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Omar

Nominated for a Best Foreign Film award
Waleed Zuaiter, Adam Bakri and Leem Lubani
Directed by Hany Abu-Assad

Hany Abu-Assad’s (pictured below) “Omar” is nominated for an Academy Award, as was the Palestinian director’s film “Paradise Now,” also about life in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The film again brings sharply into focus the indignities large and small suffered by Palestinians on a daily basis. With the intensity of youth, baker Omar and his friends learn to bear the unbearable but also find ... more >

HELLO, DOLBY! Academy Awards venue gets new name

What's in a name? Everything and a lot of green.

Dolby, a company founded in the U.K. and headquartered in California, announced on Tuesday that it had signed an agreement with the CIM Group, owner of the Hollywood & Highland Center (yes, the one where the Oscars are held), bestowing its name unto the theater for the next twenty years. From now on, the home of the Oscars will be called the Dolby Theatre. "Dolby has a long history of working ... more >

2012 Oscars – BOY THOSE FRENCH

The Artist wins top five awards, Hugo Cabret cleans up in technical categories

George Clooney’s forecast was right on the money: the Oscars this year were Made in France. In a pre-ceremony interview, the Descendants actor mysteriously let slip that he’ll probably go home empty-handed and it turned out to be true. With the predictable raiding of the top-awards shelf by the Jean Dujardin and Michel Hazanavicius dream team (for Best Actor, and Best Director and Best Film ... more >

D minus One for the Oscars – are you ready?

Holding our collective breaths - one day to go

I am absolutely thrilled to announce to everyone that the 2012 Oscars will be taking place tomorrow—you heard it here first! Oh, wait—you knew already? Tomorrow, the last Sunday in February, is a big day. The triumphant walk up to the dais, the speeches, and a few people going home disappointed. All I really care to know about tomorrow’s ceremony is whether that funny little dog from The ... more >

The Artist slays the Oscars nominations

The world is watching as the silent film races towards Oscar gold

What a coup for Michel Hazanavicius & Co! The French filmmaker's silent film The Artist has just been nominated for a total of ten possible statuettes as was just announced in Los Angeles, including the top award for film, directing, male actor, supporting role by a female, screenplay and musical score. Martin Scorsese's Hugo Cabret is up for eleven possible awards. There's been a lot of ... more >

Eddie Murphy to host 2012 Academy Awards

Don't call it a comeback I've been here for years

Eddie Murphy will host the 2012 Oscar ceremony. Here’s hoping that he’ll fare better than recent presenters of the oh-so-long hoopla. His press release said, "I am enormously honored to join the great list of past Academy Award hosts from Hope and Carson to Crystal, Martin and Goldberg, among others [. . .] creating a show that is enjoyable for both the fans at home and for the audience at the ... more >

Brett Ratner to produce Oscars

The patient's outlook is improving?

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has chosen Brett Ratner (he previously directed X-Men and Horrible Bosses) to produce the next Oscars telecast, which will take place on February 26th. It’s an interesting move, one that would indicate the Academy is fighting to reverse the tide of poor ratings--and it's getting worse: last year's audience share was a whopping 10% lower than ... more >