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The Beverly Hilton held space for the 36th GLAAD Media Awards on Thursday night and “Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo made the whole room tear up with her impactful speech about the importance of using your powers for good.

As the recipient of the Stephen F. Kolzak Award, the Oscar nominee used her time on stage to give a powerful, five-minute call to action for all those in attendance to look out for queer people who have not been afforded the opportunity to live their truth.

“This has been a wild, wild ride and I’ve been deeply grateful for every second of it. But more than anything, I have seen and felt how open-armed my community has been,” Erivo began. “I have spoken about being your whole self and your true self. I speak about the prizes that come from being you against the odds. But rarely do I acknowledge how hard that can be.

“The Good Daughter” limited series adaptation at Peacock has added four new series regulars, Variety has learned.

Olivia Williams, Michael Dorman, Audrey Grace Marshall, and Drew Cheek have all joined the series, which is based on the Karin Slaughter novel of the same name.

They will star alongside previously announced cast members Rose Byrne, Meghann Fahy, Brendan Gleeson, and Harper Steele. Paula Malcomson and Jake McDorman are also set to appear in the series.

The official description for the series states:

“‘The Good Daughter’ is a suspenseful crime drama where sisters Charlotte (Fahy) and Samantha (Byrne) Quinn have spent the last twenty-eight years trying to piece together the lives that were fractured by a single night of violence. When another attack splinters the small town of Pikeville, Charlotte is the first witness on the scene. Now a lawyer like her father, she’s forced to confront her own demons as...

Olivia Williams (Dune: Prophecy), Michael Dorman (Joe Pickett), Audrey Grace Marshall (The Flight Attendant), and Drew Cheek round out the series regular cast of the Peacock limited series The Good Daughter, joining Rose Byrne, Meghann Fahy, Brendan Gleeson and Harper Steele.

The Good Daughter is a suspenseful crime drama where sisters Charlotte (Fahy) and Samantha (Byrne) Quinn have spent the last twenty-eight years trying to piece together the lives that were fractured by a single night of violence. When another attack splinters the small town of Pikeville, Charlotte is the first witness on the scene.

Now a lawyer like her father, she’s forced to confront her demons as the case twists through one shocking revelation after another. In the end, both she and Samantha find themselves wondering if the price of being the good daughter was worth it after all.

Williams will play Harriet ‘Gamma’ Quinn, Dorman will portray Ben,...

The 75th Ace Eddie Awards recognized achievements in film and television editing on Friday night at UCLA’s Royce Hall. The ceremony, originally scheduled for January 18, was postponed due to wildfires in the Los Angeles area. The event shifted from a traditional red-carpet affair to a more casual gathering, with a portion of ticket sales contributing to wildfire relief efforts.

Juliette Welfling won Best Edited Feature Film (Drama) for Emilia Pérez, a musical crime thriller by Jacques Audiard. The film’s approach to blending musical elements with its narrative stood out among competitors like Conclave and Dune: Part Two. Wicked, edited by Myron Kerstein, won in the comedy category, prevailing over Sean Baker’s Anora, which had won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing earlier this month.

In the animated category, The Wild Robot, edited by Mary Blee, took home the award. Will & Harper, a documentary following a cross-country...

Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez,” the embattled musical crime thriller about gender confirmation, was the surprise Feature Dramatic Editing winner, Friday night at the 75th annual Ace Eddie Awards (held at UCLA’s Royce Hall).

Besting such contenders as “Conclave” and “Dune: Part Two,” “Emilia Pérez” editor Juliette Welfling cut against the start and stop rhythms of traditional musicals with sequences that flowed naturally from dialogue to musical moments in this operatic fever dream, starring Best Supporting Oscar winner Zoe Saldaña and controversial Best Actress nominee Karla Sofía Gascón.

In addition, Jon M. Chu’s maximalist “Wicked” musical beat out Sean Baker’s Oscar-winning “Anora” in the comedy category. Editor Myron Kerstein excelled at handling the tonal shifts and blending different genres to explore the volatile friendship between Elphaba/the Wicked Witch (Oscar-nominated Cynthia Erivo) and Galinda/Glinda the Good Witch (Oscar-nominated Ariana Grande).

Originally set for January 18, the ceremony...

The world of Avatar: The Last Airbender is expanding with a new hero.

Nickelodeon has ordered the animated series Avatar: Seven Havens, which centers around a young Earthbender who discovers she’s the new Avatar.

More from TVLineDoctor Who Season 15 Casts Slow Horses' Christopher Chung - Get DetailsGeorgie & Mandy's Father-Son Reunion Revealed: Young Sheldon's George Sr. Returns in New Promo - WATCHIndustry: Harry Lawtey to Exit HBO Drama After 3 Seasons

Seven Havens is “set in a world shattered by a devastating cataclysm,” reads the official synopsis. “A young Earthbender discovers she’s the new Avatar after Korra — but in this dangerous era,...

Exclusive: Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award-winning actor Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin) and Harper Steele (Will & Harper) have joined the cast of the Peacock limited series The Good Daughter in series regular roles alongside Rose Byrne and Meghann Fahy.

Additionally, Paula Malcomson (Death By Lightning) and Jake McDorman (Mrs. Davis) have joined in recurring roles.

Gleeson will portray Rusty; Steele will portray Lenore; Malcomson will play Judith; and McDorman will play Mason aka Huck.

The Good Daughter is a suspenseful crime drama where sisters Charlotte (Fahy) and Samantha (Byrne) Quinn have spent the last twenty-eight years trying to piece together the lives that were fractured by a single night of violence. When another attack splinters the small town of Pikeville, Charlotte is the first witness on the scene.

Now a lawyer like her father, she’s forced to confront her demons as the case twists through one shocking revelation after another.

It was a massively star-studded affair at the SNL50: The Anniversary Special on Sunday evening (February 16) held at Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center in New York City.

Saturday Night Live celebrated it’s 50th anniversary with hundreds of stars who have appeared on the show over the years.

From music stars like Lady Gaga, Sabrina Carpenter and Cher, to actors like Ayo Edebiri, Emma Stone and Anya Taylor-Joy.

Keep reading to find out more…

The late-night sketch show’s special featured many returning sketches, with past and present SNL cast members reprising their characters, and even several celebrities who have hosted reprising their characters!

We have gathered every celebrity, cast member and more’s looks from the red carpet and you can see over 200 below…

Abby Elliott

Adam & Jackie Sandler

Adria Arjona & Jason Momoa

Aidy Bryant

Alex & Hilaria Baldwin

Alex Moffat & Caroline Kingsley Moffat

Al Franken

Al Sharpton

Amelia Dimoldenberg...

During a recent appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” Will Ferrell playfully told Oscar documentary branch voters to “suck it” for snubbing “Will & Harper” in the best doc feature race. Although Ferrell was joking, he voiced a sentiment held by a number of doc branch members.

Netflix acquired “Will & Harper” for a reported eight figures after the film’s acclaimed premiere at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. The doc centers on a road trip Ferrell took with Harper Steele after she came out as transgender 30 years into their friendship. Although it covers a controversial, timely subject matter – gender transition – the film was, thanks in large part to Ferrell’s celebrity status, a success. But that success, depending on who you speak to in the doc branch, could be one reason why the film was not nominated.

Over the last several years, some of the most critically acclaimed,...

It’s impossible to overstate the importance of “Saturday Night Live” on American entertainment. Not only has the show introduced the world to some of the greatest comedic performers of their time, but it’s also been responsible for some of the most iconic sketches and musical performances of the last 50 years. And these documentaries capture the magic of these electric moments.

Given how long “SNL” has been around, it’s surprising how few documentaries about the series there are. What’s even more surprising is how many of those documentaries have been lost in the era of streaming. For example, Kenneth Bowser’s “Saturday Night Live” saga, which included deep dives into the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s, isn’t available to stream anywhere, nor is James Franco’s “Saturday Night”. Even ancillary “SNL” documentaries have been lost to time such as the Andy Kaufman-focused “I’m From Hollywood” or “Who Is Chris Rock?...

Will Ferrell may have jokingly told Oscar voters to “suck it” for failing to nominate his Netflix documentary Will & Harper, but come Feb. 16, the doc’s creative team will be soaking up the love in London at the 2025 BAFTA Film Awards.

Will & Harper, which premiered at Sundance 2024 and hit Netflix in September, follows Ferrell and Harper Steele, longtime friends from their days on Saturday Night Live, where Steele was head writer, as they embark on a cross-country road trip after Ferrell learns Steele is coming out as a trans woman. Throughout the trip, the duo explore this new stage of their relationship in an intimate, moving portrait of friendship and transition.

They’ll be up against some stiff competition — Black Box Diaries, Daughters, No Other Land and Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story — but Steele says that the accolades aren’t the reason they made the doc. “If it’s announced that we win,...

Harper Steele is taking credit for being the first person to incorporate a real drug into an episode of “Saturday Night Live.” The former writer and star of “Will & Harper” sat down with Seth Meyers to talk about how she crossed that live TV taboo.

The sketch happened during Season 26 of the NBC show, which was hosted by Lucy Liu with Jay-Z as the musical guest back in December 2000. Steele wrote a sketch that involved Will Ferrell’s stiff lounge singer Robert Goulet promoting a “rap-and-roll” album with Jay-Z. Throughout the bit, the rapper and two other men repeatedly take drags from a joint. After the sketch was performed during dress rehearsal, Jay-Z asked Steele to see him, a meeting she called “terrifying.”

“I get there between dress and air, and Jay-Z goes, ‘Can we get a real joint?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, you’re Jay-Z. Of course you can,...

Late Night with Seth Meyers is the undisputed late-night TV home for Saturday Night Live nostalgia. The SNL 50th anniversary special coming up makes it the perfect time to spotlight some of the show's best writers.

Seth Meyers didn't go far when he left Saturday Night Live and took over Late Night. He also made good use of his SNL connections by showcasing countless former cast members and writers to help with interviews and sketches on Late Night.

Now, Saturday Night Live's former head writer is handing over his stage to some famous Saturday Night Live writers. Here's who's coming on Late Night with Seth Meyers this week.

Paula Pell

Paula Pell kicks things off when she joins the show on Monday, February 10. She'll be on Late Night with Seth Meyers along with Sing Sing star Colman Domingo.

Pell had a ridiculously productive tenure as an SNL writer from 1995 to 2013. Thanks to her,...

Will Ferrell isn’t very happy with the Academy.

During a recent appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the 57-year-old actor talked about his documentary Will & Harper, in which he goes on a cross-country road trip with his longtime friend Harper Steele, who had just come out as trans.

Despite receiving rave reviews from critics and viewers, the doc was snubbed from the 2025 Oscars in the Best Documentary and Best Song categories.

After Stephen praised the doc, Will teased, “Ask me if we got Oscar-nominated.”

Keep reading to find out more…

“It’s such a good documentary. It’s one of the best documentaries I’ve seen in years,” Stephen raved. “It was beautiful. It was timely. It was heartfelt. I was inspired by it. How [about] the Oscar nomination?”

“We didn’t get it,” Will deadpanned, as Stephen responded, “F–k the Academy.”

“Especially the doc branch.

Will Ferrell is playfully taking a stab at Oscar voters for snubbing the Netflix documentary Will & Harper.

The actor recently made a guest appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, where he jokingly called out The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for not nominating the film.

Will & Harper follows Ferrell and his longtime friend Harper Steele, who embark on a cross-country road trip after Ferrell learns Steele is coming out as a trans woman. Throughout the trip, the duo explores this new stage of their relationship in an intimate portrait of friendship and transition.

After host Stephen Colbert called it “one of the best documentaries I’ve seen in years,” he asked, “How was the Oscar nomination?”

“We didn’t get it,” Ferrell responded, to which Colbert said, “Fuck the Academy!”

“Especially the doc branch,” the You’re Cordially Invited actor quipped. “You don’t want...

Will Ferrell recently appeared on “The Late Show” and humorously roasted the Oscars for snubbing “Will & Harper” in the best documentary category. The movie, which got picked up by Netflix after an acclaimed premiere at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, centers on a road trip Ferrell took with Harper Steele after she came out as transgender 30 years into their friendship. While “Will & Harper” did make the Oscars shortlist of 15 documentaries, it did not end up as one of the five nominees.

“We didn’t get it,” Ferrell told “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert, who kicked things up a notch by proclaiming: “Fuck the Academy!”

“Especially the doc branch,” Ferrell quipped back. “You don’t want to hang out with the doc branch. What a bunch of losers. I hope there’s some of them here tonight: If you’re a member of the doc branch, suck it.

Although Will & Harper won plenty of hearts, it failed to secure an Oscar nomination.

Following the success of his and fellow SNL alum Harper Steele‘s Netflix documentary, Will Ferrell jokingly called out The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for snubbing their film.

“We didn’t get it,” noted Ferrell on The Late Show, before host Stephen Colbert sympathized, “F— the Academy!”

Ferrell added, “Especially the doc branch. You don’t want to hang out with the doc branch. What a bunch of losers. I hope there’s some of them here tonight: If you’re a member of the doc branch, suck it.”

After Will & Harper was shortlisted by the Oscars in December, it did not make the nominee list last month. The titles up for Documentary Feature Film include Black Box Diaries, No Other Land, Porcelain War, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat and Sugarcane. The 97th Academy Awards air live on Sunday,...

Will Ferrell had some choice words for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences recently after his Netflix documentary Will & Harper failed to get nominated for an Oscar.

Directed by Josh Greenbaum, the doc follows Ferrell and longtime friend Harper Steele over the course of a 17-day road trip shortly after Steele's gender transition. It received a slew of nominations and wins late in 2024, but for whatever reason, was snubbed by the Academy this year.

Appearing on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert (seen below), the titular host had nothing but good things to say about Will & Harper, calling it "beautiful, timely, and heartfelt." After mentioning it was "one of the best things" he ever got to be a part of, Ferrell turned to Colbert and said, "Ask me if we got Oscar nominated." Colbert asked, to which the star replied, "We didn't get it."

The late...

Will Ferrell missed out on a shot at an Oscar for his feel-good documentary “Will & Harper,” and he knows exactly who to blame: the doc branch.

During a recent appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Ferrell poked fun at his failure to land a nomination for the film, which follows Ferrell and his longtime friend and “SNL” collaborator Harper Steele as they take a cross-country road trip to bond after Steele comes out as a trans woman. Ferrell’s good-faith efforts to learn the nuances of Steele’s trans experience endeared him to audiences — including Colbert, who began the segment by heaping praise on the documentary and asking Ferrell how it felt to receive an Oscar nomination.

“We didn’t get it,” Ferrell replied.

“Fuck the Academy,” Colbert said to laughter from the audience.

“Especially the doc branch,” Ferrell said. “You don’t want to hang out with the doc branch.

Will Ferrell, who currently threw his hat in the ring for this year’s People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive amidst You’re Cordially Invited’s press tour, once found himself amid major controversy after Get Hard’s release.

Although the film, starring Ferrell as a privileged, white hedge fund manager, boosted $111M at the box office, the movie was bashed by critics and fans over its alleged racist and homophobic undertones.

Will Ferrell in Get Hard | Credit: Warner Bros.

Even though Ferrell did play an overtly ignorant figure in the movie, the Anchorman star did later come forward in its defense.

Will Ferrell addressed the backlash against Get Hard Get Hard | Credit: Warner Bros.

To say that Get Hard was treading on thin ice with its subject matter would be an understatement, as the movie was blasted with racism and homophobia allegations, which made the bulk of the supposed jokes in the movie.

Will Ferrell’s Netflix documentary Will & Harper almost got scrapped before it even began. The acclaimed documentary movie finds the comedian and his long time friend Harper Steele going on a road trip, exploring deep Americana in its entirety.

Will Ferrell, and Harper Steele in Will & Harper | Credits: Netflix

While it is a heartwarming premise for a story, what makes it even more heart-touching is that this is Steele’s first time exploring her beloved country as a trans woman. Steele came out in 2021 to her closest family and friends via an email at 61 years of age.

While she feels some wistfulness for spending so much of her life hiding, she doesn’t want it to hold back anymore. This is when Ferrell suggested the road trip to her, and proposed the idea of a documentary. However, there were complications at the start that almost stopped it from ever happening.

Amazon Prime Video‘s newest dream team, Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon, have teased audiences with what to expect from their upcoming comedy You’re Cordially Invited.

Launching on the streamer worldwide Jan. 30, the movie from writer-director Nicholas Stoller follows Jim (Ferrell) overseeing his daughter’s wedding and Margot (Witherspoon) her younger sister’s. But things go more than awry when the ceremonies are accidentally double-booked into the same — and intimate — wedding venue on an Atlanta island.

“You can expect a rollercoaster ride,” said the comedy king, who was most recently the subject of a Netflix road-trip documentary with long-time friend Harper Steele. Ferrell spoke alongside his new co-star Witherspoon at a London preview of the film Thursday night. “Nick here came up with an amazing premise and in some ways, it feels quite familiar.”

“There are a lot of wedding movies,” he continued, “but this was just really interesting and...

This year’s Academy Award nominations were just announced, shining a spotlight on some of the best movies of the year, plus some pretty bad movies, and also a bunch of stuff that nobody has ever heard of and may or may not actually be real for all we know.

One snub that some fans are clearly disappointed about is the lack of a nomination for Will & Harper in the Best Documentary category. The acclaimed doc followed Will Ferrell and his friend Harper Steele on a cross-country road trip, shortly after her decision to transition in 2021.

Will & Harper also, arguably, deserved a nomination for Best Original Song. In the movie, Ferrell and Steele task Kristen Wiig with penning an anthem for their road trip. The resulting “Harper and Will Go West” is surprisingly good; it’s catchy, and has clever lyrics, such as how it compares the duo to “Thelma and Louise,...

Happy Oscar Noms Day to all the nominees! And to all the bitterly disappointed Almost Nominees! Here are the most notable inclusions and omissions among this year’s crop.

See the full list of Oscar nominations here.

“I’m Still Here” (Sony Pictures Classics)

Surprise: “I’m Still Here”

The Brazilian drama by director Walter Salles (“Central Station”) deservedly popped up in the Best Picture category, after already scoring noms for Best International Film and Best Actress (Fernanda Torres). Most experts were expecting its Best Picture slot to go to “Sing Sing,” “A Real Pain” or “September 5.”

Margaret Qualley on the set of “The Substance” (Mubi)

Snub: Margaret Qualley

The bold and very game actress from “The Substance” could not quite ride that film’s coattails all the way to nomination morning, missing out on a Supporting Actress nod.

Getty Images

Surprise: Sebastian Stan

The actor had been in the awards conversation all season — in fact,...

Harper Steele has seen America through the windows of her trusty station wagon on many occasions, but the cross-country journey documented in the film Will & Harper is different. The former Saturday Night Live head writer and comedian had recently transitioned when longtime creative collaborator and friend Will Ferrell made an intriguing pitch: a road-trip documentary that explored not only the country but uncharted territory in their friendship.

Directed by Josh Greenbaum (The Short Game), Will & Harper follows the comedic pair as they explore the spaces Steele had grown accustomed to visiting on previous voyages — dive bars, diners, sports bars — as her true self. “It’s really a drag when you are yourself and you can’t be that everywhere,” says Steele. “I know, from the other side of it, the weirdness I felt navigating the country as not myself. I say that everything I do now, I haven...

Nominees for the 2025 Oscars will be announced on Jan. 23 — and one category that’s notoriously difficult to forecast is Best Documentary Feature. The Academy shortlist winnowed down the potential nominees to 15 films, but this year’s precursor awards have been all over the map. We’re also dealing with the Documentary Branch of the Academy — a group that has proven to be unpredictable.

In 2024, Gold Derby’s combined odds were able to forecast just two of the five nominees: The eventual winner, 20 Days in Mariupol, and Four Daughters. Scratched from the list were the Producers Guild of America’s top choice, American Symphony, along with Beyond Utopia, which had stacked PGA, Directors Guild of America, and BAFTA nominations, and the Emmy and National Board of Review winner, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie. So what have we learned?

Why we can’t count on the guilds

Last year, the...

Director Josh Greenbaum had been friends with former Saturday Night Live head writer Harper Steele and comedian Will Ferrell for years when they asked him to document on they were planning. Except this wasn’t any old trip: Steele had loved traversing America’s heartland — visiting dive bars and roadside attractions along the way — but since the writer and former Funny or Die creative director had come out as transgender, she’d yet to revisit the open road. “I just don’t know if it loves me back right now,” she says of her country in .

With that in mind, Harper’s friend and longtime collaborator Ferrell decided to accompany Steele from New York to California in her rusty, wood-paneled station wagon for an epic road trip. The long uninterrupted stretches of highway between destinations served as a space for deeper conversations about Harper’s experience with transitioning —discussions they...

Harper Steele remembers the exact moment fellow comedian Will Ferrell became her friend. It was in the mid 90s, when the pair joined the cast and crew of the famed late-night sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. Steele was in the writers’ room, largely unsuccessfully pitching sketches, when an idea she had starring Ferrell finally seemed like it would make it to the live broadcast. The sketch, titled “Zipper Boots,” was about a guy who was obsessed with his shoes. It survived the gauntlet of critique all the way to that week’s dress rehearsal before being cut.

“I was sitting there kind of sad, the way you do when you’ve been cut on rewrite day because now that you don’t have a sketch in the show, you don’t have any value,” she recalls. In walked Ferrell with a pair of Florsheim zipper boots for Steele. The gift,...

“Comedy slowly became rock ‘n’ roll,” says Joe Piscopo, a Saturday Night Live cast member between 1980 and 1984, in the opening episode of SNL 50: Beyond Saturday Night.

The Peacock docuseries, which is exec produced by Morgan Neville, the man behind Fred Rogers doc Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, 20 Feet From Stardom and the Pharrell Williams Lego doc Piece By Piece, tells the story of the venerable NBC sketch comedy show ahead of its 50th anniversary next month.

It features a slew of cast members including Amy Poehler, Andy Samberg, Bill Hader, Bobby Moynihan, Bowen Yang, Cheri Oteri, David Spade, Tina Fey, Ego Nwodim, Fred Armisen, Heidi Gardner, Jason Sudeikis, Jay Pharaoh, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jon Lovitz, Kenan Thompson, Molly Shannon, Pete Davidson, Tracy Morgan, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Rachel Dratch, Will Ferrell, Billy Crystal and Damon Wayans as well as writers and producers such as Alan Zweibel, Al Franken, Harper Steele,...

When Will & Harper made the Oscar shortlist for Documentary Feature, director Josh Greenbaum told Deadline, “I am just absolutely thrilled, and I know I share that emotion with Will and Harper, and the whole team behind the film. Obviously, when you work on something for years, and then you go off and edit it in a dark room with your editor, you never totally know how something is going to be received once you put it out into the world.”

But then acceptance has always been the theme of Will & Harper — acceptance of self, acceptance of family and friends, and acceptance of the people you encounter in life.

Early in the nearly two-hour film, protagonist Harper Steele says with heartbreaking candor, “I love this country so much. I just don’t know if it loves me back right now.”

As a 61-year-old, newly-transitioned woman, Harper felt the pull to travel...

Gold Derby’s top news stories for Jan. 10, 2025 2025 Cinema Eye Honors announces winners

On Thursday, Cinema Eye announced this year’s documentary and nonfiction winners at the New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem. No Other Land, the war doc made by four young Palestinian and Isreali filmmakers, won three trophies including Best Nonfiction Feature. Directors Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, and Rachel Szor shared the award for Debut Feature, while Abraham and Adra were also recognized as Unforgettables for their onscreen appearances. No Other Land is currently the Oscar frontrunner to win Best Documentary Feature. Here is the complete list of winners for the 2025 Cinema Eye Honors:

Nonfiction Feature: No Other Land

Direction: Mati Diop, Dahomey

Editing: Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Rik Chaubet)

Production: Union (Bretty Story, Stephen Mang, Mars Verrone, Samantha Curley, and Martin Dicicco)

Cinematography: Sugarcane (Christopher Lamarca and Emily Kassie)

Original Music...

Last year’s top two documentary titles from the Berlinale continue there winning ways landing the top prizes at last night’s Cinema Eye Honors. Docus that premiered at Sundance dominated the other major categories, with Soundtrack to a Coup d’État, Union, Sugarcane, and The Remarkable Life of Ibelin all taking home awards. As we creep up towards the Oscar noms date, No Other Land (they also took the Best Debut doc) and Dahomey are probable locks for the top five. Here are all the winners

Nonfiction Feature

“No Other Land,” Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor, Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning, Julius Pollux Rothlaender, and Bård Harazi Farbu

Direction

Mati Diop for “Dahomey”

Editing

Rik Chaubet for “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat”

Production

Brett Story, Stephen Maing, Mars Verrone, Samantha Curley, and Martin Dicicco for “Union”

Cinematography

Christopher Lamarca and Emily Kassie for “Sugarcane”

Original...

Even as it continues to seek U.S. distribution, “No Other Land” is continuing its remarkable awards season run. The latest win for the documentary, made by a Palestinian/Israeli collective that includes directors and activists Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, and Basel Adra: a trio of awards at this year’s Cinema Eye Honors.

At the 18th annual Cinema Eye Honors, which took place Thursday, January 9 at the New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem, the film walked away with three awards, including Cinema Eye’s top prize, Outstanding Nonfiction Filmmaking. Directors Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, and Rachel Szor also received the award for Debut Feature, with Abraham and Adra also Honored as Unforgettables for their appearance on screen in the film.

This year’s nominees for the Cinema Eye Honors, which honors the best in documentary fiction and TV, included a healthy crop...

“No Other Land” has been named named the best feature of 2024 at the Cinema Eye Honors, the New York-based documentary awards that were established to celebrate all aspects of nonfiction filmmaking. The show took place on Friday night at the New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem in New York City.

The film was made by two Israeli and two Palestinian filmmakers over the last five years during the conflict in Gaza. It also won the best-feature award at the IDA Documentary Awards, the other major award devoted to nonfiction films.

“Porcelain War” won the Audience Choice Award, the one Cinema Eye category voted on by the public.

The award for directing went to Mati Diop for “Dahomey,” while the production award went to “Union.” “No Other Land” won the award for the best first feature.

“Eno” won for visual design, “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” for editing and sound design,...

Members of the Academy Documentary Branch sifted through 169 eligible nonfiction features to determine this year’s shortlist. The 15 selected films are beautifully crafted docs about interesting and important subjects. Ten docs that made the list premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, while the five remaining debuted at other top-tier festivals, including Berlin, Venice and Toronto.

“No Other Land,” about the resistance of Palestinian activists against forced displacement in the West Bank, won the best documentary prize at the Berlin International Film Festival and recently earned top accolades from the National Board of Review. The film does not have U.S. distribution. Brett Story and Stephen Maing’s “Union,” about a group of current and former Amazon workers attempting to unionize employees, premiered at Sundance. After successful screenings at 50 festivals worldwide, Story and Maing self-released “Union” via Level Ground this fall. Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev’s “Porcelain War” also debuted in Park City,...

What’s the deal with the film Academy’s documentary branch? This season’s shortlist for the best documentary feature Oscar, released Dec. 17, was missing one of the year’s most acclaimed crowd-pleasers, Warner Bros.’ Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story — which is at 98 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, won the top Critics Choice documentary award and is nominated for the Producers Guild’s top doc award — and also impressive documentaries about Martha Stewart (Martha), Celine Dion (I Am: Celine Dion), James Carville (Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid) and John Williams (Music by John Williams), among others.

This isn’t to say that the 15 docs that were shortlisted are lacking — to the contrary, most are excellent. But it does reconfirm the doc branch’s weird aversion, over roughly the past decade, to populist titles.

During that period, the branch declined to shortlist Good Night Oppy, a charmer about a Wall-e-like Mars...

The 50th anniversary of “SNL” is about to kick off.

Acclaimed Academy and Emmy award-winning documentarian Morgan Neville is honoring the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live” with docuseries “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night,” which he executive produces. The four-part series offers a behind-the-scenes look at the history of the beloved sketch series, with each episode taking a different perspective on how the show began.

More than 60 SNL alums are interviewed onscreen, including Amy Poehler, Andy Samberg, Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Molly Shannon, Pete Davidson, Stephen Colbert, Tracy Morgan, Bob Odenkirk, Tina Fey, Seth Meyers, John Mulaney, Larry David, Will Ferrell, Rachel Dratch, and Fred Armisen.

The first installment, “Five Minutes,” is about the audition process. Emmy Award winner Robert Alexander directs the first episode, which includes never-before-seen audition footage and firsthand accounts from alums as they reflect on their preparation and journey to the “SNL” stage.

The second episode,...

Wild and crazy guys, the van down by the river, and, of course, more cowbell – just some of the classic sketches shown in the new trailer released today for Peacock‘s four-part docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night.

“Anybody can do comedy,” former cast member Tracy Morgan says at the start of the trailer before delivering the punchline – “But are you funny?”

The upcoming docuseries promises lots of funny moments from the history of Saturday Night Live. In the trailer, Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon, Will Ferrell, Dana Carvey and Amy Poehler are among the famous faces speaking about the venerable NBC late-night series. Andy Samberg reveals he threw up after auditioning.

The docuseries, Peacock says, will offer a behind-the-scenes look “at some of the American late-night comedy institution’s most iconic elements and rich history.”

The docuseries, executive produced by Morgan Neville, includes four episodes, each taking “a different creative approach...

Peacock has released a first look at SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, a new documentary series that offers a behind-the-scenes look at some of the American late-night comedy institution’s most iconic elements and rich history.

Executive produced by Academy and Emmy Award winner Morgan Neville, SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night streams exclusively on Peacock beginning January 16.

SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night is a four-part docuseries honoring the legacy of SNL, with over 60 contributors, including SNL alumni, and covering decades of SNL history. Spotlighting some of the show’s most iconic elements, each episode delves into the rich history of SNL and pulls back the curtain on the audition process, the writers’ room, the fan favorite “More Cowbell” sketch and the pivotal Season 11.

Each episode of the docuseries takes a different creative approach to the tapestry of Saturday Night Live and embraces the unique vision of their award-winning directors: Emmy Award winner Robert Alexander...

Lorne Michaels created Saturday Night Live and has guided the show through 50 years of comedy. He knows what works and what doesn't, so when one cast member ignored Michaels' note, it carried a heavy consequence.

Save for a five year hiatus, Lorne Michaels has been behind the scenes for everything at SNL. He's hired just about every kind of comedian and let the show (and its humor) change with the times. But he's always had the final say on what makes it to air.

Former cast member Chris Parnell learned that the hard way. In an interview with Cracked, Parnell recalled his favorite sketch. It featured host Bill Murray as Hollywood gynecologist Steve Baxter and Harper Steele wrote it.

"I came out as a song-and-dance man to introduce him, and I was always happy with how that performance came out," Parnell said. "I did this thing where I was getting...

In his eight years on Saturday Night Live, Chris Parnell certainly left a mark. From his dead-on impression of Tom Brokaw, to his famous rapping skills, to his earning the nickname “The Iceman” for never breaking in a sketch, Parnell’s legacy on the show is impressive. There is, however, one thing that sets him apart from every other cast member ever: He’s the only guy to have been fired from the show not once, but twice.

I recently caught up with the presently gainfully employed Parnell to discuss those two dismissals as well as the protest sketch one of the show’s writers put together to express to Lorne Michaels their displeasure with Parnell’s termination.

Before we get into the two ends of your tenure, do you have a favorite moment from your time on the show?

I always enjoyed doing the Weekend Update raps to different...

2024 was a rough year for a lot of folks, and one particular figure, most associated with irrepressible hope and joy, appears to have borne the brunt of it: Buddy the Elf, who showed up to a hockey game in Los Angeles this weekend looking extremely haggard and bedraggled.

On Sunday, Dec. 29, Will Ferrell went to see his beloved Los Angeles Kings play the Philadelphia Flyers, all dressed up in a green-and-yellow ensemble like the one he wore in Jon Favreau’s hit 2003 Christmas movie, Elf. But rather than sporting a...

We are inching closer and closer to the end of the year, which means it is time for many "best of" lists. Every year, Netflix releases hundreds of movies, which is both good and bad because some of the best ones can get lost in the shuffle. As someone who watches as much as he can yearly, I share my favorite Netflix original movies of 2024.

We had the return of an iconic comedy legend, Axel Foley, Glenn Powell wowed us with multiple disguises, and Pablo Larraín finished his biopic trilogy. I always credit Netflix for its wide range of diverse films.

You could be laughing one minute, crying the next, and doing a deep dive into a serial killer the next. This year proved to be very fruitful for Netflix and its original films.

Best Netflix Original movies of 2024Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. (L...

Will & Harper, the Netflix documentary about comedic actor Will Ferrell and his friendship with SNL pal Harper Steele who came out as trans, earned a spot on the coveted Oscar documentary feature shortlist today.

It wasn’t the only shortlist honor for the film directed by Josh Greenbaum. The tune from the closing credits – “Will and Harper Go West,” written by SNL alum Kristen Wiig and Sean Douglas and performed by Wiig – got shortlisted for Best Original Song (Douglas is the son of actor Michael Keaton).

But another high-profile documentary in the running for the shortlist didn’t make the cut: Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, about the late actor who was paralyzed in a horse-riding accident. That film, directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, recently won Best Documentary Feature at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards, and last week earned a nomination for the Producers Guild of America Award.

Songs by Pharrell, Elton John, and Lainey Wilson, as well as multiple selections from Emelia Pérez, have made the Oscars’ shortlist for Best Original Song.

Pharrell’s “Piece by Piece,” the title track from his animated Lego biopic, made the cut, as did John’s “Never Too Late,” co-written with Brandi Carlile and Andrew Watt for his recent documentary. And Wilson secured a shortlist nod for her contribution to Twisters, “Out of Oklahoma,” co-written with Luke Dick and Shane McAnally.

The two songs from Emilia Pérez to make the shortlist...

There’s a big difference between critics groups telling awards groups what they should watch, and lists that represent actual Oscar voters. The shortlists, announced on Tuesday, are actually long lists in 10 Oscar categories, revealing the contenders for animated, documentary, and live-action shorts, crafts such as Hair & Makeup, Sound, and VFX —the branches will soon mount show-and-tells for the voters, or “bakeoffs” — Original Score and Song, and Best International Feature and Documentary Feature.

This is step one on the road to an Oscar: Now, the awards campaigners will kick into high gear to make sure their films make it to the final five nominees. There are plenty of other categories for non-crafty films like “Anora” to land on nominations morning, January 17, 2025.

Netflix is having a good day, landing 15 mentions across nine titles. They landed three out of 15 on the Best Documentary shortlist: Sundance breakouts “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin,” “Daughters,...

Will Ferrell and Harper Steele in ‘Will & Harper’ (Photo Courtesy of Netflix © 2024)

15 documentary feature films and 15 international films made the cut and are shortlisted for the upcoming 97th Academy Awards set for Sunday, March 2, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. Nominees for the 2025 Oscars will be announced on Friday, January 17th.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a total of 10 shortlists including Documentary Short Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, Music (Original Score), Music (Original Song), Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, Sound, and Visual Effects.

2025 Oscars Shortlists

Documentary Feature Film

Fifteen films will advance in the Documentary Feature Film category for the 97th Academy Awards. One hundred sixty-nine films were eligible in the category. Members of the Documentary Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

“The Bibi Files”

“Black Box Diaries”

“Dahomey”

“Daughters”

“Eno”

“Frida”

“Hollywoodgate”

“No Other Land”

“Porcelain War”

“Queendom”

“The Remarkable Life of Ibelin...

“Sugarcane,” “No Other Land,” “Will & Harper,” “Dahomey” and “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” are among the 15 films that made the shortlist in the Oscars’ Best Documentary Feature category, one of 10 shortlists that the Academy announced on Tuesday.

The doc shortlist includes many of the most acclaimed nonfiction films of 2024, including Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie’s “Sugarcane,” which led all nominees at the IDA Documentary Awards, the Cinema Eye Honors and Critics Choice Documentary Awards; Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor and Yuval Abraham’s “No Other Land,” which went on to win at the IDA doc awards; and Mati Diop’s “Dahomey,” which also landed a spot on the International Feature Film list, representing Senegal.

As always, there were snubs, including “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story,” a well-reviewed look at the late actor who famously played the Man of Steel, directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui.

From musicals and body horror to international gems and star-driven documentaries, Tuesday’s Oscar shortlists will reveal who’s acing awards season — and who might be struggling to pass.

The Oscar shortlists in 10 key categories are the awards season equivalent of midterm report cards. For studios and strategists, these announcements offer crucial insight into which contenders resonate with voters and which campaigns might run out of steam. As the industry braces for surprises and snubs, some big players are poised to lead the charge, while others hope for last-minute breakthroughs.

Last year, Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” dominated the shortlists with five mentions, including sound, original score and three songs. However, its omission from makeup and hairstyling — a category where it seemed like a shoo-in — hinted at possible vulnerabilities. Ultimately, the film landed eight Oscar nominations, winning one for Billie Eilish and Finneas’ poignant original song, “What Was I Made For?...

Space was held by Cynthia Erivo while accepting Out’s Out100 Icon Award on Wednesday night in Los Angeles. The “Wicked” star paid homage to her and Ariana Grande’s viral “holding space” interview with the magazine’s Tracy E. Gilchrist.

“According to queer media, I have been all over your social media,” Erivo said to the crowd, adding, “I don’t want you to grow too tired of me. There’s a [‘Wicked’] part two on the way, and we really need to hold space for that and feel the power in that.”

Before leaving the stage, as her “Defying Gravity” from the “Wicked” soundtrack boomed through the speakers, Erivo grabbed the mic and sang along for a snippet. You can watch that here.

Erivo then reunited with Gilchrist to watch drag queen Pattie Gonia’s lip sync performance of – what else? – “Defying Gravity.”

Cynthia Erivo, Pattie Gonia and Tracy E.