"A Prophet" nominated for six European film awards

MADRID (Reuters) -The French film "Un Prophete" (A Prophet) has been nominated for six European Film awards, including best film and best director, the European Film Academy announced on Saturday at the Seville Europe Film Festival.

Tahar Rahim was nominated as best actor for his role in the film, which also saw director Jacques Audiard nominated for European Screenwriter 2009 with Thomas Bidegain.

British film "Slumdog Millionaire," directed by Danny Boyle, scooped five nominations, including best picture, best director and best actor for Dev Patel.

Spanish director Pedro Almodovar was nominated for best director for his latest film "Los Abrazos Rotos" (Broken Embraces), which stars his muse Penelope Cruz.

The film is Almodovar's fourth collaboration with Spanish actress Cruz, nominated in the best actress category for her role as Lena, a secretary who ends up in a relationship with her wealthy boss Ernesto. Also an aspiring actress, she is spotted by the charismatic director Mateo Blanco, played by Lluis Homar, with whom she quickly falls in love.

Cruz will compete for the best actress accolade with Charlotte Gainsbourg for her role in "Antichrist" and Kate Winslet for "The Reader."

Other candidates for best film are: "Fish Tank," from British writer and director Andrea Arnold; "Let the Right One In," a Swedish romantic horror film directed by Tomas Alfredson; "The Reader," directed by Stephen Daldry; and Austrian film maker Michael Haneke's "The White Ribbon."

The more than 2,000 EFA members will now vote for the winners, which will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on December 12 in Bochum, Germany.

The Italian film "Gomorra" swept the board at last year's awards, winning best film and best director for Matteo Garrone.

Police: LA celebrity burglaries led by 19-year-old

LAS VEGAS – A young woman broke into the homes of Hollywood celebrities she admired, including Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Audrina Patridge, because she wanted to own their designer clothes and jewelry, an informant told police.

According to a Las Vegas police search warrant obtained by The Associated Press on Friday, Nicholas Prugo told Los Angeles police detectives that Rachel Jungeon Lee was the "driving force" behind the break-ins.

Prugo told police Lee, 19, would suggest a target, then Prugo would trawl the Internet for information about where they lived and when they would be away from home. Las Vegas police were involved because Lee lives there.

Police say the pair was part of a group of at least six that stole from October 2008 until September.

After watching a house, they would break into the poorly protected properties, often by simply walking through unlocked doors.

Prugo said they removed cash, narcotics and thousands of dollars worth of jewelry, including family heirlooms.

Acting on a tip, police arrested 18-year-old Prugo on Sept. 17. He initially refused to talk to police but on Oct. 6, he and his attorney met with detectives and Prugo "provided a full confession, and implicated several other suspects," court documents state.

"Prugo admitted to committing all of the burglaries and that Rachel Lee was with him during the residential burglaries of the homes of Audrina Patridge, Lindsay Lohan, Orlando Bloom, Rachel Bilson and the Hilton family," the search warrant states. "Prugo stated that it was Lee who would suggest a target and that he would surf the Internet to learn where the celebrity lived as well as the target's travel itinerary."

Prugo said Lee was motivated by her desire to "own the designer wardrobes of the Hollywood celebrities she admired."

At least six people have been arrested in the case. They include 18-year-olds Courtney Ames and Alexis Neiers, and Diana Tamayo, 19.

Ray Lopez Jr. and Jonathan Ajar, both 27 also were arrested. Ajar faces 10 felony charges after detectives found drugs and weapons at his home during a search. Ajar was convicted of a federal drug charge in 2002 and was not supposed to possess firearms.

The search warrant states Prugo told police he and Lee broke into Hilton's house several times. At the Lohan house, the burglary crew gained entrance by prying open a window with a screwdriver then swiped luggage, clothing and jewelry including a Rolex wristwatch with a blue face, Prugo told police.

He said expensive watches were also a target at Bloom's house, and several were stolen along with artwork and clothing.

Lee's father, David Lee, knew about the burglaries and gave advice about avoiding arrest and prosecution, Prugo said. He allegedly told his daughter to bury the stolen property in the Nevada desert and told Prugo to join the military.

Attempts to find a number for David Lee were unsuccessful.

A search of the Las Vegas home Lee shared with her father turned up a piece of paper with the names of her accomplices which Las Vegas Detective Ethan Grimes confirmed were the other subjects identified in the crime ring.

Police also found three photos of Paris Hilton, designer jeans, three computers, a Korean passport, 204 $100 bills and less than one ounce of marijuana when they arrested Lee at the home in northwest Las Vegas on Oct. 22, according to the warrants.

Lee was booked at the Clark County jail on a charge of possession of stolen property charge and released after posting $3,000 bail, Morgan said. Charges were not immediately filed and prosecutors in Los Angeles asked police to investigate her further.

Morgan said she did not know if Lee was represented by a lawyer. She could not immediately be reached Friday for comment.

Prosecutors have filed felony residential burglary charges against Neiers, Ames, Tamayo and Lopez Jr.

Winfrey takes Winans off her show

NEW YORK – Oprah Winfrey is removing gospel singer BeBe Winans from her show's "karaoke challenge" until charges against him for allegedly pushing his ex-wife to the ground are resolved.

Winans appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" last week and was seen in promos for future appearances. Now he'll be cut out of the segment, said Winfrey spokesman Don Halcombe on Thursday.

Winfrey was criticized by some bloggers this week for including Winans after she had taken a strong stand against domestic violence earlier this year. She did a show on the topic when singer Chris Brown assaulted his then-girlfriend Rihanna.

The daytime TV leader said at the time: "Domestic violence is something that I wouldn't tolerate. Period."

Halcombe would only say that the decision to eliminate Winans was made this week. It was not clear if Winfrey had been aware that Winans was charged with misdemeanor domestic assault in the Feb. 13 incident, where Winans and his ex-wife Debra were allegedly arguing about their children. Winans has a court date set for Jan. 20.

Winans' manager did not immediately return a telephone call for comment.

"Let's just not have a double standard on domestic violence or even accusations of domestic violence," said Joni Reynolds, a woman from the Baltimore area and author of a blog called Ebony Mom Politics.

She had called attention to Winans' participation and wondered if Winfrey had overlooked the charges because the Winans were friends or because there were no photos that had become public as in Rihanna's case.

Reynolds commended Winfrey for deciding to take Winans off the show.

Bachman, Turner being sued by rest of Overdrive over right to band name

VANCOUVER, B.C. — Randy Bachman and Fred Turner fronted one of the hottest rock bands of the 1970's, selling millions of albums under the name Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

Now they're front and centre in a B.C. Supreme Court lawsuit in which Bachman's own brother and another former bandmate are suing the pair for using their own names.

Robin Bachman and Blair Thornton launched the lawsuit claiming Randy Bachman and Fred Turner signed away the rights to the Bachman-Turner Overdrive and BTO names in three separate contracts.

"Much as Coca Cola is synonymous in the world with Coke, so too is Bachman-Turner Overdrive with BTO," says the lawsuit filed last Friday.

The Canadian rock band from Winnipeg was best known for the songs "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" and "Takin' Care of Business."

After the group broke up in 1977, the lawsuit claims Randy Bachman and Turner signed away the rights to the BTO name to their two former bandmates and agreed not to use the Bachman-Turner Overdrive name without the consent of the other parties.

The lawsuit states that Randy Bachman and Turner signed two further deals in 1984 and 2002, saying they wouldn't use the Bachman-Turner Overdrive name in connection to new recordings and live performances.

But in May 2009, the lawsuit claims that Randy Bachman's company, Ranback, registered several names with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office including the names Bachman-Turner, B.T.U., and Bachman Turner Union.

It said Bachman and Turner have entered into contracts with concert promoters and agents to perform in Canada and Europe without the plaintiffs consent.

The lawsuit alleges the defendants have passed off their services to the public and diverted business that was rightfully theirs, "causing the plaintiffs harm and damage and appropriating to themselves profits which were rightful profits of the plaintiffs."

Robin Bachman and Thornton are asking for a permanent injunction stopping Randy Bachman and Fred Turner from using the BTO and Bachman-Turner Overdrive names.

The pair is also looking for financial damages for loss of market share, income and profit.

No statement of defence has been filed and the allegations in the lawsuit have not been tested in court.

Legal expert Mira Sundara Rajan, the Canada Research Chair on Intellectual Property Law, said such a lawsuit is very unusual.

"That question of not being able to use their own name for musical performances is really dodgy," she said.

Canadian law gives the moral right to the author and Canada has recently signed on to an international agreement that gives moral rights in performances, she said.

"If they perform, or if their work is used, they have a right to be associated with it by their own name, it's basically common sense if you think about it."

Sundara Rajan said if the artists specifically waived their moral right in the contracts, the outcome may be different.

"But what judges sometimes do is they look at contacts and they say 'well this provision is very unfair' and they interpret it some other way," she said. "So no contract like that is going to be iron clad."

She said the name Bachman-Turner Overdrive could be contentious because it is associated with a group that no longer exists.

Rihanna: Chris Brown's assault and aftermath were humiliating but she's stronger, wiser now

LOS ANGELES - Rihanna says dealing with the media attention after being assaulted in February by ex-boyfriend Chris Brown was humiliating. But she now hopes to speak for young women who are afraid to talk openly about domestic violence.

The 21-year-old pop star told Glamour magazine in an interview posted online Tuesday that the police photo of her bruised face that was leaked to reporters added insult to injury.

After the assault, she awoke to find helicopters circling her house and reporters swarming her street. "I felt like I went to sleep as Rihanna and woke up as Britney Spears," she said.

Rihanna said she felt disappointed and taken advantage of, especially when she heard that the two officers under investigation for leaking her photo were women.

"I felt like people were making it into a fun topic on the Internet, and it's my life," she said.

Rihanna said she didn't realize how much her decisions affected people she didn't know, like her many fans. She feels stronger, wiser and more aware now, she added.

"Domestic violence is a big secret," Rihanna said. "The positive thing that has come out of my situation is that people can learn from that. I want to give as much insight as I can to young women, because I feel like I represent a voice that really isn't heard. Now I can help speak for those women."

Brown, 20, pleaded guilty to felony assault in June. He was sentenced to five years' probation, six months of community labour and a year of domestic violence counselling for the attack, in which he was accused of hitting, choking and biting Rihanna in a rented sports car.

TMZ published the photo of Rihanna's bruised face less than two weeks after the beating, and the LAPD immediately launched an internal investigation of the leak.

Big names from Hollywood on Obama's arts committee

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – "Sex and the City" star Sarah Jessica Parker, Oscar winner Forest Whitaker and agent Bryan Lourd were among big Hollywood names named on Monday as members of U.S. President Barack Obama's Committee on Arts and the Humanities.

The panel focuses on arts and humanities education, cultural diplomacy, economic revitalization through the arts and humanities and special events.

First lady Michelle Obama is its honorary chairwoman and film producer George Stevens Jr. and theater producer Margo Lion had already been named as its co-chairs.

Besides Parker, Whitaker and Lourd, who is a partner and managing director of Creative Artists Agency, other Hollywood figures named to the group included actors Edward Norton, Kerry Washington and Alfre Woodard, director George Wolfe, independent filmmaker Liz Manne and publicist Andy Spahn.

The list of 25 people from the worlds of arts and entertainment also included cellist Yo Yo Ma, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, philanthropist Teresa Heinz, architect Thom Mayne and ballet dancer Damian Woetzel. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by John O'Callaghan)

Lil Wayne slapped with copyright lawsuit

Lil Wayne, who faces yet more legal woes, is now being sued for copyright infringement along with fellow rapper Birdman.

Florida resident Thomas Marasciullo says the pair used his voice without permission on several tracks.

The Grammy-winning Lil Wayne, born Dwayne Carter, is already facing a jail term after pleading guilty last week to attempted criminal possession of a weapon. He is slated to be sentenced at New York State Supreme Court in February.

Marasciullo says that back in 2006, he was asked to record "Italian-styled spoken-word recordings" for Cash Money Records, the rappers' record label. Cash Money was co-founded by Birdman, whose real name is Bryan Williams, with his brother, Ronald.

Marasciullo says those recordings were used in four tracks in the rappers' joint album Like Father, Like Son and also on five tracks on Birdman's 5 (Star) Stunna record.

Like Father, Like Son became a gold-selling release in 2006.

Marasciullo is also suing Cash Money Records and Universal Music and is seeking unspecified damages.

In his filing in a Manhattan court Friday, the Florida man contends that after he started to ask for compensation, his son was fired from his job as a recording engineer at Cash Money.

Marasciullo says he only discovered his work had been used when his daughter heard the song Respect from Like Father, Like Son while trying to download a ring-tone version of the Aretha Franklin single of the same name.

Madonna leaves Malawi after week's charity tour

LILONGWE, Malawi – Madonna has left Malawi after a nearly weeklong visit with her family, airport and charity officials said Saturday.

Officials said Madonna flew out of the southern African country on Friday. The 51-year-old celebrity arrived in the impoverished country on Sunday accompanied by her four children — daughters Lourdes and Mercy, and sons Rocco and David. Mercy and David were adopted from Malawi.

While in Malawi, she broke ground for her $15 million Raising Malawi Academy for Girls and visited the orphanage that cared for her son David before she adopted him.

Madonna's Raising Malawi, a charity founded in 2006 when she first visited the country, helps feed, educate and provide medical care for some of Malawi's orphans.

Malawi, a nation of 12 million, is one of the poorest countries in the world. About 500,000 children have lost a parent to AIDS.

Robbie Williams pulls out of awards performance

LONDON (Billboard) – Robbie Williams has pulled out of a scheduled appearance at the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards.

According to a statement issued Friday by the U.K. singer's spokesperson, the cancellation was "due to a scheduling conflict." The statement went onto say that "all other promotional commitments carry on as planned."

Wiliams was expected to perform alongside Jay-Z, Green Day, Tokio Hotel, Leona Lewis, Foo Fighters and Shakira at the awards ceremony, which takes at Berlin's O2 World Arena on Thursday (November 5).

The singer -- who recently ended a three-year hiatus with the single "Bodies" (Virgin/EMI) -- is up for the award for best male at the ceremony. "Bodies" entered the Official U.K. Charts Co. singles rundown at No. 2 on October 25.

Williams' new studio set, "Reality Killed the Video Star," will be released internationally on November 9.

Williams also is set to receive the outstanding contribution to music prize at next year's Brit Awards, which take place February 16 at London's Earls Court.

(please visit our entertainment blog via www.reuters.com or on http://blogs.reuters.com/fanfare/)

Michael Jackson movie earns $20 million on 1st day

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Michael Jackson movie "This Is It" earned $20.1 million at worldwide box offices on its first day in theaters as fans around the globe turned out in strong numbers, Columbia Pictures said on Thursday.

The movie studio said the film, which shows the late pop star rehearsing for a series of comeback concerts before his death in June, made $7.4 million in the United States and Canada, and another $12.7 million internationally.

"The studio believes that the worldwide launch, with very strong performance across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia, represents an amazing beginning for the film and a reaffirmation of the global appeal of Michael Jackson," Columbia Pictures spokesman Steve Elzer said in a statement.

Finding comparable films to "This Is It" is difficult because of the movie's unusual nature as a hybrid documentary and concert film, as well as the fact that its star was not alive to promote it.

Moreover, "This Is It" premiered on Tuesday night and then began playing around the world on Wednesday, which is unusual for a movie that is not based on a major franchise like the "Harry Potter" or "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.

"It's difficult to make comparisons because there is nothing like this," said Paul Dergarabedian, who runs box office tracker Hollywood.com Box Office.

Among concert films, one top performer recently was 2008's "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour." It enjoyed an opening, three-day weekend of $31 million, starting on a Friday, and went on to earn just over $70.6 million globally during its entire run.

Another recent music movie was 2008's "U2 3D," which earned a total of $16.6 million worldwide during its entire release.

Columbia Pictures paid $60 million to distribute the film and millions more to market it. Columbia is a unit of the Sony Corp's Sony Pictures Entertainment media group.

INTERNATIONAL BOX OFFICE

In the United Kingdom, box offices rang up just under $2 million, while French sales totaled about $1.4 million, and Germany just over $1 million. Japanese fans spent roughly $1.2 million, and in China, the movie delivered $730,000.

The question now for Columbia is how well the movie will perform during the upcoming, first weekend. Jackson's fans were expected to turn out in droves early, but whether they will be repeat customers remains to be seen.

Columbia has said the movie will be extended beyond its planned two-week run if ticket demand is high, and it plans a DVD release in 2010.

Jackson died on June 25 in Los Angeles at age 50 after suffering cardiac arrest brought on by a drug overdose only weeks before he was to have begun the "This Is It" concerts in London. The shows had been hyped in the media as his chance to erase the stigma of a 2005 trial in which he was acquitted of child molestation charges.

The nearly two-hour movie features Jackson singing and dancing to his biggest hits, including "Beat It," "Black or White" and "Man in the Mirror." Throughout the film, audiences see him working to create a show that would wow fans.