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
Trump invested over $1.1m in Netflix bonds at the peak of Warner Bros bidding battle
Financial disclosures show U.S. president also bought Warner Bros Discovery debt during high-stakes media takeover race.
WASHINGTON: New government financial disclosures show that U.S. president Donald Trump purchased more than $1.1 million worth of bonds issued by Netflix over the past three months. The transactions occurred during a period when Netflix was engaged in a competitive bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, a potential merger that the Trump administration had publicly criticised on antitrust grounds.
Between December and January, the president acquired Netflix bonds valued between $1.1 million and $2.25 million. The bonds carry a 5.375 per cent interest rate and are scheduled to mature in November 2029. Financial disclosures also revealed an additional investment in Warner Bros Discovery bonds. The purchase was valued between $500,002 and $1 million, with the debt reportedly bought at roughly 92 cents on the dollar. The bonds are now trading at around 95 cents on the dollar, leaving the position currently in profit.
The timing of the investments has drawn scrutiny because the administration had been openly critical of Netflix’s market activities at the time. While the president’s trust was purchasing the debt, the administration reportedly pressured Netflix to remove board member Susan Rice and expressed concerns that a Netflix–Warner merger could harm competition.
The White House has dismissed conflict-of-interest concerns, stating that the president’s assets are managed independently by his children. Spokesperson Anna Kelly said U.S. presidents are legally exempt from the conflict-of-interest laws that apply to other federal officials.
Despite the financial interest, Netflix ultimately lost the race to acquire Warner Bros Discovery. Paramount Skydance secured the deal on 27 February with a $110 billion offer. The acquisition was backed by Larry Ellison, who guaranteed $40 billion to support the bid, while major lenders including Bank of America, Citigroup and Apollo Global Management provided $39 billion in financing.
The final acquisition leaves the combined Paramount entity carrying roughly $85 billion in debt, while Netflix withdrew its bid roughly two weeks before the official disclosure report was released.
