by Frako Loden
The African Film Festival National Traveling Series stops at the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive this spring for its 25th year, acquiring some other film-festival notables on its way. True to its mission to present the best of recent films from Africa and the African diaspora, this year’s edition features dramas and documentaries from Burkina Faso, Senegal, Niger, Tunisia, Europe, the UK and the US.
by Gary Meyer
“When they called my name, I had this feeling I could hear half of America going, ‘Oh no. Come on… Her, again?’ You know. But, whatever.”
– Meryl Streep, Best Actress, The Iron Lady, 2012
Will this be Glenn Close’s big night? As The Onion suggests in their annual irreverent Guide to the Oscars, “with seven nominations and no wins, Close currently holds the record for the most cut-to reaction shots of her pretending to look happy for other people.”
As we prepare for the “Big Night” without any Streep nominations I thought our readers would enjoy some tips and other fun. We’ve got speech writing tips, ballots, Oscar Bingo, food ideas and predictions. Plus the Independent Spirit Awards.
by Gary Meyer
The film industry is watching closely to see if Alfonso Cuarón’s ROMA changes everything. The award-winning director clearly made his movie to be seen on the big screen in theaters with the best possible sound and projection. But it was financed by Netflix, a company that wants their films and shows to only be seen on their streaming platform.
A barrage of ads for “Roma” — in trade publications, on Netflix-owned billboards in Los Angeles — has continued for months. Photo by Hunter Kerhart for The New York Times
Food and beverages play an important part in our love lives. Enjoy a sampling of Valentine images around food and drink, vintage and current. We even link to a few recipes.
We did a random “Vintage Hollywood Valentines” Google search and came up with a treasure trove of images and more. And if click on any given image it enlarges with several new images to the right.
Here are some of our favorites. Can you name the stars?
