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Jennifer Lopez started her career as a dancer, then transitioned into movies when Gregory Nava cast her for a supporting role in Mi Familia (1995), then for the leading role in Selena (1997), the biographical movie about the Tejano singer, which earned her the first of two Golden Globes nominations. She was directed by Francis Ford Coppola in Jack (1996) with Robin Williams, by Bob Rafelson in Blood & Wine (1997) with Jack Nicholson, by Oliver Stone in U-Turn (1997) with Sean Penn, by Steven Soderbergh in Out of Sight (1998) with George Clooney.

“We are all the forest and the world to someone,” says Eami, whose name means ‘Forest and World. ’ The five-year-old is not just an ordinary girl: she is Asojá, the bird-god-woman who carries the spirit of the Ayoreo Totobiegosode.

In early 2020, Tye White was accompanying his wife, actress Rania Nasreen, while she was getting her nails done when the actor got a notification on his phone that one of the producers of American Auto, NBC’s newest workplace comedy, followed him on Twitter. At the time he had just completed auditions to play Jack, one of its series regulars.

The transportive power of music is given a rich, affecting showcase in The Conductor, a documentary from director Bernadette Wegenstein. It centers on and celebrates the life and work of trailblazer Marin Alsop, the first woman to lead a major orchestra in the United States.

Part of the less popularly celebrated majesty of cinema lies in its collaborative nature compared to other art forms. Many directors, quite justifiably, may take a possessory filmmaker credit — after all, they are making literally thousands of decisions and molding a movie in their vision.

Neil Phillips, the first Chief Diversity Officer for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, is an unapologetic optimist. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Phillips was raised in the Washington DC area and went on to study English and American Literature at Harvard University.

Directed by Gerald Mayer (nephew of Louis Mayer, powerful head of MGM), Bright Road was a simple, modest, but winningly compelling tale of the impact that one dedicated Black teacher bore on her pupils. The film was adapted from the Christopher Award-winning short story, "See How They Run," by Mary Elizabeth Vroman, which was published in the June 1951 issue of the Ladies' Home Journal.

Tea Lindeburg’s feature film debut, As in Heaven, premiered at the Rotterdam and Göteborg film festivals simultaneously and received the top Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at the latter.   Lise (Flora Ofelia Hofmann Lindahl) is the eldest child of a large rural Danish family at the end of the 19th century.

In the week that saw the Italian Parliament vote for the President of the Republic, confirming Sergio Mattarella for re-election, Italian citizens have evidently stayed at home in front of the TV, as the cinema box office grosses have dropped compared to those of the previous week. This week’s ranking only sees one film that exceeds the €500,000 mark (€556,949).

John Williams turned 90 this week. For the last 70 years, Mr.