BET announces launch date, programming for streaming service BET+

September 9, 2019

Michelle Buteau, Jill Scott and Ryan Michelle Bathe of “First Wives Club” (Photo courtesy of BET)

The following is a press release from BET and Tyler Perry Studios:

BET Networks, a unit of  Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), and Tyler Perry Studios announced that, BET+, their joint venture and premier subscription video-on demand service, will launch in the U.S. on Thursday, September 19.  For $9.99 per month, BET+ will feature more than 1,000 hours of premium content, including exclusive new original programming and fan-favorite series, movies, and specials from BET Networks, as well as a host of leading African American content creators, including Tyler Perry, Tracy Oliver, Will Packer and more.

“We are thrilled to offer a streaming experience of content curated for the underserved African American audience with BET+. African Americans have a higher SVOD adoption rate than any other consumer base on the market, which is why BET+ is a natural complement of BET’s linear network, which has been and continues to be the leading home of black culture for decades,” said Scott Mills, President of BET Networks.

“In our first year, we will release a BET+ original project almost every month, adding to our lineup of deep and diverse content,” said Devin Griffin, General Manager BET+. “We’re focused on super-serving lovers of Black stories by working with top talent, and supporting fresh new voices, on both sides of the camera.”

BET+ will offer consumers an original and diverse collection of premier African American-focused dramas, sitcoms, film, stand-up comedy, and specials in the streaming universe. Itwill also be the official home of Tyler Perry’s collected works across film, television, and the stage. BET+ programming will be ad-free, with new titles added on a monthly basis.

BET+ will launch withseveral FIRSTS including:

  • First time Jill Scott will star and Tracy Oliver will executive produce a new series for BET+ with “First Wives Club.”
  • First time Will Packer will executive produce a new series for BET + with “Bigger.”
  • First time original series from Tyler Perry to premiere on a streaming service.
  • First time the beloved comedy series “Martin” will be available on a streaming a service.
  • First time the iconic BET comedy series, “Comic View” will be available on a streaming service.
  • First time Tyler Perry’s stage plays will be available to viewers on a streaming service.
The stars of “Bigger” (Photo courtesy of BET)

Premiering at launch, BET+ will feature new exclusive original series “First Wives Club” – a nine-episode scripted drama from acclaimed “Girls Trip” screenwriter Tracy Oliver – and “Bigger”– a ten-episode series from Will Packer, blockbuster hit-maker of titles such as “Ride Along” and “Think Like a Man.”

  • “First Wives Club,” the modern television remake of the classic 1996 revenge comedy starring Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton, now stars an all-star African American cast including Jill Scott, Ryan Michelle Bathe and Michelle Buteau. After neglecting their friendship, best friends Ari (Ryan Michelle Bathe), Hazel (Jill Scott) and Bree (Michelle Buteau) reunite to help each other through rough patches in their lives. Together, they navigate music superstar Hazel’s tabloid-ridden divorce, campaign manager Ari’s unsatisfying marriage and orthopedic surgeon Bree’s cheating husband.  Along the way, the women learn that as long as they have each other, there’s nothing they can’t do. All episodes will be made available at launch.
  • “BIGGER,” a half hour scripted comedy starring Tanisha Long, Angell Conwell, Rasheda Crockett, Chase Anthony, and Tristen Winger, takes place in the East Atlanta neighborhood, Little Five Points. The series follows a single-black-woman who is dealing with the threat of marriage to a boring-in-bed boyfriend and the sudden, random death of a college acquaintance. The tragedy drives her ambitious group of friends to take a deeper look at their stagnant lives, asking themselves— is there something bigger and better in life. The first three episodes of the series will be made available at launch with additional new episodes rolling out on a weekly basis.

In addition to its new original content, BET+ will stream the beloved comedy series “Martin.”

BET+ will house Tyler Perry’s box office-topping theatrical films, including films from the “Madea” series; original series and a selection of Perry’s stage plays: “Meet the Browns,” “Daddy’s Little Girls,” “Temptation: Confessions Of A Marriage Counselor,” and more.

BET+ will offer a premium selection of African American TV, movie and musical content including BET’s beloved library series, films, documentaries, and specials such as “The Bobby Brown Story,” “The New Edition Story,” “Real Husbands of Hollywood,” “The Quad,” “Being Mary Jane,” “Love & Happiness: An Obama Celebration, ” “College Hill,” “Comic View,” “Hell Date,” “Keyshia Cole: All In,” “Nellyville” “Reed Between The Lines,” “Ali: People’s Champ,” “Katrina: 10 Years Later,” “Killer Curves,”“BET Awards,” “Hip Hop Awards,” “Soul Train Awards,” “Black Girls Rock,”“Boomerang,” “Harlem Nights,” “Baby Boy,” “Belly,” “Coach Carter,” “Coming To America,” “Higher Learning,” “Losing Isaiah,”  “Poetic Justice,” “Tina Turner Live In Holland,” and more will be available at launch.

In the coming months, BET+ will also feature stand-up comedy specials from D.L. Hughley, Eddie Griffin, Nick Cannon, Sasheer Zamata (Saturday Night Live), Lil Rel (Get Out), Gina Yashere (The Daily Show), Sinbad and more.

Library series from Viacom’s Portfolio of BET sister networks, including VH1’s “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta,” “Basketball Wives,” “T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle,” Comedy Central’s “Why? With Hannibal Buress”, MTV’s            “Todrick,” TV Land’s “Soul Man,” Nick @ Night’s “Instant Mom,” and more will also join the service.

BET+ will be available at launch on mobile and connected TV devices with a dedicated web experience coming later this year.

BET will continue to feature new originals and loved series, including the Tyler Perry original series, “The Oval,” and “Sistas” premiering Wednesday, October 9 on BET. BET fans will have additional access points to BET content on BET.com and the BET Now app for TV Everywhere users.  In addition, BET’s recently launched channel on Pluto TV, the leading free streaming television service in the U.S., will continue to feature hundreds of hours of classic films and box office hits from the best of black Hollywood.

For BET+ updates, exclusive social content and more follow the official hashtag #BETplus.

2019 Venice International Film Festival: ‘Joker’ wins the Golden Lion top prize

September 7, 2019

by Carla Hay

Venice Film Festival

“Joker,” director Todd Phillips’ origin story about the DC Comics villain, was awarded the Golden Lion (the top prize) at the 2019 Venice International Film Festival in Venice, Italy. “Joker” stars Joaquin Phoenix in the title role. Warner Bros. Pictures will release “Joker” on October 4, 2019. Movie critics have mostly praised “Joker,” which is a dark and violent film that is a departure for Phillips, who was previously known for directing comedies like “The Hangover” movies and “Old School.” The 76th annual Venice International Film Festival took place from August 28 to September 7, 2019.

The Grand Jury Prize (second place) went to “An Officer and a Spy,” directed by Roman Polanski. The Venice Film Festival got considerable criticism for selecting Polanski’s film to be a part of the festival. Polanski has been a fugitive of the law since 1978, when he fled to France after being convicted of raping an underage girl in the Los Angeles area.

Other winners at the 2019 Venice International Film Festival included Luca Marinelli, “Martin Eden” for Best Actor; Ariane Ascaride of “Gloria Mundi” for Best Actress; and “About Endlessness” helmer Roy Andersson for Best Director.

Here is the complete list of winners for the 2019 Venice International Film Festival:

IN COMPETITION

Golden Lion: “Joker,” directed by Todd Phillips

Grand Jury Prize: “An Officer and a Spy,” directed by Roman Polanski

Silver Lion for Best Director: Roy Andersson, “About Endlessness”

Volpi Cup for Best Actress: Ariane Ascaride, “Gloria Mundi”

Volpi Cup for Best Actor:  Luca Marinelli, “Martin Eden”

Best Screenplay: “No. 7 Cherry Lane,” written by Yonfan

Special Jury Prize: “The Mafia Is No Longer What It Used to Be,” directed by Franco Maresco

Marcello Mastroianni Award for Young Performer:

HORIZONS (ORIZZONTI)

Best Film: “Atlantis,” directed by Valentyn Vasyanovych

Best Director:  Théo Court, “White on White”

Special Jury Prize: “Verdict,” directed by Raymund Ribas Gutierrez

Best Actress: Marta Nieto, “Madre”

Best Actor: Sami Bouajila, “A Son”

Best Screenplay: “Back Home,” directed by Jessica Palud, Philippe Lioret and Diastème

Best Short Film: “Darling,” directed by Saim Sadiq

LION OF THE FUTURE

Luigi De Laurentiis Award for Best Debut Film: “You Will Die at Twenty,” directed by Amjad Abu Alala

VENICE CLASSICS

Best Documentary on Cinema: “Babenco – Alguém Tem Que Ouvir O Coração E Dizer: Parou,” directed by Bárbara Paz

Best Restored Film: “Ecstasy,” directed by Gustav Machatý

VIRTUAL REALITY COMPETITION

Best Virtual Reality: 
“The Key,” directed by Céline Tricart

Best Virtual Reality Experience: “A Linha,” directed by Ricardo Laganaro

Best Virtual Reality Story: “Daughters of Chibok,” directed by Joel Kachi Benson

2019 NAMIC Conference: Urban One founder Cathy Hughes receiving humanitarian award

September 4, 2019

by Carla Hay

Cathy Hughes
Cathy Hughes (Photo courtesy of TV One)

The National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC)’s 33rd Annual NAMIC Conference will bring together hundreds of media professionals committed to increasing and celebrating diversity on September 17 and September 18, 2019, at the New York Marriott Marquis in New York City. Invitation-only pre-conference sessions will take place on September 16. Urban One founder/chair Cathy Hughes will receive the Mickey Leland Humanitarian Achievement Award, the event’s highest honor. Hughes will receive her award during the NAMIC Annual Awards Luncheon on September 18.

Urban One, formerly known as Radio One, together with its subsidiaries, is the largest diversified media company that primarily targets black Americans and urban consumers in the United States. The company owns TV One, Cleo TV, and owns or operates 57 broadcast stations in 15 urban markets in the United States. Through its controlling interest in Reach Media Inc., Urban One  operates syndicated programming, including “The Tom Joyner Morning Show,” “Russ Parr Morning Show,” “Rickey Smiley Morning Show,” “Get Up Morning! With Erica Campbell,” “DL Hughley Show,” “Ed Lover Show,” “Willie Moore Jr. Show,” “Nightly Spirit with Darlene McCoy” and “Reverend Al Sharpton Show.” In addition to its radio and television broadcast assets, Urban One owns iOne Digital and the branded content agency One Solution.

Hughes co-founded Radio One in 1980. When the company went public in 1999, she became the first African American woman to head a publicly traded company. She spent most of her early career in urban radio, and she is credited with creating the “Quiet Storm” radio format.

Also at the 2019 NAMIC Conference: On September 17, Michael Esser (Cox Comminications CEO) and Michael Powell (NCTA president/CEO), who are both honorary NAIMC co-chairs, will do an interview session moderated by Cox Communications VP of regulatory affairs Joiava Philpott, who is a NAMIC chair.

In addition, former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele, who is currently a MSNBC contributing analyst and Brown University faculty fellow, will give the L. Patrick Mellon Mentorship Program Luncheon keynote speech on September 17. Another highlight of the event on September 17 will be the “Cleo Speaks” panel with April Reign (host of Cleo TV’s “Cleo Speaks” and creator of the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag) and TV One/Cleo TV general manager Michelle Rice. And on September 18, the annual Startup Pitch Competition returns, with entrepreneurs pitching their business company ideas to compete for a cash prize. Comcast/NBCUniversal is the presenting sponsor for this year’s Startup Pitch competition.

 

2019 E! People’s Choice Awards: preliminary nominations announced

September 4, 2019

The following is a press release from E! Entertainment Television:

Today, E! announced the commencement of voting for the 2019 “E! People’s Choice Awards,” celebrating all forms of entertainment, chosen entirely by the people. Starting with the fan nomination week back in August, E! engaged fans worldwide to submit their favorites in the various categories. Now it’s time for them to select their choice from the eight nominees to determine the winner in each category representing movies, television, music and pop culture.

Voting for the 43 categories across movies, television, music, and pop culture runs today through Friday, October 18 at 11:59pm ET. Fans can either vote online at pca.eonline.com, via Twitter or for select categories on Xfinity X1. Fans can vote up to 25 times per method, per category, per day if they vote via online or Twitter. If fans vote with Xfinity X1, there is a limit of 25 times per ballot, per Xfinity X1 device, per candidate for the duration of the official voting window. Additionally, any vote casted on Tuesdays throughout the voting window will count twice.

Voting Methods:
Online – pca.eonline.com

Twitter – Fans can send a public tweet or retweet and include one category hashtag, one corresponding nominee hashtag, and #PCAs

Xfinity X1 – Fans can cast their vote for “The Movie of 2019,” “The Song of 2019,” “The Show of 2019,” and “The Comedy Act of 2019” categories right on the TV by saying “Vote for the People’s Choice Awards” into their Xfinity Voice Remote. Xfinity customers can also access voting via the “E! People’s Choice Awards” destination on X1 where they can also catch up on shows, movies and listen to music featuring the nominated artists and more.

*Votes will be aggregated and counted through our third-party vendor Telescope.

Last year’s inaugural telecast of the “E! People’s Choice Awards” generated a total of 45 million engagements with E!-produced digital and social content (including page/video views, likes, comments and shares). Additionally, the telecast reached 4.1 million total viewers and 1.8 million adults 18-49 across the cable networks of NBCUniversal, including E!, Bravo, SYFY, Universo and USA Network. On E! specifically, the event marked the youngest-skewing “People’s Choice Awards” in Nielsen recorded history with an audience composition 4x more concentrated with adult 18-34 viewers than the previous year’s telecast on CBS.* The multi-platform event delivered E!’s biggest live digital video audience in the network’s history with 3 million live streams across digital and social platforms.
See the full list of all 43 categories and nominees online at: https://www.eonline.com/shows/peoples_choice_awards/news/1068008/2019-people-s-choice-awards-complete-list-of-nominees

Complete rules can be found at: https://www.eonline.com/peoples_choice_awards/rules

Complete list of category and nominee hashtags can be found at: https://www.eonline.com/peoples_choice_awards/faq

The “E! People’s Choice Awards” will be broadcast live from Barker Hangar in Santa Monica on Sunday, November 10 starting at 9p ET/PT, with “E! Live From The Red Carpet: The E! People’s Choice Awards 2019” kicking off at 7p ET/PT.

“Live From The Red Carpet: The E! People’s Choice Awards 2019” the “E! People’s Choice Awards” are both produced by Den of Thieves with Executive Producers Jesse Ignjatovic, Evan Prager and Barb Bialkowski.

Source: ListenFirst Media for Facebook engagements, Twitter engagements and video views, Instagram engagements, video views and story impressions. Engagements include likes, comments, shares, retweets, favorites. Facebook Insights for Facebook Video Views. YouTube Analytics for YouTube Video Views. Twitter Video Analytics for Twitter Livestream views. All data is reflective of Day of the event, Nov. 11, 2018, for E! Owned Social accounts (E! News, E! Entertainment, E! Style Collective and People’s Choice Awards).

*Nielsen, Live + Same Day, Reach with 6-minute qualifier; Audience composition based on % of P2+ that are P18-34.

About E! Entertainment

E! is the only global, multi-platform brand for all things pop culture. The network is currently available to 91 million cable and satellite subscribers in the U.S and 161 countries globally. E! programming includes popular series “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” “Very Cavallari,” “Revenge Body with Khloé Kardashian,” “Total Divas,” “Total Bellas,” “Botched,” and “Dating #NoFilter;” topical series “Nightly Pop,” new series “Flip It Like Disick” and the return of the “E! True Hollywood Story.” “E! News” airs nightly on the network and is the leading multi-platform publisher delivering breaking entertainment news and pop culture coverage 24/7 across EOnline.com and all digital and social media. The brand’s robust digital programming slate includes “E! News’ The Rundown,” “Face Forward” and “What The Fashion” on Snapchat. E!’s “Live from the Red Carpet” signature events keep fans connected to their favorite stars on pop culture’s biggest nights and E! is also home to the “E! People’s Choice Awards,” the only award show for the people, by the people. E! is a network of NBCUniversal Entertainment & Lifestyle Group, a division of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news and information to a global audience. For more corporate information,visitwww.nbcuniversal.com.

About Den of Thieves

Den of Thieves (DoT) is a television live event, scripted and non-scripted production company founded in 2007 by Jesse Ignjatovic and Evan Prager. Since its inception, DoT has become one of the most highly regarded and sought-after production companies in the industry. DoT is the production company of record for the MTV Video Music Awards for the past 13 consecutive years and also holds Executive Producer credits for the “Taylor Swift: Reputation Stadium Tour” concert special for Netflix, the People’s Choice Awards on E!, The Gong Show on ABC, the iHeartRadio Music Awards for Turner Broadcasting, the Peabody Awards, and Ken Jeong’s Netflix comedy special “You Complete Me, Ho” directed by John Chu. Aside from spearheading some of the world’s leading premier event shows and specials, DoT is the name behind the production of comedy specials and documentaries for Netflix, Comedy Central, and Apple – to name a few. Beyond that, DoT also produced the multi-network broadcast of Hand in Hand: A Benefit for Hurricane Relief in September 2017, in addition to the digital stream of March for Our Lives in March 2018.

About People’s Choice

E! acquired the “People’s Choice Awards” and serves as the exclusive home of the popular annual award show that celebrates the best in pop culture. E!’s ownership of “People’s Choice Awards” includes the annual live event along with all digital and social assets. Now in its 45th year, the People’s Choice Awards is the only major awards show voted on entirely by the public for fan favorites in movies, music, television, and pop culture. “People’s Choice Awards” was originally created in 1975 by Robert Stivers. “People’s Choice Awards” was previously owned by Procter & Gamble and produced by Mark Burnett airing on CBS.

Preliminary nominations:

MOVIES

The Movie of 2019
“Avengers: Endgame”
“Toy Story 4”
“Captain Marvel”
“Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw”
“The Lion King”
“John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum”
“Us”
“Spider-Man: Far From Home”

The Comedy Movie of 2019
“The Upside”
“Yesterday”
“The Hustle”
“Men in Black: International”
“Long Shot”
“Little”
“Good Boys”
“Murder Mystery”

The Action Movie of 2019
“Avengers: Endgame”
“Spider-Man: Far From Home”
“Captain Marvel”
“John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum”
“Shazam!”
“Godzilla: King of the Monsters”
“Dark Phoenix”
“Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw”

The Drama Movie of 2019
“Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood”
“Rocketman”
“Five Feet Apart”
“Glass”
“Us”
“Triple Frontier”
“After”
“Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile”

The Family Movie of 2019
“Toy Story 4”
“The Lion King”
“Aladdin”
“The Secret Life of Pets 2”
“How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World”
“The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part”
“Pokémon Detective Pikachu”
“The Angry Birds Movie 2”

The Male Movie Star of 2019
Robert Downey Jr., “Avengers: Endgame”
Chris Hemsworth, “Avengers: Endgame”
Tom Holland, “Spider-Man: Far From Home”
Will Smith, “Aladdin”
Keanu Reeves, “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum”
Samuel L. Jackson, “Captain Marvel”
Dwayne Johnson, “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw”
Adam Sandler, “Murder Mystery”

The Female Movie Star of 2019
Millie Bobby Brown, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters”
Scarlett Johansson, “Avengers: Endgame”
Zendaya, “Spider-Man: Far From Home”
Sophie Turner, “Dark Phoenix”
Jennifer Aniston, “Murder Mystery”
Brie Larson, “Captain Marvel”
Lupita Nyong’o, “Us”
Tessa Thompson, “Men in Black: International”

The Drama Movie Star of 2019
Taron Egerton, “Rocketman”
Cole Sprouse, “Five Feet Apart”
Zac Efron, “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile”
Lupita Nyong’o, “Us”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood”
Brad Pitt, “Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood”
Sarah Paulson, “Glass”
Samuel L. Jackson, “Glass”

The Comedy Movie Star of 2019
Ali Wong, “Always Be My Maybe”
Kevin Hart, “The Upside”
Rebel Wilson, “Isn’t It Romantic”
Adam Sandler, “Murder Mystery”
Liam Hemsworth, “Isn’t It Romantic”
Dwayne Johnson, “Fighting With My Family”
Mindy Kaling, “Late Night”
Noah Centineo, “The Perfect Date”

The Action Movie Star of 2019
Robert Downey Jr., “Avengers: Endgame”
Chris Evans, “Avengers: Endgame”
Tom Holland, “Spider-Man: Far From Home”
Halle Berry, “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum”
Keanu Reeves, “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum”
Sophie Turner, “Dark Phoenix”
Brie Larson, “Captain Marvel”
Dwayne Johnson, “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw”

The Animated Movie Star of 2019
America Ferrera, “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World”
Tom Hanks, “Toy Story 4”
Kevin Hart, “The Secret Life of Pets 2”
Beyoncé, “The Lion King”
Ryan Reynolds, “Pokémon Detective Pikachu”
Chris Pratt, “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part”
Tiffany Haddish, “The Secret Life of Pets 2”
Awkwafina, “The Angry Birds Movie 2”

TV

The Show of 2019
“Game of Thrones”
“WWE Raw”
“Stranger Things”
“The Walking Dead”
“The Big Bang Theory”
“Riverdale”
“This Is Us”
“Grey’s Anatomy”

The Drama Show of 2019
“Grey’s Anatomy”
“This Is Us”
“Chicago P.D.”
“Game of Thrones”
“Stranger Things”
“Big Little Lies”
“Riverdale”
“The Walking Dead”

The Comedy Show of 2019
“The Big Bang Theory”
“Saturday Night Live”
“Modern Family”
“The Good Place”
“Grown-ish”
“Veep”
“Orange Is the New Black”
“Schitt’s Creek”

The Reality Show of 2019
“Keeping Up with the Kardashians”
“Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta”
“The Real Housewives of Atlanta”
“The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”
“Queer Eye”
“Bachelor in Paradise”
“Vanderpump Rules”
“Jersey Shore: Family Vacation”

The Competition Show of 2019
“American Idol”
“RuPaul’s Drag Race”
“America’s Got Talent”
“The Masked Singer”
“The Bachelor”
“The Voice”
“The Bachelorette”
“The Challenge: War of the Worlds”

The Male TV Star of 2019
Kit Harington, “Game of Thrones”
Cole Sprouse, “Riverdale”
Norman Reedus, “The Walking Dead”
Finn Wolfhard, “Stranger Things”
Jim Parsons, “The Big Bang Theory”
Milo Ventimiglia, “This Is Us”
Sterling K. Brown, “This Is Us”
KJ Apa, “Riverdale”

The Female TV Star of 2019
Mandy Moore, “This Is Us”
Millie Bobby Brown, “Stranger Things”
Sophie Turner, “Game of Thrones”
Danai Gurira, “The Walking Dead”
Camila Mendes, “Riverdale”
Lili Reinhart, “Riverdale”
Maisie Williams, “Game of Thrones”
Reese Witherspoon, “Big Little Lies”

The Drama TV Star of 2019
Zendaya, “Euphoria”
Norman Reedus, “The Walking Dead”
Sophie Turner, “Game of Thrones”
Millie Bobby Brown, “Stranger Things”
Reese Witherspoon, “Big Little Lies”
Maisie Williams, “Game of Thrones”
Lili Reinhart, “Riverdale”
Sterling K. Brown, “This Is Us”

The Comedy TV Star of 2019
Leslie Jones, “Saturday Night Live”
Kristen Bell, “The Good Place”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep”
Tiffany Haddish, “The Last O.G.”
Tracee Ellis Ross, “Black-ish”
Jameela Jamil, “The Good Place”
Yara Shahidi, “Grown-ish”
Jim Parsons, “The Big Bang Theory”

The Daytime Talk Show of 2019
“The View”
“Red Table Talk”
“The Ellen DeGeneres Show”
“The Wendy Williams Show”
“Live with Kelly and Ryan”
“Today”
“Good Morning America”
“The Real”

The Nighttime Talk Show of 2019
“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”
“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”
“The Daily Show with Trevor Noah”
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
“The Late Late Show with James Corden”
“Full Frontal with Samantha Bee”
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”
“Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen”

The Competition Contestant 2019
Buddy Valastro, “Buddy Vs. Duff”
Hannah Brown, “The Bachelorette”
Kodi Lee, “America’s Got Talent”
T-Pain, “The Masked Singer”
Colton Underwood, “The Bachelor”
Tyler Cameron, “The Bachelorette”
Tyler Oakley, “The Amazing Race”
Vanessa Vanjie Mateo, “RuPaul’s Drag Race”

The Reality Star of 2019
Khloé Kardashian, “Keeping Up With the Kardashians”
Kyle Richards, “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”
Lisa Vanderpump, “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”
NeNe Leakes, “The Real Housewives of Atlanta”
Jonathan Van Ness, “Queer Eye”
Kandi Burruss, “The Real Housewives of Atlanta”
Kylie Jenner, “Keeping Up With the Kardashians”
Antoni Porowski, “Queer Eye”

The Bingeworthy Show of 2019
“Game of Thrones”
“Orange Is the New Black”
“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”
“The Umbrella Academy”
“Queer Eye”
“Outlander”
“13 Reasons Why”
“Stranger Things”

The Sci-Fi Fantasy Show of 2019
“Stranger Things”
“Shadowhunters”
“Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”
“Supernatural”
“The Flash”
“The Umbrella Academy”
“Arrow”
“The 100”

MUSIC

The Male Artist of 2019
Shawn Mendes
Post Malone
Ed Sheeran
Drake
Travis Scott
Khalid
Lil Nas X
Bad Bunny

The Female Artist of 2019
Ariana Grande
Taylor Swift
Cardi B
Halsey
Billie Eilish
Miley Cyrus
Camila Cabello
Pink

The Group of 2019
Jonas Brothers
BTS
5 Seconds Of Summer
Panic! At The Disco
CNCO
Imagine Dragons
The Chainsmokers
BLACKPINK

The Song of 2019
Jonas Brothers, “Sucker”
Ariana Grande, “7 Rings”
Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, “Old Town Road”
Khalid, “Talk”
Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber, “I Don’t Care”
Sam Smith, Normani, “Dancing with a Stranger”
Billie Eilish, “Bad Guy”
Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, “Señorita”

The Album of 2019
Ariana Grande, “Thank U, Next”
Khalid, “Free Spirit”
Billie Eilish, “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?”
Lizzo, “Cuz I Love You”
Jonas Brothers, “Happiness Begins”
Ed Sheeran, “No. 6 Collaborations Project”
Juice Wrld, “Death Race for Love”
Taylor Swift, “Lover”

The Country Artist of 2019
Luke Combs
Blake Shelton
Carrie Underwood
Luke Bryan
Thomas Rhett
Kane Brown
Kelsea Ballerini
Maren Morris

The Latin Artist of 2019
Daddy Yankee
Anuel AA
Maluma
Karol G
Bad Bunny
J Balvin
Natti Natasha
Becky G

The Music Video of 2019
Daddy Yankee & Snow, “Con Calma”
Taylor Swift featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! At the Disco, “ME!”
BLACKPINK, “Kill This Love”
Ariana Grande, “7 Rings”
Billie Eilish, “Bad Guy”
BTS featuring Halsey, “Boy With Luv”
Sam Smith & Normani, “Dancing With a Stranger”
Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello, “Señorita”

The Concert Tour of 2019
BTS, Love Yourself, Speak Yourself
Lady Gaga, Enigma
Ariana Grande, Sweetener
P!nk, Beautiful Trauma
Justin Timberlake, Man of the Woods
Jennifer Lopez, It’s My Party
Cher, Here We Go Again Tour
BLACKPINK, BLACKPINK 2019 World

POP CULTURE

The Social Star of 2019
Emma Chamberlain
The Dolan Twins
David Dobrik
Rickey Thompson
The Ace Family
Shane Dawson
Liza Koshy
Tana Mongeau

The Beauty Influencer of 2019
James Charles
Nikita Dragun
NikkieTutorials – Nikkie de Jager
Jeffree Star
RCL Beauty – Rachel Levin
Desi Perkins
Jackie Aina
Bretman Rock

The Social Celebrity of 2019
Ariana Grande
Taylor Swift
Ellen DeGeneres
Miley Cyrus
Kim Kardashian West
Cardi B
Shawn Mendes
Justin Bieber

The Animal Star of 2019
Jiffpom
Doug the Pug
Nala Cat
Tuna The Chiweenie
Juniper The Fox
Marutaro
tecuaniventura
Lil BUB

The Comedy Act of 2019
Kevin Hart
Joe Rogan
Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias
Trevor Noah
Ken Jeong
Amy Schumer
Colleen Ballinger
Wanda Sykes

The Style Star of 2019
Kim Kardashian West
Rihanna
Celine Dion
Lady Gaga
Gigi Hadid
Cardi B
Jennifer Lopez
Harry Styles

The Game Changer of 2019
LeBron James
Megan Rapinoe
Coco Gauff
Drew Brees
Alex Morgan
Stephen Curry
Serena Williams
Simone Biles

The Pop Podcast of 2019
“Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness”
“Armchair Expert Podcast with Dax Shepard”
“Off the Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe”
“Whine Down with Jana Kramer”
“Bitch Sesh: A Real Housewives Breakdown with Casey Wilson and Danielle Schneider”
“Scrubbing In with Becca Tilley and Tanya Rad”
“WTF with Marc Maron”
“The Joe Rogan Experience”

2019 Telluride Film Festival: programming slate announced

August 29, 2019

by Carla Hay

The 46th annual Telluride Film Festival—which takes place August 30 to September 2, 2019 in Telluride, Colorado—has announced its lineup of movies. They include the world premieres of “Judy,” starring Renée Zellweger as Judy Garland; “Ford v Ferrari,” starring Christian Bale as a race-car driver and Matt Damon as a car designer who team up to build a champion race car; “Waves,” an African American family drama, starring Sterling K. Brown; and “Motherless Brooklyn,” a crime drama starring and directed by Edward Norton as a private investigator involved in a murder case.

The Telluride Film Festival, along with the Venice International Film Festival in Italy and the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada, can be considered one of the most important Oscar-contender launching pads from August to September. Unlike other major film festivals, which announce their movies weeks in advance, the Telluride Film Festival keeps its slate of movies a secret until a day or two before the festival begins.

Because the Telluride and Venice film festivals overlap in time frame, they both tend to have a lot of the same films, with Venice (the larger festival) usually having the edge in getting world premieres. For example, in 2018, both festivals had “Roma,” “The Favourite” and “First Man”—three movies that had their world premieres at Venice, and went on to win to win several awards, including Oscars and Golden Globes. In 2018, Telluride had the world premiere of the mountain-climbing documentary “Free Solo” (which won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature) and the true-crime drama “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” which received three Oscar nominations.

The 2019 Telluride Film Festival will also have a tribute to the late Belgian French filmmaker Agnès Varda, who died on March 29. The last film she directed, the documentary “Varda by Agnes,” will screen at the festival.

In addition, the festival’s 2019 Silver Medallion Awards (given to those who’ve had significant achievements in movies) will go to Zellweger; actor Adam Driver (whose movies “Marriage Story” and “The Report” are at the festival); and writer/director Philip Kaufman, who will have two of his  movies screening at the festival “The Right Stuff” (1983) and “The Wanderers” (1979).

Dolby Laboratories will receive the festival’s 2019 Special Medallion Award.

Also at the festival is the Aretha Franklin concert documentary “Amazing Grace,” which was filmed in 1972 but wasn’t officially released in theaters until 2018 for a limited run, followed by a wider release in 2019.

Here is the complete lineup of feature-length movies in the “Show” main program at the 2019 Telluride Film Festival:

“The Aeronauts” (Directed by Tom Harper, U.S./U.K.)
“The Assistant” (Directed by Kitty Green, U.S.)
“The Australian Dream” (Directed by Daniel Gordon, Australia)
“Beanpole” (Directed by Kantemir Balagov, Russia)
“The Climb” (Directed by Michael Angelo Covino)
“Country Music” (Directed by Ken Burns, U.S.)
“Coup 53” (Directed by Taghi Amirani, U.K.)
“Diego Maradona” (Directed by Asif Kapadia, U.K.)
“Family Romance, LLC” (Directed by Werner Herzog, U.S./Japan)
“First Cow” (Directed by Kelly Reichardt, U.S.)
“Ford v Ferrari” (Directed by James Mangold, U.S.)
“A Hidden Life” (Directed by Terrence Malick, U.S.)
“The Human Factor” (Directed by Dror Moreh, U.K.)
“Inside Bill’s Brain” (Directed by Davis Guggenheim)
“Judy” (Directed by Rupert Goold, U.K./U.S.)
“The Kingmaker” (Directed by Lauren Greenfield, U.S.)
“Lyrebird” (Directed by Dan Friedkin, U.S.)
“Marriage Story” (Directed by Noah Bumbach, U.S.)
“Motherless Brooklyn” (Directed by Edward Norton, U.S.)
“Oliver Sacks: His Own Life” (Directed by Ric Burns, U.S.)
“Pain and Glory” (Directed by Pedro Almodóvar, Spain)
“Parasite” (Directed by Bong Joon-Ho, South Korea)
“Portrait of a Lady on Fire” (Directed by Céline Sciamma, France)
“The Report” (Directed by Scott Z. Burns, U.S.)
“Tell Me Who I Am” (Directed by Ed Perkins)
“Those Who Remained” (Directed by Barnabás Toth, Hungary)
“The Two Popes” (Directed by Fernando Meirelles, U.K.)
“Uncut Gems” (Directed by Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie, U.S.)
“Varda by Agnès” (Directed by Agnès Varda, France)
“Verdict” (Directed by Raymond Ribay Gutierrez, Philippines)
“Waves” (Directed by Trey Edward Shults, U.S.)
“Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema” (Directed by Mark Cousins, U.K.)

Here is the complete list of films for the “Backlot” selection of documentaries at the 2019 Telluride Film Festival:

“63 Up” (Directed by Michael Apted, U.K.)
“Billie” (Directed by James Erskine, U.K.)
“Chulas Fronteras” (Directed by Les Blank, U.S., 1976)
“The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash” (Directed by Thom Zimny, U.S.)
“Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice” (Directed by Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman, U.S.)
“Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin” (Directed by Werner Herzog, U.S.)
“Soros” (Directed by Jesse Dylan, U.S.)
“Uncle Yanco” (Directed by Agnès Varda, France/U.S., 1967) + “Black Panthers” (Directed by Agnès Varda, France-U.S., 1968)

Guest Director Pico Iyer, who serves as a key collaborator in the festival’s program, presents the following revival programs:

“Late Autumn” (Directed by Yasujirō Ozu, Japan, 1960)
“The Makioka Sisters” (Directed by Kon Ichikawa, Japan, 1983)
“Mr. and Mrs. Iyer” (Directed by Aparna Sen, India, 2002)
“The Phantom Carriage” (Directed by Victor Sjöström, Sweden, 1921) — new 35 mm print
“Under the Sun” (Directed by Vitaly Mansky, Czech Republic-Russia-Germany-Latvia-North Korea, 2015)
“When a Woman Ascends the Stairs” (Directed by Mikio Naruse, Japan, 1960)
“The Wind” (Directed by Victor Sjöström, U.S, 1928)

2019 BFI London Festival: programming slate announced

August 29, 2019

The following is a press release from the BFI London Film Festival:

The 63rd BFI London Film Festival (LFF) in partnership with American  Express announces its full programme, presenting 229 feature films from some of the world’s greatest filmmakers and emerging talent.

For 12 days from 2-13 October 2019 the  LFF  will celebrate the diverse landscape of international cinema, showcasing films set to entertain and inspire, provoke debate and tackle the urgent issues of our time.

Amanda Nevill, CEO, BFI said  “At this moment when the UK is adapting and reshaping our place in the world, the BFI London Film Festival really underlines the soft power of the art of film and showcases the dynamism of global exchange and partnership. All the BFI’s cultural programmes, from BFI Southbank to BFI Player, have sought to be an active champion at the heart of the global cinema story and this year’s LFF does this so powerfully with its incredibly rich and diverse programme and the international filmmaking community who love being here.’

Tricia Tuttle, BFI London Film Festival Director said, “In its 63rd year, BFI London Film Festival is one of the world’s  great public film fests. And that greatness comes from the fact that we serve one of the most vibrant and international cities in the world and welcome voracious, adventurous and cineliterate audiences. While there are many talking points emerging from this year’s programme, a few really leap out: the strong instinct from filmmakers to explore urgent social and political issues through narrative and often through the use of genre; the striking emergence of a a new generation of filmmakers exploding onto the international stage with startlingly bold, original and ambitious debuts; the continuing and welcome trend of increased gender balance in directing talent behind short film, first and second features. And while we so delighted to see work from 78 countries in the Festival, we also love welcoming a particularly exceptional new wave of UK based filmmakers with cracking first and second feature films in LFF. ”

As Britain’s leading cinema event and one of the world’s most important film festivals, the programme offers UK  audiences the chance to see some of the most anticipated new films from around the globe, including a host of new works destined to be major awards contenders. This October, the Festival will present 28 World Premieres, 12 International Premieres and 28 European Premieres, welcoming an impressive line up of first-class filmmakers and acting talent.

The programme presents stories from a broad range of voices, continuing to support both home-grown cinema and international productions. 78 countries are represented across short films and features, with 40% of all films directed
or co-directed by women.  The Festival continues to act as a launch pad for debut filmmakers, often supporting them throughout their career, demonstrated by returning Festival alumni in this year’s programme. The 229 feature films screening include: 41 documentaries, 7 animations, 13 archive restorations and 7 artists’ moving image features. The programme also includes 116 short films.

The Competitive sections serve to recognise remarkable creative achievements from British and international filmmakers. Winners are selected by hand-picked juries across four categories: Official Competition, First Feature, Documentary and Short Film. Last year, audiences were placed at the heart of the awards celebrations  for the first time, when the winning film from each section was presented to the public as a surprise screening, following the on-stage announcement of the winner. Building on last year’s sell-out success, audiences will once again have the chance to buy tickets to these awards screenings and be part of the proceedings.

This year sees the return of Odeon’s iconic flagship cinema, the redesigned ODEON Luxe Leicester Square. Each night of the Festival, a Headline Gala will screen in flawless 4k projection with pitch-perfect Dolby® Atmos sound. Luxe recliners offer space and comfort, ensuring every seat in the 800 seater venue is the best in the house. Films in Official Competition will be presented at the Vue West End and once again the festival’s beautiful 800-seat purpose-built venue Embankment Garden Cinema will be housed in the tranquil surroundings of Victoria Embankment Gardens. First built for the Festival in 2016, this state-of-the-art venue is constructed to the highest technical specifications with raked seating, Christie Digital 4k RGB pure laser illuminated projection and Dolby® 7.1 surround sound, with audiences and filmmakers alike praising its quality of cinema experience.

Alongside the Galas, Special Presentations and films in Competition, the Festival will show a range of new world cinema in sections Love, Debate, Laugh, Dare, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Create, Experimenta and Family – which provide pathways for audiences to navigate the extensive programme.

Cinemagoers across the UK will have the opportunity to be part of the closing night celebrations, with simulcast screenings of Martin Scorsese’s THE IRISHMAN, bringing the excitement of the Leicester Square premiere to cinemas nationwide. Continuing the Festival’s offering to audiences outside of London, screenings of three new films will be brought to young film lovers, with curated screenings across the UK for primary and secondary schools as part of the  LFF Education Programme.

LFF Connects gives audiences the chance to hear from creative leaders working at the intersection of film and other creative industries. The Festival’s acclaimed Screen Talks offer a series of in-depth interviews with leaders in contemporary cinema. Participants confirmed so far include directors Rian Johnson, Kim Longinotto and Lukas Moodysson, with more to be announced nearer the Festival.

The Festival continues to develop its offering of both industry and public events. Audiences will have the chance to join in the film chat and soak up all the atmosphere at the official social hub down at BFI Southbank, where they can take part in free events. Designed to take you behind the scenes and get conversations flowing, events will include talks and debates, book signings, live DJ club nights and free short film screenings.

The Festival will partner with a host of London cinemas, with its films playing on 18 screens at 12 venues across the capital: BFI Southbank, BFI IMAX, Ciné Lumière, Curzon Mayfair, Curzon Soho, Embankment Garden Cinema, Empire Haymarket, the ICA, ODEON Luxe Leicester Square, ODEON Tottenham Court Road, Prince Charles Cinema and Vue West End.

OPENING & CLOSING NIGHT GALAS 

As previously announced,  this year’s Opening Night gala will be THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD, directed by the multi-award-winning writer, filmmaker and broadcaster Armando Iannucci (The Death of Stalin) and starring BAFTA Award winner Dev Patel as David Copperfield. The film will receive its European Premiere on Wednesday 2nd October at ODEON Luxe Leicester Square. This fresh take on Charles Dickens’ classic novel boasts a stellar British cast, led by Dev Patel, Tilda Swinton, Hugh Laurie, Peter Capaldi, Ben Whishaw, Paul Whitehouse and Gwendoline Christie, many of whom are expected on the red carpet in Leicester Square.

The Festival closes with the International Premiere of THE IRISHMAN, directed by one of the true giants of cinema, Martin Scorsese (Silence, The Departed), and starring Academy Award® winners Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci. A film that has been many years in the making, THE IRISHMAN is a grand scale epic examining the influence of organised crime in post-war America. The festival is delighted to be bringing the work of this iconic filmmaker to the UK on Sunday 13th October in London, where there will be simultaneous preview screenings of THE IRISHMAN taking place at cinemas across the UK.

GALAS 

HEADLINE GALAS  The American Express Gala is the European Premiere of KNIVES OUT, a fresh take on a classic ‘whodunit’ written and directed by Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper). A stylish tribute to mystery mastermind Agatha Christie, KNIVES OUT is a fun, modern-day murder mystery where everyone is a suspect. When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. A witty delight for film fans, the film features a starstudded cast that includes Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Katherine Langford and Christopher Plummer. The film will premiere on Tuesday, 8th October at the ODEON Luxe Leicester Square.

The Mayor of London’s Gala sees Academy Award® winner Eddie Redmayne and Academy Award® nominee Felicity Jones reunite on screen, as aerial explorers in THE AERONAUTS. This heart-racing adventure story directed by longtime festival favourite Tom Harper (Wild Rose, LFF 2018) and written by Jack Thorne (The Scouting Book for Boys, Harry Potter and The Cursed Child) captures the audacity and romance of the Victorian race into the air, with special effects that will transport you to the skies as we follow Amelia Wren (Jones) and James Glaisher (Redmayne) on mankind’s highest ever balloon voyage.

Starring Academy Award® winner Tom Hanks as beloved television entertainer Fred Rogers, the BFI Patrons’ Gala, A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD, sees director Marielle Heller return to the festival after premiering her second feature Can You Ever Forgive Me? last year. The film is the perfect antidote for uneasy times and will melt the coldest of hearts. Matthew Rhys is excellent as magazine writer Lloyd Vogel (based on journalist Tom Junod) who is commissioned to write an article on the presenter. Regarding Rogers as a monolith of an unfashionable past, he asks: ‘Could anyone really be so good, so kind?’ But on spending more time with Rogers, Vogel begins to question his own misanthropic outlook.

British director Michael Winterbottom (The Trip, The Wedding Guest) brings us a sharp-tongued and timely satire in the Headline Gala European Premiere of GREED. The film stars Steve Coogan as Richard ‘Greedy’ McCreadie, a highstreet retail tycoon who throws a lavish, Rome-themed 60th birthday bash to prove he’s still on top after a recent spate of fraud investigations. As guests start arriving, including McCreadie’s ex-wife (Isla Fisher), his empire starts to fall apart at the seams. Featuring a vast ensemble cast that includes Shirley Henderson and David Mitchell, this entertaining and anarchic farce pits humour against the 1%.

Celebrated screenwriter William Nicholson (Les Miserables, Gladiator, Shadowlands) directs Annette Bening and Bill Nighy in the Headline Gala HOPE GAP, a witty divorce drama that depicts a couple in their 60s as they face the end of their marriage after 29 years. Josh O’Connor plays their son, who discovers, on returning to his parents bohemian coastal home for the weekend, that his father has had enough and his bags are packed. Shot with a ravishing sense of design and colour, making the most of its lush English coastline, this is an emotionally astute portrait of a marriage; of regrets uncovered, decisions made too late and the precariousness of hope.

Taika Waititi’s JOJO RABBIT will receive its European Premiere in this exuberant and satirical Headline Gala. Jojo is a game, if somewhat inept, member of the Hitler Youth; his closest friend, an imaginary Adolf Hitler (Waititi, on hilarious form). When he discovers his mother (Scarlett Johansson) has been hiding a young Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie,
Leave No Trace) in their house, Jojo must go to war with his own conscience. Tackling the ludicrousness of racism and nationalism, Waititi has also crafted a film of great emotional charge and tenderness. Amongst an illustrious cast of comic greats including Sam Rockwell, Rebel Wilson and Stephen Merchant, Johansson dazzles on screen with one of her most charismatic performances.

This year’s American Airlines Gala, the UK Premiere of THE KING, stars Timothée Chalamet in David Michôd’s (Animal Kingdom, The Rover) visceral portrait of Henry V. The startling transformation undertaken by Hal in Shakespeare’s Henriad series, from the fun-loving prince into the all-powerful monarch, is one of literature’s most acute character studies. Here, Michôd and co-screenwriter and star Joel Edgerton adapt those texts to explore how a reluctant monarch took the crown and found himself embroiled in the very same wars he despised his father for. The superbly talented supporting cast includes Lily-Rose Depp as Catherine, future Queen of England, Ben Mendelsohn as Henry IV and Robert Pattinson as a particularly spicy Dauphin, heir to the French throne.

Matt Damon and Christian Bale star in the UK Premiere of LE MANS ’66, a study of friendship that shaped 1960s motor racing, brimming with old-school Hollywood charm. Working from an excellent script by Jez and John-Henry Butterworth, director James Mangold (Logan) hooks you from the first scene and never lets go.

The May Fair Hotel Gala is MARRIAGE STORY, directed by Noah Baumbach (While We’re Young, Frances Ha) and starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson as an ill-fated couple who are married, have a son and run a theatre company together. Arguably Baumbach’s most personal film to date, MARRIAGE STORY charts the unravelling of their marriage, often with bitter hilarity in even the most desolate of scenes. Baumbach shoots on gorgeous 35mm with a 1.66 aspect ratio that foregrounds performance, often with startling long takes.

FESTIVAL AND STRAND GALAS 

Chilean director Pablo Larraín’s (Jackie) EMA is this year’s Festival Gala, starring the superb Gael García Bernal and featuring a spellbinding lead performance from newcomer Mariana Di Girolamo. In this character study of a beguiling woman ruled by heart and impulse, Larraín paints a picture of talented contemporary street/reggaeton dancer and teacher Ema. Larraín’s film intersperses explosive, intoxicating scenes of dance amidst dramatic moments that are fractured in time.

The Family Gala is the UK Premiere of Jill Culton and Todd Wilderman’s ABOMINABLE. This latest animated tale from Dreamworks is a fun, fast-paced action adventure about a little girl and her yeti companion in a race-against-time trip from China to the Himalayas. Boasting a compelling story and breathtaking visuals, ABOMINABLE is as beautiful as it is funny and exciting.

Kleber Mendonça Filho (Neighbouring Sounds) and Juliano Dornelles’ critically acclaimed BACURAU, winner of the Cannes Jury Prize 2019, features as this year’s Thrill Gala. This futuristic, sardonic and complex thriller explores the lives of misfits, mixed-heritage outsiders, whores, hippies and queers. They live in the margins in a dusty little town that has been wiped clean off the map by the middle-class elite from the north, who are busy ingratiating themselves, selling their country and its people to rich European and American interests.

This year’s Laugh Gala, THE DUDE IN ME from director Hyo-jin Kang, is a sassy body-swap comedy from South Korea, which tells the story of a ballsy gangster who accidentally possesses a timid schoolboy. Employing dry humour to undercut macho culture, the film finds fresh twists to a classic premise, resulting in an upbeat, poptastic entertainment that sustains its surprisingly sweet energy and laughs to the last.

Mirrah Foulkes’ JUDY & PUNCH features as the Dare Gala. Prepare for an audaciously brilliant first feature, with Mia Wasikowska splendid in this fairy tale with a feminine twist. Foulkes creates an origin story of sorts, but one that reimagines what might have happened if Judy decided not to take Punch’s incessant battery quite so meekly.

Acclaimed filmmaker Robert Eggers, the Sutherland Award-winning director of The Witch, returns to terrorise audiences with his masterful maritime shocker THE LIGHTHOUSE, which is this year’s Cult Gala. Once seen, never
forgotten, this hypnotic fusion of beauty and brutality is truly the stuff of nightmares, boasting extraordinary performances from Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe as a downtrodden lackey and baiting slave driver at the begrimed lighthouse where they’ve been assigned to work together for four weeks.

OFFICIAL SECRETS is filmmaker Gavin Hood’s (Eye in the Sky) sharp political thriller, about a key moment in the history of the Iraq conflict, opening as this year’s Debate Gala. It follows the story of Katharine Gun, an ordinary government contract worker faced with an extraordinary choice: in 2003, on the eve of the UK-US invasion of Iraq, Gun intercepted communications that revealed the UK was being asked to spy on UN Security Council Members to help influence votes sanctioning the Iraq invasion. Keira Knightley gives an excellent performance as Gun, alongside a strong ensemble cast that includes Matt Smith, Ralph Fiennes, Matthew Goode and Rhys Ifans.

The Love Gala, in association with Malta Tourism Authority, is the UK Premiere of Michael Schwartz and Tyler Nilson’s effortlessly charming buddy movie, THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON, about a young man in pursuit of his dreams. Zak, a restless 22-year old with Down’s Syndrome, is frustrated by the slow pace of life at his nursing home. Itching for some excitement, he hatches a plan to meet his idol, a pro wrestler named The Salt Water Redneck. Zak makes a break from his geriatric prison with his worried carer in hot pursuit.

This year’s Journey Gala is the thrillingly cinematic two-hander from Fernando Meirelles (City of God, The Constant Gardener), THE TWO POPES, starring Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce as a pair of men tussling over the future of the Catholic Church. Disullusioned Jorge Bergoglio (Pryce) is a strong contender for the revered position of head of the Church but is relieved when Joseph Ratzinger (Hopkins) gets the top job and becomes Pope Benedict XVI. When the two men are brought together over one summer, their clash of ideologies make for a passionate debate.

The European Premiere of WESTERN STARS sees global music legend Bruce Springsteen perform the entirety of his 19th studio release in this year’s Create Gala, co-directed by Thom Zimny and Bruce Springsteen. Resolved  that he would not be taking the record on tour, Springsteen, collaborating with Zimny, opted instead to produce a feature-length film as a means of bringing the live experience to music lovers across the world. Set in the atmospheric surroundings of a majestic old barn, Springsteen’s elegiac ode to the American West blends lush orchestration with emotional tenderness. Springsteen (joined by wife Patti Scialfa, a small orchestra and a handful of accompanying musicians) reflects on the songs and ruminates on the loves, challenges and regrets he has faced in his own life.

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS 

Eleven Special Presentations shine the spotlight on new work from major directors.

The eagerly awaited follow-up to Cory Finley’s explosive debut Thoroughbreds (LFF 2017) is his BAD EDUCATION, which screens as a Special Presentation in association with Empire. Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney star in this school-set political thriller based on the true story of an embezzlement scandal that rocked the New York school system.

One of the UK’s classiest cinematic storytellers, Roger Michell (Enduring Love, Le Week-End, Notting Hill) directs BLACKBIRD, a deeply moving and satisfying drama about the complexity of family love.

A glorious love letter to life and love in Mumbai, BOMBAY ROSE, from feature debut director and screenwriter Gitanjali Rao, is both epic and personal. Rao’s exquisite animation allows characters to move seamlessly between real and imagined worlds, in this delicate and nuanced collection of stories.

Oscar-nominated Feras Fayyad’s (Last Men in Aleppo) essential film THE CAVE tells the harrowing story of an underground Syrian hospital and its extraordinary staff. Fayyad crafts an urgent and poignant testimony of the humanity of the hospital staff, who risk their lives to maintain the health and hopes of the people they treat. But the film is also a call to action – a demand for a response to this intolerable humanitarian crisis.

Prolific Japanese director Takashi Miike proves in FIRST LOVE that he still has much to explore in the yakuza world, even after 2015’s anarchic, bloody vampire flick-crime movie mash-up Yakuza Apocalypse. This time employing a love story as a counterpoint to the intrigues of the Tokyo underworld, the film follows a young boxer on the brink of death as he falls in love with a woman caught in the crossfire between yakuza and triad gangs in a fight over stolen drugs.

Last seen at LFF with 2013’s widely adored girl-punk charmer We Are the Best!, Swedish writer-director Lukas Moodysson returns with his first foray into episodic television in Special Presentation GÖSTA. The focus of this loving satire is on its extremely kind title character, the nicest child psychologist in provincial Sweden. Affectionately lampooning youthful idealism, Moodysson’s empathetic storytelling transfers perfectly to the small screen.

A collaboration between two award-winning directors returning to the Festival, Anocha Suwichakornpong and Ben Rivers, the Experimenta Special Presentation is KRABI, 2562. The two merge their unique cinematic languages across reality and folklore in the eponymous tourist town, to create an absorbing and playful portrait of a people, place and time that makes for a series of haunting vignettes on the legacy of our age.

Featuring Britain’s biggest star of the 1920s, the ‘Queen of Happiness’ Betty Balfour, this year’s Archive Special Presentation is LOVE, LIFE AND LAUGHTER. The discovery of this cinematic treasure, lost for nearly a century, is a major event. Telling the story of a pair of working-class youngsters with big dreams, the film was rediscovered when an incomplete Dutch-language version was identified by archivists at EYE Filmmuseum in the Netherlands. This has been painstakingly pieced together by our restoration team with new English intertitles, bringing back to life a truly vivacious performance from Balfour.

Another Special Presentation is OUR LADIES, a loving adaptation of Alan Warner’s novel The Sopranos by veteran director Michael Caton-Jones (The Jackal, Basic Instinct 2) and a perfect evocation of being young and riotously alive in mid-90s Scotland. Following a rebellious group of six teenage choirgirls on a day trip to a singing competition in Edinburgh, this unvarnished coming-of-age saga features brilliant central performances from young actors Eve Austin, Tallulah Greive, Abigail Lawrie, Sally Messham, Rona Morison and Marli Siu.

The BFI Flare Special Presentation in association with Sight & Sound is PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE; a female portrait painter falls in love with her subject in Céline Sciamma’s perfect new film. Whilst a devastatingly effective story of love set against impossible social and cultural barriers, it is also a film that redefines the construction of the gaze – of the protagonist, the camera, and the viewer – on the female form. It’s Céline Sciamma on fire.

The final Special Presentation is ROCKS, a vibrant and hugely engaging portrait of female friendship and growing up in London, from director Sarah Gavron (Brick Lane, Suffragette). Based on a script from award-winning playwright Theresa Ikoko and Claire Wilson, the drama was developed through extensive workshops with the female cast, all of whom were discovered through casting sessions at schools. With magnetic performances across the board – particularly from Bukky Bakray, Kosar Ali and Shaneigha-Monik Greyson – ROCKS gives voice to London girls who have something to say.

Key filmmaking talent expected to attend the Festival’s Gala and Special Presentation screenings include:   Armando Iannucci, Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Stephen Graham, Rian Johnson, Tom Harper, Marielle Heller, Michael Winterbottom, Steve Coogan, William Nicholson, Taika Waititi, Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Alfie Allen, Archie Yates, David Michôd, Timothée Chalamet, Joel Edgerton, Ben Mendelsohn, Sean Harris, Lily-Rose Depp, Tom Glynn-Carney, James Mangold, Noah Baumbach, Adam Driver, Laura Dern, David Heyman, Pablo Larraín, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles, Mirrah Foulkes, Robert Eggers, Gavin Hood, Keira Knightley, Katharine Gun, Martin Bright, Michael Schwartz, Tyler Nilson, Zack Gottsagen, Fernando Meirelles, Jonathan Pryce, Thom Zimny, Bruce Springsteen, Cory Finley, Hugh Jackman, Roger Michell, Gitanjali Rao, Feras Fayyad, Jeremy Thomas, Lukas Moodysson, Ben Rivers, Michael Caton-Jones, Céline Sciamma, Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Sarah Gavron.

AWARDS AND COMPETITIONS 

The BFI London Film Festival Awards celebrate the creative achievements of British and international filmmakers showcased in our Competitive sections, aiming to honour inspiring, inventive and distinctive filmmaking across each of the four categories.

The winners in each competition are selected by festival juries, and, following last year’s reboot of the Awards format, will all be available for the public to book as an additional surprise screening. Preceding each will be the presentation of the award by BFI London Film Festival Director Tricia Tuttle and the Jury Chair to the winning filmmaker.

The Festival is delighted to make audiences a key part of the Awards celebration and increase their chances of seeing the very best new films on offer, all of which is vital to the Festival’s mission of inclusion and accessibility for all.

The Jury for each category will be announced ahead of the opening of the Festival.

OFFICIAL COMPETITION 

As previously announced, the Best Film Award in Official Competition recognises inspiring, inventive and distinctive filmmaking, and includes the following shortlisted titles:

• FANNY LYE DELIVER’D, Thomas Clay’s intoxicating 17th Century drama with Maxine Peake in the title role

• HONEY BOY, Alma Har’el’s artful and soul-baring examination of the lingering effects of emotional abuse, written by Shia LaBeouf, who stars alongside Lucas Hedges

• LINGUA FRANCA, a beautifully performed character study of a Filipino transwoman and undocumented  immigrant in Brooklyn, from writer/director Isabel Sandoval, who also takes on the lead role

• LA LLORONA, Guatemalan director Jayro Bustamante’s taut genre-bending thriller about an elderly general haunted by a spectre of the past during his trial for genocide

• MOFFIE, Oliver Hermanus’ haunting examination of the violent persecution of gay men under Apartheid

• MONOS, a hallucinogenic, intoxicating thriller by Alejandro Landes about child soldiers high in the mountains of South America

• THE OTHER LAMB, Małgorzata Szumowska’s beguiling, genre-tinged English-language debut examining life in an otherworldly cult

• THE PERFECT CANDIDATE, Haifaa Al Mansour’s inspiring drama about a young doctor who becomes an  electoral candidate to challenge Saudi Arabia’s strict social codes

• ROSE PLAYS JULIE, an immersive and gripping drama from directing duo Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor about a young woman seeking her biological mother

• SAINT MAUD, the debut feature from director Rose Glass, in which a mysterious nurse becomes dangerously obsessed with saving the soul of her dying patient.

FIRST FEATURE COMPETITION – SUTHERLAND AWARD

Titles in consideration for the Sutherland Award in the First Feature Competition recognising an original and imaginative directorial debut are:

ATLANTICS (Dir. Mati Diop). A hypnotic, genre-shifting portrait of a girl’s awakening. When Souleiman grows tired of labouring without pay on the gleaming towers of Dakar, he sets out across the sea with friends, leaving Ada to face impending marriage to another man. But as the women gather in the bar where the men used to drink, it seems that something has returned to them.

BABYTEETH (Dir. Shannon Murphy). A feverish Australian drama featuring a superb performance by breakout star Eliza Scanlen as Milla, a seriously ill teenage girl who falls madly in love with a young drug dealer. Milla’s infatuation with the dodgy-but-charming Toby leaves her parents, Henry (Ben Mendelsohn) and Anna (Essie Davis) faced with a tricky dilemma.

CALM WITH HORSES (Dir. Nick Rowland). Cosmo Jarvis gives a visceral performance in Rowland’s gripping feature debut as Douglas, the hired muscle for a crime family in rural Ireland. As he becomes embroiled in a violent pageant of retribution, the time soon comes for Douglas to choose sides.

HOUSE OF HUMMINGBIRD (Dir. Bora Kim). Announcing a bright new voice in South Korean cinema, Kim brings both humour and elegance to her autobiographical debut in this absorbing coming-of-age drama about teenager Eunhee and her dysfunctional Seoul family circa 1994.

INSTINCT (Dir. Halina Reijn). Carice van Houten plays respected clinical psychologist Nicoline, who after starting a new job at a penal institution finds herself flirting with danger in her sessions with inmate Idris. Soon, the boundaries between doctor and patient begin to blur as tensions escalate.

THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO (Dir. Joe Talbot). Jimmie dreams of reclaiming the beautiful late 19th-century home his grandfather built, before hard times and changing demographics forced his family out. He and best friend Mont scheme to make the dream a reality, in Talbot and writer-performer Jimmie Fails’s gorgeous, inventive meditation on art, architecture, black culture and gentrification in California’s Bay Area.

MAKE UP (Dir. Claire Oakley). A riveting psycho-sexual drama in which teenager Ruth travels to a seaside holiday park to stay with her boyfriend Tom, and one day finds evidence he might be cheating on her. As her desire to uncover the truth turns into an obsession, she begins to realise she might be looking for something else entirely.

RELATIVITY (Dir. Mariko Minoguchi). It is love at first sight when Nora and Aaron first meet on a rainy day in an underground station, but Aaron’s fate takes a dramatic turn and changes Nora’s life in an instant. Minoguchi’s debut is a romantic narrative of ambitious proportions, effortlessly looping between the present and past while making clever use of cinema as an unfurling emotional landscape.

SCALES (Dir. Shahad Ameen). A visually resplendent tale set in a small Gulf fishing village, where the population live in thrall to the otherworldly creatures of the sea. The inhabitants traditionally sacrifice female children to them until one of those girls, Hayat (meaning ‘life’ in Arabic), rejects her fate and fights against the patriarchal hegemony.

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION  – GRIERSON AWARD

The Grierson Award in the Documentary Competition category recognises cinematic documentaries with integrity, originality, and social or cultural significance. This year the Festival is screening:

COLD CASE HAMMARSKJÖLD (Dir. Mads Brügger). This wild, stranger-than-fiction documentary depicts the most disturbing true-crime investigation to have been seen in recent years, in which Brügger attempts to solve the mysterious death in 1961 of second Secretary General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld.

COUP 53 (Dir. Taghi Amirani). The latest from award-winning documentarian Amirani is a decade-long investigation into the CIA/MI6-led coup of 1953 that removed Iran’s democratic Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh. What begins as an interrogation of the mystery still surrounding the affair develops into a taut thriller, exposing rigorous secrecy and underlining the ongoing ramifications of this pivotal political episode.

CUNNINGHAM (Dir. Alla Kovgan). This eye-popping 3D portrait of great American choreographer Merce Cunningham celebrates the centenary of his birth. An exquisitely crafted and artistically ambitious documentary, the film explores his creative process in the period between 1942 and 1972 when he rose from struggling dancer to become one of the most influential choreographers of the 20th century.

I AM (NOT) A MONSTER (Dir. Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian). Starting with the thoughts of political theorist Hannah Arendt, this thought-provoking and playful documentary sees Hayoun-Stépanian travel the world to ponder the means by which freedom of learning and innovative education can exist in contemporary times.

THE KINGMAKER (Dir. Lauren Greenfield). Imelda Marcos, matriarch of the Marcos dynasty, still hopes to see her maternal delusions validated and political power restored while Philippine activists fight for transparency and democracy. Her former peers, including the widows of governmental figures, tell the story of a woman scarred by an
emotional blow that transformed her into a bulletproof-bra-wearing megalomaniac, who now mythologises her mothering instincts.

MYSTIFY: MICHAEL HUTCHENCE (Dir. Richard Lowenstein). Capturing INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence’s rise to super-stardom and subsequent tragic fall, MYSTIFY gives remarkable insight into his life and a truth he took to the grave. A tapestry of voices and home movies animate Hutchence’s personality, kicking tabloid speculation into oblivion and letting his story emerge with emotional and revelatory depth.

OVERSEAS (Dir. Sung-A Yoon). Each year, hundreds of thousands of Filipino women train to become domestic workers abroad. Yoon reveals the personal stories, dreams and heartaches of these trainees, exposing at the same time the economic and familial pressures pushing Filipino women to accept jobs abroad, which can sometimes resemble modern-day slavery.

A PLEASURE, COMRADES! (Dir. José Filipe Costa). The patriarchal power relations and sexual taboos of post-dictatorship Portugal are laid bare in this humorous and sex-positive docudrama with a feminist soul, as an older generation travels in time to bravely and joyfully re-enact  the testimonies of those who lived through it.

WHITE RIOT (Dir. Rubika Shah.) This vital documentary blends fresh interviews with archive footage to profile punky reggae protest movement Rock Against Racism, from the movement’s grassroots beginnings in 1976 through to 1978’s huge antifascist carnival in Victoria Park featuring X-Ray Spex, Steel Pulse and The Clash, whose rockstar charisma and gale-force conviction took RAR’s message to the masses.

SHORT FILM AWARD

The Short Film Award recognises short form works with a unique cinematic voice and a confident handling of chosen theme and content. This year the festival is screening:
• IF YOU KNEW – Dir. Stroma Cairns

• WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE WATER AND THE MOON – Dir. Jian Luo

• WHITE GIRL – Dir. Nadia Latif

• FAULT LINE (GOSAL) – Dir. Soheil Amirsharifi • GUO4 – Dir. Peter Strickland

• IN VITRO – Dir. Larissa Sansour, Søren Lind

• ALGO-RHYTHM – Dir. Manu Luksch

• BETWEEN (ENTRE) – Dir. Ana Carolina Marinho, Bárbara Santos

• IN BETWEEN (NË MES) –Dir. Samir Karahoda

• CHILD – Dir. Talia Zucker

• WATERMELON JUICE (SUC DE SÍNDRIA) – Dir. Irene Moray

• QUEERING DI TEKNOLOJIK – Dir. Timothy Smith

Additional filmmaking talent expected to attend for films in competition include:   Thomas Clay, Charles Dance, Freddie Fox, Tanya Reynolds, Zorana Piggott, Rob Cannan, Alma Har’el, Isabel Sandoval, Jhett Tolentino, Jayro Bustamante, Oliver Hermanus, Alejandro Landes, Małgorzata Szumowska, Raffey Cassidy, Denise Gough, Christine Molloy, Joe Lawlor, Ann Skelly, Orla Brady, David Collins, Rose Glass, Mati Diop, Shannon Murphy, Alex White, Rita Kalnejais, Andrew Commis, Nick Rowland, Bora Kim, Halina Reijn, Carice van Houten, Claire Oakley, Mariko Minoguchi, Julius Feldmeier, Shahad Ameen, Mads Brügger, Taghi Amirani, Alla Kovgan, Nelly Ben HayounStépanian, Lauren Greenfield, Richard Lowenstein, Sung-A Yoon, José Filipe Costa, Rubika Shah, Nadia Latif, Larissa Sansour, Søren Lind, Gunman Xuman, Mukul Patel, Ana Carolina Marinho, Bárbara Santos, Timothy Smith.

The Festival will announce its complete guest line-up for all sections in late September.

STRANDS 

The Festival programme is organised in sections to encourage discovery and to open up the Festival to new  audiences. The strands are: Love, Debate, Laugh, Dare, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Create, Experimenta, Family and Treasures.

Here are some of the highlights to be found in these strands. Full details of all the films found in the strands, including late additions will be found on the Festival website.

LOVE 

Sweet, passionate, tough – Love is a complex and many-splendoured thing and this selection charts the highs and lows of many kinds of love from around the globe. The Love Gala, in association with Malta Tourism Authority, is the UK Premiere of Michael Schwartz and Tyler Nilson’s effortlessly charming buddy movie, THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON.

Family relations unravel to wonderfully excruciating comic and dramatic effect in HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Cédric Kahn’s ensemble drama starring Catherine Deneuve, Emmanuelle Bercot and Vincent Macaigne. Director Shonali Bose (Margarita with a Straw, LFF 2014) returns to the Festival with THE SKY IS PINK, a compelling and emotionally devastating true story about a young couple (Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Farhan Akhtar) who will stop at nothing to save their sick daughter. Aki Omoshaybi’s earnest debut REAL explores the love between two people who work hard to keep their romance on track while struggling to manage personal hardship. Starring Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville, ORDINARY LOVE is an intimate and sensitively-handled drama about a couple dealing with breast cancer; directors Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn capture both the extremity and the everydayness, in this warm and thought-provoking drama. British actor-turned-director Tom Cullen’s feature debut PINK WALL covers six years in six scenes: from first sparks to the dying embers of a love affair, it’s an intense and deeply affecting relationship study. Anthony Chen returns following his Sutherland win for Ilo Ilo (LFF 2013), with WET SEASON, a hugely satisfying Singapore-set portrait of a woman on a journey to rediscover herself. And one of the most buzzed-about films from Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, AND THEN WE DANCED is set to delight fans of Call Me by Your Name as well as lovers of traditional Georgian dance.

DEBATE

Representing films that amplify, scrutinize and surprise, Debate thrives on conversation, which is never more  engaging than when the world outside the cinema is reflected back at us. This year’s Debate Gala is Gavin Hood’s  politically charged fable, OFFICIAL SECRETS.

THE AUSTRALIAN DREAM, Daniel Gordon’s thought-provoking drama about the Australian Rules football star, raises crucial questions about casual racism, drawing upon Australia’s colonial past and its treatment of the Aboriginal population. Celebrated director Terrence Malick returns to the festival with A HIDDEN LIFE, a Second World War-set true story that calls for grace as it explores the importance of unsung resistance. Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer, Tim Roth and Kevin Harrison Jr. lead the cast in Julius Onah’s LUCE, a gripping psychological thriller about subjectivity and codeswitching in modern America. THE REPORT by Scott Z Burns, starring Adam Driver, Annette Bening and Jon Hamm, is a politically urgent drama in which the American government take a hard look at itself. Acclaimed director Ciro Guerra follows Birds of Passage with WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS, an allegorical epic penned by JM Coetzee in an adaptation of his own literary masterpiece; starring Mark Rylance, Johnny Depp and Robert Pattinson. Benedict Andrew’s stylish drama, SEBERG, sees Kristen Stewart shine as the idealistic yet fragile ‘It’ girl Jean Seberg, who finds herself a target of J Edgar Hoover’s FBI when she becomes romantically involved with a Black Panther and flaunts her disregard for America’s misogynistic and racist institutions. James Norton stars as Welsh journalist Gareth Jones in Agnieszka Holland’s MR JONES, which traces Jones’ 1930s visit to Soviet Ukraine where he uncovered the truth of Stalin’s statesponsored famine, a visit that reputedly inspired George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

LAUGH

From laugh-out-loud comedy to dry and understated, Laugh celebrates humour in all its forms. This year’s Laugh Gala, THE DUDE IN ME from director Hyo-jin Kang, is a sassy body-swap comedy from South Korea.

The Festival will also present Manele Labidi Labbé’s debut feature ARAB BLUES, a provocative culture clash comedy, starring Golshifteh Farahani (About Elly, Paterson) as a Parisian psychoanalyst attempting to set up a practice in a postArab Spring Tunis. In bittersweet comedy AXONE, director Nicholas Kharkongor tells the story of immigrants in Delhi who are attempting to organise a wedding party, but soon find everything going wrong! The vertiginous ups and downs in two men’s friendship spans several years and outrageous events in the award-winning US indie comedy THE CLIMB, from director Michael Angelo Covino. The Inbetweeners star Simon Bird’s directorial debut DAYS OF THE BAGNOLD SUMMER is a funny, charming and wince-inducingly accurate adaptation of Joff Winterhart’s graphic novel about a single librarian trying to reconnect with her introverted, metalhead teenage son. Acclaimed Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman returns with another deadpan take on life in exile with the typically assured and moving IT MUST BE HEAVEN. Billie Piper stars in her own directorial debut RARE BEASTS, a no-holds-barred anti-romcom about a modern woman’s struggles in work and love. The European Premiere of THE LOST OKOROSHI, directed by Abba Makama, follows a man who wakes up to discover he has undergone a transformation and takes a revelatory journey to see if ancestral tradition has a place in modern life.

DARE

In-your-face, up-front and arresting films in Dare take you out of your comfort zone. The Dare Gala is Mirrah Foulkes’ audacious and brilliant first feature, JUDY & PUNCH.

Winner of the top prize at the Tribeca Film Festival, contemporary Southern gothic BURNING CANE heralds 19-year-old director Phillip Youmans as a serious new talent. DOGS DON’T WEAR PANTS is J-P Valkeapää’s playful dark comedy about a dominatrix offering an emotionally-paralysed widower an unexpected chance for sexual and psychological release. Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau return with DON’T LOOK DOWN, an elegant and intimate drama about love and revenge: in a high-rise apartment, a woman and five men gather to share their experiences of a man they have all been involved with, to their cost. Legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog is on thought-provoking form with his latest offering FAMILY ROMANCE, LLC, dramatising the work of a ‘rent-a-relative’ service in this Tokyo-set meditation on contemporary alienation. FIRE WILL COME, Olivier Laxe’s raw yet ravishing sensory experience telling the story of a pyromaniac who returns to his mother’s farm, is a visually jaw-dropping study of the Galician landscape, which the Festival is delighted to be screening in the BFI IMAX. Jérémy Clapin’s I LOST MY BODY, winner of the Grand Prize at the Cannes Critics’ Week, is a striking animation that follows a severed hand searching for its owner. Jessica Hausner’s first English-language feature, LITTLE JOE, is a pleasingly cool, witty and unsettling story of the pitfalls of placing too much trust in everyday science. ZOMBI CHILD is the latest provocation from Bertrand Bonello (Nocturama (LFF 2016)), splicing Haitian history and folklore with contemporary life at an elite girls’ boarding school in Paris.

THRILL

The Thrill strand, in association with EMPIRE, features nerve-shredders that’ll get your adrenalin pumping and will keep you on the edge of your seat. This year’s Thrill Gala is Kleber Mendonca̧ Filho and Juliano Dornelles’ spellbinding BACURAU.

The Festival will present the World Premiere of Wash Westmoreland’s EARTHQUAKE BIRD; Alicia Vikander is astonishing in this dark thriller set in 1989 Tokyo, in which she plays a murder suspect at the centre of a tumultuous love triangle. Bangkok-born, Thai-Irish writer-director Tom Waller’s THE CAVE is the first film to dramatise 2018’s astonishing rescue of the Wild Boars football team from Tham Luang cave. David Thewlis excels in GUEST OF HONOUR, another typically complex and mischievous offering from Canadian auteur Atom Egoyan, about a punctilious food inspector dedicated to uncovering the secrets of restaurants high and low. Yaron Zilberman’s INCITEMENT is a chilling and urgent account of twisted ideology and religious obsession that carries a universal message and tries to fathom what drove a young law student to assassinate Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Lijo Jose Pellissery’s JALLIKATTU is a thrilling, nightmarish ride into the depths of human bloodlust, finding a rampaging buffalo hunted by a violent mob; slickly shot, paced and acted, this rollercoaster of a film compellingly explores the dark heart of human nature. A directionless call centre salesman gets more than he bargained for when he joins a local gym in MUSCLE, directed by Gerard Johnson; this testosterone-fuelled thriller is a meaty exploration (and critique) of amplified machismo, propelled by two extraordinary central performances from Cavan Clerkin and Craig Fairbrass. Nima Javidi nimbly reflects on notions of freedom and the fragile nature of authority in THE WARDEN, an ambitious follow-up to his awardwinning Melbourne. Javidi’s thrilling second feature is as astutely crafted as it is suave and seductive.

CULT

From the mind-altering and unclassifiable to fantasy, sci-fi and horror, in the Cult strand, the dark side is welcomed. This year’s Cult Gala is Robert Eggers’ masterful and terrifying maritime shocker, THE LIGHTHOUSE.

Quentin Dupieux presents DEERSKIN, which sees one man’s love for his designer jacket escalate to dangerous heights in what might just be the strangest serial killer film ever made. Johannes Nyholm returns to the festival with KOKO-DI KOKO-DA, the follow up to his extraordinary Sutherland-nominated film The Giant (LFF 2016): a phantasmagorical horror, pitch black comedy and searing psychodrama following a couple at breaking point who head to the great outdoors for a camping trip in the hopes of salvaging their fractured relationship – but unbeknownst to these unhappy campers, they are not alone in the forest. LITTLE MONSTERS by Abe Forsythe sees Lupita Nyong’o shine in a delirious zom-com that guarantees you’ll never listen to Taylor Swift in the same way again. Lorcan Finnegan presents VIVARIUM, in which Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg play a pair of first-time buyers who get more than they bargained for in this twisted fable about the horrors of suburban living. Adapted from Nathan Ballingrud’s novella ‘The Visible Filth’, Babak Anvari’s WOUNDS sees Armie Hammer and Dakota Johnson drawn into a bizarre nightmare, as they attempt to return an abandoned cell phone to its rightful owner. Richard Stanley, visionary director of horror classics Hardware and Dust Devil, makes a triumphant return with COLOR OUT OF SPACE, a dazzling adaptation of HP Lovecraft’s otherworldly tale, starring Nicolas Cage and Joely Richardson; in this thrilling combination of absorbing family drama and outré sci-fi madness, the Gardners are looking forward to a new, happier chapter in life – but their plans are abruptly interrupted when a meteor crash lands on their property.

JOURNEY

Whether it’s the journey or the destination, these films will transport you and shift your perspective. This year’s Journey Gala is THE TWO POPES, the thrillingly cinematic two-hander from Fernando Meirelles (City of God, The Constant Gardener).

In director Hikari’s debut feature 37 SECONDS, a young woman with cerebral palsy strikes out for independence with the help of a sex worker; this sensational Japanese debut is a warm-hearted and clear-eyed exploration of the sexual experience of a person with disabilities. In THE CORDILLERA OF DREAMS, veteran documentarist Patricio Guzmán completes his trilogy about Chile’s troubled past, meditating on how the Andes shaped its sense of identity. After her 1930s-set Planetarium (LFF 2016), writer-director Rebecca Zlotowski returns to the present with the coming-of-age drama AN EASY GIRL, which investigates desire, the lure of the high life and the imagery of modern female sexuality, set in a sun-baked Cannes. Director Ga-eun Yoon’s rich and joyous THE HOUSE OF US proves her one of the world’s finest filmmakers at capturing contemporary childhood onscreen; performing the cinematic magic trick of immersing us in children’s perspective while allowing us to bring adult understanding to their experience. In Karim Aın̈ouz’s THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF EURIDICE GUSMAO, winner of Cannes’ Un Certain Regard prize, a sumptuous tale of two sisters cruelly separated by family and fate makes for deeply moving drama. In MONSOON, Hong Khaou follows Lilting (BFI Flare 2014) with this gorgeous drama that evokes the disorientation of returning to an unrecognisable homeland; Londoner Kit (Henry Golding, Crazy Rich Asians) travels to Vietnam to scatter his mother’s ashes and to connect with the place he departed from as a child, and finds that everything he knew has changed.

CREATE

The Create strand channels the electricity of the creative process, celebrating artistic expression in all its forms.  This year’s Create Gala, WESTERN STARS, sees music legend Bruce Springsteen present his 19th studio album in this spectacular visual treat for music fans the world over.

Faders on stun: Hollywood sound editor Midge Costin’s directorial debut, MAKING WAVES: THE ART OF CINEMATIC SOUND, is an immersive, educational and hugely enjoyable documentary exploring the power of sound in cinema. Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Kim Longinotto’s SHOOTING THE MAFIA sketches a captivating portrait of defiant Sicilian photographer Letizia Battaglia, whose extraordinary work recorded the Mafia’s violent crimes. Stephen Kijak’s SID & JUDY documents Judy Garland’s life beyond the Yellow Brick Road, her post-MGM triumphs and tragedies vividly recalled in a revelatory documentary that utilises her impresario husband Sidney Luft’s memoirs. TALKING ABOUT TREES, a beautifully shot documentary by Suhaib Gasmelbari, follows four veteran members of the Sudanese Film Club as they aim to return cinema-going culture back to the country. Olivier Meyrou’s YVES SAINT LAURENT: THE LAST COLLECTIONS, withheld from release for nearly 20 years, is an exquisitely crafted and moving documentary observing the last few years in the company of style icon Yves Saint Laurent. Stanley Nelson’s MILES DAVIS: BIRTH OF THE COOL sees 20th century music’s trumpet-playing prince of darkness receive the candid documentary his controversial genius deserves. Starring Tim Roth and Clive Owen, François Girard’s THE SONG OF NAMES is a riveting musical odyssey and historical detective story set against the backdrop of the Holocaust. Mike Figgis’ enthralling documentary SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME follows the turbulent life and career of Ronnie Wood, legendary rock guitarist and long-time member of The Rolling Stones.

EXPERIMENTA

Experimenta features films and videos by artists that revolutionise and reshape our vision of cinema. The Experimenta Special Presentation is KRABI, 2562 by Ben Rivers and Anocha Suwichakornpong.

Nina Danino’s I DIE OF SADNESS CRYING FOR YOU, a meditation on Spanish popular copla songs and their mighty female singers, is an evocative and passionate film essay. Brad Butler and Noorafshan Mirza present RUPTURES, set in Turkey, in which an MP, a former Police Commissioner, a right-wing assassin wanted by Interpol and a woman named Yenge are all involved in a car crash. Roz Mortimer’s THE DEATHLESS WOMAN is an elegiac account of the Nazi genocide of the Roma community expressed through the supernatural myth of the ‘deathless woman’. Louis Henderson and Olivier Marboeuf’s OUVERTURES reflects on the legacy of Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L’Ouverture, and follows a collective’s process of translating Édouard Glissant’s play Monsieur Toussaint from French  to Creole. Los Angeles-based artist Mariah Garnett presents TROUBLE, a personal account of an estranged father set against the Northern Ireland conflict; this heart-breaking story interwines interviews and investigations which reveal the traumatic effects of political upheavals on Belfast communities then and now, as well as added queer playfulness featuring trans actress Robyn Reihill. Jeffrey Perkins’ GEORGE: THE STORY OF GEORGE MACIUNAS AND FLUXUS, executive produced by Jonas Mekas, traces the history of the Fluxus movement through rare footage, recreation of happenings and interviews with key figures in this portrait of artist George Maciunas.

FAMILY

Showcasing films for the young, as well as the young at heart, this year’s Family strand is, as always, an international affair. The Family Gala is the UK premiere of Jill Culton and Todd Wilderman’s ABOMINABLE.

Bears and humans just don’t get on! In this adaptation of Dino Buzzati’s classic story THE BEARS’ FAMOUS INVASION, we find out why; this children’s classic is joyously depicted by Lorenzo Mattotti, who presents a compelling story that works on different levels depending on the viewer’s age. In Edmunds Jansons’ JACOB, MIMMI AND THE TALKING DOGS, a sassy group of talking dogs give plenty of attitude to Jacob and his cousin Mimmi, but they also help out when a local park is threatened. This section also includes a programme of animated shorts for younger audiences which bring together eclectic, exciting and colourful films from all around the globe. In Pawo Choyning Dorji’s live-action drama LUNANA: A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM a teacher in Bhutan, struggling for inspiration, travels to the most remote school in the world, where it takes being so far away to understand the importance of his work…and to appreciate the value of yak dung! Fresh from its success in China, we will be presenting the visually ravishing animation WHITE SNAKE at the

BFI IMAX. Directors Amp Wong and Ji Zhao tells the story of a girl with magical gifts who embodies the Chinese legend of the White Snake in a jaw-dropping landscape of demons, serpents and delight!

TREASURES

The Treasures strand brings recently revived and restored cinematic classics and discoveries from archives around the world to the Festival in London.

John Hurt is exceptional in David Lynch’s THE ELEPHANT MAN; this compassionate immersion into the vicious world experienced by ‘freaks’ in 19th century London has undergone an exclusive 4K restoration process supervised by Lynch. THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH is an uncanny tale from the pen of Poe, directed by Roger Corman, shot by Nicolas Roeg, and starring Vincent Price – a match made in Heaven. Or Hell! Cameroonian feature MUNA MOTO is a welcome restoration of a classic social realist African masterpiece that champions the ideals of Third Cinema aesthetics. Budd Boetticher’s magisterial western, RIDE LONESOME, stars Randolph Scott as a haunted loner seeking vengeance in a bleak, elemental world full of dangerous strangers. SAY AMEN, SOMEBODY is an exuberant, joyous and deeply moving, critically acclaimed documentary that celebrates American gospel music, spotlighting giants of the business Willie Mae Ford Smith and Thomas A Dorsey. SWEET CHARITY sees Shirley MacLaine star as unlucky-in-love taxi dancer Charity Hope Valentine in Bob Fosse’s joyous adaptation of the hit Broadway musical. Nina Menkes’ critically acclaimed underground classic, QUEEN OF DIAMONDS, is one of the most subversive and originally independent films of the 1990s, set in a hallucinatory Las Vegas landscape. Following the story of disaffected Firdaus, a struggling Blackjack dealer, set between glittering casino lights and a deteriorating desert oasis, this is a remarkable and provocative masterpiece of American independent filmmaking, ripe for critical evaluation.

LFF SCREEN TALKS

LFF SCREEN TALK: RIAN JOHNSON

We’re delighted to welcome Rian Johnson to the BFI London Film Festival, to talk about his career and the making of his fifth feature KNIVES OUT: a wickedly witty and stylish murder mystery, which the Maryland-born filmmaker has described as “an attempt to capture the twisty fun of an Agatha Christie whodunit.” A graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Johnson debuted with 2005’s Brick, which ingeniously transposed the stylized tropes of Dashiell Hammett’s hardboiled detective fiction to a Californian high school setting. Made for just $500,000 and boasting a memorable lead performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, this fresh take on neo-noir won the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at Sundance Film Festival. Three years later, Johnson showed his comedic verve with globe-trotting conman caper The Brothers Bloom, before reuniting with Gordon-Levitt (starring alongside Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt) for 2012’s time-travelling sci-fi thriller Looper. A critical and commercial hit which further displayed his dazzling command of genre, it enjoyed success which led this most inventive of Hollywood auteurs to both write and direct Star Wars: The Last Jedi. A fearlessly bold continuation of the beloved space opera saga, the latter became the highest grossing film of 2017 and one of the most successful movies of all time.

LFF SCREEN TALK: KIM LONGINOTTO

We’re delighted to welcome back Kim Longinotto to the BFI London Film Festival, to talk about her storied career and her new documentary Shooting the Mafia, an eye-opening profile of Sicilian organised crime photographer Letizia Battaglia. Longinotto has been blazing a trail for British nonfiction filmmaking for more than four decades. She debuted at LFF with 1976’s Pride of Place, an unvarnished look at her old boarding school which prompted Longinotto’s former headmistress to brand the young filmmaker ‘a class traitor’ (the school closed the following year). Frequently focusing on marginalized people and extraordinary women from around the world fighting oppression, her filmography includes such ground-breaking factual pieces as Shinjuku Boys (1995), which spotlighted Tokyo’s transgender club scene, and Divorce Iranian Style (1998), an arresting chronicle of Iran’s patriarchal court system. She won the 2008 World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival for the South Africa carers portrait Rough Aunties, and was the recipient of Sheffield Doc/Fest’s Inspiration Award in 2010. Longinotto explored 20th-century cinema’s depictions of sex and desire with 2014’s archival tapestry Love Is All, while continuing her avowedly feminist, globe-spanning work with the following year’s Dreamcatcher, about a Chicago charity which helps women leave the sex industry.

LFF SCREEN TALK: LUKAS MOODYSSON

We’re delighted to welcome back writer-director Lukas Moodysson to the BFI London Film Festival, to talk about his career and the making of his first TV series Gösta. Set in rustic Småland, this loving satire about a kindly child psychologist (played by rising Midsommar star Vilhelm Blomgren) has been described by its creator as ‘a mix of comedy and Dostoevsky – as funny as possible and as serious as possible.’ Raised in provincial Sweden, Moodysson made an immediate mark on global cinema with 1998’s Show Me Love: a hugely acclaimed coming-of-age drama depicting the awkward romance between two teenage girls in a boring small town. His seemingly effortless blend of empathy and insight continued two years later with Together, a humorous portrait of an idealistic commune in 1970s Stockholm. The filmmaker took a darker turn with third feature Lilya 4-ever (2002), a drawn-from-real-life tale of sexual slavery, and the experimental porn exploration A Hole in My Heart (2004). He made his English-language debut with 2009’s Mammoth, starring Michelle Williams and Gael García Bernal, followed by a triumphant return to Swedish storytelling with 2013’s We Are the Best!, an exuberant adaptation of his wife Coco’s girl-punk graphic novel.

INDUSTRY & EDUCATION

This year’s industry events programme will accent the Festival’s focus on the issues and debate that are urgent for industry and filmmakers, maximise opportunities for Industry delegates to access international delegates and filmmakers attending the Festival, augmenting the full benefits package available for Industry delegates.

The industry programme, supported by the Mayor of London, via Film London, includes access to the LFF CONNECTS strand which celebrates artists working at the intersection of film and other creative industries; the talent development programme BFI NETWORK@LFF; and a host of new format discussions, panels and networking events.

This year’s Festival marks the fourth year of the IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Bursary Award in association with the BFI. At £50,000, the Bursary is the most significant of its kind in the UK, supporting exceptional new filmmaking talent.  The Bursary is eligible for emerging writers, directors and writer/directors resident in the UK, and premiering their first or second feature in the Festival. Last year’s winner was Richard Billingham (Ray & Liz) with Harry Wootliff (writer/director, Only You) and Nicole Taylor (writer, Wild Rose) shortlisted nominees. Previous recipients of the Bursary were writer/directors, Daniel Kokotajlo (Apostasy) in 2017 and Hope Dickson Leach (The Levelling) in 2016.

The Festival will host Press and Industry screenings at Vue West End, provide a Digital Viewing Library, delegate hubs, discounts at partner venues and at LFF Connects and Screen Talks, and numerous networking opportunities with delegates and filmmakers.

Details of the full industry programme will be announced in September. Industry delegate accreditation is open now and closes on Wednesday 11 September. Visit www.bfi.org.uk/lff/professional-delegates for further details

BFI LFF Education returns to this year’s Festival with a new offer for young people of all ages keen to engage with the wealth of film on offer throughout the BFI LFF programme. BFI LFF Education sets its sights to increase primary and secondary students’ access to the Festival and attending BFI LFF special guests, in partnership with Into Film. Additionally the Festival host a day dedicated to young aspiring filmmakers aged 16-25, offering transformational opportunities and exclusive access to filmmaking talent. The BFI LFF Critics Mentorship Programme returns for a second time, following a successful inaugural year in 2018. 16-25 year olds can also apply for Future Film Accreditation and take advantage of our 25 and Under £5 rush ticket offers.

The BFI London Film Festival Education programme is supported by funding contributors LaCie and The Sir John Cass’s Foundation and event delivery partners Into Film Festival

For further information visit bfi.org.uk/lffeducation url

BFI PLAYER

The BFI London Film Festival experience can be enjoyed UK-wide on BFI Player, the BFI’s VOD service, featuring Festival collections showcasing films from previous years. BFI London Film Festival content will be a key attraction in the range of services on BFI Player – at player.bfi.org.uk/

SPONSORS AND FUNDERS

We are delighted to welcome back American Express, our Principal Partner and Preferred Payment Partner. This is a very special year as we celebrate ten years of this extraordinary partnership.

We are thrilled to see the return of American Airlines as Main Sponsor and Official Airline. We’re delighted to have IWC Schaffhausen return as the Festival’s Official Time Partner and Headline Partner of our fundraising Gala LUMINOUS, where we will announce this year’s winner of the IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Bursary Award in association with the BFI.

We give heartfelt thanks to The May Fair Hotel, who return as the Festival’s Official Hotel Partner.

We extend a very warm Festival welcome to our returning partners: LaCie who support our Future Film Day for young filmmakers and The Malta Tourism Authority who are partnering on our Love Gala and Love Strand.

We are delighted to welcome new sponsors who join us this year: Heart of London Business Alliance, Facebook and Nyetimber – our official sparkling wine partner.

The BFI London Film Festival is made possible thanks to support from DCMS and The National Lottery and many other cultural institutions and organisations. We are also delighted to be supported directly by the Mayor of London through Film London as a funding contributor.

The remastering and new score of the BFI Archive Gala film is supported by the Eric Anker-Petersen Charity. With additional support from the Michael Marks Charitable Trust and the John S Cohen Foundation. Films by the British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, Prestwich and Gaumont all restored in 2018 by the BFI National Archive in collaboration with EYE Filmmuseum and Haghefilm.

A huge thank you goes to the Festival’s generous in-kind Sponsors: returning photography sponsor Getty Images and cinema advertising partner Digital Cinema Media. Additionally, we would like to welcome back DDA and thank Audemus Spirits: Pink Pepper Gin, CPC London, Dalston’s Soda, Viña Pomal, Global, Harkness Screens, Impact Marketing, Picture Production Company and Newman Displays for their continued support.

Cinema partners returning this year are Ciné Lumière, Curzon, Empire, ICA, ODEON Luxe Leicester Square, ODEON Tottenham Court Road, Prince Charles Cinema and Vue.

We are delighted to welcome back returning Media Partners Evening Standard, Empire, Time Out, Sight & Sound, Screen International, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety and Little White Lies as well as valued Broadcast Partner BBC Radio London for continuing to provide invaluable media support.

The Festival would also like to give a huge thanks to returning sponsor Christie Digital.

Finally, the Festival would like to thank the many embassies and cultural institutes who support the Festival by helping to bring in filmmakers to present their work.

2019 CMA Awards: Maren Morris is the top nominee

August 28, 2019

Maren Morris
Maren Morris (Photo by Frank Micelotta/Fox)

The following is a press release from the Country Music Association and ABC:

The Country Music Association has announced the final nominees for “The 53rd Annual CMA Awards,” as Maren Morris tops the list of finalists with six nominations. Brothers Osborne receives four nominations, the second most nominations this year; while 11 garner three nominations each— Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Dan + Shay, Scott Hendricks, Dann Huff, Greg Kurstin, Kacey Musgraves, Blake Shelton, Chris Stapleton and Carrie Underwood. For the night’s highest honor, reigning Entertainer of the Year Keith Urban is nominated again in the category, alongside Garth Brooks, Eric Church, Chris Stapleton and Carrie Underwood.Jimmie Allen and Ashley McBryde revealed select nominees on ABC’s “Good Morning America” today, live from their Times Square studio in New York, followed by a performance of “If I Know Me” by Morgan Wallen.

Immediately following the broadcast, Wallen and Midland visited Billboard‘s Times Square studio to reveal the remaining eight CMA Awards categories in addition to the CMA Broadcast Awards finalists on Billboard‘s Twitter and YouTube, as well as CMA’s Twitter and YouTube.“This year, we have the privilege of honoring Country legends, new and emerging talent and even artists from outside our genre,” says Sarah Trahern, CMA chief executive officer. “The breadth of Country Music’s landscape is evident in this year’s nominations, and we can’t wait to celebrate our deserving nominees in November.”

MAREN MORRIS – SIX NOMINATIONS
Single of the Year (“GIRL”), Album of the Year (“GIRL”), Song of the Year (“GIRL”), Female Vocalist of the Year, Musical Event of the Year (“All My Favorite People”), Music Video of the Year (“GIRL”)Morris tops this year’s CMA Awards nominations with six, adding to her previous 10 nominations and one win. She scores her fourth nomination for Female Vocalist and third nomination in Musical Event of the Year for “All My Favorite People,” featuring Brothers Osborne, produced by Morris and busbee. This marks her second nomination in four categories – Single, Album, Song and Music Video of the Year. “GIRL” was written by Morris and first-time nominees Sarah Aarons and Greg Kurstin. The single was also mixed and produced by Kurstin. The album was produced by busbee, Morris and Kurstin. First-time nominee Dave Meyers directed the music video for “GIRL.”

BROTHERS OSBORNE – FOUR NOMINATIONS
Single of the Year (“Burning Man”), Vocal Duo of the Year, Musical Event of the Year (“All My Favorite People”), Music Video of the Year (“Burning Man”)The reigning CMA Vocal Duo of the Year returns to this year’s ballot vying for the title for the fifth consecutive year – a trophy they’ve claimed for the last three years. This marks the brothers’ first nomination for Single and second nod for Music Video of the Year, both for their featured performance on Dierks Bentley’s “Burning Man.” They won Music Video in 2017 for “It Ain’t My Fault.” The duo earns their second nomination for Musical Event of the Year with Morris’ “All My Favorite People.”

DIERKS BENTLEY – THREE NOMINATIONS
Single of the Year (“Burning Man”), Male Vocalist of the Year, Music Video of the Year (“Burning Man”)Adding three nominations to his previous 24 nods and three wins, “Burning Man” earns Bentley his third nominations in both Single and Music Video of the Year. The single features Brothers Osborne and was produced by Ross Copperman, Jon Randall and Arturo Buenahora Jr., and mixed by first-time nominee F. Reid Shippen. The video was directed by Wes Edwards.

ERIC CHURCH – THREE NOMINATIONS
Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year (“Desperate Man”), Music Video of the Year (“Some Of It”)With 25 prior nominations and three wins under his belt, Church claims his third nomination for both Entertainer and Music Video of the Year for “Some Of It,” which was directed by Reid Long. He also earns his fourth nomination for Album of the Year with “Desperate Man,” produced by Jay Joyce and Buenahora Jr.

LUKE COMBS – THREE NOMINATIONS
Song of the Year (“Beautiful Crazy”), Male Vocalist of the Year, Musical Event of the Year (“Brand New Man”)Combs garners three nominations on top of his previous three, nabbing his second nomination for Male Vocalist of the Year. He is a first-time nominee in Song of the Year for “Beautiful Crazy,” co-written with Wyatt B. Durrette III and first-time nominee Robert Williford. He also secures a first-time nod for Musical Event of the Year with “Brand New Man,” alongside Country Music Hall of Fame inductees and the most awarded artists in CMA history – Brooks & Dunn.

DAN + SHAY – THREE NOMINATIONS
Single of the Year (“Speechless”), Album of the Year (“Dan + Shay”), Vocal Duo of the YearDan + Shay tally three nominations alongside their previous seven. This marks their sixth consecutive nomination for Vocal Duo and their first nomination for Album of the Year. “Dan + Shay” was produced by Hendricks and the duo’s Dan Smyers. They also earn their second nomination in Single of the Year with “Speechless,” produced by Smyers and Hendricks and mixed by Jeff Juliano. Smyers earns his second Song of the Year nomination for “Tequila” with co-writers Nicolle Galyon and Jordan Reynolds.

SCOTT HENDRICKS – THREE NOMINATIONS
Single of the Year (“God’s Country”), Single of the Year (“Speechless”), Album of the Year (“Dan + Shay”)Scott Hendricks adds to his 16 prior nominations with three additional nods, claiming an Album of the Year nomination for his production work on “Dan + Shay,” alongside Dan Smyers. This marks his ninth nomination for Album, a category he’s won twice previously. He also secures two Single of the Year nominations for Blake Shelton’s “God’s Country,” produced by Hendricks and mixed by Justin Niebank, and Dan + Shay’s “Speechless,” produced by Smyers and Hendricks and mixed by Juliano.

DANN HUFF – THREE NOMINATIONS
Album of the Year (“Center Point Road”), Musical Event of the Year (“Brand New Man”), Musical Event of the Year (“What Happens In A Small Town”)Huff is a 35-time CMA Awards nominee and five-time winner adding three nominations to his roster. His two nominations for Musical Event of the Year mark his first-ever nods in the category for his production work on “Brand New Man,” performed by Brooks & Dunn (with Combs), and “What Happens In A Small Town,” performed by Brantley Gilbert and first-time nominee Lindsay Ell. 2019 is the first year producers are being honored in the Musical Event category. He nabs his 11th nomination for Album of the Year with Thomas Rhett’s “Center Point Road,” alongside co-producers Jesse Frasure, Thomas Rhett, Julian Bunetta, The Stereotypes and Cleve Wilson—with the last two being first-time nominees.

GREG KURSTIN – THREE NOMINATIONS
Single of the Year (“GIRL”), Album of the Year (“GIRL”), Song of the Year (“GIRL”)Kurstin is a first-time CMA Awards nominee garnering nods in Single, Song and Album of the Year. He’s nominated as a songwriter, producer and mix engineer for Morris’ song “GIRL” on the album “GIRL.” He co-wrote the song with Morris and Aarons.

KACEY MUSGRAVES – THREE NOMINATIONS
Song of the Year (“Rainbow”), Female Vocalist of the Year, Music Video of the Year (“Rainbow”)With 15 previous nominations and three wins to her credit, Musgraves claims her sixth nomination for Female Vocalist of the Year. She earns a fourth nomination in Song of the Year for “Rainbow” with co-writers Natalie Hemby and Shane McAnally. She last won the category in 2014 with “Follow Your Arrow.” “Rainbow” also nabs Musgraves’ third nomination for Music Video of the Year, directed by first-time nominee Hannah Lux Davis.

BLAKE SHELTON – THREE NOMINATIONS
Single of the Year (“God’s Country”), Musical Event of the Year (“Dive Bar”), Music Video of the Year (“God’s Country”)Shelton adds three nominations to his prior 25, claiming his fifth nomination for Single and fourth for Music Video with “God’s Country,” produced by Hendricks and mixed by Niebank. The music video was directed by first-time nominee Sophie Muller. This marks Shelton’s fourth nomination in Musical Event of the Year for “Dive Bar” with Garth Brooks. Shelton is a nine-time CMA Awards winner.

CHRIS STAPLETON – THREE NOMINATIONS
Entertainer of the Year, Single of the Year (“Millionaire”), Male Vocalist of the YearWith 16 prior nominations and 10 wins, Stapleton earns his fifth nod for Male Vocalist of the Year, a category he’s won consecutively since 2015. He scores his third nomination for Single of the Year with “Millionaire,” produced by Dave Cobb and Stapleton, mixed by Vance Powell. This marks Stapleton’s fourth nomination for Entertainer of the Year.

CARRIE UNDERWOOD – THREE NOMINATIONS
Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year (“Cry Pretty”), Female Vocalist of the YearThirty-time CMA Awards nominee and seven-time winner Underwood claims her second nomination for Entertainer of the Year, first securing the nod in 2016. She nabs a 14th consecutive nomination for Female Vocalist, a title she’s won five times, including in 2018. This marks her fifth nomination for Album of the Year with “Cry Pretty,” produced by Underwood and first-time nominees David Garcia and Jim Jonsin.

Carrie Underwood hosts “The 53rd Annual CMA Awards” with special guest hosts Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton, celebrating legendary women in Country Music throughout the ceremony. Country Music’s Biggest Night™ broadcasts live from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, WEDNESDAY, NOV. 13 (8:00–11:00 p.m. EST), on ABC.Winners of “The 53rd Annual CMA Awards” will be determined in a final round of voting by eligible voting CMA members. The third and final ballot will be emailed to CMA members TUESDAY, OCT. 1. Voting for the CMA Awards final ballot ends THURSDAY, OCT. 24 (6:00 p.m. CDT). All balloting is tabulated by the professional services organization, Deloitte.

“The 53rd Annual CMA Awards” is a production of the Country Music Association. Robert Deaton is the executive producer. Alex Rudzinski is the director, and David Wild is the head writer.

“THE 53RD ANNUAL CMA AWARDS” – FINAL NOMINEES (by ballot category order): 

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR

  • Garth Brooks
  • Eric Church
  • Chris Stapleton
  • Carrie Underwood
  • Keith Urban

SINGLE OF THE YEAR

Award goes to Artist, Producer(s), and Mix Engineer

  • “Burning Man” – Dierks Bentley Feat. Brothers Osborne

Producers: Ross Copperman, Jon Randall, Arturo Buenahora, Jr.
Mix Engineer: F. Reid Shippen

  • “GIRL” – Maren Morris

Producer: Greg Kurstin
Mix Engineer: Greg Kurstin

  • “God’s Country” – Blake Shelton

Producer: Scott Hendricks
Mix Engineer: Justin Niebank

  • “Millionaire” – Chris Stapleton

Producers: Dave Cobb, Chris Stapleton
Mix Engineer: Vance Powell

  • “Speechless” – Dan + Shay

Producers: Dan Smyers, Scott Hendricks
Mix Engineer: Jeff Juliano

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Award goes to Artist and Producers

  • “Center Point Road” – Thomas Rhett

Producers: Dann Huff, Jesse Frasure, Thomas Rhett, Julian Bunetta, The Stereotypes, Cleve Wilson

  • “Cry Pretty” – Carrie Underwood

Producers: David Garcia, Jim Jonsin, Carrie Underwood

  •  “Dan + Shay” – Dan + Shay

Producers: Dan Smyers, Scott Hendricks

  • “Desperate Man” – Eric Church

Producers: Jay Joyce, Arturo Buenahora, Jr.

  • “GIRL” – Maren Morris

Producers: busbee, Maren Morris, Greg Kurstin

SONG OF THE YEAR

Award goes to Songwriters

  • “Beautiful Crazy”

Songwriters: Luke Combs, Wyatt B. Durrette III, Robert Williford

  • “GIRL”

Songwriters: Maren Morris, Sarah Aarons, Greg Kurstin

  • “God’s Country”

Songwriters: Devin Dawson, Jordan Schmidt, Michael Hardy

  • “Rainbow”

Songwriters: Natalie Hemby, Shane McAnally, Kacey Musgraves

  • “Tequila”

Songwriters: Dan Smyers, Nicolle Galyon, Jordan Reynolds

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

  • Kelsea Ballerini
  • Miranda Lambert
  • Maren Morris
  • Kacey Musgraves
  • Carrie Underwood

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

  • Dierks Bentley
  • Luke Combs
  • Thomas Rhett
  • Chris Stapleton
  • Keith Urban

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR

  • Lady Antebellum
  • Little Big Town
  • Midland
  • Old Dominion
  • Zac Brown Band

 
VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR

  • Brooks & Dunn
  • Brothers Osborne
  • Dan + Shay
  • Florida Georgia Line
  • Maddie & Tae

 
MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR

Award goes to Artists and Producer(s)

  • “All My Favorite People” – Maren Morris (feat. Brothers Osborne)

Producers: Maren Morris, busbee

  • “Brand New Man” – Brooks & Dunn (with Luke Combs)

Producer: Dann Huff

  • “Dive Bar” – Garth Brooks & Blake Shelton

Producer: Garth Brooks

  • “Old Town Road (Remix)” – Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus

Producers: YoungKio, Michael Trent Reznor, Atticus Matthew Ross

  • “What Happens In A Small Town” – Brantley Gilbert & Lindsay Ell

Producer: Dann Huff
 
MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR

  • Jenee Fleenor, Fiddle
  • Paul Franklin, Steel Guitar
  • Mac McAnally, Guitar
  • Ilya Toshinsky, Banjo/Guitar
  • Derek Wells, Guitar

 
MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR

Award goes to Artist(s) and Director

  • “Burning Man” – Dierks Bentley Feat. Brothers Osborne

Director: Wes Edwards

  • “GIRL” – Maren Morris

Director: Dave Meyers

  • “God’s Country” – Blake Shelton

Director: Sophie Muller

  • “Rainbow” – Kacey Musgraves

Director: Hannah Lux Davis

  • “Some Of It” – Eric Church

Director:  Reid Long

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR

  • Cody Johnson
  • Ashley McBryde
  • Midland
  • Carly Pearce
  • Morgan Wallen

“THE 53RD ANNUAL CMA AWARDS” – FINALISTS FOR BROADCAST PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR (by market size):

 
NATIONAL

  • “The Blair Garner Show” (Blair Garner and “Off Eric” Garner) – Westwood One
  • “The Bobby Bones Show” (Bobby Bones, Amy Brown, “Lunchbox” Dan Chappell, and Eddie Garcia) – Premiere Networks
  • “The Mayor of Music Row” (Charlie Monk) – Sirius XM Satellite Radio
  • “Nash Nights Live” (Shawn Parr and Elaina Smith) – Westwood One
  • “The Storme Warren Show” (Storme Warren) – Sirius XM Satellite Radio

MAJOR MARKET

  • “Chris Carr & Company” (Chris Carr, Kia Becht, McKaila Granning, and “Maverick” Jeffrey Bolen) – KEEY, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.
  • “Mason & Remy” (Mason Schreader and “Remy” Zachary Hoesly) – WIL, St. Louis, Mo.
  • “The Morning Wolfpack with Matt McAllister” (Matt McAllister, Emily Raines, and “Slow Joe” Wallace) – KKWF, Seattle-Tacoma, Wash.
  • “The Rob + Holly Show” (Rob Stone and Holly Hutton) – WYCD, Detroit, Mich.
  • “Tanner in the Morning” (Rob Tanner, Catherine Lane, Chris Allen, and “Captain Jim” Homa) – WSOC, Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, N.C.-S.C.
  • “Tony, Jake & Jenn” (Tony Russell, Jake Byron, and Jenn Hays) – KUPL, Portland, Ore.

LARGE MARKET

  • “Amanda and Jesse” (Amanda Valentine and Jesse Tack) – WUBE, Cincinnati, Ohio
  • “J.R. and Beth in the Morning” (“J.R.” Jon Jaus, Beth Boehm, and Chris Cardenas) – KCYY, San Antonio, Texas
  • “Q Morning Crew” (Mike Wheless and Janie Carothers) – WQDR, Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
  • “The Randy, Jamie, and Jojo Show” (Randy Carroll, Jamie Martin, and Jojo Meza) – KAJA, San Antonio, Texas
  • “Ridder, Scott and Shannen” (“Ridder” Shaun Ridderbush, Scott Dolphin, and Shannen Oesterreich) – WMIL, Milwaukee-Racine, WI

 
MEDIUM MARKET

  • “Clay & Company” (Clay Moden and Val Townsend) – WYRK, Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y.
  • “The Doc Show with Jessie” (Ken “Doc” Medek and Jessie Roberts) – WGGY, Wilkes Barre-Scranton, Pa.
  • “Mo & StyckMan” (“Mo” Melissa Wagner and “Styckman” Greg Owens) – WUSY, Chattanooga, Tenn.
  • “Scott and Sarah in the Morning” (Scott Wynn and Sarah Kay) – WQMX, Akron, Ohio
  • “Tony and Kris” (Tony Randall and Kris Rochester) – WIVK, Knoxville, Tenn.

 
SMALL MARKET

  • “Barrett, Fox & Berry” (Bill Barrett, Tim Fox, and Tracy Berry) – KKNU, Eugene-Springfield, Ore.
  • “Ben & Arnie” (Ben Butler and Arnie Andrews) – WCOW, La Crosse, Wis.
  • “Dr. Shane and Tess in the Morning” (Shane Collins and Tess Connell) – WPAP, Panama City, Fla.
  • “Mackey and Miles in the Morning” (Jim Mackey and Deb Miles) – WBYT, South Bend, Ind.
  • “Officer Don & DeAnn” (“Officer Don” Evans and DeAnn Stephens) – WBUL, Lexington-Fayette, Ky.

 
“THE 53RD ANNUAL CMA AWARDS” – FINALISTS FOR RADIO STATION OF THE YEAR (by market size):  
 
MAJOR MARKET

  • KILT – Houston-Galveston, Texas
  • KPLX – Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas
  • WIL – St. Louis, Mo.
  • WKLB – Boston, Mass.
  • WYCD – Detroit, Mich.

LARGE MARKET

  • KCYY – San Antonio, Texas
  • KUBL – Salt Lake City-Ogden-Provo, Utah
  • WFMS – Indianapolis, Ind.
  • WLHK – Indianapolis, Ind.
  • WQDR – Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
  • WSIX – Nashville, Tenn.

MEDIUM MARKET

  • CKRY – Calgary, Alta.
  • KXKT – Omaha-Council Bluffs, Neb.-Iowa
  • WBBS – Syracuse, N.Y.
  • WIVK – Knoxville, Tenn.
  • WXCY – Wilmington, Del.

SMALL MARKET

  • KCLR – Columbia, Mo.
  • KFDI – Wichita, Kan.
  • KKNU – Eugene-Springfield, Ore.
  • WBYT – South Bend, Ind.
  • WYCT – Pensacola, Fla.

About the CMA Awards

The first “CMA Awards Banquet and Show” was held in 1967. The following year, the CMA Awards was broadcast for the first time – making it the longest running, annual music awards program on network television. The CMA Awards have aired on ABC since 2006. ABC is the network home of the CMA Awards and CMA’s other two television properties, “CMA Fest” and “CMA Country Christmas.”

All balloting is tabulated by the professional services organization, Deloitte.As used in this document, “Deloitte” means Deloitte & Touche LLP, a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of Deloitte’s legal structure. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

2019 MTV Video Music Awards: Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish win big

August 26, 2019

by Carla Hay

Taylor Swift’s “You Need to Calm Down” took the prizes for Video of the Year and Best Video for Good at the 36th annual MTV Video Music Awards, which were held on August 26, 2019, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.  The show was hosted by Sebastian Maniscalco.

Swift’s “Me!” video featuring Panic! At the Disco’s Brendon Urie took the prize for Best Visual Effects. Other multiple winners were Ariana Grande (four awards, including Artist of the Year); Billie Eilish (three awards); and the smash hit “Old Town Road” from Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus (three awards). Winning two prizes each were Rosalía and J Balvin featuring El Guincho’s “Con Altura”; Shawn Mendes and Camilla Cabello’s “Señorita”; and BTS, winner of Best Group and Best K-Pop. Grande, Eilish and BTS were all no-shows at the event, although Eilish did provide a video with a prerecorded acceptance speech.

It was the first time that the MTV VMA show was held in New Jersey. There were numerous references to New Jersey throughout the show, including the closing-night “supergroup” performance by several hip-hop artists with New Jersey roots: Queen Latifah, Naughty By Nature, Redman, Fetty Wap and Wyclef Jean.

Other performers included Swift; Jonas Brothers; Shawn Mendes, who later joined Camila Cabello for their duet “Senorita”; Lizzo; Big Sean featuring A$AP Ferg, H.E.R.; Lil Nas X; Normani and Ozuna; Rosalía and J Balvin; Bad Bunny and J Balvin; H.E.R.; and Miley Cyrus.

Ava Max, CNCO and Megan Thee Stallion performed at the 2019 MTV VMAs red carpet pre-show, hosted by Terrence J and Nessa with special correspondent Zara Larsson.

Missy Elliott received the Video Vanguard award, which is a non-competitive prize given to an artist whose music videos have been influential. She performed a medley before accepting the award.

Fashion designer Marc Jacobs received MTV’s first Fashion Trailblazer Award, another non-competitive prize.

Presenters included Queen Latifah, John Travolta, Lenny Kravitz, Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid, Rick Ross, Pepa, Hailee Steinfeld, Bebe Rexha, Alison Brie, French Montana, Megan Thee Stallion, Billy Ray Cyrus, DJ Khaled, Jonathan Van Ness, Cardi B, Lindsey Vonn, P. K. Subban, Lizzo, Keke Palmer, Victor Cruz, Ice-T. Also taking the stage as presenters were U.S. Women’s Soccer Team stars Alex Morgan, Ali Krieger and Ashlyn Harris and former “Sopranos” stars Drea de Matteo, Jamie Lynn Sigler and Vincent Pastore.

Here is the complete list of winners and nominees for the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards that were announced when the ceremony ended:

*=winner

VIDEO OF THE YEAR
21 Savage ft. J. Cole – “a lot” – Slaughter Gang LLC/Epic Records
Billie Eilish – “bad guy” – Darkroom/Interscope Records
Ariana Grande – “thank u, next” – Republic Records
Jonas Brothers – “Sucker” – Republic Records
Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus – “Old Town Road (Remix)” – Columbia Records
Taylor Swift – “You Need to Calm Down” – Republic Records*

ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Cardi B – Atlantic Records
Billie Eilish – Darkroom/Interscope Records
Ariana Grande – Republic Records*
Halsey – Capitol Records
Jonas Brothers – Republic Records
Shawn Mendes– Island Records

SONG OF THE YEAR
Drake – “In My Feelings” – Young Money/Cash Money/Republic Records
Ariana Grande – “thank u, next” – Republic Records
Jonas Brothers – “Sucker” – Republic Records
Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper – “Shallow” – Interscope Records
Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus – “Old Town Road (Remix)” – Columbia Records*
Taylor Swift – “You Need to Calm Down” – Republic Records

BEST NEW ARTIST, presented by Taco Bell®
Ava Max – Atlantic Records
Billie Eilish – Darkroom/Interscope Records*
H.E.R. – MBK/RCA Records
Lil Nas X – Columbia Records
Lizzo – Atlantic Records
Rosalía – Columbia Records

BEST COLLABORATION
Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus – “Old Town Road (Remix)” – Columbia Records
Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper – “Shallow” – Interscope Records
Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello – “Señorita” – Island Records*
Taylor Swift featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco – “ME!” – Republic Records
Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber – “I Don’t Care” – Atlantic Records
BTS featuring Halsey – “Boy With Luv” – Columbia Records

PUSH ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Bazzi – Atlantic Records
CNCO – RCA Records
Billie Eilish – Darkroom/Interscope Records*
H.E.R. – MBK/RCA Records
Lauv – LAUV/AWAL
Lizzo – Atlantic Records

BEST POP
5 Seconds of Summer – “Easier” – Interscope Records
Cardi B & Bruno Mars – “Please Me” – Atlantic Records
Billie Eilish – “bad guy” – Darkroom/Interscope Records
Khalid – “Talk” – Right Hand Music Group/RCA Records
Ariana Grande – “thank u, next” – Republic Records
Jonas Brothers – “Sucker” – Republic Records*
Taylor Swift – “You Need to Calm Down” – Republic Records

BEST HIP HOP
2 Chainz featuring Ariana Grande – “Rule the World” – 2 Chainz Ps/Def Jam
21 Savage featuring J. Cole – “a lot” – Slaughter Gang LLC/Epic Records
Cardi B – “Money” – Atlantic Records*
DJ Khaled featuring Nipsey Hussle & John Legend – “Higher” – We The Best/Epic Records
Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus – “Old Town Road (Remix)” – Columbia Records
Travis Scott featuring Drake – “SICKO MODE” – Epic Records/Grand Hustle/Cactus Jack

BEST R&B
Anderson .Paak featuring Smokey Robinson – “Make It Better” – Aftermath Ent/12 Tone Music
Childish Gambino – “Feels Like Summer” – RCA Records
H.E.R. featuring Bryson Tiller – “Could’ve Been” – MBK/RCA Records
Alicia Keys – “Raise A Man” – RCA Records
Ella Mai – “Trip” – 10 Summers/Interscope Records
Normani featuring 6lack – “Waves” – Keep Cool/RCA Records*

BEST K-POP
BTS featuring Halsey – “Boy With Luv” – Columbia Records*

BLACKPINK – “Kill This Love” – YG Entertainment/Interscope Records
Monsta X featuring French Montana – “Who Do You Love” – Epic Records
TOMORROW X TOGETHER – “Cat & Dog” – Republic Records
NCT 127 – “Regular” – SM Entertainment
EXO – “Tempo” – SM Entertainment

BEST LATIN
Anuel AA, Karol G – “Secreto” – Universal Music Latino
Bad Bunny featuring Drake – “MIA” – OVO Sound/Warner Bros. Records
Benny Blanco, Tainy, Selena Gomez, J Balvin – “I Can’t Get Enough” – NEON16/Friends Keep Secrets/Interscope Records
Daddy Yankee featuring Snow – “Con Calma” – Universal Music Latin Entertainment
Maluma – “Mala Mía” – Sony Music US Latin
Rosalía and J Balvin featuring El Guincho — “Con Altura” – Columbia Records*

BEST DANCE
The Chainsmokers featuring Bebe Rexha – “Call You Mine” – Disruptor/Columbia Records*

Clean Bandit featuring Demi Lovato – “Solo” – Big Beat/Atlantic Records
DJ Snake featuring Selena Gomez, Ozuna & Cardi B – “Taki Taki” – DJ Snake Music Productions Ltd/Geffen
David Guetta, Bebe Rexha & J Balvin – “Say My Name” – Big Beat/Atlantic Records
Marshmello & Bastille – “Happier” – Capitol Records
Silk City & Dua Lipa – “Electricity” – Columbia Records

BEST ROCK
The 1975 – “Love It If We Made It” – Dirty Hit/Interscope Records
Fall Out Boy – “Bishops Knife Trick” – Island Records
Imagine Dragons – “Natural” – KIDinaKORNER/Interscope Records
Lenny Kravitz – “Low” – BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd.
Panic! At The Disco – “High Hopes” – Elektra Music Group*
twenty one pilots – “My Blood” – Elektra Music Group

VIDEO FOR GOOD
Halsey – “Nightmare” – Capitol Records
The Killers – “Land of the Free” – Island
Jamie N Commons, Skylar Grey ft. Gallant – “Runaway Train” – Interscope Records
John Legend – “Preach” – Columbia Records
Lil Dicky – “Earth” – Dirty Burd, Inc./Commission/BMG
Taylor Swift – “You Need to Calm Down” – Republic Records*

BEST DIRECTION
Billie Eilish – “bad guy” – Darkroom/Interscope Records – Directed by Dave Meyers
FKA twigs – “Cellophane” – Young Turks – Directed by Andrew Thomas Huang
Ariana Grande – “thank you, next” – Republic Records – Directed by Hannah Lux Davis
Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus – “Old Town Road (Remix)” – Columbia Records – Directed by Calmatic*
LSD featuring Labrinth, Sia, Diplo – “No New Friends” – Columbia Records – Directed by Dano Cerny
Taylor Swift – “You Need to Calm Down” – Republic Records – Directed by Drew Kirsch & Taylor Swift

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Billie Eilish – “when the party’s over” – Darkroom/Interscope Records – Visual Effects by Ryan Ross, Andres Jaramillo
FKA twigs – “Cellophane” – Young Turks – Visual Effects by Matt Chandler, Fabio Zaveti for Analog
Ariana Grande – “God is a Woman” – Republic Records – Visual Effects by Fabrice Lagayette, Kristina Prilukova & Rebecca Rice for Mathematic
DJ Khaled featuring SZA – “Just Us” – We The Best/Epic Records – Visual Effects by Sergii Mashevskyi
LSD featuring Labrinth, Sia, Diplo – “No New Friends” – Columbia Records – Visual Effects by Ethan Chancer
Taylor Swift featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco – “ME!” – Republic Records – Visual Effects by Loris Paillier & Lucas Salton for BUF VFX*

BEST EDITING
Anderson .Paak featuring Kendrick Lamar – “Tints” – Aftermath Ent/12 Tone Music – Editing by Elias Talbot
Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus – “Old Town Road (Remix)” – Columbia Record – Editing by Calmatic
Billie Eilish – “bad guy” – Darkroom/Interscope Records – Editing by Billie Eilish*
Ariana Grande – “7 Rings” – Republic Records – Editing by Hannah Lux Davis & Taylor Walsh
Solange – “Almeda” – Columbia Records – Editing by Solange Knowles, Vinnie Hobbs, Jonathon Proctor
Taylor Swift – “You Need to Calm Down” – Republic Records – Editing by Jarrett Fijal

BEST ART DIRECTION
BTS featuring Halsey – “Boy With Luv” – Columbia Records – Art Direction by JinSil Park, BoNa Kim (MU:E)
Ariana Grande – “7 Rings” – Republic Records – Art Direction by John Richoux*
Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus – “Old Town Road (Remix)” – Columbia Records – Art Direction by Itaru Dela Vegas
Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello – “Señorita” – Island Records – Art Direction by Tatiana Van Sauter
Taylor Swift – “You Need to Calm Down” – Republic Records – Art Direction by Brittany Porter
Kanye West and Lil’ Pump featuring Adele Givens – “I Love It” – Warner Records & Def Jam Music Group – Art Direction by Tino Schaedler

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
FKA twigs – “Cellophane” – Young Turks – Choreography by Kelly Yvonne
Rosalía and J Balvin featuring El Guincho – “Con Altura” – Columbia Records – Choreography by Charm La’Donna*
LSD featuring Labrinth, Sia, Diplo – “No New Friends” – Columbia Records – Choreography by Ryan Heffington
Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello – “Señorita” – Island Records – Choreography by Calvit Hodge, Sara Biv
Solange – “Almeda” – Columbia Records – Choreography by Maya Taylor, Solange Knowles
BTS featuring Halsey – “Boy With Luv” – Columbia Records – Choreography by Rie Hata

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Anderson .Paak featuring Kendrick Lamar – “Tints” – Aftermath Ent/12 Tone Music – Cinematography by Elias Talbot
Billie Eilish – “hostage” – Darkroom/Interscope Records – Cinematography by Pau Castejon
Ariana Grande – “thank you, next” – Republic Records – Cinematography by Christopher Probst
Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello – “Señorita” – Island Records – Cinematography by Scott Cunningham*
Solange – “Almeda” – Columbia Records – Cinematography by Chayse Irvin, Ryan Marie Helfant, Justin Hamilton
Taylor Swift featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco – “ME!” – Republic Records – Cinematography by Starr Whitesides

BEST POWER ANTHEM
Miley Cyrus — “Mother’s Daughter”
DJ Khaled (featuring Cardi B and 21 Savage) — “Wish Wish”
Ariana Grande — “7 Rings”
Halsey — “Nightmare”
Lizzo (featuring Missy Elliott) — “Tempo”
Megan Thee Stallion (featuring Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla Sign) — “Hot Girl Summer”*
Maren Morris — “GIRL”
Taylor Swift — “You Need to Calm Down”

SONG OF THE SUMMER
The Chainsmokers and Bebe Rexha — “Call You Mine”
Miley Cyrus — “Mother’s Daughter”
DaBaby — “Suge”
Billie Eilish — “Bad Guy”
Ariana Grande and Social House — “Boyfriend”*
Jonas Brothers — “Sucker”
Khalid — “Talk”
Lil Nas X (featuring Billy Ray Cyrus) — “Old Town Road (Remix)”
Lil Tecca — “Ransom”
Lizzo — “Truth Hurts”
Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello – “Señorita”
Post Malone (featuring Young Thug) — “Goodbyes”
Rosalía and J Balvin (featuring El Guincho) — “Con altura”
Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber – “I Don’t Care”
Taylor Swift — “You Need to Calm Down”
Young Thug (featuring J. Cole and Travis Scott) — “The London”

Official sponsors of the 2019 “MTV Video Music Awards” included EXTRA Refreshers, PEPSI, Taco Bell, and the 2020 Toyota Corolla.

Bruce Gillmer and Den of Thieves co-founder Jesse Ignjatovic were Executive Producers for the 2019 “VMAs.” Barb Bialkowski is Co-Executive Producer. Jackie Barba, Joe Buoye and Alicia Portugal served as Executive in Charge of Production. Amani Duncan is Executive in Charge of Music. Wendy Plaut is Executive in Charge of Celebrity Talent.

About MTV:
MTV is the leading global youth media brand in 180 countries, reaching 450 million households in nearly 30 different languages across every platform. A unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), MTV operations span cable and mobile networks, live events, theatrical films and MTV Studios.

About The Prudential Center:
Prudential Center is the world-class sports and entertainment venue located in downtown Newark, New Jersey. Opened in October 2007, the state-of-the-art arena is the home of the National Hockey League’s (NHL) three-time Stanley Cup Champion New Jersey Devils, Seton Hall University’s NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball program, and more than 175 concerts, family shows and special events each year. The arena is also home to the GRAMMY Museum Experience Prudential Center, which opened its doors to the public on October 2017. The 8,200-square-foot experience marks the first GRAMMY Museum outpost on the East Coast, and features a dynamic combination of educational programming and interactive permanent and traveling exhibits, including a spotlight on legendary GRAMMY winners from New Jersey. Ranked in the Top 8 nationally by Pollstar, Billboard and Venues Today, Prudential Center is recognized as one of the premier venues in the United States, and hosts over 2 million guests annually. For more information about Prudential Center, visit PruCenter.com and follow the arena on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram @PruCenter. Prudential Center is a Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment property.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo0RK_olDb4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9I-ut1TXoA

Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty fall/winter 2019 show headed to Amazon Prime Video

August 26, 2019

Rihanna (Photo by Miguel Pereira/Getty Images) 

The following is a press release from Amazon Prime Video:

Amazon Prime Video presents the highly anticipated second annual Savage X Fenty Show, a runway show celebrating the new Fall/Winter 2019 collection from music and fashion icon Rihanna. The extraordinary fashion experience will take place during New York Fashion Week in conjunction with NYFW: The Shows and will feature a combination of models, actors and dancers wearing the latest savage styles, offering up a new type of sexy, where attitude meets individuality. Savage X Fenty Show will stream exclusivelyon Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide beginning Friday, September 20.

As a follow up to last year’s ground-breaking event, this year’s Savage X Fenty Show is raising the bar. The star-studded evening is set to be a radical departure from tradition, a one-of-a-kind event blending music, fashion and culture. With exciting surprises around every corner, including performances from some of the hottest acts in music, the show debuts Savage X Fenty’s bold and fearless Fall/Winter 2019 collection.

“I couldn’t be more excited that everyone will have full access to The Savage X Fenty Show this year! We are working on creating a bold, sexy, super energetic experience for our viewers,” said Rihanna.

“Rihanna has conquered the worlds of music, film, beauty and fashion. She has re-invented the idea of what fashionable lingerie should be for a global customer. The brand authentically reflects empowering statements of inclusivity, body positivity and fun! The Savage X Fenty Show promises to be a ground-breaking and truly unique experience and we’re thrilled to give our global customers an exclusive front row seat,” said Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios.

Following the live show, this year’s Savage X Fenty Show will be available to stream exclusively on Amazon Prime Video worldwide giving audiences both in-person and at home a door into the world of Savage X Fenty, as well as the chance to relive the experience again and again. The Amazon Prime Video special will also feature an exclusive look behind the scenes at the making of the show.

The Savage X Fenty Show was created under the artistic direction of Rihanna and Savage X Fenty, and is executive produced by Rihanna and produced by PRODJECT and Endeavor Content’s non-scripted group.

ABOUT SAVAGE X FENTY

Music and fashion icon Rihanna embarks on her newest venture: lingerie designer. Inspired to create a line of intimates that complements a variety of shades and shapes, Savage X Fenty celebrates fearlessness, confidence, and inclusivity. In partnership with TechStyle Fashion Group, the label has disrupted and redefined the marketplace with its accessible price point and extensive assortment. “We want to make people look good and feel good,” explains Rihanna, who approaches Savage X with the same mentality she does all her projects—to make something new and fresh that everyone can relate to and feel confident in. “We want you to feel sexy and have fun doing it.” With sizes from 32A – 46DDD in bras, and XS-3X in undies and sleepwear Savage X Fenty is available for purchase at www.SavageX.com.

ABOUT AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

Amazon Prime Video is a premium streaming service that offers customers a vast collection of digital videos—all with the ease of finding what they love to watch in one place.

  • Included with Prime: Watch thousands of popular movies and TV shows, including our critically-acclaimed Amazon Originals including the Emmy Award-winning The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Homecoming, Hanna, Fleabag, Good Omens, The Boys, Donald Glover’s Guava Island, the Academy Award-winningManchester by the Sea and The Salesman, Academy Award-nominated The Big Sick and Cold War, and the critically-acclaimed Beautiful Boy, exclusives, live sports including Thursday Night Football and licensed and self-published content available in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.
  • Watch more with Prime Video Channels: Prime members can add 150+ channels in the US like HBO, Cinemax, STARZ, SHOWTIME, CBS All Access, NBA League Pass and MLB.tv—no extra apps to download, and no cable required. Only pay for the ones you want, and cancel anytime. View the full list of channels available at amazon.com/channels.
  • Rent or Buy: Enjoy hundreds of thousands of titles, including new-release movies and entire seasons of current TV episodes, available for all Amazon customers to rent or buy.
  • Instant access: Watch where and when you want with the Prime Video app on your smart TV, mobile device, Fire TV, Fire tablet, Apple TV, Chromecast, game consoles, Comcast X1 or from the web. For a complete list of compatible devices, visit amazon.com/howtostream.
  • Enhanced experiences: Make the most of every viewing with 4K Ultra HD- and High Dynamic Range (HDR)-compatible content. Go behind the scenes of your favorite movies and TV shows with exclusive X-Ray access, powered by IMDb. Save it for later with select mobile downloads for offline viewing.

In addition to access to movies and TV shows included with Prime, the Prime membership includes unlimited fast free shipping options across all categories available on Amazon, more than two million songs and thousands of playlists and stations with Prime Music, secure photo storage with Prime Photos, unlimited reading with Prime Reading, unlimited access to a digital audiobook catalogue with Audible Channels for Prime, a rotating selection of free digital games and in-game loot with Twitch Prime, early access to select Lightning Deals, exclusive access and discounts to select items, and more. To sign-up for Prime or to find out more visit: amazon.com/prime.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

UPDATE: Here are videoclips from the show

2019 D23 Expo: Photos and Videos

The 2019 edition of D23 Expo: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event took place August 23 to August 25, at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. Here are the star-studded  photo and video highlights from the event:

Disney Legends Awards

Robert Downey Jr. at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 23, 2019.  (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
Diane Sawyer at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 23, 2019.  (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
Robin Roberts at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 23, 2019.  (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
Jon Favreau at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 23, 2019. (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
Christina Aguilera at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 23, 2019.  (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
Ming-Na Wen at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 23, 2019.  (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
Kenny Ortega at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 23, 2019.  (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
Wing T. Chao at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 23, 2019.  (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)

Disney+ Preview

“Obi-Wan Kenobi” star Ewan McGregor and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 23, 2019. (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
“The Mandalorian” team Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Gina Carano, Carl Weathers, Giancarlo Esposito and Taika Waititi at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 23, 2019. (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” stars Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Emily VanCamp and Wyatt Russell at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 23, 2019.  (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
“Wanda Vision” team Matt Shakman, Jac Schaeffer, Kevin Feige, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Kat Dennings, Randall Park and Kathryn Hahn at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 23, 2019. (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
“Diary of a Female President” co-star Gina Rodriguez, Disney+ showcase host Yvette Nicole Brown and “Diary of a Female President” co-star Tess Romero at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 23, 2019. (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
“Encore!” host/executive producer Kristen Bell at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 23, 2019. (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
“Noelle” star Anna Kendrick, Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production president Sean Bailey and “Noelle” star Billy Eichner (pictured at right) at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 23, 2019. (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
“The World According to Jeff Goldblum” star Jeff Goldblum at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 23, 2019.  (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
“Lizzie McGuire” star Hilary Duff at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 23, 2019.  (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
“High School Musical: The Series” stars at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 23, 2019. (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)

Walt Disney Studios Movie Presentation

“Jungle Cruise” stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 24, 2019.  (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
“Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” stars Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning and Michelle Pfeiffer at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 24, 2019.  (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” team Billy Dee Williams, R2-D2, Anthony Daniels, Keri Russell, Naomi Ackie, Joonas Suotamo, Kelly Marie Tran, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Kathleen Kennedy and J.J. Abrams at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 24, 2019. (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
“Eternals” team Kevin Feige, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Brian Tyree Henry, Salma Hayek, Lia McHugh, Don Lee, Angelina Jolie and Barry Keoghan at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 24, 2019.  (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
“Raya and the Last Dragon” stars Cassie Steele and Awkwafina at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 24, 2019.  (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
“Frozen 2” stars Josh Gad, Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel and Jonathan Groff at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 24, 2019.  (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
“Frozen 2” stars Sterling K. Brown and Evan Rachel Wood at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 24, 2019.  (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
“Soul” stars Daveed Diggs, Phylicia Rashad and Questlove at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 24, 2019.  (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
“Soul” stars Tina Fey and Jamie Foxx at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 24, 2019.  (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
“Onward” stars Tom Holland and Chris Pratt at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 24, 2019.  (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)

Miscellaneous Photos

Cast members from “Black-ish,” “Grown-ish” and “Mixed-ish”: Gary Cole, Jordan Buhat, Trevor Jackson. Toka Sumpter, Diggy Simmons, Miles Brown, Laurence Fishburne, Ethan Williams Childress, Christina Anthony, Anthony Anderson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Jenifer Lewis, Mykal-Michelle Harris, Yara Shahidi, Chloe Bailey, Halle Bailey, Francia Raisa and Arica Himmel at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 24, 2019. (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)
“The Simpsons” team members Mike B. Anderson, Al Jean, Matt Groening, Nancy Cartwright and Matt Selman at D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, on August 24, 2019. (Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA)

Copyright 2017-2024 Culture Mix
CULTURE MIX