News Archive
Almodóvar y Banderas, en la rampa de despegue para los Óscar
Sobre el papel, esta gala, más íntima y menos mediática que los Óscar (no se retransmite por televisión en directo), sirve para entregar los galardones honoríficos de la Academia, que esta vez fueron para David Lynch, Wes Studi, Lina Wertmüller y Geena Davis. Pero en los círculos de Hollywood, esta ceremonia significa otra cosa: el comienzo no oficial de la temporada de premios. Read More…
‘The Annas?’: Oscar honorees target Hollywood gender equality
Hollywood’s female filmmakers set out plans to achieve gender equality Sunday as actress Geena Davis and director Lina Wertmuller collected honorary Oscars at a star-studded ceremony focused on diversity. “Thelma and Louise” star Davis told the annual Governors’ Awards in Los Angeles how the feminist road movie had prompted her lifelong campaign for gender balance at the movies. “It made me realize in a very powerful way how few opportunities we give women to come out of a movie feeling excited and empowered by female characters,” said Davis of “Thelma and Louise.” Read More…
Groundbreaking quartet honored with special Oscars
Filmmakers David Lynch and Lina Wertmuller and actor Wes Studi received honorary Oscars on Sunday, Oct. 27 from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, while the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award went to actress/activist Geena Davis to honor her efforts on behalf of gender equality. Davis, 63, is being recognized for being “a passionate advocate for gender equality in media,” according to an Academy statement. She is the founder and chair of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, a nonprofit dedicated to educating and influencing film and television content creators to eliminate gender bias and stereotypes and create a wide variety of female characters in entertainment and media aimed at children. Read More…
First woman ever nominated for the Best Director gets her Oscar
Lina Wertmüller, the first woman ever to be nominated in the Best Director category at the Academy Awards, has been given an honorary Oscar. The 91-year-old Italian screenwriter and director was nominated for her movie Seven Beauties in 1976, a World War II drama which she also wrote. The category was hotly contested, with Wertmüller up against Ingmar Bergman for Face To Face, Sidney Lumet for Network, Alan J. Pakula for All The President’s Men, and John G. Avildsen for Rocky (Avildsen ended up winning). Wertmüller is one of only five women to ever be nominated in the director’s category, and also received nominations for Best Foreign Language Film, Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor for Giancarlo Giannini.
Inside the Governors Awards: A night of celebration that calls for change
“This is an anxiety-free zone,” Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences David Rubin said in his introduction to this year’s Governors Awards. “This is a Hollywood party in the best sense.” This proved a hard sentiment to argue with. On Sunday, at the 11th annual special Oscars ceremony — for a variety of lifetime achievements — the Ray Dolby Ballroom of the Hollywood & Highland Center was flooded with the town’s brightest stars. Legends abounded, first and foremost the Governors Award recipients: David Lynch, Geena Davis, Wes Studi, and Lina Wertmüller, artists who’ve contributed to and transformed the medium over decades. But as always, the event also marked a major stop on this year’s campaign trail. Think of a contender for a 2020 Oscar nomination, and they were probably in the room. Read More…
Governors Awards: Calls for gender parity; selfies with Dr. Ruth
During his opener to the Governors Awards on Sunday night, Jamie Foxx name-checked his “Django Unchained” collaborators Quentin Tarantino and Leonardo DiCaprio, heaped praise on Tom Hanks with such enthusiasm that Hanks had no choice but to stand and do a little dance in response, and then finally brought a reluctant Eddie Murphy on stage because … why not? But the real charge in the ceremony came a bit later when two of the evening’s honorees, actress and activist Geena Davis and Italian director Lina Wertmüller, called on film industry leaders and academy members to take a hard look at gender inequity in movies and actually do something about it. Davis asked studio executives and producers to do an immediate gender and diversity pass on their projects, noting that “no matter how abysmal the numbers are in real life, they’re far worse in fiction.” “People characterize Hollywood as full of bleeding-heart liberals — hardly!” Davis said. “If we are supposed to be a bunch of ‘intersectional, gender-fluid feminists,’ then let’s do it up right.” Read More…
Governors Awards: Famed director calls for ‘a female Oscar’ named Anna
Such was the siren call sent by famed Italian director Lina Wertmüller at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 11th annual Governors Awards Sunday night, as the 91-year-old received her honorary Oscar. Also honored was Geena Davis, 63, who was presented with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her work as an advocate for gender equality. Tom Hanks introduced his “A League of Their Own” co-star, happily bringing the crowd back to their Dottie Hinson and Jimmy Dugan days. Davis said if those gathered were going to be labeled as Hollywood liberals, they may as well lean in and take action addressing gender disparity in scripts. “If we’re supposed to be a bunch of gender-fluid intersectional feminists, then by god, let’s do it right!” she deadpanned. Read More…
91-Year-Old Lina Wertmuller Steals the Show at Oscars Governors Awards
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made statements about inclusion, diversity, gender equity and creative risk-taking on Sunday night at the 11th annual Governors Awards, but it also learned a big lesson as it was making those statements. The lesson: Sometimes, it doesn’t matter what else you do, because somebody is going to come along and steal the whole damn show. In this case, that somebody was Lina Wertmüller, the 91-year-old Italian director who was given an Honorary Academy Award for provocative, groundbreaking films became the first woman ever nominated for Best Director. On a night that also bestowed honorary Oscars on director David Lynch and actor Wes Studi and gave the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to actress and gender-parity activist Geena Davis, the diminutive and spunky Wertmüller became almost everybody’s highlight. Read More…
Governors Awards: The Season’s First Oscars Handed Out Sunday Night To Most Diverse Field Of Honorees Ever
It was an historic night at the Governors Awards on Sunday, and not just because Lina Wertmuller wants Oscar to go through a gender change. Ninety-one-year old Wertmuller was honored in part as a ground-breaker by being the first Oscar-nominated female director. Geena Davis took the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for tirelessly promoting gender parity in media and movies through her foundation. Wes Studi became the first Native American ever to receive an Oscar. And David Lynch got his long deserved statuette for being, well, David Lynch. Read More…
Stars advocate for progress at honorary Oscars event
Inequality in the film industry got a high-profile spotlight at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 11th annual Governors Awards. Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient Geena Davis asked everyone in the room to not make another movie without doing a “gender and diversity pass” on the script first. Read More…
