LOS ANGELES: The Oscars next month will pre-tape the announcements of eight winners in an attempt to make the televised ceremony “tighter and more electric,” organizers said Tuesday.
The decision, made to “prioritize the television audience,” will free up more time for musical performances, comedy and tributes, Academy president David Rubin said in an email to nominees and members.
Television ratings for the Oscars have dramatically declined in recent years. Last year’s edition was watched by just over 10 million viewers — a 56 percent decline from 2020, which was already a record low.
Eight awards “will initially be presented in the Dolby Theatre in the hour before the live broadcast begins,” and edited highlights will be “folded seamlessly into the live televised show,” the email seen by AFP says.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has mulled reducing the number of categories in the live broadcast before, and recently merged its “sound mixing” and “sound editing” awards into a single Oscar.
But previous attempts were unpopular, particularly among members working in craft categories — from film editing to makeup and hairstyling — who fear missing out on what is often a career-highlight moment.
Those categories will now be pre-taped, along with awards for original score, sound, production design, documentary shorts, animated shorts and live-action shorts.
Rubin’s email emphasizes that “every awarded filmmaker and artist in every category will still have the celebratory ‘Oscar moment’ they deserve on the stage of the Dolby, facing an enrapt audience.”
The streamlining measure will leave “more time and opportunity for audience entertainment and engagement through comedy, musical numbers, film clip packages and movie tributes,” he said.
“For the audience at home, the show’s flow does not change, though it will become tighter and more electric with this new cadence.”
One Academy member, who asked not to be named, told AFP that they “understand” the decision announced by Rubin, due to the proviso that all winners’ speeches will still be featured on the broadcast.
“Considering the recent ratings decline of the Oscars telecast, the show must evolve with having the best interest of the future of the show, as well as the Academy itself, in mind,” said the member.
It is the Academy’s latest move to boost interest and viewership in its flagship event.
The 94th Academy Awards telecast will also include a new “fan favorite” prize for the year’s most popular film, as voted for by Twitter users.
Several of last year’s crowd-pleasing blockbusters including “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “No Time To Die” had failed to earn Oscar nominations in major categories, including best picture.
After going three years without a host, the Oscars on March 27 will be helmed by three doyennes of comedy, Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer and Regina Hall.
Oscars to pre-tape some awards in bid for ‘tighter’ show
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Oscars to pre-tape some awards in bid for ‘tighter’ show
- Eight awards “will initially be presented in the Dolby Theatre in the hour before the live broadcast begins.”
Guerlain’s Ann-Caroline Prazan on mixing cultures, Mideast inspiration
DUBAI: Ann-Caroline Prazan, the director of art, culture, and heritage at French luxury beauty brand Guerlain, shared her affection for the Middle East and shed light on why she is so keen to mesh together cultures when creating new products.
“The Guerlain family is totally in love with the region. I am in love with this region because it is like a paradise,” she told Arab News. “People here love fragrances and they are such experts. When Guerlain creates a fragrance for the Middle East, it is always with a French touch.”
For Prazan, who joined the Guerlain team in 2000, understanding the brand’s story has been pivotal, motivating her to craft fragrances over her 24-year tenure, prioritizing longevity over trends.
“It is important to understand the past to create a future,” Prazan said. “You know, a house is like a big tree. You need to know the roots to create the leaves and to create new flowers. Without roots, you cannot do anything if you do not understand the brand.”
“Innovation is our obsession,” she added. “Guerlain created the first lipsticks, the first lip liners, the first modern perfume, the first moisturizing Nivea cream was by Guerlain.”
Her regional knowledge shapes Guerlain’s tailored fragrances for its customers.
“You have the best perfumers here, local perfumers. What was interesting is to mix the roots with the leaves to mix different cultures. And for me, when you mix different cultures, when you mix traditions and modernity, you can create beautiful products,” she explained.
Guerlain has collaborated with regional creatives before. In 2023, the brand worked with Lebanese artist Nadine Kanso to design a fragrance bottle for the label, making her the first Arab designer to collaborate with the LVMH-owned perfume and beauty house.
She designed 30 limited edition bee-inspired bottles, decorated with 1,720 crystals, with Arabic calligraphy that read “Love.”
At an event in Dubai last week, the label chose to work with contemporary Tunisian artist Nja Mahdaoui, who showcased his abstract Arabic calligraphy with engraved Cherry Oud bottles serving as place cards for the invitees.
The brand also created a number of bottles, showcased at the event in Dubai, that celebrate Arab design elements.
The Parfumerie D’Art collection features the Bee Bottle by Baqué Molinié. Unveiled to mark Eid Al-Fitr this year, the bottle features hand-placed mother-of-pearl beads and moonstones, designed by the Parisian atelier as a tribute to the “wonders of Arab architectural art,” according to a released statement.
‘Bridgerton’ actress says she was warned not to campaign for Palestinians
- Nicola Coughlan: Hollywood insiders told her advocacy could harm her career
- Irish star feels ‘moral responsibility’ to campaign for ceasefire, continue to fundraise
LONDON: Irish actress Nicola Coughlan has revealed that she was told her Palestinian advocacy could harm her career.
The “Bridgerton” and “Derry Girls” star told Teen Vogue she had been warned by people in Hollywood not to be openly supportive of Palestinian rights, but has continued to campaign for a ceasefire in Gaza and still publicly wears an Artists4Ceasefire pin.
“You do get told, ‘you won’t get work, you won’t do this,’ but I also think, deep down, if you know that you’re coming from a place of ‘I don’t want any innocent people to suffer,’ then I’m not worried about people’s reactions,” she said.
“My family lived in Jerusalem back in the late ‘70s, early ’80s, before I was born, so I heard first hand stories about them living there.”
She said her father, who served in the Irish military, went to a “lot of war-torn regions after the conflict and try and help rebuild,” and this had left a profound impression on her.
“I’m so lucky I’ve gotten to this point in my career, and I’m privileged as a white woman, first off.
“Then the fact that I get to do the job I love and travel the world and meet amazing people, I feel a moral responsibility to give back.”
She has made a point of continuing to campaign and raise money around the issue, adding: “To me, it always becomes about supporting all innocent people, which sounds oversimplified, but I think you’ve got to look at situations and just think, ‘Are we supporting innocent people no matter where they’re from, who they are?’ That’s my drive.”
Coughlan said social media plays a role in driving advocacy but it requires nuance. “More of us should be trying to understand how upsetting and traumatising this is for Jewish people, and how horrific it is that all these innocent people in Palestine are being murdered,” she added.
A number of Hollywood figures have faced repercussions for their open support of the Palestinians or criticism of Israel.
Mexican actress Melissa Barrera was fired from the latest “Scream” film over social media posts in support of Palestine, while director Jonathan Glazer caused controversy for using his acceptance speech at the Oscars for his film “The Zone of Interest” to criticize the Gaza war.
‘Game of Thrones’ star Liam Cunningham says world will ‘not forget’ those who stayed silent on Gaza
- Irishman has been vocal advocate for Palestinian causes for decades
LONDON: Irish actor Liam Cunningham has said the public will “not forget” those who have not voiced support for Palestinians during the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.
The “Game of Thrones” star has been a vocal advocate for Palestinian causes for decades. Speaking during a demonstration in Dublin led by Irish-Palestinian Ahmed Alagha, who has lost 44 family members in the recent Israeli assault on Gaza, Cunningham said he has been commended by his peers in the past for his activism.
“What concerns me is that the people who do care and are not doing anything are, in my opinion, worse than the people who don’t care,” he said.
Cunningham was asked if he had spoken to other actors to convince them to show support for the Palestinian cause, but responded by saying he could not speak for others, The Independent reported.
However, he added, “The internet doesn’t forget. When this comes around, when the ICJ (International Court of Justice) and ICC (International Criminal Court) hopefully do their work honorably, it is going to come out,” he said.
“And the people who didn’t talk — it is not going to be forgotten. It’s livestreamed, this genocide, and (saying) you didn’t know is not an option. You did know. And you did nothing. You stayed quiet. I need to be able to look in the mirror, and that’s why I speak,” he added.
A month after Israel launched its onslaught on Gaza in response to Hamas incursions on Oct. 7 in Israeli territory in which nearly 1,200 people were killed and around 250 hostages were taken, Cunningham said that for Irish people to ignore the treatment of Palestinians would be to “betray” their history.
“If we allow ourselves to accept this behavior, then we allow it to happen to us,” he said at the time. “We have to stand up for standards. We have to stand up for international law and it reduces us as human beings if we don’t.”
Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, around two-thirds of them children and women, according to Hamas-run health authorities in the enclave.
Saudi Film ‘Hajjan’ wins 6 nominations at Critics Awards for Arab Films
DUBAI: Saudi Arabia-based film “Hajjan,” directed by Egyptian filmmaker Abu Bakr Shawky, is nominated for six categories at the eighth Critics Awards for Arab Films.
The movie is competing in the best feature film, best screenplay, best actor, best music, best cinematography and best editing categories.
“Hajjan” tells the story of Matar, a boy who embarks on a journey across the desert with his camel, Hofira.
The movie is a co-production between the Kingdom’s King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, or Ithra, and Egyptian producer Mohamed Hefzy’s Film Clinic.
The movie, which is written by Omar Shama from Egypt and the Kingdom’s Mufarrij Almajfel, stars Saudi actors Abdulmohsen Al-Nemer, Ibrahim Al-Hsawi, among others.
The awards ceremony, scheduled for May 18 on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival, is organized by the Arab Cinema Center in Cairo and assessed by a panel of 209 critics representing 72 countries.
Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani’s inaugural feature film, “Goodbye Julia,” and Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated documentary, “Four Daughters,” scored nominations in seven categories.
Jordanian filmmaker Amjad Al-Rasheed’s “Inshallah A Boy” and Palestinian-British director Farah Nabulsi’s “The Teacher” have six nominations.
Emirati designer Hamda Al-Fahim dresses Anya Taylor-Joy for Tiffany event
DUBAI: US actress Anya Taylor-Joy this week was spotted at the Tiffany & Co. celebration of the launch of Blue Book in Beverly Hills wearing a dress by Emirati designer Hamda Al-Fahim.
The actress from “The Queen’s Gambit,” who is the ambassador for the American luxury jewelry label, impressed her fans in a head-turning dark golden brown dress that featured a corset-styled bodice paired with a fitted velvet skirt that flowed down, culminating in a short train trailing behind her.
The dress is called the Velvet Canyon and is from Al-Fahim’s Earthy collection.
Al-Fahim took to Instagram to share pictures of the star championing her design with her 498,000 followers.
“Anya Taylor-Joy (looks) stunning in our Velvet Canyon,” she wrote on her Stories.
For her jewelry, Anya chose a glitzy diamond necklace embellished with red rhinestones, accompanied by matching earrings and a ring. She completed the ensemble with a statement chunky silver bracelet.
She styled her blonde hair with a side part, which cascaded in soft waves past her shoulders.
Taylor-Joy was accompanied by a star-studded lineup of celebrities, including Olivia Wilde, Emily Blunt, Gabrielle Union, Quinta Brunson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Reese Witherspoon, Laura Harrier, Suki Waterhouse and Aimee Song, among others.
Wilde flaunted a black figure-hugging dress with a plunging neckline, Blunt was radiant in a white sequin dress, Union opted for a custom-made Staud dress in black and white, Brunson wore a black velvet midi-gown from Roland Mouret and Huntington-Whiteley chose a white Carolina Herrera dress.
Al-Fahim is an Abu Dhabi-based designer known for her elegant and ethereal aesthetic, often featuring intricate embellishments, delicate fabrics and flattering silhouettes. Her creations combine femininity and sophistication, blending traditional craftsmanship with modern sensibilities.
Seen on red carpets, premieres and high-profile events worldwide, Al-Fahim’s creations have captured the attention of international celebrities including Rihanna and Jennifer Lopez.
Al-Fahim has also previously teamed up with US luxury handbag designer Tyler Ellis on a limited-edition capsule collection in 2022.
