LONDON (AP): Gig-economy Western “Nomadland” won four prizes including best picture on Sunday at the British Academy Film Awards, which were handed out during a pandemic-curbed ceremony that recognized a diverse array of screen talent.



“Nomadland” filmmaker Chloe Zhao became only the second woman, and the first woman of color, to win the BAFTA for best director, and star Frances McDormand was named best actress. “Nomadland” also took the cinematography prize.



Emerald Fennell’s revenge comedy “Promising Young Woman” was named best British film, while the best actor trophy went to 83-year-old Anthony Hopkins for playing a man grappling with dementia in “The Father.”



An event that was criticized in the recent past with the label #BAFTAsSoWhite rewarded a diverse group of talents, including Black British star Daniel Kaluuya, newcomer Bukky Bakray — who shone as a London teenager in “Rocks” — and veteran Korean actress Yuh-Jung Youn.



The fact that Britain remains under coronavirus lockdown measures, with its movie theaters still closed, gave the evening a poignant tone, as did the death on Friday of Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, a long-time patron of the British film academy.



Prince William, who had been due to attend and make a speech in his role as president of Britain’s film academy, was absent following the death of his grandfather. The ceremony opened with a tribute to Philip, who was the academy’s first president in 1959.



Presenters including Hugh Grant, Tom Hiddleston, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Priyanka Chopra Jonas announced the winners from the stage of London’s Royal Albert Hall, but recipients accepted their honors remotely, and there was no black-tie audience to cheer them on.



Director Remi Weekes, who won the British debut prize for his first feature, “His House,” noted the surreal sensation of accepting the award while sitting in his living room in a tuxedo.



“Nomadland” stars McDormand as a middle-aged woman who travels the American West while living out of her van and picking up short-term work.



Zhao, who lived among real American travelers for the film, thanked “the nomadic community who so generously welcomed us into their lives.”



“How we treat our elders says a lot about who we are as a society, and we need to do better,” she said.



The only previous female directing winner was Kathryn Bigelow in 2010 for “The Hurt Locker.”



The British film academy expanded its voting membership and shook up its rules last year in an attempt to address a glaring lack of diversity in the nominations. In 2020, no women were nominated as best director for a seventh consecutive year, and all 20 nominees in the lead and supporting performer categories were white.



Under new rules that, among other things, made watching all longlisted films compulsory for academy voters, this year’s slate of acting nominees was strikingly more diverse, and four of the six filmmakers nominated for best director were women: Zhao, Sarah Gavron (“Rocks”), Shannon Murphy (“Babyteeth”) and Jasmila Zbanic (“Quo Vadis, Aida?”).



Asked what her directing prize meant for Asian women in film, Zhao said: “If this means more people like me get to live their dreams, then I feel very grateful.”



BAFTA chief executive Amanda Berry said the academy was “determined to make change.”



“We are not there yet, this is definitely still a work in progress, but I am really pleased with how far we have come,” she said.



Kaluuya was named best supporting actor for playing Black Panther leader Fred Hampton in “Judas and the Black Messiah.”



Youn appeared astonished to win the best-actress prize for Korean-American family drama “Minari.” The Korean performer said she had always thought of the British as “very snobbish people.” But, she later clarified, “not in a bad way.”



Bakray, 19, won the Rising Star award, whose previous winners include Kaluuya, Kristin Stewart, Tom Hardy and John Boyega.



“I don’t know how to feel,” she said. “When we filmed ‘Rocks,’ I thought 100 people would watch this film, max.”



Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s “Another Round” was named best film not in the English language. Vinterberg paid tribute to his daughter Ida, who had been due to appear in the film and died in a car crash at the start of the shoot.



“We made this movie for her, so the honor granted by you, BAFTA voters, means more to us than you could ever imagine,” he said.



The British awards are usually held a week or two before the Academy Awards and have become an important awards-season staging post. This year, both the BAFTAs and the Oscars were postponed from their usual February berths because of the coronavirus pandemic.



BAFTAs in craft and backstage categories were handed out in a separate ceremony on Saturday, when “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” won two prizes, for costume design and hair and makeup.



Other double winners included “The Father” (best actor and adapted screenplay), “Sound of Metal” (editing and sound), “Promising Young Woman” (British film and original screenplay) and “Soul” (animated film and musical score).



Director Ang Lee was awarded the academy’s top honor, the BAFTA Fellowship.



Actor, writer and director Noel Clarke received the outstanding British contribution to cinema award, dedicating it to “my young Black boys and girls out there that never believed it could happen to them.”

‘Nomadland’ wins 4 BAFTAs including best picture, director

HOUSTON (AP): A historic Houston theater that director Richard Linklater called his “film school” and that for decades was the place to catch hard-to-find independent and foreign films has closed for good — like many theaters and other businesses, a victim of the coronavirus pandemic.



After nearly 82 years in business, the River Oaks Theatre turned off its projectors last month, depriving the nation’s fourth-largest city of an institution where everyone from rappers to suburban kids and cinephiles formed friendships, fell in love and found community. Its loss has left more than just an empty building behind.



“Throughout the pandemic, we’ve experienced so much loss and so much grief and loss of life. It is also a profound grief to lose the places of community and the places that you would come together and feel that love … that safety,” Leen Dweik, 24, told dozens of other River Oaks fans during a vigil after the theater’s final showings.



Dependent on large crowds to survive, U.S. movie theaters have been hammered by the pandemic, as they were shut down for months and saw their revenues plunge by 80% in 2020. Although some have managed to survive with the help of aid and through workarounds, Landmark Theatres, which ran the River Oaks, wasn’t able to reach an agreement with its landlord, Weingarten Realty, over rent it couldn’t pay during the pandemic. Weingarten Realty didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.



Movie theater trade groups believe their industry will bounce back after the pandemic, in part with the help of more than $16 billion in federal funding from the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program. Theaters are also hoping to get a boost from “Godzilla vs. Kong,” one of the first event movies to be released during the pandemic. And there’s cause to be optimistic, as it made $123.1 million internationally last weekend.



About 55% of the 5,800 movie theaters in the U.S. are currently open, but many are still saddled by capacity limits and lingering fears about spending long periods in crowded indoor spaces — justifiable, given the recent case surges in some states despite the ongoing vaccination efforts. In China, where the pandemic is well under control, moviegoing is close to pre-pandemic levels.



“We’re optimistic. Things may change permanently, but it’s not going to be the end of cinema by any means,” said Rich Daughtridge, a board member with the Independent Cinema Alliance, which represents more than 300 independent theater owners.



Patrick Corcoran, a spokesman for the National Association of Theatre Owners, which also represents larger theater chains, said his organization doesn’t have a comprehensive list of theaters that have permanently closed or declared bankruptcy due to the pandemic, but that it’s still a relatively small number.



That may be, but several chains have thrown in the towel or shown they’re in distress. Cinemagic announced in February that it was closing all eight of its locations in Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire. And two larger chains — Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas Holdings and the company that owns CMX Cinemas — have filed for bankruptcy protection during the pandemic.



“There are still going to be some tough times after we get back to normal, that may still have some effects on companies,” Corcoran said.



Supporters of the River Oaks, including Linklater and Houston rapper Bun B, hope that the theater — with its distinctive marquee, Art Deco architecture and ornate carvings — won’t be torn down or drastically altered and might even be used again to show films or host live performances.



“That was the church I had wandered into (in the early 1980s) and found the holy spirit of cinema,” Linklater, whose films include “Dazed and Confused” and “Boyhood,” said during a virtual panel held Wednesday in support of the theater.



The River Oaks opened in 1939 and for the last 45 years, it has mainly operated as an art-house theater showcasing independent and foreign cinema. Although there are other Houston theaters that show such films, none had the profile of the River Oaks.



“We’re not just losing a movie house,” Bun B, a self-described cinephile, said during the panel discussion. “We’re losing one of those places where artists can come and present themselves to the world, but then also young creators can come and ponder what their future might be.”



River Oaks supporters hope the venue doesn’t have the same fate as another nearby historic theater that was converted into a Trader Joe’s grocery store. Although the River Oaks received city landmark status when it was in danger of being torn down in 2007, it could still be razed and the notoriously developer-friendly city doesn’t have a great history of preserving its historic buildings, said Sarah Gish, who helped start the group Friends of River Oaks Theatre to try and save the building.



“The main thing is save the building itself because that is the cultural history. We have already lost so much of the history” in Houston, Linklater said.



The pandemic exacerbated many of the concerns that movie theaters were already facing, including shrinking windows in which to exclusively show films. With some studios now simultaneously releasing new movies in theaters and on streaming platforms, it’s going to be even harder for independent and art house venues like the River Oaks, Bob Berney, CEO of film distributor Picturehouse, said during the panel discussion.



Gish, who worked at the River Oaks in the 1990s, said she still hopes that it might be saved.



“All movie theaters are a repository for huge emotions. They’re community gathering spots, they’re memory makers, all of that. That’s what we’re losing with the River Oaks Theatre going away,” Gish said.

Historic Houston movie theater closes due to pandemic

BARCELONA, Spain (AP): If one overlooked the white face masks dotting the tightly packed crowd of music lovers, it was almost like pre-pandemic times in Barcelona’s Palau Sant Jordi concert hall Saturday night.



Five thousand rock fans enjoyed a real-as-can-be concert after passing a same-day coronavirus screening, to test its effectiveness in preventing outbreaks of the virus at large cultural events.



The only rule inside the show was the strict use of the high-quality face masks provided by the concert organizers.



“We were able to evade reality for a while,” said 40-year-old Jose Parejo. “We were inside our small concert bubble. And we were even able to remember back in time when things like this one were normal. Things that nowadays aren’t that normal, sadly.”



The show by Spanish rock group Love of Lesbian had the special permission of Spanish health authorities. While the rest of the country was limited to gatherings of no more than four people in closed spaces, the concertgoers were able to mix freely.



The musicians were also swept up in the moment.



“It’s been a year and half since we last set foot on a scenario as a band,” singer Santi Balmes told the crowd. “This is so. … some of the musicians are crying over here.”



Ticket buyers chose between three venues in Barcelona where they could take a quick antigen test on Saturday morning. Those with negative results got a code on their cellphones validating their tickets for the 7 p.m. show.



People with heart disease, cancer, or those who have been in contact with someone infected by COVID-19 in recent weeks were asked not to sign up.



Organizers said it was the first commercial event with an audience that big held in Europe during the pandemic.



The show was sold out. The tickets, ranging from 23-28 euros ($27-33), included the cost of the test and the face mask that was obligatory except when eating or drinking in designated areas.



The concert was backed by local authorities and by experts of Barcelona’s The Fight AIDS and Infectious Diseases Foundation, which also organized a case study around a smaller concert of 500 people in December. They said that the results of that preliminary case study showed that pre-screening with antigen tests and the use of face masks succeeded in preventing infections inside the concert despite there being no social distancing rules.



“This is another small step toward being able to hold concerts and cultural events” during the pandemic, said Dr. Boris Revollo, the virologist involved in the design of the health protocols.



In addition to being 10 times larger than the concert in December, this time there was no control group maintained outside the concert hall.



Instead, concertgoers agreed public health authorities can inform Revollo’s team if they come down with the coronavirus in the weeks after the concert. With that information, Revollo’s team will do an analysis of infection rates among the 5,000 concertgoers compared with that of the general population to see if there are any discrepancies that could point to contagion at the concert.



For 37-year-old Gerard Munne, it was a release.



“A sensation of freedom, being able to feel the warmth of the people,” he said. ”(It was) yesterday’s normality.”

5,000 attend rock concert in Barcelona after COVID-19 screen

Kathmandu: Nepal Oil Corporation has increased the price of petroleum products. The former retail price of petrol and diesel / kerosene has gone up by Rs 2 per liter. Now the price of petrol has reached Rs 118 per liter and diesel Rs 101.



The retail price of aviation fuel (for domestic flights) has been increased by Rs 2 per liter to Rs 74.



The retail price of LP gas and aviation fuel (towards international flights) has been kept unchanged, said Binit Mani Upadhyaya, spokesperson of the corporation.

NOC hike fuel price

(BBC): Beyoncé has set a new record at the Grammy Awards with her 28th win.



The star is now the most-awarded woman in Grammys history, overtaking bluegrass singer Alison Krauss.



"I am so honoured, I'm so excited," she said while accepting her record-breaking trophy, for best R&amp;B performance.



Taylor Swift also made history at Sunday's ceremony, by becoming the first female artist ever to win album of the year three times.



The star was rewarded for her lockdown album Folklore - after previously winning with Fearless in 2010 and the pop opus 1989 in 2016.



Only three other artists have ever won the album of the year prize three times: Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder.



Beyoncé's 28th Grammy was presented in honour of Black Parade, a celebration of black power and resilience, which she released on Juneteenth last year.



"As an artist, I believe it's my job to reflect the times, and it's been such a difficult time," she said as she collected the award.



"So I wanted to uplift, encourage, celebrate all of the beautiful black queens and kings that continue to inspire me and inspire the world".



The star has now equalled super-producer Qunicy Jones' total of 28 Grammys. Only classical conductor Sir Georg Solti has more, with 31.



Beyoncé was also part of another historic moment - when Megan Thee Stallion became the first female artist to win the best rap song award.



The Houston musician picked up the prize for her breakout hit Savage (Remix), on which Beyoncé delivers a guest verse.



Black Parade was not the only award-winner song to reflect the Black Lives Matter movement: R&amp;B singer H.E.R. won song of the year for I Can't Breathe, which quotes the last words of George Floyd.



The 46-year-old died while being arrested by police in Minneapolis last year. His death, along with that of Breonna Taylor, sparked a global wave of protests.



Accepting the prize, H.E.R. said she never imagined "that my fear and my pain would turn into impact".



"That's why I write music," she added, "and I'm so, so grateful".



The singer, whose real name is Gabriella Wilson, was accompanied by her co-writer Tiara Thomas, and she recalled how they'd written I Can't Breathe "over FaceTime" last summer.



"I recorded this song by myself in my bedroom at my mom's house," she said. "And I want to thank my dad - he cried, he was in tears when I wrote the song and I played it for him. He was the first person I played it for."



"But remember," she concluded. "We are the change that we wish to see and you know that fight that we had in us the summer of 2020, keep that same energy. Thank you."



'Bringing the concert to you' Aside from the awards, the four-hour ceremony deliberately put the focus on live music.



"I know that you haven't been able to go to a concert in a long time," said host Trevor Noah. "So tonight we're bringing the concert to you."



The show kicked off with three back-to-back performances from Harry Styles, Billie Eilish and Haim, who performed from a circle of stages that recalled the set-up of Jools Holland's BBC TV show.



Styles raised the curtain with his hit single Watermelon Sugar, sporting a lime green feather boa and an open-chested leather jacket.



The song went on to win best pop solo performance later in the ceremony, making him the first member of One Direction to win a Grammy - either as a solo artist or as part of the group.



"It's crazy to think someone that talented and handsome is from the same place as Boris Johnson," joked Noah as Styles' performance ended.



Billie Eilish, who dominated last year's ceremony, followed with her ballad Everything I Wanted; while Haim played The Steps from their album-of-the-year nominated Women In Music Pt III.



Eilish's song later won record of the year - her second consecutive win in that category. Her Bond theme, No Time To Die, was also awarded best song written for visual media.



"It was a dream to make the song," said the 19-year-old. "I have no words. I can't believe this is real. I couldn't believe it was real then…"The majority of the ceremony was held in a marquee outside the LA Convention Center, with nominees sitting at socially-distanced tables.



"So there's more tension in that tent than at a family reunion at Buckingham Palace," joked Noah, who added: "Tonight is going to be the biggest outdoor event this year, besides the storming of the Capitol."



Other prize-winners included Dua Lipa, who picked up best pop vocal album; and Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande, who became the first female duo to win best pop collaboration for Rain On Me.



One of the most emotional speeches came from Megan Thee Stallion, who dedicated her best new artist prize to her mother, who died of a brain tumour in 2019.



"She couldn't be here with me tonight," she had said on the red carpet earlier in the night. "But she always knew that I would be at the Grammys, and I would be like, 'Oh mom, that's so far away' but it came so quick.



"And I'm just so appreciative that I'm here."



Performance highlights included Taylor Swift, who sang a medley of songs from her lockdown albums Folklore and Evermore, from an enchanted forest set.



Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion got together for the first ever TV performance of their X-rated single WAP, while Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak unveiled their new "supergroup" Silk Sonic, channelling the 70s soul sounds of Earth, Wind And Fire.



The show also highlighted the plight of music venues by having staff from venues, including New York's Apollo Theater and LA's Troubador, present some of the awards.

Grammys 2021: Beyoncé and Taylor Swift make history

Kathmandu: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Thursday has revealed the 366 feature films that are eligible for the 93rd Oscars.



With today’s list finalized, Academy voting will begin along with nominations to be announced March 15.



Lists of the films eligible for Best Picture at the 93rd annual Academy Awards:



Absent Now the Dead Accidental Luxuriance of the Translucent Watery Rebus Alberto and the Concrete Jungle All I Can Say All In: The Fight for Democracy All My Life All Together Now Alone American Skin Ammonite And Then We Danced Another Round Antebellum Anton Apocalypse ’45 Apples The Artist’s Wife Assassins The Assistant Athlete A Atlantis Babyteeth Bacurau Bad Boys For Life Bad Hair The Banker Barb &amp; Star Go To Vista Del Mar Be Water Beastie Boys Story Becoming Belly Of The Beast Belushi Big Time Adolescence The Big Ugly Bill &amp; Ted Face The Music Billie The Billionaire Birds Of Prey Black Bear Blackbird Blizzard Of Souls Bloodshot Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets Blue Story Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island Bombay Rose The Booksellers Borat Subsequent Moviefilm The Boys In The Band Boys State Brahms: The Boy Ii Broken Keys Buddy Games Burden The Burnt Orange Heresy Calamity Jane The Call Of The Wild Canaan Land Capone Charm City Kings Cherry The Christmas Chronicles 2 Circus Of Books Clementine The Climb Collective Color Out Of Space Come Away Come Play Coming Clean Coronation Coup 53 Creem: America’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll Magazine Crip Camp Crisis The Croods: A New Age The Cuban Cut Throat City Da 5 Bloods Dads Dara Of Jasenovac The Dark And The Wicked The Dark Divide David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet Dear Comrades! Death Protocol Demon Slayer -Kimetsu No Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train Desert One The Devil All The Time Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy Dick Johnson Is Dead The Dig Disclosure The Dissident Dolittle The Donut King Downhill Dreambuilders Driveways Earwig And The Witch Echo Boomers Effigy – Poison And The City Emma Emperor The Empty Man Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga Extraction Faith Based Falling The Family Tree Fandango At The Wall Farewell Amor Fatale The Father Father Soldier Son Fatima Feels Good Man The Fight Finding Hannah Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds First Cow First Vote Flannery The Forty-Year-Old Version Foster Boy Freak Power: The Ballot Or The Bomb Freaky French Exit Funny Boy The Gentlemen The Ghost Of Peter Sellers Giving Voice The Glorias Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind Greed Greyhound The Grizzlies Gunda Guns Akimbo Half Brothers The Half Of It Happiest Season Harry Chapin: When In Doubt, Do Something Herself The High Note Hillbilly Elegy His House Hope Gap Horse Girl How To Build A Girl The Human Factor The Hunt I Am Greta I Care A Lot I Carry You With Me (Te Llevo Conmigo) I Hate New Year’s I Still Believe I Will Make You Mine The Illegal I’m No Longer Here (Ya No Estoy Aquí) I’m Thinking Of Ending Things I’m Your Woman The Infiltrators The Invisible Man Irresistible Jimmy Carter: Rock &amp; Roll President Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey John Lewis: Good Trouble Journey To Royal: A Wwii Rescue Mission Judas And The Black Messiah Jungle Beat: The Movie Juvenile Delinquents Kajillionaire Kalira Atita A Kid From Coney Island Kill It And Leave This Town Killer Raccoons! 2! Dark Christmas In The Dark Killian &amp; The Comeback Kids The King Of Staten Island Kingdom Of Silence Kiss The Ground La Llorona Lance Land The Last Blockbuster Last Call The Last Full Measure The Last Shift The Last Thing He Wanted The Last Vermeer Let Him Go Let Them All Talk The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti A Se) Like A Boss Lingua Franca The Little Things Locked Down The Lodge Lost Girls Love And Monsters Lupin Iii: The First Luxor Mlk/Fbi Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Malcolm &amp; Marie Mank Marjoun And The Flying Headscarf The Marksman Martin Eden Martin Margiela: In His Own Words The Mauritanian Max Winslow And The House Of Secrets The Midnight Sky Mighty Oak Military Wives Minari Miss Americana Miss Juneteenth Mr. Jones Mr. Soul! Mmmmm (Sound Of Pain) The Mole Agent Monster Hunter Mosley Mosul Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend Of Walter Mercado Mulan Music My Favorite War My Octopus Teacher My Psychedelic Love Story Nasrin The Nest Never Rarely Sometimes Always News Of The World Night Of The Kings Nomadland The Nose Or The Conspiracy Of Mavericks Notturno No. 7 Cherry Lane The Old Guard Oliver Sacks: His Own Life Olympia On-Gaku: Our Sound On The Record On The Rocks The One And Only Ivan One Night In Miami… Onward Ordinary Love The Other Lamb Our Friend Our Time Machine The Outpost Over The Moon The Painter And The Thief Palm Springs Palmer Pearl Penguin Bloom The Personal History Of David Copperfield The Phenomenon The Photograph Pieces Of A Woman Pinocchio Possessor Pray: The Story Of Patrick Peyton Premature Princess Of The Row Project Power The Prom Promising Young Woman Radioactive The Real Exorcist Rebecca Rebuilding Paradise Red Shoes And The Seven Dwarfs Relic The Rental Resistance The Rhythm Section The Ride Ride Your Wave Rising Phoenix River Tales The Roads Not Taken Roald Dahl’s The Witches Run Saint Frances Saint Maud Save Yourselves! Scoob! Searching For Mr. Rugoff The Secret Garden The Secrets We Keep 76 Days A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon She Dies Tomorrow Shirley Show Me What You Got Sky Blossom Snake White: Love Endures The Social Dilemma Son Of The South Songs Of Solomon Sonic The Hedgehog Soorarai Pottru Soul Sound Of Metal Spaceship Earth Spell Stand! Standing Up, Falling Down Stars And Strife Supernova Swallow System K Tenet Terra Willy This Is Not A Movie A Thousand Cuts Tiger Within Tigertail Time Tom And Jerry Tommaso Totally Under Control The Traitor The Trial Of The Chicago 7 The Trip To Greece Trolls World Tour True History Of The Kelly Gang The Truffle Hunters The Truth Tulsa The Turning Tuscaloosa The Twentieth Century Twiceborn 2 Hearts Underneath The Same Moon Underwater The United States Vs. Billie Holiday Used And Borrowed Time Valley Girl Wonder Woman 1984 Waiting For The Barbarians Wander Darkly The Way Back The Way I See It We Are Little Zombies Welcome To Chechnya Wendy A Whisker Away The White Tiger Who Is Gatsby Randolph Wild Daze Wild Mountain Thyme The Willoughbys Wolfwalkers Words On Bathroom Walls Working Man The World To Come The Wretched Yellow Rose You Cannot Kill David Arquette

366 feature films shortlisted for Oscars 2021

Kathmandu: South Indian Telugu film 'Arjun Reddy' caused a stir at the box office.



The Hindi remake of the film 'Kabir Singh' also made a splash at the box office. There has been talk of making a Nepali version of this movie for a long time. However, the production side has not been able to start work yet.



For this film, the name of the protagonist Harihar Adhikari and the protagonist Aryan Sigdel have never come to the fore. However, it seems certain that both the heroes will not be in the film. Because, the production team has searched for the lead actor for this film.



It is said that the main hero, heroine and other actors will be auditioned for the film which is being made under the direction of Bishal Sapkota. Producer Pranay Reddy on behalf of Arjun Reddy's production company Bhadrakali Pictures and Keshav Khadka on behalf of Yuva Films had signed the production agreement in the United States.



This is the first Nepali film to be produced with the rights of any South Indian film. The film is being produced by Keshav Khadka and Ashish Shrestha.

Audition call for Nepali version of 'Arjun Reddy'

NEW YORK (AP): In a lengthy social media post, Justin Timberlake says that he wants to apologize to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson “because I care for and respect these women and I know I failed.”



“I’ve seen the messages, tags, comments, and concerns and I want to respond. I am deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn, or did not speak up for what was right. I understand that I fell short in these moments and in many others and benefited from a system that condones misogyny and racism,” he wrote Friday.



Timberlake’s social media post comes a week after the release of “The New York Times Presents: Framing Britney,” the FX and Hulu documentary that takes a historical look at the circumstances that led to Spears’ conservatorship in 2008 and highlights the #FreeBritney movement of fans who want to see her released from it and given control of her life. The documentary aired an old interview when Timberlake spoke about sleeping with his former girlfriend and indicated that he ridiculed her by hiring a look-a-like for his “Cry Me a River” music video.



Fans called out Timberlake for contributing to Spears’ very public breakdown and controlling the narrative about the end of their relationship.



More backlash hit Timberlake as social media began to recall the wardrobe malfunction with Jackson that caused a national controversy at the 2004 Super Bowl. Some argued that Jackson, as a Black woman, fell victim to a racist and sexist double standard and received harsher treatment than Timberlake, as a white man, did and that he benefited from “white male privilege.”



And the NFL’s decision to invite Timberlake to perform at the halftime show three years ago triggered a backlash from women, minorities and others who felt Jackson was unfairly forced to pay a far higher price than Timberlake.



“I also feel compelled to respond, in part, because everyone involved deserves better and most importantly, because this is a larger conversation that I wholeheartedly want to be part of and grow from,” he wrote. “The industry is flawed. It sets men, especially white men, up for success. It’s designed this way. As a man in a privileged position I have to be vocal about this. Because of my ignorance, I didn’t recognize it for all that it was while it was happening in my own life but I do not want to ever benefit from others being pulled down again.”



The #FreeBritney hashtag has trended heavily in the last week, with celebrities backing Spears, including Paris Hilton, Miley Cyrus, Bette Midler and more.



Jackson was also a trending topic around the 2018 Super Bowl and after, with the hashtags #JusticeforJanet and #JanetJacksonAppreciationDay going strong on social media before Timberlake’s record third trip to the stage at the Super Bowl.



“I have not been perfect in navigating all of this throughout my career. I know this apology is a first step and doesn’t absolve the past. I want to take accountability for my own missteps in all of this as well as be part of a world that uplifts and supports,” Timberlake wrote. “I care deeply about the wellbeing of the people I love and have loved. I can do better and I will do better.”

Timberlake apologizes to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson

Oscar Film awards 2021: The 21 contenders to watch

(BBC): The release of the next James Bond film has been delayed for a third time because of the coronavirus pandemic.



No Time To Die had already been pushed back twice, and will now debut globally on 8 October, an announcement on the film's website said.



It had originally been due to hit screens in April 2020.



The film is the 25th instalment in the Bond franchise, and marks Daniel Craig's final appearance as British secret service agent 007.



It also features Lea Seydoux and Rami Malek.



The delay will come as a further blow to cinemas that have been forced to shut for months at a time because of lockdowns.



Earlier this week, leading film-makers including Danny Boyle and Sir Steve McQueen wrote to the UK Government, calling for financial support for cinema chains because "UK cinema stands on the edge of an abyss".



Cineworld said in October, when No Time To Die was pushed back for the second time, that delays to big budget releases meant the industry was "unviable".



Bond's latest move sparked a flurry of other delays to major releases. Sony has pushed back Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Peter Rabbit 2, Jared Leto's Morbius, Tom Holland's Uncharted and Cinderella, which will star singer Camila Cabello; while Universal has moved Tom Hanks' Bios from April to November.



The UK Cinema Association said the decision to postpone No Time To Die again, "while clearly disappointing, is at the same time not surprising given the current situation around Covid-19 in the UK as well as the US and other major film territories".



The postponement of Daniel Craig's swansong and other films "underlines the need for ongoing support for the UK cinema sector", the trade body's chief executive Phil Clapp said.



The association is calling on the government to provide "direct funding" to chains, which represent 80% of ticket sales.



One of the major chains, Vue, said the delay was "understandable", and that the continuing attempts to release the film in cinemas "is further testament to our shared belief in a bright future for the big screen".



Move to streaming? However, the latest postponement could stoke speculation that the film may ultimately skip cinemas and be released on a streaming platform.



Major Disney titles like Pixar's Soul and its live-action remake of Mulan bypassed cinemas, premiering instead on the Disney+ streaming service.



Wonder Woman 1984, meanwhile, was made available in the US on the HBO Max streaming service on the same day it received a limited cinema release.



Last year, Warner Bros announced its 2021 titles - including sci-fi epic Dune and The Matrix 4 - would all adopt a similar dual release pattern, escalating tensions between Hollywood and US movie theatres.



The Dig, a new historical drama starring Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan, was due to be released in selected UK cinemas this month. Now, the film will only be available on Netflix from 29 January.



Asked whether No Time To Die might go down the same route, Fiennes - who will reprise his role as M in the film - recently told BBC News: "That's a good question and I'm not really in a position to answer it.



"I would love the idea that people could go to the cinema and have the full effect of the big-screen energy behind the Bond, but I'm sure it's something the people who make these executive decisions are probably considering.



"I really hope we come through this so people can go to the cinema. Maybe they just have to hold their nerve. But of course we don't know, and there may be financial reasons or imperatives that [mean] they have to put it on a streaming system."



If No Time To Die is indeed released in cinemas in October, it will arrive a full six years on from the release of its 2015 predecessor Spectre.



That won't be far behind the six years and four months that separated the release of Licence to Kill in summer 1989 and GoldenEye in late 1995 - the biggest gap between two Bond films.



The last Bond film, 2015's Spectre, took almost $900m (£690m) at worldwide box offices.



Other blockbusters to have been delayed by the pandemic include action sequel Top Gun: Maverick and Marvel's Black Widow.

James Bond film No Time To Die delayed for third time

NEW YORK (AP): After a year where the pandemic nearly emptied movie theaters, Netflix dominated nominations to the 78th Golden Globe Awards on Wednesday, with David Fincher’s “Mank” leading film nominees with six nods and “The Crown” topping all television series.



The Globes, delayed about two months due to the coronavirus, tried to muster some of the awards’ usual buzz on Wednesday in a largely virtual awards season bereft the kind of red-carpet glamour the Globes annually feast on. And perhaps to account for the otherwise lack of it, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association heaped nominations on two lavish period pieces rich in royalty — both the Hollywood variety (the black-and-white “Mank” dramatizes the making of “Citizen Kane”) and the British kind.



“Mank,” about “Citizen Kane” co-writer Herman Mankiewicz, landed nominations for best film, drama; best actor for Gary Oldman; best director for Fincher, best supporting actress for Amanda Seyfried; best score; and best screenplay for Jack Fincher, the director’s father who penned the script before dying in 2003.



“Despite a stressed pandemic year, there is a comfort of sorts in embracing traditions, perhaps it is a hopeful sign that we will get out of this eventually,” Oldman said in a statement. “The Golden Globes are such a sign of both tradition and normal.”



Netflix, which topped all studios at the Globes last year, too, led with a commanding 42 nominations, with 22 coming in film categories and 20 in television. No other studio was close. The day overall belonged to the streaming services. Disney+ (“The Mandalorian”) and HBO Max (“The Flight Attendant”) both notched their first Golden Globe nominations. Apple TV+ scored nods for “Ted Lasso,” “Wolfwalkers” and “On the Rocks.” Amazon was competitive with Regina King’s “One Night in Miami” and Steve McQueen’s anthology “Small Axe.”



“The Crown” landed six nominations including best series, drama, and acting nods for Olivia Colman and Josh O’Connor. The final season of “Schitt’s Creek” trailed with five nominations, while Netflix’s “Ozark” (four nods) and “The Queen’s Gambit” (two nods) also added to the streamer’s totals. (“Queens Gambit” star Anya Taylor-Joy was nominated for both the hit show and for the Jane Austen adaptation “Emma.”)



Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7” — also a Netflix release, about the countercultural clash at the 1968 Democratic National Convention — came in second among movies with five nominations, including nods for best film, drama; best director and best screenplay for Sorkin; supporting actor for Sacha Baron Cohen; and best song.



“On the one hand, it is strange to be celebrating when so many people are suffering but on the other hand, at least for movie lovers, the Golden Globes are a fun thing,” said Sorkin by phone. “It’ll be a weird ceremony this year. I’m not sure what they’re planning. Who knows what it’s going to look like.”



The other nominees for best film in the drama category were Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland,” Emerald Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman” and Florian Zeller’s “The Father.” Also nominated were the stars of each: Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”), Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”) and Anthony Hopkins (“The Father”).



Netflix doesn’t report box office figures and both “Nomadland” and “The Father” are yet to open beyond a qualifying run in theaters. So the category’s total box office — a historic low of about $265,000 — is due entirely to “Promising Young Woman,” Fennell’s acclaimed revenge drama.



A year after fielding no female nominees for best director — or a best feature film nomination for any movie directed by a woman — the HFPA nominated more female filmmakers than it ever has before. King, Zhao and Fennell were nominated for best director, alongside Sorkin and Fincher.



By splitting up films between drama and comedy or musical, the Globes gave a boost to an awards season wildcard, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.” Baron Cohen’s film — one of the few nominees partially shot during the pandemic — was nominated for best picture, comedy or musical, best actor in a comedy for Baron Cohen and best supporting actress for Maria Bakalova.



Celebrating the nominations for both “Borat” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” Baron Cohen said in a statement: “These two films are different, but they share a common theme—sometimes we have to protest injustice with our own farce.”



Should neither win, he said, “I promise to hire Rudy Giuliani to contest the results.”



Also nominated for best picture in the comedy or musical category were: “Palm Springs,” “The Prom,” “Music” and “Hamilton.” The film version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical isn’t eligible for the Academy Awards but was for the Globes, which also nominated Miranda’s performance.



As expected, Chadwick Boseman was nominated posthumously his performance in George C. Wolfe’s August Wilson adaptation “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” as was his co-star, Viola Davis.



The other nominees for best actor in a drama, alongside Oldman, Hopkins and Boseman, were Riz Ahmed for “Sound of Metal” and Tahar Rahim for “The Mauritanian.” Along with McDormand, Davis and Mulligan, best actress nominees in a drama film were Andra Day for “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” and Vanessa Kirby for “Pieces of a Woman.”



Gauging the awards prospects of most films has been difficult this winter, with none of the usual screenings and events happening in-person, and a number of the films once expected to lead contenders postponed. But there were still plenty of choices by the press association — an always unpredictable group of 89 voting members — that surprised observers Wednesday.



Spike Lee, whose daughter Satchel and son Jackson are Globes ambassadors this year, saw his Vietnam veteran drama “Da 5 Bloods” unexpectedly shut out entirely. Meryl Streep, who has won eight Globes from a record 32 nominations, was actually snubbed this time, for both “The Prom” and “Let Them All Talk.” Nominations for Jared Leto’s performance as a serial killer in the just-released “The Little Things” and for the Sia-directed musical “Music” were so far out of left field that they seemed likely to rank among previous wayward Globes nominees like “The Tourist.”



The press association also drew much criticism for an earlier decision to consider Lee Isaac Chung’s lauded immigrant drama “Minari,” about a Korean-American family in Arkansas in which the characters largely speak Korean, ineligible for its top award. The group instead nominated “Minari” for best foreign-language film, along with “Another Road,” “La Llorona,” “The Life Ahead” and “Two of Us.”



The nominations announcement was also scaled down due to the pandemic. Presenters Sarah Jessica Parker and Taraji P. Henson read nominees not from a teleprompter but holding print-outs and streaming live from what appeared to be their homes.



The Globes are typically the first major show of Hollywood’s awards season, which ends with the crowning of the best picture winner at the Oscars. They’ll retain that distinction, despite being delayed nearly two months and opting for a bi-coastal ceremony to be hosted by Tina Fey from New York and Amy Poehler from Beverly Hills, Calif. The Oscars are set for April 25.



Last year’s Golden Globes culminated in awards for “1917” and “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.” The telecast, hosted by Ricky Gervais, couldn’t buck the overall ratings trend for awards shows, drawing an average of 18.3 million viewers, down 2% from the previous year.

‘Mank’ leads Golden Globe nominees with 6; Netflix dominates

LOS ANGELES (AP): Larry King, the suspenders-sporting everyman whose broadcast interviews with world leaders, movie stars and ordinary Joes helped define American conversation for a half-century, died Saturday. He was 87.



King died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his production company, Ora Media, tweeted. No cause of death was given, but a spokesperson said Jan. 4 that King had COVID-19, had received supplemental oxygen and had been moved out of intensive care. His son Chance Armstrong also confirmed King’s death, CNN reported.



A longtime nationally syndicated radio host, from 1985 through 2010 he was a nightly fixture on CNN, where he won many honors, including two Peabody awards.



With his celebrity interviews, political debates and topical discussions, King wasn’t just an enduring on-air personality. He also set himself apart with the curiosity he brought to every interview, whether questioning the assault victim known as the Central Park jogger or billionaire industrialist Ross Perot, who in 1992 rocked the presidential contest by announcing his candidacy on King’s show.



In its early years, “Larry King Live” was based in Washington, which gave the show an air of gravitas. Likewise King. He was the plainspoken go-between through whom Beltway bigwigs could reach their public, and they did, earning the show prestige as a place where things happened, where news was made.



King conducted an estimated 50,000 on-air interviews. In 1995 he presided over a Middle East peace summit with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, King Hussein of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He welcomed everyone from the Dalai Lama to Elizabeth Taylor, from Mikhail Gorbachev to Barack Obama, Bill Gates to Lady Gaga.



Especially after he relocated to Los Angeles, his shows were frequently in the thick of breaking celebrity news, including Paris Hilton talking about her stint in jail in 2007 and Michael Jackson’s friends and family members talking about his death in 2009.



King boasted of never overpreparing for an interview. His nonconfrontational style relaxed his guests and made him readily relatable to his audience.



“I don’t pretend to know it all,” he said in a 1995 Associated Press interview. “Not, <code>What about Geneva or Cuba?′ I ask,</code>Mr. President, what don’t you like about this job?′ Or `What’s the biggest mistake you made?′ That’s fascinating.”



At a time when CNN as the lone player in cable news was deemed politically neutral, and King was the essence of its middle-of-the-road stance, political figures and people at the center of controversies would seek out his show.



And he was known for getting guests who were notoriously elusive. Frank Sinatra, who rarely gave interviews and often lashed out at reporters, spoke to King in 1988 in what would be the singer’s last major TV appearance. Sinatra was an old friend of King’s and acted accordingly.



“Why are you here?” King asks. Sinatra responds, “Because you asked me to come and I hadn’t seen you in a long time to begin with, I thought we ought to get together and chat, just talk about a lot of things.”



King had never met Marlon Brando, who was even tougher to get and tougher to interview, when the acting giant asked to appear on King’s show in 1994. The two hit it off so famously they ended their 90-minute talk with a song and an on-the-mouth kiss, an image that was all over media in subsequent weeks.



After a gala week marking his 25th anniversary in June 2010, King abruptly announced he was retiring from his show, telling viewers, “It’s time to hang up my nightly suspenders.” Named as his successor in the time slot: British journalist and TV personality Piers Morgan.



By King’s departure that December, suspicion had grown that he had waited a little too long to hang up those suspenders. Once the leader in cable TV news, he ranked third in his time slot with less than half the nightly audience his peak year, 1998, when “Larry King Live” drew 1.64 million viewers.



His wide-eyed, regular-guy approach to interviewing by then felt dated in an era of edgy, pushy or loaded questioning by other hosts.



Meanwhile, occasional flubs had made him seem out of touch, or worse. A prime example from 2007 found King asking Jerry Seinfeld if he had voluntarily left his sitcom or been canceled by his network, NBC.



“I was the No. 1 show in television, Larry,” replied Seinfeld with a flabbergasted look. “Do you know who I am?”



Always a workaholic, King would be back doing specials for CNN within a few months of performing his nightly duties.



He found a new sort of celebrity as a plainspoken natural on Twitter when the platform emerged, winning over more than 2 million followers who simultaneously mocked and loved him for his esoteric style.



“I’ve never been in a canoe. #Itsmy2cents,” he said in a typical tweet in 2015.



His Twitter account was essentially a revival of a USA Today column he wrote for two decades full of one-off, disjointed thoughts. Norm Macdonald delivered a parody version of the column when he played King on “Saturday Night Live,” with deadpan lines like, “The more I think about it, the more I appreciate the equator.”



King was constantly parodied, often through old-age jokes on late-night talk shows from hosts including David Letterman and Conan O’Brien, often appearing with the latter to get in on the roasting himself.



King came by his voracious but no-frills manner honestly.



He was born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger in 1933, a son of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who ran a bar and grill in Brooklyn. But after his father’s death when Larry was a boy, he faced a troubled, sometimes destitute youth.



A fan of such radio stars as Arthur Godfrey and comedians Bob &amp; Ray, King on reaching adulthood set his sights on a broadcasting career. With word that Miami was a good place to break in, he headed south in 1957 and landed a job sweeping floors at a tiny AM station. When a deejay abruptly quit, King was put on the air — and was handed his new surname by the station manager, who thought Zeiger “too Jewish.”



A year later he moved to a larger station, where his duties were expanded from the usual patter to serving as host of a daily interview show that aired from a local restaurant. He quickly proved equally adept at talking to the waitresses, and the celebrities who began dropping by.



By the early 1960s King had gone to yet a larger Miami station, scored a newspaper column and become a local celebrity himself.



At the same time, he fell victim to living large.



“It was important to me to come across as a ‘big man,”’ he wrote in his autobiography, which meant “I made a lot of money and spread it around lavishly.”



He accumulated debts and his first broken marriages (he was married eight times to seven women). He gambled, borrowed wildly and failed to pay his taxes. He also became involved with a shady financier in a scheme to bankroll an investigation of President John Kennedy’s assassination. But when King skimmed some of the cash to pay his overdue taxes, his partner sued him for grand larceny in 1971. The charges were dropped, but King’s reputation appeared ruined.



King lost his radio show and, for several years, struggled to find work. But by 1975 the scandal had largely blown over and a Miami station gave him another chance. Regaining his local popularity, King was signed in 1978 to host radio’s first nationwide call-in show.



Originating from Washington on the Mutual network, “The Larry King Show” was eventually heard on more than 300 stations and made King a national phenomenon.



A few years later, CNN founder Ted Turner offered King a slot on his young network. “Larry King Live” debuted on June 1, 1985, and became CNN’s highest-rated program. King’s beginning salary of $100,000 a year eventually grew to more than $7 million.



A three-packs-a-day cigarette habit led to a heart attack in 1987, but King’s quintuple-bypass surgery didn’t slow him down.



Meanwhile, he continued to prove that, in his words, “I’m not good at marriage, but I’m a great boyfriend.”



He was just 18 when he married high school girlfriend Freda Miller, in 1952. The marriage lasted less than a year. In subsequent decades he would marry Annette Kay, Alene Akins (twice), Mickey Sutfin, Sharon Lepore and Julie Alexander.



In 1997, he wed Shawn Southwick, a country singer and actress 26 years his junior. They would file for divorce in 2010, rescind the filing, then file for divorce again in 2019.



The couple had two sons — King’s fourth and fifth kids, Chance, born in 1999, and Cannon Edward, born in 2000. In 2020, King lost his two oldest children, Andy King and Chaia King, who died of unrelated health problems within weeks of each other.



He had many other medical issues in recent decades, including more heart attacks and diagnoses of type 2 diabetes and lung cancer.



Through his setbacks he continued to work into his late 80s, taking on online talk shows and infomercials as his appearances on CNN grew fewer.



“Work,” King once said. “It’s the easiest thing I do.”



Funeral arrangements and a memorial service will be announced later in coordination with the King family, “who ask for their privacy at this time,” according to the tweet from Ora Media.

Entertainment

Our Team

Contact Information

Address (USA):

Address (Nepal):

Email:

Phone: