Last year, the top winners at the Screen Actors Guild Awards all corresponded exactly with the Academy Awards winners. Will Sunday’s SAGs offer the same preview?

The 29th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will begin at 8 p.m. EST Sunday and be streamed live on Netflix’s YouTube page. After the awards, presented by the film and television acting guild SAG-AFRTA, lost their broadcast home at TNT/TBS, Netflix signed on to stream the ceremony. Though future editions will be streamed live directly on Netflix, this year’s show, at Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles, will be on the streaming service’s YouTube page and its social media channels.

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “The Banshees of Inisherin” come in with a co-leading five nominations. Each film is up for the Guild’s top award, best ensemble, along with “Babylon,” “The Fabelmans” and “Women Talking.”

The SAG Awards are considered one of the most reliable Oscar bellwethers. Actors make up the biggest percentage of the film academy, so their choices have the largest sway. Last year, “CODA” triumphed at SAG before winning best picture at the Oscars, while Ariana DeBose, Will Smith, Jessica Chastain and Troy Kotsur all won both a SAG Award and an Academy Award.

With both supporting categories seemingly sown up by Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) and Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”), Sunday’s SAG Award could offer the most clarity in the lead acting awards.

Best actress could go to either Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) or Cate Blanchett (“Tár”). While Andrea Riseborough’s much-debated campaign led to an Academy Awards nomination, some of the most notable Oscar snubs are up for best actress. Though nominated by the actors’ guild, Danielle Deadwyler (“Till”) and Viola Davis (“The Woman King”) were overlooked by the academy, prompting some to decry racial bias in Hollywood. Ana de Armas (“Blonde”) is also nominated.

In the best actor category, Austin Butler (“Elvis”), Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”) and Colin Farrell (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) all are considered contenders with a realistic shot of winning. The Guild also nominated Adam Sandler (“Hustle”) and Bill Nighy (“Living”).

On the TV side, nominated for best ensemble in a drama series are: “Better Call Saul,” “The Crown,” “Ozark,” “Severance” and “The White Lotus.” Up for best comedy series ensemble are the casts of “Abbott Elementary,” “Barry,” “The Bear,” “Hacks” and “Only Murders in the Building.”

Presenters on Sunday include Zendaya (who scored her first SAG nomination for her leading performance in “Euphoria,” Aubrey Plaza, Jenna Ortega, Adam Scott, Chastain and Jeff Bridges. Sally Field is to receive the SAG lifetime achievement award, an honor to be presented to her by Andrew Garfield.
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Tom Cruise was honored for his nearly three decades of work as a producer, and “ Everything Everywhere All at Once ” solidified its status as the frontrunner for the best picture Oscar by taking the top prize at Saturday night’s Producers Guild of America Awards.

“We love you! We love you!” another Oscar favorite and one of the film’s stars, Ke Huy Quan, shouted gleefully from the stage as Jonathan Wang and the other producers of the multiversal dramedy accepted the award for best theatrical motion picture.

The award has proven to be perhaps the best indicator for what will win the top honor at the Oscars, with four of the past five and 11 of the past 14 PGA winners going on to win best picture.

PGA wins by “ CODA ” last year and “ Nomadland ” in 2021 set each apart as frontrunners before winning best picture.

The strong possibility of a big night at Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards could further mark “Everything Everywhere” as the film to beat at the March 12 Academy Awards.

Cruise the actor caused a stir inside and outside with his presence at the show at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, but his producing career beginning in 1996 with “Mission: Impossible” earned him the David O. Selznick Award at the PGAs, a life achievement honor previously bestowed on Steven Spielberg, Kevin Feige, Mary Parent and Brian Grazer.

“My whole life I wanted to make movies,” said Cruise, wearing a tuxedo with his hair grown out to the length he wore it in “Mission: Impossible 2.” “I wanted to travel the world, and have adventure.”

Cruise talked about making his film debut in 1981’s “Taps” at age 18 and how producer Stanley Jaffe let him in on every part of the process.

“I was certain this was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” he said.

Cruise thanked Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of the original 1986 “Top Gun” and his producing partner on last year’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” which also was nominated for the top PGA award and is up for the best picture Oscar.

“You opened the door for me,” Cruise told Bruckheimer. “You welcomed me in and I will be grateful forever.”

Since the first “Mission: Impossible,” Cruise has regularly been a producer on the films in which he has starred, including “Vanilla Sky,” “The Last Samurai,” “Jack Reacher” and the other five films in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise.

He paid tribute in his acceptance to many other mentors and partners including Spielberg and former Paramount CEO Sherry Lansing, who presented the award.

“You’ve all enabled me the adventurous life that I wanted,” he said.

Cruise gave a closing shout-out to “all the audiences, for whom I work first and foremost, thank you for letting me entertain you.”

Other movies honored by the PGA included “Navalny,” which won for best documentary feature, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” which took best animated film, and “Till,” which won the Stanley Kramer Award honoring a production or producer that illuminates and raises public awareness of important social issues.

In the PGA’s television categories, “The Bear” won for best comedy, “The White Lotus” won for best drama, “Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrls” won for best reality or competition series, “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy” won for non-fiction series, “The Dropout” won best limited series and “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” won best TV movie.

Mindy Kaling received the Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television for her work producing shows including “The Mindy Project,” “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” “Never Have I Ever,” “Velma” and “The Office.”

“I’m a child of immigrants and that unexpectedly became my secret weapon,” Kaling said.

B.J. Novak, her former “Office” co-writer and co-star, presented Kaling with the award, saying she “cared about characters other people hadn’t cared about enough to put on TV, and they cared about things that other people on TV hadn’t cared about.” 

 
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Angela Bassett won entertainer of the year at Saturday’s NAACP Image Awards on a night that also saw her take home an acting trophy for the television series “9-1-1.”

The Bassett-led Marvel superhero sequel “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” won best motion picture at the ceremony, which was broadcast live on BET from Pasadena, California.

Viola Davis won outstanding actress for the action epic “The Woman King,” a project she championed and starred in. Will Smith won for the slavery drama “Emancipation,” his first release since last year’s Academy Awards, where he slapped comedian Chris Rock on stage before winning his first best actor trophy.

“I never want to not be brave enough as a woman, as a Black woman, as an artist,” Davis said, referencing a quote from her character in the film, which she called her magnum opus. “I thank everyone who was involved with ‘The Woman King’ because that was just nothing but high-octane bravery.”

“Abbott Elementary” won for outstanding comedy series. Creator and series star Quinta Brunson invited her costars onstage and praised shows like “black-ish” for paving the way for her series.

The 54 NAACP Image Awards were presented Saturday in Pasadena, California, with Queen Latifah hosting. Serena Williams received the Jackie Robinson Sports award, which recognizes individuals in sports for high achievement in athletics along with their pursuit of social justice, civil rights and community involvement.
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The creator of the Dilbert comic strip faced a backlash of cancellations Saturday while defending remarks describing people who are Black as members of “a hate group” from which white people should “get away.”

Various media publishers across the U.S. denounced the comments by Dilbert creator Scott Adams as racist, hateful and discriminatory while saying they would no longer provide a platform for his work.

Andrews McMeel Syndication, which distributes Dilbert, did not immediately respond Saturday to requests for comment. But Adams defended himself on social media against those who he said “hate me and are canceling me.”

Dilbert is a long-running comic that pokes fun at office-place culture.

The backlash began following an episode this past week of the YouTube show, Real Coffee with Scott Adams. Among other topics, Adams referenced a Rasmussen Reports survey that had asked whether people agreed with the statement “It’s OK to be white.”

Most agreed, but Adams noted that 26% of Black respondents disagreed and others weren’t sure.

The Anti-Defamation League says the phrase was popularized in 2017 as a trolling campaign by members of the discussion forum 4chan but then began being used by some white supremacists.

Adams, who is white, repeatedly referred to people who are Black as members of a “hate group” or a “racist hate group” and said he would no longer “help Black Americans.”

“Based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people,” Adams said on his Wednesday show.

In another episode of his online show Saturday, Adams said he had been making a point that “everyone should be treated as an individual” without discrimination.

“But you should also avoid any group that doesn’t respect you, even if there are people within the group who are fine,” Adams said.

The Los Angeles Times cited Adams’ “racist comments” while announcing Saturday that Dilbert will be discontinued Monday in most editions and that its final run in the Sunday comics — which are printed in advance — will be March 12.

The San Antonio Express-News, which is part of Hearst Newspapers, said Saturday that it will drop the Dilbert comic strip, effective Monday, “because of hateful and discriminatory public comments by its creator.”

The USA Today Network tweeted Friday that it also will stop publishing Dilbert “due to recent discriminatory comments by its creator.”

The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and other publications that are part of Advance Local media also announced that they are dropping Dilbert.

“This is a decision based on the principles of this news organization and the community we serve,” wrote Chris Quinn, editor of The Plain Dealer. “We are not a home for those who espouse racism. We certainly do not want to provide them with financial support.”

Christopher Kelly, vice president of content for NJ Advance Media, wrote that the news organization believes in “the free and fair exchange of ideas.”

“But when those ideas cross into hate speech, a line must be drawn,” Kelly wrote.
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The French documentary On the Adamant (Sur l’Adamant) directed by Nicolas Philibert was named best film Saturday at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival.

The film takes viewers onto a Seine barge in Paris that serves as a floating day care center for adults suffering from mental disorders.

“That a documentary is awarded and celebrated, that a documentary can be considered to be cinema in its own right touches me deeply,” said a visibly moved Philibert after the prize was announced by the seven-member jury headed by American actor, screenwriter and director Kristen Stewart.

Philibert said that in the film he had tried to “reverse the image” that people have of those with mental illness and allow viewers to see “what unites us beyond our differences.”

“As we all know, the craziest people are not those we think they are,” he added.

The award for best director went to fellow French filmmaker Philippe Garrel for The Plough (Le grand chariot) about three siblings who are trying to keep alive the family puppeteering business.

Best leading performance was awarded to Spanish actor Sofía Ortero, who plays an 8-year-old child searching for identity and acceptance in 20,000 Species of Bees.

The award for best supporting performance went to Austrian actor Thea Ehre for her role in Till the End of the Night, while the best screenplay went to Music by German filmmaker Angela Schanelec.

French cinematographer Hélène Louvart received the Silver Bear for outstanding artistic contribution for her work on Disco Boy.

The 73rd Berlinale kicked off with an address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who asked artists and filmmakers to unequivocally declare their support for his country in its effort to fend off Russia’s invasion forces.

Zelenskyy, a former comedian and actor, featured prominently in Sean Penn’s film about the war in Ukraine, Superpower, which had its world premiere in Berlin.
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Most film festivals can be counted on to provide entertainment, laced with some introspection.

The weeklong FESPACO that opened Saturday in violence-torn Burkina Faso’s capital goes beyond that to also offer hope, and a symbol of endurance: In years of political strife and Islamic extremist attacks, which killed thousands and displaced nearly 2 million in the West African country, it’s never been canceled.

“We only have FESPACO left to prevent us from thinking about what’s going on,” said Maimouna Ndiaye, a Burkinabe actress who has four submissions in this year’s competition. “This is the event that must not be canceled no matter the situation.”

Since the last edition of the biennial festival in Ouagadougou, the country’s troubles have increased. Successive governments’ failures to stop the extremist violence triggered two military coups last year, with each junta leader promising security — but delivering few results.

At least 70 soldiers were killed in two attacks earlier this month in Burkina Faso’s Sahel region. The fighting also has sowed discord among a once-peaceful population, pitting communities and ethnicities against each other.

Nevertheless, more than 15,000 people, including cinema celebrities from Nigeria, Senegal and Ivory Coast are expected in Ouagadougou for FESPACO, Africa’s biggest film festival that was launched in 1969.

Some 1,300 films were submitted for consideration and 100 have been selected to compete from 35 African countries and the diaspora, including movies from the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Nearly half of those in the fiction competition this year are directed by women.

Among them is Burkinabe director and producer Apolline Traore, whose film “Sira” — considered a front-runner in this year’s competition — is emblematic of many Burkinabes’ suffering. It tells the tale of a woman’s struggle for survival after being kidnapped by jihadis in the Sahel, as her fiance tries to find her.

Still, Traore is upbeat about her country’s prospects.

“The world has painted Burkina Faso as a red country. It’s dangerous to come to my country, as they say,” she told The Associated Press. “We’re probably a little crumbled but we’re not down.”

Government officials say they have ramped up security and will ensure the safety of festival attendees.

Many hope FESPACO will help boost domestic unity and strengthen ties with other countries, at a time when anti-French sentiment is on the rise in Burkina Faso.

Wolfram Vetter, the European Union ambassador in Burkina Faso, called the film festival “an important contribution to peace and reconciliation in Burkina Faso and beyond.”

The EU is the event’s largest funder after the Burkinabe government. It has contributed approximately 250,000 euros ($265,000).
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Sixty Ukrainian ballet dancers fled Ukraine to escape Russia’s invasion over the past year. They ended up in the Netherlands, where they continue to dance together. Mariia Ulianovska has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Kostiantyn Golubchyk 
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Ukrainians living in South Africa are marking one year since Russia’s invasion with a dance production titled ‘We Stand for Freedom.’ The performance, supported by the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, draws parallels between racial oppression under apartheid and Moscow’s war on Ukraine. Vicky Stark meets some Ukrainians who fled the war in this report from Cape Town, South Africa.
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A federal judge on Thursday handed singer R. Kelly a 20-year prison sentence for his convictions of child pornography and the enticement of minors for sex but said he will serve nearly all of the sentence simultaneously with a 30-year sentence imposed last year on racketeering charges. 

U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber also ordered that Kelly serve one year in prison following his New York sentence. 

The central question going into the sentencing in Kelly’s hometown of Chicago was whether Leinenweber would order that the 56-year-old serve the sentence simultaneously with or only after he completes the New York term for 2021 racketeering and sex trafficking convictions. The latter would have been tantamount to a life sentence. 

Prosecutors had acknowledged that a lengthy term served only after the New York sentence could have erased any chance of Kelly ever getting out of prison alive. It’s what they asked for, arguing his crimes against children and lack of remorse justified it. 

With Thursday’s sentence, though, Kelly will serve no more than 31 years. That means he will be eligible for release at around age 80, providing him some hope of one day leaving prison alive. 

Leinenweber said at the outset of the hearing that he did not accept the government’s contention that Kelly used fear to woo underage girls for sex. 

“The [government’s] whole theory of grooming, was sort of the opposite of fear of bodily harm,” the judge told the court. “It was the fear of lost love, lost affections [from Kelly]. … It just doesn’t seem to me that it rises to the fear of bodily harm.” 

Prosecutors say Kelly’s crimes against children and his lack of remorse justify the stiffer sentence. 

A calm Kelly spoke briefly at the start of the hearing, when the judge asked him if he had reviewed key presentencing documents for any inaccuracies. 

“Your honor, I have gone over it with my attorney,” Kelly said. “I’m just relying on my attorney for that.” 

Two of Kelly’s accusers asked the judge to punish him harshly. 

In a statement read aloud in court, a woman who testified under the pseudonym “Jane” said she had lost her early aspirations to become a singer herself and her hopes for fulfilling relationships. 

“I have lost my dreams to Robert Kelly,” the statement said. “I will never get back what I lost to Robert Kelly. … I have been permanently scarred by Robert.” 

The woman was a key witness for prosecutors during Kelly’s trial; four of his convictions are tied to her. 

“When your virginity is taken by a pedophile at 14 … your life is never your own,” Jane’s statement read. 

Another accuser, who used the pseudonym “Nia,” attended the hearing and addressed Kelly directly in court. Speaking forcefully as her voice quivered, Nia said Kelly would repeatedly pick at her supposed faults while he abused her. 

“Now you are here … because there is something wrong with you,” she said. “No longer will you be able to harm children.” 

Jurors in Chicago convicted Kelly last year on six of 13 counts: three counts of producing child porn and three of enticement of minors for sex. 

Kelly rose from poverty in Chicago to become one of the world’s biggest R&B stars. Known for his smash hit “I Believe I Can Fly” and for sex-infused songs such as “Bump n’ Grind,” he sold millions of albums even after allegations about his abuse of girls began circulating publicly in the 1990s. 

In presentencing filings, prosecutors described Kelly as “a serial sexual predator” who used his fame and wealth to reel in, sexually abuse and then discard star-struck fans. 

U.S. Assistant Attorney Jeannice Appenteng on Thursday urged the judge to set a longer sentence and keep Kelly in prison “for the rest of his life.” 

Kelly’s abuse of children was all the worse, she said, because he “memorialized” his abuse by filming victims, including Jane. She told the court Kelly “used Jane as a sex prop, a thing” for producing pornographic videos. 

In prehearing filings, Kelly’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, accused prosecutors of offering an “embellished narrative” in an attempt to get the judge to join what she called the government’s “bloodthirsty campaign to make Kelly a symbol of the #MeToo movement.” 

Bonjean said Kelly has suffered enough, including financially. She said his worth once approached $1 billion, but that he “is now destitute.” 

In court Thursday, Bonjean said Kelly will be lucky to survive his 30-year New York sentence alone. To give him a consecutive 25-year sentence on top of that “is overkill, it is symbolic,” she said. “Why? Because it is R. Kelly.” 

She also argued that Kelly’s silence should not be viewed as a lack of remorse. 

She said that while she advised Kelly not to speak because he continues to appeal his convictions and could face other legal action, “He would like to, he would like to very much.” 
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The man who shot dead Grammy-winning rapper Nipsey Hussle on a Los Angeles street in 2019 was jailed for at least 60 years Wednesday.

Eric Holder had not denied killing Hussle — a fast-rising star whose death sent shockwaves through the music world — but his lawyers argued it was an impulsive crime that took place in the “heat of passion.”

But a jury last year found Holder had acted with premeditation as he fired at Hussle at least 10 times following a dispute between the two men over claims the assailant was “snitching” to the police.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge H. Clay Jacke sentenced Holder to a minimum of 25 years for the killing, with an additional 25 years because a gun was used in the crime.

Holder was given another 10 years for shooting and wounding two other men who were nearby.

The violent killing of Hussle, a former gang member, in front of a clothing store he owned triggered widespread grief in his native Los Angeles and among his superstar peers, who hailed his musical talents and community activism.

Raised in the city’s Crenshaw district, Hussle, who was 33 when he died, had transformed the block he used to hustle on into a retail, job-creating hub for his Marathon Clothing company.

But he remained linked to the gang-ridden world he grew up in.

Holder, a 32-year-old gang member, and Hussle were both members of the same “Rollin 60s” Crips faction.

During the trial, prosecutor John McKinney said Hussle had told Holder there were rumors Holder had been “snitching,” before Holder left the parking lot where the two were talking.

When he returned a short time later, Holder “pulls out not one but two guns and starts shooting” in an “explosion of violence.”

The killing was captured on video.

In his closing argument, McKinney called the killing “cold-blooded” and “calculated,” saying Holder had “quite a bit of time for premeditation and deliberation.”

But Holder’s attorney told jurors the killing was “an act of impulse and rashness” which should have been charged as manslaughter.

Aaron Jansen said his client, who he said suffered from mental illness, had already received death threats and that “his life in prison is going to be hell for as long as it lasts.”

The judge said he would recommend Holder be housed in a facility that can address his mental health needs.

‘He saw hope’

The month after his 2019 killing, thousands of people gathered for a service in Hussle’s honor, with Stevie Wonder and Snoop Dogg among those paying tribute, and former President Barack Obama penning a letter that was read during the service.

“While most folks look at the Crenshaw neighborhood where he grew up and see only gangs, bullets and despair, Nipsey saw potential,” wrote Obama.

“He saw hope. He saw a community that, even through its flaws, taught him to always keep going.”

Hussle — real name Ermias Asghedom — was posthumously honored with two Grammy Awards in 2020 for best rap performance for Racks in the Middle and best rap/sung performance for Higher.

In August, on what would have been his 37th birthday, he was granted a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.
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