LOS ANGELES: The Western-inspired revenge tale “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” swept the female-focused and led Screen Actors Guild Awards Sunday with wins for best ensemble, best actress for Frances McDormand and best supporting actor for Sam Rockwell.
It was almost an exact repeat of the major Golden Globe Awards wins with Gary Oldman also winning best actor for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour” and Allison Janney taking supporting actress for playing Tonya Harding’s mother in “I, Tonya.”
As with many of the awards shows this season, it was the treatment of women in Hollywood that stayed at the forefront of the show, which featured a roster of nearly all female presenters and Kristen Bell as its inaugural host.
“We are living in a watershed moment,” Bell said in her opening monologue, which stayed light and mostly clear of politics. “Let’s make sure that we’re leading the charge with empathy and diligence.”
With many prominent men in Hollywood facing accusations of sexual misconduct, virtually every aspect of awards season has been impacted by the scandal — from questions on the red carpet to anxiety over who might win.
Both James Franco and Aziz Ansari two weeks ago won Golden Globe Awards while wearing Time’s Up pins before being accused of sexual misconduct and in Ansari’s case, aggressive sexual behavior by an anonymous accuser. Both were nominated Sunday and lost, Franco to Oldman and Ansari to William H. Macy for “Shameless.”
Rockwell, who beat out his co-star Woody Harrelson for the award, took his moment on stage to give a shout out to McDormand.
“Frances, you’re a powerhouse,” Rockwell said. “I stand shoulder to shoulder with you and all the incredible women in this room who are trying to make things better. It’s long overdue.”
Most of the comments in the evening were forward-looking. SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris said, “This is not a moment in time. This is a movement.”
Big television winners included NBC’s “This Is Us,” which took the ensemble award for drama and won Sterling K. Brown the outstanding actor award, and HBO’s “Veep,” which got outstanding comedy ensemble and a best actress win for Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
HBO’s “Big Little Lies” picked up best actor in a minizeries wins for both Alexander Skarsgard and Nicole Kidman.
“I’m so grateful today that our careers can go beyond 40 years old,” Kidman said in her acceptance speech. “We are potent and powerful and viable. I just beg that the industry stays behind us because our stories are finally being told.”
“The Crown’s” Claire Foy won best female actor in a drama series for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II.
Lifetime achievement award recipient Morgan Freeman kept his remarks brief after a moving highlight reel of his expansive career and an introduction by Rita Moreno. The Oscar-winner for “Million Dollar Baby” and four-time nominee has over 80 films to his name.
“I’m gonna tell you what’s wrong with this statue,” he said as he wrapped up. “From the back it works, from the front it’s gender specific. Maybe I started something.”
The day’s first awards went to “Game of Thrones” and “Wonder Woman,” which were honored for best stunt ensemble honors.
Producers say the female-forward approach was inspired by last year’s Women’s March, but the show arrived at a time when some of the industry’s biggest names are leading the Time’s Up and Me Too movements to address gender inequality, sexual misconduct, pay disparities and other issues.
The show comes two weeks after a black-dress protest at the Golden Globe Awards, and several stars including Meryl Streep, Emma Stone and Michelle Williams bringing activists to the show. The SAG red carpet saw the return of colorful frocks and far fewer Time’s Up pins — although some actors, like Kumail Nanjiani and Gina Rodriguez, were still sporting theirs.
E! host Giuliana Rancic asked “GLOW” actress Alison Brie about recent allegations of misconduct against her brother-in-law James Franco (Brie is married to actor Dave Franco.)
“I think that above all what we’ve always said is it remains vital that anyone who remains victimized should have the right to speak out and come forward,” Brie said, adding that in the case of Franco, “Not everything that has come forward is fully accurate.”
Franco has also called some of the accusations inaccurate, but after two days of facing questions about the claims on late-night television, “The Disaster Artist” star has kept a lower profile, although he was in attendance at the SAG Awards. He did not attend last week’s Critics’ Choice Awards.
The Globes were the first major awards show forced to confront the sexual misconduct scandal since it exploded in October with dozens of women accusing Harvey Weinstein of harassment and in some instances, rape. (Weinstein has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.)
Weinstein accusers Marisa Tomei and Rosanna Arquette used some of their time presenting an award Sunday to name some of the “silence breakers” in the movement including Asia Argento, Annabella Sciorra, Ashley Judd, Daryl Hannah, Mira Sorvino, Anthony Rapp and Olivia Munn.
“So many powerful voices are no longer silenced by the fear of retaliation,” Arquette said. “We can control our own destiny.”
The SAG Awards are a reliable predictor of the winner for the best actor and actress Academy Awards; this year’s show comes two days before Oscar nominations are announced.
While “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” now has the Golden Globe and SAG win to its name, it lost out to Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy romance “The Shape of Water” at the Producers Guild Awards Saturday night, which is often the most accurate gage of what will ultimately win best picture at the Academy Awards on March 4.
‘Three Billboards’ sweeps female-focused SAG Awards
‘Three Billboards’ sweeps female-focused SAG Awards
Paul Weller, Primal Scream and Annie Mac back Kneecap amid political backlash over pro-Palestine message
DUBAI: English singer Paul Weller, Scottish rock band Primal Scream and Irish host and DJ Annie Mac voiced their support this week for Irish rap group Kneecap, who recently came under fire for displaying a “Free Palestine” message during their performance at the Coachella festival in the US.
The artists joined over 40 others in signing an open letter organized by Kneecap’s record label, Heavenly Recordings, which condemns what it describes as a deliberate attempt to suppress the group’s voice and remove them from public platforms.
The backlash against Kneecap intensified after videos from past performances resurfaced — one from a November 2023 concert in London that appeared to show a member expressing support for Hamas and Hezbollah, and another in which a group member is seen shouting: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”
British politician Kemi Badenoch, who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Conservative Party since November 2024, has since called for legal action to be taken against the group.
Meanwhile, Glastonbury Festival is facing calls to withdraw Kneecap from its upcoming lineup, and several scheduled performances, including one at the Eden Project in Cornwall, have been cancelled.
In an open letter, Kneecap’s label, Heavenly Recordings, claimed the group was facing a deliberate and coordinated effort to silence them and remove their presence from the music scene.
The letter reads: “As artists, we feel the need to register our opposition to any political repression of artistic freedom.”
“In a democracy, no political figures or political parties should have the right to dictate who does and does not play at music festivals or gigs that will be enjoyed by thousands of people.”
“Kneecap are not the story. Gaza is the story. Genocide is the story,” it says. “And the silence, acquiescence and support of those crimes against humanity by the elected British Government is the real story.”
“Solidarity with all artists with the moral courage to speak out against Israeli war crimes, and the ongoing persecution and slaughter of the Palestinian people,” the letter added.
Syrian artists explore themes of forgiveness in Damascus exhibition
- ‘The Path’ is a group show that curator Marwan Tayara says is ‘about healing’
DAMASCUS: In a city battered by years of conflict, a quiet revolution was unfolding earlier this month inside an unfinished concrete shell.
“The Path,” a two-week exhibition curated by the Madad Art Foundation and staged in the once-abandoned skeletal Massar Rose Building in Damascus, confronted Syria’s pain, but, curator Marwan Tayara stressed: “This is not about politics. It’s about healing.”
Tayara — who co-founded Madad alongside the late Buthayna Ali, a fine arts professor whose vision of a show on forgiveness inspired “The Path” — continued: “For us, the artist is a patriot. The bakery feeds the body, and art feeds the soul. The soldier fights for his country, and so does the artist — but with ideas, with beauty.”
Ali, who died in September, had envisioned a show that would offer something softer than some of Madad’s previous exhibitions around topics including war and disaster. “She wanted to make an exhibition about forgiveness but never had the chance,” artist Rala Tarabishi told Arab News. “We decided to do it as a gift for her — and for Syria.”
Even the venue was part of the show’s message. “This is a construction site,” said Tayara. “It’s symbolic. Syria is unfinished. But we’re building. Art has to be part of that process — not just rebuilding walls, but rebuilding identity.”
Tarabishi’s installation, “Embed,” was a forest of resin swords frozen mid-fall, through which visitors could walk. “When I embed my sword into the earth during a fight, I’m putting an end to it — in the most peaceful way,” she said. But none of the swords in “Embed” had yet reached that point. “The closer the sword is to the ground, the closer I am to forgetting, or forgiving,” Tarabishi explained. “Some things are harder to let go of.”
For viewers, she hoped, it would be “as if the swords are memories or people who caused them pain. I wanted them to lean more into forgiveness, so they could live a more peaceful life.”
But for Tarabishi, forgiveness is anything but simple. “It’s very hard. Some things feel too big for us to truly forgive, so we just coexist with our pain instead.”
Eyad Dayoub’s installation, “Crossing,” was equally visceral. Suspended black and red wires hung like fishing nets. “Each level represents a period in Syria — full of darkness and blood,” Dayoub said. “The material looks like something that traps fish. I feel like I’ve been hunted by my country. I’m stuck — I can’t leave it, and I can’t love it either.”
Creating the piece was part-therapy, part-confrontation. “Our dreams were lost. But I’m trying to find love again between me and my country,” he continued, adding that some visitors wept when he explained the symbolism of the piece. “People are ready to feel again. After war, we became numb. But I see us becoming sensitive again.”
If Dayoub’s wires evoked entrapment, Judi Chakhachirou’s work addressed instability. Her installation featured a trembling platform — a metaphor for emotional imbalance. “When someone hasn’t forgiven you — or you haven’t forgiven them — you feel unstable. You don’t know what’s wrong, but you’re not OK,” she said.
Her piece was a message to the living: “Take your chances now. Don’t leave people in your life hurt. Forgive — or at least try. Because one day, it’ll be too late.”
The war has buried so much in silence, she added, that emotions — even tears — feel like progress. “Some people cried when they saw it. Others said it made them feel calm, like they finally understood what was bothering them,” she said. “I hope my next work will be more hopeful.”
For Mariam Al-Fawal, forgiveness is less emotional and more philosophical. Her interactive installation, “A Delicate Balance,” draws on Karl Popper’s formulation of the paradox of tolerance. Visitors can rearrange its colored puzzle pieces on wooden stands to construct a final, diverse pattern.
“If you tolerate all ideologies — including the intolerant — you destroy tolerance itself,” Al-Fawal explained. “Without exclusion, there can be no true inclusion. To see the full picture, you have to flip the pieces, adjust them. That’s how people work too. You can’t have one color, one shape; you have to embrace difference.”
Al-Fawal’s puzzle asks viewers to build balance. “People interacted with it differently,” she said, “But most walked away with a shifted perspective. That’s why I made it interactive: the process carries the message.”
Lamia Saida contributed “To Memory, Once More,” which consisted of a set of blood-red, burned and shredded canvases suspended like raw meat.
“I thought if I wanted to express these memories visually, it had to be meat,” she explained. “That’s what they feel like. That’s why they hang. That’s why they bleed.”
Syria’s trauma, for Saida, is not abstract —it is textured, fleshy, and inescapable. And yet, through art, it is manageable. “Art is more than therapy,” she continued. “When I make something honest, I feel like I forgive people. I find stability.”
Her final painting is a single, steady line. “It’s the calm I reached after expressing everything else,” she said.
More than 400 visitors visited the exhibition daily, according to the organizers. Some brought questions. Some brought grief. Others brought quiet. “Even political officials came,” Tayara said. “Not to control. Just to understand.”
What started as a tribute to a beloved teacher has become a mirror for the country. “All Syrians have this memory of grief,” said Tarabishi. “Whether from war or daily life — it’s what binds us.”
Madad hopes to bring “The Path” to other cities too.
“We believe in the power of art,” said Tayara. “It won’t rebuild Syria alone. But it might rebuild the spirit. That’s where everything begins.”
Kef Hayyak? Seeing Saudi neighborhoods through the eyes of emerging filmmakers
JEDDAH: Eighteen aspiring filmmakers have taken to the streets of their neighborhoods armed with nothing but their phones and a vision for the grassroots documentary challenge, “Kef Hayyak?”
The project, initiated by Art Jameel in collaboration with the Red Sea International Film Festival, invited participants to reflect the spirit of their communities in short documentaries.
Months after the February 2025 open call, the winners have been announced, and their films will premiere as part of the Red Sea Documentary Days this May at Hayy Cinema.
The program, which began as a concept in 2021 and has since grown into an annual platform, continues to break down barriers in filmmaking by expanding access to wider creative communities across Saudi Arabia. For the first time, the 2025 event also welcomed participants from Makkah, with one of the city’s filmmakers making it to the jury-selected top three.
The initiative culminates in a public screening at Hayy Cinema, featuring the three jury-selected winners — Eyad Al-Zahrani’s “Between,” Asia Lajam & Nad’s “A World Between Buildings,” and Alisha Khan’s “Nam Ghar, Jeddah” — alongside two audience favorites, “Hay Alakaber” by Amal Al-Zahrani and Othoub Al-Bedaiwi, and “From the Olives to the Sea” by Haya Al-Bhaisi and Mohammed Khalid.
A jury, comprising head of Hayy Cinema, Zohra Ait El-Jamar, director and actress, Fatima Al-Banawi, and director and actress, Ophelie Legris — evaluated the films based on creativity, relevance and narrative strength.
El-Jamar told Arab News: “‘Kef Hayyak?’ draws its essence from the name of Hayy Jameel and reflects our ongoing mission to connect with new audiences in meaningful ways. The project was first imagined in 2021, and after the success of its first edition, it has grown into an annual platform that empowers emerging filmmakers.
“Through this short documentary film competition, we invite aspiring talents to explore their neighborhoods using just their phones. I created the concept with the vision of breaking down barriers in filmmaking and expanding access to a wider creative community. It’s also a powerful way to document the ever-changing urban fabric of Jeddah — and now Makkah.
“We see this as a powerful launchpad for emerging talent, and we’re actively working to expand the program with deeper mentorship and professional opportunities in the years to come,” she added.
Audience Choice Award winner, Al-Zahrani, who hails from Makkah, said: “The movie covers a neighborhood that lacks identity and how it affects me and the residents in our day-to-day lives. Winning was such a heartwarming experience, seeing my work acknowledged and the story of my people and neighborhood embraced and loved. I plan to keep improving my documentary skills and hope to release a movie about a lawyer later this year.”
Khan’s winning documentary explores the Musrefah neighborhood of Jeddah and its vibrant Desi (Pakistani and Indian) community.
“My film ‘Naam Ghar, Jeddah’ is a documentary film which acts as a time capsule for me to look back on not only my neighborhood but the people living in it, especially the often-overlooked Desi community in Jeddah, where even the people themselves think the outer world is not interested in them,” Khan said.
“It aims to explore their dreams, identities and quiet resilience through simple, human questions, like what is your favorite color or what gives you happiness.”
Khan believes in the power of cinema to humanize and connect communities, emphasizing how platforms such as Hayy Jameel empower storytellers like herself. Her goal is to keep documenting life in Jeddah, capturing its present for future generations.
Al-Bhaisi told Arab News: “‘From the Olives to the Sea’ is a short documentary that explores the contrast and emotional connection between two places — Jeddah, where I feel a deep sense of belonging, and Gaza, the place I’m originally from but never fully connected with.
“Winning the Audience Choice Award honestly means the world to us. It shows that people connected with our story, and that’s all we ever wanted — to be heard, and to make others feel something real.”
Christie’s Islamic and Indian art auction showcases rare pieces
LONDON: Ahead of its “Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds including Rugs and Carpets” auction here on May 1, Christie’s experts recently shared insights with Arab News about the rare lots going under the hammer.
Sara Plumbly, director and head of the Islamic and Indian art department, highlighted an illuminated Kufic Qur’an folio, likely from Damascus, Umayyad Syria, dated to the 8th or 9th century.
“This Surah Al-Baqarah … is very early on in the Qur’an (chapter two titled ‘The Cow’), and you have this wonderful illuminated border. While you often see a line or two thick — here you have this hugely complicated border with beautiful colors.”
Although several illuminated Kufic manuscripts were produced, there were few survivors and generally fragmentary, since their placement at the front of a manuscript meant that they were more exposed to wear and tear, according to Christie’s website.
A collection of 11th century Fatimid gold jewelry caught the eye, to which Plumbly commented: “Jewellery of this type very rarely comes on the market.
“I think one of the reasons is that they are made of gold which is quite fragile and malleable and also, because it is such a precious material, gold is often melted down and used for other objects through the course of history, so it doesn’t survive in great quantities.”
At the pre-sale press exhibition in London, there was also a striking Iznik pottery dish from Ottoman Turkiye, circa 1585-1590. This was complete with bole red, cobalt blue, green and black accents, as well as saz leaves and pomegranates against a background of dense black scrolls.
Louise Broadhurst, director and international head of the department of rugs and carpets, pointed to The Hans Konig Collection of Classical Chinese Carpets.
There was a magnificent Imperial Ming “Qi” Dragon Palace carpet dating from the Wanli period, circa 1575-1600.
“It is one of just seven complete Dragon carpets that remain outside of China,” she explained.
“It would have originally been red in color, woven with a Brazilwood dye which at the time emulated the red that was the Imperial color of the emperor but sadly with time it faded quite rapidly to this sandy yellow color that we see today.
“It displays the ‘Qi’ dragon —a juvenile dragon in a naturalistic life form with cloud-like body, symbolic of an energetic life force. It’s married with the peony which is another symbol for beauty. It would imbue all of the powers that the emperor wanted.”
The live auction is at Christie’s London headquarters with 129 lots set to go under the hammer.
Image Nation Abu Dhabi, Timur Bekmambetov pick eight UAE stories to lead screenlife rollout
ABU DHABI: Ben Ross, CEO of Image Nation Abu Dhabi, joined Kazakh-Russian film director and producer Timur Bekmambetov on Tuesday at the Culture Summit Abu Dhabi to discuss screenlife, a pioneering format developed by Bekmambetov that is coming to the region for the first time.
Screenlife is a style of filmmaking where the entire story takes place on a digital screen — through text messages, video calls, social media and other everyday apps — reflecting how people communicate in today’s tech-driven world. Notable examples include the horror film “Unfriended” (2014) and the mystery thriller “Searching” (2018).
In the session, Ross and Bekmambetov announced that they have selected eight stories from UAE filmmakers to bring to life after the launch of the Screenlife Program in June 2024, which aims to help UAE citizens and residents master this new format and create authentic narratives with global resonance.
“We were drawn to it because it is so innovative and so forward-thinking,” Ross told Arab News. “We enjoyed the screenlife movies, and it just felt like a natural step to evolve it into this region.”
Bekmambetov emphasized the universality of digital communication. “The digital world is the same universally. There is a different cultural element … but every family has a WhatsApp chat with hundreds of people on it. My family in Kazakhstan have one, and the internet in Abu Dhabi is the same,” he told Arab News.
He said that the format is “socially very impactful” and can give voice to those often left out of traditional cinema. “Because it costs nothing, you can tell stories about your individual life with no money. It will help us to engage very different storytellers.”
Ross noted that the selected projects reflect a wide range of stories. “Every story that we have chosen ... stood out in its own way. There’s a huge variety being told — it’s not formulaic.”
Bekmambetov also noted that Muslim women lead very different lifestyles, saying, “maybe screenlife will bring their stories to life,” to which Ross added that some of the stories currently in development already do.
