Canadian writer and director Sarah Polley was told to return her Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay after the award was described as a “mistake” in an April Fools' Day joke by her 11-year-old child.
Polley, 44, won her Academy Award for Women Talking, starring Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Ben Whishaw and Frances McDormand, in Los Angeles last month.
She shared a letter on Twitter that she had received on April Fools' Day purportedly from the academy, which read: “We say this to you with the deepest regrets: the Oscar you received was given by mistake, you must return it.”
The letter said Polley had “one more week to enjoy it”, but then she must “mail it back to LA where we will give it to the rightful best adapted screenplay: All Quiet On The Western Front”.
“We are sorry for your loss, but it is only fair that the play with the real best adapted screenplay gets the Oscar.”
The letter also said the film academy had realised its mistake on the night of the ceremony but wanted to avoid another “fiasco”, referencing La La Land being named winner of Best Picture during the 2017 ceremony instead of Moonlight.
It was signed in a childish hand purporting to be David Rubin, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Polley tweeted a photo of the letter, captioning it: “My 11-year-old swung low for April Fools Day this year.”
Edward Berger, director of All Quiet On The Western Front, also played along with the joke on Twitter.
He wrote: “Dear Sarah, to save on mailing costs as I live overseas the academy has asked me to provide you with my address so you can ship the Oscar directly. I will follow up shortly. Ok with you? All best, Edward.”
Polley replied: “My kid says to tell you that it’s already packaged and on its way.”
Berger added: “Thank you. Tracking number please. Would hate for it to get lost.”
All Quiet On The Western Front won four Oscars in March, including Best International Feature Film, from nine nominations.
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Results
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m; Winner: Rawat Al Reef, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Abdallah Al Hammadi (trainer)
5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: Noof KB, Richard Mullen, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: AF Seven Skies, Bernardo Pinheiro, Qaiss Aboud
6.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Jabalini, Szczepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7pm: UAE Arabian Derby – Prestige (PA) Dh150,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Dergham Athbah, Richard Mullen, Mohamed Daggash
7.30pm: Emirates Championship – Group 1 (PA) Dh1,000,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Somoud, Richard Mullen, Jean de Roualle
8pm: Abu Dhabi Championship – Group 3 (TB) Dh380,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Irish Freedom, Antonio Fresu, Satish Seemar
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Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
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- Trees: 1,500 to be planted, replacing 300 felled ones, with veteran oaks protected
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7.05pm Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,200m
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Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
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- irritability and emotional outbursts
- sadness
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Do activities that you want to do as well as things you have to do
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