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Best
of Aussie jazz and cuisine Aussies
team who had been housed at the hotel had an opportunity to flavour
their own food at the festival, whilst entertainment provided by
an Australian Jazz band. Australian
food specialist, Jerome La'Brooy teamed up with regency chefs, provided
the cuisine at its best which was appreciated by all. The ambience
at the far pavilion restaurant has been traditional and totally
Australian. Temperature controlled wine cellar serving the Australia's
best wines, gave authenticity to the festival. Picutre
shows the opening ceremony
of the food festival. The red ribbon cut by the Australian Cricket
Captain, Ricky Ponting
and the Manager, Steve Bernard. The Assistant Manager, Thusith Samaraweera
and the General Manager of the Hotel, Roshan Fernando look on. By
Susitha R. Fernando It
is a film of high-energy drama with music and Honey is directed
by Bille Woodruff. The
cast includes Jessica Alba, Mekhi Phifer, Joy Bryant, David Moscow,
Lonette McKee, Zachary Isaiah William and Lil' Romeo Jessica
Alba stars as Honey Daniels, a dancer and choreographer struggling
to get by until she gets her one big break. When
she finally tastes success, it feels too good to be true. And it
is-until Honey gets a new dream fuelled by the exuberant energy
of a group of neighbourhood kids who bring her back to the sheer
joy of letting it all out on the dance floor. About the Production Andre
Harrell initiator of hip-hop's ground breaking creative venture
realising the value of the film industry for the hip-hop culture
took up a new challenge when he decided to produce a screen play
by Alonzo Brown and Kim Watson about a dancer who wants to achieve
success beyond the confines of her urban neighbourhood. Marc Platt
didn't need much persuasion when Harrell approached him with the
screenplay for Honey. Platt was already familiar with the genre
and had witnessed its cross-cultural popularity so he joined Harrell
eagerly in the production. Harrel
talking on the subject matter says "So much of the mu sic
that I'm involved in deals with stories about finding your dreams.
There's a lot about empowerment-so many of the artistes I work with
are all about that. It's about taking action, it's about taking
chances, which is exactly what I've always done in my career. Dreams
don't just happen you create them. And that's the idea that drives
Honey, this kind of hip-hop rags-to-riches-to-reality story, so
I was glad to roll up my sleeves and get involved with
it." While
Platt has his own reasons "I welcomed the great opportunity
to produce this film and surround myself with the culture, the people,
the music, the feel and the kids- in a way that is exciting, exhilarating
and hopeful." Bill
Woodruff was their natural choice of director as they knew him as
a visually astute director of music videos for such artistes as
Britney Spears, Usher and The Backstreet Boys and thus Woodruff
makes his debut as a feature film director in 'Honey'. Woodruff
being able to showcase some of his more nascent skills says "It
is a blessing that my first film draws on stuff that I'm very familiar
with. But then I also get to show that I can handle narrative and
tell a good story on a large scale." Jessica Alba (Honey Daniels) makes her first starring role in a major studio film with 'Honey'. Talking about her role she explains, "I've been waiting for a story like that. So Honey is a dream come true for me. This is a story people can identify with. The character of Honey is real and smart-she realises her real love and passion is sharing the dance with the kids in her urban neighbourhood. These kids could fall into gang-banging or into drugs and she provides them with a positive outlet." For the role of supportive her boy friend Mekhi Phifer-(Chaz) (8 Mile) has captured the attention of critics and audience alike with performance that cross all cinematic genre, from gritty urban dramas to heart warming romantic comedies. Chaz's qualities appealed to Phifer because "he's a motivator, a support structure for Honey. He's successful at what he does and he doesn't have to worry with trying to find himself." Honey
was also a welcome departure from the film work the young actor
had previously done. "This is one of the first movies I've
done," smiles Phifer, "that I can bring my son, my grandparents
and everyone I know to see." Honey also stars Lil' Romeo, winner of the 2001 Billboard Music Award for "Rap Artiste of the Year" as Benny, a kid who needs a break even more than Honey does. He makes his feature film debut with Honey. A symposium
on Somaratne Dissanayake's film 'Suriya Arana' will be held at the
Centre For Society and Religion (CSR) on Deans Road in Maradana
on April 5 (poyaday). The theme for discussion will be "Buddhist symbol in Cinema" and will include scenes from 'Suriya Arana' and scenes from other Sri Lankan films that depict other Buddhist scenes is organised by the Media Unit is to be held at Fr. Michael Rodrigo Memorial auditorium of CSR from 9.00pm to 1.30 pm. Talks will be delivered by popular film critic Gamini Weragama, lecturer of Sri Jayawardena University, Praneeth Abeysundara and journalist Sunil Mihindukula. A special
award "Viskam Ransilu" will be awarded to veteran actor
Joe Abeywickrama for his contribution for the Betterment of the
Sri Lankan cinema. The
award will be given on March 22nd (Tomorrow) at 2.00 p.m. at the
New Town Hall, Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha, Colombo 07. The
event organised to honour the "Shilpa 2003" National Handicrafts
Exhibition held in December 2003, organized by the National Crafts
Council will be graced
by Ministers, G.L. Peiris, Bandula Gunawardane, many veteran artistes
and the winners of the crafts exhibition 2003. At
this event two veteran and reputed artists who have contributed
much for the development of the traditional culture and crafts also
will be honoured by awarding special awards. M.P.
Devendra of Nattarampotha Kalapura, a vetaran craftsman in Jewellery
and silver crafts is also selected to award the "Viskam
Ransilu" gold award (once in lifetime) for his contribution
for the betterment of traditional handicrafts. At
the ceremony 27 craftsmen also will be awarded with "Viskam
Ransilu" awards with a cash prize of Rs. 10,000/- each and
apart from the main awards 750 craftsmen will be awarded with Insurance
Policies which is a new concept of the Crafts Council. This new insurance scheme is a project of the craftsmen welfare programme in collaboration with Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation. |
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