92ND OSCARS® SHORTLISTS IN NINE AWARD CATEGORIES ANNOUNCED

LOS ANGELES, CA –  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced shortlists in consideration for the 92nd Academy Awards® in nine categories: Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, International Feature Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, Music (Original Score), Music (Original Song), Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film and Visual Effects. To download shortlists by category, visit https://oscars.org/oscars/92nd-oscars-shortlists.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Fifteen films will advance in the Documentary Feature category for the 92nd Academy Awards®.  One hundred fifty-nine films were submitted in the category.  Members of the Documentary Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“Advocate”
“American Factory”
“The Apollo”
“Apollo 11”
“Aquarela”
“The Biggest Little Farm”
“The Cave”
“The Edge of Democracy”
“For Sama”
“The Great Hack”
“Honeyland”
“Knock Down the House”
“Maiden”
“Midnight Family”
“One Child Nation”

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

Ten films will advance in the Documentary Short Subject category for the 92nd Academy Awards.  Ninety-six films qualified in the category.  Members of the Documentary Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“After Maria”
“Fire in Paradise”
“Ghosts of Sugar Land”
“In the Absence”
“Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)”
“Life Overtakes Me”
“The Nightcrawlers”
“St. Louis Superman”
“Stay Close”
“Walk Run Cha-Cha”

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

Ten Ten films will advance to the next round of voting in the International Feature Film category (formerly known as Foreign Language Film) for the 92nd Academy Awards.  Ninety-one films were eligible in the category.

Academy members from all branches were invited to participate in the preliminary round.  They must have viewed the submitted films theatrically and met a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category.  Their seven choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy’s International Feature Film Award Executive Committee, constitute the shortlist.

In the nominations round, Academy members from all branches are invited to opt-in to participate and must view all 10 shortlisted films in order to cast a ballot.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

Czech Republic, “The Painted Bird”
Estonia, “Truth and Justice”
France, “Les Misérables”
Hungary, “Those Who Remained”
North Macedonia, “Honeyland”
Poland, “Corpus Christi”
Russia, “Beanpole”
Senegal, “Atlantics”
South Korea, “Parasite”
Spain, “Pain and Glory”

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Ten films will advance in the Makeup and Hairstyling category for the 92nd Academy Awards.  All members of the Academy’s Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch will be invited to view seven-minute excerpts from each of the 10 shortlisted films on Saturday, January 4, 2020.  Members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar® consideration.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“Bombshell”
“Dolemite Is My Name”
“Downton Abbey”
“Joker”
“Judy”
“Little Women”
“Maleficent: Mistress of Evil”
“1917”
“Once upon a Time…in Hollywood”
“Rocketman”

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

Fifteen scores will advance in the Original Score category for the 92nd Academy Awards.  One hundred seventy scores were eligible in the category.  Members of the Music Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The scores, listed in alphabetical order by film title, are:

“Avengers: Endgame”
“Bombshell”
“The Farewell”
“Ford v Ferrari”
“Frozen II”
“Jojo Rabbit”
“Joker”
“The King”
“Little Women”
“Marriage Story”
“Motherless Brooklyn”
“1917”
“Pain and Glory”
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”
“Us”

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

Fifteen songs will advance in the Original Song category for the 92nd Academy Awards.  Seventy-five songs were eligible in the category.  Members of the Music Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The original songs, along with the motion picture in which each song is featured, are listed below in alphabetical order by film title and song title:

“Speechless” from “Aladdin”
“Letter To My Godfather” from “The Black Godfather”
“I’m Standing With You” from “Breakthrough”
“Da Bronx” from “The Bronx USA”
“Into The Unknown” from “Frozen II”
“Stand Up” from “Harriet”
“Catchy Song” from “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part”
“Never Too Late” from “The Lion King”
“Spirit” from “The Lion King”
“Daily Battles” from “Motherless Brooklyn”
“A Glass of Soju” from “Parasite”
“(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from “Rocketman”
“High Above The Water” from “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am”
“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” from “Toy Story 4”
“Glasgow” from “Wild Rose”

ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Ten films will advance in the Animated Short Film category for the 92nd Academy Awards.  Ninety-two films qualified in the category.  Members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“Dcera (Daughter)”
“Hair Love”
“He Can’t Live without Cosmos”
“Hors Piste”
“Kitbull”
“Memorable”
“Mind My Mind”
“The Physics of Sorrow”
“Sister”
“Uncle Thomas: Accounting for the Days”

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

Ten films will advance in the Live Action Short Film category for the 92nd Academy Awards.  One hundred ninety-one films qualified in the category.  Members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“Brotherhood”
“The Christmas Gift”
“Little Hands”
“Miller & Son”
“Nefta Football Club”
“The Neighbors’ Window”
“Refugee”
“Saria”
“A Sister”
“Sometimes, I Think about Dying”

VISUAL EFFECTS

Ten films remain in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 92nd Academy Awards.  The Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee determined the shortlist.  All members of the Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the shortlisted films online or attend satellite bake-off screenings in January 2020.  Following the screenings, members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar consideration.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“Alita: Battle Angel”
“Avengers: Endgame”
“Captain Marvel”
“Cats”
“Gemini Man”
“The Irishman”
“The Lion King”
“1917”
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”
“Terminator: Dark Fate”

Nominations voting begins on Thursday, January 2, 2020 and concludes on Tuesday, January 7, 2020.

Nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards will be announced on Monday, January 13, 2020.

The 92nd Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 9, 2020, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network.  The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

Miss South Africa is Miss Universe 2019

Miss South Africa Zozibini Tunzi is the new Miss Universe.

Miss South Africa Zozibini Tunzi. Picture: Instagram

Tunzi  was crowned by Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray at the 68th edition of the pageant held in Atlanta on December 9, Monday.

Miss Puerto Rico Madison Anderson is first runner-up followed by Miss Mexico Sofia Aragon as second runner-up.

During their Final Word, all three women were asked the same question which was, “What is the most important thing we should be teaching young girls today?”

Her winning answer was:

The most important thing we should be teaching young girls today is leadership. It’s something that has been lacking in young girls and women for a very long time, not because we don’t want to but because of what society has labeled women to be. I think we are the most powerful beings in the world and that we should be given every opportunity and that’s what we should be teaching these young girls to take up space. There is nothing more important than to take up space in the society.

Before the announcement of winners, all three of them were given a chance to grace the stage and say their final speech.

Zozibini said, “I grew up in a world where a woman who looks like me, with my kind of skin and my kind of hair is never considered to be beautiful and I think that it is time that stops. I want children to look at me and see my face and I want them to see their faces reflected in mine.”

Philippine bet Gazini Ganados was one of the Top 20. 

Zozibini is the third beauty queen from South Africa to win Miss Universe after Margaret Gardiner (1978) and Demi-Leigh Nel Peters (2017).

The white-eyed carabao at Ubay Stock Farm

When people look at this carabao at the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) at Ubay Stockfarm, they often do a double take. There’s a good chance you will, too.

It has to do with the carabao's big white eyes! Yes, white eyes!

There are more than 400 carabaos at the PCC. However, the white-eyed carabao from Bulgaria is so peculiar.

People like to say that its eyes make it seem very wise or soulful. It is timid when people come to check its eyes.

A carabao with white eyes is an attraction
 at Ubay Stock Farm. People like to say
 that the carabao's white eyes make
it seem very wise or soulful.

Karen Ciroy, PCC staff, never imagined how much attention the white-eyed carabao would get for it looks.
  
According to Science, blue-eyed people are more attractive, but this white-eyed carabao is  attractive, too.

Incidentally,  the province of Bohol celebrated the 5th Bohol Milk Congress last Thursday, Nov. 28.  It was graced by Senator Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food,  who pushed for more affordable milk for children.

The 5th Bohol Milk Festival, as part of the effort to push the province’s stature as the Dairy Capital of the Philippines, highlighted the launch  of the school-based milk feeding program of the Department of Education and the Bohol Integrated Community-Based Dairy Farming.

"I have been proposing and pursuing the use of locally-produced milk in the National School Feeding Program to help solve malnutrition among school children and to provide livelihood to dairy farmers," Villar told at least 500 farmers, teachers and school children. 

Under RA No. 11037, the school-based milk feeding program, fresh milk and fresh milk-based food products should be included in the fortified meals and cycle menu in schools.

Villar said that she has been pursuing the use of locally-produced milk in the National School Feeding Program to help solve malnutrition among school children and to provide livelihood to dairy farmers.

"We want to further grow and develop our country's milk sector,  and to improve the nutrition of Filipinos, especially the children who need it most," she said.

The province of Bohol celebrates the
5th Milk Festival which was graced
by Senator Cynthia Villar. Photo by Helen Castaño

Long considered a complete food, milk contains calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and potassium. Milk is also a significant source of riboflavin (Vitamin B2) which helps promote healthy skin and eyes, as well as vitamins A and D.

Only two percent of the total national dairy requirement is produced in the country, while 98.2 percent are imports.

In Bohol, at least 2,000 hybrid carabaos are found at the PCC at the 3,000-hectare Ubay Stock Farm in Ubay town.

Farmers who produce carabao’s milk must be able to free themselves from poverty, Villar said, citing the testimony of a housewife, who now earns some PHP18,000 a month from buffalo’s milk.

The housewife, Villar said, having augmented her husband's income, has been delisted from the government's Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program, otherwise known as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

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New Loboc public market eyes February completion

After Ubay, my media colleagues (veteran broadcaster Lito Responte, Rey Chiu, Allen Doydora, Rey Tutas, Edward Guyano, Nilo Sapong and Helen Castaño) and I visited the town of Loboc.

The Loboc Tourism Complex has been undergoing renovations.

The heritage house was transformed into an entrance, while the former ticketing office area would serve as the exit and souvenir area. The second floor serves as a function room.

With at least 3,000 guests a day, Mayor Leon Calipusan said that tourists deserve a spacious terminal building while waiting for their Loboc River cruise.

Loboc Mayor Leon Calipusan shows the
 new Loboc Market.   Photo by Helen Castaño

Mayor Calipusan also toured us to the renovated two-story rural health unit and the almost complete Loboc Market.

He is targeting to complete the P20-million new public market at Barangay Camayaan  in February next year.

“They can expect that it will be a comfortable public market,” Calipusan said.

The ground floor of the public market will have  stalls for fruits, grains vegetable, dairy products, bilao (circular basket), delicatessen, and dry goods sections, while at the back is a terminal building and a separate building for  fish, shell, and meat sections.

It’s building footprint is 600 square meters. The land intended for the public market is five  hectares.

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