Category Archives: Film

Christopher Nolan wins his first ever Oscar for directing Oppenheimer

Posted on by

Nolan wins prize at the Academy Awards after losing out in 2018 when he was nominated for Dunkirk

Christopher Nolan has won the best director Oscar for Oppenheimer at the Academy Awards, currently taking place in Los Angeles.

This is the first time Nolan has won the award, having previously been nominated for Dunkirk in 2018. He was considered the strong favourite for the statuette, having won a series of best director awards in the run-up to the Oscars, including a Golden Globe, Bafta, Critics Choice award and Directors Guild of America prize. At the Oscars, Nolan saw off a strong field, which included Martin Scorsese (for Killers of the Flower Moon), Justine Triet (for Anatomy of a Fall) and Yorgos Lanthimos (for Poor Things).

Continue reading...

Matthew Perry, Richard Lewis, Glenda Jackson and Alexei Navalny remembered at Oscars

Posted on by

Annual sequence devoted to recently deceased figures in the film industry also recognised Tom Wilkinson and William Friedkin

Prominent figures from the Hollywood and global film industry were honoured in the Oscars’ traditional in memoriam segment at the 96th Academy Awards, currently taking place in Los Angeles.

The names and brief clips were soundtracked by Andrea and Matteo Bocelli singing It’s Time to Say Goodbye, and preceded by a short clip of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, who died last month.

Continue reading...

The Boy and the Heron, Hayao Miyazaki’s last film, wins Oscar for best animation

Posted on by

Master Japanese director wins his second Oscar for story of a young boy searching for his mother during the second world war

The Boy and the Heron, supposedly the final film from Japanese master director Hayao Miyazaki, has won the Oscar for best animated feature film at the 96th Academy Awards in Los Angeles.

Inspired by Genzaburō Yoshino’s 1937 novel How Do You Live?, The Boy and the Heron is the loosely autobiographical story of a young boy during the second world war, searching for his mother in a mysterious fantasy world; on its UK release it was described as “a mysterious and charming fantasy that circles back to Miyazaki’s classic themes of childhood pain and grief” by the Guardian’s chief film critic Peter Bradshaw.

Continue reading...

The downwinders: New Mexicans sickened by atomic bomb testing fight for compensation

Posted on by

New film First We Bombed New Mexico sheds light on effects of Oppenheimer’s nuclear project and locals’ battle for justice

Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández watched Oppenheimer – a top contender at Sunday’s Academy Awards and Christopher Nolan’s treatment on the physicist who guided testing of the first atomic bomb at Los Alamos, New Mexico – months ago.

And soon after the scene where Cillian Murphy, as J Robert Oppenheimer, peered through safety goggles in a fortified shed at the huge mushroom cloud, the New Mexico Democrat realized “the untold story” lay on the cutting room floor.

Continue reading...

‘We don’t need another bar’: St Andrews film fans take on Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake

Posted on by

Celebrity plan to turn a much-loved retro cinema into a sports bar faces stiff opposition from thousands of angry movie goers

In central St Andrews, the New Picture House (NPH) independent cinema, with its 1930s facade and distinctive pointed roof towering above nearby restaurants and houses, has stood relatively unchanged for the past 94 years.

Open every day of the week and boasting three screens, the category B listed building has showed blockbusters and independent films, as well as plays, community events and festivals, for the best part of a century.

Continue reading...

Tokyo offers toilet tours amid flush of excitement over Wim Wenders’s Oscar hopeful

Posted on by

Shibuya district is offering tours of its architect-designed public facilities that feature in Perfect Days

Japan’s hi-tech toilets have long fascinated visitors who rave about their heated seats, bidet function, automatic flushing, and even background noises to mask the unwelcome sounds that can accompany the call of nature.

Now, international interest in the country’s public conveniences is surging thanks to the German director Wim Wenders, whose film Perfect Days – the story of Hirayama (Kōji Yakusho), a Tokyo toilet cleaner – is in the reckoning for best international feature at Sunday’s Academy Awards.

Continue reading...

Head of France’s cinema body to face trial over alleged sexual assault of his godson

Posted on by

Activists call for Dominique Boutonnat to step down saying allegations undermine his ability to lead change

Dominique Boutonnat, the head of France’s top cinema institution, is to be tried in June on charges of sexually assaulting his godson, prosecutors have said.

The announcement came as French cinema reels from a renewed #MeToo reckoning in which several big names, including the actor Gérard Depardieu, have been accused of sexual abuse.

Continue reading...

Roman Polanski tried in France for alleged defamation of British actor

Posted on by

Film-maker held to account for dismissing claim of 1983 sexual assault against Charlotte Lewis as ‘heinous lie’

The film director Roman Polanski has gone on trial for libel in Paris after accusing a British actor who claimed he abused her of “a heinous lie”.

Charlotte Lewis, who was in court in Tuesday at the opening of the hearing, said she had been the victim of a “smear campaign” after she accused the film-maker of sexually abusing her as a teenager.

Continue reading...

Paolo Taviani, acclaimed director of classic Italian films, dies aged 92

Posted on by

The film-maker, who won the Palme d’Or for 1977’s Padre Padrone, was a towering presence for more than three decades, creating politically engaged works with his brother Vittorio

The Italian film-maker Paolo Taviani, whose gritty biopic Padre Padrone won top prize at the Cannes film festival, has died aged 92, Rome’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, said on Thursday.

For more than three decades Taviani and his brother Vittorio formed one of cinema’s greatest directorial duos. “Paolo Taviani, a great maestro of Italian cinema, leaves us,” Gualtieri said on X. The brothers “directed unforgettable, profound, committed films which entered into the collective imagination and the history of cinema”, Gualtieri added.

Continue reading...

Judith Godrèche calls out French film industry’s sexual violence before parliament

Posted on by

Actor’s landmark address comes amid claims arts sector has shrugged off sexual abuse for decades

The actor Judith Godrèche has denounced France’s “incestuous” film industry and called for the establishment of a commission of inquiry into sexual violence in the sector as she spoke in front of senators in the upper house of parliament.

The landmark hearing – the first time an artist has spoken to the senate about sexual and gender-based violence in the French film industry – comes amid claims that the world of arts has shrugged off sexism and sexual abuse for decades.

Continue reading...

Cate Blanchett accused of ‘destroying family holidays’ with Cornwall home

Posted on by

Neighbours complaining of building noise from property in Mawgan Porth, reports say

It is the latest sequel in the long-running saga over the luxury ecohome Cate Blanchett is building in a picturesque seaside town in Cornwall once dubbed “Hollywood-on-Sea”.

Neighbours have accused the actor of destroying family holidays with the building noise from the property in Mawgan Porth, it has been reported.

Continue reading...

Expert testimony from Rust hearing casts doubt on Alec Baldwin’s account

Posted on by

Firearms expert says he sees no evidence gun was broken, despite actor’s claim it went off without his pulling the trigger

Courtroom testimony by an independent gun expert on Tuesday cast new doubt on Alec Baldwin’s account that his gun went off without his pulling the trigger in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer during a 2021 rehearsal on the set of the western movie Rust.

Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter, with a trial scheduled for July in the death of Halyna Hutchins during a movie rehearsal on the outskirts of Santa Fe.

Continue reading...

Alec Baldwin’s trial on involuntary manslaughter charge to begin in July

Posted on by

Jury selection for the case, stemming from the shooting on the Rust movie set, will start on 9 July and the trial the next day

A New Mexico judge has set a trial date for Alec Baldwin on an involuntary manslaughter charge stemming from the 2021 deadly shooting on the set of the Western movie Rust.

The scheduling order entered Monday calls for jury selection to begin 9 July, with the trial starting the following day with opening statements by special prosecutors and Baldwin’s defense attorneys. The proceedings are expected to last eight days.

Continue reading...

Stately house used in Saltburn plagued by trespassers and influencers, owner says

Posted on by

Charles Stopford Sackville says he was unprepared for the intense interest in his home after the 700-year-old Drayton House was used in the film

The owner of the stately home used in the film Saltburn has revealed he has had to ask staff to patrol the grounds to stop trespassers trying to take photos and videos of themselves on the grounds.

Charles Stopford Sackville, the current owner of the 700-year-old Drayton House in Northamptonshire, told the Mail on Sunday he was unprepared for the intense attention Emerald Fennell’s film would bring with it.

Continue reading...

Screen Actors Guild awards 2024: Oppenheimer dominates with big wins

Posted on by

Christopher Nolan’s historical epic picked up three major acting awards while The Bear and Succession shared the big TV wins

Christopher Nolan’s hit biopic Oppenheimer has dominated this year’s Screen Actors Guild awards.

The cast of the biographical epic won for best ensemble, ahead of Barbie and Killers of the Flower Moon. Cillian Murphy picked up male actor in a leading role, which was also contested by Paul Giamatti and Jeffrey Wright. “This is extremely, extremely special to me because it comes from you guys,” he told the audience at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium.

Continue reading...

Actor Judith Godrèche urges French film industry to face up to sexual abuse

Posted on by

Star tells audience at prestigious César awards that they need to challenge powerful and abusive men whatever the career risk

Judith Godrèche has urged the French film industry to break its omertà on sexual abuse in an unprecedented address to the country’s most prestigious awards ceremony on Friday evening.

Godrèche, who says she was groomed and raped as a teenager by an acclaimed director, received a standing ovation as she took the stage at the Césars – the French equivalent of the Oscars.

Continue reading...

Study shows ‘catastrophic’ 10-year low for female representation in film

Posted on by

Despite Barbie’s success, study shows that out of 2023’s top 100 films, only 30 were led or co-led by women, down from 44 in 2022

A new study has shown that the number of female leads in Hollywood movies is at a 10-year low.

Despite the $1.4bn success of Barbie, last year’s top 100 films saw just 30 feature a female lead or co-lead, the worst result since 2014 according to a new study by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative.

Continue reading...

Judith Godrèche to address French cinema’s ‘omertà’ around #MeToo

Posted on by

Actor, who has accused two directors of raping her as a teenager, to address France’s most prestigious film awards ceremony

Judith Godrèche, an actor who has accused two high-profile directors of raping her as a teenager, will address France’s most prestigious film awards ceremony on Friday in an unusual move aimed at breaking what she calls the “omertà” surrounding the abuse of women and girls in the industry.

Godrèche, whose autobiographical hit TV show about the grooming of a 14-year-old girl has sparked a national debate, will take to the stage at the César awards, the French equivalent of the Oscars, which is broadcast live on television.

Continue reading...

Marvel announces Fantastic Four cast including Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby

Posted on by

The two actors will be joined by The Bear’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Stranger Things breakout Joseph Quinn

Marvel has announced the cast for its much-anticipated reboot of Fantastic Four: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn.

The film, about a quartet of superheroes with different powers, has been dated for 25 July 2025.

Continue reading...

Scrap trigger warnings for theatre audiences, says Ralph Fiennes

Posted on by

Audiences should be ‘shocked and disturbed’ by the impact of theatre, says Schindler’s List and Harry Potter actor

Trigger warnings for theatre audiences should be scrapped because people should be “shocked and disturbed” by what they see, the actor Ralph Fiennes has said.

The warnings are issued before the beginning of a performance to alert audiences to upsetting or distressing content and have become increasingly commonplace in theatres.

Continue reading...