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CONTACT US AT: 8351-9186, [email protected] Monday June 19, 2017 16 ENtertainment Twins BEYONCE has welcomed her two newborns with Jay Z last week, according to People. The singer announced she was expecting in February, posting a photo that has since become the most liked Insta- gram photo of all time. Since announcing her pregnancy, Beyonce has been showing off her maternity style with mini photo shoots on the social media platform. She’s been wearing designer pieces from Gucci, Valentino, Halston Heritage and Belgian label A.F. Vandevorst, to name a few. Beyonce, 35, and husband Jay Z, 47, who tied the knot in April 2008, are already parents to 5- year-old Blue Ivy Carter, who was born in January 2012. Cause of death CARRIE FISHER died from sleep apnea and a combination of other factors, but investiga- tors were not able to pinpoint an exact cause, coroner’s offi- cials said Friday. Among the factors that contributed to Fisher’s death was buildup of fatty tissue in the walls of her arteries, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said in a news release late Friday. The release states that the “Star Wars” actress showed signs of having taken multiple drugs, but investigators could not determine whether they contributed to her death in December. ‘Filthy Rich’ PETER LANDESMAN has come aboard to write and direct the adaptation of James Patterson’s bestseller “Filthy Rich” for his James Patterson Entertainment shingle. “Filthy Rich” is Patterson’s 2016 nonfiction true-crime best-seller about Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire financier who employed underage girls as masseuses and was eventually convicted of prostitution with underage women. The project is being eyed as a limited series for TV. No network or studio is attached yet. 100 m followers KATY PERRY is retaining her title of Queen of Twitter. Friday, the “Swish Swish” singer became the first person to reach an impressive 100 mil- lion followers on the popular social media platform. Twit- ter announced the news with a clever tweet referencing the title of Perry’s latest album. “Today, we #WITNESS his- tory,” the tweet read. Perry joined Twitter as @katyperry in 2009, reached 50 million followers by 2012 and has been the reigning queen ever since. She’s followed closely behind by Justin Bieber, who currently has 96.7 million followers, Barack Obama (90.8 million), Taylor Swift (85.1 million) and Rihanna (74.1 million). (SD-Agencies) At a Glance LA film fest focuses on minorities AT this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival, which kicked off June 14 with the debut of Colin Trev- orrow’s “The Book of Henry” and continues through June 22, 42 percent of the films have been directed by women and 40 percent have been directed by people of color. “The festival is part of Film Independent, so it is specific in what it does in terms of ampli- fying underrepresented voices,” says Jennifer Cochis, who has been with the festival for three years, having served as creative director before being promoted last October to festival director. “Our having that many women and people of color is deliberate. It’s not some sidebar. They’re actually the films that are up for prizes and awards.” Cochis is succeeding Stepha- nie Allain, who had refocused the festival to promote diversity and also better reflect the range of audiences within Los Angeles. Cochis is continuing to develop the fest in that direction, as the 23-year-old festival’s footprint now spreads across the city. To better reflect the city, Cochis has expanded the L.A. Muse sidebar to 12 films — six narrative films and six docu- mentaries — including such titles as the world premiere of Timothy McNeil’s “Anything” (in which Matt Bomer plays a transgender woman); Jennifer Arnold’s documentary “Fat Camp” (which BET has picked up for airing); Mark Hayes’ “Skid Row Marathon” (about Superior Court Judge Craig Mitchell, who started a running club for Skid Row residents) and actress Leah Thompson’s feature directorial debut “The Year of Spectacular Men.” Having conducted an exten- sive out-reach program to encourage new filmmakers to submit their work, the festival ultimately put together a line- up in which 65 percent of the films are by first-time directors. But since that means many of the films come from previously unknown talent, it also made an effort this year to pull in more recognizable titles. The fest will close with Matt Spicers drama about a social media stalker, “Ingrid Goes West,” starring Aubrey Plaza. Plaza also shows up alongside Dave Franco in the raunchy “The Little Hours.” Game of Thrones’ Nikolaj Coster- Waldau plays a gangster in Roman Waugh’s “Shot Caller.” And “Bill Nye, The Science Guy” is the subject of a documentary by David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg. In addition, the fest will spotlight highlights from other festivals like Sofia Coppola’s Cannes entry, “The Beguiled,” which will play on a double bill with the director’s “Lost in Translation” as well as Sun- dance standouts like Michael Showalter’s “The Big Sick,” starring Kumail Nanjiani and Zoe Kazan, and Dave McCary’s “Brigsby Bear,” starring Kyle Mooney. (SD-Agencies) Whitney Houston, Laird Hamilton docs to be part of Hamptons fest THE Hamptons International Film Festival’s SummerDocs series will return for its ninth year this summer. Five documentary films will be screened from July 8 to Aug. 26 with each screening followed by discussions with filmmakers and subjects led by HIFF co-chairman Alec Bald- win and HIFF artistic director David Nugent. The films in this year’s line-up are “Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press,” “Trophy,” “Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton,” “Whitney: Can I Be Me?” and “Icarus.” Post-screening discussions will be held with, respectively, directors Brian Knappenberger, Christina Clu- siau and Shaul Schwarz, Rory Kennedy, Nick Broomfield and Bryan Fogel. Hamilton will also participate in the post-screen- ing conversation about his film, while the “Nobody Speak” chat will also feature special guests to be announced. “It’s HIFF’s 25th anniver- sary year and the ninth season of SummerDocs and we have a great lineup of documentary films, featuring intense drama and more entertaining fare,” Baldwin said. “Artistic director David Nugent and I believe this will be one of the best Summer- Doc seasons yet.” (SD-Agencies) A poster for “The Big Sick.” A poster for “The Big Sick.” A scene from “The Little Hours.” A scene from “The Little Hours.” SD-Agencies STEPHEN FURST, who played naive fraternity pledge Floun- der in the hit movie “Animal House,” has died of complica- tions from diabetes, his family said Saturday. Furst was 63. Furst died Friday at his home in Moorpark, California, north of Los Angeles, said his son, Nathan Furst. Furst played Kent “Flounder” Dorfman in the 1978 film that also starred John Belushi. It was Belushi’s character, Blu- tarsky, who drew Flounder into a prank that went terribly wrong and ended up with the frantic Flounder shooting a gun loaded with blanks into a ceiling, frightening a horse so much that it died of a heart attack. Furst’s long list of credits included the 1980s medical drama “St. Elsewhere,” on which he played Dr. Elliot Axelrod. He played Vir Coto and was an occasional direc- tor on the 1990s sci-fi series “Babylon 5.” He also voiced characters on projects including TV’s “Buzz Lightyear of Star Command” and the video “The Little Mer- maid 2: Return to the Sea.” (SD-Agencies) Stephen Furst of ‘Animal House’ dies A poster for the Laird Hamilton doc. A poster for the Laird Hamilton doc.
