By Mick LaSalle

(1957-1994)

Film

A few years back, when the San Francisco Film Critics Circle first convened, an award was created for a Bay Area artist or exhibitor who had made a considerable contribution to the art of film. Prizes usually have honored names attached to them, which serve as the standard for others to live up to. When the name Marlon Riggs was suggested, there was no need for debate. Since then, the Marlon Riggs Award has become a signature Bay Area honor, just as Riggs, in the years since his death, has become a symbol of committed documentary filmmaking that challenges audiences and explores social and political issues.

He was born in Texas in 1957 and educated at Harvard University. He moved to California in the late 1970s and earned a master's degree in journalism from UC Berkeley. He apprenticed to several filmmakers, and in 1986, still in his 20s, he completed "Ethnic Notions," a study of how various racist images have been used in American culture to foster slavery and discrimination. It showed at the San Francisco Film Festival and secured his reputation as a new voice in documentary film.

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By Subhash K. Jha

Indian Actor Siddharth says he is ready to play a gay role

Mumbai, Feb 22 (IANS) "Rang De Basanti" actor Siddharth says he is ready to play a gay role because he feels sexual orientation is a natural and personal choice.

Siddharth, who has just done Vishal Bharadwaj's "Blood Brothers" and is busy with Chandan Arora's "Striker", said: "As an actor I play roles based on reality. Sexual orientation is a natural and personal choice. I see no reason for it to affect my decision to accept a project."

"I have close friends who are gay, and they are as intelligent and caring, if not more, than my heterosexual friends. I think it's time we started respecting them and giving them their much-deserved freedom to just be themselves," said the actor, according to whom India is a homophobic country.

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The film "Blueprint" is showing at the “Best of” African Diaspora Film Festival in New York City on Monday February 25th  9:50 PM at the BAM Rose Cinemas 

Film Review 

Keith is a reserved, straitlaced transplant to New York City from Los Angeles; Nathan is a street-smart, potsmoking Brooklynite who lives on the edge — or so he’d like Keith to believe. At first glance, nothing about these two young African American college students suggests romantic compatibility. But a casual courtship gradually develops amidst minor bickering and disagreements — those familiar interstices inside which nascent love restlessly takes shape. 

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By Joe Neumaier

Talk about whipping up a frenzy!

On Thursday, the first official teaser trailer for "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" will debut on "Good Morning America" between 8 and 9 a.m. - well before the hotly anticipated action flick opens on May 22.

Steven Spielberg is again directing, and George Lucas producing, the sure-to-be blockbuster followup to their "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981), "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (1984) and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989).

After "GMA," the footage will be available at the film's official site (www.IndianaJones.com), as well as at Yahoo! Movies, and in theaters.

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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Movie Trailer

 

 

The movie wins for best film, actor and actress at the 39th annual ceremony.

By Susan King

"The Great Debaters" was named best film of 2007 at the 39th annual NAACP Image Awards on Thursday evening. The inspiring film about an African American debate team in the 1930s also earned best actor and actress honors for director Denzel Washington and co-star Jurnee Smollett, respectively.

The awards, which honor projects and individuals that promote diversity in the arts, literature, motion pictures, recording and television, were telecast from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. D.L. Hughley was the host.

On the television side, Tyler Perry's "House of Payne" was named outstanding comedy series, "Grey's Anatomy" was named outstanding drama series, and "Life Support" was named best television movie, mini-series or dramatic special.

Acting awards were given to America Ferrera ("Ugly Betty"), Omar Epps ("House") and Chandra Wilson ("Grey's Anatomy") among others. The full list of winners is at TheEnvelope.com.

During the telecast, Stevie Wonder was inducted into the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame.

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The Great Debaters
Movie Trailer

By David Hinckley

Roy Scheider, who survived the shark in "Jaws" and brutally graphic open-heart surgery in "All That Jazz," died Sunday in Little Rock, Ark. He was 75.

Scheider's wife, Brenda, said he died of a staph infection, brought on by complications of the multiple myeloma with which he was diagnosed in 2004.

A classically trained actor who appeared in more than 70 films, his signature role was Martin Brody, the conflicted sheriff in Steven Spielberg's breakthrough 1975 "Jaws."

Brody's droll remark "You're gonna need a bigger boat," which Scheider ad-libbed, turned into a defining line of the film that became the unlikeliest of cinema classics - igniting the career of Spielberg and ushering in the era of summer blockbusters.

Unlike Spielberg or his co-stars Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss, Scheider agreed to return for the sequel, "Jaws 2." He had the good sense to skip the next two installments.

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By Lisa Guttierrez

The death of Heath Ledger from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs last month has exposed an alarming trend among the rest of us.

Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose of six different types of prescription drugs, a coroner ruled Wednesday. (Getty Images)

Unintentional deaths from prescription and illegal drug abuse are now the nation’s second-leading cause of accidental deaths — only auto accidents claim more victims. But the fastest and most alarming increases are due to prescription drug misuse.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, deaths from accidental overdose rose from 12,186 to 20,950 between 1999 and 2004.

CDC officials this year plan to study patterns among the deaths — what kind, how much and how many different drugs the victims used.

The medical community already knows some of the causes: “Doctor shopping” and “pharmacy hopping” make it difficult to track patients and prescriptions; the use of painkillers has increased nationwide: and people don’t see risks in medicines prescribed by doctors.

A medical examiner concluded this week that Ledger, the Oscar-nominated star of “Brokeback Mountain,” died of “acute intoxication” from using six painkillers, sleep aids and anti-anxiety drugs.

The very same drugs are found in many home medicine cabinets: painkillers OxyContin and hydrocodone; anti-anxiety drugs Valium and Xanax; and sleep aids Restoril and Unisom. Only Unisom is over-the-counter.

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The PBS documentary explores the life of an African royal who was enslaved for decades.

By Mary McNamara

The horror of the African slave trade, particularly the experience of African American slaves, has been documented by so many historians, novelists, playwrights and poets that it is tempting to view the PBS documentary "Prince Among Slaves" as just another way to celebrate Black History Month. This would be a grave mistake.

Not only is the story of Abdul-Rahman Ibrahim ibn Sori, a well-educated African prince who was captured and sold into slavery, a fascinating study of a man who became, at the end of his life, a cause célèbre, but it also illuminates the terrible democracy of slavery: To European slave traders and American slave holders, all black Africans were created equal -- without status, rights or humanity.

Just before his capture, Abdul-Rahman was a 26-year-old Muslim Fulbe prince, married with a son, who had recently taken command of his father's army. Returning from battle, he and a group of soldiers were ambushed, captured and sold to slave traders for muskets, whiskey and eight twists of tobacco. Eight terrible months later, he was set down with other chattel on the docks of the Natchez district of Mississippi. Purchased by a small-time planter named Thomas Foster, Abdul-Rahman tried to explain who he was; Foster laughed at the idea of African royalty and promptly named his new slave Prince.

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By Gemma Pritchard

Actor Colin Farrell is to be best man at his brother's civil partnership ceremony.

Eamon Farrell, 35, is planning to marry his 23-year-old boyfriend Steven Mannion after a proposing to him in New York last year.

According to the Mirror: "Eamon proposed before Christmas. The pair share a love of art and this is what brought them together.

"Eamon is a respected dance teacher who set up the National Performing Arts School in Dublin more than 10 years ago.

"And Steven is a really talented artist who has been welcomed into the Farrell family."

The younger Farrell brother is best-known for his versatile performances in a string of hit films such as Phone Booth and Alexander.

It is rumoured Colin, 31, helped Eamon choose a diamond and sapphire-studded ring for his boyfriend.

The brothers are very close, and have bought houses next door to each other in Sandymount, South Dublin.

The couple have not yet decided where they will exchange vows - but it won't be in the Republic.

The insider told the Mirror: "With Irish legislation the way it is at the minute, the wedding can't be here.

"But the couple could go to the North or England for a civil partnership ceremony there.

"It's more likely though that they'll get married in the States so Colin's whole family can be there."

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GLAAD's First African American Gay TV Series Media Award Nominee, Mirrors Presidential Race

Hollwood, CA (PRWEB) January 28, 2008 -- The 19th Annual GLAAD Media Nominations of here! TV's, "The DL Chronicles" and. LOGO's "Daphne" is likened to the Barack Obama vs. Hillary Clinton Democratic Nomination Race.

here! TV's, "The DL Chronicles," nominated for Outstanding TV Movie, Mini-Series, or Anthology, is the first Gay TV series of color to be nominated by GLAAD and is the first TV series nomination for a gay network. This is also GLAAD's first year to include media produced by LGBT Television Networks, which puts both projects in a historical race likened to the 2008 Democratic Presidential race.

Said to represent Experience vs. Change much like the Clinton vs. Obama platforms, the TV movie "Daphne," a story about a famed closeted British Lesbian author, was produced by LOGO, the LGBT network of the monolithic Viacom/MTV. In contrast, "The DL Chronicles," an anthology series about closeted gay and bisexual African American men, is produced by newcomers, Quincy LeNear and Deondray Gossett, and distributed by here! TV: an independent premium LGBT cable network.

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By Kam Williams

Danny on Acting, Directing, and His Commitment to the Downtrodden and Disenfranchised

Born on July 22, 1946, Danny Lebern Glover was the eldest of five children raised in San Francisco by James and Carrie Glover, both of whom were postal workers.

After graduating from George Washington High School, he attended San Francisco State University where his progressive political perspective was forged as a member of the Black Student Union.

He developed an interest in acting in his late twenties, which is when he started studying at the Black Actors’ Workshop in San Francisco. Danny’s screen debut came in Escape from Alcatraz in 1979, though he found his breakout role as Moze opposite Sally Field’s Oscar-winning performance in Places in the Heart.

His most notorious outing arrived in 1985 as Albert in Steven Spielberg’s screen adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Color Purple. However, he is likely to be best remembered for the four buddy flicks he made with Mel Gibson during the run of the Lethal Weapon franchise. Plus, he has handled title roles as Nelson Mandela in Mandela, as Boesman in Boesman and Lena, and appeared in everything from Witness to Predator 2 to The Rainmaker to Beloved to The Royal Tenebaums to Manderlay to Shooter to Dreamgirls.

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Makes HIV Prevention/Education More Interactive, Accessible

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Five young gay guys, living together in an apartment complex where they all face decisions about their sex lives, sounds like the description of a television soap-opera. But it also describes the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center's groundbreaking new HIV prevention/education campaign.
By blending the appeal of sexy digital soaps with online forums, the Center's In the Moment series of "webisodes," the first of which is funded by the City of West Hollywood, promotes safer sex in a manner that is more entertaining, interactive and accessible than traditional prevention programs.

"Since this campaign is available to anyone who has access to a computer," says Alton Carswell, program coordinator for the Center's WeHoLife.org HIV prevention program, "we can reach guys who don't go to bars, clubs or meetings and they can engage -- anonymously if they prefer -- discussing whatever is on their mind. That was one of our goals."

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By Nathan Burstein

A film about a romance between Israeli and Palestinian men has been nominated for a prize by one of the most influential gay organizations in the US. 'The Bubble,' a drama based in Tel Aviv and directed by Israeli filmmaker Eytan Fox, has been named one of five contenders in the limited release film category at the 19th Annual Media Awards of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. 

The nomination marks the third time a film by Fox has been recognized by GLAAD, which will hand out its 2008 awards March 22 in New York. The prizes honor films, television series and works of print and TV journalism that promote "a truly inclusive society," GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano said in a press statement released Monday.

'The Bubble,' about a group of gay and straight 20-somethings in Tel Aviv, focuses on the relationship between Noam (Ohad Knoller) and Ashraf (Yousef Sweid), an Israeli reservist and a West Bank resident who meet at a checkpoint and reunite on Tel Aviv's trendy Sheinkin Street. The film was previously nominated by the Israeli Film Academy, and took two prizes at last year's Berlin International Film Festival.

Other nominees for this year's GLAAD prizes include TV series 'Desperate Housewives,' 'The Sarah Silverman Program' and 'The Oprah Winfrey Show.'

THE BUBBLE - US Trailer

 

 

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BROADCAST PREMIERES
PRINCE AMONG SLAVES
Monday, February 4, 2008, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET
This special tells the forgotten true story of an African prince who was enslaved in Mississippi for 40 years before finally achieving freedom and becoming one of the most famous men in America . Mos Def narrates. In HD where available.

AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES 2
Wednesdays, February 6-13, 2008, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET
AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES again journeys deep into the African-American experience to unearth the triumphs and tragedies within the family histories of an all-new group of renowned participants. Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. returns as series host. In HD where available.

INDEPENDENT LENS "Banished"
Tuesday, February 19, 2008, 10:00-11:30 p.m. ET
This is the story of three counties that forcefully banished African American families from their towns 100 years ago - and the descendents who return to learn a shocking history. Co-production of ITVS in association with NBPC. By Marco Williams. http://www.pbs.org/independentlens

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By Carly Mayberry

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Comedian Orlando Jones has joined the cast of the indie comedy-drama "Misconceptions."

The project stars A.J. Cook (CBS' "Criminal Minds") as a religious conservative who receives a message from God telling her to act as a surrogate mother for two gay men desiring to raise a child.

Jones will play Terry, the hopeful parent who comes to the woman's home to micromanage her pregnancy and in the process causes havoc. David Moscow will play his life partner.

Ron Satlof directs from a script he wrote with Ira Pearlstein. Jones' recent feature credits include "House of D" and "Biker Boys."

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Omar - "The Wire"

Okay, we’re back from the holidays. I know what you’re thinking: “It’s been weeks! Weeks!” We know. It’s been a really, really long disco nap.

We’ve actually been covering presidential politics like mad. So, it should come as no surprise that our first post out of the gate is about both gays and politics.

Sen. Barack Obama was recently asked about his favorite TV show, The Wire. Here’s the interesting exchange, thanks to Slog.

Obama: I gotta say Omar’s a great character. That’s not an endorsement.

Coolican: (Laughing.) Uh oh, you’re making national news here.

Obama: Exactly. That is not an endorsement. He is not my favorite person. But he’s a fascinating character.

Coolican: And there’s a real life story behind it, too.

Obama: He’s this gay gangster who only robs drug dealers, and then gives back. You know, he’s sort of a Robin Hood. And he’s the toughest, baddest guy on this show, but he’s gay, you know. And it’s really interesting. It’s a fascinating character.

England's Oprah lays it on the line

By Janelle Oswald

“It’s not that I’m not attracted to black men,” says TV host Trisha Goddard ,“but I have never dated a black man before because they were not apart of my social circle.”

The Channel Five queen of daytime talk television who has just been made 08 Ambassador for Liverpool, the European Capital of Culture, says that she has never experienced a relationship with a “person of colour” because she never knew any growing up. “ In my hometown it was just me, my sisters and my mum. There were no more black people, it was just us.”

In an open and frank discussion, the mother of two teenage girls comes clean and explains that her mother’s attitude towards black men was very negative, which had a profound effect on her.

Born in Hackney, east London in 1957, to a white English father and black Dominican mother, who were both psychiatric nurses, Goddard was the eldest (and “ugliest, and darkest-skinned”, she says) of four sisters.

She grew up mainly in Virginia Water, Surrey, where there were no other black people. But she remembers on a school holiday once seeing a black air stewardess in uniform, and being very startled, “ I had a stereotypical view of black people apart from me – I used to think that they threw stones and lived in huts.”

By Jill Serjeant

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comic actor Eddie Murphy and his new wife Tracey Edmonds have split up just two weeks after their romantic wedding in French Polynesia, People magazine reported on Wednesday.

The star of "Shrek" and "Dreamgirls" and Edmonds, a film producer, exchanged their vows on a private island off Bora Bora on Jan. 1.

Under U.S. law, the couple needed a ceremony on U.S. soil to make the marriage legal.

But Murphy, 46, and Edmonds, 40, told People in a statement they would not do that and had decided to remain friends.

"After much consideration and discussion, we have jointly decided that we will forego having a legal ceremony as it is not necessary to define our relationship further," the statement said.

"While the recent symbolic union in Bora Bora was representative of our deep love, friendship and respect that we have for one another on a spiritual level, we have decided to remain friends," it added.

Murphy, 46, was divorced from his wife of 13 years, Nicole, in 2006. They had five children together. Last year, he fathered a daughter with Melanie Brown of the Spice Girls, but did not acknowledge paternity until four months after the baby was born.

Edmonds split last year with her husband, R&B singer/songwriter Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. They had two sons together.

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Will Smith is not just Tom Cruise's best friend – now it seems he may have been recruited by his pal to introduce people into the Church of Scientology.

Smith has notoriously dodged questions concerning his position on the controversial movement, but now his actions could speak louder than words.

The 39-year-old raised suspicions after he was said to be handing out cards for a Scientology 'personality test' to the crew on the set of film Hancock as a wrap present.

In the past, the I Am Legend actor said: 'I was introduced to Scientology by Tom, and I'm a student of world religion. I was raised in a Baptist household. I went to a Catholic school, but the ideas of the Bible are 98 per cent the same ideas as Scientology and 98 per cent the same ideas of Hinduism and Buddhism.'

Earlier this week, 45-year-old Cruise threatened a £50million legal case against the publishers of a new unauthorised 'tell-all' book that claims he is second in command of the religious sect.

He was also furious at his one-year-old daughter, Suri, being dubbed the devil's child.

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By Anne Lu

Oprah Winfrey had written her will and left her long-time boyfriend out of it. The richest African-American of the 20th century reportedly left nothing to chance and asked that her estimated $2 billion fortune be divided among her charities, dogs, and yet-to-be adopted children, leaving nothing for boyfriend Stedman Graham.

According to National Enquirer, the queen of talk fears her wealth would be squandered once she dies so she has prepared her will. Graham, her partner for over 20 years, apparently would not be getting a cent.

The multi-Emmy Award winning host also plans to adopt three daughters and Graham, again, would not be included in the process.

"It's something she has always wanted to do," a source says. "There's no talk of her adopting the children with Stedman - this is something she's going to do by herself."

Graham earns his living as an author, businessman, and a motivational speaker. Winfrey is the host of The Oprah Winfrey Show since its first run in 1986. She had announced in 2007 she will not renew the show's contract and will retire in 2011.

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