The Santa Barbara International Film Festival has announced the second group of recipients to receive the Virtuosos Award, an honor created to recognize a select group of talent whose noteworthy performances in films this season have elevated them into the national cinematic dialogue. Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple), Colman Domingo (Rustin and The Color Purple), America Ferrera (Barbie) and Andrew Scott (All of Us Strangers) will discuss their work and receive their awards in-person on Saturday, February 10, during the 39th Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The evening will be moderated for the 14th year by Dave Karger, Turner Classic Movies host. The first group of Virtuosos Awards recipients–Lily Gladstone, Greta Lee, Charles Melton and Da’Vine Joy Randolph–was announced last month.
“I’m thrilled to add Danielle, Colman, America, and Andrew to our already impressive lineup of Virtuosos. This group of eight artists is simply the most diverse of any class in the 14 years that I’ve been hosting the event,” stated Karger.
Virtuosos honorees over the last four years were Austin Butler, Kerry Condon, Danielle Deadwyler, Nina Hoss, Stephanie Hsu, Jeremy Pope, Ke Huy Quan, Jeremy Strong, Caitriona Balfe, Ariana DeBose, Jamie Dornan, Alana Haim, Ciarán Hinds, Emilia Jones, Troy Kotsur, Simon Rex, Saniyya Sidney, Riz Ahmed, Maria Bakalova, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Andra Day, Sidney Flanigan, Vanessa Kirby, Tahar Rahim, Zendaya, Awkwafina, Taron Egerton, Cynthia Erivo, Beanie Feldstein, Aldis Hodge, George MacKay, Florence Pugh, and Taylor Russell.
The 39th Santa Barbara International Film Festival will take place from February 7-17, 2024. Official events including screenings, filmmaker Q&As, industry panels, and celebrity tributes, will be held throughout the city, including at the historic Arlington Theatre. The film lineup and schedule will be announced January, 2024.
Harvey Weinstein indicted on additional sex crimes charges ahead of New York retrial
Disgraced ex-movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been indicted on additional sex crimes charges in New York ahead of a retrial in his landmark #MeToo case, Manhattan prosecutors said at a court hearing Thursday. The indictment will remain under seal until Weinstein is arraigned on the new charges, which could happen as early as Sept. 18. Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg disclosed in court that the indictment charges "Mr. Weinstein with additional crimes" and that multiple accusers are prepared to testify against him. Weinstein, 72, is recovering from emergency heart surgery Monday at a Manhattan hospital to remove fluid on his heart and lungs and was not at Thursday's hearing. Prosecutors retrying Weinstein's overturned rape conviction disclosed last week that they had begun presenting to a grand jury evidence of up to three additional allegations against Weinstein, dating as far back as the mid-2000s. They include alleged sexual assaults at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, now known as the Roxy Hotel, and in a Lower Manhattan residential building between late 2005 and mid-2006, and an alleged sexual assault at a Tribeca hotel in May 2016. Because the indictment is under seal, it was not known whether the new charges involved some or all of the additional allegations. "We don't know anything," Weinstein's lawyer, Arthur Aidala, said outside court. "We don't know what the exact accusations are, the exact locations are, what the timing is." In April, New York's highest court overturned Weinstein's 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women and ordered a new trial. Weinstein's retrial is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12. Prosecutors said they would seek to combine any new charges with ones previously brought... Read More