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‘Maestro,’ About Leonard Bernstein’s Marriage, Gets Four Golden Globes Nominations, Including Best Picture
Maestro, the film about the marriage of late Jewish conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, received Golden Globes nominations on Monday for best picture in the drama category, best actress for Carey Mulligan and best actor for lead star Bradly Cooper, who is also nominated for directing the film.
Maestro focuses mostly on Bernstein’s private life, family, and marriage to Chilean-American actress Felicia Montealegre, who is played in the film by Mulligan. Bernstein was the former conductor of the New York Philharmonic and best known for writing the music for West Side Story. He won numerous awards throughout his illustrious career, include Emmys, Tonys and 16 Grammy Awards. The father-of-three died on Oct. 14, 1990.
The full list of Golden Globe nominations were announced on Monday and the ceremony is set for Jan. 7, 2024.
Maestro will compete in the best picture category against Anatomy of a Fall, Killers of the Flower Moon, Past Lives, The Zone of Interest — about the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp Rudolf Höss — and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which chronicles the creation of the atomic bomb during World War II. Cillian Murphy received a nod for best actor for starring as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man responsible for making the top-secret Manhattan Project a success, while a nod for supporting actor was given to Robert Downey Jr. for playing Lewis L. Strauss, who is Jewish. Nolan’s film received eight nominations in total, including for best screenplay and director.
In the comedy or musical category, Jewish actors Natalie Portman, Joaquin Phoenix and Timothée Chalamet are nominated for their leading roles in May December, Beau is Afraid and Wonka, respectively. In television, Emma Stone is nominated for her role in the Showtime series The Curse, where she plays a Jewish convert and lights Shabbat blessings. She is also nominated for best actress in the film Poor Things. Additionally, Rachel Weisz is nominated for playing both Beverly and Elliot Mantle in the Amazon Prime series Dead Ringers. Other Jewish actors in television who received Golden Globe nominations include Natasha Lyonne (Pokerface), Eban Moss-Bachrach (The Bear) and Jason Segal (Shrinking), and Eban Moss-Bachrach.
Jewish DJ, record producer and songwriter Mark Ronson is nominated for best song for Dance the Night and I’m Just Ken from the movie Barbie, which is about the popular doll created by Ruth Handler, who was Jewish. Barbie topped the list of nominees with nine nods.
The late Jewish musician and songwriter Robbie Robertson is nominated for his score for Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, which is also nominated for a slew of other awards, including best screenplay for Scorsese and Jewish screenwriter Eric Roth.
Amy Schumer and Sarah Silverman, both of whom are Jewish, are each nominated in the Globes’ new category for stand-up comedy for Amy Schumer: Emergency Contact and Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love, respectively.
The post ‘Maestro,’ About Leonard Bernstein’s Marriage, Gets Four Golden Globes Nominations, Including Best Picture first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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United Nations ‘Condemns’ Israel for Responding to Houthi Attacks, Decries ‘Escalation’ of Violence
In its latest salvo against the Jewish state, the United Nations (UN) condemned Israel for executing retaliatory strikes against the Houthi terror group in Yemen.
“The Secretary-General condemns escalation between Yemen and Israel,” Stéphanie Tremblay, a UN spokesperson, said in Thursday statements on behalf of UN Secretary General António Guterres.
“The Secretary-General is gravely concerned about intensified escalation in Yemen and Israel. Israeli airstrikes today on Sana’a International Airport, the Red Sea ports and power stations in Yemen are especially alarming. The airstrikes reportedly resulted in numerous casualties including at least three killed and dozens more injured” Tremblay added.
On Thursday, Israel launched a barrage of missile attacks on Houthi bases in Yemen, provoking international outrage. Israel targeted a major airport in Sanaa and ports in Hodeida, Al-Salif and Ras Qantib, and power stations, locations the Jewish state claims were used by the terror group to sneak in both Iranian weapons and high-ranking Iranian officials.
On Friday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for an airstrike aimed at Ben Gurion airport, claiming that the attacks were carried out in retaliation against Israel’s targeting of Sana’a International airport.
The Israeli strikes followed days of Houthi missile and drone launches towards the Jewish state’s airspace. The Houthis have repeatedly attacked the Jewish state in the year following the Oct. 7 slaughters in Israel. Officials associated with terrorist organization claims that it will continue to attack Israel until the so-called “genocide” in Gaza ceases.
In reference to the strikes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “the Houthis, too, will learn what Hamas and Hezbollah and Assad’s regime and others learned.”
Israeli officials have long accused the UN of having a bias against the Jewish state. Last year, the UN General Assembly condemned Israel twice as often as it did all other countries. Meanwhile, of all the country-specific resolutions passed by the UNHRC, nearly half have condemned Israel, a seemingly disproportionate focus on the lone democracy in the Middle East.
Weeks following the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, the UN adopted a resolution calling for a “ceasefire” between Israel and the terrorist group. The UN failed to pass a measure condemning the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7.
In June, the UN put Israel on its so-called “list of shame” of countries that kill children in armed conflict. Israel is considered to be the only democracy on the list.
The post United Nations ‘Condemns’ Israel for Responding to Houthi Attacks, Decries ‘Escalation’ of Violence first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Jets Attack Syria-Lebanon Border Crossings to Stop Arms Amuggling
Israeli jets struck seven crossing points along the Syria-Lebanon border on Friday, aiming to cut the flow of weapons to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group in southern Lebanon.
Israeli troops also seized a truck mounted with a 40-barrel rocket launcher in southern Lebanon, part of a haul from various areas that included explosives, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and AK-47 automatic rifles, the military said.
The commander of the Israeli Air Force, Major General Tomer Bar, said Hezbollah was trying to smuggle weapons into Lebanon to test Israel’s ability to stop them.
“This must not be tolerated,” he said in a statement.
Under the terms of a Nov. 27 ceasefire agreement, Israel is supposed to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon in phases while unauthorised Hezbollah military facilities south of the Litani River are to be dismantled.
However, each side has accused the other of violating the agreement, intended to end more than a year of fighting that began with Hezbollah missile strikes on Israel in the aftermath of the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, from Gaza.
On Thursday, the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon called for Israeli forces to withdraw, citing what it said were repeated violations of the deal.
Israel, which destroyed large parts of Hezbollah’s missile stocks during weeks of operations in southern Lebanon, has said it will not permit weapons to be smuggled to Hezbollah through Syria.
Israel has also conducted attacks against the Iranian-backed Houthi movement in Yemen in recent days and pledged to continue its campaign against Iranian-backed militant groups across the region.
The post Israeli Jets Attack Syria-Lebanon Border Crossings to Stop Arms Amuggling first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Mila Kunis Says Husband Ashton Kutcher And Their Children Helped Her Embrace Judaism: ‘I Fell in Love With My Religion’
Actress Mila Kunis began embracing and feeling proud of her Jewish heritage when she met her husband, actor Ashton Kutcher, and even more so after having children, she told Israeli activist and author Noa Tishby this week.
“For me, it happened when I met my husband,” the “Goodrich” star, 41, said of her former “That ’70s Show” costar, 46, who she has been married to since 2015.
Although Kutcher is not Jewish, he was a follower of Kabbalah and was frequently photographed visiting the Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles when he was married to actress Demi Moore from 2005-2013. Their wedding was also reportedly officiated by a Kabbalah Centre teacher. It remains unclear if he continues to follow Kabbalah. Nevertheless, Kunis joked that Kutcher is Jewish “by choice,” not by lineage, and that his interest in Judaism sparked Kunis to reconnect with her Jewish roots.
“I fell in love with my religion because he explained it to me,” said Kunis, who voices Meg Griffin on the Fox animated series “Family Guy.”
Kunis made the comments while joining Tishby to light candles on Thursday for the second night of Hanukkah. The two joined forces as part of Tishby’s “#BringOnTheLight campaign,” which is an eight-part video series on YouTube dedicated to spreading the message of Jewish resilience, pride and unity throughout the Jewish holiday.
Kunis and Kutcher together have two children — daughter Wyatt, 10, and son Dimitri, 8. The actress was born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, and moved to the United States at the age of eight. She told Tishby that she did not adhere to any Jewish traditions while growing up. “I always knew I was Jewish but I was told to never talk about,” she said. “I think because I was in a country that didn’t allow for religion.” The “Bad Moms” star added that her children also helped her tap into the religious side of Judaism.
“I was raised culturally Jewish. So for me, it’s a culture,” she said. “And as I had kids, and my kids very much identity with the religion aspect of it, I was like, ‘Oh, I guess we’re doing Shabbat and the candles. And there are so many beautiful traditions.”
“I never lit Hanukkah candles until I had kids,” she further noted.
When Kunis lit the menorah with Tishby for the second night of Hanukkah, they called Kutcher for some help. Both women were unsure if they needed to light the candles from left to right or from right to left, and asked Kutcher for guidance.
Kunis also talked about being raised with a lot of Jewish guilt and superstition. Listing another things that are culturally Jewish about her, she shared, “I have a fear of not having enough food and my fear of somebody being hungry. The worst thing my kids can say to me is, ‘I’m hungry.’”
“Food fixes everything. You’re tired, eat some food. You’re cranky, eat some food,” she joked. “A health person would say, ‘This is unhealthy and you’re doing something wrong.’ And I understand. I’m working on it. But it’s just something that is embedded in me.”
The post Mila Kunis Says Husband Ashton Kutcher And Their Children Helped Her Embrace Judaism: ‘I Fell in Love With My Religion’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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