Month: February 2018

Ruffled, sparkly rock star outfits worn by Prince and one of his famous white “Cloud” guitars are among memorabilia of the late superstar up for auction May 18 to kick off a two-day “music icons” sale, Julien’s Auctions announced Monday.

 

The auction will take place both online and live at the Hard Rock Cafe. The Prince items are being sold by family members and former employees, a Julien’s spokeswoman told The Associated Press.

 

The Schecter electric guitar was commissioned by Prince in 2002 and designed in the style of the one used in the 1984 film “Purple Rain.” It was designed by Dave Rusan and gifted to a Paisley Park employee and has a pre-sale price tag of $10,000 to $20,000.

 

A custom electric blue two-piece ensemble Prince wore onstage in a 1999 pay-per-view concert at Paisley Park with Lenny Kravitz will also be auctioned, with a pre-sale value set at $40,000 to $50,000. A purple glitter outfit he wore during tours in 1997 and 1998 was estimated at $6,000 to $8,000.

 

Various pairs of Prince’s signature high-heel booties are included, along with jewelry, clothing designed by Versace and Prada, record awards, posters, tour schedules, backstage passes and set lists.

 

Last November, a bidding war resulted in a $700,000 sale of a Prince guitar, the highest price ever paid for one of the late icon’s guitars, according to Julien’s.

The teal blue Cloud guitar had a pre-sale value set at $60,000 to $80,000.
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The first trailer of Solo: A Star Wars Story has finally arrived, offering a glimpse of the much-anticipated spinoff plagued by production troubles.

After a 45-second ad for the latest Star Wars film played during Sunday’s Super Bowl, a 90-second teaser trailer premiered Monday on Good Morning, America. The footage showcased a gritty prequel featuring the snazzy interior of a then-new Millennium Falcon, the familiar growl of Chewbacca and a plethora of handsome fur coats.

Though punctuated by the brashness of Alden Ehrenreich’s young Han Solo, the vibe of the trailer is a little chiller than was once forecast for Solo. The initial directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street) are known for their irreverent sense of humor, something that first excited many Star Wars fans when the pair was enlisted for the stand-alone installment. 

But Lord and Miller were removed from the film six months into production over what Lucasfilm said were “different creative visions” on the film. Ron Howard was brought in as a replacement in July, and shooting concluded in October.

The trailer for the film, to be released May 25, seemed intent on assuring fans that Solo will be a more typically somber chapter in the science-fiction franchise. Young Solo is shown as an ambitious flyboy who drops out of the fight academy and enlists with a rogue band led by Woody Harrelson’s Tobias Beckett.

“I’ve been running scams on the street since I was 10,” Solo says in voice-over. “I was kicked out of the fly academy for having a mind of my own. I’m going to be a pilot — best in the galaxy.”

Concerns have also been focused on Ehrenreich, who has the unenviable position of following in Harrison Ford’s footsteps in one of the most iconic roles in movies. Before booking the role, Ehrenreich starred in Joel and Ethan Coen’s Hail, Caesar! and Warren Beatty’s Rules Don’t Apply, but The Hollywood Reporter earlier reported that an acting coach was brought in late in the production to aid the actor’s performance.

Instead of focusing solely on Solo, Monday’s trailer promoted the film’s larger ensemble, including Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, Emilia Clarke and Thandie Newton.
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For a lot of people, there’s nothing better than a piece of candy.

 

Eye candy is everywhere at the True Treats Historic Candy store in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. It features more than 400 confections which were popular during different periods in history — everything from ancient Greek chewing gum to 20th century classics. The first commercial candy appeared in 1806.

 

The unusual assortment at the only historic candy store in the United States in a house built in 1842, includes classic chocolate kisses, candy cigarettes, and even edible bugs.

 

That’s right, bugs — once considered a sweet snack. A popular novelty item at True Treats is a small bag of roasted bugs with crickets and mealyworms. There are also ant wafers, first introduced In the 1950s.

 

“The crickets taste a little bit like sesame,” said Susan Benjamin, the enthusiastic True Treats owner and candy historian.  “I’ve had ants, and some of them are a little bit bitter, almost tart like lemon.”  She can’t bring herself to try the mealyworms.

 

Not all bugs

 

But for people with more conventional tastes, there are fruit flavored candies, caramels and licorice.  For chocolate lovers, an entire table is lined with the dark confections, including small round balls with nuts or raisins.  The candies were popular from the 1920s to 1950s with people who played card games.

 

“People could pick up the candy with their fingers in one hand and hold the cards in the other,” Benjamin explained.

 

Surprisingly, sweets were first used as health food and for medicine  Malted Milk, a combination of malted barley, wheat flour and evaporated milk, was once a staple in infant formula.

 

Benjamin picks up a package of Turkish delight, small fragrant cubes of jelly, which she said  “were made for a sore throat around the year 900, and became very popular worldwide.”

 

People also chewed on bark, branches and roots, which can also be purchased at the store.

“People first used the root from the licorice plant to brush their teeth,” said Benjamin, “and then in the mid-1800s, kids would chew it to get that delicious licorice flavor.”

 

Customer Anna Jo Smith was fascinated by the marshmallow root. 

“You think of marshmallows as a more recent tradition, but marshmallow tea goes back centuries,” she said.

 

Many of the candies have labels on them that explain their history.

 

“I think it’s fun to see the progression through the years of the different kinds of chocolates and candy,” said customer Angela Hoffman. “You get a little taste of different times.”

 

Sweet memories

 

A bag of fruit-flavored crimson jelly hearts brings back memories for Emmanuel Montenegro.

 

“The last time I saw this was probably 18 years ago or so.  And now it’s here and I can have it,” he said and smiled.

 

But other customers are too young to have grown up with any of the candy in the store, which opened eight years ago.

 

“I came here a lot as a kid,” said teenager Bev Soriano. “So while there is nostalgia, it’s also weird; yet I have so many fond memories,” she said as she left the store with some chocolate bars and a bag of sugary, pastel-colored candy hearts.

 

True Treats’ candy can also be ordered on-line.

 

For people who want to know more about candy’s guilty pleasures, Benjamin has written a book called “Sweet as Sin” about the intriguing evolution of confectionery treats.
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The annual BMI Latin Awards will honor Luis Fonsi not only for his mega smash “Despacito” but for the string of hits he’s racked up over two decades.

Fonsi is to receive the BMI President’s Award on March 20 in Beverly Hills, California.

BMI says it is honoring Fonsi for being one of the “most influential” Latin music songwriters and also for his humanitarian work. The Puerto Rican singer was involved with helping the island after last year’s devastating hurricane.

“Despacito” was recently nominated for record and song of the year at the Grammys; it features Daddy Yankee, and Justin Bieber on the remix.
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Only a few days after Elton John announced he will retire from touring in three years, another venerable music figure is throwing in the touring towel — Paul Simon.

Simon, 76, took to social media Monday to say his upcoming tour will be his last, citing the personal toll of touring and the death of his lead guitarist, Vincent N’guini.

“I feel the travel and time away from my wife and family takes a toll that detracts from the joy of playing,” he wrote. Retiring from the road “feels a little unsettling, a touch exhilarating, and something of a relief.”

Tickets for his “Homeward Bound — The Farewell Tour ” will go on sale February 8. It kicks off in May in Vancouver, Canada, and will take him across North America and Europe. His last date is July 15 in London with James Taylor and Bonnie Raitt as special guests.

Simon’s best-known songs include “The Sound of Silence,” “Mrs. Robinson,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes.”

Paul Simon is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and has been inducted into the Rock `n’ Roll Hall of Fame, both as a member of Simon & Garfunkel and as a solo artist. The singer-songwriter said he will still do the “occasional performance” after his last tour.

Late last month, the 70-year-old John said his upcoming would tour would be his last, saying he wanted to spend time with his family. His “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour will end in 2021.
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“Grid kids” are replacing “grid girls” in Formula One as the motorsport series continues to change ahead of the new season.

F1 says youngsters from motorsport clubs, who for example are already competing in karting, will stand alongside drivers on the grid before races this season.

Monday’s announcement comes after the series last week ended the long-standing practice of using women on the grid, and on the podium with the top three drivers, because this no longer fits in with Formula One’s values and societal norms.

The latest initiative is joint venture by the FIA – motorsport’s governing body – and F1’s owners.

FIA President Jean Todt says “Grid Kids” gives “future champions of our sport the opportunity to stand alongside their heroes.”

Sean Bratches, F1’s managing director of commercial operations, adds: “What better way to inspire the next generation of Formula 1 heroes.”

F1 is owned by Liberty Media, which is changing the way the sport is run since taking over from former commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone in January 2017.

The season starts on March 25 at the Australian Grand Prix.
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A Ram truck ad that used a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., is drawing a backlash.

The ad shows people doing service-oriented tasks set against audio of King’s speech, which urges people to be “great” by serving the greater good rather than being successful. It was supposed to highlight the volunteer program Ram Nation.

But it was criticized by viewers and ad experts alike for forging too tenuous a connection with the civil rights hero.

On Twitter, most people expressed the idea that using King’s speech to “sell trucks” crossed a line between a heartfelt message and exploiting emotions just to push a vehicle.

“They pushed it over the edge,” said Kelly O’Keefe, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Brandcenter. “You wanted to root for it because the cause is good, but it just didn’t end up fitting the brand, so you ended up feeling a little bit manipulated.”

“The use of MLK to promote Ram trucks strikes many people as crass and inappropriate,” said Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University.

Watching at home, some viewers expressed distaste for the ad as well.

“I liked being reminded of Martin Luther King’s speech (but) I’m not sure it was fitting for a truck commercial,” said Kimberly Stites, who was watching the game in Gretna, Nebraska. “I would have liked it better if they had said something like, `This reminder of all that we can be brought to you by ….”‘

Fiat Chrysler said in a statement that it worked closely with the King estate on the ad.

The firm managing King’s intellectual property, Intellectual Properties Management, said in a statement that it approved the ad because it embodied King’s philosophy.

The ad is not the first one to use a King Speech. Telecom Alcatel used King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in an ad that was also approved by IPM.

That ad shows King giving his most famous speech to an empty Mall in Washington D.C. to illustrate the idea that “before you can touch, you must first connect.”
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North and South Korea face a widening linguistic divide after 70 years of division, and that is a challenge for the rivals’ first-ever joint Olympic team as it prepares for the Pyeongchang Winter Games.

The Canadian coach of the joint women’s hockey team said Monday her squad has made a three-page dictionary that translates key hockey terms from English into South Korean and then into North Korean for better communication among the players and herself.

“In North Korean, there are no English words so everything is totally different. So we actually made like a dictionary, English to Korean to North Korean. So we can communicate and hopefully learn how to speak each other’s languages,” Sarah Murray told reporters following her team’s first practice after arriving at the Gangneung athletes’ village earlier Monday.

Murray’s Team Korea was formed only 11 days ago as a result of the Koreas’ abrupt decision to cooperate in the Olympics, which start Friday.

South Korea has incorporated many English words and phrases into its language, while North Korea has eliminated words with foreign origins and created homegrown substitutes, which many South Koreans feel sound funny. Experts say about a third of the everyday words used in the two countries are different.

Still, Koreans from the two countries are generally able to understand each other because most words and the grammar remain the same, but the gap is wider with specialized medical, sports and other technical terms.

According to Murray’s dictionary, South Korean players use the English loan word “pass,” but their North Korean teammates say “yeol lak” or “communication.” South Koreans call a “winger” a “wing,” but North Koreans say “nahl gay soo” or “wing player.” South Koreans say “block shot” while North Koreans say “buhduh make,” or “stretching to block.”

Murray acknowledged there are still some problems in communications despite the dictionary, and said her South Korean assistant coach plays an important role in bridging the gap. “We’re catching on quickly … but when it’s a majority of North Korean players, it’s hard to coach in English.”

The joint team’s formation triggered a strong backlash in South Korea, with 12 North Korean players added to Murray’s existing 23-member South Korean team. Critics worried the deal would deprive South Korean players of playing time, and a survey showed about 70 percent of South Koreans opposed the joint team. Murray also expressed initial frustration.

The criticism has declined gradually as the Olympics near. On Sunday, the joint Korean team had its first match with world No. 5 Sweden in front of a capacity crowd of 3,000 at Seonhak International Ice Rink in Incheon, just west of Seoul. It lost 3-1 but many believe it was a decent result given that both Koreas are ranked out of the world top 20.

They wore the same uniforms with a “unification flag” depicting the peninsula, and stood to the Korean folk song “Arirang” instead of their respective national anthems. But when they arrived at the Gangneung athletes’ village, they were separated into different apartment buildings.

A total of 22 North Korean athletes are to participate in the games, thanks to special entries granted by the International Olympic Committee, and they plan to march with South Korean athletes under the “unification flag” during the opening ceremony.

Many experts say North Korea wants to use its improved ties with South Korea to weaken U.S.-led international sanctions, and that tensions could easily flare again after the games.

Murray said the North and South Korean players are getting along “way better than I expected,” and that she is enjoying having North Koreans who “are absorbing everything like sponges.”

When the players were first paired together, Murray said they sat at different lunch tables. She asked them to sit together in the future.

“We sat together at the next meal and the players were laughing. They are just girls … you know … they are just hockey players. They are all wearing the same jersey and we are on the same team now,” she said. “Hockey really does bring people together.”
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This year’s Oscar nominees in the category of Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress are complex and empowered. Their critical acclaim and success at the box office showcase the power of female leads and female narrative coming out of Hollywood. Penelope Poulou has more.
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The heir to “Titanic” is … “Jumanji: Welcome the Jungle”?

For the first time since James Cameron’s 1998 disaster epic, a December release has topped the weekend box office in February. Seven weeks after first opening in theaters, Sony Pictures’ “Jumanji” again took the top spot at the North American box office with an estimated $11 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

On a sluggish Super Bowl weekend, that was good enough to surpass last week’s no. 1 film, “Maze Runner: The Death Cure.” The third installment in the YA trilogy slid 58 percent in its second week with $10.2 million in ticket sales. Though “The Death Cure” is behind the pace of the first two “Maze Runner” films, it’s made $142.9 million overseas, including an international-best $35.2 million this weekend.

But it’s the fourth weekend out of seven in which the “Jumanji” reboot, starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, has led all films domestically. It has carved an unlikely path on route to its record-setting run. Met with little initial fanfare, “Jumanji” played second fiddle for its first two weeks of release to “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.”

But riding good word of mouth and relatively little family-film competition, “Jumanji” has become one of Sony’s biggest hits ever, ranking behind only its “Spider-Man” films. It has now grossed $352.6 million in the U.S. and Canada.

The Helen Mirren-led haunted-house horror film “Winchester” was the sole new wide release on a weekend that Hollywood typically cedes to football. The poorly reviewed Lionsgate-CBS Films release, about the true-life tale of the 19th-century heiress Sarah Winchester, opened with $9.3 million.

Total ticket sales were $92 million, according to comScore, a sum that falls behind recent Super Bowl weekends – always among the quietest movie weekends of the year – but above the lowest grossing ever.

Hollywood will instead be largely focused on the trailers debuting during Sunday’s NFL broadcast. About a dozen films will hope to capitalize on the largest U.S. broadcast of the year with high-priced commercial spots intended to raise the awareness of upcoming spring releases and some of the summer’s biggest would-be blockbusters.

Disney hasn’t announced plans, but “Star Wars” fans are hoping to see a spot for the Han Solo spinoff. More likely on tap are ads for “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” Jennifer Lawrence’s “Red Sparrow,” Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” and another potential hit for Dwayne Johnson: “Skyscraper.”

And for the first time, Fox Searchlight had films playing in 4,000 or more theaters, thanks to its Oscar favorites “The Shape of Water” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water,” which took the top honor at the Directors Guild Awards on Saturday, boosted its theater count from 1,854 to 2,341. The leading Oscar nominee with 13 nods, “The Shape of Water” still slid 21 percent with $4.3 million.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final three-day domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” $11 million ($12.6 million international).

2. “Maze Runner: The Death Cure,” $10.2 million ($35.2 million international).

3. “Winchester,” $9.3 million.

4. “The Greatest Showman,” $7.8 million ($16.2 million international).

5. “Hostiles,” $5.5 million.

6. “The Post,” $5.2 million ($10.3 million international).

7. “12 Strong,” $4.7 million ($2.9 million international).

8. “Den of Thieves,” $4.7 million ($6.5 million international).

9. “The Shape of Water,” $4.3 million ($4.4 million international).

10. “Paddington 2,” $3.1 million ($2 million international).

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to comScore:

1. “Maze Runner: The Death Cure,” $35.2 million.

2. “The Greatest Showman,” $16.2 million.

3. “The Tuche 3,” $14.3 million.

4. “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” $12.6 million.

5. “Coco,” $11.6 million.

6. “The Post,” $10.3 million.

7. “Secret Superstar,” $10.5 million.

8. “Till the End of the World,” $10 million.

9. “The Commuter,” $8.9 million.

10. “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” $8.1 million.
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Super Bowl 39 is underway, the biggest and always most anticipated U.S. sporting event of the year.

This year, NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles try to dethrone the 2017 Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.

The Eagles led early in the first quarter 10-3.

This year’s game is being played in Minneapolis, Minn., where the game-time temperature is expected to be minus 17 degrees Celsius. But in the city’s indoor stadium, it will be in the relatively balmy 20s.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady could set several records during the game. He will be the oldest nonkicker to play in the Super Bowl, and could be the oldest quarterback to win, picking up his sixth title — the most of any NFL player in history.

Philadelphia is vying for its first Super Bowl win after two attempts. It lost to the Patriots in Super Bowl 39 in 2005. But the Patriots are favored in today’s game, which is   expected to be viewed by more than 100 million people.

 

Among those watching will be No. 1 fan — President Donald Trump. He put out a pre-game statement thanking the American servicemen and women who he says are unable to watch the game with friends and family, but whose sacrifice makes such big events possible.

Advertisers are paying $5 million for a 30-second commercial during the broadcast, which is traditionally the most watched television show of the year in the United States.

Viewer ratings for this year’s Super Bowl are considered critical for the NFL. Its regular season ratings declined by 10 percent compared with the prior year.  

The drop in ratings has been attributed in part to people boycotting NFL games because of player protests, including kneeling for the national anthem. Other causes include reduced subscriptions to cable television, as online streaming services become more popular, and to some degree, declining interest.
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It’s -11 degrees Celsius here in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but it feels like -20. The sun has set and the wind is whipping — anywhere else and that would be the perfect excuse to stay indoors. 

But here, on the eve of the biggest football game of the year, the biggest party of the year is outside in the streets. Super Bowl Live is more than a week of non-stop entertainment, leading up to Sunday’s NFL championship between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots.

The theme of this Super Bowl party is “the Bold North.” Minnesota is the very definition of the “Bold North” — to most, the idea of being outside in this weather is something more than bold, but here in the north, it’s just life.

 

WATCH: Thousands of Football Fans Party in the Streets on the Eve of the Super Bowl

​‘It isn’t that cold’

We asked a few local residents to explain Minnesota’s relationship with the cold.

“Where else are you going to be able to do this?” asked Troy Presler. “To come to a place like Minneapolis, where you spend three, four months in this kind of weather and just enjoy it, absorb it. It’s something that no other Super Bowl is ever going to have.”

Ryan Provos jumped in with a refrain we have heard many times on our trip to Minneapolis, regardless of the temperature outside:

“This isn’t that cold! This is warm right now!”

Katie, another local, agreed: “The weather is beautiful, and this is what we do! This is what we do as Minnesotans!”

​Food, and more food

Like any good party, Super Bowl Live has lots to do. You can take the ultimate winter selfie in a life-sized snow globe, dance and sing along with local bands, and eat — then eat some more. Pizza, pretzels, barbecue, french fries, you name it.

Americans probably eat more food on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day of the year, and tonight is your best chance to get warmed up for the big day.

Another annual highlight of Super Bowl Live has a new twist this year. On the same block as the food trucks — but inside, thankfully — you can also catch some adorable young cats playing in their own feline version of the Super Bowl, the Kitten Bowl, which replaces the traditional Puppy Bowl. Don’t worry, though: both the Kitten Bowl and Puppy Bowls can still be seen on television, but only the cats made the trip to Minneapolis this year.

​Let it snow

Back outside, the snow is really picking up, and locals, Brad and Allie Novy, berate us for our climate-controlled, indoor detour.

“You can’t just hide inside all day,” Brad scolds.

“This is Minnesota! Experience the culture and the weather … that’s what it’s all about,” Allie adds.

Heeding the advice of our new friends, that’s exactly what we do. Out in the cold, alongside thousands of others who have come to Minneapolis for the Super Bowl, and the local residents who show us how to truly party like Minnesotans.

VOA’s Arash Arabasadi contributed to this report.
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On the eve of the Super Bowl, football fans from near and far have descended on host city Minneapolis, in the Midwestern U.S. state of Minnesota. They spent the night before the big game outside, in snow and below-freezing temperatures, celebrating at the biggest football party of the year. VOA’s Brian Allen takes you there.
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For a lot of people, there’s nothing better than a piece of candy. Sweets go back to the ancient Egyptians, who ate honey with sesame seeds. In the United States, candy has a fascinating history that can be traced back centuries at the True Treats Historic Candy store in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. The shop sells an abundance of sweets that were popular during different time periods. VOA’s Deborah Block shows us the unusual assortment, ranging from classic chocolate kisses to edible bugs.
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Dozens of designers from Haiti and around the world showcased their spring-summer collections against a lush tropical background during the recent Haiti Fashion Week.

The January 28-31 event in Petionville focused on the theme “Innovation” and “haute couture” this year. Event founder Maguy Durce said her main goal was to show Haiti in a positive light, as opposed to negative images usually portrayed by the international media.

“Haiti Fashion Week is a cultural event. But we want to use it to respond to President [Donald] Trump — to his negative comments [about Haiti] — because we think if he saw what was happening this week at El Rancho [hotel], he would say, ‘Hey, I lied,’ or, ‘Hey, I was wrong,’ or, ‘I was misinformed,’ ” Durce said.

Trump’s reported use of a vulgar term to describe Haiti and African nations angered the Haitian-American community and sparked rallies in Port-au-Prince, New York, Palm Beach and Boston to denounce racism. Haiti’s ambassador to the United States said the comments about Haiti “hurt the country.”

The fifth edition of Haiti Fashion Week had been scheduled for November 2017, but was rescheduled after some of the designers said their collections would not be ready in time.

Young fashion designer Maille Timothee, whose fashion line is called MAE, presented her designs for the first time this year. She won applause for her colorful dresses made with unconventional textiles.

“I wanted to do something unconventional. Something unexpected. So I mixed different fabrics that people would not expect, and even what I’m wearing is an example of that,” she explained.

Timothee is the daughter of seasoned Haitian designer Immacula Pericles, who runs a highly acclaimed fashion school called Academie Verona. She also participated in Haiti Fashion Week, showcasing a collection of dresses made in the colors of the national flag and representing the natural beauty of the Caribbean country. Her collection wowed the audience.

“Well, I’ve been doing these designs for a long time now, so it’s new to some people, but we’ve been around a while,” Pericles noted. “The theme of our fashion school is Haiti will survive – so my goal is first to incorporate sustainable materials and second to make the clothing using the same international standards the big fashion houses use so that we can sell our line anywhere in the world.”

Pericles said Haiti has huge potential to excel in the fashion world.

French designer Marie-Caroline Behue flew from Paris to Port-au-Prince and went straight to work on her collection. A first-time participant in the event, she admitted to being awed by the quality and intricacy of the designs.

“I knew nothing about Haiti Fashion Week and I was amazed by the level of detail in the designs,” she admitted. “I’ve worked in the French haute couture design houses and I can tell you the designs I saw here meet the bar – and to be honest, what really piqued my interest was the men’s haute couture, because when one thinks of haute couture, they naturally think of women’s fashion, but here in Haiti, I was like, ‘Wow! They’re got couture men’s clothing.’”

Haitian-American designer Marcia Roseme, whose collection features bright colored separates matched with muted tones, traveled from New York to show her first collection at Haiti Fashion Week.

“It was a great event; there were a lot of different styles that represented many markets. There was a lot of innovation, a lot of creativity and unique styles – I really like that,” she told VOA.

Organizer Durce, who put in many long hours to pull off a culturally rich and diverse showcase of Haitian and international artistry, was pleased with the turnout and the positive reviews from the national and international press.

“Africa Fashion TV has been here all four days, broadcasting our fashion shows live, so what we’re doing here in Haiti is being seen in 29 African countries and all over the world. Each time a person tweets or posts something about Fashion Week to Facebook, it raises Haiti’s image to a higher level.”

Durce said she’s looking forward to the sixth edition of Haiti Fashion Week – to be held in 2019.

​
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A provocative film that chronicles racism and brutality in the 1920s has been released in Australia. Set in the red dust of the outback, “Sweet Country” is the story of an Aboriginal herder who goes on the run after killing a white landowner in self-defense.

The film is a historical, Western-style epic that has at its heart racist aggression between white colonialists and Australia’s indigenous population they displaced. The movie is directed by celebrated Aboriginal filmmaker Warwick Thornton, whose first film was the highly acclaimed feature “Samson and Delilah,” which was released in 2009.

Thornton says “Sweet Country” shows the brutality of Australia in the 1920s.

“It is a bit of history you will not find in your everyday high school curriculum, even though it is all based on true stories. It is important for us as a country to learn more about our history so we can make better choices about our future, I guess.  You know, it has got a lot of connotations today. Racism is still around today. It is just that people are not allowed to openly say what they feel, but they are still racist,” Thornton said.

The cast includes veteran Australian actor Bryan Brown, who came to prominence in “Gorillas in the Mist” and “Cocktail,” alongside U.S. actor Tom Cruise.

“Sweet Country” also features the New Zealand actor Sam Neill, who starred in “The Piano” and “Jurassic Park.”

Hamilton Morris plays the character of Sam Kelly, the indigenous farm worker who goes on the run with his wife after killing a white landowner. Morris had no film experience before landing the role as Kelly, although he did have a role in an Australian TV series about a remote radio station. There was also a large cast of Aboriginal extras.

Many of the reviews of “Sweet Country” have been positive with the newspaper The Australian saying it was “Australian filmmaking at its best.”

Indigenous Australians make up about 3 percent of the population and are, by far, the most disadvantaged group in the country, suffering high rates of poverty, ill health and imprisonment.

Warwick’s “Sweet Country” already was awarded a Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival last September at an early screening.
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