Latest news with #SpecialAward
France 24
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- France 24
‘The Baku Connection': FRANCE 24 and RFI among winners of European Press Prize award
'The Baku Connection', a sprawling investigation of abuse and impunity in President Ilham Aliyev's Azerbaijan, picked up the Special Award at the annual European Press Press awards ceremony in Bari on Wednesday. Coordinated by Forbidden Stories, the investigation involved 40 journalists from 15 media outlets including FRANCE 24 and RFI. It pursued the work of reporters from Azerbaijan's Abzas Media, who have been in jail since November 2023. Journalists involved included Karina Chabour and Roméo Langlois for FRANCE 24's investigation bureau, Corentin Bainier and Ershad Alijani of the FRANCE 24 Observers, Sébastian Seibt from FRANCE 24's digital newsroom, and RFI's Daniel Vallot. Since its launch in 2017, Forbidden Stories has brought together more than 150 journalists from 60 media outlets, investigating drug cartels, cybersurveillance and environmental damage by the mining industry, among other subjects. Its mission is to continue the work of fellow journalists around the world who have been jailed, murdered or otherwise silenced, thereby ensuring their investigations are pursued and published. The European Press Prize has been awarded annually since 2021, in five different categories. Its aim is to promote high-quality European journalism and to support journalists who face obstacles, threats and attempts to silence them.
The Star
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Star
Roundup: Chinese director Bi Gan wins Special Award at 78th Cannes Film Festival
CANNES, France, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese director Bi Gan won on Saturday the Special Award at the 78th Cannes Film Festival for his epic fiction feature Resurrection, known in Chinese as Kuang Ye Shi Dai. Introducing the first award of the evening, Jury President Juliette Binoche described Resurrection as 'an exceptional movie.'" In his acceptance speech, Bi thanked the Festival and his cast. He also expressed his gratitude for all those who have constantly contributed to the development of cinema. Resurrection, directed by the 35-year-old Bi Gan, premiered late Thursday night. He used this two-hour and forty-minute film to show his love for cinema, starting the movie with a silent movie style. Festival organizers introduced Resurrection as a work that showcases the continued evolution of Bi's creativity, while staying true to the sensory and poetic qualities that define his unique cinematic style. For French film critic Gerard Marion, Resurrection was like a universe. "It's something that I rarely saw in cinema, especially by a Chinese director," he told Xinhua. Bi took the audience to a "very particular universe where we should just let the sound, image, motion and decor take us there," Marion said. In his review, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian, called Bi Gan's Resurrection "bold and ambitious, visually amazing, trippy and woozy in its embrace of hallucination and the heightened meaning of the unreal and the dreamlike." Bi first attended Cannes in 2015 with his debut feature film. The Festival said that he has since established himself as a major player in shaping and defining the new generation of Chinese arthouse cinema. In the press conference after the closing ceremony, Jury President Juliette Binoche said that all members of the Jury agreed to award Bi Gan with the Special Award, because Resurrection "is like a UFO, an amazing invention." For her, Resurrection was so different. "Visually, it really moved me. I found it extraordinary. This film allows for dreams, subtexts that we feel and that are real. It's full of poetry and allows us to feel something within ourselves," she said. For his part, Bi explained why he created Resurrection. "There should be a film about the cinema that can comfort people in this world full of changes," he said. During the closing ceremony, all the awards of the Competition section were announced. Iranian director Jafar Panahi's film A Simple Accident was crowned the Palme d'Or. The Grand Prix was given to the film Sentimental Value directed by Joachim Trier. The Jury Prize was shared by two movies, Sirat directed by Oliver Laxe, and Sound of Falling directed by Mascha Schilinski. Brazilian movie The Secret Agent (Portuguese: O Agente Secreto) was the big winner of the night, taking home Best Director (Kleber Mendonca Filho) and Best Performance by an Actor (Wagner Moura). The Jury gave Best Performance by an Actress to Nadia Melliti for her role in The Little Sister (French: La Petite Derniere). Belgium's famous Dardenne brothers won Best Screenplay for Young Mothers (French: Jeunes Meres). This year, a total of 22 feature films were selected to compete for the Festival's highest honor, the Palme d'Or. The 78th Cannes Film Festival ran from May 13 to 24.
The Star
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Star
1st LD: Chinese director Bi Gan wins Special Award at 78th Cannes Film Festival
CANNES, France, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese director Bi Gan won on Saturday the Special Award at the 78th Cannes Film Festival for his epic fiction feature Resurrection, known in Chinese as Kuang Ye Shi Dai. In his acceptance speech, Bi thanked the Festival and his cast. He also expressed his gratitude for all those who have constantly contributed to the development of cinema. Resurrection, directed by the 35-year-old Bi Gan, premiered late Thursday night. He used this two-hour and forty-minute film to show his love for cinema, starting the movie with a silent movie style. Festival organizers introduced Resurrection as a work that showcases the continued evolution of Bi's creativity, while staying true to the sensory and poetic qualities that define his unique cinematic style. Bi first attended Cannes in 2015 with his debut feature film. The Festival said that he has since established himself as a major player in shaping and defining the new generation of Chinese arthouse cinema. This year, a total of 22 feature films were selected to compete for the Festival's highest honor, the Palme d'Or.
The Star
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Star
Urgent: Chinese director Bi Gan wins Special Award at 78th Cannes Film Festival
CANNES, France, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese director Bi Gan won on Saturday the Special Award at the 78th Cannes Film Festival for his epic fiction feature Resurrection, Kuang Ye Shi Dai in Chinese.
The Star
20-05-2025
- General
- The Star
UM honours endangered language expert with top academic award
KUALA LUMPUR: An endangered language research expert from Universiti Malaya (UM) was honoured with the UM Academic Figure Award during the 14th edition of the UM Excellence Awards (ACUM) on Tuesday (May 20). UM faculty of language and linguistics and department of English language Prof Dr Stefanie Shamila Pillai received the award for her contributions in the field of Malaysian English language varieties and the preservation of heritage languages. The award was presented to her by the UM Chancellor, The Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Shah. Prof Stefanie is the first Malaysian to document and archive endangered languages in Malaysia, specifically the Malaccan Portuguese language, through the Endangered Languages Archive (Endangered Languages Documentation Programme). Her work not only advances academic publications and intellectual property but also fosters partnerships with local language communities through mobile dictionary development and knowledge-sharing initiatives. "Languages are not just about communication, it is also about communicating our culture, our practices, and how we think. "Malaysia has more than 130 languages, many people do not know this. I would say more than 70% of those languages are indigenous languages and the majority are under threat. "It is really important for us to keep using our languages and to document and to revitalise our languages," she said. UM Vice-Chancellor Prof Datuk Seri Dr Noor Azuan Abu Osman said the awards were the university's highest form of recognition for individuals who have demonstrated exceptional achievements in their respective fields. "The individual and collective excellence we celebrate today directly contributes to the enhancement of UM's international reputation," he said during his key address at the ACUM here. A total of 59 staff, individuals, research centres, and corporate bodies were honoured at the ACUM in 45 different categories. Other award categories include the Special Award for High-Impact Individual Contributor, Special Award for Strategic Thinker Partner, Excellent Researcher (Clinical Field), Top Citation Researcher (Science Field), Excellent Academic Administrator (Academic Department), Excellent Academic Staff, and more. The UM ACUM is an annual event held to honour outstanding UM staff and corporate bodies in recognition of their contributions to the university. Also present at the ceremony were UM pro-chancellor Toh Puan Dr Aishah Ong and UM board chairman Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar.
