The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in the film industry. They are regarded as the most famous and prestigious awards in the entertainment industry around the world. Given annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the awards are an international recognition of excellence in cinematic achievements, as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette as a trophy, officially called the "Academy Award of Merit", although more commonly referred to by its nickname, the "Oscar". The statuette depicts a knight rendered in the Art Deco style.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American slasher film directed by Tobe Hooper and written and co-produced by Hooper and Kim Henkel. It stars Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow and Gunnar Hansen, who respectively portray Sally Hardesty, Franklin Hardesty, the hitchhiker, the proprietor, and Leatherface. The film follows a group of friends who fall victim to a family of cannibals while on their way to visit an old homestead. The film was marketed as being based on true events to attract a wider audience and to act as a subtle commentary on the era's political climate; although the character of Leatherface and minor story details were inspired by the crimes of murderer Ed Gein, its plot is largely fictional.
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film and is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible to submit a nomination and vote on the final ballot. Best Picture is the final award of the night and is considered the most prestigious honor of the ceremony.
Peter Seamus O'Toole was an Irish-British stage and film actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vic and with the English Stage Company. In 1959 he made his West End debut in The Long and the Short and the Tall, and played the title role in Hamlet in the National Theatre’s first production in 1963. Excelling on the London stage, O'Toole was known as a "hellraiser" off it.
Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction action film directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Gerald R. Molen. It is the first installment in the Jurassic Park franchise, and the first film in the Jurassic Park trilogy, and is based on the 1990 novel of the same name by Michael Crichton and a screenplay written by Crichton and David Koepp. The film is set on the fictional island of Isla Nublar, located off Central America's Pacific Coast near Costa Rica. There, wealthy businessman John Hammond and a team of genetic scientists have created a wildlife park of de-extinct dinosaurs. When industrial sabotage leads to a catastrophic shutdown of the park's power facilities and security precautions, a small group of visitors and Hammond's grandchildren struggle to survive and escape the perilous island.
Maria Lucélia dos Santos is a Brazilian actress, director and producer. She received international acclaim for her leading role in the 1976 Rede Globo telenovela Isaura, The Slave Girl, broadcast in over 80 countries.
Jessica Claire Timberlake is an American actress, model, producer, and singer. Biel began her career as a vocalist appearing in musical productions until she was cast as Mary Camden in the family drama series 7th Heaven (1996–2006), in which she achieved recognition. The series is the longest-running series that aired on The WB channel and the longest-running family drama in television history.
Matthew Staton Bomer is an American actor. He is the recipient of accolades such as a Golden Globe Award, a Critics' Choice Television Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a 2003 American slasher film directed by Marcus Nispel, written by Scott Kosar, and starring Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Erica Leerhsen, Mike Vogel, Eric Balfour, David Dorfman, and R. Lee Ermey. Its plot follows a group of young adults traveling through rural Texas who encounter Leatherface and his murderous family. It is a remake of Tobe Hooper's 1974 film of the same name, and the fifth installment in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise. Several crew members of the original film were involved with the project: Hooper and writer Kim Henkel served as co-producers, Daniel Pearl returned as cinematographer, and John Larroquette reprised his voice narration for the opening intertitles.
Jagapathi Babu is an Indian film actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He has also appeared in a few Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam films. In a career spanning 31 years, Babu has starred in over 120 feature films, and has received four Filmfare Awards and seven state Nandi Awards.
Juan Antonio Bardem Muñoz was a Spanish film director and screen writer. He was a member of the Communist Party. Bardem was best known for Muerte de un ciclista (1955) which won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival, and El puente (1977) which won the Golden Prize at the 10th Moscow International Film Festival. His 1979 film Seven Days in January won the Golden Prize at the 11th Moscow International Film Festival. In 1981 he was a member of the jury at the 12th Moscow International Film Festival. In 1993 he was a member of the jury at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival. In 1953 he and Luis García Berlanga founded a film magazine, Objetivo, which existed until 1956. Bardem is the father of director Miguel Bardem and uncle of actor Javier Bardem. He died of complications resulting from liver disease.
Gavin O'Connor is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, playwright, and actor. He is best known for directing the films Miracle, Warrior, The Accountant, and The Way Back.
Ottaplakkal Neelakandan Velu Kurup was a Malayalam poet and lyricist from Kerala, India, who won the Jnanpith Award, the highest literary award in India for the year 2007. He received the awards Padma Shri in 1998 and Padma Vibhushan in 2011, the fourth and second highest civilian honours from the Government of India. In 2007 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by University of Kerala, Trivandrum. O. N. V. was known for his leftist leaning. He was a leader of All India Students Federation (AISF). He died on 13 February 2016 at KIMS hospital in Thiruvananthapuram due to age-related illnesses, aged 84.
Jennifer Shrader Lawrence is an American actress. To date, her films have grossed over $6 billion worldwide. Lawrence was the world's highest-paid actress in 2015 and 2016. She appeared in Time's 100 most influential people in the world list in 2013 and in the Forbes Celebrity 100 list in 2014, 2015, and 2016.
The 81st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2008 and took place on February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Academy Awards in 24 categories. The ceremony was televised in the United States by ABC, and was produced by Bill Condon and Laurence Mark and directed by Roger Goodman. Actor Hugh Jackman hosted the show for the first time. Two weeks earlier in a ceremony at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California held on February 7, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by host Jessica Biel.
Waltz with Bashir is a 2008 Israeli adult animated war documentary drama film written, produced and directed by Ari Folman. It depicts Folman in search of his lost memories of his experience as a soldier in the 1982 Lebanon War.
The Gulbarg Society massacre took place on 28 February 2002, during the 2002 Gujarat riots, when a crowd started stone pelting the Gulbarg Society, a Muslim neighbourhood in Chamanpura, Ahmedabad. Most of the houses were burnt, and at least 35 victims, including a former Congress Member of Parliament, Ehsan Jafri, were burnt alive, while 31 others went missing after the incident, later presumed dead, bringing the total deaths to 69.
Ashley Mathews, known professionally as Riley Reid, is an American pornographic actress. She briefly worked as a stripper before entering the adult film industry in 2010, at the age of 19. She has since won numerous awards, including the 2016 AVN Award for Female Performer of the Year.
Lupita Amondi Nyong'o is a Kenyan-Mexican actress. The daughter of Kenyan politician Peter Anyang' Nyong'o and Dorothy Ogada Buyu, Nyong'o was born in Mexico City, where her father was teaching, and was raised in Kenya from age one. She attended college in the United States, earning a bachelor's degree in film and theatre studies from Hampshire College.
Ryan Kyle Coogler is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. His first feature film, Fruitvale Station (2013), won the top audience and grand jury awards in the U.S. dramatic competition at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. He has since co-written and directed the seventh film in the Rocky series, Creed (2015), and the Marvel film Black Panther (2018), the latter of which broke numerous box office records and became the highest-grossing film of all time by an African American director.
