Jennifer Lawrence hasn’t had many opportunities to show off her comedic chops onscreen — she only burst onto the scene three years ago in Winter’s Bone , then quickly filled up her dance card with action blockbusters like X-Men: First Class and The Hunger Games before taking on the awards season contender Silver Linings Playbook — but the Best Actress front-runner has been delighting awards-watchers left and right on the Oscar circuit these past few months. The girl is funny — sardonic, whip-smart, witty, self-deprecating, and she knows what’s what as she plays the Hollywood game, which is why her post-Golden Globes hosting gig on Saturday Night Live will be one to watch. The promo bits are hit and miss — spoofing awards season with Jason Sudeikis, Lawrence at least nails the giddy awkwardness of getting up on that podium only to be played off by the orchestra, amirite Daniel Day-Lewis ? — but it’s promising enough just to see her mugging for the laughs. Here’s hoping once that Silver Linings Oscar is on her mantle she’ll tackle some comedies. Actual real comedies that grown-ups might want to watch! Now there’s an idea. The SNL gig also cements Lawrence as the popular favorite in her race, although I’d totally watch Emmanuelle Riva and Quvenzhané Wallis tag-team an SNL co-hosting gig. Think bigger next time, guys. [via NBC ] Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color and Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell are among the initial selections unveiled Wednesday for the 2013 New Directors/New Films series. Both films are playing at the Sundance Film Festival which begins Thursday. The seven announced today hail from seven countries. The series, hosted by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, mostly features “discovery of new works by emerging and dynamic filmmaking talent” has served as a launch pad for many acclaimed filmmakers worldwide, including the likes of Chantal Akerman, Pedro Almodóvar, Darren Aronofsky, Ken Burns, Agnieszka Holland, Wong Kar Wai, Spike Lee, Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg, though some are more “emerging” than others. Among this year’s other announced titles are Emil Christov’s The Color of the Chameleon (Bulgaria), Tobias Lindholm’s A Hijacking (Kapringen) (Denmark), Rachid Djaidani’s Hold Back (Rengaine) (France), JP Sniadecki’s and Libbie Dina Cohn’s People’s Park (USA/China) and Matías Piñeiro’s VIOLA (Argentina). “These first seven titles give a hint at the exciting versatility and accomplishment in storytelling by emerging directors this year,” said lead MoMA film curator Rajendra Roy in a statement. “The New Directors class of 2013 promises to have some wonderful surprises in store for our film audiences and cineastes around the world.” FSLC Director of Year Round programming, Robert Koehler added, “Even with the vast majority of films still to be selected, these first selections for ND/NF set the tone for the introduction of a wide range of cinema and cinematic voices – both narrative and documentary – that has been the ambition of New Directors/New Films.” In related Film Society news, three Oscar-nominated documentaries will have a one-week run at the Elinor Brunin Munroe Film Center beginning this weekend, including The Invisible War , How To Survive a Plague and 5 Broken Cameras . The 42nd ND/NF takes place March 20 – 31 in New York. The seven official selections include: The Color of the Chameleon (2012) 114min, Director: Emil Christov Country: Bulgaria Unfolding in the years immediately before and after the fall of communism, this blackly comic, implacably deadpan, all but unclassifiable puzzler delves into the manipulation and intimidation that underwrites the transactions between the secret police and their informants, going down a rabbit hole into a realm of twisted absurdity. The scenario by Vladislav Todorov, adapting his 2010 novel, Zincograph, centers on misfit youth turned engraving plant employee Batko Stamenov (codename: Marzipan), who is recruited by the secret police to infiltrate…a book reading group. Shades of Borges, the book being studied is “a subversive pseudo-philosophical novel” by the name of Zincograph about… an engraver who creates his own secret off-books network of informants. Going rogue after being dropped for his strange ideas, Batko targets another group, the so-called Club For New Thinking, invents a fictitious branch of the Ministry of Information known as ‘Department Sex’ and hatches a scheme that, as Todorov puts it, exposes the “very nature of secret policing under communism.” With this, its first film to appear in ND/NF in 35 years, Bulgaria is back! A Hijacking (Kapringen) (2012) 99min, Director: Tobias Lindholm Country: Denmark On its way to harbor, the cargo ship MV Rozen is boarded and seized by pirates in the Indian Ocean. Moving between the claustrophobic and intensely fraught day-to-day life of the crew and their captors and the physically removed negotiations by the freight company in Denmark, Lindholm creates a climate of almost unbearable tension with an unexpected climax. As in his previous work (the prison drama ‘R’ and the television series ‘Borgen’) Lindholm’s narrative is based on a true event and his use of actual locations—the film was shot under exceedingly difficult circumstances in the Indian Ocean– and people who has been involved in similar situations (the negotiation team include a real-life hostage negotiator), provide the film with palpable authenticity and a lived-in feel. Augmented by a terrific cast, especially the amazing Pilou Asbæk as the ship’s cook Mikkel who becomes the pirates primary conduit for communication, Lindholm has created a suspenseful drama whose essential subject matter is the innate danger of an overwhelming disparity between impoverished nations and the developed world. A HIJACKING is a Magnolia Films release. Hold Back (Rengaine) (2012) 75min, Director: Rachid Djaïdani Country: France The French title translates as “refrain,” and musical repetition is what this no-budget urban contemporary Romeo and Juliet embodies: in this case of the eternal conflict between true love and tribal loyalties, as real in 21st-century Paris as it was in the age of Shakespeare. The film’s two basic conditions are immediately established: Sabrina (Sabrina Hamida) accepts the marriage proposal of struggling actor Dorcy (Stéphane Soo Mongo) and then she and her eldest brother Slimane (Slimane Dazi) count off the names of the 40 “brothers” in her extended family clan. Dorcy is a black Christian and Sabrina is a Muslim Arab: de facto patriarch Slimane will enlist his brothers in an all-out effort to do whatever it takes to track down Dorcy and prevent this “taboo” union. Made on the run in the streets (“I film like a boxer” says director Rachid Djaïdani), this film is part love letter to the irresistible energy and creative street life of Paris, and part call for interracial tolerance. People’s Park (2012) 78min, Directors: JP Sniadecki and Libbie Dina Cohn Countries: USA/China An immersive, inquisitive visit to the People’s Park in Chengdu, China created with a single virtuouso tracking shot. The joys of communal play, exercise and leisure time come under intense scrutiny through the relentless gaze of the directors’ lens, and create alternating states of unease and exhilaration. Stories We Tell (2012) 108min, Director: Sarah Polley Country: Canada What is real? What is true? What do we remember, and how do we remember it? Actor/director Sarah Polley ( Away From Her , Take This Waltz ) turns from fiction to non-fiction and in the process cracks open family secrets in this powerful examination of personal history and remembrance. Using home movies, still photographs and interviews, Polley delves into the life of her mother, shown as a creative yet secretive woman. What parents and siblings have to say and what they remember about events that occurred years ago, show the pitfalls of making the past present and cast a sharp light on the complicated paths of relationships. But while she is talking to her own relatives, Polley’s interest lies in the bigger picture of what families hold onto as truth. In an intimate setting, she shows us the process by which she tries to pluck information from family and friends: she interviews them but also delicately interrogates them as well as bringing them in as writers and collaborators in her own story. More than documentary, Stories We Tell is a delicately crafted personal essay about memory, loss and understanding. Upstream Color (2013), Director: Shane Carruth Country: USA Ever since he created a wave of excitement with his 2004 debut, Primer , filmmaker of all trades Shane Carruth has prompted curiosity over what he would come up with next. For certain, it would likely contain a strain of science fact tilting into science fiction; almost probably, whatever would happen would happen in a reasonably recognizable America of the near-present moment, populated with a combination of confused and brilliant citizens of the Republic stumbling through as best they could toward something terrifyingly brilliant. Upstream Color certainly checks all those boxes, but it can’t be overstated how starkly different and markedly advanced a work this is over the first one. It represents something new in American cinema, close cousin to Alain Resnais’ great films thematically and formally exploring the surprising jumps and shocks of life’s passages and science’s strange effects. A love story embedded in a horrifying kidnap plot whose full import isn’t revealed until the final, poignant moments, Upstream Color doesn’t so much move as leap with great audacity through its moments and across sequences, a cinematic simulacrum of the ways we think back on our own lives, astonished at, as in the title of Grace Paley’s fiction collection, our “Enormous Changes at the Last Minute.” Viola (2012) 65min, Director: Matías Piñeiro Country: Argentina Matías Piñeiro is one of contemporary Argentine cinema’s most sensuous and sophisticated new voices. In his latest film, Viola , he ingeniously fashions out of Shakepeare’s Twelfth Night a seductive roundelay among young actors and lovers in present-day Buenos Aires. Mixing melodrama with sentimental comedy, philosophical conundrum with matters of the heart, Viola bears all the signature traits of a Piñeiro film: serpentine camera movements and slippages of language, an elliptical narrative and a playful confusion of reality and artifice. Viola is a Cinema Guild release.
In an admission only slightly less surprising than Taylor Swift saying she likes to date a lot, Kelly Ripa has revealed to Elle that she often undergoes plastic surgery. “Every seven months or so my eyelid skin rests on my eyelashes,” the talk show host tells the publication of Botox. “So I feel like it makes my makeup artist’s life easier, and it makes my eyes look a little more open on TV, which is where I happen to work right now.” Ripa adds that she’s often “dying to be cool,” despite feeling “really dorky” on a daily basis. But husband Mark Consuelos is always around to make her feel better about love and life. “I was drawn to Mark because he was positively an alpha male, and I didn’t think I would be drawn to that. But I just worship him. He makes me feel very safe.” The couple eloped in Las Vegas on May 1, 1996 and are parents to Michael, 15, Lola, 11, and Joaquin, 9.
It’s sad but true: the Khloe Kardashian pregnant rumors have been replaced by Lamar Odom infidelity chatter. With tabloids recently screaming that Odom betrayed Khloe and that she’s hoping to save her marriage via a baby , Life & Style now reports the relationship has hit a breaking point: Odom has been kicked out of the couple’s $4 million mansion. “He’s been withdrawn and staying out with his friends even more than usual lately, and she confronted him about cheating,” a friend tells the tabloid. “He denied it – but she’s not sure he’s being honest.” The magazine says Odom was forced to reside at the Luxe hotel in Los Angeles for a few days earlier this month, and that Kardashian has ordered him to remain away until he can act like a “proper husband.” Witnesses at the Luxe say Odom looked “down and tired” during his stay there – but others say he was partying left and right, doing shots in Santa Monica on the morning of January 10 and ordering bottles of champagne for a teammate’s birthday later that night. It’s unclear what the future holds for Khloe and Lamar at this point, but one thing remains certain: Tabloids will be there every step of the way to make up stories about it.
You can tell that MGM is super happy about its recent surprise resurrection (thanks in no small part to the global success of Skyfall and The Hobbit ), because they’re planning to celebrate by remaking one of the most successful biblical epics ever produced, the swords and sandals epic Ben-Hur . The symbolism could not be more perfect. Not only does Ben-Hur heavily feature noted coming-back-from-the-dead practitioner Jesus Christ as a supporting character, but the last theatrical adaptation, the lavish 1959 version starring Charleton Heston as Ben-Hur, netted MGM a record 11 Academy Awards in 1960 (the studio also produced a silent version in 1925 that is also awesome). MGM clearly hopes that magic will strike twice, as they well should because a story of this scope and scale won’t come cheaply. Originally an 1880 novel by former Civil War Union general Lew Wallace, Ben-Hur (originally titled: Ben-Hur: A tale of The Christ ) follows the life of Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish prince who grows up in the shadow of Roman domination of Judea. After being betrayed by his childhood best friend, the Roman patrician Messala, Ben-Hur is sold into slavery. From here, he manages to be freed after he saves the life of a Roman consul during a battle with pirates, and is adopted into the consul’s family, and distinguishes himself as an expert chariot racer, until he leaves Rome and returns to Judea to track down Messala and exact revenge for his betrayal. Throughout the novel, Jesus makes several appearances until, at the end, Ben-Hur witnesses the crucifixion and becomes an early Christian convert. So yeah, a lot happens, and it happens amid some of the most spectacular excesses in ancient Rome. To get it right, MGM has turned to a script by Keith Clarke, noted for scripting the 2010 Colin Farrell film The Way Back , as well as several documentaries. His take apparently places greater emphasis on the childhood of Ben-Hur and Messala, but it also preserves the books religious themes. And believe me, if you haven’t read the book or seen any of the filmic adaptations, it HEAVILY evangelizes for Christianity on a level that many will feel is aggressive and discomforting by today’s standards. Incidentally, I am an atheist, and thus I’m immune to all the stuff at the end in which miracles start happening. So I’m happy to report that the 1959 version of Ben-Hur is one of my favorite films of all time, a truly staggering epic featuring some of the greatest scenes ever filmed (watch the famous chariot racing scene and marvel at the fact that they couldn’t do that using special effects during the 1950s.) Best of all, Charlton Heston is the Aristotelean perfection of movie hamminess. I’d love to see a new version of Ben-Hur , and as far as I’m concerned, if they’re going to do it, they need to do it right and leave all the Jesus stuff in. Removing the religion would be like taking the Force out of Star Wars . Of course, it’s going to require a deft touch not to end up freaking a big section of the potential audience out. Here’s hoping Clarke has what it takes. [Source: Deadline .] Ross Lincoln is a LA-based freelance writer from Oklahoma with an unhealthy obsession with comics, movies, video games, ancient history, Gore Vidal, and wine. Follow Ross Lincoln on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter .
The Berlin International Film Festival continues to roll-out its program for its February event, adding new titles to its Panorama and other sections. Many of the titles will debut as world and international premieres, with some titles headed to the festival post-Sundance. New work from the U.S. include Travis Mathews and James Franco ‘s Interior. Leather Bar , Stacie Passon’s Concussion , Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color as well as new work from Ken Loach and Jane Campion. Michael Winterbottom’s The Look of Love and Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables are among the Galas added in addition to titles in the festival’s Panorama and Berlinale Special screenings. The Berlin International Film Festival’s added titles: Panorama fictional films: Boven is het stil ( It’s All So Quiet ) – Netherlands/Germany, By Nanouk Leopold with Jeroen Willems, Henri Garcin, Wim Opbrouck, Martijn Lakemeier World Premiere Concussion – USA By Stacie Passon with Robin Weigert, Maggie Siff, Emily Kinney, Daniel London, Ben Shenkman, International Premiere Flores Raras ( Reaching for the Moon AKA: The Art of Loosing ) – Brazil By Bruno Barreto, with Miranda Otto, Gloria Pires, Tracy Middendorf, World Premiere Hayatboyu ( Lifelong ) – Germany By Asli Ozge with Defne Halman, Hakan Çimenser World Premiere Interior. Leather Bar. – USA By Travis Mathews, James Franco with Val Lauren, Christian Patrick, James Franco, International Premiere Kai PO Che – India By Abhishek Kapoor with Sushant Singh Rajput, Raj Kumar, Amit Sadh, Amrita Puri, World Premiere Burn it up Djassa – Ivory Coast/France By Lonesome Solo with Abdoul Karim Konaté, Adelaïde Ouattara, Mamadou Diomandé, Souleymane Bamba, European Premiere Lose Your Head – Germany By Stefan Westerwelle, Patrick Schuckmann with Fernando Tielve, Marko Mandić, Sesede Terziyan, Stavros Yagulis, Samia Chancrin, World Premiere Maladies – USA By Carter with James Franco, Catherine Keener, David Strathairn, Fallon Goodson, Vince Jolivette, World Premiere Mes séances de lutte – France By Jacques Doillon with Sara Forestier, James Thiérrée World Premiere Soğuk ( Cold ) – Turkey By Uğur Yücel with Cenk Alibeyoğlu, A. Rıfat Şungar, Valeria Skorohodova, Yulia Vaniukova, Yulia Erenler, Şebnem Bozoklu, Ezgi Mola, World Premiere Something in the Way – Indonesia By Teddy Soeriaatmadja with Reza Rahadian, Ratu Felisha, Verdi Solaiman, World Premiere Upstream Color – USA By Shane Carruth with Amy Seimetz, Shane Carruth, Andrew Sensenig, Thiago Martins, Kathy Carruth International Premiere Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? – Taiwan By Arvin Chen with Richie Jen, Mavis Fan, Stone, Kimi Hsia, Lawrence Ko, World Premiere Workers – Mexico/Germany By José Luis Valle González with Susana Salazar, Jesús Padilla, World Premiere Youth – Israel/Germany By Tom Shoval with Eitan Cunio, David Cunio, Moshe Ivgy, Gita Amely, Shirili Deshe, World Premiere Berlinale Special Galas at the Friedrichstadt-Palast The Best Offer Italy By Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso, Malèna, Baarìa) With Geoffrey Rush, Jim Sturgess, Sylvia Hoeks, Donald Sutherland International Premiere The Look of Love , Great Britain By Michael Winterbottom (In This World, The Road to Guantanamo, 24 Hour Party People) With Steve Coogan, Anna Friel, Imogen Poots, Tamsin Egerton European Premiere Les Misérables Great Britain By Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) With Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit, Samantha Barks, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen German Premiere Tokyo Kazoku ( Tokyo Family ) Japan By Yoji Yamada (About Her Brother, KABEI – Our Mother, The Twilight Samurai) With Isao Hashizume, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Yu Aoi, Yui Natsukawa, Masahiko Nishimura, Tomoko Nakajima, Shozo Hayashiya International Premiere Panorama special screening – Heiner Carow Prize Die Legende von Paul und Paula ( The Legend of Paul and Paula ) – Germany, By Heiner Carow Panorama short supporting films: After Hours – Germany, By Steffen Köhn, World Premiere Jury – Republic of Korea, By Kim Dongho with Ahn Sung-ki, Kang Soo-yeon, Jung In-ki, Tony Rayns, International Premiere Two Girls Against the Rain – Cambodia, By Sao Sopheak, European Premiere Fictional films previously announced: Baek Ya ( White Night ) by Hee-il LeeSong, Republic of Korea – European Premiere Behind the Camera by E J-Yong, Republic of Korea – International Premiere Chemi sabnis naketsi ( A Fold in my Blanket ) by Zaza Rusadze, Georgia – World Premiere Deshora ( Belated ) by Barbara Sarasola-Day, Argentina/Columbia/Norway -World Premiere Don Jon’s Addiction by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, USA -International Premiere Frances Ha by Noah Baumbach, USA – European Premiere Habi, la extranjera ( Habi, the Foreigner ) by María Florencia Alvarez, Argentina/Brazil – World Premiere Inch’Allah by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, Canada – International Premiere Kashi-ggot ( Fatal ) by Don-ku Lee, Republic of Korea – European Premiere La Piscina ( The Swimming Pool ) by Carlos Machado Quintela, Cuba/Venezuela – International Premiere Lovelace by Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman, USA – International Premiere Meine Schwestern ( My Sisters ) by Lars Kraume, Germany – World Premiere Rock the Casbah by Yariv Horowitz, Israel – International Premiere Tanta Agua ( So Much Water ) by Ana Guevara Pose, Leticia Jorge Romero, Uruguay/Mexico/Netherlands/Germany – World Premiere The Broken Circle Breakdown by Felix van Groeningen, Belgium – International Premiere Berlinale Special at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele Assistance Mortelle ( Fatal Assistance ) – documentary France/Haiti/USA/Belgium By Raoul Peck (Moloch Tropical), World Premiere Gold – Du kannst mehr als Du denkst ( Gold – You Can Do More Than You Think ) – documentary Germany, by Michael Hammon, World Premiere Mein Weg nach Olympia ( My Way to Olympia ) – documentary , Germany, by Niko von Glasow, World Premiere Top of the Lake Australia/New Zealand By Jane Campion (An Angel at My Table, The Piano, Bright Star), Garth Davis (Alice) TV series with Elisabeth Moss, David Wenham, Peter Mullan, Holly Hunter, European Premiere The Spirit of ’45 – documentary, Great Britain, by Ken Loach (The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Looking for Eric, The Angels’ Share) World Premiere Unter Menschen ( Redemption Impossible ) – documentary Germany, by Christian Rost, Claus Strigel, World Premiere Berlinale Special at the Bundesplatz-Kino: Berlin Ecke Bundesplatz – Bäckerei im Kiez Germany , by Hans-Georg Ullrich, Detlef Gumm, World Premiere Berlin Ecke Bundesplatz – Feine Leute Germany , by Hans-Georg Ullrich, Detlef Gumm, World Premiere Berlin Ecke Bundesplatz – Schornsteinfegerglück Germany , by Hans-Georg Ullrich, Detlef Gumm, World Premiere Berlin Ecke Bundesplatz – Vater Mutter Kind Germany , by Hans-Georg Ullrich, Detlef Gumm, World Premiere
Twenty years after its production abruptly halted, the North American premiere of director George Sluizer’s Dark Blood starring River Phoenix, Jonathan Pryce and Judy Davis will screen at the 30th edition of the Miami International Film Festival. Dark Blood was 80% finished when Phoenix died of an overdose in Hollywood in 1993. Footage from the film sat in a vault for years until 1999 when Sluizer learned that the uncompleted film was going to be burned. With less than 48 hours notice, he obtained the footage, according to festival organizers, and had it moved to The Netherlands where it remained for over ten years. Sluizer then set out to complete the film last year and had its world premiere at the 2012 Dutch Film Festival ” Dark Blood is a film of legend, one of Hollywood’s great mysteries,” said MIFF Executive Director Jaie Laplante in a statement. “The tragic loss of River Phoenix’s outstanding talent is still profoundly felt 20 years later. We are proud that George Sluizer has honored Miami as the place to finally share his remarkable collaboration with Phoenix and the other great artists involved with Dark Blood .” The complete lineup of the 30th Miami International Film Festival will be unveiled later this month. The description of Dark Blood provided by the Miami International Film Festival: Jet-set Hollywood couple Harry (Jonathan Pryce) and Buffy (Judy Davis) travel through the desert on a second honeymoon, trying to save their marriage. Their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere leaving them to find shelter in Boy’s (River Phoenix) beaten down shack, unaware they will become his prisoners. Boy’s wife died of leukemia after nuclear tests occurred in the desert leaving him alone and far away from society. Buffy is seduced by Boy’s honesty and vulnerabilities, while Harry represents everything Boy hates about the civilized world and its culture. Buffy decides to sleep with Boy to buy the couple’s freedom, but these circumstances will push Harry to the edge, leading to a terrible tragedy. Follow Movieline on Twitter .
The 24th Palm Springs International Film Festival capped off its 12-day event Sunday at a local restaurant naming this year’s winners. The occasion celebrated some of the fest’s 182 films in a setting that contrasts from its glittering awards show that the festival bills as a launching point to Awards Season. That event saw the likes of Ben Affleck , Sally Field , Jessica Chastain , Richard Gere , Naomi Watts , Bradley Cooper , Helen Mirren and more being honored by some of the festival’s well-heeled members. [ Related: ‘Les Misérables”s Tom Hooper Talks Anne Hathaway’s ‘Dark Place’ In Palm Springs ] But film prizes were handed out as the festival closed out its final weekend, with Wayne Blair’s The Sapphires taking the Best Narrative Feature award among Audience winners. Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey by Ramona Diaz won the Audience nod in the Documentary category. The film centers on “the dilemma the rock band Journey faces to replace their lead singer Steve Perry after he quits the band. They eventually find the perfect solution via YouTube: a street kid who fronted a Filipino cover band.” In other wins, Israeli feature Fill the Void won the critic-centered FIPRESCI Prize for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year. In the film, an “18-year-old in Tel Aviv’s Hassidic community must choose between her heart’s desire and familial duty in a drama that make the conventions of the marriage plot feel brand new.” Palm Springs screened 42 of the 71 official Foreign Language submissions for the Academy Awards. The FIPRESCI prize for Best Actor of the Year in a Foreign Language Film went to Cosimo Rega Savatore Striano and Giovanni Acuri from Italian pic Caesar Must Die by Paolo Vittorio. Emilie Dequenne from Our Children (Belgium), directed by Joachim Lafosse, received the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress of the Year in a Foreign Language Film. The Cleaner (Peru) by Adrian Saba won the festival’s New Voices/New Visions award. The film tells the story of a mysterious and deadly epidemic in Lima, Perù, where a depressed and isolated man cleans up after the dying. When he takes in a frightened young boy who has lost his mother, he’s quietly transformed by the experience of caring for another human being. Spain’s Blancaneives by Pablo Berger, which opened the festival January 3rd, received the festival’s Cine Latino Award. The silent movie is an adaptation of Snow White, where the daughter of a famous bullfighter is mistreated by her wicked stepmother. When she runs away and joins a band of dwarfs, her natural bullfighting talent is discovered, but her stepmother plots to bring her down. The complete list of award winners are: Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature The Sapphires (Australia) Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey (USA) FIPRESCI Prize for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year Fill the Void (Israel) FIPRESCI Prize for the Best Actor of the Year in a Foreign Language Film Cosimo Rega , Salvatore Striano and Giovanni Arcuri from Caesar Must Die (Italy) FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress of the Year in a Foreign Language Film Emilie Dequenne from Our Children (Belgium) New Voices/New Visions Award The Cleaner (Peru) – Winner 7 Boxes (Paraguay) – Honorable Mention Cine Latino Award Blancanieves (Spain) – Winner Sadourni’s Butterflies (Argentina) – Honorable Mention The John Schlesinger Award Stolen Seas (Somalia/Kenya/UK/Italy) – Winner Far Out Isn’t Fair Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story (USA) – Honorable Mention HP Bridging the Borders Award Jump (Ireland/UK) – Winner When Day Breaks (Serbia/Croatia/France) – Honorable Mention
Jessica Simpson and Eric Johnson, her fiance and the father of her child(ren), are reportedly at odds, and the source of the friction may surprise you: Joe Simpson. It’s not anything that Joe’s done – at least to them – that has the couple arguing, but rather her treatment of the elder Simpson in the last six months. Jessica wants nothing to do with Joe, 54, after his marriage to her mom Tina fell apart and he was rumored to be involved in a series of gay trysts. Is Joe Simpson gay ? That has not been confirmed, but Eric feels that Jessica has treated her dad unfairly in any case, and that has caused a rift. Eric, 33, believes deep down that Joe is a good person, and he thinks he’s being unjustly shunned, resulting in considerable friction with Jessica, 32. “Jessica and Eric were constantly arguing about Joe while in Hawaii,” a source close to the couple, who recently confirmed her second pregnancy, says. “It’s something they can’t see eye-to-eye on, and it really spoiled the trip for a lot of family members who felt uncomfortable in their presence.” “Jessica is still keeping Joe at an arms-length following news of the scandal and she can’t manage to forgive him yet for what she did to Tina.” “She just doesn’t want anything to do with him right now.” Eric however, “really thinks she’s being too hard on Joe. In his eyes he’s a decent man who made a terrible mistake and should be given another chance.” However, “Jessica countered that Eric doesn’t know Joe the way she does, and if Joe continues to be in their life he will destroy what they have.” “In what was supposed to be a relaxing time for the pair of them actually turned out to be more stressful,” the source divulges of the pair’s vacation. It was, by any measure, a tumultuous 2012 for Joe. Jessica’s former manager was implicated in gay sex scandals and split from his wife of 34 years. He has been linked to aspiring model Bryce Chandler Hill and male escort Joey Anderson . Both alleged paramours are considerably younger than he. Joe Simpson: Gay? Yes No How would I know?!? View Poll »
One-time quasi-adversaries Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman sat down for a wide ranging interview on Oprah’s Next Chapter last night. On the docket: Dave’s affair and telling wife Regina Lasko about it; Letterman’s battle with depression and threshold for embarrassment; His thoughts on rival Jay Leno. David Letterman Oprah Interview – on Jay Leno Oprah didn’t shy away from asking tough questions. Ditto Dave answering them, including the sex scandal of 2009 that nearly ended his marriage. After a producer for CBS’s 48 Hours threatened to write a screenplay about the host’s infidelities unless Letterman paid him $2 million, he went to the police. Robert Halderman was arrested, but Letterman’s dirty laundry was aired; he publicly confessed to affairs with Late Show interns in an on-air monologue. David Letterman Oprah Interview – On Affair David Letterman Oprah Interview – Depression “I have no one to blame but myself,” Letterman told Winfrey, adding that he knows he “hurt a lot of people.” But there’s a silver lining to the scandal: “I feel better about myself,” he says. “My relationship with my wife is never better, and it’s just because I want to be the person I always thought I was and probably was pretending I was.” Letterman also delved into his depression, including a six-month “sinkhole” during which he couldn’t shake the urge to stay in bed all day or tolerate sunlight. David Letterman Oprah Interview – Sex Scandal David Letterman Oprah Interview – Hates to Be Embarrassed When Winfrey asked how he managed to work throughout that period of darkness in his life, Letterman answered that he simply “had to push through.” As for his late night adversary, Dave said Jay Leno is talented and insecure – probably more so in both departments than anyone he’s ever met.
