By Mesfin Fekadu, Music Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is going virtual with its annual awards shows this summer because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The performing rights organization announced Thursday that it will hold three-day virtual events for its four awards shows, which focus on pop, R&B, Latin and film music.
The ASCAP Pop Music Awards will be held June 17-19; the ASCAP Screen Music Awards on June 23-25; the ASCAP Latin Music Awards on July 7-9; and the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards on July 15-17.
"Even though we can't be together 'in real life' this time, we are so excited to honor (artists) virtually so that we can all connect and share our collective love of music," Paul Williams, ASCAP's president and chairman of the board, said in a statement Thursday. "We invite music fans everywhere to join us in toasting their music and what their creative work adds to our lives."
Other awards shows are skipping a traditional ceremony this year because of the coronavirus, including The Daytime Emmy Awards and the BET Awards.
ASCAP will honor some of today's top songwriters and publishers at its ASCAP Virtual Awards; winners and guest participants will be announced later. Last year the organization gave awards to Billie Eilish and her brother-collaborator Finneas, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Cardi B and Daddy Yankee.
Full Lineup Set For AFI Fest; Official Selections Span 44 Countries, Include 9 Best International Feature Oscar Submissions
The American Film Institute (AFI) has unveiled the full lineup for this year’s AFI Fest, taking place in Los Angeles from October 23-27. Rounding out the slate of already announced titles are such highlights as September 5 directed by Tim Fehlbaum, All We Imagine As Light directed by Payal Kapadia, The Luckiest Man in America directed by Samir Oliveros (AFI Class of 2019), Zurawski v. Texas from executive producers Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Jennifer Lawrence and directors Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, and Oh, Canada directed by Paul Schrader (AFI Class of 1969). A total of 158 films are set to screen at the 38th edition of AFI Fest.
Of the official selections, 48% are directed by women and non-binary filmmakers and 26% are directed by BIPOC filmmakers.
Additional festival highlights include documentaries Architecton directed by Victor Kossakovsky; Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie directed by David Bushell; Devo directed by Chris Smith about the legendary new wave provocateurs; Gaucho Gaucho directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw; Group Therapy directed by Neil Berkeley with Emmy® winner Neil Patrick Harris and Tig Notaro; No Other Land directed by a Palestinian-Israeli team comprised of Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor and Hamdan Ballal; Pavements directed by Alex Ross Perry; and Separated directed by Errol Morris. Notable narrative titles include Black Dog (Gou Zen) directed by Guan Hu; Bonjour Tristesse directed by Durga Chew-Bose with Academy Award® nominee Chloë Sevigny; Caught By The Tides directed by Jia Zhangke; Hard Truths directed by Mike Leigh with... Read More