entertainment
Oscar winner and groundbreaking star Sidney Poitier dies
Sidney Poitier, the groundbreaking actor and enduring inspiration who transformed how Black people were portrayed on screen and became the first Black actor to win an Academy Award for best lead performance and the first to be a top box-office draw, has died. He was 94.
Poitier, winner of the best actor Oscar in 1964 for “Lilies of the Field,” died Thursday in the Bahamas, according to Eugene Torchon-Newry, acting director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Bahamas.
Few movie stars, Black or white, had such an influence both on and off the screen. Before Poitier, the son of Bahamian tomato farmers, no Black actor had a sustained career as a lead performer or could get a film produced based on his own star power. Before Poitier, few Black actors were permitted a break from the stereotypes of bug-eyed servants and grinning entertainers. Before Poitier, Hollywood filmmakers rarely even attempted to tell a Black person’s story.
Messages honoring and mourning Poitier flooded social media, with Whoopi Goldberg writing on Twitter: “He showed us how to reach for the stars.” Tyler Perry on Instagram wrote: “The grace and class that this man has shown throughout his entire life, the example he set for me, not only as a Black man but as a human being will never be forgotten.” And musician Lenny Kravitz wrote that Poitier “showed the world that with vision and grace, all is possible.”
Poitier’s rise mirrored profound changes in the country in the 1950s and 1960s. As racial attitudes evolved during the civil rights era and segregation laws were challenged and fell, Poitier was the performer to whom a cautious industry turned for stories of progress.
He was the escaped Black convict who befriends a racist white prisoner (Tony Curtis) in “The Defiant Ones.” He was the courtly office worker who falls in love with a blind white girl in “A Patch of Blue.” He was the handyman in “Lilies of the Field” who builds a church for a group of nuns. In one of the great roles of the stage and screen, he was the ambitious young father whose dreams clashed with those of other family members in Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun.”
Debates about diversity in Hollywood inevitably turn to the story of Poitier. With his handsome, flawless face; intense stare and disciplined style, he was for years not just the most popular Black movie star, but the only one.
“I made films when the only other Black on the lot was the shoeshine boy,” he recalled in a 1988 Newsweek interview. “I was kind of the lone guy in town.”
Poitier peaked in 1967 with three of the year’s most notable movies: “To Sir, With Love,” in which he starred as a school teacher who wins over his unruly students at a London secondary school; “In the Heat of the Night,” as the determined police detective Virgil Tibbs; and in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” as the prominent doctor who wishes to marry a young white woman he only recently met, her parents played by Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn in their final film together.
Theater owners named Poitier the No. 1 star of 1967, the first time a Black actor topped the list. In 2009 President Barack Obama, whose own steady bearing was sometimes compared to Poitier’s, awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, saying that the actor “not only entertained but enlightened ... revealing the power of the silver screen to bring us closer together.”
His appeal brought him burdens not unlike such other historical figures as Jackie Robinson and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He was subjected to bigotry from whites and accusations of compromise from the Black community. Poitier was held, and held himself, to standards well above his white peers. He refused to play cowards and took on characters, especially in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” of almost divine goodness. He developed a steady, but resolved and occasionally humorous persona crystallized in his most famous line — “They call me Mr. Tibbs!” — from “In the Heat of the Night.”
“All those who see unworthiness when they look at me and are given thereby to denying me value — to you I say, ‘I’m not talking about being as good as you. I hereby declare myself better than you,’” he wrote in his memoir, “The Measure of a Man,” published in 2000.
But even in his prime he was criticized for being out of touch. He was called an Uncle Tom and a “million-dollar shoeshine boy.” In 1967, The New York Times published Black playwright Clifford Mason’s essay, “Why Does White America Love Sidney Poitier So?” Mason dismissed Poitier’s films as “a schizophrenic flight from historical fact” and the actor as a pawn for the “white man’s sense of what’s wrong with the world.”
Stardom didn’t shield Poitier from racism and condescension. He had a hard time finding housing in Los Angeles and was followed by the Ku Klux Klan when he visited Mississippi in 1964, not long after three civil rights workers had been murdered there. In interviews, journalists often ignored his work and asked him instead about race and current events.
“I am an artist, man, American, contemporary,” he snapped during a 1967 press conference. “I am an awful lot of things, so I wish you would pay me the respect due.”
Poitier was not as engaged politically as his friend and contemporary Harry Belafonte, leading to occasional conflicts between them. But he participated in the 1963 March on Washington and other civil rights events, and as an actor defended himself and risked his career. He refused to sign loyalty oaths during the 1950s, when Hollywood was barring suspected Communists, and turned down roles he found offensive.
“Almost all the job opportunities were reflective of the stereotypical perception of Blacks that had infected the whole consciousness of the country,” he recalled. “I came with an inability to do those things. It just wasn’t in me. I had chosen to use my work as a reflection of my values.”
Poitier’s films were usually about personal triumphs rather than broad political themes, but the classic Poitier role, from “In the Heat of the Night” to “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” was as a Black man of such decency and composure — Poitier became synonymous with the word “dignified” — that he wins over the whites opposed to him.
His screen career faded in the late 1960s as political movements, Black and white, became more radical and movies more explicit. He acted less often, gave fewer interviews and began directing, his credits including the Richard Pryor-Gene Wilder farce “Stir Crazy,” “Buck and the Preacher” (co-starring Poitier and Belafonte) and the Bill Cosby comedies “Uptown Saturday Night” and “Let’s Do It Again.”
In the 1980s and ’90s, he appeared in the feature films “Sneakers” and “The Jackal” and several television movies, receiving an Emmy and Golden Globe nomination as future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in “Separate But Equal” and an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Nelson Mandela in “Mandela and De Klerk.” Theatergoers were reminded of the actor through an acclaimed play that featured him in name only: John Guare’s “Six Degrees of Separation,” about a con artist claiming to be Poitier’s son.
In recent years, a new generation learned of him through Oprah Winfrey, who chose “The Measure of a Man” for her book club. Meanwhile, he welcomed the rise of such Black stars as Denzel Washington, Will Smith and Danny Glover: “It’s like the cavalry coming to relieve the troops! You have no idea how pleased I am,” he said.
Poitier received numerous honorary prizes, including a lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute and a special Academy Award in 2002, on the same night that Black performers won both best acting awards, Washington for “Training Day” and Halle Berry for “Monster’s Ball.”
“I’ll always be chasing you, Sidney,” Washington, who had earlier presented the honorary award to Poitier, said during his acceptance speech. “I’ll always be following in your footsteps. There’s nothing I would rather do, sir, nothing I would rather do.”
Poitier had four daughters with his first wife, Juanita Hardy, and two with his second wife, actress Joanna Shimkus, who starred with him in his 1969 film “The Lost Man.” Daughter Sydney Tamaii Poitier appeared on such television series as “Veronica Mars” and “Mr. Knight.”
His life ended in adulation, but it began in hardship. Poitier was born prematurely, weighing just 3 pounds, in Miami, where his parents had gone to deliver tomatoes from their farm on tiny Cat Island in the Bahamas. He spent his early years on the remote island, which had a population of 1,500 and no electricity, and he quit school at 12 1/2 to help support the family. Three years later, he was sent to live with a brother in Miami; his father was concerned that the street life of Nassau was a bad influence. With $3 in his pocket, Sidney traveled steerage on a mail-cargo ship.
“The smell in that portion of the boat was so horrendous that I spent a goodly part of the crossing heaving over the side,” he told The Associated Press in 1999, adding that Miami soon educated him about racism. “I learned quite quickly that there were places I couldn’t go, that I would be questioned if I wandered into various neighborhoods.”
Poitier moved to Harlem and was so overwhelmed by his first winter there he enlisted in the Army, cheating on his age and swearing he was 18 when he had yet to turn 17. Assigned to a mental hospital on Long Island, Poitier was appalled at how cruelly the doctors and nurses treated the soldier patients. In his 1980 autobiography, “This Life,” he related how he escaped the Army by feigning insanity.
Back in Harlem, he was looking in the Amsterdam News for a dishwasher job when he noticed an ad seeking actors at the American Negro Theater. He went there and was handed a script and told to go on the stage. Poitier had never seen a play in his life and could barely read. He stumbled through his lines in a thick Caribbean accent and the director marched him to the door.
“As I walked to the bus, what humiliated me was the suggestion that all he could see in me was a dishwasher. If I submitted to him, I would be aiding him in making that perception a prophetic one,” Poitier later told the AP.
“I got so pissed, I said, ‘I’m going to become an actor — whatever that is. I don’t want to be an actor, but I’ve got to become one to go back there and show him that I could be more than a dishwasher.’ That became my goal.”
The process took months as he sounded out words from the newspaper. Poitier returned to the American Negro Theater and was again rejected. Then he made a deal: He would act as janitor for the theater in return for acting lessons. When he was released again, his fellow students urged the teachers to let him be in the class play. Another Caribbean, Belafonte, was cast in the lead. When Belafonte couldn’t make a preview performance because it conflicted with his own janitorial duties, his understudy, Poitier, went on.
The audience included a Broadway producer who cast him in an all-Black version of “Lysistrata.” The play lasted four nights, but rave reviews for Poitier won him an understudy job in “Anna Lucasta,” and later he played the lead in the road company. In 1950, he broke through on screen in “No Way Out,” playing a doctor whose patient, a white man, dies and is then harassed by the patient’s bigoted brother, played by Richard Widmark.
Key early films included “Blackboard Jungle,” featuring Poitier as a tough high school student (the actor was well into his 20s at the time) in a violent school; and “The Defiant Ones,” which brought Poitier his first best actor nomination, and the first one for any Black male. The theme of cultural differences turned lighthearted in “Lilies of the Field,” in which Poitier played a Baptist handyman who builds a chapel for a group of Roman Catholic nuns, refugees from Germany. In one memorable scene, he gives them an English lesson.
The only Black actor before Poitier to win a competitive Oscar was Hattie McDaniel, the 1939 best supporting actress for “Gone With the Wind.” No one, including Poitier, thought “Lilies of the Field” his best film, but the times were right (Congress would soon pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, for which Poitier had lobbied) and the actor was favored even against such competitors as Paul Newman for “Hud” and Albert Finney for “Tom Jones.” Newman was among those rooting for Poitier.
When presenter Anne Bancroft announced his victory, the audience cheered for so long that Poitier momentarily forgot his speech. “It has been a long journey to this moment,” he declared.
Poitier never pretended that his Oscar was “a magic wand” for Black performers, as he observed after his victory, and he shared his critics’ frustration with some of the roles he took on, confiding that his characters were sometimes so unsexual they became kind of “neuter.” But he also believed himself fortunate and encouraged those who followed him.
“To the young African American filmmakers who have arrived on the playing field, I am filled with pride you are here. I am sure, like me, you have discovered it was never impossible, it was just harder,” he said in 1992 as he received a lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute. “
“Welcome, young Blacks. Those of us who go before you glance back with satisfaction and leave you with a simple trust: Be true to yourselves and be useful to the journey.”
Tisha, Farooki welcome their daughter
Acclaimed director Mostafa Sarwar Farooki and popular actress Nusrat Imrose Tisha announced the arrival of their newborn on December 29 last year, a beautiful baby girl on Wednesday night.
The National Film Award-winning actress shared the news on her official Facebook page by posting an image with her baby girl, covering the newborn baby's face with an adorable sticker. The actress also expressed gratitude to her doctor for her exceptional care.
“She made her journey from God’s garden to Momma-Pappa’s nest safely at 8.27 pm today! Alhamdulillah! Both mother and daughter are doing fine. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s call this angel Ilham Nusrat Farooki. Thanks to Doctor Sangjukta Saha for her extraordinary care,” Tisha wrote on the post.
Read: Tisha-Farooki expecting first child
Farooki also shared his photograph with his baby girl on his verified profile, saying, “We thought we will be in complete control of emotions! But we didn’t know what happened when we saw her, took her in our laps. Tears rolled down. Tears of gratitude and love! Ladies and gentlemen, our angel Ilham Nusrat Farooki is saying hi to everyone! Please keep her and the mother in your prayers! Both of them are doing fine and under the extraordinary care of Dr Sangjukta Saha!”
Several celebrities including Amitabh Reza, Adnan Al Rajeev, Animesh Aich and more congratulated the newborn baby girl and the debutante parents on their social media handles.
The popular couple tied the knot on July 16, 2010.
Release of 'Shaan' postponed
As the Omicron variant of the ongoing COVID-19 is slowly but surely affecting lives in Bangladesh, the much-anticipated police action thriller film 'Shaan's theatrical release got postponed on Wednesday.
This came as a shock to many as the announcement came just after the day of 'Shaan's gala press meet on Tuesday night in the capital.
When contacted, 'Shaan's director M Raahim told UNB that the team had taken this decision after evaluating the present situation of the Omicron variant and its latest surge in the country.
"Yes, that's true. We had to take this decision, considering the current circumstances. As heartbroken as we all currently are, we took this decision because we don't want to see our audience taking any risk to watch 'Shaan' in the theatres," Raahim told UNB.
When this correspondent asked if there's any tentative plan to release the film on any OTT platform in the near future, Raahim told UNB that everyone in the 'Shaan' team wants the movie to hit the theatres first, as it was made to cater the theatre-based moviegoers and satisfy their cravings to see a complete action thriller on the big screen.
"This is my debut film for which I have been working and waiting for over three years now, so you understand my emotional situation at this moment. We really became this close to experience the big release together, but considering the current circumstances I can surely say that I am all in for this decision as it was made for the safety of our beloved moviegoers. We really want to see their reactions at the theatres, and we are hoping for a better future at this moment," Raahim told UNB.
On Wednesday night, 'Shaan's digital team announced the decision through a post on the film's official Facebook page.
"We deeply respect the anticipation of our beloved fans, who have been waiting for so long to watch 'Shaan'. That being said, the first priority of team 'Shaan' is our audience and their wellbeing, during this challenging period. We must ensure our victory against the Omicron variant, and to accomplish that we need to keep fighting with patience in the upcoming days, so we are postponing and rescheduling the release date of 'Shaan' for now," the Facebook post said.
Produced by Filman Entertainment, 'Shaan' is based on true incident of breathtaking operations against human trafficking. Azad Khan, Superintendent of Bangladesh Police, wrote the story of the film.
Best Winter Movies to Get the Fun of Shivering in the Cold
Foggy dawn, or freezing cold nights can be a great way to watch the most favorite movie sitting by the dew-drenched window. The trembling at the climax of the movie during a sip of coffee under the blanket may resonate with shivering in the cold. This article is featured with the top-rated winter movies to give a push to that experience.
Greatest Winter Movies of All Times
Home Alone | 1990 | IMDb: 7.6
Directed by Chris Columbus and produced by John Hughes , this Christmas movie is loved by adults as well as kids. McClellan Culkin's cute performance in this comedy movie takes viewers back to the screen again and again even in this 21st century. The adventures of Kevin, the protagonist of the movie, are enough to make any winter night enjoyable. Following its popularity around the world, five more sequels were made. The latest version- Home Sweet Home Alone was released on November 12, 2021.
Read Best New Year Movies of all time to start afresh in 2022
Harry Potter Film Series | 2001-2011 | IMDb: Average 7.6
JK Rowling's timeless character movies are enough to fill any winter. These films were produced under the direction of world-renowned directors such as Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuaron, Mike Newell, and David Yates. Harry Potter's childhood and adolescence were captivating. Six of the eight movies presented by Warner Bros hit the box office with Oscar nominations. The main characters, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, are still known to fans as Harry Potter, Hermione, and Ron respectively. This British film series with all the great backgrounds of winter takes the viewers to their childhood in no time.
Read Best Christmas Films Released in 2021: Movie Times for Cinephiles in the Holiday Season
Frozen | 2013 | IMDb: 7.4
Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, this Disney movie fairy tale effortlessly captivates anyone. The dialogues of animated characters like Anna, Elsa, Christoph, and Olaf in the voiceover of Kristen Bell, Edina Menzel, Jonathan Graf, Josh Gad, and Santino Fontana respectively keep the audience engaged from beginning to end. Here Lopez and Anderson-Lopez's song "Let It Go" became very popular and took the whole movie to another level. As a result, it won an Oscar for Best Original Song and Best Animated Movie.
Read ‘Rohingya’ by Wahiduzzaman Diamond: A Film for Rohingya Issue
Chronicles of Narnia(2005–2010) IMDb: average 6.6
The Chronicles of Narnia trilogy's 2005 movie The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe will cherish your soul by virtue of the versatile fairy tale characters in a snowy land. Clive Staples Lewis's 1950s novel seemed to come alive with the touch of directors Andrew Adamson and Michael Apted. The film, produced under the banner of Disney, starred George Henley, Schneider Keynes, William Moseley, and Anna Popwellwell. The first edition of the trilogy made a box office hit, including an Oscar for Best Makeup.
Bidya Sinha Mim ties knot
Actress Bidya Sinha Saha Mim tied the knot on Tuesday with banker Sony Poddar at a five-star hotel in the city.
Many showbiz stars have greeted the newly-wed couple in photographs posted on social media.
In the photograph, Mim was seen wearing a red Benarsi lehenga with red and white bangles , fully dressed as a bride with a nose ring and a silver tikli on her forehead. The groom wore a white and pink traditional ensemble.
Read:Nirab-Sporshia to pair up in upcoming science fiction film ‘Jolkiron’
Mim got engaged on her birthday last year. Later, she shared the news with fans by posting photographs on Facebook.
However, Mim did not reveal any plans for the marriage in that post.
Two films of Mim are waiting to be released in the New Year. Among them, ‘Paran’ will be released on February 14. ‘Damal’ will be released in March. Besides, this actress is currently busy with the film ‘Antarjal’.
Curtain rises on Cinemaking International Film Festival
Cinemaking International Film Festival 2021, dedicated to the valiant freedom fighters marking the golden jubilee of the country’s independence, began in Dhaka on Monday.
Education Minister Dipu Moni inaugurated the 3-day film festival at the International Mother Language Institute.
Since December 17, an international jury board is judging 600 films selected from 1000 films submitted by filmmakers from 121 countries.
Read:Nirab-Sporshia to pair up in upcoming science fiction film ‘Jolkiron’
Their judgment will reach the organizing committee by January 5.
The festival’s curtain was raised by premiering Md Selim Khan-directed film ‘August 1975’ and it will be concluded by screening Anjan Aich-directed film ‘Agamikal’.
On January 4, three international seminars titled- Father of Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Bengali films, Bangladesh’s Liberation War in Films, and India’s role in Bangladesh’s Liberation War and Golden Jubilee of India-Bangladesh Friendship will be held at the festival
On January 5, another international seminar will be held marking the birth centenary of Oscar- winning filmmaker Satyajit Ray.
Read: Nusrat Faria-Yash Rohan pair up for web-film 'Pordar Arale'
Children’s art competition, recitation competition, and cultural show will also be held on Wednesday.
The festival will conclude on Thursday with an award giving ceremony presided over by Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra artiste Monoranjan Ghoshal. Fisheries and Livestock Minister SM Rezaul Karim will be present as the chief guest.
Nirab-Sporshia to pair up in upcoming science fiction film ‘Jolkiron’
The new year for Bangladeshi films began with news of new cinemas and pairs as viewers will get to see actor Nirab Hossain and Orchita Sporshia pairing up for their upcoming science fiction film ‘Jolkiron’.
On Sunday the first look of the film was unveiled at a Moghbazar restaurant in presence of its main cast Nirab, Sporshia, film’s director HR Habib, Syed Hasan Imam, Arman Parvez Murad, Rashed Mamun Opu, Sohanur Rahman Sohan and others.
READ: Best New Year Movies of all time to start afresh in 2022
Apart from directing HR Habib has written the story, script and screenplay of Jolkiron.
Habib said, “The film is from the science fiction genre but it won’t follow the conventional trend as it will be made in situational comedy style so that audiences of all ages can enjoy it.”
Nirab said, “The country’s film is moving with new enthusiasm with many unique stories portrayed on the big screen. Jolkiron will represent the present time on screen.” The actor said he is eagerly looking forward to beginning the shooting.
READ: 'Shaan' gets Censor Board clearance
Sporshia said, “As I always like to work in something different this film’s story was exactly what I wanted. It will be an extra pleasure for me to work with the co-actors I love working with.”
The cast of the science fiction film Jolkiron includes Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed, HR Habib, Pranab Das, Angelina Lopez, and Grezila Rashid.
Director Habib said the shooting for the film is set to begin soon.
Afran Nisho in new look for his upcoming web content
Afran Nisho, who is popular on the small screen, will be seen on the country's popular OTT platform ‘Chorki’ in a new look.
However, it was not clear whether the content was a film or a series.
On Sunday, a post was made from the official Facebook page of Chorki showing a poster of Afran Nisho's new look.
A live broadcast was also made on Facebook from Chorki showing Nisho trimming his hair in a saloon.
Also read: Nusrat Faria-Yash Rohan pair up for web-film 'Pordar Arale'
At the beginning of that live streaming of 8 minutes and 56 seconds, Nisho wished everyone a Happy New Year. He also sought suggestions from the audience about his new look.
Nisho was seen cutting his own hair with a trimmer. He also said that he will be completely bald.
From the connection between the live and the poster, it is clear that this is the campaign that is waiting for the fans. What is that surprise, why did Nisho do that? To get answers, fans have to wait a little more, said Chorki management.
Top actor Nisho was popular with OTT content throughout 2021. So his new year is also starting with such a surprise.
Also read: Shironamhin to celebrate silver jubilee with year-long festivities
Nusrat Faria-Yash Rohan pair up for web-film 'Pordar Arale'
Continuing the success from last year, popular actress Nusrat Faria has recently paired up with promising actor Yash Rohan for an upcoming web-film titled 'Pordar Arale'.
The signing ceremony of the web-film, produced by Bengal Multimedia Limited, was held at satellite television channel RTV's Headquarter in the capital on Sunday (January 2).
Syed Ashik Rahman, CEO of RTV and Director of Bengal Multimedia Limited, was present at the signing ceremony of the web-film.
RTV Program Chief Dewan Shamsur Rakib, Deputy Head of News Mamunur Rahman Khan, R&D Chief Pradeep Bhattacharya, Advertising and Marketing Chief Sudeb Chandra Ghosh, DSM Chief Kabir Ahmed and many others were also present at the signing ceremony.
The web film will be directed by Parvez Amin, also the storyteller of the film. Tanmoy Muktadir wrote the dialogue and screenplay of the film.
Regarding this introductory project of the year, Nusrat Faria said, "Alhamdulillah, it feels pretty good to be associated with such a project at the beginning of the year. Together, we hope to present a good film to the audience."
Director Amin said, "We are going to present a different and interesting story through this film. Special thanks to Bengal Multimedia Limited, as well as RTV for this project."
Actor Yash Rohan said, "I don't want to spoil anything about the story right now. For the time being, I am keeping it as a surprise. Our audience now want to see quality stories, and I can surely say that they will get that taste here. All I can say is that the audience will not be disappointed."
It is to be mentioned that the shooting of 'Pordar Arale' will start from this month in different places of Dhaka.
Shironamhin to celebrate silver jubilee with year-long festivities
Shironamhin, a triumphant band in the Bangladeshi music industry, is going to celebrate its silver jubilee this year with multiple activities and concerts across the country and also in Mumbai, India.
The band, known for their enormously popular albums like “Jahaji,” “Bondho Janala” and more, stepped into its silver jubilee in April, last year. The celebrations, however, were put on hold given the global coronavirus outbreak situation.
This year, Shironamhin has planned a year-long event schedule in collaboration with marketing communication agency Brandmyth Experiential, formerly known as Brandmyth Communication.
Also read: Actress Heme to feature in her first web film ‘The Holy Gun’
As part of the planned celebrations, Shironamhin will collaborate with the Mumbai-based Symphony Orchestra team which has previously collaborated with world famous music bands including Metallica, Scorpions and more.