The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz
The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz |
| Small countries highlight Oscars’ Top Foreign Film short list Posted: 20 Dec 2013 05:25 PM PST Films from Cambodia, Palestine, and Bosnia and Herzegovina made the short list of candidates vying for the best foreign language film Oscar nomination, the Academy Awards organizer said yesterday. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences winnowed down 76 foreign films to nine in the first phase of the nomination process. The five nominees for the Oscar award will be announced on Jan 16. Cambodia's French-language documentary "The Missing Picture," which uses clay figurines to tell the story of the bloody reign of the Khmer Rouge government, made the list, taking a step closer to becoming the country's first film to score an Oscar nomination. Director Hany Abu-Assad, whose 2005 film "Paradise Now" earned Palestine's only Oscar foreign-language nomination, made the list with thriller "Omar." Bosnia and Herzegovina, which won the Oscar statuette in 2002 for "No Man's Land" in the only instance it earned a nomination, made the short list with the drama "An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker." Drama "The Great Beauty" from Italy, which has won a record 13 best foreign picture Oscars as a country, and Danish drama "The Hunt" starring Mads Mikkelsen also made the list a week after both films picked up Golden Globe award nominations for best foreign language film. Belgian Flemish-language drama "The Broken Circle Breakdown," German thriller "Two Lives" and Hungarian drama "The Notebook" also made the short list. Acclaimed Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai's ode to Kung Fu, "The Grandmaster," made the list. The art house director, considered one of the world's top filmmakers and best-known for dramas "Chungking Express" and "In the Mood for Love," has never had a film nominated for an Oscar. Notably absent from the list was Iranian domestic drama "The Past" starring French actress Berenice Bejo and directed by Asghar Farhadi, whose 2011 drama "A Separation" won the best foreign language Oscar. France's coming-of-age lesbian love story "Blue Is the Warmest Color" was also absent as its release in France did not make the Sept 30 deadline to be eligible for submission. The annual Academy Awards, Hollywood's top film honors, will be handed out on March 2. - Reuters, December 21, 2013. |
| Tom Cruise settles defamation lawsuit with publisher Posted: 20 Dec 2013 05:16 PM PST Attorneys for Cruise and Bauer Publishing Company, which publishes US celebrity magazines Life & Style and InTouch Weekly, agreed to have the lawsuit dismissed, with each paying their own costs and attorneys' fees, according to a document filed in US District Court in Los Angeles. The actor's attorneys said in a statement that Cruise and Bauer settled the dispute and that the publishing company "never intended to communicate that Tom Cruise had cut off all ties and abandoned his daughter, Suri, and regret if anyone drew that inference from anything they published." Terms of the settlement were not disclosed and are confidential, the statement said. Bauer's attorneys were not immediately available to comment. Cruise's lawsuit, which also alleged invasion of privacy, gave a glimpse into the "Mission: Impossible" actor's tightly guarded private life, including his divorce from Holmes and his Scientology religion. The case was scheduled to head to trial in June 2014. In a declaration filed in federal court last month, Cruise denied that he had cut his 7-year-old daughter out of his life, "whether physically, emotionally, financially or otherwise." The initial lawsuit was filed by Cruise in October 2012, after Bauer's magazines published reports claiming Cruise, 51, had abandoned Suri following his 2012 divorce from Holmes. "'Has he chosen Scientology over Suri for good? Abandoned by Daddy.' I mean come on, that is absolutely disgusting. That is absolutely disgusting," Cruise said according to a transcript of a September video deposition. Cruise added that one of Holmes' "assertions" for their 2012 divorce was that she wanted to protect Suri from Scientology and that his only daughter from his marriage to Holmes was not currently practicing the religion. Cruise also said in the deposition that while Holmes, 35, was a practitioner of Scientology before and during their six-year marriage, she left the church when she filed for divorce. The actor is one of the highest-profile members of Scientology, a religion founded by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard in 1954. Its followers, which also include actor John Travolta, believe humans are immortal beings whose existence extends beyond one lifetime. Critics of the church describe it as a cult that harasses people who try to quit. Actress Leah Remini was one of the most prominent celebrities to leave the Church of Scientology earlier this year, and has spoken out about being cut off by many friends due to her decision. - Reuters, December 21, 2013. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider : Showbiz To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan