Guilty pleasures
By NewsPress Now
Organization behind the Oscars elects board of governors
The organization behind the Oscars elected over a dozen individuals to its board of governors, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Monday. The 2024-2025 board of governors include both first-timers, like director Patricia Cardoso, and veterans like Rita Wilson, Warner Bros. co-chair and CEO Pam Abdy and composer Lesley Barber.
Those elected to the board for the first time include production designer K.K. Barrett and producer Jennifer Fox. All will join the likes of Ava DuVernay, Lou Diamond Phillips, Whoopi Goldberg, Jason Reitman, Ruth E. Carter and Jason Blum on the 55-person board representing the organization’s 19 branches.
As of this election, representation of those belonging to an underrepresented racial or ethnic group increased from 25% to 27%. Female representation remained static from last year at 53%.
They help oversee the academy’s strategic and financial matters and vote on policies like memberships and awards. The most significant recent change was the announcement that they would add an award for casting directors for films released in 2025 and beyond. The board of governors also decides who will be honored with honorary Oscar statuettes each year at the untelevised event known as the Governors Awards.
The organization is riding high after a successful Oscars ceremony that was widely well-received and saw a boost in viewership. Last month the academy also announced a $500 million fundraising campaign to ensure long-term, global support for its Oscar prizes, museum and educational programming in view of its 100th anniversary in 2028.
Prince collaborator says she’s ‘heartbroken’ at being turned away
MINNEAPOLIS | Sheila E. figured she’d be welcome if she showed up unannounced to record some video at Paisley Park where the Grammy-nominated percussionist once collaborated with her mentor and one-time fiancée, the late rock superstar Prince. She was wrong.
She said in an Instagram video that she was hurt when she went there to pay her respects on Friday, which would have been his 66th birthday, but was not let into a studio. She said that it “won’t take away the joy that he and I had together” at the studio in suburban Minneapolis, which is now a museum in his memory.
“I went in to celebrate him, and I wanted to go into the studio and do a live video, take a picture, and they said, ‘No.’ “ Sheila said. “My heart’s broke. I can’t even walk into Paisley. That’s kind of messed up. … Not a nice way to celebrate his birthday.”
In a follow-up statement released through her publicist on Monday, Sheila said she now wants the museum to return her old drum kit, which she said Prince personally asked to “borrow” to display there. She said she even heard a tour guide say, “My idol, Sheila E. even has her drums setup in the studio!”
Paisley Park posted on its own Instagram account that it just needed some advance warning.
“Hello Sheila — We love and respect you, and we did offer for you to come in and film in the soundstage or other areas, but we couldn’t allow filming in the studios without prior knowledge and planning, especially with tours going on at the time. We hope to have you back to Paisley Park in the future — just give us a heads-up! Happy Prince Day,” the message read, ended by a purple heart emoji.
Sheila was in Minnesota for a concert with Morris Day & the Time on Saturday in the northern town of Walker. In her statement Monday, she said she was the first artist to record at Paisley Park with Prince and walked the grounds with him when “the foundation was mere dirt and rope.” So she thinks her history should count for something.
Prince had no will when he died in 2016 of an accidental fentanyl overdose, so his estate, including Paisley Park, went to his siblings, who later sold most of their shares. His estate is now owned by two corporations, the music management company Primary Wave and Prince Legacy LLC, with a 2% share still held by his sister, Tyka Nelson.
Academy Museum Gala picks honorees for its fall fundraiser
Rita Moreno and Paul Mescal are getting together with Quentin Tarantino in October. It’s not for a movie (yet). All three are being honored at the glamorous Academy Museum Gala, the organization said Monday.
The event is only in its fourth year but has established itself as a reliably impressive gathering of the biggest stars in entertainment. Its guest list, and fashion, rival the Oscars. This year’s co-chairs include Nicole Kidman, Salma Hayek Pinault, Eva Longoria, Tyler Perry and Academy Museum Trustee Dr. Eric Esrailian.
The newly announced host committee is also a who’s who of Hollywood, including Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Dwayne Johnson, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, Regina King, Jennifer Lawrence, Ke Huy Quan, Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons, Denis Villeneuve, “Wicked” co-stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, and the internet’s latest boyfriends: Josh O’Connor and Nicholas Galitzine.
“The Academy Museum Gala celebrates the power, global impact, and indelible importance of cinema,” said Amy Homma, the museum’s incoming director and president, in a statement. Homma added that the honorees’ “groundbreaking achievements, filmmaking influence, and demonstrated versatility will continue to inspire generations of artists and filmmakers.”
Mescal will be recognized with the Vantage Award, for emerging artists, Moreno is getting the Icon Award for the significant global impact of her career and Tarantino will be given the Luminary Award for expanding the “creative possibilities of cinema.”
The event, set for Oct. 19 in Los Angeles, functions as a fundraiser for the museum, including its exhibitions, education initiatives and public programming.
Oxford University to return bronze sculpture of Hindu saint to India
LONDON | Oxford University has agreed to return a 500-year-old bronze sculpture of a Hindu poet and saint to India, the university’s Ashmolean Museum said.
The Indian High Commission in the U.K. made a claim four years ago for the bronze figure of Tirumankai Alvar that was allegedly looted from a temple.
Vijay Kumar, co-founder of India Pride Project, which seeks to reclaim stolen religious artifacts, said worshippers have something to cheer.
“We saw COVID delays and procedural drama between British and Indian authorities on what should have been an open and shut case,” Kumar told the Times of India on Sunday. “But we have been voicing our opinions on social media and we are almost there.”
The planned repatriation comes amid a push by foreign governments, including Nigeria, Egypt and Greece, as well as Indigenous peoples from North America to Australia, seeking to reclaim precious antiquities looted or acquired by questionable means during the heyday of the British Empire.
Oxford agreed two years ago to return nearly 100 Benin bronzes to the Nigerian government that were looted in 1897 when British soldiers attacked and occupied Benin City as Britain expanded its political and commercial influence in West Africa.
The return of those items has been held up by the Charity Commission, a regulatory body in England and Wales that decides if returning art undermines an organization’s charitable mission. The Indian bronze will also need the commission’s approval.
The Ashmolean said it reached out to the Indian High Commission in 2019 after research from photo archives showed the bronze in a temple in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu in 1957.
The museum issued a statement saying the university council supported the return of the item in March.
The museum said it bought the statue at Sotheby’s in 1967. It said it didn’t know how collector Dr. J.R. Belmont had acquired it.
—From AP reports
