October 11, 2007–The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released its shortlist of documentary shorts that are up for Oscar nom consideration.

October 10, 2007–Nominations for the 2008 Screen Actors Guild Awards will be announced at the Pacific Design Center's SilverScreen Theater in West Hollywood, CA, for the seventh time in the SAG Awards' 14-year history, executive producer Jeff Margolis announced today. Nominations for outstanding performances in five film and eight TV categories will be revealed on the morning of Thursday, Dec. 20, telecast on TNT and webcast at tbs.com and tnt.tv at 6 am PT / 9 am ET, 8 am CT, 7 am MT.

October 8, 2007–Nikita Mikhalkov, whose ?¢¬Ä¬úBurnt by the Sun?¢¬Ä won the foreign language film Oscar in 1995, will represent Russia for the fourth time with latest picture ?¢¬Ä¬ú12,?¢¬Ä a remake of Sidney Lumet's 1957 acclaimed courtroom drama.

In 79 years, only two directors have won the Oscar for making a Western: Kevin Costner for Dances With Wolves and Clint Eastwood for Unforgiven. Fred Zinnemann (High Noon), George Stevens (Shane), and William Wyler (Friendly Persuasion) were nominated and won directing Oscars, but not for Westerns.

For decades, the Western, arguably the most uniquely American film genre, was regarded as the “bread and butter” of the industry. In the 1950s, the best decade for “A” Westerns in film history, the production of Westerns amounted to one-third of Hollywood's entire output. Yet, only few of the 93 Oscar-winning films have been Westerns, including Cimarron (1933), Dances With Wolves (1990), and Unforgiven (1992).