Category Archives: Zeitgeist Movement

Womens History Month, which runs through the end of March, is a time to honor the vital role of women in history and celebrate their diverse achievements and stories.

To mark the occasion, the CNET team has come up with a list of inspiring and illuminating movies and TV shows that explore the triumphs and challenges of the female experience. Some are documentaries, of activists, artists, politicians and more. Others are historical dramas that open a window on womens lives in the past, or contemporary takes that feature compelling female characters navigating modern life.

Entertain your brain with the coolest news from streaming to superheroes, memes to video games.

Of course this roundup represents only a sampling of the vast range of available content that would make for great viewing during Womens History Month. Got your own picks? Please share them in the comments.

Zeitgeist Films; video screenshot by Leslie Katz/CNET

You like the internet? Thank Hedy Lamarr: inventor, visionary, sex symbol. Lamarrs story is suffused with transformation and survival; inspiration; invention and reinvention again. The forebear of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, Lamarr was the Jewish-born wife of a businessman with Nazi ties. Her dramatic escape from the regime led to a second life on the silver screen, where Lamarr was judged by her beauty rather than her cutting intellect.

In this 2017 documentary, Lamarr comes to life as a whole person, with thoughts and dreams. Refreshingly unabashed in her groundbreaking role as a contributor to technology and science, Lamarr, in her own words, reveals herself as an innovator who knew her worth.

Jessica Dolcourt

Magnolia Pictures; video screenshot by Leslie Katz/CNET

After the wonderful documentary The Wolfpack, director Crystal Moselle wrote and directed this story about a group of female skaters based in New York who called themselves Skate Kitchen. Most of the cast in this 2018 drama are nonprofessional actors playing a fictionalized version of themselves. Honest and delicate, Skate Kitchen is a beautiful portrayal of teenage girls taking over spaces that too often seem to be reserved for boys.

Marta Franco

Disney Plus

For a true, uplifting story, Hidden Figures ticks all the boxes. The Oscar-nominated biopic follows the Black female mathematicians who were instrumental in helping NASA during the space race. Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson are the names that hopefully youll remember after watching, and the three women are brought to life by the unwaveringly excellent performances of Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Mone.

Jennifer Bisset

Amazon

When I joined my first newsroom in the early 1990s, I had no idea how far women journalists had come in such a short period of time. Then I watched Good Girls Revolt. The single-season series is based on the true story of the young women who worked in the Newsweek newsroom in the late 1960s and faced utterly ridiculous sexism. They worked their butts off as researchers i.e., male reporters assistants yet were never allowed to become reporters or get bylines. They were also paid substantially less than their male counterparts.

This Amazon Original series isnt completely serious, though. I delighted in the fashion, hair, morality and revolutionary feel of the time. And I cringed at the womens (often poor) choices in romantic and sexual partners. I also sent Amazon an incredulous note when this series was canceled after one season. If you give Good Girls Revolt a try, youll understand why.

Natalie Weinstein

Netflix

You have to have pretty thick skin to be an activist in the public eye. But lawyer Gloria Allred has championed womens rights for decades, seeming completely immune to the childish taunts thrown her way. This 2018 documentary is an utterly fascinating look at the life and motivations of one of Americas best-known attorneys.

Rebecca Fleenor

Hulu

This historical miniseries has a stacked cast, including Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne and Sarah Paulson. Blanchett plays Phyllis Schlafly, a conservative activist who caused unexpected backlash to the political movement to pass The Equal Rights Amendment. Prominent feminists of the 70s pop up, like Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan. For a vivid look at history through powerhouse performances, Mrs. America is tremendous.

Jennifer Bisset

Disney

A soaring feel-good movie from 2016 about a young woman who achieves greatness. The best part? Queen of Katwe is based on a true story about the first titled female chess player in Ugandan chess history. Life in the Katwe slum is a constant struggle, but when Phiona Mutesi discovers her talent for chess, she starts believing she can do bigger and greater things. Starring Lupita Nyongo and David Oyelowo, Queen of Katwe is a winning checkmate.

Jennifer Bisset

BBC

Ive often had romantic notions of writers of yore meandering through their days, dreaming of their next story while sipping tea and taking walks through their estates. To watch this 2016 film and learn the brutal reality the Bronte sisters faced is a true wakeup call.

Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte struggled in ways I cannot fathom. They were poor and isolated. Their alcoholic brother drained their family financially and emotionally. And they faced a publishing world that had zero interest in women authors. Yet they wrote and published (under male pseudonyms) some of the greatest works of English literature: Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. This film is simultaneously haunting and inspiring.

Natalie Weinstein

Magnolia Pictures

In the last decade of her life, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg achieved a status her colleagues hadnt: She became a pop culture icon, aka the Notorious RBG. As the 2018 documentary RBG makes clear, it was largely because of her pointed dissents defending everything from reproductive rights to pay equity to voting rights. But long before she sat on the nations highest court, she was fighting for gender equality. In the movie, Gloria Steinem describes her as the closest thing to a superhero I know.

The film features interviews with Ginsburg, her children, granddaughter, friends, former colleagues and even a few politicians those who agreed with her decisions and those who didnt. It also makes good use of audio from the cases she argued in front of the Supreme Court (she won five out of six).

One of those cases is dramatized in the enjoyable but mostly forgettable On the Basis of Sex, which stars Felicity Jones as Ginsburg and includes a powerful cameo by the Notorious RBG at the end. (Its the movies best scene.) Pass the tissues, please.

Anne Dujmovic

Hulu

I Am Greta chronicles the remarkable story of teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg. The 2020 documentary is an intimate look at Thunbergs one-person school strike for climate action outside the Swedish parliament. We also see a little of her life as a shy student with Aspergers. The rare footage is in the sure hands of Swedish director Nathan Grossman, following one young womans galvanizing impact from Sweden to the rest of the world.

Jennifer Bisset

Sky Atlantic

I Hate Suzie is a show that says something that hasnt been said on screen before. Writer Lucy Prebble manages to discuss female identity through low-key lines delivered by her flawed and lost yet powerhouse women. I feel like my whole life Ive just seen everything from other peoples points of view and Ive never asked myself like, What do I want?'

The titular Suzie, played by Billie Piper with a weird, skittish energy, experiences trauma after life-upending pictures on her hacked phone are leaked. Even though the character is a celebrity actress, shes relatable, vulnerable and unpredictable. Its probably too much to say this is a modern Odyssey, but thanks to the frenetic, almost frenzied filmmaking, by the end it feels like youve experienced something big.

Jennifer Bisset

Hollywood Pictures

As someone with immigrant parents, I connected deeply with this 1993 film (and the Amy Tan novel it was based on). But the beautiful, complicated relationships between Chinese immigrant mothers and their American-born daughters can resonate with anyone struggling to navigate complex bonds with people who may have different backgrounds and life experiences.

The film explores the importance of tradition and the power of love to connect people regardless of challenges or differences. It also speaks to the resilience of women to overcome immense difficulties, no matter their background.

Abrar Al-Heeti

Music Box Films; video screenshot by Leslie Katz/CNET

Mary Dores 2014 documentary looks back at the second-wave feminism movement from 1966 to 1971 and interviews a number of pioneers who fought for womens liberation. Its a great quick watch and a helpful reminder that even though young women today are a few generations out from second-wave feminism, there are still important conversations to be had about issues like reproductive rights and gender equality in the workplace.

Rebecca Fleenor

Netflix

This 2020 documentary about the systematic sexual abuse of elite young female gymnasts by USA Gymnasticsteam doctor Larry Nassar is harrowing. But the strength and perseverance of the athletes who went on record with their stories, facing their abuser in court, is nothing short of heroic. Nassar and those who enabled his widespread abuse took so much from these young women. But no one could take away their courage or humanity.

Leslie Katz

Peter Rodis/Netflix

High Priestess of Soul Nina Simone is a legendary singer and activist, and this 2015 film, which uses rare recordings and archival footage,is maybe one of the best documentaries Ive ever seen. It was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 88th Academy Awards. And for good reason.

Mark Serrels

Disney

The tide has turned, so to speak. Instead of the helpless rescued by a prince princesses of yesteryear, Disney has made a sincere effort in the last decade to tell stories that will inspire young girls to be strong and independent. Moana plays a Polynesian teenager who sets out on an oceanic mission to help her people, guided by demigod Maui. Moana, from 2016,is a beautifully animated, well-written film that should be played on repeat for our young sons and daughters.

Rebecca Fleenor

Forty Acres and a Mule; video screenshot by Leslie Katz/CNET

Spike Lees 1986 directorial debut, Shes Gotta Have It still holds up more than three decades later as a comedy, a drama, a romance and a thought piece on race and sexuality. The film follows the incredible Nola Darling as she juggles three men simultaneously, while not letting them define her or her independence. On the upside, once you finish the movie you can start straight away on the Netflix series Lee recently adapted. Its also fantastic.

Rebecca Fleenor

Amazon Prime; video screenshot by Leslie Katz/CNET

This is a filmed version of writer-comedian Heidi Schrecks one-woman show, directed by Marielle Heller (who plays the adoptive mom in The Queens Gambit). It starts out with Schreck giving a talk about the Constitution that she used to give as a teenager, all over the country, to earn college money, which is funny and self-deprecating and nerdy.

But it develops into the story of the women in her family and the ways the nations founding document has circumscribed their freedoms and directly affected their lives. NGL, it gets pretty dark. Wisely, Schreck ends on a high note I wont say more. This is funny, moving and deeply thought-provoking.

Nick Hide

Amazon

As a child of the 1970s and 1980s, I had of course heard of the classic book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. Her autobiography tells the incredibly painful and fascinating story of her childhood. Yet I had no idea who the real woman was until I watched this 2016 documentary.

Her fame as a brilliant poet and author was preceded by decades in the theater as a dancer, singer and actress. She was also an activist who was intensely involved in the civil rights movement and worked with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and James Baldwin. This documentary lays it all out and allows you to soak in Angelous talent, personality, determination and iconoclasm.

Natalie Weinstein

Neon

In 18th century France, a painter is hired to paint the portrait of a woman without her knowing. As they spend time together, the two women become closer until it becomes clear their relationship goes well beyond friendship. Beautiful, sensual and free of the clichs sometimes present in movies about LGBTQ characters, Portrait of a Lady on Fire does an excellent job exploring a passionate, nascent same-sex love.

Marta Franco

Hulu

The Great is one of my most favorite shows from the past few years. This irreverent comedy about the early years of Catherine the Greats marriage doesnt let historical accuracy get in the way of a good story. And it really is a fantastic story. Elle Fanning and Phoebe Fox are brilliant, and Nicholas Hoult is a wonderfully terrible husband you cant help but feel a little sorry for.

Nicole Archer

Apple

Speaking of loose interpretations of history, theres Apple TV Plus Dickinson. The series follows a young Emily Dickinson through her struggles to be seen as a poet and rebel against the strict constraints of 19th century New England society. Dickinson has modern sensibilities yes, there is twerking and R&B, and yes, Whiz Khalifa plays Death but there are really great and raw moments about young women who desperately want to be their true selves and thrive.

Nicole Archer

See the original post here:

Mark Girls's Historical past Month by streaming these motion pictures and TV exhibits - The Shepherd of the Hills Gazette

Patricia Clarkson is reportedly poised to play Lilly Ledbetter in a film about the equal pay advocate's life.

The "Sharp Objects" actress will star in "Lilly," Variety reported Tuesday.

The film, from director Rachel Feldman, is based on the life of the woman after whom former President Obama named his first piece of legislation in 2009, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

Ledbetter, 82, played one of the most prominent roles in the equal pay movement after winning her gender pay discrimination case against her former employer, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.

When the Supreme Court overruled the decision, Ledbetter advocated for legislation to fix the wage gap.

The drama, Feldman says on a promotional site, "tells the story of sexual harassments that morph into David & Goliath legal and moral battles and the uneducated woman who transforms into a warrior for justice, single-handedly changing an American law."

" 'Lilly' captures the zeitgeist of today as women all over the world challenge patriarchal systems of oppressions and inequity," says the team behind the independent film, which is reportedly seeking a distributor.

The real-life Ledbetter endorsed President Biden's White House bidlast March, on Equal Pay Day.

Clarkson, 61, told Variety that when shetold her mother she'd be taking on the role, "she had to put the phone down to catch her breath."

"Playing Lilly is truly an honor," the Academy Award-nominated performer said, "Im thrilled to bring this extraordinary woman to life."

Original post:

Patricia Clarkson to star in biopic about Lilly Ledbetter | TheHill - The Hill

Love Philly? Sign up for the free Billy Penn email newsletter to get everything you need to know about Philadelphia, every day.

Mention Irish potato candy to people not from Philadelphia, and they likely wont know what youre talking about. Then theyll be intrigued to discover theres absolutely no potato in the recipe. For people who grew up in Philly, of course, the St. Patricks Day sweets are a time-honored tradition. Theyre also a perfect example of the idiosyncrasies that define the city.

Learning about the candys non-potato-ness inspired a recent post from Twitter user @ActNormalOrElse, who basically credited the city with giving the entire Atlantic seaboard its personality.

Moving to the East Coast, they wrote, has just been a series of finding out increasingly implausible sounding things about the City of Philadelphia.

The tweet sparked a flood of conversation, much of it positive. Which makes sense, because discussing the shock, surprise, admiration, envy, or horror that meets outsiders when they discover the citys unique features is one of Philadelphias favorite things.

Several other distinguishing traditions, icons, and situations were brought up in the many comments on the thread.

A tired trope like throwing snowballs at Santa was dismissed early on, though it was followed up with a valid example: HitchBots demise, wherein Philly was the endpoint for a Canadian experiment about the kindness of strangers.

There was that time a viral anonymous letter about building a steel furnace to melt bodies of people and animals turned into a real life party on a large vacant lot.

Shoutouts were made to drumline Elmo or Philly Elmo, aka Tony Tone Royster and Positive Movement Entertainment. The troupe first gained fame via a video of them marching outside a scrapyard fire in 2018, and have since become a beloved, sought-after entertainment.

As shown with the Irish potatoes, food plays a big role in the citys identity.

While soft pretzels are found all over the country and the globe, no other region has adopted the shape and style that makes Phillys versions so pleasingly dense and chewy.

Tastykake is so much a staple in local convenience stores that its easy for Philadelphians to forget that the name of the brands most popular treat isnt really a common word outside the Delaware Valley.

A shot-and-beer combo has its own unique name, and theres debate over whether a citywide special counts as one drink or two.

Philadelphias competitive spirit rings loud no matter whats at stake. One newcomer mentioned the backlash spurred by a vegan entry being allowed into a South Philly meatball contest.

Its the birthplace of two of the worlds most famous sports mascots, who both do a good job personifying the distinctive character of their hometown.

Another weird but true concept: You can enjoy the nightlife and culture (and even job opportunities) of NYC and not have to pay exorbitant rents.

Transit issues were also discussed, like the Philadelphia underutilized Regional Rail system (which leaders just this week announced a plan to overhaul).

Is there another large metropolis that allows parking on the median of a main thoroughfare even though its officially illegal?

Then theres the zeitgeist that leads to neighbors offering you a deceased relatives stock of booze if they find out its a brand you like.

Yep. Philly gonna Philly. And the people here wouldnt have it any other way.

Excerpt from:

Welcome to Philadelphia, city of 'implausible sounding things' - Billy Penn

Truth be told, when I started researching this article, I had to double-check the stats. It sounds almost implausible: that out of the 1.9 million people classified as Black currently living in the UK, over 1.1 million happen to live in London. That leaves 800,000 or so Black people spread out across the rest of the country. To put that into perspective, Piers Morgan has more followers on Instagram than there are Black people in the entire British Isles, and he has over nine times more twitter followers than there are Black people outside of London.

The first conclusion is the most obvious: there are relatively few Black people in the UK, and the Black British experience is tied closely to the capital city. Im no exception. I was born in London back in the early 80s, the child immigrants from Ghana, a former British colony. I joined a single digit percentage of Black people living in Britain, and London was my home.

Like a lot of Londoners, I saw my city as the centre of the universe. It always felt like the countrys ideological hub, home to every seat of power, be they political, cultural or economic. As a so-called ethnic minority, I never stopped to consider that I lived in the highest density of people who shared my ethnic background, or skin colour at least. I took it for granted.

And then I moved out. Two years ago, to be exact, when I upped sticks with my family to East Yorkshire. Up North, people call it.

Since leaving London, my eyes have been opened to the realities of living as a minority in Britain. Stepping out and knowing that you might be the only non-white person you see that day (if you happen to catch a reflection); seeing glances turn into lingering stares as your otherness gets noticed; working in environments where you are the only Black member of staff that sort of thing. When youre out on your own, the bubble can soon start to feel claustrophobic.

The sense of community we seek on a social level is the same as that which we crave when it comes to identity. I didnt notice it happening it at the time, but moving out of London stirred an instinct in me to reach out to other people with a shared, lived experience.

One of these people was Chiedu Oraka, a rapper from Hull credited with pioneering the citys grime scene. He also calls himself The Black Yorkshireman. As a nickname, it reveals the perceived discrepancy between Blackness and Yorkshireness (youd look twice if someone ever called themselves The Black Londoner, Im sure). Id actually been aware of Chiedu years before I ever met him, having written about him in my 2017 book about grime, Hold Tight. Suddenly, I found myself in a community of Black people in Yorkshire, of which Chiedu is also part.

Chiedus story is different to mine. His most recent song, The Trials and Tribulations of C.E.O., offers an autobiographical glimpse into what its been like growing up Black in the working class community of North Hull, including racism, near-death experiences and unwanted attention from the law. As Chiedu calmly explains: just because he grew up in Yorkshire, it doesnt mean everythings been gravy.

Which got me thinking. Growing up in London, Black Britains cultural centre, how much was I ever even invited to think about the experiences of Black people elsewhere in the UK? And how far did Londons position as the biggest home to Black Britons blinker me to the realities Ive only started to consider?

My racial identity was thrown into sharp relief when I left London, but meeting Chiedu is proof that I was never as alone as I thought I might be. As stated, Black people definitely exist beyond the M25 weve just got an enforced case of social distancing to deal with. The good news is that geographical barriers are no longer insurmountable. The internet age has made sure of that, offering connectivity and community that can easily transcend physical distance. A year ago, if youd said that people would be happy to meet, work and commune through broadband wireless and laptop screens, many of us would have been incredulous. Its fair to say that Covid 19 has revealed how isolation can make you crave contact and seek support, especially during times of crisis, when things go wrong.

Last year, the worst extent of racial discrimination reached a global audience following the killing of George Floyd, sparking an international movement for change under Black Lives Matter. Suddenly, we were all witness to the ongoing crisis of racism and police brutality that the USA continues to struggle with.

The unhelpful assumption is that what applies to the US applies equally and directly to the UK, as if the experiences of black people is somehow universal, without nuance or distinction. Yes, there are broad ideological brushstrokes at play, but different countries have very different legacies of racism. In Britain, for instance, enslaved Africans toiled far away in colonised islands, earning profits for slaveowners and business owners out of sight and out of mind. Very different to the plantation-era slavery in which enslaved African-Americans lived under the watch of their masters. If British people take Black American narratives as representative of all Black narratives, there is a risk of neglecting the details of our own specific injustices and the histories they are connected to.

Many of the UKs racial injustices are historically centred around London. The list of names is long, victims of deep, societal racism manifested in trauma and tragedy. We live in a country continues to be stained by a legacy of institutional racism, discrimination and bias every bit as shocking as what has happened in the US.

It wasnt until I moved to Yorkshire that I became aware of one of the most shocking examples of racist discrimination in British history. Its the case of Christopher Alder, a former British army paratrooper from Hull, who in 1998 died on the floor of a police station after being arrested and detained. He lay bleeding and unconscious for eleven minutes, while police officers calmly discussed the events that led to his arrest. One officer accused him of faking his injuries and putting on an act, while he lay dying. Christopher Alder was Black.

His sister, Janet Alder, has spent over twenty years campaigning for justice and raising awareness, becoming an advocate of and inspiration for a Black community in need of positive change. It was only 2011 that one of the most appalling scandals in the story was revealed - that the body buried by Christopher Alders family was that of another person entirely; an unbelievably shocking mix-up that once more speaks to the disrespect and discrimination facing Black communities in the UK.

Despite the growing profile of his tragic death, Alders is still not the most prominent name in the public consciousness relating to matters of racial injustice in the UK. I wonder what it is about the internal politics of this country that means that the case of Christopher Alder is not a more overtly prominent national scandal. Why it is that were more likely to hear about American cases of injustice and brutality ahead of examples from our own shores?

Hopefully, perspectives are widening. In 2020 it was announced that Typical, a stage play about Christopher Alders death, is to be adapted into a film. More recently, a documentary series entitled Black Kings Upon Hull featured an interview between Janet Alder and Chiedu Oraka, during which he praised her as not only a freedom fighter and activist, but also the strongest and bravest person hes ever met.

As Black Lives Matter continues to embed itself into the zeitgeist, its surely long overdue for every victim, hero and heroine to be unearthed from across the Black British diaspora. I feel pained about not having been aware of Janet Alders activism until so recently in my own life. I feel like Ive finally been exposed to an injustice that took place hundreds of miles away from my bubble, but one that affects me deeply, in much the same way, perhaps, that the death of George Floyd struck an emotional chord with so many millions who have never stepped foot in Minneapolis. As a movement, Black Lives Matter gained momentum when it broke free of locality, unfurling into the wider consciousness. Once the stories are revealed, our empathies and passions are stirred. Trayvon Martin, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Stephen Lawrence, Sean Rigg and Joy Gardner. We say their names to remember their pain. And we cant do that until we know who they are.

Thats the big conclusion: we need proximity to injustice in order to be moved by it, and we need to pop the bubbles that might stop us from reaching out. Stories like Christopher Alders arent simply shocking examples of social injustice. They are essential pieces of our shared narrative. Without them, the urgency required to light fires and ignite action can find itself dampened, or delayed. If nothing else, these stories prove that marginalised voices need to be heard and marginalised experiences need to be seen, for the collective uplift of not only minority groups, but the dominant majority as well. As a black ex-Londoner, moving outside the UKs black British centre has proven to be as empowering as it is insightful: a reminder that the connections we need are sometimes much closer than we think.

Jeffrey Boakye is the author of Musical Truth: A Musical History of Black Britain in 28 Songs, publishing in June 2021 with Faber Childrens

See more here:

Opinion | Black Sky Thinking | BLM Beyond The M25: Jeffrey Boakye On Black Identity Outside London - The Quietus

Heres the little-known secret to a great football shirt. According to the industrys top designers, the most powerful shirts take fans back to a simpler time before Facebook and Twitter - satisfying a yearning for an era before social media cluttered our minds, when everything was better.

Forget the physical shirt. Shirt design is all about taking you back to happier times, through tribal colour and sheer nostalgia.

Football shirts take us back to a time with no social media, when we were freer and less connected, Inigo Turner, the Adidas design director, tells FourFourTwo. It's about combining technology and cultural immersions and insights surrounding the teams we are covering. We want to tell the stories about the clubs, around the cities, researching the supporters, maybe music scenes.

ADIDAS PREDATORS Its loud and wow and bold! FFT chats to the designer behind the new Adidas Predator Freak boots

He says: Nostalgia is the Zeitgeist. People want to feel very connected to a certain era, when everything was better. There are new trends, but nostalgia is rooted in. There will always be an affection for the past, to good memories.

Turner sees his responsibility in designing football shirts as creating the classics of the future: We want to spark imagination and create something that supporters can connect to, get behind and be interested in, he says.

The Manchester United third shirt this year - it's attracted a lot of controversy. This black and white shirt is dazzling. But it's got a story behind it. And the story which we tried to tell is that the stripes are a part of the culture of the club and ultimately Manchester. Its about their history from 100 years ago, but also about whats relevant now.

Order the Manchester United 2020/21 kit here

This is a world of stripes, zig-zags, abstract patterns, and beauty. Football fans crave design and emphatic colour - tifos, pyros, scarves and so much more help to create the ultimate matchday experience. The colour is an escape from the painful 0-0s, the unimaginable 5-0 losses, the hopeless tactics - this world of football design is an art that gives the supporter an identity. It shatters the tedium and agony that the football fan feels in the stands.

FourFourTwo met some of the unsung heroes of football fan culture to gain a deep insight into how football shirt design tells stories founded on nostalgia.

As well as Inigo Turner, David Hicks and James Webb have created some remarkable football shirts. Hicks designed some of the stunning Roma shirts in the 90s, and Turner and Webb worked on the iconic Arsenal bruised banana revamp from last season, among many others.

ROUND-UP Every Premier League 2020/21 home and away shirt

Webb, an Adidas designer, sees football shirts as bringing us closer in ways that touch us emotionally. Football shirts transcend different generations, he says. Its all about those memories of your first football matches. Now we're in a generation where football shirts are not just for going to the football match - theyre streetwear, and theyre a part of your life.

He believes each club and national team has a unique story to tell. They all have a past. Were not trying to reinvent the past, but we are looking to somewhat celebrate it, He declares. Were also looking into the future. Everything we do has somehow got a story behind it, and its our aim to tell these stories.

Hicks, who used to work for design company Zone, feels the shirt has to resonate with the club, its supporters and community for it to have a meaning. He says, There has to be an emotional and factual reason why a design is chosen, and also something that invokes a feeling, a passion, a goal or moment. It cant be just about the commercial side and led by marketing people. It has to come from the fans, be for the fans, and the team!

Ultimately, the design should express creativity and push the boundaries.

We need to inject more passion into the ideas and then youll see some amazing stuff. For example, the famous Arsenal 2005/06 burgundy kit, Hicks says.

Theres so much love for the design and impact of the football shirt. For the industrys top designers, that stems from their childhood.

Webb was in awe of football shirts and stickers as a kid. I think my earliest football memories are probably of my old man, he recalls. He used to get me the Merlin football stickers for the Premier League. And I was just completely taken away by all the colours and all of the shirts that the teams had. I remember some special shirts - teams like Coventry, Manchester United. Big teams that liked big colours and from there I think it was a pure romance with football shirts.

ALSO READ How the new England kit got made: "We took inspiration from the France 98 shirt fans still love that team"

Turners childhood memories also pushed him to become a shirt designer: I grew up in a family of football supporting brothers, so all my brothers and sisters were Manchester United fans, and all my older brothers had shirts. From a very young age, I was exposed to these shiny, red, three-striped United shirts from the 80s. They were fascinating and I was hooked very early.

I was always into football, so I started drawing my favourite players and shirts. I think that partly connected me to becoming a football shirt designer, Turner says. I just loved it as a kid; you don't really think that shirt designing can be a career. In the 80s, I'm not sure even that sort of job was something I could hope for. But the ingredients were definitely there.

Hicks looks back to 70s football as the root of his passion: I always liked the late 70s Crystal Palace shirts - with the graphic diagonal stripe. Vince Hilaire was the silkiest, most skillful player at the time. I remember watching him in that shirt and it always made me want to play myself.

The thrill for kit designers lies in seeing their work come to life: I remember the day that my boss came in from Diadora with the home and away kits for Romas 1998 season, which I had spent three months working on - I was lucky to keep hold of them and still have them now. I used to play football in the park with my mates on a Thursday night and they all called me Roma as Id wear the shirt for a kickabout!

Its a long journey from design to production. We start off designing up to nearly two years before the shirt is released, Turner says. We decide what stories could we look to do our research on - and we travel and search for these stories. Then we start on the process of designing, which can take a couple of months, meeting with clubs. We get their feedback, and perhaps make alterations to it and then we go to sample.

When the samples are back, we go out to share the products with the club. Hopefully, they like it, we like it. If not we make the tweaks at that point. And then we have a sample round just to check everything is fine before they go into production. Then they come to life.

KITS The best 2020/21 kits from around Europe

And in the production process, innovation is evident. Adidas has transformed its shirts through technology: It always has been focused on innovation. What we do is always informed by our science and technology and our innovations team. And their insight always drives us to new technologies, says Turner.

We used to use what we called Formotion - garments which were cooked, with movement-aiding technology. And we've developed these technologies over time. At the World Cup in 2010, we used Tech Fit and at the 2014 World Cup we introduced AdiZero. Were always looking to innovate and find better solutions to allow the players to play at the highest level. Technology has helped change the football shirt world.

Football shirts are special. Their designers have such a passion for such an art. Webb says: Its all very satisfying. The people you meet, the cultural insights. Were doing a job we love as well, everything sort of goes hand in hand.

You have to pinch yourself, in this job.

While you're here,subscribe to FourFourTwo today and save 37%. All the exclusive interviews, long reads, quizzes and more but with more than a third-off normal price.

NOW READ

TRANSFERSArsene Wenger claims he did all he could to sign Jamie Vardy

SOCIAL MEDIAI once saw Edwin Van Der Sar on the log flume at Legoland - FourFourTwo readers share their most brilliantly mundane footballer encounters

GUIDEPremier League live stream best VPN: how to watch every game from anywhere in the world

Read more here:

"Football shirts are a part of life" - FFT chats to Adidas football designers about how they bring their ideas to reality - FourFourTwo USA

I'm not actually interested in music, Danny L Harle announces over Zoom, a silver animated 3D model of his own head rotating in the background like a logo on top of a luxury car dealership. Its a strange thing for an artist in the middle of promoting a debut album to say, made even stranger by the fact that, to some, Danny L Harle is basically the Fellini of pop production, bringing his distinctive avant-guard sensibilities to collaborations with the likes of Carly Rae Jepsen, Tommy Cash and Caroline Polachek, as well as his own work. I thought I was, he continues, but studying music made me realise that I wasnt. I was interested in the way music makes me feel, and its what I live in pursuit of.

Since emerging in the early-2010s as part of the London-based PC Music collective, Danny L Harle has occupied a space of his own. With an academic background in classical and jazz and a vested interest in pretty much any kind of music that delivers euphoria whether its Max Martin-helmed pop songs, Stravinsky or Scooter Harles wheelhouse is one of simplicity and extremes. Arguably the most mainstream-friendly PC Music affiliate, hes produced, written and remixed for a wide array of artists, from 100 gecs to Ed Sheeran to Nile Rodgers & Chic, while his own 2015 single Broken Flowers scaled the Billboard charts and made it onto Radio 1s A List. His sound, though, is unlike anything else in the charts. You could use any number of adjectives to describe it, among them rubbery and insane, but its probably best summarised by the one that thunders ahead of his name in his producer tag, declaring: HUGE.

By contrast, Harle is an unassuming character in many ways; usually wearing some black rimmed glasses and a button-up shirt like any 30-something found knocking about a Zone 2 coffee shop. But theres also a mischievous streak that suggests he knows something you dont, like a professor whos just asked a trick question, or a childrens TV presenter biding their time before they gunge the guest. As a teenager, he was an introvert. He spent most of his time in his bedroom, on the computer. He didnt go out, he didnt party, and the first time he experienced the kind of club music hes interested in, in an actual club setting, was in his late-twenties at an event he threw himself. As a result, Harles take on things is rooted in imagination, and thats ultimately what defines his music. Whether its the pop smash Super Natural with Carly Rae Jepsen or a more industrial banger like 1UL, his sound has a surreal quality that combines the melancholic euphoria of 00s trance and hardcore with the depth and immensity of modern production. He takes something dream-like, and makes it feel tangible.

Its a very mysterious thing, euphoria. Its quite elusive. Its kind of like trying to go to sleep, it sort of creeps up on you, he says. Because my experience of music is largely between me and headphones, it's often about [things like] playing the right song at the right time. It just captures something.

The hyperreal, hyper-manufactured nature of PC Music aesthetics which initially saw each artist grilled under suspicion of irony has proven to be incredibly fertile ground for world-building. It is, perhaps, no surprise that the late icon SOPHIE, who quite literally built a new world of sound from scratch, found herself at the helm of modern pop at a time when reality itself has felt simultaneously chaotic and boring. Escapism has always been the modus operandi of pop music, but what if it wasnt just a method of transportation available on Spotify, on the radio, or in a club between the hours of 12 and 6AM? What if it was a literal destination something you could experience anywhere, anytime?

Enter: Harlecore.

For the last four years Danny L Harle has been working, in one capacity or another, on Harlecore his long-awaited debut album, released through Mad Decent and accompanied by an interactive virtual club experience. Manifested in collaboration with the digital performance and image studio Team Rolfes and commanded by four resident DJs DJ Danny, DJ Mayhem, DJ Ocean and MC Boing Club Harlecore is an eternal rave, set in an alternate universe, held at the only venue able to accommodate it: the internet. Doors are open 24 hours a day; there's no kick-out time; everything in its four rooms is happening constantly, forever. The project is rooted in Harles love of hardcore, rave and makina music, and revolves around a specific sentence that expresses the "immediacy" that connects him to it all: this music sounds the way I feel.

I came to a conclusion at the end of my studies that the music I make should actually just be a collection of the things I think sound good all in a row, Harle explains. Which sounds really stupid, but its getting to grips with how simple music really is, and how thinking about it too much just for a second kind of damages the experience. I got so bogged down in the making of music that I forgot its not even about music, its about feeling, and music being the method of transport on which you get to a location. When somebody else makes a thing that expresses a thing that you feel, its like a form of communication.

Harlecore, then as an experience, as well as a collection of songs is also his very own language. It's such a personal expression of what I like. It's literally a scavengers combination of all these influences with other stuff from the past and my own takes on things, he says. This project is so uncompromisingly exactly what I want to hear.

The world today is a very different place than it was in 2017, when the Harlecore seed was planted. For one, the ongoing pandemic has shut down the entire night time economy and turned everyone into an introvert by law, which, unsurprisingly, hasnt had much of an impact on Harles day-to-day. Hes been spending most of his time doing what he was doing anyway: playing Call Of Duty (for my sins), making music and hanging out with his wife, Poppy, and two-year-old daughter, Nico. The pandemic has kind of forced everybody to live in their own inner worlds much more, but there are certain types of people, like me, who are used to doing that anyway, he says.

One way the pandemic has had an impact, however, is by normalising the concept of an online rave on a global scale. For the past year, Zoom parties like Club Quarantine and DJ sets on servers like Discord have been the only opportunities for people to engage with music en masse in real time, making that one element of a fairly high concept project that needs absolutely no introduction.

I'm all too familiar with releasing stuff that is either conceptually or aesthetically new to people, and it kind of being relegated into a weird category because the world didnt have context for it at the time, Harle explains. Imagine I'd come to you with the idea of a club that exists in a kind of Event Horizon world, which isnt quite in our world, before any of this. Maybe more nerdy people wouldve been into it, but I dont think it wouldve resonated in the way that it currently is.

It is a pretty mad idea, to be fair. Harlecores four DJs take the shape of: a jellyfish (DJ Ocean, who flies around a bioluminescent forest on the roof of the club, known as the Ocean Floor), a sentient bouncy ball (MC Boing, who zips around his zero-gravity Bounce Room), a swole pig man (DJ Mayhem, the true spirit of beast mode, who resides in a dungeon he constantly smashes up with a hammer), and DJ Danny the embodiment of euphoria, who acts as a divine conduit and looks like Danny L Harle if he were one of the ghostly trio in Brad Silberlings Casper. On top of that, the entire concept is based on Danny L Harles emotional experience of music, while Danny himself takes a backseat.

If anything, Im the janitor, he says of his own position in the Harlecore universe. No, the fact of the matter is Im not actually there at all, because its not [in this world]. Its a kind of shared space for everybody to meet at this temple of euphoria, and the way in which people meet there is not as themselves. Its all about an individual experience there.

The first notable genesis point for Harlecore was at a Hudson Mohawke show in LA. During his set, HudMo dropped a track by Scott Brown the pioneering Glaswegian hardcore DJ who has been one of the biggest influences on Harles own work, alongside The Prodigys Liam Howlett. Afterwards, he DMd HudMo on Instagram asking if he wanted to collaborate, and got a response straight away.

I knew that hardcore would mean the same to him as it does to me, which is this specific trance influenced post-happy hardcore era of music from the 00s, Harle explains. We started making this music that really related to the rave stuff that I'd been making, but it had a whole new take because it had HudMos drums at the centre. So it had this beast mode fury with a euphoric stamp that we both really responded to.

This collaboration between Harle and HudMo led to a series of club nights under the Harlecore banner. Harlecore One took place in September 2017 at The Waiting Room in London, featuring DJ Mayhem (a moniker HudMo had already been using for his hardcore shows in Glasgow), MC Boing (a pre-existing character, influenced by makina, that was a product of Harle and fellow PC Music member Lil Data in the studio), DJ Danny and the Italian artist/DJ Gabber Eleganza, among others.

That was an important moment, because it solidified DJ Mayhem, DJ Danny and MC Boing, Harle says. It became clear that there were these different styles of music that were all achieving the same thing, under the moniker of Harlecore.

The club nights continued in different iterations, including a collaboration with event organisers / fellow euphoria-chasers Planet Fun (run by DJ Fingerblast, Count Baldor, Peggy Viennetta and Trancey Beaker), a late night take-over of Southbank Centre and, at Harlecore Five, a set from the legendary Scott Brown himself. With immediacy at its heart, Harlecore is intended to be as organic an experience as possible. I often write music just before I go on stage, especially rave music, so theres no doubt that the music that you hear inside Club Harlecore is the music of Club Harlecore. Youre hearing music being generated in its home state, like that is where it lives, Harle explains.

Rave as a social and political movement had already peaked by the time Harle, now in his early-thirties, was old enough to appreciate it. After facing widespread public condemnation under Thatcher, rave was stigmatised socially and increasingly criminalised through legislation such as The Entertainment (Increased Penalties) Act, which allowed fines of up to 20,000 for hosting illegal raves or parties, and the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, which gave police the powers to target gatherings of over 100 people listening to music at night. By the 00s, what was once considered to be the biggest youth revolution for decades the second summer of love had been reduced to a caricature, an easy punch-line for people who focussed on the drug culture above all else.

I think it's still regarded a little as a curiosity, when perhaps it deserves to be taken more seriously as an important development in UK music culture, says Jack Armitage, aka Lil Data, whose own experiences of clubbing took off when he moved to Leeds for university in 2009. While there was little in the way of rave/hardcore happening then, it was boom era for pioneering nights like Hessle Audio and Cosmic Slop, with their roots planted firmly in dance music history.

In this project I've been accessing hardcore through childhood memories, and combining it with the energy of those early club experiences, he continues. People my age seem to be into UK Rave Comments, watching old videos of people throwing shapes and gurning, and hearing the stories of wild goose chases with the police. But there's clearly a lot more to it than that, in terms of cultural and political rebellion, the impact it had on ravers' lives, and the network of labels, events and venues that held it together. I'm willing to assume there's a lot of untold histories too, particularly from women and minority voices in the scene, and I think this is a good moment for those to start being told.

Commercial crossover artists like Scooter, DJ Sammy and Darude were getting plenty of time on radio, music video channels and compilation CDs throughout the 00s, but rave culture itself had fallen out of the zeitgeist. For all its cultural significance and symbolic victories, the music at the core of the movement never got its flowers. As always, though, it never disappeared it just evolved, moved elsewhere, went deeper underground. Many of the young adults around me in south east Manchester were blasting Wigan Pier CDs in their cars, and sharing their mates' MC freestyles on their phones (in extremely poor quality!) Armitage remembers.

Its a historic British thing to be very flagillistic about our own acts and culture while constantly making pioneering world class stuff, Harle adds. Embarrassingly enough it often takes an American to come here and tell us that we're culturally significant, which is actually the opposite of how most British people think the way British culture works. Here he also points to grime one of the most significant developments in UK music history, which went largely unrecognised until Kanye West smuggled it on stage at the Brit Awards in 2015 as an example. Until Kanye said Yo, Skepta we were actively trying to get rid of it, he says.

A big motivation behind Harlecore was to bring rave and hardcore music back into a collective environment. People didnt play that music in the south of England, or in London at least, Harle tells me. But my dad is from Newcastle so we go up there quite a lot, and you see adverts for Clubland compilations being advertised on TV. That was definitely something I recall having an effect on me when I was young. My brother explained to me once the further north you go, the louder and faster the music gets. I really like the thought of that.

Incidentally, it wasnt until they took Harelecore to America that the project began to take its full shape. Without the specific historical context of UK and European club culture, the crowd reaction in the US was enthusiastic, but very different, which prompted Harle to start thinking about it in a different way. I was always thinking about a way of presenting this music that would show its context and express the way it makes me feel, and express the dream way for it to be consumed as music, rather than it just being something that I wrote thats streaming on Spotify or whatever, he says. But I didnt want to write a long essay for people to have to read. So the challenge was to show people what this music is and how it is to be listened to, rather than tell them.

And so Harlecore a club night, an album, a virtual experience became a way for people to fully immerse themselves not just in this kind of music as filtered through Dannys imagination, but in the social and cultural history of it as well.

When it came to putting the album together, Harle had distilled his writing process into three distinct channels each of them defined by how much time hes willing to wait, and how much time hes willing to assume the listener is willing to wait, before euphoria is achieved.

The third channel is an avant-garde, classical space, (where theres absolutely no pressure to deliver everything up front), the middle channel is what he would consider to be his poppier Danny L Harle output (where theres slightly more time to wait, and some things that need to be established before the moment of ascension), and then theres the first channel: Harlecore.

Harlecore delivers the euphoria in the fastest amount of time, using known formulas for delivering it, he reasons. Its kind of like the sweets or the fast food of this experience and thats no disparaging term, Im a big fan of sweets and fast food, but thats very much what this us: giving up the goods immediately. A fast-track to euphoria, is what it is.

Thirteen tracks of jumbo synths and adrenaline, Harlecore is the sonic equivalent to being at a pop-up fairground and having a go on every single ride, over and over again. MC Boing whips you around, DJ Mayhem knocks you about, DJ Ocean gently sways you from side to side, and DJ Danny is the air hitting you in the face and the gravity making your stomach flip throughout.

Opening with Where Are You Now a pounding hard trance track that sounds like falling in love and having your heart broken at the same time and ending with Ti Amo, a menacing Italian gabber take on Golden Brown by The Stranglers, Harlecore hits every single tastebud at once. Theres no shape or climax to the album, because its climaxing constantly, serving everything from rushing trance to punishing hardcore, ethereal ambient to manic makina. Like the rave music that inspired it, simplicity is its strength, with each track revolving around a particular melody or phrase. MC Boings songs, Im told by a reliable source, are written in less time than it takes to actually listen to them.

If you think about a rave track its basically just drums and one other thing most of the time, so the other things gotta be pretty good if its going to sustain you, Harle says, attributing the appeal to two characteristics: a really human, primal element, and a serious riff. I feel like Liam Howlett and Scott Brown are the two best riff writers the UK has ever seen. When one of [Scotts] riffs comes out on one of his tracks, Im just like there it is, theres that feeling.

For a long time, Harle put rave music in a category of its own. I thought my job was going to be doing this serious classical stuff, as it were, and that the fun stuff was just personal. It took me about 12 years to realise that it's actually the other way around. That the thing that people are interested in is the fun stuff, and using the word fun is just a way of protecting myself from being vulnerable in front of people, he reflects. His dad, the celebrated composer, saxophonist and producer John Harle, apparently told him this very early on, but it took a long time to get there. This quite cynical idea I had, that you can make music disingenuously, was increasingly dispelled throughout my career.

Turning Harlecore into its own universe brings it back to something that ran through the original rave movement in the late 80s and 90s, which was a powerful sense of collectivism. In the video for lead single On A Mountain, the viewer ascends with DJ Danny on a mountain that shoots up through the club. You reach a euphoric plain, visualised in the video as a sort of Ministry Of Sound take on 2001: Space Odysseys Stargate Sequence, before descending back into the club. Then you look around and see mountains everywhere, because ravers all around you have had the exact same experience. Individual, but together.

The type of euphoria that I experience is kind of like an escape from reality. I guess this club is where I escape to, and its letting everybody into this place so they can experience the same thing as me, and see it, and not require anything to be explained, Harle says. People liking this concept and resonating with it will mean that there is a very clear shared outlook and experience thats being communicated that wasnt there before. For me, thats a very comforting idea. Just this feeling that youre not alone, basically. As much as it seems obvious that were not, from an emotional stand-point, its quite an amazing feeling to know that youre not, Harle says.

The different artists in Harlecore are all trying to achieve euphoria as well, and they all have their own ways of doing it, he adds. No matter whats happening in the world, with all the inconsistencies and unpredictability, the eternal rave is always happening.

@emmaggarland

Harlecore is out now via Mad Decent in the UK and US. Enter the eternal rave here, from 5PM GMT on the 26th of February.

See the original post here:

On the Fast Track To Euphoria with Danny L Harle - VICE

news, latest-news, anthony albanese, leadership, tanya plibersek, labor, alp, scott morrison, polling, jim chalmers

If Labor's MPs were dreaming of a magically brighter 2021, it hasn't taken long to come back to reality. At extended Christmas lunches and Boxing Day barbecues, talk would inevitably touch on COVID-19 and Trump, but Labor's woes were never far behind. "Will they stick with Anthony Albanese?" someone might ask - with the kicker, "Should they?" Implicit in such questions is an assumption about impending defeat. With governments dominating the political and economic spheres, these are not times for oppositions. The pandemic rages globally, and despite the development of several vaccine options, international borders will remain firmly closed - possibly into 2022, according to health authorities. And with conditions in the big employment sectors of education, tourism and hospitality still mired in uncertainty, additional targeted government largesse beyond the scheduled JobKeeper end date of March 28 seems certain. That's the power of incumbency. In the months before an expected spring poll, such spending will do the Coalition no harm. Way back in 1986, then-opposition leader John Howard confidently predicted that the times would suit him. But, in a sign of how passive oppositions ultimately are, Howard would first lose the leadership then wait another decade for his time to come. For Albanese, affairs are no more propitious. The penny is dropping within his caucus that the only thing standing between their current third term in opposition and a failure-cementing fourth is several long months of insisting otherwise. Albanese is well liked and respected for his unwavering service to both Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, which made him almost unique. But few beyond the leader's office and his closest lieutenants think the NSW stalwart will eat into Scott Morrison's crisis-hardened majority. Not with a primary vote share stuck in the mid-30 per cent range. Many fear a backwards slide despite the Coalition's tin-eared climate denialism, embarrassing toadying towards Trump, ham-fisted management of the China relationship, and long list of ministerial scandals. Even the government's failure to bring stranded Australians home during the corona-crisis has brought little opprobrium. It was the same story last year with Morrison's ill-judged calls for people to head out to the football even while announcing the first tentative crowd bans. Ditto his sustained opposition to school closures and business shutdowns, state border controls, mask-wearing, local movement limits, and his late-March closure of incoming flights - particularly from the US - then the major overseas source of infection. In fact, outside the JobKeeper and JobSeeker spends, for which the Coalition received immediate opposition support, Morrison was either a handbrake or a late convert to measures since credited with driving Australia's infection rate towards zero. Even that goal was pilloried. So, the spin and the substance are some distance apart? That hardly makes Morrison unique. Simply deriding him as "Scotty from marketing" obscures an important political truth: marketing matters. MORE MARK KENNY: This unfashionable PM has proved to be better at the theatre of politics, as the scholar Dr Chris Wallace puts it, having successfully packaged up effective policy under his "national cabinet" brand. As Wallace observed in her 2020 book How to win an Election, "a leader who can do the substance and theatre of politics will beat a competitor who can only do the substance or theatre of politics every time". As an effective piece of political theatre, the national cabinet is pitch-perfect. States have gone along with it because it has served them well too. All three state and territory elections held since COVID-19 have seen incumbent governments returned. WA is next and will surely follow suit. The consensual body's allure is that it replaces politics with problem-solving - tailor-made for Morrison's carefully calibrated presentation as the reassuring non-ideologue, the "can-do" PM. And it has also been useful for facilitating the PM's strategic shimmy out of key federal responsibilities like aged care and the quarantine power, section 51 (IX) of the constitution. I don't run the hotel quarantine, mate. Of course, such cleverness is of limited comfort to the 39,000 Australians desperate to come home (overwhelmingly at their own expense, by the way) but who are barred by their national government's refusal to stand up an adequate quarantine facility. How good is Australian citizenship?! None of this, though, has boosted Labor, prompting discussion of dramatic action such as a switch to a Tanya Plibersek/Jim Chalmers ticket, as leader and deputy respectively. The configuration pairs Left and Right, female and male, NSW and Queensland, and finally, experience and youth. But it also offers the possibility - or is it just hope? - that the personable Plibersek could change the political dynamics, thus wrong-footing the blokey Morrison persona. "It's the zeitgeist," enthused one MP, arguing "there's a bit of [Jacinda] Ardern and a bit of Annastacia [Palaszczuk] about Tanya, and people will listen". "That's where we're failing at the moment; it's no reflection on Anthony, it's just that up against another grey-haired older bloke, people aren't excited enough to change sides". But is it practical? Rule changes forced through by Kevin Rudd certainly made it harder to topple a leader. But a simple caucus majority can rescind that rule - the same majority needed to install a new leader if the intent is there. Other considerations include the transaction costs measurable in voter distaste and internal enmities. Yet proponents say this is overstated, because opposition leaders, unlike PMs, have not enjoyed the perceived imprimatur of voters. The current situation is not unprecedented. In the chapter of her book focusing on the importance of match-ups, Wallace asks the question: "Is the strategy to win the election or hold onto the leadership?" As the 1983 election approached, senior Labor frontbencher John Button presented opposition leader Bill Hayden with a confronting choice. With Bob Hawke circling, Button assured Hayden of his vote in any ballot, but added his view that Hayden might want to consider resigning. Hayden did, and five weeks later Labor began a 13-year stint in power with Hawke at the helm. Could Albanese, perhaps the caucus's pre-eminent loyalist, be similarly persuaded? Not likely, but not unheard of either.

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc7cncdsxtl5tsl9stkia.jpg/r127_898_4318_3266_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg

OPINION

January 23 2021 - 5:26AM

If Labor's MPs were dreaming of a magically brighter 2021, it hasn't taken long to come back to reality.

At extended Christmas lunches and Boxing Day barbecues, talk would inevitably touch on COVID-19 and Trump, but Labor's woes were never far behind.

"Will they stick with Anthony Albanese?" someone might ask - with the kicker, "Should they?"

Implicit in such questions is an assumption about impending defeat.

With governments dominating the political and economic spheres, these are not times for oppositions.

The pandemic rages globally, and despite the development of several vaccine options, international borders will remain firmly closed - possibly into 2022, according to health authorities.

And with conditions in the big employment sectors of education, tourism and hospitality still mired in uncertainty, additional targeted government largesse beyond the scheduled JobKeeper end date of March 28 seems certain.

That's the power of incumbency. In the months before an expected spring poll, such spending will do the Coalition no harm.

Way back in 1986, then-opposition leader John Howard confidently predicted that the times would suit him.

But, in a sign of how passive oppositions ultimately are, Howard would first lose the leadership then wait another decade for his time to come.

For Albanese, affairs are no more propitious.

The penny is dropping within his caucus that the only thing standing between their current third term in opposition and a failure-cementing fourth is several long months of insisting otherwise.

Albanese is well liked and respected for his unwavering service to both Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, which made him almost unique.

But few beyond the leader's office and his closest lieutenants think the NSW stalwart will eat into Scott Morrison's crisis-hardened majority.

Not with a primary vote share stuck in the mid-30 per cent range.

Many fear a backwards slide despite the Coalition's tin-eared climate denialism, embarrassing toadying towards Trump, ham-fisted management of the China relationship, and long list of ministerial scandals.

Even the government's failure to bring stranded Australians home during the corona-crisis has brought little opprobrium.

It was the same story last year with Morrison's ill-judged calls for people to head out to the football even while announcing the first tentative crowd bans.

Ditto his sustained opposition to school closures and business shutdowns, state border controls, mask-wearing, local movement limits, and his late-March closure of incoming flights - particularly from the US - then the major overseas source of infection.

In fact, outside the JobKeeper and JobSeeker spends, for which the Coalition received immediate opposition support, Morrison was either a handbrake or a late convert to measures since credited with driving Australia's infection rate towards zero. Even that goal was pilloried.

So, the spin and the substance are some distance apart? That hardly makes Morrison unique.

Simply deriding him as "Scotty from marketing" obscures an important political truth: marketing matters.

This unfashionable PM has proved to be better at the theatre of politics, as the scholar Dr Chris Wallace puts it, having successfully packaged up effective policy under his "national cabinet" brand.

As Wallace observed in her 2020 book How to win an Election, "a leader who can do the substance and theatre of politics will beat a competitor who can only do the substance or theatre of politics every time".

As an effective piece of political theatre, the national cabinet is pitch-perfect.

States have gone along with it because it has served them well too. All three state and territory elections held since COVID-19 have seen incumbent governments returned. WA is next and will surely follow suit.

The consensual body's allure is that it replaces politics with problem-solving - tailor-made for Morrison's carefully calibrated presentation as the reassuring non-ideologue, the "can-do" PM.

And it has also been useful for facilitating the PM's strategic shimmy out of key federal responsibilities like aged care and the quarantine power, section 51 (IX) of the constitution.

I don't run the hotel quarantine, mate.

Of course, such cleverness is of limited comfort to the 39,000 Australians desperate to come home (overwhelmingly at their own expense, by the way) but who are barred by their national government's refusal to stand up an adequate quarantine facility.

How good is Australian citizenship?!

None of this, though, has boosted Labor, prompting discussion of dramatic action such as a switch to a Tanya Plibersek/Jim Chalmers ticket, as leader and deputy respectively.

The configuration pairs Left and Right, female and male, NSW and Queensland, and finally, experience and youth.

But it also offers the possibility - or is it just hope? - that the personable Plibersek could change the political dynamics, thus wrong-footing the blokey Morrison persona.

Tanya Plibersek is the name being thrown around as a potential successor to Albanese. Picture: Sitthixay Ditthavong

"It's the zeitgeist," enthused one MP, arguing "there's a bit of [Jacinda] Ardern and a bit of Annastacia [Palaszczuk] about Tanya, and people will listen".

"That's where we're failing at the moment; it's no reflection on Anthony, it's just that up against another grey-haired older bloke, people aren't excited enough to change sides".

Rule changes forced through by Kevin Rudd certainly made it harder to topple a leader. But a simple caucus majority can rescind that rule - the same majority needed to install a new leader if the intent is there.

Other considerations include the transaction costs measurable in voter distaste and internal enmities. Yet proponents say this is overstated, because opposition leaders, unlike PMs, have not enjoyed the perceived imprimatur of voters.

The current situation is not unprecedented.

In the chapter of her book focusing on the importance of match-ups, Wallace asks the question: "Is the strategy to win the election or hold onto the leadership?"

As the 1983 election approached, senior Labor frontbencher John Button presented opposition leader Bill Hayden with a confronting choice.

With Bob Hawke circling, Button assured Hayden of his vote in any ballot, but added his view that Hayden might want to consider resigning.

Hayden did, and five weeks later Labor began a 13-year stint in power with Hawke at the helm.

Could Albanese, perhaps the caucus's pre-eminent loyalist, be similarly persuaded?

Not likely, but not unheard of either.

Read more from the original source:

'It's the zeitgeist': Should Albo fall on his sword? - The Canberra Times

On Jan. 6, the white nationalist group Proud Boys assembled near the White House, bowed in prayer. Other supporters of President Donald Trump in combat gear or T-shirts saying God, guns and Trump milled about. Not long afterward, they stormed the Capitol building in an insurrection that left five people dead. Crosses, images of Trump as Jesus, and a banner reading Jesus 2020 appeared in the mob.

Violence is a long thread in American religious history. It goes back to the separatists landing in Massachusetts and the treatment of slaves brought to Virginia, the Salem witch trials, and the lynch mobs in the South that burned crosses.

Before the Gutenburg Bible put scripture into the hands of laymen, the Roman Catholic hierarchy controlled interpretation of Christian scriptures. The Protestant Reformation came about when Christians could read scripture themselves, and their varied understandings resulted in a wide spectrum of religious interpretations. Beliefs already held could be supported by texts or theories often taken out of context. This is called confirmation bias.

Once formed, such beliefs seem immune to evidence that would disprove them. Those who justified violence or cruelty with biblical references did so with certainty of their own righteousness.

Such was the case with slavery. Christians in the American South argued that biblical accounts of slavery in the Roman Empire and ancient Near East were never denounced as sinful. They also saw separation of ancient tribes as racial hierarchy, with whites at the top. Specific passages also pegged women and children as subordinate to men, and the obedience called for in the Bible required tolerance for violent acts. Pre-Civil War interpretation of biblically supported racial and gender inequality created schisms within Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian groups. Although they didnt subscribe to these interpretations, Northern evangelicals did little to stop them. Nor did emancipation.

But to paint all evangelicals with the same brush would be to deny history. The Second Great Awakening, which began in the 1820s, ushered in progressive evangelism which emphasized charity and moral conduct. The Black evangelicals, from whose churches spokesmen such as James Baldwin, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the late congressman John Lewis emerged, encouraged nonviolent action in service of justice and equality. They were disregarded by their white counterparts.

Sociologist Emile Durkheim posited that religion reflects, rather than shapes, the norms and values of a society. If this is so, backlash to the social, political and cultural upheavals of the late 1960s may explain the shift in evangelicals beliefs, away from a social gospel and toward alliances that created a political force that ultimately spawned todays subset of true believers: the Christian nationalist movement proclaiming itself to be the army of God.

Randall Balmer, professor of religion at Dartmouth College, said, Although abortion had emerged as a rallying cry by 1980, the real roots of the religious right lie not in the defense of a fetus, but in the defense of racial segregation.

Evangelical families educated their children in private, all-white schools, and kept them close to the church through the tumultuous Vietnam War and Civil Rights protests. But as these young people became adults, many moved away from the faith. Conservative church leaders needed a rallying cry to keep members in the fold. A 1969 lawsuit against an all-white Christian school in Holmes County, Mississippi, was settled in 1971, when Green v. Connally resulted in the decision to rescind tax exemptions for whites-only private schools.

Paul Weyrich, co-founder of the Heritage Foundation, saw this as an issue that could tap into the belief that racial and gender hierarchies were biblically prescribed. In itself, this issue did not gain traction. When Bob Jones University lost its tax exemption in 1976, Weyrich and Jerry Falwell shifted the emphasis from race to religious freedom.

It was then that they attached their racial argument to another issue many congregants had ignored, or accepted quietly: abortion. Although in 1971, the South Bay Convention had come out in support of the Roe v. Wade court decision, opposition to abortion was pushed by the emergent Moral Majority, which made itself a political force during the Reagan years.

As the religious right became politicized, its views hardened. Not far below the surface, the old opposition to integration and racial justice made its way into legislatures and boardrooms. By their silence, moderate evangelicals enabled this rightward shift. The rapid growth of independent megachurches reinforced a move away from main line evangelical restraint.

It was only a matter of time before an opportunistic grifter came along to take advantage of a ready-made constituency. Donald J. Trump was never particularly religious. His reputation as a showman, womanizer, and shady real estate developer should have made him a non-starter for the 2015 Republican presidential nomination. But he saw how President Reagan had shifted his views to accommodate religious leaders, and made a similarly successful move. Promising morality and an anti-abortion Supreme Court, Trump took over the Republican Party and the country.

His rhetoric from the start appealed to those who saw violence as a reinforcement of the male-dominated white hierarchy that seemed to be slipping away since the 1960s, and his stance in favor of religious liberty and against abortion won the approval of a wider religious constituency. Again, the political zeitgeist determined their articles of faith. A relative posted on Facebook a scriptural passage she claimed predicted Trumps arrival as a God-given savior of immoral America. Such parsing of the Bible is common.

When flash-bangs, tear gas, and mounted police dispersed peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstrators on June 1, 2020, the photo-op of President Trump, Bible in hand, was a signal to those who believe white supremacy to be a biblical given. His smirk told them, Im with you. As Ed Setzer of Wheaton College said in USA Today, The evangelical movement has failed to connect [its] mission to justice and politics.

Instead, its spawned Christian nationalism, which sees religious pluralism and social equality as satanic. With this view, attachment to conspiracy theories from the likes of QAnon came easily.

Andrew Whitehead, a sociologist at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis says that the strange mix of religion, violence and politics seen at the Capitol must be understood through the lens of Christian nationalism, which preached Stop the Steal from pulpits after Trump lost the 2020 popular and electoral votes.

Not until the dangerous tangle of moral certitude, far-right militarism, and resistance to an evolving social order is unraveled will conspiracy theories and racial division lose their appeal to churchgoers, even those who never intend to take to the streets with long guns.

As long as their tacit approval allows disruption of civic life in America, they will hear inciting messages from the pulpit. That, I believe, is reason for a long look at the threat they pose, and reconsideration of their tax exempt status.

More:

My Turn: Jan. 6 and the path of Christian nationalism - Concord Monitor

Netflixs Bridgerton," COVID-19, prints from the 1970s and climate change may seem unrelated, but they all have at least one thing in common fashion.

As people hone in on their New Years resolutions, fashion designers, retailers, students and scholars are at work predicting what trends will define 2021. While no one can predict the future, plenty of people have already started forecasting fashion trends for this year.

Monica Sklar, a fashion professor at the University of Georgia, said trends start when influential communities such as schools, subcultures or social media groups initiate a new style. Trends dont always take off in order to, they need to be a part of the cultural zeitgeist, she said.

The whole idea of [the zeitgeist] is, What's the cultural view of the time? and What's happening right now that everybody's feeling it in their gut ... in the way that they live their lives ... in their actions day-to-day? Sklar said.

Once a trend is determined, some styles can prove to be influential throughout the ages.

Loretta Paluck, owner of Dynamite Clothing, said in an email that trends from the 1990s like oversized t-shirts, sweatshirts and vintage denim were popular in 2020. She expects the popularity of 90s apparel to continue into the new year with a mix of personality and splash of individuality, she said.

While styles from previous decades can help dictate the fashion status quo, current events also have an undeniable impact on whats trending. Mentally revisiting some 2020 events might be undesirable, but COVID-19, political and economic uncertainty and the Black Lives Matter movement all had a significant impact on the fashion industry last year.

Bridget Helms, senior fashion merchandising major and the president of the Student Merchandising Association, said she noticed the impacts of the pandemic in 2020 trends, such as athleisure and sweatsuits.

In agreement, Helen Majano, senior fashion merchandising major and the head stylist for the Student Merchandising Association, said athleisure paired with Zoom tops an extravagant top paired with sweatpants or leggings had its moment in 2020.

Pop culture can also impact the fashion world. Bridgerton, the Jane Austen meets Gossip Girl Netflix series, has been causing a stir in the words of entertainment and fashion. Helms recently finished the series, and she thinks it will have a significant impact on the trends in the new year.

I've seen a huge following of [Bridgerton] and people wanting to bring corsets back, and its actually on the list for new trends, Helms said.

Helms said in addition to corsets, she expects to see other lingerie-style tops styled over white button-down shirts and dresses in 2021. Other trends like white knee-high boots, pastel colors and bold prints will also be in this year, she said.

In fashion, the pendulum swings from dress-up moments to dress-down moments, Sklar said. Prior to the pandemic, fashion was in a dress-down moment, which helped make the transition to lockdown and working from home easier, she said. After the pandemic, some wonder if fashion will enter a dress-up moment.

Majano predicts that 2021 will bring extravagant trends such as big coats, fringe, exaggerated silhouettes and disco styles. Helms also said that she thinks people might become bolder with their styles after getting to leave the house more in 2021.

People are bored in the house and getting creative. They're putting together outfits that they never would have just to make a statement because now your outfit really shows your personality, Helms said.

The environmental impact of fast fashion will also play a role in shaping the fashion industry this year, as consumers choose to shop local, shop small and shop secondhand for clothing.

Sustainable fashion brands like Paloma Wool and House of Sunny have been on the rise, Majano said. Additionally, Helms said shes been noticing smaller businesses, such as Etsy shops, gain popularity as they use social media like TikTok to promote their designs.

Vintage shopping also continues to be a popular way of buying clothes sustainably. Paluck said in the last year shes noticed her customers become more aware of the importance of sustainable fashion. In addition to being more sustainable than fast-fashion, vintage shopping allows customers to find one-of-a-kind pieces as opposed to cookie-cutter fashion, she said.

Read more here:

UGA and Athens community discuss what's next in fashion - Red and Black

PLEASE NOTE: This forecast, assembled by The Hollywood Reporter's awards columnist Scott Feinberg, reflects his best attempt to predict the behavior of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, not his personal preferences. He arrives at these standings by drawing upon consultations with voters and awards strategists, analysis of marketing and awards campaigns, results of awards ceremonies that precede the Oscars, and the history of the Oscars ceremony itself. There will be regular updates to reflect new developments.

*BEST PICTURE*

FrontrunnersNomadland (Searchlight)The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)Promising Young Woman (Focus)Minari (A24)Sound of Metal (Amazon)One Night in Miami (Amazon)Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Netflix)Mank (Netflix)Soul (Pixar)Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)

Major Threats The Father (Sony Classics)News of the World (Universal)Tenet (Warner Bros.) Judas and the Black Messiah (Warner Bros.)

PossibilitiesBorat Subsequent Moviefilm (Amazon)The Midnight Sky (Netflix)The Way Back (Warner Bros.)Malcolm & Marie (Netflix)

Long Shots Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Focus)Palm Springs (Hulu/Neon)The Invisible Man (Universal)

Still to See or Embargoed (alphabetically)Another Round (Samuel Goldwyn Films)Cherry (Apple TV+)Let Him Go (Focus)The Little Things (Warner Bros.)The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Paramount)

*BEST DIRECTOR*

FrontrunnersChlo Zhao (Nomadland)Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago 7) podcastEmerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman)Lee Isaac Chung (Minari)Darius Marder (Sound of Metal)

Major ThreatsRegina King (One Night in Miami) podcastDavid Fincher (Mank)Spike Lee (Da 5 Bloods) podcast

Possibilities Paul Greengrass (News of the World)Christopher Nolan (Tenet)George C. Wolfe (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom)

Long ShotsFlorian Zeller (The Father)Pete Docter & Kemp Powers (Soul)George Clooney (The Midnight Sky) podcast

Still to See or Embargoed (alphabetically)Lee Daniels (The United States vs. Billie Holiday)Heidi Ewing (I Carry You With Me)John Lee Hancock (The Little Things)Anthony Russo & Joe Russo (Cherry)Thomas Vinterberg (Another Round)

*BEST ACTOR*

FrontrunnersChadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom) podcastRiz Ahmed (Sound of Metal) podcastDelroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods) podcastAnthony Hopkins (The Father)Ben Affleck (The Way Back) podcast

Major ThreatsSteven Yeun (Minari) podcastGary Oldman (Mank)Tom Hanks (News of the World) podcast [one and two]John David Washington (Malcolm & Marie)

PossibilitiesSacha Baron Cohen (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) podcastKingsley Ben-Adir (One Night in Miami)Eli Goree (One Night in Miami)

Long ShotsLaKeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah)George Clooney (The Midnight Sky) podcastTahar Rahim (The Mauritanian)

Still to See or Embargoed (alphabetically)Kevin Costner (Let Him Go)Tom Holland (Cherry)Jude Law (The Nest)John Magaro (First Cow)Mads Mikkelsen (Another Round)Trevante Rhodes (The United States vs. Billie Holiday)Justin Timberlake (Palmer)Denzel Washington (The Little Things) podcast

*BEST ACTRESS*

FrontrunnersFrances McDormand (Nomadland)Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman) podcastViola Davis (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom)Sophia Loren (The Life Ahead) podcastZendaya (Malcolm & Marie)

Major ThreatsVanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman)Meryl Streep (The Prom) podcastMeryl Streep (Let Them All Talk) podcastYeri Han (Minari)

PossibilitiesSidney Flanigan (Never Rarely Sometimes Always)Kate Winslet (Ammonite) podcast [one and two]Michelle Pfeiffer (French Exit) podcast

Long ShotsRachel Brosnahan (I'm Your Woman) podcastElisabeth Moss (The Invisible Man) podcastJulia Garner (The Assistant) podcast

Still to See or Embargoed (alphabetically)Nicole Beharie (Miss Juneteenth)Haley Bennett (Swallow)Carrie Coon (The Nest)Andra Day (The United States vs. Billie Holiday)Clare Dunne (Herself)Diane Lane (Let Him Go)Rosamund Pike (I Care a Lot)Eliza Scanlen (Babyteeth)Robin Wright (Land)

*BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR*

FrontrunnersChadwick Boseman (Da 5 Bloods) podcastSacha Baron Cohen (The Trial of the Chicago 7) podcastLeslie Odom Jr. (One Night in Miami) podcastPaul Raci (Sound of Metal)Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah)

Major ThreatsDavid Strathairn (Nomadland)Mark Rylance (The Trial of the Chicago 7)Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (The Trial of the Chicago 7)Frank Langella (The Trial of the Chicago 7)

Possibilities Aldis Hodge (One Night in Miami)Bo Burnham (Promising Young Woman) podcastBill Murray (On the Rocks)

Long Shots Will Patton (Minari)Eddie Redmayne (The Trial of the Chicago 7) podcastGlynn Turman (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom)

Still to See or Embargoed (alphabetically)Demian Bichir (Land)Jared Leto (The Little Things)Rami Malek (The Little Things) podcastStanley Tucci (Supernova)

*BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS*

FrontrunnersMaria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)Youn Yuh-jung (Minari)Amanda Seyfried (Mank) podcastOlivia Cooke (Sound of Metal)Ellen Burstyn (Pieces of a Woman)

Major ThreatsOlivia Colman (The Father) podcastJodie Foster (The Mauritanian)Candice Bergen (Let Them All Talk)

PossibilitiesHelena Zengel (News of the World)Dominique Fishback (Judas and the Black Messiah)Saoirse Ronan (Ammonite) podcast

Long ShotsGlenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy) podcastTalia Ryder (Never Rarely Sometimes Always)

Still to See or Embargoed (alphabetically)Ciara Bravo (Cherry)Vanessa Kirby (The World to Come)Natasha Lyonne (The United States vs. Billie Holiday)Da'Vine Joy Randolph (The United States vs. Billie Holiday)

*BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY*

FrontrunnersNomadland (Chlo Zhao)One Night in Miami (Kemp Powers)The Father (Christopher Hampton & Florian Zeller)Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Ruben Santiago-Hudson)News of the World (Luke Davies & Paul Greengrass)

Major ThreatsThe Life Ahead (Edoardo Ponti)I'm Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman) podcastThe Midnight Sky (Mark L. Smith)

PossibilitiesBorat Subsequent Moviefilm (Peter Baynham, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jena Friedman, Anthony Hines, Lee Kern, Dan Mazer, Erica Rivinoja & Dan Swimer) podcast [Cohen]The Personal History of David Copperfield (Armando Iannucci)

Long ShotsShirley (Sarah Gibbons)Emma. (Eleanor Catton)

Still to See or Embargoed (alphabetically)Cherry (Jessica Goldberg & Angela Russo-Otstot)First Cow (Jonathan Raymond & Kelly Reichardt)Let Him Go (Thomas Bezucha)The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Suzan-Lori Parks)The World to Come (Ron Hansen & Jim Shepard)

*BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY*

FrontrunnersThe Trial of the Chicago 7 (Aaron Sorkin) podcastPromising Young Woman (Emerald Fennell)Minari (Lee Isaac Chung)Sound of Metal (Derek Cianfrance, Abraham Marder & Darius Marder)Soul (Pete Docter, Mike Jones & Kemp Powers)

Major ThreatsMank (Jack Fincher)Da 5 Bloods (Danny Bilson, Paul De Meo, Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee) podcast [Lee]Malcolm & Marie (Sam Levinson)The Forty-Year-Old Version (Radha Blank)

PossibilitiesJudas and the Black Messiah (Will Berson, Shaka King, Keith Lucas & Kenny Lucas)Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Eliza Hittman)Palm Springs (Andy Siara) On the Rocks (Sofia Coppola)

Long ShotsI'm Your Woman (Julia Hart & Jordan Horowitz)Ammonite (Francis Lee)Tenet (Christopher Nolan)

Still to See or Embargoed (alphabetically)Herself (Malcolm Campbell & Clare Dunne)Land (Jesse Chatham & Erin Dignam)The Little Things (John Lee Hancock)Miss Juneteenth (Channing Godfrey Peoples)

*BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE*

FrontrunnersCrip Camp (Netflix)Time (Amazon)Collective (Magnolia/Participant)Welcome to Chechnya (HBO)The Truffle Hunters (Sony Classics)

Rest of ShortlistDick Johnson Is Dead (Netflix)The Dissident (Briarcliff) podcast [Bryan Fogel]MLK/FBI (IFC)City Hall (Zipporah) podcast [Frederick Wiseman]Boys State (Apple)On the Record (HBO Max)The Social Dilemma (Netflix)My Octopus Teacher (Netflix)The Mole Agent (Gravitas)Notturno (Super LTD)

PossibilitiesThe Way I See It (Focus)Acasa, My Home (Kino Lorber/Zeitgeist)John Lewis: Good Trouble (Magnolia/Participant)Totally Under Control (Neon) podcast [Alex Gibney]All In: The Fight for Democracy (Amazon)The Human Factor (Sony Classics)I Am Greta (Hulu)Kingdom of Silence (Showtime)The Fight (Magnolia/Topic)Athlete A (Netflix)Rebuilding Paradise (Nat Geo) podcast [Ron Howard]

Long ShotsBe Water (ESPN) Giving Voice (Netflix)I Am Not Alone (self-distributed)Searching for Mr. Rugoff (still seeking U.S. distribution)Miss Americana (Netflix)Kiss the Ground (self-distributed)Dear Mr. Brody (still seeking U.S. distribution)Oliver Sacks: His Own Life (Zeitgeist)Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado (Netflix) podcast [Cristina Costantini]A Secret Love (Netflix)Circus of Books (Netflix)

Still to See or Embargoed (alphabetically)40 Years a Prisoner (HBO)76 Days (MTV)Apocalypse '45 (Discovery)Assassins (Greenwich)Babenco: Tell Me When I Die (still seeking U.S. distribution)Beautiful Something Left Behind (MTV)Belly of the Beast (PBS)Belushi (Showtime)Coded Bias (PBS Independent Lens)Crock of Gold (Magnolia)The Crying Steppe (Kazakhstan)Desert One (Greenwich)Disclosure (Netflix)The Earth Is Blue as an Orange (still seeking U.S. distribution)Father Soldier Son (Netflix)Feels Good Man (Wavelength Productions/PBS Independent Lens)Finding Yingying (MTV)Fireball: Visitor from Darker Worlds (Apple TV+)The Forbidden Reel (still seeking U.S. distribution)The Go-Go's (Showtime)Gunda (Neon)I Walk on Water (Grasshopper)Mayor (Film Movement)Me and the Cult Leader (still seeking U.S. distribution)The Metamorphosis of Birds (still seeking U.S. distribution)A Most Beautiful Thing (still seeking U.S. distribution)Mr. SOUL! (self-distributed)My Psychedelic Love Story (Showtime)Napoli Eden (still seeking U.S. distribution)Nasrin (Virgil Films & Entertainment)Olympia (still seeking U.S. distribution)Once Upon a Time in Venezuela (Topic)The Painter and the Thief (Neon)The Reason I Jump (Kino Lorber)Reunited (still seeking U.S. distribution)Rewind (Grizzly Creek)Rising Phoenix (Netflix)Softie (Icarus)Stars and Strife (Virgil Films & Entertainment)The State of Texas vs. Melissa (Filmrise)Stray (Magnolia)A Thousand Cuts (PBS)'Til Kingdom Come (Abramorama)To See You Again (still seeking U.S. distribution)Transhood (HBO)Unapologetic (still seeking U.S. distribution)The Viewing Booth (Roco)Vivos (still seeking U.S. distribution)Wild Daze (Cinedigm)Wintopia (still seeking U.S. distribution)With Drawn Arms (Starz)Zappa (Magnolia)

*BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE*

FrontrunnersAnother Round (Denmark)Collective (Romania)I'm No Longer Here (Mexico)Two of Us (France)Dear Comrades! (Russia)

Rest of ShortlistNight of the Kings (Ivory Coast)My Little Sister (Switzerland)Apples (Greece)Quo Vadis, Aida? (Bosnia and Herzegovina)Charlatan (Czech Republic)Notturno (Italy)La Llorona (Guatemala)A Sun (Taiwan)The Mole Agent (Chile)Sun Children (Iran)

Other Official Submissions (alphabetical)14 Days, 12 Nights (Canada)Agnes Joy (Iceland)And Tomorrow the Entire World (Germany)Arracht (Ireland)Asia (Israel)Atlantis (Ukraine)The Auschwitz Report (Slovakia)Babenco: Tell Me When I Die (Brazil)Beginning (Georgia)Better Days (Hong Kong)Blizzard of Souls (Latvia)Broken Keys (Lebanon)Bulado (Netherlands)Causa Justa (Panama)Charter (Sweden)The Crying Steppe (Kazakhstan)Dara of Jasenovac (Serbia)Emptiness (Ecuador)The Endless Trench (Spain)Exile (Kosovo)Extracurricular (Croatia)The Father (Bulgaria)Gaza Mon Amour (Palestine)Heliopolis (Algeria)Hope (Norway)Impetigore (Indonesia)Jallikattu (India)Land of Ashes (Costa Rica)The Last Ones (Estonia)Leap (China)The Letter (Kenya)Lunana a Yak in the Classroom (Bhutan)The Man Standing Next (South Korea)The Man Who Sold His Skin (Tunisia)Mindanao (Philippines)Miracle in Cell No. 7 (Turkey)Nafi's Father (Senegal)Never Gonna Snow Again (Poland)Nova Lituania (Lithuania)Once Upon a Time in Venezuela (Venezuela)Open Door (Albania)Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (Hungary)River Tales (Luxembourg)Roh (Malaysia)The Sleepwalkers (Argentina)Song Without a Name (Peru)Songs of Solomon (Armenia)Stories From the Chestnut Woods (Slovenia)This Is Not a Burial (Lesotho)Tove (Finland)True Mothers (Japan)Vitalina Varela (Portugal)What We Wanted (Austria)Willow (North Macedonia)Working Girls (Belgium)You Will Die at 20 (Sudan)

Continue reading here:

Feinberg Forecast: The Lay of the Land a Week Before Oscar Shortlist Voting - Hollywood Reporter