Photograph by MARC SZEGLAT @ vulkane.net
27. GLACIAL WATERFALLS
UPDATE, 11:00 AM PT: Chinese director Diao Yinan’s noir thriller Black Coal, Thin Ice was a big winner tonight in Berlin.
It took the top prize Golden Bear and also scooped the Best Actor
Silver Bear for Liao Fan. The film follows a former detective
investigating a string of related deaths, but who also begins to fall in
love with the person that connects them. It was a big night for Asian
film in general – notable after a lack of titles in competition last
year. Cinematographer Zeng Jian won the Silver Bear for Oustanding
Contribution for Lou Ye’s Blind Massage and a clearly stunned Haru Kuroki won the Best Actress prize for Japanese director Yoji Yamada’s drama The Little House. 
BBC
Worldwide is gearing up for its annual showcase in Liverpool next week
and ahead of it has announced sales of 10-part drama series The Musketeers. Set on the streets of 17th century Paris, the series is made by BBC Drama Productions and co-produced by BBC Worldwide and BBC America.
The new take on the classic characters created by Alexandre Dumas stars
Luke Pasqualino, Tom Burke, Santiago Cabrera, Howard Charles, Alexandra
Dowling and Maimie McCoy. Adrian Hodges is executive producer and lead
writer. The series launched on BBC One in the UK in January and has been
renewed for a second season. Sales deals have been concluded with
Germany (ARD), Norway (NRK), Sweden (TV4), Ukraine (1+1), Greece (OTE)
and Turkey (NTV). Read More »
As expected, the Television Academy’s Board of Governors voted tonight to split the merged best TV movie and miniseries category int
o two, reverting to the long tradition of separate top longform Primetime Emmy categories, which was ended by the TV Academy vote in 2011 to merge the two fields
because of the dwindling number of miniseries entries. Ironically, as
the decision was made, miniseries already had started their resurgence,
which was cemented by the blockbuster success of the 2012 History mini Hatfields & McCoys. Several months ago, a movement started within the TV Academy
in support of splitting the top longform categories again. It gained
momentum, leading to a recommendation that passed through the February 4
Awards Committee meeting and was sent to the board, which approved the
move tonight. Also recognizing the proliferation of longform
programming, the combined miniseries/TV movie categories for writing,
directing and performing categories will all be expanded from five to
six nominees, with the final voting switched from a preferential vote to
a ratings-score vote.
Oscar-worthy is difficult to define, but everyone knows it when they see it. It’s an end as foreboding as they come. Cate Blanchett, mesmerizing as the title character in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine,
sits in a disheveled mess on a park bench in San Francisco, muttering
to herself. It’s the nadir of Jasmine’s fall from grace, her first step 
on
the ladder to bag-lady land. “That scene” is how it’s known in the
business, the one that crystallizes everything about a character or a
story and through which the actor surrenders to the part with everything
he or she’s got. It’s a scene that when a viewer sees it, they know:
This is a nomination, or an Academy Award, waiting to happen. Having
“that scene” guarantees neither award nor nomination, and many roles win
big prizes without one. But when a good scene arises, it can become an
iconic piece of cinema.
