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“This film festival is my baby,” says Tiina Lokk, director and founder of the Tallinn Black Nights International Film Festival (POFF). 2016 year marks the 20thanniversary since its inception, and since 2014 it stands alongside such established and prestigious 'A' status festivals as Venice, Berlin and Cannes.

With a keynote q&a with President Obama and the usual dizzying array of offerings in its multiple film/ TV, music and new/interactive media sections, the 29th edition of the South By Southwest festival launches this Friday, March 11, in Austin, Texas. With a massive lineup that includes 89 world premieres in the film section, this year’s SXSW will run until March 20.

First in an occasional series featuring prominent women working in Hollywood today.   Nancy Meyers is the most financially successful female filmmaker of all time.

After spending the last three weeks taking in Deadpool's garrulous antics the world pricked up their ears and brought the kids out to see Disney’s latest box-office triumph, Zootopia. After three strong weeks in a number of foreign territories, 2016's latest blockbuster finally launched in the US on March 4, earning $73.

And so here they are: on the cusp of the events that would become the bulk of the 20th Century’s legacy, seasoned but still optimistic, at the end of tumultuous but glorious journey. Through six seasons of Downton Abbey the Crawleys, their servants and extended family and the inhabitants of the fictitious village neighboring their estate dealt with the sinking of the Titanic, the Spanish Flu epidemic, World War I, Irish nationalism, the rise of the Labour party, the first seeds of Nazism and the movement for women’s right to vote.

The old gods have faltered once again in the age of super-heroes. After the lackluster performances of  2014's two big-budget biblical thrillers Noah and Exodus: Gods and Kings, Lionsgate and Thunder Road Pictures suffered  a disappointing launch for their ambitious period epic Gods of Egypt.

George Harris Kennedy, two times Golden Globes nominee, has died Saturday, February 27 2016. His first  Globe nomination (for a supporting role) was for a performance that also earned him an Oscar, and established his place in Hollywood's A list : the bullying convict Dragline in Cool Hand Luke (1967).

The Academy Awards brought the Award season to a close, and highlighted the trends we’ll see throughout the year. The dominant shift can best be summed up with one word: COLOR!!!  But supplementary trends - that we heralded first at The Hollywood Foreign Press Association/In-Style party at the Toronto Film Festival, back in September of 2015 – were right on the money.

And so the awards season, which started in mid-December with the announcement of the Golden Globes nominations, came to an end this last Sunday in February with the Academy Awards. Guilds, critics and independent filmmakers had their say, issues surfaced and were debated (hotly, sometimes) and careers were consolidated or launched.

There’s a right way to wear bling. It seems like it should be easy.