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Tom Hanks named Harvard’s 2023 commencement speaker
Two-time Academy Award winning actor Tom Hanks was named the principal speaker at Harvard’s commencement on May 25, the Ivy League university announced Tuesday.
Hanks, 66, has appeared in almost 100 films. Nominated for an Oscar six times, he won best actor for “Philadelphia” in 1993 and “Forrest Gump” the following year.
Harvard President Lawrence Bacow called Hanks “a true master of his craft.”
“In addition to his brilliance as an actor, Tom has demonstrated both an innate empathy and a deep understanding of the human condition,” Bacow said in a statement. “He has contributed to our national culture and expanded our ability to appreciate stories and histories that have been previously unexamined.”
Recent Harvard commencement speakers included former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, late civil rights activist and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, and filmmaker Steven Spielberg.
A comedic actor early in his career, Hanks transitioned seamlessly to dramatic roles, from his breakout performance in 1988′s comedy “Big” to “Saving Private Ryan,” “Apollo 13,” and “Captain Phillips.” He voiced the character Woody in the “Toy Story” animated films and voiced several characters in 2004′s “The Polar Express” animated film.He produced several projects exploring U.S. history including “Band of Brothers,” “The Pacific,” and “John Adams.”
He’s also known for his philanthropic work and advocacy, raising support for the national World War II Memorial in Washington and serving as campaign chair for Hidden Heroes, increasing awareness around issues faced by caregivers who work with veterans.
Following his performance in “Philadelphia” as a lawyer with AIDS, Hanks became an advocate for AIDS awareness and supporter of The Foundation for AIDS Research and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
His other accolades include the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award and the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Kennedy Center Honor in 2014. President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.
3 film societies boycott federation's 50th anniversary due to Bashundhara’s sponsorship
Three leading film societies chose to abstain from the Federation of Film Societies of Bangladesh (FFSB)'s golden jubilee celebration event which was held on Sunday at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
Zahir Raihan Film Society and Jahangirnagar Cine Society, two film societies affiliated with Jahangirnagar University, as well as Jagannath University Cinema Society, a member of the FFSB, boycotted the ceremony once it emerged that the Bashundhara Group was one of the sponsors of the event.
In a joint statement signed by its president Nafis Mahmud and general secretary Bhabna Mukherjee, the Jahangirnagar Cine Society announced its decision to abstain from the ceremony, stating that the celebration event lost its moral position due to taking sponsorship from such an entity.
They expressed their disappointment and sadness at learning that Bashundhara Group was the sponsor, as the allegation of the rape and murder of college student Mosarat Jahan Munia against Bashundhara Group managing director Sayem Sobhan Anvir is listed as one of the most talked-about topics in recent times.
In a joint statement, Moutusi Zubaida Rahman and Rifat Khan Anik, the president and general secretary of the Zahir Raihan Film Society, made clear their intention to boycott the FFSB's event, expressing similar disappointment. In fact the society named after Bangladesh's pioneering filmmaker was the first to boycott on these grounds.
The Jagannath University Film Society stated in its boycott statement that the FFSB could not maintain its moral stance "while accepting funding from the Bashundhara group and Anvir"; however, it also stated that it would participate in FFSB events in the future if it could regain its moral stance.
Despite these three associations’ boycotting, FFSB held its celebration event at BSA’s National Theatre Hall on Sunday, which was joined by Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud as the chief guest.
Regarding the decision of the three film societies over the sponsorship, FFSB general secretary Belayat Hossain Mamun said that FFSB approached many for sponsorship as it needed funds to organise such a big event and Bashundhara Group stepped forward with sponsorship. The members of FFSB have the right to take their decisions and FFSB welcomes their stances, he said.
In the event, the 'Best Film Council of Six Decades Award' was given to the selected film councils out of hundreds of film councils for their special contribution to the excellence of the country's film culture, including the Zahir Raihan Film Society.
On April 26, 2021, police recovered the hanging body of Munia from a flat in the capital's Gulshan area. Munia's elder sister, Nusrat Jahan Tania, filed a case against Anvir that night accusing him of incitement to suicide, stating that Munia was in a relationship with Anvir who regularly visited her at the Gulshan apartment.
The police however, in September 2021 saidt hat it has not found any evidence against Bashundhara Group Managing Director Sayem Sobhan Anvir and eight other accused in college student Mosarat Jahan Munia rape and murder case.
Later however a rape and murder case was filed against Anvir at the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal, which appointed the PBI to investigate. However PBI has been unable to submit the investigation report as yet.
Oscars called out for casting non-South Asian dancers in ‘Naatu Naatu’ live performance
The live performance of the high energy “Naatu Naatu”, from the Indian blockbuster “RRR”, received a standing ovation at the Oscars. The song, that went viral worldwide, is the first song from an Indian film to win an Oscar.
Despite all the positivity surrounding the song, the live performance at the award show has been called out as many netizens pointed out that “none of the dancers were of Indian descent”.
International media have identified the two men who danced the key roles — played in the film by South Indian actors Ram Charan and Jr NTR — as Billy Mustapha and Jason Glover, who are Canadian and American, respectively, reports NDTV.
Several netizens have openly criticized this, stating that using non-South Asian dancers weakens the song's anti-colonial message in the film, set in pre-independence India.
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Bollywood star Deepika Padukone introduced the thrilling performance of “Naatu Naatu” at the Oscars, which was sung live by Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava, the singers behind the now worldwide popular number.
The authenticity ended there, said many, as none of the dancers appeared to be South Asian, yet were misidentified as such.
Although Indian audiences enthusiastically enjoyed the performance, which was undeniably exciting and a highlight of the Oscars event, the South Asian community in the United States protested the lack of representation.
"The Oscars Naatu Naatu performance was meant to have been a tremendous celebration of pride for all of us, and yet we were left feeling empty-handed and rejected," US-based dancer Joya Nandy Kazi wrote on Instagram.
Read More: This is how Oscar winners are decided
“Two brown passing guys sang a song about colonialism with lyrics that said no dance is as wonderful as a villager's dance. They were fantastic, but why weren't two skilled dancers from our own community selected as leads with a mostly South Asian ensemble?” — Joya asked.
“The colonists are the butt of the joke of this song, and trying to replicate the movie scenario even with a bunch of men who should represent the natives as anything other than South Asian leaves me balancing between being stunned and smiling at the absurdity. We need to do better," she said.
Shivani Reddy, a Telugu-American film critic, told CBS News, “It just felt very exclusionary that the one race they didn't include was the one that was supposed to be represented because of the film and where it's from…It's unfortunate because there are so many South Asian dancers that I know that are in the industry trying to get into those spaces that just don't get afforded those opportunities. And for the one time that we maybe could have gotten access, we were denied.”
Raj Kapoor, Oscars producer, said in an interview that the initial intention was for lead actors Ram Charan and Jr NTR to dance to “Naatu Naatu”, overseen by “RRR” choreographer Prem Rakshith.
Read More: First Indian film song to win Oscar: ‘Natu Natu’ from ‘RRR’ makes history
“In late February, we were informed that Ram Charan and NT Rama Rao Jr would be attending the Oscars, but they did not feel comfortable performing the live number on stage. The change was brought on because of their other professional commitments and the limited amount of time to rehearse,” Kapoor stated.
“Naatu Naatu”, from SS Rajamouli's mega hit “RRR”, won the Oscar for Best Original Song, beating out Lady Gaga's “Hold My Hand” and Rihanna's “Raise Me Up”, among others.
Bangladeshi artists participate at 9th World Art Dubai 2023
The 9th Edition of World Art Dubai 2023 was held at the Dubai World Trade Center from March 9 to 12, and for the second time, four Bangladeshi self-taught artists participated in the event.
Artist Mahfuzur Rahman, Moonstasir Haque Moon, Kadizatul Qubra and Masuka Nourin Heya participated in this event under Mahfuz Canvas, which collaborated with Dubai-based Funun Arts under the patronage of Mahfuz Canvas’s founder Mahfuzur Rahman and Funun Arts’s founder Shiba Khan and Farah Khan.
The goal of the event was to give established and new artists a place to show off their work and give collectors and art admirers easy access to affordable art. The event, comprised of an art fair, also featured workshops, live performances, and talks on a variety of art topics.
Mahfuzur Rahman was the first Bangladeshi artist to be chosen to represent the country at World Art Dubai in 2022.
“Artists from Bangladesh are gaining international recognition and showcasing their unique styles and works alongside artists from around the world, through such events. This is a significant accomplishment and evidence of Bangladeshi artists’ growing presence on the international art scene,” Rahman told UNB.
Romanian court rejects bail request by divisive Andrew Tate
A Romanian court on Tuesday rejected a bail request from the divisive social media influencer and former professional kickboxer Andrew Tate who is detained in the country on suspicion of organized crime and human trafficking, an official said.
Tate, 36, a British-U.S. citizen who has 5.3 million Twitter followers, was initially detained in late December in Romania’s capital Bucharest, along with his brother Tristan, and two Romanian women. None of the four has yet been formally charged in the case.
After a morning hearing Tuesday at the Bucharest Tribunal, a judge rejected Tate’s bail request, said Ramona Bolla, a spokesperson for Romania’s anti-organized crime agency DIICOT. It is not clear what bail conditions were proposed by Tate’s legal team.
In Romania, it is rare for defendants under preventative arrest for serious crimes to request posting bail. More common are requests to be placed under other judicial conditions such as house arrest or geographical restrictions.
The court’s decision comes after the Tate brothers lost an appeal last month against a judge’s Feb. 21 ruling to extend their arrest for a third time for 30 days. It was the third separate appeal they lost against decisions to extend their detention while investigations continue.
A January court document explaining a previous arrest extension noted “the possibility of them evading investigations cannot be ignored,” and said they could “leave Romania and settle in countries that do not allow extradition.” Tate will remain in detention until at least Mar. 29.
Before Tuesday's court decision, a post appeared on Andrew Tate’s Twitter account, that read: “If you want a life people will aspire for, you’ll need to be prepared to defend it.”
Tate, who has lived in Romania since 2017, was previously banned from various social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech. He has repeatedly claimed Romanian prosecutors have no evidence and alleged their case is a “political” conspiracy designed to silence him.
DIICOT said in a statement after the December arrests that it had identified six victims in the human trafficking case who were allegedly subjected to “acts of physical violence and mental coercion” and sexually exploited by members of the alleged crime group.
The agency said victims were lured with pretenses of love and later intimidated, placed under surveillance and subjected to other control tactics while being coerced into engaging in pornographic acts for the financial gain of the crime group.
End/UNB/AP/MB
Japanese Film Festival 2023 held in Dhaka
The Embassy of Japan and Japan Foundation, in collaboration with the Institute of Modern Languages (IML) of the University of Dhaka, and the American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB), presented the "Japanese Film Festival 2023" from March 9 to 12.
The event featured six acclaimed Japanese films from a wide range of genres, including drama, musical romance, and anime. The festival 2023 was inaugurated at the IML.
For the first time, the AIUB hosted the screening of two films on the closing day.
During the screening, "Tokyo Night Sky Is Always the Densest Shade of Blue," a contemporary film by Japanese director Yuya Ishii, received great acclaim from the audience and critics alike.
After Art returns to vocal-led collaborative song-writing
After Art has returned with their 5th EP - called Voices, with Sohini Alam, Francesca Alphonso, Armeen Musa and Amanda Sterkenburg.
This upcoming EP is a unique collaborative treat with great vocalists, and outstanding visual artists coming together from Bangkok, Dhaka, London, and beyond.
It will be released on 20th March 2023 on all digital streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, Beatport etc. through Akaliko Records, said a press release.
After Art (@after.art.band) is a sound artistes and composer (based in Bangkok, previously Kuala Lumpur, Dhaka and London). His current area of focus - generative music, and how frameworks can be applied to explore the connections between places, spaces and people.
After Art said, “My works revolve around connecting places, spaces and people. And what’s more “people” than ground-up collaboration with exciting singer-songwriters, bringing that very human instrument to the fore”.
After Art’s Voices is a thoughtful project that has brought together artists from diverse The EP includes Vapour (a piece exploring space, both in terms of sound-stage but also, electronic flourishes), Wait (french poetry drifting in from AM radio mixes with Bengali classical) and Shadows Lengthened (plaintive glitched tape-loops), said the release.
PREVIEW Link (downloadable tracks): Listen to Voices (Early Access) on SoundCloud
Jamie Lee Curtis wins Oscar for best supporting actress
Jamie Lee Curtis comes from a strong acting lineage and now she has brought home an Oscar for her family.
Curtis paid homage to her Oscar-nominated parents, Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, after she won best supporting actress for her role as Deirdre Beaubeirdre in the blockbuster indie film “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” She plays an IRS agent who has several guises through different timelines in the multiverse.
The veteran actor made her long-waited first Oscar nomination count.
“My mother and my father were both nominated for Oscars in different categories,” Curtis said, beginning to cry as she accepted the award. “I just won an Oscar!”
When Curtis was asked backstage if her parents are proudly looking down on her, the actor offered some serious candor in her response.
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“I don't believe in a world where people are looking down on us,” she said. “I think we are them in our actions, in our deeds and in our ideas. We build our own. We give them to our children, and that's how the world goes on. I am a product of them. I am a proud product of them. I know they would be incredibly proud of me.”
Curtis’ nomination comes more than 60 years after her mother was nominated for her supporting acting work in “Psycho.” Her father received a nod in 1959 in the best actor category for “The Defiant Ones.”
Jamie Lee Curtis, 64, became the eighth oldest in the category’s history to win. She surpassed Judi Dench, who held the slot for her role in “Shakespeare in Love.”
Not bad for Curtis who had all but resigned herself to the idea that she was not going to be nominated for an Oscar in her career. The actor wore a face of surprise when she found out about her nomination in an photo she later posted on Instagram.
Curtis has starred in a number of films including the “Halloween” franchise movies starting in 1978, along with other notable projects such as “Trading Places,” “My Girl,” “True Lies,” “A Fish Called Wanda,” “Freaky Friday” and “Knives Out.” But it was her performance in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” that ultimately landed her in the Oscars’ record books.
“To all the people who supported the genre of movies I've made for all these years — the thousands, hundreds of thousands of people, we just won an Oscar together,” Curtis shouted as she raised her trophy.
Last month, Curtis won at the SAG Awards for best supporting actress.
Curtis beat Angela Bassett, Kerry Condon, Hong Chau and Stephanie Hsu in the category.
‘Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio’ wins best animated feature
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” has had an Oscar wish come true.
The director’s stop-motion, musical take on the puppet who longs to be a real boy won Netflix its first animated feature trophy on Sunday.
The category has primarily gone to either a Walt Disney or Pixar-produced film for the past decade — with the exception of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.”
“Animation is ready to be taken to the next step. We are all ready for it. Please help us keep animation in the conversation,” del Toro said.
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“Pinocchio” was considered the contender to beat. It swept several awards including the Golden Globe and the top honor at the animation industry's Annie Awards.
The movie beat out “Turning Red,” “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,” “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” and “The Sea Beast.”
The voice cast includes Ewan McGregor, Christoph Waltz, fellow Oscar nominee Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton.
It earned rave reviews for a stunningly beautiful production that takes a dark look at issues of love and mortality between the titular puppet and surrogate father, Gepetto. A polar opposite of Disney's 1940 version, this “Pinocchio” references Catholicism, fascism and the ugliness of war.
The movie was not about the titular character learning to be the perfect boy, del Toro said.
“I think it’s a lesson that’s urgent in the world," he told reporters in the press room after. "We are saying disobedience is not only necessary, it is a virtue.”
The Mexican-born del Toro, who won the Oscar for best director in 2018 for “The Shape of Water," has said animation is pure cinema. Animators have been hitting back in recent years against the stigma that animated movies are just a kids' genre.
For del Toro, animators should be treated as artists — not technicians. He pointed out that in his “Pinocchio,” they are listed in the credits even before the main voice actors.
“This is an art form that has been kept commercially and industrially at the kids table for so long,” del Toro said. “A win helps but it is about going forward as a community making it.”
Co-director Mark Gustafson echoed that message on stage.
“It’s so good to know this art form we love so much — stop motion — is very much alive and well,” Gustafson said.
Del Toro, who has established two filmmaking scholarships, says he is now committed to financing a stop motion class for students from Mexico at the Gobelins animation school. Young people, particularly those who are Latin or part of a minority, are burdened with an inherent pressure to succeed.
“The first duty of representation is to do it really well ... because you’re not doing it for you,” del Toro said. “You’re doing it for people that come after you and are looking for opportunities. If you don’t that, you’re closing that door.”
When del Toro came in the 1990s to the U.S., he encountered “a lot of open and subtle racism.” He remembered “with great chagrin” an interview his cinematographer, Oscar-winner Guillermo Navarro, had with a talent agent.
The agent “said to him 'Why do I want a Mexican? I have a gardener.”
While things have improved for people of color, there is still a very tough glass ceiling to overcome.
“You have to keep pushing it all the time. It doesn’t end with one generation. It doesn’t end with one person,” del Toro said. “But again, together you push that limit more and more and create opportunity.”
‘Navalny,’ about dissident fighting Kremlin, wins doc Oscar
“Navalny,” a look at a Russian opposition leader following an attempt on his life, has won the Oscar for best documentary feature.
Director Daniel Roher’s portrait of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has shadowy operatives, truth-seeking journalists, conspiracy theories and Soviet-era poisons. It is a film with obvious political poignance following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Roher accepted his statuette by saying he dedicated it to Navalny and to all political prisoners around the world. "Alexei, the world has not forgotten your vital message to us all: We must not be afraid to oppose dictators and authoritarianism wherever it rears its head. Navalny's wife, Yulia, said: “Alexei, I am dreaming of the day you will be free and our country will be free. Stay strong, my love.”
Also Read: Antiwar ‘All Quiet’ wins the Oscar for international film
Navalny is a media savvy, anti-corruption campaigner in his mid-40s who has for many years been a headache for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He’s released numerous reports about corruption in Russia and the Putin administration and become a popular and rallying figure among like-minded Russians.
Roher was able to sit down with Navalny during his brief stay in Berlin in 2020 and early 2021 as he was recovering from being poisoned and seeking the truth behind the unsuccessful murder attempt. The media has called Navalny the Kremlin’s fiercest critic. And he is seemingly undaunted by the intimidation and the arrests he’s endured.
The film was a hit at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won both the documentary audience award and the festival favorite award.
“'Navalny,' first and foremost, is about the passion, drive and inspiring heroism of Alexey Navalny, who even as we celebrate this award continues to languish in a penal colony,” said Amy Entelis, an executive vice president at CNN Worldwide. The film, presented by CNN Films and HBO Max, represents CNN's first Oscar.
“Navalny” beat the other documentary nominees “All That Breathes’; “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”; “Fire of Love”; and “A House Made of Splinters.”