2011 Emmy Awards Winners

Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen

On Sunday night the winners of the 2011 Emmy Awards were announced. Last night's ceremony handed out awards for major categories, while the more technical awards were presented on September 10th. Among the big winners last night were "Modern Family", which took home five awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series, Writing for a Comedy Series and both Supporting awards (Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell). Thus, "Modern Family" has become one of the rare comedy series to win the big one two years in a row (ABC's second since "Taxi").

Outstanding Dramatic Series was won by "Mad Men", although the popular series did not win in any of the other categories in which it was nominated. It did, however, win one Creative Arts award on September 10th. "Mad Men" was originally nominated in 19 categories. Kate Winslet and Guy Pearce won awards for Best Lead Actress and Best Supporting Actor, respectively, for the miniseries "Mildred Pierce". The TV movie did not however win for Best Miniseries. That award went to the british movie "Downtown Abbey", which also won for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries (Maggie Smith) and Writing.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries went to Barry Pepper for his portrayal of Bobby Kennedy in "The Kennedys". Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama series went to Kyle Chandler for "Friday Night Lights" and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series was won by Julianna Marguiles for "The Good Wife". "Boardwalk Empire" only picked up the award for Best Directing, which went to Martin Scorsese for the Pilot episode. The gangster drama series did win 10 Creative Arts awards, which is pretty good for its first season.

After the jump you can find all the winners both from last night's ceremony and from the September 10th Creative Awards.

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Venice Film Festival 2011 Winners

The winners of the 2011 Venice Film Festival have been selected by the jury, led this year by Darren Aronofsky, who won the Golden Lion in 2008 for The Wrestler" and was twice nominated, in 2006 for "The Fountain" and last year for "Black Swan". Among this year's winners, Michael Fassbender was chosen as Best Actor, for his role as a sex addict in Steve McQueen's drama "Shame". The Best Actress award went to Deannie Yip for "A Simple Life". The Silver Lion for Best Director went to China's Shangjun Cai for "People Mountain People Sea". And, the top honor, the Golden Lion, went to russian director Aleksander Sokurov for "Faust", a work of cinema that Arronofsky himself said it was one of those films that "changes your life the moment you see them for the first time".

Here is the full list of winner :

Golden Lion for best film : Faust by Aleksander Sokurov (Russia)

Silver Lion for best director: Shangjun Cai for People Mountain People Sea (China)

Special jury prize: Terraferma by Emanuele Crialese (Italy)

Best first feature: Là-Bas by Guido Lombardi (Italy)

Best actress: Deanie Yip for A Simple Life (Hong Kong)

Best actor: Michael Fassbender for Shame (Britain)

Emerging performer: Shota Sometani and Fumi Nikaido for Himizu (Japan)

Best screenplay: Alpis (Alps) by Yorgos Lanthimos (Greece)

Best cinematography: Robbie Ryan for Wuthering Heights, directed by Andrea Arnold (Britain)

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Australia's 2011 Helpmann Award-Winners Announced

"The annual Helpmann Awards® recognise distinguished artistic achievement and excellence in the many disciplines of Australia's vibrant live performance sectors, including musical theatre, contemporary music, comedy, opera, classical music, theatre, dance and physical theatre. The Helpmann Awards also incorporates the JC Williamson Award for outstanding contribution to the Australian live performance industry. The Helpmann Awards®, named in honour of Sir Robert Helpmann and to commemorate his memory and achievements, were established in 2001 by Live Performance Australia (LPA) to recognise, celebrate and promote our live performance industry, similar to the Tony Awards on Broadway and the Olivier Awards in London. The principal objective of LPA in establishing the Awards is to nationally and internationally serve and promote the Australian live performance industry by:
- recognising distinguished artistic achievement and excellence
- ensuring the Awards are administered and produced with integrity
- ensuring the Awards are celebrated by the industry and the Australian community
- ensuring the Awards are the most prestigious awards in the industry and the highlight of each Season." [Source]

Nominees this season included (pictured above left to right): Rinat Shaham, Rachel Durkin, Emma Matthews and Patricia Racette. A complete list of this year's nominees (and winners) by category is after the jump.



2011Helpmann Awards – All the winners
Opera: Opera Australia, Partenope
Direction of an opera: Nigel Jamieson, La Fanciulla del West
Male performer in an opera: John Wegner, La Fanciulla del West
Female performer in an opera: Emma Matthews, Partenope
Male performer in a supporting role in an opera: Kanen Breen, Partenope
Female performer in a supporting role in an opera: Elizabeth Campbell, Aida
Individual classical performance: Simon Rattle, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Chamber and-or instrumental ensemble concert: Garrick Ohlsson, in recital as part of the Sydney Symphony International Pianists in Recital Series
Symphony orchestra concert: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

2011 Emmy Nominations Announced

The 2011 Emmy Nominations have been announced and among the nominees you'll find all the major names you've been expecting, except for me, as I was hoping to see "Fringe" on that list. Another surprise, pleasant I would say, is that the miniseries "Carlos" earned two nominations for Best Directing and Best Lead Actor (Edgar Ramirez). If you recall, this 6 hour movie won the Golden Globe for Best Miniseries even though it faced last year's Emmy winner "The Pacific" as competition. You can read a review here. One new TV series that didn't quite make a huge impression is Showtime's "Shameless" which received only one nomination, for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series (Joan Cusack). Here's a quick count of some of the major TV productions and their total number of nominations :

• Mildred Pierce (miniseries) - 21 nominations
• Mad Men - 19 nominations
• Boardwalk Empire  - 18 nominations
• Modern Family - 17 nominations
• 30 Rock - 14 nominations
• Game of Thrones - 13 nominations
• Glee - 12 nominations
• The Good Wife - 9 nominations
• Dexter - 5 nominations
• The Office - 4 nominations
• True Blood - 4 nominations
• Grey's Anatomy - 3 nominations
• Nurse Jackie - 2 nominations

To read the complete list of nominations for the major categories, read the full article.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

Dora Award Opera Nominations Announced in Toronto

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION
Prima Donna (Luminato)
Orfeo ed Euridice (Canadian Opera Company presents Lyric Opera of Chicago)
Nixon in China (Canadian Opera Company presents a Co-production of Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Chicago Opera Theatre, Opera Colorado, Houston Grand Opera, Minnesota Opera and Portland Opera)
La Cenerentola (Canadian Opera Company presents a Co-production of Houston Grand Opera Association, Welsh National Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu and Grand Théâtre de Genève)
Death in Venice (Canadian Opera Company presents The Aldeburgh Festival, Opéra National de Lyon, Bregenz Opera and Prague State Opera)


OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE
Sondra Radvanovsky (Aida /Canadian Opera Company)
Lawrence Zazzo (Orfeo ed Euridice/Canadian Opera Company presents Lyric Opera of Chicago)
Jane Archibald (Ariadne auf Naxos/Canadian Opera Company presents Welsh National Opera Production)
Alan Oke (Death in Venice/Canadian Opera Company presents The Aldeburgh Festival, Opéra National de Lyon, Bregenz Opera and Prague State Opera)

The Dora Mavor Moore Award (also known as the Dora Award) is an award presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts which honours theatre, dance, and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moore, who helped establish Canadian professional theatre, the award was established on December 13, 1978. Each winner receives a bronze statue made from the original by John Romano. [Source, Source]

TWILIGHT Wins Big at the 2011 MTV Movie Awards

Now I know why I don't watch the MTV Movie Awards. In case you haven't heard the global cries of anguish, the big winner at last night's big and loud awards ceremony was "Twilight: Eclipse". The third movie (and worst) in the hugely popular fantasy saga managed to go home with no less than five awards, including Best Movie. What were the movies it competed against, you ask ? Well, only such small and insignificant cinematic works as "Black Swan", "Inception", "The Social Network" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1". If you're thinking Natalie Portman was the bomb in "Black Swan", you might be surprised to find out that in fact Kristen Stewart is the best actress of the year, once again for her part as Bella Swan (coincidence?) in "Twilight: Eclipse". And you've probably guessed who won for Best Male Performance. Yes, once again, "Twilight" leading vampire Robert Pattinson, who beat out fellow werewolf Taylor Lautner. At least they got one award right, as Best Comedic Performance went to Emma Stone for "Easy A".

I find it funny, and not in a refreshing way, that a movie who only some months ago was front-runner at the Razzies, is now a big winner. And where else could they actually win awards, if not at the MTV Movie Awards. I don't mean to sound whiny, but the popularity of this saga, despite the increasingly low quality of its movie adaptations, is actually frightening and a cinematic step backwards. Here's my problem : this is like a green-light for studios to not care how bad their movies are, as long as they can get a faithful following to buy tickets, popcorn and DVDs. It might sound paranoid, but this is the begining of the end for quality cinema. I can already hear the studios rummaging through other popular works of teen literature, trying to find the next "Twilight".

To read the complete list of winners (if you must), click the link below :

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

Jessye Norman Presents Inaugural Vision Award

Arthur Miller and Jessye Norman
(Photo: Marilyn Abalos/Dance Theatre of Harlem)

"Opera star Jessye Norman presented Dance Theatre of Harlem's Inaugural Vision Award to the organization's co-founder and Artistic Director Emeritus, Arthur Mitchell at a gala benefit, held at The Kaplan Penthouse at Lincoln Center on Monday, April 25. The gala was hosted by actress, author and former dancer Victoria Rowell. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Next Generation Fund for scholarships and financial aid to students at the Dance Theatre of Harlem School." [Source]

Opera Scores Big at Golden Mask Awards in Russia

Mezzo-soprano Yelena Zhidkova

"2011 will go down as the year when the Golden Mask truly went international. Non-Russian artists have won awards in the past, but this year was something special. More than two dozen foreign artists — singers, choreographers, conductors, directors and designers — received nominations for work completed during the 2009-10 season. Of them, five walked away with the coveted plaque featuring a ceramic mask on a mirrored background."

American tenor Neil Shicoff - Best Male Singer in La Juive for the Mikhailovsky Theater of St. Petersburg. Greek conductor Teodor Currentzis - Best Director for Wozzeck at the Bolshoi Theater. Britain's Paul Brown - Best Designer for Die Frau Ohne Schatten at the Mariinsky Theater. Russian mezzo-soprano Yelena Zhidkova - Best Female Opera Singer for Duke Bluebeard's Castle for the Mariinsky Theater. Additional winners included Tatyana Maslakova - Best Female Singer in an Operetta/Musical (Khabarovsk Musical Theater) and Dmitry Averin - Best Male Singer in an Operetta/Musical (Rostov-on-Don Musical Theater) [Source]