Black actors reigned at Oscars but will it have lasting impact on Hollywood?

Denzel Washington and Halle Berry made history with their Academy Award wins, but minority groups say diversity must extend beyond Hollywood’s glamour night - and include other groups such as Asians, Hispanics and American Indians.

"What’s historic about equality? Historic for me will be when all people of color are represented and are capable of garnering these awards," said Sonny Skyhawk, president of the advocacy group American Indians in Film.

Skyhawk, an actor who’s appeared in "Young Guns II" and "Geronimo: An American Legend," joined other show-business minority leaders Monday in saying the Oscars and entertainment industry in general was overdue for broader racial representation.

Felix Sanchez, president of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, was optimistic about the significance of the black victories for others.

"This is the new dynamic," he said. "I think we are going to see more and more success stories for minorities ... I hope this means (studios) are going to tap more writers with diverse stories and cast more actors that represent the true face of American diversity."

Some minority Oscar winners include Japanese-born Miyoshi Umeki for her supporting role in 1957’s "Sayonara" and Cambodian native Haing S. Ngor in 1984’s "The Killing Fields." Meanwhile, American Indian actor Graham Greene was nominated for his supporting role in 1990’s "Dances With Wolves."

Chris Wang, an agent with Toronto-based Asian Action Talents management company, said he wants more producers to keep an open mind about casting Asians in roles they might otherwise give to whites.

"It’s going to take a long time for Asian actors to get those roles. It’s not going to change overnight," he said. "But we’ve seen a lot of changes, and it’s getting a lot better for good performers in general."

The Academy Awards have honored Hispanics several times, with Mexican-born Anthony Quinn winning two supporting actor prizes in the 1950s for "Viva Zapata!" and "Lust for Life."

Last year, Puerto Rican Benicio Del Toro took home the supporting actor trophy for "Traffic," and Rita Moreno, also Puerto Rican, received the supporting actress award in 1962 for "West Side Story."

This year, however, the Hispanic community lost a chance for an Oscar when Jennifer Connelly claimed the supporting actress award for playing Alicia Nash, the wife of delusional mathematician John Nash in best-picture winner "A Beautiful Mind."

The real woman she portrayed was born in El Salvador, while Connelly was not.

"It’s unfortunate they portray a real person and the ethnicity is not included," said Manny Alfaro, a New York stage performer and executive director of the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors. "It hurts us who are working, coming up the pipeline."

Some organizations say minorities will have power in front of the camera only when there is more minority representation behind the scenes as directors, writers and producers.

Washington, who received a supporting award for 1989’s "Glory," won this year’s Oscar for playing the flamboyantly corrupt cop in "Training Day," becoming the first black to named best actor since Sidney Poitier for 1963’s "Lilies of the Field." Now that a trail has been blazed for blacks, he suggested, other minority actors now must struggle for more significant roles.

"I don’t recall seeing any Asian Americans, women or men, being recognized and not too many Latin Americans," Washington said on NBC’s "Today" show. "So there is still lot of work (to be done.)"

Washington and Berry became the first black duo to take the top-acting honors, and Berry’s win for "Monster’s Ball" made her the first black woman in history to claim the best actress award.

Kweisi Mfume, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, praised the Academy Awards but said more must be done to promote Hollywood diversity.

"If this is a sign that Hollywood is finally ready to give opportunity and judge performance based on skill and not on skin color, then it is a good thing," Mfume said. "However, if this proves to be a momentary flash in a long history of neglect, then Hollywood has failed to learn the real meaning of equality."

Other black actors predicted Berry’s and Washington’s wins could signal that studios are more comfortable giving prestige roles to minorities.

"It’s one step at a time," said former "L.A. Law" co-star Blair Underwood. "There’s no way that you can go back from the progress made tonight. That window has been opened." Bosnians exult in Oscar win for foreign film SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) - Like most Sarajevans, retired electrician Zijo Sahovic went to bed long before the Academy Awards ceremony was over.

"Nothing nice ever happens to us," Sahovic, 64, said fatalistically.

But Monday dawned with big news for Bosnia: writer-director Danis Tanovic won the Oscar - and the admiration of a nation - for best Foreign-language film for "No Man’s Land," a satire of the 1992-95 war that devastated the country.

"I knew it! I knew it!" an exultant Sahovic told his neighbors as they headed to work in a heavy spring snowfall.

"No, you didn’t. You just hoped, like everybody else," came the reply.

Tanovic was the talk of the town on the streets of Sarajevo, where people seemed eager for some good news in a city still struggling to recover from years of bloody conflict.

"I’m so happy, as if I received the Oscar," said Dzemal Kovac, 40, who sells vegetables at one of the city’s open markets. "It’s time for the world to see that not all Bosnians who go west are refugees, but that there are some good and successful people here."

Tanovic’s violent film is about enemy soldiers - one Bosnian and one Serb - trapped together in a battlefield trench. It captures the absurdity of the war, the cruelty of ethnic hatred and the ineffectiveness of United Nations forces during the conflict.

His father, Mevludin Tanovic, and mother, Hatidza, watched the Oscar ceremony live on Bosnian state television, and reporters massed outside their home in the morning.

"Danis fulfilled all of our expectations," Mevludin Tanovic said. "We invested everything we had into his education. That education, along with an empty suitcase, is all Danis took with him when he left Bosnia. I think Danis achieved a global idea which everybody could recognize, from Cannes to Berlin to Los Angeles."

"Your anti-war movie ... represents a message for all of us living here," Bosnia’s three-member presidency said in a statement congratulating Tanovic for "the biggest success in the history of our filmmaking."

Bosnian Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija sent a letter to the filmmaker, who got his start making documentary films on the front lines of the war, expressing Bosnians’ pride that "No Man’s Land" has won international acclaim.

"The crown came with the Oscar, and Tanovic is an example of talent and determination never having lost a battle," Lagumdzija said.

Tanovic, who left Bosnia in 1994 and now lives in Paris, made the film on a budget of dlrs 1 million, tiny by Hollywood standards.

The movie was shot over six weeks in Slovenia because filming in Bosnia was too risky. The lead roles were played by Branko Djuric, a native Sarajevan, and Rene Bitorajac, who was born in Zagreb, Croatia. When singer Rufus Wainwright saw where he was sitting for dinner at the Elton John AIDS Foundation Oscar party, he thought he’d been banished to a bad table.

"We sat down and nobody was there," he said. "Then Bob Dylan sat down."

The two, both smokers, quickly drew the attention of security in the trendy but smoke-free Moomba’s restaurant.

"We made a pact to light up and then we were whisked away," Wainwright said.

The pair ended up in an enclosed private smoking area.

The highlight of the party for John was watching Ryan Adams talk with Dylan, who won an Oscar last year for best song.

"It was sweet seeing the old and the new together," he told The Associated Press.

Halle Berry wasn’t the only one to break down in tears during her Oscar acceptance speech.

Oprah Winfrey, who was watching the Academy Awards ceremony from the Vanity Fair party at Morton’s restaurant, stood and placed her hand over her heart when Berry’s name was announced for best actress.

When the winner cited Winfrey as a role model, the talk-show host broke down and cried. She also received hugs of support from Diane Sawyer and Diana Ross.

Two others cited by Berry, actress Angela Bassett and actor Warren Beatty were watching the speech from the Vanity Fair party.

Bassett received hugs all around while people came up to slap Beatty on the back.

For retired supermodel Beverly Johnson, it was just as much work keeping up with this week’s whirlwind of Oscar parties as it used to be getting ready for the runway.

"All week I’ve been going to parties. ... This is just the first stop tonight," she said Sunday at Elton John’s soiree.

"I’ve been waxed, flaxed and pulled," Johnson said. "I forgot how difficult it is."

Actor Joe Pantoliano was openly cheering for writer-director Christopher Nolan for a best original screenplay Oscar for "Memento."

Nolan lost out to Julian Fellowes, who won for "Gosford Park."

"When we made this nobody wanted to buy it, nobody wanted to show it," said Pantoliano, one of the stars of the offbeat film about a man struggling with short-term memory loss.

"I think they thought the American public just wouldn’t get it," Pantoliano said. "A hundred and fifty-million dollars later, here we are."

Pantoliano, who will be starring in the upcoming Marvel Comics movie "Daredevil," joked that he was taking lessons Sunday night by talking with reporters at Elton John’s Oscar party. He’ll play a journalist in the movie, and already he’s developed his professional quirks.

"I’m a pad and paper kind of guy," he said. "I don’t like those little recorders."

The Backstreet Boys’ Kevin Richardson reached out and touched someone.

Richardson was handed a cell phone inside the Elton John AIDS Foundation party by Van Cleef and Arpel gemnologist Wael el Saadi and asked to say hello to el Saadi’s cousins in Houston, Texas. He happily obliged.

One of them, Ruba Afifi, said afterward she couldn’t recall what she said to him.

"I think I told him I loved him, like five times," the 16-year-old said by phone.

Richardson told the girls he and the band will be going into the studio soon to work on a new album. He also told her he appreciated her comments.

"I was like really freaked," Ruba said.

The Kodak Theatre

• A $94 million project

• Seating capacity and configuration ranges from 2,200 for live theatre to 3,500 -For concerts and awards

• Largest theater stages

• 113 feet wide and 60 feet deep

• Designed by the internationally - renowned Rockwell Group

Some Oscar Facts

• Oscar’s height : 13 1/2 inches

• Oscar’s weight : 8 1/2 pounds

• Number of Oscars presented at Academy Awards shows or to winners absent from show to date: 2,365

• Number of eligible categories in 1927: 13

• Number of eligible categories in 2002: 25

• How many people it takes to make a statuette: 12

• How long it takes to make a statuette: 20 hours

• Number of Oscars manufactured each year: 50-60

• How many Oscars have been refused: 3

• Number of decorative prop Oscar statues: 65

• Smallest decorative prop Oscar statue: 1-1/2 feet

• Tallest decorative prop Oscar statue: 24 feet

( Sources: RSS, AP, AFP)

Book Review
A chronology of June 1 horror

By Surendra Phuyal

The massacre of most of Nepal’s royal family members in June 1, 2001 has gone down in the history as an event that will haunt Nepali minds for years, if not centuries, to come. Nearly a year on, the ghost of the June 1 massacre continues to haunt every one, people do not appear contented from the findings of the probe commission report made public by Speaker of the House of Representatives Taranath Ranabhat.

It is a different story altogether that most of the people do not yet buy the official version that blames Dipendra for the carnage. The dark conspiracy theories that emerged immediately after the unprecedented "wholesale killing of royalties never seen after the massacre of (Russian) Tsars" may be fading away gradually, but the Nepali people and the world that was equally shocked then, will continue to remain curious for a long time to come.

Nepalis do not even want to recount the horror of the night of June 1 that, according to what we have been told, saw late Crown Prince Dipendra opening fire at his family members gathered for a family dinner before turning the gun on himself. Ten members of the royal family, the entire family of late king Birendra among them, were killed that night, while 15 others survived.

And Nepali people and the world at large got up to believe the unbelievable the next morning. The bodies of the late royalties at the military hospital, the wailing queue of officials that paid last tributes, the enthronement ceremony of king Gyanendra, the funeral procession watched by a tearful city, and the last rites of the royalties...today it all looks like memories of a bad dream.

All this has been carefully and beautifully chronicled by well-known writer Prakash A Raj in his book "Kay Gardeko?", which is Nepali for "What have you done?" Coming from the family of Nepal’s Royal Preceptors, Raj has attempted his best to incorporate all the details about the massacre-and gauge its possible geo-political implications.

It was probably the first book to hit the bookstands in India and Nepal. And what makes this book really worth buying is its glossy cover and pages that have colour pictures of the late Royals and the wailing public’s mood. It is a beautiful pictorial with necessary texts about the most horrific story, which is slowly becoming history.

Starting from the prologue that says, "the king is dead! Long live the king!" and tells how Nepal found itself three monarchs in the space of four tempestuous days", the book attempts to chronicle all the details about the royal massacre in its 16 chapters. But it could have come out better and much more informative had the author spared a little bit more time. Verdict: A must-buy for Nepalis and lovers of Nepal.

Post-mortem of post-1990 corruption scandals

The ten-lettered word corruption is probably the most uttered word in the last 12 years of Nepal’s neo-democracy. It dominated the all the major political discourses and continues to do so. Corruption, coming in the form financial irregularities, misappropriation of funds or embezzlement, thoroughly damaged the popularity of Nepal’s 12-year-old democratic polity.

So deep-rooted it became and so severe the problem grew that even foreign-bilateral and multilateral partners’-ambassadors to Nepal were forced to speak out openly and tell the government to check it. Case in point: the recent meeting of Nepal Development Forum saw Nepal’s donors urging the government to check corruption and ensure good governance, before pledging development funds.

Corruption, as one influential western ambassador put it, has seeped into every level of governance. Financial irregularities, embezzlement of funds, including the money received in foreign loans or grants, were never so rampant in Nepal’s executive, legislative and judiciary than in the last 12 years of democracy. The polity, it seems, also gave Nepal’s politicians, bureaucrats and other public office-bearers, and even those in the judiciary liberty to pocket public funds.

Nepal’s largest mass circulation daily Kantipur’s Senior Reporter Hari Bahadur Thapa’s recent book-Bhrastacharko Salyakriya, which literally means post-mortem of corruption-attempts to chronicle most of the corruption scandals or fiascoes that rocked Nepal’s multi-party democracy.

All these scams ranging from horsetrading of MPs during the hung parliament era to Chase Air and Lauda Air fiascoes, and LC (Letter of Credit) scam to fertilizer scam and misuse of funds in large infrastructure projects have been carefully and luridly chronicled in the book.

Having covered parliamentary affairs right from the beginning of parliamentary democracy in the country, in his first chapter-Madhyarat ma satta ko khel-Thapa beautifully and luridly presents the scene inside the parliament house.

As the MPs restlessly waited the ministers and their fellows to come, responsible political parties and leaders were busy horsetrading, hiding their MPs in capital’s posh hotels and sending a few them to Bangkok. All that for power and equation, which were dangerously misused by such political parties as the Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML, CPN-ML, RPP, NSP etc.

The book contains the inside stories detailing the previous Sher Bahadur Deuba government’s decision to allow the import of duty-free utility vehicles such as Pajero and Prado for parliamentarians, and presents follow-up stories explaining how the sports utility vehicles were misused and rented out to private parties and projects by the elected representatives. All this again to the popular disenchantment.

Nothing could be a better reference than a chapter in the book, which explains at length how successive politicians misused and abused the national flag carrier RNAC as a cash cow. It also explains how different governments and RNAC bigwigs pocketed hefty sums in the name of leasing foreign aircrafts. To sum up: Thapa’s work chronicles both bizarre and simple incidents of mismanagement, financial irregularities and misuse of funds by those occupying public offices.

And, no doubt, the post-1990 politicians have always taken the lead. Based mainly on the news reports, produced by the author himself, auditor general’s reports and countless other probe commission reports and their recommendations, the book has not spared anyone. The culprits are not only the governments led by Girija Prasad Koirala, who ruled most of the post-1990 period, or Sher Bahadur Deuba, equally irresponsible were the several coalition governments formed during the hung parliament days.

Noted satire artiste or cartoonist Batsayan, a.k.a. Durga Baral’s beautiful works add colour’s to Thapa’s work. They make the chapters even more interesting and humorous at times. Except for a few repetitive phrases and words like tajbij and tajbiji and a few others that might be incomprehensible to general readers, the book is a great work.

And at times a cynical Thapa appears to have sensationalized stories in the same way they are done in modern journalism. That makes an interesting reading, though. Verdict: The book is a must-buy for journalists covering corruption or transparency issues and non-governmental organizations, officials, and, most importantly, electorates around the country who vote unscrupulous leaders to power.

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