Oscars: VFX protest planned ahead of Oscars

Issues over the Life of Pi special effects sparked protests last year
Hundreds of visual-effects artists are planning a protest in Hollywood ahead of the Oscars on Sunday.

The protest is over subsidies that enable VFX companies outside the US to price American companies out of the market.

Protest organisers in California say they cannot compete and that work is going to Canada, Australia, the UK and New Zealand.

Organisers say they are fighting to save the industry in the US.

"It is massively injuring the industry here which is why so many people are coming out because they are losing their jobs," said protest organiser, Daniel Lay, who writes about the industry for the blog VFX Soldier.

Rallies have already been held ahead of the Oscars
Last year there were protests outside the Oscars from visual effects workers who were disgruntled after the VFX company Rhythm & Hues, which worked on the effects for Life of Pi, filed for bankruptcy.

Lay, a Hollywood visual-effects artist, told the BBC that this year's protest was to help spread word about legal efforts to end subsidies.

"Governments are competing to take work offered by the US studios and have it done in the region where the tax payer will pay a huge percentage," he said.

"Usually this happens with goods - when you import goods into the US we place duty or tariff on it to level the playing field.

"You essentially have a trade war occurring and one of the ways to remedy this is a duty system which would level the playing field quite quickly."

The Motion Picture Association of America, which represents the studios, told America's National Public Radio that digital artistry was a service that was not protected by trade agreements, so they can send their work any place they want.

"It's a tough industry and various aspects of it make it move from country to country which can cause problems," Tim Webber, the Oscar-nominated VFX supervisor on space epic Gravity, told the BBC earlier this week.

"When ebb and flow of the work goes from one place to another it can make life very difficult for people.

"And that's in an industry that's tough even when you're having the good times. Companies are struggling all the time. From a business side it's not an easy industry to be in."
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Will Smith and son Jayden take Razzies 'glory' for After Earth

Will and Jaden Smith also won Worst Screen Combo for After Earth
Father and son Will and Jaden Smith were big winners at the annual Razzie awards, picking up three prizes for their sci-fi flop After Earth.

Jaden, 15, won the statuette for worst actor, while his famous father won the supporting actor Razzie.

The pair were also voted worst screen combo.

Taking place on the eve of the Oscars, and just a short walk from the Academy Awards red carpet, the Razzies highlight the worst films of the year.

"It's an old Hollywood tradition that somebody who is a star tries to make members of their family a star, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't," Razzies founder John Wilson said. told the BBC after the ceremony was over.


Movie 43's star ensemble cast could not save it from being a turkey
The worst picture prize went to Movie 43, a comedy anthology with an ensemble cast including Kate Winslet, Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry.

Described by one critic as "the Citizen Kane of awful", the film also won for worst screenplay (written by at least 19 people) and worst director (credited to 13 people).

Wilson said: "It's tasteless, it's stupid, it's insulting and it's sexist."

Tyler Perry (in drag) was named worst actress for A Madea Christmas, while Kim Kardashian was worst supporting actress for Tyler Perry's Temptation.

The Lone Ranger, starring Johnny Depp as Tonto, was worst remake or sequel.

Despite its eight nominations, Adam Sandler's hit film sequel Grown Ups 2 went home empty-handed.

Officially known as the Golden Raspberry Awards, the Razzies were created in 1980 "as the logical antidote to Tinsel Town's annual glut of self-congratulatory awards".

Winners generally fail to show up - although Halle Berry and Sandra Bullock have collected their gold spray-painted prizes in person.

As at the Oscars, the Razzies have an In Memoriam section, which this year included former Razzie nominee Peter O'Toole, the film critic Roger Ebert and Blockbuster video stores.
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Alan Resnais, experimental French director, dies aged 91

Alain Resnais' final film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2014.

Acclaimed French director Alain Resnais, whose film career spanned more than 60 years, has died at the age 91.

His producer, Jean-Louis Livi, confirmed the director died in Paris on Saturday.

Resnais was often associated with French New Wave cinema but he also embraced modernism and surrealism.

His last film, The Life of Riley - based on an Alan Ayckbourn play - premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2014.

It was his third film based on Ayckbourn's work, and reflected the direction his interests took in using theatre as a basis for his films.

French President Francois Hollande said France had lost "one of its greatest filmmakers''.

"He received all the recognition and prizes. But what counted for him was always his next work,'' Mr Hollande said in a statement.

Resnais first drew attention with his documentary Night and Fog (1955), which focused on Nazi concentration camps.

Sabine Azema starred in the majority of her husband's films from 1983
His first feature film would also draw on the horrors of conflict, this time the Hiroshima atomic bomb for Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959).

In devising the film with novelist Marguerite Duras, he deduced that the sheer devastation caused by the attack could not be dramatised, so he used the theme of the impossibility of speaking about the event.

The film was nominated for a best-screenwriting Oscar and won a number of critics' awards for best foreign film.

The film was brought under the umbrella of the emerging French New Wave, which also included directors Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, although Resnais said he did not consider himself completely a part of the movement.

Resnais won a number of awards at major film festivals.

He won a Gold Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1969 for L'Annee Dernier a Marienbad, and Berlin Festival Silver Bears for Smoking/No Smoking and On Connait la Chanson.

He was honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009.

And this year, The Life of Riley was awarded the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize for a feature film that opens new perspectives. He did not attend the awards, instead sending his longtime producer Jean-Louis Livi to collect the trophy on his behalf.

Resnais married his second wife, Sabine Azema, in 1998 in Scarborough, the UK town where Alan Ayckbourn premieres his plays. Azema has starred in most of Resnais's films since the early 1980s.
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CAPITAL ONE (FA CUP) Manchester City 3 - 1 Sunderland

Date: Sunday, 2nd March
Kick off: 14:00

Venue: Wembley

Key events
SunderlandGoal
Borini 10' Goal

Manchester CityGoal
Yaya Touré 55'
Manchester CityGoal
Nasri 56'
Manchester CityGoal
Jesús Navas 90'

Close Match details

Manuel Pellegrini secured his first trophy as Manchester City manager as they staged a second-half revival to beat Sunderland and win the Capital One Cup at Wembley.

Sunderland - seeking their first major trophy since the famous 1973 FA Cup win against Leeds United - deservedly led at half-time through Fabio Borini's fine angled strike after 10 minutes.
This entertaining final turned inside two minutes just after half-time as City struck twice to finally exert their authority over Sunderland, who had dominated until that point and gave a fine performance throughout.
Yaya Toure equalised with a brilliant instant finish from 25 yards in the 55th minute, before Samir Nasri's spectacular strike changed the entire course of the game and set City on the way to some sort of consolation for last May's shock FA Cup final defeat by Wigan Athletic.

Substitute Jesus Navas added a third in the final minute to give the scoreline a harsh appearance given the manner in which the Black Cats had matched City for so long.

The Capital One Cup may not be at the top of Pellegrini's list of priorities, but this first trophy will be welcomed by the Chilean, who was appointed last summer.

City's focus now turns to the Premier League title, the arduous task of overturning a two-goal deficit in their Champions League last-16 tie against Barcelona and an FA Cup quarter-final clash with Wigan Athletic.

As for Sunderland, this will be a bitter disappointment for manager Gus Poyet, his players and the magnificent support who splashed their famous red and white stripes around Wembley - but they can take great confidence from a Cup run that claimed the scalps of Chelsea and Manchester United, as they attempt to stay in the top flight.
Pellegrini preferred Costel Pantilimon to Joe Hart in goal but the big lift came as he was able to recall striker Sergio Aguero after a month out with a hamstring injury.

City's confident start was no indication of what was to come as Sunderland's sheer passion - and plenty of quality, it should be stressed - reduced the favourites to a shambles on occasions during the first half.

Poyet plumped for the speed and mobility of Borini, ahead of the physical power of Steven Fletcher and Jozy Altidore, to put pressure on City's central-defensive pairing of Vincent Kompany and Martin Demichelis.

And it produced the perfect reward after only 10 minutes when Italy striker Borini got the better of Kompany in the chase for Adam Johnson's pass, shrugging him aside before showing great composure to sweep a finish past Pantilimon with the outside of his right foot.

The goal shook City and Sunderland threatened to take further advantage, Borini's shot from the edge of the area deflecting just over off the back of Edin Dzeko and Wes Brown heading off target from a corner.

Borini, on loan from Liverpool, stretched City again and threatened to add a second as he raced clear but this time Kompany made amends by making a crucial tackle as he recovered his ground on the Italian.

City's response was muted, and sometimes not even as good as that, with Sunderland keeper Vito Mannone's only worry coming when he had to deal with Aguero's low 20-yard shot.

It was inevitable that Pellegrini would shake up his sleeping side at half-time - making the opening phase of the second half even more crucial to the outcome of the game.

And so it proved as City showed their quality with two goals of the highest calibre inside two minutes to change the mood inside Wembley and the match itself.

Toure had been a peripheral figure until he collected Pablo Zabaleta's pass 25 yards out after 55 minutes and the Ivory Coast midfielder, almost nonchalantly, lifted a spectacular finish over Mannone into the top corner.
The element of surprise caught the goalkeeper just too far off his line but it would be harsh in the extreme to attach any blame to the Italian.
He was powerless again as France international Nasri struck almost immediately to put City in front, taking Aleksandar Kolarov's cross in his stride to score with the outside of his foot with Mannone motionless.

Pellegrini immediately sent on Navas for Aguero and it was not long before Poyet made a double substitution, bringing on Fletcher and Craig Gardner for Johnson and Seb Larsson.
Just as stoppage time was about to start, substitute Fletcher wasted a chance with poor control. It was to prove the final moment of hope for Sunderland.

As they pressed for the equaliser, City caught Sunderland on the break and Toure swept forward to set up Spain winger Navas for the goal that finally decided the destination of the trophy.
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Issues over the Life of Pi special effects sparked protests last year
Hundreds of visual-effects artists are planning a protest in Hollywood ahead of the Oscars on Sunday.

The protest is over subsidies that enable VFX companies outside the US to price American companies out of the market.

Protest organisers in California say they cannot compete and that work is going to Canada, Australia, the UK and New Zealand.

Organisers say they are fighting to save the industry in the US.

"It is massively injuring the industry here which is why so many people are coming out because they are losing their jobs," said protest organiser, Daniel Lay, who writes about the industry for the blog VFX Soldier.

Rallies have already been held ahead of the Oscars
Last year there were protests outside the Oscars from visual effects workers who were disgruntled after the VFX company Rhythm & Hues, which worked on the effects for Life of Pi, filed for bankruptcy.

Lay, a Hollywood visual-effects artist, told the BBC that this year's protest was to help spread word about legal efforts to end subsidies.

"Governments are competing to take work offered by the US studios and have it done in the region where the tax payer will pay a huge percentage," he said.

"Usually this happens with goods - when you import goods into the US we place duty or tariff on it to level the playing field.

"You essentially have a trade war occurring and one of the ways to remedy this is a duty system which would level the playing field quite quickly."

The Motion Picture Association of America, which represents the studios, told America's National Public Radio that digital artistry was a service that was not protected by trade agreements, so they can send their work any place they want.

"It's a tough industry and various aspects of it make it move from country to country which can cause problems," Tim Webber, the Oscar-nominated VFX supervisor on space epic Gravity, told the BBC earlier this week.

"When ebb and flow of the work goes from one place to another it can make life very difficult for people.

"And that's in an industry that's tough even when you're having the good times. Companies are struggling all the time. From a business side it's not an easy industry to be in."
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www.benlatestnews.com
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New head of Ukraine's navy defects in Crimea

dmiral Berezovsky read out his oath in Sevastopol alongside Crimea's pro-Russian leader, Sergiy Aksyonov
The newly appointed head of Ukraine's navy has sworn allegiance to the Crimea region, in the presence of its unrecognised pro-Russian leader.

Rear Admiral Denys Berezovsky was only made head of the navy on Saturday, as the government in Kiev reacted to the threat of Russian invasion.

Russia's troops have been consolidating their hold on Crimea, which is home to its Black Sea Fleet.

The US has warned Moscow may be ejected from the G8 for its actions.

US President Barack Obama called Russian troop deployments a "violation of Ukrainian sovereignty".

'Brink of disaster'

Ukraine has ordered a full military mobilisation in response to Russia's build-up of its forces on the Crimean peninsula. Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has warned the country is "on the brink of disaster".

In Crimea, Ukrainian soldiers faced off with Russian soldiers surrounding their bases on Sunday while the Russian army was said to be digging trenches on the border with mainland Ukraine.

The UK has joined the US, France and Canada in suspending preparations for a summit of the G8 in Russia in June. Nato, of which Ukraine is not a member, is conducting emergency talks.

Admiral Berezovsky appeared in Sevastopol before cameras alongside Sergiy Aksyonov, the pro-Russian politician elected by Crimea's regional parliament as local prime minister.

Mr Aksyonov announced he had given orders to Ukrainian naval forces on the peninsula to disregard any orders from the "self-proclaimed" authorities in Kiev.

Sunday, he said, would go down in history as the birthday of the "navy of the autonomous republic of Crimea".

Admiral Yuri Ilyn: "I'm very sorry that Ukrainian soldiers and sailors are hostages of this situation"
The admiral then pledged to "strictly obey the orders of the supreme commander of the autonomous republic of Crimea" and "defend the lives and freedom" of Crimea's people.

Admiral Berezovsky was later sacked by interim Ukrainian Defence Minister Ihor Tenyukh and a treason case launched against him.

Ukraine's Ukrainska Pravda newspaper reports that the admiral was speaking before the "numerous cameras of predominantly Russian TV channels".

US Secretary of State John Kerry said Russian troops moving into the Ukraine region of Crimea was a "brazen act of aggression"
Earlier, Ukrainian naval officers found their headquarters in Sevastopol occupied by Russian troops and were unable to go to work.

Admiral Yuriy Ilyn, who was until recently commander of the Ukrainian navy and served briefly as head of Ukraine's armed forces under ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, told the BBC's Christian Fraser at the scene that the armed forces were "hostages of the situation".

Separately, Ukraine withdrew coast guard vessels from two ports in Crimea and moved them to other bases in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov on Sunday.

Several Ukrainian army bases were surrounded by Russian troops on Sunday but there were no reports of clashes despite the refusal of Ukrainian soldiers to open their gates.

John Kerry told US media Russia might "not even remain in the G8" and Russian President Vladimir Putin might "find himself with asset freezes".

"You just don't in the 21st-Century behave in 19th-Century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped-up pretext," Mr Kerry told the CBS program Face the Nation.

The Russian parliament authorised Mr Putin on Saturday to deploy troops in Ukraine to protect the lives of Russian citizens there.

Moscow has not recognised the government which took power in Kiev last month after overthrowing the elected pro-Russian President, Viktor Yanukovych.

Mr Yanukovych's decision in November to abandon closer ties with the EU in favour of Russia sparked massive protests in Kiev, which ended in a bloodbath, as dozens of protesters were shot dead in clashes with police.
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New head of Ukraine's navy defects in Crimea

dmiral Berezovsky read out his oath in Sevastopol alongside Crimea's pro-Russian leader, Sergiy Aksyonov
The newly appointed head of Ukraine's navy has sworn allegiance to the Crimea region, in the presence of its unrecognised pro-Russian leader.

Rear Admiral Denys Berezovsky was only made head of the navy on Saturday, as the government in Kiev reacted to the threat of Russian invasion.

Russia's troops have been consolidating their hold on Crimea, which is home to its Black Sea Fleet.

The US has warned Moscow may be ejected from the G8 for its actions.

US President Barack Obama called Russian troop deployments a "violation of Ukrainian sovereignty".

'Brink of disaster'

Ukraine has ordered a full military mobilisation in response to Russia's build-up of its forces on the Crimean peninsula. Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has warned the country is "on the brink of disaster".

In Crimea, Ukrainian soldiers faced off with Russian soldiers surrounding their bases on Sunday while the Russian army was said to be digging trenches on the border with mainland Ukraine.

The UK has joined the US, France and Canada in suspending preparations for a summit of the G8 in Russia in June. Nato, of which Ukraine is not a member, is conducting emergency talks.

Admiral Berezovsky appeared in Sevastopol before cameras alongside Sergiy Aksyonov, the pro-Russian politician elected by Crimea's regional parliament as local prime minister.

Mr Aksyonov announced he had given orders to Ukrainian naval forces on the peninsula to disregard any orders from the "self-proclaimed" authorities in Kiev.

Sunday, he said, would go down in history as the birthday of the "navy of the autonomous republic of Crimea".

Admiral Yuri Ilyn: "I'm very sorry that Ukrainian soldiers and sailors are hostages of this situation"
The admiral then pledged to "strictly obey the orders of the supreme commander of the autonomous republic of Crimea" and "defend the lives and freedom" of Crimea's people.

Admiral Berezovsky was later sacked by interim Ukrainian Defence Minister Ihor Tenyukh and a treason case launched against him.

Ukraine's Ukrainska Pravda newspaper reports that the admiral was speaking before the "numerous cameras of predominantly Russian TV channels".

US Secretary of State John Kerry said Russian troops moving into the Ukraine region of Crimea was a "brazen act of aggression"
Earlier, Ukrainian naval officers found their headquarters in Sevastopol occupied by Russian troops and were unable to go to work.

Admiral Yuriy Ilyn, who was until recently commander of the Ukrainian navy and served briefly as head of Ukraine's armed forces under ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, told the BBC's Christian Fraser at the scene that the armed forces were "hostages of the situation".

Separately, Ukraine withdrew coast guard vessels from two ports in Crimea and moved them to other bases in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov on Sunday.

Several Ukrainian army bases were surrounded by Russian troops on Sunday but there were no reports of clashes despite the refusal of Ukrainian soldiers to open their gates.

John Kerry told US media Russia might "not even remain in the G8" and Russian President Vladimir Putin might "find himself with asset freezes".

"You just don't in the 21st-Century behave in 19th-Century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped-up pretext," Mr Kerry told the CBS program Face the Nation.

The Russian parliament authorised Mr Putin on Saturday to deploy troops in Ukraine to protect the lives of Russian citizens there.

Moscow has not recognised the government which took power in Kiev last month after overthrowing the elected pro-Russian President, Viktor Yanukovych.

Mr Yanukovych's decision in November to abandon closer ties with the EU in favour of Russia sparked massive protests in Kiev, which ended in a bloodbath, as dozens of protesters were shot dead in clashes with police.
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