NY FILM CRITICS CIRCLE

Meryl Streep is no stranger to collecting little statues everywhere she goes, and her latest performance as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady is already proving very popular with critics.

Streep picked up the Best Actress gong at today's New York Film Critics Circle, whilst Brad Pitt walked away with Best Actor for both of his performances in the baseball film Moneyball and comic drama The Tree of Life. 

Nostalgic 1920s silent film The Artist (pictured above) continues to make a lot of 'noise', picking up Best Film and Best Director for Michel Hazanavicius. This one is sure to do well at the Oscars on Feb 26. Check out the trailer below:

HOME.CORP DIRECTORS WIN BIG AT PROMAX

How shall we kick off the week, then? How about with some shiny statues! Huge congrats are in order for not one, but two HOME.corp directors after this weekend's Promax Awards 2011.

Our very own Jon Yeo walked away with the Gold award (pictured top-right) in the Best Use of Design category, for his sumptuous South Bank Sky Arts Awards promo below:

And our very own and newly-adopted Jamie Childs walked away with the Silver award (pictured top-left) in the Best Direct Response Promo for this excellent Tuborg Liquid Soundtrack spot. Hurrah!

TURNER + TESTINO

It's just been announced that celeb fashion photographer Mario Testino will present this year's Turner Prize, which will take place at the Baltic gallery in Gateshead next month.

The 5th of December will mark the ceremony's 28th anniversary, and the four artists up for the £25k prize are Karla Black, Martin Boyce, George Shaw and Hilary Lloyd (but you already knew that because we told you all about it yonks ago).

Previous presenters of the prestigious award have been Dennis Hopper, Nick Cave, Miuccia Prada and of course Madge, who ruffled a few feathers in 2001 by swearing a bit. Silly Madge.

HOME-GROWN: JAMIE CHILDS UP FOR PROMAX AWARD

Can we get a 'Woop Woop' for the newest addition to the HOME.corp family, Jamie Childs?

Our very own Jamie has been with us all of 5 minutes and he's already up for 'Best Direct Response Promo' at this year's Promax awards. The nomination is for this awesome spot for Tuborg lager below. Congrats & fingers crossed!

HOME-GROWN: STACY PERALTA WINS ISF AWARD

Congrats are in order for our very own Stacy Peralta, who took home the Classic Award at last week's International Skateboard Film Festival in Los Angeles, honouring him for his legendary contribution and influence on the industry. Head here for more details and for a full list of winners.

Let's have another look at his iconic Bones Brigade show, which is where it all began for Mr Peralta, back in 1984:

POLANSKI PICKS UP AWARD... 2 YEARS AFTER WINNING IT

Controversial film director Roman Polanski was finally able to collect his lifetime achievement award from the Zurich film festival last night, a whole two years after he was arrested over child sex charges on his way to accept the prize back in 2009.

Polanski was unexpectedly detained on an American warrant when he landed at Zurich airport in September 09, on his way to the film festival. He was jailed and then placed under house arrest for more than 6 months, while the Swiss authorities decided whether to send him back to the US.

NONFICTION: OSCAR RUMBLINGS FOR JESSICA YU

Our very own Jessica Yu (via Nonfiction) is getting some very exciting Oscar buzz for her documentary Last Call at the Oasis.

The doc deals with the vital role water plays in our lives, exposes the defects in the current system and shows communities already struggling with its ill-effects, as well as individuals championing revolutionary solutions.

Have a look at the trailer below, click here for info on the film, and here for a fantastic review via indieWIRE.

LET ENGLAND SHAKE - THE VIDEOS

Congratulations are in order for PJ Harvey; the Brit rock/folk veteran has won the 2011 Mercury Music Prize. 

She is the first ever artist to win the prestigious award twice, having taken away the £20k cheque exactly 10 years ago for her Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea album. Here she is being grateful.

Let's celebrate Let England Shake by taking a look at its video campaign, which basically consisted of chucking a truck-load of cheap & lovely promos at the internet around the time of the album's release. Or to be more precise & respectful, a series of 12 short films directed by Seamus Murphy. There's a small selection below, but you can watch them all here.

VENICE FILM FESTIVAL 2011

The line-up has just been revealed, and three British films are up for the Golden Lion at the prestigious Venice Film Festival this year.

Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights, Steve McQueen's Shame & Tomas Alfredson's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (which we told you about a while ago) are all in the running. 

Also in the competition are George Clooney, as star & director of The Ides of March (trailer below), Al Pacino (also directing)'s Wilde Salome, Roman Polanski's Carnage, Steven Soderbergh's Contagion and Madonna's W.E.

With no shortage of starry directors & actors involved, all eyes are sure to be on Venice come August 31st. Good luck to all.

MERCURY PRIZE

The shortlist for the 20th Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize has just been announced. The influential annual prize is awarded to the best UK & Ireland album of the year. The nominations are chosen by a selected panel of musicians, music executives, journalists and other important figures of the British music industry. This year's nominees are:

- PJ Harvey Let England Shake

- James Blake James Blake

- Adele 21

- Anna Calvi Anna Calvi

- Tinie Tempah Disc-Overy

- Gwilym Simcock Good Days at Schloss Elmau

- Metronomy The English Riviera

- Elbow Build a Rocket Boys!

- Everything Man Alive

- Katy B On a Mission

- Ghostpoet Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam

- Kin Creosote and Jon Hopkins Diamond Mine

As you already know, we are hugely fond of Metronomy, but this is definitely a tough one to call. Good luck to all!

THE BOOK OF MORMON

South Park creators Trey Parker & Matt Stone cleaned up at last night's Tony Awards at the Beacon Theatre in NYC, picking up a total of 9 gongs (out of 14 nominations) for their satirical musical, The Book of Mormon. 

The irreverent Broadway show won 'Best Musical', 'Best Orchestration' and 'Best Actress' for Nikki James. This is one we'll definitely catch when it comes to London. Congrats to all the winners, and here is a snippet from the ceremony.

THE TIGER'S WIFE

This year's prestigious Orange Prize for Fiction has been awarded to its youngest ever recipient, 25 year-old Tea Obreht. The Serbian-born author & her family fled the Balkans war in the 1990s, and eventually relocated in America, where Obreht wrote her debut novel, The Tiger's Wife. 

The book follows a young doctor called Natalia. As she visits an orphanage in a Balkan country devastated by conflict, she hears of her beloved grandfather's mysterious death. She sets off on a journey to uncover what he was doing during his last days. Congrats to Tea! Get the book here.

DIARY OF CANNES

We are loving this diary of the Cannes Film Festival from directors Carlo Lavagna and Roberto de Paolis (who gave us an interview with Bernardo Bertolucci via Nowness just last week), which features appearances from Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Michelle Rodriguez, Kanye West and many more. Watching this make us feel like we were on the Cote d'Azur with them! (Sadly we were not).

B LIVE

Watch Beyonce tearing it up at Sunday's Billboard Music Awards 2011, held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. B picked up the Millenium Award and received a tribute from the First Lady herself, Michelle Obama. Special props to the live interactive projection used during her performance.

We're on the case to find out who's behind the excellent visual effects, but something tells us it might be the same team that worked on this show by Italian artist Lorella Cuccarini...

TV BAFTAS

Well, the worst/best (depending on your sense of humour) has happened, and The Only Way Is Essex has actually won a bloody Bafta. ITV2's reality show picked up the YouTube Audience Award, which is voted for by the public, after a strong and incessant persistent twitter campaign from the show's cast.

Other winners included the amazing Lauren Socha (Misfits), who beat off very strong competition to win the best supporting actress award, and Vicky McClure for her flawless turn in Shane Meadows' This Is England '86. The Bafta Fellowship was awarded to Sir Trevor McDonald, who very much deserves all the praise he received during last night's ceremony at the Grosvenor Hotel. Click here for a full list of winners. Congrats to all!

AT HOME WITH BERTOLUCCI

Directors Carlo Lavagna and Roberto de Paolis meet legendary Italian filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci (The Dreamers, Last Tango in Paris, La Luna, etc) for a cosy tete-a-tete. Bertolucci was the recipient of an honorary Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival opening ceremony in recognition of his remarkable career & immeasurable contribution to international cinema.

TV BAFTA NOMS

We told you about the YouTube Audience Award nominees just last week, and now here's a highlight of the remaining nominations for this year's TV Baftas, which were announced this morning. Congrats to all!

Leading Actress

Vicky McClure - This Is England '86

Natalie Press - Five Daughters

Anna Maxwell Martin - South Riding

Juliet Stevenson - Accused

Leading Actor

Jim Broadbent - Any Human Heart

Benedict Cumberbatch - Sherlock

Daniel Rigby - Eric and Ernie

Matt Smith - Doctor Who

Supporting Actress

Gillian Anderson - Any Human Heart

Lauren Socha - Misfits

Jessie Wallace - The Road to Coronation Street

Lynda Baron - The Road to Coronation Street

Supporting Actor

Brendan Coyle - Downton Abbey

Martin Freeman - Sherlock

Johnny Harris - This Is England '86

Robert Sheehan - Misfits

Drama Series

Being Human

Downton Abbey

Misfits

Sherlock

Drama Serial

Any Human Heart

Mad Dogs

The Sinking of the Laconia

The Promise

International

Boardwalk Empire

Glee

The Killing

Mad Men

Comedy Programme

Catherine Tate's Little Cracker

Come Fly With Me

Facejacker

Harry and Paul

Situation Comedy

Mrs Brown's Boys

Peep Show

Rev

The Trip

TV BAFTAS NOD TO ESSEX

Here's something we never thought we'd write... ITV2's The Only Way Is Essex is up for a Bafta. The perma-tanned "reality" show is up for the YouTube Audience Awards at next month's ceremony. As the name suggests, the award is decided by public vote (The Inbetweeners won it last year). 

Other programmes shortlisted in the category are Channel 4's hit My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, Downton Abbey, Sherlock, Miranda and Danish import The Killing. The TV Baftas will be held at Grosvenor House on the 22nd May and will be hosted by Graham Norton. Our money's on the hugely popular Miranda, but best luck to all...

THE RAZZIES

We're very much Oscared-out right now, but allow us one final awards post. This is where the real glitz & glamour was this weekend: The 31st Annual Razzie Awards. 

You know the score; it's the alternative awards ceremony held the night before the Oscars, which recognises the past year's very worst efforts in film. The cast of Sex and the City 2 triumphed, picking up a collective Worst Actress gong, as well as the coveted Worst Screen Ensemble & Worst Sequel awards.

M. Knight Shyamalan was the real success story of the evening though, going home with the Razzies for Worst Director, Worst Eye-Gouging Use of 3D and (the big one!) Worst Picture, all for The Last Airbender (us neither). Sadly none of the winners could attend the ceremony, so here are some lovely audience members sharing their views after The Last Airbender's previews earlier this year:

OSCARS 2011

In a move that surprised nobody, the Academy gave most of its little gold fellas to The King's Speech. We fell asleep during the red carpet coverage, but thankfully most of the world's press stayed up all night to live-report who won what, so chances are you already know the deal (but here's a full list of winners if you don't).

Highlights: James Franco & Anne Hathaway in drag (above), and best supporting actress winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter) dropping the f-bomb in her acceptance speech - the first time that's ever happened in 83 years of the Oscars. Nice one, Melissa.