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The surprisingly strong sounds of a gospel song sung acappella washed over a small group of luminaries gathered at SoHo House Friday, at the invitation of Jaka Bizilj, Chairman of the Board of Cinema for Peace. The scene was fitting for an event organized to promote peace and human rights through socially conscious cinema – a welcome counterpoint to the frivolity that can permeate awards season.

The suave French actor Luis Jourdan, who appeared in movies both in Hollywood and in his native France, passed away February 14, 2015, aged 93. His most notable and popular role was in the musical comedy Gigi, (1958) the last major musical out of MGM.

To say that Fifty Shades of Grey won the St. Valentine’s and President’s weekend box office contest would be a major understatement.

The Light & Noir exhibition at the Skirball Cultural Center traces the history of some of Hollywood’s most prolific immigrants and the contributions they made to American cinema. "Chased from my country,now I have to see if there's some shop or bar that I can find where I can sell the products of my mind" So wrote playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht, who was chased from Germany by the rising Nazi regime.

The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) last night (Feb. 15) announced the winners of the 2015 Writers Guild Awards for outstanding achievement in writing for film, television, new media, games, news, radio, promotional, and graphic animation categories at simultaneous ceremonies at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles and the Edison Ballroom in New York City.

Hollywood on Love, Marriage and Relationships By Noemia Young.

Sooner or later someone had to dislodge American Sniper from first place, and unlikely as it may seem, the film to accomplish this feat was The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, the second feature (the first one came out in 2004) based on the Nickelodeon animated television series. On its first weekend of domestic release, Spongebob ended up collecting $58 million, an amount considerably higher than what Paramount had anticipated.

Sultry actress Lizabeth Scott (1922-2015), who just died in Hollywood of heart failure, was the star of a classic film noir that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association helped the Film Noir Foundation restore in 2013. Scott was born Emma Matzo in Scranton, Pa.

This year’s awards took place on Feb. 8 at London’s Royal Opera House, with Stephen Fry hosting.

The winners of the Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement Awards for 2014 were announced February 7, 2015 during the 67th Annual DGA Awards Dinner at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles. Alejandro G.