Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Israeli-born Natalie Portman nominated for Oscar

Israeli-born actress Natalie Portman was announced on Tuesday as one of the nominees for this year”s Oscars. Portman was named in the best actress category for her performance in “Jackie”, a biographical drama which follows Jackie Kennedy in the aftermath of the 1963 assassination of her husband, President John F. Kennedy. Portman, who was born

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Middle East, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Aziz Ansari took to the ‘SNL’ stage and delivered some stand-up logic to Trump

“Saturday Night Live” couldn’t have planned a better guest host for its inaugural-weekend show than Aziz Ansari. Or at least that’s the conclusion many came to after the writer-actor-comedian delivered the opening monologue. Ansari, who made a name for himself as Tom Haverford on “Parks and Recreation,” is now co-creator and star of his own

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Docu on PH rescue of Jews debuts in Israel

A Filipino filmmaker will premiere this week in Tel Aviv his documentary on how the Philippines provided refuge to some 1,300 Jews fleeing from the Holocaust. According to Philippine ambassador to Israel Neal Imperial, ‘An Open Door: Holocaust Haven in the Philippines’ by Noel Izon will be shown at the Cinematheque Tel Aviv on Jan.

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International, Jewish History, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

‘SNL’ Writer Suspended for Tweeting Barron Trump Joke

Since winning the election in November, Donald Trump hasn’t taken very kindly to how he has been portrayed by Saturday Night Live. He’s bashed the long-running sketch comedy show on three spearate occasions over the past three months, often singling out Alec Baldwin’s impersonation of him. But SNL wasn’t any tougher on Trump than they

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Meet Allison Schroeder, the NASA-loving writer of ‘Hidden Figures’ who was just nominated for an Oscar

Allison Schroeder was on the playground in 1986, chasing a friend around the slide, when the space shuttle Challenger exploded. As a first-grader, she was confused by the blast visible from her neighborhood, just 30 minutes south of the launch pad in Cape Canaveral. So she looked toward her teacher, who’d begun to cry. That’s

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Academy Awards 2017: Complete list of nominations

LOS ANGELES — The nominations for the 89th Academy Awards were revealed Tuesday morning in Los Angeles. “La La Land” did what 800-pound gorillas are supposed to do: dominate the Oscar nominations tally, pulling down 14, including actor, actress, director and picture. Ava Duvernay’s “13th” joins “O.J.: Made in America” among best documentary feature nominees,

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Closeted composer suffered in Czarist Russia

“Nothing is perfect in Nature. Nature is perfect imperfection.” -PI Tchaikovsky By Eric George Tauber SAN DIEGO–When Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky listened to birdsong, he noticed that they were just a little less than perfect, but these imperfections made them more beautiful. And so he threw some “wrong” notes into his arpeggios, making them more natural

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Eric George Tauber, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Hershey Felder brings to life composer Piotr Tchaikowsky

By Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — In The Great Tchaikowsky, Hershey Felder’s latest piece, which is breaking sales records at the Lyceum Theatre in downtown San Diego, Felder does Tikun Olam, working to repair the world, by sensitizing us to the suffering of the gay Russian composer and casting a light on the persecution of the

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

People are calling for this “SNL” writer to be fired after she made a joke about Barron Trump that may have gone too far

“Saturday Night Live” writer Katie Rich has come under intense criticism in the last 24 hours after she made a joke about Barron Trump that many felt was in poor taste. Barron, the young son of President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, has been the subject of lots of Internet attention as he

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

‘Hedi: A Wind of Freedom’ tells the story of life after the Arab Spring

In his first film “Hedi: a Wind of Freedom” Mohamed Ben Attia shows us what life is like for young Tunisians after the Arab Spring. Lives which are caught between the desire to live and the weight of conventions, like the young man who has to go through an arranged marriage. One look is enough

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Middle East, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Miguel Ferrer, star of ‘RoboCop,’ ‘NCIS: Los Angeles’ and ‘Twin Peaks,’ dies at 61

LOS ANGELES — Miguel Ferrer, an actor with a long list of credits ranging from “Twin Peaks” to his current role on CBS’ “NCIS: Los Angeles,” died of cancer Thursday. He was 61. A fixture on TV and in movies since the 1980s, Ferrer’s reputation as a scene-stealer began with 1987’s “RoboCop,” where he played

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Obituaries & memorials, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

See People’s Choice Awards 2017 Complete Winners List!

Latinos were shining bright at the People’s Choice Awards 2017 tonight. Our Bronx-diva Jennifer Lopez was honored for her work on “Shades of Blue” with the award for Favorite TV Crime Drama Actress. JLo beat out Lucy Liu, Mariska Hargitay, Pauley Perrette and Sophia Bush. Winning in the Favorite Comedic TV Actress, Sofia Vergara took

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Donald Trump Wants To Eliminate The National Endowment For The Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts, the independent federal agency that promotes and funds art in American communities, will be eliminated if the Trump administration has its way, the Hill reported Thursday. The NEA provides direct grants to art agencies and artists throughout the country. In 2015, the agency awarded grants in every Congressional district,

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Jeff Zucker, CNN president, attacks Donald Trump’s attempts to ‘delegitimize journalism’

CNN’s president says the incoming U.S. commander in chief is trying to “delegitimize journalism.” The rift between President-elect Donald Trump and CNN was highlighted once again on Wednesday with the publication of a New York Magazine interview with Jeff Zucker. The piece prompted attacks against Mr. Trump after the writer revisited reporting on unverified intelligence

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International, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA