red Hand short movie for Campari Red Diaries, aside Adriano Giannini and directed by Stefano Sollima. Credit: Matteo Bottin (PRNewsfoto/Campari)

22nd Newport Flower Show to Celebrate Fete Des Fleurs

The 2017 Newport Flower Show, themed Fête Des Fleurs: Paintings and Parterres, will celebrate its 22nd year with a variety of special events, expert guest speakers, beautiful floral designs, impressive horticulture exhibits, stunning garden displays, unique shopping opportunities, and more. Inspired by France, America’s premier summer flower show will transport guests’ imaginations to the place that has inspired generations of artists and gardeners. Attendees will travel on a French adventure, from grand gardens to Paris chic, at Rosecliff, one of Newport’s most beautiful historic mansions modeled after the Grand Trianon at Versailles. The Show opens on Friday, June 23 and runs through Sunday, June 25, 2017.

With Newport’s largest private ballroom, Rosecliff was constructed in 1902 as a party pavilion for one of the leading society hostesses of the Gilded Age. This snow-white terra-cotta mansion was created for Theresa Fair Oelrichs, heir to the Comstock silver lode in Nevada. It hosted many of the most fabulous entertainments of the period, including a fairy-tale dinner and a party, featuring magician Harry Houdini.

The magnificent three-day event welcomes back Bartlett Tree Experts as the Presenting Sponsor of the Newport Flower Show, which benefits The Preservation Society of Newport County. Additional sponsors include ALEX AND ANI, Atria Senior Living , Brooks Brothers, Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Southeastern New England, Swarovski, United, and The Newport Daily News.

Show Highlights:

The Show will feature celebrity floral designer Jeff Leatham and noted scholar on French garden history Dr. Eric T. Haskell as special guest speakers, scheduled on Friday and Saturday. Guests will have the rare opportunity to learn from the uniquely talented Leatham, who works as the Artistic Director of the Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris in addition to designing events for celebrities and world leaders like His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Oprah Winfrey, Madonna, and many more. Leatham is considered the most exciting floral designer in the world. Awarded the prestigious “Knighthood” (“Chevalier de L’Order des Arts et Letters”), the French Government’s highest honor for artists, Jeff designed the first major event to be held in the famed “Galerie des Glaces” (Hall of Mirrors) at Versailles since the time of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. His work is compared to contemporary art (and is featured at international cultural, business and entertainment events). His vase designs were so exquisite that the Dallas Museum purchased them for their permanent collection. His work.

Celebrity floral designer Jeff Leatham

Haskell, Professor of French Studies & Humanities and Director of the Clark Humanities Museum at Scripps College in California, will share his knowledge on French gardens, their history, and more with guests. Dr. Haskell will share his vast knowledge on French gardens during his lecture “Lasting Landscapes: The French Formal Garden.” He received his Ph.D. in French Literature from the University of California, Irvine, and also studied Art History and Architecture in the graduate program at UCI and at the École du Louvre in Paris. He has delivered over 550 public lectures and scholarly papers in 28 states and 11 foreign countries. In 2013 Haskell received two of France’s highest honors: Chevalier de l’Ordre des Palmes Académics (Knight of the Order of Academic Palms) and Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters).

Other free lectures and demonstrations by noted plant experts, flower designers and gardeners will

Dr. Eric T. Haskell

also be presented throughout the weekend.

Fashion icon and interior designer Iris Apfel will also join the Newport Flower Show’s Afternoon Tea reception on Friday, June 23 for a conversation on her fabulous life, fashion, and style. The Afternoon Tea reception will be held on the front lawn of Rosecliff at 3:00 p.m. where guests will be treated to a sampling of savory and sweet delicacies as well as flavored versions of iced or hot teas.

The Opening Night Party, the unofficial “kickoff to summer in Newport,” will take place on Friday, June 23 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. with a cocktail buffet, live music and dancing, a seaside supper, and other entertaining surprises. The show will continue through the weekend with unforgettable garden exhibits, horticultural entries, floral designs, and children’s programs, all staged

Iris Apfel

throughout the elegant reception rooms of Rosecliff, its oceanfront terrace and lawn.

New this year, the Newport Flower Show will offer a Fête de la Lune (Feast by Moonlight) at Rosecliff on Saturday, June 24 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Guests can spend an evening strolling through the display gardens, shopping with Flower Show vendors on the front lawn, and viewing the floral designs inside Rosecliff before the sun sets, then can enjoy a summer picnic basket supper on the grounds while viewing the display gardens. Attendees can also opt to stay after supper for a viewing of the 2015 hit movie “A Little Chaos” starring Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet, and Stanley Tucci; film tickets are sold separately.

National Geographic Announces Five Days Of Supplementary SXSW Programming (AND Free Drinks!) At The “NAT Geo Further Base Camp”

Located One Block From the Convention Center on 6th Between Trinity and Neches, Nat Geo Further Base Camp Open Daily March 10-14

Lineup Includes Groundbreaking Augmented Reality; Interactive Robotic Art; Inspirational Talks and Interviews With Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Ridley Scott, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jason Silva, Cory Richards, Steven Kolter, David Guttenfelder and Aaron Huey; Plus a Birthday Party and Pi Day Celebration for Albert Einstein

Live Musical Performances From R.LUM.R, Ponytrap and Little Hurricane

This year at SXSW, National Geographic presents Nat Geo Further Base Camp (Nat Geo Further Base Camp, 418 East 6th Street, Austin, TX 78701): an interactive hub open daily to festival attendees to explore their own genius through brain-boosting and mind-boggling activities. Nat Geo Further Base Camp comes to life in advance of the April 25 premiere of GENIUS, starring Geoffrey Rush as Albert Einstein, Johnny Flynn as the younger Einstein and Emily Watson as his wife Elsa.

National Geographic logo. (PRNewsFoto/National Geographic Society)

Beyond nonstop programming and content, Nat Geo Further Base Camp will offer premium Wi-Fi, charging stations and meeting spaces, in addition to a free premium bar available daily, featuring GENIUS-inspired cocktails.

Hosted by TV personality Jason J. Carter (“#SayWhat?!,” “RuPaul’s Drag Race”), Base Camp will feature enhanced experiences inspired by the network’s highly anticipated global event series GENIUS from Academy Award winners Brian Grazer and Ron Howard. Highlights of the five-day activation include:

• See FURTHER: Experience the world’s first commercially available untethered augmented reality headset, the Microsoft Hololens, a cutting-edge blend of the digital and physical worlds that will bring the theory of relativity to life through powerful visualizations as if Einstein himself were there to explain it.
• Sketch Like Einstein: Einstein’s iconic chalkboard will be transformed into a first-of-its-kind interactive robotic artist, sketching art from guest-submitted Twitter photos through a genius algorithm using Einstein’s words, symbols and equations as pixels.
• Celebrate Pi Day and the Birth of a Genius: Fete the greatest genius of all time, Albert Einstein, whose birthday also happens to be Pi Day (March 14). Coincidence? We think not! Guests will help Einstein blow out all 138 candles, enjoy a cocktail menu inspired by the trials and tribulations of the iconic genius and snack on a pi-inspired dessert bar.

Explore Genius: Hear from the forces behind Nat Geo’s commitment to content that pushes the boundaries of human curiosity, including:

• Entertainment Weekly chat with GENIUS executive producer and director Ron Howard, executive producer Brian Grazer, actor Johnny Flynn (young Einstein) and actress Samantha Colley (Mileva Maric);
• Live recording of StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson;
• Breakthrough panel on cyberterror with security expert and author Jayson Street, social psychologist Nafees Hamid, Breakthrough series producer and showrunner Kurt Sayenga and director and producer Steven Hoggard, moderated by Jason Silva (Breakthrough, premiering May 2, is Nat Geo’s anthology series that shines a light on the world’s leading scientists and how their cutting-edge innovations and advancements will change our lives in the immediate future and beyond);
• Origins panel with modern-day philosopher Jason Silva and author, journalist and entrepreneur Steven Kotler (new series Origins, premiering March 6, is a full-sensory, time-travel adventure that delves deep into history to find the pivotal “origin” moments that made the world modern);
• Daily recording of podcasts from The Verge reporting on the festival’s hottest news, including special SXSW recordings of “The Vergecast”, “Decode,” “Too Embarrassed to Ask” and “Recode Decode” with SXSW Hall of Fame inductee Kara Swisher; and
• Various musical performances highlighting genius in its many forms including LUM.R., Ponytrap and Little Hurricane.

• Chasing Genius With Nerd Night: For the third year in a row, National Geographic partners with the popular Nerd Nite at SXSW. This year’s presentation will feature speakers including National Geographic Explorer and submarine pilot Erika Bergman, science and tech journalist Seth Porges and MIT researcher Adam Haar Horowitz. It is themed to Chasing Genius, a new platform being unveiled by National Geographic ahead of SXSW.
• Travel Further: Win a 10-day National Geographic Expeditions trip for two to the Galapagos Islands by visiting Base Camp to learn about the Nat Geo Further Photo Contest.

National Geographic and Katie Couric Launch Screening Tour for Upcoming Documentary “Gender Revolution: A Journey With Katie Couric”

Two-Hour Documentary Hosted and Executive Produced by Couric Is Available for Free to All Schools and Nonprofits That Will Host Inclusive Screenings and Conversations

First look clip from GENDER REVOLUTION: A JOURNEY WITH KATIE COURIC: https://files.natgeonetworks.com/_Sp2gXfxhvt1d5R

Every day all around the world, gender is making headlines, weaving its way into conversations big and small, in settings from the government to households, from schools to places of employment. The two-hour National Geographic documentary GENDER REVOLUTION: A JOURNEY WITH KATIE COURIC (trailer here) approaches the topic of gender through the lens of science, society, and culture, all woven together by personal stories and experiences.

National Geographic logo. (PRNewsFoto/National Geographic Society)

In GENDER REVOLUTION: A JOURNEY WITH KATIE COURIC, premiering Monday, Feb. 6, at 9/8c, National Geographic set out to explore this evolving concept of gender through the lens of science, society, and culture. Produced by Katie Couric Media with National Geographic Studios and World of Wonder Productions, the special will also air on National Geographic around the globe in 171 countries and in 45 languages.

To extend the life of this important documentary beyond its Feb. 6 television broadcast, National Geographic and Picture Motion are partnering on the Gender Revolution Tour, allowing any high school, college, university or nonprofit to sign up to host a free screening and discussion. The tour will harness the momentum of the conversations happening around the globe and offer an opportunity to have an informed dialogue on one of the most complicated and evolving issues in the current zeitgeist. The Gender Revolution Tour is being managed by impact agency Picture Motion.

Requests to participate in the Gender Revolution Tour can be made by filling out the request form at http://bit.ly/NatGeoGenderRevolution. Screening hosts will be sent a DVD of the film and an extensive discussion guide (LINK), created by Journeys in Film, that provides additional resources on understanding gender.

At the time of this release, more than 100 universities, high schools, and non-profit groups have already scheduled screening events of the GENDER REVOLUTION leading up to and during the week of the film’s television premiere on National Geographic.

Katie Couric Media develops and produces content, programming, and documentaries for TV networks and digital distribution platforms, focusing on compelling issues the award-winning journalist and best-selling author has covered throughout her career. Katie Couric Media projects include the “Katie Couric” podcast from Earwolf, which features the host in candid, unscripted conversations about American life and politics; the National Geographic documentary GENDER REVOLUTION; and the upcoming movie “Flint” with Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, about the drinking water contamination in Flint, Michigan. Katie Couric is the executive producer of “Fed Up” (2014) and “Under the Gun” (2016), both documentaries that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

“From the very start, it was my hope that as many people as possible would be given the opportunity to see this film,” said Couric. “I am thrilled that along with National Geographic and Picture Motion we are going to be able to share GENDER REVOLUTION and our accompanying discussion guide with groups all over the country.”

“National Geographic is about exploration and discovery. Through the Gender Revolution Tour we want to encourage constructive conversations that will allow people to connect with each other over material that is science-based, investigative and in some cases deeply personal,” said Chris Albert, Executive Vice President, Global Communications for National Geographic. “We believe this is a timely and groundbreaking documentary, and are thrilled to make it available for free to any organization interested in expanding its knowledge on the gender discussion.”

“We are so thrilled, but not entirely surprised, to see GENDER REVOLUTION so embraced. From Catholic Colleges to LGBT advocacy groups, city-based Sororities to mid-west High Schools, Gender Studies programs to Trans Support Groups for Parents; there has been an outpour of support for a film like GENDER REVOLUTION,” said Christie Marchese, CEO and Founder, Picture Motion.

GENDER REVOLUTION is produced by Katie Couric Media, World of Wonder Productions and National Geographic Studios for National Geographic. For Katie Couric Media, executive producers are Katie Couric and Mitch Semel. For World of Wonder, Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato, and Jeremy Simmons serve as executive producers. For National Geographic Studios, executive producers are Jeff Hasler and Brian Lovett. For National Geographic, Tim Pastore is president, original programming and production, and Michael J. Miller is executive producer.

Rolex Signs On As Sponsor Of The 89th Oscars®

For decades, Rolex has been linked to the magical and wondrous world of cinema: from its presence in legendary films to its support for young film-makers through its philanthropic program, the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.

Rolex will be a Proud Sponsor of the 89th Academy Awards® broadcast live on Oscars Sunday®, 26 February 2017 on the ABC Television Network. The Oscars® ceremony has honored excellence in cinema since 1929; and for the second consecutive year, Rolex will also be the Exclusive Sponsor of the Oscars Greenroom.

Rolex Partners with the Academy Awards

The history of Rolex is intertwined with that of cinema. Rolex watches have spontaneously featured in many iconic films and have become part of storytelling as an essential element of a film’s plot. Each Rolex watch symbolizes a personality and carries its own story, bringing to life a character and their journey on screen. Rolex is maintaining its ties with exceptional individuals and organizations and, in the case of the art of film-making, the extraordinary accomplishments of those who are capable of challenging the world by pushing the boundaries of their art.

“Rolex supports inspiring individuals and organizations who achieve great heights in both the sporting world and the arts, and the Academy exemplifies this pursuit of defying the odds to reach unimaginable goals. The Academy Awards and Rolex recognize and uphold excellence,” says Arnaud Boetsch, Rolex Director of Communication & Image.

Rolex Testimonee and Academy Award-winning director James Cameron represents the pinnacle of film-making, with a boldness of vision and focus on technical innovation dominant throughout his many movies. Titanic, which won 11 Oscars, is tied for the most awards ever, and Avatar holds the record as the highest-grossing film in history.

Cameron exemplifies the power of details in making stories come alive on screen. Says Cameron: “Great movies are made in details, and not just a few details – every detail. Every character, every prop, and every sequence. A Rolex is not only a beautiful watch and a masterpiece of engineering, it’s very tough. It’s a watch that you can take into any environment and which can stand up to the pressure. So, what you’re saying subliminally to the audience is: that character can take the pressure, too; he or she has what it takes.“

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, organizers of the Academy Awards, which promote excellence and great talent, offered Rolex the opportunity to host the Greenroom during the ceremony in February 2016 – literally “behind the scenes“. This space was designed by the Rolex Interior Design teams in Geneva, who brought to the Greenroom a combination of classic style and superlative quality that is the hallmark of both the Oscars and Rolex. The 2017 Greenroom will feature a new design and concept.

Furthermore, Rolex is a part of shaping future generations of film-makers and inspiring existing ones with the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, its philanthropic program, set up in 2002 to make a contribution to global culture. The program seeks out gifted young artists from all over the world and brings them together with artistic masters for a year of creative collaboration in a one-to-one mentoring relationship. The Initiative’s film mentors include Academy Award-winning directors Martin Scorsese, Alejandro González Iñárritu and 2016 mentor, Alfonso Cuarón.

Rolex is headquartered in Geneva and enjoys an unrivaled reputation for quality and expertise the world over. Its Oyster and Cellini watches, all certified as Superlative Chronometers for their precision, performance, and reliability, are symbols of excellence, elegance, and prestige. Founded by Hans Wilsdorf in 1905, the brand pioneered the development of the wristwatch and is at the origin of numerous major watchmaking innovations, such as the Oyster, the first waterproof wristwatch, launched in 1926, and the Perpetual rotor self-winding mechanism invented in 1931. Rolex has registered over 400 patents in the course of its history. A truly integrated and independent manufacturing company, Rolex designs, develops and produces all the essential components of its watches in-house, from the casting of the gold alloys to the machining, crafting, assembly and finishing of the movement, case, dial, and bracelet. Rolex is also actively involved in supporting the arts, sports, exploration, the spirit of enterprise, and the environment through a broad palette of sponsoring activities as well as philanthropic programs.

Essence Magazine Presents 10th Anniversary “Black Women in Hollywood Awards & Gala”

Oscar-Week Event to Honor Hollywood’s “Next Generation”: Janelle Monáe, Issa Rae, Aja Naomi King and Yara Shahidi

Time Inc.’s Essence, the preeminent brand for African-American women, will commemorate the 10th anniversary of its esteemed “Black Women in Hollywood Awards”—the annual Oscar-week celebration at the forefront of spotlighting Hollywood’s most creative and accomplished visionaries. Shifting from a daytime luncheon to a resplendent evening gala for the first time, the red carpet ceremony will be held at the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, CA, on Thursday, February 23, 2017.

The Awards & Gala will honor Hollywood’s “Next Generation”—young women who are excelling and elevating their crafts—including triple-threat actress/musician/entertainer Janelle Monáe (Breakthrough Award); groundbreaking actress/writer/producer Issa Rae (Vanguard Award); standout actress Aja Naomi King (Lincoln Shining Star Award); and dynamic actress Yara Shahidi (Generation Next). Actress/Producer Gabrielle Union will serve as the program’s host.

“For the past decade, the “Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards” have paid homage to our modern image-makers—both in front of the camera and behind the scenes,” said Essence Editor-in-Chief Vanessa K. De Luca. “This past year has been an exceptional one for diversity in film and television, and with the incredible contributions of Janelle, Issa, Aja and Yara, it is fitting that our 10th anniversary will honor the future of Hollywood and its continued steps on the path to inclusion.”

Also for the first time, internationally acclaimed visual artist and filmmaker Mickalene Thomas will be infusing the event with her elaborate imagery celebrating the power of female beauty as a facet of women’s empowerment.

Since its inception in 2008, the “Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards” have honored some of the most cherished figures in the industry, including Oprah Winfrey, Lupita Nyong’o, Ava DuVernay, Halle Berry, Viola Davis, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Angela Bassett, Queen Latifah, Naomie Harris, Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson, Jennifer Hudson, Zoe Saldana, Alfre Woodard, Regina King, Gabrielle Union, Tracee Ellis Ross, Debbie Allen, Nina Shaw, Mary J. Blige, Gabourey Sidibe, Quvenzhané Wallis, Jurnee Smollett, Ruby Dee, Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson, Loretta Devine, Mara Brock Akil, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ruth E. Carter, Nina Shaw, Gina Prince-Bythewood and Suzanne de Passe.

89th Oscars® Nominations Announced

Meryl Streep Extends Her Lead As The Most Nominated Performer With Her 20th Nomination.

With 14 Nominations, La La Land Ties The Record Held By All About Eve (1950) And Titanic (1997).

In The Acting Categories, Seven Individuals Are First-Time Nominees (Andrew Garfield, Mahershala Ali, Lucas Hedges, Dev Patel, Isabelle Huppert, Ruth Negga And Naomie Harris). Six Of The Nominees Are Previous Acting Winners (Denzel Washington, Jeff Bridges, Natalie Portman, Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman And Octavia Spencer).

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Cheryl Boone Isaacs, joined by Oscar®-winning and nominated Academy members Demian Bichir, Dustin Lance Black, Glenn Close, Guillermo del Toro, Marcia Gay Harden, Terrence Howard, Jennifer Hudson, Brie Larson, Jason Reitman, Gabourey Sidibe and Ken Watanabe, announced the 89th Academy Awards® nominations today (January 24).

This year’s nominations were announced in a pre-taped video package at 5:18 a.m. PT via a global live stream on Oscar.com, Oscars.org, and the Academy’s digital platforms; a satellite feed and broadcast media. In keeping with tradition, PwC delivered the Oscars nominations list to the Academy on the evening of January 23.

SideBar Information You Could Use

• With their Best Picture nominations for Moonlight, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner become the first individual producers to have nominations in the Best Picture category in four consecutive years.
• La La Land is the first musical with original music and story to receive a Best Picture nomination since All That Jazz (1979) and the second since Anchors Aweigh (1945).
• With his Best Picture nomination for Manchester by the Sea, Matt Damon becomes only the third individual to be nominated in the Acting, Writing and Best Picture categories. The others are Warren Beatty and George Clooney.
• Denzel Washington is the seventh individual to receive Acting and Best Picture nominations for the same film, joining Warren Beatty, Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Bradley Cooper.
• Thomas Newman’s nomination for Original Score for Passengers is his 14th and brings the total for members of the Newman family (Alfred, Lionel, Emil, Thomas, David, and Randy) to 90, more than any other family.
• Stuart Craig has the most nominations for Production Design of any living person with 11. The all-time record in the category belongs to Cedric Gibbons with 38 nominations.
• Kevin O’Connell and Andy Nelson, each with 21 nominations for Sound Mixing, are tied for the most nominations in the category since nominations began going to individuals in 1961.
• With their nomination for Sound Editing for La La Land, Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan become the first female team to be nominated in the category. Six other women have a combined total of 10 nominations and five wins for Sound Editing.
• Kim Magnusson, with his sixth nomination for Live Action Short Film, has produced the most films nominated in the short film categories of any living person.
• “The Empty Chair” from Jim: The James Foley Story is the seventh song from a documentary feature to be nominated and the fifth in the past five years.

And The Nominees Are:

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR

• “Arrival” (Paramount) A Paramount Pictures Production, Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, Aaron Ryder and David Linde, Producers
• “Fences” (Paramount) A Paramount Pictures Production, Scott Rudin, Denzel Washington and Todd Black, Producers
• “Hacksaw Ridge” (Summit Entertainment) A Pandemonium Films/Permut Presentations Production, Bill Mechanic and David Permut, Producers
• “Hell or High Water” (CBS Films and Lionsgate) A Sidney Kimmel Entertainment/Film 44/LBI Entertainment/OddLot Entertainment Production, Carla Hacken and Julie Yorn, Producers
• “Hidden Figures” (20th Century Fox) A Fox 2000 Pictures Production, Donna Gigliotti, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Pharrell Williams and Theodore Melfi, Producers
• “La La Land” (Summit Entertainment) An Impostor Pictures/Gilbert Films/Marc Platt Production, Fred Berger, Jordan Horowitz and Marc Platt, Producers
• “Lion” (The Weinstein Company) A See-Saw Films Production, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Angie Fielder, Producers
• “Manchester by the Sea” (Amazon Studios) A Pearl Street Films/The Media Farm/K Period Media/The A | Middleton Project/B Story Production, Matt Damon, Kimberly Steward, Chris Moore, Lauren Beck and Kevin J. Walsh, Producers
• “Moonlight” (A24) A Dos Hermanas Production, Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Producers

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING

• “Arrival” (Paramount) Denis Villeneuve
• “Hacksaw Ridge” (Summit Entertainment) Mel Gibson
• “La La Land” (Summit Entertainment) Damien Chazelle
• “Manchester by the Sea” (Amazon Studios) Kenneth Lonergan
• “Moonlight” (A24) Barry Jenkins

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

• Isabelle Huppert in “Elle” (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Ruth Negga in “Loving” (Focus Features)
• Natalie Portman in “Jackie” (Fox Searchlight)
• Emma Stone in “La La Land” (Summit Entertainment)
• Meryl Streep in “Florence Foster Jenkins” (Paramount)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• Viola Davis in “Fences” (Paramount)
• Naomie Harris in “Moonlight” (A24)
• Nicole Kidman in “Lion” (The Weinstein Company)
• Octavia Spencer in “Hidden Figures” (20th Century Fox)
• Michelle Williams in “Manchester by the Sea” (Amazon Studios)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

• Casey Affleck in “Manchester by the Sea” (Amazon Studios)
• Andrew Garfield in “Hacksaw Ridge” (Summit Entertainment)
• Ryan Gosling in “La La Land” (Summit Entertainment)
• Viggo Mortensen in “Captain Fantastic” (Bleecker Street)
• Denzel Washington in “Fences” (Paramount)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• Mahershala Ali in “Moonlight” (A24)
• Jeff Bridges in “Hell or High Water” (CBS Films and Lionsgate)
• Lucas Hedges in “Manchester by the Sea” (Amazon Studios)
• Dev Patel in “Lion” (The Weinstein Company)
• Michael Shannon in “Nocturnal Animals” (Focus Features)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR

• “Land of Mine” A Nordisk Film Production, Denmark
• “A Man Called Ove” A Tre Vänner Production, Sweden
• “The Salesman” An Asghar Farhadi/Memento Films Production, Iran
• “Tanna” A Contact Films Production, Australia
• “Toni Erdmann” A Komplizen Film Production, Germany

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR

• “Kubo and the Two Strings” (Focus Features) Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner “Moana” (Walt Disney) John Musker, Ron Clements and Osnat Shurer
• “My Life as a Zucchini” (GKIDS) Claude Barras and Max Karli
• “The Red Turtle” (Sony Pictures Classics) Michael Dudok de Wit and Toshio Suzuki
• “Zootopia” (Walt Disney) Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Clark Spencer

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

• “Fire at Sea” (Kino Lorber) A Stemal Entertainment Production, Gianfranco Rosi and Donatella Palermo
• “I Am Not Your Negro” (Magnolia Pictures) A Velvet Film Production, Raoul Peck, Rémi Grellety and Hébert Peck
• “Life, Animated” (The Orchard) A Motto Pictures and A&E IndieFilms Production, Roger Ross Williams and Julie Goldman
• “O.J.: Made in America” (ESPN Films) A Laylow Films and ESPN Films Production, Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow
• “13th” (Netflix) A Forward Movement Production, Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick and Howard Barish

Princess Grace Foundation-USA Announces 2017 Applications for Princess Grace Awards in Theater, Playwriting, Dance Performance, Choreography and Film

The Princess Grace Foundation-USA (PGF-USA) announces the availability of applications for the 34th annual Princess Grace Awards in Theater, Playwriting, Dance Performance, Choreography, and Film. Founded in 1982, in memory of Princess Grace (Kelly) of Monaco, The Princess Grace Foundation-USA is a non-profit, publicly-supported charity, headquartered in New York City and established 34 years ago by Prince Rainier III of Monaco to honor his wife, Princess Grace’s [Kelly] legacy. Its mission is dedicated to identifying and assisting emerging talent in theater, dance, and film by awarding grants in the form of scholarships, apprenticeships, and fellowships.

Since its inception, more than 800 recipients have been awarded, totaling over $13 million. Some notable Princess Grace Awards recipients include:

FILM: Emmy Award winner Cary Fukunaga, director of HBO‘s “True Detective,”Jane Eyre and Netflix‘s Beasts of No Nation; Jon M. Chu director, and Stephen Hillenburg, creator of Nickelodeon‘s most iconic cartoon, “SpongeBob SquarePants.”

THEATER: Tony Award winners for Best Direction of a Play, Anna D. Shapiro (August

Princess Grace of Monaco. Archives of the Princely Palace of Monaco

Osage County) and Sam Gold (Fun Home); Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning playwright Tony Kushner, Academy Award winner Eric Simonson and Golden Globe Award winner for HBO’s “Show Me A Hero,” Oscar Isaac.

DANCE: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Artistic Director Robert Battle; American Ballet Theatre’s Gillian Murphy and Isabella Boylston and New York City Ballet’s Tiler Peck; as well as choreographers and MacArthur “Genius” grant winners, Kyle Abraham and Michelle Dorrance.

“As this year’s applications become available on our website, we invite non-profit theater, dance, & film schools and theater & dance companies to nominate candidates. We are eager to select the next group of emerging artists ready to soar to new heights, break down barriers, and reach their fullest potential,” says Executive Director, Toby E. Boshak.

Videos about the Award opportunities in each discipline highlight the outstanding and diverse artistry supported by the Princess Grace Foundation-USA. Click here to watch theater, dance, and film videos.*

Grace Kelly – Rear Window. The Kobal Collection

Theater Awards are offered via scholarships, apprenticeships and fellowships. Awards are based on the quality of the emerging artist’s past work, potential for future excellence, and impact the collaboration between the nominating organization and the artist will have on the individual’s artistic growth. DEADLINE: MARCH 31, 2017.

The Playwriting Award includes a residency at New Dramatists and opportunity for the winning play to be licensed and published by Samuel French, Inc. Submission window: March 1-March 31, 2017 through New Dramatists’ website at www.newdramatists.org/princess-grace.

Dance Performance Awards are offered via scholarships and fellowships. Awards are based on the applicant’s artistic merit, significance of the Award to current artistic development, and the potential for future excellence and impact on the field. Choreography Awards offer emerging choreographers the opportunity to create a new work with organizations with which they have little experience. DEADLINE for both: May 1, 2017.

Film scholarships, awarded to undergraduate and graduate students, are by invitation-only and support the filmmaker’s thesis projects. Approved film programs are invited to submit applicants via their Department Chairs or Deans. A complete list of accepted schools is in the FAQ section under “Grants” at www.pgfusa.org/grants-program/FAQs. DEADLINE: JUNE 1, 2017

Applicants must be U.S. citizens or have permanent resident status. All applicants (except playwriting) must be nominated by a non-profit organization (school or company) with which they will be affiliated during the grant period (September 1, 2017 – August 31, 2018).

Grace Kelly. Photo Credit: The Kobal Collection

Visit www.pgfusa.org/grants-program/applications.

Born November 12, 1929, Grace Kelly grew up in a boisterous, loving Irish Catholic family. The strong personalities of her father John B. Kelly, Olympic medalist in rowing, politician and successful businessman, and her mother, Margaret, competitive swimmer, and community activist, fostered achievement in their children. Sisters, Peggy and Lizanne were outgoing and vivacious. Brother Jack, following in his father’s footsteps, became a rowing champion and public figure. Civic responsibilities, a wide circle of friends, and a large close-knit extended family kept life busy at the Kelly homes in Philadelphia and at the Jersey shore.

Grace’s personality was shy and gentle. In contrast to her outer reserve, the determination that led her to leave her comfortable life in suburban Philadelphia to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City at age 17 was an indication of an inner strength that would characterize her adult life.

THIRTEEN’s American Masters Presents the World Premiere of Patsy Cline Documentary Beginning March 4 on PBS During Women’s History Month

Features Exclusive Access To The Cline Estate, Rare Performances And New Interviews With Reba McEntire, LeAnn Rimes, Kacey Musgraves, Wanda Jackson, Beverly D’Angelo And Others, With Narration By Rosanne Cash

Born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Winchester, Virginia, The late Patsy Cline (September 8, 1932-March 5, 1963) defined modern country music by using her singular talent and heart‐wrenching emotional depth to break down barriers of gender, class and genre. In her music and her life, she set a standard of authenticity towards which artists still strive. After years of hard work to overcome industry gender biases and her own personal hardships and professional missteps, she achieved success, only to have it punctured by uncanny premonitions and her untimely death at age 30. The new documentary Patsy Cline: American Masters premieres nationwide beginning March 4 on PBS (check local listings) during Women’s History Month as part of the 31^st season of THIRTEEN’s American Masters series. 2017 marks the 85^th anniversary of Cline’s birth.

Patsy Cline. Credit: Courtesy of Universal Music Enterprises

Cline boldly bucked female conventions of the 1950s with her fashion sense, her decision to divorce, her support of fellow female artists, and her assertive ambition to get opportunities equal to those of her male Nashville peers, such as the same kind of headliner billing and radio airplay, particularly after breaking free of her unfavorable contract with Four Star Records. Six years after her national breakthrough on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts (CBS, 1957), she died in a plane crash returning home from a benefit performance. Her many posthumous honors include being the first solo female performer to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a U.S. postage stamp. She was also portrayed in the Oscar-winning feature film Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980) by D’Angelo and in Sweet Dreams (1985) by Jessica Lange.

Patsy Cline. Credit: Courtesy of Universal Music Enterprises

Narrated by Rosanne Cash, Patsy Cline: American Masters examines the roots of Cline’s impact in both personal and cultural terms to illuminate how she arrived at a pivotal moment in the evolution of American culture and, with Decca Records producer Owen Bradley, synthesized country, pop and rock in a new way to create the Nashville Sound. With exclusive access to the Cline estate, the film features rare performances of such Cline classics as “Walkin’ After Midnight” “Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray,” “Come On In,” “I Fall to Pieces,” “Crazy,” “You Made Me Love You” and more.

Patsy Cline. Credit: Courtesy of Universal Music Enterprises

The documentary also features exclusive archival interviews with Cline’s contemporaries and new interviews with a wide range of artists who have been influenced by Cline: LeAnn Rimes, Kacey Musgraves, Rhiannon Giddens, Wanda Jackson, Bill Anderson, Beverly D’Angelo, Callie Khouri, Reba McEntire, Mickey Guyton and more.

Country music singer-songwriter Mickey Guyton, who was influenced by Patsy Cline, is interviewed in “Patsy Cline: American Masters.” Credit: Peggy Sirota

Country music singer-songwriter Mickey Guyton, who was influenced by Patsy Cline, is interviewed in “Patsy Cline: American Masters.” Credit: Peggy Sirota

“It’s been such a privilege to tell the story of Patsy Cline. For me, her story exceeds her musical accomplishments. She is in a rare class of women who simply set out to achieve their dreams and through those efforts left an indelible mark,” said Emmy-nominated director and producer Barbara J. Hall.

AARP The Magazine Announces The 16th Annual Movies For Grownups® Award Winners

Loving Selected Best Picture of 2016; Denzel Washington and Annette Bening Score Top Acting Honors

Star-Studded Annual Awards to be celebrated in Los Angeles on Monday, February 6, 2017

Through Weekly News And Reviews, Nationwide Screenings, And An Annual Awards Event, The Movies For Grownups® Initiative Champions Movies For Grownups, By Grownups.

AARP The Magazine today announced the winners of the 16th Annual Movies for Grownups® Awards. In doing so, the editors continue their integral role in awards season by honoring the best films with unique appeal to movie lovers with a grownup state of mind and by recognizing the inspiring artists who make them. With Loving and Denzel Washington and Annette Bening among the top honorees, this year’s winners will be celebrated at AARP Movies for Grownups® Awards on February 6, 2017. Three-time Emmy award-winning film and stage actress Margo Martindale will host the evening at the historic Beverly Wilshire in Los Angeles. (Chase Card Services, through its AARP® Credit Card from Chase, is the presenting sponsor of AARP’s Movies for Grownups® Awards event.)

Movies For Grownups logo (PRNewsFoto/AARP)

With more than 37 million readers, AARP The Magazine is the world’s largest circulation magazine and the definitive lifestyle publication for Americans 50-plus. AARP The Magazine delivers comprehensive content through health and fitness features, financial guidance, consumer interest information and tips, celebrity interviews, and book and movie reviews. AARP The Magazine was founded in 1958 and is published bimonthly in print and continually online. (Learn more at www.aarp.org/magazine/. Twitter: www.twitter.com/AARP)

The annual Movies for Grownups® Awards raises funds for the AARP Foundation, AARP’s affiliated charity, which helps struggling people 50-plus in Los Angeles and around the country transform their lives through programs, services and vigorous legal advocacy. The foundation works to ensure that low-income older adults have nutritious food, functional and affordable housing, steady income, and strong and sustaining social bonds.

The AARP Foundation is active in Los Angeles and working with the Motion Picture &Television Fund (MPTF) to develop programs to reduce social isolation among older people, by keeping them connected with their friends, families and neighborhoods. The Foundation also is the founding sponsor of L.A. Kitchen, where California produce considered “waste” is used to make healthy meals for those in need.

And The Award Goes To…..

Best Picture goes to Loving, the story of Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple, whose challenge of the anti-miscegenation law in Virginia went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Annette Bening and Denzel Washington lead this year’s acting honorees and will take home Best Actress and Best Actor awards for their work in 20th Century Women and Fences, respectively.

This year’s Best Supporting Actress award will go to Viola Davis for her outstanding performance in Fences and Jeff Bridges earns the Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Hell or High Water. This year’s Best Director and Best Screenwriter awards will go to Kenneth Lonergan for Manchester by the Sea. Actor, producer and Academy Award-winner Morgan Freeman will receive the evening’s highest honor, the 2016 Movies for Grownups Career Achievement Award.

“AARP is delighted to celebrate the very best movies of 2016 and the outstanding work by the filmmakers and actors who make them,” says Myrna Blyth, Senior Vice President and Editorial Director for AARP Media. “These are the top movies for grownups made by tremendously talented grownups.”

“AARP’s Movies for Grownups Awards is one of the loveliest events of the season, one that is intimate and elegant and honors the films, filmmakers and film actors that people really respond to,” says actress Margo Martindale.

The (Complete List for the) 16th Annual Movies for Grownups® Award Winners are:

• Best Picture: Loving
• Best Actress: Annette Bening (20th Century Women)
• Best Actor: Denzel Washington (Fences)
• Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis (Fences)
• Best Supporting Actor: Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)
• Best Director: Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)
• Best Screenwriter: Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)
• Best Comedy/Musical: La La Land
• Breakthrough Achievement: Robert Mrazek (The Congressman)
• Best Grownup Love Story: Margo Martindale and Richard Jenkins (The Hollars)
• Best Documentary: The Beatles: Eight Days a Week
• Best Intergenerational Film: 20th Century Women
• Best Buddy Picture: Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie)
• Best Time Capsule: Jackie
• Best Movie for Grownups Who Refuse to Grow Up: Kubo and the Two Strings
• Best Foreign Language Film: Elle (France)

For more information about AARP‘s Movies for Grownups® Awards, go to www.aarp.org/moviesforgrownups. The entire list of award winners will also be featured in the February/March Issue of AARP The Magazine, available in homes February 1st.

The AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, with a membership of nearly 38 million that helps people turn their goals and dreams into ‘Real Possibilities‘ by changing the way America defines aging. With staffed offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, AARP works to strengthen communities and promote the issues that matter most to families such as healthcare security, financial security and personal fulfillment. AARP also advocates for individuals in the marketplace by selecting products and services of high quality and value to carry the AARP name. As a trusted source for news and information, AARP produces the world’s largest circulation magazine, AARP The Magazine and AARP Bulletin. AARP does not endorse candidates for public office or make contributions to political campaigns or candidates. To learn more, visit www.aarp.org or follow @aarp and the CEO @JoAnn_Jenkins on Twitter.

 

THIRTEEN’s American Masters Kicks Off Season 31 with Exclusive U.S. Broadcast Premiere of By Sidney Lumet, Tuesday, January 3 on PBS

Exclusive Interview With Treat Williams, Star Of Lumet’s Prince Of The City, And Emmy-Winning Filmmaker Nancy Buirski Follows The Documentary

Prolific and versatile filmmaker Sidney Lumet (1924-2011) made 44 films in 50 years, earning the Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievement after four Oscar nominations. Considered a quintessential New York filmmaker, Lumet frequently used New York City’s urban mettle to infuse his films with a realism and intensity that kept audiences in suspense while prodding them to consider their own morality. In American Masters: By Sidney Lumet, he tells his own story in a never-before-seen interview shot in 2008 by late filmmaker Daniel Anker and producer Thane Rosenbaum. With candor, humor and grace, Lumet reveals what matters to him as an artist and as a human being. Launching Season 31, American Masters: By Sidney Lumet premieres nationwide Tuesday, January 3 at 8 p.m. on PBS (check local listings) and features a new, exclusive interview with Golden Globe- and Emmy Award-nominated actor Treat Williams, who starred in Lumet’s Prince of the City, afterward.

Peabody and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Nancy Buirski (Afternoon of a Faun, The Loving Story, Loving) weaves Lumet’s personal stories and commentary with scenes from his films to create a portrait of one of the most accomplished, influential and socially conscious directors in the history of cinema. Clips spanning his canon, from 12 Angry Men, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, Prince of the City, The Verdict, and many more, reveal the spiritual and ethical lessons at the core of his work.

Looking back over his career, Lumet speaks intimately about the experiences that informed his work, which he loved. His Depression-era, working-class Lower East Side beginnings as a child actor with his father in Yiddish theater, on Broadway, and his gradual transition to directing live TV, informed the stories he chose and his ability to translate important stage works into film, such as The Sea Gull, The Fugitive Kind and Long Day’s Journey into Night. In clips from these films, American Masters: By Sidney Lumet underscores Lumet’s own journey: his relationship with his father mirrored in Long Day’s Journey into Night, Daniel, Running on Empty and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.

Marching for workers’ rights in the 1930s, standing up to McCarthy-era blacklist interrogation and finding ways to employ his blacklisted friends, Lumet developed an appreciation for people who question authority. His movies often featured characters fighting for justice, standing up to the crowd and questioning personal responsibility. First and foremost a storyteller, Lumet’s strongly moral tales captured the dilemmas and concerns of a society struggling with essentials: how does one behave to others and to oneself? (You can read the full biography here.)

7 Features Advance In Race For Makeup And Hairstyling Oscar®

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that seven films remain in competition in the Makeup and Hairstyling category for the 89th Academy Awards®.

The films are listed below in alphabetical order:

• “Deadpool”
• “The Dressmaker”
• “Florence Foster Jenkins”
• “Hail, Caesar!”
• “A Man Called Ove”
• “Star Trek Beyond”
• “Suicide Squad”

On Saturday, January 7, 2017, all members of the Academy’s Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films. Following the screenings, members will vote to nominate three films for final Oscar consideration.

Nominations for the 89th Oscars® will be announced on Tuesday, January 24, 2017.

336 Feature Films In Contention For 2016 Best Picture Oscar®

Three hundred thirty-six feature films are eligible for the 2016 Academy Awards®, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today.

To be eligible for 89th Academy Awards consideration, feature films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County by midnight, December 31, and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days.

Under Academy rules, a feature-length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes and must have been exhibited theatrically on 35mm or 70mm film, or in a qualifying digital format.

Feature films that receive their first public exhibition or distribution in any manner other than as a theatrical motion picture release are not eligible for Academy Awards in any category. The “Reminder List of Productions Eligible for the 89th Academy Awards” is available at http://www.oscars.org/oscars/rules-eligibility.

Nominations for the 89th Oscars® will be announced on Tuesday, January 24, 2017.

The 89th Oscars with host Jimmy Kimmel, will be held on Sunday, February 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

Celebrating 10 Years, The Alliance Of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) Announces This Year’s 2016 EDA Award Winners

“Moonlight” Leads With Seven EDAs Including Best Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay And Best Supporting Actor

Ava Duvernay Takes Three Awards In The 10th Annual AWFJ Year End Awards

The women have voted! The Alliance of Women Film Journalists is pleased to announce the winners of the tenth annual AWFJ EDA Awards. This year AWFJ presents the EDA Awards in 25 categories, divided into three sections: the standard ‘Best Of’ section, the Female Focus Awards and the irreverent EDA Special Mention awards—including Actress Most in Need of a New Agent and the AWFJ Hall of Shame Award.

The Alliance Of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ), a not-for-profit corporation, is an international association of professional female movie critics, reporters and feature writers working in print, broadcast and online media, dedicated to raising the volume on women’s voices in the film community by broadening opportunities for women who write about film and supporting films by and about women – both in front of and behind the cameras – through intra-group promotional activities, outreach programs and by presenting the EDA awards in recognition of outstanding accomplishments (the best and worst) by and about women in the movies.

The AWFJ presents the EDA Awards to honor women’s achievements in front of and behind the cameras. In addition to the annual end of the year awards, AWFJ presents EDA Awards for Best Female-Directed Films at select film festivals, including IDFA, Whistler Film Festival, DOXA. Edinburgh Film Festival. St. Louis International Film Festival and others. The EDAs are named in honor of AWFJ founder Jennifer Merin‘s mother, Eda Reiss Merin, a stage, film and screen actress whose career spanned more than 60 years. A dedicated foot soldier in the industry, Eda Reiss Merin was one of the founders of AFTRA and a long standing member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

In the ‘Best Of’ section, this year’s big winner is “Moonlight“, garnering EDA Awards in seven categories, including Best Film, Best Director for Barry Jenkins, Best Screenplay (Adapted) for Jenkins, Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Mahershala Ali, Best Ensemble Cast, Best Cinematography and Best Editing.

Filmmaker Ava DuVernay won three EDAs for Best Documentary for “13th,” Best Female Director for “13th” and Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in the Film Industry for 13th and for raising awareness about the need for diversity and gender equality in Hollywood

“Manchester By the Sea” won two EDA Awards for Best Actor for Casey Affleck and Best Screenplay (Original) for Kenneth Longergan.

In the EDA Special Mention Categories, Annette Bening and Isabelle Huppert tied for the Actress Defying Age and Ageism Award, while Huppert was honored the Bravest Performance Award for “Elle.” Jennifer Aniston won the Actress Most in [Dire] Need of a New Agent for “Mother’s Day” and “Office Christmas Party.”

“This year has brought heightened awareness of the impact movies and cinema culture have on setting our social norms,” states EDA AWARDS and AWFJ founder and film critic Jennifer Merin. “The need for gender parity and greater diversity in the movie industry is patently clear. These goals are fundamental to AWFJ’s mission and core values. I’m thrilled that in our 10th anniversary awards season AWFJ members voted to honor such a diverse array of talent representing such a broad spectrum of perspectives, making the 2016 EDA Awards particularly relevant at a time when art — and film, in particular — must be the vanguard of social progress.”

Here’s The Entire List Of This Year’s Winners:

AWFJ BEST OF AWARDS

These awards are presented to women and/or men without gender consideration.

• Best Film: Moonlight
• Best Director: Barry Jenkins – Moonlight
• Best Screenplay, Original: Manchester by the Sea – Kenneth Lonergan
• Best Screenplay, Adapted: Moonlight – Barry Jenkins
• Best Documentary: 13th – Ava DuVernay
• Best Animated Film: Zootopia – Byron Howard, Rich Moore, Jared Bush
• Best Actress: Ruth Negga – Loving
• Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Viola Davis – Fences
• Best Actor: Casey Affleck – Manchester By The Sea
• Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Mahershala Ali – Moonlight
• Best Ensemble Cast – Casting Director: Moonlight – Yesi Ramirez
• Best Cinematography: Moonlight – James Laxton
• Best Editing: Moonlight – Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders
• Best Non-English-Language Film: The Handmaiden – Park Chan-Wook

9 Foreign Language Films Advance In Oscar® Race

60th Anniversary Of The Foreign Language Film Category

Nine features will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 89th Academy Awards®. Eighty-five films had originally been considered in the category.

The competitive Foreign Language Film category was introduced in 1956 for the 29th Academy Awards. In celebration of its 60th anniversary, the Academy has created a complete playlist of acceptance speeches and a poster gallery of all the Foreign Language Film Oscar® winners.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

• Australia, “Tanna,” Bentley Dean, Martin Butler, directors;
• Canada, “It’s Only the End of the World,” Xavier Dolan, director;
• Denmark, “Land of Mine,” Martin Zandvliet, director;
• Germany, “Toni Erdmann,” Maren Ade, director;
• Iran, “The Salesman,” Asghar Farhadi, director;
• Norway, “The King’s Choice,” Erik Poppe, director;
• Russia, “Paradise,” Andrei Konchalovsky, director;
• Sweden, “A Man Called Ove,” Hannes Holm, director;
• Switzerland, “My Life as a Zucchini,” Claude Barras, director.

Foreign Language Film nominations for 2016 are determined in two phases.

The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based Academy members, screened the original submissions in the category between mid-October and December 12. The group’s top six choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee, constitute the shortlist.

The shortlist will be winnowed down to the category’s five nominees by specially invited committees in New York, Los Angeles and London. They will spend Friday, January 13, through Sunday, January 15, viewing three films each day and then casting their ballots.

Nominations for the 89th Oscars® will be announced on Tuesday, January 24, 2017. The 89th Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.