Colin Jost and Michael Che are preparing to host the Primetime Emmys (Picture: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)The Primetime Emmy Awards are taking place this week – but who’s nominated in what category? Nominations for the 70th annual Emmy Awards were revealed in July. While Game Of Thrones received its standard flurry, one of the main shocks…
via Emmy Awards 2018 nominations in full – Game Of Thrones to Westworld — Metro
Hollywood has lost a legend.
And Sally Field has lost a true love.
Burt Reynolds died on Thursday of a heart attack, passing away at his home in Jupiter, Florida.
The legendary actor was 82 years old.
Upon learning of his death, a number of entertainment industry heavyweights have expressed their sympathy and their sorrow (scroll down), but one name stands out from all the rest right now.
Sally Field met Reynolds on the set of the 1977 smash hit comedy, Smokey and the Bandit.
The actress and the actor would date for five years… while also co-starring in several more films, including Smokey and the Bandit II, The End and Hooper.
Although they split for good in 1982, Reynolds recounted the romance over 30 years later in an interview with Vanity Fair, referring to Field as “the love of my life.”
And it’s clear now that Reyonds was never far from the two-time Oscar winner’s heart, either.
“There are times in your life that are so indelible, they never fade away,” Field said in a statement this afternoon, adding of Reynolds:
“They stay alive, even forty years later. My years with Burt never leave my mind. He will be in my history and my heart, for as long as I live. Rest, Buddy.”
Reynolds’ manager, Erik Kritzer, confirmed the passing of this big screen icon, while his niece, Nancy Lee Hess, said the following on Thursday:
“My uncle was not just a movie icon; he was a generous, passionate and sensitive man who was dedicated to his family, friends, fans and acting students.
“He has had health issues, however, this was totally unexpected. He was tough. Anyone who breaks their tailbone on a river and finishes the movie is tough. And that’s who he was.
“My uncle was looking forward to working with Quentin Tarantino (in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and the amazing cast that was assembled.”
In recent years, Reynolds used a cane while out in public. His last appearance in front of a big crowd took place at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
In the wake of his passing, nearly everyone across Hollywood chimed in with a story about Reynolds or with a few thoughts about the highly-respected actor. To wit:
Arnold Schwarzenegger: Burt Reynolds was one of my heroes. He was a trailblazer. He showed the way to transition from being an athlete to being the highest paid actor, and he always inspired me. He also had a great sense of humor – check out his Tonight Show clips. My thoughts are with his family.
Reba McEntire: My good friend has started a new journey. Rest in my peace my friend. I’ll never forget the wonderful times we spent together.
Sylvester Stallone: A sad day, my friend BURT REYNOLDS Has passed away. I remember him back in 1979, he always reminded me that I should’ve cast him as Colonel Trautman in FIRST BLOOD , I said that’s impossible, because you’re too expensive and too famous, and probably tougher than Rambo ! He laughed , He had a great sense of humor and I enjoyed his company so much… RIP Buddy
Goldie Hawn: There is only One Burt Reynolds. One! I loved our time our laughs and fun. Now your angels will giggle at your silly jokes as they hold you lightly as you rest dear one.
Kevin Bacon: Im 19. I get a few lines in a movie. The megastar on set was really nice and cool to this punk actor(me) for no reason. The director called me before the movie came out to tell me I had hit the cutting room floor. But I never forgot that Star. Thanks Burt. RIP.
Paul Wesley: Burt Reynolds was one of the kindest and most generous people I have ever worked with. He took me under his wing when I was first starting out as an actor and offered friendship, advice and guidance. I’ll never forget how much that meant to me.
Michael Chiklis: I owe my career, at least in part, to the great Burt Reynolds. Heartbroken to learn of his passing. He was one of a kind. A fun loving, charismatic talent who did many good deeds quietly, without personal expectation but rather out of the kindness of his extraordinary heart. RIP.
May Burt Reynolds rest in peace.
THG
The BBC‘s new drama Wanderlust made its sensational debut on Tuesday night – and turned the air completely blue.
Viewers were left blushing when Toni Collette’s character Joy Richards engaged in a series of ‘filthy’ scenes, including a graphic sex scene with her husband, a striptease, masturbating.
Joy struggles to rekindle her sex life with husband Alan – played by Steven Mackintosh – after suffering an accident, so he cheats on her with his work colleague Claire.
The couple then agree to an open marriage, which leads to Joy engaging in a sex act with a man she met at her swimming class, resulting the first ever female orgasm shown on the BBC.
Viewers were left blushing over the racy scenes, with one tweeting: ‘Can’t watch Wanderlust! Impressionable youngish kids in the house lol’
‘Will I be permanently blushing during this series?’ another asked.
A third wrote: ‘Well the opening scene on Wanderlust BBC 1 was enough to put me off sexual relations for a lifetime’
The show follows Toni Collette’s character Joy who was in a car accident that left her on crutches and unable to have sex with Alan for a few months.
An unsatisfied Joy was later seen masturbating before her son interrupted and she was forced to stop.
Elsewhere Adam’s colleague Claire – played by Zawe Ashton – was walking into her office when she interrupted their other colleague Neil masturbating while reading an underwear catalogue.
Adam comforted her by taking her out for a drink, and they ended up going home together where they smoked cannabis and then fell into bed.
Joy later tried to spice up their marriage by wearing a sexy lingerie set (pictured) but Alan rejected her advances saying he’d prefer to have sex in their usual way
A sexually frustrated Joy was later seen masturbating (pictured) before her teenage son walked in on her and she stopped
The next afternoon Joy started talking to a man called Marvin she’d met at her swimming class and he offered to drive her home so she didn’t have to get the bus in the rain.
As she showed him around they ended up kissing before pleasuring each other, which resulted in an orgasm for Joy.
That evening the couple decided to come clean, with Adam being the first to admit his cheating and telling her he was ‘so, so sorry’.
A baffled Joy revealed her tryst with Marvin and Adam became enraged, before she suggested that their sex life – but not their marriage – was over.
Toni Colette, 45, previously spoke about the show’s risque scenes, revealing that her husband of 15 years Dave Galafassi had actually watched and enjoyed all of them.
‘He’s really open-minded and pretty aware of what life can throw at people,’ the mother-of-two told Stella magazine.
‘The one thing he did say was, “This is the best thing you’ve ever done”. It made me cry.’
And then there’s Steven Seagal, whom no one has ever liked. Seagal’s been accused by Portia de Rossi and others of gross sexual harassment and misconduct.
Now he is accused of rape.
Recently, we have heard some deeply alarming stories about Steven Seagal.
Lisa Guerrero spoke of her harrowing encounter with Seagal back in the ’90s. She describes having been invited to his house, but she insisted that the casting director accompany her.
As uncomfortable as she felt while he appeared to wear only a robe while sitting, as if on a throne, in his living room, she can’t help but wonder how much worse the experience might have been had it only been the two of them.
And then Portia de Rossi shared her horrible experience with him, also at his home, where a professional meeting went from bad to worse when Seagal allegedly “unzipped” in front of her.
Dutch model Faviola Dadis revealed that she was lured under the guise of an audition to a hotel room, where Seagal allegedly began folding her breasts and crotch and where she describes his security team as having blocked her until she began making noise in an effort to get help.
Horrifying.
Among the several woman to accuse Steven Seagal of being a sex monster is 43-year-old model, Regina Simons.
But she’s not talking about a narrow escape or being groped. She accuses Steven Seagal of rape.
Regina worked as an extra on the 1994 film, On Deadly Ground.
At the time, she was only 18 years old, and was a shy girl from a conservative Mormon background.
The experience with Steven Seagal that she bravely describes to The Wrap is one that no one should ever have had to endure.
She says that she was invited to the “wrap party” at Steven Seagal’s house, weeks after she filmed her scene. When she arrived, she was the only guest.
“I asked him where is everyone and he said that they had already left.”
And that, she describes, is when things went from weird to awful.
“He took me into this room and then just closed the door and started kissing me.”
Despicable.
“He then took my clothes off and before I knew it he was on top of me, raping me…”
That is as bad as it gets.
“I wasn’t sexually active yet.”
In case anyone is ignorant enough to ask why she didn’t try to fight off the man three times her size, she describes her experience in chilling detail.
“People always talk about fight-or-flight. But no one talks about the freeze.”
Freezing up is a normal preservation instinct! No sudden movements to flee or to fight can often reduce your chances of getting murdered.
“The only way I’m able to describe it is I literally felt like I left my body.”
That is classic dissociation. Do you ever just “go somewhere else” to avoid laughing or crying in socially inappropriate situations? Well, trauma survivors frequently dissociate during and then, later, after traumatic events. It’s a coping mechanism.
“I think because of the situation I was completely caught off guard. Tears were coming down my face and I know that it hurt. He was three times my size.”
“I was crying when he was on top of me.”
It’s taken her a long time to come forward.
“Even now, my 43-year-old mind knows how to process this and understand what a loving relationship is and what consensual sex is. And there was none of that.”
She’s now a mother. Thinking back, though, she recalls making a beeline for the door as soon as she perceived that it was safe for her to go.
“All I remember is him asking me if I needed any money.”
Sickening.
“I shook my head and ran towards my car. I cried the whole way home.”
She’s reported this to the LAPD, and she’s not the only one. We won’t hold our breath for anyone to actually be held accountable, though.
Everyone from Nick Jonas to Meryl Streep was sporting black at Sunday night’s award show as a symbol of protest against sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood. Claire Foy wore a sleek, all-black suit, and Justin Timberlake looked dapper in a silk-trimmed black suit. Other all-black-clad celebrities included Tracee Ellis Ross, Emma Watson, Hugh Jackman, Jessica Chastain, Octavia Spencer and Kerry Washington.
“The question isn’t who are you wearing tonight, it’s why are you wearing black?” E! News co-host Giuliana Rancic said on the red carpet.
The powerful act of solidarity comes in the wake of the #MeToo movement in which millions of people around the world shared their stories of sexual harassment and assault. The movement inspired a cultural reckoning that has brought down many alleged predators in power including Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and Matt Lauer.
Actress Michelle Williams wore black and brought activist and #MeToo creator Tarana Burke as her red carpet guest.
“This moment is so powerful because we’re staring at a… collaboration between these two worlds that people don’t usually put together and would most likely have us pinned against each other,” Burke told E! co-host Ryan Seacrest. “It’s really powerful to be on the red carpet tonight.”
Williams added how powerful this moment is for her as a woman and a mother.
“I thought that I would have to raise my daughter to learn how to protect herself in a dangerous world and I think because of the work that Tarana has done and the work that I’m learning how to do we actually have the opportunity to hand our children a different world,” she said.
Another accessory commonly spotted on this year’s red carpet were tiny pins that read “Time’s Up.” The small black and white pins are part of the recent initiative of the same name spearheaded by more than 300 actresses to combat sexual violence in Hollywood.
Stars including Seth Meyers, Hugh Jackman, James Franco and Bob Odenkirk donned Time’s Up pins on the red carpet.
The Time’s Up initiative was announced on New Year’s Day and was inspired by the recent #MeToo movement as well. One way the initiative is hoping to combat sexual misconduct is through a newly created legal defense fund that will help less-privileged women come forward with their stories.
“This is not about Hollywood,” actress Debra Messing said on the red carpet. “This is about every woman in every industry, globally.”
Scroll down to see more pictures of big stars wearing black.
Guests on the “Dr. Phil” show who struggle with addiction have been supplied with drugs and alcohol before appearing on set for taping, according to a joint investigation between Stat and The Boston Globe published Thursday.
In one shocking example, “Survivor: China” winner Todd Herzog told reporters he appeared on the program drunk as he was dealing with alcoholism in 2013. Herzog said he found a liter of Smirnoff vodka in his dressing room, which he consumed, and was later handed a Xanax pill by a staffer to “calm his nerves.”
The show, hosted by the no-nonsense Southerner Phil McGraw, has been on-air since 2002, but McGraw gained a following with appearances on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” before then.
During the episode with Herzog, who had to be assisted onstage, McGraw said he had “never talked to a guest who was closer to death.”
A family member of another guest told reporters their relative “bought heroin with the knowledge and support of show staff” before a taping. The report also states that “Dr. Phil” staff filmed another guest, who was pregnant, searching for a dealer on Los Angeles’ skid row.
Reporters note that the alleged actions of staffers can make for “riveting” television, but the show’s guests, who stay in hotels up to 48 hours before taping an episode, can experience a possibly dangerous withdrawal period during that time.
A psychologist who works for the show, Martin Greenberg, denied the claims. In a statement provided to Stat and the Globe, he said that “addicts are notorious for lying, deflecting and trivializing.”
“But, if they are at risk when they arrive, then they were at risk before they arrived,” the statement continued. “The only change is they are one step closer to getting help, typically help they could not have even come close to affording.” Guests dealing with addiction are typically helped with referrals to treatment facilities.
According to the report, a mutually beneficial relationship between the “Dr. Phil” show and McGraw’s own business interests — namely a digital treatment program available for purchase by treatment facilities — may have contributed to the alleged abuse.
McGraw holds a doctorate in psychology but let his license to practice expire more than a decade ago. Over his television career, he’s faced criticisms and lawsuits for his approach to mental health, which the National Alliance on Mental Illness once called “serious enough to warrant investigation by a relevant board of licensure,” following a 2004 segment in which he diagnosed a 9-year-old boy as a potential killer.
The syndicated show is popular with women ages 25 to 54, a key daytime TV advertising demographic.
HuffPost reached out to a representative for McGraw but did not immediately receive a response.
Bryan Singer is being sued for allegedly forcing a 17-year-old boy to perform oral sex on him and then raping him during a yacht party in 2003.
The X-Men director issued a statement in which he strenuously denied all the claims.
The lawsuit, filed by Cesar Sanchez-Guzman’s attorney, alleges that Singer was at a party, with young gay men, on tech investor Lester Waters’ yacht in Seattle in 2003.
It claims that Singer offered to take a then-17 Guzman on a tour of the yacht, but when they got to one of the rooms, the director allegedly forced the teen to the floor, shoved his crotch against Guzman’s face and demanded he perform oral sex.
Guzman goes onto say in the lawsuit, that Singer then pulled out his penis and forced it into his mouth, causing him to choke as he begged him to stop.
Singer allegedly forcibly performed oral sex on Guzman, who repeatedly told him to stop, before he anally raped him, according to the lawsuit.
The suit states that Singer later threatened Guzman, telling him he was a powerful Hollywood producer and that he could hire people to ruin his alleged victim’s reputation.
The director, who co-produced X-Men: First Class (2011), and directed two more X-Men films, X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) strenuously denies all the claims
He added that no one would believe him if he did come forward. But if he kept quiet, he would help his acting career.
Guzman, who is represented by lawyer Jeff Herman, is suing for emotional distress, mental anguish, and physical and mental pain.
However, Singer’s representative told TMZ that Herman had a history of representing false claims against the director and had even been sued for malicious prosecution.
A rep for Singer told People: ‘Bryan categorically denies these allegations and will vehemently defend this lawsuit to the very end.
‘Cesar Sanchez-Guzman apparently claims that he did not remember this alleged incident from 2003 until now. Significantly, when Sanchez-Guzman filed for bankruptcy only a few years ago, he failed to disclose this alleged claim when he was supposed to identify all of his assets, but conveniently, now that the bankruptcy court discharged all of his debts, he is able to recall the alleged events.’
Herman previously represented Michael Egan, who accused Singer and other Hollywood figures of sexual assault in 2014, only to later withdraw the claims. He was sentenced to two years in jail in connection with a fraudulent investment scheme in 2015.
The lawsuit was filed just days after Singer was fired from the upcoming Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.
He had just taken an unexpected leave of absence a few weeks before filming was set to wrap on the project, leaving Twentieth Century Fox in the lurch.
The decision to fire Singer came after the director reportedly feuded with multiple actors on the set according to The Hollywood Reporter, forcing Twentieth Century Fox to remove him from the project.
By Hannah Parry and Abigail Miller and Chris Spargo For Dailymail.com
Page Six.com is reporting that Lauer”s wife of 20 years has left him amid the sexual harassment scandal that has tarnished his career.
Roque, 50, was last seen at their $30 million family home in the Hamptons when news broke about his sacking on Wednesday, but now she has gone.
A source revealed: “Annette has taken their two younger kids out of school and is believed to have left the US and gone to her family in her native country.”
It is understood that her mother lives near Amsterdam in Holland.
The news will come as a hammer-blow to Lauer, 59, whose life is currently in tatters.
So far, his loyal wife has stayed silent about the scandal and has been protecting their children.
She and Lauer have three children, Romy, 14, son Thijs, 11, and oldest son Jack, who is at a prep school outside Manhattan.
It is not known if the kids are with Annette or remained at home with Lauer.
PHOTOS: Sexting, Cheating & Bad Behavior: Inside Matt Lauer’s Most Shocking Sex Scandals
The couple has endured a stormy relationship even before this latest scandal.
Roque briefly filed for divorce in 2006, claiming she suffered “cruel and inhumane” treatment from Lauer, who she said in legal documents was controlling and demonstrated “extreme anger and hostility.”
However, she withdrew the divorce filing a month later.
The source said, “Matt needed to stay in the marriage to keep his reputation as America”s nicest dad. He is in fact a great, and very doting dad to his kids, but he is also a terrible husband.”
A rep for Lauer declined to comment about his wife.
Congratulations are in order for Serena Williams! The tennis pro has officially exchanged vows with Alexis Ohanian, and RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively the newly married couple are having a dance party in the streets of New Orleans with the A-List guests!
Celebrities including Kim Kardashian, Ciara and Beyoncewere all in attendance at the star-studded ceremonywhich took place at the Contemporary Arts Center.
Sources say the wedding was a “Beauty and the Beast” theme and cost more than $1 million!
Security for the event was tight, according to reports, and an entire block in the Big Easy was said to be closed off to traffic.Workers were spotted early Thursday transforming the arts complex for the ceremony, while the parking lot beside the building was full of tents and trucks unloading flowers, tables, carpets, wardrobe, and musicians.
RADARONLINE
Wendy Williams, 53, found herself at the center of headlines, when critics put up a fuss that she is too skinny. After maintaining her 50-pound weight loss and continuing to live a healthy lifestyle, Wendy gave her haters a strong-worded response. “They are so jealous,” she said on Monday as she rolled her eyes chatting with Extra. “Excuse me, do I look too skinny? I weigh 145 pounds. I am sleek, lean, and living my life.” You tell em’, Wendy!
Wendy admitted that she’s “more guarded now” than ever before. And, she offered up a last message to her haters — “Pick a finger,” she quipped with confidence.
Back in 2015, Wendy revealed her new slimmed-down figure after a 50-pound weight loss. During a Q&A with her fans, she said that she dropped the weight over the course of three years. Wendy credited self-control as the kickstart to her weight loss.
Wendy revealed that she changed up her eating habits to lose weight. She cut meat out of her diet, and she stopped eating as much. “Because of all the crazy diets I’ve been on, none have ever been as effective as [saying to myself], ‘Just push back, fatso. Just stop eating so much.’”
She even confessed that she doesn’t even love food as much, since she cut down. Instead, “I’ve picked up on other great habits like juicing.” Wendy also said that she avoids refined sugars, dairy, and eating after dark. Wendy did admit that she misses eggs though.
As for what she eats/drinks a lot of post weight loss? — Water and coconut water, tomatoes, green peppers, onions, wheat pasta with red sauce, and kale chips instead of potato chips. As for her workout routine? — She said that her go-to workouts include a lot of cardio and pilates.
And, changing her lifestyle wasn’t only about losing weight. “I go to the gym because it’s not about me losing weight at this point, it’s about me trying to fight heart disease,” she explained. “Slow and steady is the name of the game. It’s not going to happen overnight. I no longer believe in fad diets, crash diets…yes, I did have a jump-start because years ago I did get the liposuction and a tummy tuck, but I have to say that, if there is a poster child for plastic surgery and the jump-off to a new lifestyle, it would be me.”
Through the night, for many nights, Martin Scorsese sat ensconced in an edit suite. It was 1981 and the director was in post-production for “The King of Comedy,” his dark satire of the stand-up circuit.
As he worked, a TV in the background pulsed with the sounds of Nass El Ghiwane, a Moroccan band and the subject of “Trances,” a concert movie by Ahmed El Maanouni. Over and over, night after night, the same channel repeated its broadcast, the film’s hypnotic rhythms seeping into the New Yorker’s soul.
“It’s been an obsession of mine,” Scorsese has said. In the years since, he hunted down the band’s music, heaped praise on El Maanouni and in 2007 orchestrated a full restoration of the film.
Scorsese is part of a generation that includes George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola: titans of Hollywood who gorged on a diet of foreign cinema. Its influence is telling. Just as the samurai films of Akira Kurosawa filtered down into “Star Wars,” Ingmar Bergman’s picaresque narratives find a companion in “Apocalypse Now.” For Scorsese, African cinema comprised part of his vernacular.
“Trances” was an inspiration behind 1988’s “The Last Temptation of Christ,” and elsewhere the director has described the “incredible impact” of “La Noire De…” (“Black Girl,” 1966) by Ousmane Sembene. First watched in 1969, the Senegalese movie “was unlike anything that I’d ever seen,” he recalled. “It was like a door had opened in the West and it was the first time we could feel a truly African voice in the cinema.”
Scorsese took note, but not many heard this African voice, or its contemporaries — particularly in Africa itself. Part of the problem is distribution, another is politics, say advocates. The result is a generation of cinematic giants left in slumber, and vital pieces of cultural heritage missing.
Now, an international effort including Scorsese is aiming to revive these figures — and revise what we thought we knew about African cinema.
Lost, missing or hidden away
Scorsese established The Film Foundation in 1990, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving and protecting historic cinema. A decade ago it launched the World Cinema Project, focusing on films outside the Western canon. It was around then that Scorsese took a trip to West Africa.
“In 2007, I visited my friend (the director) Souleymane Cisse in Mali,” he told CNN. “Our discussions during that trip highlighted for me the urgent need to preserve African films, many of which are not known or even available, leaving a chasm in our understanding of world cinema.”
The project has sought to fill this chasm, but so far African films remain outliers. Of over 750 restorations overseen by the foundation, only seven were from the continent at the beginning of 2017. That dynamic is changing, however.
In June, the foundation, UNESCO and the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers, known as FEPACI, in collaboration with Cineteca di Bologna, signed an agreement formalizing the African Film Heritage Project, or AFHP. The initiative “will locate and preserve 50 African films, and make them available to audiences in Africa and around the world,” Scorsese explains.
It’s a daunting task, agree all involved. Some of the films identified for restoration are, for all intents and purposes, lost. “If you Google search some of these titles nothing comes up,” says Margaret Bodde, executive director of the Film Foundation. “There’s no kind of writing about these films.”
Very rarely were film negatives developed in Africa in the 1960s and ’70s, with most taken to laboratories in Europe or the United States. “Sometimes documentation is lost or never existed,” says Cecilia Cenciarelli, a curator at Cineteca di Bologna. It can take years of phone calls and emails to find a negative or 35 millimeter print. Often assets are incomplete and scattered, she adds, recalling a Soviet-era title where one reel was found in Cuba and the others in the former East Germany.
Each restoration costs anywhere from $100,000-250,000 according to Bodde, which is expensive for a nonprofit. Negotiating access is an additional issue, says Aboubakar Sanogo, lecturer and North American regional secretary of FEPACI.
“I won’t name the filmmaker, but one entity in Britain has been storing the films of an African filmmaker since the 1960s,” Sanogo says as an example. “He’s a filmmaker we’re interested in working on. That entity just said ‘…well you have to pay about £100,000 ($132,000).’”
“This is completely unethical as far as I’m concerned, but these are some of the difficulties that we are going to be facing in the next decade.”
‘So important yet so unknown’
The first fruits of the project came to light in May when “Soleil O” (“Oh, Sun,” 1970) screened at the Cannes Film Festival under the Cannes Classics sidebar.
The debut feature by Mauritanian director Med Hondo “depicts issues that are still relevant today,” says Scorsese, describing to CNN “a powerful film about a young man who emigrates from West Africa to France in search of a better life. Instead he finds racism, hostility and hypocrisy.”
“It’s a deeply personal film, based so entirely on Med Hondo’s own experience,” says Bodde. He’s typical of the directors the project is targeting. Lauded in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the spiritual home of African cinema, Hondo, now 81 years old, is “so important yet so unknown,” says Cenciarelli. (His most-seen work has been as a voice actor in dubbed versions of “Shrek” and the “Star Wars” prequels.)
“(Restoring “Soleil O”) seems a good way to start this project, by honoring a filmmaker who’s still alive, (who) contributed in a less classic way — a more avant-garde way — to building big chapters of (a) cultural revolution for Africa,” she says.
Five more films have been earmarked for restoration, but the foundation is only now revealing the first two titles: “Le Vent des Aures” (“The Wind of the Aures,” 1967) by Algerian Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, and “La Femme au Couteau” (“Woman with the Knife,” 1969) by Ivorian Timite Bassori. Both will be the first titles from their countries restored through the foundation.
“Restoration and preservation is really only half the battle,” said Scorsese in February. “African films need to be seen by the audiences they were intended for: the African people.” The aim is for the five films to screen at FESPACO in 2019, when Africa’s biggest film festival in Ouagadougou celebrates its 50th anniversary.
But the festival circuit can only reach so far. “We want as many people to be exposed,” says Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO. “It’s very important … to work with African media, television providers, owners of cinemas, theaters, to show these films.”
“We won’t be dogmatic,” Sanogo adds. Despite plans to create 35 millimeter prints, he describes the format as “dead,” outlining DVD, Blu-ray and streaming options for future releases.
UNESCO will include AFHP titles as part of its Memory of the World Program and the General History of Africa, the latter “a giant project that UNESCO started in 1964 in order to deconstruct the false premises and prejudices attributed towards African history,” Bokova says.
Some of these have arguably been formed or perpetuated in movie theaters.
“From the beginning, African filmmakers were using cinema as a means to raise awareness about its past, about the aspirations of their people, about their histories, but also educating them to meet the challenges of newly found independence,” says the UNESCO director-general. But many films were left to gather dust far from home. Meanwhile, Sanogo speaks of a period of cultural neo-colonialism when “Hollywood used to dump their films on African countries,” undercutting homegrown productions with lower distribution costs.
The absence of these self-determining African voices has left a void, and an opportunity for non-African filmmakers to impose a fanciful view of the continent: “a reductive mode of representation that we see in most European and American films, frankly,” says Sanogo. (China has recently shown willingness to imagine Africa as a war-torn playground, too.)
Sanogo believes that if more people — and filmmakers — had access to African cinema, such stereotypes would be less pervasive on and off screen. “We always knew that Hollywood was the best ambassador for the US,” he adds. “We believe the same can be done with African cinema.”
Part of the hope is that African filmmakers today will connect with their lost or forgotten cinematic roots. The slow burn of a Sembene film may be a world away from the cut and thrust of a Nollywood action flick, but there’s still a dialogue to be had between past and present.
“Even if you view the films of Med Hondo and you’re going to take a completely different approach, that’s part of the vernacular,” argues Bodde. “Knowing history is part of the continuum of art.”
By reclaiming its cinema, its stories and its history, Africa’s filmmakers of tomorrow will be creating from a firmer platform.
“I’m aware, more than ever, that we know very little about African cinema,” Scorsese said at the launch of the project. We’re about to find out a lot more.
Culled from CNN
(Getty Images)
The blogger in question, PopFront editor Meghan Herning, wrote a post on September 5 called “Swiftly to the alt-right: Taylor subtly gets the lower case kkk in formation” criticizing Swift’s lyrics and the fact that many on the alt-right have embraced her.
The post also called for Swift to denounce white supremacy, because “silence in the face of injustice means support for the oppressor.”
Then, on October 25, Herning received a letter from Swift and her attorney demanding that Herning issue a retraction of what they called a defamatory post, threatening a lawsuit if Herning didn’t comply. The letter did mention that it should serve as an “unequivocal denouncement by Ms. Swift of white supremacy and the alt-right,” but as Herning was told not to publish the letter, it would remain only between them.
Herning then contacted the ACLU, who stated that the threat of legal action was unsubstantiated, because the blog post was protected free speech.
“Intimidation tactics like these are unacceptable,” said ACLU attorney Matt Cagle. “Not in her wildest dreams can Ms. Swift use copyright law to suppress this exposure of a threat to constitutionally protected speech.”
“The press should not be bullied by high-paid lawyers or frightened into submission by legal jargon,” said Herning. “These scare tactics may have worked for Taylor in the past, but I am not backing down.”
The ACLU has requested a comment from Swift in response by November 13th to confirm that she will not pursue the lawsuit.
THE GRIO
Insane Reactions To Wendy Williams Passing Out This morning Wendy Williams scared all of America by passing out live on the air during her show. It freaked everyone out. There was a lot of speculation about what happened. Was it a stroke? Worse? Apparently Wendy just got overheated and passed out. She was back on…
via Here Are The Wildest, Most Insane Reactions To Wendy Williams Passing Out On Live TV — Bossip
Hope Exiner d’Amore said Harvey Weinstein raped her in a hotel room in the 1970s, when he was a young concert promoter in Buffalo. Cynthia Burr said that during this time, he assaulted her in an encounter that began in an elevator and ended with forced oral sex in a hallway. Ashley Matthau, a dancer with a bit part in one of his movies, said that in 2004, he pushed her down on a bed and masturbated while straddling her. Days later, she said, he paid her to remain silent.
Three weeks after complaints of sexual harassment and misconduct by Mr. Weinstein were first reported in The New York Times, women from different continents, fields and generations have come forward with allegations of rape, sexual assault and groping. New accounts include one previously undisclosed settlement with Mr. Weinstein and expand the time frame of alleged wrongdoing to the 1970s.
Together, the accounts provide a widening tally of alleged abuses, and illustrate the toll on women who say they felt ashamed and isolated as they watched the Hollywood producer walk red carpets, pile up Oscars and showcase his ties to prominent figures.
“This has haunted me my entire life,” said Ms. Exiner d’Amore, now 62, who was in her early 20s at the time of the alleged rape.
She and three other women who spoke to The Times described Mr. Weinstein as inappropriate and unrelenting. Some said that he used the pretext of work to lure them to hotels, that he touched them or forced them into unwanted sexual activity and that he wouldn’t stop when they said no.
Ms. Matthau, the dancer who reached a settlement with Mr. Weinstein, said she was willing to break its confidentiality clause even if it meant that he might pursue legal damages. “I want to do my part to help bring this to light so it doesn’t happen with other people in Hollywood or anywhere else,” she said in an interview.
The allegations add to those previously documented in The Times, The New Yorker and elsewhere.
Last week, the actress Dominique Huett filed a lawsuit claiming that in 2010, Mr. Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her. The same day, Mimi Haleyi, a former production assistant of Mr. Weinstein’s, appeared at a news conference in New York accusing him of the same behavior in 2006.
The New York Police Department is conducting a wide-ranging investigation of allegations against Mr. Weinstein. Detectives with expertise in old cases are reviewing complaints that have come through the department’s hotline, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
In New York, the statute of limitations for prosecuting rape and other sex crimes depends on the force alleged and the charges considered, but it can range from two years to no time restrictions for the most serious offenses. Ms. Burr, the woman involved in the hallway encounter in the 1970s, said that she contacted the New York police in recent weeks and that they told her the alleged assault had happened too long ago to be prosecuted.
Women have also spoken to law enforcement authorities in London, Los Angeles and elsewhere in the United States. The London police are investigating three sexual assault cases involving Mr. Weinstein, ranging from the 1980s to 2015.
Mr. Weinstein’s spokeswoman, Sallie Hofmeister, said in a statement that “any allegations of nonconsensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein.”
For 40 years, Cynthia Burr has almost never talked about the time she met Mr. Weinstein.
But she didn’t forget how he greeted her in the lobby of a beautiful old building in New York City. How he tried to kiss her in the elevator. And how, she said, he unzipped his fly and forced her to perform oral sex in a hallway.
“It was just him and me alone,” she said. “I was fearful I didn’t have the wherewithal to get away.”
It was the late 1970s, and Ms. Burr was an actress in her early 20s. Mr. Weinstein was in his mid-20s and a “real up-and-comer,” Ms. Burr remembers. Her manager said they should meet.
After the encounter, she recalls feeling ashamed. “The way he forced me made me feel really bad about myself,” she said. “What are you going to do when you are a girl just trying to make it as an actress? Nobody would have believed me.”
Ms. Burr, now 62, went on to build a career in Hollywood. She appeared in “Scarface” and the first two “Lethal Weapon” films, and in soap operas and other television shows.
Eventually, she told her husband, now deceased, and a close friend, Lee Chavez, what had happened. Mr. Chavez confirmed that she had told him her account about 10 years ago.
“I’m really sad for everybody, but I’m really glad it’s out in the open,” Ms. Burr said about learning of the other allegations against Mr. Weinstein. “I finally felt like I had a voice.”
Ms. Exiner d’Amore had worked for Mr. Weinstein for just a few weeks when he asked if she’d like to take a trip to New York City. Both of them were in their 20s, living in Buffalo in the late 1970s.
She was working for Mr. Weinstein’s concert promotion company, Harvey and Corky Productions, doing odd jobs. She was interested in film, so when Mr. Weinstein asked if she wanted to come to New York City to meet with people in the industry, she agreed.
When they got to the Park Lane Hotel, Mr. Weinstein went to the check-in desk while she waited elsewhere in the lobby, Ms. Exiner d’Amore recalled. He returned and said there had been a mistake with the reservations; there was only one room. They would have to share.
“I gave him a look like that was ridiculous,” she recalled. But she ultimately agreed, assuming it was harmless. When she got into bed that night, she said, he slipped in next to her, naked.
“I told him no. I kept pushing him away. He just wouldn’t listen,” Ms. Exiner d’Amore said. “He just forced himself on me.” She said he forcibly performed oral sex and intercourse on her.
She did not tell her boyfriend, feeling ashamed, but she did confide in her next-door neighbors in Buffalo. She did not specifically say she was raped, but the couple, David and Irene Sipos, told The Times that they remembered her being extremely upset and crying when she told them about Mr. Weinstein and the hotel room.
After the trip, Ms. Exiner d’Amore said, Mr. Weinstein kept asking her out and offered her credit cards to go on shopping sprees. She declined. Within three or four weeks, she was fired.
“It was a relief,” she said. “I hated being there.”
Ms. Exiner d’Amore never went into the film industry. She got a job administering an undergraduate program at Cornell, and later moved on to jobs in fund-raising.
Ashley Matthau said that Mr. Weinstein was aggressive with her the moment they met in 2004. She was in Puerto Rico performing in “Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights” when Mr. Weinstein visited the set. As soon as he saw her, she said, he began pressuring her to come to his hotel room for a private meeting. Ms. Matthau, who then went by her maiden name, Anderson, said she tried to brush him off, explaining that she was engaged. She said he persisted.
When the cast broke for a meal, Ms. Matthau told some production members that Mr. Weinstein was being pushy and she was afraid. No one offered to help, she said, and when she returned to the set, Mr. Weinstein instructed her to get into a car.
“‘Don’t worry,’” Ms. Matthau, now 36, remembers him saying as they sat in the back seat. “‘Nothing is going to happen. We’re just going to discuss future projects.’”
She said they went to his hotel room, where talk quickly became sexual: Mr. Weinstein told her that he had helped launch the careers of high-profile actresses who had slept with him, and that she should consider doing the same. When she declined, Mr. Weinstein pushed her onto the bed and fondled her breasts, she said. He then stripped, straddled her and masturbated on top of her.
“I kept telling him, ‘Stop, I’m engaged,’ but he kept saying: ‘It’s just a little cuddling. It’s not a problem. It’s not like we’re having sex.’ ”
Back in California days later, Ms. Matthau tearfully told her fiancé, Charles Matthau, a general description of what had happened. Mr. Matthau said in an interview that he was outraged. With his encouragement, Ms. Matthau retained John S. West, a partner in the law firm of Gloria Allred, who has a record of taking on powerful men.
Soon, Ms. Matthau recalled, she and Mr. West met at the Peninsula Beverly Hills with Mr. Weinstein and Daniel M. Petrocelli, who had represented high-profile clients including Jeffrey Skilling, the chief executive of Enron.
The experience, she said, was chilling. She had attended a couple of parties at the Playboy Mansion, and Mr. Petrocelli said she would be painted as promiscuous if she went public with her accusation against Mr. Weinstein.
“‘We’ll drag you through the mud by your hair,’” she recalled the lawyer saying. Mr. Petrocelli declined to comment.
Going up against such powerful men felt like more than she could handle. Ms. Matthau said she agreed to enter into a more than $100,000 settlement with Mr. Weinstein in exchange for a legally binding promise never to speak of the allegations again.
Lacey Dorn moved to New York City in 2011, soon after graduating from Stanford University, where she had helped create two documentaries. Ms. Dorn, then 22, was introduced to Mr. Weinstein at a New York Film Festival party
A few weeks later, Ms. Dorn attended a Halloween party at the Gramercy Park Hotel and ran into Mr. Weinstein, who asked for her email. He wanted to talk about her career over lunch, she said.
“Great meeting you,” he wrote in the subject line of an otherwise blank email sent to her at 12:26 a.m.
On her way out of the party, Ms. Dorn said goodbye to Mr. Weinstein. As she turned her back to him, he grabbed between her legs, touching her buttocks and crotch through her clothes.
“I was so naïve, I didn’t say anything. And he didn’t say anything either,” she said. “I just got out of the party as fast as possible.”
Ms. Dorn said she never heard from Mr. Weinstein and never spoke to him again. Ms. Dorn said that when she told friends what had happened, many seemed to shrug it off as if it were a “rite of passage,” an acknowledgment of how “awful” the entertainment business could be.
Andy Cohen‘s stoked about co-hosting CNN’s New Year’s Eve show with his pal, Anderson Cooper, this year, but has severe amnesia about the comedian who had the gig before him.
The ‘Watch What Happens Live’ host was at LAX when he told us he and Anderson are already prepping for their 4-hour spectacular. He got really quiet though when we asked if he’d talked to Kathy Griffin — who CNN fired from the NYE show after the Trump beheading photo debacle.
Andy’s response was hilarious — unless you’re Kathy. Remember, she called Anderson “spineless” when he publicly called her out over the Trump thing. It seems Andy’s holding a grudge.
If you never saw that classic Mariah response to someone asking her about J Lo, just watch … Andy does a dead-on impression.
TMZ
An English actress has told police disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein raped her in her home in the 1980s, alleging the ‘pathetic and revolting’ ordeal left her ‘disgusted and embarrassed’.
The bombshell revelation came just hours after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expelled the producer after a week in which dozens of sexual harassment allegations, and worse, left his career and marriage in tatters.
Lysette Anthony, in an interview with the Times of London, alleges she was raped by the disgraced producer when he turned up at her home in the late 1980’s. She told Merseyside Police her claims last week, who turned the case over to Scotland Yard.
The Metropolitan Police had previously confirmed they were investigating a claim without naming Anthony.
She says Weinstein turned up at her flat at 10am. The Woody Allen actress says ‘He pushed me inside, rammed me up against a coat rack. He was trying to kiss me and shove me inside.’ She says she pushed him away but he was too heavy. ‘Finally I just gave up.’
In the interview released Saturday, the Allen ‘Husbands and Wives’ actress describes the attack as ‘pathetic’ and revolting’ and left her feeling ‘disgusted and embarrassed.
This new bombshell accusation comes as Weinstein is stripped of his lifetime Oscars board membership.
The 54-member board of governors, which administers the professional group that hands out Oscars every year, voted to oust the disgraced movie mogul at an emergency meeting on Saturday.
Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg are among the Hollywood power players who hold seats on the board.
Following the meeting, the Academy issued a statement saying the board had voted ‘to immediately expel him from the Academy,’ noting that the vote was ‘well in excess of the required two-thirds majority’.
It went on: ‘We do so not simply to separate ourselves from someone who does not merit the respect of his colleagues but also to send a message that the era of willful ignorance and shameful complicity in sexually predatory behavior and workplace harassment in our industry is over.’
‘What’s at issue here is a deeply troubling problem that has no place in our society. The Board continues to work to establish ethical standards of conduct that all Academy members will be expected to exemplify.’
The movie producer has been accused of harassment by a multitude of high-profile Hollywood celebrities in recent days.
On Thursday, American actress Rose McGowan became the fourth woman to accuse the 65-year-old movie mogul of raping her.Share
Weinstein is now believed to be in a rehab facility in Arizona being treated for sex addiction.
As a result of the allegations, Weinstein was also fired from the company he co-founded with his brother Bob in 2005.
The only personal Oscar he won was for Shakespeare in Love in 1999. He was also nominated for Gangs of New York in 2003.
There is no word on whether his Oscar will be rescinded.
The Academy’s move to eject Weinstein comes as the mounting scandal threatens to taint the broader world of show business.
Six in 10 said they would be less likely to watch the annual Oscars ceremony if Weinstein was allowed to remain, according to a survey conducted by celebrity branding expert and bestselling author Jeetendr Sehdev.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk
NeNe Leakes will no longer be hosting the Xscape reunion tour after dropping a disgusting rape clapback at a heckler during one of her stand-up gigs.
Xscape released a statement Thursday morning saying they were “dismayed” by NeNe’s remarks. Although NeNe apologized, Xscape emphasized they came to the decision as supporters of all women, and stand by all female rape victims.
They added, “This tour is for and about our fans and we want to provide an entertaining and enjoyable experience for every single person who attends.” They also wished NeNe the best as she “navigates this very difficult period.”
NeNe got booed last weekend in Oakland when she said she hoped a heckler gotraped by their Uber driver.
The ‘Real Housewives’ star apologized later saying she regretted uttering the words, especially as she is an abuse victim herself.
TMZ
Mexican soap star Eduardo Yanez is under criminal investigation for viciously slapping a reporter during a red carpet event … TMZ has learned.
Law enforcement sources tell us, Univision reporter Paco Fuentes filed a police report with the LAPD, claiming assault and battery.
The slap was captured on video. Yanez lost it after Fuentes tried shaming him by saying his son had to set up a GoFundMe account to pay for car repairs because Yanez wouldn’t. Yanez and his son have a strained relationship that became very public back in June after Yanez’s son accused him on Twitter of being a drug addict, racist and woman abuser.
We’re told the investigation is not complete. If charges are filed against Yanez and he’s convicted, he would face a maximum of 6 months in jail.
Yanez apologized early Thursday saying, “I want to ask for a sincere apology to the public and to the person affected by my action. It was not right. My private life is not for sale.”
TMZ
Fans love Nene Leakes for her straightforward, tell-it-like-it-is persona, but there’s a fine line between being outspoken and being the worst kind of bully.
A good way to know you’ve crossed the line is if you find yourself standing on stage in front of a large crowd and telling an audience member that you hope she gets raped.
For reasons that remain unclear, people paid to see Nene perform standup comedy in Oakland on Saturday night.
Perhaps we should’ve put “comedy” in quotes, because by all accounts, the set did not go well.
Nene joked about Uber drivers attempting to have sex with their female passengers, and apparently, the joke was so lame she was loudly booed by the crowd.
That’s when things really got ugly.
Leakes singled out one displeased audience member in particular, saying:
“I ain’t even gonna tell you about the goddamn Uber driver. I hope he rape yo’ ass tonight when he take you home, bitch.”
“And steal yo’ funky hello kitty, bitch,” she added for good measure.
It’s the second high-profile conflict in as many weeks for Nene.
Last week, Leakes clashed with Brelle Biermann, daughter of her former co-star Kim Zolciak-Birermann.
Leakes slammed Biermann as “racist trash” and a Kylie Jenner wannabe in a rant that left fans divided.
w court papers reveal that rapper Tupac Shakur wrote Madonna a letterthat she calls “intensely personal” from jail.
The singer admitted it in an affidavit that was filed as part of her suit to bar an auction house from selling off several of her private things, including underwear and the note from her former lover.
According to Madonna, a former friend, Darlene Lutz, stole the items that will be sold.
The affidavit states that Madonna remembers getting the 1995 letter after Tupac told her over the phone that he was going to send it. He died less than one year later in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas.
“My recollection is that he had one of his friends hand deliver the letter to my home in Manhattan,” says the affidavit. “I also have a specific memory of reading the letter. In particular, I remember that he apologized to me. I never gave this letter away. It is intensely personal.”
Lutz disagrees with Madonna’s stance on the issue, saying that Madonna never read her fan mail and the letter was in that pile.
“Madonna didn’t handle her fan mail. She didn’t care,” Lutz said in a September 27 interview with Madonna’s attorney Brendan O’Rourke.
“When you finally read the Tupac letter in 2008 or 2009, did it not ring any alarm bells in your head that maybe it was not intended to be given to you?” O’Rourke asked Lutz.
“I didn’t consider that,” she answered.
The letter was written from jail and explained how race played a big part in their breakup.
“For you to be seen with a black man wouldn’t in any way jeopardize your career, if anything it would make you seem that much more open and exciting,” it read, according to TMZ. “But for me at least in my previous perception I felt due to my ‘image’ I would be letting down half of the people who made me what I thought I was.”
“I never meant to hurt you,” Shakur added.
TheGrio
WilliWash 