Movie fanatics will get the chance to honour their favourite films even if they weren't nominated for the coming Oscars ceremony on March 27. Organisers of the Academy Awards have partnered with Twitter for a fan-voted award, with the film with the most votes to be recognised at the gala, to be held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California.
Using the hashtag #OscarsFanFavorite, Twitter users can vote for any film that was released in 2021, until March 3. While the fan-selected film will not be an official category, organisers are hoping it would give movie lovers the chance to be part of the Oscars experience "in ways they've never been able to before".
"Social media users around the world now have more opportunities to engage with the show in real-time," Meryl Johnson, vice president of digital marketing at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences told The Hollywood Reporter. "We’re thrilled to partner with Twitter to help build an engaged and excited digital audience leading up to this year’s ceremony."
The Academy had, in the past, toyed with the idea of introducing a "most popular film" category for the 2019 awards, but eventually scrapped the idea after opposition from critics and Academy members.
The Twitter partnership will also give three winners from the social media platform who, along with their guests, will get an all-expenses-paid trip to Los Angeles to present an Oscar award at the 2023 ceremony.
Besides the #OscarsFanFavorite hashtag, an #OscarsCheerMoment has also been introduced, which will allow fans to tweet about their favourite scene from a 2021 film.
The winning scenes will be shown at the Oscars ceremony, alongside the fans' tweets. Five users who participated in the campaign will also receive prizes, which include a year's supply of movie tickets, subscriptions to streaming services and collectables from the Academy Museum.
The 10 films nominated this year span the gamut, including the Abu Dhabi-filmed Dune, and the much-talked about Japanese drama Drive My Car. Declared by many critics as one of the best films of 2021, the film is up for a total of four nominations at the 94th Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best International Feature Film and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Female Best Director Oscar nominees - in pictures
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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
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The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
