by the El Reportero’s news services

Pope Francis.

Spanish-speaking countries’ hopefuls for a Foreign Language Film Oscar have been eliminated from the race for the statuette.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Friday unveiled a list of nine features that advanced to the next round of voting in that category.

Those films are: “The Broken Circle Breakdown” (Belgium), “An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker” (Bosnia Herzegovina), “The Missing Picture” (Cambodia), “The Hunt” (Denmark), “Two Lives” (Germany), “The Grandmaster” (Hong Kong), “The Notebook” (Hungary), “The Great Beauty” (Italy), and “Omar” (Palestine).

The list will later be narrowed down to five nominees, to be announced on January 16.

Among the films that were part of an initial list of 76 films but which have now been eliminated were Spanish-language entries from Argentina, Colombia, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Spain and Uruguay, as well as Brazil’s submission.

The Chilean film “No,” directed by Pablo Larrain, made the shortlist of five Foreign Language Film nominees at the last Academy Awards ceremony in February, although the statuette was awarded to Michael Haneke’s “Amour.”

The 86th edition of the Oscars will be held on March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

U.S. man wins picasso drawing valued at $1 million in raffle

A U.S. man paid 100 euros ($140) to enter an online raffle to raise funds for preservation efforts in Tyre, Lebanon, and wound up winning a Picasso drawing valued at $1 million.

The 1914 work “L’homme au Gibus” (“Man with Opera Hat”) was raffled off Wednesday evening among almost 50,000 people who participated in the drawing, and organizers collected some 5 million euros (about $7 million) for the preservation project, the promoter of the initiative, Peri Cochin, told Efe.

The winner of the Picasso was Jeffrey Goinviernonano, 25, an employee at a fire sprinkler firm in Pennsylvania.

Cochin, a French-Lebanese television host and producer, took two years to transform his idea – to buy a Picasso to raffle off and collect funds for the city of Tyre – into a reality.

The drawing was held at the Paris headquarters of Sotheby’s.

Getting to this point was “very difficult,” Cochin said, noting that it took him two years to obtain the necessary official authorization.

Olivier Picasso, the grandson of the Spanish artist, “helped us a lot in the promotion of the opera tion, because he found that the project was interesting and very innovative, just as his grandfather would have liked” and eventually Picasso’s heirs gave their official authorization to the effort, Cochin said.

Pope Francis documentary becomes Amazon Bestseller

A recent documentary on Pope Francis, “Francis: The Pope From The New World,” has become a bestseller on Amazon.com and at one point ranked number four in the documentary category.

“This documentary arrives as the world realizes that a very special man has assumed the leadership of the Catholic Church, and this begins — but does not end — with his gestures of humility and care for everyone,” Carl Anderson, an executive producer of the documentary, said Dec. 17.

Anderson said many of the details of the Pope’s life “remain largely unknown to the public,” including “the ways in which he has defended the voiceless and Catholic principles.”

“This documentary delves into those stories,” he said.

Pope Francis, formerly Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, is the first Pope from the Americas and the first Jesuit elected to the papacy. He has long been an advocate for those struggling economically, including those who lived in the slums of Buenos Aires. He also helped protect those endangered in Argentina’s Dirty War.

The documentary includes interviews with the Pope’s close friends, his fellow priests, his co-workers, his biographer, and the poor of Buenos Aires. It covers his personal life, including his family relations and his support for the San Lorenzo soccer team.

It also addresses how his work sometimes drew opposition from Argentina’s political elites.

The online retailer Amazon.com has had to reorder DVDs of the movie several times because it ran out of stock. It is presently selling the English-language DVD for $14.96. The DVD is also available in Spanish.

The documentary has been broadcast on U.S. cable television, and Mexican broadcasts are planned.

by the El Reportero’s news services

Arturo Sandoval

Cuban-American trumpet player Arturo Sandoval entered ASCAP’s Jazz Wall of Fame in a year the musician will never forget – he had already received the Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama and had won his ninth Grammy Award.

“It’s been a beautiful year with so many exceptional things going on,” Sandoval told Efe.

The musician said he wanted to thank God for the many extraordinary moments in his life, like the day he met his wife, with whom he has been married for 40 years, and when the first of his children was born and when his granddaughters were born.

“I believe every year is good,” the artist, who has lived for the past four years in Los Angeles after living 20 years in Miami, said.

The year 2013 is now added to the unforgettable times in the life of the musician, composer and orchestra conductor, who last Nov. 20 received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his cultural contributions, “an enormously important prize, an enormous satisfaction,” together with group of other distinguished Americans from other fields.

Last Friday the Cuban’s music was heard at the lighting of the Christmas tree at the White House, and on Sunday he played the U.S. national anthem at an event in Kennedy Center while still buoyed by his latest Grammy Award. On Monday he was recognized as one of the legends of jazz by ASCAP at an event in the organization’s headquarters, just a short walk away from Manhattan’s famous Lincoln Center.

The musician, who came to the United States in 1990 at age 41, could not have been more pleased at the honor and told Efe that the public generally associates him with the trumpet, “but I spend much more time at the piano composing that I do playing the trumpet, yet rarely does the composer get a mention.”

Thalia celebrates her star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

Thalia became the first Mexican-born singer to be awarded one of the iconic stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which was unveiled at a crowded ceremony during which the artist emotionally recalled her mother, who died in 2011.

To cries of “Thalia, Thalia!” hundreds of excited fans greeted Thursday the vocalist of “Amor a la Mexicana,” as she arrived together with her husband, record executive Tommy Mottola, at the famous Hollywood thoroughfare, visibly excited by the honor that fulfilled one of her childhood dreams.

Thalia posed standing, sitting, lying down, front and back, and even with the flag of her country, beside the five-pointed terrazzo and brass star that now bears her name and which, she believes, also honors “all those women who work and struggle every day to maintain their families and arrive home smiling.”

“This is the star of the Latino woman,” said the singer, who during her career of almost 30 years has sold more than 40 million discs.

Bands pay tribute to Jenni Rivera at location of her last show

A dozen musical groups are offering a big concert in the Arena Monterrey to pay tribute to singer Jenni Rivera, who died a year ago in a plane crash after performing in the same venue.

Organized by her family, the Jenni Lives event featured Marisela, La Original Banda El Limon, Larry Hernandez, Chuy Lizarraga, Los Herederos de Nuevo Leon and Tito El Bambino, among other artists.

Fans from across northern Mexico and from north of the border made long lines starting early on Monday to enter the free event.

People attending the concert carried signs, photos and other items pertaining to the California-born singer who died at the age of 43 when her plane went down on Dec. 9, 2012.

Also killed in the accident were Rivera’s publicist, her make-up artist, her stylist, her attorney and the two pilots of the plane in which the group was traveling after the concert in the northern city of Monterrey.

Rivera, who left behind five children and two grandchildren, was considered one of the most important female artists of Mexican regional music since she made her debut in 1999 with the album “Reina de reins.