Award / Grant News

Clint Eastwood Gets Lifetime Palme D’Or

Source: All About Jazz
February 26, 2009

PARIS - Clint Eastwood on Wednesday became only the second person to receive a lifetime achievement honor from the organizers of the Cannes Film Festival.

The actor/director received the honorary Palme d’Or during an intimate news conference and cocktail party at a restaurant.

“I’m very, very flattered that you’ve chosen me for this,” Eastwood said. “French cineastes have always been very supportive of me along the way. When I directed my first movie, French cineastes and critics encouraged me, while ...

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Obamas Honor Stevie Wonder at White House

Source: All About Jazz
February 26, 2009

Singer-songwriter is praised for creating ‘a style that’s uniquely American’ Legendary entertainer Stevie Wonder got a presidential welcome from the Obamas, who honored him with the Library of Congress' Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday thanked musician Stevie Wonder for creating “a style that’s uniquely American” as he presented the singer- songwriter the nation’s highest award for pop music.

Obama, who called Wonder the soundtrack of his youth, gave the star the Library of ...

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81st Academy Award Winners

Source: All About Jazz
February 23, 2009

2009 Oscar Winners Winners in bold

BEST PICTURE “Slumdog Millionaire" “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" “Frost/Nixon" “Milk" “The Reader"

BEST ACTRESS Kate Winslet, “The Reader" Anne Hathaway, “Rachel Getting Married" Angelina Jolie, “Changeling" Melissa Leo, “Frozen River" Meryl Streep, “Doubt"

BEST ACTOR Sean Penn, “Milk" Frank Langella, “Frost/Nixon" Brad Pitt, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler" Richard Jenkins, “The Visitor"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona" Amy Adams, “Doubt" Viola Davis, ...

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A.R. Rahman Takes Oscar for Slumdog Original Score, Best Song

Source: Michael Ricci
February 23, 2009

Original score: 'Slumdog Millionaire's' A.R. Rahman

Rahman, composer of countless Bollywood scores, won for his transporting soundscape in Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle's crowd-pleaser that is part potboiler, part fairy tale.

Rahman started writing music for Indian TV ads in the early '90s, eventually switching to film and composing dozens of soundtracks a year. In 2002, Andrew Lloyd Webber commissioned him to write the music for the play “Bombay Dreams," which ran in London's West End. Rahman also collaborated with London ...

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Complete List of Nominees for the 81st Annual Academy Awards

Source: All About Jazz
February 22, 2009

2009 Oscar scorecard The Envelope Winner --->

BEST PICTURE “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" “Frost/Nixon" “Milk" “The Reader" “Slumdog Millionaire"

BEST ACTRESS Anne Hathaway, “Rachel Getting Married" Angelina Jolie, “Changeling" Melissa Leo, “Frozen River" Meryl Streep, “Doubt" Kate Winslet, “The Reader"

BEST ACTOR Frank Langella, “Frost/Nixon" Sean Penn, “Milk" Brad Pitt, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler" Richard Jenkins, “The Visitor"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Amy Adams, “Doubt" Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona" Viola ...

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Live Blogging the Oscars

Source: Michael Ricci
February 22, 2009

Make this blog item your home page for the rest of Oscar day. Tom O'Neil and Paul Sheehan are blogging live continuously all day. Keep hitting “refresh" for constant updates about what's happening at the Kodak Theatre.

1:30 p.m. — Our forums moderator Chris “Boomer" Beachum has compiled this list of who we believe will be among the performers, presenters and participants on tonight's show. Over at Cinemascopian.com, he found an unofficial rundown of how the program reportedly will go ...

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I'm with the Band! Oscars Stage Design Revealed

Source: All About Jazz
February 21, 2009

Architect going for ‘immersive environment evocative of an intimate club.

Now when the Oscars musicians play winners offstage, they might get the chance to glare a little bit, too.

Renderings of this year’s Academy Awards set show an onstage bandstand, situated behind a circular ministage that juts into the audience. The whole thing is surrounded by a glittering circle of cascading white lights and flanked by enormous chandeliers.

The images were released by the firm of architect David Rockwell, the ...

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Duffy Tops Brit Awards (Coldplay Shut Out)

Source: All About Jazz
February 20, 2009

Even at an awards ceremony where Robert Plant and Alison Krauss weren’t nominated for anything, Coldplay was nonetheless shut out at the Brit Awards, England’s equivalent of the Grammys.

Instead Duffy won nearly everything but the catering cart, Reuters reported. Coldplay, which was nominated for four awards, including best British group and British live act, won nothing, while Duffy, the Welsh soul singer of “Mercy” fame, won awards for best British female and breakthrough act, as well as album for ...

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