‘Soul’ Wins Best Score Oscar, Making Jon Batiste the Second Black Composer to Receive Award

Rihanna and A$AP Rocky are enjoying a romantic night out!

Demi Lovato is bringing the heat to a Super Bowl pre-party!

Rylan Clark has shared an update on his health after revealing he had been taken to hospital earlier this week.TV star Rylan, 33, posted a photo of himself and shared an update with fans on his social media channels on Saturday 12 February. X Factor star Rylan has previously sparked concern amongst fans as he revealed he had been on an "extended trip" to hospital. But, after returning home, Rylan posted a selfie showing the TV star wearing a white hoodie and sitting on his emerald green sofa with his thumb up towards the camera.

Pep Guardiola called on his Manchester City players to be ready when called upon as the fixtures start to come every three days this month, following the 4-0 win at Norwich.

Southampton showed qualities that Manchester United lack during Saturday's draw, according to ex-Red Danny Higginbotham.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentChiara Bellosi, whose first work, “Ordinary Justice,” launched from Berlin’s Generation 14plus section in 2020, is back with “Swing Ride” (“Calcinculo”) about an overweight 15-year-old named Benedetta pining for attention in an Italian province where she falls in love with the skinny non-binary Amanda.A key difference between the two films is that while “Ordinary Justice,” which examined the lives of two families on opposite sides of a murder case, originated from a deeply researched screenplay that Bellosi wrote, “Swing Ride” — premiering in Panorama on Feb. 13 — stems from a prizewinning script proposed to her by Carlo Cresto Dina, her producer, who also discovered Alice Rohrwacher (“Happy as Lazzaro”) and is known for nurturing the cream of Italy’s new cinematic crop.   “It’s a very different process; it was the first time that I had to start from a world that didn’t germinate from me,” said Bellosi about working from the script penned by Maria Teresa Venditti and Luca De Bei that won Italy’s prestigious Solinas prize in 2018.It was like moving into a new house that she had to make her own, she said.“I worked with the writers; I wanted to make a few tweaks and we did that together,” she added, noting that initially “it was a leap into the void.” But directing from their screenplay actually ended up giving her “more freedom” than her previous pic because “the container is already there; but you can go pretty wild with the rest.”This freedom also made it more fun.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentMK2 Films, the banner behind Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World,” has boarded “Love Life,” the anticipated next film of laureled Japanese director Koji Fukada. Fukada’s credits include the 2016 movie “Harmonium” which won the jury prize at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, as well as “A Girl Missing” which played at Toronto. His latest film, “The Real Thing” was part of Cannes 2020’s Official Selection.

K.J. Yossman Fresh from appearing in Netflix hit Adam McKay’s “Don’t Look Up,” Mark Rylance’s latest big screen outing is “The Outfit,” in which he stars as Leonard, a 1950s tailor. It is a role that could not be more dissimilar to the fictional megalomaniac billionaire Peter Isherwell, whom Rylance plays in McKay’s disaster movie.Written and directed by Graham Moore, the Oscar-winning scribe behind “The Imitation Game,” “The Outfit” sees Rylance star as a Savile Row tailor who has fled across the Atlantic to escape his tragic past.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentTrustNordisk has closed a flurry of sales on a pair of 3D-animated family features, “Little Allan — The Human Antenna” and “The Super,” underscoring the market appeal of independent youth-skewing movies.“Little Allan – The Human Antenna” marks Danish film Amalie Naesby Fick’s follow up to her commercially successful debut “The Incredible Story of The Giant Pear,” which premiered in the the Generation Kplus section at Berlin in 2018. This year, the helmer has her daring drama series “Sex” selected for the Berlinale Series.The film takes place during summer vacation, when introverted, 11-year old Allan starts acting as a human antenna for his old neighbor, who thinks a huge invasion fleet from the outer space is on its way.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorAhead of Sunday’s world premiere of documentary “1341 Frames of Love and War,” which plays in Berlinale Special, Variety spoke to Israeli writer/director Ran Tal about the film and its subject, Israeli war photographer Micha Bar-Am.In some ways “Frames” continues Tal’s interest in Israeli history evident in his previous work, “What If? Ehud Barak on War and Peace,” which centered on the former prime minister of Israel. Bar-Am was born in Berlin in 1930, but grew up in what became Israel, and across a five decade-long career as a photographer he documented many of the major episodes – in particular the wars – in the life of the young country, founded in 1948.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentRAI Com is launching sales at the online EFM on Giuseppe Piccioni’s Fascist-era drama ‘L’Ombra del giorno,” starring Italian A-lister Riccardo Scamarcio (“Three Floors”) and Benedetta Porcaroli (“Baby,” “The Catholic School”).Pic, which Scamarcio produced, is a love story with a thriller twist set in 1938, two years before Italy entered World War II. It unfolds entirely in the central Italian town of Ascoli Piceno, a hidden gem with gorgeous medieval monuments, churches and piazzas.The film’s title translates as “The Shadow of the Day,” a reference to the darkness of Fascism.Luciano (Scamarcio), a wounded World War I veteran and a sympathizer of Fascism like most Italians at the time, runs a classy restaurant overlooking the town’s ancient square.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentAdding to its notable lineup in Latin American movies, Paris-based sales agent MPM Premium has taken international sales rights to “Fogaréu,” from writer-director Flávia Neves, part of Brazil’s new wave of female filmmakers, which is one of the most exciting developments the country’s cinema currently has going for it.MPM Premium is introducing the film at this week’s Berlin Festival, where it world premieres in Panorama on Feb. 15.First glimpsed at 2020’s Ventana Sur project market, “Fogaréu” shares a sense of attitude and a feminist agenda and a visual verve with fellow Brazilian Ventana Sur titles “The Pink Cloud,” Iuli Gerbase’s a sci-fi character-driven thriller, and “The Joy of Things,” Thais Fujinaga’s portrait of motherhood, also playing at the same market.

Darius Rucker's favorite Super Bowl Sunday tradition involves spending time with his son. The country music star opened up about having the opportunity to attend Super Bowls with his son Jack in a new interview with Fox News Digital. "I've been going a lot in the past few years and taking my son, so that's kind of our thing," Rucker explained.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorWhen the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released its shortlists in nine categories in February, only one female composer made the cut for best original score — Lolita Ritmanis for “Blizzard of Souls.” Even then, the Emmy-winning composer was considered a long shot.Ritmanis was up against Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (who landed nominations for “Mank” and “Soul,” the latter alongside Jon Batiste), Terence Blanchard (“Da 5 Bloods”), James Newton Howard (“News of the World”), Alexandre Desplat (“The Midnight Sky”) and Ludwig Göransson (“Tenet”).

Back in February, Questlove debuted his documentary Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) at the Sundance Film Festival. The movie unearths lost footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, also known as the "Black Woodstock," which saw acts like Stevie Wonder, Sly & The Family Stone, and Nina Simone all perform.

final night of Knockout Rounds was so good, it had John Legend second-guessing himself!Blake Shelton pitted the 19-year-old singer against Connor Christian for his team's final showdown ahead of the season 20 live shows, but Cam proved that he was in a world of his own when he took the stage for his performance of «Feeling Good,» singing the version of the song made famous by the legendary Nina Simone.«My main thing for this round was to find something that I could lose myself in,» Cam said during rehearsals.

Questlove is gearing up for the release of his directorial debut with documentary Summer of Soul, and now a trailer for the anticipated film has been released.With a full title of Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), the documentary is about the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969 – otherwise known as “the Black Woodstock” – which took place the same summer as Woodstock.The trailer initially premiered during the 93rd Academy Awards, which Questlove served as music producer for.Watch it below:Footage from the 1969 festival sat in a basement for 50 years, with performances from the likes of Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, B.B.

Soul picked up its second Oscar win of the night for Original Score and Jon Batiste called out Duke Ellington, Bach and Nina Simone in a stirring celebration speech.

said he was stunned by not just the footage but the fact that such an enormous event even existed and seemed forgotten to history. “Then they started saying the lineup and I’m like you’re trying to tell me that there was a time in 1969 where there was a recorded documented concert with Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, the Staple singers, and Nina Simone, and about 20 other artists of note, BB King, and you’re trying to tell me that there was a concert and I didn’t a hear a peep about it?” Questlove said.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticIn 2002, when Halle Berry won the Oscar for her performance in “Monster’s Ball,” becoming the first African American woman to take home the Academy Award for best actress, after 30 seconds of convulsive tears she said, “This moment is so much bigger than me. This moment is for Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll…And it’s for every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance, because this door tonight has been opened.” To have achieved something by standing on the shoulders of others is a profound feeling.