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“I’d love to see more women on action movies as a cinematographer; it's lacking for women,” notes Director of Photography Jessica Lee Gagne, who, like a lot of women, has been questioned if the action genre is a place women should be. Is the bias justified? By way of a reply the Canadian shares that on one of her projects, “I was tied to a crane, running on a rooftop after the action, with a camera on my back.

Real-life events have always inspired English director Paul Greengrass.  HFPA journalist Lorenzo Soria met the visionary at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills where a wedding band was rehearsing in the courtyard at the same time.

Marina Cisternas, President of HFCA (Hollywood Foreign Correspondents Association, that merged with the FPAH, Foreign Press Association of Hollywood, to form the HFPA, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, in 1955), presents to Frank Sinatra the newly designed Golden Globe trophy, as recipient of a special award “for the picture with the best international feeling produced in 1945”, the short film The House I Live In, at the 3rd Golden Globes ceremonies held Saturday March 30, 1946 at the Hollywood Knickerbocker Club.  In 1953 Sinatra won a Golden Globe as Best Supporting Actor for From Here to Eternity, directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr, he won another Golden Globe as Best Actor for the Technicolor musical Pal Joey in 1958, was the recipient of the Cecil B.

HFPA GranteeOne of the more recent  HFPA grants went to a very worthy and too often misunderstood group of people. The Veterans in Film and Television is an organization based in Los Angeles that was founded only six years ago.

For over 40 years the HFPA has recorded famous and celebrated actors, actresses and filmmakers. The world's largest collection of its kind - over  10,000  items- is now in the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts &  Sciences Margaret Herrick Library.

As Chairman of the Foreign Language Film Committee of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, I had the honor to be invited to be the Chairman of the Jury of the 13th Edition of the Batumi International Art House Film Festival (BIAFF) in Batumi, Georgia. A Black Sea resort and port city close to the border of Turkey is the capital of the Georgian Autonomous Republic of Adjara, Batumi is currently experiencing a tourist boom, nicknamed “Little Dubai” thanks to its tall high-rises popping everywhere, with plenty of restaurants with a great inexpensive food and friendly service.

Hera Hilmar, 29 (her birth name is Hilmarsdóttir) is an Icelandic actress on the rise. She will soon be seen leading the Peter Jackson-produced Mortal Engines as well as in Matthew Weiner’sThe Romanoffs on Amazon.

Just like last week Venom, with Tom Hardy as the Marvel anti-hero, topped the domestic and international charts, followed by A Star Is Born. The new take on the classic tale about fame and success, directed by and starring Bradley Cooper who falls in love with Lady Gaga, is holding pretty well on its second week of release, adding $28 million domestically, with a dip of just 35%.

HFPA President Meher Tatna, with Festival Lumière director Thierry Frémeaux, introduces The Red Shoes to the audience on day two of the festival in Lyon, France. The masterpiece by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger was restored by the UCLA Film Archives with financing from an HFPA grant.

The 24th edition of the Recent Spanish Cinema Series opened at the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, with Javier Fesser’s comedy Champions (Campeones, 2018). The theater was filled with a mostly Spanish-speaking audience and Spanish natives.