BY SACNILK

Los Angeles, April 29 (IANS) The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences to change rules and eligibility requirements for the 2021 Oscars, making movies of streaming services eligible to win the golden statuettes.## The Academy has tweaked its Oscar eligibility rules in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The change is not permanent, and will apply to films released this year, reports variety.com.## During a meeting on Tuesday, the board of governors approved a temporary hold on the requirement that a film needs a seven-day theatrical run in a commercial theater in Los Angeles to qualify for the Oscars.## However, there's a catch and not all movies premiering on a streaming service will be eligible for Oscar. To get in Oscar contention, the streaming movie must have already had a planned theatrical release.## "The Academy firmly believes there is no greater way to experience the magic of movies than to see them in a theatre," said Academy president David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson, adding: "Our commitment to that is unchanged and unwavering. Nonetheless, the historically tragic COVID-19 pandemic necessitates this temporary exception to our awards eligibility rules. The Academy supports its members and colleagues during this time of uncertainty. We recognize the importance of their work being seen and also celebrated, especially now, when audiences appreciate movies more than ever."## Once movie theaters are allowed to re-open, the seven-day window will once again be required for eligibility.## The Academy also shared that it will eliminate an Oscar category. The sound mixing and sound editing categories will be combined into one award, reducing the total number of categories presented on the show to 23.## And in an effort to become more carbon-neutral, the Academy prohibited DVD screeners for the 94th Oscars gala. It also announced that for the first time all Academy members will be invited to participate in the preliminary round of voting for international feature films.## The 93rd Oscars will be held on February 28, 2021.## Stay tuned...

BY SACNILK

New Delhi, April 11 (IANS) Oscar-winning filmmaker Marshall Curry feels the world is going through a difficult time, saying people "have been whipped up by demagogues who want us to demonize each other and discriminate against strangers who might have different religions or skin color".## This year, Curry won an Oscar for "The Neighbors' Window", a short narrative film that he wrote and directed. He was previously nominated three times for Academy Awards for his documentary films -- "Street Fight", "If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front" and "A Night at the Garden".## Asked if "The Neighbors' Window", which gives a message for having empathy towards neighbors, resonates with the political and social sentiments around the world, Curry told IANS: "It is a difficult time in America and in the world right now. People have been whipped up by demagogues who want us to demonize each other, to discriminate against strangers who might have different religions or skin color or lifestyles than we do."## "So I hoped that in a small way, the film would remind people to be gentle with each other and realize that everyone is struggling with something," he added.## "The Neighbors' Window", which is available to stream in India via ShortsTV, tells the story of a middle-aged woman with small children whose life is shaken up when two free-spirited twenty-something moves in across the street.## Talking about the movie, he said: "When I finished writing, I began to pull together a terrific team - cinematographer, producers, actors - and we shot the whole film in just four days in the apartment owned by very generous friends. I wanted to begin the film with a sense of light humor to draw the audience in, but over the course of the film, I tried to make the emotions deepen - and darken a bit - until the end. I think that life often has turns like this that happen suddenly, so we were all working together - the cinematographer, the actors, the musicians, etc. -- to try to trace those contours in a way that felt natural."## The short film runs high on voyeurism and nostalgia, and Curry says the themes were built into the very initial concept for the film.## "A few years ago I heard a story on a podcast called Love + Radio in which a middle-aged woman named Diane Weipert described seeing a young couple move in across the street. The story was beautifully told and really stayed with me, and a few years later it became the inspiration for my script," added Curry, who has also directed the award-winning documentaries "Racing Dreams" and "Point and Shoot".## Asked if the world is missing out on creative learning by not delving more into short film format, he said: "I love making short films, and I'm happy there are platforms such as ShortsTV and others that are sharing them!"## "The ability to stream short films on the Internet has made a big difference in the size of audiences. It's now possible to share short films with millions of people who would have had no way to see them just a few years ago. With platforms such as ShortsTV, our films can reach millions of households," he said.## He has been nominated for an Oscar several times and won an Oscar. But he doesn't let the award glory come in the middle of his creative thoughts while working on a project.## "I have been nominated three times before for documentaries, but winning was a new experience for me, and it was nice to be there with a fiction film. It was also a lot of fun to be able to celebrate with the team that made the film with me. I don't really think about the Oscars when I am making a film because I know that it is always a huge long-shot for any film to get recognized by the Academy, so I just try to make the best films I can," he said.## At the moment, he is working on "a few fiction projects and a few non-fiction projects that are in early stages. I really love to shoot and edit, so I'm looking forward to digging in again on a new film".## Stay tuned...

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Los Angeles, April 8 (IANS) Actor Jake Gyllenhaal says late star Heath Ledger "refused" to participate in an Oscars opening act on being told that he'd be poking fun at the gay romance in their film "Brokeback Mountain".## The two stars played Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar in the Ang Lee-directed film, which follows the unexpected romance between two men.## Gyllenhaal recalled how Ledger stood his ground while talking to Another Man magazine, telling them that the actor didn't find anything funny about the heart-wrenching love story between two cowboys, reports dailymail.co.uk.## "That's the thing I loved about Heath. He would never joke. I remember they wanted to do an opening for the Academy Awards that year that was sort of joking about it," Gyllenhaal told the magazine.## Ledger thought the jokes mocked the message of the film, refusing to participate in the segment.## "Heath refused," he said, then recalling how he didn't exactly understand Ledger's reasoning.## He added: "I was sort of at the time, 'Oh, okay… whatever, it's all in good fun'. And Heath said, 'it's not a joke to me -- I don't want to make any jokes about it'. That's the thing I loved about Heath. He would never joke. Someone wanted to make a joke about the story or whatever, he was like, 'No. This is about love'."## Heath still ended up attending the awards, however, and was seen at the ceremony with girlfriend and co-star Michelle Williams.## "Brokeback Mountain" was a success. It earned eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and acting nods for both Ledger and Gyllenhaal. The film earned director Ang Lee the Best Director honor.## Ledger passed away in 2008 after an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.## For more and latest news about Hollywood, stay tuned with us.

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Here is the list of 91st Academy Awards Nominations and Winners which is Oscars 2019. The 91st Academy Awards, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), will honor the best films of 2018. ## The ceremony held on 24th February 2019, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. ## AMPAS will present Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 24 categories. The ceremony will be televised in the United States by American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and produced by Donna Gigliotti and Glenn Weiss, with Weiss, also serving as director. It will be the first ceremony in three decades, since the 61st Academy Awards in 1989, to be conducted with no host. ## Oscars 2019 Winner Full List (Live): ## CategoryWinnerNominations Best Supporting Actress Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk) Emma Stone (The Favourite), Rache Weisz (The Favourite), Marina de Tavira (Roma), Amy Adams (Vice) Best Documentary Feature Free Solo Of Fathers and Sons, Hale County This Morning, Minding the Gap, RBG Best Cinematography Alfonso Cuaron (Roma) Robbie Ryan (The Favourite), Matthew Libatique (A Star Is Born), Lukasz Zal (Cold War), Caleb Deschanel (Never Look Away) Best Costume Design Ruth E. Carter (Black Panther) Mary Zophres (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), Alexandra Byrne (Mary Queens of Scots), Sandy Powell (The Favourite), Sandy Powell (Mary Poppins Returns) Best Production Design Jay R. Hart, Hannath Beachler (Black Panther) Kathy Lucas, Nathan Crowley (First Man), John Myhre, Gordon Sim (Mary Poppins Returns), Alice Felton, Fiona Crombie (The Favourite), Barbara Enriquez, Eugenio Caballero (Roma) Best Makeup Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe, Paricia Behaney-Le May (Vice) Pamela Goldammer, Goran Lundstom (Border), Jenny Shircore, Marc Pilcher, Jessica Brooks (Mary Queen of Scots) Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy - Best Sound Mixing John Casli, Tim Cavagin, Paul Massey (Bohemian Rhapsody) Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor, Peter J. Devlin (Black Panther), Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Ai-Ling Lee, Mary H. Ellis (First Man), Skip Lievsay, Craig Henighan and José Antonio Garcia (Roma), Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic, Jason Ruder, Steve A. Morrow (A Star Is Born) Best Supporting Actor Mahershal Ali (Green Book) Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman), Sam Elliott (A Star Is Born), Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), Sam Rockwell (Vice) Best Actor Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody) Christian Bale (Vice), Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born), Willem Dafoe (At Eternity's Gate), Viggo Mortensen (Green Book) Best Actress Olivia Colman (The Favourite) Yalitza Aparicio (Roma), Glenn Close (The Wife), Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born), Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) Best Picture Green Book Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, The Favourite, Roma, A Star Is Born, Vice Best Director Alfonso Cuarón (Roma) Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman), Paweł Pawlikowski (Cold War), Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite), Adam McKay (Vice) Best Original Screenplay Green Book – Written by Nick Vallelonga & Brian Currie & Peter Farrelly The Favourite – Written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, First Reformed – Written by Paul Schrader, Roma – Written by Alfonso Cuarón, Vice – Written by Adam McKay Best Adapted Screenplay BlacKkKlansman – Screenplay by Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee; based on the book by Ron Stallworth The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen; based on the short stories All Gold Canyon by Jack London, The Gal Who Got Rattled by Stewart Edward White, and short stories by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, Can You Ever Forgive Me? – Screenplay by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty; based on the book by Lee Israel, If Beale Street Could Talk – Screenplay by Barry Jenkins; based on the book by James Baldwin, A Star Is Born – Screenplay by Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper & Will Fetters; based on the 1954 screenplay by Moss Hart and the 1976 screenplay by Joan Didion, John Gregory Dunne & Frank Pierson; based on a story by Robert Carson & William A. Wellman Best Animated Feature Film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Incredibles 2, Isle of Dogs, Mirai, Ralph Breaks the Internet Best Foreign Language Film Roma (Mexico) in Spanish and Mixtec Capernaum (Lebanon) in Arabic, Cold War (Poland) in Polish and French, Never Look Away (Germany) in German, Shoplifters (Japan) in Japanese Best Documentary – Feature Free Solo Hale County This Morning, This Evening, Minding the Gap,Of Fathers and Sons, RBG Best Documentary – Short Subject Period. End of Sentence. Black Sheep, End Game, Lifeboat, A Night at the Garden Best Live Action Short Film Skin Detainment, Fauve, Marguerite, Mother Best Animated Short Film Bao Animal Behaviour, Late Afternoon, One Small Step, Weekends Best Original Score Black Panther – Ludwig Göransson BlacKkKlansman – Terence Blanchard, If Beale Street, Could Talk – Nicholas Britell, Isle of Dogs – Alexandre Desplat, Mary Poppins Returns – Marc Shaiman Best Original Song "Shallow" from A Star Is Born – Music and Lyrics by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt "All the Stars" from Black Panther – Music by Mark Spears, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth and Anthony Tiffith; Lyrics by Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, Anthony Tiffith and Solána Rowe, "I'll Fight" from RBG – Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren, "The Place Where Lost Things Go" from Mary Poppins Returns – Music by Marc Shaiman; Lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – Music and Lyrics by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch Best Sound Editing Bohemian Rhapsody – John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone Black Panther – Benjamin A. Burtt and Steve Boeddeker, First Man – Ai-Ling Lee and, Mildred Iatrou Morgan, A Quiet Place – Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl, Roma – Sergio Díaz and Skip Lievsay Best Film Editing Bohemian Rhapsody – John Ottman BlacKkKlansman – Barry Alexander Brown, The Favourite – Yorgos Mavropsaridis, Green Book – Patrick J. Don Vito, Vice – Hank Co Best Visual Effects First Man – Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles and J. D. Schwalm Avengers: Infinity War – Dan DeLeeuw, Kelly Port, Russell Earl and Dan Sudick, Christopher Robin – Christopher Lawrence, Michael Eames, Theo Jones and Chris Corbould, Ready Player One – Roger Guyett, Grady Cofer, Matthew E. Butler and David Shirk, Solo: A Star Wars Story – Rob Bredow, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Dominic Tuohy ## For more and latest news about Hollywood, stay tuned to us.