Tag Archives: Omicron

Oscar Isaac to Make Hosting Debut on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” in March

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Oscar Isaac is locking in his Saturday Plans…

The 42-year-old Guatemalan & Cuban actor will making his hosting debut on NBC’s longtime live sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live.

Oscar IsaacIsaac, who has starred in the Star Wars sequel trilogy as X-wing pilot Poe Dameron, and in X-Men: Apocalypse, is scheduled to host on March 5.

Isaac will be joined by Charli XCX, who had to pull her performance in December after the show was hit by Omicron with a reduced cast and crew for the Paul Rudd-hosted show.

Isaac previously made a cameo on SNL on Saturday, October 23

K.D. Davila Wins Sundance Film Festival’s Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for Dark Comedy Short “Emergency”

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K.D. Davila has a big reason to (sun)dance…

Sundance Film Festival organizers have revealed the award winners for its 2022 edition, with the Mexican-American screenwriter among the honorees.

K.D. Davila

Davila was awarded the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for penning the dark comedy short Emergency.

The 12-minute film centers on a group of college students who must weigh the pros and cons of calling the police when faced with an unusual emergency.

Selenis Leyva was among the winners of the Special Jury Award: Ensemble Cast.

The 49-year-old Cuban and Dominican American actress and former Orange Is the New Black star won her award, alongside John Boyega, Nicole Beharie, Connie Britton, Olivia Washington, London Covington and Michael K Williams for their work in 892, the real-life thriller drama film written and directed by Abi Damaris Corbin and co-written by Kwame Kwei-Armah.

There were several Latinx winners in the World Cinema Dramatic competition…

The Grand Jury Prize went to Alejandro Loayza Grisi’s feature debut, the Bolivian film Utama.

Teresa Sánchez picked up the Special Jury Award: Acting for her work in the Mexican film Dos Estaciones. 

Zélia Duncan, Bruna Linzmeyer, Camila Rocha, Clarissa Ribeiro and Lorre Motta won the Special Jury Award: Ensemble Cast for their work in Brazil’s A wild patience has taken me here from director-writer Érica Sarmet.

Due to the recent Omicron surge, the Sundance Film Festival revealed the award winners via Twitter, with honors spread around across the diverse lineup unlike last year.

Here’s the full list of winners:

FESTIVAL FAVORITE AWARD
Navalny
Director: Daniel Roher

U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION

Audience Award
Cha Cha Real Smooth
Director-Writer: Cooper Raiff

Grand Jury Award
Nanny
Director-Writer: Nikyatu Jusu

Directing
Jamie Dack
Palm Trees and Power Lines

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award
K.D. Dávila
Emergency

Special Jury Award: Ensemble Cast
John Boyega, Nicole Beharie, Selenis Leyva, Connie Britton, Olivia Washington, London Covington and Michael K Williams
892

Special Jury Award: Uncompromising Artistic Vision
Bradley Rust Gray
blood

U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

Audience Award
Navalny
Director: Daniel Roher

Grand Jury Prize
The Exiles (U.S.)
Directors: Ben Klein, Violet Columbus

Directing
Reid Davenport
I Didn’t See You There

Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award
Erin Casper and Jocelyne Chaput
Fire Of Love

Special Jury Award: Impact for Change
Aftershock
Directors: Paula Eiselt, Tonya Lewis Lee

Special Jury Award: Creative Vision
Descendant
Director: Margaret Brown

WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

Audience Award
The Territory (Brazil/Denmark/U.S.)

Grand Jury Prize
All That Breathes (India/UK)
Director: Shaunak Sen

Directing
Simon Lereng Wilmont
A House Made Of Splinters (Denmark)

Special Jury Award: Documentary Craft
The Territory (Brazil/Denmark/U.S.)
Director: Alex Pritz

Special Jury Award: Excellence In Verité Filmmaking
Midwives (Myanmar)
Director: Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing

WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION

Audience Award
Girl Picture (Finland)
Director: Alli Haapasalo

Grand Jury Prize
Utama (Bolvia/Uruguay/France)
Director-Writer: Alejandro Loayza Grisi

Directing
Maryna Er Gorbach
Klondike (Ukraine/Turkey)

Special Jury Award: Innovative Spirit
Leonor Will Never Die (Philippines)
Director-Writer: Martika Ramirez Escobar

Special Jury Award: Acting
Teresa Sánchez
Dos Estaciones (Mexico)

NEXT

Audience Award
Framing Agnes (Canada/U.S.)
Director: Chase Joynt

SHORT FILMS AWARDS

Grand Jury Prize
The Headhunter’s Daughter (Philippines)
Director-Writer: Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan

Jury Award: U.S. Fiction
If I Go Will They Miss Me (U.S.)
Director-writer: Walter Thompson-Hernández

Jury Award: International Fiction
Warsha (France/Lebanon)
Director-writer: Dania Bdeir

Jury Award: Nonfiction
Displaced (Kosovo)
Director-writer: Samir Karahoda

Jury Award: Animation
Night Bus (Taiwan)
Director-writer: Joe Hsieh

Special Jury Award: Ensemble Cast
Zélia Duncan, Bruna Linzmeyer, Camila Rocha, Clarissa Ribeiro and Lorre Motta
A wild patience has taken me here (Brazil)
Director-writer: Érica Sarmet

Special Jury Award: Screenwriting
Sara Driver
Stranger Than Rotterdam with Sara Driver (U.S.)
Directors: Lewie Kloster, Noah Kloster; Writer: Sara Driver

Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize
After Yang

Sundance Institute | Amazon Studios Producers Award for Nonfiction
Su Kim, Free Chol Soo Lee (U.S. Documentary Competition)

Sundance Institute | Amazon Studios Producers Award for Fiction
Amanda Marshall, God’s Country (Premieres)

Sundance Institute | Adobe Mentorship Award for Editing Nonfiction
Toby Shimin

Sundance Institute | Adobe Mentorship Award for Editing Fiction
Dody Dorn

Sundance Institute | NHK Award
Hasan Hadi, The President’s Cake

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham Launches Initiative to Help with COVID-Related School Staffing Shortages

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Michelle Lujan Grisham could be headed back to school…

Facing a dire staffing shortage in schools, the 62-year-old governor of New Mexico has launched an initiative asking state workers and National Guard members to become licensed volunteer substitute K-12 teachers and child care workers.

Michelle Lujan Grisham

Lujan Grisham has completed the registration to become licensed as a substitute teacher, her press secretary Nora Sackett confirmed to CNN.

The move is an effort to help fill staffing gaps and stave off closures across school districts and child care centers because of the rise in Omicron cases.

Volunteers will have to clear a mandatory background check, complete an online substitute teaching training, and then undergo a typical onboarding process done by the school where they’re placed. The new program speeds up approval of the licensing process to two days. Civil servants and Guard members who are currently involved in critical health care roles or administering vaccines are asked not to participate.

Lujan Grisham, who has no prior experience in education, expects to be placed in an elementary school this week, she told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield on Newsroom this weekend.

She said her state was left with no choice but to ask for additional help from the public to get more substitute teachers in New Mexico’s schools.

“There aren’t any other options,” the governor said.

Should a New Mexico school district accept her offer to serve as a substitute, Lujan Grisham says she will donate her services and will not accept payment.

“We’ll have additional information about her placement this upcoming week,” Sackett told CNN. “This work will not require the Lt. Gov. to act as governor.”

The governor is among the 100 — 50 National Guard members and 50 state employees — who have so far signed up for the initiative, according to Lujan Grisham.

“The whole goal is certainly not to interrupt the qualified experienced work that is required in our public schools,” Lujan Grisham said on CNN, adding that the aim of the initiative is to “keep schools open and to support educators, parents, and students through the worst of Omicron.”

Since winter break, roughly 60 school districts and charter schools in New Mexico were forced to switch to remote-learning due to staff members testing positive for COVID-19 or having to isolate or quarantine under CDC recommendations, according to the governor’s office.

Also due to staffing shortages, 75 child care centers have partially or completely closed since the start of the year, according to the governor’s office.

Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent Hilario “Larry” Chavez, whose school district has gone remote, said Wednesday that the initiative will be “instrumental” in helping continue or return to in-person learning and reduce “the stress on our remaining staff who have taken on additional duties.”

“This initiative will help create a stable school environment, as well as help parents who are having to juggle childcare and jobs,” MaryBeth Weeks, the head of New Mexico Parent Teacher Association, said in a statement.

New Mexico is not the only state facing teacher shortages and implementing extraordinary measures to keep classrooms running, such as asking parents or alumni to become substitute teachers or dispatching office administrators.

Bruno Mars’ R&B Superduo Silk Sonic Nominated for Brit Award in International Group Category

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Bruno Mars’ musical change-up is reaping rewards…

The 36-year-old part-Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, record producer, musician and dancer’s musical group with Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic, has been nominated in the international group of the year category for February’s Brit Awards.

Bruno Mars, Silk Sonic, Anderson .PaakThe R&B superduo, formed last year, will face off against ABBA, BTS, Måneskin and rock band The War on Drugs. 

Despite the fast-spreading Omicron variant, the Brit Awards are still scheduled to take place on February 8 at The O2 Arena in London.

Here are the nominees for 2022 Brit Awards in the three international categories:

International group:
ABBA
BTS
Måneskin
Silk Sonic
The War On Drugs 

International artist:
Billie Eilish
Doja Cat
Lil Nas X
Olivia Rodrigo
Taylor Swift

Best international song:
ATB, Topic & A7S – “Your Love (9PM)”
Billie Eilish – “Happier Than Ever”
CKay featuring Joeboy and Kuami Eugene – “Love Nwantiti Remix (Ah Ah Ah)”
Doja Cat featuring SZA – “Kiss Me More”
Drake featuring Lil Baby – “Girls Want Girls”
Galantis, David Guetta & Little Mix – “Heartbreak Anthem”
Jonasu – “Black Magic”
The Kid LAROI. & Justin Bieber – “Stay”
Lil Nas X – “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)”
Lil Tjay & 6lack – “Calling My Phone”
Måneskin – “I Wanna Be Your Slave”
Olivia Rodrigo – “Good 4 U”
Polo G – “Rapstar”
Tiësto – “The Business”
The Weeknd – “Save Your Tears”

The winners in all three of these categories will be chosen by The Brits’ voting academy, which consists of industry professionals.

Ariana DeBose to Make Her Debut as Host on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live”

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Ariana DeBose is preparing for a special late night debut…

The 30-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress/singer, who is earning Oscar buzz for her performance in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, will make her debut as host on NBC’s Saturday Night Live.

Ariana DeBose

DeBose will be joined by Live Life Fast pop star Roddy Ricch, who will be making his debut on the show as the musical guest.

DeBose is well known to the late-night show’s creator Lorne Michaels as she plays Emma in Apple’s Michaels-exec produced comedy series Schmigadoon!

It will be the first show of 2022 for SNL and comes after the show rallied impressively for its COVID-19-hit final episode of 2021, a show that featured only Keenan Thompson and Michael Che from its regular cast as well as special guests Tina Fey and Tom Hanks.

The plan for the January 15 show is to be back with a full cast and crew as well as studio audience, according to Deadline, but given the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, a decision will be made closer to the time.

The show will also be streamed live via Peacock with the remainder of season 47 also airing live on the streaming service at 11:30pm ET.

Saturday Night Live is produced in association with Broadway Video.

Los Temerarios Postpone U.S. Tour Amid Surge in COVID-19 Cases

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Los Temerarios are hitting the pause button…

The Mexican Grupera band, comprised of brothers Adolfo Angel and Gustavo Angel, has postponed its U.S. tour amid a surge in COVID-19 cases across the nation.

Los Temerarios,

In an official press release shared on their social media accounts, Los Temerarios said that due to the “critical situation,” they decided to postpone their 2022 tour — which was set to kick off February 4 — and move it to 2023.

“At this moment, everyone’s health is top priority, and although we want to return to the stage and reunite with our fans, we don’t want to put anyone at risk,” Los Temerarios, led by brothers Gustavo and Adolfo Angel, wrote. Tickets purchased for the 2022 tour will be valid for the new dates, which they’ll be announcing in the upcoming months, according to the post.

The emergence of the highly contagious Omicron variant has resulted in a spike in coronavirus infections across the U.S.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 206.6 million people in the U.S. have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, but the country still hit a record high on January 3 with more than one million people diagnosed with COVID-19, according to data from the John Hopkins University.