Month: February 2019

R&B singer R. Kelly’s attorney entered a not guilty plea on behalf of his client Monday as the singer faces multiple charges of sexual abuse in Chicago.

Kelly, one of the best-selling music artists of all time, entered the courtroom wearing an orange jail jumpsuit after spending the weekend in Chicago’s 7,000-inmate jail. He was arrested Friday on 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse involving four females, three of whom were minors.

Kelly remains jailed after a judge on Saturday set bond at $1 million. The Grammy Award-winning singer is required to pay 10 percent, and his attorney said Kelly’s confidants are trying to pay $100,000 to get him released as he awaits trial.

Among the conditions of release is that Kelly have no contact with females younger than 18.

Kelly appeared at the arraignment hearing Monday with defense attorney Steve Greenberg, and the case was assigned to Cook County Associate Judge Lawrence Flood. Kelly’s next court date is March 22.

Greenberg told The Associated Press on Sunday that coordination of the bail payment is complicated. But he said Kelly could be released as early as Monday or Tuesday.

“He has to rely on others acting on his behalf,” Greenberg said. “And it’s just not that easy — because Kelly’s in jail.”

Attorney Michael Avenatti, who said he represents two Kelly victims, said his legal team will give prosecutors a second video on Monday that he alleges shows Kelly sexually assaulting a minor. Avenatti has said he recently gave prosecutors video evidence of the singer having sex with an underage girl.

In arguing for bail within the singer’s ability to pay, Greenberg told a judge over the weekend that Kelly wasn’t wealthy despite decades of success creating hit songs. The lawyer blamed mismanagement, bad contracts and other issues for his client’s financial woes.

There are multiple logistical issues that could have thwarted Kelly’s efforts to pay over the weekend, said Joseph Lopez, a criminal defense attorney in Chicago not connected to the Kelly case. He said court officials must be able to talk to bank officials directly to confirm that an amount written on a check is covered, and that’s not possible when banks are closed.

Records on the Cook County sheriff’s website show Kelly is in Division 8 of the county jail, where the medical unit is located but also where inmates considered at risk from the general inmate population are held, Lopez said.

Disturbing details of the allegations against Kelly emerged Saturday when the prosecution released four detailed documents — one for each accuser — outlining the basis for the charges. The allegations date back as far as 1998 and span more than a decade.

A girl who attended Kelly’s child pornography trial in 2008 got his autograph after a court session. He later invited her to his home in the Chicago suburb of Olympia Fields, where they had sex multiple times starting the following May, when she was 16, according to the documents, which said he also slapped, choked and spit on the girl.

In 1998, another girl reported meeting Kelly at a restaurant where she was having a 16th birthday party. Kelly’s manager gave her the singer’s business card and suggested she call Kelly. The girl’s mother heard the exchange, took the card and told the manager her daughter was 16.

But her daughter later retrieved the card from her purse. She contacted Kelly, who told her to take a cab to his studio, where they had sex periodically for a year, the documents said. After the first encounter, she was given an envelope of cash.

In early 2003, a Chicago hairdresser told prosecutors that she thought she was going to braid Kelly’s hair, but he pulled down his pants and instead tried to force her to give him oral sex. The woman, who was 24, was able to pull away, but Kelly ejaculated on her and spit in her face, the documents said.

Prosecutors also described a witness who had access to videotapes showing Kelly having sex with a 14-year-old girl. The witness turned a tape over to authorities and identified the girl, who repeatedly stated her age on the footage, according to the documents.

Kelly’s DNA was found in semen on one of the accuser’s shirts, and semen found on a shirt worn by another was submitted for DNA testing, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said. It was not clear when the accusers turned the shirts over to authorities — whether it was shortly after the abuse or more recently.

At the bond hearing, Greenberg said his client is not a flight risk. He told the judge, “Contrary to the song, Mr. Kelly doesn’t like to fly.” One of Kelly’s best-known hits is “I Believe I Can Fly.”

After the hearing, Greenberg told reporters that Kelly did not force anyone to have sex.

“He’s a rock star. He doesn’t have to have nonconsensual sex,” Greenberg said.

The judge ordered Kelly to surrender his passport, ending his hopes of doing a tour of Europe in April. Kelly defiantly scheduled concerts in Germany and the Netherlands despite the cloud of legal issues looming over him. Greenberg denied that any tour was planned.

The recording artist, whose legal name is Robert Kelly, has been trailed for decades by allegations that he violated underage girls and women and held some as virtual slaves. Kelly has consistently denied any sexual misconduct.

Kelly broke into the R&B scene in 1993 with his first solo album, “12 Play,” which produced such popular sex-themed songs as “Your Body’s Callin”‘ and “Bump N’ Grind.” He rose from poverty on Chicago’s South Side and has retained a sizable following. Kelly has written numerous hits for himself and other artists, including Celine Dion, Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga.

In 2008, a jury acquitted Kelly of child pornography charges that centered on a graphic video that prosecutors said showed him having sex with a girl as young as 13. He and the young woman allegedly seen with him denied they were in the 27-minute video, even though the picture quality was good and witnesses testified it was them, and she did not take the stand. Kelly could have been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Charging Kelly now for actions that occurred in the same time frame as the allegations from the 2008 trial suggests the accusers are cooperating this time and willing to testify.

Because the alleged victim 10 years ago denied that she was on the video and did not testify, the state’s attorney’s office had little recourse except to charge the lesser offense under Illinois law, child pornography, which required a lower standard of evidence.

Each count of the new charges carries up to seven years in prison, and the sentences could be served consecutively, making it possible for him to receive up to 70 years. Probation is also an option.

The walls began closing in on Kelly after the release of a BBC documentary about him last year and the multipart Lifetime documentary “Surviving R. Kelly,” which aired last month. Together they detailed allegations that he held women against their will and ran a “sex cult.”
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President Donald Trump is going after director Spike Lee, who used his Oscar acceptance speech to urge mobilization for the 2020 election.

Trump tweeted Monday that Lee did a “racist hit on your President.” Trump claimed that he had “done more for African Americans” than “almost” any other president.  

Lee won for best adapted screenplay for his white supremacist drama “BlacKkKlansman,”  sharing the award with three co-writers. The film includes footage of Trump after the violent white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Lee did not directly name Trump. He spoke about black history and his family history, saying his grandmother’s mother was a slave, before stressing the presidential election next year.

Said Lee: “Let’s all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate.”
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Green Book, the heartwarming drama about the friendship between an eclectic African – American musician and his uncouth white driver during the segregation era won three Academy awards including Best Picture. That most coveted award fit right in to the night of diversity at the Oscars. VOA’s Penelope Poulou has more.
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The segregation-era road-trip drama “Green Book” was crowned best picture at the Academy Awards, handing Hollywood’s top award to a film seen as a feel-good throwback to some but ridiculed as an outdated inversion of “Driving Miss Daisy” by others. 

In a year where Hollywood could have made history by bestowing best-picture on Netflix (“Roma”) or Marvel (“Black Panther”) for the first time, the motion picture academy instead threw its fullest support behind a traditional interracial buddy tale that proved as popular as it was divisive. But Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book” weathered criticism that it was retrograde and inauthentic to triumph over more acclaimed films and bigger box-office successes. Spike Lee was visibly upset by the win. 

“Green Book” also won best supporting actor for Mahershala Ali and best original screenplay. 

Lee won his first competitive Oscar while the motion picture academy spread around awards for Ryan Coogler’s superhero sensation “Black Panther,” Alfonso Cuaron’s black-and-white personal epic “Roma,” and the Freddie Mercury biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” at a brisk, hostless Oscars awash in historic wins for diversity. 

Lee’s win for best adapted screenplay to his white supremacist drama “BlacKkKlansman” gave the Dolby Theatre ceremony Sunday its signature moment. The crowd rose in a standing ovation, Lee leapt into the arms of presenter Samuel L. Jackson and even the backstage press room burst into applause.

​Lee, whose film including footage of President Donald Trump following the violent white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, spoke about the upcoming election. 

“The 2020 election is around the corner. Let’s all mobilize. Let’s be on the right side of history,” said Lee, who was given an honorary Oscar in 2015. “Let’s do the right thing! You knew I had to get that in there.”

The biggest surprise of the night, was in the best actress category. Olivia Colman won for her Queen Anne in the royal romp “The Favourite,” denying Glenn Close her first Oscar. Close remains the most-nominated living actor never to win, with seven nominations. 

“Ooo. It’s genuinely quite stressful,” said a staggered Colman, who later turned to Close to say she was her idol, “And this is not how I wanted it to be.” 

“Bohemian Rhapsody,” which kicked off the ABC telecast with a performance by Queen, won four awards despite pans from many critics and sexual assault allegations against its director, Bryan Singer, who was fired in mid-production. Its star, Rami Malek, won best actor for his full-bodied and prosthetic teeth-aided performance, and the film was honored for editing, sound mixing and sound editing. 

“We made a film about a gay man, an immigrant who lived his life unapologetically himself,” said Malek. “We’re longing for stories like this. I am the son of immigrants from Egypt. I’m a first-generation American, and part of my story is being written right now.” 

The lush, big-budget craft of “Black Panther” won for Ruth Carter’s costume design, Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart’s production design, and Ludwig Goransson’s score. Beachler had been the first African-American to ever be nominated in the category. Beachler and Carter became just the second and third black women to win non-acting Oscars.

​”It just means that we’ve opened the door,” Carter, a veteran costume designer, said backstage. “Finally, the door is wide open.” 

Two years after winning for his role in “Moonlight,” Mahershala Ali won again for his supporting performance in the interracial road-trip drama “Green Book” – a role many said was really a lead. Ali is the second black actor to win two Oscars following Denzel Washington, who won for “Glory” and “Training Day.” Ali dedicated the award to his grandmother. “Green Book,” a film hailed by some as a throwback and criticized by others as retrograde, also took best original screenplay. 

The night’s co-lead nominee “Roma,” which is favored to hand Netflix its first best picture win, notched Mexico’s first foreign language film Oscar. Cuaron also won best cinematography, becoming the first director to ever win for serving as his own director of photography. Cuaron referenced an especially international crop of nominees. 

“When asked about the New Wave, Claude Chabrol said there are no waves, there is only the ocean,” said Cuaron, referring to the French filmmaker. “The nominees tonight have proven that we are a part of the same ocean.” 

The wins for “Roma” gave Netflix its most significant awards yet, while “Black Panther” – along with best animated film winner “Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse” – meant the first Academy Awards for Marvel, the most consistent blockbuster factor Hollywood has ever seen. 

Queen launched Sunday’s ceremony with a medley of hits that gave the awards a distinctly Grammy-like flavor as Hollywood’s most prestigious ceremony sought to prove that it’s still “champion of the world” after last year’s record-low ratings. 

To compensate for a lack of host, the motion picture academy leaned on its presenters, including an ornately outfitted Melissa McCarthy and David Tyree Henry and a Keegan-Michael Key who floated down like Mary Poppins. Following Queen, Tina Fey – alongside Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph – welcomed the Dolby Theatre audience to “the one-millionth Academy Awards.” 

Rudolph summarized a rocky Oscar preamble that featured numerous missteps and backtracks by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: “There is no host, there won’t be a popular movie category and Mexico is not paying for the wall.”

​The trio then presented best supporting actress to Regina King for her pained matriarch in Barry Jenkins’ James Baldwin adaptation “If Beale Street Could Talk.” The crowd gave King a standing ovation for her first Oscar. 

“To be standing here representing one of the greatest artist of our time, James Baldwin, is a little surreal,” said King. “James Baldwin birthed this baby.” 

The inclusivity of the winners Sunday stood in stark contrast to the (hash)OscarsSoWhite backlash that marked the 2016 and 2015 Oscars. Since then, the academy has worked to diversity its largely white and male membership, adding several thousand new members and opening the academy up internationally. 

More women won Oscars than ever before. Still, this year’s nominations were criticized for not including a female best director nominee or a best-picture nominee directed by a woman. 

Though the once presumed front-runner “A Star Is Born” appeared to flame out as awards season continued, it won, as expected, for the song “Shallow,” which Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper performed during the ceremony. As she came off the stage, Cooper had his arm around Gaga as she asked, “Did I nail it?” 

Best documentary went to Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s “Free Solo,” which chronicles rock climber Alex Honnold’s famed, free solo ascent of Yosemite’s El Capitan, a 3,000-foot wall of sheer granite, without ropes or climbing equipment. “Free Solo” was among a handful of hugely successful documentaries last year including the nominated Ruth Bader Ginsberg documentary “RBG” and the snubbed Fred Rogers doc “Won’t You Be My Neighbor.” 

“Thank you Alex Honnold for teaching us to believe in the impossible,” said Vasarhelyi. “This film is for everyone who believes in the impossible.” 

Adam McKay’s Dick Cheney biopic “Vice” won makeup and hairstyling for its extensive physical transformations. The category was one of the four that the academy initially planned to present during a commercial break and as its winners – Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe and Patricia Dehaney – dragged on in a litany of thank-yous, they were the first to have their microphone cut off. 

To turn around ratings, Oscar producers pledged a shorter show. In the academy’s favor is a popular crop of nominees: “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “A Star Is Born” and, most of all, “Black Panther” have all amassed huge sums in ticket sales. Typically, when there are box-office hits (like “Titanic”), more people watch the Oscars. 
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Mexico’s “Roma” is the winner of the best foreign language film at the Oscars.

Other films of director Alfonso Cuaron have won Academy Awards, but “Roma” now becomes the first film from Mexico to win the Oscar for best foreign language film. The movie’s dialogue is in Spanish and Mixtec.

It is Cuaron’s second win of the night. Earlier in the ceremony, he won the best cinematography award.

“Green Book”

Mahershala Ali is the winner of the Academy Award for best supporting actor. The win comes for his performance in “Green Book.”

It’s the second Oscar for Ali, who won in the same category in 2017 for “Moonlight.” In “Green Book” he plays Don Shirley, an African-American classical pianist, who tours the Deep South.

He thanked Shirley at the outset of his acceptance speech, saying telling Shirley’s story pushed him as an actor.

Ali dedicated his win to his grandmother, who he said is always pushing him to remain positive.
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“Free Solo” has won the best documentary feature Academy Award.

The film follows elite rock-climber Alex Honnold’s attempt to ascend the famed El Capitan rock formation at Yosemite National Park without ropes.

The film was directed and co-produced by the husband-and-wife team of Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin. Vasarhelyi thanked National Geographic, and specifically called them out for hiring female directors. She ended her speech by saying the film is “for everyone who believes in the impossible.”

Regina King is the winner of the Academy Award for best supporting actress. The win comes for her performance in “If Beale Street Could Talk.”

It’s the first Oscar and first nomination for King, who has won three Emmy Awards for her work on television.

King thanked author James Baldwin, whose novel is the basis for the film from director Barry Jenkins.

The actress thanked her mother, who was in the audience, and said she is an example of what happens when someone is supported and loved.
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Regina King stuns in white and Glenn Close dons queenly gold

NEW YORK (AP) — Regina King brought Old Hollywood alive on the Oscar red carpet Sunday in a romantic white gown with a touch of sparkle and a long train, while Constance Wu in sunshine yellow and Emilia Clarke in lavender looked every bit young ingenues.

King, nominated for “If Beale Street Could Talk,” paired her strapless ruched look with a white gold and diamond bracelet and pear-shaped diamond drop earrings from Chopard.

Lady Gaga went for strapless black with a major necklace showing off a huge yellow jewel, her platinum hair piled high and black opera gloves finishing the look. The necklace was by Tiffany & Co. and the gown by Alexander McQueen.

Thank you, Carolina Herrera creative director Wes Gordon, for the queen-worthy pale gold custom look created for nominee Glenn Close. It was by far her standout look of the awards season, with a cape, hand-embroidery and glass bugle beads. It took 40 craftsman and 3 million beads.

And thank you, Billy Porter, for getting the fashion parade off to a fierce start in Los Angeles.

Often a fashion adventurer, the stage performer, singer and actor stood tall and proud in a bombshell velvet tuxedo gown created by Christian Siriano. There was a bow tie, ruffle-cuff white shirt and classic tuxedo jacket on top paired with a strapless full-skirted gown in inky black.

Nobody was more excited than Siriano himself. He tweeted the look as soon as Porter hit the carpet.

Speaking of fierce, Jennifer Lopez and Brie Larson were armored in silver, both with high necks. The Lopez wore had a chipped mirror embellished all over, while Larson’s sparkler was sleeveless with a revealing side slit.

Wu, a star of “Crazy Rich Asians,” wore a delicate pleated gown with fluttery asymmetrical sleeves and a sweetheart neckline. It was custom Versace. She pulled her hair back in a youthful high ponytail, which allowed her drop diamond earrings to shine.

Clarke, of “Game of Thrones” fame, went sparkly strapless in an asymmetrical neck design.

Spike Lee was a study in a hue of purple favored by the late music icon Prince, one of his heroes, from his billed cap to his round glasses to his suit. He was on Instagram over the weekend bubbling about the sneakers. Foot flash has been a trademark as he made his way through the awards circuit for his “BlacKkKlansman.”

Lee showed off “Hate” and “Love” rings worn by the late Bill Nunn as Radio Raheem in the director’s “Do the Right Thing.”

Yalitza Aparicio, who shined as Cleo in “Roma,” walked in a one-shoulder, mint green gown with an embellished overlay. She wore her long dark hair down in a middle part as she posed on the carpet in her princess look.

Laura Harrier, who played the love interest in “BlacKkKlansman,” wore a stunner of a green and red jeweled choker with her sexy ice blue body hugger that sparkled on the carpet and included a high slit. It was bespoke Louis Vuitton done in organic crepe silk with glass bead and Swarovski crystal shard detailing.

Attending his first Oscar ceremony, “If Beale Street Could Talk” star Stephan James went for three pieces in red velvet, including a vest. He went for white for the feet.

Melissa McCarthy worked her white cape like a boss as she posed in a pant look, black from the waist down and plunging white and long-sleeved on top. Linda Cardellini earned the That’s a Lot of Fabric Award in a red high-low look that was ruffled from shoulders to train.

In addition to a healthy dose of red looks (hello Jennifer Hudson), there was a contingent in pink, of a variety of shades. Kacey Musgraves, Helen Mirren (a reddish pink), Angela Bassett and Gemma Chan wore various shades, Mirren playfully flaring her pleated gown in a statement diamond necklace.

Musgraves was tiered in a paler shade, including a busy riot of ruffles at the neck and shoulders. She had a blingy bauble attached to the waist.

KiKi Layne’s pink look had an interesting sculptural touch at the back originating from a large shoulder bow.

Necklaces that hung at the neck were aplenty, including one on Allison Janney featuring more than 59 carats of heart-shaped rubies and more than 67 carats of diamonds set in white gold from Chopard. Charlize Theron, sporting a new dark bob, went for one of Bulgari’s snake-like designs around her neck.

Rachel Weisz, in a red latex jacket detail over her sequined gown, chose to display her diamonds in a headband.
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The Oscars, or Academy Awards, the highest honors in the movie industry, will be handed out at a ceremony on Sunday in Hollywood. Following is a list of nominations in key categories:

Best Picture

“A Star is Born”

“Vice”

“Roma”

“Green Book”

“BlacKkKlansman”

“Bohemian Rhapsody”

“Black Panther”

“The Favourite”

Best Actor

Bradley Cooper – “A Star is Born”

Rami Malek – “Bohemian Rhapsody”

Christian Bale – “Vice”

Viggo Mortensen – “Green Book”

Willem Dafoe – “At Eternity’s Gate”

Best Actress

Lady Gaga – “A Star is Born”

Glenn Close – “The Wife”

Olivia Colman – “The Favourite”

Melissa McCarthy – “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”

Yalitza Aparicio – “Roma”

Best Director

Alfonso Cuaron – “Roma”

Spike Lee – “BlacKkKlansman”

Adam McKay – “Vice”

Yorgos Lanthimos – “The Favourite”

Pawel Pawlikowski – “Cold War”

Best Supporting Actor

Mahershala Ali – “Green Book”

Adam Driver – “BlacKkKlansman”

Richard E. Grant – “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”

Sam Rockwell – “Vice”

Sam Elliott – “A Star is Born”

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams – “Vice”

Regina King – “If Beale Street Could Talk”

Emma Stone – “The Favourite”

Rachel Weisz – “The Favourite”

Marina de Tavira – “Roma”

Best Original Screenplay

“The Favourite”

“First Reformed”

“Roma”

“Green Book”

“Vice”

Best Adapted Screenplay

“BlacKkKlansman”

“If Beale Street Could Talk”

“A Star is Born”

“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”

“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”

Best Animated Film

“Incredibles 2”

“Isle of Dogs”

“Ralph Breaks the Internet”

“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”

“Mirai”

Best Documentary Film

“RBG”

“Free Solo”

“Hale County This Morning, This Evening”

“Of Fathers and Sons”

“Minding the Gap”

Best Foreign Language Film

“Capernaum” – Lebanon

“Never Look Away” – Germany

“Shoplifters” – Japan

“Roma” – Mexico

“Cold War” – Poland

Best Original Song

“All the Stars” – “Black Panther”

“I’ll Fight” – “RBG”

“The Place Where Lost Things Go” – “Mary Poppins Returns”

“Shallow” – “A Star is Born”

“When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” – “The Ballad of

Buster Scruggs”

 
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Actor Terrence Howard, who plays the father of Jussie Smollett’s character on “Empire,” has expressed support for his fellow cast member amid allegations that Smollett staged a racist, anti-gay attack on himself.

Howard, who plays music mogul Lucious Lyon on the Fox television series, took to Instagram and posted a video of Smollett holding a giggling baby boy with the message: “All your lil homies got you… We love the hell outta you.”

The post on Saturday came a day after “Empire” producers announced that Smollett’s character, Jamal Lyon, would be removed from the final two episodes of the season, saying cast and crew were affected and they made the move “to avoid further disruption on the set.”

The series, which is on a midseason break, returns March 13 with nine episodes. Seven episodes were already completed before Smollett was charged last week with felony disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false police report.

Police say Smollett, who is black and gay, claimed two masked men attacked him last month in downtown Chicago, hurling slurs and looping a rope around his neck. Investigators say he planned the hoax, soliciting the help of a friend and the friend’s brother, because he was unhappy with his salary and wanted to promote his career.

Smollett denies the allegations.

Some “Empire” cast members posted supportive messages on social media after Smollett claimed he was attacked. Fox also publicly supported Smollett after the initial claims.

Howard’s post generated more than 385,000 views by midday Sunday and countless comments, both critical and supportive.

In response to one of the critics, Howard wrote: “sorry you feel that way but that’s the only Jussie that I know. The Jussie that I know could never even conceive of something so unconscious and ugly. His innocence or judgement is not for any of us to decide. Stay in your lane and my lane is empathy and love and compassion for someone that I’ve called my son for 5 years. It’s God’s job to judge and it is ours to love and hope, especially for those that we claim to have loved. There’s nothing more harmful than a fake friend! Real talk.”
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Some fun and interesting facts about Tuesday’s nominations for the 91st Academy Awards:

-After more than 30 years and some two dozen films, Spike Lee received his first Academy Award nomination for best director for “BlacKkKlansman.” It’s also the first time one of his movies has been nominated for best picture.

-Glenn Close’s best actress nomination for “The Wife” is her seventh, and could finally mean her first Oscar. She has more nominations without a win than any other living actor or actress.

-“Black Panther” is the first Marvel movie – and the first superhero film of any kind – to be nominated for best picture. Its $700 million box-office take is more than the earnings of the other seven best-picture nominees combined.

• “Roma” is the first Netflix film to be nominated for best picture.

• Sam Elliott’s first Oscar nomination – for best supporting actor in “A Star Is Born” – comes 50 years after his first acting credit, on the TV series “Judd, for the Defense.”

-Rami Malek, nominated for playing Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” is the only first-time Oscar nominee among the men up for best actor. He’s up against multiple nominees Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Viggo Mortensen and Willem Dafoe.

• Yalitza Aparicio’s nomination for “Roma” comes in her first role as an actress.

• This is the second of Hollywood’s four versions of “A Star Is Born,” to get a best picture nomination, along with the 1937 original. The 1954 and 1976 versions each got several Oscar nominations, but not for best picture.

• No women were nominated for best director this year. The number of female directorial nominees in the 91-year history of the Oscars remains five.

• Eighty-seven countries submitted movies to be considered for best foreign language film. Five got nominations : Germany, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico and Poland.

• Bob Hope hosted the Oscars a record 19 times. No one is scheduled to host this year’s ceremony.
  …

The United States has a long tradition of recognizing foreign figures by naming streets after them. Often that’s done at the request of an immigrant community with a significant presence in the area. That’s the case along of stretch of Brooklyn’s Coney Island Avenue in New York City, which has been renamed after the founder of modern Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. VOA reporter Aunshuman Apte attended the naming ceremony and has this report.
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Two years after his “Moonlight” triumphed on the eve of the Oscars, Barry Jenkins’ adaptation of the James Baldwin novel “If Beale Street Could Talk” Saturday topped the 34th Film Independent Spirit Awards, winning best film, best director and best supporting female for Regina King.

The Spirit Awards, always a casual preamble to Sunday’s Academy Awards, featured a few things the Oscars don’t have: a host (actress Aubrey Plaza) and female filmmaker nominees, including Tamara Jenkins (“Private Life”), Debra Granik (“Leave No Trace”) and Lynne Ramsey (“You Were Never Really Here”).

But as much as the afternoon belonged to women, Jenkins’ lyrical period drama emerged the biggest winner two years after his “Moonlight” won at the Spirits and (despite a touch of trouble with the envelopes) at the Oscars. Given his fellow nominees, even Jenkins was sheepish about it.

“I’m not gonna lie, man,” said Jenkins accepting the directing award. “I didn’t want to win this.”

Jenkins used his speech to instead largely urge more movies to be made with female directors and specifically credited the Scottish filmmaker Ramsey — who encouraged Jenkins as a film student — for inspiration. 

“This award has your DNA in it,” Jenkins said.

Female filmmakers honored

“Leave No Trace” and “You Were Never Really Here” won other awards, though. “You Were Never Really Here” won for its editing. Granik was honored with the Spirits’ second annual Bonnie Award, a grant for midcareer female directors. The audience gave her a standing ovation.

“I wasn’t expecting such a love bomb,” a clearly moved Granik said.

A day before many expect her to finally win her first Academy Award, best female lead went to Glenn Close for her performance in “The Wife.” Close was accompanied everywhere by her loyal white Havanese dog Pip: on the awards’ “blue carpet,” on stage with her, and backstage speaking to reporters. While Close accepted her award, Pip rolled on his back alongside her.

“I hope you don’t mind Pippy came up here with me,” Close said. “He’s my date.”

Fewer Oscar contenders

This year’s Spirits included fewer Oscar contenders than usual, which meant a chance, as Plaza said, for the Spirits to get back to their roots and honor “the movies that are too good to be seen.”

Their best-picture winner has often predicted Oscar-winners, including “Moonlight,” ″Spotlight,” ″Birdman” and “12 Years a Slave.” But last year Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” took the Spirits’ top honor before Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water” won at the Academy Awards. This year, “Beale Street” is nominated for three Oscars but not best picture.

King, though, is the front-runner for best supporting actress.

“If you haven’t seen it, go see it,” said King of “Beale Street” before chuckling. “I’m still promoting.”

Smaller-budget films

The Spirit Awards limit nominees to films with budgets of $20 million and less, eliminating bigger budget contenders like “Black Panther” and “A Star Is Born.” They also focus on American movies, limiting Oscar nominees like “Roma” and “The Favourite” to the best international film category, which Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” won.

Cuaron, whose film is favored to become the first foreign language film to win best picture Sunday, said he believes cinema is growing more diverse, “and that will make this category irrelevant.”

Ethan Hawke won best male lead for “First Reformed,” an award collected for the absent actor by his co-star, Amanda Seyfried.

Marielle Heller’s “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” took awards for both Richard E. Grant’s supporting performance and best screenplay for Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Witty. Holofcener called up Heller to join them on stage.

Best first feature went to Boots Riley’s madcap political satirical “Sorry to Bother You.” In his acceptance speech, Riley, a longtime musician making his directorial debut, spoke out against U.S. involvement in Venezuela. He said film is growing more socially conscious.

“There are real movements out there happening on the streets,” Riley said. “Rightly so, film is responding to that.”

Other awards

Other awards included best documentary for the Oscar-snubbed Fred Rogers documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”; best first screenplay went to the comedian-turned-director Bo Burnham for “Eighth Grade”; Luca Guadagnino’s “Suspiria” won the Robert Altman ensemble award and best cinematography; and the micro-budget “En El Septimo Dia” won the Spirits’ John Cassavetes Award, which honors movies made for less than $500,000.

In her opening monologue, Plaza tweaked the Oscars: “The network’s first choice was no one, but they were already booked for tomorrow.”
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