‘American Fiction’ and ‘Slow Horses’ Take Top Honors at USC Scripter Awards

Chumbawamba have told New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister to stop using their track ‘Tubthumping’ at rallies.Last weekend (March 17), New Zealand’s deputy prime minister Winston Peters –who leads the right-wing New Zealand First party which is part of the country’s coalition government – walked on stage to the British group’s 1997 hit song before giving his controversial “state of the nation” address.Per BBC, Peters reportedly discussed plans to remove gender and sexuality lessons from the school curriculum and said that NZ First and their supporters have a “real chance to take back our country”. He also used ‘Tubthumping’s song’s lyrics at the end of the address, telling the audience “we got knocked down, but we got up again.”“Chumbawamba wrote the song Tubthumping as a song of hope and positivity, so it seems entirely odd that the ‘I get knocked down…’ refrain is being used by New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters as he barks his divisive, small-minded, bigoted policies during his recent speeches,” said the band’s former lead guitarist Boff Whalley in a statement sent to BBC News.He continued: “Chumbawamba would like to make it clear that we did not give permission for Peters to use the song and would ask him to stop using it to try to shore up his misguided political views.“Chumbawamba does not share any of Peters’ ideas on race relations and would like to remind him that the song was written for and about ordinary people and their resilience.

A number of fish and chip shops in Greater Manchester have been named in the 2024 list of best in the UK. Fry Magazine's 50 Best Fish and Chip Takeaways and 10 Best Fish & Chips Restaurants have been announced.

Christopher Vourlias Palestinian director Hana Elias’ “If These Stones Could Talk,” which follows a Palestinian man’s return to his homeland to restore his family’s ancestral garden, and Argentine filmmaker María Silvia Esteve’s “Mailin,” about a woman’s painful struggle to overcome her childhood trauma, took the top prizes at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival’s industry award ceremony Wednesday night. During an emotionally charged conclusion to the festival’s Agora strand, in which several filmmakers voiced their strident support for Palestine and called for a ceasefire to the more than five-month-old Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, a tearful Elias took the stage alongside producer Asmahan Bkerat to receive the top prize in the Agora’s pitching forum, a €10,000 ($10,900) cash prize from the International Emerging Film Talents Assn. (IEFTA).

In a very competitive race, Cord Jefferson won his first Academy Award in the Adapted Screenplay category for the dramedy “American Fiction.” Based on the 2001 novel “Erasure“ by Percival Everett, “Fiction” overcame a slew of worthy nominees such as Christopher Nolan‘s screenplay for “Oppenheimer,” Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach‘s bizarrely categorized script for “Barbie,” and Tony McNamara’s adaptation of “Poor Things” to take the prize.

The stars of American Fiction are hitting the red carpet!

Whether you opted for Oppenheimer or went bats for Barbie, chances are you've seen a movie you loved in the last year. Now they all go head-to-head in the 96th Academy Award - with titles such as Best Picture, Best Director and Best Song up for grabs.

Searches for German Shepherds have risen by a staggering 235% in Scotland as wannabe dog owners hunt for an alternative to XL Bullies.

Angelique Jackson Queen Latifah will return to host the 55th annual NAACP Image Awards after emceeing the ceremony for the first time last year. The NAACP also announced that writer, poet and activist Amanda Gorman will be honored with the prestigious Chairman’s Award, while this year’s Vanguard Award will go to costume designer, designer and tastemaker June Ambrose in honor of her decades as a pioneer in the fashion industry.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Hoyte Van Hoytema has taken top honors at the 38th annual American Society of Cinematographers Awards for his work on “Oppenheimer.” Van Hoytema topped a field that included Edward Lachman for “El Conde, Matthew Libatique for “Maestro,” Rodrigo Prieto for “Killers of the Flower Moon” and Robbie Ryan for “Poor Things.” The awards were handed out Sunday night at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. All five theatrical feature film nominees are also nominated for best cinematography at the Oscars.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” topped the dramatic feature editing category at the American Cinema Editors’ 74th ACE Eddie Awards, while “The Holdovers” won the category for best edited comedic feature during Sunday’s ceremony at UCLA’s Royce Hall. Jennifer Lame edited “Oppenheimer,” which also took top honors at last week’s SAG Awards and Producers Guild Awards. The recent honor further cements the film’s position to take top prize at the Oscars next weekend.

Christopher Vourlias Wendy Bednarz’s “Yellow Bus,” which follows a mother’s quest for justice after suffering an unthinkable tragedy, won the prize for best film at the Joburg Film Festival during an award ceremony Saturday night at the Sandton Convention Center in Johannesburg. The film, which world premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, is set in an unnamed Arabian Gulf country and follows an Indian family that endures a tragedy when their daughter is neglected on a school bus in the sweltering desert heat.

As the Oscars draw closer, more and more category winners seem to be locking into place. One of those categories that took another step to being pretty much over is Adapted Screenplay.

The 36th annual USC Libraries Scripter Awards on Saturday named Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction its outstanding film adaptations, giving the Oscar-nominated script a boost leading into next weekend’s Academy Awards.

Happy Valley, Slow Horses and BBC drama The Sixth Commandment dominate the nominations for this year’s Broadcasting Press Guild (BPG) Awards, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

The stars of the Oscar-nominated movie American Fiction at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards!

William Earl administrator The 2024 Independent Spirit Awards are taking place on Sunday at the traditional Santa Monica beach tent location, with Aidy Bryant set to host. “Past Lives,” “May December” and “American Fiction” are leading the pack of nominees with five nods each.

Prior to American Fiction, Sterling K. Brown was best known as Randall Pearson in the long-running, award-winning NBC family drama series This is Us. The part that director Cord Jefferson was offering him couldn’t have been more different: in Jefferson’s adaptation of the satirical novel by Percival Everett, Brown plays Clifford ‘Cliff’ Ellison, a caustic plastic surgeon and brother to the film’s protagonist, Thelonious ‘Monk’ Ellison (Jeffrey Wright). After divorcing his wife, Cliff comes out as gay, further estranging him from his uptight family. This nuanced role allowed Brown to explore the many facets of Blackness and the challenges of the LGBTQ+ community.

Sandra Huller is nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Anatomy of a Fall and she just picked up a Cesar Award for her work!

Jada Pinkett Smith has made headlines over the last year for her relationship with Will Smith, but there’s more to the actress and host than her drama. The 52-year-old has lived an exciting life, and in the 2000s, she fronted the nu-metal band Wicked Wisdom. She was one of the few black women in the genre of music.The actress was a guest on NPR’s podcast It’s Been A Minute, where she reflected on those rock days. The band released their debut album in 2006, and she toured with Britney Spears in Europe, at venues and music festivals in the US and internationally, and notably, at Ozzfest, one of the most prominent heavy metal festivals in the country.Fans of the genre didn’t welcome her with open arms; she even received death threats and would have visits by neo-Nazis.

A column chronicling conversations and events on the awards circuit.