TV winners include "Mrs. Maisel," "Westworld," "Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story"
It was a big night for costume designer Ruth E. Carter at the 21st CDGA (Costume Designers Guild Awards) celebrating excellence in film, television, and short-form costume design. During a gala CDGA ceremony on Tuesday evening (2/19) at the Beverly Hilton. Carter’s work on the Ryan Coogler-directed Black Panther topped the Excellence in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film category. She also, as earlier announced, was the recipient of the Guild’s Career Achievement Award.
The Black Panther win could be a harbinger of historic achievement to come. On Sunday, Carter’s efforts on Black Panther could make her the first African-American to win a Best Costume Design Oscar. Black Panther marks her third career Academy Award nod, the prior ones coming for Spike Lee’s Malcolm X in 1993 and Steven Spielberg’s Amistad in 1998.
The other big CDGA winners on the feature front were Mary E. Vogt in contemporary film for Crazy Rich Asians, and Sandy Powell in period film for The Favourite.
Among the TV winners were Donna Zakowska for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Sharen Davis for Westworld, and Lou Eyrich and Allison Leach for The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.
In addition to the Career Achievement honor, other special Guild accolades included filmmaker/series creator/producer/director Ryan Murphy receiving the Distinguished Collaborator Award, and Glenn Close–a Best Actress Oscar nominee this year for The Wife–being presented the Spotlight Award, which goes to an actor whose talent and career personify an enduring commitment to excellence, including a special awareness of the role and importance of costume design.
Costume designer Betty Pecha Madden received the Distinguished Service Award, which honors individuals whose specialties and talents contribute to the craft and art of costume design. Over the course of her 40-plus-year Costume Designers Guild Local 892 membership, Madden has costume designed over 200 commercials, 32 music videos, 16 films for TV, and 29 feature films. She currently serves as labor delegate to the International Alliance of Theater and Stage Employees.
Here’s a rundown of the evening’s winners:
Excellence in Contemporary Film
Crazy Rich Asians – Mary E. Vogt
Excellence in Period Film
The Favourite – Sandy Powell
Excellence in Sci-Fi / Fantasy Film
Black Panther – Ruth E. Carter
Excellence in Contemporary Television
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story – Lou Eyrich & Allison Leach
Excellence in Period Television
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel – Donna Zakowska
Excellence in Sci-Fi / Fantasy Television
Westworld – Sharen Davis
Excellence in Variety, Reality-Competition, Live Television
RuPaul’s Drag Race – Zaldy Goco
Excellence in Short Form Design
Childish Gambino: “This is America”, music video – Natasha Newman-Thomas
Special Honors
Spotlight Award: Glenn Close
Distinguished Collaborator Award: Ryan Murphy
Career Achievement Award: Ruth E. Carter
Distinguished Service Award: Betty Pecha Madden
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More