Indie News

“A Fantastic Woman” won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Accepting the award, which was presented by Rita Moreno, director Sebastián Lelio called the Oscar “an amazing gift.” He gave special mention to Daniela Vega, calling her “the inspiration for this movie.”

The story of a young transgender woman who’s forced to contend with her lover’s hostile family after his sudden death, “A Fantastic Woman” is the second Chilean feature ever nominated for Best Foreign Language Film (the other being 2012’s “No”), and the first to win the prize. It was heavily favored to walk away with the Oscar, especially after nabbing the same trophy over a different crop of movies at yesterday’s Indie Spirit Awards.

Earlier in the evening, star Daniela Vega became the first openly transgender person to ever present an award the Oscars. While Vega was often discussed as being a possible Best

Robin Campillo’s “BPM (Beats Per Minute),” a bold group portrait of Parisian AIDS activists at Act Up in the early 1990s, scooped six Cesar Awards, including best film, original script, male newcomer, supporting actor and music at tonight’s ceremony which took place at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. The awards are France’s highest film honors.

Campillo made the most political speech of the evening. The director said many of the social issues people fought for 25 years ago are still current today. Campillo spoke about an pending law which will put refugees in greater danger. “As it was the case 25 years ago, silence is death,” Campillo concluded.

Produced by Marie-Ange Luciani and Hugues Charbonneau, “BPM” world-premiered at the Cannes Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize. It was later chosen to represent France in the foreign-language Oscar race but surprisingly failed to get shortlisted.

Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Loveless,

Film producer David Bergstein has been convicted in federal court in New York of seven counts related to defrauding investors of more than $26 million. He will be sentenced June 8 by Us District Judge P. Kevin Castel, who presided over the four-week trial. Some of the seven counts of the conviction carry maximum sentences of 20 years in prison and fines of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. Bergstein, who lives in Hidden Hills, California, was…

Yes, the 33rd Film Independent Spirit Awards will be a political show. In these times, how can it not be? After all, being the awards show that rewards independent film doesn’t give the Spirit Awards a pass when it comes to the toxic culture now being scrutinized in Hollywood. Harvey Weinstein’s companies released multiple Spirit Award winners, from “Sex, Lies and Videotape” in 1989 to “Silver Linings Playbook” in 2013. The recently accused James Franco is a nominee this year for “The Disaster Artist.” And if the outspoken likes of Salma Hayek and Frances McDormand get to the stage, it’s...

The “Moonlight” cast and crew never truly got to enjoy their Best Picture-winning moment thanks to Envelopegate, but they don’t want a do-over at Sunday’s Oscar ceremony. In an interview with Deadline, host Jimmy Kimmel revealed that Oscar producers Jennifer Todd and Michael De Luca had extended an invite to the “Moonlight” team to make things right (or as right as it could get) after “La La Land” was mistakenly announced as the winner last year.

“We offered them a moment,” Kimmel said. “And they said, it’s okay. We’re fine. We gave our speech when we won the Oscar and we’re okay leaving it at that.”

Kimmel didn’t specify who was invited, but presumably they were producers Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, and likely writer-director Barry Jenkins. A shell-shocked Jenkins and Romanski spoke last year after “La La Land” producer Jordan Horowitz

Hollywood publicists have named Universal’s “Get Out” and Netflix’s second season of “Stranger Things” as the top publicity campaigns of 2017.

“Get Out” won the Maxwell Weinberg Publicist Showmanship Motion Picture Award over Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” TriStar Pictures’ “Baby Driver,” Paramount’s “Daddy’s Home 2,” Fox’s “The Greatest Showman,” and Warner Bros.’ “Wonder Woman.”

The awards were presented Friday by the International Cinematographers Guild at the 55th annual Publicists Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Megan Bendis, Universal’s exec VP of domestic publicity, and Mark Markline, Universal’s senior VP of international publicity, accepted the award and noted that the studio actually ran two campaigns — one for the theatrical release a year ago, which stunned Hollywood with more than $250 million in worldwide box office; and an awards-season campaign, culminating in four Academy Award nominations.

“It’s not often that you get a chance to

James Ivory earned his first Academy Award nomination in the Best Director category in 1985 for “A Room With A View” at the age of 57. 32 years and three subsequent nominations later he finally held an Oscar in his hands for adapting André Aciman’s novel “Call Me By Your Name” in the Adapted Screenplay category. It was sweet justice for Ivory who was expected to direct “Call Me” until producers realized the only way they could get financing was if Luca Guadagnino helmed instead.

[Editor’s Note: Spoilers for “The Walking Dead” Season 8 Episode 10, ‘The Lost and the Plunderers,’ follow.]

Whose Episode Is It?

It’s time for “The Walking Dead” to roll out one of its periodic attempts to try and spice up a straight-forward narrative, so “The Lost and the Plunderers” focuses on one character at a time, with each character getting a title card to go with their segment. This allows the episode to futz a bit with chronology, but it’s mostly just window dressing on a pretty basic episode. The big news is that the all the Dumpsters save Jadis are killed, and Rick still isn’t prepared to take Carl’s pleas for peace to heart.

Man Is The True Monster

Simon is champing at the bit to wreak terrible vengeance on Rick’s army, but Negan refuses to give up on subjugating them, even after receiving Maggie’s message about her Savior hostages.

In just a few weeks, the Conners will be back on TV. And they’ve brought some familiar friends back with them.

Fans got their biggest taste yet of the new “Roseanne” return on ABC, complete with stars Roseanne Barr and John Goodman as the heads of the Conner family. Even if the world may have changed in the two decades since the series was last on the air, the new version of the show finds Roseanne and Dan back in the familiar atmosphere of the living room that made the show a household favorite for the better part of nine seasons.

(If you’re wondering how exactly Dan made it back from dying at the end of the show’s original run in 1997, the cast’s first reunion table read has some answers for you.)

In addition to Barr and Goodman, the show also brings back Laurie Metcalf, nominated

Tiffany Haddish always leaves an impression on the red carpet, and that was certainly true at the Oscars this year. Haddish spotted Meryl Streep walking the red carpet and literally stopped what she was doing, jumped the velvet rope, and introduced herself to the acting legend. Streep is attending the Oscars as a best actress nominee for “The Post.” Haddish is presenting this year.

The videos of Haddish and Streep meeting on the red carpet didn’t pick up any of the audio, but the “Girls Trip” breakout later told Michael Strahan during an ABC interview that her goal for the night was to track down Streep to pitch her a role in “Girls Trip 2.” The thought of Streep in a “Girls Trip” sequel is enticing, although Universal has yet to confirm a next installment is happening.

Streep recently joined the cast of “Big Little Lies” Season 2. Watch the moment between the duo below.

Pixar was back in the Academy spotlight Sunday night, with their most recent film “Coco” winning the 2018 Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

Prior to Sunday night’s Academy Awards, Pixar films had made up half of all winners in the category, which dates back to 2001. Throw in the wins for “Frozen,” “Zootopia,” and “Big Hero 6” and the award hasn’t gone to a Disney-affiliated production since Gore Verbinski’s “Rango” in 2011.

Accepting the second Oscar of his career, co-director Lee Unkrich said, “The biggest thank you of all to the people of Mexico. ‘Coco’ would not exist without your endlessly beautiful culture and traditions. With ‘Coco,’ we tried to take a step forward toward a world where all children can grow up seeing characters in movies that look and talk and live like they do. Marginalized people deserve to feel like they belong. Representation matters.”

Read More: ‘Coco

The Laker love is strong within the Academy. On Sunday night Kobe Bryant, a five-time NBA champion, two-time NBA Finals Mvp, League Mvp and two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, among other accolades, became the first professional basketball player to win an Academy Award after “Dear Basketball” took the Animated Short Oscar. This was Bryant’s first official film project since retiring from the Lakers in 2016.

Kobe Bryant, Meryl Streep and Saoirse Ronan pop in Oscars 2018 class photo

Bryant was nominated alongside legendary animator Glen Keane whose hand-drawn animation brought a letter the basketball icon penned for The Player’s Tribune to life.

Rounding out her Awards Season on a high the likes of a perfect Triple Axel, Allison Janney has won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance of Lavona Harding in “I, Tonya.” Janney is a first-time nominee and helms a career with over 100 credits. A large presence in film and television, she has been nominated for over ten Emmy Awards, and won seven. Janney is an alum of critically acclaimed shows and films such as “The Help,” “The West Wing,” and “Juno,” to name a few.

Lavona Fay Golden is at long last getting the recognition and gratitude she deserves. Allison Janney, who portrayed the abusive sacrificing and demanding mother of Tonya Harding in “I, Tonya,” took home the golden statuette for Best Supporting Actress at the 90th Academy Awards on Sunday night. It was her first nomination and first win.

Janney’s turn as the tough-talking and colorful matriarch has been garnering awards buzz from the start, which in turn has been realized through awards from the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs, the Critics’ Choice, and the Screen Actors Guild, among others. It’s a testament to Lavona’s theory about parenting that “nice gets you shit.”

Read More:Oscars 2018 Red Carpet Photos

In contrast, Janney’s biggest competition was another mother, played by Laurie Metcalf in “Lady Bird.” As the mother of Saoirse Ronan’s Christine, aka Lady Bird, Metcalf is tireless and self-sacrificing, if a

After picking up his first Oscar for his turn in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Best Supporting Actor winner Sam Rockwell memorably ended his acceptance speech with a shout-out to departed fellow Oscar winner, Philip Seymour Hoffman. “This is for my old buddy, Phil Hoffman,” Rockwell said. “For my old buddy, Phil Hoffman!”

When the newly minted Oscar winner hit the backstage interview room, he was asked to expand upon his remarks. Clearly pleased that his dedication to Hoffman was heard — he worried that the music was already playing — the actor offered a heartfelt answer.

“I guess you want to start making me cry, but yeah, he was an old friend of mine, and he directed me in a play at the Public Theater,” Rockwell said. “He was very close to me. He was an inspiration to all of my peers, people like Jeffrey Wright, Billy Crudup, Liev Schreiber, everybody.

The 2018 Academy Awards are taking place on March 4 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The 90th annual ceremony will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and “The Shape of Water” is the frontrunner headed into the ceremony with 13 nominations.

The full list of nominees is below, and the list will be updated live during the show.

Supporting Actor:

Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Willem Dafoe, “The Florida Project”

Woody Harrelson, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Richard Jenkins, “The Shape of Water”

Christopher Plummer, “All the Money in the World”

Makeup and Hair:

“Darkest Hour,” Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski, Lucy Sibbick

“Victoria and Abdul,” Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard

“Wonder,” Arjen Tuiten

Costume Design:

“Phantom Thread,” Mark Bridges

“Beauty and the Beast,” Jacqueline Durran

“Darkest Hour,” Jacqueline Durran

“The Shape of Water,” Luis Sequeira

“Victoria and Abdul,” Consolata Boyle

Best Documentary Feature:

“Icarus,” Bryan Fogel, Dan Cogan

“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail,

“Icarus” took home top honors at the 2018 Academy Awards, winning the trophy for Best Documentary Feature. Director Bryan Fogel accepted the award, along with producer Dan Cogan. This marks the first Oscar win and nomination for Fogel, previously best known as a playwright for the comedy “Jewtopia.” It is also the first win for Cogan, who previously served as executive producer for David France’s Oscar-nominated AIDS documentary “How to Survive a Plague.”

“We dedicate this award to Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, our fearless whistleblower who now lives in grave danger,” Fogel said, accepting the award. “We hope ‘Icarus’ is a wake-up call — yes, about Russia — but more than that, about the importance of telling the truth.”

“Icarus” beat out fellow nominees “Faces Places” (Agnès Varda and Jr), “Last Men in Aleppo” (Feras Fayyad), “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail” (Steve James), and “Strong Island” (Yance Ford). The film follows Fogel as

Jimmy Kimmel opened the 90th Oscars on Sunday by addressing last year’s envelope snafu. “This year when you hear your name called, don’t get up right away,” he warned the crowd. “Give us a minute!” (Scroll down to watch the full opening monologue.)

Kimmel called what happened last year, when “La La Land” was accidentally announced as the Best Picture — before it was revealed that “Moonlight” was actually the winner — “unfortunate.” He then quipped that he had the real reason it all went down that way: “Here’s what happened, and this is true: Last year, about a week before the show, the producers asked me if I wanted to do some comedy with the accountants. I said no. So the accountants went ahead and did comedy on their own. And I have to hand it to them, it was hilarious.

“It won’t happen again. This year the chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers said,

Disney has been bringing back everyone’s old favorites lately, with great success, and it seems like the studio’s only mode of business is “Star Wars,” Marvel, and reboots/remakes. The latest in this trend of making what’s old new again is “Mary Poppins Returns.” The highly anticipated sequel/reboot of the classic film is scheduled to be released next year, and the first trailer has arrived.

Making a sequel to “Mary Poppins” doesn’t exactly seem like the smartest idea in paper, but the first trailer for “Mary Poppins Returns” has arrived to assure everyone that Emily Blunt and company will have no problem restoring that old school Disney magic. Rob Marshall is behind the camera for the sequel after directing the company’s “Into the Woods” to three Oscar nominations. With a Christmas release date already set, Disney has high hopes for this one.

Disney’s official synopsis reads: “In Depression-era London, a now-grown Jane and Michael Banks, along with Michael’s three children, are visited by the enigmatic Mary Poppins following a personal loss. Through her unique magical skills, and with the aid of her friend Jack, she helps the family rediscover the joy and wonder missing in their lives.”

The film co-stars Lin-Manuel Miranda, Meryl Streep, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Angela Lansbury, Julie Walters and Colin Firth.