Hollywood
East Europe dominates Palm Springs Awards
NEW Delhi: ‘Selma’ received the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature while ‘Keep On Keepin’ On’ received the Audience Award for Best Documentary feature, both sponsored by Mercedes Benz, at the 26th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival.
‘Leviathan’ received the FIPRESCI Prize given by the International federation of film critics while Haluk Bilginer and Anne Dorval received the FIPRESCI Acting Prizes.
‘No One’s Child’ was awarded New Voices/New Visions Award; ‘Flowers’ got the Cine Latino Award; ‘Walking Under Water’ won the John Schlesinger Award and ‘Corn Island’ got the HP Bridging The Borders Award.
The Festival held earlier screened 196 films from 65 countries, including 51 of the 83 foreign language entries for this year’s Academy Awards.
Festival director Darryl Macdonald said, “Eastern European filmmakers – both emerging and established – have utterly dominated our juried awards this year: first time feature director Vuk Rsumovic from Serbia takes the New Visions New Voices prize for No One’s Child, the Bridging the Borders award goes to Georgian director George Ovashvili’s Corn Island plus a special jury prize to Kosovo’s Three Windows and a Hanging directed by Isa Qosja, and the Schlesinger award goes to Polish director Eliza Kubarska for her debut documentary Walking Under Water. The power of stories from this region is palpable and infectious.”
The runner-up documentary film was ‘The Salt of the Earth’ (France). Popular documentary selections in alphabetical order included: ‘Back on Board: Greg Louganis’ (USA), ‘Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey’ (USA), ‘How I Got Over’ (USA), ‘Limited Partnership’ (USA), ‘The Breach’ (USA).
The winner and runner-ups were picked on the basis of over 70,000 ballots cast by audience members during the Festival. Both winners received the John Kennedy Statue (“The Entertainer”) specially designed for the Festival.
The 2015 FIPRESCI jury members were Ella Taylor (film critic), Michael Oleszczyk (film critic and scholar) and Ernesto Diezmartínez Guzman (columnist and author).
Hollywood
WBD sets April 23 vote on $110bn Paramount Skydance merger
Investor approval key step, but regulators loom over mega media deal
NEW YORK: Warner Bros. Discovery has set April 23 as the date for shareholders to vote on its proposed $110 billion merger with Paramount Skydance, marking a crucial step in one of the biggest media deals in recent years.
The all-cash transaction offers WBD shareholders $31 per share, a hefty 147 per cent premium to its unaffected stock price, signalling strong intent to push the deal across the finish line. The company’s board has unanimously backed the merger and is urging investors to vote in favour.
Even if shareholders give the green light, the deal is far from done. Regulators in the United States and Europe are expected to scrutinise the merger closely, weighing concerns around competition and potential price impacts for consumers.
To keep investors on side, WBD has built in a safety net. If the deal is not completed by September 30, shareholders will receive a quarterly “ticking fee” of $0.25 per share until closure.
The proposed merger would significantly reshape the media landscape, combining the assets of Warner Bros. Discovery with those linked to Paramount Global and Skydance Media. It would also cement the growing influence of David Ellison, who has been steering Skydance’s aggressive expansion strategy.
“The WBD Board has been guided by the singular principle of securing a transaction that maximises the value of our iconic assets and delivers as much certainty as possible to our shareholders,” said Warner Bros. Discovery board chair Samuel A. Di Piazza Jr.. “This historic transaction will expand consumer choice and create new opportunities for creative talent.”
Warner Bros. Discovery chief executive officer David Zaslav added that the company is working closely with its counterpart to close the deal and unlock value for stakeholders.
With investor backing likely but regulatory hurdles ahead, the proposed merger is shaping up to be a defining moment for the global entertainment industry, where scale, content and competition are increasingly intertwined.
