November 27, 2004

Arts, Briefly

A French Film Is Ruled Not Quite French Enough

A French court touched a raw nerve in the film world when it ruled this week that a new movie did not qualify as a French production because the studio that made it was actually American. Agence France-Presse reported that the film, "A Very Long Engagement," directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Audrey Tatou - the director and star of the 2001 French hit "Amélie" - was denied $4.8 million in subsidies because 2003 Productions was simply a French-registered front company for Warner Brothers. The studio responded with an angry statement that said, "This movie, which recounts a French story adapted from a French novel, filmed entirely in France, in French, which employed more than 2,000 French extras, some 30 French actors and around 500 French technicians over 18 months, is suddenly no longer considered a French film." One-third of 2003 Productions is owned by Warner Brothers, with the rest owned by Warner France executives and employees. The film opened yesterday in Manhattan and Los Angeles.

If Only Their Grammar Had Been Better

They didn't need no education, but they want the royalties. Twenty-three former students of the Islington Green School in London, who sang the immortal chorus of teenage discontent - "We don't need no education/We don't need no thought control" - on Pink Floyd's 1979 hit "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2" have lodged a complaint for unpaid royalties with a British agency. Their representative, Peter Rowan, told Reuters he was acting on behalf of one of the former students and was working with other members of the class, though he was still trying to reach many of them. The song became Pink Floyd's only No. 1 hit, and the album on which it appeared, "The Wall," has sold more than 23 million copies in the United States alone. The school was paid somewhat less than $2,000 and later given a platinum album award, but the students were paid nothing.

Aga Khan Awards

Temporary housing built from earth-filled sandbags and a tilting disc shaped library in Alexandria, Egypt, are among the seven winners of this year's Aga Khan Award for Architecture. The recipients of awards, which are presented every three years and amount to a total of $500,000, are to be announced today in Delhi, India, by Prince Karim Aga Khan. The prize recognizes projects that attain architectural excellence "while reflecting the values of the primarily Muslim societies the projects are intended to serve." The other winning projects are a village primary school fashioned from compressed-earth bricks in Gando, Burkina Faso; the restoration of Al-Abbas Mosque near Asnaf, Yemen; a revitalization program for the Old City of Jerusalem; the B2 House, a modern structure on a traditional terraced site in Ayvacik, Turkey; and the giant twin Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Snohetta, the Norwegian firm that designed the library in Alexandria, was recently chosen to design a cultural building at ground zero in New York. — ROBIN POGREBIN

On the British Charts

Homegrown talent is pushing British music sales to record levels. Album sales in Britain hit an all-time high of 237 million in the year ending Sept. 30, the British Phonographic Industry reported yesterday. Half of the top 20 albums were by British bands, including Keane, the Darkness, Dido and Will Young. In addition, all of the top five singles in the third quarter of 2004 were by Britons, including the Streets' "Dry Your Eyes" and Busted's "Thunderbirds." "There are strong indications that the market vitality will only get better," said Peter Jamieson, the group's chairman, because the industry continues to invest in British artists. But digital downloading continues to have an impact on the sales of singles, which fell 11.7 percent in the third quarter. — HEATHER TIMMONS

Museum Thefts, Again

Thieves have struck again at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, making off with 15 Meissen porcelain figures worth nearly $4,000 each. This theft follows two in London museums last month, when $100,000 in Chinese jade was taken from the Victoria and Albert and 15 small pieces of Chinese jewelry were stolen from the British Museum. In each case the thieves pried open cabinets while the museum was open to visitors; the police believe the Meissen porcelain was taken around 1 p.m. on Wednesday. The Victoria and Albert says the first theft led to a security review: the number of guards on patrol was immediately doubled, and a newly commissioned security system was to be installed on Monday. "This is a great blow," said Mark Jones, the museum's director, "and, sadly, we have no option but to close the Ceramics Galleries until new systems are in place." Police are investigating a possible link among the crimes. — PAM KENT

Long Sweeps

Because of the presidential election at the beginning of the month, this year's November sweeps were were adjusted to go through Thanksgiving, so the holiday's television line-up featured mostly original programs, not the usual reruns. As usual on a Thursday, it was a CBS sweep, according to Nielsen's overnight ratings, with new episodes of "Survivor," "CSI" and "Without a Trace" winning every hour. At 10 p.m., NBC came in second with "The Seinfeld Story," a retrospective on the series. On Wednesday night, NBC won the overall ratings competition every hour, but ABC's three-hour "Bachelor" finale drew the 18-to-49 crowd. With this sixth installment of "The Bachelor" over, the third "Bachelorette" is set to begin in January, with Jen Schefft, a viewer favorite, searching for a boyfriend after her breakup with the third "Bachelor," Andrew Firestone. Wednesday's most-watched program was NBC's "Law & Order," which edged out CBS's "CSI: NY." — KATE AURTHUR

A 'Butterfly' for Japan

When in Japan, think Japanese. That's the approach the New York City Opera is taking when it travels to Tokyo and Nagoya in May as part of the American cultural program at the 2005 World Exposition. On the bill is something Japanese, or close to it: "Madama Butterfly," Puccini's tragic love story about an American naval officer and a former geisha. Although popular in Japan, "Butterfly," whose Asianisms were largely a figment of Puccini's imagination, is an opera that American companies often shy away from performing there, said Matthew Price, an executive assistant to the company's artistic director, Paul Kellogg. The conductor will be Atsushi Yamada, a businessman turned musician who is the first Japanese conductor to perform with the company. Audiences looking for a traditionally Western grand operatic spectacle won't find it in Mark Lamos's pared-down production, which has aqua-toned stairs and translucent shoji screens framing the stage and a fleet of naval ships suspended in the air. "Ours is a contemporary interpretation, more attuned to a spare and internal Japanese sensibility," Mr. Price said. "At least we hope it will come across that way." — KATHRYN SHATTUCK

Footnotes

Bob Dylan will appear on CBS's "60 Minutes" on Dec. 5 in his first television interview in 19 years. Mr. Dylan, 63, who recently published the first installment of his memoirs, "Chronicles Volume 1," spoke with the "60 Minutes" correspondent Ed Bradley on Nov. 19 in Northampton, Mass., while on tour.