Researched Events

The oscars

The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. The formal ceremony at which the awards are presented is among the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremonies in the world.

The 1st Academy Awards ceremony was held on Thursday, May 16, 1929, at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood to honor outstanding film achievements of 1927 and 1928. It was hosted by actor Douglas Fairbanks and director William C. DeMille. The 80th Academy Awards ceremonies, hosted by Comedy Central's The Daily Show host, Jon Stewart, were held on Sunday, February 24, 2008, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.

AMPAS, a professional honorary organization, maintains a voting membership of 5,829 as of 2007. Actors constitute the largest voting bloc, numbering 1,311 members (22 percent) of the Academy's composition. Votes for Oscars have been tabulated and certified by the auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (and its predecessor Price Waterhouse) for the past 73 annual awards ceremonies.

The 81st Academy Awards honoring the best in film for 2008 will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2009 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

The London Film Festival

The Times BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening over 300 films from 60 countries. The festival, the LFF, currently in its 52nd year, is held every year by the British
Film Institute and currently sponsored by the Times newspaper.

The 2008 Festival will run from 15 October to 30 October. The Festival presents selected new films from the full spectrum of world cinema, with an extensive schedule of industry and public forums, education events, lectures and celebrity interviews.

The festival is divided into themes which cover different areas of interest - in 2007 these are; Galas and Special Screenings, Film on the Square, New British Cinema, French Revolutions, Cinema Europa, World Cinema, Experimenta, Treasures from the Archives, Short Cuts and Animation. In 2007 the festival, whilst focused around Leicester Square and the NFT in central London, used 18 venues around central London for their screenings.

A few years ago the Festival decided to include screening venues outside of London into its coverage. The LFF 'tours' other locations with a selection of the festival's films; in 2006 there were seven venues which covered England and Wales.

The Brighton Festival

The Brighton Festival is an annual arts festival which takes place in the city of Brighton and Hove, England, UK each May. It was founded in 1966, and is the largest multi-art form festival in England.The 2006 festival organised over 200 events during 23 days which were attended by over 500,000 people.

The festival includes organised processions such as the Children's Parade, outdoor spectaculars often involving pyrotechnics, and a great deal of theatre, music, literature and visual arts in venues throughout the city, some of which are brought into this use exclusively for the festival.

The V Festical (Virgin)

The V Festival is an annual music festival in England, the first to be held simultaneously at two sites - currently Hylands Park in Chelmsford and Weston Park in South Staffordshire. Originally, the festival took the name of the current year, with the first festival being named "V96". Since 2003 it has been known as simply the V Festival.
The "V" represents the Virgin Group, and began as another means of promoting Richard Branson's companies. The event is sponsored by Virgin Mobile, with Virgin Radio the official radio station.

The festival generally takes place during the penultimate weekend of August. Its weekend format, low queuing times and professional organisation have given it a loyal audience. The festival sold out in record time in 2006.